Revenge of the Elven

Chapter 20

The door knocking loudly caused Varrell to look away from those gorgeous eyes of Taeril’s and hurry out to go and answer it; her heart was pounding, and the elf was right behind her eagerly following her. It was as he had hoped, Kessa with his orb, relief washing over him once again as Varrell revealed the witch at the door. She hurried her way inside and pulled the orb wrapped in a rag from her satchel, her expression was of concern and she held the orb out to him barely acknowledging Varrell.

“It is fading!” she said urgently and Taeril’s heart sank as he looked at the failing light within the orb. He removed his shirt immediately, so he was ready.

“Remove the binding collar!” he demanded and Kessa did not hesitate to do so and at once she nullified the spell upon the collar to remove it, it was easy since the spell was of her own doing. She passed him the orb and he snatched it from her hands feeling that surge of energy course through his body he fought the urge to cry out, he collapsed to his knees barely able to remain upright and dropped the orb to the floor falling forwards to his hands. Kessa turned away from the scene but Varrell watched as the pure entity flickered inside of the orb as though it was trying to reconnect with the elf. Taeril cried reaching for the orb, he was still suffering as the two beings attempted to fuse but the pure spirit was struggling.

“I need… help… Kessa, is there… anything you can do… to strengthen it?” he called through gritted teeth. Kessa met eyes with Varrell and reluctantly turned, her eyes haunted she moved towards Taeril and crouched before him. She lifted the orb in her hands and brought it to her lips and then reached out taking Taeril’s hand and having him place it around the orb whilst she whispered chants to the entity within the orb but looking into Taeril’s eyes as she did so. He felt a shudder run down his spine as Kessa’s eyes darkened but he could not remove his hand from the Karimek orb. He could not hear her words but the light within the orb brightened and he felt the entity join with him once more through his arm and eventually fusing with his entire being. He was almost overwhelmed by the force but remained upright, his head back eyes wide and light shining through them as the pure spirit filled him and after it was done, he let out a breath as though it was the first ever breath he had taken and then collapsed losing consciousness. Kessa moved to check him swiftly as the act of transferring an entity back into an elf was equally perilous and he was not moving. Kessa looked to Varrell the witch’s eyes were haunted but she stood back up.

“He is fine. I hate those rituals, they leave me feeling… quite disturbed,” she said and passed the now empty Karimek orb to Varrell. “You should keep this here but lock it away as I had done, if anyone finds it and knows what it is then suspicion in Councilman Bryni’s murder will surely fall back upon Taeril.” She said and Varrell accepted the orb. She clasped her friend’s arm with her hand squeezing it as a small sign of affection.

“Thank you for helping him,” Varrell said, “please help me get him to his bed,” she asked. Kessa agreed, and they moved to lift the unconscious elf by one arm each and climbed the stairs with him towards the guest room Varrell had prepared. Once inside Varrell took his weight and shuffled towards the bed with him, he did not weigh too much just the stairs would have proved difficult to navigate without help carrying him. Varrell laid him gently on his bed, a large four post bed with drapes of which she would have cleaned now that someone was staying in this room. She laid him down, head upon pillow and looked down at him for a moment without realising she was doing so. Kessa moved beside her.

“He is quite spectacular, isn’t he?” she said with a grin snapping Varrell from her gaze.

“What?” she asked surprised and almost dazed. “Oh right, well elven beauty has never been in question, has it?” Varrell swiftly brushed her words off.

“But he is particularly beautiful,” Kessa pressed.

“Why don’t you invite him for dinner one evening, then?” Varrell replied snappily and Kessa just laughed as she drew the curtains and Varrell covered him with a blanket. They made their exit leaving Taeril to rest and headed downstairs. Varrell invited Kessa to remain a while of which she accepted, and they sat at the kitchen table joining in a drink of tea. They both sighed sitting back in their chairs as though they had just finished a day of hard labour or fighting criminals, this whole ordeal having exhausted them.

“Will Taeril be alright?” Varrell asked as Kessa took a sip of tea.

“He will be fine, he is just exhausted as are we, but he would be more so,”

“I will check on him in a while,” Varrell said. “Kessa, have you always liked elves?” Varrell asked.

“Yes, I think they are beautiful, and I always felt we could learn a lot from them, the magic of humans is not as sacred as it is for elves and the elven are more powerful with their abilities,”

“That power we saw Taeril use in the caverns was… he said it was not natural that the entity within him granted that power,” Varrell informed.

“When I was with my beloved and his clan, I was so young but I learned a lot from them in my time there, their magic is pure but they are strong with it, I can hardly believe any elves would have been so careless to unleash the dark entities but that… appears to be what happened,” Kessa’s expression darkened. “I… told you my beloved and his clan disappeared… that is not what happened,” she muttered with tears in her eyes. “Seeing Taeril and this entity… brought back painful memories that is why I could not watch before,”

“What are you saying Kessa?” Varrell asked sitting forwards in her chair concern upon her brow.

“I was there, I was lying with my beloved, his arms wrapped around me in his hut when we… it was early hours, and we woke to shouts and screams…” she let out a sob and clasped her hand around her mouth. It was rare for Kessa to show any kind of emotion especially tears. Varrell reached a hand and placed it over Kessa’s other hand.

“You do not have to speak of it,” she offered but Kessa shook her head and drew in a deep breath.

“I think… of all people I could speak of it to you,” she said, “also… instead of locking it away bringing it into the light… may help me to heal after all these years,” she said and from her pocket she pulled the ring her beloved had given her as a promise of marriage and placed it on top of the table in front of her. “To bring such… tragedy to light and sharing the burden with another… I might finally heal,”