“But will you be so glad of my help?” the second figure wondered softly. Slowly, with a fine sense of drama, it drew back the hood of its black cloak. revealing a face just as inhumanly fine-boned and elegant as that of Eliathanis, framed by a fall of straight, silvery-blond hair —but this face was so dark of skin it was nearly as black as the cloak. The elf was dressed entirely in black as well, tunic, hose, boots, all save for a chin silver belt. The clasp, Kevin noted uneasily, was worked in the shape of a skull. Blue eyes, eerie against so much darkness, glinted coldly.
“A Dark Elf!” Lydia yelped, hand flying to the hilt of her sword.
“Nithathil,” the White Elf hissed, eyes blazing.
The Dark Elf bowed, so very graciously it was an insult. “Yes,” he said in his soft voice, “Nithathil, Dark Elf; indeed.” The blue glance flicked lightly over Kevin and Lydia, then back to the other elf. “Call me Naitachal if you must have a specific name for me.”
“I have a name for you!” Eliathanis snapped. “Necromancer!”
Kevin stepped hastily between the angry elves, hoping he wasn’t about to get blasted by either side. “Uh ... might we ask what you wish, my ... uh ... my lord Nahachal?”
“Why, I am here to help you return the lost human girl to her uncle, even as you,” the Dark Elf purred.
But Kevin, being as close to the elf as he was, caught the barest glint of pain in the eerie blue eyes. He expects us to hate him! the bardling realized in surprise. And the idea hurts him. f didn’t think Dark Elves cared what anyone thought of them!
As Kevin hesitated, uncertain, Naitachal drew back the barest step, drawing his cloak about his lean form. “I do not wish to force myself on you,” he murmured to Kevin. “But even as you. White Elf, I will not see my people accused of a crime that is not theirs.”
“Since when did your kind worry about what others thought?” Eliathanis challenged.
“Since the humans have become so numerous,” the Dark Elf answered. “Even the mightiest of dragons can be brought down by a large enough pack of hounds.”
“Ah. Well. Yes,” Kevin said. Great, here was his first big decision as a leader, and he was stammering like an idiot! “Lydia, Eliathanis, we can hardly deny a man the right to defend the honor of his people.”
“They have no—”
“Of his people,” Kevin repeated hastily, before the White Elf could finish his insult. “Whatever we may think of each other, we’ve been thrown together on the orders of Count Volmar. Do any of you wish to back out now? Well? Do you? You’d better speak now, because I don’t want to find myself in the middle of—” Of what? Thinking frantically, the bardling continued, almost smoothly—”of some heroic battle only to see my supposed comrades battling each other instead. Or running away like little boys yelling, ‘I don’t wanna play with him!’”
“How dare you!” Eliathanis began in outrage, but Kevin continued, using his trained musician’s voice to swell over the White Elf’s words, “Look at you two elves! You think yourself superior to us humans? Well, maybe you are—but I haven’t seen any sign of that superiority yet!”
“Bravo,” murmured Lydia, but the bardling ignored her. continuing hotly, “While you two waste precious time by bickering, an innocent girl may be suffering, may even be dying! We all want the same thing, and that’s to free her! I ask you, all three of you: will you or will you not stay with me?”
There was a long, tense silence. Then:
“Hell, I’m willing,” Lydia said with a shrug—
“And I,” murmured Naitachal.
Eliathanis hesitated a moment longer, glaring at the Dark Elf, then shrugged. “No one has spoken of abandoning you. human. Besides, I would not have it said 1 was less brave than a Nithathil.”
Kevin nearly laughed aloud, all at once so shaky with relief he wasn’t sure he could move. “Good! And together we shall stay—until the Lady Charina is returned safely to her uncle!”
“What do you mean, this is all we get?” Lydia thundered at the startled stable hand.
“But—but my lady, there are four of you. The count’s offering you four horses—”
“And what about grain for those horses? And supplies for us? Hell, I can hunt down enough meat to keep us going, and I’m sure the boy or one of these elves knows how to find nuts and berries, but I am not going to sleep on bare ground or go without a change of clothes! You throw in at least one pack horse, fully provisioned, mind you—and do it now!”
As the terrified servant scurried off, Lydia winked at Kevin. “That’s the way to do it,” she murmured. “Act as if you know what you’re doing, keep ‘em off balance, and they’ll give you anything you want”
“I—I see.” The bardling struggled to imitate Eliathanis and keep his face an impassive mask. But he was sure everyone knew exactly how inept he felt! Here he was supposed to be the leader of the group and it hadn’t even occurred to him to ask for grain!
“Don’t worry, kid.” The woman gave his shoulder a light punch. “I’ll look out for you.”
Wonderful. Just what he wanted: a babysitter. Kevin tried not to scowl as he watched Lydia prowl up and down the rows of stalls. “Which is Lady Charina’s horse?” she called out. “This? Should have known. Dainty little creature. A real lady’s palfrey. Couldn’t stand a day on the trail ... Hold still, horse.”
She lifted a foreleg, examining the hoof and shoe, then waved the others to her side—
“Distinctive shoeing. See the slight ridging here, and here? If this beast left hoofprints, I can follow them.”
“My ... uh ... lady?”
Lydia glanced up and grinned. “Ah, here we go!”
As she had ordered, the stable hand had brought them not only their horses, but a laden pack horse as well.
As they rode down from the casde and out over the fields, Lydia crouched low over the neck other horse, studying the ground, finally dismounting to study what looked like a perfectly unremarkable patch of earth to Kevin.
“This is where the girl was seized, all right,” she said. “See how the grass has been torn up?”
Eliathanis dismounted as well, then drew back in distaste. “It stinks of sorcery.”
“It does,” Naitachal agreed softly, joining him. “Sorcery cold enough to slay a man.” Wrapped in his black cloak, hood up against the sun (which must be uncomfortably bright, Kevin thought, to someone used to darker lands), the Dark Elf was a sinister, faceless figure. “Do you not feel the echo of his death?” Naitachal sighed in regret. “Were it only a tiny bit stronger, I could call his spirit to us and learn the truth.”
“Necromancy!” Eliathanis spat,
“Oh, indeed.” Kevin thought he caught the barest hint of a sardonic smile from under that black hood. “What was worked here.” the Dark Elf continued softly, “was not the magic of my folk, nor yours, nor even that of the humans. Not ... quite, at any rate. Intriguing. But I can’t pick up a clear enough trace for it to be very helpful. What of you. White Elf?”
Eliathanis shook his head. “Whoever it was took great pains to cover his tracks.”
“His?”
“Or hers. Or even theirs. I can’t be sure.”