Fae Arcana

A mysterious woman arrives to help Aedric and Snoe, but is she too late?

50.

Fae Arcana

 

She stood still as a statue on the green glowing disc that hovered only a foot above the white water of the Fallow River. 

The four servants with her stood reverently behind her, for it was by her will alone that the magic disc hovered over the icy water.

 

The frigid breeze blew chestnut hair that would have, if unbraided,  flowed to her feet, but the great lady had no thought of the wind or even the waves.   She stared with eyes as keen as an eagle, at every piece of debris that flowed past from the collapse of the Dwarven Bridge high above them half a mile away.  

Unconsciously she bit her bottom lip in apprehension, but suddenly her large brown eyes widened and she cried out in Sylvan, “Eno!!   Bregi mapp hainne!  Mapp hainne!”

 

Immediately the four servants sprang into motion, falling flat on the magic disc and grabbing at two of the many forms that passed by in the debris.   Though in the dark of the canyon, they would have seemed all the same, the great lady could tell clearly that they were those that she desperately sought.  

 

They brought the girl out first, and the lady’s magic told her she still lived, which stunned her greatly.  

Still, one of her servants chanted the spell of healing and a green glow covered her pale form while the other three servants pulled the larger male body from the river.

 

As soon as his form cleared the water, the great lady willed the disc to quickly cross sideways across the wide river, then slightly upward and across until on a moderately flat cliff face, ten feet above the river, she dispelled it and leaving all her dignity aside, ran over to the body of the Elf.  

They had turned him over, and she cried out to Yesh Silimherum in agony at his wounds.   His armor had kept his organs in his body, but all blood had left him and the chill of the river had frozen his corpse nearly as white as the skin of the girl.

 

The great lady went to her knees, her arms spread wide as she cried out in a piercing voice, “In nomine domini Yesh lumine corpus plenum restitui age!”

 

Her servants bowed reverently as a green glow covered the corpse of the young man, growing brighter and brighter until the night fled from its glory.

 

The lady maintained her posture, her head lifted to heaven and tears streaming from her closed eyes as she chanted in the Linguam regali tongue, “Yesh, Vitae magister, cura nepotis mei! Cura nepotism mei!  Cura nepotism mei!”

 

The glow surrounding the Elven man grew so brilliant that the servants could not look upon him but shielded their eyes.  

 

Still the Great Lady cried out in agony, “Domine exaudi orationem meam super eum! Restitue animam eius!”

 

Again and again she cried out, but slowly the green glow faded and she rushed feverishly over to him.   His form was completely whole, restored to the peak of health.

 

Except that he did not breathe.

 

“Inspirare vitam in eum! Inspirare vitam in se!” She screamed heavenward.

 

Behind her, unseen by all, Snoe stirred slightly.  Her ears rang as if her head was within a bell tower, but she could hear someone crying out some sort of spell.   Opening her eyes, she found her vision covered with a heavy fog, but as she tried to blink the blur away, an indistinct flash of white light above her, hanging in the air directly over her, caught her attention.  

 

Dreamily she tried to reach for it, but it was far from her reach.   Three forms appeared in the white light, two dark and vaguely familiar, the other one fair and lovely, who she recognized at once as Queen Eioldth.   Snoe took in a ragged breath to call out to them, but before she could, their chant began.

 

“I am the life everlasting,

I am He that giveth life to all,

Yea, though evil has stole the breath of life,

Behold, I breathe life into the mouth of the righteous,

And giveth new life to those who putteth their trust in me!”

 

Eioldth and the two Drow chanted the words of Yesh together, and Snoe knew of the passage.   But after chanting the words twice, suddenly one of the Drow, who Snoe could recall having seen before - somewhere- spoke with emphasis, “GIVETH LIFE!!”

Then the beautiful Drow lady added, “BREATHE LIFE INTO THE MOUTH OF THE RIGHTEOUS!”

Finally Eioldth also said forcefully, “GIVETH NEW LIFE!  TRUST IN ME!  TRUST IN ME!!”

Then together, the three yelled, “BREATHE LIFE!! BREATHE LIFE!  BREATHE LIFE!”

There was a flash and suddenly the vision ended.   

Snoe’s entire head throbbed and she could not see straight, but she turned her body to the left and through the blur of her vision, she saw a beautiful lady kneeling in front of Aedric’s corpse, with four wide-eyed Sylvan Elf men standing nearby, looking up to where the vision had appeared, then back down at their mistress and also at her.

 

Snoe pulled her broken body across the mossy slick rock face like a seal.   The Great Lady didn’t see her until she was over Aedric.   His body was whole, but his lips were blue and he wasn’t breathing.   The lady cried out in surprise as she saw her.

But Snoe was transfixed by her purpose as she leaned over him, her lips parting as she covered his cold lips.   With a painful, deep breath, she completely covered his mouth with hers and blew air into his lungs.

 

His restored chest cavity expanded with the force of her breath, but then… nothing.

“Live.” She whispered into his ear as she again took a ragged breath and breathed it into his mouth.

Again his chest expanded, but that was all.

“Live!” She said hoarsely and immediately breathed into his mouth again with the same effect.

“I said LIVE!” She shouted at him, fear creeping over her as again she blew air into his lungs.   Again nothing.   She felt either one of the Elven men or the lady herself pulling her back from him, but she pulled away.

“LIVE! FOR GOD’S SAKE, LIVE!”  In frustration, she pounded the side of her fist against his chest and was leaning down to blow air into his mouth again, when his chest suddenly moved and he took a gurgling breath, only to cough water violently into her face.  

 

His eyes were wide in terror as he expelled the water from his lungs, but after a few moments of coughing, he fell back onto the rock, gulping in air, half-unconscious.

 

“That’s more like it.” Snoe whispered to him, lowering her terribly spinning head until it rested against his cold wet chainmail.   Even through the metal armor, she could hear his rapid and strong heartbeat.   She sighed, pleased at the sound and would have slipped off to sleep right there, had not the lady touched her cheek.

“Snoe?   Daughter of Eleazar and Aurei?!”  She asked, her face inches from hers.

Snoe sleepily opened her eyes and smiled slightly, “Queen Mathlyn!   What are you doing here?  Where… where are we?   The bridge fell and…”

“Shh!”  The lady leaned over and kissed her cheek as her gentle hands examined her head injury, “You are healing on your own.   Magic is at work here!  You should have died, child!”

“Imagine that.” She replied, drifting off into sleep, but the lady gently nudged her back to semi-consciousness.

“Child, where are your parents?   Were they on the bridge with you?”

“No… only Aedric and I were there.   We were trying to cross it.”

“What happened?”

“We set it on fire… so they couldn’t cross to Westmark.   They’ll have to go around.   We’ve got to warn them!”   She tried to sit up, but her head was throbbing too badly, and Mathlyn gently restrained her.

“Do not fear, child, the alarm has been raised.”

“It has?   Hey, what are you doing here, anyway?”

The Sylvan Queen smiled, “A vision, child, told me to come here, upon this night, to save both of you.”

“Where is your husband?   King Travin?”

“He marches with 1,000 Sylvan archers to assist Westmark.”

“Yesh, be praised!”  Snoe sighed, “But they’ll need more help.   Redburr has a huge army marching against them, Your Majesty.”

“Let not your heart be fearful, child.   Thanks to your sabotage, there will be many more forces marshaled to defend Westmark.   Rest easy, you have done well.”

 

A groan from Aedric made them all turn to him and Mathlyn leaned in close to him.

“Can you hear me, child?”

Aedric opened his eyes and gasped, for an instant he thought he was looking upon the face of his mother.   In stunned silence he stared at her in disbelief, but his foggy mind slowly realized that while she greatly resembled her, this lady had an air about her that told him she was older.   Not that she seemed any older than the vision of his mother that he had in his mind.  

 

The lady was of average height for an Elf and was slim and graceful.   Her long brown hair was braided perfectly like a lovely rope while her large brown eyes sparkled in the moonlight with deep wisdom and kindness.   Though her ears were pointed and her features were sharp, she certainly wasn’t a Sylvan Elf, for her skin was a paler shade then the Wood Elves.  

 

He had seen several extraordinarily beautiful Elven women,  and though he suspected that she wasn’t exactly Elven, he now added another.   She was definitely Fae, but something different and far older than even the Faesidhe Elves.   He had heard stories of her, some from his mother.   She was the Great Lady of the Forest, some said she was a nymph or some other forest faerie, but King Travin had taken her as a wife long ago and while he had aged slightly as Elves do, over the centuries, she remained unchanged.

 

She had bore King Travin four daughters, all extraordinary and breathtakingly beautiful.   His mother had been the oldest.

 

She was Mathlyn, Queen of the Sylvan Elves of the Old Forest.

His grandmother.

“Your Royal Majesty.” He finally said to her, lost in awe of her.

“Do you know who I am, child?” She asked, smiling joyously.

“You are Your Royal Majesty, Queen Mathlyn of the Sylvan Kingdom.”

She laughed, and her voice was one of the most lovely sounds he had ever heard, “My goodness, aren’t you respectful.   Aedric, I am your mother’s mother.   Your grandmother!”

“Yes ma’am.” He replied awkwardly, not knowing how to respond.   But she leaned over and hugged him, kissing his cheek.   She smelled of forest flowers and it was the smell of his mother, which came back to him then, painfully clear.   In spite of himself, he reached out and embraced her, reveling in the connection to his mother.  

“Long have I wanted to see you, my dear child.   Painfully long years have I desired to see the son of my eldest daughter, whose presence I missed as well.”

“My father would not allow us to journey to see you.”

“Yes, I know, my child.   Your grandfather longed to see you as well.   Now he shall have that chance.   I received a vision from Yesh to come here on this night with my best healers.   I was told to watch for you.   To rescue you.”

“You saved my life!”

The Queen smiled, “I saved your body, but she breathed life back into you with a kiss.”  She gestured to Snoe, who still lay against his chest, half-asleep.

“Snoe?” He said, and she stirred slightly, smiling sweetly, but not opening her eyes.

“How could she have survived that fall?”

“A magic ring or some similar device, I would imagine.”

“How did she restore me?”

“By breathing for you.” Snoe answered in a groggy voice, still without opening her eyes, “I saw a vision too - I think it was of my mother’s cousins, but I also saw Queen Eioldth.    They recited words from Yesh and I knew what to do.”

“Where are we?” He asked, as unconsciously he began stroking Snoe’s hair.

“We are on a ledge in the middle of the Fallow River, about half a mile downstream from the Dwarven Bridge.”  Queen Mathlyn explained.   She recounted for him how they had waited for them and pulled them from the river.

“I shouldn’t be alive… again.   Three times I’ve survived death.”

“Yesh has plans for you, child.”   Mathlyn said glancing at him, then at the half-asleep Albino Drow girl.

“Oh.” Aedric said, “Sorry!  This is Snoe-“

“Yes, Aedric, I know her.   Her parents and sisters and brother as well.   But Snoe I know better than her sisters, as she has come with Master Thorm and the Dwarves several times to Tarmard.”

He had to tell her about the loss of life of the Dwarf and of Snoe’s sisters, as well as Queen Eioldth, and Mathlyn lowered her head sadly at the news.

“Such pain, caused by unguided men who think they are acting in God’s behalf.”

“Your Majesty, we must warn Westmark!”  He suddenly remembered the danger.   She held up her hands to calm him and repeated the news about the forces rushing to Westmark’s aid.

“Good, but we need to help them, Your Majesty.”

“I think not.   The vision instructed me to take both of you back to Tarmard with me.   It was from Yesh Silimherum and you shall obey it.  Both of you.” 

“But Your Majesty!” He protested, but she looked at him with fake sternness, though her eyes sparkled.

“You shall obey me, Aedric.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Enough of that!   No more of this ‘Your Majesty’, you shall call me ‘Amilyo’ which is ‘grandmother’ in Sylvan.   It is a term I find extremely joyous to hear.”

“Yes… Amilyo.” He said with a slight smile and she beamed upon hearing that name.

“Do not worry, you will be helping the cause of Westmark by coming to Tarmard.   It will bring great joy to my people as well.”

“It will… why?”

“Aedric, the Sylvan people do not allow women to reign without their husbands at their side.   I have bore only daughters to King Travin and none of them can ever rule.   You are the son of our oldest daughter.”

“Yes… so?”

“Aedric, you are the crown prince of the Sylvan people and Travin’s heir apparent!”

“What?!  But-“

“Enough of this for now!   We will speak of this later.   Both of you need rest.   We shall return to Tarmard and discuss this later.”

“How far away is Tarmard?”   Aedric asked, knowing that the Sylvan Kingdom was said to be in a very large wooded valley in the Carcaicasse Mountains north of the Faesidhe Forest.

“It is a far distance away, but fortunately we will not have to travel as the King and his archers travel, nor as we travelled here.   The way back is much quicker.”

 

 

Before he could ask anything else, the Sylvan Queen stood up and pulled from her robe pockets, a large golden hoop that at first he though was some sort of armband or necklace.   She held the hoop at arm’s length and said the word “Tarmard”.   Suddenly the hoop expanded until it was large enough for them to pass through.  

In the center of the ring now appeared a wooded scene and he realized it was some sort of teleportation device.   The servants helped both him and Snoe stand and led them through the hoop.   After they had gone through, she passed through and joined them in the Sylvan Kingdom of Tarmard, the hoop becoming just a ring again on the other side.  

“Welcome to your Kingdom.”   Mathlyn said to her grandson.

 

TO BE CONTINUED IN 'THE FORGING OF THE KING' COMING TO WRITER'S CAFE ON MAY 1ST, 2014.

Reviews

[Elina]

"...would have, if unbraided, have..." You can remove one of the "have" here.
"...to call out to them, but before they could..." I think, maybe, you were wanting "she" here, instead of "they."

Well...another book down...! Now to start on The Forging of the King. Haha!

[Eddie Davis]

Elina, I am fairly certain you are the first person on Writer's Cafe, that has read all of my books. I am honored, and as always, extremely grateful to you for taking the time to proof read. I don't think I had any idea how many mistakes pop up in a book afterwards. Thanks a million for your time and ability.

[Elina]

You are most welcome! It is honestly such a joy to read your books (and poems, too).