Title: Left Behind
Fandom: ElfQuest
Rating: PG-13 to R
Pairing(s): Leetah/Cutter, Cutter/Skywise
Summary: Skywise remains in the palace after the war with the trolls. When he returns to the tribe some days later, his excuse was not being able to see the stars. Was that true?
Disclaimer: Do I own ElfQuest, you ask? In my dreams. I claim no profit from this story; it is purely for my amusement. Some dialogue and parts of the story are added at the end for my slashy pleasure, but the memories and the dialogue in them are all canonical.
"We'll miss you. –He'll- miss you. Are you sure...?" Nightfall implored. Skywise said nothing in response. He looked over Nightfall's shoulder as she tenderly embraced him.
Cutter stood alone, stealing quick glances at his soul brother. But Skywise averted his eyes. His goodbye had been made, and it was painful to recall. But as he thought of it, images flashed through his memory.
flashback
"There now," Cutter sent to me, as he tightened the vine around the dead tree. "This'd hold eight of us easily." I lowered the vine down the rocks of the Falling Death Water.
"Good. Let's get going," I shot back. "We're still too close to humans to suit me." I was uncomfortable around them, even if they did appear to worship us. Cutter chuckled at me. I glared; I was in no mood. But Cutter needed to laugh. The very recent loss of Nightrunner was hard for him, and my Starjumper was gone too. There would be time for sadness later. For now, we needed to climb down to the valley.
But the next thing I knew, something hard had hit the back of my head. I was falling and Cutter was calling me, and then everything was dark.
When I woke, the first thing I scented was human. I groaned, holding the bloody spot on the back of my neck, and watched the human stumble back over the cliff side right in front of me. As I raised myself on my hands, the man's arm flew out and grabbed the lodestone hanging on my neck. He was trying to get it for the second time.
"No! Let go! It's mine!" I cried. But the huge man was much stronger and heavier than I, and I tumbled off the rocks after him. I heard Cutter yell my name over the roaring of the water, and I was falling again, afraid to die. I hit the cliff, and instinctively flailed my arms and caught a root that was sticking out from the side of the rocks. I watched, terrified, as the dead thief fell to the rushing water below. And then Cutter was sending to me.
"Quick! Grab the vine!"
"I can't!" I replied frantically, "My arm won't work!" My arm really started to hurt, and Cutter was sending again, telling me to hang on.
"I'm coming!"
"Hurry!" He kept sending, telling me to hold on, and he was climbing down the vine. He grabbed me, and I clung to his back. But I was losing consciousness, despite Cutter's attempts to keep me awake. He kept sending, and I kept trying, but the world went black again.
end flashback
"I don't believe I ever thanked him," Skywise muttered to himself. The Wolfriders were leaving the palace; some sending messages of goodbye, some just looking back. Skywise watched Cutter, but his chief did not turn around. Tears came to Skywise's eyes as more memories breached his mind.
flashback
The battle against the trolls on the mountainside was scary. I fought alongside Scouter, keeping mind contact with him. But something else broke through to my mind, strong and urgent. It was Cutter's yell of pain. I ran to him; a troll had him pinned with a spear through his stomach. Blindly, I rammed my sword into the troll's back. He fell to one side, and I screamed Cutter's name.
I went to him and extracted the spear from his body. Cutter's soft cries of agony were as much painful to me as they were to him, and I grimaced as I yanked the weapon out of him. I supported him to an outcropping of stone upon which Leetah stood.
"Bring him here! Hurry!" Cutter mumbled something about not wasting time on him and to keep going, but neither Leetah nor I would hear of it. I spoke to him softly, but he refused to think of himself.
"Wait," he choked, "The others!" I turned to see a bloody scene, and closed my eyes as I saw a mace come down on One-Eye's head. Cutter saw it too, and he sent to me urgently.
"One-Eye! No! I-I can't stay here while—" I cut him off, gently. I understood what he was feeling, and that he had to continue. Reluctantly I responded, feeling that maybe this was the wrong choice.
"Do what you have to. I'll protect Leetah and the cubs." He looked into my eyes, and gently sent one more time.
"Fahr," My soul name. Uttered by the one voice that made it sound the way it was supposed to.
"Tam," I replied. It was as simple as that. He rushed back into battle, and I stayed. I looked at him whenever I could. I saw him fall before the troll who'd killed One-Eye moments before.
But something hit the troll from behind, and it fell at Cutter's feet. A huge stag, bearing a hooded rider, emerged from nowhere. Several more came from all over, picking Wolfriders up from the ground. One approached me, and I was so panic-stricken that I yelled at the deer mindlessly.
"Who are you?! What are you doing?!" The hooded rider answered in a cold voice.
"What does it look like, fool?" The rider removed the piece of cloth around its mouth. A woman peeked out. "We're saving your shivering blue necks. Hop on!" And with that, we were carried away by these strange people to an unknown destination.
end flashback
Skywise didn't want to continue remembering that story. The end was happy, but the middle was painful.
He wandered up the stairs to what seemed to be a tower. It ended up in a bedchamber. The furnishings were strange, and there weren't any windows. Skywise felt closed in.
More memories were brought to him as certain objects or pieces of architecture brought them to mind. Over the next few days, Skywise explored the wonders of the palace. As he wandered, he slowly came to realize that the wonders of the High Ones palace were not long-lived. And no matter where he looked, there were no windows. He was already morose, but the fact that he couldn't see the stars made things even worse.
On the fourth day in the palace, he fell asleep uneasily, to dreams full of his Tam's face.
Cutter walked ahead of the rest of his tribe. The wolf that he'd claimed, now called Warfrost, would not permit Cutter to ride him just yet. Their relationship was uneasy, and so was Cutter's mind.
All he'd thought of since he left the palace was Skywise. His beloved soul's brother, whom he'd left behind. He knew that the palace was the best place for Skywise, but it was still the hardest thing he'd ever done to let him go. As he thought, a memory took over his mind.
flashback
I was wounded badly by the trolls. We were attacked by them on the side of the blue mountain. As the battle commenced, I came up against a troll of unusual speed for his type. As I killed him, another troll spotted the opportunity and stabbed me through with a spear.
I yelled, and I heard Leetah calling me, as the troll stared evilly into my face. He looked as though he'd torture me before killing me. But suddenly he grunted, and fell to one side, Skywise's sword in his back.
I fell to my knees, and Skywise came to me and supported me. We walked a short distance-- I was bleeding heavily-- to Leetah. She and Suntop and Ember were standing high out of the way of the fighting. Tears were rolling down Leetah's cheeks as she took my hand. She helped me halfway up the rocks, Skywise supporting me from underneath, but I cared more about the rest of the tribe. I looked around to view the fighting. It was horrible. There was blood staining the snow in ugly red patterns, and as I looked at one, I saw a troll's heavy spiked mace come down on the side of One-Eye's head. Frantically, I sent to Skywise.
"No! I-I can't stay here while—" Skywise cut me off. He understood.
"Do what you have to. I'll protect Leetah and the cubs." I was so grateful to him at that moment. Gently, I said his soul name, and he replied with mine. I knew that there was no time for a better farewell. I hoped that I would live, so that I could hear him say my name one more time.
Leetah didn't want to let me go. Her sending battered at me.
"Tam, I beg you, come to me! Let me heal you!" I replied with encouraging words, and gently let her go. She cried after me as I returned to the fray. I ran to Clearbrook, knowing that she would need help after the brutal slaying of her life-mate, and I stood in front of the troll that had killed him.
"You dare come between me and my kill?" asked the troll in mock incredulity, as I held my sword point out at him. I choked for a moment, and then answered.
"You are the kill." Then, with more force, "While I can stand, troll, I can fight!" But he slowly stared me down. Finally, I was starting to lose consciousness, and I heard the troll yelling triumphantly.
"At last you fall, elf! You're finished!" But something stabbed him from behind. A large deer came out of nowhere. I stayed awake, just to see the deer fling aside the troll like a sack of feathers. But the world was soon dark to me.
I had horrible dreams. My father was telling me how I'd ruined the tribe. Lord Voll refused to answer my questions of the High Ones, and he skewered me with a long spear.
I woke to Skywise lifting me down from a great height. A strange woman's voice was yelling orders. And then Skywise's sweet voice, calling. But it would have been sweeter, were it not full of fear.
"Leetah! Where are you?!"
"I'm coming!" The strange woman's voice was calling again. Then quietly, and close to my ear.
"Hmph! That one's bled white. Better dump him. He'll be dead before we get inside anyway." Then Skywise again.
"He's our chief, you cold-hearted—" And Leetah.
"He's my life-mate!" And as she said this, I lost consciousness again. But as hours seemed to pass, I could feel the panic through my sleep. I could feel Skywise gripping my hand, and Leetah healing me, and heard the other's voices calling. But it was all faint, and I was unsure of what was happening. All I knew was the pain, and the loss, and the feel of Skywise's sendings.
Finally I woke up. I called out for Leetah, and she was there. I asked for the cubs, and was told they were asleep, and so was Skywise. I met Rayek there, and Kahvi, Chief of the Go-Backs. Then I was left alone. Skywise woke up, and embraced me. And I remembered that my being alive was owed to him.
end flashback
A small tap on Cutter's shoulder brought him out of his reverie. It was Ember, looking up at her father inquisitively. Cutter sighed.
"What is it, cub?" Ember's eyes were sad.
"Father," she took his hand, "it's been days. Won't you smile?" Cutter was surprised. He hadn't really noticed the passing of the days. And he certainly hadn't noticed that he wasn't smiling.
"Not now, Ember. Go to sleep." Ember lay down next to him, and closed her eyes. Cutter sighed again, and looked up at the sky. He found the hunter and wolf constellation that Skywise had showed him so long ago. And the hub of the great Sky Wheel, and wondered where Skywise and his lodestone were, and how they fared.
flashback
Skywise and I were traveling in the woods beyond our old Holt. When we entered, the feeling of the trees on me again was spectacular. As we walked along, getting used to the forest again, I heard a squeaking sound. I followed it, and found a squirrel in a pond; it was drowning.
"Hey, wait a bit, will you?" I asked Skywise, "I'm feeling too good to watch anything die today." I extended my bow out over the water from a tree limb, and let the squirrel climb on. It ran up the bow, and bit me hard on the hand. I yelled, and threw the miserable little thing against a tree. But in the process, I fell head-first into the swampy pond.
"Lovely," Skywise teased, "You smell sweet as a blossom."
"Want me to pull you in here with me?" I answered coldly. Skywise yanked me out and helped me bandage the injury with strips of my ruined shirt.
"That's a bad bite," Skywise said, concernedly. "And that water was filthy!"
"I'll live," I replied, not worried at all. "But I promise you, the first meal we eat in this forest will be squirrel meat." Skywise chuckled good-naturedly, as we set off deeper into the forest.
Skywise and I were soon running around joyfully. I stripped off my shirt, and Skywise was grinning. But suddenly I stopped, feeling strange.
"Do you feel it?" I sent the question to Skywise.
"What?" He answered. Skywise looked puzzled for a moment, but realization dawned on his smooth features. "There were elves here," He mused, "Treeshaper elves! I do feel it!"
"But the traces are so old, so faint." I mused. A note of fear entered Skywise's voice.
"Cutter, we've got to be careful. We could stumble right into a pocket of the High Ones' ancient magic gone bad, like that one that created Madcoil!"
"I know," I replied, also afraid now. But I wouldn't give up, and so we kept walking, silently as we could, into the forest.
As the days passed, I began to feel unlike myself. I slipped around, but didn't really notice. One day, as we were walking in the trees, I slid and grabbed a vine for balance. I heard Skywise yelling behind me, ever watchful as usual.
"Watch out!" He was obviously afraid for my safety, but I was sharp to him.
"Let me be! What's gotten into you?" Skywise looked hurt.
"I-I was only..."
"I don't need your help!" I turned from him. Skywise looked shocked after me, and then was gentle again.
"Here, let's rest a while and eat. Have some?" He offered me some nuts. I refused them, I wasn't hungry. Skywise kept looking at me funny, but I was listless.
The next day we continued traveling. As we walked along a thick tree limb, I grew suddenly dizzy. I felt myself falling, and called for Skywise. I fell to the ground. Skywise jumped down beside me, and called me quietly.
"What is it?" he asked me, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "Something hurts!" Skywise took me to a bed of moss close to a stream and examined me.
"Your skin's burning hot. And your hand! The bad water poisoned this bite." He was afraid for me, but I laughed it off.
"Stupid squirrel," I said, "I hope I knocked its brains loose." Skywise sighed exasperatedly.
"This is a fine time to be smiling."
"Oh, I was thinking of Rain, the healer." I said dreamily. "Remember him? His powers weren't nearly as great as Leetah's," I continued, "but his hands were cool and he could sing pain away... so softly..."
Skywise looked panicked.
"Don't listen! They say if you hear the dead in a fever dream, you're too close to them."
"I'll be all right," I said.
"You will," said Skywise, and I smiled, "if I can find some whistling leaves for you to chew." He spoke gently, so as not to make me angry again. "You stay here by the stream, it's cool and Nightrunner—" That was all I heard of his words. I had slipped into delirium. Although I could still hear Skywise's words, they were faint.
"Cutter...?" He called. I must have muttered something. I felt his cool fingers touch my forehead, and a fuzzy sending. "Wait for me," it said.
end flashback
Cutter was jerked out of his dream. He went on to recall how Skywise had tried to rescue him from the humans that found him, and how protective he'd been.
The dawn was breaking over the treetops. The rest of the tribe was still sleeping, but Cutter was now wide awake. He walked through the sleeping tribe. That day, at sunset, they would be at the Forbidden Grove, the place where Cutter intended to stay.
He shook all of the elves awake, and they readied themselves to leave.
Skywise woke the next morning with a hard decision to make. What should he do? He wanted so desperately to return to Cutter and the Wolfriders. But the High Ones' palace was what he'd searched for, for so long. But what was the use of staying if there was no evidence left of the sky? That was why he'd stayed, wasn't it? To see the stars? But there were no stars. There weren't any windows to see them by.
And so Skywise found Starjumper and set off through the woods, leaving the palace far behind. He'd given the lodestone to Cutter when he left, so this journey was to be made without guidance. But he followed the trail, and he knew where Cutter would be.
The whole tribe was now worried about Cutter. He had barely spoken at all to anyone over the past few days, and he was always sullen. But as they were walking, very close to their destination, Cutter stopped in his tracks. He sniffed the air, and tensed. He turned as a huge gray wolf bounded up beside him. The Wolfriders behind them grinned at each other.
Skywise jumped nimbly off of Starjumper's back, landing with a thud next to Cutter.
"What about the palace?" Cutter asked, trying to appear nonchalant.
"No windows," Skywise replied. "I couldn't even see the stars." Then Skywise reached out his hand, and cleared his throat pointedly. Cutter smiled, and removed the lodestone from around his neck. He put it into Skywise's outstretched palm, then the two clasped hands. Cutter smiled, and walked on to the Forbidden Grove.
End of chapter one. There's only going to be one more, as far as I can tell, but if you want more then go ahead and ask. I could go for some ideas too.
Review! Tell me you loved it!! My muses would certainly like the praise. It was all their idea.
Cheers,
TM