Chapter 3
“Returning to the War of Shadows”
Twaylee and Aylith watched from the deck of a ship as Fortress Dendria Southeast shrank in the growing distance between them. The lesser nymph uttered, “I am longing to return to Avalon, yet I already miss Fay Dendria!”
Aylith held her close and sympathized, “As do I.”
Fay Umbra: To the elves of the Blessed Court it was the realm of the False Queen Nicnivin. To Her Majesty’s loyal subjects, however, it was the Land of Exile. Its capital was Umbra City, a bustling metropolis of many elves and imposing towers, palaces and other structures. For all the grandiosity, however, there were no graven images to be found nor monuments of any kind. There were no slums. Like all elfin cities, Umbra City was a veritable garden lush with trees and bushes and colorful and fragrant with many flowers. Parks and fountains were many. Lively music abounded, especially in the evening, when the naked sprites were free to dance and play.
The Palace of Shadows: The commanding trio of the Dark Seductresses sat together on the floor, facing each other. Vivien, the Lady of Enticement, told the other two, “The crystal is complete and in firm communion with its oracular globe.” She stared into Mistress Morganna’s eyes and told her, “An entire flotilla shall take it to the Land of Monsters. A full regiment shall guard it as it is unloaded and then bring it to their fortress. The march is less than a day’s walk, so there shall be little opportunity for our people to be waylaid en route– if the enemy is even aware the crystal ball is being sent.”
Morganna looked at Gledriss, the Lady of Assassins, who told her, “No enemy has ever been spotted in the region.”
“Which is hopeful,” Morganna considered, “but leaves us uncertain.”
“I can only tell what I know.”
“Such an esoterically linked crystal ball shall not leave Fay Umbra... unless undoubtedly well safeguarded.”
Vivien reminded, “An entire regiment shall surround the crystal as it is brought ashore and as it is brought to the fortress.”
Gledriss added, “Many goblins dwell in the area. Even wood elves are not so light of foot to tiptoe past goblins. We have already implored our stealthy allies to be watchful.”
“They shall protect the procession from ambush.”
“Milady, any raiding party large enough to be a threat cannot hope to sneak so close.”
Morganna thought for a moment, looked at Gledriss then back at Vivien, then commanded them both, “Do as you have designed to do.”
“Thank you.”
Upon their return to Avalon, Twaylee went home whilst Aylith sought audience with the Minister of the Eye and Ear. “Milord,” she happened upon Vellizar in a corridor. He was with Zandora and several lesser fays. Aylith knelt and bowed before him
“My dear,” the robed he-fay smiled, “Welcome back. I bid you to rise and to join me.” He said unto the sprites, “All of you, go and do what you are to do.”
“Yes, milord,” they bowed and departed.
“Milord,” Aylith addressed him, “I return from Fay Dendria with something to tell you.”
“Come,” he urged, “and Zandora, please come with us.”
Aylith told Vellizar, “I do not know why, but the hamadryad Auntie Shy-Heart has been summoned by the Good Mothers.”
“Auntie Shy-Heart,” Vellizar looked at Zandora.
“Milord,” Aylith wondered, “you know of her?”
“I have heard of many hamadryads.”
“Milord, she was summoned under great secrecy. Even her little ones know not why nor where she has gone. I tell you so if there is danger afoot, we may be ready for it.”
“Thank you, my dear Aylith. You have done well to tell me. Are you returning to your duties now?”
“Milord, do you need me?”
“I need you when you are ready.”
“Yes, milord. I have returned.”
“Not yet. Return to me three days hence.”
“Yes, milord.”
“Aylith.”
“Milord?”
The gray elf smiled and told her, “I am happy to see you again.”
“Thank you, milord.”
“Welcome back,” Zandora told her.
“Thank you.”
Vellizar told Aylith, “Go now, and enjoy your three days.”
Aylith bowed then departed.
Vellizar asked Zandora, “What do you know of Shy-Heart being summoned by the Good Mothers?”
“Milord, many hamadryads were called for Nayola’s sake. I believe Shy-Heart was one of them summoned.”
“Sad, indeed, that the good will of the wood elves proved in vain.”
“Indeed, milord.”
As the two gray elves ascended a winding staircase, Zandora told Vellizar, “Milord, Mizuno has sent word from Fay Umbra. He affirms what you have surmised: A seeing crystal has been made and shall soon be on its way to the Land of Monsters. Should I have him and his party attempt to destroy it?”
“No. Aylith and little Twaylee have returned and are much better at such things. Ready a ship and all else for their departure.”
“Yes, milord.”
Aylith stayed with Twaylee and the little nymph Neena for the next three days. They went to the marketplace together, visited other sprites and when home, were often visited by those same little elves. “Do you ever rest?” Aylith had asked Twaylee.
“They are my friends!”
When Twaylee was about to go with her guests to some festivity, Aylith reminded her, “We travel tomorrow.”
“I know.”
The next day, Aylith and Twaylee boarded a ship on its way to the Land of Monsters.
The Land of Monsters was a vast wilderness home to orcs, goblins and ogres; most of whom were in league with the dark elves. Fortresses had been built in these lands, in preparation for the Uncanny Court’s return to Elfland.
A little nymph’s lustrous black hair was pulled back and fastened into a tight bun. Like all elves, her ears were pointed, her bright green eyes were slanted, her face narrow and delicate and her mouth small and lips thin. Her nudity was yellowish-brown, her small body and long, willowy limbs hairless and comely. Her spindly hands wielded a spear-sword, the most common sprite weapon of all elfin armies. She was a dark elf and a foot soldier in the Dark Army of the Uncanny Court.
This elf was one in a procession of a thousand lesser nymphs who followed the three mounted, greater nymphs who commanded them. Most of the foot soldiers were armed as she was, with a long-handled short sword. Others wielded a bow and the magicians, a staff topped with a crystal of either green or blue. The three bigger elves were each armed with a sword and a bow. Unlike their naked underlings, they wore armor: black, leather corslets, bracers and boots over black blouses and form-fitting trousers.
A single wagon and its solidly encased content were the charge of this large, armed force. None but the three greater nymphs knew what was being brought. Whatever the secret, it warranted the protection of a priestess and two warrior-priestesses and their command of ten priestesses, thirty witches, two-hundred-forty archers and seven-hundred-twenty sword-sprites!
Aylith and Twaylee watched from a forested hillside as the procession passed through the valley below. “They are too many,” the littler nymph complained.
“We must try.”
“I know, but their fortress is not far from here. They shall not make camp. How can I sneak through so many if they are never going to stop?”
“Perhaps if I distract them.”
“Even you cannot fight so many, even if the greater nymphs do not join the fight. Did Vellizar know the wagon would be escorted by a full regiment?!”
“He knew it would be heavily guarded.”
“He should have sent a large raiding party to help.”
“Twaylee, we are amid our quest. Let us fulfill it.”
“How?!”
Aylith stared down at the adv
ancing throng of armed dark elves and the wagon in the midst of them. The seeing crystal would soon be delivered to the fortress. Was there no way to stop it? Aylith was not one to yield so easily.
The creature’s ears were pointed, his eyes slanted and his mouth small– but he was not an elf. He was the stature of a sprite but stronger and half the weight heavier, with a physique of firm, wiry muscles. He was a goblin; a race akin to the elves and feared for its deadly stealth.
The goblin wielded a bow and was painted in streaks and splotches of green, brown and black. He and his fellows were on the forested hillside serving as scouts for the dark elves.
Aylith did not notice the goblin watching her. The scout nocked an arrow, pulled and aimed... He ducked as she looked his way! The goblin watched and waited. The enemy elf disappeared into the bushes ahead. The goblin signaled to the other two with him... but where were they?! Suddenly he was tackled and stabbed!
“Psst!” Aylith heard. She saw Twaylee waving at her. The lesser nymph crawled over to her and whispered, “Three goblins were stalking us.”
“I presume those three shall never do so again.” Twaylee shook her head, giggling. Aylith warned, “Be mindful. There are undoubtedly more of them.”
“Undoubtedly.”
Aylith peered back down into the valley below, at the wagon and the full regiment that guarded it. She knew more goblins were moving along these hills, protecting the procession’s flanks. She and Twaylee could not reach the seeing crystal as things were, but... “The regiment below is from the enemy fortress. The fortress is not as heavily guarded until they return.”
Twaylee understood, “We do not need a road. We can reach the fortress before they do.”
“Yes. Let us make haste.”
“If we run, it shall be easier for the goblins to track us.”
“But if we delay, the dark elves shall return before we are ready to await them.”
In the forest just outside the walls of Fortress Broad Hill: A dark nymph was perched in a tree, bow and arrow in hand... when snatched over the mouth and stabbed!
Aylith was below, pouncing two sword-girls.
On the wall of the fortress: “The Land of Monsters is a beautiful country,” a sprite archer told the other with her.
“Yes, but its inhabitants are not.”
The two dark elves giggled, unnoticing the two high elves climbing up over the wall and sneaking past them.
Aylith and Twaylee stared down at the domed edifice that was the middle of the fortress. The greater nymph told the lesser, “The seeing crystal must surely be brought to the watching chamber. We shall await it there.”
“Why? The enemy shall not enter if the guards are dead or missing.”
Aylith explained, “We shall waylay those carrying the crystal.”
“Before they enter the watching chamber.”
“Yes.”
Twaylee grinned and commented, “If we prosper, then you are wise but if we fail, then you are reckless... like me.”
Aylith rolled her eyes. Twaylee giggled.
Only one sword-girl guarded the small courtyard below... until hands grabbed her head and snapped her face past her shoulder!
Aylith turned a corner and found herself behind two more sword-girls. She looked up and waited. She watched as Twaylee stabbed an overlooking archer. Aylith then crept towards the two sword-girls.
The companions of the Eye and Ear met near the domed edifice. Three sword-girls guarded the portal that was the only permissible entrance. Aylith thought aloud, “They shall not enter if those three are dead or missing.”
Twaylee reminded, “We are intruders.” She giggled, “Why use a permissible entrance?”
The agents of the Eye and Ear snuck around to the other side of the building, climbed up to a nook in the wall and slipped through.
Inside: “I actually spoke with a goblin,” a sword-girl told the other with her, “and was surprised by his wisdom and civility.”
“They are our allies,” the other sentry reminded.
“Yes, but our lady tells us they are also our friends.”
“Friends?”
“Do you doubt our lady?”
“No!”
“Then be mindful of what she tells you.”
Aylith and Twaylee snuck past the two guards and moved deeper into the building. The intruders stopped upon hearing more voices. Listening, they could discern it was two guards chattering. Aylith peeked around the corner then asked, speaking but without the breath of utterance, “Are we close to the watching chamber?”
Her companion answered in the likewise manner, “Yes, but I do not know if we are on the right floor.”
Aylith thought for a moment, then looked down at Twaylee and mouthed, “I must.” The tall nymph then darted around the corner. The two little dark elves cowered and screamed as she lunged at them!
“Hey!” another sword-girl answered their cries. Twaylee snatched her from the corridor and stabbed her into silence.
The agents of the Eye and Ear listened and waited. Save for their own heavy breath and pounding heartbeats, there was only silence. Aylith gestured at the locked door her victims had been guarding. Twaylee nodded, used her dagger to gouge out the blue lock-crystal then rolled out her tools and picked the lock. Soon there was a click. Twaylee opened the door and sighed. They had found a storage room for magical items– not the watching chamber they sought!
Aylith reminded, “We must find it.”
“I know!”
“Wisdom is not born of anger.”
“I am not angry!”
“Then be at peace that your mind may be its sharpest. Come, Twaylee. Let us find the watching chamber.”
The two found a spiral stairwell. Twaylee suggested, “We should go up a little higher.”
“Tell me why.”
“Because the seeing crystal shall be below the skylight. If there are rooms under the dome then we are not high enough.”
Aylith nodded and heeded her little companion’s counsel.
A sword-girl was saying to the one with her, “I dislike greater he-fays; well, the knighthood. They are much too haughty.”
“Haughty? Then why do you flirt with them?”
“What?!”
“You wiggle and strut and dance for them to see.”
“I enjoy dancing!... as do you.”
“Sir Gannin likes you.”
“I do not like him. He was cruel to shew Sayjee away from us.”
“Yes, but Sayjee is a commoner. He knows his place.”
“We are commoners. Sayjee is our friend, as were all who were invited to the festivity.”
“Perhaps when we return to Fay Umbra, Sir Gannin shall seek you out.”
“I hope not.”
The other nymph giggled.
A nearby sword-girl could hear her friends talking but she was too far away to join in the conversation. Suddenly she was grabbed over the mouth and felt something pierce her back and sink between her ribs!
Twaylee held onto her victim and lowered her to the floor. She heard screaming and knew Aylith was now attacking the other two. She wiped the blood off her dagger then ran to rejoin her companion.
“Unlock it,” Aylith gestured towards the door the bodies at her feet had been guarding.
“I know.”
Aylith stood guard while Twaylee gouged out the lock-crystal, rolled out her tools and then picked the lock. Soon there was a click and the door opened. “Yes!” Twaylee cheered. They had found the watching chamber.
The agents did not enter the room. Aylith sheathed her sword then picked up the pair of sprawled guards. Twaylee felt so small at seeing a sprite draped over the shoulder and another tucked under the arm of a greater fay. Aylith told her, “Pick up their spear-swords.” Twaylee complied and they brought the bodies and weapons into the chamber. Stepping out, Aylith closed the door then the littler agent reinserted the lock-crystal.
“Now we wait.”
The three mounted nymphs led their naked procession of a thousand foot soldiers through the gate of Fortress Broad Hill– bringing the wagon and its secret content with them. A large metal casing shaped like a closed flower was levitated out of the wagon– by the magic of three witches, the green crystals atop their staves glowing until they set it down between them. Eighteen sword-girls assembled in front of them and as many behind them. The warrior-priestess Holy Dame Yinday gestured for the little witches to again raise the metal casing. “This way,” she and the other two greater nymphs led the way into the Middle Edifice.
The little soldiers followed their superiors up a curving staircase. “Your regiment is not to speak even of what little they have seen,” Mother Shayuna commanded Holy Dame Yinday. “They are not to discuss it even amongst themselves.”
“Your Reverence, I have already so commanded my little soldiers.”
“Yes, but sprites ponder and gossip. Remind them to keep their silence.”
“Your Reverence,” Holy Dame Adriel spoke, “Our beloved Yinday keeps a disciplined regiment. Why did you choose hers if you doubt her?”
“I do not.”
“Yet you command her harshly.”
Mother Shayuna said unto Dame Yinday, “Forgive me if I have offended you. My insistence is not born of distrust but rather urgent caution.”
Yinday nodded.
As the three and the thirty-nine with them neared the watching chamber... a blond greater nymph shot out and cut Mother Shayuna down! Yinday and Adriel went for their swords. The intruder felled Adriel! Yinday struggled to parry, her underlings behind her doing nothing, waiting to be commanded! The greater fay shrieked when stabbed!
The sprites watched aghast as their commander fell... and then her slayer attacked them! They screamed and cowered as the towering enemy hacked, slashed and pierced them. The resonant, eldritch whisper of a little witch commanded, “Fight!”
The sword-girls attacked! They poked and swiped at their foe while the three witches cast green, glowing bolts overhead and into her chest! Aylith staggered, but did not fall. She jabbed and slashed. Sword-girls grunted when stabbed or retched and groaned as their bowels gushed out of them. Others fell with a squirting neck, or gagging from a cut or pierced throat.
“She’s coming!” a witch feared as the high elf chopped and shoved her way towards them. The three mumbled their spells in the eldritch whisper, hurling glowing green bolts and balls of blue, heatless fire... but the high elf kept coming! The witches cringed and screamed as she loomed over them! Aylith cut them down as they cowered or fled.
The greater nymph pressed the remaining sword-girls back. Leaving the casing on the floor behind her, she shouted, “Open it!”
She heard Twaylee say from behind her, “I am, already!”
When the last of the little soldiers dropped at Aylith’s feet, she turned and beheld the metal casing open like a blooming flower. A large, silvery-tinted crystal ball with an opaque core (the seeing crystal) was revealed. Though struggling for breath, Aylith managed to compliment, “Well done.”
“Thank you.” Twaylee gestured at the bodies that carpeted the corridor, “But I have not done so well as you!”
“We are not here to kill.” Aylith wiped the blood from her sword and sheathed it. She then pulled out and actuated an eyeball-shaped “gazer” and moved it around the seeing crystal.
Twaylee uttered, “I thought we were supposed to destroy it.”
“We are.” Aylith put the gazer away and pulled out a hammer and spike. Although weary from the hard fight, she found the strength to chip and crack the enemy’s crystal ball.
Little Twaylee surmised, “We leave the way we came?”
“Yes.”
Aylith and Twaylee followed their trail of dead guards out of the fortress and into the wooded hills. They had fulfilled their quest and escaped the grounds of the enemy stronghold... but they were still in the Land of Monsters. Soon thousands of dark elves would be after them... as would be every goblin in the region.