For the Love of Elves (World Walker Book 1)

by Shawn Keys

  Helleanna had come through the best, mostly from her experience having done it before. She was waiting for Ajax. Giving him a couple seconds to recover, she slipped closer and peered into the dark elf’s face. “Can you hold her up?”

  Ajax nodded, watching as Helleanna placed her lips to the dark elf’s own. Strange place to go for a first kiss…

  But rather than kiss, Helleanna used her lips to pry Krizzilani’s open, then blew a strong breath into her lungs. Then another. Ajax had heard of the elfish kiss of life before, but never witnessed it. The moon elf tried twice more, and then Krizzilani began coughing explosively, forcing all the water she had swallowed from her lungs.

  Ajax was amazed. “You’re a talented woman.”

  She grinned at them as they clung together in the water. “Sun elves don’t let just any moon elf tend to their princesses. I’ve been training to save her life no matter what befalls her for more than a century.” She tilted her head toward the city. “Can you get the dark elf all the way there?”

  Ajax shrugged, “I’m not the best swimmer, but it’s not far. We can trade off, though.”

  “We’ll have to. Whether this dark elf can swim or not, she’ll be weak as a kitten for a few hours after nearly drowning.”

  “And the whole fact that she was nearly beaten to death.”

  “That, too.”

  Callistia led them. The day was passing full noon, and the bright sun was blinding as it reflected off the water. Her eyes could handle the glare, adapted to it as surely as the dark elf could see in the black. At first, she kept watch for any boats. As they drew closer, she tried to pick out a remote place along the docks with less activity. Ajax and Helleanna came behind, sharing the burden of Krizzilani along the way.

  They reached the docks, picking their way past the sludge and slicks of pollution in the water. They found an out-of-the-way ladder and pulled themselves up onto the end of an abandoned wharf behind some equally abandoned and decaying crates. No-one came shouting at them or demanding to know who they were.

  Ajax whispered, “Now’s the time, Helleanna. Is your hideaway far?”

  She shook her head. “Not more than a few blocks. Would be better to do it in the cover of darkness. Sun elves don’t come into these quarters unless they are boarding a ship, usually as part of an entourage. Dark elves are even rarer. They won’t stop Callistia, but they might notice her.”

  Ajax growled. “We can’t stay crouched behind this rotten wood all day. Someone might stumble on us, and then there’d be questions. And Krizzilani needs tending.”

  Helleanna suggested, “I could get to my contact fast, then come fetch you all with a cart. We’ll make it look like we’re clearing away this debris. The dockmaster will thank us rather than yell at us.”

  Once more struck by the practicality of the moon elf, Ajax smiled and said, “Sharp idea, lass.” He looked to Callistia.

  There was an odd look to the sun elf as she watched the two. Helleanna might be her maid, but there was clear deference being paid to Ajax as well. Her expression smoothed into a smile, as if deciding that she could accept where things were headed. “You have my leave, Helleanna. And my thanks.”

  The moon elf maid flashed them a grin, then skipped down the wharf, trying to look like just one more innocent moon elf sent into the city on a task by her mistress. While the population was predominantly human with a smattering of minotaurs, gnolls and other tribal races, moon elves on such missions were common enough.

  Ajax did what he could to make Krizzilani comfortable, then asked the sun elf, “How’d you two find each other?”

  Callistia followed Helleanna’s spritely form disappearing into the crowd. “I wish there was a grander story about finding a missing part of my soul. But she was assigned to me by my parents before they passed beyond the Veil.”

  Ajax asked gently, “Did they die?”

  Callistia shook her head. “No. Again, there is nothing so tragic in my past. It is a secret we rarely share with humans, but the call of the elements grows stronger over the years. Eventually, all elves hear the summons of the Fae Realm so strongly that resistance becomes impossible. We travel past the veil between this place and that and merge with the Wyld World. There we live a more savage life until the Fury takes us.”

  “How long does that take?”

  “The youngest I have heard succumbing to the call was into their eleventh century of life. And no elf in legend has lasted longer than two millennia in this mortal place.”

  It was fascinating, a discussion less than a handful of humans had the privilege of sharing with one of elfish kind.

  Callistia went on, “There is a touch of madness in my brother. He thought my parents departed too early. He believed them selfish, unwilling to fight the call. We were both so young, as elves measure such things. And our realm was in what we consider disarray. He was partly right. I remember them. They were carefree and unfocused. Poor leaders and worse administrators. It is difficult to find any kindness in my heart for Lyvarress, but he has changed this realm from a mess into one of prosperity. His iron fist might chafe, but fewer people starve.”

  Ajax nodded, not objecting. He would not spare any kind words for the King who had tried to steal his precious cargo, but he knew Kings were complicated people. And ruling a realm was not simple. Aloud, all he said was, “Fair enough. Yet you will forgive me for not forgiving him for his intentions toward you? Whatever good he has done cannot offset twisting you into his royal whore.”

  Callistia’s smile turned cold. “Nor will I forgive him. I’m here with you, Ajax. I might see the good he has done, but I am not blind to the evil he intended for me.”

  Ajax gave her a firm nod. “Good.” At the end of the wharf, a cart clattered into place, blocking the end. Two drivers held the two horses in place, while a couple footmen jogged up the wharf. “Is that for us?”

  Helleanna hopped from the cart, answering his question. She called to the workers, “There is the mess, goodmen! Grab hold and clear it away or my family’s ship won’t be able to make port tomorrow eve!”

  Her words didn’t give any hint, but the workers had to be in on this game. None of them blinked an eye upon finding the gigantic former knight, a dark elf and a sun elf princess lurking among the wood. Ajax wasn’t inclined to trust them, but he had to believe Helleanna knew what she was doing.

  The workers set about their task. Ajax got up and ‘joined’ their crew halfway through. Callistia slid up against Krizzilani, keeping her warm and watching her for danger. Ajax and a couple others plucked up the broken crate around them, using it like a stretcher which they stowed in the cart. They took the time to finish the entire job, wasting only a couple more minutes before the drivers were lashing the horses and taking them toward whatever sanctuary Helleanna had arranged.

  ***

  As Helleanna had said, the refuge wasn’t far. Set back a few streets from the docks, the compound was a collection of sheds and training areas. It had the feeling of a soldiers’ barracks, but the training grounds were filled with ropes run through pulleys and blocks, platforms and huge ballistae.

  Ajax scowled, “What is this place?”

  Helleanna whispered, “The operations compound for Commodore Rasharann. He’s a moon elf loyalist commanding a squadron of four interceptors; those are the pirate hunters and skirmishers of the sea. When the sun elf Admiral Vhalevaris got separated from his battle fleet in a fog, then Captain Rasharann harassed the enemy force of King Nuallanar’s realm, even killing the enemy commodore during one exchange until our forces reunited. He was given this small fleet as a reward and promoted to his current rank.”

  That didn’t make him feel much better. “Why are we coming to the manse of a hero of the realm while we’re trying to hide?”

  She grinned back. “Trust me, my knight. I’ve not taken leave of my senses.”

  The cart didn’t enter the main complex through its central doors. Instead, it creaked into an alley leading down
one side and pulled up to the much humbler servant and kitchen entrances. There was also a shallow stairwell leading into the basement larder.

  Helleanna called to all the men helping. “My thanks, all of you. Grab the box with the injured and help us inside. The lady of the house wants a word of thanks with you all.”

  The workers clapped themselves on the back and looked more than happy to go along. Muscles flexed as they grabbed hold of the crate and carried the two elfish women inside on their makeshift stretcher. The storeroom inside was lit haphazardly by lanterns, filled to the brim with every manner of rice, grain, water kegs and other stores necessary to fully stock a warship of the realms. The crowd of workers bustled the crate over to a stack of potato sacks and set it down.

  From the dusk at the edges of the room, a woman’s silhouette appeared. “You’ve done us a great service, my friends.”

  Ajax watched her emerge from the shadows. Her luminous, silvery eyes were visible first, shining forth inner light. Her voice was music, seeping into the corners of his mind and relaxing any traces of tension or suspicion. Instinct awoke, and his iron will clamped down on his memories and thoughts that suddenly seemed so fragile and vulnerable inside his mind.

  She continued to speak, “How shall I thank you?” Her tone was smooth, following a lullaby rhythm that could so easily lull a man into a dream.

  Ajax was resisting the effect, but he was also not the main focus. That much became quickly clear. Helleanna had herded the workers toward this new woman, and had them standing in a loose group right in front of her.

  Walking around them, the strange woman swayed in a slow, somehow predatory circle. There was an alien flow to her walk, too fluid for any woman the Ajax had ever met. Her hair was a blend of rich browns and floral green highlights, piled loosely around her head as if meant to be drifting in the ocean rather than hanging limp in the air. Her lithe figure was the ideal for a swimmer, long and lean. She was the tallest of the elves he had met thus far, a little more than halfway between five and six feet, a gift of having lived much of her life drifting weightlessly rather than walking on solid ground. She shared the elegant edge of elfish features, a reminder that she was a creature of the fae and not the mortal world.

  She gestured toward the men, revealing fingers joined by webbing. Together with the temporarily sealed gill slits along her neck and collar, her sea elf heritage could not be mistaken. Answering her own question, she spoke again in that eerily penetrating way, “I know. Take this.” She offered the nearest of the men a small pouch. “Enough silver to drink away your troubles for the afternoon. Go on, now. I’ll ensure my husband’s task-masters are aware that I have given you leave for the day. Speak not of this. The matter is a private one. You saw nothing but a cart, and your service was but to clean away the garbage left behind.”

  The charm spread to her smile, and a trace of power hovered around every word. “Never remember this again.”

  The workers staggered a little. Shaking their heads and wobbling as they turned, the men stumbled back into the afternoon sunlight. They were silent until they reached the cart. Then, as one, they started to chatter again. Their laughs returned, and a few were heard to say, “Can’t believe it! A bag of coins for a little tidying up! We must be living right, boys!”

  “Who gave you the pouch? Couldn’t have been the task-master.”

  “Oh, ahh, not sure. Think it might have been the watch captain.

  “Hey, whatever. Let’s just get this crap to the dump and get on with some drinking!”

  The cart soon rattled away. Helleanna tugged on the doors to the basement, sealing them inside.

  Silence descended, leaving them alone. As soon as her work was done, Helleanna rushed over and hugged the sea elf as tightly as two old friends should. The moon elf laughed, “Oh marvelously done, Jyliansa!”

  The sea elf pulled back, offering up a heart-felt smile. “You’ve stayed away too long. You don’t venture down into the city often enough anymore.”

  Callistia raised her head from the broken crate, brushing away the dust gathered on her damp clothes. She ended up turning most of it to smeared mud instead. “I’m afraid that is largely my doing.”

  Jyliansa immediately drooped into a respectful curtsy, hardly the match for a noblewoman in a court built on land, but refined enough for a sea elf to whom the action was foreign. “I could hardly begrudge you her company, Princess Callistia. Her friendship has often been my sole reminder that there is goodness in the hearts of land dwellers.”

  Callistia smiled fondly at her maid. “She has that effect on many.”

  Ajax rumbled his question, no longer silent, “Those men. They will remember nothing?”

  The sea elf swiveled to face him, appraising him and seeming to like what she was seeing. “What strange events would bring a human warrior into my home in such company?” She shrugged that question away for now, and answered his instead. “They won’t. The power is often called the Siren’s call. We elves of the sea can soften the memories and minds of those unwitting and unready.” Her smiled grew mischievous. “I dare say your thoughts would be far more difficult to cloud.”

  Ajax echoed again, “They’ll nought remember us?”

  “Nothing at all. They moved some crates, and were rewarded for their efforts. The sight of our Princess, her maid, and her knightly companion will melt away like sea foam.”

  Honestly impressed, Ajax offered her a respectful bow. “This is a clever hiding place. Any search of the city will surely pass over us. No one would suspect that we’d be so brash as to hide in the home of a King’s high officer. You’ve saved us a great deal of trouble, My Lady. But I fear every minute we linger, we place you in danger. Eventually, sailors will come to load ships from these stores. You can’t shift all their memories and keep us living here like ghosts.”

  Jyliansa awarded him a nod of agreement. “Quite right, Sir Knight.”

  As with the others, he objected mildly, “I have lost claim to that title, whatever Helleanna may have told you. Please, call me Ajax.”

  Jyliansa laughed lightly, “She told me as much as she could. She mentioned you were once a mud-knight but have since abandoned that title. But not why.”

  Callistia interjected. “He has not yet realized that the title can be given by any of noble blood. The greater the name behind the title, the greater the knight.” She favored Ajax with a smile. “You have lost your blessing from your old lord, and my bother would rather kill you than honor you. But can you accept my blessing? Will you be my knight?”

  Ajax wasn’t faking as he went to a knee in front of her, formalizing the ritual. “If you will be the lady I am sworn to protect.”

  She laid a hand on his shoulder. “Only if you agree to protect anyone I hold dear.” Her eyes flickered to Helleanna.

  His own smile appeared. “With an open heart.”

  Helleanna swept over and hugged him from behind. “My knight!”

  Ajax rumbled a deep chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief. Well, I’ll be damned to the fury. He rose back to his feet, happy to let Helleanna cling sweetly to him as he did. He faced Jyliansa again. “Then perhaps you are not wrong after all.”

  Jyliansa nodded in satisfaction. “Which changes nothing about how long you can remain here. Eventually, my betrothed would find something suspicious and inspect for himself. His mind is not weak, and he takes lessons on mercy from his sun elf King.”

  “Your betrothed?”

  The sea elf let out a prolonged sigh. “Commodore Rasharann, of course.”

  Callistia explained, her lilting voice laying out the history with impressive flair, like recalling a story would eventually end up in the lasting legends of their realm. “Remember how the Commodore saved the life of my brother’s Fleet Admiral? When asked what he wished for a reward, anything from a promotion to a castle, Rasharann had only one request. A fragile truce has existed between our realm and the sea tribe that controls the ocean waters along our coast. He on
ce attended a parlay session between our two royal families. He was a first-mate of the fleet flagship at the time. During that meeting, he laid eyes on the daughter of the Tribal Chief, who he later discovered was named Jyliansa. Infatuated with her, it is said he sent many missives during his time at sea, using any excuse to contact the sea elves and hope for a reunion. He hoped to win her attention, her heart, and eventually her hand in marriage.”

  Jyliansa blew a dismissive sound. “What arrogance. We roam free among the waves, paying homage to a tribe chief. The ways of land dwellers are not our. Perhaps he thought to trade me for a few of the bulls in his hold.”

  Callistia carried on after her indignant rant, “At first, only messengers answered him. Then, perhaps finding his persistence annoying, the summons he dropped into the deep were not answered at all. Then, the fateful day he rescued the Admiral came. Seeing his chance, he asked for the King to arrange for a match between him and Jyliansa. Rasharann lauded this as a chance to strength the bonds between our two peoples.”

  Once more Jyliansa made a dismissive pshh. “As if the drifting lives of the sea elves needed such bonds. We live free, and pity to the surface king who tries to put a yolk on our people.”

  Ajax noticed the flaw. “Your father did not see the matter in the same light?”

  Jyliansa groused, her pretty features twisted into a scowl. “He said that while we might never be conquered, there was much we traded with the land. Things we would miss, and things that would be difficult to hunt or take. He sold his daughter into slavery so that he could have his fine gems and strange meats to eat. In the end, I was traded for chattel.”

  Callistia was honestly sympathetic, having faced the same fate. “I have heard tell of good matches that have come from such dark beginnings.”

  The sea elf hissed. “Not between us. The Commodore is a jealous man without an ounce of trust in his heart. I begged for my father to find another way, but he insisted I come. That would have binded me to the Commodore as surely as anything. If he had given me freedom to roam, perhaps I could have accepted the union and one day… his affection. But instead, he forbade me from leaving. He told me I could never dive into the ocean from this realm’s shores. I swore I would return if he would only let me breathe the sweet water. He has refused my every plea.” She hissed at herself. “I would leave, and damn his eyes, he said a curse is upon me. I do not know if he truly has the magic, but I have yet to be desperate enough to risk my life and make the dive off the pier.”