Page 23 of Dragon Sword

I pressed my palms against his chest and glared at him. “You could have told me that’s what you planned to do!”

He chuckled. “Would you have given that sincere a performance if I had?”

I turned my face away and stuck my lips out in a pout. “Maybe. . .”

“Then you believe me when I saw I’m not a bloodthirsty monster?”

I winced at the reminder of my words. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

He laughed and kissed my forehead again. “Of course you did and I admire you for your conviction. Had I truly been intent on destroying them then that would be a very apt description of me. Now then-” He looked about himself and his expression turned more serious, “-those we pursue have a half-hour head start on us.”

My face drooped and I looked around us at the thick foliage. “So we still have to search the whole forest because they could have gone in any direction.”

Will shook his head. “I know this part of the forest. There’s only one reason they would come here.”

He grasped my hand and pulled me along with him. I hurried to his side and together we dove into the brush, only it wasn’t brush. My untrained eyes hadn’t seen the almost imperceptible path that wound its way through the woods. The further we traveled, the more I felt that something was deeply wrong. There wasn’t anything visible per se to set off any alarms but something struck my soul in a way that made me uneasy.

“These woods don’t feel the same as the other side,” I commented.

Will shook his head. “Because they’re not. These are far older.”

“Then they’re supposed to feel like this?” I asked him.

His expression was grim as he stared at the path ahead of us. “No.”

We hurried along under cover of darkness until my ears picked up on a noise further ahead. Will slowed our pace and pressed a finger to his lips. We crept forward and as low to the ground as we could manage. I beheld some soft flickering lights ahead and Will stopped us behind a large tree.

We peeked around the far side and I saw that the path opened into a large clearing some thirty feet ahead of us. The meadow was some two acres wide and long and was ringed by huge trees even larger than the one behind which we hid. The trunks of those specimens were some ten feet in diameter and their bodies rose some five hundred feet. Their branches stretched out and mingled with one another, creating a canopy that blocked out the starry night sky.

The deep shadows would have hidden what lay in the clearing had it not been for the dozens of standing torches that dotted the area at regular intervals. The dancing flames illuminated a pile of boulders big and small, with the largest being the one in the center. That rock was not nearly as big as the one through which we’d traveled, but it was free-standing with a flat base and a peaked tip that seemed to pierce the air. The other rocks were jumbled about its base like limbs broken off.

An artificial stone platform stood in front of the large boulder and a long, narrow pedestal some three feet high sat in the middle. A torch stood at each corner and cast its flickering light over a cloak-covered body that lay on the pedestal. Two thick leather straps kept them pinned to their ‘bed.’ Two dozen elf guards were lined up military style in front of the pedestal and all of them bore spears and a short sword.

General Terve stood at the head of the contingent with a grim expression on his face as he watched the proceedings. He wore black as the others did and one hand lay on the hilt of his sword. The elf commander looked and acted as if he were about to attend a funeral.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

Another cloakedfigure stood over the one atop the pedestal. The person had their hood pulled back and revealed themselves to be an aged elf much older than even Alisa. She held her withered hands over the prone body and a soft green light emanated from her palms. I could make out a few words that passed over my lips.

“Oh dearest ancestor, hear our prayers. Remove the blight which afflicts our brother and cleanse these woods of the evil which now infests it.”

She lifted her hands and magic flowed out of her palms in huge, bursting waves. The soldiers, too, held up a hand toward the platform and magic flowed out of them and into the covered body. The receiver twitched as the magic flowed into them. The figure strained against the straps before they began to flail about. Their muscles and bones strained under the pressure of their own wild movements as a dark shadow flowed out of their body. The darkness pushed against the green light and the two magics sparred for a brief moment before the shadows burst outward. A gust of wind came out with the darkness and blasted all the elves backward. The older woman was thrown into the front of the stone while the troops were tossed to the ground.

The blast had blown off the person’s cloak and I covered my mouth to stifle a gasp. The figure was a male elf or had been. Like the beasts in the dungeon, his body was covered in black patches. His face was contorted into a hideous grimace and much of his long hair had fallen out in clumps. The shadow sunk back into his body and the patches pulsed with magic for a moment before the light faded.

Terve had been thrown to the earth but he quickly recovered and rushed onto the platform. He passed the pedestal and knelt beside the old woman. She had been knocked unconscious but revived when he set a glowing hand on her forehead. Her eyes fluttered open and she shifted only to grimace.

“Careful,” Terve whispered as he helped her lean forward.

She waved away his caring hands and scowled at the pedestal. “It was no use. Our ancestor will not hear us. There is aught to do but to give him peace.”

Terve’s face fell and his eyes revealed his fear. “But surely there must be-”

“Another way?” she snapped as she scowled at him. She struggled to her feet and Terve tried to help her, but she swatted his hands away. The woman shuffled over to the pedestal and set her palms on the stone where she examined the corrupted elf. “The wild beasts hunt any of us who stray into the forest. The water in the vali grows ever more brackish. Now our ancestor has abandoned us.” She half-turned to Terve and gestured down at the elf. “Would you have him wait longer in such agony only for us to realize there is no other option for him?”

Terve pursed his lips but drew out his short sword. The others in the company stepped forward and opened their mouths to protest but he held up his hand and silenced them. Terve stood over the black elf and raised his sword to slice off his comrade’s head.

“Stop!”

---