11

Unwelcome Allies

Wisym stared into the eyes of the elf seated high up on a root. Rimstone protruded from the ground as if it were common rock and gave the meeting an eerie glow. Many pairs of eyes looked at her and her companion.

They were not welcome.

They had spent a solid month hoping to find these elves. Now that they had, Wisym was trying to discern whether or not she was glad they had done so. She could tell the female who looked down on them from her perch was wise and older than many of the elves she had ever served under. Perhaps even older than some of her elders back home.

Teresa seemed tense beside her.

She couldn't blame the princess. It was not a little intimidating to be surrounded by hundreds of these barbaric looking elves all starring intently at them. Wisym felt a bit odd herself.

They were elves she was looking at, but each was so different than the elves of Ruyn that she was used to. Each seemed to be dressed in next to nothing, save those draped in furs. The others' clothes were put together with grass and vines and twigs.

It was very disconcerting. Wisym considered herself modest and respectable and kept company with those who were the same for years. She had never seen so many bare skinned elves in her life.

So she kept her eyes on the white haired female who sat high up and considered them with raised eyebrows.

“You are strangers,” the elf said in a voice that was not threatening, but unsure. “Your clothes are made from shining things and cloth. The leather on you reeks of death.”

She pointed at Teresa.

“You are a human. From Darrion no doubt, where they burn and cut without care to make their ships.”

With a look of great distaste, she turned to Wisym again.

“And you must be an elf as we are. Are you from Enoth where they consume the land of all that is good to build their towers?”

There was a grumbling of those around the circle. Some of them held up their sharpened branches and stone daggers in distaste.

“Enoth?” Wisym replied. “No, we are from Ruyn. A land across the sea.”

More murmurings came from the crowd. The white haired elf sniffed.

“Then you came on large boats? Did you not?”

She walked gracefully down from her perch. Teresa tensed at her approach, but Wisym put a hand on her shoulder.

“Peace,” she whispered in her ear. “They've not attacked us.”

Teresa did not relax her muscles, but her hand was no longer reaching for a hidden dagger in her sleeve.

“Yet,” she breathed back at Wisym.

“My name is Ferinan,” the white haired elf said as she reached the ground. She was as tall as Wisym and her eyes were bright. She began circling them.

“I am the elder of the Wood Walkers. We value the life of our forest above all else,” she said as she paced around them.

“I come from a land of elves who also...”

“You have interrupted me,” she said calmly to Wisym.

The younger elf bowed apologetically to more grumbles from the crowd.

“We value the forest more than life,” Ferinan continued. “You came to this land on boats, did you not? And how many lives were taken by the making of those boats?”

“None!” Teresa said defiantly, looking scandalous.

Ferinan scoffed.

“I do not mean lives of elves or people,” she corrected Teresa. “I mean trees. How many ancient sentinels were murdered for your own pleasure?”

“Far too many!”

“Murderer!”

The cries of the elves around them gave Wisym chills. Ferinan raised her hand for silence.

“For far too long we Wood Walkers have protected the forest around us with our lives. We have sacrificed for the trees and the animals within. We alone understand and know the secrets of the woods.”

“Then maybe you can help us,” Wisym said, hoping to turn the conversation. “We are looking for a tree.”

A few elves around them laughed. Ferinan gave a wry smile.

“I dare say you've found many,” she said, motioning at the thousands that surrounded them.

Wisym shook her head.

“My apologies,” she said. “We are looking for an ancient tree. One that is of great legend, called The Everring Tree. Do you know it?”

Ferinan stopped circling them and examined them closely.

“The Everring Tree?” she repeated, her expression blank.

For a moment the two elves, old and young, Wood Walker and Ruyn native, starred at each other.

Ferinan broke her gaze first and looked to the canopy above them.

“We elves hold many trees in high regard. They are what we worship as protectors and guides.”

With skill and dexterity uncommon with one so old, she returned to her seat high on the root and faced them.

“Those who brought you here said they found you just as a pack of Wrents attacked. Are you familiar with those beasts who burn and kill without considering the lives they take?”

Wisym and Teresa both shook their heads.

It had been the first time on their journey that they had seen the creatures many innkeepers and sailors spoke of with both fear and loathing. Wisym thought they may be a type of Skrilx, like a halfling is to a man, but had never bothered to ask Urt about it.

“These packs are becoming more and more troublesome for our people,” Ferinan said, looking over the crowd.

"If you will travel with the elves who go to face the foxes," Ferinan said as she considered them from above. "I will know that you do not have intentions to harm us and that you care for the forest. I will spare your lives as we spare the lives of the trees around us."

"And if we don't go with you, putting our lives on the line for a group of those who will only promise not to kill us if we do?" Theresa asked, not bothering to hide the contempt in her voice.

Ferinan smiled.

"We are willing to sacrifice our own for the good of the forest," she said. "While we value life, the well-being of the forest is more important than all. Especially to strangers who have yet to prove their worth to us."

"I expected as much," Teresa said as quietly as she could.

Wisym knew full well that everyone inside the circle heard Teresa's comment and wished the princess would remember how well elves could hear.

"Who are we to accompany?" Wisym asked before any more mutterings could take hold.

With that question, Ferinan addressed the crowd in front of her.

"Three great threats are before us. If the forest is in danger, there can be no food for us in the future. We must first look to the foxes as well as to those who would endanger our sacred woods. We will scout out the wolves first, and then we will see to the elves of the south and ensure they do not cross our borders."

There were cheers of agreement from the circle. Wisym noticed one scrawny looking male elf who sat close to a burly looking female.

"I will hunt the fox ears and avenge my father's death,” he said as he rose to his feet. “My gathering will come with me!"

Many of the elves standing around him stood up with fists in the air showing their agreement. The burly looking female, however, merely looked at the ground with her eyebrows furrowed.

Ferinan raised her hand for silence.

The gathering of Colwe will go to the north and discover the intentions of our brethren. The rest of us will make ready to protect our borders and gather food if we can."

With those words, Wisym could tell this meeting of elves was dismissed.

The scrawny looking elf approached them.

"My name is Eren, leader of my gathering," he said neither bowing nor giving a salute of any kind. Wisym knew he was asserting his dominance over them.

"Follow us," he said before turning his back on them and walking away from the circle.

To what fate or fortune, Wisym did not know but signaling Teresa, she followed.

Evening had come and the suns had sunk low over the horizon. In the midst of the trees, darkness had overcome those who had gathered under the protective canopy in earnest.

Wisym sat and leaned against a tree, weary from the day and ready to rest. Teresa seemed uneasy and paced as she observed those who were close by.

“You've fought alongside elves, trained them, and lived with them before,” Wisym said as she rummaged through her pack for something to eat. “Why are you so tense around these?”

Teresa stopped pacing, but continued to look left and right for a moment before taking a seat opposite Wisym.

“I'm just uncomfortable, that's all,” she said as she took off her pack and lay it next to her. “They've got too much love for inanimate objects and plants and not enough care for the living people around them.”

Wisym shrugged a bit before biting into a piece of bread they had brought with them on the journey. She tore it in two and offered it to Teresa. The princess took it without a word and began to gnaw on the crust.

“And I wish that Silver woman would have stayed with us instead of disappearing like she did,” Teresa said through a mouthful of bread. “One more to watch our backs.”

That was a statement Wisym could agree with. It had been Holve's original plan that she, Teresa, and Silverwolf all go searching for the elves of the trees and learn about them. The people of Darrion knew little about the elves of the continent, being far too content trading and sailing on their own land than venturing south to see what relationships they could make with another race.

To their credit, the forest had been quite intimidating, even for Wisym who had grown up around the woods. Something about these trees felt unusual, almost magical and unfamiliar. Perhaps it was the way Rimstone peeked through the ground at different spots but remained untouched by greedy hands. The glow gave the forest an odd light.

Two days into their journey, they awoke to find Silverwolf had vanished. No sign of her leaving, no note explaining why and no reason Teresa and Wisym could think up to justify it.

Wisym almost felt concerned for the woman, but then she remembered all the stories Ealrin had told about her. And how he talked about her.

In ways, she was glad to be rid of the assassin because it meant she slept better at night. Now, however, she wished she was still with them just for the solace of another companion among so many strangers. Teresa picked up a few sticks and began to pile them into a fire stack.

She had nearly taken out her flint to light it when Wisym caught her eye and shook her head. Several elves had gathered around them to see the strangers and were regarding Teresa with angry curiosity.

Wisym was sure a fire would not go over well with these elves. Not one started by them at least. She had seen a few light small fires to warm themselves. These had been made with great care and the sticks selected with reverence.

Teresa's haphazard collection of twigs would probably offend someone close by.

Begrudgingly, the princess stuffed the flint back into her pack and, instead, removed a thin blanket. Scooting up against a tree, she huffed and sighed several times before leaning against the bark and shutting one eye.

Wisym doubted she'd sleep at all with the chill and the strangers surrounding them, but was at least glad Teresa hadn't started a fire. That may have cost them dearly.

The burly female elf she had seen earlier came up and stood above them. Teresa's one open eye looked up in her direction.

“I am Elen,” she said. “I am Eren's guard and protector. Tomorrow, you will walk with me as we track the fox beasts.”

Having said that, she turned and walked away without giving Wisym a chance to introduce herself or respond in any way. Many of the elves were now laying down on the forest floor, or on beds of grass and leaves. Elen simply stood leaning on her branch with a stone tip: the most primitive of spears.

“It's like being with Holve again,” Teresa said as she adjusted herself against the tree.

Wisym chuckled lightly.

“I'll take first watch,” she said, knowing Teresa would prefer they not sleep at the same time. “Get some rest.”

Teresa huffed, nodded and closed her other eye.

Wisym sat up and observed her surroundings. The smooth rhythmic breathing of a hundred elves filled her ears and joined the chorus of other night sounds: owls in the trees beginning their hunt, bats in the air searching for bugs, and the light soft padded feet of other nighttime animals out looking for a meal.

So began their time among the Wood Walkers.