Prisoners of the Keep

by Susan Bianculli

  “To protect themselves, the Elves withdrew into hidden enclaves and conserved magic, using it mainly to hide themselves from Man’s depredations and to sustain themselves and the small, scattered areas they claimed. The magical creatures either followed suit or were hunted to extinction—which eventually led Man to believe that there had never been anything magical in the world. Later, somewhere between a thousand and two thousand seasonals ago, Man invented something that caused the lightning of the sky to be captured in a bottle.”

  I startled as the story suddenly clicked something in my head. Lightning in a bottle? Did he mean …? But before I could voice my thought Jason beat me to it.

  “Do you mean electricity, Arghen?” he asked.

  The Under-elf shrugged. “Perhaps. I would not know your terms. All I understand is that what was captured was as a baby when compared to the lightning generated by a storm, but that they were in essence the same thing.”

  I said to Jason, “He could be talking about the Baghdad battery! That was invented about fifteen hundred or so years ago, and it was, essentially, lightning captured in a bottle—if you could call the weak electrical spark the battery created ‘lightning’, that is. But I’d bet the Mesopotamians would have thought so!”

  We shared a surprised glance as the ‘story’ Arghen had been telling took on a real dimension to us.

  “Please, go on!” I begged.

  Arghen complied. “An Elven seer name Mellisande had an all-encompassing vision supposedly on the day that this Human feat was achieved. She saw a dying world where no water existed freely but only in what were guarded areas, where large areas of the world were dry and full of dust, where small and large metallic rolling things carpeted the ground as flying metallic things darkened the sky to bring fear and terror with them, and the captive lightning running controlled in lines throughout the world, fueling all.

  “So it was that a group of Elves used their magic to contact the races that they could find—Elf, Gnome, Dwarf, and so on—to propose that a great Working be done to save all from extinction. It took seasonals of planning, but finally the separated groups took part in one large ritual. Since Elves had the most magic in their blood, about half of the Elves at that time sacrificed their places in the master spell in order that elvish magic would help power it. The ritual maker Elves then gathered up all the energies offered and mixed it with the Universe’s energies to create a whole other world.

  “However, the Gods stepped in at this point. Though They no longer had effect on Man’s doings, They still had full effect on the doings of the magical races. The Gods did not want another whole world for some reason and so affected the Working to cause a shift or something—I am not a mage or a scholar and do not have a full understanding of what happened. But in essence what was done by the Gods was to create two worlds that occupy the same place: one side which was mundane where Man and the unmagical creatures would inhabit; the other side which was magical and where the magical races and creatures would live.”

  “So, it’s kind of like one area map with two overlays. I’d wondered why the place I ended up in looked something like Central Park,” I said thoughtfully. “Which means that the river I crossed over on the barge, pretending it was the Harlem River, really was the Harlem River—or at least, it would have been had I been on the Human side.”

  “Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Jason interrupted again. “So you’re saying that we could be sitting around in someone’s kitchen right now if we were in the Human world?”

  Arghen smiled. “Perhaps we are.”

  “Wouldn’t we see it, or feel it, or something, if we were? And is everything the same on both sides, like geological features and stuff?”

  Arghen shook his head. “To answer your first question: no, we would not. We are here, and the Humans are there. The Disjoin separates us. To answer your second question: yes, but not quite. The worlds were exactly the same at the moment of the Disjoin, with the exception that much magic was expended to remake our side so that it would be fertile in most places again. This had the unexpected side effect of changing some of the vegetation to things not seen before, like you have encountered on our journey. Plus, time’s passage since the moment of the Disjoin has made further changes. And you must also take into account natural things like seedlings growing, rockfalls, earthquakes, volcanoes and such which have changed the landscape of both here and there, as well as whatever intentional modifications Man has done on his side and we have done on ours.”

  I forestalled Jason’s further questions by holding up my hand towards him. “Please finish your story, Arghen.”

  Jason looked a little disgruntled but he closed his mouth.

  Arghen said, “There is not that much more to tell. The ritual maker Elves noted right away the warping that the Gods were doing to the Working, but could do nothing about it because to either stop or lose control at that point would have been disastrous for all Life. However, as it resulted in what was wanted—a world away from Man—most everyone was pleased enough about it. Or at least, the ritual-maker Elves and the other races were. The Elves who had offered up their magic, however, were angry at what they saw as the Gods’ unnecessary interference in the ritual. They were upset and vengeful, especially since a side-effect of the Gods’ actions changed all the magical races to one degree or another—sometimes superficially, sometimes deeper than that. The Elves who had offered up their magic had had the side effect of having almost all color leached from their bodies, with the sensitivities that that condition entails. The now almost colorless Elves wanted to drag all the magical races into a war in revenge against the Gods to ‘teach them a lesson about interference’, but cooler heads prevailed.

  “Unsupported and not quite unintelligent enough to start by themselves what would end up a war that could have caused their extinction, the now pale-skinned Elves banded together to rescind connections with the surface world and with all Deities, and took themselves underground. There they further changed their bodies with the left over power from the ritual to suit their new chosen environment, which drained themselves nearly completely of magic. That final act made them very close to what Humans had been, and this so enraged them that they declared their enmity for all who had opposed their desire for punishment. So from that day to this, the Under-elves—for that is the name they took upon their withdrawal to the subterranean realms—have had a contentious relationship with all and sundry. Despite the fact that the main objective, a place free of Man where magic could thrive, had been achieved.”

  Silence filled the campsite as I thought about Arghen’s story. Even Jason seemed disinclined to say anything. The Under-elf—or was that now Surface-Under-elf?—went back to poking at the fire.

  “Thank you, Arghen,” I said.

  He looked up at us with seriousness in his amber eyes. “I warn you both now to be careful of other Under-elves. Should either of you meet an Under-elf who lives underground, run away as fast as you can. If you are lucky, you will escape. If you are not lucky, then you can be usually assured of a swift death if they are feeling generous, or a slower one if they are feeling testy. Or worse—not be granted one at all. Though it is true not all Under-elves are the same: there are some Under-elves in the Sub-realms such as myself, who are more like Surface-elves than their brethren. Quiris has assured me there are Under-elves who live and work in harmony with others among the settlements of the surface. I look forward to the day when I may take my place among them.”

  I was surprised, and intrigued, that my idle idea of Surface-Under-elves was actually true. “Maybe I’ll get to meet them, too? Do you know where they are?”

  Arghen shook his head. “Not at present, Lise. But I am sure that I will learn of them in the Goddess Quiris’ own good time.”

  Jason rolled his eyes out of sight of Arghen, clearly not convinced of anything that had been said. We settled in for the night, but I lay awake a long time thinking and wondering what the world would have been like had th
e Disjoin never happened.

  CHAPTER 18

  Another couple of days’ travel brought us to the beginning of the foothills of the Garrend Mountains. We were still following the main trail we’d followed since leaving the Morning’s Glory because we still didn’t know any more than to continue to follow the road north. Oh sure, we’d seen the occasional smaller side branchings leading off to who knew where, but as none of them went north each time we’d decided to stick to the main road. I wondered about our travel time, but I had to trust that Caelestis would let me know if we needed to move faster than we were already going. Clouds started rolling in not long after we’d started off after breakfast, and I kept a worried eye on the sky as we rode. Traveling in the rain would have been no fun. We had ridden up a small rise and saw that the road continued like a slash through a field of tall plants with broad leaves like overlapping umbrellas. That was fortunate, because just then the rain started coming down hard.

  “Let’s duck under these plants!” Jason exclaimed.

  He rode right under them, bending close to Maris’ grey neck to fit under the lowest leaves.

  “Wait! These might not be just any old plants, you know, Jason,” I cautioned.

  But remembering that wet armor would suck I dismounted and went under the leaves myself. However, I drew my sword just in case before tugging Saffron along behind me. Arghen dismounted and followed us with Stalker, casting a wary eye about him as he did.

  I heard the rain above us like it was raining on an umbrella or something and was glad not too much water got down to us. The stalks around us reminded me of a bamboo forest kind of like the ones I’d seen in Asian kung fu movies, except the plants were not all that much taller than we were when we were mounted up. There were also these huge flowers that looked something like tulips spread out evenly on the stalks all around and as far as I could see that pierced the overlapping leaves. There were many different colors of petals here, and I wondered if we were in somebody’s oversized garden. I was struck by the fact that though we were surrounded by flowers, there was not much of a floral smell in the air, and I wondered at that.

  “We may as well make ourselves comfortable if we’re gong to wait out the rain,” said Jason.

  He got down and started clearing a spot of empty stalks around the nearest flower by yanking them up by the roots.

  “That’s strange,” he said, looking at what he held in his hands.

  I came over and examined them. The stalk seemed rather dry, and the roots went on and on into the ground. He yanked more at the stalk in his hand, and its roots came up entangled in another stalk’s nearby.

  “Hey, they’re like mushrooms!” I said.

  “What do you mean by that?” he asked.

  “Just that mushrooms roots are all intertwined kind of like that.” I indicated the plant in his hands. “I think I remember reading that some mushrooms patches are actually just one plant with many parts which can cover lots and lots of land. I dunno—maybe someone planted these intentionally?”

  Arghen said, “If that were so, Lise, why would the road we have been told to travel go right through them instead of to one side?”

  “Good point.” I shrugged. “All right. Let’s wait out the rain here, then.”

  Arghen and I lent a hand then to clear enough stalks so that we’d have a place to be comfortably together. The second stalk that I pulled up led right to the red flower we were clearing around. I saw the flower stem shudder.

  “Uh, guys?” I said with uncertainty.

  The stalk bent downwards, the tulip-like petals of the red flower parting to reveal a gaping fleshy maw heading straight for me!

  “I knew it!” I shouted as I jumped back and slashed at the petals. “I knew it was too good to be true!”

  “Madre de Dios!” I heard Jason exclaim behind me.

  I gave a quick glance over my shoulder to see a yellow flower and a purple one bending towards him and Arghen, mouths agape. Maris screamed, a sound I was getting all too familiar with, but it was echoed by what had to be Saffron. Worried for my golden horse, I turned around to slash at multi-colored blossoms reaching for the mounts while dodging the red one that still wanted a taste of me.

  “We need to defend the horses and get out of here!” I yelled. “Back out to the road, everybody!”

  We formed a triangle around the panicking mounts, and slashed our way out to the road while yanking them along with us. Green leaves, dry stalks, and multi-colored petals flew around us from the whirling of our blades and fell scattered behind us in our wake. But our troubles weren’t over. When we made it to the trail, we could see that every flower as far as we could see was turned our way. The tulip-like blossoms closest to the road were already bent over to block the path.

  “This is it! We’re going to have to charge our way out!” Jason yelled.

  “Wait! Let’s be smart about this,” I said loudly. “No plant likes fire. Let’s take some of the fallen stuff and light their ends on fire. Maybe we can burn our way out!”

  Arghen dug into the saddle bags for flint and tinder while I covered Jason with my sword so he could get some of the thick straw-like stalks. My covering Jason had the added benefit of giving tinder he could gather. Jason and I then covered the Under-elf from attack while he strove to get Jason’s stalks burning in the rain. Petals and leaves flew around him like snow from our blades, but it was tiring, and soon we started moving slower and slower.

  “Lise! Jason! I have done it!” Arghen yelled after what felt like far too long.

  “About time!” Jason yelled.

  Vaulting to Saffron’s back, I grabbed from Arghen one of the makeshift torches that was made from several stalks bound together with leaves. Jason scrambled up a restive Maris and grabbed another torch. Together, the three of us started waving our fire at the plants.

  True to nature, the plants gave way to our flames as much as they could. Once the plants pulled back from the road, the horses ran away with us, almost out of control. I made sure to keep check on Arghen as we rode so we wouldn’t lose him, but he was able to keep pace on Stalker. I also kept a worried eye on the burning stalks as we galloped because the wind of our passage made the fire burn faster, and soon I knew we were not going to make it.

  “Throw your torches! Ready swords!” I yelled.

  We threw our torches towards the nearest flowers and drew our weapons. The ones not near the fire bent towards us again when we came within reach, and we started hacking and slashing without our mounts breaking momentum. We burst unexpectedly through the far edge of the tulip field into a dry, rocky area, but we didn’t stop until we had put at least a football field’s distance between us and the carnivorous plants.

  We hauled on the reins to bring our mounts to a halt. Though Maris resisted a little, we stopped; and all panted heavily.

  “I–I think this calls for a break,” I said unsteadily.

  Arghen nodded agreement while Jason merely slid from the saddle and sat on the ground right beside his horse.

  “At least it’s stopped raining,” Jason tried joking.

  I gave him a half smile for the attempt. I dug into the saddlebags for the numbing salve I’d used openly since Jason had learned my real name but stopped. I had expected to feel really achy after all that exercise, but I didn’t.

  Puzzled, I decided to ask Arghen about it as I tossed the pottery jar to Jason for him to use. “Umm, Arghen, do I look any different to you than when you first met me?”

  Jason peered up at me from where he applied his ointment. “Why are you asking him that right now?”

  I shushed him. Arghen scrutinized me with his amber eyes from where he was wiping down Stalker, and then nodded confirmation. Slightly nonplussed that it wasn’t my imagination, I started working on Saffron’s care.

  Jason looked at the Under-elf with surprise. “Huh? You think she’s different? How?”

  Arghen said, “I think Lise might be getting some minor help from the Goddess Caelest
is.” He looked at me again. “I think it is happening a little at a time so as to not overwhelm you, Lise, but you are definitely more—honed, perhaps is the word I am looking for—than that first night I met you and Jason.”

  Huh.

  “What do you mean, exactly, Arghen?” I asked.

  “You have lost some softness from your face and neck area, which means this is occurring all over your body. I note that your legs seem harder as well, judging from how I have seen you move during the times we have not been in the saddle. It is happening far quicker than such would ordinarily happen since we have only been traveling together for a few phases of the moon. What results I am seeing would be as if you had had a training regimen of several full moons duration.”

  “Training?”

  “Warrior training,” he clarified.

  “Really? Should I be worried about this adaption process?”

  He shrugged. “I do not know. How do you feel? Do you feel any different than before we met?”

  I thought about that for a bit, and then said slowly, “No, I don’t think so. I mean, I still miss my parents and my cat and my world, so I don’t think my thinking and emotions have been affected. As for my body, well, it’s not really like I’m growing horns or a tail, is it?”

  Arghen smiled. “Then you likely have nothing to worry about.”

  “It’s great that I’m adapting to being over here and all but can you explain why it’s happening?”

  He looked thoughtful. “I can think of only two reasons that make sense to me: that either your Goddess is helping by adapting you slowly so that you have a chance to survive here, or possibly that being here is forcing you to become one with our realm.”

  Jason paused in the rubbing down of his horse he’d started in on after using the ointment on himself. “Huh?”

  I nodded my head to Arghen while glancing over at Jason. “That makes sense. We changed realities, Jason, so maybe our bodies are becoming what we’d have been if we’d been born here and done the things we would have needed to have done to be on the road like this.”