Page 119 of Blood of Ancients

Chapter 33

Ravinica

TURNED OUT ELAYINAwas a big deal in Alfheim.

I should have guessed, since she was a big deal in Midgard, and that wasn’t even her home. The dark elves wanted her for some reason, and Gothi Sigmund had placed Arne to spy on me so he could find out what secrets she held once I talked to her.

I understood she could put her palm on your head and uncover repressed, lost memories. It was a nifty magic trick, yet not something I thought would provoke the spite of the most powerful people in the realm.

There’s something more to her. Something more no one has told me yet. Everyone she comes into contact with—save the Dokkalfar trying to kill or kidnap her—bows and speaks to her like she’s an age-old deity.

I had heard she was a thousand years old. I mean, she lookedold, but notthatold.If she’s spoken about in history books, I’ve never heard mention of her. And I’ve done enough research to know. So what am I missing?

I intended to find out, now that we were in Alfheim with her.

Luckily, she wasn’t playing the same tricks, speaking the same riddles as she had while in her tree-cave in the Niflbog. Lady Elayina knew her power here. She was old and decrepit, shuffled in a measured gait, and was clearly past her prime.

That didn’t matter to people like Corym or Jhaeros, who venerated her. They slowed their movements to match hers, letting the old half-elf lead us out of the elfstones and deeper into Kiir’luri. Where she walked, the trees creaked aside, creating walkways where there’d been none.

As a giant group, we trekked all morning, stopping only so we could have a meal. By then, the sweltering heat was bearing down on us from the greenish sun. It was a thick heat, stealing the oxygen from my lungs and making it harder to breathe. The stuffiness of the pollinated forest didn’t help.

Once we reached the cliff that swirled down to the huge Twins of Norrin’s Pass statues below, Jhaeros led us to a winding path off the mountainside and down to the valley.

It was a magical, picturesque place filled with sky-blue rivers and wildflowers. Animals that looked like elk or deer—yet slightly off-color with orange fur and purplish hues—skipped by.

I felt like we had either stumbled upon Oz or Wonderland. Nothing about this place seemed real, even though the men and women around me certainly were.

My group stayed close to me, with the wood elves surrounding us. Arne hadn’t left my side since waking up with my fingers threaded into his. Magnus helped Kelvar walk at times, the Whisperer recovering and finding himself with a new limp. Grim and Sven kept their eyes on the elves around us, untrusting. Corym was at the front of the pack with me.

“Do we trust them?” I asked him out the corner of my mouth as we paraded through the rough cobbles of a forested pathway that cut directly through the center of the valley.

“We have to, lass.”

“Why? Couldn’t we have left Alfheim after returning Elayina?Shouldn’twe have left?”

Corym gave me a tiny headshake. “I hate to say it, but we can’t squander this opportunity.”

“What opportunity?”

“Arriving with a legendary figure. Rather than being prodded with spears and treated like prisoners by Jhaeros and his ilk, we will be received as heroes. Lady Elayina has been missing for generations. Everyone knows who she is.”

“I kind of picked up on that.” Biting my lip, noticing how some of the wood elves were scooting closer to listen to us—hopefully not able to understand us—I continued. “. . . And whoisshe, really, Corym?”

“That is her story to tell,lunis’ai.” Before I could roll my eyes or argue, he added, “This time, she has agreed to tell it, in full, once we arrive.”

“Arrive where?”

He nudged his chin toward the Twins, which we were about to pass under. “Alokana is just beyond the mountains yonder. It is the capital of Heira, my nation-home.”

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