"I loved my children," Quaraun said. "But I loved BoomFuzzy more. I had no desire to choose between him or them. I loved them both. They turned my children against me. They made the choice for me."

"How old were your children?" Ophelia the Lilac Fairy asked.

"Ten and twelve. Two girls. Two boys. Two sets of twins."

"They were so young."

"They are dead now."

"Your children?"

"Everyone. All of them. I poisoned them all. Later. After. My father. My wife. My children. The people from the village. I executed them all. That's the reason I'm wanted for murder. But it was not murder. They were evil people. That's why it was not murder. They deserved to die. They tried to get away with their crimes. They claimed their corrupted atrocities to be respectable good deeds. Crimes masked as laws are still crimes."

"You even killed your children?"

"Yes. I did. I murdered my children."

"Why?"

"They all turned on me. Every one of them. People I trusted. People who loved me. People I loved. They tortured me. People I believed cared for me. People I cared for. Stoned me. People I admired. Beat me. People I cherished. They abandoned me. They hated me. There was no reason for it. I did nothing wrong. Turned their backs on me. Hit me in places you should never hit a man. I dared to share my love with the man I loved. A forbidden act, in their minds. A crime punishable by death. A harmless crime. We hurt no one. I bedded another man. That alone was crime enough to be punished by torture. My own father led them on. He hung me in the tree and stripped me naked for all to see. I hate being naked. I hate being touched."

"Does it hurt?"

"Hurt?"

"Your. . . Where they cut you."

She pointed at the Elf's crotch.

"It did when they did it. It was many years ago. I am healed now. Well, as healed as I can be."

"And they did it in front of everyone? They cut you while your friends and family watched?"

"Yes. My father did the cutting. He said I disgraced him as a son. And then after many days of hanging in humiliation, in the town square, they took me out into the woods, hung me another tree, and left me there, to be eaten by a Phooka. They sacrificed me to the Elf Eater of Pepper Valley."

"But they couldn't have sacrificed you. You're still alive."

"I know. I lived. I survived. They didn't think I would. They didn't know. . . My lover. . .. they never knew."

"Knew what?"

"That he was my lover."

"Who was?"

"The Phooka."

"What Phooka?" she asked, confused by what the Elf was saying. He wasn't speaking clearly. Only giving her half the information and thinking the rest silently in his own head. Leaving her confused by what he meant.

"The Elf Eater of Pepper Valley."

"The Elf Eater?"

"Yes."

"What about him?"

"I sold my soul for his love."

"Why would you do that?"

"Phookas are shape shifters, they can be any one or anything they want to be. He lived in the village, disguised as an Elf. They didn't know he was a shape shifter."

"Did you know?"

"I didn't know, not then, not until they hung me in the tree to be killed by the Phooka. The Phooka came and slaughtered them before they had finished. He eat every one of them before turning on me, only he didn't hurt me. I waited for him to to tear out my throat, to gut me and kill me and eat me as he had done the others, but instead, he cut me down and made love to me. Be careful what you wish for. I wished for his love, but I didn't know what he was and I didn't know the price I would have o pay to get it. In spite of my wounds. He still loved me, even after they mutilated me and left me unable to give my love to anyone. He took care of me, until I healed. It did not matter to him, what they had done to me. Even though I was damaged and not able to return his love, he still kept me as his lover. He pitied me. I was injured so badly that he could not bare to kill me. He made me his wife, taught me to receive his love like a woman. He shifted between BoomFuzzy and the Phooka, letting me see him as he truly was. That was when I realized BoomFuzzy was The Elf Eater of Pepper Valley and he would never hurt me. My lover wasn't an Elf, he was a Phooka and a Necromancer. King Gwallmaiic, was the evillest Necromancer to ever walk the Earth and he was my lover, my BoomFuzzy wasn't an Elf."

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"The Elf Eater of Pepper Valley has murdered millions. He kills entire villages. He's a horrible monster."

"I know. I tried to kill him, because I knew what he was, and I couldn't do it. Tis the nature of a spell cast by a wish. I wished for his love. To love him and be loved by him forever. The wish was granted. I got what I asked for, but at a terrible price. He loved me. I loved him and no matter how evil he was, I could not kill him, and no matter how much he lusted to eat my flesh, he could not kill me. The spell can not be broken. I've tried to break it so many times. I was so young when I made that wish. I didn't know the power of wishes grants of the price that comes with spells cast by wishes. So I joined him. I became a Necromancer too. His love was true. It did not matter to him that I had been mutilated. He loved me any ways."

"Can I see what they did to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've never seen a eunuch."

"You wish to see what I have between my legs?"

"Well, yes."

"I'm sorry, My Dear, but that you will not see. I show no one what was done to me."

"Why not?"

"I did not like exposing myself when I was fully intact, I like doing so even less, now that I am damaged. Just know that I am damaged, and you and every other female, has nothing to fear from me. I am only able to be a vessel for the pleasure of other men now."

"Are you and he still lovers?"

"No. He died. A horrible death. In such pain and agony, lingering on for 3 days, suffering, alone, with no one to comfort him. No one to hear his cries. No one hold him as his body wracked with pain. My people killed him. They murdered him so horribly. They killed my BoomFuzzy and I could not live without him, so I brought him back. Oh! What have I done? He's worse now than he was before. I turned him into a Lich. And now he lives on forever, killing tens of millions, whipping out entire nations and it's my fault. I created him. And that is why your father wants me dead. That is why everyone wants me dead. I am the most evil wizard ever known. I created the Lich Lord that kills so many. That's not what I wanted to happen. I just wanted to be his lover. That's all I wanted. He's a powerful lover. I swept away with the immense power of his passion. He is so intense. His addiction to sex is incredible. He is so full of rage and anger and passion and all that comes through in his love making. He had many lovers. Male and female. He took whomever he wanted, whither they wanted him or not. He raped me. I hate being raped, but he was different. I can't explain it. His love was like a drug. I had to have more and more. I wanted him to love me and only me and no one else. I shouldn't have cast that spell. I am so evil."

Quaraun covered his face with his hands and burst into tears.

"You know, it's kind of hard to think of you as evil, when you're dressed in a glittering pink dress and sitting in the middle of the street balling your eyes out over a dead lover."

"I'm sorry. I've not had a good life. Pink distracts me from thoughts of death. I've tried to kill myself so many times, but I'm an Elf. Do you know how hard it is to kill an Elf? I try to occupy my mind with happy thoughts. Glitter send glows of light on everything. It's so pretty. So happy. I need to surround myself with happy thoughts, to keep from slicing my wrists every day."

Quaraun held out his arms, pulling back the sleeves so the girl could see the many scars and more recent slash mark covering his arms.

"You've cut yourself! Why?"

"I am so lonely. I am hunted and hated, abandoned and unloved. I have no one. I'm so alone. The entire Elven race, not just the Moon Elves, but every last Elf on the planet has cut me off of the Hive Mind. I am outcast. And I'm a coward. I try to kill myself to end my suffering and I haven't the guts to do it properly."

"I'm sorry."

"All because I wanted to be loved. That's all I wanted. For one man to love me. And he did, but he's the only one. He loved me and for that the whole rest of the world hates me, and now he's dead and I have no one."

"If you're the Elf Eater's Necromancer, that makes you Quaraun the Insane."

"I am Quaraun the Insane, last of the Moon Elves, Lover of the Elf Eater of Pepper Valley, Murderer of Gibedon the Great, Resurrect of the Black Dragon of Fire Mountain, and I am the only one who can stop the Lich Lords, because I built them."

The girl laughed. She obviously did not believe the Elf.

"You are Quaraun the Insane! Haha! Oh you're funny. I think you're right, you got hit on the head too many times. Wait til I tell my father I meet Quaraun the Insane."

"Please don't. Please. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anyone."

The girl wasn't listening.

"He'll love it. He's had it out for Quaraun for decades. The whole Guild has. He's the most wanted wizard out there. There is a huge reward on his head…."

Quaraun heard a sound. The girl looked to see the rapist, groaning and getting back up.

"You little bitch of an Elf, wait till I get my hands on you…." he said to Quaraun as he pulled out another knife.

The girl turned back to Quaraun but he had scuttled out of the light back into the shadows.

"Tell no one you saw me, please, I beg you," he said to the girl as he disappeared back down the dark alleyway, leaving her to the fate of the man whom had attacked them both.

~o0o~

"Yes," Quaraun said to himself as he remembered the day in question.

Quaraun contemplated the possibility of how Kelim might have come to believe the events occurring as they had.

"He could have shown up after. Hmmmm. Possible. Entirely possible. I did leave. She could have been attacked again. Yes. Maybe the little Pixie is telling the truth. But if that's the same day. . . The same girl. Then the girl he thinks he's in love with, is Finderu's daughter. Oh my. Oh my, my, my! Oh what a fortuitous turn of events. But it could be a trap. I must prepare for this, in case he comes back. I must tell Ghirardelli. She'll be so pleased."

"Do you hear that Ghirardelli?" Quaraun asked the swamp hag as he pulled her head out of his heart bag. "If all goes well, you and Gibedon will have company soon. Finderu will be joining you. Isn't that marvellous?"