I do not own this story, all credit to Sunjinjo. I hope you are enjoying this story as much as I am.
Light at the End of the Tunnel
The roar in the desert cave was soon followed by terrified screams, in familiar elven voices.
The weak firelight from the cave was distorted, and strange shadows danced just outside in the starlight. On the plateau, a little further away, Estell and Talmar shot upright
immediately, but by the time they'd gotten to their feet and were about to run to the cave entrance a louder scream suddenly resounded, more clear, more gruesome, and definitely coming from Miruvor. There was no doubt of the intensity of his agony.
Estell's eyes widened, and he froze in place.
At the source of the dancing light a young elf hung dangling from his leg in the maw of a terrifying, shaggy creature towering at least three feet over the others. His cry echoed off the stone walls, and ended in a shrieking crescendo as he fell. He hadn't freed himself. His leg now ended just below the knee, and blood spurted from the ragged stump. The crack of bone resounded around the cave as the monster hulked over him still, and more blood dripped down onto the rock floor.
Now some elves ripped themselves from their horrified trances, and slender blades were unsheathed. One of them yanked up Miruvor and shoved him back, where Isil caught him.
Others pushed the youngest member of their group towards the entrance, and eventually he staggered out of the cave, the groaning, half-conscious elf leaning heavily on his shoulder.
More screams came from behind, and Isil didn't look back.
As the two figures set course for the plateau across the sand, Estell and Talmar didn't even notice how a tremor coursed beneath their feet for the second time that night. They both ran forward, and caught the duo as they reached the plateau. Isil sank down trembling in Talmar's arms, and Miruvor fell over immediately in Estell's, to bleed all over the sand-strewn rock. Estell stared at the roughly amputated leg in horror. Talmar joined them, and grabbed his shoulder with a trembling hand. "We need to bind this. Come on." He took off his cloak.
Estell looked between Miruvor and the cave, from which screaming and flickering light still emanated. Then, before his eyes, the fire went out and there was only screaming. Then more elves came running from the cave, but not as many as had left the Sanctuary. They were just about eight of them, and the white-haired prince caught a glimpse of the pure terror in Arinya's sea-green eyes.
"Arinya!" he yelled.
"Estell," she shouted back. "A beast… they're dead, they're all…" She fell silent, and slowed, almost tripping in the sand, almost falling to her knees. A third tremor shifted the undulating patterns in the sand, and this one was stronger than the last two combined. This one was impossible not to notice.
The girl sank away into a suddenly formed hole up to her waist, sand streaming in around her. For a moment she stared at Estell in mortal fear, and then she screamed; a terrible, high-pitched shriek chasing shivers over Estell's back as he looked on powerlessly.
Behind him Talmar looked up from his work on Miruvor's leg. Isil cowered down even lower.
Teeth curved inwards from the edges of the hole, and buried themselves into Arinya's waist. Then the silvery sand rose up, in a column of armoured darkness. The rush of rising earth was drowned out by a wordless, mindless roar, even more gruesome than the sounds from the cave had been.
With his eyes still locked with Arinya's, Estell stared up at his first Ruborian sand worm, silhouetted against the starry sky like an ancient, massive pillar. With icy clarity, it occurred to him the girl was probably dead already.
Her upper body disappeared into the worm's gullet like a ragdoll. Blood flowed over the creature's bony plates in dark streams, and flew around as the colossus threw itself forward, to snap up another elf running across the sands mad with fear.
At that, Estell regained enough presence of mind to turn around, grab Isil and jump behind a large, claw-like rock formation on the plateau. Talmar did the same with Miruvor. Together they listened as the worm descended upon the desert again and again, and elf after screaming elf disappeared into his throat. Estell prayed to the Mother Goddess that some of them would hide, but where could they go? The cave was inhabited by something else with slavering jaws, and the worm was between the elves and the plateau…
It seemed as though sand worms could hunt at night after all, if someone woke them up. Too many people had been walking directly over it…
Arinya. Mother Goddess, Arinya.
He knew her eyes would probably haunt him for the remainder of his life.
Miruvor shivered and moaned next to him, and icy sweat streamed down his face. He was deathly pale, and the shreds of Talmar's cloak bound around his leg were soaked already. Then his face suddenly relaxed, and he slowly fell over from his sitting position, to stay down on the rock. Estell spread out his own cloak over him with cramped hands. As he tucked in the edges around Miruvor's body, the sounds behind them died away, and with a last rumble the sand worm disappeared beneath the sand.
For several minutes the three conscious elves sat behind the rock formations, silent as the grave. Tears streamed down Isil's cheeks, and Talmar kept holding him tightly, bewilderment and tears in his own violet eyes. Estell stared into the distance, into the desert just visible between the rocks, up at the twinkling starry sky. The stars clearly didn't care about what just happened. The stars didn't care about the fact they'd been mercilessly beaten to the ground after having ventured a few miles away from the Sanctuary.
Eventually Talmar softly spoke to the boy in his arms. "What was that, in the cave?"
"Big," Isil shivered. "Hairy. A maw two meters wide. I don't know."
"It can't hurt us anymore," the black-haired elf muttered, his eyes on Estell and with insecurity clearly visible in his gaze. "We're safe here."
"Safe," Isil echoed, but his voice broke in fear. "They're all dead, Talmar. Avestal. Arinya. Eruva. Lindal…"
"Ssh," Talmar hushed him. "Calm now. We're going back to the Sanctuary as soon as we can."
Estell stared at his friend, but Talmar already gave him a look that made clear he was lying about this. The white-haired elf looked away. Then he placed a gentle hand on Isil's shoulder. "Sleep now, Isil. Everything will be alright in the morning."
The exhausted boy closed his eyes, shivered, and slid down almost immediately. Talmar carefully laid him down. Isil's breathing quickly became regular and calm, mercifully asleep.
Estell opened his mouth, but Talmar gestured for him to be quiet. He stood up, and laid a hand on Estell's shoulder. Together they walked across the rock.
"We can't go back," Estell brought up in a hushed voice. "We have no unicorns. We're not quick enough, Talmar."
"I know," his friend answered. "But I had to calm him." He paused. "It seems we're forced to continue our search…"
"We can't go anywhere," Estell sighed.
"We can hope the unicorns come back, if they're still alive."
"Optimist."
Talmar gave a tired chuckle. "All we have now is hope."
Again, Estell stared out over the silvery desert. "We're so far from home. When an elf dies, he should be buried in the forest, so he can be one with the trees."
"Even if you die close to home that isn't guaranteed," Talmar spoke quietly from behind him. Estell turned. "…I'm sorry. I…"
"It's alright. My father became one with the Reef. At least they can't say I too was killed by the Overlords, if I die here."
"Kamáel will be sung of forever," Estell spoke.
"I'm just glad to know the Overlady's dead," Talmar shrugged with a tense smile. "That, the dwarves did do right, at least. Though I'd have loved to kill her myself." He looked down at the rocks. "I was so happy, the day the priestesses pulled that information from the heads of the traders. So happy. If my mother had been alive to see it, she'd have died of shame."
"It was your right to be happy, Talmar. Believe me, I was, and she didn't even affect my family that much."
Talmar looked up and smiled faintly. "Now I feel guilty. You haven't yet felt my happiness. No one knows where the Emperor is. Who knows… he could still be alive and your father won't even be avenged yet."
"He wasn't even king yet," Estell muttered. "He didn't want to overshadow my mother by taking the title. He died a soldier, in Orntal…" He fell silent, and looked up at the sky. "Well. This won't do us any good, forgetting our own coming deaths by talking of dead fathers."
"We're not going to die," Talmar spoke, and grabbed Estell's shoulder a bit more roughly. "We survived the beast in the cave, and the sand worm, because you wanted to leave. You're a lucky charm, prince."
Estell remained silent. He couldn't speak the words – that he'd known about the beast in the cave, and had refused to try to get the others out. I'm not lucky. I only bring death and destruction. But he nodded, and smiled weakly. "Let's hope so."
"It seems as though this rock leads on a bit," Talmar spoke with a gesture to the west. Beyond the cave, the rocky stretch did continue, an elongated plateau amidst the sand. "Perhaps it leads somewhere. We can do little else. Let's get some sleep and be ready tomorrow."
"I'll stay here for a little longer," Estell muttered. Talmar gently squeezed his shoulder, and then walked back to Isil. "See you tomorrow."
"Sleep well, Talmar."
Estell kept staring out across the silver desert beneath the twinkling stars, as a storm of confusion raged inside of him. He didn't know what he felt. As Talmar disappeared behind the rocky claws and probably fell asleep quickly, Shadow appeared next to him, darker than the darkest night. Estell thoughtlessly outstretched his hand, and Shadow reached through the tangible fingers with his own hand; Estell felt a strange cold, incomparable to the Ruborian night chill. He'd never felt such cold anywhere else, and still the feeling was welcome even here. Shadow's touch had always calmed him. Now, however, it worked only partly.
Elven blood had flowed across the sand, in quantities he'd scarcely imagined before. Elves had been plucked from his side like insects. He was afraid, but not afraid enough. He knew this very well. He didn't feel half as much as he should have.
He'd thought he'd been in love with Arinya for years. Why did he feel so little now she was dead? Now he'd seen her die before his eyes, screaming, bitten in half by Ruboria's largest predator? Why didn't he feel anything?
"Easy now," Shadow spoke, feeling how something that was almost rage washed over Estell. "You won't do yourself any good with that."
"Why didn't you feel the sand worm?" Estell asked in an almost venomous voice, but still angrier with himself and his lack of feeling than with Shadow. "Why did you feel the beast in the cave, but not the beast under the sand?"
"I don't know. I'm sorry."
All was silent for a moment. Estell didn't even have to speak his mind.
"Right, that was a lie," Shadow sighed eventually. "Estell, I don't know… there's something else gnawing at the edges of my mind, ever since we left. Something growing stronger all the time, and pushing everything else to the background. I only felt that beast because it was so close. The worm was very deep down."
"Something else?" Estell asked flatly, but still with a bit of interest.
"Something… dark."
"Like you." The elf wasn't serious – he knew nothing else like Shadow – but to his surprise, his mirror image nodded.
"Yes. Like me…"
The duo fell silent, and both stared up at the stars in confusion.
Wild water.
Suffocating crests of foam pushed him down, salt stung his eyes like daggers and made him gag, deafening cannon fire numbed him so he lost all notion of up and down.
An old nightmare, unchanged by the events of the previous day. Everything was the same as always, every wave, every chunk of debris from the smashed elven ships, every muffled scream from the surface…
…until everything went dark.
The water's power hadn't changed. It was still icy cold and savage, and he couldn't lift a finger against it. But as a wave gushed into his mouth, it wasn't salt anymore.
Gasping for breath, he tried to keep his head above the foaming surface, but his wide-open eyes couldn't make out a single ray of light. He outstretched his hands, and his fingers slid over smooth, eroded rock – and then caught on sharp protrusions again and again.
Then suddenly a bright orange light bloomed before his eyes, and the water spat him out, so he started falling head over heels, deeper and deeper amidst the icy, billowing water.
The water turned red, and flowed together to form huge, swollen drops. He suddenly flew back, and as he stared up he could see where the drops came from. The dark blood dripped down from motionless, clawed fingers.
Startled and confused he stared down, to the source of the orange light. Something dark came up to meet him, looming up from the glow. Then, so suddenly his heart skipped a beat, narrow yellow eyes sprung open in the blackness.
"Hello, Estell."
Heat.
Trembling forms, close by or far away, the difference wasn't even noticeable. Brown and yellow were the only colours in the wide surroundings; rock and sand. Above their heads the white-hot sky stretched out, the sun a hellfire behind them, a burning eye.
They'd woken up early that morning as the sun rose, and they'd felt the heat almost immediately. From that moment on the sun hadn't granted them any mercy. All three of the conscious elves could feel their skin scorch, mainly Talmar, as he'd sacrificed his cloak to bind Miruvor's leg. The others could protect their heads and arms a little bit, though their sensitive ear tips were exposed.
Before they'd left, Isil had done his best to sing an improvised stretcher for Miruvor. Estell and Talmar now pulled it across the rock; it was easier than carrying the crippled elf himself.
They had no idea of their walking speed, or the distance they'd made from the cave. All that didn't matter either. To keep moving was all that counted now. Somewhere in the scorching distance there was hope, because that was the only heading they had. There had to be hope. Somewhere in the distance there was civilization, water, shade.
Miruvor still wasn't completely awake. He kept moaning and rolling with his head, but none of them could feel his temperature, as everything was burning hot already.
The sun was about straight above them as Estell started wishing he'd enter the same state of hypnosis that'd swallowed him during his nightly unicorn ride; that he could focus on the rhythm of one foot before the other, the walk, the dragging of the stretcher. But what he focused on instead was his tongue, dead in his mouth like a piece of leather, and his throat, dry as the desert around him. His stomach was empty, but he didn't have the wish to fill it with food. Water was the only thing that counted now. He'd sell himself to the slavers in return for a sack of water.
It was so quiet – Talmar and Isil's rasping breaths the only thing breaking the smothering silence – and still the surroundings seemed to buzz, vibrate frantically, as if even the air tried desperately to escape the heat.
Water…
Now he knew why they called Ruboria the Sixth Hell.
"…water?..."
There was something breaking the buzzing silence.
With the feeling of halting a huge boulder, Estell slowly came to a standstill. Talmar kept walking a little further, but then he stopped as well, Miruvor's stretcher askew between them. He opened his mouth to speak, but didn't manage to find his voice at first. He coughed. "What is it?" he rasped.
"Voices," Estell answered, his voice in a similar state. "People."
Talmar raised his head and gently lowered the stretcher. He took a few steps forward, to the vicious rock claws flanking their path. The rocky plateau amidst the sand was much broader than at the spot where they'd left, and great portions of it were hidden by the rock formations.
But there, beyond a whole row of claws, something interrupting the yellow and brown of the desert trembled in the air. Blue was floating there, quivering all the while, and red, and multiple grey forms.
"What is that?" Talmar wondered out loud, a thoughtless hand on his forehead, more to wipe away his sweat than to see better. He exchanged glances with Estell, and then they both looked back to the new apparition. Estell cleared his throat. "Shall we take a closer look?"
Talmar nodded. "But not too close. Everything here is dangerous."
Estell glanced back. "Isil and Miruvor?"
The black-haired elf looked up. "There seems to be a bit of shadow here. Let's lay Miruvor down here and take Isil with us."
A little later, the three healthy elves crouched behind a rocky spike a bit further away, and stared at the new forms across the plateau. Their eyes were as parched as their mouths, but they could clearly see what had halted on the plateau from here.
Quite a few wooden vehicles, in a long row on the rocks, surrounded by a small group of people in brightly coloured clothes. Estell narrowed his eyes. Yes, they were human Ruborians, dark-skinned, dark-eyed and dark-haired, a few locks peeking out from beneath protective headdresses.
The grey forms they'd seen earlier turned out to be animals, spanned before the vehicles. They resembled unicorns, but they were silvery instead of white, with fiery eyes, and instead of an unicorn's elegant spiralling horn, these animals bore something that looked very much like a scythe's blade.
But Estell was startled most by what he saw as he tore his gaze from the animals and cast his eyes upon the sand sleds they pulled. He grabbed Talmar's shoulder.
The frontmost one was full of elves. Skinny, tanned, and with their hands bound behind their backs – that for which they'd come to the desert. As his eyes wandered he saw more elves in one of the other sleds, and humans in the rest, both Ruborians and northerners. In the last one were no slaves, but something large, covered with a dark cloth. Next to it, and behind it, were strange, small creatures with large eyes and a bright blue skin, their hands bound as well. Estell frowned at that sight, but the elves quickly captured his attention again.
He tightened his grip on Talmar's shoulder and looked his friend in the eye. "We have to do something."
Violet eyes met his. "What do you propose?"
"We hijack the sleds with elves. The Sea of Sand begins there." Estell nodded to what he meant. The sleds had only just been dragged onto the rock; the slavers probably wanted to rest for a bit. Water bags were exchanged now, and the animals were given food and water.
Estell didn't spend too long watching that. He did notice the wares weren't getting anything. "…We can escape. Those beasts are fast, perhaps faster than our unicorns. Those sleds are built for the Sea of Sand."
"And the slavers will leave us be?"
"We're dead if we stay here, we're dead if it doesn't work. But that will be a faster way of dying." Estell exchanged a brief glance with Talmar before casting down his gaze again.
"The only way ahead." Talmar nodded slowly. "I have to confess I don't see another way out either. I'm just sorry for Isil."
"He's young… but some of them are too." Estell looked back to the slaves. His eyes fell on a young woman with long, almost blindingly blonde hair, almost as dazzling as his. She was actively looking around, and he cowered down as her eyes almost fell on him. He pulled Talmar down with him, behind the rock. "Before they're gone, Talmar."
"I'll set the beasts in motion. You and Isil drag Miruvor into the sled."
"Let's trust the Mother Goddess on this one."
Haroun abd-Nurri affectionately stroked his frontmost unicorn's muscular, silvery neck. The animal greedily drank from its water supply, and the drops that fell immediately evaporated on the bone-dry rock. The animal's skin was at least as hot. The silvery coat reflected a major part of the sunlight and the heat that came with it.
The contents of his sled weren't so lucky. The slaves weren't covered half as well as the unicorns or their masters, and some of them lay back barely conscious. The slavers were careful for them not to die, however. Mainly elves were worth quite a bit of money. As soon as they'd recovered they were strong, and agile. And their women were very much appreciated by the nobles of the larger cities.
Not even the elves were as important as the sled that'd travelled at the heart of the caravan for most of the journey, however, well protected against the sand worms and the other threats of Ruboria. It was the sled that bore the large covered object, and the blue creatures. The rest of the wares was a side issue compared with them. Haroun didn't quite know what the creatures were, but he had heard what they could do. He'd heard the stories, each more outlandish than the last, and he wasn't sure what to believe anymore.
He could, however, believe in the gold that was promised for their safe delivery.
He walked back to his own sled, past the other unicorns, and looked at the contents a bit more carefully. No deaths yet. The fiery thing with the silvery blonde hair was still looking at him tensely, but her hands were bound a bit more tightly than earlier that day. He grasped her chin and lifted her face slightly, grinning as he inspected her. She'd definitely make him a bit of money as he brought her to her new master.
Then her eyes suddenly focused on something else than his face, and widened.
A moment later, Haroun felt a strange pressure in his chest. He looked down, without feeling a thing, and saw a bright red blade protruding from the fabric of his clothes. It was retracted, and he fell over, just like that. As his sight faded he vaguely saw something jumping over him, and the screaming started.
Estell spun away from the dead Ruborian, and hurried back a bit to help Isil with Miruvor. The adrenalin had almost swept away his earlier lethargy, and though he knew he was almost out of energy, he felt more alive than ever before in the Sanctuary. He knew he should think about the blood on his blade – it scared him, and it'd felt very wrong to thrust it through the Ruborian – but other matters now shouted for his attention.
Talmar defended him as he toppled Miruvor into the sled. Afterwards, he ran to the second sled of elves, skewered another slaver, and mounted one of the strange silvery animals pulling the vehicle. After a moment of furious attempts to spur it on, the animals set themselves in motion, just not in the direction the elves had had in mind. They weren't going for the Sea of Sand, but further along the plateau. Talmar had managed to get them moving, but they paid no attention to him regarding direction.
For a moment Estell looked around in panic, but then shoved Isil down the way Miruvor had gone and then climbed onto a Ruborian unicorn via the sled. And felt something unexpected surge through him.
The animal looked at him briefly, snorted, and burst into a run in seconds, and then a gallop, together with the others pulling the sled. They rushed after the other sled, with such speed they quickly started catching up on it. Estell held his breath – he had a feeling of control he had never experienced before in his life, and it seemed to lift him to new heights. The elves in the sled called out to him with hoarse voices. "Well done, boy!" "Have you done this before?"
The slavers had put themselves into motion as well by now, using their own sleds, but they were far behind. As Talmar and him had attacked, the main part of the men had gathered around the sled containing the large covered object and the blue creatures, as if the rest of the slaves mattered little, as if they'd expected the elves to attack that one sled. Only now all of them had reached their own sleds again, and the pursuit was on.
Estell moved with the creature he was riding like mad. The burning hot coat almost scorched through his trousers, into his legs, but that only gave him a sensation of connectedness to the animal – merging. The scythe blade on the elegant forehead moved up and down with the wild rhythm of the ride.
Ruborian shouting resounded behind him, short, rough syllables. He cast a hunted glance back, and saw some riders had cut their unicorns loose from the sleds, egging on the animals into even higher speeds with their hands and whips. Separate mounts were faster than the animals pulling the sleds… or they should have been. He'd swear that he, while gradually overtaking Talmar, surpassed even the loosened unicorns in speed. He shot across the plateau. He flew.
The elves in his sled had fallen silent, and now clung on crampedly as the sled rattled over the rocks, but he didn't even realize. Talmar bellowed something behind him, but he didn't hear. He felt incredible, busy doing what they'd left the Sanctuary for, busy doing something that went the way it should, more than the way it should. The excitement of the Ruborian unicorns overtook him, and made him lose his own thoughts, all the insecurity, all the rejection. He was the master now.
Then Talmar roared his name so loudly it cut through even this haze of triumph. "ESTELL!"
He looked back immediately, alarmed by his friend's tone of voice.
Talmar's sled was still rushing after his, but the individual slaver's unicorns had fallen behind. They'd slowed down.
"We have to stop!" Talmar yelled. "The plateau…"
Estell looked forward again, and got the fright of his life. Not too far from him, the plateau suddenly fell away into nothingness, so he could only see the golden Sea of Sand in the faraway depths. But no matter how much he pulled on the reins, his unicorn just threw back its head, snorting and foaming at the mouth, too far gone to be able to stop anymore. The same went for the rest of the group, and Talmar's.
The edge rushed up to meet them, fast, so mindbogglingly fast.
"Shadow!" he shrieked, forgetting everything for an instant, almost mortified with fear. A dark shade shot past him.
"Don't look at me," the voice that resembled his own so closely resounded in panic. "Estell, you fool, you –"
The plateau came to an end. Estell's silvery mount's hooves milled into thin air for a moment, and then the weight of the sled was rammed against them and forced all unicorns over the edge. Behind him, the elves in the sled screamed, and Estell recognized Isil's voice.
The white-haired elf shut his eyes tightly.
Another Sanctuary-dweller, dead because of him.
Still further away behind him he could hear Talmar screaming…
…a sound that didn't distance itself as fast as expected when falling freely.
Come to think of it, the sled appeared to be sliding forward again.
Then his eardrums were shredded by an inhuman roar, exploding towards him from the world ahead, and his eyes snapped open. Another roar followed, and another.
The sled was screaming down a steep sand slope resting against the plateau, no longer pulled by the unicorns but by undiluted gravity, and everywhere around him sand worms exploded into the dizzying heights. The elves in the sled had another reason to scream and clench the sides of the vehicle, but above everything else Estell could hear a woman's voice, strangely calm…
"Take these," the voice sounded pressingly. "They'll come in handy!"
Estell looked back, as his hair was blown back with him by a rising sand worm almost straight ahead. Sand beat against his neck.
He could just see how one of the chained elves, the young woman with the pale blonde hair, turned and pressed something into Isil's hands with her own bound ones. "You can throw them," she bit at him. "My hands won't get far enough!" She jingled her chains. "Now, boy!"
Isil caught Estell's gaze, eyes wide with fear. Estell nodded at him, unable to speak. He looked ahead again. The sand worm loomed up before them, arching down, not far enough to race around before it could orient itself…
Isil lobbed one of the objects up, straight into the gaping maw, exactly like the maw Arinya had disappeared into that night.
The sand worm shuddered, convulsed, and continued convulsing as the dwarven bomb cut through its body, exploding all the way. The mighty armoured pillar slowly toppled over, in a whirlwind of sand obscuring the horizon…
…and Estell gathered just enough presence of mind to whack his unicorn's flank, the elves in the sled yanked at the sides and used their weight, and together they shifted their course enough to speed around the dying sand worm after all.
Behind him Talmar furiously roared his name a second time, this time followed by every curse and swear word he could think of. But Estell just narrowed his blue eyes, used the hot wind to keep his hair out of his face, and slowly took back control over the unicorns. As the animals regained their grip on the slope's loose sand and started speeding up, and actually started pulling the sled again, with even more insane speed than gravity alone could have caused, he started moving with his mount again, as well as he could.
He didn't even have to think, unlike during his clumsy antics with the white elven unicorns. For the best, too, as they not only raced down with dazzling speed, the sand worms were still around as well, and it was his job to steer as much as he could.
The Sea of Sand lay stretched out ahead, in the depths, an undulating carpet of pure gold beneath an unworldly blue sky.
He feverishly looked back again. Talmar's sled was still following closely. It seemed his friend didn't control the animals half as well as him, but they were simply following Estell's sled. All the unicorns' mouths were covered in yellow foam now, but the exhaustion and the sand worms only seemed to whip them into a frenzy, wilder, faster. Estell's eyes widened in admiration – the Sanctuary's unicorns would have given out long ago. After having survived a few emerging sand worms they seemed to have composed themselves, as the sled now changed directions before the monsters even burrowed through the sand.
After a while the slope started flattening. Most of the sand worms that had emerged reared up far behind them, and the few that had burrowed out closer to them weren't fast enough in snapping down – the two sleds were far away when that happened.
They shot off the sand mountain, the plateau far and high above them, the slavers way out of sight.
Two sleds of elves were their prize. All at once, they were no longer lost, they had a means of transportation and company, not to forget water, glorious water. Estell grasped the sack offered to him greedily. Drops spattered over his chest as the ride continued at high speed – the unicorns were unstoppable, and that was a good thing, as the sun was barely over its zenith and the sand worms were still active. But neither that nor the waste of precious water could faze him now. This felt like a victory drink, the first deserved one the elves had had in years.
"That went well," a voice behind him chuckled. Estell looked back, beyond the radiant faces of the former elven slaves and Isil, into the bright green eyes of the young woman who'd passed the bombs along. "Who are we to thank for this daring rescue?"
"I'm Estell," he uttered, grinning broadly.
"Son of Fay, prince of the Sanctuary," Isil added. The boy exchanged glances with Estell, and smiled faintly.
"Well, well," it sounded, and Estell felt himself blush. Then: "Are you freeing us from our chains as well, prince?"
For a moment, Estell was tongue-tied. Then he caught another familiar voice, and he looked back, to see Talmar gallop along next to him with his own sled. The black-haired elf raised one arm up high, a wild grin on his face, and in his hand countless glistening keys on a steel ring caught the blinding sunlight, like a shimmering prize.
That sunlight diminished to a fiery sunset and the unicorns slowed as night slowly fell. The air trembled less and less, until the heat didn't press on the travellers so much anymore, and a strange calm fell over them and the desert.
Now the air no longer trembled, they could see farther as well, and it wasn't long before the elves spotted the dark patch on the horizon.
"An oasis," one of the former slaves spoke confidently. "I've seen it before. We can spend the night there."
"Perfect," Estell muttered. He could handle the new mounts much better, but he was still sore with the day's ride. He slightly shifted the sled's course, straight for the dark patch.
Half an hour later they arrived; an irregularly formed little lake, strangely misplaced in the middle of the desert, but Estell knew somewhere deep below their feet there had to be a source feeding the water, faster than it could evaporate. It was surrounded by low bushes, long grass, and slender palm trees with rustling, feather-like leaves in the cooling air. The setting sun reflected in the calm water.
The sleds slid from sand to grass, an unexpectedly sudden change, clearly audible as the boards hissed over the blades of grass and came to a halt there. The former slaves, freed of their chains by now, immediately jumped out of the sled and ran to the water, laughing and displaying far more energy than Estell had left. Small blue water beetles fled into the grass on all sides of the lake.
Estell dismounted, slowly and painfully, and strolled across the grass to Talmar, loosening his unicorn.
"Thank you," he spoke to his friend. "Without you we'd have been nowhere."
Talmar laughed. "I should be saying that to you. Estell, I thought you had no idea how to ride. How and why did you hide that for all these years?"
Estell shook his head. "I… these aren't elven unicorns. I could just… handle them." He rubbed his neck and shrugged. "I have no idea, Talmar."
"Slumbering magic, and perhaps affinity for animals, just as long as they aren't elven…" Talmar raised his eyebrows. "Well, kingdoms have been founded with less."
"Empires," Estell remarked.
"Oh, come on," Talmar huffed. He glanced to the side, to the oasis. For a moment he just stared, then he whistled softly. Estell followed his gaze.
About all former slaves were completely naked by now, laughing and playing in the water. Estell had never seen this much naked flesh in one spot. He felt his face heat up, and not with the remaining sunlight or his sunburns, even though his skin was so red his blushing didn't even make him change colour.
A few girls saw him looking. "Jump in!" they called out. "You're as tired and dusty as we are!"
"Are you elves or not? We're out in nature!"
For a moment Estell stared at them wordlessly, then one of the girls leaped out of the water, came striding through the grass towards them with long, challenging strides, and dragged them along, paying no heed to her nakedness. She looked at Estell mockingly, green eyes from between wet strands of bright blond hair. "My name's Sora, prince. And I'm going to scrub that prudish Sanctuary life right off you."
As he was shoved into the water, he was so baffled he only protested as she forced his head down and he sputtered and gasped for a breath of air, laughing.
Later, as Estell's hair had dried up and his flushed cheeks returned to normal, a soft, almost melodious rattle filled the evening air – the many small water beetles in and around the oasis had started stridulating. Then clear voices joined them. Then the sound of a flute.
The light of a small fire lit the water, and before the white-haired prince knew it his companions had started dancing, only a few at first, but then more. Just like earlier that day he was soon dragged in, by a dark-haired girl who'd introduced herself as Rakka. She whirled around him, and he barely kept up with her; he was exhausted and on his last legs. The music did spur him on, however, and he understood very well the former slaves needed this; they were probably exhausted too, but they hadn't had a reason for celebration for too long.
He caught glimpses of Isil and Talmar, laughing breathlessly in the light of the fire, and even of Miruvor, still unconscious on his stretcher near the sleds. Perhaps he'd woken up a few times, briefly, but his eyes were closed now. Estell almost hoped he'd wake up eventually…
"My turn, Rakka," a voice then resounded, and the skinny girl he'd been dancing with ran off laughing. Her place was taken by a familiar, beaming face.
"Can you handle it, prince?" Sora inquired playfully.
In reaction to those words a wave of overconfidence washed through Estell's body, and he grabbed her hands, to try and set the pace with his last bit of energy. He kept up for longer than he'd expected, and he caught himself enjoying it. Sora kept smiling, and her eyes never left his face, something making him more than a bit nervous, but the music continued and the rhythm melted everything else away. This resembled the music of the Sanctuary in nothing; it could not differ further from the calm, formal dances his mother took part in.
These firelit whirlings beneath palm leaves, which made his feet travel straight through the grass and into the shallow water from time to time, were new, new as the desert, as the silver unicorns, as all these elves, as the sparkling green of Sora's eyes. He dared looking at her directly, and a glow spread through his chest. Her hands closed around his more tightly, and she pressed herself closer to him with the next whirl.
For a moment he thought of Arinya, and he lowered his gaze. I'd have given anything to be dancing with her like this. Then he looked back up at the girl he was dancing with, and the thought faded. Arinya was gone, just like the Sanctuary. All that lay behind him now. He couldn't go back; he didn't want to go back. "Sora," he muttered. His voice barely overruled the music, but he could see she'd heard him.
"Out of slavery, into the arms of the prince of the Old Forest," Sora spoke, half-jesting. She laughed, and her entire face lit up.
Arinya, Estell thought again. I never said anything. Never did anything. Then it was too late.
…Never again.
An unsure smile appeared on his own face, and he came closer to his partner himself.
Before he knew it, Sora had swiftly taken the last step. Suddenly a slender arm lay around his neck, and soft, scorching lips pressed against his. All at once everything around Estell faded, even Talmar's baffled laugh; everything but Sora's presence, and the never-ending rhythm of the firelit music.
Later that night, no elven silk could have been softer than the wild grass on the water's edge, and no company better than the ones Estell now lay in between – on his left lay his best friend, Talmar, more valuable and comforting than ever after today, and on his right was Sora, clean of sand and dust and more welcome than every one of the elves he'd left for the sand worms the night before. Shadow floated above him as he stared up at the moon, and his glowing blue eyes rippled as he smiled; a broad grin in a dark face. Estell grinned with him. "I've never been this happy."
"Good to hear that," Sora muttered, her eyes closed but smiling as well. A bit further away the sound of more elven voices could be heard, elated and free.
Then Estell remembered something, something that'd been pushed back by more recent events. He frowned. "I've killed a man today."
"I killed more," Talmar replied drowsily. "And that wasn't your first."
"It was for the Sanctuary, before. Now it was for me."
"And us," Sora added. She rolled over to him and hesitantly laid a hand on his chest. "For me."
"That reason is good enough, methinks," Shadow said, only audible to the one he was floating over. Estell stared up at him, then looked to the side, at Sora. Killing didn't feel good at all, but he very much preferred this over the alternative…
"That reason is good enough," he smiled. Sora snuggled in closer, and Estell's heart missed a beat.
"You're a lucky charm, prince," Talmar chuckled.
"You're lucky," Shadow echoed, inaudible to the rest. "You. All by yourself."
And Estell felt as if even the moon answered his grin.
The next day, heat beat down on them again. The desert outstretched before them again, an unchanging golden sea, but this time they moved much faster, they had water, and not to forget company.
Estell and Talmar once more rode the frontmost unicorns of the two sleds, and led the animals northwest. They'd discussed their plans that morning, and had come to the decision of not going back to the Sanctuary – Talmar had considered their finding of the sleds an omen of sorts, and Estell hadn't disputed that. Their task wasn't over. And they all knew they wouldn't leave the Sanctuary again if they went back now.
Aside from that, Shadow had told him they were still headed for the darkness he'd felt, and Estell was interested in this – he didn't know what darkness there was still left in the world, but he'd try and exterminate it with pleasure. All darkness save for his Shadow.
As the sun rose up high, Estell recalled something else, something he'd almost forgotten in the confusion of the past days, despite it being the reason for their journey. He glanced at Talmar. Then: "Talmar. They're moving the Sanctuary without us."
"We're good and lost now," his friend nodded. He looked up at the scorching sky, his eyes narrowed beneath his hood, but grinning.
"Is that a good thing?" Estell inquired, an uneasy smile on his own face.
"Everybody knows that you have to be lost –"
Suddenly the world was dislocated.
Up suddenly lay to the left, the horizon spun around them and turned into a streak of blinding blue above them, dust and rock chippings descended on him, the unicorns whinnied shrilly, wildly, and startled cries came from the sleds, for the second time in as many days. Suddenly his entire body was one big bruise.
As everything came to a rest and Estell had scrambled back to his feet, and he saw the others do the same, Talmar came walking through the dust, towards him. His face was now disfigured by deep cuts and he was covered in grime, but he was truly laughing now, and he spread his arms. "…You have to be lost to find things that can't be found, my friend!"
The sleds had been constructed with hard wood from Ruboria's coastal regions, so they were still in one piece. The side of one of them was cracked, but it could still be used. The unicorns had also survived the fall without major injuries – three of them had broken a leg, and they had to be relieved of their suffering, but the rest had landed into the gorge a bit more gradually – the walls weren't vertical, but sloped a bit down at the bottom.
Yes, they'd ended up in a gorge, a gaping scar in the desert soil, deep enough to create shade – blessed shade. The gorge's walls were layered, and the bottom also betrayed the fact water had once flowed here, long ago, or even recently, that was hard to tell. In the desert, ancient history and yesterday mixed together easily. Estell also felt as if he'd left the Sanctuary centuries ago.
They had to go on. As soon as everyone was back on their feet, Isil had tried to grow vines to the edges of the gorge, but the seeds he had with him would not spring into life.
"A sign," Miril, one of the former slaves, had muttered.
"Of whom? The Mother Goddess?" Talmar had asked him. "She generally works with plants that do grow."
"I don't know," the skinny man had answered. "But it does mean something."
They had no choice. They'd gone on, with a bit more trouble than on the smooth sands above, but the sleds were useful here, too. The gorge snaked through the desert, sometimes at sharp angles, sometimes gently undulating like the river that'd possibly flowed through it one day. Here and there skeletal, bone-dry trees sprouted from the walls. Here and there, enormous insects and spiders shot away in holes in the cracking rock.
And then they found another sign.
A harsh contrast of white and brown streaks, the yellow of dried tendons, and the dark green and blue of the tattered remains of clothing. Smooth bone; the rough, last rags of flesh, left by the vultures. The skull's jaws were open wide, in a soundless scream, but the broken neck betrayed this was not the work of birds – though the Ruborian vultures were notorious for their size and bloodthirst. Estell was glad he hadn't lured them down yet.
But that relief paled in light of the fact he recognized the corpse's clothes, even before he knelt down at the body. Elven work.
So far from the Sanctuary. This had to have been a unicorn rider. Had he fallen into the gorge? Where was his mount?
"Attacked," Talmar spoke sadly. "They took the unicorn and threw him into the gorge, or they cut his throat and then threw him in."
Estell grimaced. "We've been lucky, haven't we?"
Sora had stepped out of the sled by now, and walked up to him. "Perhaps you now realize just how lucky," she spoke in agreement.
Isil slowly came closer. Estell realized the boy didn't need to see another body now, but he still slightly stepped aside. The young plant singer fell to his knees, and gently placed his hands on the body's chest. He closed his eyes.
And opened them again. He grasped at the already-weathered fabric, clawing between the folds. Talmar frowned. "What are you doing, Isil? Let him rest."
"I feel…" the boy began. "I feel something…" Then he pulled back his hands, a woven pouch between his fingers.
"What's that?"
Isil opened the small bag, and widened his eyes. "Talmar… Estell…"
The duo cast a glance into the pouch, and held their breath. "Gate seeds."
"We could go back to the Sanctuary with these! Even if they move it, there'll be a central flower gate!"
Estell stared down at the dead elf. "My mother… sent him. To get us back. Me. Probably more… I wonder how many will come back alive…"
"None of them will bring us back," Sora spoke softly.
"We're not going back, are we?" Isil asked, without taking his eyes off the seeds. "Even with the sleds, it hadn't been possible – we're lost. But even now we have the seeds…"
Estell expected Talmar to say something, but all remained silent. After a brief pause, he realized they were waiting for him. The decision fell to him.
Shadow descended to him, his blue eyes wide in his hazy, dark face. "You're stronger here than you could ever have been there."
"No," Estell finally spoke. "No, we're not going back. We're continuing forward. But Isil, keep those seeds with you. I don't want anyone else to find them, even though flower gates won't grow here. Who knows, they might come in handy someday."
"Alright, Estell," the boy answered.
And with that, the elves climbed back into their sleds and onto their unicorns, and the journey through the gorge continued, none of the travellers bothered by the fact the dead rider had had far more purpose to his voyage than each of them.
The sun rose and started setting again, and they were still in the gorge as night fell and they made camp. Just like the vines Isil had tried to grow, the athelin seeds, too, refused to germinate here, so the travellers had to make do without fire, but just like the previous night at the oasis soft singing did echo between the rock walls.
Estell wasn't participating. He'd walked away from the group, and was now staring straight up at the stars. Alone with his Shadow, as he liked it. Neither of them really had to speak, but eventually Shadow did so regardless.
"We're really close now, you know."
"The darkness?"
"Yes. Every step we take leads us there. Almost as if we're meant to."
"So be it." Estell smiled. After a brief silence he opened his mouth to speak again, but he fell silent as he caught a gentle humming behind him. As it came closer, it changed to bits and pieces of an elven song that'd been sung at the oasis as well.
"Erlen birlen kizlar bar, oyneng yar, oyneng yar…"
He turned with a smile. "It certainly is a beautiful night, my fair lady, but not as beautiful as you."
"That silver tongue matches your silver hair," Sora replied from the shadows of the gorge.
Her eyes shimmered, green as emeralds. She stepped towards him and laid her arms around his neck. Estell dared placing his own around her waist and kissing her. "By the Mother Goddess, I don't know how I deserved you," he smiled. "One moment I'm reconciling with dying in the desert, the next I'm dancing with you."
"I don't know how I deserved being rescued by our crown prince," Sora grinned.
"I… don't have much to offer," Estell spoke, more seriously now. "I don't know what tomorrow will bring. I don't know where we are. The fact I'm Fay's successor isn't worth much here."
Sora stroked over the back of his head. "Don't worry. We're alive. I feel like you can do more than you think, Estell. After all… even your name means 'hope'."
"We'll see. So far, it's all been luck."
"Oyneng yar," Sora spoke with a faint smile. "Every sunset is the beginning of a magnificent night. And even the changes we've been through can lead us to a better future."
"Or one where I lead the remainder of my people to the slaugh-" Estell started, but his companion cut off his words with a sudden kiss, making him forget all doubts that still remained after her words. A few staggering paces back pressed his back to the gorge wall, and a little later Shadow flew up to the stars, almost giggling, in order to give his tangible counterpart some privacy.
As the sun came up the next day and the elves woke up, it was hot again already, but the sun wasn't beating down on them thanks to the gorge. That'd only happen in the afternoon, when the light came from right above them.
The damaged sleds were still useful in this part of the gorge; the rock bottom was reasonably flat, and definitely eroded by water here. The gorge was deepest in the middle, where the water had rushed by fastest, and the bottom slightly curved up at the walls. The scarce boulders that'd crumbled from the walls weren't enough to hinder the sleds.
As the day stretched on, something else did, however.
It started with unexpected, welcome shade just after the sun had peeked over the edges of the gorge. Estell noticed immediately; a misplaced respite from the heat and the glaring light from which not even his hood could shield him completely. The bottom of the gorge was covered in strangely familiar flecks of shade, he noticed. He looked up, and saw that small trees were sprouting from the walls, larger than the skeletal stumps they'd seen before, and leafy. The leaves were waxy, or covered in small pale hairs, and he knew this was so that the plants could save water and were more resistant to the harsh sunlight – but water had to be near, their roots had to have found moisture somewhere.
Then they started having trouble with the sleds.
The bottom had been made up of rock so far, or clay that'd been so hard-baked it was indistinguishable from rock. But now the unicorns started leaving hoof tracks on the ground, and the sleds subtly sank away – and then less subtly.
The clay was much less hard-baked here. It started resembling mud more and more. And eventually it was impossible to pull the sleds along anymore, and the elves were forced to abandon the vehicles. The unicorns were freed, and the most confident elves mounted the vacant animals to prevent them from bolting. The journey continued at a slower pace, across increasingly wet and unstable soil. Soon everyone's feet and legs were covered in drying clay.
And then, inevitable, expected but still surprising, there was the water itself. At first in the form of small puddles in the deepest footprints, but then throughout the entire gorge; shallow, but glistening in the dappled light, and deepening with the hour. More vegetation appeared along the walls; succulents, mosses, low, spiny palm-like plants and even the occasional fern. The elves and unicorns waded through it, looking around in elation and washing the clay off their bodies.
More shade fell over them as the gorge walls came closer together and even met one another occasionally. Slowly the rock above them changed to a ceiling, regularly broken by cracks and holes through which sharp shafts of sunlight fell in. Time and again their path was hidden by curtains of hanging vegetation.
"It seems we got lucky yet again," Talmar noted to Estell. The duo had dismounted, and Estell led one of the silvery unicorns along by the brightly coloured Ruborian reins. Miruvor lay bound across the beast's muscular back.
"Three times is a bit much," he replied. "We now know Ruboria's caves aren't safe, who knows what this water might attract."
"…w…water…?"
The voice was weak, pitiful, like that of a dying man. Still Estell's jaws tensed involuntarily as he heard it. Slowly he turned to his unicorn, and the limp, emaciated, one-legged figure on its back.
A cramped, sunburned hand clawed around and rested on the stump of an upper leg. A sigh escaped from behind a curtain of sandy hair, as if it was finally accepted that the limb was really missing.
Just as slowly as Estell had turned to him, Miruvor raised his head.
"Estell," he rasped. The white-haired boy could not read his blank expression, but surprise resounded in his voice.
"Yes, Miruvor, I'm alive," he spoke. "Something that can't be said of the rest of our Sanctuary companions." He stepped aside as Talmar, his hands folded into a bowl, poured water over Miruvor's tensed face. The crippled elf drank greedily. Then he seemed to realize what Estell had said. He looked up, his eyes wide, then narrowed in something resembling pain, then wide again. "…Arinya? Avestal?" His hand was still resting on his leg, and his face contorted in real pain, or the memory of it.
"Everyone," Talmar nodded in passing. "Except Isil here."
"Glad you're back, Miruvor," the boy said timidly.
"Everyone." Miruvor looked around. "But who are…"
A smile slid over Estell's face, and not without satisfaction he said: "What we left for. We came upon a caravan of slavers. Long story short, we're no longer a company of four. You slept through everything nicely."
Miruvor kept staring at him, brown eyes crusted with sand and drought and fever dreams, but something did light up in the vacant depths. "You saved me."
"Isil dragged you out of the cave, Talmar tended to your wounds, I tipped you into the slave sled."
"Estell. Thank you. I've not always been…" The crippled elf's voice slowly died away as he looked around again, his neck stretching painfully from the striding unicorn's back. "…we're in a gorge… where are we?"
"I don't know. At some kind of water. Isil tried to sing us out with vines, but his magic doesn't seem to work here."
"Lost."
Estell nodded, and exchanged glances with Talmar. "They've probably moved the Sanctuary by now."
Miruvor's expression changed. His jaw tensed and his eyes narrowed, and he trembled, despite his weakened condition. "What have you done? We were on our way to the cities…"
"We were lost as soon as we stepped into that cave, Miruvor."
"We could have made it. We could have reached the cities. Kerma, Napata, Nurri. And why didn't you do anything to save them? Arinya…"
"We were too far away," Talmar interrupted. "We were already outside, remember?"
Miruvor's face tensed up even more, in an unexpected display of sharp suspicion. "Such a coincidence, Estell."
Estell froze. Shadow, just behind his shoulder, widened his eyes. "No, no, no, don't say it…"
"What are you saying, Miruvor?" the white-haired prince asked calmly.
"Whatever that was in that cave, you knew it. You walked out with Talmar and left us behind. You never liked me… I just hadn't expected you'd abandon the others, too." Miruvor lifted his head and spat into the shallow water, his eyes full of hatred now. "You are not my prince, and if I had a choice in the matter I'd leave… you're starting to take after your uncle, you know that?"
Estell felt himself pale with fury and indignation, beneath his feverish, sunburnt skin. He stared at the other elf for a moment, as the confusion of two nights ago rushed through his body again. He had abandoned his companions, but he couldn't have fathomed it'd end in such a bloodbath…
But he could not deny Miruvor was right. He felt eyes on him from all sides now, including those of Sora and Talmar, and he could not deny it.
He abruptly turned away and strode ahead in a faster pace, and then he started running.
"Estell!"
Talmar's, Sora's and Shadow's voices reached him almost simultaneously, but Shadow was the only one to keep up with him as he ran ahead, the only direction he could flee to, whacking aside hanging vines, and at times tripping and sliding on the layer of algae beneath the water's surface. Drops spattered up all around him and soaked his trousers and tunic. Sunlight and shade played over his face and body as he bolted on.
"Estell, listen to me. They don't suspect you. And even if they knew… you didn't want them to die. It was… it was an unfortunate chain of…"
"But he's right, isn't he?" he bit back, his breath ragged with running. "He's right. I did it. I didn't even look back. And I'm not even sorry."
"Estell…" Shadow started, but then fell silent. Estell slowed, and stared up.
The ceiling of the gorge – which resembled a tunnel more than anything here, as the openings through which sunlight streamed in were becoming increasingly scarce – suddenly soared upwards, and was then hidden from sight by a curtain of hanging vines. The young elf hesitantly outstretched a hand and pushed them aside.
Beyond the green curtain the gorge suddenly widened. Behind the vines lay a lake, almost perfectly round, and almost perfectly still, like a silver mirror. Dim light, heavy with glistening particles of dust, fell down through layers and layers of leaves higher up in the cave. Rock formations surrounded the lake; irregular forms, silent sentinels.
"Shade and fresh water," Estell muttered, vaguely recalling the Evernightian blessing.
Shadow looked around. "I think the both of us haven't been this homesick before," he noted. "Ruboria does things to us."
Estell nodded silently, but was startled as another voice broke the otherworldly calmth.
"What do you know of homesickness… elven boy?"
Creaky, bitter, almost venomous… Estell spun around, to see one of the rock formations moving. A short, hunched figure slowly approached him, and a small swaying light hanging just above it suddenly cast huge shadows against the rock walls.
Narrow yellow eyes suddenly flared, and ragged ears spread out to either side. The creature grinned a terrible grin. "White-haired, blue-eyed, certainly a prince, the gods must hate us both!"
If that is who I think that is then things are about to get very interesting in the next chapter, which means please review and stay tuned.
