Proceed to Chapter 4
“It is good to have you here with us, Christophe, if only by Luna’s Globe,” Queen Laeleena smiled, her face flickering within the crystal that the Duke carried wherever he went. Suddenly, she laughed, her tired face transformed by the action of happiness. “I’m sorry, Your Grace, for that is what you are now, isn’t it? It wasn’t long ago that you were merely a rather bookish mage at the University, after all. The metamorphosis was all too rapid for me.”
“Your Majesty, I will assure you that there was no harm done. Now, about my findings here,” Christophe turned around quickly from his seat by the campfire to glance at Lyss, still asleep on the ground nearby, checking to see that she still slumbered soundly. “As you asked, I researched the local flora, but I suppose you have guessed by now that scholarly interest was not entirely what drew me here. For some time, I have felt drawn to the Borderlands, despite their danger, with the premonition that I would find a child here to serve among the Elvenguard. What I found was even better than I expected. Her name is Lyss, and she is seven years old; an orphan, a foundling. I believe she may be of Sennlynnian origin, like me: she has the unique hazel eyes that sometimes appear among their most powerful. She was sold to a Healer at the age of three as a slave, after being in the copper mines in Liirick.” Christophe winced, realizing his mistake. “Your Majesty, I am sorry…Prince Sordack…I forgot for a moment…”
Queen Laeleena shook her head, dismissing him. “It is nothing…that is all in the past now. That poor child…the mines…to think of sending a girl as young as three there…”
“I shudder to think of how she must have lived. The atrocities that are committed in that wretched place…but I should finish before she wakes. Lyss exhibits startling ability not only as a Healer, but in all of the seven powers. She had created a shielding circle around the Healer’s cottage so strong that not so much as an insect with harmful intent could have managed to cross it. It was incredible. I am bringing her to the University: she strongly wishes to become a member of the Elvenguard, and even if she later decides to choose another path, she can receive testing and training there. It should take us about a week to arrive.”
“Good. Even one can be the difference in battling the Demonspawn, as you well know. You never fail me, Duke.” Laeleena sighed, then forced a smile, smoothing a wisp of grey hair away from her face. “I only wish you had chosen to go into martial strategy…so many of my warlords do not display your uncanny knack for success. Ah, well. We shall survive this. You should go before the child wakens. Don’t take too long coming home.”
“I won’t, Your Majesty.”
The First Queen smiled slightly, looking up at the Duke, his face framed by firelight and the coming dawn within her crystal. “And Christophe…give the child a hug for me, please. It is a shame she had to be born into such times as these.”
Christophe smiled, and nodded, and turned away from the Luna’s globe to wake Lyss. They had a good deal of ground to cover before they stopped again to sup.Lyss awoke to Christophe shaking her shoulder. “No, Mistress, I want to go see the dwarv…” She stopped speaking, and blinked, staring up into the sky, then rose to roll up her cloak- cut down from one of Christophe’s -to be strapped again onto Luma. There were no candles to light that morning, but she spoke the words of the morning spell out of habit as she bound the cloak-strings around the bundle of wool. She was just sketching the outline of the Queen’s Star upon her chest as her new guardian handed her a rather burnt roll and an egg. “We have to travel far this morning, and I let you sleep in, so it’s best that you eat as we ride,” he told her.
Lyss nodded, and went over to Luma to mount, hauling herself onto the saddle beside her cloak and their provisions. She watched as Christophe finished covering the remains of their campfire and slung his own bedroll over one shoulder, pulling himself easily into the saddle in front of her. Whispering into Luma’s ear, he grabbed hold of her mane, for he never used a bridle when he rode her. They set off quickly, riding between the now-sparser trees, moving with comparable ease after the dense, dark forests of the Borderlands. Lyss chewed with difficulty as they cantered. Christophe had proven to be a very bad cook. Swallowing a particularly unappetizing bite, Lyss cleared her throat.
“Christophe, ummm….could I cook?” she asked nervously.
The Duke pulled Luma to a stop with a sudden jerk of her mane. “You are seven, Lyss. You shouldn’t be playing with an uncontrolled fire.”
“Well, then, I’ll make it controlled. My mistress taught me how to start one using magic long ago.” Lyss paused, then continued. “Besides, this is awful. I can barely swallow. It’s like eating charcoal.” She wrinkled her nose.
Christophe stiffened, then burst out laughing. “Alright, you win. I have to admit even I don’t like my cooking. Starting tonight you are in charge of all meals. Satisfied?”
Lyss grinned, and swallowed the last few bites of her roll and egg in good humour as they rode on. This was turning out to be a much better journey then she had even dreamed.
The trio reached a small clearing by the time the sun had climbed to its highest point in the sky. They stopped to eat, building a small fire which Lyss used for a successful first attempt at camp cooking. Luma happily munched on grass close by. Afterwards, they set off again through the woods. Lyss bewailed the fact that she could not stop to study the places through which they passed. Luma went too fast to gather herbs or copy the whistlings of the songbirds. There were so many things that Lyss would have liked to stop and catalogue, to try and to discover the healing properties of. Sitting in the saddle behind Christophe, she mourned for all those patients she might lose because she did not possess the knowledge she might have gained from careful research. But Christophe’s cheerful expectancy of their arrival at the University was catching, and she soon forgot her sadness as she joined in on his songs, her tiny voice lost among even his light tenor.
At night, they broke camp, again in a clearing, which Christophe seemed to Find without even trying. After dinner, Christophe regaled Lyss and the trees with stories of his years studying at the University, and how he came to rise to the office of Finder and gain all the lands that came with it. His voice, speaking well into the night, mixed with the rustling of the wind among the leaves and the hooting of the owls, lulling Lyss into gentle sleep.
The week passed quickly as they journeyed out of the forest and into the plains, then the foothills, sped on by the magic of Lirt, the Wind Queen. Finally came the day when Christophe halted Luma’s flight and pointed towards a snow-capped mountain range barely visible upon the horizon. Lyss followed his finger with her eyes, staring. She could remember only a tiny amount of the time before she was brought to the Borderlands, and the idea of mountains covered in snow in spring was alien to her.
“Beyond that first mountain range is the Castle of the Elvin Star and the University and Training Center at ElvenHall. We are almost home, Lyss!” Christophe could barely contain his excitement. He touched Luma’s neck, and they started off again, galloping now. Even Luma seemed to sense the feeling of anticipation, and she flew even faster than before, the trees and shrubbery and grass whipping past them. “Home,” Lyss whispered, savouring the taste of the word inside in her mouth. “Home!”
The Elvin Star:
Prologue | 1
| 2 | 3 | 4
| 5 | 6 | 7
| 8 | 9 | 10
| 11
Short Stories:
For Robbie
Poems:
Wizard | White
Witch
©1999-2002 Lizbeth