The Twilight Elf

Chapter 3: An Unexpected Truth

The potion was frightfully cold at first and then burned like a shot of whiskey. It took effect right away, filling her head with a buzzing that made every thought she'd ever batted away or barred herself from saying primed to leap off the tip of her tongue.

“Now, for the final time, did you kill my father? Did you kill the former king of the East Elven Castle?" The handsome elf king said.

The potion warmed Enya's cheeks as the king's words echoed in her mind.

“Did you kill my father?" the elf king repeated.

“No."

The voice was definitely her own, but she heard it as if it came from someone else.

“Were you in the palace two sunsets ago?"

“Yes."

The words floated out of her mouth, causing her jaw to drop and her eyes to widen.

What was she saying? Of course she wasn't here two nights ago. That had been her bachelorette party. The only thing she'd done is go out with the girls for some drinks. She'd even come home early and fell asleep because she wasn't nearly the party gal the others were.

“So she admits it!" Said Slavick, accusing her from his ascended throne.

“She admitted to being here but the truth potion has already revealed she did not kill him," the king said quickly before immediately turning his focus back on Enya.

“Did you see who killed my father?"

“Yes."

Another truth, climbing free from Enya's lips though this one felt much heavier. Already, the buzzing in the back of her head began to diminish.

“Who was it? Who killed my father?"

Enya waited, expecting more words to fly from her lips but they never came. Her words were her own now.

The king muttered something under his breath that Enya couldn't quite catch but she suspected it to be some elven curse word.

“You said you didn't come here before. That you'd never been here before and yet the potion revealed that to be a lie. However, you also proved you are not my father's killer. How, or a better question may be, why? Why the half truths?" the king asked.

Enya wished she knew. She racked her brain, hoping for any of the hidden knowledge that the potion had brought out of her but she had nothing. She couldn't think of why she'd said she'd been here before. Unless her dreams were interfering with what the truth was.

Did dreaming of place count as having been there? Surely not?

“I don't understand it either. You have to believe me. I've never seen any of this or any of you in real life before."

“In real life? Why do you say that?"

“I…I dreamt about this place. At least I think I have. It's all just flashes nothing very concrete, but I saw him in my dream. Along with hallways and things that look like this."

Enya gestured all around her to the giant inner tree walls and damp floor.

“You dreamed of Slavick?" the king said curiously.

He turned toward the older elf who immediately struck the arm of his chair with his fist.

“I am telling you, sire, she has tricks. Powers and things that only a twilight elf could have. If not, then at least her powers of deception are well honed."

“What is a twilight elf?" Enya asked, but only to the king.

He'd been the only reasonable one out of all of them.

“Someone born from a human and elven parent. A hafling," the king responded.

As surprised as Enya wanted to be, having been confronted with all of this, it started to make sense. However, it did raise a thousand more questions in her mind.

Did her father know?

Were humans and elves not allowed to be in relationships? She assumed yes by the way the older elves had treated her.

If her father did know. Why didn't he tell her? And was her mother killed because she dared to love a human.

These questions and more swarmed inside her mind. They turned over and over like her own personal tornado of thought.

“Lock her in the dungeons, sire, until we can prove her treachery. There are other ways then truth potion to extract information," said Slavick.

The way he said it turned Enya's blood cold.

The king thought for a moment. He crossed one arm over himself, and with the other arm, brought the back of this thumb to his lips. He rubbed the smooth part of his nail against his lips as he deliberated.

After a short while lifted his thumb from his lips and said, “No."

Some of the elves exclaimed their objections and urged him to go along with Slavick's plan, but the king silenced them with a raised hand and like before turned his full attention to Enya.

“I believe that she does not know of her elven heritage. That she doesn't understand her own powers and the truth potion has only left us with more questions. To use another so soon would damage her mind and possibly make impossible for us to ever know what truly happened. My decision, offered to the council for approval, is this. We place a tracking spell on her, let her go, and see what happens the next time she dreams. If she is lying we will find out soon enough and i'll bring her in myself."

Many of the council appeared rather displeased at this but none willing to argue with the new king. Slavick seemed especially vexed by the king's decision. His mouth curled into an almost beastly snarl and his wild eyes shifted constantly from Enya to the young elf beside her.

“As you wish my liege," said Slavick.

The council elves all raised their hands and chanted together. A green energy emitted from each of their finger tips and met above her. Once it collected into a large mass of light like the aurora borealis, it fell on her. The tower of emerald light washed over her and she felt an itching down her spine as if someone were drawing on her with a pencil.

After it was done, the king came behind her and immediately unzipped the back of her dress. Enya, not thinking at this point and acting on instinct, turned and slapped the king across the face.

The room roared in outrage and she saw several spells conjured, each trained on her. Slavick conjured a ball of fire in his hands and threw it toward her but the king swiftly drew her back behind him and slashed threw the fire with his sword, instantly distinguishing it.

“I'm sorry. That was rather rude. I need to see the mark the spell made on your back. To ensure it worked," he said.

Enya had no rightly idea how to take this man, well, elf. He had threatened to kill her but also listened to her, he had unzipped her dress and then apologized for it after like he'd stepped on her foot while dancing.

But that was better than the others who would have gladly burned her alive just then.

“I'm sorry too," she said and turned, holding her dress to her chest.

The king ran a hand between her shoulder blades. His skin was soft and emanated a strange but comforting warmth.

“It's sealed," he said out loud to the council and zipped her dress back up.

A blush came over Enya's cheeks and she stayed turned until the red undertones faded away.

“The twilight elf will return to beyond the veil with the humans. The spell will show us where she has gone and what happens when she sleeps again tonight. I will see her back across the veil myself. Until then, this council is adjourned. I think you all for your service."

The king gave a small bow which was matched by far lower ones. One by one the council members began to fade away as that strange green light appeared again by their feet and ran up the length of their bodies.

Enya turned just in time to catch Slavick staring her down as the energy ran up his neck and head, causing him to vanish.

“Come," the elf king said, extending a hand to her.

“I'll take you home."