The Elven Queen

CHAPTER 18

I woke up to the sound of chatter, laughter and the clinking of goblets, gruff voices loud as horns mellowed only by the sound of flutes played In rhythm with the drums, I look out the window to see the stars lining the sky and the village bathed in the orange hue of the night lanterns, the pub was alive

Going down the spiral stairs my hands tracing the rails Linnea comes into view, smile on her face as she chatted away with the customers on the other side of the counter, our eyes met and her smile faltered a bit, only a bit, it soon vanished as if it never happened and she was chatting again, a skill I liken only to professionalism

“Thank you for the accommodation” I place a hand on her shoulder, truly grateful for her kindness, slightly empathetic for her loss and a little guilty for invading her privacy

“Now none of that nonsense..." she pants my hand reassuringly "....wait a minute” she disappears behind the counter and comes back with a bag, I opened it the moment it entered my hands and felt so much worse for going through her son's stuff

“I can’t take this”

“Don’t be ridiculous, it’s just a little food, some mana crystals and a bag of incense, Don’t sweat much” was what she said but even an urchin from the gutters knew all the money they made in a year wouldn’t buy them a pebble sized mana crystal, the one she gave me is as big as a cork and from the bright green hue it emitted, it was well refined

“Take it please”

“Thank you” I knew well to never disregard true kindness

She walked with me to the edge of the forest telling me all about her travels, how she learned the art of brewery, how she ventured as far as Nosefar territory to meet with a master of the keg, she told me about her trades, the interesting people she met, I was skeptical about her accompanying me when she offered thinking, Who would run her tavern? Before I could voice my concerns she grabbed the ear of the nearest customer to her and said,

“Run the shop for a bit” without any room for refusal the customer surrendered and leapt over the counter, a beautiful scene, a familiar scene, the Loyalty clearly ran deep in these parts and Linnea stood at the center of it

Finally at the edge I blew a whistle and Adromeda came swooping down in seconds

“Knulla!! Försöker du ge mig en hjärtattack?!!" F*ck!! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!!!

I chuckled, an expected and justified reaction

“A Kondra” she spoke in awe while inching closer to Adromeda without hesitation she reaches her hand out to the giant bird, who stares at it skeptically, c*ocking it’s head to the side looking at me, then back at the fearless dwarven woman, then looking back at me, I give her nod which was all the permission she needed, moving closer she touches Linnea’s outstretched hand with her head, giving her permission to touch her

“Well behaved this one..." she continues stroking her “...I don’t know who you are, but I do know that you don’t find Kondras just lying around, Are you sure you’re not a spy?” she jokes then proceeds to ruffle Adromeda’s feathers with both hands, this caused the big bird to jump back and shake out her scattered coat before sending a menacing glare at the culprit

Linnea completely unfazed by the giant bird glaring at her she laughs wholeheartedly wiping the stray tear that ran down her cheek then turned to me with all seriousness and a gentle expression, reaching a hand out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear then cupping my cheek, she brings my head down and places my forehead against hers, a Dwarven prayer, which I deeply appreciated

“Var försiktig, Blå” Be careful,Blue

Stroking my cheek she gives me a warm look that puts my stomach in a knot, I knew that look too and it made me feel a little guilty

With that she walks away leaving me to mount Adromeda and fully strap myself in, I had long since put the bag she gave me into my storage ring

“Xik’nal” fly I ordered, and we were air borne, True to Linnea’s words, East of the forest was a big tree, bigger than the average trees that surrounded it but not nearly as big as the mother but big enough that I could see it clearly even though it was night, but that could be because the tree was glowing a warm yellow tone, a surge of energy that I could feel even at a distance

“Mana” so thick it sizzled my skin, I tap Adromeda at the side of her neck signaling her to fly faster, the closer we got the thicker the concentration of mana in the air was, it also got a lot harder to breath, raw mana of this extent was something I had never seen before, It made me dizzy, I had to grip the feathers on Adromeda’s neck to keep me from falling off, soon we were at the base of the tree, Adromeda stops meters from the tree, I urge her to move forward but she refuses to move an inch closer, she had never done this before, I rub a hand over her nape trying to coarse her into obeying me but she wouldn't budge

“Magibeast tend to avoid these parts, the mana in the air is often times too much for them” I instantly whip my head in the direction of the voice, a Faye, a beautiful round faced woman, her skin smooth like glass and so pale she was almost transparent, long yellowish silver hair, long pointed ears, though her most prominent feature was her eyes glassy white without pupils, they looked like two marbles

“Actually most people also find it difficult to be here, Elves, Lycans, Nosefers” She went on, while counting the races on her fingers “lots of people and yet, here you are, right as rain, why is that?” she finally looks at me with those empty eyes, head c*ocked to the side quizzically, I couldn’t care less about her curiosity, I was concerned with the fact that this woman got this close to me and I couldn’t sense her, she’s standing right in front of me, and I still can’t sense her, no mana traces, no heat signature, no residual energy, nothing!!!! And that made me cautious

“I don’t know, I travelled here from far North” I dismount Adromeda to face the small woman

“Oh did you now” she’s patronizing me but I brushed it aside

“Yes, my people are in trouble, I don’t know what is causing it, the Faye have lived a long life, their knowledge paralleled only by their beauty so I was hoping one of you might know what is causing all of this”

She listened to my entire speech without saying a single word, a finger in her mouth as she chewed on her nail her head hanging low deep in thought, in an instant she looks up, the only movement I could catch before she was in front of me in seconds

“Do you adore me?”

Thrown off by her question and her sudden appearance I jump back instantly reaching for my dagger, causing Adromeda to go on guard, dropping down behind me, heckles raised, claws out staring at this possible assailant threateningly

“I guess not” she trails off “I wonder why” completely unfazed by our display of hostility

“You have a question do you not?....” finally acknowledging my question “....I have lived for two centuries so I might be of help to you” Thrown off by this new information, I knew the Faye lived a long timen but seeing one standing before me dressed only in a thin silk cloth that looked to be wrapped around her leaving little to the imagination with a low plunging neckline and a high slit down the right side, she looked to be no older than I was and yet she had lived over two hundred years, “....but if you don’t mind, the leader of our coven has lived the longest out of all of us, I could take you to him if you would like”

Rising up from my crouched stance, I deliberate on whether or not to go with this strange woman, in less than 10 minutes she had given me multiple reasons to be wary of her but the Faye were the only lead I had

“Thank you, I accept your kind offer”

“Oh goodie!!!” she skipped to my side and looped her arm around my right arm pressing herself against me “....You are going to love the elder, he knows everything” she goes off excitedly leading me towards the illuminated tree, as we got closer the area around us was bathed in a bright yellow light liken to the sun, making the area around the tree look trapped in eternal day, even the grass looked richer

“I look forward to learning from yo….” I was stopped in my track by Adromeda who spread out her wings trying to stop me for the uptenth time that evening but the Faye woman was the one who shocked me as her bare eyes narrowed into slits exuding pure murderous intent while she stared down Adromeda.

For the first time in my life I saw Adromeda shrink in fear but she still refused to move away, fearing for her life I place a reassuring hand on her wing patting down her raised feathers “Peeksik” move

Slowly dropping her wing she gave way for us, we pass throw the threshold and I was grateful for the arm the Faye woman wrapped around me, the large influx of mana was tremendous causing me to stagger at my feet, my vision blurring for a few second, running a hand over my face to pace myself, I take a deep breath and shake my head, I was back

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine” this caused her already large eyes to bulge out even more

“Magnificent” I ignore her comment instead I look up to the tree, one hand shielding my eyes from the glaring light, somehow, it got even brighter, and wider

“My name is Raydia”

“Alright” she took this as her cue to ramble on and on about nonsensical things that I didn’t care about in the slightest, like butterflies and sweets, Doesn’t this woman ever just shut up?!,

We get to the tree and I notice a large white door so big I had to crane my neck to see the crest carved at the top of it, it was hard, sturdy and also not there a while ago

“Beautiful isn’t it? Let’s go inside!!” with one hand she pushed open the obviously heavy looking door which slowly opened with a creek and the image inside had my jaw on the floor

“By Sophia…….”