Tales of Eldelórne Page 21

  “Fionna, you did not even let them say one word…” EJ was chuckling so much he could hardly speak, still perched on top of his horse.

  “My brave Fionna... My redheaded warrior! I am feeling my blood heat to boiling, having witnessed such power,” he crooned at her. His eyes started to water from laughing so hard.

  She just smiled wickedly at him.

  “I am glad to see you smile again,” he softly grinned, trying to contain his laughter.

  “We just... We just do not have time for this. I am already tired of the road,” Fionna said, pretending to act sulky, but she burst into roaring laughter with Eijlam.

  She had surprised herself. It was a small release from all the seriousness of the last few days. Fi mounted her horse in one smooth motion, and they took off galloping to leave the incident far behind.

  Heart of Roevash

  Chapter Thirty

  Many days had passed since Eijlam, and Fionna left for Drustnlach. Whether it was from some unknown fear or only dedication to duty, Roevash stubbornly refused to let Naalin within arm's length since the pair had gone.

  Naalin watched with a degree of criticism in her eyes as he trained his human recruits. He noticed her there and wondered how much she knew about combat and fighting styles. She seemed too frail to him. She would have shared her thoughts had he only asked. She had tried to get his attention when he was not around the men, but he always seemed to shy away, and somehow vanish around a corner.

  “How one so large can disappear so thoroughly I will never know,” she grumbled in frustration as Roe evaded her again.

  The men were curious about this tiny woman with the wild hair that came back with them from the south.

  “She is Lady Fionna’s kin,” was all their commander would say.

  This meant off limits to the men, and they knew it by the warning glare in his eyes as he said it. Roe had no intentions of letting the men near her, but he didn’t know why he felt such rising anxiety over her welfare. He decided this was just his dedication to duty.

  “Soon Fionna would be back, and this would not be an issue,” he thought to himself.

  +++

  Roevash had so carefully carried Naalin to King Ellinduil’s palace to save her life. Then he carried her many leagues on the road to this place full of strangers with strange customs. She had enjoyed his company and thought they were at the very least friends.

  Not understanding why he no longer cared to communicate, Naalin finally disappeared in frustration to Fionna’s private rooms. She tried to pretend it didn’t hurt, but her heart felt broken. She could not let Roevash's actions mar her. She didn’t honestly know him after all.

  She had found herself a pair of decent elven daggers in the armory that had long been abandoned to time and allowed to go dull from misuse. She had been working on cleaning and sharpening the set for a while.

  “How right that I should own them now,” she smirked.

  These were her weapon of choice after all, and right now, they were the one thing that felt familiar. The beautiful daggers shone brightly in her hands as they came back to life from the abuse they had suffered.

  “How ironic,” she thought, and she named them “Bainthoreth," which means “foul beauty” in her native tongue.

  She felt an affinity with these blades, that were once lost and now found. “I would be ready for this new land after today,” she said out loud in mild agitation.

  She was, after all, a fighter in her own right having joined with the king’s forces for a time. For a moment, she stared at the razor-sharp edge of the blade, and felt the full depths of her loneliness. She decided in anger at herself to leave, to search out other elves, and not be kept in this strange human place. She was free to choose her own life. Naalin was sure she could find more elvenkin even though Fionna had said there were none. She was after all living proof they could be wrong. Naalin decided to say goodbye when her clan sister returned. She wouldn’t want to seem discourteous. After all, they had risked much to save her.

  Naalin tested the sharpness of her daggers by using them to cut off her ragged tangled hair. It had grown that way from the evil sleep she had been trapped in. She wished to look normal again.

  Within a short time, her curly hair was finally free.

  She bathed by herself down at the nearby river, and her hair softened. By the time she was done, her dimpled pixie-like face was adorable surrounded by light brown, wispy curls. She didn’t realize that men would rudely stare, and make remarks at her nakedness as she made her way back to Fionna’s room. She stared back menacingly at them, and they fell silent in her glare as she made her way past. What she knew of human men was that they were never to be trusted.

  Naalin tried on some of Fionna’s clothes. What she had been wearing was dirty and completely worn ragged. She found a dress that was not too long in the hemline. She was a bit shorter than Fionna. Naalin was so desiccated when they first found her. She seemed smaller than her actual height, but now she was stronger.

  “What a fright I must have seemed!” She looked in a mirror and smiled at the transformation. She was indeed a rosy-cheeked beauty when she finally pulled herself together.

  After she had avoided Roevash for weeks, Naalin stubbornly decided to be gracious and sociable regardless of her treatment. She couldn’t know the struggle that Roe felt inside himself when he didn’t see her around the fort anymore. She had decided to move on with her life, and he could make himself part of it if he so chose to be a true friend. At this point, she didn’t care anymore what anyone thought as she made life plans for herself.

  +++

  Commander Roevash was sitting alone by his hearth, which was his habit after dinner ever since he was first assigned to this post. The only variation in his long lone life was when Fionna appeared out of nowhere to exasperate him. He glowered to himself at the thought of those days as he stared into the relaxing flames.

  He sipped at his cool tankard of ale and tried not to think about how the room seemed too quiet and routine. He had grown used to the family noise in his life, and it felt strangely empty. He wondered about the small girl that was Fionna’s kin. His ensign was ordered to give him daily reports which he had faithfully carried out for the past month and a half. Roe was not sure if he liked not seeing to her himself, but she proved to be too much of a distraction for him right now. He resolved to look in on her if she remained scarce, but just as a courtesy. “It is my duty after all,” he scowled to himself.

  There was a knock at the door. Naalin boldly entered before he could even speak. Roe’s eyes riveted on her as she walked over to the empty chair by the fire, and gracefully sat down. He felt the same sense of sick panic in his gut as the day he first met Fionna.

  He was relieved when Fionna turned out to be perpetually bad-tempered, so they became good friends, and he preferred it that way. This one just stared back at him, with giant gray-green eyes, as she quietly invaded his, usually private, safe space.

  Naalin was wearing a dark green velvet dress that had delicate gold strings tied around the sleeves and waistline. Roe was too stunned to talk. Not knowing what else to do, he stupidly shoved his tankard of ale at her. She sipped a bit and smiled at him with the rim of the glass held close to her delicate wet lips.

  Naalin had the sweetest face he had ever seen. He found that he forgot to breathe. He tried to smile back, but his lips suddenly felt too big and oddly artificial. He struggled to gain control of his faculties in the face of some strange dizziness that pressed in behind his ears, threatening to overtake him.

  “I am glad you are well.” He spoke calm and precise in his own elvish dialect, hoping he seemed normal.

  “Your eyes look even bigger… with, with your hair cut.” He made hand gestures to emphasize his words and much to his delight she laughed, breaking the tension growing inside his chest. He couldn’t help but genuinely smile. Despite his apparent cognitive impairment.

  Naalin delighted in seeing his true fa
ce again. Their eyes sparkled together in the firelight as they gazed silently at each other.

  “I was thinking about how I am alone, even in my own family. My brother and Fionna are so new in this life compared to all my experience. I mean, long memories. I am speaking of long memory…” Roevash gasped for air, glad that she didn’t know what was just saying, because it came out all wrong, and he wasn’t sure what he really meant to say anyway.

  “Oh, Lords, save me...” he mumbled to himself and then spoke to her again, “I know you do not understand half the words I say to you ... but maybe, I will try to speak them,” he shyly said with a long sigh trying to relax. Roe turned back to the glowing flames in the hearth and rubbed his hand on his face. He took a deep breath and started over.

  “I lived through many battles of men and elves, the Great War and...” the subject abruptly changed, “I swear I have met you... somewhere, in my past.” He turned to Naalin again, looking deeply into her eyes.

  “It was all so long ago...” he paused for a moment to think and try to remember but was so distracted by her ethereal loveliness.

  “I was once a ranger in Illianheni,” he blurted out, trying to fill in the silence.

  “Illianheni,” she echoed the word, smiled faintly and nodded yes. Naalin mimicked his expression. It made him smile bashfully like he used to as a youth.

  “There was nothing but death and darkness and fighting for so long…” he said, suddenly sad from the long memories that always lay ready to flood his mind. Naalin understood his sadness from fighting in wars. She, too, had witnessed many atrocities in her own long memory. She didn’t know how to comfort him, so she stood up to give him back his drink. As she handed him the tankard, she saw something familiar in his face, and couldn’t help the lingering mild shock.

  “I will never forget you...” she whispered an echo of her own words from a time long past.

  Roevash took back the ale and gulped a quick sip of it, splashing a bit down the front of himself. He started to wipe it off but was paralyzed by her sudden closeness. Peering straight into his eyes, she leaned in and gently kissed his large full mouth. Roevash’s insides melted into a burning pile as she lingered on his lips. With her soft fingertips holding both sides of his cheeks, now sure of her memory, she kissed him again, and he did not back away.

  With her face so close to his, he could smell her sweet breath exhaled lightly on his skin. Not knowing her words, he could only stare at her as she studied him. He did not stop her as she crawled up onto his lap to get closer. The tankard dropped to the floor, spilling its contents as he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her again. Roevash felt the full burn of his passion come alive. He lifted her and carried her to his bed. Desperate to touch each other’s skin, they peeled one other out of their clothes. Piece by piece, each garment flew onto the floor.

  Suddenly awkward in his nakedness, Roevash became afraid. Scared of what he was. He looked fearfully at her beautiful face, not wanting to stop but forcing himself to step away.

  “I am ... a, like a man, I am... not …” He shook his head, suddenly distressed, but she took him by the hand and gently pulled him into her warm embrace.

  Roevash had never seriously been with anyone, nor did he think he could ever be with anyone. Naalin calmly shared her feelings the only way she knew how when words fail.

  Bond of Love

  Chapter Thirty One

  The sun was shining as morning broke in through the window. They woke to the clatter of steel-shod horse hoofs trotting in through the gate outside. Roevash rolled over and kissed Naalin. He rubbed his hands over her curly head and then down her body into a full-length warm hug.

  “I have to go...”

  He felt his body hum at her touch, and he didn’t want to leave.

  “A’maelamin,” she whispered, lovingly kissing him, as she watched through sleepy eyes.

  He knew she just called him “her beloved” and an electric tingle drifted lazily through his senses. He smiled at her with softness in return. It took every fiber of his willpower to pull himself out of bed to attend to the business outside.

  Once standing upright Roe hastily pulled on his trousers, and headed out the doorway to find his brother and Fionna had arrived back from their journey.

  “Hail brother,” he said with his big booming voice; a bit too loud.

  “Roe we have unfortunate news. Master Farghal has died,” Eijlam said soberly. Fionna was busily unpacking her horse, and she did not seem any too happy either.

  “Oh Fionna, what can I say,” Roe frowned. “I am filled with sorrow at this news.” He tried to sound genuine, but he felt himself sparkling with some crazy giddiness. He shook it off, trying to at least seem somewhat in control of his senses.

  “How is this even possible,” He whispered to Eijlam. “Do wizards truly die?” With such shocking news he momentarily forgot about the night before, and said, “Come, please tell me about it...” He motioned towards the office. His usually empty desolate office. Then he remembered the naked Naalin in his bed, and his skin blushed as he moaned in exasperation. He pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes squinting shut, wondering how to handle the situation and knowing perfectly well they would never let him live this down.

  Ej had seen his brother act like this before when he was under some kind of pressure and immediately seized the opportunity.

  “What is my large commander brother doing with only half his clothes intact?” EJ sniffed the air as he circled all around Roevash, too close for comfort, grinning like a cat ready to pounce.

  “Are you in some kind of hurry?” EJ pointedly asked.

  “Oh, Lords... we have broken the language barrier,” Roe mumbled under his breath and felt the blaze of his skin turn hot.

  “No privacy ... Remember!” Fionna’s eyes burned into him having just witnessed his confession concerning her kin.

  They pushed him forward into his office to talk. Naalin was there, quietly getting dressed.

  “Oh, you cut your hair,” Fionna said entering the private bedroom, as the guys moved over to the desk talking to one another in hushed voices.

  “Yes, it was not my hair as it should be.”

  “I saw your beautiful long hair in the garden dream. It was like mine only more golden.”

  “It will grow out nicely now.” Naalin said.

  “I cannot wait to practice braiding it,” Fi said.

  They smiled at each other, politely. Naalin then spoke her desired pledge of betrothal.

  “I wish to stay with Roevash as elvenkin do. I have held him in my heart forever,” Naalin pointed at Roevash who was startled in seeing her accusatory look as she focused on him.

  “What does she say?” EJ asked from across the room, because his brother stood dumbfounded again.

  Naalin looked at the brothers together as if seeing them for the first time and smiled. “You were just a tiny elfling when I saw you last,” she said to Eijlam. No one heard her as they focused on Fionna for her interpretation of Naalin’s words.

  Roe’s face began to perspire. Fionna let out a long slow breath and made a silly face as she teased, “She says, he is reeeeal-ly good in bed, and she wants to keep him.”

  Eijlam feigned shock at his brother, who seriously looked like he might just die on the spot.

  “Can you... please... please, Fionna, I beg of you, with all that is sacred to the Lords themselves tell Naalin I wish for her to stay with me always. By all my heart,” he spoke his intentions to Naalin. He was near tears. His eyes implored her to understand his true feelings. Naalin got the idea, but she could only watch and wonder until Fionna officially interpreted. Eijlam sat there grinning with his feet propped up on the desk, flipping an apple in his hand, taking in the whole show.

  Fionna looked at Roevash suffering as he sat down in his weakness. After one long agonizing moment of staring at him, she decided not to fool with them anymore and conveyed their words more accurately.

  “Roevash pledges hi
mself to you as well Naalin, and wishes to know if you will stay with him in love always. He cares about you very much Naalin,” she said in all seriousness.

  “How do I say, yes?”

  “Yes,” Fionna said in his dialect.

  “Yes,” Naalin repeated as she flew into his waiting arms and tearfully kissed him.The two smiled knowingly at each other with their foreheads touching.

  “Leave for a few weeks, and we miss out on all the fun,” EJ said with a teasing voice.

  “Ej, please, tell Roe what we have learned from Master Farghal,” Fionna said with sudden seriousness as she motioned for Naalin to come help her outside.

  After the horses and the supplies put away. Fionna dragged her heavy pack home. She had asked Naalin to follow her for a reason.

  “There is something I must show you. Papa said you would know what this is. I know it has the same stitching as you had on your clothes, so we knew you were somehow my kin on the island. What else is it?”

  She handed Naalin her small worn swaddling cloth that she had kept carefully preserved all these hundreds of years. Naalin was stunned at what she saw.

  “This is my mother’s dress. She was wearing it on the day of her death,” she looked at Fionna oddly.

  “You are my mother’s unborn?”

  “What?”

  “You were born on that day of the raid?”

  “Was I? I knew I was young but ... just born?” Fi still did not realize what Naalin had just said.

  “You are my one true sister…” Naalin looked stunned, which quickly changed to pleased. Fionna started to cry, but this time with happy tears.

  “I have a sister?” They said in unison as they hugged each other tightly.

  “Now you have to tell me what it was like,” Fionna raised one eyebrow expectantly, “...you know, with Roevash.”

  Naalin’s eyes widened as she blushed and giggled with her newfound sister.