Moonscript (Kings of Aselvia Book 1)

by H S J Williams

  “The only beauty in Tertorem was ever meant to deceive and harm me,” he burst out.

  The words on her tongue trailed away, leaving her mouth hanging listlessly open. Her lips trembled as she tried to find some sort of response. But there could be no response, not to the raw pain of his voice.

  “Anything right was made wrong. Any truth twisted to betray me,” he said with a heavy pant. The anger in his voice faded to a dull ache. “I suppose the only thing worse than a new perversion is a ruined idealism. Yes, I did resent you because of your race. But I resented you more besides.” He held up his hand to halt her interruption. “Please…understand why you are so different. The children…their presence is new and unexpected and unlike anything there. The Daisha belongs to my innocent past. Why did I not trust you? Perhaps I did not think you truly would harm me, but you reminded me of something that had. Perhaps I thought you were too beautiful to be true.”

  She blinked. He’d called her beautiful. Yet it didn’t sound like a compliment, so she could not take it as one. Taking two deep breaths, she summoned courage for what she needed to say. “You fought your captors for seventy years. You desire to prove evil wrong. But have you not thought that others wish to do the same? Give us a chance to care for you, don’t keep running away.” Let me prove wrong the conception you have of me, she silently added. To be more than the sins of my people and the fear tangled inside you.

  He breathed a bitter laugh. “You do not know how many times I gave that chance only to be betrayed.”

  “But everything was done in darkness there. Here there is light. If you run from both, where can you go?”

  He turned away again, but Tryss walked around him until she stood directly in front. Her hands grasped his arms, and though he winced, he did not pull back.

  “Errance,” she said, forcing her voice to be steady. “Errance, you are not a slave of His Darkness. You are the prince of elves, soon to be king, and there is a beautiful world to call your own. You are noble and brave, and you inspire everyone around you. Can’t you see that? Tellie adores you, Kelm worships you, and I—” She halted, unsure of what she meant to say. “You protected me. Even after everything you’ve gone through, you still protect.”

  Errance looked quietly at her, and she had a sudden savage wish that he wasn’t so horribly good at hiding his emotions. “That is why I’m leaving you,” he said at last.

  Tryss stared at him, hot tears threatening. “Why?”

  He heaved a breath and looked down. “The Darkness will always hunt me. If we ever reach Aselvia without being caught, which I doubt, he will try to take me even there. I can no longer be with you. I was a fool to stay this long.”

  “And leave us out in the wilderness? Thank you for that!”

  “You have The Daisha. I’m sure you could reach your destinations without trouble, and as for the forest your grandfather wants, the elves will surely spare you some. I’m a danger to you, not an asset.”

  She stepped back, stunned. He had known. Somehow, he had guessed that there had been more motives then just benevolence. “Our wish to help you is sincere, Errance. Where then do you intend to go?”

  He shrugged and did not answer.

  Anger blazed to life in her gold and green eyes. “Errance,” she said, voice coming choked out of a tight throat. “You cannot aimlessly wander forever. What are you looking for, death?”

  Errance’s gaze dropped down to the ground, and Tryss knew that even if he hadn’t decided on it, he had considered it.

  For a minute all she felt was anger. How could he think that, after all they had done for him! But the more she looked at him, the more she saw how much pain filled his posture, she just felt her heart break. “Why, Errance?” she whispered.

  His head snapped up. “The only thing keeping me alive these seventy years was the will of my captors! I hated every breath I took! You expect that all to change over a few days?”

  “Yes!” she cried. “Yes, because you have hope, and you have light, and you have us! You aren’t just a prisoner anymore. You’re a king. Your people need you. We all need you!”

  But he was shaking his head, face fixed back to the ground. “I can’t risk your lives,” he said, barely moving his lips.

  The Daisha gave a snort, and they both jumped, having forgotten that she was there. The worthy beast strode forward and arched her neck, proudly gazing down on them. “Well,” she sniffed. “Very noble of you, I’m sure. But you’ll just have to risk our lives a little bit longer, because I have my eye on you now, and nobody outfoxes The Daisha.” She lifted her chin and looked very grand.

  Tryss sputtered a laugh, but Errance’s brow furrowed and his hands clenched.

  The Daisha saw his reaction and brought her nose down to nuzzle his neck right under his ear with a snuffling snort. His mouth curled up against his will and he jerked back, shoving her nose away. “Daisha, enough!” he sputtered.

  The Daisha continued tickling him with her muzzle, saying, “Daisha? What a strange name.”

  “All right, all right, THE Daisha!” he gasped, bending over and clamping his hands around his neck.

  She pulled back and gave him a toothy smile. “Remarkable,” she smirked. “Such a delight to know that you’re ticklish.”

  Errance glared at her, but a sparkle had returned to his eyes.

  “Well then,” The Daisha said, spreading her wings low to the ground. “Get on, and we shall return to camp.”

  Her words hung in the air, for a moment unable to be accepted into understanding. They blinked, taking a step back.

  “You mean,” Errance breathed, “ride?”

  “Did I stutter?” She raised her nose with a regal air. “Did we not talk about it as children? I did promise to fly you all over the world, I seem to recall.” She folded her limbs beneath her and tucked her wings back to provide the most convenient mounting.

  Errance lingered a little longer, fingers flexing. He tentatively stepped forward, braced his arms upon The Daisha’s withers and vaulted onto her back. For a moment he clung there as if he’d forgotten how to ride, which was entirely possible. Breathing heavily, he straightened, his hands clutching large clumps of her fur.

  “Hold with your legs, not your hands,” The Daisha instructed. “You may have a grip on my fur if you must, but do not pull.” She nailed her gaze to the hesitating Tryss. “Well, don’t be shy, dearie. You are certainly the first chema to be offered a ride from a daisha, and you may be the last. So snap it up while the offer lasts.”

  Tryss stared, grabbling with her mind. As of a few days ago, flying had been an unattainable thought. Everyone had the dream sometimes when watching birds, but she had never been acquainted with the legend of daishas and so had never dreamed of riding them. For a moment, she thought to tell them to go ahead without her and she’d make her way back to camp on foot. But no, she was no coward, and if this was another way to establish trust with Errance, then she would take it! So with an uncertain smile, she clambered up behind Errance. At once she was seized with doubt at the wisdom of flying in the sky without any real securement, but she held her tongue.

  With a shake of her head and maned shoulders, The Daisha coiled to the ground, wings rising high above till the tips touched. “Hold on, my lovelies,” she said and then sprang into the air.

  Tryss’s breath left at the launch. Throwing all decorum and tact to the rushing wind, she wrapped her arms around Errance and clung for dear life.

  The Daisha shot up, each powerful wing thrust sending them further and further from the earth. With a final heave, she leveled in the sky, her enormous wings spreading on either side, the thermals catching under them and holding her aloft.

  “There now,” The Daisha said, looking over her shoulder. “That wasn’t so bad was it?” She chortled to discover that Errance lay flat against her back, his arms wrapped around her neck, and Tryss mirrored the image on him. When The Daisha bent her neck about and nuzzled his brow, he pulled his face from he
r fur and shakily straightened. At that moment, Tryss remembered herself and sat up as well. “How are we feeling, young winglings?” The Daisha teased.

  “Can we go back for my stomach, I think I left it on the ground,” Errance gasped, quite pale. But even as he spoke, a smile curved his lips.

  “How are you?” The Daisha looked pointedly at Tryss.

  “Mm,” Tryss replied, the sound shrill despite coming from behind sealed lips.

  “Delightful.” The Daisha snickered.

  She tilted a wing and sunk into a low skim across the forest floor, the leaves a living carpet underneath. Every color of green and brown flashed by in blurs, songs of birds heard in brief moments. If they hunkered low against The Daisha’s withers, the wind parted around them, only catching the ends of their hair. As they glided on, they began to relax and look around to better see the trees and sparkle of water occasionally below.

  “Oh look,” The Daisha said, dropping even lower and turning to circle back to a glade they’d passed. “It’s the little ones.”

  Tellie and Kelm, hurrying across the ground, jumped in surprise when a voice sounded above them, a gigantic shadow following immediately after.

  “What are you doing?” Tryss called down, the annoyance visible on her face even from above tree level. “I told you to stay put!”

  “You’re riding The Daisha!” gasped Kelm, even as Tellie squealed, “You found Errance!”

  “Yes, they’re riding me, and yes, we found him,” The Daisha said. “Now you two sit down right there until we are done, and I really do mean stay put. Or else you’ll have me to deal with.”

  Obediently, Tellie and Kelm sat, staring up in wide-eyed wonder, their hands shielding their faces against the wind of The Daisha’s pulsing wing-beats. With a last severe look, The Daisha swung out of her hover and took to the sky.

  Tellie sighed in relief, wiping her wind-blown hair out of her eyes. “Thank goodness, I was getting so worried.”

  “I couldn’t tell,” Kelm grumbled. But his frown faded as he gazed after the winged creature. “Flying,” he muttered. “Incredible. I should like to do it myself.”

  She didn’t seem to hear, staring instead into some starry-eyed thought. “You know,” she remarked. “I really do think Errance and Tryss look sweet together.”

  “Oh brother,” Kelm groaned.

  When they left the children behind, it took a few seconds for Tryss to move past her frustration of intrepid youth to realize that The Daisha was showing no intention of landing, but instead climbed higher into the sky. “I thought we were landing.”

  “You assumed. A common inclination amongst you two-leggeds. Quite silly of you. I said nothing of landing yet. I said I’d give you a ride, and a ride I shall give you.”

  “You would, of course, set her down if she wished it,” Errance corrected.

  The Daisha huffed. “If we must be all considerate, yes,”

  “No, carry on,” Tryss said. She didn’t fancy admitting any fear in Errance’s ears, and so far she’d handled heights rather well. Nevertheless, she took a deep breath and clenched her teeth as The Daisha’s ascent grew steeper.

  The pump of her wings lurched their seats, so they had to rise and fall with the rhythm to keep balance. The air grew colder the higher they went, and when at last The Daisha leveled again, a few clouds floated beneath. Seeing those wisps of white over the far forest sent Tryss’s stomach swirling, and she closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against Errance’s shoulder. He did not seem bothered by the height, but instead stretched out to see better.

  “So why did you run again, Errance?” The Daisha said, sounding strangely like a teaching mother.

  “They told you why,” he said curtly. “Evil pursues me.”

  “As far as I know, that evil was nowhere near when you ran. So you couldn’t have been running from them. Try again.”

  He didn’t answer. Tryss could feel that familiar ice stiffen his body, sealing himself in and everyone else out.

  “Seems to me there was nothing but friendship and freedom around when you fled. Is that what you feared?”

  “I…”

  “Of course it was,” she said, arching her neck and glancing back with a fanged grin. “Freedom is terrifying.”

  With that she folded her wings against her body. For a moment, they hung weightless and silent. And then The Daisha’s nose tipped earthward, and her body arched into a dive, and the world pulled them down.

  The wind shrieked by so that Tryss could not even hear the sound of her own scream though she felt her throat ache with it. Her eyes watered, and her head and ears stuffed out sound. In no way could she see or hear if Errance made any sound of fear, but she could not help but feel the shock and terror rush through his limbs.

  The Daisha bolted through the sky, and then as the world began rushing frightfully near, she suddenly unfurled a wing and shot to the side.

  Tryss’s stomach dropped back into place with a plunk, and the end of the drop sent energy pounding through her body. She did not know whether to laugh or to cry to discover she was alive, but life was a gift, and it never seemed clearer than that moment. So she spat hair from her mouth and tossed back her head and laughed. The sound sped The Daisha faster than ever as they raced upon the roads of the wind.

  Errance unfurled from his fear-stricken grip against The Daisha’s shoulders and his back eased under Tryss’s arms. She could feel his swift breath rise and fall under her fingers and then inhale suddenly as their mount bent so far sideways they had to cling with all their might to stay on. And then everything coiled inside him—the remaining fear or growing joy, who could say—burst from him in a shout.

  At that sound The Daisha’s flight became even more merry, dipping and twirling like a swallow chasing the breeze. Only blue filled their eyes, bright, purest blue of heaven’s own water. The weakness of the terrible drop scattered away, leaving behind only light exhilaration.

  This was as akin to understanding freedom as an experience could be. Tryss felt it even when she had not looked for such a feeling, and so she knew Errance felt it as well. That The Daisha knew its way and loved it, and so had taken them to know it as well. And yes, there was terror, but they only needed to trust that she would not let them perish, and then here at the end lived such a joy.

  Tryss still laughed as she held onto Errance, and he glanced back at her, his eyes alight and lips parted with breathless pleasure. It was only a short look exchanged, but it sent a deep gladness into her heart. This amazing joy, this dream come true…he knew that she saw it and that she shared it with him and yet he did not mind. Perhaps he would trust her more after this because they had done such a thing together.

  She wished it would last. That such a peace and faith would go on forever. But eventually, they would land and the journey would go on. If they reached Aselvia, then perhaps all would be well. But in her heart, she knew he would flee again before the end.

  28

  oOo

  Only a little while ago, I had sunk back into the familiar haunt of despair. But now, I soar above it, unbound, unburdened. Who knew that one could fly above their troubles. If they are down below or trailing after me, I refuse to look. Only these moments matter. This singing wind, this everlasting sky. It is unlike anything I have ever known, and my heart longs to stay forever. While up here, I close my eyes and allow myself to taste it—hope.

  “Can’t I have a ride?” Kelm pleaded for the third time.

  Errance and Tryss had not returned till that afternoon, and since then their journey had progressed at an energetic pace so that they covered ground at a swifter rate than any day before. The rich colors of late afternoon set in, casting the first shadow of evening, but Kelm was set on flying before dark.

  At Kelm’s latest and most persistent remark, The Daisha slithered through the trees, her wings tucked close to her body, graceful limbs gliding over the rough ground like it was silk. Her long neck snaked forward so that her head poked ov
er the shoulders of Kelm and Tellie. “Ride?” the creature mocked. “Because I give Errance and Tryss a ride, you think you are instantly entitled to one as well?”

  Kelm batted at the small tuft of fur at the end of her chin. “Aw, come on, The Daisha.”

  “My wings are tired,” she said pathetically. “My back is permanently bent.”

  “Stop sniveling,” Errance called back.

  Smiling, Tellie threw a glance up at The Daisha’s offended face. “All Kelm wants is one small ride.”

  “Yes,” Kelm said. “And Tellie can ride with me!”

  “Wait—what?” That was definitely not all right. Helping out a friend was all well and good, but there were limits to loyalty. The sky lined the limit for Tellie. “No!”

  “Aw, why not? It would be fun.”

  “Fun?” She wrinkled her nose. “It would be terrifying. You know how I hate heights.”

  “B-but I don’t want to go alone,” he stuttered.

  No matter how puppy-eyed and pathetic he looked, a shudder ran through her as she imagined the world dropping away below with only a smooth grey back to ride on. No. Not for her.

  “I can ride with you,” Tryss offered.

  When Kelm’s face lit up, Tellie almost regretted her fear of heights. It could be fun to do something so daring and dashing with her friend…but no. Too terrifying.

  The Daisha puffed a long-suffering sigh. “Oh, very well,” she groaned. “If you are so set on it, I suppose I could give you a quick little flight.” Yet behind the veil of annoyance, her eyes twinkled. Tossing her head, she headed towards a clearing and Kelm hurried after, all flushed with excitement.

  Tryss began to follow, but hesitated and looked back at Errance. “You’ll stay here?” She raised a meaningful eyebrow and nodded towards Tellie.

  Errance nodded.

  “We won’t be too long.” She smiled and waved, before running to catch up with the other two.

  Sitting down on a moss-cushioned log, Tellie stretched out her legs and propped up her chin as she watched The Daisha vanish beyond the curtain of rustling leaves. After the wind settled, the forest lapsed into sudden serenity. A strange quiet that had not existed often in the presence of their company.