unwanted elves 27 cliffie bonus

 

Unwanted Elves

Chapter 27

 

“My fellows, today our land has been struck by twin tragedies.” Blaithamlwg began. “Our beloved King is dead...”

Here I had to strain to keep my enigmatic smile in place as the late king had been anything but beloved by a lot of people.

“And the Royal Tree has been burnt so badly it did not survive the fire.” Continued Blaithamlwg.

“Caused by the human interlopers no doubt.” The elf who spoke was a little chubbier than was usual for elves, and he was wearing ill fitting clothes a little too tight for him. It was quite likely he had lost everything and was feeling, not unnaturally, resentful. A few of the elves near him started to mutter menacingly. I hoped Blaithamlwg could squelch that idea or things could get very nasty, very quickly.

“On the contrary Trwynynawyr, the fire was set by the person we knew as the Royal Bard Prydythaur.” Said Blaithamlwg, the muttering now in a more puzzled tone. “Who was in fact a demon whose true nature was concealed by spells.”

“I don’t believe you.” Said Trwynynawyr, vehemently.

“Do you call me liar to my face, Trwynynawyr?” Said Tancyfrwys coldly. “I was deceived by demonic magics he used. I only realised his true nature when he tried to kill me.”

“Indeed, and the Royal Wizard’s life was only saved due to the intervention of the humans.” Blaithamlwg said, grimly. “Prydythaur then fled, however he later returned, and using further foul sorcery set the tree on fire. And then, through the great efforts of the Towermaster and the Circle Guardian the fire was eventually extinguished. Indeed Queen Saillegwyn’s life was saved by the Towermaster at great risk to his own. And while this was going on the Royal Wizard aided by the Towermaster’s apprentice cornered and dealt with Prydythaur. He will bother us no longer.”

Blaithamlwg had worded this very carefully, as it had actually been Chessina who had imprisoned Prydythaur/Sekemhef in the mirror of soul trapping, aided by Tancyfrwys. It was important for the people to have trust in the Royal Wizard, and Blaithamlwg had implied that Prydythaur was dead.

Hearing this, the people nearest Trwynynawyr had moved slightly away from him, distancing themselves from him physically to demonstrate that they distanced themselves from his views.

“We have lost our King, but we have a new young Queen in the prime of her life.” Blaithamlwg said, and at this prearranged signal Queen Ariannaith stepped onto the balcony with her husband slightly behind her to her right and her mother similarly on her left. Blaithamlwg raised his voice,

“The King is dead, long live the Queen!”

I felt Chessina focus her will, and one of the elves who had moved away from Trwynynawyr shouted,

“Long live the Queen!” And soon the crowd took up the cry and everyone was chanting “Long live the Queen, long live the Queen!”

The Queen gave a brave smile and motioned the crowd to silence.

“Thank you good people,” She said as the shouts were dying down. “Our land has suffered much, but with the help of the Gods we will come through it. I trust you will not begrudge me a short time to mourn my father, but I will consult with my advisors over how to recover from these setbacks. I promise to work to the improvement of our land and people. Farewell for the present, my people.”

At this, the Queen turned and left the balcony, followed by the other members of the royal family.

“Long live the Queen!” Blaithamlwg started the chant again, and I was pleased to note that Chessina didn’t have to influence the crowd and the people seemed to approve of the new Queen.

 

The crowd dispersed, and the mutterings, yes of course I cheated and eavesdropped, were almost all supportive of the Queen and horrified by the doings of Prydythaur. The latter was helped by the fact that apart from his charmed sycophants, nobody liked him much. We all then trooped back into the tower, where the royal family were waiting for us. After creating sufficient furniture for us all we sat down. I hoped this was the last batch of furniture I needed to create, Tancyfrwys really ought to get elven craftspeople to make the rest of what she needed.

“Those were excellent speeches, Your Majesty, Blaithamlwg. I think you have the people on your side.” Chessina said.

“Thank you for your help in composing them,” Blaithamlwg replied, and Queen Ariannaith nodded in agreement.

“I too think the people are on the Queen’s side, for the moment at least.” I said.

“What do you mean, Towermaster?” Asked the Queen.

“Please your Majesty, call me Castamir, as we all have titles of one kind or another, it will save time.” I then continued, “It won’t be too long before someone realises that your husband Cyfaill is a half elf which will matter a great deal to some of your people.”

“Ironic, in that all elves are effectively half elves.” Said Chessina.

“I don’t understand.” Said the Queen, “And please, call me Ariannaith.”

“You’re right, Chessina,” I said, “And I think that those here need to know, although I would ask Serashawn to please not talk about this, at least not yet.”

“I won’t, Castamir.”  She said solemnly. Such a sweet child and so unaffected.

“The message that almost gave your late father an apoplexy,” I continued, “Was a threat to reveal the fact that elves were originally created by mixing High Elves and humans with a great deal of aid from the first Towermaster.”

“Are you sure about this?” Asked Cyfaill intently.

“Absolutely.” I replied, “The records are quite specific.”

At this, Cyfaill turned to his wife and kissed her passionately.

“I am not unworthy of you, my love.” He said intently.

“I have never thought you unworthy, Cyfaill.” Ariannaith said, rather upset.

“I did, a little.” Cyfaill replied.

In response to this Ariannaith kissed him back, equally passionately.

“What a good idea.” Said Chessina, and I found myself being unexpectedly kissed passionately, not that I minded.

After a period of time which I’m not sure was long or short, Blaithamlwg said,

“I think this is the forth favour elvenkind owe the Towermaster and his friends of course.”

Ariannaith stopped kissing her husband and turned towards Blaithamlwg,

“What are the other favours, Blaithamlwg?”

As he hesitated slightly, I turned away from Chessina and started to explain assuming that he may not know all the details.

“The first favour was the creation of the elves I spoke about earlier. The second favour was the magical imprisonment of Sekemhef when he tried to force the then king to give him the king’s daughter in marriage. This time the result he intended was the same but he chose to use magical charm rather than magical intimidation, by invading the king’s dreams to torture him. I never did find out what the third favour was, when Harmon brought me here as he never explained. May I know what it is?”

Blaithamlwg and Tancyfrwys glanced at Saillegwyn with an uncertain expression.

“With all these revelations, I think it best if the truth is revealed.” She said, “Although I would ask that this not be spoken about unless vitally necessary.”

We all nodded including Serashawn who nodded vigourously. She was standing behind her parents with wide interested eyes, and although she had said nothing during our discussions I was sure that she was listening avidly. I’m afraid all of us had fallen into the trap of ignoring her through either forgetting that she was there, or thinking that being a child she wouldn’t understand. She might not understand everything yet, but I was sure Serashawn would remember everything and work out what it all meant later.

“The third favour has to do with the fact that the king was unable to sire children.” Saillegwyn said, I was startled by this revelation, which was nothing compared to Ariannaith’s reaction. Her mouth dropped open and she looked as if she had been pole-axed. The Queen Mother continued. “Blaithamlwg, Tancyfrwys and I were becoming frantic as the king and I had been trying for a child for a very long time, without result and we didn’t want a disputed succession. Even the king was somewhat concerned. He was a very selfish man; we married for political reasons.” Saillegwyn glanced at her daughter as she said this. “His lineage was impeccable and mine was descended from royalty too, although not as pure as his. As it turned out, this was the root of the problem. I wanted to consult a priestess of Silvana who would be knowledgeable about fertility but as the only ones nearby were centaurs, the king wouldn’t hear of it declaring that he wouldn’t be poked about by an animal.” Here she glanced at the centaurs with an embarrassed look.

“It took the combined insistence of Blaithamlwg, Tancyfrwys and I to persuade him that we had to consult an outsider and with ill grace he agreed on the Towermaster. Before Sekemhef arrived the king was at least somewhat practical.

 After casting spells on both of us, Towermaster Harmon examined the records. The king’s ancestors had been in the habit of breeding with the High Fey occasionally. Each time they did so, the High Fey drained them of a little life force which gradually reduced their fertility to almost nothing. Harmon concluded that nothing else would suit but a further infusion of human blood into the mixture.”

Saillegwyn looked from her daughter to me and I realised suddenly who Ariannaith reminded me of; it was Harmon.

“No, I didn’t sleep with Harmon,” Saillegwyn said, “He magically infused some of his... essence into the king’s ah... generative organs so that when we coupled he would think the offspring was his own. Harmon told the king that he would perform a magical ritual to restore the king’s fertility without going into details. The king asked no questions as he hated having to deal with humans. So you see my dear you are half elven just like your husband.” So saying she smiled at both her daughter and son-in-law.

“If this became public knowledge, I fear the result would be civil war.” Blaithamlwg said.

“Then might I suggest,” Said Chessina, “That when disapproval of Cyfaill is mooted, point out that the elven half of his heritance is so superior that it attracted the then Princess Ariannaith.”

“But it wasn’t like that at all!” Protested Ariannaith and Cyfaill nodded vigorously.

“Of course not,” Chessina replied, “What you would be doing is pandering to the chauvinism of most elves by implying that Cyfaill is almost as good as an elf, and such would not be acceptable as king, but consort, that could be blinked at. It will be most important that all of you give your complete support to Ariannaith and Cyfaill. However, hopefully attitudes will start to change towards half elves for the better.”

“Silavara, you Evashawn and Serban have been remarkably quiet.” I said, “Please don’t hesitate if you have something you wish to contribute, or an observation you wish to share.”

“I find it fascinating and forgive me, slightly revolting, to discover what goes on in the underbelly of elven society.” Said Evashawn. “There seems to be nothing but cheating, double dealing and manipulation.”

“Yes, that’s what makes it such fun.” Said Chessina. Seeing the look of shock and disgust on Evashawn’s face, I hurriedly interjected,

“You need to remember Evashawn, that elven society is based on the idea that elves are the pinnacle of creation, that all others are far below them and beneath notice. This twisted belief structure makes for a twisted society. Change needs to happen and in order to make it happen we need to keep Cyfaill and Ariannaith alive to start that process. As the society improves less subterfuge and manipulation will be needed, which they are at the moment.”

“Our society is built on trust and openness.” Rumbled Serban’s deep voice.

“Yes, but you aren’t a bunch of raging bigots.” Chessina responded, “We have to deal with the elves as they are, not what we would wish them to be.”

I smiled at Serashawn who was drinking all this in and she smiled back. I hoped that when the time came, the centaurs chose Serashawn for a position of responsibility, the knowledge she was gaining here would be invaluable in the future.

“Is human society like this Castamir?” Evashawn asked.

“I’m afraid so,” I replied, “But where the besetting flaw in elven society is arrogance, among humans, although we have our fair share of arrogance, our major flaw is greed.”

“And this is one reason I avoid politics if possible,” Silavara remarked, “While there is trickery in nature, some creatures pretend to be poisonous to avoid being eaten while others disguise themselves as something innocuous to catch unwary prey, in the main, nature is simple, things are either successful or dead. The High Fey were almost dead, when the first Towermaster created elves, who are essentially human with a few High Fey characteristics, like being bled of life force via strong emotion, to keep the High Fey’s tenuous hold on existence.” She turned to me and said, “You’re right Castamir, it’s extremely disconcerting to have knowledge reveal itself in your brain without warning.”

The crystal on the top of my staff suddenly glowed with a blue white light, but nowhere near the intensity it had before. I was startled, and I think everybody else was, to hear a voice come from the crystal.

“It’s even more disconcerting to discover that the elves are killing themselves by wilful stubbornness.”

After a short delay I managed to speak.

“If I’m correct, you are a former Towermaster aren’t you?” I said, “I heard voices from the staff earlier.”

“Yes, I thought you’d figure it out soon enough. I am a former Towermaster, the first Towermaster in fact. Name’s Castamir.” The voice said. I was speechless, and various exclamations of surprise came from the others.

“No of course it’s not a coincidence,” The former Towermaster said, “When Harmon showed you some names you might like to choose you had a feeling about Castamir didn’t you?”

“Yes.” I replied, thinking back to that day long ago when Harmon explained that I needed a new name as knowing someone’s Truename gave power over them. I missed my old master so much.

“Is Harmon...” I let the question hang, uncompleted.

“Yes, of course he’s here boy, where do you think he’d be. Only one of us can use the crystal at a time unless the current Towermaster is in the grip of strong emotions. You and Harmon are good at righteous indignation, a better emotion than some Towermasters. Arcana has had her eye on you from the beginning, it’s one of those ineffability things, although I think Arcana does overdo the secrecy at times. It’s rather irritating.” The voice said.

At this Evashawn spoke up,

“I have heard Castamir, the younger Castamir that it, speak in terms of great closeness to Arcana his Goddess, but your speech is close to sacrilege surely.”

“My position is a little ambiguous, I am very close to Arcana, she’s my mother.”