the unwanted elves 12

 

Unwanted Elves

Chapter 12

 

When we left the dwarven city, Chessina, Silavara and I were wished farewell and safe travel in the traditional dwarven manner. We were especially honoured at the King and his family being a part of the ceremony. We bowed to the king, crown prince and princess, and Chessina doubtless outraged protocol by embracing the princess. We all embraced Alvarek and Meghimira, her embrace of Silavara being very firm.

“Thank you for the blessing Silavara,” said Meghimira with great sincerity.

“I am glad to give it,” replied the Priestess, “my goddess delights in fertility.”

As we lifted off seated on the rug the famed dwarven griffon cavalry, their riders resplendent in their red armour and helms, who had been acting as honour guard, lifted off in formation to accompany us on the first part of our journey.

When we reached the edge of the dwarven kingdom, the cavalry saluted us and peeled away to return home. With this, the final part of our trip to seek the capital city of the Elves had begun. I was comforted by the weight of the reforged Demonslicer on my belt.

“The Elven city is roughly north by northwest from here, ladies,” I said, “I can’t use ley-lines any longer for speedy travel as I don’t know our precise destination so I’m relying on you Silavara.”

“Keep going for a while then, and I’ll direct you.” Silavara replied. “I need to look for certain things so you wouldn’t be able to use ley-line travel anyway.”

“Oh well,” remarked Chessina, “it will just take as long as it takes.”

 “Castamir,” asked Chessina, “why is the birth of a dwarven girl so special?”

“Many more male dwarves than female are born.” I replied. “I don’t know the exact ratios and nor did Harmon. Dwarves don’t like discussing that with outsiders, even an honourary dwarf. Harmon did notice that the highest class dwarven women had fewest children, and wondered if it had anything to do with them growing beards. Lower class dwarven women, who have more children don’t grow beards.”

The forest made a sea of green out to the horizon even at the height we were flying at. Even though the altitude made determining the size of the trees difficult, I knew from my previous visit that some were vast. Chessina snuggled up to me and held me tight. I could sense that she was upset.

"What's the matter, love?" I asked.

"It's the forest," Chessina replied, "I do like the green, growing things, so different from the Abyss that I remember so well, but … there is rather of lot of the forest. It makes me feel very small."

"We are small in the grand scheme of things." Silavara interjected. "It is a good thing for people to be reminded of that fact occasionally, even those as mighty as the Towermaster." She paused for a moment, and her face seemed troubled, unlike her normal serene expression. Silavara continued. "Surrounded here as I am by my goddess' love and strength, I feel settled enough to ask you about the Abyss, Chessina. I feel I need to know about it although even the thought of that place frightens me. What is the Abyss like, Chessina? How do demons live? Are there plants and animals to eat?"

"I only really know about the area where I lived, although I have heard something about other places." Chessina paused, collecting her thoughts. "I think the word that most defines the Abyss is bleak. Most of it is barren, with few plants, even near the rivers, which aren't safe for mortals to drink from. What plants there are thorny, spiky or even carnivorous. From what I could gather, which wasn’t much as most demons aren't terribly curious, the low ranking demons gather sustenance from the Abyss itself, some kind of emanation. I don't think it's very … tasty though. That may not be the right word but I only know the Abyssal terms. Higher ranking demons prefer to consume emotions, usually negative ones like pain and fear. Looking back, I suppose I was lucky in that the sexual energy I needed was usually pleasant to acquire. Most demons can eat, but they don't need to. When they hunt something, it’s the prey's emotions they feed on, not its substance."

This proved something of a dampener on conversation, so we flew on over the forest with no further conversation.

 “Castamir!” Silavara suddenly pointed down and to the left. “Land near that big oak tree.”

As I complied Chessina asked, “Why, Silavara, what have you seen.”

“Nothing specific, but that oak tree is very old so it should know a great deal about the forest.”

“You can talk to trees?” said Chessina, nonplussed.

“Not talk as we do,” said Silavara, “but I can communicate with them, although their sense of time is very different from ours. Also trees communicate with each other.”

“What do they talk about?” I asked.

“The weather, or really the climate, the state of the soil, the level of the ground water, pest infestations,” replied Silavara, “also warning each other of invasive trees.”

I had landed the rug by this time and we all stood, wanting to stretch our legs after sitting for some time.

“Invasive? Do trees attack each other?” I queried.

“Some species, like beech, can be very invasive,” answered Silavara, “one of my duties is to make sure that such species don’t become dominant in any one area. I move saplings to other areas to prevent that and make sure the forest has variety. Excuse me.”

So saying, Silavara approached the huge and ancient oak tree. It was almost as large as the one in the sacred grove that surrounded Silavara’s cottage. She placed both hands on the tree, and as she did so her expression changed. Her face became preternaturally serene, and somehow ageless. I found it somewhat uncanny, and judging by the way Chessina’s hand sought mine, so did she. I looked away from the frankly disturbing sight and took more notice of my surroundings. It was unlikely that any hungry forest denizens would attack a priestess of Silvana, but wizards are cautious.

It was more than an hour later, that Silavara’s expression returned to normal.

“What did the tree tell you?” asked Chessina impatiently.

“The tree knows of the Elven city, but others that are closer know more.” Silavara replied. “I’ve been advised to talk to one particular tree who is one of the oldest in these parts.”

“I’ll get the rug ready, Silavara,” I said, “which direction is the tree?”

“That’s not necessary Castamir,” replied Silavara, “by the grace of Silvana her priestesses can merge with one tree and exit from another, if both are large enough. I will visit the one I wish to talk to directly.”

“That’s how you could disappear in the forest without teleporting!” I exclaimed. “I had no idea what you were doing and that was rather frightening.”

Silavara looked a little hurt and said, “I didn’t intend to frighten you Castamir, it’s just a convenient way of moving quickly about the forest. My duties there keep me rather busy.”

“Could you go directly to the Elven city?” asked Chessina.

“It would be possible,” mused Silavara, “but I fear the elves would sense my coming and could tamper with the journey and alter my destination to somewhere unpleasant or fatal. The tree I’m going to visit is only a little closer to city but I hope to have a much better idea of our destination.” Silavara gave a half smile and continued, “I’m afraid we still have to fly.”

“Could you have taken us with you via this ‘tree walking’?” Chessina enquired. She seemed quite fascinated by the concept.

“It is possible for a priestess to take a few with her, should she wish.” Said Silavara, “tree walking, a lovely name for it by the way, is similar to the ability dryads have to bring their chosen lover within their tree. All dryads are females but they require a male to provide the energy to give birth. Most of the subsequent sapling's heritance is from the mother.”

“I’ve heard a folk tale,” I said, “that those dryads choose as a lover, spend many years with them even though only a short time passes in our world. I wondered, if the tale were true, if it was a controlled time warp?"

"No," replied Silavara amused, "it’s far more simple than that. The life force required to successfully impregnate a dryad drains the male considerably which ages them. Hence the folk belief. If several dryads wish to be impregnated by the same male they usually die."

“You take that rather calmly.” Chessina said waspishly.

"I make sure that all boy children are warned about how seductive dryads can be." Said Silavara calmly. "It does tend to weed out the most foolish, and those with the least self-control. Improves the human breeding stock. I had better talk to the older tree now. I may be some time so make yourselves comfortable. Don’t light a fire.”

“That’s why I brought the self heating cookpots.” I said.

After eating we set up camp for the night under the huge canopy of the oak Silavara had been talking to. Even if she returned soon, it would be too dark for her to see the ground if we were flying. The bedrolls had cushioning charms which wasn’t as much of a luxury as it sounds. Both Chessina and I needed a good night’s sleep if we needed to perform magic tomorrow which was very possible. Chessina cast a repel dew cantrip, while I summoned a watcher servant to guard us while we slept. If anything approached with evil intent it would alert the caster. I expanded the spell so that Chessina would be alerted too.

“Castamir...,” Chessina murmured seductively.

“No.” I replied firmly, “Firstly, because we both need sleep as I don’t know how much spellcasting we might need to do tomorrow, secondly, Silavara might return at any time and I don’t want anyone critiquing my performance.”

“Owww.”

With great self-control I wrapped myself in my bedroll and resisted my wife’s blandishments.

 

oOo

 

I awoke with a start, the watcher servant’s warning jerking me awake. Almost by reflex I cast lux to see what was threatening us. The light illuminated the forest around us, showing a large bear, or rather what had been a large bear; now it was something... else. The creature’s jaw was open, showing far too many fangs than were normal as well as tusks jutting from it. Misshapen horns sprouted seemingly at random from the skull and the fur around them was matted from some discharge. The body of the beast was only partly covered with mangy fur and had bony spikes emerging from the skin. A light breeze brought a vile stink that almost made me gag. The creature rose to its full height, which was a great deal bigger than I felt at all comfortable with and roared at us. I prepared to use the frost spell Dragovar had taught me when Chessina, recognising my intent interrupted.

“No Castamir, let me!”

I could feel Chessina gathering and releasing magic, and as she did so the... thing dropped back to all fours and became quiet.

“Don’t forget, dear,” Chessina reminded me as I turned towards her, “that when Arcana made me a new body after we rescued my soul, she imbued it with many of the attributes of my former demon form. I used my ability to charm things. The look of that poor beast reminded me of some of the creatures I saw when I was in the Abyss.”

“How long will it remain quiet, love?” I asked, keeping a close eye on the animal, and the frost spell at the front of my mind. Wizards are cautious.

“I’m not sure, in the Abyss, the spell could last days, depending on what it was cast on.” Replied Chessina, “Here, I’m not so sure.”

“I’ll send the poor thing to sleep then.” I said, casting the spell with reinforcement from the tower as I had no wish for it to wake up prematurely. “I don’t know if you are going to try sleeping, love, but I’m not risking it.”

“I know dear, wizards are cautious.” Said Chessina, snuggling back into her bedroll. I was touched by her confidence in me. I reinforced the watcher servant, just to be on the safe side.

 

oOo

.

I awoke to the delicious smell of hot coffee. I was glad I’d shared the command words to the cookpots. I then realised guiltily, that despite my best intentions I had fallen asleep. Looking up I saw both Chessina and Silavara preparing breakfast, both were smiling at me indulgently.

“Sorry about that.” I muttered shamefaced, while casting grooming spells.

“It’s alright Castamir,” said Chessina, “I knew you had gone to sleep, so I took my turn.”

“And I only got back recently.” Said Silavara.

As I was swallowing a mouthful of coffee, Silavara continued, “the old tree told me that evil has come recently to the forest; although ‘recently’ has a somewhat different meaning to a tree than to us. I see you have already come across a manifestation of that evil.”

“I’ve already explained to Silavara,” Chessina commented, “that the poor creature has a similar appearance to beasts I’ve seen in the Abyss.”

“When we’ve finished breakfast, I’m going to put the poor creature out of its misery.” Silavara stated. “After talking with Chessina, I’ve seen enough to recognise demonic taint when I see it.”

After a very quiet and sombre meal, Silavara rose and began singing. The song was soft, almost like a lullaby, but very insistent. The monstrously altered bear’s breathing began to slow from its previous rhythm, and as Silavara’s voice became quieter so the breathing became shallower. Finally, Silavara’s singing ceased, and with it, the animal’s breathing.

“Her spirit has now returned to Silvana and is at peace until it is time for rebirth.” Silavara said softly. Tears were in the Priestess’ eyes, and both mine and Chessina’s were a little damp. “I will not allow this desecration of the natural world to continue.” Her expression was not her usual one of calm serenity, but of inhuman resolve. We were seeing not just Silavara’s determination, but also that of her goddess.

“Castamir, I need you to burn that body to ash. I don’t want the forest to be contaminated.” Silavara stated.

“That could be a bit difficult without risking fire and the anger of the trees.” I said. “Let me think a bit. Hmm. Fire couldn’t spread to the forest floor, if it isn’t touching it.” I mused out loud. “If I levitated the body and used ignite it should burn if I concentrate.” And used assistance from the tower. I hadn’t mentioned the spell boosting ability of the tower to Silavara, so I was going to keep that quiet. Assuming Silvana hadn’t told her already.

“What about sparks?” Queried Chessina.

“Good point.” I replied. “If you summon water on the ground underneath that should deal with any potential problems.”

 “And I shall sing to keep the forest and its creatures calm.” Silavara announced.

As I got the body burning I listened to the song with half an ear. I know, I know, what was I doing with the other half, keeping it in a box? Really.

This song was very like Silavara’s usual expression, calm and serene. I could sense the forest resonating to the song and the forest noises continued undisturbed.

I however wasn’t feeling serene as the stench the burning corpse gave off was quite vile. Due to this I not only made the fire very hot to burn it quickly, I summoned a breeze to keep the stench away from us. Having the tower to back me up when necessary was very handy, but I must keep in practice using only my own abilities. When dealing with demons, I couldn’t afford to get soft.

After the bear’s body had been completely consumed, and Silavara had checked to make sure there was no likelihood of fire, she turned to us and said, “We’d better set off now. I have a better idea of where to go but I will still have to stop periodically to check direction.”