Chapter 26 #2
“Come on, ladies, let's go. Vyrenth Hollow awaits.” Garrick threw me a dazzling smile and walked ahead of us with confident strides.
Sirril floated next to him, and I fell in step with Arielle.
Vyrenth Hollow. The name slithered across my mind with quiet wonder, just as it had when I first heard it.
My imagination had conjured a haunting fortress carved from bone and darkness, fitting for a man who commanded shadows.
I'd envisioned blackened spires piercing a perpetually gray sky and stone walls where gargoyles perched, keeping watch with ancient hunger.
The kind of place death forgot to leave, where nightmares took root and flourished.
An uneasy mix of fear and anticipation made me shiver from within. What indeed awaited me at Wolfe's home? And when would he grace us with his brooding presence?
Garrick escorted us through the quiet harbor.
I guessed we were at some sort of private port because no one else was around.
Back home, every harbor I knew bustled with life right through the day and sometimes at night.
Here, it was only us and the seabirds crying above our heads like lonely spirits.
We merged onto a cobbled path, and my legs wobbled. Arielle quickly linked her arm with mine and gave me a reassuring smile.
“Easy there. I've got you.” She offered a gentle nod, a silent reminder of her earlier promise to help me.
“Thank you.”
She gave me an easy smile and focused ahead. I did the same.
Our path led us to a woodland area where, waiting for us, stood a stunning golden carriage with breathtaking craftsmanship.
Attached to it were four majestic Crown Elks.
Each had a massive rack of antlers that spanned wider than the carriage itself.
The beasts' fur transitioned from midnight black at their muscular legs to a silvery-blue across powerful bodies, with scattered white markings like constellations mapped across their flanks.
Like everything else in this magical realm, I'd only ever seen these magnificent creatures in Grandmother's books. Seeing such majestic beauty in real life left me breathless.
My reaction didn't go unnoticed. Both Sirril and Arielle beamed at me like proud parents.
“Of all the creatures in the realm, these are my favorite,” Sirril grinned, his eyes sparkling with genuine affection.
“Mine too,” Garrick spoke without looking back at me. “I feel honored that the Crown Elk chose to stay in the magical realm after the war divided the realms.”
“They... chose?” There was so much I didn't know, so many gaps in my education.
That included the Great war. The meager battles I'd experienced in the mortal realm were nothing compared to that legendary conflict, and no one spoke of it anymore.
But Wolfe and his comrades had been around for centuries.
They would have grown up on stories about that war, lived through its aftermath.
“All magical beings, including animals, were given a choice. Most stayed because they didn't want to give up their magic as dictated by the Accords.”
His words settled in my mind. Only days ago, I’d worried my mother was going to strip my powers. The choice of being here had never been available to me until now.
Deep down I knew I’d choose to keep my powers too. I’d never want to be without them. Although no plans had been made, I’d always hoped Grandmother would have found a way to allow me to keep them. Now I was here in the place where powers like mine belonged.
“Ladies first,” Garrick announced when we reached the carriage.
He opened the door and stepped aside so that Arielle and I could climb in. He and Sirril followed, the interior spacious enough to accommodate us all comfortably.
I was about to ask if we had a coachman when Garrick uttered a single magical word that seemed to crystallize in the fresh morning air. “Faelborne,” he'd said, the syllables rolling off his tongue like an ancient incantation.
The command made the Crown Elks' ears twitch with recognition. Antlers rose proudly, and they moved with purposeful grace, pulling the carriage forward as if something primal had awakened within them.
My eyes widened with amazement, and my breath stilled as they picked up speed and galloped along the path without further command.
Their wild power and ethereal beauty rendered me speechless, and I couldn't tear my gaze away from them. Every passing second of watching solid muscle rippling beneath their silver-blue fur pulled me deeper into fascination, and into this world that seemed too beautiful to be real.
It wasn't until we got deeper into the woods that I was lured away from them by the splendor of deep evergreen and sapphire-blue oak trees.
Magic thrummed through my bones as the carriage rattled along the path, and I took in the scenery before me like an explorer setting off on the adventure of a lifetime.
The trees and the sky and the babbling brook were alive with color. Like they had a heartbeat with a soul. The realm itself breathed with untamed energy that sang in my blood, called to something deep within me that had been sleeping too long.
What else would I see on my travels here?
Galaythia was the biggest kingdom in Vaelthorne. Its lands were so vast it could fit all seven kingdoms of Nelkaraad at least three times over and still have enough room to throw in a few islands.
And this feeling... the spirit of life breathing in the air. It was like food, nourishment for my soul. I closed my eyes for a moment and inhaled deeply, just as I had earlier when I was with Wolfe.
“You feel it, my Lady?” Sirril asked, his eyes brightening with excitement. “The life of the realm?”
I looked at him and nodded, unable to hide my admiration. “Is that what that is?”
“Indeed.”
“Everything is so beautiful.” I chanced a smile, feeling almost giddy.
“You haven't seen anything yet,” Garrick said with a quick drum of his fingers over the handle of the carriage door. “This is just the beginning and hardly anything.”
“Really? This is what you call hardly anything?” I pointed to the cluster of blue oak, their leaves shimmering like jewels. “Back home, the forest looks like something from a nightmare that could eat you whole and spit your bones out.”
Arielle giggled. “We have woodlands like that here, too, but for the most part, they look like this.”
“Or better,” Garrick offered, and Arielle nodded her agreement.
“I'd love to see it all.” I spoke without really thinking that I shouldn't be wishing for anything, but they obliged me with kind smiles.
“Don't worry, we'll show you,” Garrick's answer sounded like a promise, and for a moment, I could almost forget why I was really here.
“Thank you.”
I looked back at the scenery, quickly getting lost once more as the carriage rolled by.
Shadows danced between the array of trees, luminescent flowers adorned their feet like fallen stars, the air sparkled with visible magic, and I couldn't stop myself from loving what I saw.
All that time we'd spent on the ship, it had never crossed my mind to hate where we were going. I couldn't wait to get settled later and write about everything I'd seen and felt.
Half an hour later, the carriage settled into a smoother rhythm, and Arielle's hand found mine. “We're here,” she whispered, pointing to where the trees were thickest. “You're going to like this part.”
Not even a second passed before the trees parted before our path like curtains drawn back, revealing the sea in all its glorious expanse.
I thought the elk would slow down, but instead, they sped up and pushed forward, leaping into the sea with fearless grace.
“Oh Gods!” I shrieked, grasping the armrest so tightly my knuckles turned bone white, my heart launching into my throat.
I expected to be immersed as the carriage sank into the depths, but I was taken aback when the elk skipped across the water, guiding us smoothly on the surface as though we were still on solid ground.
Arielle and Garrick laughed at my shock, but not unkindly.
“I reacted the same way,” Garrick said, casting a glance ahead at the mighty elk powering forward with mystical grace.
“Me, too. I had a full panic attack.” Arielle gave my hand a gentle squeeze of understanding.
“Not me.” Sirril shook his head with obvious pride. “I was so fascinated I got the elk to take me around again and again. We stayed out all night.”
I chuckled, feeling lighter despite myself. “How are they able to glide across the waters? And with the carriage too?” I knew the answer would always be magic, but I wanted to know the deeper intricacies, all the beautiful details that made this world so enchanting.
“They are Moonfrost-borne,” Arielle explained, her voice taking on the cadence of someone sharing ancient lore. “The elk of Vaelthorne carry a lunar blessing, bestowed upon their kind during the Age of Echoes. A time before the Accords, and before the Illymiare Moon faded away.”
“There was a moon that faded away?” I didn't even know that could happen, that something so eternal could simply cease to exist.
“Yes. There was a time when there were always two moons in the sky. Legend says the rift between realms, and the raising of the Veil, made the moon unstable. It lingered for a few hundred years after, then gradually faded, becoming less and less each year, until it was gone.”
“That's so sad.” The tragedy of it hit me unexpectedly. It was saddening to imagine a whole moon lost forever.
“It is. But it left its magic in creatures like the Crown elk, descendants of the Moonfrost herd, who were said to have once lived on the moon itself.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “They lived on the actual moon?”
Garrick smiled, nodding alongside Arielle with the patience of those used to explaining wonders to mortals.
“They certainly did,” she said. “They can harness the power of the moon and the tides. Their hooves solidify the water the moment they touch it. Whatever they carry, like this carriage, becomes part of them temporarily, so it won't sink.”
“That's absolutely amazing.” The words felt inadequate for the miracle I was witnessing.
I looked out the window and noticed the faint shimmer on the water's surface, left behind in the elk's wake.
“I think you'll find a lot of amazing things here, my lady,” Sirril said, watching the shimmer with me, his voice gentle and knowing.
I glanced back at him and smiled, a thrill blooming in my chest. He was right. Everything I saw here would be a marvel, because I'd come from a place that had denied me magic for far too long.
Ahead, a path appeared with a pair of massive wrought-iron gates, and I prepared myself to see the dark fortress I'd created in my mind.
The elk galloped onto the path, prompting the gates to swing open with silent grace. Then we rode onto a paved stone path that led to a manor that looked nothing like the brooding fortress of nightmares I'd conjured in my imagination.
There were no blackened spires piercing a gray sky. No haunted shadows clinging to cursed stone. No hideous gargoyles perched on the walls or gables of the roof, watching with hungry eyes.
Instead, a honey-colored stone manor rose from the earth like it had been carved from a dream. A beautiful, impossible dream.
Its pale stone walls gleamed in the late morning light, kissed by threads of warm sunlight that made them glow like liquid gold. Twin towers pierced the sky, not with menace but with quiet watchfulness, while vines of silver-leafed ivy curled around the outer walls like nature's own decoration.
“This is Vyrenth Hollow?” I whispered, my voice filled with the weight of my surprise and something dangerously close to awe.
“Indeed, it is,” Arielle replied with a proud nod, as if she'd had a hand in creating this masterpiece.
Wolfe's home was something far worse than what I'd expected.
It was beautiful.
And that beauty terrified me more than any nightmare fortress ever could.