Chapter Three

The night had been shorter than expected. When Tamis opened her eyes, Ros was already sitting right in front of her, staring at her.

"She's awake!", she yelled all across the cave.

Tamis got up, stretching her arms, yawning. Wearily she wiped the sleep out of her eyes.

"What's the matter?", she asked. Valandalf bent down to her, she could sense the scent of his magic around him.

"We need to travel on, my dear Tamis!"

"Where to?", she asked, before she could remember being polite. But Valandalf just smiled good-natured and understandingly.

"You will see, when the time is right."

Duron went deep into the dark forest, deeper than ever before. His mistress wanted him to succeed, so his only choice was to succeed or to end up running away. She wouldn't tolerate another disappointment. The problem was, that Duron had absolutely no idea where to search for the dragon. And given the possibility, that he found the dragon: what would he do to convince him to cooperate?

He didn't know. If he had known all of this before, he surely wouldn't have left the other elves. He had hoped for fame, glory, wisdom and freedom. But not one of these had yet arrived. Frustrated he sighed and suddenly stumbled over a root.

"Damn it!" he said, as he fell, ungracefully like no other elf.

As he walked on, the forest seemed to become darker and darker. The air thicker and thicker. Duron noticed a tremble, a sudden shudder. Where was he heading to? Where was he going? Where would this way lead him?

He heard something behind him, a crackle. Anxiously he turned around. To find nothing there and headed forward. His heart was beating as fast as an arrow and as loud as a whole battlefield. How did he get into a situation like this?

He leaped forward, slowly, keeping his eyes and ears open. Until he heard a rough and smoky breath just a heartbeat away.

Orianna was stunned by the fragile, delicate and downright beautiful structure of the city they just arrived in. She had never seen anything elvish, yet she knew, that only elves could be capable of such a wonderful artwork. She wasn't sure, if their home was as useful as it was beautiful, but she liked it for its grace and charm.

"Welcome, strangers!" A young female with such a pale skin, that she almost seemed translucent, addressed the dwarves, while Valandalf wandered around, leaving them behind, searching for someone. "My name is Leanor." She bowed in front of them, her warm, brown hair falling in soft waves around her head.

Orianna felt Tamis, Ros and Lori coming closer. They were astonished and afraid. None of them had ever had contact to an elf. And although the young woman in her pastel green dress didn't seem dangerous, they never knew, who was behind them, who wanted them to fail at whatever Valandalf was planning.

"Thank you?" Orianna slowly answered, not sure, whether it was the right answer or the wrong one.

"Let me show you around", she said and turned around, signalizing them to follow her, while she floated across the floor, barely touching the ground with her bare feet.

"She's pretty", Tamis whispered into Oriannas ear. She nodded. "And friendly", Tamis added nervously. Orianna was just as nervous as her, but at the moment she was a bit annoyed by the habit of Tamis to constantly talk, when she was.

They followed the elf around, realizing, that their hometown underneath the trees was huge and full of a grace, that they couldn't even put it into words.

In front of a small wooden table on a small platform in one of the trees, Leanor stopped. Three other elves were sitting there, smiling at her first and then at the visitors. Leanor said something Orianna couldn't understand, which made her even more nervous. She was almost tempted to draw her dagger, at least that was, what the male dwarfes had taught her. But Leanor stood behind the four strangers, laid her hands on their shoulders and suddenly all of the fear, all of the uncertainty fell off of them.

"These three, my little ones, are Michal, Jessa and Astrilia", Leanor spoke in such a gentle tone, that Orianna wasn't even upset by being called a little one. "They will be here for you and tell you everything, you ever wanted to know about us. Valandalf is a great friend of the elves and we know, that we can trust his choice of friends. Please feel at home in our woods, in our trees and enjoy the wisdom of the past centuries."

Valandalf walked around, searching for the one elf he hoped would help them defeating the upcoming danger. He could move among the elves without limitations. And soon he found Galadriel, the elven princess with the golden hair and the ability to predict the future.

"My dear Galadriel!", Valandalf greeted her, while walking towards her and her lady's maid Aneta.

Galadriel smiled at him, getting up, floating above the floor. "Valandalf", her voice was as soft as a summers breeze. She took his hands into hers and nodded gracefully.

"I'm merry to meet you again, Galadriel, but the matter I have to discuss is fairly serious."

"I know, my friend, I know. My sister is about to bring great darkness upon us."