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“I think I should be the spokesperson,” Patrick volunteered. “After all, I can talk almost anyone into doing anything.”
He was right and they both knew it. “Remember to only ask questions,” Ellen reminded him.
They followed the path through the trees until they reached a clearing, in the middle of which stood a tall, slim young woman. The hair that flowed down her back was dull grey and appeared to have the texture of straw, making her seem like an ancient scarecrow. Her face was so pale it was almost white and her large round eyes were completely yellow, except for small black pupils, reminding Patrick of a bird. She was dressed in a short white sleeveless dress which revealed pale blue feathers running down her arms.
Leaving the other two at the edge of the clearing, Patrick walked up to her.
“Are you one of the ezra?” he asked in a soft voice.
Instead of speaking, she bowed her head in confirmation.
“Are you able to provide us with the next clue?”
Again she bowed her head.
“Are you able to speak?”
For the third time, she moved her head.
“Patrick,” Ellen called out. “Come here.”
He did so without argument. “She is damn frustrating,” he complained.
“I think this is a contest. It is not just you who can only speak with questions. The first to say something else loses. The reason she is not speaking is because she cannot answer in the form of a question.”
“Thank you,” he said and returned to the young lady.
“Did you hear what my friend said?” he asked and received the expected head movement. “Is she correct?” The ezra maiden confirmed that she was. Patrick smiled. This was going to be fun.
“Tell me, are all ezra women as beautiful as you?”
She blushed. “Do you really think I am beautiful?” Her voice was unexpectedly deep.
“How could I not?” He took her hand and kissed the back of it. She quickly snatched it away.
“What makes you think you have the right to touch me?”
“How do I earn the right?”
“Patrick,” Ellen cried out. “Stop flirting with her. Keep your mind on the quest.”
“Leave him alone Ellen,” Tor told her. He pulled her away so he could not be overheard. “I think his mind is on the quest. He is trying to put her off. You know Patrick. What is the best weapon he has as far as women are concerned?”
“His ability to seduce them,” she reluctantly admitted. “But she is not human. Maybe she is immune.”
“There is only one way to find out.”
They missed what the reply had been, but the young lady certainly appeared flustered. She did not seem to notice that Patrick was holding her hand once more.
“Would you believe me if I told you you are the most stunning woman I have ever seen and that you make me feel things I have not felt in a long time?”
She shook her head, unable to speak. With his free hand he caressed her cheek. “Are you brave enough to look into my eyes?”
She did so and he knew the contest would soon be over. He could feel her heart rate increasing and her breathing became shallow and rapid. He had her hooked, now all he needed to do was reel her in.
“If I ask you to go somewhere more private with me, will you?” His voice was low and seductive. Ellen and Tor had trouble hearing what he was saying. He did not wait for the ezra girl to answer.
“What is your name?”
“Kirat.” As soon as she said the word she realised what she had done. Her free hand shot to her mouth, as though the action could make it unsaid. Still she did not try to break the other one free from Patrick’s grasp.
“Thank you Kirat,” he said and kissed her cheek.
An older woman appeared from the edge of the clearing, shaking her head. She looked so much like Kirat that she had to be her mother, unless all ezra looked alike.
“And you did so well with all of the others Kirat. How did he manage to trick you so easily?” Then she looked at Patrick and almost gasped. “I see. For a human he is remarkably attractive.”
She expected Patrick to blush at the compliment, but he didn’t. He was used to women making such comments about him.
She turned to regard Tor and Ellen.
“It looks like you have passed our first test. Now all you need to do is kill one of us.”
“What?” Tor cried out. “Are you serious?” He knew that was what the clue had stated, but had not been expecting them to be so blunt about it.
The woman was smiling as she nodded her head. “Do not worry; you will not succeed.” With a swift head gesture she indicated that Kirat should leave, which she reluctantly did, disappearing into the trees. She kept her eyes on Patrick until the last possible moment, then turned and fled.
Then a man stepped into the clearing. Though clearly an ezra, his facial features were very different to Kirat’s. His colouring and general build were the same, but his cheek bones were not so high, his nose was much longer and more pointed and his chin was almost twice as wide. He was dressed in loose fitting white trousers and nothing else; his feet and chest were bare.
He walked closer to Patrick until he was standing so close it was almost intimidating.
“Tell your friend to kill him,” the woman told Tor.
“No,” he replied. “If anyone has to commit murder, it will be me. I will not ask anyone else to do my dirty work for me.”
“That is not your choice to make. Whoever speaks, kills. That is the rule.”
“It is alright,” Patrick called out. “I already volunteered, remember. If she thinks that I will not manage it then this man must be highly skilled, in which case I would rather he kill me than you.”
The woman looked confused. “Why does he not seem to mind being killed?”
“It is a long story. The short version is that Patrick does not stay dead.”
She looked like she wanted to ask more, but decided that her questions could wait until later. Instead she called out, “Begin.”
Patrick drew his sword and asked the man in front of him if he wished to arm himself. He shook his head and braced himself for the killing blow.
“You want me to kill him in cold blood?” Patrick asked the woman in shock. “He is not even going to fight or defend himself?” The woman did not answer.
He glanced at Tor, who reluctantly nodded. He did not like this, but it appeared they had no choice.
Patrick raised his sword high, then slashed downward. He was prepared for the jarring in his arm as his sword made contact with flesh, but instead it sailed through the air so effortlessly that he narrowly missed cutting his own leg.
He span around and found the man standing behind him, grinning. “This is not going to be as easy as I thought,” he muttered to himself and tried again. Once more the man moved with such astonishing speed that Patrick’s sword did not even catch in his clothing as he moved out of the way.
Tor and Ellen stood at the edge of the clearing with the woman, watching the fight. Every time Patrick slashed or stabbed, the ezra male easily avoided the attack. He needed to change his tactics, but how Tor had no idea.
Instead of restricting himself to one thrust at a time he started to twist and turn, imagining he was surrounded by enemies coming at him from all directions. He stopped looking for the man, stopped aiming, but it made no difference.
Patrick’s movements led him to the far edge of the clearing, so he slowly moved backward until he was in the middle once more, beckoning the man to follow him, which he did.
As the man positioned himself in front of him again, making himself seem like an easy target, Patrick looked around him, taking in his surroundings and assuring himself of his exact location within the clearing.
He raised his sword, started to bring it down once more, but flipped it around in mid-air and stabbed behind him. This time it connected, sinking deep into the man’s lower abdomen. He let out a groan and slid off the sword, landing in a heap on the ground.
The woman cried out and ran over to him.
“Please tell me that is enough to pass the test,” Patrick said. “I really do not want to kill him.”
“It is enough,” she said without looking up.
Ellen ran over. “I am a healer. What can I do to help?”
“This has never happened before. I do not know what to do.”
Ellen began issuing orders. Patrick handed her a knife, which she used to rip open the man’s wound wider so that she could easily access the organs inside, while Tor searched her bag for a needle and cotton.
“I need to heat a pot of water,” she told the woman, who nodded her head in understanding. Tears were falling down her face and she was gripping the man’s hand tight as he struggled to cope with the pain.
“If you can move him, you should bring him to our home,” she managed to splutter.
“Not yet. I need to stop the bleeding first.” She inspected the wound and it was not as bad as she had first feared. Patrick had positioned it well, neatly slicing through the lower intestine, but managing to miss all other vital organs. Provided she could sew him up quickly, the man would live.
Tor passed a threaded needle to her and she set to work. Without being asked, Patrick positioned himself at the man’s head, pressing down on his shoulders to keep him on the ground while Tor took the legs. They knew the minute Ellen touched him with the needle the man would involuntarily move so they had to physically restrain him to keep him as still as possible.
Blood was everywhere and Ellen had to use the knife to make the wound even larger in order to reach the parts she needed to close up. She looked over to the woman. This was not something she should be seeing. She obviously had a relationship with this man and staying to watch Ellen work would only distress her further.
She gently touched the woman’s arm to get her attention. “I need you to go back to your house and start boiling some water for me. Send someone back here to show us the way. As soon as I have finished what I am doing we will bring him to you. He is in good hands, I promise.”
The woman looked at Ellen, then at the man, who had mercifully fainted, then back at Ellen before finally nodding her head and releasing his hand. She ran off into the trees and Ellen started sewing, closing up the tear in the lower intestine before sewing up the open wound. All the while she was singing a healing spell.
She was exhausted by the time she had finished. She had not noticed Kirat arrive and when she finally raised her head from her work she spotted her nearby. Her back was to them so she did not have to see what was happening.
Ellen looked down at herself, at the bloody hands and her stained clothes. Despite her tiredness she used a spell to clean herself. Entering the ezra house looking as she did would probably scare them more than they already were.
“Pick him up,” she instructed Tor and Patrick walked over to Kirat.
“Please take us to your home,” he requested. She looked at him, nodded, then took his hand. Under the circumstances he didn’t have the heart to object.
As gently as possible, so as not to reopen his wound, Tor carried the man through the trees, following Patrick and Kirat. The cottage they were led to seemed much the same as any human cottage, complete with a chimney through which smoke was pouring.
“Lay him on the table,” Ellen commanded as they entered the kitchen. She spotted a large pot of steaming water and began to unpack ingredients from her bag.
“The bleeding has stopped,” she informed the woman and Kirat. “As long as I can stop any infection setting in he will live. I need a chopping board, a large knife and some honey.”
Seeing that the two women needed something to do to take their mind off what was happening, Ellen handed the work over to them. She put a number of different leaves in front of Kirat and asked her to chop them as finely as she could while the woman, who everyone still assumed was Kirat’s mother, was told to gently wash the man’s brow with a clean cloth. When she had finished that she was sent to look for anything that could be used as a bandage.
Ellen washed clean the man’s bloody torso and by the time she had finished Kirat had the leaves ready to go in the pot. Ellen instructed her to stir the mixture while she added in other ingredients, a pinch from one pot, a spoonful from another, until it was a deep purple colour. She then drained it, catching the liquid in a cup and placing the leaf compound on the chopping board.
Once it was cool enough to touch she used a little honey to make it into a paste. She applied it liberally over the wound, making sure it was completely covered, then had Tor and Patrick help her bandage it up, using the strips of cloth that the woman had cut to hold the poultice in place.
“You can take him to his bed,” Ellen said when she was done and Kirat led Tor out of the room.
“Thank you for everything,” the woman said. She was crying once more.
“Is there anywhere I can lie down?” Ellen asked. “I am exhausted.”
“Of course. Come this way.”
She was led to the back of the house and entered a small bedroom. She collapsed onto the bed and was soon fast asleep.
While she slept Tor and Patrick spent the hours talking with Kirat and the woman, who introduced herself as Sprigget. Sprigget confirmed that Kirat was indeed her daughter and that the injured man was her husband, Yokai.
She served tea and biscuits and spoke about her race. “The ezra population is small, but not in decline. We moved to our current location many generations ago and are protected by the wood sprites. We are not being held prisoner; we are free to leave this glade whenever we wish, however none of us have ever wanted to do so. We like to keep to ourselves and have no desire to travel.”
Kirat took over. “Some of us, however, are curious about other races and wished to meet some. When the wood sprites came to us with a request from a human we were more than happy to help.”
“Wait a minute. What human?” Tor interrupted.
“Please accept my apologies, but we were never told his name and we never met him.”
“Never mind,” Tor said. It would have been nice to have some information about who had helped his father set up the quest, but it wasn’t really important. “Please, continue.”
“The wood sprite who spoke to the human,” Kirat told him, “said that a quest was being set up and he wanted us to deliver one of the clues. He had heard of our incredible speed and wanted to make use of it. Though how he even knew we existed we have no idea as it is a very closely guarded secret.”
“Is that why only three of us were allowed to meet you?” Patrick asked. The fact that the others had to be left behind had been bothering him
“Correct,” Sprigget said. “We would appreciate it if you did not speak about us to anyone else, not even the friends you have travelled here with.”
Tor assured the two ladies that nothing they had heard or seen would ever be spoken of and Kirat continued her oration.
“We have seen a number of different species since first agreeing to help with the quest. It has been most exciting.”
“I am a little confused,” Tor said. “From the way you reacted it was obvious that Patrick was the first person who has been able to stab one of your kind, so how did my brothers continue on from here? I do not believe any of them would have left without the next clue.”
“You are correct,” Sprigget told him. “Their chosen representative kept trying to attack until he or she was too exhausted to continue and admitted defeat. Only then did we agree to provide the next clue.”
“And what is the next clue?” Patrick asked, but Tor told him to be quiet.
“That can wait. Ellen will want to remain here until she is sure that her patient will make a full recovery and I am sure these lovely ladies will not want to complete their task until they know that their husband and father will be alright.”
Patrick shrugged his shoulders. He thought it would be a good idea to hear the next clue so they could think about it while waiting for Ellen to wake, but if Tor thought differently that was up to him. He was in charge and Patrick would abide by his decision.
The talking continued, with Sprigget and Kirat telling them more about the ezra and Tor and Patrick answering all of their questions in regard to humans and their adventures on the quest so far.
When Ellen finally awoke she felt refreshed and immediately checked on her patient. He was still sleeping, but a quick inspection of his wound showed that he was healing well. She was confident that he would not sleep for much longer and promised that she would not leave until she had spoken with him.
A few hours later he began to stir. He was able to sit up and, other than being a little tender, he felt fine. Ellen cooked him some broth, which he ate without complaint, and she was happy to inform his wife and child that he would make a full recovery.
“Now can we get the clue?” Patrick asked, a little impatiently. His question had been directed at Tor, but it was Sprigget who answered.
“Of course you may. Tor, please come with me.”
Tor was led to the back of the house and into the room in which Ellen had slept. Sprigget opened a cupboard which was completely empty except for a single scroll.
“We were told never to touch these,” she explained. “Each of your brothers were only allowed to take one each and were not permitted to handle any of the others.”
Tor nodded his understanding, reached forward and grasped the scroll in his hand. He returned to the kitchen and took a seat.
“How many were there?” Ellen asked before he had chance to unroll it.
“This was the last one.”
“Then we are still in last place,” Patrick observed.
“Correct, but the fact that we got this one means that we have overtaken one of my brothers.” Part of Tor could not help wishing it was Vitkin, but that would mean that the quest would also be over for Vicky, meaning Bellak would not be catching up with her any time soon.
Putting his feelings aside, he slowly unrolled the scroll.