Tales of Eldelórne

by Karleigh Bon

  Fionna hugged Cael and the babe.

  “Welcome into our family,” she said in Elvish.

  Everyone in the room applauded in approval.

  Cael nodded happily as he genuinely understood her words. Eijlam smiled at him as he shook his hand and then placed his arm around Fi’s waist. There was a table full of food and drink for the small ceremony. Eijlam had no appetite, so he hovered near Fionna.

  Elanoreth was glad to witness Cael’s pledge and was also delighted to have the time to hold Naalin’s beautiful elven child. The very next day, Elanoreth had to say her goodbyes.

  “My brother, King Feldaron, has heard the cries of his people and will send an army to fight for you. I pray you stay well and safe until their arrival.” She rode away to jubilant cheers from everyone that had gathered in the lower plaza.

  +++

  Operations were officially sanctioned and organized in the abandoned elven city after the princess's visit. Ettenfahls was strategically located near the openings of the infected caverns from both valleys that followed around the mountains. More riders were sent on patrol to monitor the danger of the enemy numbers while they waited for orders to strike.

  The officers noticed there didn’t seem to be any solid organization or stable leadership among the creatures as the lesser goblins appeared in small waves. Like the beasts they are, they tore down everything in their way, killing and enslaving whomever they could capture. Battles against the larger more sentient mutant hiisi and their ogre-men raged on in larger skirmishes.

  Since the sisters, Naalin and Fionna had escaped from the shadow kingdom, the dragon and its puppet lord seemed to have turned their eyes elsewhere. The human army planned to attack the heart of the hive. They only waited for their sovereign’s reinforcements.

  +++

  Eijlam and Fionna were deadly twins in battle. With mind-speak, they could anticipate each other's actions against their foes. They fought with a lightning-fast precision in the manner that Roevash had trained them.

  “The day comes Fionna, soon,” Eijlam’s voice spoke calmly, “we will face the dragon and his puppet lord.” He slammed a nearby ogre full of arrows and watched it topple over.

  “They are evading us,” Fionna said with almost a tone of disappointment in her voice.

  She sliced the head off a goblin that thought to get too close.

  “When you see his face, will you be able to kill him?” EJ asked her again.

  “How else can we save him; our beloved Roevash.” She looked sad as she cleaved the nearest goblin expertly between ribs. The tip of her razor-sharp blade slammed into its heart, killing it instantly.

  “Better the gods, I mean Lords, have him in true death than what he has become here in this realm,” she continued while killing the monster that jumped up in front of her. As it fell in a heap to the ground, EJ leaped upwards and came down hard on another hiisi warrior who thought to push between them. She sliced through the sword arms of two that were running past on her left. They fell squirming and screaming to the ground before EJ finished them off with his arrows.

  “He would want it that way,” Fi flatly said as she somersaulted forward surprising a smaller lone goblin by cutting into its neck.

  Putrid black blood sputtered out of its veins, blinding her. Hearing a gag escape from Fionna’s open mouth, Eijlam quickly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her aside so she could wipe her vision clear.

  Fionna put her arm out, and an ancient staff magically appeared in her outstretched fist. With one last effort, she twirled it expertly and stabbed the end of it downward. Shards of thick ice, taller than the enemy, appeared in a circular wall around them. It temporarily cleared a space and shielded them from the fighting.

  “You are getting slow, my love. It is time to go,” EJ said, facing her with a hand still on her arm.

  He tore off his sleeve to wipe the grime from her face. She coughed and retched up her guts to rid her system of the taste of the blackened blood that had spattered on her lips.

  “You will be soon sickened from this. We must find our rest.”

  He looked at her with real concern. She trusted his judgment and didn’t argue. When the ice wall finally shattered, many enemies died in a heavy rain of shards that shot outward.

  With renewed energy, the pair ran out of the battle hacking down and lighting on fire any unlucky monsters in their way. They found a wandering horse that hadn’t been taken down and eaten by the horde. They rode as fast as they could back to the base.

  +++

  “I should not forget my magics,” Fionna said wearily, letting the trickle of the waterfall in the bathing room flow down her whole body. “It is hard to use my staff when the filth is pressing in so close. There is just no time for proper conjuring,” she lamented.

  “Maybe the staff can be sharpened. A blade could be crafted to the bottom half, so you wield it like two weapons.” EJ thought about what she would look like, and he felt a sudden jolt of desire burn inside him.

  She caught him looking at her, but he seemed to be thinking about something too seriously. Walking over to where he lay in the water at the edge of the pool, she sank into the shallows. Her long hair flowed out around her like beautiful wings as she floated in front of him.

  “Kiss me,” he heard her beckon in his mind, and she did not have to ask twice.

  Fionna burned for EJ as he rolled into her arms. They let the soft flow of water engulf them as their bodies met.

  This was the place where they could hide away from their problems. She was his beloved and he, hers. Nothing in this realm could ever take that from them.

  Elfling Song

  Chapter Forty Five

  Cael knew of elvenkin because he had lived among them his whole life. He had grown up in the upper terraces of the capital city's castle district with Princess Elanoreth and the other royal children as his only friends. His mother was an aristocrat married to a duke. His father died a hero in some war when Cael was too young to understand. Cael's mother died of a broken heart soon after, leaving him the young master of their estate with only the servants to raise him.

  He had learned to read and write alongside the royal children. He could also understand the traditional Elvish language, as taught by the queen herself. Growing up alone, Elanoreth and the Queen Mother were the closest things to a family that he had.

  It always bothered Cael that since the elven migration, men were already so removed from the old ways that the history of the elves was being passed along as bedtime stories for children. Many men did not believe they ever even existed.

  Their king had married a half-elven woman, but most of the common folk had never laid eyes on her, so they did not believe she was elven blooded after a time. Her children bore the elven grace. Cael had joined the guard to protect them. He felt their lives were like precious jewels that could too soon be lost. Elanoreth’s oldest brother, Feldaron, was ruler now.

  Cael had faith that he would know what to do. He knew he had grown into a good, and honorable man.

  Elgelion was resting quietly in his cradle in the nursery when Cael was abruptly alerted from his thoughts. The sound of loud grunts were coming from the hallway. He quickly barred the door as a precaution in the way Fionna showed him and unsheathed his sword.

  The first one came over the balcony behind him. Cael's elven sword sang as it sliced through the creatures thick leather armor. The goblin assassin fell to the floor dead. The second, a more massive clumsy-looking beast, broke the door down and came at him with what used to be Naalin's twin elven short blades.

  Cael deflected the monster but was cut on the arm as it ran past. Cael slashed at it and sent it flying over some furniture. Realizing this was all just meant to be a diversion, Cael leaped to the nursery to stop the abduction of Elgelion. With one smooth downward swing, he severed both hands off another goblin who was reaching over the windowsill. In a surprised frenzy and nothing to hold on with, the creature slid backward and, after a long fa
ll, thudded on the stone walkway far below.

  Eijlam and Fionna were in the plaza greeting the newly arrived general of the king's reinforcements when they saw a dark figure fall. Glancing to each other they wordlessly took off running for their chambers. A second body crashed down near them as they made their way to the stairwell leading up to their home.

  Elgelion started to cry, woke by the sound of fighting in his room. Cael shoulder slammed a smaller assassin that dropped down from the ceiling. He knocked it clear out the window. Suddenly feeling dizzy, Cael threw himself on the bench in front of the cradle, shielding Elgelion from sight as the giant brute he had encountered before, found him again.

  Cael realized the situation was dire when he looked down at his arm and saw the telltale bubbling slime of a toxin in his wound. The assassin snarled a disgusting, twisted grin as it stalked into the room for a swift and easy kill.

  Running slick with perspiration, they locked blades in a final battle of strength. Cael's face turned a blotchy red as he held off the attack with all his strength. The monster’s eyes suddenly rolled up into its head as it dropped like a stone to the floor.

  A blurred vision of Fionna standing there with her dagger dripping with blood was all that registered as Cael gasped for air. She could see the boy was starting to go into convulsions from poison as he slumped back onto the bench. Pulling a tincture out of her belt, she quickly poured the mixture down his rasping throat.

  "You will be weak for a moment," she said to his open, staring eyes, "but you will live." She smiled at him and brushed him gently on the forehead with her fingertips.

  “Eijlam!"

  He jumped when he heard Fionna command his name. He was prowling around, checking the rest of the dwelling for more assailants.

  "We have to move them away from here," Fi said firmly.

  "I agree, but where can we take them?" EJ said as he looked up at the rafters, still checking for invisible enemies.

  Fionna picked up Elgelion to quiet his fussing as she monitored Cael's return from paralysis.

  "Dakein has secured the old fort," she thought out loud.

  "It is too close. Though that might be the last place..." EJ started to say, but Fionna cut him off with a brilliant idea.

  "We will put them on a horse, and we will run them to Drustnlach. The capital city is far enough away, and they have thick walls."

  "I remember.” Eijlam thoughtfully nodded his head in agreement.

  "I hope the horse can keep up with us.” He winked at her and gave her a peck on the cheek.

  They both smiled at Cael, who was only slightly able to sit up and grimace.

  "Good job, Cael," Fionna hugged him and quickly kissed his damp forehead.

  "You have bravely saved our Elgelion. Now let us prepare for a journey back to our home at the capital."

  Only one side of Cael’s face smiled as he nodded, drooling from paralyzed lips.

  "Walk around when you can," Fi instructed as she set Elgelion in his cradle, "it is the only way to work this poison out quickly." As she was leaving the room, she turned, with a smile, and cautioned, "Stay away from the open windows, Cael.”

  EJ came in and gathered up the assailant lodged under Cael’s boots and dragged it away. Cael’s head bobbed flaccidly as he grunted and slid farther down on the bench like a rag doll with no bones.

  +++

  Scouts ran interference out into the valley to make sure no spies were looking on as the family made their escape. It was late morning, and the sun was shining brightly. That was in their favor. They dressed in soldier uniforms, disguising themselves as part of a routine patrol for part of the journey.

  The sleeping elfling was kept hidden in a specially made up backpack that Cael wore. Riding in military formation, they blended in until they had gone far enough to the south to be out of anyone’s notice. The trees and landscape were far more open, so a rider could see what was coming from a distance, but that also meant an enemy could see you if they had sharp eyes.

  "Now we must go with speed," EJ said as they stripped down to their light armor. They drank a sip of water before the run. Cael was to protect the life of the elfling and hang on tight as Fionna and Eijlam led the galloping horse at a fast pace to their destination straight west.

  "That was too easy," EJ said as they brought their packs into the wizard's old house. They made a quick sweep of the place to make sure the rooms were safe. It was precisely the same as they had left it.

  "There is probably still a weak enchantment over this place," Fi said, "it will keep us invisible to our enemies for a while yet. I will see what I can do to strengthen it."

  Cael readied the hearth for cooking and then left to buy foods and supplies at the market while EJ looked after Elgelion, and Fionna unpacked some things.

  "Oh, my Fionna," she heard Eijlam say quietly from across the room.

  He was smiling broadly at Elgelion. She turned to look and could see the soft glow that encircled them — the peaceful, quiet moment sunk in as Fionna drew near and put her arms around them both.

  "Is this what it would be like?" Fionna's eyes were soft.

  The only sound was the tiny cooing of the contented little one as he gazed up into their eyes.

  "Yes, my love," EJ whispered in her mind.

  "I would stay here like this forever, then..." Fionna’s voice trailed off as she kissed her sister's elfling babe on the cheek. Eijlam and Fionna looked into each other's eyes lovingly and sighed.

  Cael silently entered the room and was struck by the otherworldly beauty of the radiant Edhellen. He tried to control his emotions but could not. He could not look away either, so he buried his face in a sleeve and sat down quietly, so as not to disturb them.

  They stood motionless for a long while, arms around each other near the hearth, as the room filled with the pure joy and peaceful light of elven kindred.

  +++

  When they felt assured that Cael and Elgelion were safe, EJ and Fi had to get back to the war. There would be no place safe in the kingdom if Lord Surmanos were not stopped. The couple felt they had been gone too long indulging in their own comforts, and enjoying the newborn elfling.

  “It is a welcome release to pretend a quiet life was ours for a while,” Fionna wistfully said as they packed light for the journey back into the fray.

  Eijlam was so proud of her; he smiled to himself. “Your strength will save us all my love,” he said as he kissed her.

  The Princess Elanoreth was thrilled to hear the elfling Elgelion and Cael were going to be kept hidden so close. She promised absolute secrecy and financial support for them. She also wanted to be allowed to visit when she could sneak away from her duties. She was the youngest, with three brothers and a sister in line before her, so her duties were few.

  “I hope you continue to find peace here,” EJ said as he clapped Cael on the shoulders and then bear-hugged him.

  “Take care,” Fionna smiled at him. “I know you will do your best,” she said as she hugged them both goodbye.

  “They will be well taken care of, do not worry,” Elanoreth assured them. The couple turned and did not look back as they ran into the forest beyond.

  Dragon Lord Comes

  Chapter Forty Six

  Roevash woke in a small cell in a dark dungeon. His head was encased in a heavy, metal helm that rose like a faceless mask up past his eyes. He felt with his fingers. It encircled over his head with heavy leather straps. The collar sat on his bare shoulders and was then firmly locked around his neck. It was obvious this contraption was made to measure just for him.

  He found he was chained fast by the neck and wrists. He lay there in the dirt naked, cackling in madness for a time banging the metal against the wall where he wallowed. He suddenly realized that he had control of his own body.

  “This is more of the dragon’s misery,” he surmised to himself as he heard his own breath hissing loudly in the mask.

  He wondered how long he had been there. He found
a tiny hole where a rivet had broken out along the seam on the metal. He struggled to look around at the dirty blank walls that surrounded him. He heard creatures skittering around beyond his cell.

  “Most likely a hallway beyond a door I cannot see.”

  He blindly lay there and listened.

  “We know what you are.”

  Roe heard a voice talking to him from somewhere in the same room.

  “You are the Lord’s puppet. He wakes in you,” it insisted.

  “Tell me something I do not know!”

  The reason for the strange, solid construction of the mask came clear as his voice sounded too loud into his sensitive ears.

  “Ahhiii...” he whimpered in pain as he rolled back down onto the floor clanking and writhing.

  “If you are too noisy they come with the drink and force you to sleep. Do you remember," it spoke again.

  Roe’s mind was still not clear enough. His head felt thick. His body felt stringy and uncooperative as he tried to sit up.

  “We are in the dungeon waiting for death,” the man said quietly resolved.

  “Who are you?” Roe asked quietly.

  He was answered with silence, then the voice said, “I am to be your sustenance my Lord ... when the dragon returns.”

  Roevash felt himself drowning in the weight of horror as he fully saw in his mind what was going to happen.

  “How long before he returns?” Roe asked gently, trying to sound rational.

  “Soon,” was all the voice said.

  “Where has he gone this time?” Roe asked not knowing how many times this has played out before.

  “The dragon flies to his kin in the south to complete his domination of the land. Then you will reclaim your queen and her sister to stand by you upon the top of your kingdom as our creator and one true sovereign Lord for all eternity.” The man was enraptured in dogmatic certainty as he spewed his litany.

  “I was to be one of your high priests, but I volunteered for this. It is the highest honor.”