The Elf King (42 page)

“
We have begun the attack,
my Queen.” Lon spoke, unsure of the reason for her visit. He waited
for a few seconds, then when it appeared as if she was not going to
answer, he added. “The Elves have cast a shield over the Lyyn. We
are unable—”

Sienna’s eyes twinkled as
if finally coming alive. Her voice was raspy as she spoke, keeping
her eyes focused on the forest ahead. “Their shield will fall. I
will have it.”

“
My Queen?” Lon questioned
Sienna as she began to walk downhill.

“
Ready your arrows to burn
the Lyyn into ash,” she growled back.

Lon turned to Ern, who
looked ill. “I will go with her.”

“
No.” Ern objected harshly.
“Let her go alone. She did not ask for service.”

Lon saw it in Ern’s eyes
then. He was scared. “Ern, she is the Queen. I will not let her go
it alone!”

Before Ern could object
further, Lon was racing away to join strides with the
Queen.

B
im stood
at the edge of the forest
watching the two forms walking down the slope towards him. He knew
they could not see him, could not detect any forms for that matter,
due to the magic of the shield. It was created in fact to be a
one-way screen. The Elves in the Lyyn Forest could see anyone
approaching. But those outside looking in could only make out trees
and foliage. Bim enjoyed his stance of invisibility now. It was not
often that he was fortunate enough to witness a hailstorm of fire
rain down above him. And from where he stood, he could also see the
agony the army was going through now as they realized that they
clearly underestimated their opponent. The army of Cillitran could
not penetrate the shield with their fiery assault as they had
thought. They understood now that they could do nothing against the
Elves now.

“
Should we tell Lord
Estrial now?” Slina asked, walking up beside Bim. She was taller
than Bim, slender with tan skin and short brown hair. Like her
counterpart, she was dressed in hunting garb and armed with only
some daggers at her waist-belt.

“
Let’s see what these two
want first.” Bim looked away from the army to smile at Slina’s
black eyes.

“
By the judge of it, I
would say they are coming to talk. I wonder who it is that they
think will listen?” Slina had a bit of curiosity shining in her
eyes. “You don’t think that they have come to
surrender?”

Bim shook his head.
“Unlikely.”

Bim and Slina stood side by
side watching the two figures approaching come within inches of
their shield before stopping. They neither said nor did anything.
After a few moments, Bim and Slina crept over to where the others
stood and faced them closely.

“
They can’t see us, right?”
Slina asked eerily.

“
No. Do not be afraid,
Slina. They do not know we are here.”

“
What do we do?”

Bim’s response was to walk
closer to them. He moved slowly through the deep grass flush with
saplings, making his way carefully as though he did not want to be
noticed. He reminded himself of the shield’s protection, but he
took precautions nonetheless. He crept over to stand in front of
the tall woman, whose robe bore the house of Cillitran’s royal
insignia.
Queen Andelline?
Bim could hear the soft buzzing of the shield as
it separated the inches between them. He studied the woman’s face
for a moment, finding her appearance to be less than adequate.
Especially if she was of royal lineage. He stared into her eyes and
watched her pupils fix on his own. She smiled then. Bim stepped
back in fear. His pulse began racing, his blood pumping in
panic.

“
She can see me,” he
whispered to Slina. “Something’s not right.”

Slina stood by his side at
once. Both of them stared at the Queen, who’s smile was still
present, evil and cold. Her hands stretched forth then, palms flat,
pressing forward. Suddenly blue sparks shot out. The man next to
her jumped in response and shielded his eyes. But the woman
remained. Electricity raced along her fingertips, down to her
hands. It looked and sounded terribly painful. But the Queen only
laughed and smiled.

“
What is she doing?” Slina
gasped.

But before Bim could
recognize what was happening, blue light flared in shooting sparks
at the woman’s hands with the sound of metal grinding against
metal. A slight wind pulled from the trees down to the woman’s
hands and they could begin to see their protective shield being
sucked away.

“
Run!” Bim ordered
Slina.

Slina drew her daggers and
stood ready for an attack. But Bim pushed her back. “Go! Get to
Xtalt and warn Lord Estrial! The shield is broken! We’re under
attack!”

She hesitated for a moment,
knowing that Bim could not handle them by himself, but knowing that
he was right. “Do not linger, Bim!” She darted away
immediately.

Bim grabbed his own daggers
and thrust one into the opening between the Queen’s
hands.

L
on Ruell staggered
back on his
heels. The sparks and the blast caught him off guard. He was not
entirely sure that the Queen wasn’t being attacked. Then he
realized that she must have found the Elves’ shield. He pulled back
his bowstring, trying to aim his arrow for the center of the blue
light, when he noticed an elf staring back at him from within the
woods. He realized that he was looking in through a window. The
shield was being compromised.

Lon quickly looked to the
Queen. He thought he saw her face contort and twist in ways that
would have left her damaged for life. But he concluded that it must
be from the light and the shadows shedding before her. He turned to
her hands where the sparks still sprayed, noticing a swirling sheet
of mist drawing down from the treetops to her fingers.

What is she
doing?

Then the dagger appeared,
darting through the hole in the screen to strike at the Queen.
Without thinking, Lon released the bowstring and sent his arrow
through the window. The dagger withdrew.

Then it all made sense to
Lon: the shield, its purpose, the dagger, the Queen. Everything
seemed to click for him at once. He didn’t understand how the Queen
was removing the shield. He simply understood that she was. And so
did the Elves.

“
Fire!” Lon turned to
scream at Ern and the rest of the army waiting hillside. “Fire!
Fire!”

Lon heard the Queen groan
something terrible and when he turned to face her again, he saw a
bed of arrows lodged in her chest. She remained unraveled though.
Her face was bathed in the shining blue light from forehead to
chin. Lon didn’t hesitate to launch his arrows inside the woods,
firing randomly, firing as fast as he could, firing to stay
alive.

Then the light stopped. The
Queen cried a terrible wail, a sound that was neither pain nor
pleasure, but a mixture of both, before falling to her
back.

With the shield gone, Lon
could make out a few elves in the woods shooting arrows at the
Queen, and now himself. He turned to them quickly, shooting faster
than he knew he was able, watching elves drop, others running to
hide. Lon could hear Ern Dwull command the army to fire a volley.
But he didn’t look up to see, he kept his focus on the Elves and
what he thought was the last Andelline dying next to him. He moved
his stance closer to her, stealing glances at her body, watching it
convulse, watching her eyes roll back in their sockets.

Bim broke free from the
forest with a dagger in his hand swinging down to the Queen’s
throat, but Lon tackled him to the ground just before the elf’s
blade reached home. In a tangle, the two wrestled across the
grass.

“
You don’t know what you’ve
done!” Bim cried, his face red with anger. “It needs to be
destroyed!”

“
Like the King? Like the
Prince?!” Lon went for Bim’s throat and began to strangle
him.

“
Dark Elves...Demons...The
war’s...not...with you.” Bim’s words were choked off. He struggled
to reach a short dagger at his waist-belt and stuck it into Lon’s
left shoulder. As Lon reached for the blade, Bim pushed him off and
retreated back into the forest.

Then the sound of a
thousand arrows descending on the woods became audible. Lon looked
up to see the fires streaking down into the treetops as he withdrew
the blade from his shoulder. He saw some of them close-hand burning
the grass nearby. A loud cheer from the army suffocated any silence
then and the only thing left for Lon Ruell to ponder was the fate
of the Queen.

He quickly began to pick
her convulsing body up, tossing her over one shoulder, then running
as fast as he could up the slope to his army. He ran with the
expectance that he would be shot, waited to feel the sting in his
backside. But it never came. Once he reached the line of bowmen, he
walked several yards further before lying the Queen’s body down.
There were too many wounds, he thought. She would not
survive.

“
Burn them! For the Queen!”
Ern shouted. The long line of bowmen launched more arrows with
fiery tips, firing relentlessly now as they saw their Queen with a
bed of arrows in her chest.

Lon knelt down next to
Sienna’s body, gripping her hands within his own. He was surprised
when her eyes opened. Her lips began to move. He leaned in close,
listening intently.

“
It begins,” she laughed
coldly.

“
My Queen?”

Her eyes went flat again.
Lon picked her up. He had to get her back to the medic’s tent. As
he stood, he saw that the southeastern tip of the Lyyn Forest was
ablaze and a steady stream of fiery arsenal was pouring into it
like sheets of rain.

Chapter 24

P
ower. It flowed through the spirit of the
Mrenx Ku
like lifeblood. Vibrating.
Pulsating. Stabilizing the havoc mess that was its thoughts. It was
hungry again, already. The constant need for the energy only magic
could bring was overwhelming. As it withered in Sienna’s dead body,
it never felt more alive than it did now. Absorbing the Elves
shield sent it into a high for a brief period. It ascended from its
spiritual state, disappearing altogether into a realm of
connectivity, linked by the magic it was bred from. As easy as just
a thought, it began to touch base with its kin.