CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The shock of seeing Irina fall off the cliff had reduced Pers to a
weeping wreck. The elf was inconsolable. He sat at the ravine’s edge, sobbing
and staring blindly into the abyss.
In vain, Beth
tried to comfort him. Finally, all her efforts ignored, unacknowledged by even
the faintest response, she gave up and put her mind instead to considering
their next move. Once he was calmer,
Pers would be anxious to retrieve Irina’s body.
She peered down. To attempt a descent would almost certainly cost them
their own lives. As far as she could make out, their only alternative was to
follow the sweep of hills round and enter the ravine from the other side. This
would mean travelling miles out of their way then swinging back on themselves
just to reach a point directly opposite the grassy verge where they now
squatted. Like dogs chasing their tails,
Beth reflected grimly and did not relish the prospect one bit. She wished Mulac
were here to bully her flagging spirits into a more positive approach to the
situation.
Beth sighed.
She missed the surly Nu-gen. Eyes closed
despairingly, she let herself surrender once again to the heat of his embrace,
thrill to the intimacy of his mouth decsneding roughly on hers... For an
instant, the flames of passion rose above all else and she seized on the
comfort they offered as a drowning soul might grab at straws. The illusion, though, passed as quickly as it
had come. Heavy eyelids flew open like a faulty bolt on a door. Beth started,
badly shaken. Was she in love with Mulac?
Impossible, retorted a voive
in her head a shade too quickly. That first time had been a moment of madness,
that’s all. She couldn’t deny that he
aroused, excited her. Moreover, her intuition had proven spot on. He was not
the macho sexist he pretended to be. His lovemaking had been incredibly warm
and sensitive. She shook her head and ran impatient fingers through her hair.
Mulac had no place in her life. He belonged to Mamelon. The sooner I can leave this alien place and go home, the better. Her dad, her reflected tearfully, would be
frantic with worry.
Dad. It struck Beth like a hammer
blow that she given precious little thought to her father lately. But the kindly face that sprung to mind was
even more unbearable to contemplate than Mulac’s smouldering features. Instead,
she struggled to concentrate on the present crisis.
“I am ready.”
Pers broke his long silence and leapt nimbly to his feet. “We must prepare to
go down,” he announced in a choked voice but with an air of determination that
Beth had been dreading.
“It’s too
dangerous!” she protested.
The elf
glared. “Dangerous? Of course it’s dangerous. Is it a picnic you want? If so,
then go back whence you came, motherworlder, and I will go alone.”
“We could go
round.”
“It would take
too long. We would not find Irina in time.”
“In time..?
You can’t believe she’s still alive, surely?”
“Alive, no!”
the elf sobbed, “but there are things to do, rites to perform. There is Dark
Magic abroad. Were it to claim her spirit before it can return to Gar…” His
resolute expression crumbled and he burst into another flood of tears. Beth
went to him. On this occasion, he accepted her embrace and sought comfort in
it.
“We must save
her!” he wailed.
“Gar will find
a way,” she murmured in his ear and was surprised by the sure note of
conviction in her voice. “We have to stay together and reach the Purple
Mountains. Gar will save Irina. But who will save Gar if we fail?” Did I
really say that? Had those words sprung from her own lips? She was sceptical, incredulous even. Yet,
even her pounding heart could not deny their uncompromising sincerity. So why
did she feel so…uneasy? “Please Pers, listen to me! We have no choice. We have
to go on together,” she begged and meant it. She sensed her voive was starting
to penetrate his resistance. At the same time, part of her felt almost ashamed,
as if she were forcing an entry like some common thief.
Pers trembled.
She was right, of course. They had to stay together even if it meant taking the
longer, safer route. At the same time, a deeper intuition warned it was out of
the question. He must save Irina from whatever Powers of Darkness had stolen
her from him. The need for haste coursed like a trail of burning pitch through
his veins until his entire insides were ablaze and he all but began to
suffocate.
“You can’t
help Irina!” Beth screamed in sheer desperation. “No one can. She’s dead. We
won’t make things any better by killing ourselves as well!” Per rounded on her with an expression of such
agony that she longed to take the words back. But the devil had her tongue and
she continued to lash out at the unfortunate elf. “Go ahead, kill yourself if
you must. Me, I want to live.” She paused briefly. “Go on, sod off! What are
you waiting for, my blessing?” she snarled in a voice so unremittingly scathing
that her conscience disowned it on the spot.
But the devil in her was having no truck with such petty distractions.
“Elves, huh!” she spat. “Cowards…!”
Pers bore this
tirade of abuse with an air of mixed stoicism and appalled hurt. He had never
thought to see the motherworlder in such a rage. The pretty face was flushed
purple, the lovely mouth twisted into an ugly sneer. The truth came to him,
unbidden, in a flash of nether insight. This was not Bethan. It was…
The elf made a
supreme effort to check his thoughts as they proceeded to run riot, all but
losing an obscure trail of realization that led to the very edge of
consciousness then dropped like his beloved Irina into the abyss beyond. He strained to keep a tenuous hold on
reality. Bethan, he guessed, was surely possessed by the same Dark Force
threatening to overtake and destroy them both?
The chaos in his mind intensified.
Invisible hands propelled him towards an almost welcome oblivion. His head throbbed unbearably. Yet he managed
to cling to a vestige of elven will. Its little remaining strength ebbing fast,
he somehow found a voice. “Father..!”
Her
companion’s wild cry struck Beth like a savage blow to the head. She stumbled
backwards only a few steps before dropping in a heap to the ground. As she came
too, a while later, she cried out in in pain. Her whole body felt as if it had
been put through a shredder. The sensation passed quickly enough, but it was
not one she would forget in a hurry. She remembered only vaguely, what had
happened. Irina was gone, presumed
dead. Pers and she had…quarrelled? It
seemed so unlikely since they had become such good friends. Instinctively, she
glanced at where the elf lay, motionless, on the ground a few feet away.
Pers opened
his eyes. Bethan smiled concernedly at him and he smiled back. Both gave a sigh
of relief. They were friends again. “What happened?” she asked gently as she
helped him sit up.
“I am not
sure,” confessed the elf, “I think my father…but that is not possible. Elves
have no real power beyond Gar. All Mamelon knows that.
“Your father
saved us.” It was not a question.
“Yes,” he
agreed and gave her a queer look.
“So, what
now..?”
“We must find
my sister.” He expected a blast of protest. Instead, Bethan merely nodded.
“Of course,
but…”
“It will not
be an easy climb…” He watched her carefully as he spoke. If she still had
doubts, she chose not to voice them. Neither did she passively acquiesce.
Instead, she radiated an aura of acceptance, determined and resolute.
Certainly, there was nothing in the least passive about it.
“True,” was
all she said and held his searching gaze as she spoke, “But we don’t
mevessarily have to descend from this very spot. We should at least look for an
easier way down.”
“Look for
what, a path perhaps?” Pers grinned.
“Why not?” she
grinned back and gave him a hug that he returned with genuine affection.
“Why not,
indeed!” came a voice out of nowhere. Pers and Beth sprang apart in startled
haste, each grabbing the other’s arm to save tripping over their own feet. “A path sounds like an excellent suggestion
though I can’t imagine why anyone should want to climb down a sheer drop, for
Ri’s sake. Are you both quite mad?” the
stranger laughed teasingly. Pers gave a shy grin.
Beth regarded
a young woman about her own age with instant if irrational mistrust. “But I
must be going mad, too! An elf, goodness me! And if I’m not mistaken, a
motherworlder…” she tittered gaily, “Oh brave new world that has such creatures
in it!” she quoted Shakespeare with a twinkle in the lovely eyes and a throaty
chuckle. Beth winced at this unexpected
reminder of another life and thought she detected a glint of malice in the
other girl’s eyes. But Pers saw only the dazzling smile and felt his lanky
frame go weak at the knees.
“So who might
you be?” Beth found her voice while Pers
chose to study the tawny grass a trifle sheepishly.
“I’m called
Arissa. This is Tol.” She gestured with a sweep of the hand and Beth noticed
the young woman’s companion for the first time. He was a good seven feet tall,
thickset, a veritable giant of a man who hung back at a distance, regarding the
scene with apparent indifference. The long, pale face was almost devoid of
expression. Thin lips betrayed no sign of greeting. Not for a single moment did
the fellow’s wide blue eyes lose their bland expression. “He serves me,” Arissa
added by way of explanation.
The other woman’s
dismissive manner towards her servant, as if he were nothing more or less than necessary baggage, made Beth’s hackles rise. She flung the giant a
friendly smile. But the giant’s lips did not so much as twitch nor did the
eyelids flicker. Yet she felt something. For no apparent reason, she decided
she liked this Tol. There’s more to you
than meets the eye, she mused inwardly. If
you’re her pet zombie, I’m no Keeper. She suppressed a start. Keeper…? Why
had she thought that?
Outwardly,
Beth appeared calm. Only Tol, she vaguely suspected, knew better. Nor did that
trouble her in the least. Tol, all Beth’s instincts reassured her, was a
friend. The same instincts warned her that Arissa was…an enemy? “I’m Beth,” she said aloud and almost said
Bethan but checked herself just in time. “This is Pers.”
Pers…?” Arissa
repeated, rolling the name on her tongue as if savouring the sound. “A fine
name, indeed, for such an imposing elf!
This is an unexpected pleasure.” Arissa came forward and embraced him,
barely sparing Beth a second glance.
To Beth’s
growing annoyance, Pers’ elven countenance blushed an even deeper red. “And who
exactly are you, Arissa?” she asked with a directness that appeared to
amuse this undisputed subject and object of poor Pers’ embarrassment. The dramatic effect on the elf of Arissa’s
hug and subsequent peck on the cheek was lost upon neither woman.
“We journey,
Tol and I, to the Purple Mountains,” said Arissa.
“That wasn’t
what I asked,” Beth started to say but Pers jumped in ahead of her.
“So are we!”
he exclaimed excitedly. “We can…”
“Travel
together!” Arissa clapped her hands gaily, “How delightful!”
Pers beamed.
Beth frowned. This was not the same Pers who had been grieving for his dead
sister not half an hour since. Nor was it the trusty companion she had come to
love like a brother. This was some infatuated dimwit sure to come to grief.
Even as her heart sank, it went out to the elf. By now, he had fully recovered
his powers of speech and was chatting animatedly with a still smiling if subtly
more restrained Arissa.
“You know the
way? Will you take us there?” Pers was asking as a child might beg a treat.
“The way is
clear enough!” she laughed, pointing to the distant towers flickering in a mist
like white haired giants in purple robes. “But I will take you by the shortest
route, yes.”
“We go there
to meet friends,” said Beth coolly, “and you?”
Arissa’s full,
sensual mouth curved and a set of perfect white teeth flashed Beth a sunny
smile. Only, the eyes did not smile but remained wary. “I go to find my
parents. They wait for me in the Vale of Ca-an.”
“The Vale of
Ca-an…?” Pers stammered, “But that’s an unholy place. No one goes there.”
“I do, elf.”
Arissa snapped. Aware of Beth’s hostile gaze, she hastily recovered her
composure. “These are strange times as well we all know. But I trust my mother.
Would you not trust your mother also, elf?” she purred and Beth was hard put to
suppress a knowing snort.
“Yes, of
course!” Pers blushed yet again.
“Yes, of
course!” Arissa clapped her hands, a habit that was already starting to jar on
Beth’s nerves. “It is the same for me. But have no fear, my dear elf, for I
shall leave you before we reach Ca-an. By then we will already be in the
mountains. You will go your way and I mine. Meanwhile, we can enjoy each
other’s company surely? I would like
that dear Pers.”
“Me too!” the
elf enthused, clapping his hands delightedly in unconscious imitation.
“Now, tell me.
Why do you seek a way down?”
Pers frowned
as if he had trouble remembering. Suddenly, his face lit up. Then it darkened
again and he was close to tears. “My sister, Irina…she fell,” he mumbled.
“Fell? But
that is terrible my poor, poor elf!” She embraced Pers again and held him
close. “And you must find her, yes? But of course! There is a path not far from
here. Tol knows these parts like the back of his hand. He will take us there.
We shall descend together, find and…bury…your sister and then continue on our
way.”
“There is a
path? Pers sobbed. “But…”
“Incredible, I
know. But Tol assures me it is so and Tol has been with me a long time. I trust
him with my life. And you, my dear elf, must trust me.”
“I do, I do!”
his face lit up again.
You can trust her if you like, Beth seeted inwardly, “but I wouldn’t put anything past this one!
She forced smile. “You were saying about there being an easier way…?”
“…than
attempting to decend a sheer drop, yes. But of course…” The lovely lips pouted
mockingly.
“We must go
down,” said Pers. But he slurred his words and uttered them with such
faint-heartedness that Beth found it even more disturbing than his earlier,
stubborn insistence.
“Not so, my
dear elf,” Arissa smoothly contradicted.
“We haven’t
time to go all the way around,” Beth was quick to point out.
“You speak for
us all, motherworlder?” Arissa pouted, “But why bother, when all we have to do
is…continue.” She shrugged and gave a ringing laugh that made Beth wince. Tol
will take us. He knows these hills like the back of his hand. Once, he escaped
from krills who would have taken him to mine for gold in the Purple Mountains.
Or so he would have us believe.” She shrugged again and flung the silent giant
a searching glance. “He says little but knows much, my Tol. In time, he made his way to Ti-Gray, Isle of
the Dead. My parents took him in. They gave him to me. I would not be without
him.”
“Gave him to you?” Beth was mortified.
“Yes, of
course, and why should they not? He sought employment, refuge, a place to call
home. We gave him all these things. In return, he serves me well. Is it not an
excellent arrangement?”
Beth did not
trust herself to answer. Instead, she glanced at the giant as if expecting some
kind of denial. Tol merely continued to gaze impassively ahead without a word.
Even so, she sensed denial in
every timbre of his being. Warning bells clanged in her head. No way
can this Arissa be trusted.
“Come, my dear
elf, let us go find your poor sister.” Arissa took Pers’ arm and paused only
long enough for the bald elf to gaze adoringly into the merry eyes before
nodding to the giant.
“We must go
down,” repeated Pers. But he wore a glazed expression as if not entirely in
control of his own faculties.
“Not so, my
dear elf, we go across. True, the ground slopes but not as steeply as you
imagine,” purred Arissa, tossing her head. Her hair swirled like clouds of
smoke. “What you see is an illusion. Step into the void and grass will grow
beneath your feet just as it does now.”
“But…” Pers
fumbled for words.
“That’s
absurd!” Beth retorted.
“Strange, I
agree,” Arissa conceded, “Someone wishes you ill, I think, on this journey you
take. How exciting!” she clapped her hands again.
Beth was hard
put to swallow her irritation. She
looked away impatiently. Her eyes chanced to meet the servant Tol’s
impenetrable stare. There was no change in the fixed expression, but she sensed
a surge of rapport and smiled, tacitly acknowledging a bond between them albeit
with no real grounds for doing so. For his part, Tol gave no visible sign
whatever. Yes, there was something, she was sure of it.
“Here, Tol!”
Arissa called and the shaggy head moved a fraction in her direction. “Walk into
the ravine.” She turned to the others. “The only way to defeat illusion is to ignore
it. Tol will demonstrate for us, won’t
you Tol?” The big man gave a slight,
respectful nod of the head, performed a lumbering about-turn and faced the
ravine.
“If you’re so
sure, why not give us a demonstration yourself?” Beth challenged her angrily.
Arissa only laughed. “Or perhaps you’re afraid,” she added for good measure.
Arissa’s
lovely eyes narrowed. The full, sensual mouth tightened. Beth expected a
tempter tantrum but Arissa’s expression changed suddenly from dark to light.
Even Beth had to admit it was like watching the sun emerge from behind a
thundercloud. That Arissa was a beauty,
there was no denying. She’s also nobody’s fool, Beth noted for
future reference. “I am Arissa,” the newcomer declared as if she were royalty
and gave a regal snort that was
calculated to have maximum effect. It certainl worked on s Pers who gazed
adoringly at its source with a puppy dog look that made Beth’s stomach heave.
“I have to prove myself to no one. Besides, Tol likes to do things for me.
Don’t you my Tol?” The servant gave a
slight, stiff bow. “He cannot speak for his tongue has been removed. By krills
probably,” she added as an afterthought.
“Illusion…?”
Pers echoed dazedly, “But my sister…” tears filled his eyes.
“Fell…” Beth
insisted.
Arissa
shrugged. “She thought she would fall, so she fell. But not into any ravine,
believe me. These hills are littered with caves. Perhaps she stumbled into
one.”
“But we saw,”
Beth insisted.
“You saw only
what whoever created this illusion wanted you to see,” returned Arissa with an
air of someone explaining the obvious to a slow-witted pupil. Beth winced. Someone…?
Certainly, their journey had been plagued with mishaps and misfortune so far. But who would want us to fail, and why?
Before she could throw any such questions at Arissa, however, Pers launched
himself at her, kissing her on both cheeks.
“She’s alive!”
cried the elf, “My darling Irina lives!” He was ecstatic and ran from Beth to
Arissa, flinging his arms around her. Arissa, Beth observed with ill grace,
wasted no time responding in kind.
“In all
likelihood, that is so!” Arissa returned the elf’s embrace with interest.
What are you up to, Arissa? ”Beth desperately wanted to know, but said nothing. She had grown
fond of Pers. He was plainly besotted. While she did not trust the stranger an
inch nor would she risk alienating her friend by playing straight into the
other woman’s hands. An involuntary smile played on Beth’s lips. They made an odd couple, the beautiful
Arissa, oozing self-confidence, and the shy, gangling Pers. It struck her that, whatever game Arissa was
playing, the stakes must be high indeed.
“These are
strange times. Anything can happen…” Arissa was saying.
“Or not
happen, it would seem.” Beth remained sceptical.
“Or not
happen,” Arissa agreed gaily. She kissed Pers lightly on the cheek before
turning to Tol. “Now, y Tol, show us how it is done.”
Beth held her
breath as the servant proceeded to walk unhesitatingly towards the ravine.
“No!” she cried. Tol stopped just short of the edge. “This isn’t fair!” she
protested and glared at Arissa. “He’s a person, not piece of luggage to be
discarded at your whim! You can’t treat people like that, it’s sick.”
Arissa burst
into peals of laughter. “Discard? As if I would dream of such a thing! I would
be lost without my Tol!” A look crossed
the lovely face that Beth might well have read as pain in any other. It was but
the briefest glimpse. The straining features quickly relaxed, their cool beauty
restored. “Continue Tol,” she called cheerfully, but shot a warning glance at
Beth. “Don’t ever try anything like that again. Tol takes orders only from me,”
she muttered between clenched teeth without letting her radiant smile falter
for an instant.
Beth contrived
a meaningful smile of her own. He
stopped, didn’t he? it said. But she resisted the temptation to gloat.
Arissa went to
stand with Pers. She took the elf’s arm and placed it in hers. Nor was the
possessive gesture lost on Beth who pretended indifference. All three observed Tol approach the ravine
with shambling but determined strides.
Beth could not
bear to watch and closed her eyes. Dear
Ri, let him be alright! Without thinking, she called on Mamelon’s own god
in silent prayer.
“Fear not,
motherworlder,” a voice answered from nowhere, “but you are right not to trust
Arissa. Watch out for the elf, his need is greatest. Do not concern yourself
with me, but always remember Tol is your friend.”
Tol…? Beth started. She
opened her mouth to speak but some deeper instinct warned her against saying a
word. That Arissa’s servant was addressing her, she had no doubt, but…How?
Beth’s eyes
flew open at the precise moment Tol stepped over the edge.
To be continued
