Heir To The Nova (Book 3) (14 page)

Most humans hate dark elves, and looking at the history of the interaction of our peoples strictly from a scholar’s standpoint, I can’t completely blame them. When our elders agreed or were tricked into serving Duke Pharmon, it did put us into conflict with nearly all the other races of our world. Since then, our joint histories have been written in spilled blood. I have a small measure of hope that that is over now and once the Lifebane is defeated, we can all live in some form of peace.

I know that King Faeron and Queen Renalla plan to make it so. It appears they will receive lots of support from Sir Alex, Maya, and Sky Raven; perhaps even the dwarves will come around someday.

“Ryliss, this way!”
Lin flight called and veered away. I would have laughed out loud in exhilaration as I followed my friends, but I lacked the vocal cords for it.

I am surprised at how readily I have been accepted into our travelling group. The only individual who seems uncomfortable at all is Elsa the dwarf Princess, and even she seems to be making a special effort to fit in. Sir Alex, of course, always seems to go out of his way to be kind and make sure everyone is happy. As a scholar, it’s hard to believe Lin’s and Julia’s story about him being the son of star people. Part of the reason I begged my father to allow me to go on this trip was so I could meet and study Alex’s parents in person.

Chuckling, I thought back to all the arguments I had with my father just to be allowed to visit some of the nearby villages to do basic research. Yet here I am, on the adventure of a lifetime, and all with the blessings of my father and the King of our people as well! Of course, I had listened in shamelessly while the two of them discussed the trip, my age, maturity level, and general unhealthy knack for getting into trouble. In the end, the only thing that really mattered to them was that I would be watched over by Sir Alex. I found this beyond strange; dark elf fathers guard their daughters like gold and here both men were happy, almost giddy, to give Maya and me over to his care.

During the first few days of the trip, I began to see some of what my father saw in him. He really doesn’t act like a prince; at least, none of the ones I’ve read about. He’s not overbearing, vain or self-important. In fact, he seems happiest when he’s not the center of attention. These past nights around the campfire he and Nia do all the cooking while the rest of us wrap ourselves in blankets around the fire, visit, tell stories, make jokes, and enjoy the company.

Watching Maya, out of her armor and dressed casually, her eyes never stray far from Alex, and every time he glances in her direction, he invariably smiles and she lights up and becomes even more beautiful. I know I have no right to feel this way, but I can almost see Maya as the older sister I never had. I guess some of Alex’s good nature has rubbed off on everyone.

Maya is an enigma of sorts to me. Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful that King Faeron and Queen Renalla have been restored to the throne. But a very small part of me is saddened for our people that Maya will never be our real queen. The news of her bravery, passion, and ferocity in the arena reminded me of the old elf sonnets of our race. In the past times of heroes, dark elf Queens could so inflame the warriors with their beauty and grace that each was the equal of twenty foes in battle with each warrior laying down his life gladly for the opportunity to die in glory at his Queen’s feet. I think that Maya would have made a magnificent Queen of old. But every evening at the campfire, she transforms away from the fierce warrior maid and becomes just a laughing young elf woman obviously deeply in love with the young knight preparing supper.

Nia is very different from the other pixies that I met as a child. She’s smart, funny, and totally devoted to Alex and Maya. According to the girls, she is a powerful wizard as well–good! It gives me something more to put on my research ‘to do’ list. Maya’s grandfather Mingt I have known all my life. The two dwarves are nice enough to me, and have been very patient with all my questions. Elsa, being a Princess, appears to have received a more complete education in dwarf histories. But Darroth has travelled and experienced more of the real world, so both are fascinating, if not a little grumpy at times. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure they are a serious couple now, at least judging by the good-natured bickering. Nia claims that is entirely normal and healthy for dwarves.

The twins, as most of the group calls them collectively, are not what I expected from dragons. We were always taught that dragons were horrible rampaging beasts that lived to slaughter whole villages. You have to go pretty far back in the books to find any references to ‘good dragons’ but apparently they were once common and their company even enjoyed by my people.

Dawn and Dusk seem to genuinely like Lin and Jules. I found out that they spent a good deal of time together at Xarparion; the druids teaching the dragons how to be human girls. As I have been included in the druid’s group, they have been very accepting of me as well. I study them and make notes frequently, but they don’t seem to mind. Their human speech and mannerisms are very good; and in casual company with them, like around the campfire, it’s easy to forget what they are sometimes. At other moments, like when Darroth tells a bawdy joke, you can see them pause slightly, as if to review what the proper reaction should be to the situation. They are extremely intelligent and have even asked me to coach them on getting their dark elf personas perfected. Currently, they can look like a dark elf, but their mannerisms and speech inflections are still purely human.

“Hey, are you going to scholarly daydream all day or what?”
The eagle to my right, Lin, complained. Looking down, I could see the vast patchwork quilt of forests, meadows and hills below us. I could perceive greens, browns and other colors in this eagle form that I could never explain properly to anyone who hasn’t experienced it. The road we had been travelling on for days looked like a fine white thread, haphazardly laid across the quilt. Just off the road beneath us was a huge, elongated bowl valley. Farm fields and settlements dotted its surface, as well as two small towns. I assumed this was Belrothe’s lands and people. It appeared that the area cleared was much larger than the acres actually in production, so I would have to conclude that the farming business has not been very good of late. Bel’s valley was nestled between an escarpment on one side and rolling hills on the other. On the opposite side of the high escarpment walls were more hills, eventually blending naturally into scattered forests and meadows. Quite a ways farther out, at the outer range of what I could see, loomed a deep, dark, solidly forested region.

Eagle eyes are designed to track movement, and right now I was automatically drawn to a spot not far on the other side of the escarpment from Bel’s valley. From here it appeared tiny, but I realized from this height, the billowing clouds of smoke had to mean a large fire was burning in the forests. The prevailing winds were blowing away from the valley, but even so, it was starting to cause a smoke haze over a large stretch of territory.

My companions had seen it as well, and as one, we all pitched down slightly and began a descent. In just a couple minutes, we had lost perhaps fifty percent of our altitude and coasted quite a ways from our road, and even past Belrothe’s valley. We were still a mile or more in the air when we started to corkscrew down to get a better look.

“Forest fire?”
I asked.

Lin tossed her feathered head irritably.
“Yes, but not a natural one. I see outriders with torches on the upwind side. I’d say it’s a game drive.”

“What is a game drive?”

“That’s where you have a large group of hunters who spread out and drive their prey out of cover so that they can be easily killed. I don’t have a problem with hunting; it’s part of life. But using fire to drive animals is wrong. In addition to the game animals that die, the fire kills a lot of small non-game animals too; it brings indiscriminate death to the forest.”

Losing even more altitude brought more of the scene into focus, although the smoke was beginning to be a problem. Below, a roughly eighty-acre forest of mixed pine and hardwood was blazing away; the pine trees were especially incendiary. Nearly half the trees were already burnt and crumbling, the line of fire racing through at an alarming rate. Pockets of glowing red and black littered the lifeless ground. Through breaks in the canopy, I occasionally caught glimpses of deer, elk and smaller animals racing away from the flames. Often they would stop, turn around as if to challenge the flames, but then end up turning to flee again.

Julia abruptly squawked, and without a word, tilted into a deep dive.

“Oh crap!”
Lin said fearfully.

“What?”

“She’s gone all earth goddess again. Come on, we have to catch her.”
Pausing, she screeched,
“Goblins…I hate goblins!”

Jules was pointed like a blue-feathered arrow at a small clearing in the middle of the trees, two hundred yards or so from the leading edge of the flames. Not far behind the clearing was the back edge of the game drive and we could see deer racing out into the open, only to be shot down by the outriders. Glancing in their direction, I saw goblins on wild tusker boars cheering and leaping off their mounts with long wicked knives to finish off the struggling animals.

“Jules, come back…what are you doing?”
Lin screamed. Jules ignored us and headed even lower. I looked to Lin for an explanation
. “She gets this way sometimes. The forest is in agony and she answers the call. It’s like she becomes the embodiment of the rage the trees feel and channels it…becomes a weapon.”

“But where’s she going?”

“It looks like that clearing. She probably needs contact with the actual earth to cast whatever spell she’s gonna do. I just hope I can keep the goblins off her until she finishes.”

I banked cautiously to the right to avoid a smoke plume.
“What about Reggie?”

Lin spread the tips of her wing feathers which increased drag.
“I’m pretty sure that with all the flying and the distance we are from the wagons, we left him in the dust. He’ll probably be able to sense her as soon as she’s on the ground, but it will take him some time to get here.”

“What can I do to help?”

“Not much. Sorry, I don’t have the power to change you back to an elf anyway, that’s all Jules. Just keep tabs on us from overhead and let me know if a large group is headed our way.”

By this time, Julia had landed in the low grasses and changed into a human girl. I watched as she raised her hands, and it looked like her feet rooted into the ground like a tree, directly into the soil. Her eyes took on a whitish hue, and she entered a trance-like state. Static electricity crackled between her outstretched fingers. Almost immediately, the air grew heavier; I think I even dropped a few feet in altitude without warning. The sun, which had been entirely strong and clear, became haloed and misty as if clouds were forming directly over our heads. The mists became small puffs of clouds, gaining strength and acquiring purplish edges. If I could have shaken my head, I would have. Even with my enhanced vision, it looked like everything speeded up, the clouds rolling forward and becoming thunderheads in almost the blink of an eye.

On the ground below, Lin touched down and immediately changed into a very large winter wolf, which whined and prowled restlessly around Julia’s frozen, oblivious form. Deer, rabbits, and other small animals raced haphazardly through the clearing, still trying to escape the approaching flames.

Above, the sky continued to darken to black, not just overhead covering the burning forest, but jet black, horizon to horizon as Julia unconsciously continued to pour heavy amounts of power into her spell. My excellent peripheral vision noted that electrical discharges were beginning to flicker sideways through the cloud banks as a few really big water drops began to hit the upper leaves of the trees that I circled above.

Jules began to chant and the sound reached all the way up to me, even over the roar and crackle of the fire. Unfortunately, it appeared that others could hear her as well, as my eyes started to pick up shadowy movements gliding counter to the fleeing animals through the trees. Lin saw them, too, and I could see the hackles and back hair rise on the coat of the white wolf, as she stared down the intruders.

With a clap of thunder, the clouds opened up in earnest, and rain began to pelt down. I lost all hope of any lift under my wings and had to flap just to stay airborne. I finally gave up and landed in the top of a tall pine tree just above my friends. Latching on with my talons, I struggled to stay upright. Below me, I could hear the snarls of an enraged wolf and looking down; I could see Lin fighting savagely with two sword-wielding goblins, with Julia still standing stock still as if frozen.

A wave of nausea and helplessness swept over me. My friends were fighting and probably about to die down there, and I was stuck as a soaked bird unable to help them. It wasn’t fair, dammit! More goblins burst into the clearing; these carried clubs and had nets. Lin had managed to dispatch the original two; they were bloody messes on the ground. Launching herself at the new attackers, Lin ripped into them, sailing past a couple that deftly avoided her charge to grab onto the throat of one not so lucky. Unfortunately, the two she missed brought heavy clubs down across her back and hind leg, and I heard the snap of bone as she yelped and went down heavily on her side. More goblins rushed in and threw nets over the wounded druid, entangling her further with every thrashing movement. Then they started beating her with their clubs, and her howls of rage became whimpers of despair as she was losing the battle to stay conscious.