Chapter Fifteen: A Face Revealed
Bane's eyes flickered no more as Klad repeated his question. Jakk and Tanka gazed curiously at the mage.
"How old am I?" Bane repeated, musing.
"I am a half elf, remember, not as long living as my ancestors. But...I am still quite young, in elven terms. Some four hundred years or more. I have lost track. It is difficult, after that long of living. Does that answer your question?"
Klad nodded.
"May I ask one?"
"Of course."
"Who calls themselves 'shell'?"
Klad laughed heartily. "I was wondering when you were going to ask me that. Yes, my nickname does mean 'shell' in the old speech, though it was not me that gave myself that name. Master Luhkan did. Luhkan never knew me before I was his assistant; the first day I walked into his chamber, in my battle armor, fresh from training, he nearly shooed me away before I could explain that I was to be his new aide."
Fondly, the knight touched his gauntlets. His chest armor was long abandoned on the beach.
"He never expected a soldier like me to know so much about the history of Gaia. And so he gave me the name Klad, meaning 'shell,' for my armor was my shell, and my sword the only thing that can penetrate it."
The faint pride that sank into Klad's voice immediately vanished, as Bane's eyes flickered silently again.
"But your house, Klad. It is not of house of Coneria, Haasions. You are not Conerian yourself."
The nostalgia and fondness that the knight possessed was now gone.
"Elsor is a strange name too, and Elsor..." Klad trailed off quietly. "Many secrets still lie within us, and all of us," he said, looking at Jakk before turning back to face the mage. "and for now, it is perhaps better they are left unanswered." Unconsciously, Klad was fingering his sword hilt as Bane toyed with a knifepoint in his hand.
The sailor Tanka sensed the tension, quietly staring into the flames as if all were right, while Jakk nervously interceded.
"I wonder, if they are sleeping softly in Danlanni, or if they are on the Everlasting, searching for us. Or our bodies." Jakk laughed, feeling the slim lute Sara had given him. "For two thousand years, this lute has been passed from Queen to Princess. But perhaps with arrival of the Light Warriors, it should be passed to one of them. Take it, Jakk. And play it when you think of me." And with that, she gave him a peck on the cheek before running off.
"Blast, Jakk said aloud. " I really do miss her. How lucky for a thief am I! A rapier from the ruler of Pravoka and a lute from the Princess of Coneria. Maybe the Elf folk have a princess of their own."
The brief moment of anxiety passed between the knight and mage, and then they nodded to each other.
"Another time, another world, we might have fought. But we stand as brothers now, for the sake of all we love."
And quietly, they settled on the ground, contemplating the twinkling stars as the fire flickered out.
The momentary joy of silence was broken with the cracking of a twig.
Klad lifted his sword slightly out of his scabbard. Knives appeared in Bane's hands. Jakk reached for his rapier lying in the dirt, and as he did so, an arrow whistled by and grotesquely struck the surprised Tanka in the chest. The man fell back onto the ground, dead.
From the shadows of the forest, a score of elves in bronze breastplates and leaf green uniforms camouflaging their bodies came out, each holding a tightly notched, slim bow, ready to shoot.
Bane turned to the dead sailor, eyes narrowing dangerously as he exploded in rage, turning back to the elves, his voice deep and blazing with the fireballs he could produce from his hands.
"Tan ae leaneath? tan ae leaneath y hastan?"
"Do you know who I am?" he bellowed, only now in a language Jakk could understand. "Do you know who I am? I am an elf"
The yellow hat was removed, and the hood was down. The face with yellow eyes was revealed.
The elf in the body of Elles nodded for his scout to speak. The servant, loyal to Elles, had no idea that the real prince was half dead in a private chamber, stuffed inside a closet, and that an imposter sat on the throne.
"Speak," Astos said, his words clear the Aldi herself, and it sounded every bit like the Prince himself.
"Many things to report, my lord. The keldori, Taylas, has been grievously wounded in a skirmish with our forces. They are weakening, these rabble of men and elves, and we could crush them now; without them, our eastern wars with the imps and trolls would be much easier..." The scout paused as his lord looked thoughtfully out the window.
Keldori. There was no accurate translation, but the closest meaning to common speech was 'outcast.' Astos smiled again. That fool Taylas and Elles' brother, Ellya, were waging a war on him with their village whelp and other fool elves, and the only word proper to describe them were outcasts of the new elven empire.
"Anything else?"
"Yes, my lord. Scouting parties searching for the four men have not found anything so far, though they continue to press. My lord..." The scout's elvish ears twitched. "These men, are they worth the effort. My scouts could be used elsewhere my lord...and these four could be dead."
"They could. You will continue you search, Ayuma, before I shall call you for anything else." But the men...they did not matter. "Hasten the army. With Taylas gravely wounded, the keldori will not stand for long. We leave for Famul on the Plain of Merado by sunset. There, they will be crushed."
And so would the Light Warriors.
It was not a man's face. No face, no matter how burnt in the sun, could be as raw a red as Bane's. It took a second more Jakk to realize that the mage had no skin, that instead, a covering of red flesh stretched out from everywhere, and those glowing yellow eyes were the only things vaguely human. Yet even the flesh was bound together by stitches, holding only the essence of a face intact. The rest was gone.
More than one of the fair elves, a second before bound to end the fate of three youths in the forest, yelped and cried aloud in terror, dropping their bows and arrows. Very soon, all of them were gone.
Before Bane turned to face his companions standing near him, the yellow hat floated back onto his head, shadows concealing all except those blazing eyes. Jakk's horror quickly turned into disgust as his fish meal quickly came out of his mouth. Klad said nothing, but his eyes mingled curiosity with surprise.
"An unfortunate accident in my childhood. Tell Aki and Sara none of this when we reach them. They have enough on their minds," the half elf stated, a note of finality in his voice. Klad nodded.
"We must bury this man and move on," the mage said, and with a flick of his fingers dirt began to fly from the ground, digging itself into a shape of a grave.
Jakk shook his head, looking at Bane. "Have you no remorse? You sound like you're burying a dead rat. Not a man whom spent his last days with us."
The mage looked in silence at the ground. "You're a lucky thief, Skyar." Had you not reached for your rapier, you uwould now be on the ground, not him. Yes, Tanka is dead, but he died as a man. I remorse, in my own way. Wesfan ae sol Gaia. May he rest in the soul of Gaia."
"And many the Tari protect him," another voice said, from out of the forest. A single elf clad in blue appeared, long sword gleaming in the night sky.