Ellas Past

Kane

The travelling circles were whole now, well at least most – the resistance, Anna’s resistance, had managed to destroy a small few in an attempt to thwart his troop movements, but at a heavy cost in lives. The circles were guarded before, but since the attacks, they were all but impenetrable. His forces set up staging posts at each, with his Elite – monstrous Nargu trained to be his best – set to guard them.

Yet that was where we were headed this night, Anna and I – to the travelling circle at Alfent. Not to destroy it, but to use it to gain access to his stronghold.

It was the only way in, and so the rumours said, the only way out. Alive that is.

It all started two weeks earlier, when I convinced Anna that we needed the Ella'ren to aid us in the war.

She had been against it from the start – only my threatening to tell her how I knew that we needed their help, finally made her relent.

She would not allow me to talk of my past. That, she said, she dare not hear.

But then, despite her reservations, she was adamant that she, too, would accompany me to Lwycoed, the home of the Ella’ren. I tried to dissuade her; told her of all the foul tricks the Ella’ren would play and of how it would be days, weeks perhaps, wasted that she could use more profitably convincing the giants to join in our cause. But she would have none of it.

I had expected a week long trek to the ancient forest of Lwycoed, but Anna surprised me by using her travelling rod, something that I had not seen her use since I had arrived.

‘Time is of the essence,’ she had replied casually, when I questioned her on it. ‘Besides, do we not then need to visit my friends, the Roken, the giants, as you name them?’

So there I was, once again under the leafy boughs of the Great Grays.

Taunts and jeers followed us as we walked ever deeper into the forest, and all manner of foul objects falling from the trees above, and, like my first visit, almost all hit their intended target. Although, it was strange that none came near to hitting Anna. At first, I had dodged to avoid the missiles, but as time passed, I had given up and let the Ella’ren have their fun, all the while grimaced at Anna, spotlessly white clothed Anna, who in turn smirked disdainfully at my befouled clothing and battered body.

‘I need to speak with Gremok Battlehand,’ I had shouted from the forest’s edge, and repeated continually as we walked deeper under its boughs. And yet the only answer I received was the high pitched, almost debilitating, screeches of laughter, that had angered me almost beyond reason so long ago.

An hour we walked with no letup. I stank and Anna still smiled. ‘Why do they not throw at you?’ I'd finally asked of her.

She had smiled wide at my question. ‘Oh, but they do,’ was the only answer she'd given.

‘Magic,’ I'd groaned. ‘Can you not protect me, too?’

‘You had but to ask, Kane,’ she had replied, with a laugh almost equal to that of the Ella’ren.

‘Not funny,’ I said, grumpily. ‘You’re as bad as they are.’

Finally we reached the banks of the river Lwydare, and I drove in fully clothed, determined to rid myself of the foulness that covered my body and clothing.

Wet and cold, I emerged from the water. ‘Now if you would be so kind as to extend your protection to me, Anna, I would be most grateful.’

Then, once I was sure that nothing the Ella'ren threw, touched me, I gathered wood and lit a fire – night was not far away and I needed to dry my clothes.

We sat throughout the night as sticks, stones, all sorts rained down around us, but none hitting us, their intended.

Occasionally, I shouted out my request to speak with Gremok. But after a while, Anna bade me be silent, and with a wave of her hand, the jeers of the Ella'ren faded to blissful silence.

After that we both slept.

I was aware of them long before I open my eyes. They surrounded us, hundreds of them. Slowly, as we slept, they had left the safety of their trees, and gradually edged closer and closer to where we sat – as I slept, my ever vigilant senses had recorded their progress.

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They were no threat, I knew – they were almost akin to curious and playful children. But had they wanted to, I was sure, given their numbers, they could have been a grave threat to us both.

As I sat up, Anna stirred. ‘Ah, hello,’ she said, with delight as she saw the Ella’ren. There was no sign of fear in her voice or on her face, and her smile was filled with wonderment.

These were not pretty creatures, and yet I believe all she saw was the innocent child in each of them.

I felt her shielding magic fall from us as she carefully moved towards them on bended knee, arms outstretched ready to embrace any that were bold enough to come forward.

The Ella’ren backed away en masse at her approach, but strangely all stayed silent, and all eyes were on Anna. It was as if I no longer existed.

‘Tell them why we are here,’ Anna said. ‘But be gentle. Do not shout as you have done.’

The look I gave at her rebuke was not a kindly one, but I did as she asked.

‘I wish to speak with Gremok Battlehand. My name is Kane, but to some I am known as Al’kar,’ I said, gently, despite my wish to growl.

The Ella’ren looked from one to the other, but gave no response other than that. Again I made my plea, and gained only their questioning stares.

I sat back on my haunches. ‘Now what?’ I asked of no one in particular.

‘Patience,’ Anna replied, her arms still open in welcoming embrace.

So we waited, Anna smiling patiently, while I sat with a frown on my face, and the Ella’ren surrounding us on all sides.

Half an hour passed with not a sound from either side, Anna's arms still open wide – they must have ached something awful.

Finally, a ripple began at the very back of the surrounding Ella’ren.

A ripple that slowly made its way to the front, until finally the Ella’ren before us parted, and another stepped through to stand before us.

There was nothing to distinguish him from the others, nothing at all; it was not Gremok, but then, I hadn’t really expected it to be.

The now, was hundreds of years before the time that I had first met him, and despite his claim to have met me before, I still had my doubts. This mission was born of hope, hope and desperation.

The newly arrived Ella’ren glanced at me, and then turned his full attention to Anna. For a moment, he looked suspiciously from her face to her open arms and back again, and then he turned and spoke to his people. I did not understand what he said, but Anna beamed. He then turned back to Anna, and slowly walked into her arms.

I didn't have a clue what was going on, but it was progress, and that was all that mattered.

The embrace lasted only a moment, and then the he settled himself to sit on the grass before Anna.

‘You are ever welcome here, Wise Mother. But who is this creature that bellows as a bear with its snout in a wasps nest? Why do you bring such a one?’

Then, turning to me, a wide, wicked grin filled his face, and he fell silent.

Anna turned to me. ‘Tell him again what it is you want. But you must tell him all of it… all that this Gremok said to you.’

So I told of my meeting with Gremok. I said nothing of how I came to be there, or of the why, and absolutely nothing of the when. The when, I found confusing, to others it would be unbelievable; to Anna it would be yet something else that she dare not hear.

The Ella’ren listened silently to my tale, until I told of the test that Gremok had said I must face. Then the air became filled with chattering and shrieks of laughter. The one before Anna stayed silent, but another wicked grin split his face.

‘What did I say? What provoked the laughter?’ I asked aloud of the Ella’ren, of Anna, of anyone.

‘You talked of a testing,’ the Ella'ren responded, and behind him they all screeched and hooted again. But as the creature held up his hand, all fell silent.

‘Do you claim this test that you say Gremok placed upon you?’ The creature’s eyes were narrow slits as they peered at me, but all mocking was gone from his voice, and when he finished, the silence hung like a fog between us.

Anna nodded to me, but her eyes held doubt and anxiety.

I held the creature's gaze as I replied, ‘Yes. I claim this test. But will you give the aid that was promised, when I pass… the aid promised by Gremok Battlehand?’

Hooting and jeering followed at my words. Even the one before us laughed, a high-pitched keen of a laugh.

‘There is no Gremok Battlehand, Bellowing One. But we will give the aid you request… if you pass the test.’

‘But there must be,’ I snapped. ‘Gremok told me that we had met before. He told of the test and promised —’

‘There is no Battlehand,’ the Ella’ren repeated sternly. ‘Be silent and listen. For Gremok will be your testing… there is no Battlehand, but a Gremok we had… a little one, no more than a youth. He is lost to us… and he, and the others, shall be your test.’

The hooting stopped suddenly at his words, and on some of the faces behind him, I thought I saw fear.

‘We take no part in this war against the evil one. He has not raised his hand against us, and we have seen fit to avoid his gaze. That at least is how it has been.’ He paused then to again silence the murmurs that had begun. Anguish filled his so very alien face as he continued.

‘He demanded that we send emissaries to treaty with him. The foul ones brought his demands… and examples of what would become of us should we fail to comply. The examples were made at the forests edge, and though we agreed after we saw what was done to the first, all were put to death before us… very slow, horrific deaths. And so we sent the ten emissaries; all fit males in their prime as demanded.

'Gremok was not of the ten, but we fear that he followed… he was ever impulsive and quick to temper… we should have watched him closely, for of all of us, he was the one wrought to do such a thing. You will return Gremok to us. That is your test… your trial. The others, too, if they still live. But without Gremok, you fail. And with that failing comes no aid.’

With those final words, he turned to Anna, dismissing me completely. ‘Farewell, Wise Mother. I go now to prepare for what is to come. Send the Bellowing One to us when he has Gremok and we will hear his plea for aid.’ And then, he and his fellow Ella’ren leapt into the trees and were gone.

‘Wait,’ I shouted. ‘Where did they take them? When was this? You need to tell us more!’ My voice echoed through the trees, but that and the sound of birds chirping and leaves blowing in the wind was the only sound that returned.

Anna put her hand on my arm. ‘Come,’ she said. ‘There is only one place… we both know that. And to go there is too great a risk, even if it does mean that we lose the support of the Ella’ren in this war. Come, we will go to the Roken, as you have said we must.’

‘No,’ I said, quietly. ‘We need the Ella’ren, and I will not be dissuaded, Anna. In this we walk a knife's edge… without Gremok we will lose.

'Do not ask as to how I know, for you will not allow me to speak the answer. Just trust in me… we must free Gremok.’