Chapter 13
"You are saying that the choice is Carameth?" Ronnameth said. Mia nodded yes. Mostly because she was afraid to try to speak again just yet.
Belemeriath fluttered in front of Mia. "Carameth is the best elf there is with a bow! He can hit flies on logs! But that's okay, because I hate flies!" He made a sour little fairy face.
Ronnameth looked at the two sitting together for a moment, then stood before them. As sudden as a storm, her face grew stern. She unclasped her hands and placed her right hand to the left side of Mia's neck, her forefinger above the ear, the other three fingers below. Mia froze. She looked deep into her eyes. She found it impossible to resist the intense, deep gaze. She felt a surge run through her, as if warm, relaxing waters had saturated her very soul.
Ronnameth removed her hand. "Your words are just, child, and your heart pure." Whatever that meant. It sounded good. The queen stretched out her arms to the both of them as she knelt to embrace the two.
"Oh, my beloved son Carameth,” she sang. “So much honor precedes you!" She hugged them both at the same time. Mia let out a sigh of relief. Carameth sat stunned. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Finnegaff approaching with Normangaff.
"Great day to my beloved bride," Normangaff smiled as he reached out to take Ronnameth’s hand.
"And a great day it is, my beloved husband! Miagaff has chosen our Carameth as the Elven representative for the Carrying of the Book of Life!" She beamed. She beamed a lot.
Finnegaff looked at Mia. The good queen saw his suspicion. "Yes, dear Finnegaff. I used Yamasaa." Finnegaff nodded once, his eyebrows still raised in question and his gaze still directed to Mia.
Mia took a turn to defend herself. "The music was playing and I thought I might as well open to Saa to see who I had to choose. That's why you were looking for me, wasn't it? To tell me it's time?"
Finnegaff laughed. He laughed again, louder, and placed a hand on Mia's shoulder. "Yes, dear Miagaff. Yes, I was!"
Mia predicted what was to happen next. "I suppose there's some kind of 'honor to tradition' for this, right?"
Mia had barely voiced the words 'honor to tradition’ when Finnegaff’s eyes bugged out. He waved both hands through the air at waist level in slight movements, palms down, and lipped the word 'no' while shaking his head. But it was too late. Queen Ronnameth gave Finnegaff a dark, threatening look.
Belemeriath buzzed Queen Ronnameth. "Finnegaff always shows honor to tradition!” His hand cupped beside his tiny mouth. “Ale for all! Ale for all!" he called.
Finnegaff dropped his shoulders and sighed. "I guess we could skip that part. Just this once."
Queen Ronnameth smiled and resumed her casual attitude which, Mia had learned, the queen could turn on and off like a light switch. "Thank you, friend Belemeriath! And what a fine choice you have made, Lord Finnegaff! Oh!" A light went on somewhere in her deceivingly scattered head. "I must find Llorimand and tell him of this wonderful news! There he is! Oh, Llorimand!" She raised her voice to a group of elves a distance away and floated off toward them, one hand waving in the air.
Morning didn’t come soon enough to the Elven City of Abaradell. Mia wanted to set out upon their journey as soon as possible. Not that she didn’t like the beautiful city or enjoy the company of the wonderful elves it hosted; not that at all. It was that things troubled her. She feared sleep, having for the most part come to the decision that she wanted nothing more than to stay in Morrah. She feared that if she fell asleep she might be transformed back to her home. Right now she did not want that to happen, considering what she was to deal with upon her return to Earth. With the adventures that Morrah had, she most certainly wanted to remain here. Not to mention how she was beginning to feel about Prince Carameth of the elves. Home meant school, homework, little brother, mental institution. It also meant mom, Susan, a small select group of friends. She knew that not only would they not notice her absence, but soon she would be able to go home or be in Morrah whenever she wanted. At least that’s what she understood. Sometimes it seemed so distant.
Mia’s Stand, as Romessee called the tiny company (and the name seemed to stick; some elves were calling them Mia’s Stand, too) said short good byes and left the fair city of Abaradell after a hearty breakfast. The elves were not as involving when it came to departure as the Mumbwe were, perhaps because they were not nomadic. Supervised by the ever-competent Belemeriath, the horses had been packed by the same elves that had been charged with their care. Even the clean, refreshed horses seemed to be anxious to get on with the journey.
They traveled south through the towering mountains, climbing even higher until they started seeing snow. Romessee had donned boots, something she was very unused to, given her by the elves. She was grateful for the protection from the cold snow they encountered. She was somewhat clumsy in them; her people rarely wore footwear of any kind, always on the move from north to south in the winter and south to north in the summer, for they followed the fairer season.
They stopped for the evening while a light drizzle fell. It chilled the night air. Romessee set up the tent and tried to show Mia how it went up easily, though Mia didn’t quite grasp her technique. The four of them were sitting on their bedrolls inside the tent. Candles lit their conversation. Belemeriath had stayed behind in Abaradell to visit with friends, vowing to catch up with them. Mia had no doubt that the little fairy could quickly find them when he wanted to.
Romessee’s feet had a few blisters on them. “These boots hurt my feet,” she complained as she pulled a deer hide boot from her steaming foot, two days into their trip. Until now, she had said not a word about her discomfort. Mia reached into a bag she carried.
“Here, Rom. I made these when I was at Marigaff’s Farm.” She held out a pair of socks of a thick flannel-like material.
“What are these for?” Romessee asked.
“They’re socks! They go on your feet, and you put your boots on over them.”
“Oh. Yes. I knew that. Miagaff, I can't take these from you!”
“It’s okay, dear,” Mia said, using the word 'dear' with intent, for it seemed the thing for wizards to do. “I have others, and besides, I hardly wear them anymore." That was true. Mia had made the socks some weeks after her arrival at Marigaff’s Farm. By the time she had finished making them, she’d become used to the thin stockings typical of Awllander garb. Romessee thanked Mia and accepted the gift, later to be grateful for the socks, as they proved to minimize the blistering on her feet. With the wearing chill growing in the higher elevations and spent from a long ride, they all slept well that night.
“This is the highest point we will see,” Carameth told Mia. “This is one of the highest passes in the range, so from here, it’s mostly downhill.”
“And for the next few days,” Finnegaff said, “we will be passing through the South Elfwood Range.”
“Yes,” Carameth answered. “Yes, we will!” They exchanged smiles.
“What?” Mia knew they knew something she didn’t know that they weren't telling her. That drove her crazy above and beyond all other things. “What is it? What about the South Elfwood Range?” She frowned and looked back and forth from Finnegaff to Carameth to Romessee.
“Things are different here,” Carameth began.
“Well,” Finnegaff started, “Yes. The South Elfwood Range has residual magic from the Elves of Old. It’s the only place in the world like it.”
“You will see things here that you will see nowhere else,” added Romessee.
“Like what?” Mia was going to pry this out of them if she had to.
“Like misdirected magic. Sometimes things happen that seem to come from nowhere.” Finnegaff was giving those evasive answers he liked to give. Mia thought he did this just to irritate her. And perhaps he did.
“But nothing harmful!” Carameth said. “Usually.”
“Usually?” Mia looked at the handsome elf.
“Once the Shadowlight Stand was in the South Elfwoo
ds when a tree grabbed one of our horses.” Romessee said.
“A tree grabbed a horse?” Mia said. “Was it a halftree?”
“No,” Romessee replied. “Just a regular tree. It had the horse all tangled up in its branches. But Ameretegaff used Saa and the tree stopped. We had to cut the horse out.”
“I was hunting in South Elfwood when a bear spoke to me,” Carameth said. “She told me to please not hunt here, as she had some cubs nearby, but if I wanted to kill a bear, kill the big brown one that lived on the other side of the ridge, because none of the other bears liked him.”
"What did you do?" Finnegaff asked.
"I hunted the big brown bear. The other bears were most grateful."
“A bear talked to you?” Mia said. “Bears don’t talk!”
“They used to, at least some of them,” Finnegaff said. “I've been amazed by lots of weird stuff in South Elfwood myself.”
“Like what? You mean...” Mia never finished, for as she asked the question, a whooshing sound came from a flash of white speeding through the snow, much like a skier going downhill very, very fast, so fast that Mia couldn't see who or what it was. Whatever it was, it defied gravity by going uphill. Another followed. This one Mia saw.
“Coldsliders!” Carameth identified the speedy objects. What looked like snowmen about eighteen inches tall began speeding about them, passing near their horses. Mia held on tight, expecting that her horse might spook. Rosielle and the other horses were unconcerned. In moments the woods around them were full of giggling coldsliders, weaving between trees at Belemeriath-like speeds. They astounded Mia.
“These are old Elven magic?” she asked.
“Yes, at its best!” Finnegaff smiled at the entertaining coldslider’s antics as they played about the wood. “They won’t come close and you’ll never catch one. But don't even try to touch them!”
“Why not?” Mia asked, watching the gleeful coldsliders.
“Well, you see...” Finnegaff started. He was interrupted by the familiar sound of fairy wing beats.
“If you touch one, you will turn to ice.” Belemeriath hovered in front of Mia’s horse, then charged after a coldslider, keeping pace with it. The coldslider, aware the fairy was following him, sped up and increased the quick turns through the trees, playing follow the leader with the hyper little fairy. After several short minutes, the coldsliders were gone.
“Coldsliders are my favorite!” Belemeriath said, wired from his chase game. He flew to Mia and Carameth. “You should try it some time!” Mia laughed at him. He flew to Romessee. “You could do it, Rom! You could do it!”
“I don't think so, friend fairy! Coldsliders are much too fast for me!”
“So these coldsliders,” Mia looked at Carameth, something she would find any excuse to do, “just come out of nowhere? Do you see them often?”
“No. Usually only when there’s...” He abruptly stopped his sentence as he remembered something he should not have forgotten. He glanced at Finnegaff.
Finnegaff nodded and looked around the woods as he held his hand up, signaling the party to stop.
“Only when there’s what?” Mia asked.
“Quiet!” Finnegaff hushed her. From behind them they could hear something approaching through the woods. Whatever it was, it made no effort to be stealthy. Mia could hear sticks upon the ground snapping under footfall. Whatever it was, it wasn’t far behind. It sounded big.
“Darkhounds!” exclaimed Carameth. He reached for his bow. Romessee did the same.
“Don't use Saa except as a last resort!” Finnegaff warned the companions. “Ride!” He spurred his horse to a gallop. The others followed. Finnegaff went first, then Mia, Romessee, and Carameth took the rear. Mia’s heart raced. The darkhounds crashed through the trees. Their eerie howls chilled her spine as they closed in on their quarry. She saw Carameth turned backward on his horse, letting go arrows, an occasional howl emitting from their hunters when his arrow met its mark. Mia had heard that a darkhound could catch a horse when running on all fours. She held on to the saddle horn with an iron grip. It wasn’t enough. As her horse cleared a fallen log, Mia was thrown. She landed hard on her back, the wind knocked out of her.
Carameth stopped with her. He fired arrows back into the attacking darkhounds. “Finnegaff!” he called.
The wizard saw that Mia was down and pulled his gray steed about. Romessee had already dismounted and was beside Mia. Mia tried to stand but was unable. Clutching her side, she fell again. She drew her sword as she came to her knees. Her hands shook the sword, for she could now see the dark shapes of the darkhounds within the forest. They were grouping to attack. Carameth dismounted and took place in front of Mia, brandishing his sword. Finnegaff was on the ground with his sword drawn. The frightened horses ran. The party pulled in tight just as the darkhounds descended on them.