Yelora

Yelora let the hawk go and ducked back into the rock shelter on the cool, windy sea-facing side of the crash site. It had been a long, treacherous hike to this entrance, one she knew would not be well-guarded. Chances are Mol Morin did not even know about it. But a good queen built plenty of secrets into the things she cherished. This one might save her people.

“How long do we wait?” Kashur asked.

“Until we hear sounds of battle.”

They slid their backs down the cool rock wall and rested against the cliff. Kashur glanced up at the sky. “The convergence is almost upon us.”

Yelora rocked her head against the cliff to study the shining line of planets. Earlier that week they’d look like a zig-zagging thread. Now they were something closer to a diamond necklace.

Kashur was studying his gloved hands. “Once it passes, I’ll be free. Completely free.”

“And we shall celebrate when that happens.” Yelora seized the closest of his gloved hand and brought it to her lips.

His teeth glowed white in the moonlight. “I look forward to that.” He reached over with his other hand, twirled it in a lock of her hair. “I can’t wait to touch you for real.”

“Why wait?” She pressed his gloved hand to her cheek. “Take off the glove and touch me.”

He laughed uncomfortably. “You know I can’t. I’ll age you.”

“Just for a second. Elves live so much longer than humans anyway; it will hardly make a difference.”

His eyes were so sad. Dark and beautiful and breathtaking. “It’ll matter to you. Besides, if I use my power the curse won’t be lifted.”

She gave him a teasing, hungry look. “So you’ll leave me to go on hundreds and hundreds of years without you?”

“Wizards can extend our lives somewhat. Shall I wait until I have a little gray in my beard, or do you prefer me jet black as a raven?”

She kissed him on the mouth. “I prefer you dipped in honey and warmed over a fire, but that will have to wait.”

He kissed her back. “M’lady I do have to say you’ve succeeded in making me uncomfortable in the very best way, but it’s probably my own fault for flirting with you early on. One could not expect you to hold out forever.”

She breathed in his warm campfire and coffee smell. “One could not.”

The slicing of crossbows broke the quiet of the night. Yelora pulled away, heart picking up pace. “It’s time.”

They made their way around the edge of the cliff to the secret entrance. Snapping her fingers, she lifted the shade spell. Two Goblins leapt out of the shadows and came at them with swords.

Yelora slowed time long enough for Kashur to dispatch them both with his knife. Her powers were now so pronounced with the convergence above that the Riverstone did not even stutter. Leaving the bodies at the entrance, they slipped inside.

The corridors were damp and dark. Kashur breathed orange light into his gloved palm as they made their way through the mines.

“I don’t think those Goblins even knew about this entrance,” Yelora whispered. “I think they were simply patrolling the coast.”

“This does feel very easy,” Kashur whispered back.

Her confidence soared. “It’s a good plan. We’ll be inside in no time. We’ll cast a shade spell to look like common Wizards and then open the gate for our allies.” Her stomach twisted. “Then I need to find Sochee. My contacts have told me she’s alive, but being held captive. You’ll help me, won’t you?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

His jaw tightened. “We’ll free all the Elves. But Mol Morin won’t make it easy. As soon as he knows we’re here, it’s going to get ugly.”

She pulled ahead and broke into a run. “Then let’s hurry.”

***

Bayne

A hush fell over the battlefield as Mol Morin addressed the crowd. Bayne and Ivy exchanged worried looks.

“I understand the Elf Queen has approached you with a proposal and that you are entertaining that proposal. I only ask that you offer me the same courtesy.”

Kenji Zamora stepped forward. “Whatever you have to say, Alchemist, say it quickly. We’d like to get on with kicking your ass!”

Mol Morin giggled. The sound was so odd, so out of character it made Bayne want to bite his nails, a habit Ruthie had long since broken him of. Mol Morin didn’t look like himself, either. The last time Bayne had seen him was at the Council, tall and elegant and regal in his robes. Exuding a powerful calmness befitting the elderly statesman that he was. This Alchemist was hunched and jittery. It was hard to tell from this distance, but his eyes looked wrong. They looked... purple.

“The Elf Queen would have you think that I and my Goblin army are destroying Terris. That somehow we have turned our backs on our home, on all of you, our fellow Terrans. That could not be further from the truth. It is Yelora who has broken faith with you, with all of us. Or has she not yet confessed to you her great sin?”

“Toy with us not, Mol Morin,” Kenji Zamora bellowed. “If you have an accusation, then make it!”

Mol Morin’s smile was indulgent. “Of course, Sentinel, you are a busy man. Forgive me for taking any more of your time than I need to. I’ll get right to it. Yelora, Queen of the Elves, has killed an Elemental!”

Gasps and murmurs spread across the battlefield.

“Oh no!” Ivy’s eyes were wide and white beside Bayne in the darkness. “No good can come of this.”

“Elementals cannot be killed,” Kenji Zamora replied. “Take us for fools, do you, Mol Morin?”

“I thought the same myself, Kenji. Until I saw it with my own eyes. Look upon that knoll that lies at the edge of your encampment, the one with the glorious willow tree shading it. Is the shape not odd? Does it not look like the corpse of a Guardian of Terris, buried in repose?”

The clouds above pulsed with heat lightning, and at the same time, the knoll was illuminated with the outline of a dead Elemental, traced in electricity.

“A Sorcerer’s trick!” one Dwarf bellowed.

“I thought you might say that, which is why I brought proof.”

The Blood Mage disappeared into the shadows and reappeared shoving a figure in front of her. The woman protested as she was forced to the Alchemist’s side. She was dressed as an Imperial, but Elven runes glowed white in her cheeks with each flash of lightning in the clouds above.

“This witch read the fortune of the Elf Queen, just days ago. Would you like to see what it revealed?”

The Alchemist seized the woman behind the neck, and the wall of rock leapt to life with a moving picture: Yelora fighting a massive Elemental, the smoking meteorite behind them.

“This is what the Elf Queen was doing when the rest of us were meeting, in good faith, at Council!” Mol Morin bellowed.

Bayne’s chest boomed with each attack between Yelora and the Elemental as Mol Morin dragged the memory from the witch’s mind and played it out for all of them to see. Yelora’s face was wild with fury as the Elemental came for her. Bayne was confused. It wasn’t possible to kill an Elemental, yet he was watching it happen. Yelora reached for the power of the crystals, and the Guardian of Terris went down.

The crowd gasped as the scene ended, and the witch crumpled into a pile at the Alchemist’s feet before the Blood Mage dragged her away.

The Alchemist threw his arms out at the crowd. “Yelora claims that I am the enemy! See who your true enemy is! See who has killed Terris and made her victim to this new magic? We never had a chance to defend ourselves, can’t you see? She took that away from us! It is the Elf Queen who is your true enemy. And you would ally with her?”

Their forces were rumbling like an incoming storm. Bayne turned to a frightened Ivy.

“We need your Elemental friend now. Where is it?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“I know she means to infiltrate this stronghold,” Mol Morin continued. “She knows its secrets better than anyone. Will you protect her as she continues to hand Terris over to an alien force?”

“We must find it,” Bayne said, feeling the words as deeply as he’d ever felt anything. He unstrapped himself from the safety harness and reached for Ivy’s makeshift one. “We must show them that Terris isn’t dead. Otherwise Yelora and the Summoner will be in grave danger.”

“Tell me where she is!” Mol Morin bellowed. “Tell me where to find her. Tell me her plan, and I’ll stop her before it’s too late!”

Kenji Zamora stepped forward, the sneer audible in his voice. “What’s in it for us?”