Page 27 of The Ivory King

“We’ve not gone far and already I see that your party will be one that requires a nanny as well as a guide,” Beiro commented before rising to leave us sitting in dingy water that curled around our asses.

“I’m not sure I care for his attitude,” V’alor muttered while holding moss to his head.

“Surely with such an auspicious start to our journey, the rest of the trip will be serene,” I offered by way of encouragement.

“From your mouth to the ear of Ihdos,” V’alor replied as he glowered at his gelding, chewing on some sweet grass on the other side of the river.

I glanced skyward. A small respite from the storm would indeed be a blessing.

It seemed that Ihdos was not listening to the pleas of a bedraggled noble elf and his companions, for the rain did not cease. It continued to fall from the sky steadily, and the wind blew it sideways from time to time. It had taken several limp carrots and a long whispered discussion for Beiro to talk Sirdal across the bridge once more. As our guide led the skittish roanthrough the rapidly increasing overflow, he spoke continually. What he said remained a secret betwixt the red roan and the slim redheaded elf.

The first night was miserable. Beiro insisted we huddle together under the exposed roots of an ancient conifer. There was to be no fire, not that one would have stayed lit as band after band of rain moved over us. The horses stood sullenly under wet pine boughs. I felt much like Atriel, damp, disgusted, and dismal. V’alor and I had barely spoken other than short snippets of conversation dealing with mundane things. I’d tried to pull him into deeper discussions about us and our future, but he would not engage, which, upon reflection, as I lay curled into my cape as rain dripped through the roots to my shoulder and then down to my neck, was probably wise. What we had to talk about was highly personal. Also, Beiro had warned that the woods had not only eyes but ears. Bandits would like nothing better than to kidnap a noble elf after slaying his guards before his eyes.

I kept the fact that I was being eyed to wear the crown of Melowynn to myself. Yes, my personal guard knew, but Beiro did not yet. Nor would he if I could help it. What I knew of the distant man was that his family were bandits themselves, so if the temptation was too great—and with such a poor soul, how could a huge ransom not be—he might turn on us in the night. Or day. I knew not whom to trust anymore other than the three who wore the Stillcloud crest on their armor. A plot most heinous had been carried out in the capital. The king lay cold and dead. His food tester was imprisoned, I was sure, and the rest of the guests were going through a rigorous interrogation as I had before being able to leave. What if the assassin who murdered our king was now seeking other noble elves to slay?

I shifted slightly, rolling to my other side, unable to sleep as my mind whirled from one topic to another. The ground washard. My body ached. I missed my bed back in Renedith greatly. I missed my love lying next to me even more than my thick mattress.

V’alor had sat down next to Pasil, Tezen huddled under his cape, as the four took turns on watch. Beiro sat in the branches of the tree we hid under. My gaze went to my beloved and lingered there until the pain of watching him sleep grew to be too much.

I slid out from the roots, took a piss on the other side of the tree, and then climbed up into the wet leaves. My hands slid off the wet branches once or twice, but before too long I was swinging my legs over a stout branch next to a dark gray form that, from the ground, could be nothing more than a low-lying fog cloud.

“You’re louder than a fruit-drunk sow,” Beiro whispered, his narrowed eyes finding me.

“I was quiet,” I replied as I looked out over the woodlands. Far off in the distance, a flash of lightning lit the sky. Our guide muttered something that I couldn’t pick up due to the wind blowing over the tops of the trees. “Should you be in a tree when lightning is so close?”

“It moves off to the north,” he stated. “Why are you up here?”

“Sleep evaded me,” I replied with honesty.

“Your noble ass cannot rest unless it is cradled on thick mattresses and regal coverlets, my lord Aelir?”

I winced at the sarcasm and disdain in his voice. The fact that he seemed to be right did not escape me.

“I have a great deal on my mind.” Beiro grunted but said nothing else. “You said that your grandmother claimed to be druid. Did she commune with beasts as well, or did her magicks take another form?”

His hooded head moved to the side so that he could study me. “What does it matter to you what skills my grandmother possessed?”

“I’m curious is all. I have two dear friends who are probably on their way back to Renedith now, or I pray they are…” I refused to think that Kenton would be held as a suspect due to his skin color but old prejudices ran deep sadly. “One is able to shift into an elk and has healing skills. The other is like you, with deep beast sense and speech. They would be delighted to meet you, I think.”

“I think for a noble you are far too smitten with the ways of the woods and its magicks,” he fired back.

“It is true that I find it fascinating how our cousins maintained their ancient elven magicks while the elves who chose to live in the city and worship Ihdos have lost all such powers. I consider it a great loss for the urban elves.”

He stared at me for so long that I feared he had fallen asleep. I was about to reach out to tap him, lest he fall from the branch, when he spoke.

“You’re an odd noble. I’ve not met many of you, mind, but the ones that I have would sooner spit on us than speak to us. Us being poor people but the wood elves get lots of spittle on their cheeks as well.”

“They do, and that is one of many things that I hope to help change when I step into my rightful place.”

A moment passed. Rain fell, softly now, the pitter-patter of droplets on wet leaves and saturated soil. I pulled my cloak tighter around my shoulders.

“My grandmother used to say that the city elves lost not only their magicks but their true selves when they drifted from Danubia. I don’t know about changes other than they won’t come easy and won’t reach out this far. Out here,” he waved a slim hand at the forest, “life is too hard to sit in trees and thinkabout all the grand things you’d like to do. Out here we live hand to mouth and that takes up all our thinking power.”

“Then those who sit upon seats of authority must change the way they think.”

He scoffed as he looked out and upward. The heavy clouds parted for a moment, the rainfall stopping, to allow the two moons to glow white on his pale face.

“You have a better chance of touching the moon twins than seeing those in power spare a fleeting thought for those they sit above.”

---