The crowd erupted once again in an ocean of fists, with swords, knives, pitchforks, and clubs held high.
Whill and Abram walked the streets alone. The excitement was palpable. Songs of Eldalon rang out, and all talk was of the king’s proclamation.
“You would do well to watch closely and learn the ways of your grandfather, King Mathus,” Abram said to Whill. “I have met many a man of great power in my years, but none have had the natural mind for what is right and just like King Mathus. Aside from your father, of course.”
“Yes, King Mathus is a great public speaker. And you are correct, it is his passion that gives his words power. Not to mention he says that which is most closely in the hearts of his audience.”
Abram chuckled slightly. “That, my friend, is the one thing I have noticed has been passed down most noticeably from Mathus’s blood into yours.”
Whill stopped mid-stride. “Am I vain to have the same sentiment?”
“No, sir! It is not vanity to recognize that you have a talent for leading men. It is only vanity to lead men to their deaths for your own gain, and not their own. That, thankfully, is something you did not inherit from your uncle.”
“I know exactly what the elders and the monks will say, sister,” said Zerafin as he gently polished his blade, Nifarez, with a swab of cotton. “They will say what they have always said and what needs saying: peace is the way of the free mind; harmony is the very essence that unites all life.”
“But what they do not consider is that the Draggard are not natural manifestations of the earth. Nor do the Dark elves abide by or hold sacred any of nature’s laws.” Avriel was buttoning Tarren into his newly issued uniform. “I know and support your position in the matter, brother. Was it not I who produced such an argument with the Elders not a year ago? But I suppose you are simply honing your argument for soldiers, and will address it to the Elders hence.”
Zerafin sheathed his finely polished blade. “I think they will agree with me.”
Tarren, in his new hat and uniform, turned to Zerafin for approval.
“I must say, young man, you do look as though you are ready for the vigorous duties before you in the Eldalon army. What is your opinion of that of which we have been speaking?”
Tarren’s mouth twisted up in thought. “I know that the Elders you speak of are older than dirt-well, so Roakore said. And they must be very smart, being so old. So if they are so smart, they can only agree with what you say about the need for war.”
Zerafin laughed. “You see, sister? The purest of truths can be found in the young.”
Roakore climbed the mountain pass he had traversed so many times before. The memory of his many weeks alone patrolling this very face flashed through his mind. He had time alone to ponder, to relive that last battle over and over again. The fall of his brothers, of his father, the words upon his father’s bloody lips sang to him now in the spring wind. Finally, after twenty long years, the time had come for he and his dwarves to take back what was rightfully theirs. The spirit of his father would be released and take its place within the Hall of Kings.
He came to the same door he and Whill and Abram had entered not a month ago, this time to bring word to his people that the time had come. The time for redemption was upon them. The time for war was near.
Zerafin sat opposite Whill in the garden in silence for a time unknown to Whill. Whill used the time to do as he’d been instructed, to meditate. But he also used his new mind-sight to look for the gem that lay within Zerafin. He saw the many rings teeming with energy upon the elf, the bracelets of power, the belt with its many gemstones of energy, the very studs upon his ears. But he could not detect any gemstone embedded beneath the flesh.
“I know what you seek,” said Zerafin. Whill opened his eyes to find the elf staring at him. Whill feared he had offended him.
“Relax,” said Zerafin. “I would be more insulted if you hadn’t been using your new abilities. The truth is that you cannot find my gem because of the enchantments I have put upon it. You will learn such enchantments when it is time. Each elf, upon coming of age, has his gemstone embedded in a place of his choosing, a place that only he or she knows of. But first a month must be spent enchanting the object with an energy command, words to hide it from prying eyes. It should weaken your opponent to the brink of exhaustion to find your inner gemstone, therefore ensuring your own victory.”
He rose. “As is the way of our Elders, so is our way. One should not have a single teacher but many. Avriel will continue where I have left off while we are in Eldalon.” He gave a small bow and quietly left the gardens.
Whill did not know what to do, what Zerafin meant. Was Avriel coming now to continue his teachings? He did not move, waiting, and meditated as he had been taught. He let his mind be at ease, his body become still and focused upon itself and all around him.
Some time had passed when he came back to the world, revitalized and alert. He could sense something, a presence. He recognized it at once, though he knew not how. It was Avriel. He stood and surveyed the garden but saw nothing.
Suddenly a stone came hurtling out of nowhere and struck him in the forehead, drawing blood. Then came a voice he knew, but not in any form he had thus heard. She laughed like a child playing a prank, and then another stone stuck him in the hand. Whill looked wildly from one end of the garden to the other, rubbing his forehead. Another stone came, too fast to duck, and struck him in the shoulder, and then another in the chest, and yet another on the back of his head. Whill drew his sword, fuming. This time five stones stuck him hard enough to break his arm. He dropped his sword and spun about. “What is the meaning of this?”
Avriel chuckled. “Do you wish for the rocks not to strike you?”
Another stone hit Whill right between the eyes and he fell to the ground. “Of course I wish the bloody stones not to hit me!”
“Then use what you have learned from my brother and stop them, Whill of Agora!”
Two more rocks came hurtling at Whill as he stood. Instantly he used his mind-sight. The world of color before him fell like a curtain as the world of energy rushed forth. He saw the stones coming at him clearly, shimmering like diamonds with the residual energy Avriel used to propel them. Whill lifted his hand and produced a globe of energy that (to his astonishment) surrounded him. He did not know how nor why, but he did not care; he simply wanted the rocks to stop striking him. The stones struck the energy wall and fell to the ground. Two more followed, then four more, and finally a volley of more than a dozen stones. Each one weakened his feeble shield slightly. Then the barrage stopped and Avriel appeared.
Whill had never before seen her with his mind-sight, as he now did. She came forward slowly from behind a magnificent rose bush. She was very much like, but at the same time so different, from Zerafin’s energy form. As soon as Whill’s mind’s eye fell upon her energy form, his own energy shield faltered and diminished. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. Radiant pulses of pristine white and silver light pulsed and danced about and from her. She glowed from within like a sun, the core being the purest and most radiant light Whill had ever witnessed.
A rock stuck his forehead.
He was knocked unconscious for a moment. The next thing he knew, Avriel’s sweet breath was lightly teasing his neck. A blue light surrounded him and healed his many small wounds. Her breath moved to his ear as his vision came into focus. “You have just seen me as no one ever has in my many years of life. What you have witnessed is reserved solely for the mind’s eye of one who is loved by the observer.”