COMPANIONS OF THE EYE AND EAR
by
Shawn O’Toole
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PUBLISHED BY:
Cover Art Illustrated by:
Shawn O’Toole
Companions of the Eye and Ear
Copyright © Shawn O’Toole 2013
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this story, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Your support and respect for the property of this author is much appreciated.
This story is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
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COMPANIONS OF THE EYE AND EAR
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Chapter 1
“Stealing the Stolen Book”
A manuscript was on its way to the Ministry of the Eye and Ear when stolen by the dark elves. The secrets within would be safe... so long as the spell upon it could not be broken; one that would curse the book to rot to dust should it be opened. The dark elves sent their prize to Lady Maudra, one of their venerable necromancers, to break the spell. The Eye and Ear sent agents to retrieve the book– deep into the realm of their enemy.
Two naked, yellowish-brown nymphs, the black hair of each fastened into a bun, stood together chatting. Like all elves, their limbs and features were long and delicate, their ears narrow and pointed, their bright green eyes slanted and their mouths small and lips thin.
Each of the nymphs wielded a sword, nearly half the length of which was handgrip. Its short blade was double-edged and very sharp.
“It was not my will to be trained for war,” Della, the one, said to Vyliss, the other. “I would much prefer picking fruit where the city is near...,” she then whispered, “rather than be stranded here where all but one are female.”
Vyliss giggled, “Do you so long for wanton frolic?”
“No. I fancy males for more than mere play. I like them.” Vyliss laughed. Della defended, “There is more to a male than his loins.”
“I know.”
Della explained, “Their thoughts, feelings and ways are like our own but so very different. I delight in trying to understand them.”
“Their thoughts, feelings and ways are crudely simple.”
Della insisted, “They are not. Well, simple, perhaps, but not so shallow as many of us believe them to be.”
Vyliss giggled. She told her friend, “Our Lady Maudra is beyond us in wisdom, power and knowledge. So great is her voice that even Her Majesty hears it. I am honored to serve Lady Maudra.”
“As am I, dear Vyliss, but I wish we could do so where we are not stranded.”
“As do I, Della, but Lady Maudra cherishes her privacy.”
“Her secrecy, you mean.”
Vyliss shivered, “I would not even dare guess the secrets of a death witch.”
“Nor would I!”
The two fell silent.
Vyliss mentioned, “Eshlee is making a new robe for Lady Maudra.”
“She is?”
“Yes. It shall be blue in many shades. I believe it shall be quite lovely.”
“No doubt. Eshlee has an uncanny eye and taste for color.”
“Indeed.”
“Save that we are forbidden to wear clothes, I would ask her to make me something.”
“As would I.”
Della suddenly frowned and looked away.
Vyliss wondered, “What troubles you?”
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” The two listened. Vyliss concluded, “It is merely the wind.”
“Yes.”
“Are you so bored as to hear things?”
“Yes.” The two giggled.
Aylith slid her blade back into the depths of its scabbard and crawled away, leaving the pair of little dark elves to their prattle.
Later: Aylith asked her little companion, “Did you find a way in?”
“Yes,” Twaylee answered, “and the archer who guarded it can no longer bother us.”
“A dead guard is a bother when found.”
“There was no other way!”
“So be it.”
The intruders were high elves, blond and fair-skinned. Twaylee, like the many guards who stood or walked about, was a sprite, a lesser fay. She was much smaller than Aylith; scrawnier and her stature was below the head and shoulders of her greater nymph companion. Twaylee wondered, “Am I little or is Aylith big?”
“What?” Aylith could see her thinking.
“Nothing.”
The little nymph led the greater up a wall onto a ledge (where lay the body of the “archer who guarded”) and through a window.
The two were now in a quiet room. The lesser fay wondered, “Is this where Lady Maudra meditates?”
“No. Her quiet room is believed to be atop the middle tower.”
“Why so high up?” Aylith rebuked Twaylee with a hard stare. “Sorry.”
The greater nymph smiled and nodded. She then pulled out the finder. Within the small, crystal orb was a red, holographic “arrowhead” that was pointing ahead and down. “The book seems to be on the lower floors of the middle of the palace. We will be surrounded by the guards of every wing.”
Twaylee surmised, “That is why it is there.”
“Most likely.”
“Aylith, do you wish me to scout ahead?”
“No. We go together.”
A sword-girl guarded a corridor... when suddenly grabbed by the head! Her face was then snapped past her shoulder!
Twaylee was nearby, her hand over the mouth and a dagger in the back of a sprite who guarded the top of a stairway.
Aylith pulled out her finder and told her little companion, “This way.”
“How far away is the book?”
“That shall not be known until we are upon it.”
Below and a moment later: “Really?” a sword-girl asked another.
“Yes. The cold of it is unbearable but the sight of it is most beautiful.”
“I so wish to visit the Outer World.”
“Perhaps you shall.”
The two guards did not notice the two high elves sneaking past them. Aylith pulled out her finder and pointed. Twaylee nodded and they continued on. The intruders hid as a procession of chatting and giggling nymphs passed them. Aylith and Twaylee passed an indoor fountain and hid within an indoor flower garden. The greater nymph checked her finder. “I believe it is near.”
“Then why are you frowning?”
“A dead guard shall soon be found.”
“Are we to leave without the book?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Two sword-girls guarded a solid door that had a red crystal set where a knob would be. An archer was perched on a ledge overlooking them... until snatched over the mouth and stabbed!
The one sword-girl giggled. The other told her, “What I said was not in jest.”
“I laugh because you counsel me with silliness.”
“Elsa! Hear me even if you do not heed me.”
“Chelsee, it is not our place to choose. Let us follow the wise. May our path may be their path for their way is wisdom.”
“I do not defy the wise, my love. I merely wish to share my own wisdom.”
The two were startled to glimpse a
tall nymph lunging at them!
When Twaylee came down to pick the lock to the door, Aylith warned, “Be mindful. It may be cursed.”
“Probably.” Twaylee tapped the red crystal with the pommel of her dagger. “You did not try to pick the lock yourself?”
“No. I believe it is cursed and you are much better at foiling such things.”
Twaylee grinned. She heard what she wanted to hear. “That is why I am your companion.”
“Yes.”
“It is cursed, but only if you try to use magic to unlock it.” Twaylee poked at the red crystal then gouged it out of its socket. She then rolled out her tools and picked the lock while Aylith stood guard.
Soon there was a click. Aylith hoped, “Is it unlocked?”
“Not yet.”
There was another click. Twaylee opened the door.
“Well done, Twaylee.”
“Thank you,” the smaller elf gleamed.
The room behind the door was round and lined with racks and shelves full of books, jars, vials, herbs and artifacts. In the middle of the chamber was a table and upon the table was a book. Twaylee wondered, “Is that it?”
Aylith moved the finder around the book. The red “arrowhead” always pointed at it. “Yes.” Aylith slipped the book into a satchel. “Come. We must flee this place.”
Twaylee mentioned, “This room is full of things that are probably enemy secrets. We should take something.”
“No.”
“Then we should destroy these things.”
“No. Our quest is to retrieve the book. Come. Soon a dead guard shall be discovered.”
The intruders were near the indoor fountain when throngs of guards hurried past them! Aylith commented, “They are now aware of our intrusion.” Twaylee rolled her eyes. Aylith explained, “A fallen sentry was surely discovered. We must leave this palace a different way.”
The two high elves crawled, tiptoed, dove around corners and ducked behind cover as their enemies scoured the palace for them. “There!” they were spotted. Aylith sprang at them! The dozen little dark elves cowered, screamed, bled and dropped as the towering greater fay slashed, stabbed and hacked them down.
“Hey!” three more guards appeared. Twaylee shot up from behind them! Wielding two daggers, she slashed two necks. She ducked and lunged at the third nymph, cutting her guts out.
“There they are!” a voice shouted.
Aylith urged Twaylee, “Come!”
“But we will be going back the way we came. You said...”
“Twaylee, come!” The little sprite followed.
A glowing green bolt streaked over the heads of two-dozen sword nymphs and blasted Aylith to the floor! The high elf sprang back onto her feet and charged! She hacked, slashed and jabbed her way through sword nymphs to get at the little witch who commanded them. Another bolt blasted Aylith, then another, but she kept coming! “No!” the witch cringed. She yelped when cut down.
Twaylee had followed Aylith into the fray, dodging and weaving through the flurry of blades. Amidst her daring dance, she sliced an enemy’s throat. Dropping onto her haunches, she gutted another. Nymphs and their spear-swords pressed in around her. She dodged a blade and stabbed its wielder... but there were so many more of them! “Help me!” she was being overwhelmed.
“Twaylee!” Aylith rose, her green eyes blazing with maternal fury! Twaylee’s attackers cringed as the greater nymph lunged at them! Combat became a massacre: Little dark elves cowered and screamed, their blood, bowels and bodies falling to the floor in brutal haste.
Amidst the slaughter, Twaylee wrestled with but one. She was on top of the squirming dark elf trying stab her! “No,” the enemy worried.
“Yes!” Twaylee shoved harder. The dark elf winced as the blade sunk into her.
“There!” shouted the voice of more guards.
“Twaylee, come!” The two fled.
The high elves climbed up to another level and hid. They watched as the frantic throngs below ran about searching.
Aylith surmised, “More will be pouring into the palace. We cannot hide for long.”
The intruders snuck past guards until eventually reaching a window. Peeking outside, they could see columns of sword nymphs and bow nymphs being led into the building by witches and priestesses. Twaylee suggested, “We should return to that quiet room. They will not be coming in from near there.”
“Yes,” Aylith agreed, “if we can get to it... or even find it.”
“I know where it is.”
“You do? How? Twaylee, we have zigzagged so much.”
“Aylith, I know where we are! I can tell– especially since I can see where we are by looking outside.”
“We were never on this side of the palace.”
“Yes. That is how I know.”
Aylith sighed and thought. “Twaylee, take us to that quiet room.”
The sprite giggled, “It will be easy to find.”
Later, and in another wing of the palace: “Hey!” a sword-girl was startled. Twaylee hurled a knife into her then rushed and tackled the guard next to her!
“Hello?!” a voice hailed from nearby. Aylith dove around the corner. “No!” Twaylee heard a squeak, a short scuffle then a crack.
Aylith returned and told Twaylee, “I know where we are. The way out is near.”
“I know.” The sprite huffed and shook her head as she stepped past Aylith. She reminded, “That is why I brought us this way.” She gestured for Aylith to follow.
Outside: The two hid as a group led by a witch passed them. Aylith noticed, “They are patrolling, not searching. They believe we are trapped within the palace.”
“Good.”
The two moved stealthily onward.
Eventually Aylith and Twaylee could see the top edge of the wall built into the cliff below: their path of escape– but it was now guarded by an entire company! A little priestess, the leader, was chanting, the blue crystal atop her black staff aglow and her hand outstretched, feeling where intruders had entered the palace grounds. Aylith commented, “They have found where we came.”
“I know.”
The greater nymph removed the satchel with the book and offered it to the lesser. “What?” Twaylee did not take it.
“I shall fight them that you may flee and return the book to our people.”
“What about you?”
“I shall do what I can.”
Twaylee still refused the offered satchel. She insisted, “You and I shall return the book.”
“Perhaps.”
“No.”
“Twaylee, this book must return to our people.” Twaylee shrugged. Aylith claimed, “I would forsake you if it was required.”
The sprite giggled, “You would not.” She rolled her eyes and smiled, having not the slightest doubt that Aylith would never forsake her.
The greater fay sighed: Twaylee knew her too well.
The littler fay suggested, “Why fight through them? Let us go down from elsewhere.”
Aylith nodded.
A sword-girl asked the other with her, “What is happening?”
“I do not know. If we are needed, we shall be hailed.”
The two did not notice Twaylee climbing into the tree behind them.
“I am still curious as to what is happening. Perchance there is an intruder?”
The other giggled, “What, and relieve us of our boredom?”
“Perhaps.”
“Unlikely.”
The two did not notice the archer in the tree being snatched over the mouth and stabbed.
“Did you hear something?”
“No.” The guard snorted, “You are hoping for an intruder!”
The one smiled, “Perhaps. I am bored.”
“Even with me as your company?”
“Perhaps that is why.”
“You are so cruel!”
“Yes, but not boring.”
“No, not at all!” The two laughed... until Aylith pounced them!
Twaylee waved and pointed. Aylith ran to her and soon the two were scaling down the sheer cliff. “Do not look down, Twaylee.”
“Why not?” The sprite looked down. “We are very high up.”
“Please do not tell me.”
Twaylee giggled. “You are now afraid of heights?”
“Only of falling.”
“The other side was easier.”
“Yes..., I know.”
For all their perils, the companions Aylith and Twaylee had prospered. They would depart the realm of the False Queen and soon thereafter they and the book would be on a ship bound for Avalon.