The Secrets of the Boggy Marsh

Chapter 18: The Next Day

  The next morning, the sun rose on a cool day. The season was turning, and the snows would be falling before too much longer.

  Mr. Elf was up early, as was his habit. He hadn’t slept, even though he was exhausted from the escape from Boggy Marsh. His wings had ached all night, and no matter what he did, he couldn’t get comfortable.

  He stood in front of his bathroom mirror, dressed only in his trousers, examining the damage. He turned his body and angled his head, to get a better view of where his wings attached to his back.

  He grimaced at the angry, red and purple bruising around the area where his wings joined to his body. The bruised area was large, and it looked to Mr. Elf like the bruises would continue to spread.

  He flicked his wings experimentally and immediately wished he hadn’t. Excruciating pain shot through his spine, causing all the muscles in his back to spasm. He bent over his bathroom sink, gasping for breath and coughing a wet phlegmy cough. Staying that way for a good few minutes, he focused on controlling his breath and breathing through the pain. When the pain subsided enough for him to move again, he finished dressing and returned to his kitchen.

  The condition of his wings worried him greatly. He knew he would require the assistance of a special healer to repair the damage he had done while flying with Seamus. The only problem was, there was no healer living in Damanta Mallaithe. Healers, because of their nature and skills, were much sought after, and didn’t tend to get kicked out of where they lived.

  Mr. Elf sighed and resigned himself to having to travel to a village with a healer. An Aelfin healer would be best, but he knew he wasn’t going to get much in the way of help from his own people.

  Pulling his shirt over his head, he reached to where his travel cloak hung on the back of a chair, wincing, as another bolt of pain lanced through his back. He stood rigid until the spasms went away. Shrugging off the annoyance he felt, he donned his travel cloak, and left his shop, quietly closing his door behind him. He set off through the village, his body well wrapped, but his face wearing an ingrained scowl.

  Knowing Paddy and Seamus would also be up and about at this time of morning, Mr. Elf made his way directly to their hut. There were several things he needed to discuss, and he was in the mood for getting some answers.

  As he approached the hut, he heard rustling in the bushes. Glute slimed on to the trail in front of him.

  “Good morning, Respected Mother,” Mr. Elf greeted the Heebee Geebee in the appropriate formal manner.

  Glute’s body rose, and she regarded him with her watery eyes. “Good morning, Mrelf. If you are looking for Paddy and Seamus, they have taken Mody to show her around the village.”

  “Thank you, Glute. I need to ask them, and Grace and Favour, some questions.”

  “You know if you want to ask them about their past, you have to present your reasoning to the village council first,” Glute chided, gently. She could sense Mr. Elf’s frustration and impatience, and didn’t want him making any mistakes he would regret later. “If the council approves, then you may approach them and ask if they are willing to answer your questions,” Glute advised.

  Mr. Elf nodded; he knew and appreciated the steps taken to protect the privacy of the villagers of Damanta Mallaithe. “Glute, you do know I wouldn’t be asking, if it wasn’t important. When we were in Boggy Marsh I was summoned by The She.”

  “The She spoke to you directly?” Glute’s thoughts revealed how startled she was.

  “Yes. And She told me of some things I must do, and Paddy and Seamus are part of it,” Mr. Elf said, shaking his head, as if he didn’t believe it himself.

  Glute quivered. She knew from her telepathic communication that Mr. Elf was telling the truth, not that she thought he would try to lie to her anyway. “This will require some thought,” she said, to Mr. Elf. “You shouldn’t have to carry this burden alone. Just don’t be hasty in your choices. I can sense you are uncomfortable, and that it is making you impatient.”

  “Can I at least ask Grace and Favour a couple of questions, before the council get involved?” Mr. Elf implored. “I need to get some idea of what I’m dealing with.”

  Paddy, Seamus and Mody chose that moment to return to their hut. When Mody saw Mr. Elf and Glute, she gave an excited bird chirp and scampered over to them, her body waddling from side to side.

  “Good morning, Mr. Elf, and hello to you, Glute,” Mody said cheerfully. “This village is wonderful. It’s so much nicer than Boggy Marsh.”

  Paddy and Seamus strode up and exchanged polite morning greetings with Mr. Elf and Glute.

  Glute turned her head in Paddy and Seamus’s direction, “Mr. Elf would like to ask Grace and Favour some questions. Would you mind if we helped him with this?” she thought to them.

  Paddy and Seamus exchanged uncertain glances. Paddy spoke for them both. “Won’t that break the village rules, Respected Mother?”

  “We can ask Grace and Favour what they think. If they’re happy to talk, then there’s no problem. After all, they’ve not been officially accepted as residents of the village.”

  Paddy glanced at Seamus, who nodded that he agreed.

  Mr. Elf smiled reassuringly. “I already know a fair bit about their history, so I won’t be asking too much about the past.”

  “I suggest we go and have this chat in the village meeting hut,” Glute said. “Paddy and Seamus, why don’t you take Mody on ahead; there are a couple of things Mr. Elf and I need to discuss on the way.”

  As Paddy, Seamus and Mody ambled on ahead, Glute sent a private thought to Mr. Elf. “Grace and Favour want to talk to you.”

  “How do you know that?” Mr. Elf asked.

  “Really Mrelf, you’re going to have to start thinking a bit quicker than that. They were right here with Paddy and Seamus, and they told me,” Glute answered, slightly amused.

  “Why is it they won’t talk to me directly?” asked a frustrated Mr. Elf.

  “They do,” Glute replied. “You just can’t hear them. They told me The She put a block on the Aelfin people, preventing them from hearing the object that was entrusted to them. It seems the block held, even when your king had them melted down and turned into swords.”

  “That isn’t very helpful,” Mr. Elf complained. “But at least now I understand why they haven’t communicated with me for all these years. I suppose I’ll just have to communicate with them through Paddy and Seamus.”

  “Even that will be difficult,” Glute advised. “Paddy and Seamus can only get a basic idea of what Grace and Favour want to communicate. And so far, the communication has been clearest when Paddy and Seamus are in a heightened emotional state.”

  Mr. Elf stopped walking and turned to Glute. “Will you help me put my questions to Grace and Favour?” he asked hopefully.

  “You can put your questions to them yourself. You only need my help to get the complete answers,” Glute replied, sliming around a corner on the trail.

  Mr. Elf considered this for a moment, and then hurried to catch up to Glute. When he rounded the corner, he saw Paddy, Seamus and Mody waiting outside the village meeting hut.

  Glute slimed up to the waiting trio. “Go on inside,” she thought to them. “We’ll be in soon. I have one more thing to discuss with Mr. Elf.”

  Paddy, Seamus and Mody entered the meeting hut chattering away to each other about their plans to help Mody find her mother.

  Glute sent a private question to Mr. Elf. “Did The She say anything else of importance to you?” Glute’s question was very direct, and somewhat out of character with her usual strict enforcement of the village’s privacy rules.

  Mr. Elf, however, was happy and relieved to have someone to share this with. He had been alone for a very long time. “The She indicated the time of great need was approaching fast, and that Paddy and Seamus are somehow central to events.”

  “And?” Glute prompted.

  “And they should be kept ignorant of the fact that they are special and have suc
h importance. I suspect they may be central to certain Aelfin prophesies about the coming of the time of great need.”

  “I see,” Glute’s thoughts seemed weak, perhaps distracted. “You’re going to have to be very careful about the questions you ask in front of them.”

  “I know,” Mr. Elf replied, worriedly.

  “It would be better not to ask Paddy and Seamus anything. Do you really think anything they may reveal about their past will help you?” Glute asked.

  Mr. Elf frowned. “Probably not, but you just never know, they may unknowingly have important information.”

  “Can you risk it? Think hard on this before you act,” cautioned Glute, sliming towards the door. “Come along, let’s not keep them waiting any longer.”

  Mr. Elf followed Glute into the meeting hut, being careful not to step in her slime trail. Paddy and Seamus were sitting on chairs, with Grace and Favour out of their scabbards and in their laps. Mody was chasing a bug that had chosen a bad time to cross the floor of the hut.

  Mr. Elf closed the hut door behind him, and smiled encouragingly at Paddy and Seamus.

  “Are you ok, Mr. Elf?” Paddy asked, sounding concerned. “You don’t look well.”

  Mr. Elf was surprised by the question. “I’m just a bit worried by something. I’m hoping Grace and Favour can help by answering some questions.”

  Seamus was looking suspiciously at Mr. Elf. “It’s your wings, isn’t it? You’re stiff when you move, and you look uncomfortable.”

  “What’s the matter with your wings?” Glute asked, with genuine concern.

  “Please,” Mr. Elf said, “let’s not worry about that now. Boys, has Grace or Favour spoken to you since we got back to the village?” he asked, wanting to change the subject.

  Paddy and Seamus looked at each other and shook their heads. “No, they only talk to us when they need to,” Seamus replied.

  Mr. Elf glanced at Glute, and then addressed the swords. “Grace and Favour, I have a need to understand, will you help me?”

  Both swords pulsed a golden glow in response to the question.

  “That means yes,” Paddy offered, helpfully.

  Mr. Elf nodded and smiled. So far, so good. Now he was going to push it. “Grace and Favour, what is your purpose?”

  The swords pulsed through an arrangement of dark and violent colors, too quick to keep up with.

  Paddy’s face was a mask of confusion. “I didn’t get any of that, just a feeling of great anger.”

  Mr. Elf cast a querying eye at Glute.

  “They said, and this is the exact wording, ‘We want to be whole, we want to be one, and we want to be free. Only then can we serve our purpose.’ Your question triggered great pain for them,” Glute said, with a quiver that ran the length of her slug body.

  “What does all that mean?” asked a curious Mody.

  Paddy and Seamus shifted in their seats uncomfortably, both shrugging their shoulders.

  Mr. Elf’s face was thoughtful. “I think I understand the wanting to be whole, and the wanting to be one parts. That obviously means they want to be put back to their original form, but I haven’t a clue what the wanting to be free part means.”

  “Don’t be so quick to put those two desires; wanting to be whole and wanting to be one, together,” cautioned Glute. “Grace and Favour clearly stated them as separate requirements. The feeling I got from them about wanting to be free, is that they can only fulfill their purpose, if they are free to choose to do so.”

  “That still doesn’t make anything any clearer for me,” Seamus grumbled.

  “Good,” thought Mr. Elf to himself. “And what is their purpose?” he asked Glute, out loud.

  Grace and Favour flashed angrily.

  Glute reared up to her full height, quivering agitatedly. “Do not ask that question again. They either can’t or won’t answer it. In their current state, it causes them great grief.”

  “Can swords feel grief?” Mody asked, with genuine concern.

  “The Aelfin king caused them great pain, when he separated them by forging them into swords,” Glute replied.

  Mr. Elf recoiled in a state of surprised horror. “I am so sorry, Grace and Favour, for what my king did to you. It was not my intent to cause you more pain or grief.” He started to pace stiffly across the room. “And I don’t understand why the king did that to you,” he mumbled to himself, as he ran his hand through his long, dark hair. Turning back to face Paddy and Seamus, he asked, “Why now? You’ve been with my people, and then with me, for such a very long time. Why start to communicate with us now?”

  Grace and Favour pulsed a radiant, golden color simultaneously.

  “They have been waiting,” Glute answered for the swords.

  “What have they been waiting for?” Paddy asked, before anyone else could.

  Glute’s answer though caught them all by surprise. “They have been waiting for the call of The She.”

  Mr. Elf was suddenly worried about where this was going to lead.

  “They say that The She has called, and they have answered the call,” Glute finished.

  Mr. Elf was now very worried. Here were more references to ancient Aelfin prophecies. ‘The She will call, and they will come’. Perhaps he was wrong about Paddy and Seamus. Perhaps the prophecy was about the swords after all.

  While this thought went through Mr. Elf’s head, Seamus asked, “How did The She call to them?”

  The swords pulsed and glowed warmly. Glute rippled and swayed. When she stilled herself, she thought the answer to all of them. “They said the call was obvious to them, as it should be to all others.”

  “That’s a bit cryptic, isn’t it?” Paddy said. “Can’t they be a bit more open than that?”

  The swords flashed a dirty orange color. Paddy and Seamus sensed that Grace and Favour were unhappy in some way.

  Mr. Elf sensed that Glute was holding something back, and decided to help her, by changing the topic of discussion. “Grace and Favour, what do you want us to do for you?” he asked.

  The swords pulsed a sulky orange color again. This time there was a short wait before Glute answered. “They want to go with Paddy and Seamus to see Mody back to her people.”

  Mr. Elf nodded; he had thought the swords would want to stay with Paddy and Seamus.

  “And then,” continued Glute, “they want Paddy and Seamus to make them whole, make them one, and set them free.”

  “How are we supposed to do that?” Paddy and Seamus asked, at the same time.

  “They don’t know,” Glute replied. “They just want you to say you will try.”

  Mr. Elf held his breath, and wondered if this was one of those choices The She had said was so important for Paddy and Seamus to make on their own.

  “Well, I don’t have a clue how we are supposed to do those things,” Seamus said.

  “But, if we can come up with something, we will certainly do our best to help Grace and Favour,” Paddy added.

  “Yes we will try,” they finished, together.

  Mr. Elf released his breath gently, as Grace and Favour pulsed warmly again.

  “Mr. Elf, Grace and Favour are quite insistent you go along with Paddy, Seamus and Mody,” Glute added.

  “You will come with us, won’t you, Mr. Elf?” Mody asked, earnestly.

  “Yes, Mody, I will come with you. If Grace and Favour think it is the right thing for me to do, then I will do it,” Mr. Elf said, smiling at Mody. He suddenly had that happy content feeling again, and idly wondered, if he was being influenced again. It didn’t matter anymore. He had no intention of letting Paddy and Seamus go off with the swords on their own.

  Glute’s next thought came to them with an enveloping warmth. “Grace and Favour are content for the moment. They say this is as it should be.” She slimed over to Paddy, Seamus and Mody, from where she had been resting. “Can you three please go and ask Frosty and Lyric, if they could join Mr. Elf and I, here in the meeting hut. Grace and Favour have nothing more for
us today, but Mr. Elf and I have some other business to discuss with the village council.”

  “Sure thing, Glute,” Paddy said, getting up and sheathing Favour. “I’m really happy that you’ll be coming with us, Mr. Elf,” he said, beaming happily.

  “Me too,” Seamus and Mody said, together.

  Glute and Mr. Elf watched the three friends leave the meeting hut silently. When they had gone, Glute sent a private thought to Mr. Elf. “Grace and Favour told me what the call of The She is.”

  “Go ahead,” Mr. Elf said, nervously.

  “They said that Paddy and Seamus are the call of The She, and they answered the call by getting Paddy and Seamus to take them into Boggy Marsh.”

  Mr. Elf shook his head, “Why?”

  Glute’s skin quivered gently. “Grace and Favour wanted The She to know that they have Paddy and Seamus!”