Chris Evans - A Darkness Forged in Fire

Yimt nodded solemnly. "Oh, that we do, Miss Red Owl, that we do. Why, if you'd let me grab my shatterbow over there, I'll show you how nice I've kept the wood polished." He made to get up, but the elf guarding them lifted his bow ever so slightly and Yimt settled back on the ground.

Alwyn cringed. Yimt might just charm them straight into eternal shadow.

"It is a most curious weapon, and well kept, but the mixing of iron and wood has killed its spirit. I am saddened by the loss, as I am for all the brothers and sisters that died to make the other weapons you carried."

"Killed its spirit? Not in the least." Yimt stuck out his chest a little, clearly proud of his shatterbow. "Lil' Nipper there fires as true as the day my aunt bought it, and that was more than fifty years ago. Sure, it doesn't have quite the distance it once had, but after fifty years what can you expect?"

Chayii reached behind her back and brought forth her bow. Alwyn had that strange feeling again that someone, or something, was there with them.

"This was given to me by my ryk faur, He Who Brushes the Sky, over one hundred years ago." She flexed the bow in her hands. It bent and then sprang back like a new sapling.

Yimt nodded his approval. "As an admirer of form, I feel safe in saying you're both in fine shape."

They'll find us in tiny little pieces. Before Alwyn could apologize for Yimt, Chayii laughed. She sat down in front of them, lightly jabbing one end of her bow into the earth beside the twig Yimt had just planted. Alwyn noticed the bow wasn't strung and wondered what kind of string the elves might use.

"I will show you," Chayii said, placing her hands in the dirt to either side of the bow and twig.

Alwyn barely jumped this time as the elf answered his unasked question. "Show us what?" Yimt asked.

Alwyn shushed him and pointed to the twig in front of them. It began to tremble, and then tiny green shoots sprouted from it. They waved about in the air for a moment like a many-headed snake, and then began to grow upward, twining themselves together as they climbed up the bow. When they reached the top they uncoiled from the bow itself so that they hung down straight between the ends, where more green shoots had wrapped themselves. Slowly, gently, they began to tighten, spinning themselves into one incredibly fine string. The vines gleamed silvery green as they spun themselves together, bending the ends of the bow closer together until the vine string was taut. Chayii brought out a small wooden blade and lightly parted the newly grown bowstring from the twig and lifted the bow from the dirt, handing it to Yimt to inspect.

"It's as warm as fresh bread," he said, running his hands lightly over the bow. He placed a couple of fingers on the string and pulled back, grunting in surprise. "That's incredible! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. Ally, give this a try."

Alwyn looked at Chayii, who nodded her approval. He took the bow from Yimt and immediately felt the warmth in the wood. He felt something else, too, or maybe heard something. Whatever it was, he liked it. He wrapped his fingers around the string and pulled, or rather, tried to pull, the pain in his chest too much.

"The draw weight on that would put Lil' Nipper to shame," Yimt said, shaking his head. "That's some mighty fine magic."

Alwyn handed Chayii back her bow.

"What you call magic we call being one with the natural order. To understand the life around you is to be part of it, and it a part of you."

Yimt nodded noncommittally. "And you're doing a damn fine job of it, too. Now, I hate to be rude after all the help you gave us, especially in saving young Ally there from death's door, but I was wondering if we might grab our kit and be on our way? We've got a job to do and Major Osveen will have my hide if I'm late."

Chayii looked pensive at the mention of the major's name. A lantern went on in Alwyn's head.

"The major is an elf. You don't happen to know him, do you, ma'am?"

She gave a wistful smile that made Alwyn regret asking.

"I did, at one time. It has been many years since I last saw him."

Yimt slapped the ground with the flat of his hand. "He's a wild one, no doubt about it, but a damn fine officer, and I've seen a bunch. You'd think that witch of his would tame him, but she seems to do the opposite. Two of them fight like a pair of razorback dragons in a sack."

Chayii's smile vanished. "Witch? What witch?"

Alwyn tried to catch Yimt's eye, but the dwarf was off on one of his tangents.

"An elfkynan witch, to be exact. Miss Visyna Tekoy, pretty little thing, too. Got some power, put on quite a light show a week or so back. You know, give her a bow and arrow and a set of those fancy clothes you have and you'd be hard-pressed to say she wasn't an elf."

"The elfkynan are not elves," Chayii said. The ice in her voice was crystal clear to Alwyn, but Yimt remained oblivious. "Elves would not leave a forest untended like this. The land grows strange and an illness pervades it…"

As Miss Red Owl talked, Alwyn couldn't help but think she sounded an awful lot like Miss Tekoy, but he kept that to himself.

"…they have forsaken the stewardship that is their birthright. These forests are yet children in this world and should not have been left alone to fend for themselves."

"Children? There must be trees in here hundreds of years old," Alwyn said, looking around him in true awe.

"There are Wolf Oaks in the deepest parts of our home that were there when the light of the first morning rose over the mukta ull," Chayii said, a reverential tone in her voice.

"Oh."

Chayii turned back to Yimt. "You said they fight?"

Yimt chuckled and nodded. "The major and Miss Tekoy? Only when they see each other. It was like that when I was courting my sweet Amag. We used to squabble over everything."

Alwyn looked at the dwarf in surprise. Yimt, married? He'd never mentioned anything about a sweet Amag before.

"Does she goad him to act against his better judgment?" Chayii asked.

"Not exactly. More like they both have ideas about what's the right way to do something, and neither one is the same. Always on about the Empire and nature, too. This is evil, that is backward, bit of a bore really. I gather she wants him to be more elfish, you know, like you lot, while he would just as soon polish his musket. He may be an elf an' all, but unlike her, you put a bow and arrow in his hands and I think he'd probably use it to start a fire."

Yimt was going to get them all killed yet. Alwyn watched Chayii, looking for the first sign of trouble, but all she did was sit there. She brought a hand to her face and wiped away a tear.

"He's a good officer," Alwyn blurted out. He was surprised to hear himself say it, but it was true. The major got off his horse whenever he could to walk among the men, checking to see that things were in order, but also to see that they were taken care of. They barely saw the Prince, and too much of their sergeants, but the major seemed to know when to show up, and when not to. Looking back on it now, the flogging of Corporal Kritton didn't conjure up the same dark feelings it had before. If he ever saw that elf again, he'd gladly finish the other lashes.

"Ally's telling you the truth-the major is one of the better ones. In fact," Yimt said, coughing politely and looking again at his shatterbow on the rock in the clearing, "he's expecting to see us at Luuguth Jor. We were on our way there when them rakkes attacked us, but I'm guessing you know all about what's going on. If you'd care to come along, you'd get a chance to see him, and the witch, too. Maybe you could talk some sense into them. Seems like they could be a nice couple if they could see eye to eye a bit more."

"Perhaps they have different opinions on the Eastern Star," Chayii remarked.