Elfshot

by M. H. Bonham

  I shook my head, not wanting to accept her truth. “I got lucky figuring it out at all. But not lucky enough.”

  “Sometimes the Norns don’t offer us any good solutions.”

  “But Eir has come up with a possible genetic modification…”

  “That may or may not work. And even if it does, genetic modification isn’t a pill or an elixir you swallow. It’s a series of injections based on your genetic makeup and there are bound to be problems with it, especially with humans, since you are a mixture of several species. Each exposed person will likely need hospitalization and blood transfusions to modify the DNA. And as for the Sunnies, they would rather die than take any of our ‘tainted’ DNA. If the disease makes it to Alfheim, you can be sure all the Light Elves will perish.”

  I looked at both of them. “Why are you helping me? Humans and Light Elves haven’t helped you in the past.”

  Li’alla smiled. “We’re family, Ironspell. We have already heard of your reputation and we know that we can help you save your people as well as ours. You know our plight and you know we haven’t had the best reputation. If we could help destroy the Elfshot before it became a pandemic, your people would look on us more favorably. Maybe we could find a home on Earth where we can walk in the sun once more. Li’arn and Naran have never seen the sun or felt a cool breeze. All we have are the tunnels.”

  I could feel my throat closing up and I swallowed hard. “You know I would help you find a home even if you didn’t help me with the Elfshot.”

  Li’alla stood up and picked up the tray. She walked over to the boys who were playing with their “dragons” and offered them bread. They both grabbed as many slices as they could hold and stuffed the bread into their mouths as fast as they could swallow. They hardly chewed their food. She turned to me and smiled. “I know, but it would make us more tolerated if the humans knew we weren’t the demons everyone else believes we are.”

  “Demons.” I repeated and facepalmed. “I need to call Tuz—he’s my demon friend. Last time I saw him was at Mengloth. I bet he’s still there waiting for me. He would help me find the Elfshot and possibly help with Vindar.”

  “You can summon him here,” Nana said. “I have a casting room past the kitchen.”

  “I’ve never summoned a demon before—from any plane of existence. Tuz was a demon I befriended on the night when I discover a Troll in Washington Park.”

  “That had to be interesting.” Li’alla grinned at me.

  Nana stood up and brushed herself off. “If you know the demon’s true name, you can simply use your will to call him. Since he is bound to you…”

  “He’s not really bound to me. He’s a friend.”

  “You have an odd choice in friends.” Li’alla stood up as well.

  “Will he kill you if you summon him?” Nana asked.

  I got to my feet. “Tuz? No way. He is a friend and has backed me up. Plus, he lives with me.”

  “With you?” Li’alla’s eyebrow arched.

  “He has his own bedroom and helps me in my investigations.” I shrugged as I stood up. “I took him in when I found him Dumpster-diving.”

  “Well, you won’t need a containment circle then.” Nana smiled. “That makes it easy.”

  “Still, I’d feel better if we had one.” Li’alla glanced at the boys.

  I nodded. “From what I’ve been told, summonings can be tricky. I don’t want to summon the wrong demon.”

  “Since you have his name, that shouldn’t be a problem. But we do have some work to do before we summon him. We’re going to have to strengthen our shield so Vindar doesn’t sense the summoning. And we’re going to need components I’m out of.”

  “How do we get them?”

  “We have a dark market that frequently changes location,” Li’alla said. “I go there when we need magical components. I have enough gold to buy whatever we need, but I shouldn’t go alone. And Nana has been expending too much energy of late.”

  “I’ll come with you,” I said.

  “Not a good idea,” Nana said. “My illusion magic won’t work there and if anyone recognizes him…”

  “I’m getting better with illusions,” I said. If this is something different, you can teach me how to cast the illusion spell on myself. Then, it will just be my power.”

  “All right then.” Nana nodded slowly. “You’re a powerful enough wizard, so I think you can handle some of the spells I’ll…” She stopped in midsentence. Her eyes glazed over.

  “Nana, is something wrong?” Li’alla gripped the old woman before she fell over. I rushed to catch her, but Nana waved me away.

  “They’re here and they’re looking for you, Ironspell.” Her eyes snapped back into focus. “You need to get out of here now.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “How did they find him?” Panic filled Li’alla’s eyes.

  Nana shook her head. “My defenses aren’t what they used to be. “You need to go now—out the back door. They don’t know exactly where you are, but they’ll search this entire block.

  Li’alla pointed to my dragonscale armor. “You need to get rid of that.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Too flashy. We might be able to sell it in the Dark Market if necessary.”

  “No need if I cast an illusion spell,” I said.

  Nana pulled me over. “Repeat after me and focus your will on changing your appearance to look like us. Nathir ramma sani carnath.”

  I repeated the words slowly, trying to focus my will and also commit the words to memory.” The magic wasn’t like the magic I was used to. Instead, I felt as though my skin itched all over—and then it stopped. I looked down at my dragonscale armor and found it had been replaced with a worn gray tunic and trews.

  Nana smiled and nodded. “Now go, both of you.”

  At that moment, we heard rough voices outside. “Come on!” Li’alla grasped my hand and pulled me toward the back of the house. She passed by Li’arn and Naran and hesitated. “Be good, keep your mouths shut, and listen to Nana.”

  “Yes, mother.” The boys voices were soft, as though they knew to be quiet.

  Naran ran to Li’alla and hugged her tight. “I don’t want you to go.”

  “It’s okay. Be brave. I’ll be back soon.” She kissed him. She looked up at Li’arn who stood stoically beside his brother. “And you, watch out for your brother.” He nodded.

  She pulled me past the children and into a dark storage closet. It oddly enough had wooden floors where the rest of the house was stone. She looked at me. “Can you call up a mage light?”

  I nodded and did. She pulled a plank out next to the wall and then quickly removed the other planks. “Won’t they look in here?” I asked as she uncovered a hole with a stone stairwell leading down.

  “They usually don’t look in here.” She pointed to the stairwell. “Go down the stairs. I’ll have to refit the boards.”

  I hesitated. Despite having the mage light shine into the hole, it looked dark and foreboding. But I walk down it, hoping I wouldn’t fall off the stairwell into nothing. My fear of heights threatened to paralyze me. I couldn’t see what was below us easily. I sent a mage light down and wished I hadn’t. The stairs went on for about thirty feet or three stories down. I called back the mage light and took a shuddering breath. The steps looked so narrow. Li’alla followed me down and turned and moved the boards over the hole. I could now hear voices coming from the living room.

  “What can I do for you, sirs?” Nana spoke.

  “We’re looking for a human dressed like a soldier—have you seen him?” A rough voice spoke—I presumed it was a soldier. I heard footsteps on stone as they entered the home.

  “I’ve been inside all day,” Nana’s voice replied.

  “Search the home.” The soldier ordered.

  Li’alla fitted the last board. We were in complete darkness except for the mage light. “Keep going!” she hissed. “If they have a mage, they might find us.”

 
I gulped and pressed myself against the stone wall to my right and stepped down it. Li’alla was right behind me.

  “What’s wrong with you?” She glanced back up at the floorboards.

  “I hate heights,” I said.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. I’m afraid of falling.”

  “Don’t you know a flying spell?” Li’alla sounded exasperated.

  “No,” I said, still looking down.

  “Take my hand.” Li’alla grasped my hand. Her hands felt strong and warm, even though they were smaller than mine. She slipped around me. “Just take it as fast as you can. Hold onto me and the wall, and you’ll be fine.” She started down the stairwell.

  I took a deep breath and forced my foot to shuffle to the edge. I took another deep breath and swung my other leg down so I barely touched the next step down. I quivered but Li’alla’s hand held firm. I then gulped as my foot settled on the next step.

  “Good.” Li’alla said, looking up toward the floorboards. She stepped down again. Again, I shuddered as I took another step. I was faster this time.

  We took the steps downward like that until it ended in a small chamber with a tunnel going deeper into the complex. Sweat drenched me and the heat was back. I whispered a quick air conditioning spell to cool me down and did the same for Li’alla. She smiled, despite her nervousness.

  “Thanks,” she whispered. She then led us down the tunnel, past many branches until we came to a T-intersection. There, she took a right and led us through a maze of tunnels. Some branches we took and I lost count how many rights and lefts we took. At last, when we entered one tunnel, she stopped. “I don’t think they had a mage or followed us here. Let’s rest.”

  I was glad to stop. The dragon armor did nothing to cool me and even though I had the air conditioning spell, I soaked the gambeson under it. The illusion spell Nana taught me was good and reduced the sound of the armor as well as changed the appearance, but did nothing for the comfort.

  I opened my canteen and let the lukewarm water slip down my throat as I drank. I handed the canteen to Li’alla, who took a swig and handed it back. I looked at my rations: dried beef and biscuits resembling hard tack. I wished Eir furnished us with MREs or something along those lines, even if they were nasty. MREs would’ve been better than the jerky and hard tack.

  I handed Li’alla a stick of jerky and a biscuit. She looked at both doubtfully, but ate the jerky. As I chewed on the jerky, I considered our options. Getting Tuzren into the tunnels seemed the best solution to help us. Perhaps he could help locate the Elfshot. But I wondered what we would do then. It wasn’t as if the Dark Elves couldn’t make more. Unless the laboratory was the only means they could make it, assuming there even was a laboratory.

  “Li’alla, how well do you know about Vindar’s capabilities?”

  She looked at me puzzled. “In what sense?”

  “In terms of a biological lab.” I tasted the biscuit, and was sorely disappointed. Chalk would’ve tasted better in my mouth.

  Li’alla shook her head. “Does this place look like it would have laboratories?”

  I hesitated. Nothing I had seen in these tunnels suggested support for anything technological. “Okay, then how did Vindar create the Elfshot?”

  “Elves create Elfshot using magic.” Li’alla bit into a biscuit and then tossed it aside. A Drow rat grabbed it and ran off with it. “We can imbue the disease into the weapon. Usually that requires a host who has the disease, or lately, if the disease is cultured and brought over in a sample, we work with that. It’s pretty high level magic, even for a Dark Elf.”

  “Could you create Elfshot?”

  Li’alla shook her head. “It’s above my specialty, but Nana most likely could. Not that she would. It’s a terrible weapon. The Light Elves created it to eliminate Dark Elves and changelings. We’re immune to most diseases, but if it is magically focused and genetically modified, it can do just as much damage to us as it can to you.”

  “Vindar created it specifically to kill humans and Light Elves.” I scratched the stubble on my chin. How long had I already been in these tunnels? Had I shaved when I was in Mengloth? I didn’t know. “Could they modify the disease through magic?”

  “Hmm.” She considered the idea. “Not likely. I don’t know of any mages powerful enough to do that. At one time when Svartalfheim and Nidavellir were separate, we had a number of laboratories which did genetic research. But the Cataclysm that destroyed both of our worlds wiped out our technology.”

  “So, you’re saying there are no laboratories and no mages capable of creating a modified plague here?” I stared at her.

  “No, there aren’t. Vindar must have gotten the plague samples from somewhere else. He probably had a laboratory create the new plague on one of the other worlds.”

  My chest tightened as I had a sinking feeling. “Then, why am I going after the Elfshot?”

  Li’alla nodded. “Vindar will undoubtedly have enough Elfshot to cause a pandemic. You will need to destroy them before he can use any more and murder innocent people.”

  “And why are you helping me again?” I took another drink of my lukewarm water.

  “You’d get yourself killed if I didn’t go along, and there’d be hell to pay with Nana if I didn’t help.” She grinned. “Even though you’re human, you’re still family.”

  I snorted. “She must be scary when she’s angry.”

  “Definitely.” Li’alla stood up and brushed herself off. “Let’s keep moving. We’ve got to find the Dark Market tonight and pick up some items before we summon that demon of yours.”

  “What sort of items?” I stood up.

  “We’ll need to make a protection circle as a precaution. I know you trust your demon, but I want to be sure.”

  I nodded. “What else?”

  “Explosives. You’re not just planning on using fireballs to destroy the Elfshot, were you?”

  Actually I was. “Why not?”

  Li’alla laughed. “I forget you know very little about our people. No doubt you were taught we were the bogeyman.”

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  “Elfshot by its very nature is warded against magic. Fireballs would have little effect.”

  “Oh.” Apparently, there was a lot I didn’t know about Fae weapons.

  “The Elfshot is probably warded and maybe even shielded, because that’s what Vindar would do. But we will need munitions to destroy them.”

  “Typical mages,” I muttered. “They never think like nonmagical beings.”

  “No, they don’t, which is why you’re such a curiosity.” She started walking and I matched her pace.

  “What do you mean?”

  She smiled, amused. “You’re a mage.”

  Now it was my turn to chuckle. “Not hardly. I’m a cop with some magical abilities.”

  “You defeated Vindar and killed Bailey when they tried to poison your people with magical gas.” Li’alla reminded me.

  I felt the familiar pang of guilt. “Millions died.”

  “But it could’ve been billions. You saved millions more than those who died.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  She stopped and laid her hand on my arm. “You’re going through guilt over that. I get it. But you have to keep focused. You’re not a god. You’re not even an Elf. You’re a mortal with a long lifespan and Fae blood. But if you keep beating yourself up over their deaths, you won’t be able to save anyone, let alone yourself. Don’t think for a minute someone else will be able to stop Vindar. Eir won’t know about Garik’s betrayal until it is too late. The Light Elves, for all their talk about superiority, are pretty much clueless. They don’t think Vindar is truly capable of destroying them. The mages who live in your world don’t seem to do much; otherwise, they would’ve stepped up.”

  I knew she was right, but it didn’t make me feel better. The little nagging voice inside my head argued that I should’ve done something—anything—to save those people
. But realistically, what could I have done? I didn’t have an answer, nor did the voice.

  That shut it up for a while.

  We kept walking until we came to a larger tunnel. I was glad to see more Dark Elves dressed much the same as we were here. This seemed to be a congregating place, with people chatting idly. Some Elves had metal carts with high sides. The Elves who held them were bargaining with other Elves over their wares. Some wares looked simple enough: foodstuffs, bags of flour, dried fruit, dried vegetables and herbs, and what appeared to be other luxuries. Some offered fresh water.

  Some Elves wore amulets that appeared to have versions of the air conditioning spell. Others dealt with the heat the best they could. None of them appeared well fed. I suspected that the bread Li’alla made us was a luxury, since the flour had to come from Earth or one of the other worlds. Most Elves here had hard looks in their eyes as they gazed at me. I realized that my condition, being muscular and not emaciated, stood out among them. Still, I was with Li’alla. I suspected they believed I might be a guard or one of Vindar’s troops.

  Li’alla ignored the makeshift booths and walked up to one of the Dark Elves that loitered nearby. Unlike other Dark Elves I had seen, this Elf had white hair which contrasted with his dark gray skin. “Well met, Firvas.”

  The Dark Elf shifted and looked down at her. He looked a bit healthier as he showed less bone. He had tied his white hair back in a long braid and his clothes looked newer. He also wore a cloak which was unusual, given the heat. “Well met, Li’alla. Who is the stranger with you?”

  “Family come to visit from another compound,” she said. “We’re looking for the market.” Although she didn’t add inflection in her voice, I saw the pointed look she gave him.

  Firvas smirked. “How much is it worth?”

  Li’alla pulled a small sack from her belt. “Two loaves.”

  “Three.”

  “No. It’s only worth two, and you know it.” She glared.

  “Okay.” He held up his hands. “Two for you. What about your family member?”