Esmerelda's Triumph

Prologue

Prologue

Elves gather in tight-knit cloisters, but my father, Thalanar, left his cloister, Dream Glade, to be closer to nature. He loved animals, especially the exotic ones. However, there was no room for a menagerie in Dream Glade. Many believed him to be odd because of this, including many of his own family, including myself, Esmerelda. Aunt Gossamer, his sister, who fancied herself a visionary, predicted that his desire would bring disaster.

He vowed to prove himself and found an abandoned home by a waterfall and took his wife, Rosewood, twin daughters, Castelia and Esmerelda, to live there. The waterfall was fed by a small river. This rivulet flowed into a major river that formed the boundary between our home and the Kingdom of Coventry to the east.

He picked this spot because it had caves in the side of the cliff, which he could use as animal shelters. It was also less than half a day’s journey from Dream Glade, which allowed us to occasionally break the monotonous farm life and visit family and friends. Whenever we visited Dream Glade, he would always brag about his most recent finds and remind his sister that disaster had not yet happened.

Elf lifespans span a few hundred years compared to humans; however, Thalanar’s hair had turned gray early in life. The elf race was smaller than humans, averaging only five feet in height. Thalanar’s family was slender-built, and Rosewood’s reddish-brown hair curled over her shoulders.

Castelia and Esmerelda had sandy-colored hair streaked with silver that fell to their waists. The family wore simple clothing with muted colors that helped them blend in with their natural surroundings; that is, if they had been in the forest cloister. The twins were approaching their ninth birthday. They looked so much alike that even their parents would confuse them on occasion.

Esmerelda paused as she was hauling in a pail of water while her father drove a nail into the doorway to secure the loose jamb of their thatched-roof dwelling. Sweat rolled down his face as he shouted to his wife, "That ought to fix it once and for all."

"That’s what happens when you settle for used property," she shouted back from the upstairs window.

Esmerelda groaned because, since their move to this place, it seemed like her parents fought more than they hugged and kissed. As she made the final trek into the house, she heard her mother digging it in further.

"It was abandoned for a good reason, you know." She wiped sweat from her brow.

Esmerelda was really on her mother’s side; she didn’t like the old house either. Neither did Castelia even though she sided with her father most of the time.

"This abominable heat might have been the very reason why. The air is so dry and musty that my throat is continually parched."

A black and white spotted pig with wings ambled by as Esmerelda pleaded in desperation, "Can’t we go back to Dream Glade, Papa? It’s much cooler there."

Castelia chimed in, "Papa, it was so cold my toes fell off! I used all the blankets in the whole house. At least a dozen."

Thalanar objected, "We don’t own that many blankets, and you look just fine."

Castelia hardly indicated that she had heard her father and droned on. "I even saw frost forming on the window, and the chickens turned to ice!"

Esmerelda nearly died holding back a snicker as her father chastised, "Quit exaggerating." Castelia could play up anything. She was a natural-born exaggerator. It quite angered Esmerelda because it was usually rooted in a desire to lord it over her since she was not the firstborn. Castelia was only a few minutes older, but she could be bossy. This time, however, Esmerelda was in complete agreement with her.

"See, even your daughters agree on that one," Rosewood chuckled.

Thalanar literally put his foot down with a firm thud. "I am not going to abandon these poor, helpless critters," he fumed. He pointed to his daughters and ordered, "Esmerelda, water our friends, and Castelia feed them."

It took a good part of the early morning hours for Esmerelda to haul water, a bucket at a time, not only to the pigs, chickens, and cows but also to the rare and bizarre collection that her father was in the process of gathering. The Al-Mi'raj, a rabbit with a unicorn horn, did not require much water, and its bowl was not large. However, the Wolpertinger, a hare with fangs, wings, antlers, and a tail, seemed to guzzle the water down from a very large bowl and required nearly constant care.

There was also a pure black monkey he claimed could read minds, which he said was called a Satori. She thought it was strange. Sometimes it would act like any other monkey, and its antics would often cause merriment in the monotonous routine of the day. It mostly followed him around and sat on his shoulder. From time to time, it would give her fits of worry as it seemed to stare at her with unusual intensity. If it really were reading her mind, could it also understand what she was thinking? Either way, it upset her greatly.

Among the pigs were those with wings, although she had not seen any of them fly. She thought their wings were too small, and the pigs were too lazy and fat. She and her sister had a pet name for them: hoggies.

As Esmerelda hauled water from trough to trough, she had to make her way around huge black rats. Her father didn’t seem to mind having them around, which made them very bold. At times, instead of scurrying out of their way, they would even seem to defy them. Thalanar had not tried to domesticate them. They just showed up uninvited and hung around, but they more than made the rest of them uneasy.

There was another rare wonder that had chosen to visit them often, including that morning. It was a beautiful white unicorn. That was one rare beast that the women definitely welcomed. Esmerelda went out of her way to offer it a bucket of water, and it drank deeply as she stroked its head and felt the horn jutting from its forehead. She was in awe of it, and touching it sent pleasant thrills that no words could describe down her spine. It also exuded the most incredible, heavenly scent.

The closest she could come was the smell of fresh lavender in the morning air. She even believed that it was a sign of heavenly protection and one reason why she, her mother, and sister had not rebelled against her father more adamantly.

After their chores were finished, they gathered in the one-room house for their morning meal. Their small, square table was just big enough to seat the four of them. Their meal consisted of porridge sweetly flavored with honey. Their house did have a stairway in the back that led up to a loft, which was used as sleeping quarters. A simple curtain separated the parents’ side from the children’s.

"Thalanar," Rosewood began, "if it gets any hotter, we are going to have to take shelter in the caves with the animals."

Esmerelda spooned down a helping of porridge and gulped. She agreed with her mother but knew where the conversation was headed and where it would end. Her father said nothing as he paused and twirled his spoon in his porridge. She could sense that he was holding back anger, and she cringed at her mother’s words, but her mother did not wait for an answer.

"This is our third spring here, but even in winter," she continued, "it is only mildly cooler. I cannot tell one season from another."

She was astounded by her father’s reply. A tear trickled down his cheek, but his lips were resolutely pursed as he said, "It is my life’s work to rescue the rare." They said nothing else between them until they parted company to do their daily tasks.

When she heard her father say that, she wished that she could disappear. One thing she looked forward to was visiting family and friends who considered her father odd at best. She especially cherished her grandmother, who taught her magic. She had recently mastered the Floating Disc spell, which she used to carry items while doing her chores. It was just one simple spell, but her newfound ability raised her self-esteem, and she hungered for more. She imagined herself becoming a famous magician who would travel the world, performing amazing feats with her wizardry.