Flight From Sorrow's End Part 5

None of the wolfriders had ever approached the village of the Sunfolk. They'd watched it from the woods, but that was all. The Sunfolk avoided the woods altogether unless hunting or gathering. So the two tribes had co-existed the past weeks without really interacting. Not so different, Nightfall reflected, then their coexistence with the humans. Would the building tension turn to violence as well?

Shaking aside such thoughts, she approached the village. 'Rootless' the other elven chief had named it the past night. Having seen that the other elves were usually awake during the day, and knowing most of her own tribe would be asleep, she'd chosen daylight to attempt this. Redlance had insisted on accompanying her. Though she'd made him promise to stay at the woodline and out of sight.

Still tired by the celebration, few Sunfolk were awake in the early morning light. One exited her tent, yawning, but froze upon seeing her.

"...I am looking for Rayek." Nightfall spoke to her.

The girl's eyes widened even more, a feat she hadn't though possible. She swallowed, and pointed at a hut a few farther down. "His...his hut is that one." She stammered out.

"Thank-you." She told her, walking past her over to it. For several moments she hesitated. Should she knock, call him out? Was he still asleep? Taking a deep breath to firm her resolove, she found herself remembering the first meeting and how he'd carried her off. Flipping open the curtained doorway, she entered. "We must have words, Sunfolk."

It was not, however, Rayek who turned to face her, but his healer lovemate. Her hair was loose around her , and she'd obviously been belting on her fur overdress. The moment she saw Nightfall, her eyes narrowed. "How dare you storm in here like this! Have you barbarians no manners?"

Nightfall's jaw clenched, but she held her temper in check. "I came seeking your chief hunter."

"You have no business here." Leetah said, her voice icy.

"Why do you deny the truth we both know?"

"Truth? What truth?"

"In my tribe we don't play these games. We know. We accept."

"How unsurprising that you so completely misinterpret what has happened. What has passed between you may give you the right to attempt to woo Rayek, but the final decision is his."

"Decision? What decision?" Nightfall asked, bewildered. "Recognition is recognition. It's the way."

Leetah walked past her to the doorway, pausing there to glance back. "To us recognition is no more than a mere, blind instinct. We are many times your elder, and you have much to learn." With that she let the curtain close behind her. Nightfall could hear her footsteps on the snow-covered ground as she walked away.

Frustrated tears welled again in her eyes as she tried to figure out what to do. She could stay and wait for Rayek - but if what the healer had said was true, would it do any good? Could those of the strange elves tribe truly deny recognition? Did he not feel what she felt? Too confused to think clearly, she ran out of the hut back to the woods.

Redlance, startled, reached out for her. *Nightfall?*

His lovemate threw herself into his arms as more frustrated tears welled in her eyes. "I don't understand them. I don't understand them at all!"

"Shush. It's alright. Tell me what happened."

"Not here. Let's go back. I can't stand to be near here."

Redlance listened to her story as they rode back, his face growing more and more serious. *That's madness. No one can deny recognition.* He lock-sent as they entered their room at the Holt.

"I don't know anymore." Nightfall climbed into their furs, her expression dejected. "I...I need him. The way the plants need the sun. I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Nothing tonight. Rest now and see what happens when the moons rise again. You need your strength."

"I don't see how one more day will make a difference." Nightfall murmurred.

"You never know." Redlance sat next to her, watching until she fell into a restless sleep. Then he collected his spear and an extra cloak before slipping out of the holt.

The scent was long gone from where the other elves had invaded the Holt. But it was strong around the forest edge near the village. It took time to find the freshest trail, but Redlance had once been the Wolfrider's best tracker. His strength had never recovered to the point where he could hunt again. In fact, the last time he'd hunted was the stag the night...

He turned his mind from following such thoughts. No good to dwell on the past now. He concentrated on following the trail of the dark-haired hunter instead.

Shushen glanced up as his two arrows dropped to the ground next to him with a light thump on the snowy ground. "Ah, Dodia. I was going to collect them."

"Oh? This one too?" Dart's arrow dropped softly to the ground next to his.

"Um..yah. It's mine. I found the feathers in the woods-"

"And the metal tip too?" Dodia asked pointedly. Shushen flushed, knowing he'd been caugh in the lie. "How did it come to be in your deer?"

"I sort-of...ran into him. And then we both shot. It's still my kill! Our arrows hit together."

"He was spying on us. And you didn't mention him?"

"Dart didn't mean any harm!"

That brought the elf maiden up short. "You know his name?"

"He was just watching. Not spying."

"You couldn't have exchanged more than a few words when I found you."

"It wasn't what he said so much as how he acted. He even complimented my hunting - Rayek never does that."

"Rayek is hard on all of us. But Zhantee says he's no harder on us than himself."

"How so?"

"He still thinks there's more he could have done to save the village."

"No one could have done anything more. Ahdri said if not for the emergence of Zhantee's shielding magic and Leetah's healing powers that Rayek would have died."

Dodia sat down beside him, gazing out across the village. "I think he might have preferred dying in defense of Sorrow's End than living with the failure of losing it."

"But that's madness! As long as we're still alive and together, that's what matters - right?. I didn't want to leave either, but here we are - and we have a new village to protect."

"Which is why you should have told us about the wolfrider." Dodia turned to look at him pointedly.

"Dodia...Rayek's wrong about the wolfriders."

"Oh? You were so quick to brag about your bravery during the raid. Why the change of heart?"

"I don't know...I just...I feel it. We aren't meant to fight with them."

"I don't think it's that simple. For any of us. And most of all for Rayek."

"Why?"

"..." Dodia hesitated, then stood - changing the subject. "I won't tell anyone about...Dart, was it? On one condition."

"What?" Shushen looked at her suspiciously.

"I know you're planning on taking that back to him." She nodded at the arrow. "I go with you. Agreed?"

"No fair, Dodia!"

"I didn't say it was." The ever-calm elf maiden replied, and simply waited.

Shushen sighed. "Agreed. I was going to go tonight after most of the rest of the village is asleep. The wolfriders seem to be awake then."

"Tonight then."

Rayek had hunted most of the morning unsuccessfully. His mind was distracted, and even though he knew it was dangerous to hunt under those circumstances he couldn't bring himself to turn around empty handed. Finally he found a boar in a glen abundant with winter mushrooms. He moved into position, and when he attracted the boar's attention, froze it in place with his gaze. "Calmly now. You won't feel this."

"You do your prey no honor, taking the fight out of it." A voice interrupted, and Rayek glanced over sharply, though he kept his hand out to keep the boar entranced. It was the red-haired elf he'd defeated during the raid. He carried a new spear, and rode one of the wild-dogs.

Rayek eyed him suspiciously. "What do you know of honor? Your tribe is more beast than elf! Is it an honor to die in pain and fear?"

"Would you fight to the death if attacked?"

The Sunfolk hunter's golden eyes narrowed. "Is that a threat?"

"No, a question." The red-haired elf replied patiently. "Would you defend you and yours to the death?"

"Of course I...!" Rayek froze, trailing off. His jaw tightened, and he turned away. "It isn't the same." He stared at the boar for a long moment, then released it with a snarl and a clap. The boar gave a squeal of fright and bolted. Rayek watched it go, frustration clear on his features.

Redlance rode closer, his eyes understanding. "Sometimes our hearts aren't in the kill."

"My heart is none of your concern." Rayek snapped, heading toward where he'd hidden his No-Hump.

"I am Redlance - lifemate to Nightfall."

"I have nothing to do with you and yours." Before he could mount his No-Hump, his feet were suddenly entangled by tree roots. "?"

"I'm sorry. But we must have words." Redlance apologized, his hand held out - his magic controlling the plants.

Rayek stared, his eyes widening a little. "You! You have magic?"

"I am a treeshaper." Redlance nodded, dismounting. He patted the wolf's neck, and it reluctantly slipped back into the woods.

"I've never heard of such."

"One of our chief's held such magic. It's my honor to as well." Redlance came to stand near him. "I have never heard of your magic either."

"I am unique among my people." A touch of pride entered Rayek's voice. "For my magic, and my choice to take the path of a hunter."

"We have seen that few of your people hunt."

"Until the fall of the village none but I did."

"One hunter for a whole tribe?" Redlance asked in surprise. "That is a solitary path."

"I don't mind the solitude. I prefer it!" Suddenly seeming to recall that he was not staying by choice, Rayek glanced down at the roots entrapping him with a scowl. "None of this is your concern. Release me at once!"

"When we have finished speaking."

"I have!" Reaching out a hand, Rayek began to move the roots away from him with his magic. Redlance reached out his hand as well, using his plantshaping powers to counter Rayek's attempt to escape. Rayek's patience gave out first. "What do you want? I want nothing to do with your kind!"

Sweat peppered Redlance's forehead from the exertion of pitting his magic against Rayek's. He wiped his forehead, drawing in a shaky breath. "Our "kind"? We are the same kind. Soul meets soul when eyes meets eyes - You of all your people know us to be of one race!"

Rayek winced at his words. What elf did not know that age old phrase about recognition? 'Soul meets soul when eyes...' He recalled all too well when the amber eyes of the wolfrider maiden had stared into his. But the meeting of souls had brought knowledge with it. "You are "kin" to the wild dogs you ride!"

"You mean the wolves? Yes. Our first chief was part wolf. His mother was the High One Timmain - a shapechanger. She took the form of a wolf to learn how to hunt for the tribe's sake. But she lost herself to the now of wolf-thought."

Rayek stared, taken back by the tale. "A high one became a wolf - forever?"

"After she brought them Timmorn they never saw her again. None know what became of her. Timmorn became our first chief, and his blood flows through all our veins. But that doesn't change what we are. Elves. The same as you."

"You don't know, do you?" Rayek asked him, his voice strangely subdued. "You don't understand what it means."

Redlance frowned, not certain what he was referring to. "The wolfblood give us strength. We can scent, and stalk as they do. It's part of who we are."

The dark-haired hunter said nothing for a long moment. "It is not part of who we are."

"When you say "we", do you mean "we", or just "you"?" At Rayek's glower, Redlance continued. "Do you believe as your lovemate does, then? That recognition is blind instinct to be ignored?"

"Leetah said...? When did you speak with her?"

"I did not. Nightfall did. Earlier this very day."

"Nightfall?" Rayek repeated the name, realizing he'd said it earlier. Speaking it himself, he knew at once who it was. 'Twen...' The word slipped through his consciousness, bringing with it a renewal of the ache and longing that had been haunting him these weeks.

"Your lovemate was not pleased to speak with her."

Rayek sighed. "No, I imagine not."

"Why? Why do you both resist something that can't be denied? Recognition is recognition. New blood - renewal. For both our tribes."

"You said she was your lifemate. How can you just accept it? Why doesn't it bother you?" Rayek countered.

Redlance was silent for a moment, and he brushed his forehead with his sleeve again. "I am...disappointed to not be the one to bring a child to Nightfall. But it does not change what's in my heart. Her joy will be my own. I'd be happy to help raise them - if I have the time." His hand rested on his side then, and he took another shaky breath.

Rayek felt the roots loosen around his feet slightly. "What do you mean?"

Redlance smiled sadly. "The child will give her someone else to care for when..." He wavered then, and quickly spread his hand towards the roots to release his control over them. "Since my capture by the humans I have felt myself slipping away. Like a tree with root rot - dying from the inside out. It's only a matter of time..." He collapsed towards the ground and - on instinct - Rayek held out a hand - using his magic to slow the fall. Though he couldn't stop it completely, it gave him time to leap forward and catch him.

"Wait! What humans?" He demanded of the half-conscious elf. "Where are they? And why are you dying? Where is your healer?"

Redlance opened his eyes wearily. "Humans fled the fire...I managed to save part of the forest. But the wind swept the blaze towards them - consuming that part of the forest; maybe them too."

"What of your tribe's healer?"

"Rain? Killed. Long ago."

"Humans again." Rayek gritted his teeth.

"If only!" A cough wracked his frame, but he managed to smile as he realized something. "You caught me."

"You fell." The words were an accusation.

Redlance's laugh was pained. "Like a tree with root rot..." Then his eyes slid shut.

"What does that mean? Redlance? Redlance!" Rayek found himself both frustrated and somewhat concerned. Something was obviously seriously wrong with the other elf. But he'd purposefully kept his distance from the wolfriders. Why did he have to seek him out? Involve him in this way? What was he supposed to do now? Leave him here? Return him to his tribe? Then he recalled his words to the young Sunfolk hunter Zhantee was training. 'There's too few of us as it is.'

A growl from nearby caught his attention. His head shot up - and found himself staring at Redlance's wolf as it reemerged from the woods. It gave another growl, and crouched down as if ready to spring.

To Be Continued...

Hope everyone's enjoying the story so far. More to come.

Han Xiang