Chapter Twenty-One –
The Quest of Legends:
A Beginning
Which Includes Vampyric-Insomnia, Skullex, Sylvan Doppelgangers, Worm-Holes, Harpies, and Dragons
Elowyn returned into the main chamber of the cavern, her tread silent once more upon the stone floor. She came around the bend, a curving wall-like structure that was naturally built into the cave, complete thoughtfulness in her air.
Her nemesis was now her ally…
A dangerous ally, however, she reminded herself, sternly. Jaedin, no matter how incapacitated he might seem because of his vampyric drawbacks, was still the dreaded Dark Lord, and he could, in all reality, turn on them in an instant. But…he wanted her; she could never forget this. Would his desire for her love – for her, as a whole – serve as the ultimate protection for them all? Only time, it appeared, would tell.
She walked wordlessly into the chamber, glancing around it slowly.
The place where they had now hidden themselves seemed as if it had once been an ancient ritual site, utilized as both a sort of worship place and living quarters; hence, the room-like spaces within it. Built into a mountainside, with a waterfall artistically hiding its entrance, it was a rather convenient hiding place – but one that would only last them for a little while.
In the main chamber, her friends sat in a circle around the small fire that they had going. Robbie and Brendan were staring pensively into the flickering flames, as Sala rummaged about in her pack, looking for something. Elowyn stopped in her tracks, standing completely still.
Brendan saw her first.
"So…" he said, grimly. "How did you find the Wolf?"
She smiled, ruefully, and came to sit down on the floor beside him and Robbie, drawing her legs up to herself so that she could drape her hands over her knees. She was silent for a moment, and then she replied, "I think I've made a sort of bargain with our Dark Lord…"
Their attentions were immediately and completely hers; questions buzzing in the air, they all gathered around her, all talking at once, until Brendan held up a hand and commanded, "Peace. Now, Elowyn," looking at her directly, "I think we shall be needing some explanations here."
So she told them succinctly of what she and Jaedin had agreed upon, in his cell.
The reactions to her words were various: Robbie groaned, instantly perturbed to the highest measure that they had become this involved with the Dark Lord, whereas Sala questioned Elowyn wryly on whether she was sure of what she was doing or not, and Brendan mulled over the news. At length, Elowyn halted all discussion and spoke, firmly.
"He is our only hope – this is the only way, although I would never tell him that, for the sole fear of fueling his maniacal ego," she said. "Yes, this is a Dark Lord that we are dealing with, and someone who cannot be at all trusted. But now we have him at our mercy, and he knows it full well – we must use it to our advantage! Think on it, you all…what else can we do?"
She paused, looking into each of their faces, one by one.
"We don't know where the Dark Gates reside…they move far too often for anyone to map them precisely, and they are the only way to enter the Dark Realm, and thence on to the Black City. But even if we did somehow stumble upon one of them, what then? We've not yet ventured into the Black City; Uncle Brendan, you have, but I fear that things will now be much different there than ever before, in the wake of the new changes we have now seen. He can take us there, and help us to get back the spell. We need him. I do not like to admit it myself: you must know this…but we need him."
"But – like you said – we'll not ever tell him that."
This came from Robbie, surprisingly enough. Elowyn hardly dared to let the dawning hope that she had within her: hope that, perhaps, they would agree with her, seeing her words as true, show through within her eyes. Sala shifted position restlessly beside her.
"How do you know he won't try anything – as, we all know, he is a Dark Lord?"
"Even Dark Lords keep their promises."
Brendan surprised them all with that comment.
"They may be ruthless and without scruple when it comes to getting what they want, and keeping what they've gotten…" he continued, grimly. "But they won't ever break a promise. Ríth-Anstarinaor never did, in all the years that he reigned as sole Holy Terror over the world – why should he begin now?"
* * *
Later that day, the group of faeries – lead by their dark vampyre guide – departed from their hiding place, and rode out into the wilds of Elvendome. Like the lands of the Known World, the lands of the Elves were composed of cities, villages, towns, and various other Sentient dwelling-places, but they were also quite unsettled, for a good part.
It was through these regions that they now rode…
They should be able to make good time if they moved with cautious speed, Jaedin told them; judging from where they now were in Elvendome, their journey would take them more than a few weeks – even on horseback – but it was their only way. Traveling by magic required too much power, and even Brendan and Jaedin, advanced in their own separate arts as they were, could not summon enough to transport the five of them at one time.
And so they rode forth.
Elowyn rode Orpheus, his wings folded gracefully at his sides, with Jaedin riding to her side, not too far from her. The chain that secured them to one another – keeping him from making any bid for escape – would allow them to put hardly any distance between one another, and Jaedin would not let any other person in their party ride close to him.
Nor would they.
Conversation was sparse among the members of the party, and especially so between Elowyn and Jaedin; thus, they passed the first day of their quest. Having started out late in the afternoon, they had not traveled many hours before they had to stop for the night. Nighttime is a dangerous time to travel, especially when one is questing against the Dark Realm, Jaedin had said.
And for all of his previous lies, this statement they did trust.
They set up camp and went to bed before the moon had climbed to its highest point in the sky. Ringed around the small fire that had been built, they each looked up at the stars – prepossessed with their own private thoughts – until sleep claimed them.
Of course, the Dark Lord was one of the last to fall asleep, and his chief captor, the Princess, was experiencing the same strange insomnia.
Elowyn looked across the dying embers of the fire to Jaedin: she was lying on her stomach, chin resting on her folded arms, her cloak and blankets wrapped close about her to ward off the night's chill. Jaedin mirrored her position, and he was looking straight at her, his eyes never moving from her face. Pushing away the urge to shudder at this, she looked back at him.
"Don't you ever sleep?" she asked him, in a hissing whisper.
He shrugged – if such a thing was possible, when lying down.
"I find it hardly necessary; although, if I were given the choice, I would most of the time be awake instead of dreaming at this time of night. Vampyric tendencies, you see."
He added that last casually: with an airy, nondescript motion of one hand.
Then—
"Do you mind if I watch you sleep?"
Elowyn, truly startled and then outraged at the simple, almost school-boy-like candor in which this was asked, sat bolt upright and stared at him.
"What kind of a question is that?" she spat at him. "Go to sleep! And don't you dare move either or—"
"Or what, Princess?"
His smile at this was faint, almost soft, and yet full of arrogance; just slightly curving his full lips, and not exposing any teeth.
"Or you'll employ your most dastardly weapon on me again? Because I warn you – doing so will bring you that much closer to me, and although I wouldn't find such an experience at all distasteful, I am fairly certain you would."
"One more word out of you, Jaedin," was all that she hissed back. "One more word."
"Sweet dreams, Princess," he said, still smiling arrogantly.
Then, he rolled over and lay still, not saying anything more. Elowyn stared at him for a moment longer, as if transfixed, and then she lay down as well, pulling her covers over herself, as if doing so would not only take away the coldness of the night, but also banish the feeling of iciness that had so suddenly gripped her heart. Perhaps this was all a very, very bad idea…
Sweet dreams indeed, Dark One…
Only if you will stay out of them.
* * *
The next day dawned clear and bright: the sun beating with increasing gold warmth down on the treetops and into the forest. The travelers awakened early, to the sounds of birdsong, and departed, leaving no trace whatsoever of their presence behind themselves.
If they were to make this journey, they would have to do so with more secrecy than any of them could have yet utilized. It would be all too easy for the Queen's eye to be drawn to them…
And none knew this better than Jaedin.
They all rode along, wordless except for a few snatches of conversation between the others of the party; he remained silent.
In his heart – if he even had such a thing, which he had somehow doubted for hundreds of thousands of years – he knew that he would have turned on his captors within an instant, if he could have. Any villain would do so, and he was a ruler among such entities. It was expected of him. But, as he had told Elowyn, he could not break his promise, and would not. Honour was something that even Dark Lords were bound by…even one such as him.
He glanced at her, carefully, as he thought of this.
The faery princess had incredible bravery, incredible selflessness – he guessed that was what it had to be, able to come up with no better description for it – for she had been able to set aside her fear of him, her hatred for him and everything that he represented, in order to save the world that she knew, and the people she loved. Of course, her hatred for him and all those like him was part of what most likely spawned her desire to complete this quest, not merely her desire to see those she cherished endure throughout all of time.
But only a few things will endure through all of time, Princess – will your beloved White Realm be one of them? For I can imagine a bond that would surpass even that in agelessness…
There, again, went his self-destructive desire.
His longing for the Princess had turned his Queen against him, and deprived him of both his power and his advantage. As the Dark Lord who served under the Ebony Queen, he would have been able to see the world of mortals and the world of faeries brought into submission by the Dark Realm – but now he had precious little but himself to rely upon. His armies in Sytherria, the indestructible Antari, everything…all but gone now. Even his powers were severely sapped, drawn from him by those who were now his captors.
As soon as that silver wore off…
Thinking of that reminded him of the exquisite pain that had shocked through him that night, when he and Elowyn had found one another in the fire. The back of his neck still stung when he remembered that moment. Vampyres did not take damage easily, and most often healed quickly, but when it was silver that had been used against them…the results were not often so effortlessly brushed off.
It was a low blow to the race, to have such inhibitions.
He shifted position in the saddle, wondering how much longer he could take being out in daylight – another vampyric drawback, and apparently one that his captors couldn't really give a care about. As he moved, however, he felt the chain that he wore about his neck – nearly forgotten, in the depths of his shirt and tunic – stir against his skin.
Zaschaea…
As long as he wore the crystal hidden, covered by whatever clothing he was wearing, she could not see him – and when she could not see him, she could not know what he was doing. It was a risky gamble, he realized. If the Queen had really wanted to, she could have either immediately destroyed him or gradually sucked his life power from him. He might not have very much time left to live, especially if the latter were so. His life-essence could only endure for so long after its initial power had been undermined.
And that was why it was, above all things, imperative that he did as the faeries had requested him, and followed the lines of the bargain that he had made with Elowyn. If he could get into the Black City, he might yet have a chance to save himself, and at last wreak his full and unmitigated vengeance upon those who had betrayed him.
But not yet, he thought, gazing at the back of Elowyn's golden head as she rode along in front of him, completely unknowing of his eyes upon her.
Not yet.
"Stop – we pause here for a moment," Brendan's voice came, from a little ways ahead of them. Jaedin then noticed that the three others of their group had ridden past his mount and Elowyn's; they two had originally taken the lead, as he was the sole guide.
Without comment, he dismounted and tethered his coal-black stallion's reins to a conveniently placed, low branch of a nearby tree, then walked over to Elowyn and her Pegasus. Orpheus put back his ears and shifted on all fours at the vampyre's approach. He knew that tall, dark figure all too well.
Seeing this, Jaedin grinned – malevolently – exposing his rather unnerving pair of sharp-looking incisors, along with the rest of his incredibly white set of teeth. The princess looked down at him from her place above him in the saddle, one eyebrow lifting coolly.
"He doesn't like you," she remarked.
Jaedin shrugged, his fingers straying to bury themselves in the Pegasus's flowing, silky mane, which clearly infuriated him.
"Most intelligent beings don't," he replied, with his usual darkness. "People – and most horses, as well – somehow inherently know that when they look at me, they are seeing the foremost evil in their world, and all before I've even had the time to say my name to them. May I assist your dismount, Princess?"
And he held out a hand.
Elowyn didn't even glance at the black-leather palm. Instead, she swung herself down from the saddle, on the totally opposite side of the Pegasus, and tethered her reins to the tree as well. Then, coming around in front of him, she shot Jaedin a thoroughly withering look.
"I might have said this to you before, Dark One – don't ever touch me."
And she walked off, to join her friends.
Jaedin remained where he was, looking after her, but only for about roughly three seconds – then, the chain connected to the shackles on his wrist tightened, and he was compelled to follow.
The stop was one for about half an hour's rest, and then they were to move on. However, when they had all found each other in the small clearing in the woods, it was discovered that there was no water nearby – dismay indeed, for they were all becoming quite thirsty. Each one of them had had adventures in the woods of Elvendome before, but it appeared – now, as they made off to look for a stream, or some source of water – that there was quite a bit about the area that they had yet to learn.
As Robbie stood to move off into the trees, Jaedin was slyly silent until he had gone about fifty feet from them. Then, he remarked, "I ought to have warned you before – about these woods."
Instantly, everyone's attention had riveted on him. He was silent for a moment longer, just to drive them mad. Then, cryptically—
"They are perfectly safe, you know."
Sala and Robbie looked as if they were just about to throttle him, and Brendan looked exasperated; Elowyn, however, was watching him with a peculiar, intense expression in her sea green eyes. You can never lie to her, Jaedin thought, with sudden realization. She knows it all – she knows everything, just as you know everything about her…
"If we're 'perfectly safe' here, then why did you say that you should have warned us about them?" came through the trees, from Sala.
Jaedin leaned back, nonchalantly, against the tree trunk that he was sitting up against. This, apparently, was going to be quite amusing.
For him.
"Oh!" he said, in the same knowingly cryptic manner as before, "Well, they are – really – if, that is, you count out the sylvan doppelgangers, wandering mind-phantoms, marauding gypsies, and gremlins: all of which would be quite happy to deprive you of either your purse, your mind, or your life, depending on the time of day you catch them at."
And he was silent, in waiting expectancy.
Brendan and Elowyn were first to catch onto his clandestine game, and it was Brendan who first put the Dark Lord's wishes into words—
"All right – which one of you wants to take the vampyre for a walk?"
* * *
"You know, Princess Elowyn, I can hear you saying all that, and flattered as I am that you would come up with such descriptive and colourful terms to describe my person, I must say that I find your anger just a slight damper on the lovely sunny afternoon that we have here."
Such amusing irony – really.
Elowyn gritted her teeth, trying very hard to ignore her urge to turn around and slap him across his arrogant face so hard that his teeth rattled. She walked on, keeping as much distance between the two of them as was possible.
"Ignoring me won't do anything for you, either, Princess."
Suddenly, his voice spoke directly into her ear. Elowyn jumped, coming to an abrupt halt in her tearing walk. And there he was, standing right in front of her, as she stopped – right into his chest. Black velvet was all that her eyes directly saw as she stood there, for the split second that it took her to recover her senses. She inhaled the faint scent of sandalwood, some dark, smoky fragrance that she could not put a name to, and incense, along with a thousand others: his smell.
"Mmph!"
Then, after this little sound of initial surprise, she pushed herself away and stepped back, with fury in her eyes.
"Didn't I tell you—"
As if only barely listening to her, Jaedin tipped his head back a bit, eyes shooting up to scan the forest canopy above his head, the golden sunlight striking fully down on his broad shoulders and smoothly shaven scalp. How different he was from all the other masculine figures she had ever seen, she thought; how different he was from anyone she had ever yet known. In appearance and bearing, in speech and action, in everything…
"Didn't you tell me…?" he repeated. "The words you used, I believe…" Stepping close to her again, so that she could feel his warmth up against her, could feel him against her; fingers gloved in black leather came under her chin, bringing her head up and back, so that she looked into the sharp, proud features of the one who stood before her, "Were, 'Don't ever touch me' – 'Don't ever touch me'…ever. Ever, Princess."
"Enough – stop it."
She tried to push herself away, to step out of those arms, but they wouldn't let her go. He wouldn't let her go.
The darkness is always, ever around us …why should you fight against it? If it is within us, why should we resist? Why not embrace it…
Suddenly, then, echoing distantly from the woods—
"Elowyn…Elowyn!"
The conversation was cut off; both Jaedin and Elowyn's heads swiveled, away from one another, to face towards the sound of the voice. Elowyn stepped back, out of his arms, as they became – without warning – slack around her. She made as if to move towards the voice, but then her dark companion's arm shot out and clamped around hers, just above the elbow.
"Let me go!" she snapped. "That is Sala calling me – they're all likely out looking for us by now, we've been gone for so long!"
But Jaedin's expression was now one of suspicion and dark recognition: his gray eyes had narrowed, the storm clouds reappearing in their depths, and his brows had gathered.
"No." he said, in a low voice. "That is not your cousin."
Elowyn was totally dumbfounded by this.
"Of course it is!" she hissed at him, trying to pull her arm away from this. Enough of these tense interactions between him and me, she thought. They might all look very nice in print, in a book somewhere, but I've had enough of this creature's attempt to woo me! I'll not be had by him!
"Now let me go!"
Jaedin shook his head, stepping forwards and turning her around, so that she had her back up against his chest. He held her there, in silence, for a moment, and then he gestured off, into the trees, seeming satisfied by what he had seen.
"There," he said, then. "Is that your cousin?"
Elowyn looked in the direction that his arm had indicated to her, and saw a slender, dark-garbed form weaving among the tree trunks, seeming as if it was searching for something. As it came closer, she saw its more specific features: short, dark hair, distinctly faery features, and a pale gold bracelet of a wyvern – coiled and intricately detailed, with eyes of amber gems – on its left wrist. She again struggled against his hold on her.
"Yes, that is Sala – you know her look!"
Jaedin shook his head.
"Think again, Princess – in these fair woods, nothing is as it seems."
He made a gesture with one hand, and then, without warning, another figure appeared, conjured out of thin air, about fifty feet behind the figure of 'Sala'.
It was a perfect double of him.
"Look."
At another movement from him, his double waved an arm at 'Sala' and called out her name, in a too-loud, cheerful tone that Jaedin himself would have never used.
"Sala! Sala – over here!"
The figure of her cousin turned at the sound of the voice.
"Oh!" she called out. "Where is Elowyn?"
And she began to move towards his conjured apparition. Elowyn looked up at Jaedin, over her shoulder, perplexed. It seemed that she knew less about the forests of Elvendome than she had thought, telling from the Dark Lord's actions at that moment…
Then, as she watched, she saw both Brendan and Robbie's figures come out of the trees, moving towards where Jaedin's specter stood.
"Watch." Jaedin murmured in her ear.
As they looked on, they saw the three forms continue to move towards his specter, across the small meadow that was between them.
Then—
Suddenly, there was a great rumbling sound that seemed to emanate from deep beneath the earth, and – all at once – the place in the meadow where 'Robbie', 'Brendan', and 'Sala' stood caved in, creating a gigantic hole in the ground with the noise of an explosion! Debris went flying everywhere, and then, Jaedin took Elowyn by the arm and led her across the space.
They found themselves looking down into a large, blackened pit, from the depths of which issued the acrid stench of burning sulfur, and, she noticed, wet earth.
The sound of running footsteps came up behind them, and then the real Robbie, Sala, and Brendan were standing there with them, staring at the hole with expressions of mingled horror, shock, and incredulousness that mirrored hers.
Only Jaedin looked totally nonplussed.
"B'marrthian worm hole," he told them, matter-of-factly. "A good place to look for a long fall; highly explosive, for some strange reason. I think you'll find them the perfect way to dispose of any kind of pursuer or various other enemy…and the doppelgangers that haunt these forests. They only knew Elowyn's name because it had been used in conversation, after we'd stopped – but you can always tell that they're not the people they impersonate because of two things…"
He trailed off.
"And what are those?" asked Brendan, dryly, knowing that the answer was coming – but only after the vampyre had been prodded a bit.
Jaedin smirked, darkly.
"Only a doppelganger would be addle-brained enough to go around yelling in any part of the forest in Elvendome," he said. "Most normal Sentient beings have some concept of stealth – and doppelgangers never look quite like their real counterparts. If I remember correctly, Lady Sala, the eyes on the wyvern-vambrace of yours were made of rubies, not amber – is that so?"
Sala nodded, her fingertips abstractedly passing over the bracelet.
"They are," she replied.
Jaedin smirked again.
"Then there you have it."
Elowyn held up a hand, stopping him before he had time to turn around.
"Wait," she said, with a frown darkening her face. "If they'd seen all of us, and they knew my name because you had said it, Jaedin, then why did they only impersonate Robbie, Sala, and Brendan, when they were trying to fool us just now? There wasn't one of you."
The Dark Lord merely flashed her his incredibly white grin: curved incisors flashing in the full afternoon sunlight. Elowyn drew her conclusion from that – obviously, being a vampyre meant just as many advantages in life as it did drawbacks.
"All the better for them." was his answer. "Shall we be moving on then?"
* * *
The next two days of their quest passed smoothly, and without untoward event, except that Jaedin had to begin wearing his cloak and hood to keep from exposing himself to the sunlight, having reached his vampyric limit of three days. However, on the afternoon of that third day, they would all find that their list of problems to deal with extended far past brief encounters with sylvan doppelgangers and their sort…
Brendan had them all up and preparing to move on at the crack of dawn, as soon as the birds had first begun to stir themselves within the trees and burst forth into their morning songs. Elowyn managed to convince him that they should at least take time for a cup of tea before they left – she was not, by any means, a morning person, and tea meant a proper waking up for her. As she, Sala, and Jaedin sat near the fire, each ruminating soberly over their steaming mugs of the hot, sweet beverage, Elowyn broke the silence.
"I keep trying to envision scenarios that would have included your being here, Jaedin – and not on war-business, but I fear that I am drawing miserable, repeated blanks. Put it down to too much travel and not enough sleep, if you want."
Robbie, walking past with yet another pack to load onto one of their mounts, heard her last few words and smiled wryly as well.
"Aye – that'd be it, if anything," he commented.
"Put some snap in it, Rob!" came Brendan's slightly impatient voice, and the crown prince of Lærelin started, and put some snap in it, moving away from them.
Jaedin let Elowyn know his dark amusement at both her sarcastic end comment and her barely veiled curiosity about his past by letting the corners of his mouth curve up a bit, as he raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. He leaned back against the fallen log that he was sitting indolently up against, locking his fingers together behind his neck with an air of complacency and satisfaction. He couldn't deny that he vastly enjoyed making them wonder…
"Actually, you are right, Princess," he replied, sitting forward to pour himself another cup of the strongly flavored and highly caffeinated tea, then resuming his original position. "I have been here before: on several different occasions, in fact, and not always to attend to matters of war. Long ago, before I ever became the Dark Lord, taking the exalted rank of commander over the dark forces – when I was around your age, in fact – I traveled both the Known World and the Lands Beyond extensively. I familiarized myself well with their realms, peoples, and creatures."
Elowyn looked at him long and hard: her expression searching but, beyond that, unreadable.
"And what have you concluded of that knowledge?" she asked him.
Looking straight back at her, from within the depths of his face-shadowing hood, the vampyre replied: enigmatic as ever, while still giving her an answer of a sort—
"It has served as my guide and aide more often than even I can recall, Princess – in both times of war and peace."
Shortly after that, they were ready to move on, and – the last traces of their ever being there swiftly and effortlessly dealt with by a quick blast of magic from Brendan's fingertips – rode out into the forest once again.
The scenery that they were now passing through was not merely wooded area, however: it transformed into wide open fields, winding streams and small rivers that ran into ponds, lakes, and even a few magnificent waterfalls, and rolling, borderline mountainous territory. Jaedin's knowledge of the land – which was so far away from the more heavily-populated coastline of Elvendome that it was rarely frequented by any race of Sentient beings – helped them immensely, although none of them had the stupidity to mention their gratitude to him.
Then, a little while after the hour of noon…
* * *
Jaedin's silvery eyes suddenly became hard and intense, staring out at some invisible boundary, and he reined in short. His movement caused the chain that connected him to Elowyn to tighten, and she turned in the saddle, pulling Orpheus to a slow halt as well, looking at the dark figure behind her. Her green eyes held a flicker of wariness.
"What?" she asked, shortly.
He shook his head, mouth forming a straight, unforgiving line as he still did not look at her. Up ahead of them, Brendan, Sala, and Robbie stopped as well.
"Something follows us – or rather, something is looking for us. It doesn't have any sort of powers, but…"
He trailed off. Then, the quick faery ears of the other four served to alert them, abruptly, of many approaching beings. Oddly, there was no trace of inherent dark power in the air, but they had to remain cautious, even at that. They all dismounted and quickly pulled their steeds further into the woods, down a small knoll and into the gully beneath it. There, Brendan looked up, trying to get a better sense of what – or who – was coming through the woods, towards them.
"Skullex."
Jaedin nodded, eyes narrowed.
"Yes, Skullex," he hissed, lowly. "The war has begun, and my Queen has sent out her first string of attack – she cannot see where we are, or where I am, but she has decided to act, nevertheless; it is not because of us that they have come to this place."
But they would kill us instantly if they could, and then fly back to their mistress to report of the mishap – such is the way of war…
As she considered this, Elowyn thought that she heard Jaedin emit what sounded like a growl, deep in his throat, and she shuddered. If he took it into his mind to go out and deal with the vile Dark Realm warriors… She couldn't risk that kind of peril! Knowing only this, she acted hastily – leaving Jaedin no time for any further thought, she reached over and grabbed his hand, just above the wrist, and hauled him towards her.
"Hide!" she ordered her friends.
Without a moment's hesitation, they did so. In an instant, they had melted, like shadows at twilight, into the dense undergrowth of the forest.
"And we are left together once more, Princess," Jaedin commented, without sentiment, and then he was reaching forward to take her by the arms, just above her elbows. Elowyn found herself propelled silently but firmly into the cavity that the roots of a tree made in the small hillside; her back hit the loose top layer of soil, but Jaedin wasn't through yet. Before she could stop him, he'd forced them both into a rolling fall. Ever the self-assured acrobat, he moved so that they landed without injury among the roots, with his arm beneath her head to keep her from being hurt.
Elowyn quickly took note of another aspect of their current position – lying on the ground, tucked into a sheltering crevasse, was all very well and good, but he was certainly very close to her, and their arms and legs had somehow become very much tangled up in the fall. When she tried to look up, she was only able to lift her chin about an inch before her forehead was touching his throat. She could feel his breath in her hair, on her skin; the pulse in his neck pounded against her cheek, and she could hear the labored whistling of his breath in his chest, as she lay there, curled up against the side of him – her worst enemy.
But now was not the time to think of this – there was too much to risk.
And so she lay still.
"Don't move." Jaedin whispered to her.
She sent him a truly acid, withering frown, her jade eyes flashing lightning bolts of irritation at him for that. He moved his arm, pulling her further out of sight, into the cavity in the hill, and she felt her own breath welling against the black velvet of his chest.
Meanwhile, from above them—
Nearer and nearer came the noise of many roughshod, marching feet: a detachment of Skullex, accompanied by their mounts – carnas – and a number of their commanders. The group of faeries and their one vampyre companion lay still: very, very still, each holding their breath with the thought that perhaps even that smallest of sounds would attract the attention of those who now passed by above them.
Elowyn stared up, into the tree roots above her head, and knew that her companion was doing the same. She suddenly thought that, really, if he had wanted to, he could have walked straight out into the midst of the vile, skull-headed warriors and announced that he was taking control of their battalion. And oh, by the way, would they please kill this quartet of bloody infernal meddling faeries while they were at it? But…he had said that he was now alone in the world, no longer commanded by his Queen, who had betrayed him…and he had given Elowyn his vow…
Once more, she was forced to ask herself – could she ever believe him?
The time that the Skullex took to pass overhead seemed to stretch into eternity. Elowyn felt her senses dulling themselves as they waited…waited… Slowly, she became aware of only the sound of Jaedin's heartbeat, his and her breathing, and the darkness that surrounded her. The moments dragged on and on, as they remained hidden: silent.
At last, she realized that much time had passed, and she no longer heard the noises of the procession overhead. Jaedin was still silent and unmoving beside her – or rather, halfway beside her, and halfway over her – and she couldn't decide if she ought to be still or not. Surreptitiously, she made a circling motion with her pointer finger, forming the words of a searching spell in her mind. She withdrew inwards to herself, listening to the nuances of the magic…
A split second later, she brought her head around and looked up into the Dark Lord's profile. He seemed to be very intent…on studying her hair.
"They've been gone for a long while now," she said.
And she didn't bother keeping the bite out of her tone.
Jaedin acknowledged this with a cool, indifferent nod.
"Oh – I know," he said.
Elowyn reached over, with one hand, and found exactly what she had hoped she would – the particular hill that they had chosen as their hiding place just happened to be the location of a thick blackberry patch. And in the next instant, the Dark Lord of Sytherria found a long, wet smear of dark blue juice swiped across his cheekbone and nose.
Without a moment's regard to how he might react to that, Elowyn firmly pushed him off of her and stood up, brushing her clothing back into place.
"We move on!" she called out to her friends, and walked away.
* * *
It was indeed as Jaedin had said – the war had begun, and although the Ebony Queen had no idea that there was a group of faeries, led by her own former right-hand commander, the evil-hearted lady had already begun to send out her troops for the Dark Realm's first forays into the mortal lands. She had a mind, it appeared, to spy out the realms that she would soon be fighting against, in a war to end all wars…
If there had been a need for them to employ caution before, this now increased tenfold. The Queen was not looking for them – although she had sent the storm after them – but if her troops were about in the world…they could not let her find them, especially with Elowyn in their number.
Harder they rode now, and the lands of Elvendome speedily passed them by…
Shortly after the appearance of the Skullex – before the end of that same day, to make things worse – they found themselves plunged into the thick of a truly strange kind of forest. Instead of the towering evergreens and their usual neighbors, the willowy denizens of this forest vaguely resembled thick stalks of asparagus, bright emerald in hue, with gigantic yellow flowers crowning their lofty heads.
Jaedin had begun to eye these with distaste as soon as they had ridden into their midst, but when he had begun to speak a word of caution, Robbie had snapped at him that they had no time for idle worries now – it would be far easier to cut through the forest than to attempt finding a way around it. The vampyre looked at him with unreadable eyes, and said no more.
And they rode in, with no further ado…
But then, all at once, strange, hoarsely warbling cries began to fill the air, and their mounts began to buck, pawing at the ground with their hooves as they made noises of malcontent, the whites of their eyes beginning to show. Elowyn steadied Orpheus, but with no amount of ease – the Pegasus was normally unafraid of everything, what could possibly be causing him to behave this way now? She turned to Jaedin, with a frown.
"Jaedin, what is wrong with them – why are they—"
"Harpies!"
Sala's cry rang from behind them, and then total pandemonium ensued.
The horses, even Orpheus, went berserk: rearing openly, with neighs that were fierce screams of terror. Elowyn unsheathed her sword and held it over her head, bending her arm so that it became a shield for her face and scalp, struggling to control her panicked mount. There was a blur of noise and movement – horses' hooves thudding, scraping against the dirt as they tried to run, her companions crying out and shouting from around her, and above it all, the horrid squawking of what were surely some of the more feared Malevolent creatures.
Harpies were a species of monster that were not affected, to any measure, by magic – this, and the creatures' tough skin, made fighting them very difficult, even for faeries. With bodies that resembled both eagles and lions and heads of hideous old crones, complete with venomous snakes entwined in their matted auburn hair, they were truly worthy of all the hatred the other races gave to them. Savage and bloodthirsty, they were – able and even willing to bring down a human and pick its bones clean, as a flock.
They had stumbled upon a rookery, Elowyn realized: only too late. Harpies, it was well known, made their nests in the type of tree-like flowers that their party had passed under…and, unfortunately, Jaedin's warning had gone unheeded.
Elowyn brought Orpheus around, wheeling him about, and brought her sword down through the air, messily decapitating a harpy that had been about to fly at her, needle-like talons extended. The thing fell to the ground, still croaking roughly, its black blood staining the ground. Stinging, hard feathers smacked against the side of her head then, and Elowyn stabbed upwards with her blade, skewering another harpy. She shook it off, sending it flying into a knot of its comrades, who immediately turned…and set upon it. They devour their wounded as well.
Zinnng!
An arrow whistled past Elowyn's shoulder, to embed itself in the chest of a harpy behind her; Sala was employing the skills taught to her by her Amazon mother and her ladies with a relish. Already, mounds of rumpled and bloodied harpies lay on the ground, all about them.
Yet more turquoise bodies were descending from the sky.
How can we stop them? Elowyn wondered, as she began to fight her way towards her friends. Then, she stiffened as she realized that she hadn't seen Jaedin within the last few moments. Gritting her teeth, she swung her head around—
And came face-to-face with a harpy, which was flying right at her!
Elowyn screamed and threw her arm up to guard her face, even though she knew that it was too late – in the next split second, the creature's talons would carve her skin into ribbons—
Shwing! And Elowyn felt black velvet brushing against her face; she opened her eyes and saw Jaedin. He had ridden his horse directly in front of her, and was shielding her with his body between her and the attacking harpy: sword drawn from its sheath and flashing in the dying sunlight. He called out to her, in a clear, cold voice that rang over the tumult—
"Double back to your friends, Elowyn! It's the only way out!"
"It's not the only way!"
Jaedin turned his shaven head just a fraction of an inch to the side, angling it enough to let him look at her, in furious speculation, out of the corner of his eye. She stared back at him, as the world seemed to slow and mute itself around them, freezing. She nodded, breathing hard.
She knew that he understood her mind.
They had to act unthinkably fast. Elowyn yanked the chain that secured her to the Dark Lord, whipping it around her arm and pulling it back to herself.
The key to the shackles appeared in her hand then, and she pointed it out towards Jaedin's dark figure, saying a rapid string of words in faery. All at once, the iron-wrought key began to glow, with a shimmering green light, and a blast of it shot out towards Jaedin, absorbing into the shackle that he wore on his wrist.
Jaedin was ready to act the moment her spell of release reached him: his fingertips briefly touching his wrist, he then looked up, into the sky above them, and became very, very still, almost deadly in his silence. Elowyn pulled hard on Orpheus's reins and shouted to her companions, "Fall back! Fall back, all of you and for bloody Fates' sake, get down!"
A huge, black whirlwind seemed to suddenly emanate from the figure in black velvet, and the four faeries all shrank away from him, forcing their mounts to turn and flee. The harpies, seeing only this new thing to attack, converged on the whirlwind, with shrieks and gabbling cries that were reminiscent of glee and delight—
But what they met was not another easily brought-down prey.
It was a dragon.
Robbie, Brendan, Elowyn, and Sala raced into the fringes of the real forest – not the harpies' rookery – and shielded themselves as best as they could.
This was, they could tell, going to be very unpleasant.
The huge black dragon spread its wings and shot up into the sky, with a mind-breaking roar. An instant later, the pack of harpies that had followed in its wake were engulfed by a blast of white-hot dragon fire, and became promptly incinerated chunks of coal. The dragon swept back down to earth again and began to tear into the flock: eyes glowing red with vengeance and the desire, the need, for blood.
Elowyn watched as her erstwhile lover – the Dark Lord of Sytherria himself, in the form of a dragon – savagely and efficiently dispatched the entire flock of harpies. Within seconds, a rain of torn feathers and charred, torn harpy bodies came raining down out of the sky where the creatures engaged in mortal combat with the dragon.
The forest was filled with the noises of the battle.
It was a losing struggle for the harpies, however: the dragon was simply too huge, too powerful, and too fast for them to escape, and in spite of their leathery skins and slashing talons, the flock soon fell from the sky. Only when the air had become completely still again did Elowyn and her friends venture forth.
The sight that met their eyes was a truly gruesome one: the ground was littered with the bodies of horribly mangled harpies: some missing heads, others with chunks taken out of their chests by the dragon's claws; there was black blood everywhere. The rookery was in a ruin.
Elowyn hastily took her eyes from the devastation, too sickened by what she saw before her to look at it for another second. Her lips formed a single word, as she stepped forward, although no sound left her…
"Jaedin…"
In the place where the harpies' rookery had been was now a wide-open space, where the flower-trees and nests lay scattered about, destroyed. And in the center of it loomed the large, hulking bulk of the enormous black dragon.
Elowyn approached him carefully – promise or no promise, the Dark Lord was in his dragon form now, and that meant considerable danger… Jaedin, however, remained where he was, lying on the ground and somewhat affecting the pose of a sphinx as he started to pick the remains of his aggressors out of his teeth with one long claw. She came to stand next to him, and, after a moment's pause for thought, she placed both hands on the dragon's huge, muscular forearm, looking up at him with searching eyes.
"Did you enjoy that as much as it looks like?" she asked him, quietly.
The dragon's left eye opened, to a thin slit, and its pupil roved to look back at her out of his peripheral vision. His other arm came down from his mouth, placing itself calmly on the ground next to the arm that she stood by, and then he looked at her fully, head cocking to the side atop its long, reptilian neck.
After a pause for thought, "Yes, I suppose that you might say I did."
"Elowyn."
Robbie's voice spoke up from behind them, and both the dragon and the princess's heads whirled to face: almost guiltily, it seemed, her friends as they approached the pair.
Elowyn returned her gaze to the huge black dragon. Her sea green eyes were knowing, pleading…and even strangely sympathetic…and at her look, the dragon, immediately reading her thought, nodded slowly, wordless. She took a step back, giving him room, watching as he rose up on his forepaws and bowed his head, eyes closing – a great, howling black whirlwind came up around them then, engulfing the figures of both the enormous winged beast and the small, slender faery princess.
Within a moment, it had all subsided, and the four faeries found themselves standing in a recently made meadow, among the fallen trunks of flower-trees and harpy nests. And just a little ways from them, kneeling on the ground with the torn remnants of his tunic and shirt hanging in shreds of black velvet about his figure, was the Dark Lord of Sytherria. Elowyn made a soft noise of protectiveness, and made an involuntary move towards him through the wreckage, upon seeing that he had transformed back into his true form.
Jaedin put out a hand towards her, though, as she approached him: he had his head bowed, his other hand resting on his knee, and seemed as if he was either quite winded or even almost utterly spent by the effort of shape-shifting.
"No." he rasped. She balked, at his command. Shaking his head, eyes closed, he said again, in a softer, but no less uneven tone, "No. Stay a moment – it's not passed yet…"
Jaedin closed his eyes firmly, willing himself to disconnect with the world beyond, and delved into the realm of his immediate form.
Shape-shifting took talent, even for the most experienced of magic-handlers; he could normally do this, the transformation from vampyre to dragon and back, without a thought. But now, he felt himself unusually tired, unusually disoriented, by an act that had never before troubled him… His head felt as if it were spinning, and he could feel the numerous injuries that the harpies had inflicted upon his dragon form – the long, thin scores from their needle-like claws and tearing, serrated fangs – beginning to sting horribly. His vision was blurry… Quickly, he shook his head, attempting to clear off his daze.
BAM!
An explosion of searing white light smashed into his mind, nearly knocking him over. His features twisting into a snarl of pain and confusion, Jaedin fell forward, onto his hands and knees: struggling to hold back the cry of rage and agony that was threatening to escape from his chest. A woman's voice: cold, low, and throaty, came into his consciousness then, echoing as if from down the corridors of centuries before, long-gone and all but forgotten…
All at once, he saw himself standing in a dark, open space: lit by a single ghostly light from far above his head, while everything else was held in shadow. Zaschaea now stood before him, resplendent and terrible in her black gown. She looked at him, silently.
"Jaedin of Sytherria, you have betrayed me – you have turned from my service…" she said, her flame-lit eyes never leaving his.
He moved, beginning to pace in a circle around her like a caged panther, eyeing her with hatred and fury in his silver eyes.
"The Dark Lord of Sytherria serves no man but himself, and no man am I, even; I call you on your folly, Ebony Queen. It is you who have betrayed me."
"I sought to ensure myself of your loyalty…" she said, lightly.
To this, he gave a short, barking laugh. Then he rounded on her, cold, and contemptuous.
"There would have been an easier way, Zaschaea…but now, I have not the will to report to you everything that I must do. I know that you will attempt to find me – but I do not think you will find it an undertaking that you, or any minion of yours, can complete."
Her look was one of fleeting despair, and barely concealed disappointment.
"I trained you too well…" she murmured. "Whither do you go now, my Dark Knight?"
"To the winds that forged me, where I shall walk the path of a nomad…"
And he stepped away, breaking the connection.
He came back to reality within an instant, and found Elowyn kneeling beside him, her hand on his shoulder. She was so close to him – never before had she shown herself willing to initiate such contact! He stared at her, in shock…and then a wave of pain, icy and burning, shocked through his chest, where the claws of a harpy had left a wide-open wound. He gasped with the sudden agony of it, and slumped forwards, withdrawing into himself.
After a moment, having finally gained enough control over himself and the pain to speak coherently, he grated out, "It's—gasp—not safe – to stay here. Harpy rookeries are—groan of pain—more often than not – rivals – normally; but when one is attacked, its neighbors will—sound almost like a whimper—come to wreak vengeance on the aggressors."
Elowyn looked to Brendan, who stood a little ways back with Robbie and Sala.
The four exchanged glances, at a seeming standstill: uncertain of what to do as of yet, and then Elowyn made an executive decision.
She stood, her hand slipping under Jaedin's elbow, and gently forced him to stand – mindful, all the while, of his injuries – and stood there, together, with him for a moment, her figure fitting up against his perfectly, overshadowed by his tall, dark form. Jaedin swayed on his feet, unsteadily, cursing the Ebony Queen inwardly for her attack upon his life-essence, which had served to make his shape-shifting a cause for pain and disorientation.
"We need shelter – we'll make for the nearest town," she said. Looking up at Jaedin, uncertainly, she then questioned, "Do you think you could show us the way?"
He looked off into the distance, as if already hearing the vengeful flock of neighboring harpies coming for them.
Finally, "I could. We must be there by nightfall, however – the woods in which harpies make their homes are more than often more dangerous than normal forests. Being on the ground, here, at night…"
He trailed off, with what could have been either a shudder of pain or of memory at what spending the night in such a forest as this would entail.
"I'll lead on."
They moved off towards their mounts, which were all standing grouped together at the fringes of the real forest: looking quite unnerved and uneasy, brief shivers passing through each one of them. Elowyn spoke to Orpheus soothingly as she walked towards him.
"It's all right, old fellow," she said, serenely, "They're all gone now; the awful creatures are dead, and dead beyond recall. But now you must take us out of this horrid place, and remember just who and what trained you – you'll not let those awful harpies make you into a frightened little cart-pony, will you?"
Orpheus made a noise of still agitated protest, but allowed her to mount up, nonetheless. Elowyn turned towards Jaedin, who was making his careful way towards his own horse. The Dark Lord, she noticed, was moving without his usual cat-like grace and elegance. She frowned a bit, and rode Orpheus over to him.
Jaedin had knelt beside his stallion's right foreleg, and his fingertips were passing gently over the hock, which was swollen oddly, and caked with mud. He then looked up at her, frowning, and she also took note of his increased paleness of complexion.
"He's lamed his foot," he murmured. "In that initial rush…" He trailed off, once more, looking back towards the place of the fracas.
Elowyn was silent for a moment; then, she spoke, with deliberate emphasis on each word.
"Well then," she said. "I suppose that someone will just have to ride double."
And the late afternoon found the party of intrepid, battle-worn adventurers riding on into the forest, each keeping a careful eye out for any other signs of fearsome predators that might have had a mind to attack them. Elowyn rode double with Jaedin: Orpheus had not been entirely happy to have the dark figure whom he so much despised in the saddle along with his beloved mistress. But this had been a null and void argument between princess and Pegasus.
Even at that, Jaedin was not out for trouble this night. His brush with the harpies and his strangely weakened state – which only he knew the reason behind – had left him almost entirely silent, and very, very tired.
As they rode along, the gentle rolling stride of the Pegasus had him all but lulled to sleep, and the perfect, slender warmth of the princess's body against his, as she sat in front of him on the saddle, in control of the reins, was both soothing and reassuring. He let his head drop a bit, until his chin was nearly resting on her straight, fine-boned shoulder; her silky golden hair brushed against his cheek, and he was treated with the soft fragrance of chamomile and neroli.
Her jaw line, her neck – they were both so close to him, within touching distance; all he had to do was reach out…
But he didn't.
Oddly enough, for the first time in all his dealings with the Princess Elowyn, he didn't want to menace her, or attempt to win her over by power of persuasive seduction or force. Perhaps this was because she had shown kindness to him…
No, he thought, abruptly shaking this out of his mind. Kindness had never had any effect on him. Then perhaps it was because of his promise…he couldn't turn his hand against her…
The forest seemed to take on a strange new quality then, as they rode on: the trees, which normally blurred into dark, brown and blue lines and blobs in the shadows, looked as if they were lit by glowing, pale green lights. The air shimmered with all shades of green, ranging from emerald to jade, and he could see each leaf on every bush, every tree, outlined perfectly. The canopy of branches seemed as if it had suddenly become much lower, as well…then…
"The star-maiden and her friends look weary – perhaps they would like a cup of tea?"
Elowyn and each of her companions looked up, startled, into the branches over their heads, eyes widening as a new and utterly shocking sight met them there…
* * *
A/N: So, here we have it – a totally spontaneous update, a chapter filled with some rather interesting events. (But aren't they always…) Jaedin acts like a brat some more – a complex brat, if you like – Elowyn gets mad, our intrepid adventurers reveal a previously unmentioned affection for tea, and everyone gets into a nasty scrap with some ugly beasties. What will face them in the forest now – friend, or foe? I cannot say, of course…until my next update. Just felt extremely bored and wanted to get this out…enjoy…and thanks to all who have read and reviewed!
@{---------------------------------