The Elves of Cintra

CHAPTER SIX

"WHAT DO YOU THINK you are doing?" the voice re–peated.

In the deep sub–basement of the Belloruus home, surrounded by the histories of the Elves amid layers of gloom and shad–ows, the disembodied voice was a wraith without a presence. Neither Kirisin nor Erisha could see anything of the speaker, and neither could decide what to say or do in response to the question.

"Cat got your tongue?" the speaker chided.

"Culph!" Erisha said finally, just as Kirisin had decided they might really be in danger. "You don't have to scare us like that!"

The elderly keeper of the histories moved into the edge of the light that sat on the plank flooring between the Elven girl and boy, hands on his skinny hips, body bent like the trunk of a gnarled old tree. He was short and withered looking, an elder of indeterminate age. His wrinkled face was shaded by what appeared to be a halfhearted effort at grow–ing a beard and was dominated by a pair of huge ears.

"You haven't permission to be down here, missy," he declared, extending a bony finger at the girl. "King's daughter or not. And you," he added, moving the finger over to Kirisin, "don't even have permission to be inside this house?"

"I invited him?" Erisha snapped back, no longer afraid, starting to bristle at being spoken to like this by anyone who wasn't family.

"Did you?" Culph gave her a sharp look. "Asked him over to do a lit–tle late–night reading, is that it?"

Even in the pale wash of the torch's poor light, Kirisin could see that Erisha was losing her temper. "I asked for her help," he said quickly, drawing the other's attention. "I wanted to see what the histories had to say about the Ellcrys."

The old man crouched down next to them, his sharp eyes flitting from face to face. "Oh, is it more of that business about the tree asking the Chosen to use the Loden Elfstone to keep it safe?" He nodded soberly, and Kirisin, who had been trying not to reveal too much, was reminded that it was pointless to be circumspect with Culph since the King had already set him to work on researching the matter. "I know all about it, you know," the old man declared.

Kirisin decided to take a chance. "Well, the King doesn't believe that the Ellcrys spoke to me. But Erisha does because the tree spoke to her, as well. So we decided to see what we could find out."

"Not accepting that what I did was sufficient, is that it?" Culph said almost teasingly. "What could an old man like me know about such things, you might have asked yourselves. Probably couldn't even find the right book, you might have said."

"That is not what we thought," Erisha snapped, jumping back into the conversation. "We just wanted to see for ourselves." She hesitated. "The truth is, we didn't know what you might have found. My father doesn't want me involved in this business for reasons he won't reveal. He was very insistent that I not do what the tree asked of me. He was adamant. So I can't be certain that what he told me is the truth. Or even that he told me everything he knows. Maybe there's more." She gave him a hard look. "Is there?"

Culph shrugged. "How would I know? I don't know what he told you. I do know what I told him. But why should I tell you? Why shouldn't I just wake your father and turn you over to him. That way it isn't my problem anymore."

Erisha glared. "You'd better not."

Culph grinned mirthlessly. "Or I might be very sorry I did, is that it? What I might be sorry about is if I don't and get found out. Your father is hardly the forgiving kind these days."

"What about the Ellcrys?" Kirisin pressed. "If we don't try to help her, she'll simply ask one of the other Chosen. She's already made it clear that she feels threatened. Don't you think we have an obligation to do something?"

The sharp old eyes fixed on him. "What I think is that you might be hallucinating about all this, the both of you. How do you know for cer–tain what you've heard? Move the Ellcrys by using an Elfstone that no one has seen or heard of in centuries? Move our most precious talisman because the end of the world is coming? Am I supposed to accept your word on this without stopping to question it?"

Kirisin hesitated. The old man had a point. "It means something that both Erisha and I heard the Ellcrys say the same thing at separate times. The humans have been working at the destruction of the world for years; that isn't something we didn't already know. There are signs of wilt and decay all through the Cintra. If you've been outside this building, you must have seen them. To just dismiss everything as the King has done is both dangerous and wrong. As Chosen, we have an obligation to find out the truth. We came here tonight to try to do that.

"By reading the histories to see if there is any mention of the Loden or the blue Elfstones, yes, I understand all that." Culph seemed unper–suaded. "But even if you were to find these artifacts, what would you do then? Would you actually try to move the tree?"

Kirisin took a deep breath. "I don't know. At least we would have a choice in the matter."

"Maybe my father will have changed his mind by then," Erisha said. "Maybe other things will have changed, too."

"Like the end of the world coming, that sort of thing." Culph sniffed and worked at rubbing away the stubble of his failed beard with one gnarled hand. "Well, you both seem pretty certain about this."

"We wouldn't be here otherwise," Erisha said.

"No, probably not, considering how your father would react if he found out what you were doing.

He won't even discuss the subject with me, even though he might learn something if he did." The wiz–ened face tightened. "Does he seem different to you these days? Less reasonable, less patient with matters in general?"

Erisha nodded, looking unhappy.

"Well, it isn't just me, then." Culph sighed. "I suppose turning you over to him wouldn't accomplish much. Even if you don't belong down here and are being disobedient." He thought for a moment, studying them. "Have you found anything yet?"

Erisha shook her head. "Have you?" Kirisin asked at once.

"Maybe." The old man considered the matter. "Maybe you'd like to hear what it was."

Kirisin felt his heart jump. "We would. We would like that very much."

Culph rocked back on his heels. "Then I'll tell you. But only if we all agree that anything said down here in this room goes no farther. Be–cause if I tell you what I know and it gets back to the King, I am out of a job and maybe exiled, as well. I don't care much for either result. I'll be taking a chance on you if I tell you anything. So everything stays right here. Do we have a bargain?"

Kirisin glanced at Erisha. She nodded doubtfully. "We have a bar–gain."

They settled themselves more comfortably on the plank flooring, leaning into the light and closer to each other, conspirators against the night. Kirisin could hardly contain his eagerness; this was the sort of help they desperately needed and could hardly have expected to find. He was a little surprised that Culph was willing to share what he knew with them, but maybe the old man's sense of responsibility for the Ell–crys was stronger than his sense of loyalty to the King.

"We begin at the beginning," Culph declared, clasping his hands in front of him as a teacher might to command the attention of his stu–dents. "The Elfstones are an old magic, going all the way back to the time of Faerie. They were mined by Trolls and given to Elves to be made over into talismans. Because it was the Elves who infused them with their magic, only the Elves could use them. They were of differ–ent colors and designed to do different things. They were formed and shaped in sets of three. The mix of minerals and magic made each set individual. It took years to make even a single set. There is no surviving record of exactly what it was they could do, at least not in the pages of the histories we have. Except for one kind. The blue Elfstones were seeking-Stones and could be used to find what was hidden from or lost to the seeker."

"The ones the Ellcrys said must be used to find the Loden," Erisha interjected.

Culph gave her a look suggesting that interruptions and unsolicited comments were not welcome.

"All the Elfstones had defensive capabil–ities. They were infused with power to protect the user. Their power was dependent on the individual, a reflection of the combined strengths of heart, mind, and body. The Stones were the most powerful of the Elven magic, and all of them were lost when the world of Faerie disappeared."

He gave Erisha another look, cutting off what he knew she was about to say. "Let me tell it, missy." He tightened his lips. "Again, except for the blue Elfstones. But they haven't been seen in centuries, their whereabouts a mystery."

The way he said it told Kirisin at once that he knew something of that mystery, something that might lead them to the Stones. But he held his tongue, knowing it was better to let the old man tell them what he knew in his own way.

"We know even less about the Loden Elfstone. The Loden was a single Stone designed for a particular purpose, one that was very special. Of all the Elfstones, only the Loden and the Black Elfstone were re–garded as more important than the others. But we don't know why. Maybe, as the Ellcrys has told you, the Loden is meant to act as her protector. Maybe it can form a shield for her as she forms a shield against the demons within the Forbidding. Whatever the case, we know almost nothing about it. There is no description of it in the histories and no explanation of how it is to be used. And no mention of where it might be found."

He paused again, regarding them in turn, a bright expectancy in his sharp old eyes. "But there is something."

He actually smiled then, and it was a frightening sight. Smiling did not seem to come naturally to Culph, and it must have cost him something to do so now. But at least he was showing some interest in their efforts, thought Kirisin.

"Everything I just told you is contained in the histories, and I am certain you would have found it all by yourself' The old man frowned. "It would have taken you more than one night, perhaps. It took me two days just to reread it all after the King asked me to look into the mat–ter, and I had already read all the histories at least several times before?"

He paused again. "The thing of it is, knowing all of it doesn't help you at all. The histories are only part of our lore, only a small piece of our recorded knowledge. There are other sources, too. Books that are not a part of the histories. Books that give us little–known information and unexpected insights. These books are also housed in this library, but they are not well read and not paid attention to. Most are rarely even opened."

He paused. "Some have never been opened by anyone living. Ex–cept for me."

"What did you find?" Erisha asked eagerly.

"Not so fast, missy," the old man snapped, patting the air in front of him with the palms of his hands. "Haven't you learned anything about the value of patience?"

But Erisha wasn't the least bit interested in learning about the value of patience. Nor was Kirisin feeling particularly patient either, at this point. They were eager to hear what the old man knew that he hadn't told them. And waiting for him to reveal it was torture. "So there was something in one of these books?" he pressed.

Culph gave him another of those dreadful smiles. "Something, in–deed. A very important reference to the blue Elfstones you seek. Let's have a look."

He rose, disappeared into the gloom for a few minutes, and then re–turned with a slim, worn book bound in leather that was cracked and faded. "A diary," he said. "One of any number kept by various scribes over the centuries. They are stored in bins at the very back of the room. This one is an unofficial recording of a royal family's life and death, written thousands of years ago by a man who served as their personal assistant. I call it a diary because it is this man's private recollections, not recorded for official use, but as a personal undertaking. I found it some time ago when I was reorganizing the library, but didn't pay much attention to it. When the matter of the Elfstones was raised by your father, I remembered it. After quite a search, I unearthed what I am about to read to you."

He sat down between them and opened the book carefully, turning to the very last page. "It is written in an ancient language, an old dialect of Elfish, so my translation is a bit rough. But this is the gist of what it says:

"I helped bury Pancea Rolt Cruer on this day, Queen to her people and mother of a family that has served the Elves long and well. With her pass–ing, I resign my post and retire to the Hibbling Auer to live out the rest of my life. Then something, something, I can't be sure. This entry shall be my last. She rests in the depths of Ashenell with the Stones sewn in her clothing, the decision her own, made years ago at the start of her reign. It was accepted thinking by then that the old magic had outlived its useful–ness, that the time of Faerie was of the past and the time of Man was of the present and quite possibly the future. Magic gives way to science, and that path is different from our own. It was the Queen's firm belief that use of magic now only places our people in danger. She would not be a part of that. But the decision was arrived at without consultation and in secret, and a record should be set out for those who come after. Something, some–thing more. The world changes, and no one knows what the future holds. I leave it thus."

The old man looked up, his wizened face expectant. "It ends there. Nothing more. But it tells us where the Elfstones are. Sewn into the clothing of a dead Queen, who lies buried somewhere in Ashenell."

"The burial ground for our dead!" exclaimed Erisha excitedly. "All we need to do is to go there and find her tomb?"

"Yes, simple enough, it would seem," Culph replied with a grimace. "I thought as you did. I even went to Ashenell to have a look. Secretly, of course, so that your father would not know what I was trying to do. I found the family plot for the Cruer Kings and Queens, but there was no marker bearing her name."

Erisha stared at him, then glanced at Kirisin. "How can that be?" Kirisin frowned and shook his head, his mind on something much more troubling. "You haven't mentioned the Loden. But the King made it very clear to Erisha that he knew something about it, something that troubled him enough that he didn't want his daughter using it to help the Ellcrys. What did you tell him that made him react like that? What did you find?"

Culph hesitated, an uncertain look in his sharp eyes. "We had an agreement when we started this conversation. Do we still have it? Whatever we say or hear stays within this room?"

Kirisin and Erisha exchanged a quick glance. "That was the agree–ment," Kirisin affirmed.

"Then I will tell you that the King either knows something I don't or is assuming the worst." Culph's aged face tightened. "I found noth–ing more about the Loden than what I have told you–vague mention and general comment given in the context of the larger reference to Elfstones in general. I found nothing anywhere that explained what it was that the Loden was supposed to do. I found nothing that said using the Loden was dangerous to the user. Not in the histories and not in the diaries and personal journals.

Not anywhere."

There was a long silence as the boy and the girl digested this unex–pected piece of information.

"Then why would he forbid Erisha from even thinking about using it?" Kirisin asked.

Culph shook his head and shrugged. "You would have to ask him. That particular piece of advice did not come from me or from anything that I might have said to him. It is a conclusion of his own making, and I wonder myself about the nature of its origin."

"I don't understand," Erisha said softly.

Neither did Kirisin, and it was a troubling mystery. It was one thing for Arissen Belloruus to want to protect his daughter from a danger dis–covered through a reading of the histories or from personal experience. But it was something else again to fabricate a threat out of nothing more than unfounded fears and doubts. Still, what else could explain his strange behavior in this business? Without any apparent knowledge of the way in which the Loden functioned, without any history to sup–port his thinking, he had determined that the Elfstone posed a danger to his daughter and therefore had forbidden her to use it. It was a reac–tion that would have been bad enough coming from a father, but was immeasurably worse coming from a King. As King, his first responsibility was to his people, to the maintenance of their health and safety. And the welfare of the Elves depended before all else on the health of the Ellcrys.

"Well, it doesn't matter what he thinks," Kirisin ventured. "We know what we need to do, and we are going to do it. Aren't we, Erisha?"

He looked directly at her as he said this so that he could take the measure of her reaction. He needed to be certain that she would not change her mind about choosing to help.

"You don't have to ask me that," she snapped, her response fierce. Her eyes held his for a moment in challenge, then shifted to Culph. "I think Kirisin and I need to visit Ashenell and have a look for ourselves. I don't know if it will do any good, but it can't hurt. Maybe fresh eyes will spy out something you missed. It's possible, isn't it?"

The old man shrugged. "Of course, it's possible. In fact, I will go with you. Later today, if the two of you can manage to stay awake that long. Sunrise is only three hours away, and you haven't been to bed. But I don't guess you need sleep the way I do. Suppose we meet at noon. I don't have anything to keep me here after that. The King won't notice."

"You don't have to become involved in this," Kirisin offered. "You've given us more than enough help already."

Culph laughed. "A little late for me to decide not to become in–volved, don't you think? How much farther out do I have to stick my neck before it matters?" He shook his head, his aged face turned sud–denly serious. "I made my choice in this business. I could have reported you to the King. I could have kept what I knew about the Elfstones to myself But I happen to think you know what you are talking about. You wouldn't have gone through all this if you'd only imagined that she spoke to you. I don't want to think back about what I could have done to help when it's too late."

Erisha smiled. "Thanks, Culph. For taking a chance on us."

His sharp eyes fixed on her. "Don't be too quick to thank me just yet, missy." He gestured into the dark in the direction of the basement door. "Off to bed with you, for a few hours, at least. This business isn't going to get any easier if you're asleep on your feet."

Neither Kirisin nor Erisha made any objection as they rose and headed back the way they had come, anxious for the new day to begin.

THEY STOOD CLOSE TOGETHER in the shadows just outside the door through which Kirisin had entered the Belloruus home hours ear–lier, sheltered by a screen of heavy bushes as they whispered.

"He was a lot more helpful than I thought he would be," Erisha said. "I've known Culph since I was a little girl and I've never known him to volunteer his help. He rarely even speaks to anyone."

"Maybe he feels that this is important," Kirisin answered. He glanced around uneasily, not liking the way they were exposed to any–one getting close enough to hear their voices. "He said he'd made his choice. Maybe that's the difference."

"Well, he's taking a big risk with my father. If he gets found out, my father will exile him. He won't think twice."

"Your father won't find out anything if we don't tell him."

Erisha gave him a sharp look. "He finds out a lot that people don't want him to know. He has ears everywhere. We have to be careful, Kirisin. We can't even tell the other Chosen. None of them. This stays between you and me."

"They wouldn't believe me anyway. They didn't about the Ellcrys."

They were silent a moment, listening to the night sounds, staring off into the dark. Kirisin could hear an owl's mournful hoot somewhere close by. He could hear the sound of a stream trickling over rocks. "Something is bothering me," he said.

The Elven girl looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that something doesn't feel right. About the way your fa–ther is acting. About the way the Ellcrys is telling us what she needs us to do. About what she needs us to do. About the lack of anything writ–ten down in the histories about either the blue Elfstones or the Loden." He shook his head, frustrated with not being able to better explain. "Doesn't it seem odd that there isn't something written somewhere, given how important the Elfstones are?"

She stared at him without answering, then said, "Maybe there was something written down once, but it's been lost."

"That seems like a huge coincidence to me." Kirisin ran his fingers through his tangled hair and rubbed his eyes. "But I'm too tired to think clearly about it now."

"Maybe we both are," Erisha said, giving his arm a squeeze.

They were silent again, and then Kirisin said, "I want you to know I am proud of you for doing this.

It took a lot of courage. You could have just done what your father wanted."

She shook her head, her eyes on the ground. "I knew that I was doing the wrong thing listening to my father. I knew that the Ellcrys needed me and I was abandoning her. I just needed to be reminded." She looked at him. "It took more courage for you to stand up to me and then go to my father when everyone told you not to. You're the brave one."

"I didn't have so much to lose."

"Maybe you did."

He smiled. "I'm glad we're on the same side in this. I'm glad we're friends again."

"We've shared a lot of good times, haven't we?" She grinned. "Re–member hiding in my house until everyone thought we were lost in the forests somewhere? We got in a lot of trouble for that, but it was still fun." She shook her head ruefully. "I've missed that. Sometimes I wish I could have just stayed that age forever."

He shrugged. "Well, maybe in your heart, you can. Maybe we both can. And should. It might help us get through the rest of what we have to do for the Ellcrys."

"No," she said somberly, "I think maybe we have to grow up." She leaned into him and kissed him on the cheek. "Good night, cousin. See you in a few hours."

She disappeared back inside the house. Kirisin stood where he was for a few moments longer, thinking about how quickly things could change in life, then slipped back into the shadows and the night and headed home.