by E. L. Todd
She walked up the wooden steps and entered the large entryway. The inside of the Great Hall was the same as the outside, different kinds of wood making up the structure. It was carved in here as well, which must have taken years.
The doors shut behind them, and Alfreda led the way once more.
The windows weren’t apertures in the woodwork like in the tree houses. Here, they were constructed of grass, purposely keeping the elements out. Inside the main room were rows and rows of long tables underneath chandeliers made of candles. There was also a large mantel over an enormous fireplace.
Surprised they burn wood…
“Here’s the greenhouse.” She gestured to the large room made entirely of glass, where tomato vines bloomed, daisies faced the sun, and an assortment of fruits and vegetables grew out of season.
“Are there a lot of storms?”
“Not necessarily. But when they come, they come hard.” She turned away and entered the library. “This is where we house our history, our lore, separated by clans.” She gestured to the names carved into the shelves.
Tobias
Riverglade
Raven
Mountain
“All the elves can be divided into four clans?”
“No. Some elves don’t have clans.” She moved to another bookshelf. “Here, you’ll find tutorials on plant lore, flowers, gardening, and things of that nature.” She moved past another bookshelf and ignored it.
Cora read what it said.
Magic.
Interesting.
They moved farther through the structure to the opposite end.
The entire back was made of glass.
Showing the edge of the cliff—and the forest behind.
Cora stilled as she looked, unable to process the scale of the forest, the depth it reached, the greenery. “Is that…all Eden Star?”
Alfreda nodded.
In front of the cliff was a meadow, orange poppies swaying in the slight breeze.
There was something about it that captured Cora’s attention. Unable to look away, she stared, knowing she’d never seen anything so beautiful in her life.
Alfreda seemed to understand because she remained quiet, enjoying the view as well.
Alfreda led her back to the main glade and toward the market.
To the left of the path was a stone archway. Peculiar because it was half a circle, not a structure found in nature. An array of holes was carved through the top, symbols she hadn’t seen before. A path led into the dense forest, the trees hiding the scenery from view. “What’s this?”
Alfreda continued forward without looking back, knowing exactly what Cora referred to without checking. “The cemetery.”
With beings that were immortal, it must be really small.
“You aren’t permitted in the cemetery.”
Cora continued behind her, her eyebrows furrowed. “Why?”
She continued on her way, taking a very long time to respond. “A request by the queen—and I honor our queen’s requests.”
Minutes later, they returned to the market they’d passed at the start of their tour.
Alfreda turned back around to face Cora. “Our tour has concluded. Now you’re familiar with Eden Star. The depth of this forest can only be explored with time—so pace yourself. Our trails lead to waterfalls and rivers, to meadows undiscovered, mountains and caves. Take your time and discover.”
So, nothing was off-limits except the graveyard. Interesting. “Thank you for your time, Alfreda. I appreciate it.” Cora bowed.
Alfreda didn’t bow in return.
She brushed it off. “Where can I find Callon? I wish to speak to him.”
“General Callon is far too busy to give you another moment of his time. I’m your point of contact from now on.”
“But you don’t like me.” If Alfreda was going to be blunt about her distaste, so would Cora.
Her countenance didn’t change, but there was definitely a little flame in her eyes. “Neither does he.”
“Well, he hides it a lot better.”
Now she looked offended.
Okay, Cora…not being diplomatic here. “Tell him I’d like to speak with him. Please.”
“Why?”
“He has my sword.”
Her stare lasted a few seconds, gently hostile, and then she abruptly stepped away.
“Where can I find you?” Cora watched her go. “You didn’t tell me where you live.”
Alfreda ignored her and disappeared into the town market.
“Looks like I’m on my own…” She moved down the row of vendors, giving pleasant smiles to everyone she came across, but she only received unkindness in return. When she went to the fruit stand, she admired the reddest tomatoes she’d ever seen. The asparagus was a dark shade of green she’d never witnessed before. There were more exotic options as well, like black potatoes and yellow cabbage. “May I take these?”
Helda was a beautiful elf, with dark brown hair in a long braid over one shoulder. In stony silence, she stared Cora down, her answer quite plain.
“Never mind, then.”
Six
The Shamans
I told you this would happen.
You’re overreacting. Flare flapped his wings, ascended high into the sky, and then dive-bombed unexpectedly, taking a harsh turn that nearly made his wings snap off his body like twigs.
What the hell are you doing?
Flare moved with such speed, making ninety-degree turns without warning and then smacking right into one of the Shamans, knocking him off his flying steed and down to the tree line below. This. Flames exploded from his snout, a jet stream of fire, burning the beast with wings and making it shriek before it was engulfed in flames. As it turned to ash, it fell from the sky, joining its comrade somewhere on the ground.
Show-off…
Flare pounded his wings and regained his altitude.
Shadow is still on your ass.
How can you tell them apart?
I just can. Lose him.
Flare pulled his wings closer to his chest, reaching top speed.
Shadow kept up.
How is he doing that?
Because he’s Shadow.
Flare dropped quickly, ready to circle back and knock Shadow off his steed.
That’s not going to work. Lose him.
I got this.
Just listen to me—
Flare turned and flew up, ready to smack him off his steed.
Turn! Now!
Shadow held up his palm, a firebomb smoldering and ready.
Flare dropped just in time, missing the flames that would have burned a hole in his scales.
Why don’t you ever listen to me?
Because I’m a dragon. I don’t listen to anybody. Flare beat his wings and got back to speed, reaching the edge of the land and approaching the coastline.
Jackass…
Flare kept Shadow in the rear, dodging left and right to avoid the firebombs aimed at his wings. The pursuit had lasted an hour, streaking across the sky, notifying men like General Noose exactly where they were.
We have to lose him.
I’m trying.
We need to switch back.
You’ll break every bone in your body.
We need to switch back on the ground.
He’ll know exactly where we are.
Rush turned quiet, his mind thinking.
Flare never dropped his guard, steering away from the fireballs that flew past.
The cliff. Glide down and we’ll switch.
You’ll topple over the edge.
I won’t. I’ll grab on and hide. He’ll be confused enough for me to run.
And if you can’t?
We turn back. Problem solved.
Alright. Flare tightened his wings and began the dive. Ready for this?
Always.
He dropped lower and lower, gliding several feet above the ground. This is going to hurt.
Yeah, I know t
he drill.
They changed, the dragon immediately becoming a man, and Rush hit the ground at a fast roll, the world spinning around him.
Then toppled over the cliff.
Rush gripped the rocky outcropping with his gloved hand, stopping the momentum and swaying over the edge of the cliff.
Shadow zoomed past, dropping down to the bottom because the speed was too much for him to halt.
Hurry.
“Do you have any idea what I just did?” Rush climbed up the rocks and got back to the ground, heaving with the toll it had just taken on his body.
You need to hide now. He’s coming.
Rush worked out the kinks in his neck and shoulder and ran into the trees in the opposite direction. “He’ll never find us now.”
You think this is a good idea?
Rush moved through the town, walking down the cobblestone streets with his hood up, keeping to himself as he made his way to the run-down inn near the rear. “Yes. I’m hungry, tired, dirty…and we need to lie low anyway.”
I’ve eaten many bears on our journey.
“Well, raw meat isn’t my thing…”
You eat sushi.
“That’s not the same thing, and you know it.” He kept his voice down so no one would think he was a crazy person talking to himself. He approached the inn then stepped inside, the bell ringing overhead to announce his presence.
Men were gathered in the dining hall, eating their roast pork and drinking their pints, oblivious to the hooded stranger who checked in at the front desk.
Margaret stood behind the counter and looked up at him. “Just for the night, Rush?”
“Yep.” He pulled down his hood and smiled. “Thanks, Margaret.”
“Brothel side?”
Rush hesitated at the question. “No. Just a bed.”
“Wow, you really must be tired.” She grabbed a key and set it on the counter. “You know the room. Room service?”
“Please. The usual.”
“You got it, hun.”
Rush pocketed the key before he turned to depart. He approached the hallway, a young man passing him in the opposite direction.
“Rush?” He grinned. “How are you, man?”
He smiled as he gave him a handshake. “Good. Being careful on those trails?”
“Yep,” he said with a chuckle. “Learned my lesson last time.” He continued to the dining room.
You always know everybody.
“I’m a popular guy.”
I don’t remember him.
“Remember that cart that was toppled over on Pacheco Pass? He was stuck under it.”
Now I remember. I didn’t want to help him because I thought he would snitch.
“Well, people hate my father as much as we do, so we don’t need to worry about that.” Rush checked in to his room and immediately got into the washtub to get all the grime off his body and hair. His muscles relaxed in the warm water, and once he was finished, he soaked his dirty clothes, washed them, and then hung them to dry for tomorrow. In his boxers, he moved to his bed and collapsed on top, every muscle in his body screaming. “This bed is like a goddamn cloud.”
Rush lay there, eyes closed, but he didn’t fall asleep because his stomach growled.
Interesting.
Rush opened his eyes, as if he expected to see Flare staring right at him. “Care to elaborate?”
You never skip the brothel.
He maintained a stoic expression, kept his heart rate slow, hid any sign of reaction from his other half as much as possible. “Too tired.”
Uh-huh.
“We’ve been on the run for weeks.”
Sure.
“Shut the hell up.”
No.
He rolled his eyes.
I felt that.
He did it again.
Flare’s taunts faded. You miss her. I miss her too.
Rush inhaled a slow breath and let it dissipate.
We’ll see Pretty soon.
“I hope so…”
At least we’re close to the hideaway. That worked out.
“Yeah, even though we were nearly burned alive.” Rush walked off the main path, staying out of sight with his hood up.
I had it handled.
“I was the one who got him off our asses.”
Yes. But I’m the one who flies.
“Okay, you can’t always use that.”
It’s true. Without me, you’re just a man.
“Don’t sell me short. I’m one of the best swordsmen there ever was.”
Really? Didn’t see that when you ran from General Noose…
“It wasn’t just General Noose. He had twenty big-ass dudes with him, all heavily armed—”
Silence.
Rush stopped in his tracks and immediately unsheathed his sword. “What is it?”
I said silence.
Rush moved farther off the path, his eyes scanning the horizon. His breathing slowed, his heart rate dropped. Impending battle made him eerily calm, not panicked. The sword felt right in his hand, his iron grip on the hilt.
I can hear her.
“Who?”
Cora.
Seven
The Ring of Riverglade
A week passed.
Cora ran low on food, but she felt unwelcome in the marketplace. Every time she tried to make an attempt, no one would speak to her. No one would look at her. And no one would offer anything to her.
There were times when she wanted to leave.
But her objective was too important to abandon it.
When she ate her last piece of fruit, she decided to venture into the wild and find it herself.
No one could hate her then, right?
She took her bow and arrows and her knife and set out into the forest, doing her best to stick to the trails to find her way back to the center of Eden Star. She left at first light, the sounds of the birds fading the farther she went. When her canteen went dry, she refilled it by the stream. Deeper and deeper into the woods, she traveled, her pain cleansed by the natural beauty all around her.
When she came to a meadow, she saw a rabbit chewing on a daisy.
Her hand wanted to reach for her quiver and draw an arrow.
She missed meat.
She missed a real meal.
Not fruits and nuts.
But she resisted, knowing if they ever found out, she would never be forgiven.
She let the rabbit live and continued on her way.
When she finally came across a field of strawberries, she rejoiced. “Geez…about time.” She plucked the fruit from the vines and placed them in her pack, harvesting as many as she could. It wasn’t much to satiate her hunger, but it was better than no food at all. She walked back to the river and cleaned them off so she could snack while she continued to search for more food to gather.
She didn’t realize how much time had passed until the light disappeared from the sky.
“Better head back…” She turned around and headed back the way she came.
Or so she thought.
Light disappeared.
Darkness came.
Now she couldn’t see the way.
She was lost.
She hadn’t brought a bedroll or essentials, so she lay in the grass with her head on her pack as a pillow. It was a little cool in the night but not unbearable. The noises of the forest came alive in a different way. The songbirds were replaced by owls, by darker sounds she couldn’t recognize. Crickets. Snapping twigs. Roaming animals. Panting breaths.
But she didn’t move.
And she waited for morning to return.
She harvested more strawberries because she needed them to survive.
Every time she tried to make it back to the center of Eden Star, she became more lost.
More fruit was found on the way. Almonds from an almond tree gave her the protein she needed to keep up her strength. But she seemed to get even more lost. Every boulder looked the same. There were trees eve
rywhere, so nothing stood out.
“Shit…am I ever going to get out of here?”
She knew no one would come for her.
Because no one cared.
Two more nights passed.
Luckily, there were streams everywhere to keep her hydrated. But when she followed them, she moved farther uphill and in the opposite direction of where she wanted to go.
Or at least she thought.
“Geez, Cora. You really are stupid.” With her hands on her hips, she surveyed a new clearing, a field of wildflowers that might be edible, but there was no way to really know.
“Not stupid. Just lost.”
She turned around quickly to see Callon standing there, tall and proud, his dark cape billowing slightly behind him. His soft armor had an image of a tree filled with flowers, a feminine image that was somehow masculine because of the strength he exhibited. His sword hung on his belt, his hands covered with gloves, his wrists with vambraces. “Right now, that feels like the same thing.”
His green eyes drilled into hers as he came closer, his heavy footfalls crunching against the grass. When he was at her side, he shifted his gaze away to look at the sight of the meadow. A slow breath filled his lungs. “You wanted to speak to me?”
“Yeah, like a week ago.”
He continued to stare at the surroundings, displaying a square jaw, tendons visible up his neck. He had dark hair like hers, green eyes too. “My presence is required at the perimeter for lengths of time.”
“That’s right… You’re a general.”
He continued to survey the surroundings instead of her. “Why didn’t you bring a map?”
“You guys have maps?”
He turned back to her. “Alfreda didn’t provide that?”
“She’s not my biggest fan, probably wanted me to get lost.”
He turned around and began the journey. “I’ll provide one when we return.”
“Thanks.” She watched him for a moment before she followed. “And thanks for finding me. It must have taken a long time.”
He took the lead, his strong shoulders wide, his arms moving slightly by his sides. “Not with the kind of tracks you make.”