The Elves of Cintra

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

KIRISIN STARED AT THE APPARITION standing before him, trying to make himself accept that what he was seeing was real. "I thought you were dead?" he exclaimed in disbelief.

Old Culph chuckled. "Well, now, what led you to believe that, Kirisin?"

"Tragen found your body?"

"Is that what he told you?" Even in the near darkness, Kirisin could see his eyes twinkle. "Were you sad for me? Did you think the demons had found me out? Did you think they had caught and killed me?"

"We all did!" Kirisin declared, relief flooding through him. "After Ailie and Erisha were killed, we thought the demons had gotten you, too! We didn't have time to do more than make a quick check; we had to flee Arborlon right away."

The old man ambled forward a few steps, dropping the beam of his solar torch and nodding his understanding. "You were right to do so. No point in taking unnecessary chances. I certainly didn't. I waited until it was safe to do so, and then I followed you. I tracked you all the way here, to these caves." He looked around. "Impressive, aren't they? An Elven safehold." He looked back quickly. "Did you find it? Did you find the Loden Elfstone? Do you have it?"

Kirisin held out his hand, revealing the Stone cupped within his curled fingers. "Inside the dragon's maw. Guarded by the magic of Pancea Rolt Gotrin, just as you thought it might be. You were right about everything. We couldn't have done this without you." He shook his head. "I still can't believe you're alive. How did you manage to get here on your own?"

Culph shrugged. "Well, I had help. And I know a few things about getting places. Flying hot–air balloons is a skill I mastered some time back, for example. Come out of there, and I'll tell you everything. We can take as much time as we need."

Kirisin walked toward him, treading lightly on the dragon's icy tongue, stepping carefully over its rows of teeth and out into the cav–ern chamber once more. He had his solar torch back on–it was work–ing again–but he kept the light lowered so as not to blind the old man. Culph, for his part, had set down his own torch, letting its beam flood the space that separated them in a wide arc.

"I still can't believe you made it all this way," Kirisin said. "Or even that you managed to find us."

"As I said, I had help." The old man smiled. Then abruptly, as the boy stepped into the circle of his torchlight, he held up his hand. "That's close enough. Why don't you just stand where you are while we talk?"

Kirisin stopped short, surprised at the change in the other's tone of voice. Then he caught sight of something just behind Culph, a figure slumped on the ground. Simralin. He recognized her clothing and blond hair. She lay motionless, blood on her face.

"Stay where you are, Kirisin," Culph ordered quietly, and now he didn't sound anything at all like Culph. "Don't give your sister another thought. She's fine where she is."

Kirisin stared at Simralin's still form and then at the old man. "What's going on? What happened to her?"

"She took a blow to the head. A rather hard blow, I'm afraid. She's a strong young woman." Kirisin stood frozen in place, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. "Did you do this?" Culph shrugged, and then nodded. "I had to. She was a distraction."

"A distraction? What are you talking about?" Kirisin blinked. Then a cold realization swept through him. "You," he said quietly. "You're the …" He couldn't bring himself to say the word demon. "All this time."

The old man nodded. "All this time."

Kirisin's heart sank. He gestured toward his sister. "Did you kill her?"

"Kill her? No, that would serve no useful purpose. I just made sure she wouldn't interfere with us. I need her alive so that you don't do anything foolish while we talk. You won't, will you? Do anything fool–ish? You won't make me really hurt her, will you?"

Kirisin glared at him. "You killed Erisha. And Ailie. And you tried to kill me. Why didn't you? If you wanted to stop us from finding the Loden, why didn't you just finish the job and kill me, too?"

The old man cocked his head quizzically. "What makes you think I wanted to stop you from finding the Loden? From finding any of the Elfstones, for that matter? Finding them is what I wanted you to do, right from the first time you told me the Ellcrys spoke to you."

He rocked back on his heels. "It's not so complicated, really. You and Erisha were searching for the Elfstones. If you found them, you would use them to save the Ellcrys. I thought it an excellent idea. So I researched the matter. I found the information I needed right away–not all of it, but most. I found some of it in the histories and some of it in the private notes and journals of the old families. As keeper of those records, I had access to all of it. I just didn't tell anyone what I had found. I made certain no one else found any of it, either."

"But you were helping us!"

"Just enough so that you would do what was needed, Kirisin. Never more. I gave you those bits and pieces to keep you looking. I didn't know what had become of the seeking-Stones after Pancea Rolt Gotrin's death. I knew they were buried with her, but not where she was buried. Some things were kept secret even from me. But you and your friends figured it out, and you got possession of them. I couldn't have done that, not as a demon and not even as old Culph, keeper of the Elven histories. It needed the right person, a Chosen committed to saving the most precious of the Elven talismans."

"But that could just as easily have been Erisha?" Kirisin was in–censed. "Why did you kill her?"

The demon shrugged. "Killing her was a way to make you run, you and your sister and the Knight of the Word. I needed you to leave the Cintra and go off on your own where you could be dealt with more easily. And of course, I needed you to go looking for the Loden. In any case, Erisha was never the one who was meant to wield the Elfstones. Any fool could tell that she was too weak–minded to do what was needed. It was always you. You were the strong one. You were the one who was determined. Killing her was the perfect way to fuel that de–termination."

He smiled, and that smile stung like salt on an open wound. "I have lived among the Elves as old Culph for a long time. Years. Before that, I was someone else. Before that, someone else again. But my disguise as Culph was the most useful of them all because it gave me access to everything crucial to understanding the history of the Elves. I could re–search their lore and discover their weaknesses. It was clear to all of us who serve the Void that at some point they would have to be dealt with. The question was when. And how it was to be done. They were a sizable nation, albeit less populous than humans. But still, a force with which to be reckoned. What was to be done with them when it was time to act? I watched and waited over the years, knowing the time was coming and the answers must be found. Old Culph, hardly more than a part of the King's furniture, was never suspected."

Having survived the first few minutes of the old man's admission of who and what he was, Kirisin was beginning to look for a way out of this mess. He had no plan other than to keep Culph talking–keep the demon talking, he corrected himself bitterly, for demon was what the thing that masqueraded as Culph was. As long as he kept it talking, he had a chance to find a way to escape. It didn't seem to be armed, didn't seem to have any weapon at all. But it had managed to overcome Sim–ralin, perhaps even to kill her. Kirisin hated himself for thinking it, but he didn't know if he believed that his sister was still alive.

Bitterness welled up, so strong it made him want to throw caution aside and attack the thing standing in front of him. But he held himself in check–talking, talking, and all the while searching for a solution to his dilemma.

He had a sudden burst of inspired hope. He had forgotten about Angel! She was still out there and coming his way. Maybe she would reach him in time to help

But then he remembered that the demon wouldn't have come alone; it would have brought that thing with it. "Where is your … the other demon, the one that tracked Angel?"

The demon smiled. "Both are outside. Renewing an old rivalry, I be–lieve. If it ends the way I expect it will, we won't see either of them again." It folded its bony arms across its chest. "As I told you before, I had help in this business. But I think any need for that sort of help is at an end."

Kirisin's mouth tightened. "Maybe things won't work out the way you think. Maybe you'll be sorry you ever used us like this."

"Oh, I don't think so." The demon made a dismissive gesture. "In any case, it won't affect us. I made sure we wouldn't be disturbed. This time belongs just to you and me, Kirisin. So let's make the best use of it. You are owed an explanation, and you shall have it." It paused. "Do you want to know about the King? Do you want to know why he was so determined to stop you?"

"I would guess it had something to do with you," the boy answered. He was gripping the Loden so tightly that the sharp edges were cutting into his palm. He relaxed his grip and slipped the Elfstone into his pocket. "Did you tell the King something that frightened him?" he asked, still trying to gain time.

"Very good. I did exactly that. I told him that I had found evidence that the Loden was created to shield the Ellcrys–which, of course, is true. I also told him that the wielder of the Stone was at considerable risk from the magic if it was invoked. I told him the lore revealed that the user of the Loden was bound to the magic, and the binding was al–most always fatal. The Stone sapped the user's lifeblood. Once sum–moned, the magic claimed the user's life as its own. I convinced him that his daughter would die as a result. He was desperate for an alternative, but I told him there wasn't any. The Ellcrys had made her choice, and the first summoned was the Chosen who must respond. His only option, I explained, was to let her complete her term as Cho–sen and force the tree to choose another. A Chosen no longer in service would not be acceptable. I convinced him that the tree was in no im–mediate danger and he could afford to wait. He was eager to believe this. He would have done almost anything to save his daughter."

"But you killed her anyway."

The demon shrugged. "Expediency. It was more important that you be forced to flee than to let the King have his wish. I wanted everyone turned against you so that you had no choice but to do what I wanted–to find the Loden in the hope that somehow this would give you a means of helping the Ellcrys and convincing the King of your in–nocence. Admit it–that was what you were hoping would happen, isn't it?"

Kirisin nodded. "I still don't understand why you did all this. Why you didn't just kill me, too. Why you didn't just let the Elfstones be. If you waited, the tree would have died and the Forbidding would have come down. You would have gotten what you wanted, you and the rest of the demons. What point was there in having me find the Loden? Were you just worried that someone else might find it if I didn't?"

The demon gave him a wry smile and a shrug. "No, that isn't it at all. It's much more complicated. You have to understand. The demons are winning the war against the humans. Within a matter of months, the humans will be wiped out or imprisoned in our camps. Then we will have to deal with the Elves."

It reached in its pocket and produced a silver cord strung through two shiny silver rings. Idly, it began to play with the implements, letting the rings run up and down the cord. It seemed completely absorbed in the activity, working the cord into different positions to allow for changes of movement in the rings. Once or twice, it jerked on the cord sharply so that the rings disappeared into its hand for an instant before dropping free again.

Kirisin watched the rings as they slid back and forth, glimmering in the light. Then he looked back at the demon. "You haven't answered my question."

The demon smiled. "Not yet, I haven't. Patience, Kirisin." It was moving the cord and its rings in circles now, its hands inscribing broad arcs on the cavern air. "We have all the time we need."

Suddenly, right behind him, Simralin's right leg moved. Kirisin caught his breath.

"The problem with the Elves is one of logistics," the demon contin–ued, still playing with the cord and the rings. Its eyes followed the movement of the rings, completely absorbed. "To subjugate and even–tually eliminate humans, we have been forced to spend years breaking down their system of order, secretly encouraging and fostering them to participate in their own destruction. The wars among their govern–ments, the plagues that have decimated their populations, the poison–ing of their world, and the erosion of their sense of security and strength of determination have all required a great deal of time and ef–fort. We are not anxious to have to do it all over again with the Elves. Their population is not as numerous, but there are enough of them that they could prove troublesome. Nor do we have any guarantee that they might not find a way to recapture their lost magic and use it against us."

The demon spun the rings like shining wheels about the cord. "Look at what's happened with you, Kirisin–just in the last few weeks? You've rediscovered several forms of magic, several talismans that had been lost for centuries. Elfstones that can be used as weapons–weapons that even demons must respect. What if there are others and you are able to find them, as well? You are a better–ordered civilization than the humans, and you might just find a way to stop us, given enough time and incentive."

Kirisin kept waiting for his sister to move again, but she didn't. Al–most of their own volition his eyes drifted back to the demon with its cord and its rings and its madness. He watched the rings spin about the cord. What was the point of this long explanation? Whatever it was, the demon had just made a big mistake. It had revealed that the Elfstones were a weapon that could be used against it. Kirisin didn't know how, but he would find a way. He would make it pay for that mistake.

His hand drifted into his pocket. His fingers closed about the pouch that held the Elfstones and began to work the drawstrings free.

"How much more convenient, Kirisin," the demon resumed. Its hands wove and the rings spun. "Are you watching?" it asked softly. Kirisin was. Suddenly he couldn't look away. "How much more conve–nient if we could gather them all in one place and keep them there until we were ready to deal with them. How much better if we could prevent any chance escape. It would save so much time and effort if we could do that. Are you watching?" The rings spun on the cord, flashing in brilliant bursts. "You are, aren't you? Watching them spin and spin and spin. So beautiful. You like them, don't you, little boy? You like to watch their colors."

Kirisin nodded, suddenly unable to think of anything else, com–pletely absorbed in the movement of the hands and the cord and the rings. He had never seen anything so intriguing. He could not seem to look away. He didn't want to.

"So, if we were able to gather the Elves together in one place–say, inside the Loden Elfstone–why, think how much easier it would be to keep them under control? No worrying about any of them wandering off in search of dangerous talismans, no concerns for how long it might take to determine the best way to dispose of them. All it would require was that we find someone who could wield the Loden's magic. It would require that we find an Elf who had both the right and the power. Someone like you, Kirisin. Someone who was willing to do what was needed." The demon paused. "Someone under our control."

Kirisin tried to speak and found that he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but stand there and watch the rings on the cord, the sparkle of their metal as it caught the light. He was vaguely aware that some–thing was wrong, that he shouldn't be letting this happen, but at the same time he was enormously happy that it was.

"Demons have a little magic, too," the old man standing in front of him said softly, coming a step closer. "Now you belong to me, boy. You are my willing servant, and you will do what I tell you to do.

So much easier than threats and beatings and the like. A simple spell and I con–trol your mind. It's all I ever wanted from you. I don't need you to do much. Just to come back with me to the Cintra and use the Loden as the Ellcrys has asked of you. Just to put the city and its people inside, nice and safe. Just to keep them there until it is time to take them out. My friends will be waiting to greet us, a good many of them, an entire army, in fact. I summoned them just before I left to come after you. Demons and once–men. There to be certain that no one leaves until we arrive."

The old–man features twisted into something ugly and mean. "It was so easy to deceive you. You are such a foolish boy. So willing to think that I was your friend. I am sick of you, sick of your kind. I am sick of playing at being one of you, sick of pretending that I am in any way like you. I want you all dead.

I want you obliterated from the earth."

The hands wove, and the rings glistened.

"Just a moment longer, boy, and it will all be over. The spell will be in place and nothing will undo it. Just keep watching."

Kirisin couldn't do anything else. He heard the other's voice, but could make little sense of the words. They sounded reassuring and pleasant, but he couldn't seem to grasp their meaning. He stood statue–like within the cradle of the cave's deep gloom, a lone figure in the small light of the solar torch, eyes glazed and fixed on the rings. Some small part of him screamed at him to do something, but he blocked the warning away because it disturbed his concentration on the rings.

The rings were everything.

"Just a little longer, foolish boy," the demon whispered. "You wanted to keep me talking, didn't you? You wanted to gain enough time to find a way to escape me, didn't you? Well, go ahead! Run away?

Flee back the way you came and be free of me!'. What's wrong, Kirisin? Can't manage it? Are you really so happy that you would not try to escape? Can that be? I think maybe — "

Then it gasped sharply, and its head jerked back in rigid shock. The cord and its rings went flying into the darkness. The demon screamed, a frightening wail of disbelief and rage. Kirisin was jerked out of his trance instantly, his concentration on the cord and rings vanishing in the blink of an eye. He was back in the cavern, standing before the old man who was a demon, before old Culph who was groping at the air as if gone mad.

Simralin, levered up on her elbows, had plunged her long knife all the way through one gnarled leg.

"Witch?" the demon cried, turning and kicking out at her.

But she caught its leg, wrapped her arms about its ankles, and pulled it toward her. Her face was rigid with concentration beneath the mask of blood that coated it, her strong muscles knotting with the ef–fort of holding the demon fast. But the demon, for all that it looked to be a frail old man, was more powerful than she, and it tore itself away. It kicked at her again, and this time it did not miss, catching her in the face, snapping her head back. Kirisin heard her grunt with pain as she rolled away and lay still.

Hobbling, the demon went after her.

"Culph?" Kirisin cried out.

The demon turned, wild–eyed with rage. As it did so, Kirisin snatched the blue Elfstones from his pocket and held them out. He had just enough presence of mind to remember what they could do. A weapon even demons must respect, his enemy had told him. He gripped the Stones in his fist and pointed them toward the demon, envisioning what it was he wanted. The demon's reaction was instantaneous. It shrank from him, wheeling away with arms raised to ward him off. Kirisin felt a rush of fierce satisfaction flood through him.

"Stupid boy?" the demon shrieked, hands making quick, sharp movements in the gloom.

Too late. The blue fire lanced out, enfolding the demon in a bright shroud of flame. The demon screamed, trying to fight off the flames and failing. It began to burn, clothes and flesh first and then whatever lay beneath. It thrashed in vain as the fire consumed it. Kirisin did not relent; he kept the fire trained on it, kept the power of the Elfstones strong and steady and focused. Old Culph disappeared. Anything vaguely Elven disappeared. What remained was skeletal and as black as night, a child's drawing of a monster.

Then even that was gone, consumed and rendered to a fine ash, a sediment that floated on the air in the haze of the torchlight, drifting in tiny flakes until finally settling on the ice and snow of the cavern floor, tiny leavings of a virulent plague finally overcome.

Kirisin lowered his arm. "That was for Erisha," he whispered. "That was for Ailie. That was for Sim and Angel and everyone you ever touched with your black lying words?"

He was shaking with rage and near collapse. He thought he could feel his heart breaking with the memories his words conjured. There were tears in his eyes and bitterness in his mouth that he thought he would taste forever.

In the chill silence of the ice caves, he hugged himself to keep from falling apart.