Legolas stood in front of the big building he had followed Irulan to a few
nights ago. It was mid-afternoon and a quite hot day. The streets of the
city were packed with people and carts. After the silent harmony of the
forest, the smells and noises of this place were a constant onslaught on
his senses. He slowly approached the door and knocked. No one seemed to
answer. So he knocked again. No answer. He stepped back a little and looked
around.
"Looking for Harkey?" a shrill voice ringed from his right. An old woman had leaned out from one of the windows. She looked like a shriveled leaf, brown and skinny to the point where the meat was clinging to her very bones. "Yes" replied Legolas, "do you know where I can find him?" The woman eyed him up and down. "Stranger, huh?" After a short silence she added "Who knows?! That man is never to be found anywhere daytime. And mostly nighttime too, if you ask me! A bad bone is what he is!" She leaned over and spit towards the other side. "Try later, lad". "Actually" added Legolas hastily and the woman turned back and leaned out again, "I was going to ask him where the Gordimers live". She smiled a toothless smile "Ah them! I can tell you easily enough, lad".
***
"You look absolutely stunning Eprim!" Irulan screamed in astonishment. Eprim smiled and turned slowly on the spot. "It's the dress, really Irulan. I can not thank you enough for it!"
Irulan quickly waved away the comment. "Ah please! YOU look stunning. The dress should be happy having YOU underneath it" Eprim could not help herself giggling. "And I am sooo happy you could come by. Gerd is going to be happy to see you too!"
"Would I ever miss your wedding, you guys? I was there through all the ugly fights and insults, the bone breaking and the ear biting.... so I SHOULD be there during the happy parts too, right?"
Eprim laughed out loud. "Too true!" Then her faced seemed to fall a little bit and she looked up shyly "Only.... Gabrim will be attending as well, you know that, right?"
Irulan had suspected as much. Not that it would make a difference, but... Gabrim was Gerd's younger brother and not one of the pleasant younger brothers. He had never liked Irulan and the feeling had only grown stronger with time. He was constantly teasing her about her royal blood and her pretty gowns; always hushing people when they cracked a joke at her expense, saying that her father's guards would carry them away and chop off their heads if they did not stop. Irulan tried to be dismissive in the beginning, mainly because she was afraid that any bold behavior on her behalf would only serve as proof that she was using her background to belittle him. Yet she only had so much patience and soon she started quarrelling with him openly in front of everyone. The quarrels even tended to become physical more than once and embarrassing as it was, she had actually felt better having hit him harder than she would hit anybody else insulting her.
Irulan sighed and when she realized that Eprim was watching her with concerned eyes, immediately lit up with a smile "Ah please Eprim, I can handle him. I hardly realize he's there, actually"
***
"Okay now, that does it!" she yelled and threw the remaining piece of bread she was holding onto the table. Unfortunately it landed in a rather fluid bowl of sauce and a little piece of that sauce landed on someone's hair. Irulan was a bit too worked up to stop now, though. "I think you are trying to cover up for your injured pride, Gabrim" she spat.
Gabrim was sitting across her with eyes like torches. If looks could kill, he would have been arrested for murder and dragged away by now. His clenched his jaw and said "What are you talking about, rat?" in a grave voice.
Irulan ignored the horrific expression on Eprim and Gerd's face and pushed her chin up. "Why, if I don't remember wrong, last year you had a little help from my fist for falling on your ass, didn't you? Cause normally I bet you could not even accomplish that!" Her voice was alarmingly close to a shrill and she felt the heat of anger rising with every word. She hated the fact that Gabrim managed to have such an effect on her, but the cat was out of the sack now.
"Oh yes, I remember. It is hard to forget your calamities in this house! Just when we are about to forget the last one, you shove another one right into our faces, YOUR HIGHNESS!"
He was screaming and that was good because it gave her the right to scream back. "I guess you miss your beatings so much, you make up an excuse for another every year, you ox!"
Gabrim leaned over to her: "The mud-poles" he hissed.
"Deal" Irulan hissed back. Instantly they were both on their feet, stamping off towards the backyard. Everyone flinched and sprang up protesting, running after them. Gerd and Eprim remained on the table and sighed. Gerd was massaging his face when Eprim leaned on to him and said "Ah let them beat it out!" He was about to say "As if I have a choice!" when someone called his name. He turned to look and his cousin was running towards him. "You have new guests, Gerd!" she yelled with excitement, they are here for the wedding".
"Calm down Karla. Just lead them in".
"Oh no!" screamed Karla, "I think YOU better lead these guests in!" He leaned back to glance towards the house. He could make out three slim figures, standing by the door that lead from the house to the backyard, talking to Eprim's father and to Harkey. Then his eyes widened and he jumped up. Without as second thought he started to run towards them.
***
"It is an honor that you can find the time join us on such a day, Master Elf!" Harkey said in excitement. "I fear we were not prepared for such an event!"
Menan Gordimer looked bewildered from this sudden visit. He was nervously fiddling with his shirt and every now and then looking up the three men -no, elves!- in front of him to make sure it was indeed happening.
"The honor is all ours, Master Harkey" said one of the elves. He was taller than the other two with light brown hair and blue eyes. He shared the high cheekbones and naturally the pointed ears with his friends.
Harkey seemed to be pleased beyond words at being called "Master" (not to mention by an elf!) and laughed merrily. "Please, do pray come in! Come in! I am sure the bride and groom will be delighted!"
"Father!" Gerd almost chocked on his words and halted just before he ran into Harkey. "I hear we have important guests!" he said, trying not to look too obviously to the ears of the new arrivals.
"Yes yes!" guwaffed Harkey, "This is Gerd, he is the groom. And these are, eh. I am sorry..... I would not want to kill your names with my pronunciation. If you will, please....."
The elf with the light brown hair smiled sincerely and turned to Gerd "I am Athalos, this is Bern and this is our prince, Legolas. We are from Mirkwood and we have been staying with your generous king. We heard that a union of a man and a woman is taking place here today and having never witnessed such a custom in this land, we wished to come by and see it. Alas, I hope that you will not think us rude. We had no time to let you know of our coming. And we did not want you to feel need for any preparation for us neither".
"A prince eh?" whispered Harkey and nudged Gerd slightly in the ribs.
"Please tell us if it is improper" said Bern in a chiming voice. "We do not wish to intrude".
"Oh not at all!" claimed Gerd. He slightly pushed his father and Harkey aside and offered his hand. "I welcome you to our home and our modest wedding. I have to say though, we completed the ceremony just a short while ago" His face looked truly sad at the moment, "We were just having lunch together. If only we had known." Legolas held up his hand "Please, no need for explanations. We were prepared for this option when we came here. Is it possible that we join you in lunch?" Gerd's face lit up like a flame, "But do so! We are overjoyed to have you here today!" Legolas shook the offered hand, "We are overjoyed to be here ourselves, Master Gerd. The hospitality of men is very impressive indeed".
***
"That stupid, rude, impossible ox of a man!" Irulan thought. "I am so going to bash his head this time. He will have enough scars for next year!" She picked up her staff. It was heavy and solid, tall enough to reach her shoulders, and started to walk towards the mud pool which was exactly that - a rather big pool filled with waist-deep mud. Long and thick wooden poles were sticking out of it irregularly. Already a crowd mainly consisting of children was gathered around the edge of the pool, laughing and screaming joyously. Two tall trees stood on either side of the pool, their thick branches reaching towards each other above the pool. Both had a ladder that ran up their enormous trunks. She started towards the ladder, but then stopped and looked over to the other side.
Gabrim was taking off his jacket and handing it over to one of his friends. The three of them realized that she was looking and sneered towards her. "Why don't you bring your friends along, you ox?" she thundered. "The three of you together hardly make one man anyway!" Gabrim turned a darker shade red and his friends looked at each other for a moment. "Ah forget it!" Irulan barked, "I'll take out the brave ones today. Leave the cowards behind". Then she started to climb up the ladder with grim satisfaction. Behind her, all three were hastily taking up their staffs and running towards the opposite tree already.
***
Legolas' head shot up at her voice. "Why don't you bring your friends along, you ox!" She was screaming. She looked more than a little enraged, shaking her staff at the three men on the other side with rage. He heard Bern gasp "Is that.... is it..... Princess Irulan?" he asked with amazement.
Eprim was caressing the unbelievably smooth roll of fabric that Legolas had just given her as a wedding gift. It was the color of the night sky, embedded with little silver spots which enhanced the impression even more. Her hands were running over the cloth when she heard Bern and her eyes widened with fear. "They know her! Oh no, they are staying at the palace and they recognized her!" She hastily looked up to the three elves who were watching the incredulous scene before them. Her mind went blank and she looked over to Gerd, realizing that he looked blanched too.
"I believe it is, Bern". It was Legolas. And to her utter surprise, he looked amused. His smile widened into a grin, "Though she looks a bit.... different".
"What is she wearing?" Analoth said, squinting his eyes "it looks like a boy's outfit!" For some reason Legolas laughed out loud at that.
"Is she in some sort of danger, my lady?" Bern suddenly turned to her. "Maybe we should go and help her". He sprang up but Gerd stood up as well and gently placed his hand on the elf's shoulder. Then, on second thought, he snapped it back. "No Master Elf. She is...." he looked at Eprim and then at Harkey pleadingly, not sure how to finish the sentence, ".... playing a game" he said quickly and sat back down.
"What game is that?" Analoth asked with curiosity. Harkey cleared his throat, "Well... Irulan.... I mean Princess Irulan loves it so much, she plays it ever as often as she can. It is mainly about making your opponent fall into the mud".
"But is that not.... dangerous..... for a woman?" Analoth looked very confused now. Gerd gently started massaging his face again.
Irulan, on the far side of the garden, was standing on the pole closest to the tree branch and shaking her staff again. She seemed to be talking but it was hard to make out from this distance.
"Well the princess is rather good at it" Harkey tried to continue without whining, "she will manage just fine, don't worry".
"She looks very much in rage for a game" murmured Bern. Legolas chuckled again. Eprim looked even paler, if such a thing was possible. "What a wedding!" she thought.
***
"I will so kick your ass you mule!" Irulan hissed to Gabrim.
He preferred not to answer. He was intently focused on the poles underneath him, balancing himself with his staff awkwardly. Irulan knew that he had the most horrible balance and that he was a major loser in this game, and yet he had picked it because that stubborn and proud donkey had to prove himself to the whole bloody world! So be it, she thought, no mercy! She moved in gracefully, jumping from pole to pole with wide and elegant strides. Her left side felt considerably better. It was only emanating a silent buzz of pain and that was easy to deal with. Gabrim's friend Anil did not even see her coming, much less did he get the chance to see her swinging her staff and hitting him right across the shoulders. He tilted back and waved his arms madly to avoid falling, but she was already moving on when he failed and plummeted down. She placed her staff on the next pole just before Gabrim and instantly took off, hitting him with both feet on his chest and landing on his pole, pulling the staff behind her. A sweet but monstrous smile spread across her face as she turned to the last man, who had only yet managed to balance himself awkwardly on the pole. "Boo!" Irulan said softly and charged, but he was falling already. She laughed heartily and started to dance around the poles, landing on her feet, on her hands, jumping up and twisting in air, landing back on her feet again. Gabrim was climbing back up the ladder already. His face was covered with brown dripping mud and his eyes looked even more murderous underneath that blanket of dirt. He hopped on the nearest pole, closely followed by Anil and the dance began all over again.
***
There was an awkward silence at the table. The elves looked like little children with slightly cocked heads, fixed on the interesting game while the humans looked sick and about to cry. "Did you see that back flip, my prince?! Lady Irulan is well trained!" exclaimed Bern with mild joy. "Yes, Master Harkey was right, she is a fierce player" Legolas said and grinned to the very silent Harkey, "she must be practicing regularly, she looks very sharp". Harkey only gulped audibly and started to fill himself another goblet of wine.
"Tell me Lady Eprim, you seem to know her well enough, who would her trainer be?" Legolas asked. Eprim tried to speak but soon decided against any attempt of lying. Those eyes told her that he would know immediately and she could not lie to an elf prince - not even for Irulan! "Well.... she had a teacher.... but he died some years ago Master Legolas" she said in a barely audible voice. "Is it usual for women of your country to be trained in the art of combat?" asked Bern. He seemed to be very pleasantly surprised by the whole thing and his eyes shone with silent excitement.
Eprim sighed softly. "Might as well tell the whole story", she thought. "No, Master Bern. It is most unusual. And not very.... encouraged. But Princess Irulan..... has never been too worried about what is usual and what is not" she finally said and sipped on her wine. She sounded almost bitter, she realized. And with a good reason too. Irulan was in trouble and worse than that, so was she! Not to mention that the whole wedding was about to fly off a cliff very soon. "I noticed" said Legolas without turning his head to her, "I find that most fascinating. She is rather unique" he added softly. The other two elves looked at each other. A long silence followed.
***
Irulan did not know how many times she had thrown them in, but the game seemed to come to a conclusion finally. Both Gabrim's friends had crawled out of the pool, but remained on the lawn in the last round, unable to stand up. She thought she had hit Anil too hard on the legs the last time; he seemed to be wincing while holding his right leg outstretched. Momentarily she felt a pang of guilt; after all, they were really no match for her. But her recovery was astonishingly fast. "That is what pride does to you! They should know better!" She thought.
"Give it up already Gabrim" she said, pretending a yawn, "I'd rather go back down and continue with my lunch that you so rudely interrupted".
"Shut up you rat!" he mumbled and moved towards her on the poles. Irulan did not change her posture. She was leaning on her staff with the other hand on her hip, looking very bored and relaxed. "Suit yourself you ox. I was just trying to save your pride. Or rather, what's left of it" she said lazily. And that's when she all of a sudden became aware of the silence around the pool. She looked back and realized that the crowd surrounding the pool had dispersed a while ago. Most of them were gathered around the table now, laughing and giggling, but not as loud as before. Squinting her eyes she saw Eprim sitting on the very end of the table, looking gravely at her plate. Gerd too was oddly looking down at the table, seemingly unaware of the tumult the children were creating around him. Harkey was sitting across him, looking at her, with a very odd expression on his face. If she did not know better, she would say it was fear, and yet, she had never seen him afraid before. "What's going on?" She thought and felt the rise of a funny feeling in her belly.
And then she saw the elf. Or rather, the elves. They were sitting at the table as well, with deep interest on their faces, looking straight at her. Irulan's eyes widened with shock and disbelief. She instinctively snapped up and stood erect, but unable to move. Because she knew them! They were from the castle! And then she saw Legolas. He was sitting closest to her, glamorous as ever, watching her with intend interest. "Can't be" she murmured and felt something cold sliding down her spine. "How. when." "NO NO NO. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! The voice was echoing in her head.
Gabrim swung his staff as hard as he could and to his very surprise hit Irulan right on her left side. She staggered and turned around with a confused expression. She seemed to say something but he could not make out what it was, and then she was falling down from the pole, that curious expression still plastered on her face.
***
"Not the.... left side.... you... dork" she heard herself mumble but had no idea why she was mumbling that. And then Irulan felt herself tipping over in slow motion, and falling down, still unable to move and unable to make sense of the world around her. She felt a pain in her head that almost matched the pain radiating from her ribs before darkness washed over her and she knew that it was not the darkness of the mud.
"Looking for Harkey?" a shrill voice ringed from his right. An old woman had leaned out from one of the windows. She looked like a shriveled leaf, brown and skinny to the point where the meat was clinging to her very bones. "Yes" replied Legolas, "do you know where I can find him?" The woman eyed him up and down. "Stranger, huh?" After a short silence she added "Who knows?! That man is never to be found anywhere daytime. And mostly nighttime too, if you ask me! A bad bone is what he is!" She leaned over and spit towards the other side. "Try later, lad". "Actually" added Legolas hastily and the woman turned back and leaned out again, "I was going to ask him where the Gordimers live". She smiled a toothless smile "Ah them! I can tell you easily enough, lad".
***
"You look absolutely stunning Eprim!" Irulan screamed in astonishment. Eprim smiled and turned slowly on the spot. "It's the dress, really Irulan. I can not thank you enough for it!"
Irulan quickly waved away the comment. "Ah please! YOU look stunning. The dress should be happy having YOU underneath it" Eprim could not help herself giggling. "And I am sooo happy you could come by. Gerd is going to be happy to see you too!"
"Would I ever miss your wedding, you guys? I was there through all the ugly fights and insults, the bone breaking and the ear biting.... so I SHOULD be there during the happy parts too, right?"
Eprim laughed out loud. "Too true!" Then her faced seemed to fall a little bit and she looked up shyly "Only.... Gabrim will be attending as well, you know that, right?"
Irulan had suspected as much. Not that it would make a difference, but... Gabrim was Gerd's younger brother and not one of the pleasant younger brothers. He had never liked Irulan and the feeling had only grown stronger with time. He was constantly teasing her about her royal blood and her pretty gowns; always hushing people when they cracked a joke at her expense, saying that her father's guards would carry them away and chop off their heads if they did not stop. Irulan tried to be dismissive in the beginning, mainly because she was afraid that any bold behavior on her behalf would only serve as proof that she was using her background to belittle him. Yet she only had so much patience and soon she started quarrelling with him openly in front of everyone. The quarrels even tended to become physical more than once and embarrassing as it was, she had actually felt better having hit him harder than she would hit anybody else insulting her.
Irulan sighed and when she realized that Eprim was watching her with concerned eyes, immediately lit up with a smile "Ah please Eprim, I can handle him. I hardly realize he's there, actually"
***
"Okay now, that does it!" she yelled and threw the remaining piece of bread she was holding onto the table. Unfortunately it landed in a rather fluid bowl of sauce and a little piece of that sauce landed on someone's hair. Irulan was a bit too worked up to stop now, though. "I think you are trying to cover up for your injured pride, Gabrim" she spat.
Gabrim was sitting across her with eyes like torches. If looks could kill, he would have been arrested for murder and dragged away by now. His clenched his jaw and said "What are you talking about, rat?" in a grave voice.
Irulan ignored the horrific expression on Eprim and Gerd's face and pushed her chin up. "Why, if I don't remember wrong, last year you had a little help from my fist for falling on your ass, didn't you? Cause normally I bet you could not even accomplish that!" Her voice was alarmingly close to a shrill and she felt the heat of anger rising with every word. She hated the fact that Gabrim managed to have such an effect on her, but the cat was out of the sack now.
"Oh yes, I remember. It is hard to forget your calamities in this house! Just when we are about to forget the last one, you shove another one right into our faces, YOUR HIGHNESS!"
He was screaming and that was good because it gave her the right to scream back. "I guess you miss your beatings so much, you make up an excuse for another every year, you ox!"
Gabrim leaned over to her: "The mud-poles" he hissed.
"Deal" Irulan hissed back. Instantly they were both on their feet, stamping off towards the backyard. Everyone flinched and sprang up protesting, running after them. Gerd and Eprim remained on the table and sighed. Gerd was massaging his face when Eprim leaned on to him and said "Ah let them beat it out!" He was about to say "As if I have a choice!" when someone called his name. He turned to look and his cousin was running towards him. "You have new guests, Gerd!" she yelled with excitement, they are here for the wedding".
"Calm down Karla. Just lead them in".
"Oh no!" screamed Karla, "I think YOU better lead these guests in!" He leaned back to glance towards the house. He could make out three slim figures, standing by the door that lead from the house to the backyard, talking to Eprim's father and to Harkey. Then his eyes widened and he jumped up. Without as second thought he started to run towards them.
***
"It is an honor that you can find the time join us on such a day, Master Elf!" Harkey said in excitement. "I fear we were not prepared for such an event!"
Menan Gordimer looked bewildered from this sudden visit. He was nervously fiddling with his shirt and every now and then looking up the three men -no, elves!- in front of him to make sure it was indeed happening.
"The honor is all ours, Master Harkey" said one of the elves. He was taller than the other two with light brown hair and blue eyes. He shared the high cheekbones and naturally the pointed ears with his friends.
Harkey seemed to be pleased beyond words at being called "Master" (not to mention by an elf!) and laughed merrily. "Please, do pray come in! Come in! I am sure the bride and groom will be delighted!"
"Father!" Gerd almost chocked on his words and halted just before he ran into Harkey. "I hear we have important guests!" he said, trying not to look too obviously to the ears of the new arrivals.
"Yes yes!" guwaffed Harkey, "This is Gerd, he is the groom. And these are, eh. I am sorry..... I would not want to kill your names with my pronunciation. If you will, please....."
The elf with the light brown hair smiled sincerely and turned to Gerd "I am Athalos, this is Bern and this is our prince, Legolas. We are from Mirkwood and we have been staying with your generous king. We heard that a union of a man and a woman is taking place here today and having never witnessed such a custom in this land, we wished to come by and see it. Alas, I hope that you will not think us rude. We had no time to let you know of our coming. And we did not want you to feel need for any preparation for us neither".
"A prince eh?" whispered Harkey and nudged Gerd slightly in the ribs.
"Please tell us if it is improper" said Bern in a chiming voice. "We do not wish to intrude".
"Oh not at all!" claimed Gerd. He slightly pushed his father and Harkey aside and offered his hand. "I welcome you to our home and our modest wedding. I have to say though, we completed the ceremony just a short while ago" His face looked truly sad at the moment, "We were just having lunch together. If only we had known." Legolas held up his hand "Please, no need for explanations. We were prepared for this option when we came here. Is it possible that we join you in lunch?" Gerd's face lit up like a flame, "But do so! We are overjoyed to have you here today!" Legolas shook the offered hand, "We are overjoyed to be here ourselves, Master Gerd. The hospitality of men is very impressive indeed".
***
"That stupid, rude, impossible ox of a man!" Irulan thought. "I am so going to bash his head this time. He will have enough scars for next year!" She picked up her staff. It was heavy and solid, tall enough to reach her shoulders, and started to walk towards the mud pool which was exactly that - a rather big pool filled with waist-deep mud. Long and thick wooden poles were sticking out of it irregularly. Already a crowd mainly consisting of children was gathered around the edge of the pool, laughing and screaming joyously. Two tall trees stood on either side of the pool, their thick branches reaching towards each other above the pool. Both had a ladder that ran up their enormous trunks. She started towards the ladder, but then stopped and looked over to the other side.
Gabrim was taking off his jacket and handing it over to one of his friends. The three of them realized that she was looking and sneered towards her. "Why don't you bring your friends along, you ox?" she thundered. "The three of you together hardly make one man anyway!" Gabrim turned a darker shade red and his friends looked at each other for a moment. "Ah forget it!" Irulan barked, "I'll take out the brave ones today. Leave the cowards behind". Then she started to climb up the ladder with grim satisfaction. Behind her, all three were hastily taking up their staffs and running towards the opposite tree already.
***
Legolas' head shot up at her voice. "Why don't you bring your friends along, you ox!" She was screaming. She looked more than a little enraged, shaking her staff at the three men on the other side with rage. He heard Bern gasp "Is that.... is it..... Princess Irulan?" he asked with amazement.
Eprim was caressing the unbelievably smooth roll of fabric that Legolas had just given her as a wedding gift. It was the color of the night sky, embedded with little silver spots which enhanced the impression even more. Her hands were running over the cloth when she heard Bern and her eyes widened with fear. "They know her! Oh no, they are staying at the palace and they recognized her!" She hastily looked up to the three elves who were watching the incredulous scene before them. Her mind went blank and she looked over to Gerd, realizing that he looked blanched too.
"I believe it is, Bern". It was Legolas. And to her utter surprise, he looked amused. His smile widened into a grin, "Though she looks a bit.... different".
"What is she wearing?" Analoth said, squinting his eyes "it looks like a boy's outfit!" For some reason Legolas laughed out loud at that.
"Is she in some sort of danger, my lady?" Bern suddenly turned to her. "Maybe we should go and help her". He sprang up but Gerd stood up as well and gently placed his hand on the elf's shoulder. Then, on second thought, he snapped it back. "No Master Elf. She is...." he looked at Eprim and then at Harkey pleadingly, not sure how to finish the sentence, ".... playing a game" he said quickly and sat back down.
"What game is that?" Analoth asked with curiosity. Harkey cleared his throat, "Well... Irulan.... I mean Princess Irulan loves it so much, she plays it ever as often as she can. It is mainly about making your opponent fall into the mud".
"But is that not.... dangerous..... for a woman?" Analoth looked very confused now. Gerd gently started massaging his face again.
Irulan, on the far side of the garden, was standing on the pole closest to the tree branch and shaking her staff again. She seemed to be talking but it was hard to make out from this distance.
"Well the princess is rather good at it" Harkey tried to continue without whining, "she will manage just fine, don't worry".
"She looks very much in rage for a game" murmured Bern. Legolas chuckled again. Eprim looked even paler, if such a thing was possible. "What a wedding!" she thought.
***
"I will so kick your ass you mule!" Irulan hissed to Gabrim.
He preferred not to answer. He was intently focused on the poles underneath him, balancing himself with his staff awkwardly. Irulan knew that he had the most horrible balance and that he was a major loser in this game, and yet he had picked it because that stubborn and proud donkey had to prove himself to the whole bloody world! So be it, she thought, no mercy! She moved in gracefully, jumping from pole to pole with wide and elegant strides. Her left side felt considerably better. It was only emanating a silent buzz of pain and that was easy to deal with. Gabrim's friend Anil did not even see her coming, much less did he get the chance to see her swinging her staff and hitting him right across the shoulders. He tilted back and waved his arms madly to avoid falling, but she was already moving on when he failed and plummeted down. She placed her staff on the next pole just before Gabrim and instantly took off, hitting him with both feet on his chest and landing on his pole, pulling the staff behind her. A sweet but monstrous smile spread across her face as she turned to the last man, who had only yet managed to balance himself awkwardly on the pole. "Boo!" Irulan said softly and charged, but he was falling already. She laughed heartily and started to dance around the poles, landing on her feet, on her hands, jumping up and twisting in air, landing back on her feet again. Gabrim was climbing back up the ladder already. His face was covered with brown dripping mud and his eyes looked even more murderous underneath that blanket of dirt. He hopped on the nearest pole, closely followed by Anil and the dance began all over again.
***
There was an awkward silence at the table. The elves looked like little children with slightly cocked heads, fixed on the interesting game while the humans looked sick and about to cry. "Did you see that back flip, my prince?! Lady Irulan is well trained!" exclaimed Bern with mild joy. "Yes, Master Harkey was right, she is a fierce player" Legolas said and grinned to the very silent Harkey, "she must be practicing regularly, she looks very sharp". Harkey only gulped audibly and started to fill himself another goblet of wine.
"Tell me Lady Eprim, you seem to know her well enough, who would her trainer be?" Legolas asked. Eprim tried to speak but soon decided against any attempt of lying. Those eyes told her that he would know immediately and she could not lie to an elf prince - not even for Irulan! "Well.... she had a teacher.... but he died some years ago Master Legolas" she said in a barely audible voice. "Is it usual for women of your country to be trained in the art of combat?" asked Bern. He seemed to be very pleasantly surprised by the whole thing and his eyes shone with silent excitement.
Eprim sighed softly. "Might as well tell the whole story", she thought. "No, Master Bern. It is most unusual. And not very.... encouraged. But Princess Irulan..... has never been too worried about what is usual and what is not" she finally said and sipped on her wine. She sounded almost bitter, she realized. And with a good reason too. Irulan was in trouble and worse than that, so was she! Not to mention that the whole wedding was about to fly off a cliff very soon. "I noticed" said Legolas without turning his head to her, "I find that most fascinating. She is rather unique" he added softly. The other two elves looked at each other. A long silence followed.
***
Irulan did not know how many times she had thrown them in, but the game seemed to come to a conclusion finally. Both Gabrim's friends had crawled out of the pool, but remained on the lawn in the last round, unable to stand up. She thought she had hit Anil too hard on the legs the last time; he seemed to be wincing while holding his right leg outstretched. Momentarily she felt a pang of guilt; after all, they were really no match for her. But her recovery was astonishingly fast. "That is what pride does to you! They should know better!" She thought.
"Give it up already Gabrim" she said, pretending a yawn, "I'd rather go back down and continue with my lunch that you so rudely interrupted".
"Shut up you rat!" he mumbled and moved towards her on the poles. Irulan did not change her posture. She was leaning on her staff with the other hand on her hip, looking very bored and relaxed. "Suit yourself you ox. I was just trying to save your pride. Or rather, what's left of it" she said lazily. And that's when she all of a sudden became aware of the silence around the pool. She looked back and realized that the crowd surrounding the pool had dispersed a while ago. Most of them were gathered around the table now, laughing and giggling, but not as loud as before. Squinting her eyes she saw Eprim sitting on the very end of the table, looking gravely at her plate. Gerd too was oddly looking down at the table, seemingly unaware of the tumult the children were creating around him. Harkey was sitting across him, looking at her, with a very odd expression on his face. If she did not know better, she would say it was fear, and yet, she had never seen him afraid before. "What's going on?" She thought and felt the rise of a funny feeling in her belly.
And then she saw the elf. Or rather, the elves. They were sitting at the table as well, with deep interest on their faces, looking straight at her. Irulan's eyes widened with shock and disbelief. She instinctively snapped up and stood erect, but unable to move. Because she knew them! They were from the castle! And then she saw Legolas. He was sitting closest to her, glamorous as ever, watching her with intend interest. "Can't be" she murmured and felt something cold sliding down her spine. "How. when." "NO NO NO. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! The voice was echoing in her head.
Gabrim swung his staff as hard as he could and to his very surprise hit Irulan right on her left side. She staggered and turned around with a confused expression. She seemed to say something but he could not make out what it was, and then she was falling down from the pole, that curious expression still plastered on her face.
***
"Not the.... left side.... you... dork" she heard herself mumble but had no idea why she was mumbling that. And then Irulan felt herself tipping over in slow motion, and falling down, still unable to move and unable to make sense of the world around her. She felt a pain in her head that almost matched the pain radiating from her ribs before darkness washed over her and she knew that it was not the darkness of the mud.