Suddenly, the room burst into blinding brilliance. Disjointed visions swam before his eyes. He saw the ancient city of Angragar, as it must have appeared in its heyday. It boasted a magnificent harbor with ships waiting to dock to unload their exotic goods. Well-dressed citizens moved to and fro throughout the city. He saw King Regis on the thrown in the palace. He saw a young Vand in the throne room petitioning the king for power.
The visions started flying past his eyes at a frantic pace. He saw the turmoil caused by Vand’s people as they tried to disrupt the rule of King Regis. He saw the elves attacking the city, huge siege engines hurling burning embers into the city, people screaming and fleeing for their lives. He saw the masses of citizens flee the great city, leaving it an empty hull. He saw the ground erupt into blossoming plants and grow skyward as they twisted and tangled together.
The scenes ripped by at an ever-increasing rate until everything was one big blur, but he knew that he would remember even the scenes that sped by too fast to recognize. Unexpectedly, everything went black.
Chapter 9
Words of Kaltara
“It sure looks as if elf relations were just as the Qubari say they were,” MistyTrail said. “Over the past few days we have read story after story about how good the relations between the humans and the elves were. How can you still insist that humans are you enemy?”
“It is our law,” Caldal retorted stubbornly. “Obviously these Qubari accounts are not telling the whole story. Why would the human libraries document whatever it is they did to the elves to cause my people to hate humans?”
“Or something happened to sour the relations after these tomes were written,” suggested Eltor.
“According to Yltar,” interjected Mistake, “there have been no further relations with the elves. It is as if the elves just disappeared from this world.”
“There is no sense to continuing this argument,” sighed MistyTrail. “The facts are plain enough for anyone to see. If you still want to hate humans, that is your problem, not mine. Humans raised me as one of their own. They would never forsake me because of some law or any other reason. True friends do not begin to hate you because someone else says that they have to.”
MistyTrail turned and stormed out of the temple library.
“What is wrong with her?” scowled Caldal. “She acts like the elves are not entitled to laws of their own. She should realize that our laws are what have kept the elves from being attacked by humans. They are not something that we can abandon just because we want to.”
“Perhaps she feels as she does because she is human,” offered Mistake. “After all, there is only your word that we are elves. Maybe we are the enemy that you search so hard for.”
“That is nonsense,” retorted Caldal. “Anyone could see that you are both elves. Do you think Eltor and I would be taking you to Elvangar if we were not positive that you were elves? We would never take a human to our homeland.”
“And what makes you think that we would want to go with you to a land where humans are reviled?” countered Mistake. “I have had the misfortune of knowing many evil humans, but there are many that I also consider my friends. Your insistence that all humans are evil is getting quite tiresome. Perhaps it is best that you return to Elvangar and prepare to defend your own land against Vand. Surely, that is better than having to suffer any longer among the evil humans.”
Mistake also turned and stormed out of the library. The elves stood staring at the empty doorway for several silent moments.
“Nice going,” sighed Eltor. “Why didn’t you just slap both of them in the face?”
“Do not blame me for their hotheadedness,” retorted Caldal. “I am merely stating what is the law. We cannot just decide that the law is wrong whenever we feel like it.”
“An interesting comment from one who talked me into passing the Barrier Islands,” countered Eltor. “We easily chose to discard that law when we felt like it. Didn’t we?”
“That is not the same,” Caldal sighed in frustration. “We were looking for a little excitement, not betraying our people.”
“And excitement we did find,” quipped Eltor. “So much excitement that we had to be rescued by Mistake and MistyTrail. And how have we rewarded them? We have told them that we were taking them back to Elvangar, whether or not they wanted to go. We have told them that their friends are our enemy, even though the humans have done everything they could to help us. They have taken us into their confidence. They have armed us and protected us. They have let us be as one of their own.”
“I truly can find no fault with the humans so far,” admitted Caldal, “but that is not the point. You must know that the Emperor seeks to learn the location of Elvangar. That is why he has acted so nice towards us.”
“And did he tell all of the other humans to be nice to us?” prompted Eltor. “Did he tell the Qubari to welcome us and let us browse their library? Did he tell the Sakovans to treat as friends? Or the Fakarans that joined us in Meliban? Face it, Caldal, what we were taught about humans is incorrect.”
“Everything we were taught about humans was validated on the Island of Darkness,” replied Caldal. “There we saw the true face of humans. Here we are seeing a facade.”
“These humans are the enemy of the ones on Motanga,” Eltor pointed out. “They are opposites, yet you still want to paint them all with the same brush. Just as all elves are not of one mind, so too is this true with humans. While some humans are obviously our enemy, I no longer believe that is true of all. I am going to talk with Mistake to see if I can appease her. I do not want to think of leaving her behind with Rejji when we return to Elvangar. I suggest you think a great deal about your stance regarding humans. It would be a shame for MistyTrail to remain behind with Bakhai.”
Eltor moved silently out of the library, but a couple people watched him leave. At the far end of the library, Temiker tapped Axor on the arm and nodded to the departing elf.
“What do you make of these elves?” the Alamar mage asked.
“They are young and confused,” shrugged the Chula shaman. “They do not yet understand that the future of the elves rides with those chosen by Kaltara, even though those chosen are not elven.”
“Why do you suppose that the elves have decreed that the humans are the enemy?” asked Temiker.
“I am not sure that they have,” replied Axor. “We have only the word of two young confused elves as a guide. I would not take their views as being definitive of the true nature of elves. I would suspect that seclusion for the elves has been a necessity, but that is a far cry from being an enemy.”
“I suppose that you are right,” nodded Temiker. “I should spend more time wondering about these ancient spells than the relations with the elves. Have you found anything more on how the jungle was created?”
“Yes,” nodded Axor, “but not the actual spells. I suspect that the elves did not share those spells with the Qubari. Still, there are some very interesting spells that are put forth in here. I am anxious to experiment with some of them.”
Caldal slammed the book closed and placed it back on the shelf as he watched Temiker and Axor talking at the other end of the library. He marched out of the library, rehearsing words in his head that would soothe his fragile relationship with MistyTrail. He exited the temple and entered the central park. He saw Eltor near the center of the park, but he could not locate MistyTrail He walked towards Eltor as his eyes scanned the park for the Sakovan elf.
“Have you seen MistyTrail?” Caldal asked softly when he reached Eltor and Mistake.
“She went off in the woods with Bakhai,” Mistake replied curtly.
“Which direction did they go?” Caldal asked Eltor.
Eltor nodded silently in the direction towards the bridge, and Caldal took off running. Villagers stared as the elf ran through the streets of the city, so Caldal slowed to a fast walk. He was sure that he would be able to sneak up on the couple and discover what they were talking about.