As for protecting the horde against the human wielder, Azulk didn’t think he needed to worry. The young human wielder had accepted his challenge and come out to face him. The boy had been stunned by his power and through cowardly trickery had escaped with his life. The young wielder hadn’t shown his face since, and as far as he could tell, the human wielder was no longer anywhere nearby. The boy in black had realized it would be impossible to defeat a wielder as strong as Azulk. In a true show of his cowardice, the young wielder had fled not only the battle, but the entire city as well.
A sneer crossed his aged face as he rubbed the magic stone that hung around his neck. It had effectively kept his power hidden from Kadrak and now had allowed Azulk to take the young wielder by complete surprise. The stone had served him well.
He let go of it as the first of the wounded began to arrive at his tent. Some walked while others were carried. They would all be healed. All of them would then owe debts to him. Some would even owe him their lives. He stepped to the side and held open the flap of his tent, allowing the first of the wounded to be carried inside. One by one he would heal them. One by one he would add strong warriors back to the horde. He would keep his warriors healthy and strong, and they would do the rest.
It wouldn’t be long before they would have the humans on the run. They would pursue them until they had nowhere else to go. His warriors would then eradicate the remaining humans from off the face of the land. He stepped inside his dark tent with a smile and went to work.
Part Two: Proving
14
Traven looked around the forest with both excitement and apprehension. They had to be getting close. He was eager to see the first sign of elves in their native environment. Over the last two days he hadn’t seen anything but trees, birds, and an occasional critter in the distance.
Darian said they wouldn’t run into any elves until the trees changed, but Traven wasn’t sure what that meant. The forest looked exactly the same as when they had first entered it. He peered through the perpetual twilight into the distance. It seemed to be lighter a ways ahead of them, but he couldn’t tell for sure. He looked over at Darian. The elf seemed anxious. They must be getting close.
Traven slipped his hand into his pocket and felt the soft texture of the letter that rested there. Darian hadn’t let him have it until they had stopped for the first time at the edge of the woods. Traven had kept it safely in his pocket ever since. He was about to pull it out but stopped himself. Darian would just make fun of him. Besides, he had it memorized by now. Darian hadn’t been very talkative as they journeyed, and he had had plenty of time to read it over and over.
The letter intrigued him deeply. After studying it numerous times, he still wasn’t sure what the princess hoped to achieve by sending it to him. He wondered if he was reading too deeply into it. Then again, why would she take the time to write him a letter when she could have just talked to him in person?
He reviewed the letter in his head once again. It had began with Kalista apologizing for asking him if she was in his dreams. He had been surprised when she had asked him but hardly thought she needed to apologize for it. She asked him to forgive her for her lack of decorum. He thought it strange that a princess would ask him for forgiveness. It meant that she saw him as an equal. That was the first surprise of the letter.
Kalista then went on to thank him for spending the two previous mornings with her. She said that she had enjoyed spending time with him as much as she had enjoyed doing anything in quite awhile. She went on to say that she wished there had been more time for them to spend together before the battle started.
The princess had then said she was sorry for touching his arm and that she should not have. She did not want him to have the wrong idea about her relationship with him. She was engaged and would not be able to spend time alone with him anymore. The letter had ended by saying she would always remember him as a dear friend and be thankful for all that he had done for her and her kingdom.
It was so strange. It was as if Kalista wanted to be with him but at the same time didn’t. He supposed it was as his grandfather had taught him: you will never understand women.
Darian had laughed when Traven had let him read the letter. He said the princess didn’t know what she wanted. Traven wished he could laugh at the letter as well, but he couldn’t. It fueled the hope that Kalista had feelings for him, but at the same time, it made it clear that nothing would ever come of them. Why had she even written the note? It seemed cruel to lift his hopes and immediately thereafter crush them.
Then again, he supposed it was nice to know that a princess cared for him. If circumstances had been different, maybe they could have grown to be more than friends. It was an interesting thought. He just wished that Kalista would disappear from his dreams. It was hard to move on when she was at his side every night.
“Stay alert,” Darian said, interrupting his thoughts. “We are now at the edge of the territory of the elves.”
Traven stopped thinking of Kalista and looked closely at his surroundings. It had indeed gotten lighter. The trees began to thin, and rays of light could be seen breaking through the foliage. There was also a new variety of tree growing in the forest. It was taller than the trees they had been passing through and was some type of pine. As they rode onward, the forest continued to change. The dark trees began to thin out more and more. The new, taller trees dominated the area, and the ground began to be carpeted with pine needles.
Traven suddenly let out a gasp. Directly in front of him was the tallest tree he had ever seen in his life. The trunk was a reddish hue with coarse bark. It shot straight up into the air at least four times the height of the trees they had been riding through, and the width of the trunk was a full arm span. As he approached it, he craned his neck upward. The tree’s branches were clustered towards the top. They were short and bristled with pine needles. Traven had always been awed by the massive size of the oak tree in his home town, but this tree’s height dwarfed it.
“That is nothing,” Darian stated. “It is one of the young ones. As we get closer to my haven, you will forget you even saw this small one.”
Traven could tell Darian was being serious, but it was hard for him to believe there could be trees larger than the one he was currently staring at. He lowered his head and continued to follow Darian. It wasn’t long before the large trees began to dominate the landscape and the smaller trees disappeared altogether. It was past midday, and the forest had completely changed, but there was still no sign of the elves.
“How much longer?” Traven asked.
“Not far,” Darian replied gloomily. “We will not arrive at Morian Haven until late in the afternoon, but we are now well into the territory of the elves. I would not be surprised if someone tries to stop us soon. There are elf havens both to the east and the west of us.”
Darian’s mood had been swinging back and forth between excitement and sadness for the last two and a half days. He knew the elf was excited to see his homeland but also worried about how the elves, including his family, would treat him. No elf had devoted himself to a wielder in centuries. If the way the guardian elves had treated Darian at Faldor’s Keep was any indication of what was coming, he felt bad for his devoted servant. He was determined to do whatever he could to make Darian look as good as possible to his people.
“Cheer up,” Traven said. “It won’t be as bad as you think.”
Darian responded with a shrug of his shoulders as he continued leading his mount through the maze of trunks. Traven focused his mind and allowed his senses to travel out into the forest. If any elves did try to stop them, he didn’t want to be caught by surprise. They hadn’t gone very far when he sensed movement to their right. He glanced in the direction of the movement but didn’t see anything. As he turned away, he sensed movement again. Something was definitely nearby. He sent a questioning look at Darian. The elf nodded with a smile. He had noticed the movement as well.
“Should we stop?” Traven asked quietly.
“No,” Darian responded. “They will catch up to us eventually.”
“And you’re sure they will let us pass?”
“No,” the elf replied honestly. “But I think they will. Besides, they cannot stop us. You have plenty of power to continue on whether or not they allow it.”
Traven supposed Darian was right. He could always form a shield around the two of them and keep riding northward.
“Do humans ever accidently stumble upon any of the havens?”
“No,” Darian replied as he looked to the right and pulled up his hood. “There are always elven scouting parties like the one tracking us patrolling the edges of our forests. If a human gets too close to a haven, the scouting party will kill him.”
“Really?” Traven asked. “Just because he’s in the wrong part of the woods?”
“Yes. Sometimes they will try to scare the human away, but that takes more effort. They will kill a human if he actually sees an elf. We do not want rumors of the elves making their way back to the lands of the humans.”
Traven stared at Darian and prepared to raise a shield if necessary. He didn’t want to be mistaken for a random human wandering too far into the woods. After riding a little further, Darian stopped his horse. Traven pulled up and glanced around. He could sense there were several elves nearby, but he still hadn’t caught sight of any of them.
“You can come out,” Darian announced loudly. “We are aware of your presence, elves.”
There was silence for several moments before five elves simultaneously stepped out from behind five different trees. They all wore long cloaks similar to the one Darian wore, but they were not a solid brown. The cloaks appeared to be made of several different materials. Each piece was a different shade of green, brown, or dark red. They appeared to be sown together haphazardly, but the effect was amazing. The cloaks blended in perfectly with the surroundings. Traven now realized why they had been so difficult to spot.
All five had their hoods down, revealing their fair complexions and long, flowing blond hair. They also had the distinctive pointed ears and angular features that had been common to the elves at Faldor’s Keep. All five had solid black slashes over their left eyes. Four of them had arrows trained in his direction. The fifth stood in their path with his hand resting casually on the hilt of a sword. Traven remained ready to create a shield if necessary, but the elves didn’t appear particularly hostile.
“How did you know about us?” the elf standing in their path demanded.
Traven waited for Darian to answer, but his devoted servant remained silent. He had his head downturned, refusing to look at the elf blocking their path. Apparently, he wanted to keep his identity a secret for now. Traven didn’t mind taking the lead, but he had expected Darian would, it being his homeland.
“I’m traveling to Morian Haven to seek an audience with the elf king,” he said, not directly answering the elf’s question. “I come as a friend. I would appreciate it if you would all lower your arrows.”
“Humans are not welcome in these woods,” the elf stated. “Why should we allow you and your companion to pass?”
“I’m a wielder,” he responded.
“If that is true,” the elf said speculatively, “we may let you pass. What is the nature of your business with the elf king?”
“It is a matter for the elf king alone,” Traven replied.
The elf stared back at him for several moments. Traven wondered what the elf was thinking and decided it might be best to prove that he was a wielder. Hopefully that would convince the elves to let him continue on. He thought for a moment and quickly formed a shield around himself and Darian. He then wrapped fire all around the shield.
Darian looked over at him with surprise as the fire raged around them. He smiled and lowered his head once again. Traven couldn’t see the elves through the flames, but he was sure his point was being made quite clearly. He waited a few more moments before letting the fire and shield disappear. The elves stared back at him in stunned silence. They had all lowered their arrows. One of the elves had even dropped his entire bow.
“May I proceed?” Traven asked, trying not to smile.
“I suppose so,” the elf standing in front of them said as he shook off the surprise. It was clear that he couldn’t stop Traven. “However, your companion will need to lower his hood if he wants to accompany you.”
Traven thought about arguing but decided against it. If the elves were willing to peacefully let them pass, he didn’t want to press his luck. Darian was going to have to reveal himself eventually. He might as well do it now.
“Go ahead,” he said, urging Darian to drop his hood.
Darian mumbled something under his breath that Traven couldn’t make out and slowly raised his hands to his hood. He gripped the hood tightly for several seconds and then suddenly threw it back. The elf in front audibly gasped.
“Darian?” he blurted out. He shook his head and blinked several times as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. “It is you!”
Darian held his head high, reminding Traven of when he had first met the elf. He turned in his saddle to allow the other elves to see his face as well. All stared back with wide eyes. Darian started his horse forward and rode past the elf in their path without looking down at him. Traven hurried to follow and was soon alongside his companion.
Behind them, a small commotion arose as the elves regrouped and whispered urgently to one another. After several moments, two of the elves took off at a dead run in a northeasterly direction. The remaining three stared after Traven and Darian before disappearing back into the forest.
“That went well,” Traven said with a smile.