Miras Last (17 page)

Seeing all that she needed to, Galena
commanded the wind to place her gently on the ground. “They’re
circling the camp. There aren’t very many all around us, the
majority stayed in their own camp. But the underground elves are
definitely going to need our help if they want to get in,” Galena
said more calmly than she felt.

Elenio crossed his arms and stared at the
ground while Tark looked around him at the different elves gathered
around them while Galena floated up in the air again.

“We need to put together a small group of
elves to fend off the enemy while we get the underground elves to
safety,” Tark said thoughtfully.

“I can fly the group over and then when the
underground elves come close enough, I can open up a section in the
firewall and let them in.”

“Can’t you just fly them over when they get
close enough?” Elenio asked.

“I’ve never tried to fly that many elves at
once. I’m afraid something might go wrong or I might fly over some
other unsavory creatures. I also have a feeling they may panic
slightly when a wind they really have never felt a lot before
coming aboveground, picks them up and tries to carry them away. I
don’t think I could keep them in the air if they fight it
magically,” Galena said, staring in the direction she knew the
elves to be coming from.

“I think I need to talk to Morgo to see what
his thoughts are on the matter,” Tark said, scratching his jaw
thoughtfully. “In the meantime, you might want to get over to
Nigora and see if you can help out there for a little bit. Try not
to exhaust yourself if you can help it. The way I see it, you’re
going to have to be a part of the small rescue team.”

Galena nodded. She would have it no other
way. Without another word, Tark headed off in the direction of
Morgo’s tent, leaving Galena, Elenio, and the large number of elves
that had surrounded them, behind.

“Okay, see you later then,” Elenio said under
his breath.

Galena smiled before taking his hand and
heading over to Nigora’s. The elves parted to allow Elenio and
Galena to pass. She could hear them whispering to each other as
they, too, headed off in different directions.

“Have you noticed how none of the other elves
really talk to me,” Galena whispered to Elenio.

He nodded his head, continuing toward
Nigora.

“Not even the elves from our own
village.”

“Have you made any effort to see any of
them?” Elenio asked reasonably.

Galena smiled briefly at this. She hadn’t.
When she hadn’t been in battle, she was solving some other magical
problem or passed out cold from solving issue after issue.

“No, I guess I haven’t really had the time,”
she said sighing heavily.

“I have and they’re proud of you. A little
surprised that Mira chose you perhaps, but proud.”

“Have you seen Twoit since we left the last
camp?” Galena said, so low Elenio needed to lean toward her to
hear.

He shook his head sadly.

“I haven’t either. She has never gone this
long without turning up to at least get her head scratched or
something. You don’t think something happened to her do you? I
mean, I haven’t exactly been around to watch for her.”

“She’ll turn up, she always does,” Elenio
said quietly, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Galena didn’t feel reassured, but didn’t know
what else to do so she remained silent.

They arrived at Nigora’s tent a few minutes
later to find injured elves all over the place. They walked in and
ran smack into Taura.

“Well, hello,” she said pleasantly enough,
although she looked worn out.

“What are you doing here?” Elenio asked,
reaching a hand out and squeezing Taura’s shoulder.

“Helping out where I can. Tark has been busy
getting reports, talking with his ten most trusted elves, and in
general, getting the elves ready for battle again,” Taura said,
looking around the tent despairingly.

“Where do you need me the most?” Galena
asked, giving her sister-in-law a big hug.

“Where don’t we need you would be a better
question. The enemy really got the better of us this time. We
almost lost a couple of elves, but Nigora managed to stabilize them
until she had enough energy to work on them little by little.” At
this Taura gave a little smile, before continuing. “My job is to
help keep everyone comfortable until Nigora can see them. However,
the time between elves is getting longer and longer. The
non-magical healers are doing all that they can, but it is very
limited, as you well know.”

“Well, let’s get started.”

Much later that evening, Galena finally had
to call it quits. If she was going to be worth anything tomorrow,
she needed a break. She sent Taura back to her own tent once she
found out the poor elf had been helping since late the day before.
She also sent Nigora to bed for a long rest while Galena worked.
All the other healer elves came in on different shifts and as Taura
pointed out, were not much help without magic to aid them. Galena
was exhausted. She’d seen at least a hundred different elves with
every type of injury imaginable. Between healing and destroying
stones, she had worn herself out.

Heading back to their tent, Elenio wrapped an
arm around Galena’s waist more to help her walk than anything. It
had been an unbelievably long day and she needed all the help she
could get.

“Why do you insist on wearing yourself out
every time?” Elenio asked as he kissed her on the head.

“I don’t know, but you would think that I
would learn my lesson eventually.” Galena tried to stifle a
yawn.

“That will be the day,” Elenio said,
chuckling quietly. Taking his other arm, he knocked Galena’s legs
from under her, catching her in his embrace. He started walking
with her safe in his clutches toward the tent. Galena thought of
protesting, but a yawn nearly split her head in two. He hadn’t
gotten very far however, when Tark caught up to them, closely
followed by Morgo.

“Is she okay?” Morgo asked, seeing Elenio
carrying her.

“I’m fine. Elenio just thought I was too
tired to walk.” She leaned over and kissed Elenio on the cheek
before he put her down. “So what’s the verdict?”

“We have definitely decided against flying
the underground elves into the camp without at least giving them
the heads up. Morgo agrees with you on the fact that they would
probably panic if a wind suddenly picked them up and sent them
flying. But they’re going to need help getting past all the dark
creatures surrounding us.”

“You must understand how extremely limited
their knowledge is of this world and all the wonders it holds.
Everything is relatively new to them and seeing that many dark
creatures and then having wind pick them up, it might be too much
for them to absorb at once,” Morgo said, grimacing slightly as he
recalled the world with which he was trying to escape.

“So how many of us are going over?” Galena
asked, trying unsuccessfully to stifle another yawn.

“Well, you, me, my generals, and the some of
their top elves,” Tark said, as he ticked off all the elves that he
named.

“And me,” Elenio said quietly.

“That’s fine,” Tark said quickly. “The plan
is for you to fly us over the fire wall so we don’t leave the camp
defenseless. We’ll do our part to ward off the enemy while Morgo
explains to the elves what will happen. We’ll have you fly them
over and maybe some of the elves can assist you in this area. Morgo
was unsure if they would be able to manipulate the wind as they
have no experience with it.”

“Right, well then I need to get some sleep.
When do you think they’ll be here?”

“Sometime tomorrow morning, from what we can
tell. Although, you would be able to help us out in that area...”
Tark started.

“Then meet us in our tent first thing in the
morning. She’s done tonight,” Elenio said, interrupting Galena
before she could agree.

Tark eyed Galena, taking in her appearance
properly for the first time since he had run into her. Galena knew
she must look a sight. Not only was she extremely tired, she was
also filthy. Other than the brief cleaning up she did after healing
Morgo, she had not properly bathed at all in the last week. She
felt tired and beyond dirty at this point. She knew she had to be
covered in blood and gore from past battles and she could smell the
sweat and dirt on herself.

“Very well,” he agreed.

Galena nodded her head in thanks and allowing
Elenio to wrap an arm around her waist once more, they headed
toward their tent for the night. Before they entered however,
Galena put up a brilliant, dome-shaped light. She smiled at the
warm glow that it provided, feeling a great calm steal over her.
That should let everyone sleep in peace tonight,
she thought
wearily.

* * * *

Tark was walking back to his tent when a warm
glow surrounded him. He looked up at the sky and saw Galena must
have put a dome in place just as she said she would. He smiled at
it, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders. All the dark thoughts
of losing and what was to come, disappeared from his mind, replaced
by Taura and Silva.

“I’ll see you before the sun rises,” he said
to Morgo as he clapped his hand on the newly healed elf’s
shoulder.

Morgo nodded his head serenely, but continued
to gaze at the dome overhead, the look of peace on his friend’s
face.

Apparently, the dome of light was having
the same effect on everyone
, Tark thought happily. He fairly
ran to his tent, looking forward to seeing Taura as he hadn’t seen
her all day. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t really seen or
talked to her since late the day before. With battles occurring
frequently, Tark thought he had been acting very foolish indeed. He
should have been spending as much time as possible with her,
instead of wasting the time he may have left. She could have come
with him to all the meetings and other tasks he had throughout the
day. Just as long as they were together.

He could sense by her mood and knew she felt
the same peace he did. Her thoughts that had been every bit as dark
and twisted as his own, had smoothed out. Why they hadn’t thought
to use this dome before was beyond him. Tark knew this was exactly
what all the elves needed if they were going to go against Rau’s
army and then on to Blackwell. Tark wondered vaguely if creating
this constant light would further wear on Galena, but realized she
kept the fire up without ceasing and it hadn’t bothered her. Morgo
had at one point told her the hardest part was setting up the
protection, after that, the element was forced to stay in the same
position until the one who commanded it, released it from the
unnatural position.

Tark threw back the flap of his tent and
walked inside. The pleasant light followed him in. Taura was asleep
on the hammock, a hint of a smile on her lips. She looked too
peaceful to wake. Tark sat down on the ground and simply watched
her sleep. Her dreams dancing through his head. He saw his own
image several times as well as Silva, Venia, Jamin, and several
other of their new friends and family. His eyelids grew heavy while
watching her. He stood up and stretched his stiff muscles. The
exhaustion he had been running from the last couple of days finally
caught up with him and he yawned, an act that made him even more
tired. Carefully, so as not to tip both Taura and himself, he laid
down on the hammock beside her. He pulled the blankets up and
before even closing his eyes, fell asleep.

Tark awoke to someone shaking him gently. He
opened his eyes, the light from the dome still glowing pleasantly
within the confines of the tent. He blinked several times until the
image of Galena came into clearer focus. She stood over him, a hand
still on his shoulders, waiting to see if he was indeed awake.

“Time to get up. We need to check where the
underground elves are,” she whispered.

Tark slowly sat up, careful not to disturb
Taura. Grabbing his sword and scabbard from beside the hammock
where he laid it the night before, he followed Galena out of the
tent and into the brilliant glow. His ten generals and their chosen
elves along with Elenio and Galena stood waiting for him. The first
thing he noticed were the smiles on all their faces.

“Did I miss something?” he asked, smiling
himself.

“How do you feel?” Morgo asked, a broad grin
on his own face.

Tark thought about it for a moment and
realized he felt better than he had since arriving in this cursed
land. His mind felt clear and incredibly well rested even though he
knew he couldn’t have slept more than a couple of hours. It had
been such a sound, dreamless sleep it was all he needed.

“Exactly,” Morgo said, taking in Tark’s
expression.

“Is this light wearing you down,” he asked
Galena.

“Not in the slightest. I can’t believe I
didn’t think to use it sooner. When Elenio and I were traveling, we
had to use this kind of protection to keep Rau away. I knew that
the darkness couldn’t penetrate the light.”

“Well, you’ve had a lot on your mind
too.”

Galena’s smiled widened in appreciation and
she took Elenio’s hand.

“Okay, so where are the underground elves?”
Tark asked, getting back to business.

“They should be arriving within the hour,”
Elenio answered.

“Is everyone ready?” Tark asked eyeing
everyone carefully as they nodded their heads enthusiastically.
“Galena, do you think you’ll be able to fly everyone over the fire
wall?”

“Flying everyone over should be easy. It’s
going to be flying everyone including the underground elves back
into camp that may be a bit challenging.”

“You shouldn’t have to fly all the
underground elves,” Morgo said thoughtfully.

“I thought you said they had no experience
with wind?” Galena asked skeptically.