Osha fidgeted nervously. Sgaile was as tensely watchful as the first night he'd appeared in the forest. And both made Leesil worry.
They passed more dwelling trees with openings and flora-marked entry-ways. A tall elf peered through a bordering arch of primroses around the dark hollow in an oak. Leesil couldn't make out more than that he was male and would have to duck his head to come out. The large clay dome of an oven sat in an open lawn, smoke rising from its top opening. Several women and two men standing near it stopped, touched their companions, and turned one by one to stare.
Among them was the one Leesil first thought had walked straight out of a tree. He recognized her strange hair. She stood off from the others upon the moss lawn, and a break in the canopy captured her in a shaft of sunlight.
Soft creases in her skin, darker brown than Leesil's own, marked the corners of her large eyes and small mouth. She was slender and tall like his memory of Nein'a, but this woman's hair was like aspen bark, shot with gray that looked dark amid the white blond. Advanced age on an elf seemed strange.
Her narrow jaw ended in a pointed chin tilted down to a slender and lined throat as she fingered through whatever was in her basket. She hadn't yet spotted the new arrivals, but other elves began to gather.
They appeared at openings in the living dwellings or stepped through ivy curtains and around arches of vines and bramble plants shaped to divide and define the community's spaces. A teenage boy in nothing but breeches crouched overhead in an oak's limbs, his brown torso smooth and perfect.
Some faces looked calm and welcoming at first, until they spotted the outsiders walking between the Anmaglahk. Others froze immediately, and fear was tinged with something more dangerous. All stared at Wynn and Magiere. Some even looked at Leesil uncertainly.
Unlike in the human lands, no one here would long mistake him for one of their own. He was short by comparison, his amber eyes smaller, and, though beardless, his wedged chin was too blunt and wide. And his clothing was nothing like theirs.
Chap pushed in to walk close to Wynn.
In a few more steps, their small group was surrounded by people at all sides of the community's center green. A lean man about Sgaile's age stepped out. en'nish halted, but the man wasn't looking at her.
"Sgailsheilleache!" he spit out.
Leesil couldn't catch the stream of Elvish that followed, but Osha stepped back, positioning himself closer to Wynn. Leesil didn't find this comforting as he studied the growing crowd of elves. Their dress differed noticeably from the Anmaglahks'.
A few wore their hair bound in tails upon the crowns of their heads by polished wood rings. Their clothing was dyed mostly in shades of deep russet and yellow. They wore quilted and plain tunics and vests, and shirts of lighter fabric, some white, which shimmered where sunlight struck it. Tangled embroidered patterns marked collars and loose sleeves on a few. Though some women wore long skirts of rich dark tints, just as many had loose tan breeches and the soft calf-high boots favored by the men. Besides the one boy, no other children were visible. No one carried tools or anything Leesil counted as a weapon.
As conspicuous as he'd felt among humans, here it felt worse that he looked like an elf at all.
Stunned, frightened, or angry, several of the village elves were now spitting words at Sgaile. The air filled with their noise, until the clamor made it hard to hear Sgaile's replies.
"Wynn," Leesil whispered, "what are they saying?"
"They accuse Sgaile of breaking sacred law," she whispered back. "He assures them he acts for Most Aged Father, that we are under guardianship."
Osha put a finger to his lips and shook his head in warning. Wynn fell silent, and Leesil listened carefully, though he picked out few words.
When Sgaile mentioned Aoishenis-Ahare, half those who argued with him fell silent, some in shock, but their initial anger returned quickly enough.
Leesil took a step forward, watching their faces. He hadn't expected Sgaile to be challenged this aggressively. Part of the reason he'd agreed to follow was so that Magiere and Wynn would have protection in this land. Now he questioned how far this guardianship custom could reach. Gradually, the voices lowered, and Sgaile appeared to convince the others to back away and let him through.
Leesil heard and felt something grate along the chest on his back.
The chest toppled away behind him as severed harness ropes fell down his front.
He whirled to find en'nish behind him, a long stiletto in her hand as she grabbed for the chest's latch. So intent in watching and listening, Leesil hadn't noticed her slip around behind him.
Magiere saw the chest fall from Leesil's back. en'nish dropped to a crouch, fighting with the latch.
"No!" Magiere shouted, and made a lunge for the chest.
en'nish's hand shot out, flat-palming the inside of her knee.
Magiere crumpled before getting a grip on the chest, and en'nish flipped the chest's lid before Leesil could pull it away.
The cloth bundle within tumbled across the ground, and the two skulls rolled into plain sight.
Someone gasped.
Exclamations followed that Magiere didn't understand. Pain flooded her leg and her heart quickened. Too many things happened at once. She watched helplessly as Leesil rushed for the skulls, to hide these last remains of his father and grandmother from prying eyes.
en'nish kicked into the side of his abdomen. Leesil stumbled beyond reach, gasping for breath, and en'nish began shouting in Elvish.
Wynn screamed out, "Na-no! Na-bitha Na-bitha ... it is not true!" ... it is not true!"
Osha pulled both blades, but he stood in confusion, as if uncertain who to attack or who to defend.
Magiere ignored the pain in her leg and scrambled up to rush en'nish from behind.
A grip like a manacle encircled her wrist, and she was heaved backward. She swung hard at whoever had grabbed her and caught a glimpse of Urhkar's face as he ducked the blow.
He swept one leg against the back of her knees, dropping her instantly, and pinned her to the ground. Anger gave way to shock as she fought to get free. Urhkar bent her wrist hard, with her arm twisted around his grounded leg, and she was pinned facedown on the village green. He remained crouched over her.
"Stay," he said calmly.
"Get off!" she ordered.
He didn't even respond. Anxiety stronger than rage filled Magiere.
With one cheek against the moss, she tried to look for Leesil.
Chap darted in front of en'nish, snarling and snapping. She backed away, and Wynn made a dive for the skulls.
"en'nish told them you came to hunt elves!" she shouted to Leesil. "For trophies!"
Magiere's stomach clenched.
Leesil either didn't understand or didn't care as he grabbed Gavril's skull. Wynn beat him to his grandmother's and placed her hand on it. She burst into Elvish, voice full of fear as she shouted to Sgaile. The only word Magiere caught was "Eillean."
Leesil dropped to his knees, clutching at his grandmother's skull in Wynn's arms.
"Stop!" Wynn cried. "Be still, or they will kill you!"
Magiere bucked again, trying to pitch off Urhkar, but he was like a stone statue above her, unmovable.
Wynn's words didn't matter to Leesil-only the skull. He wrenched it from her, crouching with the remains of a father and grandmother wrapped in his arms.
Sgaile's eyes were wide, and Leesil thought he saw his own torments mirrored in those amber irises.
"Eillean?" Sgaile whispered, pointing to the elven skull.
Leesil quickly pulled it aside.
A woman in breeches and an old man in a robe stepped from the crowd, their expressions hard. Chap snarled and rushed out with wild howling barks, and they stumbled back in a startled retreat. The dog cut a wide circle around the green before all those gathered, rumbling with menace. elven villagers were bewildered-a majay-h turning on them to defend an outsider.
The village glen grew quiet but for uncertain whispers. The ring of onlookers cast confused glances from Chap to Sgaile and then back to Leesil. His skin crawled with their fixed attention.
"You took her remains from the keep's crypt?" Sgaile asked.
It sounded strange in Leesil's ears-a fervent statement hinted within a question. Sgaile said something loudly in Elvish, and the words carried the same tone and inflection. Reactions from those around the clearing changed little. Some became wary and startled, while others glowered in disbelief.
"You brought her home to her people... yes?" Sgaile added.
The words barely registered. Leesil didn't care what they wanted. His dead were no one's business but his own.
"Answer him!" Wynn insisted. "He is trying to save your life... and ours!
en'nish growled something, and her voice rose to a near screech. Leesil twisted about.
Urgent anticipation twisted her sharp features, as if she'd finally cornered some animal long hunted. Fury rose in Leesil, but he remained still.
Tears began to run down en'nish's eager face and drip from the wedge of her chin. Urhkar barked at her in Elvish. She snapped around at him, and twisted hope vanished from her face.
Urhkar had Magiere pinned, but his expression remained passively stoic. Magiere was barely able to lift her head from the ground, and her dark eyes locked on Leesil.
How long before he saw those irises blacken and her teeth elongate? He wanted it to happen, to see her tear into the elf.
Urhkar leaned down and spoke softly to Magiere. She ceased struggling, and he glanced beyond Leesil. The elder elf nodded sharply once to someone, and then leaped backward, releasing Magiere. She scrambled about, facing him as she rose, then backed slowly to Leesil.
"It's all right," Magiere whispered, crouching with one hand braced against the earth. "No one will take them... I won't let anyone take them from you."
The roar of rushing blood in Leesil's ears began to ease under her voice.
"Please," Sgaile pleaded, "tell them all... tell my people I speak the truth."
Leesil saw pain on the anmaglahk's face-and fear.
"erin'n," Sgaile whispered, " 'truth'... say it!"
Leesil didn't understand, but Sgaile's urgency crept into his muddled mind.
"Ay-rin-en..." he said once, and then again with force.
Sgaile sagged in relief.
Magiere reached for the fallen cloth, but Sgaile picked it up first. He opened it, draping it over his open hands like an offering.
"You shame me," he said quietly, and dropped his gaze to Eillean's skull. "You should have told me. I would have... begged to carry her. Even for a little of the way."
Sgaile hesitated at the sight of Gavril's skull, but then he held out the draped cloth. Magiere snatched it away and laid it carefully over the skulls in Leesil's arms.
He quickly wrapped them, hiding them from all prying eyes and stood up only when Magiere coaxed him.
Some of the elves gathered around still looked angry, but others lowered their heads in rising sorrow. Leesil didn't understand why his grandmother's return and one Elvish word had caused such a change.
Magiere slid her arm around his shoulders, but she looked behind him toward en'nish.
"You touch him again," she said coldly, "and I won't need a sword to take your head."
Leesil heard no answer from en'nish, but she came into sight around his right side, circling wide as she approached Sgaile. Urhkar strode into Leesil's view and cut her off.
Without the slightest emotion on his face, the elder Anmaglahk raised an empty hand, palm outward. He waved it between them, as if brushing some annoyance from the air.
Anger drained from en'nish's face. She flinched as if struck suddenly by someone she cared for. She backed away from Urhkar, turned, and fled from the clearing.
Wynn climbed to her feet as Osha tucked away his stilettos and hurried to assist her. When he offered his hand, the sage pulled away and wouldn't look at him.
"We should get out of sight immediately," Wynn said.
Chap still paced before the elves, glancing every so often at Leesil.
An elderly man in a quilted russet shirt pushed through the crowd. His unruly hair was darker than the others' and shot with steel gray. Chap turned on him with a snarl. The old man froze just inside the ring of onlookers but would not retreat.
"Sgailsheilleache?" he called.
In an unguarded moment, relief flashed across Sgaile's narrow features. "Foirreach-ahare!"
"Chap, stop! Leave him be," Wynn called; then she whispered to Magiere, "Sgaile called that man his grandfather."
Chap turned a hesitant circle back toward Wynn, his eyes still on the new arrival. The older man approached, eying the dog. He didn't appear angry or frightened, only a bit startled and worried.
Sgaile spoke rapidly in Elvish, and his grandfather's answers carried a tone of polite admonishment. Leesil wondered at what was said and looked to Wynn. The sage followed their words with fixed attention but offered no translation. Sgaile gestured Leesil forward and kept his voice low.
"Hurry. Come to my home. You will be safe there."
Leesil bit his tongue to keep from snapping. Sgaile had made this promise before, and his assurance had proved false. Leesil wondered how much worse things could get.
Chapter Five.
W ynn gasped softly as she stepped through a wool curtain and into an oak tree as wide as a small cottage. Moss from outside flowed inward across the chamber's floor, though she could not fathom how it remained a vibrant yellow-green without sunlight. The oak's interior had grown into a large rounded room with naturally curving doorways and walls. The walls were bark-covered like its outside, but in some places bare wood showed through. Not as if the bark had been stripped, but rather that the oak had grown this way yet still lived and thrived. Tawny-grained wood shaped arches to other curtained spaces. Steps rose upward around the left wall and through an opening in the low ceiling, perhaps leading to further rooms above. ynn gasped softly as she stepped through a wool curtain and into an oak tree as wide as a small cottage. Moss from outside flowed inward across the chamber's floor, though she could not fathom how it remained a vibrant yellow-green without sunlight. The oak's interior had grown into a large rounded room with naturally curving doorways and walls. The walls were bark-covered like its outside, but in some places bare wood showed through. Not as if the bark had been stripped, but rather that the oak had grown this way yet still lived and thrived. Tawny-grained wood shaped arches to other curtained spaces. Steps rose upward around the left wall and through an opening in the low ceiling, perhaps leading to further rooms above.
Ledges at the height of seating places were adorned with saffron-colored cushions covered in floral patterns of a lighter yellow. Through one archway Wynn saw a smaller chamber with stuffed mattresses laid out upon the moss carpet. Soft pillows and green wool blankets graced those resting places.
She ran fingertips lightly across the bark wall as Osha stepped in.