Moonscript (Kings of Aselvia Book 1)

by H S J Williams

  The birds and animals were more skittish further out, accustomed to being hunted rather than hunting the village’s scraps. But she was silent even as quickly as she moved, leaping from turf to branches with as much ease and elegance as any tree creature. And out of instinct more than thought, she let her appearance melt into the shadow and sunlight spangled background. Her flaxen hair became a bright flicker of gold, her green clothes moss against the trees, her skin translucent as water.

  The talith vines grew up in the jungle canopy, and she had gone out some distance before finally choosing a mighty trunk to scale. Her slim hands and feet gripped each knot of the thick wood and she soon climbed to the tree’s enormous summit, vanishing into its palace of branches and leaves. As she knew well, it was one of the tallest trees of the jungle, and when her head at last broke from the top she overlooked the entire green canopy as if it was a living carpet. For just a few moments she breathed the fresh air, letting the wind whip the sweaty strands of hair from her face.

  And there, to the west, it glittered. The sea. It was something so different from her world. So still, so level, so full of sparkle. The strange smell of salt sometimes drifted even here on the wind. One day, she would ask her many-times-great-grandfather if he would allow her to accompany the peddlers of her village who traded with the city by the sea.

  But…until then…she plucked the leaves of the talith vine and stuffed her bag. Until then, she would do her duties well. As eldest of her siblings still at home—ever since her elder brother had abandoned them for the North—she understood responsibility. Already, she was feeling the guilt for taking longer than necessary.

  She clambered down, then jumped the rest of the way. She’d just settled the bag of leaves more comfortably against her hip when a strange cry made her pause. Really, there were so many sounds in this jungle, so many that could make intelligent noises that she was surprised she noticed this one at all. But it had sounded…very young. A monkey’s infant in distress perhaps. But…no. There was something distinctly human about the sound. She blended even further into jungle colors and silently drew near. Yes, two children talking in the common tongue, so not of her village.

  She peered over a fallen log and saw them. A boy and a girl, and they were bent over a body.

  “What in Orim…” she breathed. Then louder, she called, “Are you hurt? I’m coming!”

  The stranger’s words still hung in the air as Tellie lifted fear-stricken eyes to Kelm.

  They looked at each other, hoping the other would say that they’d heard nothing. Perhaps it was just their imagination. It was plausible; who could say what the trauma of the last few days had done to their senses?

  Tree branches rustled.

  Inhaling sharply, they whirled around to look at the forest behind them. The leaves were swaying, but there was no wind. A sudden flicker, like spots in her vision, caught Tellie’s eye. For one moment, she could have sworn she saw the bark of the tree move. The same flicker moved down to the bushes below. It was like she was staring through glass at the growth beyond, but the glass was formed like—

  A woman materialized out of the air.

  Tellie’s scream strangled her throat, and she scrambled backwards on her hands and feet.

  The woman stalked forward, her body bent and her head tilted, like a wildcat cornering its prey. Even visible she was difficult to see for her lithe body was covered in shades of green that seemed to take on the image of the jungle around her.

  Kelm stood, shaking. In both hands, he gripped a stout branch. “Back!” he shouted, with a threatening swing. “Don’t take a step closer!”

  The woman paused and stared at him. Her eyes, large and brilliant with color, flicked down to Tellie and then rested on Errance. A thousand thoughts swam across her face and then in the same lilting voice, she commanded, “Stay right there. I’ll bring help.” The next moment, she vanished back into the trees.

  “What was that?” Tellie cried. An ache stabbed behind her eyes from seeing the impossible.

  “A chema?” Kelm suggested. “The stories say they go nearly invisible, you know.”

  “She looked different than I’ve heard!”

  “Well do you know of anything else that can vanish like that? She might be a scout from Tertorem. Bring help, is it? We’ll see about that.” Kelm bent over Errance, grabbing his arms. “Come on! We have to get out of here!”

  She reached to take Errance’s other arm and shoulder, and her fingers sank into open flesh. With a cry, she jerked back.

  “Come on!” Kelm bawled.

  Gritting her teeth, she thought of all the grand stories she’d ever been told, grabbed hold, and pulled.

  Errance’s body scraped across the ground. He was not as heavy as they expected, and they pulled faster. His broken flesh caught on the roughage below, and he murmured in pain, head turning.

  Tellie dropped down beside him, patting his cheeks sharply. “Wake up, Errance!” she pleaded. “Come on, wake up!”

  His face remained still and white.

  “We’ll go faster this way,” Kelm gasped, pushing the limp elf up to a sitting position and tucking his own shoulder underneath Errance’s arm. He grabbed the arm and flung it around his neck, then wrapped his other arm behind the elf’s back. Tellie placed herself in the same position, wincing as she felt fresh blood soak into her dress. Together, they pushed to a stand and staggered forward, taking the opposite direction the woman had gone.

  The trees seemed to close in around them, the thick branches and vines barring their way. All sense of direction was stolen from them, and they did not know if they were returning the very way they’d come.

  Voices rose in a whirr behind them.

  “Quick,” Kelm rasped. “Into this bush.”

  The bush was thick and broad-leafed, the greatest protection that could be found in a short distance. As they staggered in, Tellie’s foot caught on a branch. She lost her balance and fell forward, dragging Errance and Kelm down with her. The twigs snapped and crackled underneath them. Such a small noise it was amongst the constant chatter of the jungle, but for them it was resounding cacophony echoing in their ears. They froze.

  The murmur of voices came steadily nearer, the voices of several people.

  Kelm hissed, and Tellie realized her foot was still sticking out of the shrub. Panicked, she yanked it in and tried to make sure her sadly browned dress was concealed enough. Her movement merited another hiss, so she went still. She curled up with her back facing the jungle, and she could see Kelm crouched near the trunk of the bush, his eyes wide and his hands clenched. The voices were drawing ever closer, and now she could hear them searching through brush.

  She buried her face into her arms, cheek resting on Errance’s chest. She could feel the flutter of his heartbeat, and for a moment she wondered, even if they did escape this, if he would survive much longer. He did not look like he should be alive. What would happen after this? Where would they go? How could they get him to wake up? The questions slammed in one after another with such force, her breath spun away.

  The branches thrust aside.

  Tellie screamed, but with a wild roar, Kelm sprang up and threw himself at the man standing above them. The man stepped aside in surprise, but he grabbed the attacking boy in an effort to restrain him.

  Tellie shoved to her feet and stumbled forward, clawing at the man, but hands descended on her shoulders. With a cry, she twisted from the grip and raced away into the trees, the strangers shouting in a foreign chatter after her. She dashed through the jungle, tearing through vines and leaves and leaping like a deer over fallen trees and broken ground. When she came to a wide stream, she dove into the reeds and huddled down in them, submerged up to her chin.

  Each breath shuddering, she leaned against the bank and listened. The reeds swayed around her like chimes, but all the voices were in the distance, smothered in the jungle purr. In that gentle tranquility, realization of what she’d done collapsed with the weight of a
mountain.

  She’d left Kelm and Errance.

  Without a thought for their safety, she had obeyed instinct and dashed off into the wild. She sank into the stream, mouth listlessly dropping open. What sort of weak coward was she?

  She had to go back, go back and help them. And if she could not help them, she must stay with them anyway. Or…or maybe it was good that she was free? Maybe she would be able to follow and find a better time to rescue them?

  Dismally, she sank deeper into the water, watching the currents swirl around the reeds.

  A current of water was moving upstream.

  She bolted upright. “Stop it! Stop it right there!”

  The same woman as before slowly appeared from the air, an unexpected blush of shame on her cheeks. She did not appear as frightening up close for she was young and lovely, with flaxen hair pulled back into a long braid. Her style of dress was unlike anything Tellie had ever seen and its leafy patterns did not seem fitting to His Darkness. She extended a lithe hand, eyes large and pleading. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said. “You mustn’t run; you need help.”

  Yes, she certainly did. But not from strangers slipping in and out of visibility. Tellie jumped up onto the opposite bank, but there she paused. She needed to return to her friends, she’d already decided that. Now that she’d been found, there was no use in running again. So…there was only one thing to do. Lifting her chin, she marched back the way she’d come, not waiting to see if she was followed or not.

  Several men gathered in the glade now, all of them as flaxen-haired and strangely garbed as the woman. Kelm stood firmly secured in the midst of them, wrists caught behind his back in a loose binding. One man kept a hand on his shoulder, but the boy looked defeated. Errance had been pulled out of the bush and was lying on a litter woven from branches and vines. Several men bent over him, murmuring in velvet voices like the color red.

  Terror—and anger—filled Tellie’s breast and she sprinted forward, shoving her way between the surrounding men and the elf. “Get away from him!” she shouted. “Don’t you touch him!”

  The men fell back, faces open with surprise. She knelt protectively over the prince and glared back at them. Shrugging, one man stepped forward and picked her up by the shoulders, neatly pulling her away from Errance. With a snarl, she squirmed under his hold. Then to her utter horror, he scooped her up and carried her under one arm like a sack of potatoes. “Put me down!” she cried. “Lemme’ go!”

  The young woman darted forward and snapped a hummingbird-like chitter at the man holding Tellie.

  Whatever was said caused the man to lower her back to the ground. She swung around to face the woman. “Who are you? Are you from Tertorem?”

  “Ter…what?” the lady repeated. She took a step back, face clouded. But before she could answer another word, the men around Errance lifted the litter and began walking off into the trees.

  Tellie sprang after in pursuit, before coming to an abrupt halt at the end of her captor’s arm. To her relief, he also began to walk in the same direction as the litter. She looked around for Kelm and saw him, pale with frustration and fear, led by another man.

  There was nothing that could be done. They were captured again, for better or for worse.

  “Master Holivari!” Tryss shouted, scattering the various animals and children come to greet her as she pounded into the village ahead of the litter’s procession. Her course was set straight for the healer’s hut, and the man opened the thatched door just as she arrived.

  “What kind of injury?” he inquired calmly.

  “They’re bringing him here,” she panted. “It’s a stranger and he’s…brutalized. By people.” But by what people? The question tore through her mind over and over. There were other chema tribes in the forest, but as far as she knew they shared common decency and would never go so far in cruelty as what she’d briefly seen.

  “Start the bath,” the Master said, heading back in to prepare his medicines. Tryss followed him, heading to the far corner of the healing hut where a square hollow was built into the ground, carefully tiled. She bent low and opened a hatch, letting water pour in from a pipe to fill the bath. The healing hut had been purposefully built near a hot spring to allow easy access to the boiling water.

  A commotion at the door said that their patient had arrived. Master Holivari opened wide the door so that the men could carefully bring the stretcher in and lie it upon the thatched floor. The healer knelt by the body, inhaling slowly. It was the first time Tryss had actually seen a flicker of horror cross his face. Always her teacher kept an aura of poise and unflinching steel. From hunting accidents to animal attacks, they’d seen their share of injuries, but these wounds spoke of something else entirely.

  “Fill a trough from the hot water, Tryss,” the master said. “We will need to clean him.” His expert hands began feeling the body for internal damage, and his face only grew more troubled. “Where was he found?”

  “I found him,” she replied. “By the mountains. There were two children with him.”

  “Children?” Master Holivari looked up sharply. “Are they injured? Alive?”

  “They were very dirty and afraid but seemed otherwise healthy.” She struggled to bring the heavy trough over without spilling it. “There’s no way he traveled far like this. Do you think he could have come from the mountains themselves? But those cliffs are far too steep to travel down.”

  “He may not ever wake to give us the answers,” the healer said grimly.

  Her heart sunk like a stone. “It is…that bad then?”

  The healer hesitated. “He has many broken bones besides these outer injuries. Still, none of them seem designed to kill him. They are…carefully chosen. Nevertheless, the amount of them and the blood he must have lost is enough to end most men. Bring a flask of the sillosk bark. He may be unconscious now, but if we can start to deaden the pain, our treatments will be less shocking.”

  She retrieved it in a blur, heart hammering. When she held it out to her teacher he was already starting to sponge the filth from the body and only nodded at her to proceed. She looked to the face of their patient. Somehow, even unconscious, his features seemed clenched in pain. She set her fingers at his jaw, gently coaxing his mouth open. If she couldn’t get him to respond even a little, he’d only choke on the medicine. When his lips twitched, she poured a little inside, then stroked fingers down his throat in an encouragement to swallow. After a few tries, it worked, and little by little she forced enough down.

  He grimaced and turned his face away from her hand, his long hair shifting. The tip of a pointed ear peeked out from the oily strands, and she caught her breath. “Master Holivari…?” she began. “Look, is he a…?”

  The healer took one look and a sharp sound hissed from between his teeth. “Yes, he’s an elf.”

  “All the way out here?”

  The old man shook his head. “Perhaps the children with him will have answers.”

  Traveling through the jungle with their strange captors was much easier than before. They seemed to follow invisible paths and soon the ground growth diminished, glades grew more frequent, and the canopy thinned in signs of man-made clearings. They entered a village of round huts built of thatched reeds, each cluster of buildings surrounding a central fire pit. More strange folk filled the village, some busy at work, others stopping to stare.

  Tellie faltered in her determined pursuit of Errance and gawked at her surroundings—the children at play, the women weaving baskets, the little pigs rooting through the soil. This didn’t look anything like Tertorem. So perhaps they were among friends and not foes.

  When she looked back, Errance had vanished. “Where’d he go?” she yelled, throwing herself against her captor’s unbreakable hold. “What did you do with him?”

  A great many of the folk gathered around them, murmuring with perplexed tones and expressions. Then the crowd parted to make way for a small, tottering figure, leaning heavily on a great sta
ff. His skin was so aged it had turned from fair to brown, and it crumbled in thousands of wrinkles. His hair curled out in ghostly wisps from under his green cap and surrounded his head in a gentle halo. Indeed, he was so old he looked half ready to die in front of them. Nevertheless, there was a twinkle and brightness in his clouded eyes.

  Slowly, the children relaxed, and when they did so, their captor’s grip lessened.

  “Where do you come from, children?” the old man said.

  “That’s none of your business,” Kelm fired back. “We ought to know who you are first. Why are we captive?”

  The old man blinked. Then he said gently, “For generations we have lived in this jungle. Never have we found strangers in the trees close to the grey mountains. The strangers we find—two children weary to the point of collapsing and a grievously wounded man. My dear boy…we have not captured you, we have rescued you.”

  Tellie stared about her at the onlooking faces, some young, some old, some fair, some plain, but all curious and none cruel. “Are…are you chemas?” she asked. All the stories of the skin-blenders she’d heard said they lived in cold mountains with equally cold personalities, but the opposite seemed true here.

  “We are.”

  “I thought you all lived up north,” Kelm said suspiciously.

  “Most do,” the old man conceded. “But that is another story. We still need to know where you came from. This jungle is large and for you to show up in its most remote corner…is troubling.”

  When Kelm did not answer, Tellie drew in a deep breath. “From those mountains. We’re escaping the Darkness.”

  The old man inhaled, murmuring a few words as either a curse or a prayer. Whatever he said, the surrounding people gasped in horror and drew away in fear. “So it is true…the Darkness has taken root behind those mountains.”

  “For seventy years at least. That’s how long our friend—the injured man—has been there.”