Unwanted Elves 32

 with revisions thanks to Robin for picking up on Tancyfrwys's pet rock

Chapter 32

 

We were up early next day to travel back to the Dwarven kingdom to deliver the appropriate ambassadors and thence back to Ezustry. We were bound for the city of Adalsburg both to deposit the other ambassadors and to pick up Vellera, formally Royal Princess, henceforth my junior apprentice.

That thought gave me pause.

“Chessina,” I began, “Something has just struck me.”

“Did it hurt?” She replied with mock concern.

“Yes, but I am too brave to cry out.” I replied, equally facetiously. “I feel the time is right to promote you from apprentice to journeyman, or should that be journeywoman, wizard.”

Chessina squealed in delight and hugged and kissed me, regretfully we had to put off any further celebration as we had much to do today.

 

Breakfast was a rushed affair as everyone was eager to be away, in contrast to the dinner last evening that the new Queen invited us to. Here we got to meet the ambassadors, Marwyn and Serenes, a married couple who were to go to the Kingdom of King Thorogar of the Dwarves. The Queen and her advisors felt that the dwarves would be more receptive to people of commitment. The two ambassadors who were to come to Adalsburg, Cadyll and Eryr were brothers. The two brothers were handsome enough to cause a great stir among all female members of the court. I had explained about the customs of the land and also those of the court ladies. I had had a few brief liaisons with some of them when Harmon had made his infrequent visits to the capital. I hoped my explanations would at least reduce the likelihood of duels with outraged husbands or fathers.

 

It was a sombre group that gathered to wish us farewell. We were all somewhat subdued to be leaving friends we had made which I never would have believed when we first entered the city.

Tancyfrwys came forward and briefly embraced Silavara, Chessina and myself.

“If all humans were like you three they would be welcome here.” Tancyfrwys said.

“Unfortunately most aren’t.” I replied. “Candidly, I can’t stand large swaths of humanity. That’s why I’m so glad the Tower has so many protections on it.”

I heard the sound of approaching hooves, and three centaurs cantered up to us, Serashawn in the lead, with Serban and Evashawn behind. Serashawn hugged me and I felt some discomfort.

“Careful Serashawn,” I said, smiling with some difficulty as I didn’t want to upset the child, “Centaurs, even ones as young as you, are much stronger than humans.”

“I’m sorry,” said Serashawn, instantly contrite. “I just didn’t want you to go without saying goodbye.”

“It won’t be for good,” Chessina said, “Now we and the elves understand each other a little better we will be coming back and forth.”

Serashawn smiled at this, and hugged Chessina and Silavara, but much more gently.

“We came also as we wanted to thank you for saving the life of our child.” said Evashawn, and Serban nodded gravely.

“We are all glad to have done so.”  I said, glancing at the others who nodded agreement.

Serban had a satchel over his shoulder which he removed and handed to me.

“This is a gift from us and the forest people,” He said.

When I looked inside, I gasped for therein were five unicorn horns.

“This is a priceless gift,” I said. “How did you come by them?”

“The unicorns told me of the place where they shed their horns,” said Evashawn. “They said this had been asked of them by Silvana. The horn with a slight gold sheen is from a matriarch who has mothered foals. It should make powerful healing magic.”

“All I can say is a sincere thank you,” I said. “I will make sure they are used properly.”

“If I was not certain you would, I would not have given them to you,” Evashawn said.

I held onto the satchel with its precious contents not trusting myself to speak; my eyeballs were distinctly sweaty.

 “How did you know we were leaving, we only decided yesterday?” Chessina asked.

“I send Ulula to tell them, as I thought they might want to say goodbye.” Silavara replied.

We were ready to leave and then Serashawn gave a gasp, and her eyes glazed as if looking at something which only she could see.

“Hail, Towermaster! The stars have long told of your coming. You and the innocent, untouched by evil, must gather your companions with care to destroy the interloper moon and its denizens. Watch for the coming of the wandering star of Emaxtiphrael.”

“Sewashawn!” gasped Evashawn.

“She has inherited the power of prophecy from your mother, my dear,” said Serban. “Poor child, but she will be cherished, and aided in coping with it. She is an adult this day.”

Serashawn seemed a little confused, but her parents stood by her with their arms around her as she sucked a lock of her mane.

 

A two-edged gift had come to the young filly; but she had parents to aid her.  And Chessina, bless her, had written down what she had said. With no further need to delay I unrolled our rug of travel and expanded it to accommodate all who were coming with us. With Chessina, Silavara and myself, together with Sirrit and the four ambassadors the rug was getting close to its limit. We seated ourselves, one of Sirrit’s hands clutching Silavara’s robe, and I touched the part of the pattern to activate the rug. It immediately stiffened, and at my mental command rose into the air. I circled upwards, avoiding the tree limbs until I had cleared the forest canopy. The others were waving farewell to those on the ground.

When I reached a height well above the tallest trees, I turned to the others.

“This will take some concentration, so will everyone please be quiet for a little while.” I said. I caught a look between the two brothers that seemed contemptuous that flying a rug of travel required much concentration. I then began to feel for a ley line and was startled to discover a very powerful line that I could feel directly connected the elven city with the Tower and the Circle. This must have been created when the palace’s foundations were drawn up from the bedrock. Synchronising with this new ley line was exceptionally easy and smoothly we entered that strange out of phase condition of ley travel and began moving much faster than was normally possible. I thought we might be going even faster than when coming to the dwarven city. I would have to be careful not to miss the node to the dwarven city. Once safe on course I turned to look at our elven passengers. Their expressions were now of shock and not a little fear. I permitted myself an inward smile at this.

 

The journey to the dwarven kingdom took much less time than I expected. Of course! Tancyfrwys’s pet rock; it was a bond and a pact between the Elven Royal Wizard, the Tower, and the Circle. I realised with sudden clarity that the palace would be partly built with stone robbed out from her former tower, and her domain would be above that rock. Arcana doubtless set it up a long time ago.

As I was concentrating hard, I noticed, almost with irritation at the distraction, a tingling in my side. I looked down and it was next to where I carried Demonslicer in its sheath. The tingling grew more profound and I wondered if the blade was reacting to the place where it was forged? I had not noticed any such thing when I left the dwarven capital heading for the elven lands, but I wasn’t travelling in ley-space at the time. Was this a property of ley-space and magical weapons? This called for further investigations.

I felt a sudden pulse from Demonslicer and on an impulse left ley-space. We didn’t suffer the jerk as when I exited previously. I wasn’t sure if I was improving my skills, or if I were more attuned to this ley-line, as it and I were attuned to the Tower. When I looked around, I thought that we were where I intended to be, at the closest point on the ley-line to our destination. Consequently, it did not take us long to be landing at the fortified main gateway to the city. The defences were as formidable as I remembered, and the guards as intimidating.

 

“Welcome Towermaster,” said a dwarven officer coming forward, “I am Miravol of clan Visniavol, you have news?”

“Yes,” I replied, “Please take us to the King. There will be no war and I bring ambassadors from the Elven Court.”

We were taken through the various corridors to the private royal apartments. The elves were looking distinctly uncomfortable at the underground passages, well lit though they were.

“Don’t worry,” I said smiling encouragement, “You become used to being underground after a while.”

Shortly we were presented to the King. After making our gestures of courtesy, I introduced the elves.

“Your Majesty, your Royal Highnesses, may I present Marwyn and his wife Serenes whom Queen Ariannaith hopes you will accept as ambassadors to your court. Cadyll and his brother Eryr are to be ambassadors to King Beremar.

Ambassadors: King Thorogar, Crown Prince Thoromir and Crown Princess Neveslava.”

“Queen Ariannaith? I understood Sereneryr was King of the Elves,” said King Thorogar in surprise.

“He was, Majesty, but he was killed as the result of the machinations of the half-demon Sekemhef, who was fomenting war for his own purposes,” I said, “The new Queen, is Sereneryr’s daughter who does not want war. She has agreed to a draft treaty which only needs to be ratified by you and by King Beremar.”

“The half-demon, what has happened to him?” Asked the Crown Prince.

“He has been dealt with,” I replied.

“Permanently? The Crown Prince continued.

“He is in the hands of Emaxtiphrael, Lord of the Halls of Waiting,” I said, “Sekemhef’s subsequent disposition is at the discretion of My Lord Emaxtiphrael.”

“That is a relief. Emaxtiphrael? I believe our name for him is Korrund, ” said the King. “We welcome our new ambassadors and hope that this will presage greater understanding between our peoples.”

“That is our hope too,” said Marwyn in accented but perfectly understandable dwarven.

 

Chessina, Silavara and I explained matters more fully at a private dinner with the King and his closest advisors together with the elven ambassadors. We omitted those matters that were private to our new friends and any reference to the origins of the elves and the machinations of the gods.

We repeated the explanations at the supper that Alvarek and his wife Meghimira served for us, emphasising what few humorous incidents had occurred. Chessina’s descriptions of the outrage and chagrin of various elves caused much laughter. Though the ambassadors didn’t attend this meal, Silavara brought Sirrit. While she seemed less shy than earlier she still stayed very close to Silavara. We said our farewells, and promised to return as often as we could, and Silavara agreed to officiate at the birth of Meghimira’s child.

Next morning, the King and the Royal Family wished us farewell and once again we had an honour guard of griffin cavalry. Shortly after we were airborne we saw a large flying object, cylindrical in shape with rounded ends and vanes at the rear, making its way through the air, against the wind.

“Castamir, what is that?” Chessina asked.

“It must be the new dwarven flying machine,” I replied, “I knew that they were making experiments to make such a thing.”

“How does it fly, and what makes it go? Is it dwarven magic?” Chessina continued.

“If I remember what I heard correctly,” I said, “The cylinder is full of a gas that is lighter than air so that the whole thing floats. The little pods that stick out of the sides of the machine have turning things that look like miniature windmill sails. I imagine they push it through the air, they must be made to turn by some kind of dwarven magic. There are dwarves in that structure like a blister on the bottom of the craft near to the front.”

The dwarves in the craft waved at us and Chessina and I waved back. However I wasn’t going to get too close as I had no idea how manoeuvrable it was and I wasn’t about to risk a mid air collision. Cadyll and Eryr seemed taken aback at the vehicle and were muttering together in elvish. They seemed to be having their automatic assumption of elven magical superiority dented a trifle. I could almost feel the disapproval radiating from Silavara.

“Yes, Castamir,” she answered my unasked query, “I do distrust those who potentially disrupt the balance of nature. That thing could be dangerous.”

“Yes, the lifting gas is flammable,” I said, “I have an idea that might be able to deal with that problem. I’ll have to think about it.”

 

I flew until we got back to the ley line. I saluted the honour guard and waved them away before I re-entered ley space. I didn’t think they would suffer any ill effects from being nearby but I didn’t want to take any chances. Not having any convenient magic items such as Demonslicer I had to estimate when to come out of ley space to be as near as possible to Adalsburg, but I didn’t come out too far from where I intended.

“We should be in the capital city of Adalsburg before long,” I announced to my passengers.

“It has been a shorter trip than we expected,” said Cadyll with a distinct elven accent, “Your method of travel was surprising. We have not seen the like before.”

“Your knowledge of our tongue is very good,” I said, somewhat surprised, “How did this come about, if I may ask?”

“Merchants from your kingdom have come infrequently to the Enclave where we live,” Cadyll replied, “And we have a quick ear for languages. It is one reason my brother and I were chosen to be ambassadors.”

“I do hope that you are able to prevent problems in the future,” said Chessina.

“As Queen Ariannaith is much less... volatile than her father, we hope there won’t be any problems,” said Eryr.

“I think we can all agree on that,” said Silavara. “Castamir, I don’t really want to go to the city, and I know Sirrit doesn’t. There is an area of forest there with I’m sure, large enough trees to ‘tree-walk’ back to my home. Would you mind setting us down there?”

“Of course not, Silavara, I should have thought,” I replied.

“Excuse me, ‘tree walking’?” said Cadyll, “I don’t understand.”

“By the grace of Silvana,” Silavara explained, “Her followers may merge with one tree, if it is large enough, and emerge from another tree a great distance away.”

“I can see that our knowledge of woodlands is not as great as we believed.” He said, ruefully.

Having set down and said our goodbyes to Silavara and Sirrit, we resumed our journey and caught sight of Adalsburg by mid-afternoon.

“Your buildings are very close together,” said Eryr, “It will take some getting used to.”

“Thank you for being prepared to come and live in a place so different from your home,” I replied.

“If it will prevent war, we are prepared to put up with discomfort,” Eryr continued.

 

I landed the rug in the courtyard surrounding the Royal Tower of Wizardry and servants came out, followed by Ammand, Dragovar’s major domo.

“Ah, Ammand,” Chessina began, imperiously. “These elves are ambassadors to the court of King Beremar, prepare suitable quarters for them in the tower, until Dragovar can make more permanent arrangements. Ambassador Cadyll, Ambassador Eryr, may I present Ammand, major domo to Dragovar the Royal Wizard.”

Chessina loved to order Ammand around. He had severely irritated her when we first met by treating us as persons of no account. I was sure she would get over her grudge... eventually.

“At once, Apprentice Chessina,” Ammand replied, smiling as though he had just eaten three lemons without sugar, but it was just about a smile.

“That should be Journeywizard Chessina, Ammand,” I said, “She has completed her apprenticeship.”

“Congratulations,” Ammand managed to grind out. Make that five lemons, he had irritated me too.

“Is Dragovar within?” I enquired.

“No Towermaster,” Ammand replied curtly, being as unhelpful as he could get away with. The fear engendered by my transformation of Lord Pennover into an ass seemed to have worn off.

“Please have messengers sent to Dragovar and the King, informing them of our arrival,” I said, “They are also to convey the message, ‘mission accomplished’.”