Disclaimer: I had nothing to do with the creation of Elfquest. It belongs to Wendy and Richard Pini.
"Skywise?", Cutter questioned, leaning back and gazing at the night sky,
"We've met the SunPeople, the Go-backs, the Gliders.....do you figure there's as many races of elves as there are stars?"
Skywise contemplaited the question, absently fingering the lodestone that hung around his neck.
"I suppose so...", he mused.
The branches above them rattled slightly and Cutter half-smiled.
"I heard you, Ember!!!!," He called above him into the shadows.
"AYOooooOAH!" In a blur of red hair and flying leaves, the small cub plopped ungracefully into Skywise's lap.
"Stars in Heaven!," he cried, lifting the lanky girl up into his arms, " A little ball of fire just fell from the skys!!!!!!"
"Oh, Skywise," she chirped, placing a tiny kiss on his downturned nose, "Did I scare ya?! Did I!? Did I!?"
"Sure did, cub!," Cutter exclaimed, rustling the girlchild's blaze colored hair, "but now, for you, it's time for bed."
"Aw, but, Papa....," she whined, even though a yawn interupted her plea to stay up longer.
"To bed, little cheif-to-be," Skywise ordered, "The stars will protect you....."
She smiled sleepily, then scuttled down the tree. Skywise lazily stood and walked out to the end of the branch where he gazed out into the vast depths of space.
"With all the hunting we did this evening," Cutter sighed, tiredly, "I'd better follow my command and head off to bed as well. You, Skywise?"
The silver haired one shook his head, the bluish light of the two moons giving his skin an illuminating pallor.
"My eyes are filled with the skies tonight, Cutter!," he laughingly, replied, "I couldn't sleep a wink if I tried!!!!"
"Whatever you say, friend," Cutter gruffly said, stretching as he rose.
Then, like his daughter, headed down the tree. Skywise inhaled deeply and traced the stars with his fingertips. Apart, they were nothing. Lonely. Solitary. Like him. But connected together, they formed forests, people, wolves, stories and ledgends. They were too numerous to count, a vast, inconquerable army. Skywise languidly sighed. Too bad no one else seemed to see it. A gift one couldn't share was a blessing, but more so a curse. A slight tremor in the emerald leaves behind him drew him from his reverie.
"Ember," he chuckled, "It's not gonna work this...mphff..."
The oily hand clamp suffocatingly over his mouth and a rank, famlilar smell invaded his nostrils. HUMANS.
'Cutter, help!'
Skywise tried to send, but something blocked his urgent thoughts. A blanket seemd to barrier his mind from calling out to Cutter, StarJumper, Leetah, anyone...... The curtain that shrouded his brain increased until it coated his vision black, like a nightsky lacking the warm, beloved stars.
********************
Cutter stirred vaguely in his deep sleep, sure someone was calling him faintly. He jerked up suddenly, now quite awake. Had indeed a voice called to him? And was he imagining a sour odor on the cool night breeze?
"What's the matter, lifemate?" Leetah murmured, her tapered fingers grazing his arm.
"Did you.....did you hear something?" He asked, his jewel blue eyes flitting suspiously about the sleeping figures around the base of the tree.
"You're full of dreamberries!," Leetah giggled, "Come, it was a nightmare."
Reluctantly, Cutter layed back down beside his beautiful mate.
**********************
Skywise woke to searing pain, more blinding than the sun glaring down into his bleary silver eyes. With a groan, he slid his hand down his chest, searching, without eyes, for the hurt. His blood slicked fingers closed their slippery grasp around the hilt of a dagger buried in the flesh of his stomach. Taking a huge breath, he let out an enraged, unearthly howl and ripped the blade from his gut. He was too far away to send, he realizd, with deepening panic. A few tears began to slip from his tightly closed eyes. He didn't want to die. Not here. Something wet lapped his cheek.
"StarJumper," he whimpered and the wolf answered him with an affectionae growl.
Drawing up the remainder, he hefted his weight onto StarJumper's back and urged him in a whisper,
"........find home..."
***********************
"What do you mean, you haven't seen him??!," Cutter demanded.
"Easy, cheiftain," Treestump chuckled, "I'll bet ol' Skywise found a new lovemate and lost track of time."
Cutter crossed his arms, staring down at the blond elder.
"Maybe he's found a stash of dreamberries!," Pike added, gingerly licking his lips at the prospect, "On second thought, maybe we should go looking for him!"
"He knows better than to go off on his own," Cutter argued.
"I think he should be disciplined," Moonshade stated, drawing everyone's attention. "With all his mischeif, he tends to go unpunished,Cutter."
"Wha?!" The young cheif's gaze darkened.
"Your favortism does tend to show a bit," Treestump admitted, meeting the solemn blue gaze without a flinch.
"Fine!," Cutter shouted, "He won't be rewarded for being disobediant!"
Grumbling, he headed for his hut.
He stuffed a satchel with a day's worth of food and water.
"Hello!Hello!Hello!," Petalwing flitted over his shoulder, "Petalwing help busyhead highthing find silverhair highthing!!!!"
"Go away, bug," Cutter snarled, flicking the green sprite away.
"But Petalwing can help! Can! Can!" The fairy attached it's little fingers into the tuft of Cutter's cheif lock.
"HEY!....pest! Get outa my hair!!!!!!!" The cheif swatted unsuccessfully.
"Please! Petalwing want to go! Silverhair PetalWing friend! Friend!"
"FINE!!!!!!!", Cutter roared,
the entire world was against him and he couldn't waste another minute. Ignoring the creature's wail of glee, he swung the satchel over his shoulder and headed out into the woods.
*********************
"That Skywise," Treestump chuckled,
"he can be a heap o' trouble sometimes!"
"More than he's worth if you ask me!", Strongbow put in sharply.
"Aw, he's a good pup," Treestump protested.
"Lazy, I say,"Strongbow muttered. "all he does is daydream up stories for those crazy stars!!!!!!
"Now you stop that!!," Leetah scolded, coming out of her hut wagging her finger at the convention of elves.
"Would any of you call ME lazy," she accused, "because I only heal with my hands and nothing else?"
"Yes, but, Leetah, you serve a purpose......"
"So does he!," Leetah interupted,
"Instead of bringing together sinew and bones, he bonds the stars with our histories. Morals and lessons, he's passed down to our cubs! And look at the hardships he's suffered, yet still he is kind! He smiles!"
Leetah drew herself up, "How dare you claim that he serves no purpose in the tribe?"
She stalked over to Strongbow, who sat in solemn silence.
"Have you not seen the three stars at night in the form of an arch? He named it after you and tells the cubs it stands for a remarkable, merciful warrior.
" And Treestump," she turned to the elder, "He shows the brightest star and says it to be you. A father, protecting, watching..."
The men quieted, their gazes momentarily averted as the reconsidered their past comments with guilt.
"If anyone needs me, I'll be in my hut," Leetah said in a softer voice and turned to leave them with their thoughts.
**********************
The figure's scent came before the form. Cutter drew back suddenly, the smell surrounding him. It was decidingly human, only ranker, dirtier.
"EEEEEEeeeeeeeeeewwwWWW!!!!Stinky stink!!!!," Petalwing chortled, "BAD highthing!"
Cutter shushed it. Suddenly, the creature barreled out of the trees. It was at least three heads taller than Cutter and three times as thick. It's body was of an obese human, but it's features were distinctly elf. Four-fingered hands held a club. Cutter drew New Moon, its sharp blade flashing in the noonday sun. The elf-human batted the weapon away like a toy, causing the prideful elf-king to cower. It gave a hideous roar and a pitiful grunt, before falling face down with Skywise baring a bloody dagger behind it.
"SKYWISE!!" Cutter shouted, his voice of joy cracking halfway at what he say.
The dagger, too heavy to hold, clambered from Skywise's hand. He raised his silver eyes imploringly
",.............tam........" he breathed, then abruptly collapsed.
"No, Skywise," Cutter leapt over the dead human-elf's body to scoop his friend's limp form into his arms.
Skywise's hand had slipped uselessly aside, revealing the dagger's deep bleeding gouge.
"High Ones help me, " Cutter whispered, laying the elf out in the clearing.
He removed Skywise's metal headpeice with gentle hands.
"Me help? Me help?," Pealwing demanded, fluttering about like a crazd butterfly.
"Go fetch Leetah, bug," Cutter ordered, "bring her back here!"
Obediantly, the sprite fluttered off. "
T.....Tam,"Cutter's lupine blue eyes drifted compassionately to his friend's face.
"Easy, Skywise, how did...did this happen?"
"That thing...that beast-thing......carried me off last night...I couldn't.....couldn't send....."
Skywise coughed rawly and Cutter lifted him to a sitting position, leaning against the cheif's chest.
The faint voice he'd heard, he'd realized.
"It....It defeated me....," Skywise finished softly.
"Don't say that, Fahr! Leetah will be here soon! She'll help you!"
Skywise forced a cocky smile,
"Alas, little cheif of cheifs, for once it might be a little late."
Something warm and wet, struck Skywise's cheek and he blindly touched it with his fingertips. A tear. More followed and he realized Cutter above him was crying.
"What's this?" he mocked, good naturedly,
"Tears from a cheif......"
"This is all my fault," Cutter choked.
"Tam....", Skywise began but was interupted by another bout of coughing.
"spare you voice, Skywise," Cutter said,"You're weak."
"Puckernuts!!," Skywise spat."I'll never be too weak to tell my cheif when he's being a troll rumped fool!"
He reached up and brushed at Cutter's tear trails with a brotherly touch.
"This will never be your fault."
"I.....I thought I heard you.....but...I...I...I didn't....."
"My mother was beautiful, wasn't she, Cutter?,"
Skywise cut him off,knowing full well he'd never seen EyesHigh, he nodded anyway,
"Yes, Fahr, beautiful........"
"Do you think......she got to be with the stars?"
Sucking in his breath, Cutter again nodded.
"Will.....I?" Skywise asked, finally.
For a third time, Cutter nodded,
"always," he promised.
"Tam?" The voice was smaller now. "I don't want to die."
The quiet remark was met by silence. Then, Cutter threw back his blond head and let out a long low howl.
***********************
"Leetah!" Treestump called, "That fairy thing wants you!!!!!"
The healer hurried outside where Petalwing was fluttering above everyone's head.
"SOFT, PRETTY HIGHTHING!!!!", it cried, grabbing a clump of her curly hair and trying to drag her along with it.
"Petalwing bring you to lifemate!!!"
"Cutter?"
she questioned, gently removing the sprite from her curls and holding it in the palm of her hand.
"Is he alright?"
Petalwing furiously nodded,
"Silver-hair sick!!! Real tumble-rumble...now BLEED! Must come Come!"
"Silver-hair?",
Leetah looked confused, then realizaion in all it's horror crossed her face,
"Skywise?"
All the wolfriders watched in apprehension as the little fairy nodded again.
"What're you waiting for?" Strongbow cried, leaping to his feet,
"Let's go!"
***********************
By the time the party had reached the clearing, night had fallen bringing with it, the stars and a clear season moon. It illuminated the scene before them.........Leetah scrambling from Cutter's wolf's back, Skywise's unearthly pale skin, the fretful faces of his clan. Probing the wound, the dark elf carefully placed her fingertips on the barely moving chest of Skywise. He was no longer concious now. Leetah's powers surged hrouggh his form and Cutter grabbed him to cease his struggling.
'I feel for you, Fahr....'
he sent, wondering if he was to far gone, floating too high towards the stars.........
'Cheif of Cheifs,Tam....Don't let me go,........not yet......'
Startled by the sending, Cutter's sapphire eyes burst open.
"skywise!" he blurted.
Leetah finished her healing magic and Skywise's pale eyelids fluttered up. He smiled softly, gazing up
"........oh, the stars........" he murmured.
Then exhaustion caught him up with welcoming arms and he fell asleep..........a safe, healing sleep. The riders aided hm home and as he rested the next few days, he was visited by nearly every member of the tribe. Later on, with a cub resting on each knee and surrounding him on all sides, their tiny necks craning to see the heavens, he pointed skyward and spun stories from star to star.........and this time, all listened, and all shared.
"Skywise?", Cutter questioned, leaning back and gazing at the night sky,
"We've met the SunPeople, the Go-backs, the Gliders.....do you figure there's as many races of elves as there are stars?"
Skywise contemplaited the question, absently fingering the lodestone that hung around his neck.
"I suppose so...", he mused.
The branches above them rattled slightly and Cutter half-smiled.
"I heard you, Ember!!!!," He called above him into the shadows.
"AYOooooOAH!" In a blur of red hair and flying leaves, the small cub plopped ungracefully into Skywise's lap.
"Stars in Heaven!," he cried, lifting the lanky girl up into his arms, " A little ball of fire just fell from the skys!!!!!!"
"Oh, Skywise," she chirped, placing a tiny kiss on his downturned nose, "Did I scare ya?! Did I!? Did I!?"
"Sure did, cub!," Cutter exclaimed, rustling the girlchild's blaze colored hair, "but now, for you, it's time for bed."
"Aw, but, Papa....," she whined, even though a yawn interupted her plea to stay up longer.
"To bed, little cheif-to-be," Skywise ordered, "The stars will protect you....."
She smiled sleepily, then scuttled down the tree. Skywise lazily stood and walked out to the end of the branch where he gazed out into the vast depths of space.
"With all the hunting we did this evening," Cutter sighed, tiredly, "I'd better follow my command and head off to bed as well. You, Skywise?"
The silver haired one shook his head, the bluish light of the two moons giving his skin an illuminating pallor.
"My eyes are filled with the skies tonight, Cutter!," he laughingly, replied, "I couldn't sleep a wink if I tried!!!!"
"Whatever you say, friend," Cutter gruffly said, stretching as he rose.
Then, like his daughter, headed down the tree. Skywise inhaled deeply and traced the stars with his fingertips. Apart, they were nothing. Lonely. Solitary. Like him. But connected together, they formed forests, people, wolves, stories and ledgends. They were too numerous to count, a vast, inconquerable army. Skywise languidly sighed. Too bad no one else seemed to see it. A gift one couldn't share was a blessing, but more so a curse. A slight tremor in the emerald leaves behind him drew him from his reverie.
"Ember," he chuckled, "It's not gonna work this...mphff..."
The oily hand clamp suffocatingly over his mouth and a rank, famlilar smell invaded his nostrils. HUMANS.
'Cutter, help!'
Skywise tried to send, but something blocked his urgent thoughts. A blanket seemd to barrier his mind from calling out to Cutter, StarJumper, Leetah, anyone...... The curtain that shrouded his brain increased until it coated his vision black, like a nightsky lacking the warm, beloved stars.
********************
Cutter stirred vaguely in his deep sleep, sure someone was calling him faintly. He jerked up suddenly, now quite awake. Had indeed a voice called to him? And was he imagining a sour odor on the cool night breeze?
"What's the matter, lifemate?" Leetah murmured, her tapered fingers grazing his arm.
"Did you.....did you hear something?" He asked, his jewel blue eyes flitting suspiously about the sleeping figures around the base of the tree.
"You're full of dreamberries!," Leetah giggled, "Come, it was a nightmare."
Reluctantly, Cutter layed back down beside his beautiful mate.
**********************
Skywise woke to searing pain, more blinding than the sun glaring down into his bleary silver eyes. With a groan, he slid his hand down his chest, searching, without eyes, for the hurt. His blood slicked fingers closed their slippery grasp around the hilt of a dagger buried in the flesh of his stomach. Taking a huge breath, he let out an enraged, unearthly howl and ripped the blade from his gut. He was too far away to send, he realizd, with deepening panic. A few tears began to slip from his tightly closed eyes. He didn't want to die. Not here. Something wet lapped his cheek.
"StarJumper," he whimpered and the wolf answered him with an affectionae growl.
Drawing up the remainder, he hefted his weight onto StarJumper's back and urged him in a whisper,
"........find home..."
***********************
"What do you mean, you haven't seen him??!," Cutter demanded.
"Easy, cheiftain," Treestump chuckled, "I'll bet ol' Skywise found a new lovemate and lost track of time."
Cutter crossed his arms, staring down at the blond elder.
"Maybe he's found a stash of dreamberries!," Pike added, gingerly licking his lips at the prospect, "On second thought, maybe we should go looking for him!"
"He knows better than to go off on his own," Cutter argued.
"I think he should be disciplined," Moonshade stated, drawing everyone's attention. "With all his mischeif, he tends to go unpunished,Cutter."
"Wha?!" The young cheif's gaze darkened.
"Your favortism does tend to show a bit," Treestump admitted, meeting the solemn blue gaze without a flinch.
"Fine!," Cutter shouted, "He won't be rewarded for being disobediant!"
Grumbling, he headed for his hut.
He stuffed a satchel with a day's worth of food and water.
"Hello!Hello!Hello!," Petalwing flitted over his shoulder, "Petalwing help busyhead highthing find silverhair highthing!!!!"
"Go away, bug," Cutter snarled, flicking the green sprite away.
"But Petalwing can help! Can! Can!" The fairy attached it's little fingers into the tuft of Cutter's cheif lock.
"HEY!....pest! Get outa my hair!!!!!!!" The cheif swatted unsuccessfully.
"Please! Petalwing want to go! Silverhair PetalWing friend! Friend!"
"FINE!!!!!!!", Cutter roared,
the entire world was against him and he couldn't waste another minute. Ignoring the creature's wail of glee, he swung the satchel over his shoulder and headed out into the woods.
*********************
"That Skywise," Treestump chuckled,
"he can be a heap o' trouble sometimes!"
"More than he's worth if you ask me!", Strongbow put in sharply.
"Aw, he's a good pup," Treestump protested.
"Lazy, I say,"Strongbow muttered. "all he does is daydream up stories for those crazy stars!!!!!!
"Now you stop that!!," Leetah scolded, coming out of her hut wagging her finger at the convention of elves.
"Would any of you call ME lazy," she accused, "because I only heal with my hands and nothing else?"
"Yes, but, Leetah, you serve a purpose......"
"So does he!," Leetah interupted,
"Instead of bringing together sinew and bones, he bonds the stars with our histories. Morals and lessons, he's passed down to our cubs! And look at the hardships he's suffered, yet still he is kind! He smiles!"
Leetah drew herself up, "How dare you claim that he serves no purpose in the tribe?"
She stalked over to Strongbow, who sat in solemn silence.
"Have you not seen the three stars at night in the form of an arch? He named it after you and tells the cubs it stands for a remarkable, merciful warrior.
" And Treestump," she turned to the elder, "He shows the brightest star and says it to be you. A father, protecting, watching..."
The men quieted, their gazes momentarily averted as the reconsidered their past comments with guilt.
"If anyone needs me, I'll be in my hut," Leetah said in a softer voice and turned to leave them with their thoughts.
**********************
The figure's scent came before the form. Cutter drew back suddenly, the smell surrounding him. It was decidingly human, only ranker, dirtier.
"EEEEEEeeeeeeeeeewwwWWW!!!!Stinky stink!!!!," Petalwing chortled, "BAD highthing!"
Cutter shushed it. Suddenly, the creature barreled out of the trees. It was at least three heads taller than Cutter and three times as thick. It's body was of an obese human, but it's features were distinctly elf. Four-fingered hands held a club. Cutter drew New Moon, its sharp blade flashing in the noonday sun. The elf-human batted the weapon away like a toy, causing the prideful elf-king to cower. It gave a hideous roar and a pitiful grunt, before falling face down with Skywise baring a bloody dagger behind it.
"SKYWISE!!" Cutter shouted, his voice of joy cracking halfway at what he say.
The dagger, too heavy to hold, clambered from Skywise's hand. He raised his silver eyes imploringly
",.............tam........" he breathed, then abruptly collapsed.
"No, Skywise," Cutter leapt over the dead human-elf's body to scoop his friend's limp form into his arms.
Skywise's hand had slipped uselessly aside, revealing the dagger's deep bleeding gouge.
"High Ones help me, " Cutter whispered, laying the elf out in the clearing.
He removed Skywise's metal headpeice with gentle hands.
"Me help? Me help?," Pealwing demanded, fluttering about like a crazd butterfly.
"Go fetch Leetah, bug," Cutter ordered, "bring her back here!"
Obediantly, the sprite fluttered off. "
T.....Tam,"Cutter's lupine blue eyes drifted compassionately to his friend's face.
"Easy, Skywise, how did...did this happen?"
"That thing...that beast-thing......carried me off last night...I couldn't.....couldn't send....."
Skywise coughed rawly and Cutter lifted him to a sitting position, leaning against the cheif's chest.
The faint voice he'd heard, he'd realized.
"It....It defeated me....," Skywise finished softly.
"Don't say that, Fahr! Leetah will be here soon! She'll help you!"
Skywise forced a cocky smile,
"Alas, little cheif of cheifs, for once it might be a little late."
Something warm and wet, struck Skywise's cheek and he blindly touched it with his fingertips. A tear. More followed and he realized Cutter above him was crying.
"What's this?" he mocked, good naturedly,
"Tears from a cheif......"
"This is all my fault," Cutter choked.
"Tam....", Skywise began but was interupted by another bout of coughing.
"spare you voice, Skywise," Cutter said,"You're weak."
"Puckernuts!!," Skywise spat."I'll never be too weak to tell my cheif when he's being a troll rumped fool!"
He reached up and brushed at Cutter's tear trails with a brotherly touch.
"This will never be your fault."
"I.....I thought I heard you.....but...I...I...I didn't....."
"My mother was beautiful, wasn't she, Cutter?,"
Skywise cut him off,knowing full well he'd never seen EyesHigh, he nodded anyway,
"Yes, Fahr, beautiful........"
"Do you think......she got to be with the stars?"
Sucking in his breath, Cutter again nodded.
"Will.....I?" Skywise asked, finally.
For a third time, Cutter nodded,
"always," he promised.
"Tam?" The voice was smaller now. "I don't want to die."
The quiet remark was met by silence. Then, Cutter threw back his blond head and let out a long low howl.
***********************
"Leetah!" Treestump called, "That fairy thing wants you!!!!!"
The healer hurried outside where Petalwing was fluttering above everyone's head.
"SOFT, PRETTY HIGHTHING!!!!", it cried, grabbing a clump of her curly hair and trying to drag her along with it.
"Petalwing bring you to lifemate!!!"
"Cutter?"
she questioned, gently removing the sprite from her curls and holding it in the palm of her hand.
"Is he alright?"
Petalwing furiously nodded,
"Silver-hair sick!!! Real tumble-rumble...now BLEED! Must come Come!"
"Silver-hair?",
Leetah looked confused, then realizaion in all it's horror crossed her face,
"Skywise?"
All the wolfriders watched in apprehension as the little fairy nodded again.
"What're you waiting for?" Strongbow cried, leaping to his feet,
"Let's go!"
***********************
By the time the party had reached the clearing, night had fallen bringing with it, the stars and a clear season moon. It illuminated the scene before them.........Leetah scrambling from Cutter's wolf's back, Skywise's unearthly pale skin, the fretful faces of his clan. Probing the wound, the dark elf carefully placed her fingertips on the barely moving chest of Skywise. He was no longer concious now. Leetah's powers surged hrouggh his form and Cutter grabbed him to cease his struggling.
'I feel for you, Fahr....'
he sent, wondering if he was to far gone, floating too high towards the stars.........
'Cheif of Cheifs,Tam....Don't let me go,........not yet......'
Startled by the sending, Cutter's sapphire eyes burst open.
"skywise!" he blurted.
Leetah finished her healing magic and Skywise's pale eyelids fluttered up. He smiled softly, gazing up
"........oh, the stars........" he murmured.
Then exhaustion caught him up with welcoming arms and he fell asleep..........a safe, healing sleep. The riders aided hm home and as he rested the next few days, he was visited by nearly every member of the tribe. Later on, with a cub resting on each knee and surrounding him on all sides, their tiny necks craning to see the heavens, he pointed skyward and spun stories from star to star.........and this time, all listened, and all shared.