Tales of Eldelórne Read online

  The further they walked the light surrounding them was like ghostly white spirits glowing through the swirling thickness of the moist air.

  “Were they not allowed to go on the ships? Why were they not allowed to go to the ships,” she cried out, feeling a rising panic.

  Fionna looked at the brothers accusingly as if they had anything to say about it. They could only answer with silence, feeling her same helplessness. She bent down so far in EJ’s arms she was finally able to pull away. She scuffled forward half on her knees to the tiny face of an elfling. It was laying on its tummy next to its mother. Its small body hung over her outstretched arm. It looked as though the mother had fallen to the ground, and the little one had almost rolled away. They were cold to her touch.

  Fi fell sobbing with her face looking into the elfling’s blank, frozen eyes. She felt the dew-covered slipperiness of the musky ground beneath her. It was as though the land itself was working to swallow the stone elves, and she would soon die here with them overcome with grief.

  “No, Fionna, you must not follow them,” EJ pulled her away, back into his embrace.

  Roevash thought he saw something move and went over to look closer.

  “My mind is playing tricks on me,” he said out loud. His voice was muffled in the misty air. Then he saw a twitch happen again, but this time he was looking right at it.

  “I saw movement here...” his eyes riveted on it to see if it would happen again.

  Fionna moved to Roe’s side. She knelt down next to him; staring at the frozen face.

  “It seems impossible in the condition they are in,” EJ remarked. “They are all too far gone.”

  “Ej!” Fionna saw a small ripple on the stone. “This one is struggling to live. Help me!” She began to dig the body free from the soil with her bare fingers with a renewed energy.

  “It is hopeless,” he told her firmly. “Even I cannot heal this one... we can not. None of us can.”

  “What? Noooo,” She kept digging.

  Fi looked up at Roe, her eyes pleading for him to aid her. He did not move.

  “Ej is right Fionna. We would not have enough effect to help." He felt like she was desecrating a gravesite. “Fionna stop, we are not their kin. You must not disturb them in their state, Fionna!”

  She wouldn’t listen. She struggled with a growing frustration. Her head felt like it was getting thick behind her ears.

  “NO, NO, NOOO!” She hysterically scratched at the dirt with bloody fingers.

  Roevash picked her up off the ground. She flailed wildly. Gripping her sobbing body tightly, he hauled her over to a clear spot so she couldn’t hurt herself any further.

  Ej looked grimly at all the beautiful and peaceful dead faces.

  “It is like a dream here, and we must leave now lest we are pulled into this strange magic along with these others. Let this remain their silent tomb as we have found it.”

  He started to walk away when he saw it. A tiny detail on the edge of the stone elf caught his eye. It was faded and gray like an etching on glass, and whatever it was it seemed to glint brightly at him in the dim light.

  “Look here…" he called to the others as he knelt and poked his finger at something.

  “Is this not the same stitching pattern you showed me on your blanket?” he asked Fionna.

  “Yes, these are my kin,” she cried out in excitement.

  They all realized the claim of her statement.

  Roe jammed his fingers under the loosened edge and in one motion heaved the body of the small elf up away from the swallowing ground. It was extraordinarily heavy. He thought this might be complete madness, but if there was a chance for even one to live, he wanted to feel they had at least done all they could do to help.

  “Where can we go then,” he asked, feeling the weight of it dragging at every fiber of his strength.

  “Wait! ...We have to check them all for survivors,” Fionna ordered.

  “We cannot stay Fionna, or we will all be harmed.”

  Ej held both her wrists firmly, so she would stop and look at him. She needed to listen to him now. “We cannot stay Fionna,” he repeated firmly. “We will try come back but first let us see if this one lives.”

  Her mind focused as Eijlam spoke truth to her. He knew some kind of magics or a curse was creeping into them the longer they lingered, and they had to leave. They turned away and quickly found the tunneled opening out of the garden. Soon they were on the beach again. They found there was no longer enough room in the tiny boat for all of them.

  “I can swim,” Eijlam nodded to Roevash, giving up his space to the body.

  “You do all the hard work and bring the boat.”

  Roe’s lips turned pale as he looked at his brother fearfully but didn’t say a word.

  “Let us hurry then,” EJ cocked his eyebrow and tried to sound cheerful.

  Roevash just kept his eyes glued on Eijlam swimming on the surface in front of him as he crossed the water. He sat silently rowing the heavily laden boat while Fionna rubbed her hands over what would be the shoulder of the frozen elf. They quickly gained the dock on the other shore without incident. The brothers both seemed relieved at this.

  They brought the small elf into their house and lay the body on their mother’s larger bed. It was the closest room on the main floor to the great room.

  “I will stand watch, to aid you, in case of trouble,” Roe said knowingly.

  Ej and Fionna solemnly prepared to attempt a healing.

  “My beloved… Do not leave me,” he looked worried at her. “There is so much we still do not know that might harm us.”

  “I love you as my own heart,” she said as she kissed him softly.

  Fionna looked determined.

  They crawled into bed on either side of the elf and put their arms over the cold body. EJ was concerned that Fionna was too focused on the outcome to think of any consequences that may occur. They did not know what kind of curse or magics were invoked to cause this kind of condition. Eijlam hoped this elf could come back to consciousness and not take them both away into an eternal sleep of the true death.

  Dark Garden

  Chapter Twenty Four

  As the familiar bright light surrounded Fionna, she found herself in spirit form, walking across a vast green, towards someone sitting on the ground.

  "Hello, we are kin," she said quietly.

  Fionna tried to introduce herself to a tiny elf-girl who was sitting in the middle of the lawn. The edges of the green were surrounded by flowers in what looked like the misty island garden. The light in the garden was flickering strangely, but the girl didn't seem to notice. She only looked at Fionna with curious eyes.

  "This is a living dream." EJ's voice whispered. "You are in the threshold of Ilmatar," Fionna heard his words echo. "She has not yet entered the void's path. I will be your guide, Fionna. Do not stray into the darkness, my love," he cautioned her.

  Fionna nodded as she looked up towards the bright glow that she knew was Eijlam. The air thick with the smell of damp soil and wet dew on pungent flowers.

  "Will you speak to me?" She sat down directly in front of the girl.

  "You do not know what I am saying, do you?"

  Fionna gently took up her hands and looked in her light, grayish-green eyes.

  "Our eyes are almost the same."

  Fionna was startled by the familiar look to her face. Her own eyes were darker green, but you could not deny they were somehow related.

  The girl had a beautiful thin nose that ended in a tiny perky tip. Her lips were more delicate and curved upward with deep dimples on each side.

  Her light golden brown hair was long and wavy with tiny braids along the sides near her ears. Fionna could see the girl's woodland ears that pointed sharply upward on the top folds. She wore a long tunic with the patterns they saw stitched around the neckline and sleeves. She was fairy-like in her ethereal beauty, sitting there in this glowing light.

  "I am all that is left here,"
the girl sighed to herself.

  Fionna heard the girl's dialect. She could tell it was different, but it was understandable.

  After a pause, Fionna spoke in the girl's tongue.

  "No, I am here. You must hear me."

  The deadpan girl looked at Fionna more closely now.

  "Who are you?" she asked curiously.

  "I am your kin."

  "Were you lost?"

  "Yes, I was lost in Vehlevar."

  "I have not heard that name in a very long time. I am alone."

  "No, I am here. I wish for you to stay with me," Fionna tried to convince her.

  "Then, we shall both fade together on this lonely path. Just like all the rest. My clan has all gone away somewhere."

  The girl grieved at the loss of her kin and friends.

  "We sat here together among the flowers talking and one by one they disappeared... what does it mean?"

  She looked confused at Fionna.

  An icy chill ran down Fi's back as she realized this was the last survivor of whatever had overtaken them on the island.

  She had been clinging to life with her friends, waiting for a rescue that never came in this cruel dreamscape.

  The girl sat with a perplexed look on her face turning her head, searching to see her friends and family again, but they were no longer alive. They had all found the true death as their bodies turned to stone in that deserted island field.

  "I should go with them..." she mumbled sadly.

  "You are not alone. There are more Edhellen where I come from, please come with me and see," Fionna tried to explain to her as she pulled on her hands, making the girl stand up.

  "What is your name," Fionna asked desperately.

  The girl just tiredly stared as they sauntered hand in hand through the garden.

  "I am not sure," she sounded weary.

  Fionna couldn't tell if she was not sure of her name or if she was not sure about coming away with her. The light dimmed too much, and Fionna felt suddenly fearful. She called out to Eijlam.

  "Turn your face to me..." She heard his voice drifting far away.

  "Do not leave me... EJ where are you," she heard her voice call out and echo into the fading light.

  Fionna had let the girl's thoughts lead her away in the wrong direction. Panic filled her heart as she searched for her Eijlam. The girl held Fionna's hand, following and pulling and stumbling as Fionna picked her way quickly through the growing darkness. Fionna then saw it, a tiny glimmering light drifting ahead. She could feel EJ clutching his chest in great pain.

  "No... EJ! Do not leave me in this place!"

  She took off running with the girl behind her, dragging like an anchor on her arm. The atmosphere turned into great sheets of thick gray, suffocating water as she followed the small spark in the distance, not daring to even blink for fear she would lose sight of it. Still clutching the girl's hand, she dragged her along, running behind, stiff and emotionless. For some reason, Fionna could hear Roevash yelling with his booming voice, shaking her to action. She reached out with her arm to catch his waiting grip, knowing it was there somehow, through the storm. The thick torrent blinded her but kept moving faster, in the one direction where she last saw the glimmer of EJ's light. Fionna had to get back now!

  Running full speed, she flew off the edge of a watery cliff into sheer darkness. She lost her chance to catch up and was falling, screaming. Blood pounded in her ears as she flailed towards a dark swirling abyss. She hit hard and burst out the other side, gasping into the full light of the bedroom.

  Her eyes blinked wide as she struggled for air.

  "Come back!" Roevash's loud voice was terrified, shaking her firmly by the shoulders, willing her to breathe.

  "Ej... where is EJ..." she choked as she pulled free of his grip and reeled around looking for him.

  Eijlam lay in a frozen gasp. His hands clutching his chest. She rolled over the body to the other side of the bed on top of him. She enfolded him heart to heart in her arms. Roevash quickly picked them both up out of bed and in one swift motion, whisked them away into the other room and laid them in the middle of the great room floor.

  "What happened? What went wrong?" Fionna was holding EJ to herself, trying to revive him.

  "The elf did not want to live," Roevash said excessively loud in his panic.

  "I knew something was wrong when you stopped breathing, and my brother started to feel pain... he has faded!" Roe cried out in horror at the sight of Eijlam lying there, pale and lifeless.

  He fell back against the wall, fear etched on his face, rubbing his sweating forehead. Roe started chanting a prayer of protection that he had learned from their mother as an elfling. Roe invoked the aid of their tree home and all its clan.

  Unheard voices groaned silently in a song of healing that flowed out unseen over their beloved elves.

  "Eijlam... HEAR ME! ... Come back to me!" Fionna looked into his empty staring eyes.

  Her own breathing started to choke in her throat. Her heart felt as though it was ripping from her body.

  "I did not mean to lose you. I found your light," Fionna said over and over as she pressed her wet face against his. It slid across his salty cheek, and her head banged on the floor beside him.

  "Nooo gods noooooo," she weakly moaned as she hung there limp, feeling an icy coldness drawing them both away.

  With a last frantic effort, Fionna reared up, and with a loud yell, pounded his chest hard with both her fists and then wholly collapsed in silence. Roe's eyes grew huge in a moment of panic.

  Suddenly, loud rasping breaths filled both their lungs as they sucked in air, coming back to life.

  "My Fionna..." EJ's weak words whispered out of his bloodless lips, "I have found her for you," his voice barely audible. Everyone was too exhausted to understand what EJ meant by that.

  Eijlam stared up at the ceiling stiffly as the trauma slowly wore off. Fionna embraced him tightly as rain of hot tears fell over his shoulder as she keened in relief.

  Roe fell back onto his heels and wiped the sweat off his face when something heavy fell thumping to the floor in the other room, pulling them to attention. Fionna and Roe looked puzzled at each other for a moment. Roevash quickly stood up and drew his dagger, ready to defend his weakened kin that could not yet move.

  A small naked girl, looking like a wraith, stumbled in through the doorway. She stood there only a moment with huge blind eyes. Roe sheathed his knife in one swift motion, and ran forward and caught her in his arms, just before she hit the hard floor again.

  "What just happened?" Fionna's body was still shaking uncontrollably. She lay with her head nestled into EJ's shoulder. They had made their way back to Thendiel's empty room so they could lay down on a soft bed.

  "We should not have even tried. I know that now," Fionna frowned as she babbled on still in shock from the rescue.

  "She and her clan were clinging to life for so long, waiting for release from that place… Why would she try to kill me?" Fi snuggled EJ's cheek with her nose.

  "It just seemed so blindly important at the time," she scowled at herself, not expecting answers.

  "It is the voices of the dead that haunt you," EJ breathed.

  "I too could hear them and feel their call. That place has been cursed into a tomb by some dark magics."

  Fionna shared the girl's dialect with EJ. He had heard it somewhere before, but he could not think from where.

  "Maybe these were ones who found themselves refugees from the elven warrior, Louhgren, who turned on his clan." EJ gave her a short history as he lay back resting.

  "Louhgren ritually committed the crime of kinslaying on many houses of the Edhellen."

  "They attacked their kin and kind?" Fionna was horrified.

  "Long ago at the beginning of the elven kingdoms, yes ... remember the depths of sorrow Fionna," then he thought of something else, "maybe when the migration to Ilmatar started these island elves felt abandoned and just gave up. Maybe there is another r
eason..."

  He was tired of thinking and had to sleep. His head felt dizzy and heavy as he lay against the soft pillows. Fionna's persistent voice kept pulling him awake from his drowsiness.

  "Ej, what happened to us? The healing place turned dark. I could not find my way back to you."

  "We are heart bonded Fionna. The girl did not want to live, or maybe she was just confused. It was my fear that she would pull you with her into the void. I will die, Fionna, if you die." He looked at her through one half-opened eye as he said it.

  "What? You were… I was dying?"

  "Yes."

  "Heart bonded?"

  "We are forever bound together. It is a gift of Ilmatar when two pledge to each other in a love that is as true and deep as our own."

  He gave up sleeping to look at her. The room had grown dark in the evening air, and a warm breeze seeped in. It felt good on his skin.

  "We share the same heart," she whispered to herself as she placed her hand gently to his breast. She could feel a heartbeat in a rhythm that perfectly matched to her own.

  Now she understood, and scowled again, realizing what a close call they just had.

  "I only see you in the light my Fionna," EJ said. His soft eyes regarded her earnestly as he tipped her chin up to look into her eyes.

  She stroked his head lovingly, feeling the straight strands of his golden hair slide through her fingertips.

  "I only see you too, my love." She kissed him deeply, feeling the warmth of his chest against hers as their hearts beat as one.

  Girl Named Naalin

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Roevash sat in the big soft chair close to the hearth fire, holding the small survivor in his arms. He had opened his shirt and folded her into it, where she lay curled up. He was trying to warm her. She was pale fishy gray; shaking with horrible chills.

  "Ej will be okay," Fionna said tiptoeing into the main hall. She wanted to ease Roevash's worries.

  "How is she doing?"

  "Not good Fi, I am not her direct kin, and she is weak."