Chapter 9 #2
Rhalyf made a strange sound in the back of his throat but said nothing. Hadn’t they been teasing one another earlier about how Rhalyf had smelled to Snaglak? So Snaglak knew that Rhalyf was a Night Elf, too. But the orc had kept silent about that as well.
A good friend. Like Helgrom. Snaglak is a loyal friend to me.
“N-Night Elf?” Elasha gasped. “He doesn’t look like a–a Night Elf!”
Declan almost touched his face then. He didn’t. No white hair and red eyes. But magic could hide most anything. Yet he wasn’t spelling himself. Someone else must have long ago when he was brought to his adopted parents’ doorstep.
So they lied to me too. That whole story about adopting me from Ukraine. My parents dying in a car accident. All of it. A lie.
He held onto Sorrow’s End more tightly. The blade seemed to quiver with his emotions.
He couldn’t feel all of this betrayal right now.
He had to be cold as ice and with clear-eyed determination to get to Finley.
At least, their fear of him likely would make them retreat from him.
Maybe not Snaglak, Glom or Helgrom, but Aquilan, Elasha and Darcassan.
He wasn’t sure what Rhalyf would do. The elf still believed he could hide who and what he was.
Well, Declan wouldn’t rat him out. He’d done him a favor with the Adiva.
He wouldn’t blame the other Night Elf for staying silent.
“Of course, he doesn’t! He’d have been strung up the moment he entered the Empire,” Darcassan muttered and Declan’s shoulder blades twitched. It was as he had thought. “But he can’t just be any Kindreth with a sword like that! I mean unless he stole it.”
“You are the only potential thief in this company, Darcassan,” Rhalyf snarled. “And no one could steal a Niri blade.”
“It was a gift,” Declan answered. “From my…”
Who are you? He asked the elf. Are you… Xelroth Vex?
No answer.
Maybe Finley was talking the elf’s pointed ears off. Maybe he was just ignoring Declan until he arrived in Illithor. And they were face to face.
“Uncle, m-maybe you should step away from h-him?” Elasha’s voice quavered.
With all this talk, Aquilan had said nothing. Declan could feel the Sun King’s warm presence at his side. But he was silent. Yet he didn’t step away. Declan should wish he would. If Aquilan hated him then he would leave. Go back to Tyrael. Be safe.
And what about after? When I save Finley and bring him back? Will there be a place for me here any longer?
But that assumed the elf was not his father, not the Night King, and wanted nothing to do with him. Declan didn’t think that last part was true. The elf was ready to meet him and… what? Offer him a new life? Did he want a new life?
“Declan?” Aquilan finally said. A breath. His name. Declan’s heart lurched.
“I would never hurt you,” Declan promised. “Never. But Snaglak is right. I think. I am… I have to get to Finley.”
“Declan!” Aquilan’s hand was on his chin, turning his head to look at him.
Declan couldn’t look in his eyes. What if he saw fear? Or hatred? He’d thought he wanted that, but he couldn’t bear it. He wanted to remember Aquilan smiling at him. He wanted to always see the Sun King laughing in daylight, not scowling at him in the dark.
“Look at me, Declan,” Aquilan said. Commanded.
Declan’s eyes flickered up to Aquilan’s. No hatred. His heart sang. Aquilan’s face was beauty incarnate as it always was. Concern was written in his thoughtful brow. More in the tug of his lips. The Sun King reached up and took off Declan’s sunglasses.
“Green,” Aquilan breathed. “But with a glamour, I suppose they would be. Not…”
“Red? I don’t know. I have no idea,” Declan admitted. “That’s why I have to go.”
“To Illithor?” Aquilan questioned.
“Yes. To get Finley. And–”
“And to find out who you are?” Aquilan finished for him. Such kindness in his voice and eyes! Such understanding! No fear. Just concern and grief for him.
“Someone is waiting for me there,” Declan admitted.
“Who? The person watching and listening to you?” A trace of alarm.
He nodded. But he wanted to soothe Aquilan’s fear for him. “He saved Finley.”
“He saved… saved Finley?” Rhalyf stepped towards him. The golden-skinned elf looked pale, sweaty, shaking. “Finley is with… with… him?”
“Yes, Finley’s safe,” Declan said, certain of that. “Asking questions. Having the time of his life most likely. If it is… well, he’s safe and that’s all that matters. But I must go to him.”
“Safe? How can you be sure? After all, that depends on who this mystery person stalking you is!” Elasha got out. “They could be using Finley to lure you to them!”
Her fear of him from before seemed to have bled away again. She appeared to like him against her better judgment. Or maybe it was because her uncle seemed to like him very much.
Helgrom was stroking his beard. “No one can simply go to Illithor, Declan.”
“He can. He says… it’s home,” Declan explained. “Our home. His and mine.”
Aquilan’s blue eyes widened. “You are not going there alone to meet this person.”
“But he could be…” Declan couldn’t say the words.
“The only Night Elf that could be in Illithor, Aquilan, is Vex,” Rhalyf said. He looked like he was eating glass as he said it. But he got the words out. “No other Night Elves can even find the place. The wards protect it and hide it.”
“But the Leviathan found it,” Darcassan objected.
Aquilan kept staring into Declan’s eyes. Was he waiting for them to turn red? “The wards were to keep the Leviathan out of Earth as well. But they are no longer working properly. Maybe they are not obscuring Illithor’s location from other Night Elves either.”
“No, it’s Vex. It can only be Vex,” Rhalyf said dully. He looked like he was about to walk the plank.
“Has he told you who he is, Declan?” Aquilan asked. “Indicated–”
“No. the only name he’s given me is–is supposedly my own,” Declan admitted and shifted from foot to foot.
“What name did he give you?” Elasha asked.
“Prince Rahven Vaeduzor,” Declan told him, feeling odd and yet right to say the name out loud. The addition of the title was the strangest part.
“Prince?! Oh, well… But no ‘Vex’ in there so… so that’s good!” Elasha smiled hopefully. “Isn’t that good, Uncle?”
“Vaeduzor is Vex’s father’s name,” Helgrom said quietly.
“So he’s Vex’s brother then?” Elasha blinked.
“No,” Rhalyf gritted his teeth. “In Kindreth naming tradition…”
“What, Rhalyf? Tell us,” Aquilan asked.
Rhalyf looked at Aquilan as if the Sun King had asked him to disembowel himself, but he smiled thinly and said, “Vex’s son would have his grandfather’s name as his middle name.
So Rahven is his given name. Vaeduzor is the name of his grandfather.
The name after that would be his mother’s surname.
And finally, his father’s surname. So he gave you two clues, Declan. ”
“But not my mother’s name?” Declan asked. “Why not?”
Rhalyf shrugged. “Maybe because he doesn’t want you to know who she is. Maybe he wants her to tell you. I don’t know.”
“Does Vex have a queen? A Night Queen?” Elasha asked.
“No,” Rhalyf said firmly as he sliced a hand through the air. “He shares the throne with no one.”
“Was there anyone he was close to, Rhalyf?” Aquilan asked. He was looking at his best friend with a furrowed brow. He seemed certain that Rhalyf would know this intimate knowledge.
Rhalyf’s shoulders were so tight against his body he looked shrunken, but he answered the question and didn’t try to say he didn’t know.
“Vex has a great appetite for sex. Not love. The closest to a real relationship after Ailduin maybe was his involvement with Lady Ashryn Zinsadoral, but that was over long ago.”
“Lady Ashryn?” Declan’s voice rose at her name. He took a step towards Rhalyf. “They were… were lovers?”
His mind flashed back on that memory of her. How loving she had been to him. But, at the same time, she had never claimed to be his mother. She had left him in the not-so-tender clutches of Vulre. Would a mother do that?
Only if she wanted her son to grow up trusting no one and nothing.
“Long ago. Nothing recent… that I know about obviously!” Rhalyf tossed his head back and seemed to suddenly realize he had been talking about Vex with disturbing intimacy.
“I truly don’t know! No one knows if Vex loves anyone.
If he did that person would be in danger from his many enemies. Think about it!”
“And so would a son,” Helgrom muttered.
“Declan big boss,” Snaglak repeated.
“Are we all really here saying that this–this person is the Night Prince?” Darcassan pointed at Declan. “And he’s lived in our territory and–”
“I was here before you,” Declan practically growled.
Aquilan squeezed his shoulder. “Declan, whoever your parents are doesn’t matter. What does matter is who you are. What we know of you. And what we do know is all good. You are a citizen of the Empire.”
“Do you really believe that, Aquilan?” Rhalyf asked. He didn’t look hopeful. He looked completely blank as he asked it. “Your feelings towards Night Elves… Well, you’ve been quite clear. In the past in any event. Even today.”
Aquilan looked down at the ground. He was clearly confused about his own actions and frowned deeply. “I… perhaps I am a hypocrite, Rhalyf. But I just can’t believe ill of Declan. I can’t see him as I have other Kindreth in the past.”
Declan felt a wash of warmth go through him. But it was followed by a chill. Aquilan was holding off on judging him when maybe he shouldn’t.
“Changing your mind isn’t a bad thing,” Rhalyf said quietly. “Judging a person for themself and not their family or their species is… is a good thing. Can be. Sometimes. Especially if they’ve shown you over time that they are someone to be trusted.”
Aquilan’s head lifted and he searched Rhalyf’s face.
“I’m sure there are good Night Elves, right?” Elasha asked with a helpless shrug.
“They are good people and bad people in every species,” Helgrom crossed his arms over his chest. “And, Aquilan, you’ve always believed that about me even though I am a Dark Dwarf.
You’ve given many people a chance to prove themselves.
So you aren’t being a hypocrite by being open to believing in Declan.
You’re actually living up to what you normally are.
I know… I know you have understandable feelings about the Kindreth, but–”
“The possibility of me being whatever I am makes me dangerous to you, Aquilan. You shouldn’t make any decisions until you know the truth.
You might feel differently,” Declan told him and stepped out from under his hand.
He felt the loss of it like a brand on his skin.
Aquilan didn’t drop his hand, but still held it out to him.
“I have no idea who or what I am. Let’s just wait. ”
“Well, we have quite a wait ahead of us for the next rift to Illithor,” Elasha said as she hunkered down on the ground. “You said there wouldn’t be another one for a few hours, Darcassan?”
“And I said you were not coming,” Declan told her firmly.
“Oh, I think we’re coming. My uncle is the Sun King and if he’s going then we’re going,” Elasha said. “And my uncle is going with you.”
“Yes, I am, Declan. I will go with you to Illithor to get Finley and to meet this elf who might know who you are,” Aquilan said just as firmly as he had. He mulishly stuck his chin out. “I will not have you face this alone.”
“Nor will I,” Helgrom said with a nod.
“Declan big boss! Glom and me go with you,” Snaglak nodded.
“I wish to see Illithor,” Darcassan answered.
Rhalyf was the last to speak. He sighed and then let out a laugh. A wild and reckless laugh. “Vex will be at the end of this road, you know?”
“Yes,” Aquilan spoke simply. “And I would speak with him. I have questions for him. About my parents. About the wards. About everything. The Sun King and the Night King shall meet.”
“Then I must go!” Rhalyf laughed wildly again. “If only to give you time to escape him, my king.”
“It will not come to that,” Aquilan said with conviction. “He must know I am with Declan. He must know that I will come too.”
“Yes, like a spider waiting in the center of his web,” Rhalyf agreed. “But we are going!”
“We are.” Aquilan nodded. “Now we should spread out so that if a rift opens–”
“I see something,” Declan interrupted.
“What?” Aquilan turned around and let out a hiss between his teeth.
“Oh!” Elasha gasped.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it. Above the ghostly essence of Finley. A crack. Green light seeped through it. It was six feet tall. It glowed. Pulsed.
“That is most definitely a rift, but it's closed!” Darcassan exclaimed. “How will we open it?”
“With a key,” Declan murmured.
He brought Sorrow’s End up. The tip of the sword quivered. It was leading him. It was showing him what to do. He thrust the tip of the blade into the crack of light. It sank in an inch, two inches, three. He drew the blade downwards. There was a grinding sound as the rift opened.
Everyone crowded round.
“By the gods…” Rhalyf whispered.
“So it's true,” Aquilan breathed.
“The city… that’s…” Elasha began.
“Illithor!” Darcassan crowed with dark delight. “I told you! I told everyone! I was right! There it is! Just waiting for us!”
Declan stepped through the rift first. His eyes were locked on the purple towers that had been in his dreams since he was a young boy. They called to him. Sang in his blood.
Welcome home, my Rahven.