iii
Resone moved quickly to the tree he called home, gathering up his weapons. He'd
wondered why they hadn't come as they had promised, and now this sign–this signal for him,
showed that something had indeed happened.
"They call!" he shouted up the tree he lived in, drawing his sword and using it to point at
the plume of grey smoke curling into the air.
"The lake?" Terrane asked blankly, "Why would they be at the lake?"
"Pan." Resone replied easily as Evhaen scrambled down the side of the tree, gathering his
longbow.
"There's flashing white light." Terrane agreed, dropping to the ground and grabbing his
own weaponry. The trio met eyes a moment before starting through the trees.
"Why do the fool girls always get into trouble?" Resone demanded irritably, "Is it too
much for them to simply come for a promised visit without taking a side-tour? They know the deep is no
place for the ignorant!"
"Yet you continue to call them to us," Terrane replied, amused, "You continue to trust
that they'll come without problems."
"Well they will…some day."
Terrane and Evhaen started laughing.
Sorrom made sure it was very obvious his hand was away from his weapon as the three
elves tumbled from the woods. All around them was rumbling, though the shots had stopped flying. Eret
was starting to double forward, though Druen–who had to stop using his magic because an odd
effect caused by not being able to use it for fifty years, had stopped retching.
"Tamara, what are you doing?" Resone shouted at her, staring in disbelief. Not only did
she have a lower wood elf with her, but two sylphs as well…male sylphs…
"Trying not to be killed by a god," Tamara snapped back, sounding indignant as she
ground out her flair, "Can you help us or not?"
"Of course I can." Resone snapped, "But the others?"
"They are friends." Massayla muttered, frowning at him.
Resone glanced to Evhaen and Terrane, then glanced back to the lower-wood elf, "You
call him friend? He's dressed for war."
"He was a slave of Pan from the last war, Resone, please believe me!"
Resone sighed, looking away from Tamara's pleading eyes a long moment as his
companions waited for his response, "Fine." he said quietly, then looked at the sylphs…
One had been holding a shield, but it was gone now, dissipating like smoke as he
puked.
"We were enslaved by Pan." the lower-wood elf explained, leaning down to gather up the
sylph that was laying on the ground, "He did not allow them use of their powers."
Resone blinked at Evhaen questioningly, waiting until his brother nodded confirmation
before moving forward and gathering up the second sylph, "We must hurry, and we must make no noise. I
know the two of you," he indicated Massayla and Tamara, "Can move silently, but can he?" he jabbed a
finger at the lower-wood elf.
"This is Sorrom, Res." Tamara replied, indicating that Sorrom should pass Druen to
Evhaen, "Sorrom, this is Resone."
The pair glowered at one another, the light colored eyes of Sorrom holding nothing to the
pure blackness of Resone's.
Evhaen sighed in irritation, moving around his twin to gather Druen.
"Can we trust them?" Druen demanded, though it was beyond Tamara how he could even
consider asking such a ridiculous question when he was already being held by one and in a state of
helplessness.
"We can." Massayla muttered, moving in the direction Terrane was pointing.
"Are you sure?" Druen demanded weakly.
Tamara sighed heavily, meeting his eyes, "Do you trust me?"
Druen nodded slowly.
"So trust me," she muttered, disappearing into the trees.
"It rests in a place of solitude. Darkness shields it like a veil. Many have tried to retrieve
it…" Evhaen's tone was dramatic.
"Many have fallen in the attempt to retrieve it." Terrane added.
Druen was sitting against the wall near the door, massaging his temples. Eret was
drinking ladle full after ladle full of water form the pail Resone had brought up.
Tamara and Massayla were pacing back and forth in front of the couch, which Terrane
was sitting on the arm of. Evhaen was sitting at the kitchen table, elbows against his knees, fingers
steepled and chin resting against them. Resone was standing near the pail, one empty glass in hand,
staring down at the sylph in mild amazement.
Looking up from the drinking male, Resone grinned at his brother and friend. They
grinned back.
Tamara and Massayla exchanged a look.
"Never been retrieved?" Sorrom asked, sighing heavily and rising to pace as Massayla
and Tamara sat.
"Well…never been used…in a long time…against a god." Resone was grinning.
"Do we know where it is?" Sorrom demanded, looking around at everyone.
The deep-wood elves grinned at each other again.
"I don't." Tamara muttered, eyeing the too pleased elf who enjoyed showing off.
"Me neither." Massayla's tone indicated she was onto the elves.
Sorrom frowned at her, glancing across to Resone.
He pouted at the females.
"We were playing with it yesterday." Evhaen muttered in explanation when the sylphs
stopped to stare.
Sorrom looked as if his jaw would drop.
"You are so impossible!" Tamara half-shouted at Resone, rising to stand between
the lower-wood elf and Resone, "We have a god on our ass and you're playing dramatic
story-time?"
"We can't get to it until the sun comes up." Resone snapped back, glaring at her. He'd
never let her know it hurt him when she got annoyed with him–which probably wasn't the best idea,
since she did it a lot. "He wouldn't dare defy Artemis."
"She lets you play with it?" Massayla breathed.
"She doesn't pay attention to us." Terrane replied, giving her a skeptical look,
"We're allowed to wander at will through the deep."
Massayla and Tamara exchanged a glance.
"Allowed?" Tamara asked.
"You think fools are killed off for no reason?" Evhaen demanded, raising an eyebrow at
her, "And here I thought you were intelligent."
She frowned at him.
"This is great…like a walk through a pleasant meadow." Druen muttered to Eret, "No
gods will bother us here…because fools die."
"You are guests in our home." Resone informed him quietly, obviously offended, "And if
we will it, your god will come kill you."
Druen looked away, "He is not my god. But I apologize."
Tamara sighed, moving across the room to grab Resone's hands, intertwining her fingers
with his as she met his eyes, "You know we know nothing of the deep." she muttered, "I know it annoys
you endlessly, but you have to make some exceptions, Resone…"
He frowned at her, studying her eyes before glancing to his twin and nodding.
"The dagger is in the deep," Evhaen muttered, sighing as he sat up, "That means only a
choice few are allowed into it."
Tamara nodded, leaning against Resone.
"The elves of the deep do not allow elves in that associate with humans. Humans are
greedy. If the dagger got into the world, who knows what would happen."
"Treasure indeed…" Sorrom muttered, staring at nothing.
"Yes." Resone agreed.
Sorrom focused again, shaking his head and looking around, "So what do we do
now?"
"The sylphs rest and regain their power." Terrane muttered, moving to a cupboard and
digging out jars of herbs, "The rest of us get ready."
"We can trust you?" Druen demanded, eyes on Tamara.
"We do what is asked of us." Resone replied, hands tightening possessively around
Tamara's as he eyed the other male, amused by his own jealousy.
"We do what is asked of us by Tamara." Evhaen countered, grinning at the sylph.
"What is that?" Eret muttered, focusing on Terrane, who was mixing various herbs in a
glass.
Terrane grinned at him, "Smells good?"
"What?" Druen asked.
Eret gave the other an intrigued look.
"Water." Terrane muttered, passing one of the cups very close to Eret, who was still in
front of the pail.
Eret reached for the thing involuntarily.
Terrane laughed delighted, "God I love sylphs…" he muttered, teasing Eret with the
thing as he tried to control himself.
This got him an extremely sour look.
He chuckled, passing the glass–now full, to the man he'd been toying with,
"Especially the males."
"What is that?" Druen asked, having scented it.
"A simple mixture of herbs. They will make the two of you feel very nice…very sleepy,
but very nice."
Eret, who'd sucked down half his glass, stopped to stare at the elf in mild
consternation.
"It won't hurt you." Terrane comforted him, teasing the second glass under Druen's nose,
"I know how rare male sylphs are and have no urge to harm either of you."
Druen was reaching for the glass.
"You can trust them." Tamara muttered, "If you trust us."
Druen snatched the cup and took a long drink of it before meeting eyes with Eret.
Eret finished his glass in another drink, passing the cup back to Terrane and staring
around in a slightly unfocused daze.
"We trust you." Druen added, downing the last of his glass.
"And will be sleeping for about six hours." Terrane agreed, leaning over to offer his arms
to Eret.
"I hate being treated like a child." the sylph muttered disconsolately, accepting the help as
Resone moved in to support Druen. The quartet disappeared up a set of stairs, the two sylphs grumbling
disconsolately.
"Can we knock him out?" Evhaen asked curiously, indicating Sorrom.
Sorrom straightened, obviously taken aback.
"Evhaen." Massayla admonished.
Evhaen grinned at the lower-wood elf before meeting eyes with the middle wood elf
who'd berated him, "I'd never have believed that all three could be in one house in the deep." he
muttered.
Massayla smiled slightly at him and nodded her agreement.
"In my time, we were at war." Sorrom replied, lowering himself onto the couch, studying
the black-eyed elf, "How I am here is beyond my comprehension."
"Gods do that." Massayla muttered, focusing on Evhaen again, "And I believe my queen
is more interested in your god than ours."
"Take that up with my goddess," Evhaen muttered with a grin, rising to his feet and
looking at the group, "Follow me," he instructed, heading for the stairs, "washing up and fresh clothing
are in order. Also sleep. We will have an early morning…" his eyes went distant as he allowed the
females to pass him, focusing on Sorrom, "And a long night."
Eret woke slowly, bright sunlight streaming onto his face. For a long moment he stared
at the sun in disbelief, not understanding how he could be awake–until he realized he was
free.
Slowly at first, as if scared, he called his power to him. So long that simple pleasure had
been denied him…just to take in the power…
Bile rose in his throat shortly, and he allowed the power to settle again, blinking at the
clarity of his mind. Whatever drug the elf had given him, was no longer in his system.
A soft snort to his right caused him to realize Druen was still sleeping. He sat up slowly,
feeling a brief wave of nausea, clearing his throat and looking around. The window was open, so he
moved to it slowly, spitting out what bile had risen far enough and gagging slightly before moving to the
side-board and filling himself a cup of water, drinking deeply.
"Where are we?" Druen's voice sounded harsh and dry, confused.
"In the deep." Eret replied, filling another glass for his friend and starting to hand it to
him–as the other gagged, sitting up, "And no, we still retch with our power."
Druen gave him a look, moving quickly to the window and spitting as well before taking
the glass.
"Did you notice?" Eret asked, moving to the opposite corner–the window was large,
"The sun is up."
Druen closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, "It smells like morning."
"It is morning."
Both sylphs jumped, turning to look at Terrane, who was leaning against the door-jamb
with his arms crossed.
"I didn't hear you come in." Eret muttered, wondering for a moment if just getting his
own water would get him in trouble. From what he could tell, Druen's thoughts mirrored his own.
"I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of drawing fresh water up for you." Terrane
muttered as a cordial host would, very aware that the pair had just suffered through something worse than
death, "I didn't mean to intrude during a time when you were vulnerable, but I figured it would be better to
have it waiting."
Druen nodded slowly, "Thank you…" he muttered, taking a slow drink.
"Tamara is fixing breakfast downstairs." Terrane added, straightening, "The fool
lower-wood elf is outside with Resone. Massayla is with Evhaen. Feel free to come down when you are
ready." he gestured to a pile of clothing folded in a pile on top of a desk, "Feel free to change. There is a
washroom down the hall with fresh water, should you like to bathe."
"I would." Eret muttered, downing the rest of his glass, "If you could show me…"
"Of course," Terrane muttered, smiling and nodding to Druen, "I will run fresh water if
you have troubles with it."
Druen nodded slowly, looking around again as the pair disappeared down the hall,
Terrane muttering polite inquiries about Eret's health.
It wasn't until the elf had started down the stairs obviously that Druen realized he
normally moved silently–and that Druen had thought for a moment that his eyes were blue.
"How much farther is it?" Tamara asked quietly, looking around the dead-silent wood
with slight anxiety as she walked with Resone, the rest spread out in a line behind them.
"Far enough." Resone replied, focused on the path. It was as if he didn't notice the lack
of bird or animal noises…dryads or elementals…there was nothing in the woods. The trees
weren't even whispering.
"I really don't like this, Res." she muttered, reaching for his hand.
"You're too used to the noise of the middle-wood." he replied.
"That's normal." she muttered.
Resone chuckled…and scooped her into his arms–as the dirt beneath her feet gave
way, causing her to cry out. She would have tumbled into a hole had he not been holding her.
"What was that?" Massayla demanded, not seeming to be aware that her hand was
interwoven with Sorrom's as she stared at the sink-hole that had been where her friend had been
walking.
"A sink-hole." Terrane muttered, raising an eyebrow, "Haven't you been watching where
you were going?"
Massayla turned to give him a look.
"She hasn't," Sorrom muttered, "But I have."
Massayla nearly blushed as she looked up to him, having wondered why he'd jostled her
slightly from time to time, embarrassed now that there'd been a reason other than flirting.
"You can put me down now." Tamara informed Resone.
"But I like holding you." he countered, grinning at her.
It was Tamara's turn to blush.
The hush was deep around the cave. The group stopped in front of it, staring at the
cliff-side. There were bushes surrounding the entrance, nothing special–this looked no more
special than the cave by the lake.
A bird took flight.
Without a word, Resone's bow was out–and an arrow flew.
"Resone!" Tamara and Massayla protested instantly, aghast.
"That would be a messenger of Artemis," Resone replied easily to the pair, "And since it's
not only deep-wood elves, she'd have come."
They stared at him.
"The bird isn't dead," he added in slight exasperation, "It's a personal pet of Artemis, it'll
just be out for a while. Let's go before it gets up." and he lead them into the cave.
"I can't see." Tamara muttered petulantly as turned a corner into darkness.
"Just hold my hand and you'll be fine." Resone muttered, grabbing her hand.
"I don't like to not see any more than you don't like to see." she protested, stomping her
foot.
"I can see, will you stop acting like a child? We've only a little while before the
sun sets again and that meddlesome god tries to find us."
"If you couldn't see, you'd be grumpy too." Tamara muttered, then stumbled, squawking
in protest. Someone had pushed her.
"Move, Tamara." Massayla snapped.
"Here." Eret's tone was slightly amused–and the blue came back into sight.
"If you start retching, sylph, I will leave you where you fall." Resone was giving him a
dark look, now illuminated by the glow.
"Their eyes weren't made for utter black-ness, Elf." Eret returned, studying the
other.
Resone glared at him a long moment, then stormed off up the tunnel.
"Thank you, Eret." Tamara muttered gratefully, starting to move off down the tunnel…a
moment later, Resone was back, torch in hand.
"Light it." he snapped at Eret.
Eret raised his eyebrows at the elf, but did as asked–the fire burned blue. Resone
passed that to Tamara.
"Thank you." she muttered, smiling at him.
Behind her, Massayla was raising her eyebrows at Sorrom, rubbing her nose. Sorrom
nodded slightly, looking in yet another direction before grinning at the girl.
In keeping with mischief, Terrane looked to Druen and indicated the lower-wood elf and
Massayla, then his friends.
Druen laughed, falling silent instantly as everyone turned to look at him.
Grinning, Evhaen made his way through the middle of the group, "We should really push
onward."
"The torch is going out." Tamara noted, watching the slight light dwindle to a
spark…and to nothingness.
"Veiled in darkness." Evhaen noted pointedly to her.
She pouted in the direction of his voice, "Now I really can't see."
"Blame Res, he's the one who gave you light to begin with."
"Tcch…"
"Do they bicker like this all the time?" Druen asked curiously.
"You have no idea." Terrane replied.
"Terrane!" the twins' voices held the same irritation.
Terrane sniggered.
Sorrom cleared his throat, "We should move on."
"Elf…"
"Yes?" Massayla asked sweetly.
There was a moment of silence into which Tamara giggled.
"Just go," Terrane muttered, sounding amused.
"It's humming…"
"No it's not."
"It is!"
"Your ears are ringing."
"That didn't start until we got in here!"
"So your ears just started ringing."
"My ears don't ring."
"They do now."
"And you thought the twins were bad," Terrane muttered to Druen.
Druen chuckled quietly as Tamara and Massayla fell silent.
"It's not humming." Resone muttered, "What you hear is water."
"That hums?" Tamara asked sourly.
"It's not humming." Resone replied in exasperation.
Terrane started laughing, "I tell you, it never gets boring around here."
"Terrane!"
Terrane and Druen both laughed.
"Let's get the dagger and go." Massayla muttered, looking around the blackness.
"Fine." they moved along in a line of blindness, the three deep-wood elves helping them
not fall as the crystalline sound of running water became clearer.
"Be sure to step in the water." Resone muttered, forcing Tamara in as he said
it.
"Why?" she demanded, not bothering to fight now that she was already wet.
"Because the water reads your intentions." he explained.
"Can we just wait here?" Eret asked curiously, running a foot through the water. He
knew he was speaking for Druen as well.
"If you want." Resone replied, "If you move about two steps back, you can sit on a
rock."
"Don't drink the stuff, though." Evhaen muttered, stepping onto the other side to haul
Massayla from the water, "It's not that sylph friendly."
"Fine." Eret muttered, leaning against the rock.
"There's another rock two steps or so from you, Druen." Terrane added, shoving at
Sorrom to get him out of the water.
"What would happen if we were intending to take-over?" Tamara asked, allowing Resone
to lift her from the water.
"A torrent of water would come drown you, rocks over-head would smash you, or traps
would start off between here and the dagger." Evhaen sounded dismissive, "If you lived through that the
entire cave path would start crumbling and lights would appear in side-paths to mislead you."
"We're going to kill a god," Tamara muttered, stopping, "Why would it let us?"
"Because his slaves are here to testify his treatment." Evhaen muttered, pushing at her
lower-back, "Move, girl. I don't want them waiting for us as soon as we exit the cave."
"I've told others." Terrane muttered, "I've spread the word."
There was a long silence.
"Good thinking." Evhaen muttered, nodding approvingly.
"Let's move." Resone scooped Tamara into his arms and started walking. The feeling of
an open room vanished as they moved; they could all feel that the tunnel they were in was not large.
When they did clear it, the room wasn't very large either.
"Can we just take it?" Sorrom asked curiously, looking around the darkness, very aware
of the dagger's presence in his mind.
"Yes." Resone muttered–they all heard him slide it into his belt, "But I suggest I
carry it, so if Artemis comes, she'll be less bothered."
"That's really anti-climatic." Massayla muttered as she was started for the tunnel
again.
"I know. This big old long tunnel…the water test…all of it seems very ineffective. We,
however, are guardians of the goddess, and have a reason to be here." Resone sounded too pleased
with himself.
"You are such a show-off!" Tamara muttered.
Resone started laughing.
|
|