ETCH, page 14
The elf began to speak. “I bet your friend would do anything to get you back. I plan to fight her, one on one. I did not think she would take the duel seriously without a little bribing.”
“Why?” Ilva asked with fear dripping out of the question.
Her captor roared, “Because that silver elf killed the last Western Dragon in the world! The last one! She has no concept of what she has done. Just like the rest of the silver elf scum. Those elves are nothing but greedy tyrants. I should know.” He paused before shouting, “Europeas must be avenged!”
Ilva breathed as deep as she could, and tried not to think of what she stood to lose, she was focusing on this elf’s feelings. She wanted to understand. She wanted to help. Empathy filled her. She felt personally responsible for the dragon. It was my fault he died, not Vali’s. Vali would have avoided the dragon. She didn’t want to tangle with it. It was all my fault. Her face burned with shame.
She decided to try and apologize. “I’m sorry for your loss. It was my fault Vali fought the dragon, I froze up in the pass, and Vali just tried to save me. You did not deserve to endure such a thing. If there is anything I or Vali could do to right this, I would want to try. Tell me there is another alternative than more of us suffering great losses.”
The elf stared with his orange eyes, his hard expression unmoved. He was cold and calculating as he said, “If you say that is her name, I have only one question. Vali, is her grandmother Dola?”
Ilva stared at this friend of dragons dumbfounded. She stumbled over a short, “Y-yes.”
This set the elf’s jaw into a tight clamp, his lips thinning as he clenched his teeth together. Ilva took in more of his features now that they were in close range, chatting like this. He looked terrifying before when he was filled with rage. Now his face exposed deep lines and wrinkles, he looked tired, Ilva wondered at his age. He seemed to be calming down, and trying to rationalize things, then abruptly he began to cry. He had the most painful expression on his face that Ilva had ever seen. She wondered what about mentioning Vali’s name had sent this elf into such a torrent of emotion. Ilva thought him more childlike now. Sobbing as hard as he was, after venting his frustrations over Europeas’ death.
She understood his fury. She thought she understood his pain too. She wanted to know more about what roots these emotions surrounding Vali and Dola came from. How did this old elf know them? Why does he hate silver elves? “How do you know Lady Dola?” Ilva was wrong to call Dola a Lady in front of this particular elf.
The roaring continued, “That tyrant, is no Lady! She is only a housecarl to Lady Alix in Marka. She does her bidding, and Dola’s subjects in Karna are the same to her. She is not nobility, and she is not even supposed to have a city. Marka was their territory. Karna was ours! Lady Dola indeed.” He made a tisk sound before mumbling the rest of his feelings, “Everything was always transactional with her, then it got worse when other elves lives stopped mattering. She sent her own daughter and son in law out on the front line. I will never forgive her for what she took from me. If that girl’s name is Vali, and she is really her granddaughter, I thought she was dead, all this time.” The elf began sobbing again.
Ilva had to know who he was. She asked, “Who are you?”
The orange eyes stopped flowing like rivers, and looked on at Ilva as he let out a weak reply, “I am Odys. Vali’s grandfather. Exiled during the war for treason when I tried to save her mother, Vela.”
Ilva was stunned. Her grandfather?
He told Ilva more. “It was Vela that Dola killed. Our own daughter. She did not consider my voice important in any of the decisions she made during the war. She ridiculed me in front of others at council meetings, made me look a fool, broke all my confidence. I never thought she would end up so mad in the end. That she would kill our beautiful little daughter.” His tone grew fiercer, “Who kills their own child? That horrible, inconsiderate, tyrannical, villainous…” he looked like he wanted to keep going, instead he took a deep breath.
He appeared to be reining in a deep-seated hatred, before going on. “Dola has contempt for any creature that is not an elf. I imagine she never told Vali about dragons being allied with elves. In fact, I would not put it past her to insist dragons are to be slain. I prayed for her to change, in the decades prior to our war with Mila, I waited for it a long time. But you cannot change elves. It took me way too many centuries to learn that lesson.”
He sniffed, wiped his face, and dried his damp beard. “I should not have stood by and allowed her to hurt so many innocent elves. I should not have taken innocent lives in her name. I did try to rebel against her in the end. I collected a band of elves with similar ideals. We evacuated most of Mila, then I called upon the wraiths, we had made a deal with them you see. I let the Wraith Wan of the Wastelands into this world to prevent Dola from getting her hands on the sylvite artifact. She would have destroyed us all! Dola sent many elves to their deaths trying to retrieve it. I could not stop her from sending all of our family and friends there, and I had already done my own horrible deed. If she had only listened to me!” He began tearing up again.
“Vali was pronounced dead. Eighty years ago. She died when she went after her father, Rolk. My informant in Karna told me Vali had followed Rolk into battle, then the great magic storm happened in the wastelands, there’s no way she could have survived it. My informant waited, at my request, for many months. Vali was gone. Shortly after, my informant was discovered and hung. I lost so much hope.” he seemed to shift his focus, “Dola, she always played the victim. I had to watch her change behind closed doors. That I believe is what hurt the most. Watching her put on a false personality for the world, and only share this corrupt and dark side with me.
“When our daughter died, she cried in front of others, then was secretly giddy over all the empathy and generosity others showered upon her. No one knew it was her that murdered Vela. It was as if she was glad for the death of her own daughter, for it made others sympathise with her. She took it to her head. Spun and twisted it up as sympathy to her cause. I was a broken elf, I would gaze at nothing, my heart sank every time I saw that grin on her. She tortured innocent elves. She imprisoned and sold sylvite mages. I had no choice, I had to try and stop her, but I made a mistake. She never went to battle that day. All those lives sacrificed, when she was the one that was supposed to die.”
Chapter 43
Ilva tried to absorb this elf’s feelings and understand. She did in a way, though she did not think it was a reason for Dola to die. She had her own ideals, and sure, they were wrong from where Ilva stood, but she could not justify more death. She thought she had seen enough of it already with the death of her mother, and all those soldiers. There are so few elves left in the world.
No matter how horrible Dola was, or her own mother, or the manic elf in the village who drowned her baby. Did they really deserve to die? She was thinking about this, yet she was keenly aware of her own hurt feelings. It was hard to walk that middle line, but she didn’t want to fall to any one side of it. She wanted to focus on what she felt was good, and right, she just had to decide what that was.
She had to find a nice way to word her next comments. “I understand why you want to kill elves like Dola. They are toxic individuals, and they create ripples in the peace of the world. Sometimes they spread hate, and of course we need to fight it. But if we simply kill too, we are them. If we hate in return, we are them. If we oppress, shame or ridicule in return, we deny ourselves peace. If you wish to be something other than your enemy, then be something else. I do not think the answer to all the death that has happened, is more death. It seems counterproductive.” she gauged his thoughtful face before finishing, “I wish you did not have to endure so much pain, at the hands of one miserable elf. And I agree with you, she is horrible, she tried to sell me to my own parents and her housecarl slaughtered my mother. I cannot imagine how many other losses there have been. I have barely begun to process my own.” she paused again, thinking of what to say next, “What would your daughter have done? Tell me more about her. I want to know what Vali’s mother and father were like.”
Ilva listened intently as Odys told her all about Vali’s mother Vela. She was a stunning elf with raven hair just like Vali, and her eyes were two different colours. Odys loved that feature. One eye was orange, and one was a violet-blue. Ilva was entranced with the description. She was painting a picture in her head. Odys talked about her love of fighting, and how the sword he carried was hers. He seemed to drift back to the negative now and then, and it took great effort on Ilva’s part to keep directing the conversation back to lighter tones, with happier memories, and positive thoughts. It felt good, it felt like she was somehow helping.
She was about to ask another question about the past, when she decided to start on the present stuff instead. “So, Vali, if she is your granddaughter, what do you plan to do now? I mean, am I still being held captive?”
At that Odys jumped up. He began cutting away Ilva’s bindings. Looking a bit embarrassed about their situation. He spoke quiet and deep, "You are a great listener. I’m sorry we all got off to a bad start, grief caused me to lose much of my sense. Dola really has sewn a seed of corruption into this heart of mine. She taught me what it is to hate, as she once said she would.”
When he had cut away all of the ropes it surprised Ilva that he reached out and gave her a hug. “I hope Vali will forgive me. I did not know I still had blood walking this earth. All is not lost, I guess. There is hope, and I almost destroyed it. If not for you I may have made yet another grave mistake. Thank you for telling me. We can all use a reminder, at times, that things are not always as they appear.”
Ilva let what Odys said sink in, as she rubbed her wrists where the bindings had been. She could have used a reminder like that, more often than she had realised. She was just as notorious for her negative thoughts. Just as pessimistic and unforgiving at times. She thought back on how angry she was when she first left home. How those feelings had changed now. She felt differently about her mother, and she was confused about what to feel towards her father. Her mother had said not to trust him. Life had become, to Ilva, an outrageous puzzle that she was truly struggling to solve. Ilva had no idea what she was doing.
Odys was walking back towards the back of the cave when he stopped and turned, “Come on...er, Sorry, what is your name my dear? I fear, in my ignorance, I have not asked you.”
She spoke softly, “My name is Ilva.”
As Ilva and Odys walked down the narrowing tunnel of the cave, Ilva could smell something burning and feel steam on her face. Odys spoke quietly over his shoulder to her, “This is where the hot pools are. They are all throughout much of these mountains, and are very dangerous. The water can burn you, and the steam can even become unbearable after too long. Dragons seem to like it, we elves prefer the high levels within the mountain. Although the heat that rises through the entrance is lovely in the winter time.”
When he mentioned Dragons liking the hot pools, Ilva was immediately darting eyes all over the caverns to see if she could catch a quick glimpse of any that may be lurking about. She did not see anything in the inky darkness, and steamy clouds. What she could see was still interesting, almost as much so as a dragon she thought. The entire place glittered and shone. Crystals and stones adorned the walls of the caves. The ceiling’s stalactites were dripping water onto all the surfaces around them, little holes appeared to be bored into them. She was mesmerised by all these naturally formed wonders. It was a whole new kind of environment to her. The forest had a majesty all its own too, this was just unusual and new and its mystery drew her in, as the foothills of the Vozrek mountains once did.
Ilva noticed the tunnel they followed was now curving upwards and to the right. She followed Odys up and up. It was getting cooler, and the air wasn’t as damp now. As they made their way Ilva noticed how close the stalactites that hung above her were getting. She was desperate to touch one. Odys stopped her, “Do not touch them. You risk bringing it down. It took a long time to grow, and they are more fragile than they look. Breaking one might result in many more falling.” Ilva was nervous then, she wondered desperately what they felt like, but had no interest in being impaled by them.
They moved on. Ilva’s gaze caught another thing to be interested in. There was a grand room ahead of them, the tunnel opened into a huge open space with rock walls that climbed to a peaked point. In the center of the ceiling was an elaborate light made from many crystal gems and what looked like a tiny flame inside of them glowing. The gems made the light dance all around. Ilva entered the room, the tunnel entrance was small and narrow, and she had to wait for Odys to go through first. Once inside she looked around to notice all the elves in the room. Then how all of them were turning, staring in her direction.
Odys addressed the crowd, “Everyone! This is Ilva. She will be staying with us temporarily. Make her feel welcome please. She is a friend.” He turned and smiled at Ilva then. Ilva felt awkward as all the eyes remained on her. She turned to the many faces and bowed forward. Murmurs rang off the round walls. Ilva pulled herself back up and Odys turned to talk just to her. “I’m going to go find Vali. You will be safe here in Evevale. I am grateful to you Ilva, you have brought with you something special.”
Ilva shifted uneasily and replied, “You are welcome.”
Odys clapped his hands together in a delighted way. A female elf ran over. “If you have any needs just ask Bryn here.”
Bryn had a slender boney figure. Her muscles were strongly defined in her lanky thin frame. Her shoulders were by far the broadest part of her. Her nose was long and narrow, and her lips peaked tightly under her philtrum. Her outfit was a brown cotton tunic and darker pants. Both were torn badly, looking rough and ragged, yet comfortable. She was barefoot, and her golden hair went straight as a pin down her back. Ilva thought she was striking. Her best feature had to be her eyes, they were a soft pink colour, and her pupils rather large. The black almost drowned the pink completely out.
Odys read the intrigue on Ilva’s mind and said, “Bryn is a good sort, I was lucky to find her.”
Bryn spoke in the strongest sounding female voice Ilva had ever heard, “You are a good sort too, and I was the lucky one to be found.”
Their mushy musing made Ilva grin inside. She thought of Vali, and how lucky she was that Vali had found her. She understood this sentiment, and felt all the more comfortable with Odys and Bryn’s company now. The comfort was replaced with worry when Odys left to find Vali. She found herself wishing Odys luck, and knew he must be nervous to greet Vali after their last encounter. She also wondered if she was still being used as collateral, having been left behind.
Chapter 44
Vali dropped the horned rabbits she had in hand. Ilva was not at the camp, and the fire hadn’t even been started. She walked into a ghostly clearing where all their abandoned belongings lay. She called out, “Ilva!” No reply came. She was filled with panic. I shouldn’t have left her alone. She kicked at her soul, and the dirt.
She picked up all of the items left at the camp, and decided she would head towards the mountains. Vali was in a manic state, hoping desperately, with all of her heart, that Ilva was safe. In her frantic searching she felt the night air cold and damp, she was not resting tonight. The idea of Ilva being harmed flashed through Vali’s mind, and it made her move faster. She would search for Ilva all through the darkness if she had to. Though, she had no idea where she was to go when she reached the mountain.
Stumbling over a rock at the base of the mountains, she gathered up all of her senses, moving from one rock to the next. She focused on her footing the way she always did, by feeling it and trusting her gut. Her instincts were one of her best tools without her eyes. If she felt someone was watching her, there usually was, and she felt someone now. There were eyes on her, she knew it, and she could feel the eerie shivers run over her. She slowed her steps upon noticing the sensation, and then stopped when it was apparent, she was not alone. She listened all around for the sound of movement, anything that would give the watcher away. She heard nothing. The mountains and hills around her were silent. She decided to move on up the mountain, hoping she was going the right way.
After a few hours of climbing, Vali sat upon a large flat boulder. She was exhausted. She thought she heard the sound of a rock, rolling its way down the mountainside. This sound set her defenses back on alert. The rock sounded like it was much further down than where she sat. She was unaware she had kicked the rock that now tumbled. She wondered if the eyes she still felt were following her. Her heart beating rapidly, her sweat glistened, her breath laboured. It was hard with all the noise in her body to pay attention to her surroundings. There was a sudden movement to her right. What is that? Vali’s senses ran amuck, she did not recognise any sounds or smells. Was this a creature she had never encountered before?
She had never seen these ix or griffins that Naiade had mentioned. Could this thing be one of those? Vali wondered. Cautiously, she pulled her knife out of her boot, a spot she assumed would be useful while climbing the mountain, now realizing how useful it was in other ways. She was ready for whatever came. She crawled towards the place she felt the breeze, all of the hairs on her body felt the air around her. She stalked around the jutting rocks, surefooted and quiet. As Vali turned towards where she thought the creature had moved, she felt an overwhelming and ominous feeling, and sensed the danger. She was wrong, she had smelt this smell before, she had just forgotten. The creature was close to her now, smelling of decay and rot. It stung her nose and she could taste that unpleasantness with each breath. It took all her will to not vomit all over the craggy rocks underfoot.
The creature stood before Vali, they had baited her. She was face to face with them, and they grabbed her around the neck with a forceful grip. The dark shadow lifted her off the ground, Vali began to choke and tear up. She thought this was the end, cursing herself for not being more alert, and for not fighting harder. She had used so much energy on the climb. Gagging on the stench, she waited for life to drain from her. Her eyes were…clearing. Her vision. It had returned.
