Mira's Hope (14 page)

Galena and Elenio left shortly after
everything had been decided. They wanted to continue on for they’d
wasted almost an entire day in endless debates and Galena felt
anxious to be on her way. She couldn’t help feeling like if she
didn’t find the sword soon; it would be too late. It would not be
long before Rau joined the hunt.

They traveled through the remainder of the
night and much of the next day, not even stopping to eat, but
eating as they went along. Galena kept up a relentless pace, her
anxiety keeping her moving. It was late that evening when she
sensed Elenio stopping, weariness and hunger flowing through his
mind. She turned to see him standing, hands on his hips, clearly
indicating he was not willing to go another step.

“We need to stop. I’m dead on my feet.”
Elenio sat heavily on an old fallen log. He looked drained and
tired, just as Galena assumed she looked. They’d put a good
distance between them and the last village they crossed, but the
urgency was still there, threatening to overwhelm her. Although at
this point, she wasn’t sure if it was an anxiety over getting to
the sword or running into dangerous creatures. If she was being
honest with herself, she believed she could go the rest of her life
without setting foot into Mira’s dreaded cave. The idea of running
into earagos or worse, had her pacing where ever she stood.
Thinking about this, she decided it was definitely the idea of
running into dark creatures when there were only two of them that
had her feeling so tightly wound. In truth, she knew she would be
able to handle whatever came, but she did worry she wouldn’t be
able to protect Elenio. She hadn’t realized how much she depended
on Elenio and Tark watching out for each other as much as they
watched out for her. It was disconcerting to her that she may miss
a vital death stroke and not be able to heal Elenio in time.

Looking toward the west and then back at
Elenio, who had begun to massage his feet, she sighed. She felt
frustrated, but knew they needed to stop and rest before they would
be able to go on. She couldn’t help looking around her just to make
sure nothing had crept up on them as they decided to make camp for
the night. It seemed to her that every day they went without
defending themselves, was another day the enemy could surround
them.

It would almost be better if they attacked
us so I would get over my nerves
, she thought, shaking her head
slightly.

Cutting off a twig from one of the bare
walnut tree branches, she stuck it into the ground and proceeded to
grow a bed. She didn’t try to make anything elaborate as she
normally did, feeling it was a waste of her time and thoughts at
this point.

Elenio looked up, sensing her mood and
sighed. “I know we need to go, but we...” he stopped for a moment,
apparently thinking about what he had just said before he
continued, “let me rephrase that. I would be worthless if we kept
going without a least a short break. I just need a couple hours of
sleep and a decent meal, then we can be off again.”

“I know. I just feel uneasy. Like something
bad is about to happen.”

“You do know we’re on a dangerous quest to
find a sword that no elf has been able to retrieve since Mira
created it and stuck it in a dangerous cave, only to turn around
and try to put an end to the tyrant who has enslaved us for
thousands of years, right?”

Galena grinned sheepishly at him. He
definitely had a way of summing up things. Shrugging in
resignation, she handed Elenio some food from the pack and
proceeded to collect wood for their campfire. When she had a
blazing fire going, she took Twoit from her pack and placed her on
the ground. The ferret yawned and stretched, looking sleepily
around as she did. She stopped suddenly midway through her
inspection, her nose furiously twitching, smelling all around her.
With a terrified little scream, she raced back to Galena’s pack and
dove into the open top.

Galena stopped what she was doing and looked
around. Elenio put his food down as well and searched the wooded
area around them. It was twilight and there were shadows all
around, but nothing else appeared to be in sight. Galena strained
her eyes while she listened to the forest. It was silent. She
stood, putting her hand on the hilt of her blade and began to walk
to the edge of their campsite. The woods were growing darker with
the setting of the sun, but nothing was stirring. The unease she’d
felt before, grew in intensity. Elenio was up too, his blade out
and ready in his hand. He was heading in the opposite direction as
Galena. He moved slowly and cautiously. Galena turned to him,
drawing her blade as she did. She took a step toward him, moving
slowly as well.

“I don’t –” Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. It
was like something was clutching her neck tightly, strangling her.
Eyes wild with panic, she felt herself being lifted off the ground
by an invisible hand. Her fingers searched for the invisible force
that was slowly suffocating her. Elenio raced to her, his own eyes
filled with horror. He looked her up and down, but not able to
help, as he was unsure what had her. In that instant, Galena saw
what he saw in her mind and thinking of the floating lights the
underground elves had, she thought of the brightest light she could
imagine. Bolts of the fire hot lightning that raced across the sky
and lighting up the land on the darkest night, filled her thoughts.
The light she produced was so blinding, she had that to close her
eyes against it. The force that held her let go and she was sure
she could hear a faint scream somewhere in the distance.

Once released, she fell to the ground with a
thud and the light disappeared. Elenio, who had closed his own eyes
as well, ran to her and picking her up by the arms, looked her up
and down, checking for any injuries.

“It’s gone,” she said, massaging her sore
neck.

“What happened?” he asked, his expression
still looking puzzled.

“I think Rau found me.” She grimaced slightly
as she attempted to swallow. If he had held on any longer, she felt
he would have broken her neck or crushed her windpipe. As it was,
she had to do some minor healing on herself to repair her bruised
and now swelling throat. Satisfied with the results, she tested it
out by swallowing once more. No pain. “I do believe he’s starting
to take me a little more seriously if he has joined the
search.”

“How do you know it was him? I saw nothing
but shadows...”

Galena saw the connections being made even as
she thought through them herself.

“Shadows. He can use the shadows.”

“Yep. How well do you think you can sleep
with bright lights?”

“I’ll sleep just fine.”

Chapter
Eighteen

Tark was pleased with the quality of the
swords Fala and his apprentices developed. He was just as pleased
with the overwhelming response he’d gotten from all the elves who
wanted to be trained. Amrick made sure messenger elves had been
sent all over Tomiro to inform more elves of what was going on and
to recruit from the villages they delivered the news to. The
results were impressive. What was more; Pangoro with his ability to
know what was going on before any messenger arrived due to Mira’s
aide, sent a small army of elves from Gora.

Now he’s more forthcoming,
Tark
thought, shaking his head bitterly while recalling their trips up
two different mountains.

However, this bit of news had also given Tark
a bit of encouragement he hadn’t realized he needed until it was
said. With Mira backing their plan, he believed they truly had a
chance if Galena could succeed as well. His eyes strayed toward the
west as they always did when he thought of Galena. He wondered how
they were faring and how far they’d gotten.

Only time would tell,
he thought.

He’d begun to train the recruits from there
in the village as soon as it had been decided, hoping they would be
far enough along in their training to assist him in teaching others
as they arrived. Like his father had with him, he started the elves
with sticks and taught them basic moves, like how to hold a sword
properly and other essential information. They picked up everything
quickly and those that seemed to struggle were aided by their
fellow elves. Within a couple of days, they were moving more
gracefully and looked more prepared for what was to come.

Within a few days of sending messengers,
elves from other villages started to arrive. The first set came
from Gora, closely followed by a village from the west, thanks to
Galena and Elenio. When this group arrived, he felt his chest
loosen a fraction.

They seemed to be making good time,
he
thought. He knew the western woods were still weeks away, but
still, they had done well in such a short amount of time.

His plan was working well so far on several
accounts. It seemed the Tomiro was ready to end their enslavement
and had sent as many elves as they could spare, to learn to fight.
Tark noted all of the elves were old enough to be on their own, but
young enough that they had not yet begun their work in the mines.
This was a good thing as he felt it was important to keep the
narooks at bay for as long as possible. No sense in alerting Rau
before they were ready.

The first set of elves who’d progressed
through the basics, were indeed able to aid him more in the
training of the new arrivals. The village came together and
provided for the new elves. Like it was discussed, there were also
elves who arrived with the groups to help with the cooking,
cleaning, sword making, and anything else that might be needed by
an army of warriors. It was going so much smoother than Tark would
have ever imagined.

It was midway through the second week when he
received his biggest shock. He was in the fields they’d designated
for sword training, going through a routine he knew like the back
of his hand. Every time he yelled out, the elves as a whole, moved
to the next position in the routine. They did this so fluidly he
felt his chest swell with pride. If they hadn’t been so eager to
learn what he had to teach them, they wouldn’t have made it as far
as they had.

Shouting out once more as he turned to head
back across the field, he stopped when he started to hear murmurs
and whispers behind him. He turned to see what was causing all the
commotion and stopped dead in his tracks. Proceeding toward him in
a calm and utterly forgettable motion, was Morgo, followed by
several other of the underground elves. Among them was Nina, who
had first found them and Nigora, the healer elf who had saved
Galena after she attempted to bash in her own head. Nigora stuck
out the most; she kept smiling and waving to everyone she passed.
She seemed truly pleased to be above ground. Tark strode over to
meet Morgo half way and reaching out an arm, clasped forearms with
the elf.

“This is an absolute shock,” Tark said, still
holding Morgo’s arm with his own.

“I have been watching your progress in the
mirror waters. I finally convinced some of our elders and other
elves that now is the time to join the fight if we ever want to
succeed. I would have been here at the beginning, but as you can
imagine, convincing the elders this was necessary was an extremely
difficult thing to do,” Morgo smiled as he said this in his dull
monotone voice and Tark found himself struggling to focus on what
he was saying. He was sure it was important.

Shaking his head slightly, he returned the
smile. “How did you get here so quickly if they only just made
their decision and how were you able to convince so many to come
with you?” Tark looked behind Morgo and noticed there was a good
twenty or so elves from the underground world. He wouldn’t have
expected more than five at the most if he’d ever expected any at
all.

“Magic,” Morgo said simply.

Tark’s grin grew wider at this. “Magic,” he
replied. Things just got quite a bit more interesting and more
even. The possibilities were racing through his head just then.
“Where would you like to start?”

“I can’t speak for the others, but I want to
learn to fend for myself and to protect others with a sword,” Morgo
said, a hint of emotion starting to rise in his voice as his smile
grew every bit as wide as Tark’s.

At the end of the day, Tark fell back onto
his bed and thought about all they’d accomplished in just one day
with the help of magic. They’d gone through all the magical elves
and decided what role they would play. Some of them volunteered to
work with the cooks; Nigora went to work with the healers. Several
wanted to be trained as well as build swords. Tark took a handful
of the underground elves and showed them the home Galena made for
them there in the village. He explained they would need several of
these homes, but with more beds in each of the rooms, for they
would be housing more than a couple of elves at any given time. He
reasoned this would ease the burden of the elves of Corista.

It surprised him when a dozen elves had to be
used to create one home and only after they had planned and devised
exactly what the home would look like for several hours. They
decided against adding any fancy details, just a very basic home.
The results caused at least two of them to pass out and the others
to need rest for the remainder of the day. The treehouse they
created had two floors with a dozen beds and no washrooms, seats,
tables, or other furniture in the common area. When Tark started to
climb the stairs, they gave way and he found himself jumping off
before he was sent crashing to the floor.

By the end of the day, they had gotten the
majority of the more serious flaws such as crashing stairs,
repaired well enough that some of the elves could stay there.
Others were staying in Galena’s tree house in the floors above.
After attempting a home of their own, the underground elves had a
new appreciation for Galena’s work. Tark stayed up with Morgo a
while later and told him of all that had happened since leaving him
in the tunnels below Tomiro. When Morgo found out about the removal
of Galena’s tattoos and the amount of power she seemed to possess,
he just nodded and smiled. It was then that Tark had remembered
Morgo’s original theory and realized Morgo had been right all
along.