Chapter 16 #2
The Evergloom surprised her mainly because of her ability to distinguish between different levels of darkness.
The cavern where they’d first landed had been covered in those purple lights, which brought a calming, magical energy to the surrounding world.
And not to forget, the mystical golden tree, a tree with an actual tree spirit.
Not all the Evergloom was dark and unforgiving.
It could be beautiful, and gentle even .
Dark Elves and Light Elves. Were they both so different from one another?
Perhaps it was similar to the difference between day and night.
The sun thinks the dark, cold, and full of terrors, desperately in need of its comforting light, yet the night sees the sun as oppressive and domineering, always chasing it away at the start of the day.
Perhaps this disconnect between Light Elf and Dark Elf was based on different perspectives, depending on how one views darkness and light.
“There is light ahead.” Shikra started into a run, and she sped up to follow him.
Sure enough, there was light in the cave now, and she could fully make out Shikra’s face beside her and the rock walls surrounding them.
They stopped running when they came to a fork in the path, one veering to the left that had a white glowing light, faint but still visible; the other on the right was brighter and glowed the violet color of the Dark Elf crystal stars.
“I know this place,” Shikra said. He looked to the path on the left. “This is an entrance to the surface world.” He then turned to look at the path on the right. “And this leads to Dark Elf land, to the town of Sintal.”
“How are you so sure?”
Shikra nodded his head toward the stacks of rocks at each entrance. “It says it right here.”
“The stones told you?” She inspected them. At the start of each path, next to the wall, there were rocks of various sizes stacked up upon each other, resembling cairns. How could the stones “speak” to him? Was this Dark Elf magic ?
“How do you listen to them?” she asked, very curious to learn how this worked for Dark Elves. She picked up a stone from the top of a cairn and placed it against her ear. She’d heard of Wood Elves listening to the trees, but never Dark Elves listening to stones.
Shikra gave her a curious look and then broke out into laughter. She pouted her lips at him and put the stone back in its place.
He stopped laughing when he noticed her response.
“Pout not, little flower,” he said and pinched her cheek. “I cannot ‘hear’ the stones. They are not trees, and I am not Wood Elf. Rather, the way the stones are placed, their size and shape too, is a language. I can read it.”
She rubbed her sore cheek. “I see. How silly of me.”
He stood there for a moment, looking at her as if expecting something. What was he …?
“Take this path and it will lead you to the surface. Find the road below the mountain and follow it south. Alfheim is less than a two-day journey on foot.”
Oh, that’s why he’d been staring. This was goodbye.
“I must take the other path.” As he said this, he glanced behind his shoulder to the purple glow coming from the path to the right as if an invisible rope tugged on him, reminding him of his mission.
Think of something, anything, to stay with him!
She reached out and grabbed his arm, feeling his muscles harden with her grip. He looked down at her hand and then at her face. His eyes narrowed into what she guessed was suspicion, or maybe it was annoyance .
She loosened her grip and withdrew her hand. “I’m sorry,” she said, dropping her eyes from him.
“Do not worry, little flower.” She flinched when his hand drew her chin up to look at his face.
He paid no heed to that and gave her a long stare, which he did not break despite the subtle tension rising between the two.
“You’ll see me again. That much I can promise.
Just as your sun will rise on the coming dawn. ”
The elves were long-lived, and they valued intelligence and wisdom and sought truth in magic and nature.
But this did not mean they were without vice.
At the best of times, they were protective of what they regarded as theirs, but, at the worst of times, this protectiveness took a darker, more sinister character, bordering on obsession, and displayed their oftentimes possessive nature.
Because of the scarcity of resources in the Evergloom compared to the surface, the Dark Elves were known to be jealous and covetous, and guarded what was theirs with extreme ferocity.
But Light Elves were no strangers to this either.
All the infighting within the Elven Council, the vying and conniving over power, could easily prove that.
Also, it was a Light Elf who ordered Lindana’s assassination.
For what purpose was unknown to her, but it probably involved power or the lust for it.
Aelrie could be just as needful. Nothing would stop her from her revenge. Not even Shikra.
“I …” She wanted to say, “I will go with you.” But he wouldn’t let her. “I,” she started again, “need to return this to you.” She took off the cloak and handed it to him. “Here. ”
He looked down at it with a frown and then pushed the cloak back to her. “Take it. You’ll need it. It gets cold at night on the surface. The leaves on your trees are starting to turn color and will soon fall to the ground.”
She tilted her head in confusion. The dwellers of the Evergloom still knew what happened to the trees during the fall?
“I know your seasons, even if we have none in the Evergloom,” he told her by way of an answer to the curious look she was giving him. “I have been to the surface many times.”
“I see,” she said, but still pushed the cloak back to him. “But I know the fire spell. You’re not the only one. I can light a fire if need be. Besides, there is a town on the way to Alfheim with a lovely inn, or so I’ve heard.”
There was silence between them as he stood there, waiting. “Aren’t you going to go?” she asked, “I know you are in a hurry to get back.”
“I’ll watch you leave. Unless you wanted something to remember me by.” He took a step closer to her, his breath on her lips.
“No.” She backed up. “I will be fine.”
She turned to the path that led up and veered to the right.
The white light was brighter in that corner.
But she only took a few steps forward and turned around again.
Shikra was still there, watching and waiting, so she turned back to the path.
The light ahead was bright white, and she squinted in its glory after having been down in the Evergloom for days.
It was tempting. Being so close to safety, familiarity, home, and out of the eerily dark Evergloom. But she couldn’t go back until she finished the job she’d set for herself. Until she got her revenge .
Taking a deep breath in, she turned from the light and walked quietly to the bend in the path, headed back to the Evergloom. Leaning her head in, she listened for Shikra. There was a rustle of wind and a tumble of rock farther down. No sound of footsteps, though.
Had he left already? She should peek around the corner to check.
Something told her not to, though. It was a strange feeling. Like when you look out into a dark forest and see nothing there, yet you feel a presence. She waited at the edge of the turn. There was nothing for a rather long moment. Then, soft footsteps.
As she peered around the bend, Shikra was not there anymore. She left her hiding spot and took the path with the soft violet light that led deeper into the Evergloom to follow him.