“They have taken Mistake and MistyTrail,” he shouted. “We have to stop them.”
“They were soldiers,” replied Slari. “You cannot stop them.”
“But they didn’t do anything wrong,” protested Eltor. “Why should they be arrested?”
Caldal said nothing. He climbed the rope to his house and threw down his pack. Eltor looked questioningly at his friend as Caldal jumped down from the platform.
“Get your pack,” ordered Caldal. “We are going to Morada.”
“What for?” asked Eltor. “Didn’t you hear that they were soldiers? We can’t do anything, and we are forbidden to leave the village.”
“I don’t care,” retorted Caldal. “We got them into this mess; we are going to get them out of it. Have you forgotten how they risked their lives to save us?”
“I have not forgotten,” Eltor replied as he ran to his tree and climbed the rope.
Eltor grabbed his pack and jumped down to stand next to Caldal. The villagers looked at the two boys with fear and anxiety. Caldal’s mother came down and handed a small sack to her son.
“Be careful,” she said with tears in her eyes. “Try to do nothing to bring attention to yourselves. We want you both to come back safely.”
Caldal nodded and hugged his mother while Eltor waved to his. The villagers stood and watched until the boys exited the glade.
* * *
Tamar knew he was being followed again. His shadow was good at his trade, but not good enough. Tamar accepted the challenge without making any moves to indicate that he had detected the follower. For a while Tamar took delight in making stops that would frustrate the shadow. He entered an inn and sat comfortably drinking ale while he imagined his follower wondering if Tamar had darted out the back door. He went to the library, looped around the tables and casually exited the building. He smiled inwardly as his shadow had to run to catch up.
Finally tired of making his shadow’s life miserable, Tamar headed towards the harbor. He entered a sailors’ tavern and immediately exited through the rear door into a seldom-used alley. He quickly pressed his back against the wall behind the open door and shoved the door shut. Moments later the door opened cautiously. Someone peeked out the door and saw an empty alley. As the shadow opened the door further to exit the building, Tamar lunged at the door, slamming it with as much force as he could muster. He heard the man’s body fall and quickly stepped around the door.
He stared briefly at the unconscious form of Rattal. Tamar shook his head in disgust as he bent down and searched Rattal’s body. He removed a pouch of gold and took Rattal’s sword. Rattal’s sword was special to him. It had been a gift from his father and was engraved near the hilt. Tamar stuck it through his belt and moved swiftly along the alley. He made several quick turns and dropped the stolen sword in another alley. He knew someone would find it and try to sell it. He hoped that it made the attack on Rattal appear to be a robbery. Tamar was not ready to let Rattal know that he knew who was following him.
Tamar hurried across the city. He took a circuitous route to make sure that no one else was following him before he approached his father’s tree. He climbed the tree and knocked on the door. This time when Volox opened the door he stepped out of the way quickly so that Tamar could slip in.
“What have we come to when honest elves must sneak around the city for fear of being followed?” asked Volox as he shook his head.
“What we have come to, Father,” sighed Tamar, “is a very dangerous world. It is more dangerous for you than you can imagine. Queen Alycia is the one who ordered the arrest of Vitalora.”
“The queen?” gasped the elder. “That is hard for me to swallow.”
“You are on her list, Father,” Tamar said, “as am I. I caught the person who has been following me tonight. It is one of the officers under my command. An aggressive officer named Rattal.”
“Is he dead?” Volox asked with concern.
“No,” Tamar shook his head. “I made it look like a robbery. He will suspect it was me, but he cannot state that it was. Besides, I do not think he will want to brag about his failure to follow me. The queen has restricted my travels to Morada. I cannot leave the city without the fear of imprisonment.”
“This is not the way Elvangar treats respected officers,” frowned Volox.
“Or elders,” added Tamar. “Something is terribly amiss in Elvangar. I think it revolves around the two foreign girls, but I am not sure yet what is happening. I do know that the queen threatened your freedom today. I want you to rethink your position on retirement.”
“Your mother and I have already talked about it,” replied Volox. “We have always been dedicated to the good of Elvangar. We cannot stop now just because someone threatens us. We are staying right here. I am an elder and will carry on my life as an elder should.”
“I was afraid that you would say that,” frowned Tamar. “Do you have any idea why the queen is acting as she is?”
“Other than the fact that she hates humans?” asked Volox. “I think things changed when Eltor and Caldal brought Mistake and MistyTrail to Elvangar. Whatever that signifies to her, she obviously fears that something has changed and the humans are going to attack us. I am sure that it is fear that is driving her to such extreme measures.”
“Why does she hate humans so much?” asked Tamar. “I mean, everybody knows that she does, but no one knows why.”
“Oh many of us know,” sighed Volox as he sat at the table. “You were much too young at the time, but it all dates back some years ago to a royal family outing. The king, queen, and the princesses went on a family cruise together. It was to celebrate the anniversary of their wedding.”
“There were royal children?” asked Tamar.
“Oh yes,” nodded Volox. “Twins in fact. They were but babes when the ship left port. A tremendous storm appeared out of nowhere when they were out near the Barrier Islands. The king was an excellent sailor. He decided to outrace the storm, but the path of the storm took him past the Barrier Islands. The king sailed on into the night to avoid the deadly storm. That is when the humans struck.”
“Struck?” echoed Tamar. “What did they do?”
“The humans rammed the king’s vessel amidships,” related Volox. “It broke in two. The queen watched as her daughters floated away on the bow. She was stuck on the stern which was rapidly sinking.”
“And the king?” asked Tamar.
“Ah,” sighed the elder, “that is the worst of all. He landed not in either section of the ship. He was plastered to the bow of the human vessel. He never had a chance. The storm blew in so quickly that the stern section had not even sunk by the time the winds arrived. It was only a stroke of fortune that the queen was saved. Another elven ship was also blown off course by the mighty storm. They heard her cries and rescued her. She ordered the crew to search for the king and the princesses, but it was to no avail. Not even the wreckage of the bow could be found, and the storm threatened to sink the rescue vessel.”
“So they brought the queen back safely?” prompted Tamar.
“They did but it was quite an ordeal,” nodded the elder. “The storm was the greatest ever recorded. It took them days to return to Morada. During that time, the queen refused to eat or sleep. She just kept staring off into the distance. She was like a stricken animal when the ship returned to port. It took the Society of Mages a month to restore her to good health. Her first decree as queen was to ban sailing past the Barrier Islands. The second was to never speak to a human.”
“I cannot imagine living through such an experience,” frowned Tamar. “Not only to lose your husband, but your children as well. That is a bitter herb to swallow. It is easier for me to understand her moods with this knowledge.”
“Yes, it is,” Volox nodded sympathetically. “I imagine the sight of two young foreign girls coming to Morada might have touched off some inner feelings. They are probably around the same age as her poor lost daughters.”