by Mac Flynn
My reply was the stillness of the night. With a heavy heart I left the room and shuffled to my own. A squishy package wrapped in brown paper sat on the chair near the bed and showed me that Chloe had gone to the village. I opened the package and revealed three pairs of smooth leather pants, as many white blouses, and on top was the most wondrous item of all.
As promised, Vaughn had made for me a cloak, but what a cloak! The color was silver, but the material was completely unknown to me. It was as thick as leather, but had the smoothness and weight of silk. I draped it across my shoulders and the hem hung just even with my ankles for a perfect fit.
There were even pockets on the inside. I heard something crackle in one of those pockets and drew out a folded slip of paper. The paper was a note, and the message read as follows:
Dearest Christine. You have no doubt looked over all my gifts to you, but I leave you with the list one: cherish him. He may be a little scruffy and old, but he has a good heart, and in this world that is worth more than all the fabrics in it. Sincerely yours, Vaughn.
Those words brought a smile to my face. I set the card down and lifted my new precious items into my arms. The dresser was empty and so my few belongings fit comfortably in the drawers. I hung the elegant cloak on a hook near the door. The silver shimmered in the moonlight that cascaded into the room, creating an appearance of a serpentine creek reflecting the stars above its gentle shores.
I slipped into my long nightgown, another loan from Chloe and which I’d forgotten to ask Vaughn about, and dipped beneath the covers. The night was chilly and I half-regretted not agreeing to Chloe’s kind offer of a fire, but all that magic practice had left me tired enough that I slipped into a gentle sleep.
Some time later a soft rapping noise intruded on my dreamless slumber. I creaked open my eyes and sat up. The noise came from my left and on the other side of one of the windows. One of the panes was aglow with light from a tiny and familiar source: the ellyll I’d met in Harlipren.
“Chris! Chris!” she cried out in her tiny voice. “Please let me-hey!” A shadow hand appeared out of the darkness of the window sill and wrapped around her tiny body.
The shadow stretched out and revealed himself to be Gwill. “You’re kind isn’t allowed here,” he snapped at the fairy.
The little ellyll pressed her hands against the top of his and tried to push herself out of his clutches. “Let me go, you dirty caethwas! Let me go right now! I need her help!”
Gwill began to float away from the house. “I’ll let you go at the edge of the property and back to that rotting woods where you came from.”
“Wait!” I called out as I rushed to the window and flung open the glass. “She’s a friend!”
Gwill looked to both of us and wrinkled his nose. “A friend of this pipsqueak?”
“That’s better than being a friend to a caethwas!” she snapped.
“What’s a caethwas?” I asked her.
“It means slave,” Gwill explained as he glared at the little ellyll. “At least an ardwid has more purpose than pissing people off.” She stuck out her tongue.
“Please let her go,” I pleaded.
Gwill scoffed. “Why should I?”
“Because she’s someone who needs help, and she must need it pretty badly to leave Harlipren and risk your security to get here,” I pointed out. I looked him in the red eyes with a steady gaze. “And wouldn’t you risk the same for Tristan? Or Chloe?”
Gwill pursed his lips, but rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He opened his hand.
The ellyll flew from his palm and fluttered in front of my face. “You have to help us, Chris! Harlipren is under attack and nothing we do is working, and the Lady and Lord are away, and if you don’t hurry everything will be ruined!”
I cupped her in my hands and drew her a little lower. “Slow down. What’s attacking you?”
“A mud golem!” she revealed.
“What business is that of ours?” Gwill snapped.
The little ellyll whipped her head around and glared at him. “It’s everyone’s business if that thing taints the forest with its vile body and stretches its sick muck beyond the tree bounds!”
Gwill floated behind me and folded his arms over his chest. “If it’s that powerful than you’ve got the wrong athrylis. This one can barely make a protection spell.”
“What about Tristan?” I suggested.
The ellyll shook her head. “Yes! Him! He must help!”
Gwill sneered at the creature. “You ellyll haven’t done him any favors. Why should we-”
“Gwill,” I whispered as I looked down at the quivering ellyll. I cupped my hands around the ellyll and smiled down at her. “I’ll take you to him.”
“Don’t assume he’ll help them!” Gwill snapped as I stood. “They haven’t done anything to deserve his help.”
I raced to the door in my bare feet and paused with my hand on the knob before I looked over my shoulder at the shadow. “He might not help, but I have to try.”
20
The ellyll landed on my shoulder and took a seat as I hurried out of the room. I tried his room, but the bed was still untouched. My bare feet pounded on the steps as I raced down into the foyer. The doors to the library were opened and I stopped in the doorway. The room was empty, but I heard a sound of rummaging coming from the hallway that led to the rear of the house. I pointed my quick steps in that direction and followed the noise to one of the doors on the right-hand side. It was the one to the basement.
I rapped my knuckle on the door. The noises ceased.
“Who is it?” Tristan called out.
“It’s me Christine,” I replied as my eyes flickered to the ellyll. “And I have someone here who needs your help.”
The ellyll flew off my shoulder and fluttered beside me. “Please, Dierth! It’s the Harlipren!”
The door opened and Tristan stood in the doorway. His body framed the entrance perfectly so that all I saw was the step on which he stood. There was something strange about his form, almost as though there was no end or beginning between his body and the shadows around him. “What of it?” he asked the tiny creature.
She flew up to be even with his face. “It’s a mud golem! It’s attacking everything and we can’t stop it!”
Tristan’s eyebrows crashed down. “Where did it come from?”
“It’s one of the golems from the hills. He usually comes down for some water, but this time something’s wrong with him! Horribly wrong!”
“It would be best if you dealt with the matter yourselves,” he suggested.
She balled her tiny hands into fists at her side and glared at him. “You think we haven’t tried that already? We’ve tried everything, but nothing’s working, and without your help everything will be corrupted!”
I grasped Tristan’s sleeve and gave it a tug. “Please, Tristan, they need our help.”
Tristan looked down at me. His face was impassive, but his eyes told me a different story. There was indecision, but finally resolve. “Very well.” He brushed past us, shutting the door behind himself so securely that I didn’t get to see anything further of the basement. Tristan strode into the hall and drew on his cloak. He turned to me as I caught up to him. “Remain here until I return.”
I frowned and shook my head. “I’m not going to let you leave here without me.”
“More athrylis will always help!” the ellyll agreed.
Tristan pursed his lips, but his eyes glided down my form. “Very well, but first you should find more suitable clothing.”
I followed his gaze and let out an ‘eep.’ I slipped out of my nightgown and into my new clothes. The cloak was as warm as cotton and flitted behind me as I hurried down the stairs where the others waited for me. Chloe was awake and at the door.
“You’re sure you want to go?” she asked me.
I smiled at her. “I’ll be fine if I’m with Tristan, and I’ll be looking forward to one of your hot drinks when we get back.”
&nbs
p; Chloe nodded and stepped back. Tristan led us out the door where the ellyll took the lead. She guided us at an angle across the lawn toward the Harlipren.
Gwill followed us to the edge of the property where he turned to Tristan. “You sure you don’t want me to come?”
“A mud golem is no threat to us, but we’ll need you to remain here in case another should come through,” Tristan pointed out.
Gwill frowned but floated back toward the house. “I hate it when you’re right.” He paused behind me and caught my attention. “Don’t let him do anything stupid.”
I smiled and shook my head. “I make no promises.”
“Hurry! Hurry!” the little ellyll shouted.
Her flight was quick so that we were nearly at a run into the thick woods. The scent of rot and rebirth permeated the air around us the large branches blocked out the bright night sky. The ellyll cast a soft glow on the plants and revealed the shadowy shapes of wild animals as they stared at us from the darkness.
I stumbled through the dark, but kept pace with the ellyll’s smooth flight and Tristan’s long stride. One of my feet, however, got caught in a bent root and I fell face-first onto the ground.
“Ouch. . .” I mumbled as I raised my head.
I froze as a pair of familiar red eyes blinked back at me. Sitting before me, about the size of a small dog, was a lump of mud golem, though its tan-colored flesh was barely recognizable. I yelped and scrambled back. Tristan and the ellyll paused and looked back to me.
“We don’t have time to stop,” Tristan scolded me.
I pointed at the golem that slowly slithered toward me. “Is this what we’re looking for?”
The ellyll flew up in front of my face and rapped me on the forehead. “No, silly! That’s just a baby golem!”
“A baby?” I wondered as I looked past her at the muck. The creature slithered past me bobbing up and down for momentum. I climbed to my feet and watched it disappear into the brush. “So they’re not all big?”
Tristan walked over to me and offered me his hand. “Very few creatures begin their existence in their full forms.”
I took his hand and he helped me to my feet. “Did you?” I wondered.
He turned his face away, but nodded. “In a way.”
The ellyll flew in front of us and stabbed a finger at the forest. “Hurry! Use those funny legs and follow me!”
We traveled another mile into the woods before I was struck by a change in the air. The scent of the woods was replaced by the terrible wreak of corruption.
“We’re getting closer,” the ellyll warned us as she slowed her pace.
A few minutes later we stumbled upon the signs of its destruction. Wilted plants and rotted trees stood as testament to the mud golem’s terrible assault. Even the animals weren’t spared, those that couldn’t escape. I paused and knelt beside a young bird that was covered in filth. It lay on its side and its breathing came out in harsh gasps. The poor creature’s wings were singed and its body was a mess of tar and dislodged feathers.
I scooped the poor bird into my palms and looked up at the pitied expressions of the ellyll and Tristan. “This is awful.”
“We must continue on,” Tristan insisted.
“But I can’t leave it like this,” I argued as I looked back down at the bird.
He swept his hand over the area. “There isn’t enough strands of elfennau to cure the creature. The only way to help it is to destroy the golem. Only then can the area be cleansed.”
I pursed my lips, but set the bird down and stood. We continued on with a terrible cloud of creeping horror the deeper we traveled in the quagmire. The ground changed from dirt to a slick much, and I found myself losing my footing more than once.
A glowing light flickered through the dead and dying trees, and intercepted us. It was another ellyll, and this one was splattered in muck. “Sister!” The new ellyll crashed into our guide and hugged her. “Thank goodness you’re okay!”
Our guide ellyll drew them apart and looked over her companion. “What happened? Where are the others?”
“That vile creature has them! They can’t get out of its body!” She grabbed her arm and tugged her back in the direction from which she came. “We must hurry!”
We rushed forward after the pair of ellyll and through the dying trees I could see a natural clearing. The ellyll flew in first and froze on the edge. Tristan and I joined them, and I gasped.
There, nestled in the center of the clearing was a huge blob of stinking mud. The other golems had hardly been larger than a man, but this creature was the size of a huge boulder. Its pustule-covered body exploded with popping boils. The ground beneath it was covered in black sludge that consumed everything-rocks, grass, and trees-and grasped them in a slow death by rot.
I clapped my hand over my mouth, not only because of the horror but because of the stench. The foul thing smelled like sulfur mixed with skunk and putrid death. “What happened to it?” I asked Tristan.
His expression was a mix of disgust and uncertainty. “The creature has absorbed the elfennau of the forest-the natural lines-and used that to grow larger.”
Our ellyll acquaintance fluttered in front of us. “If it absorbs any more there won’t be any left to grow the forest back!”
Tristan nodded. “We will cleanse the creature immediately.”
The creature had other plans. At the sound of our voices it turned in our direction. Even its eyes had changed with its body. They were still red, but their appearance was bulbous and mud poured out of them like tears. There was almost a pitiable expression on its face as it opened its wide mouth to reveal rotten, broken teeth made from stone and tree.
That’s when I heard the small cries. Mixed in with the dead trees and stones were dozens of ellylls. They thrashed and fought against their imprisonment, but the muck held them tight in the creature’s body.
“No!” my ellyll friend screamed.
The golem flung its hulking body toward us. Boils popped in our direction, sending horrible hot mud spray in our direction. Tristan raised his arm and a bright wall of shadows burst outward in all directions. The mud splattered against the wall and sizzled, but didn’t penetrate the light. Tristan flung his arm down and the wall dropped. The black mud fell harmlessly to the ground at our feet.
“Remain here,” he instructed me as he strode forward.
I looked around for one of the bands of magic to help him. A small sliver of light floated to my left. I rushed toward it, but something hot and slimy wrapped around one of my ankles. I looked down in time to watch a tendril of muck pull my leg out from under me. I fell hard onto my back, and the knock forced the air from my lungs.
“Chris!” Tristan shouted as he rushed back toward me.
Thick grotesque limbs exploded from the body of the golem and cut him off. They stretched around and tried to grab him, but Tristan took a step back and raised his palm. More purifying light burst out and destroyed the limbs, but more grew back in their places like a hydra.
My little ellyll friend fluttered over to my ankle and raised her hands above the muck. Small strands of green light sprang from her palms and cut through the tendril. The gashes only lasted a moment before the monster renewed itself.
Then it began to pull me toward it. I twisted to my left and reached out for the strand of light. “Please!” I yelled.
The light heard me and flew over. I felt its fiery warmth touch my hand and a ball of light appeared. I swiped my arm in an arch between me and the monster. The light burst forward like a curved blade and sliced into the center of the creature’s body. The golem screamed and shuffled back. Its tendril tightened its hold on my leg and I cried out as I felt the oozing burn of its horrible body sink into mine.
“Enough!” Tristan boomed above the cries of the suffering.
My eyes widened as I watched his body expand. Wings burst from his back and stretched high into the air above him. His form shifted and the lines blurred as he blended in with the muck
and shadows that surrounded us. Tristan’s face elongated into a snout and his horns thickened and lengthened until they were larger than my legs. He dropped onto all fours and his legs transformed into thick hind legs. His clothes morphed into dark scales that covered his body except for his hair. That changed into a long, wild mane where the strands swirled around him like snakes.
Tristan let out a terrible roar that shook everything in the clearing. I felt a terrible coldness sweep over me, but whether it was from the aching bite of the golem or Tristan I couldn’t be sure. Tristan charged the golem and latched onto its gelatinous body with his powerful teeth. The golem cried out in pain and twisted its body to free itself.
My little ellyll friend grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the fight. “We must leave or those monsters will destroy us!”
I shook my head and eased myself onto my feet. My injured leg throbbed with pain, so I leaned my weight on the other one. “I’m not leaving Tristan!” A light strand curled beside me and brushed its warm body against my arm like a gentle pet.
The ellyll let go of me and gaped at the strand before a sly smile slipped onto her face. “Very well! I’ll stay here, too, and help you!”
Tristan wrenched his head back, and his powerful jaws took with him a huge chunk of the golem. Several of its tendrils slipped between Tristan’s clawed feet and behind him. They rose up like daggers and pointed their sharp tips at his back.
I gritted my teeth against the increasing agony on the golem bite and flung my arm forward. A slice of light flew out of my hand and cut the tendrils. They clattered to the ground like flopping fish before they exploded into sparkling golden dust.
“That’s it!” the ellyll told me as she flew in front to face me. Her body glowed a bright green color like woods in bright daylight. “Do that again, but bigger, and I’ll help you.”
I nodded and the strand of light flowed in front of me. The ellyll stood on my shoulder as I held my hand out. The elfennau dipped into my palm, granting me its blessing even as the glow from the ellyll flowed into me. There was such a feeling of warmth and comfort in those gifts that all my fear and uncertainty fled before them.