The Black Stone of Elu

by Darrin Long

  “Place yer forehead against mine,” he said.

  “Neilan, you are not strong enough,” she said.

  “Iri, please,” he said.

  He could see the struggle on her face, but she did as he asked. He closed his eye as their foreheads touched and listened to their breathing and to his heart beating. Everything slowly faded away only the thump, thump, thump of his heart then, the paIring of two hearts beating together; his and hers. He concentrated on his body and the areas that he knew were injured, allowing their combined strength to begin the healing that he needed. As the feeling began to fade, Iri pulled her forehead away and looked into his eyes.

  “Are you ok?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he said, finally able to give her a half smile. “I’m hungry”.

  Iri jumped up with a smile and quickly gathered some things and put them in a pot on the fire.

  “It will only take a moment,” she said with a smile “I made it yesterday just in case.”

  He watched her as she moved around the cave. Never had he seen anything more beautiful in all his life. However, his thoughts were interrupted by an itching sensation in his left shoulder and he reached over and touched the bandage. He knew from his childhood experiences that the itching was because he was beginning to heal. Iri finished the food and brought over a bowl. He tried to take the spoon, but she would not let him.

  “I will feed you,” she said pushing his hand away with a smile.

  The food was delicious and he was starving.

  “How long has it been since the battle?” he asked Iri.

  “Three days,” she said “Kaylu took you to Mount Gomore first. You were very weak and he was afraid that you were dying.”

  She lifted the spoon to his mouth again.

  “Yesterday he flew you here,” she said.

  “Did he tell ye what happened?” Neilan said.

  She nodded, “some things,” she said looking down at the bowl. “He said that you walked into a trap.”

  “Ya, wolves,” he said “lots of them.”

  Iri reached over and wiped his mouth then, gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

  “Well, well” a voice bellowed from the doorway.

  Neilan looked over to see King Krell looking into the cave.

  “I have to hand it to you boy. I didn’t think you was going to make it” Krell said.

  Neilan could see Kaylu step up behind Krell.

  “Go inside,” he said to Krell as the two of them entered the cave.

  Kaylu stepped over by the fire so that he would be standing in front of Neilan and Neilan was glad for it because it hurt to turn his head to the left.

  “How are you feeling?” Kaylu asked him.

  “A lot better” he replied.

  “Yes, Iri told me about your agreement,” Kaylu said glancing over at Iri who was putting the bowl away. The Dragoine healing will come in handy; the claws on those wolves were covered in poison and your wounds were starting to get infected very quickly.”

  Kaylu looked over at Krell then, looked down before looking back at Neilan.

  “What?” Neilan asked.

  “Well, first of all, we were able to set a hundred of Krell’s people free,” he said.

  “But what?” Neilan asked looking over at Iri who did not look back at him.

  Kaylu glanced over at Iri for a moment then, in a low voice, he said.

  “We weren’t able to free any of the Dragoine and … King Lamu is dead.”

  “No,” Neilan said, looking over at Iri who was facing the opposite wall. “Iri, I’m so sorry.”

  She turned and looked at him with tears running down her face and he lifted his arm for her to come to him. She came over and sat beside him as he put his arm around her and kissed her on the forehead.

  “But, unfortunately, I have even worse news,” Kaylu said. “I don’t know if you remember the Deamhan’s words back in the valley?”

  “Yes,” Neilan said, “I remember.”

  “Yes, well it seems that Caudee knows that you are the Reiteach,” Kaylu said.

  “But no one has seen or heard from him since the battle,” King Krell said. “There have been Dragoine scouts scouring the countryside looking for signs of him. He just… seems to have disappeared with two hundred Dragoine prisoners.”

  “However, with the protective spell, I placed on your cave,” Kaylu said, “Caudee’s soldiers will not be able to locate you so easy.”

  Neilan swallowed hard. He didn’t like the idea of Caudee knowing about him because it took away the element of surprise that was on his side.

  “Well, we’ve said enough” Kaylu said turning back to King Krell. “We need to be going.”

  “Where?” Neilan said.

  “Well, first to Furrow Thor then, to Furrow Iarthair to speak to Queen Karn,” King Krell said.

  Kaylu looked at Iri for a moment.

  “They will have a ceremony for the King in two days,” he said, “If he is strong enough, I will take you both.”

  “Thank you,” Iri said quietly.

  “Yes, well, good to see you’re still alive,” king Krell said turning and walking out the door.

  “A man of many words,” Kaylu said as he followed him out.

  Neilan reached up and stroked Iri’s hair.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said to her.

  She looked up and wiped her eyes.

  “I didn’t get to say goodbye,” she said, “I was so angry with him and now it all seems like such a childish and foolish thing.”

  “You need to rest,” she said, taking a deep breath and turning Neilan around and helping him lie back down on the blanket then, she laid down beside him and they held each other.

  Neilan’s healing went very well and when two days had passed, he was indeed strong enough to travel to Draioch. Kaylu arrived early in the morning carrying some items that Neilan had forgotten about; his bow and his sword.

  “These were on Mount Gomore. One of the soldiers had picked them up.” Kaylu said placing the weapons beside the door and walking over to where Neilan sat. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better” Neilan said reaching up and offering Kaylu his hand.

  “Great” kaylu said shaking it, “we have a lot to talk about. But that will have to wait until later.”

  Kaylu turned to Iri who had just finished gathering things for the trip.

  “Are you ready?” he asked her.

  “Yes,” she said looking at Neilan “we are ready.”

  Kaylu helped Neilan to stand up and walk out the door. Once outside they stopped for a moment as Iri closed the door behind them. Neilan was surprised to see snow on the ground.

  “Snow,” he said with a smile.

  “Yes,” Kaylu said, “It started yesterday.”

  Iri grabbed Neilan’s arm.

  “Ok,” she said and the Glen disappeared.

  A moment later they were standing inside the enclosed walls of a city.

  “Kaylu,” a soldier said then, seeing Iri he bowed.

  Neilan could see Iri looking around nervously.

  “Welcome to Draioch,” Kaylu said leading them towards the centre of the city. “You can wait in your dwelling until its time.”

  They walked down the streets of Draioch and from what Neilan could see they caused quite a stir; the Princess, the Reiteach and the Dream Crier.

  “It’s a beautiful city,” Neilan said looking around.

  “Yes, it is,” Iri said with pride in her voice “but it has become run down over the last few years. The Dragoine use to take more pride in our beautiful city.”

  They arrived at a very large dwelling in the centre of town and went inside.

  “We can wait in my father’s library,” she said taking Neilan into a large, well-decorated room with a beautiful desk against the back wall and bookshelves that reached the ceiling.

  As they entered Neilan notices his image in a mirror on the wall and stopped to look at himself for a moment. He had on
ly seen his reflection a couple times in his life. Kaylu had successfully saved his left eye, but the three scars that the wolf gave him were not quite so easily hidden. He reached up and touched them, tracing the dark red marks from top to bottom with his fingers.

  “They are the marks of a brave man,” Iri said taking his arm and looking into the mirror with him.

  He didn’t have a mirror in the cave and he often wondered what he would look like with Iri by his side. He really liked how it looked and he smiled.

  A moment later a soldier arrived and escorted them into a large garden that Iri said was the city square. There was a stone sepulchre with the image of the King lying upon it and a podium standing behind it. The entire area was decorated with beautiful flowers and the square was full of mourners. Neilan noticed a group of Tunai to one side and bowed when he saw King Krell, who nodded back at him. Neilan and Iri were seated on a bench up front by the sepulchre as Kaylu stepped up to the podium to address the city.

  All in all, it was a wonderful ceremony, but Neilan was not comfortable sitting on that bench. His body still had not healed completely and his mind would not let him rest. One question kept echoing in this head over and over again. Where are ye Caudee, where are ye? Neilan knew as he looked around at the crowd of mourners that had gathered; this is far from over; in fact, he was sure that it had just begun.

  Note from Author

  I hope you have enjoyed this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. If you would like to continue to follow the story of Neilan and Iri, you can send an email to the following address and ask to be notified when the next book in the Dream Crier series is set to come out. Until then, good reading.

  dlongbooks@outlook.com

  Darrin Long