Archer of the Lake Read online

  ***

  Bright lights shining down on her from a tall ceiling brought Caelfel back to consciousness. ?Her neck felt stiff, and her head throbbed as she struggled to remember details. ?A glance around her revealed to Caelfel that she was in the college infirmary, surrounded by multiple cots for the other applicants. ?By now, most of them were empty, Caelfel being the last to take the test. ?Headmaster Nimuath patiently stood next to her and waited for her to focus on him before speaking.

  "Congratulations, Miss Gyssedlues. ?You have been accepted into the College of Sal'Sumarathar. ?Try not to exert yourself too much as you are still recovering."

  "What happened?" she asked him.

  "Your aura is a slightly perceptible field of energy. ?It is connected directly to you and your life force. ?The Eye of Ewyn drained the auras of all the applicants until they were an inch from death. ?It was a test to see how long your aura would hold. ?Obviously, the college cannot accept students with weak auras."

  "Did anyone die?" Caelfel asked quietly, horrified at the thought.

  "As it stands, the Eye of Ewyn has never killed anyone. ?You are free to leave, Miss Gyssedlues. ?Return an hour after dawn tomorrow to begin your basic training with Sir Nadeth Kennyratear. ?Good luck." ?Headmaster Nimuath stepped away, moving to another prospective student. ?Caelfel blinked and looked around in his absence. ?She saw Winwaloe in the far corner of the infirmary, knees drawn up to his chest. ?She slipped off her cot to see him.

  "Winwaloe?"

  He looked up quickly in surprise. A moment later he remembered her. ?"You're Caelfel."

  "And you are Winwaloe," she said. ?"How did your test go?"

  He looked to his knees again. ?"I failed."

  A strange silence followed. ?Winwaloe was obviously disappointed, but Caelfel didn't have the words to comfort him. ?She placed a hand on his shoulder instead.

  A few minutes later, he met her gaze once more. ?"You left the hunting party yesterday. ?You didn't come back with Tahlmus."

  Caelfel hesitated. "Did he say why?"

  Winwaloe shook his head. ?"He would only say that you were lost."

  It was Caelfel that looked away this time. ?"Tahlmus was the one that got lost," she muttered.

  She didn't give an explanation, and Winwaloe didn't press her for one. ?She took a deep breath, drawing the strength to leave the infirmary. ?She didn't object when Winwaloe silently followed her out of the college grounds. ?Caelfel wondered if he would even be allowed inside again and pushed the thought from her mind. ?He followed her until they parted ways at the Hall of Court, and Caelfel paused momentarily to watch his solitary figure pass down the wide avenue. ?He stepped out of sight, and Caelfel prepared to return home when a faint memory stopped her.

  The Hall of Court stood before Sal'Sumarathar's grand center plaza, which was dominated by an ornate fountain that shot streams of water into the sky before splashing down into its vast pool. ?Beyond that, Caelfel noticed the shops of spinners and goldsmiths closing down for the day. ?The fletcher packed his arrows, and the jeweler locked his valuables in a metal chest. ?They didn't notice her, too focused on returning home for the evening.

  There was an empty forge, abandoned for several decades. ?Caelfel only vaguely recalled that the armorer was a she-elf who had moved to the elvish capital of Yamalvon. ?There hadn't been anyone to take up the forge after her departure, or perhaps she still owned it and planned to return one day. ?Caelfel wasn't sure; a lot of armorers seemed to leave for Yamalvon in the end, finding better pay in outfitting the imperial army. ?But it wasn't the forge that drew Caelfel's attention. She saw the cramped alleyway beside it that ran alongside the fletcher's stall.

  She knew that if she took that path and turned left at the river, she would find a house. ?She wasn't sure whose, but it was the house the Eye of Ewyn had shown her. ?It might mean something, or as Headmaster Nimuath stated, it might mean nothing at all. ?But there was one way to find out.

  She took the path through the narrow alleyway, past the ring of shops, past the houses of the hunters to reach the edge of the River Blaidd, the river that ran alongside Sal'Sumarathar before it joined into Lake Rumfel. ?The walk to the river took longer than she originally imagined, and Caelfel paused by the bank to check her surroundings.

  The Eye's directions suggested she turn left at this point. ?If she veered left even further, she would reach her home. ?But the Eye's strict instructions were to follow the river, so she did, following it upstream. ?There was no road this way, but Caelfel was not deterred by splintered logs or gnarled roots. ?She traversed the uneven ground effortlessly, wondering whose house the Eye showed her. ?It seemed outside the grasp of the city, tucked away in the wilderness and hidden away from curious eyes. ?She decided not to consider the possibility that the owner of the house would object to visitors. ?Her anticipation made her excited, which only made her impatient, so soon she was running. Caelfel barely noticed the absence of the natural wildlife. ?She heard neither birds nor buzzing insects. ?Somewhere in the back of her mind, a thought insisted to Caelfel that that was odd.

  The thought was banished as she cleared another large boulder to see the house before her. ?It had a garden, like most houses of elves, and it was tall, sitting against the backdrop of a mound that rose against the river. ?Caelfel thought it was an odd place for an elf, so far away from others, but then she remembered Sir Kennyratear's house, the distance between it and Sal'Sumarathar was even greater.

  She stepped up to the front door and knocked before she could lose the nerve. ?She heard sluggish movement behind the door before it creaked open slowly, cautiously, and not enough to see anyone on the other side. ?Caelfel tried peering through the miniscule crack but could see nothing but darkness.

  "Hello?" she called.

  The door opened fully, and Feraan Auvrearaheal appeared in front of her, leaning against the door frame. ?"How did you find this place?" he asked.

  "You're alive!" she exclaimed, beaming. ?She experienced a sudden urge to throw her arms around him but she restrained herself and merely stood there, grinning.

  He hesitated at her brightness. ?"Very astute, youngling. ?What are you doing here?"

  "I am not-" she began hotly, before shaking her head. ?"Nevermind. You were injured in the forest. ?I brought you home, and-"

  "I can imagine the rest," he interrupted, raising his hand. He shifted his weight against the doorway. ?"But you've done an impressive job of ignoring my questions."

  "Can I come in?" she asked, craning to see over his shoulder. ?"I didn't know you lived here."

  "Then how did you get here?" he asked, growing increasingly impatient. Caelfel clasped her hands behind her back and attempted to focus herself enough to answer him.

  "The Eye of Ewyn showed it to me."

  "The Eye of Ewyn?" he repeated before recognition crossed his face. ?"I ?did not realize Nimuath was admitting children through the college gates. ?You could not have passed, being as young as you are."

  Caelfel frowned. ?"I am seventy-six." ?Applicants had to be over a half-century old. ?"And I was accepted."

  "Well, what are you doing here?" he asked. ?Caelfel briefly considered admitting she was simply curious but decided against it.

  "I wanted to see how you were faring. You left last night without a word. ?Anything could have happened."

  "I went home," he said curtly before moving to shut the door.

  She stubbornly held her arm out to block it. ?"And your injury? ?Are you still wearing the amulet?"

  The mention of her amulet caused Feraan to absently touch a hand to his chest as if just remembering that the amulet was still there. ?"I was wondering about that. I thought that perhaps some fair lady had meant to claim me but I decided to leave it on, just?in case there was an actual reason for it."

  Caelfel's cheeks flared. ?"You had been poisoned, and since there is no antidote, giving you my amulet was the only thing I could do."

  "This is your amulet?" ?He said feigning disappoi
ntment but doing a poor job at hiding his smirk. ?"So much for that fair lady."

  "It prevents the poison from attacking your body; however it cannot remove the poison from your system. I'm afraid you will have to keep it, though I may not be the fair lady you were hoping for," Caelfel retorted, grinding her teeth at his remark.

  "How did you know I was poisoned?"

  "I'm not a healer. ?I took you to Thoroth, and he told me."

  Feraan seemed to find this bit of news interesting, ?"How did you convince poor Thoroth to break royal decree for my sake? ?I would not think you were pretty enough for that sort of persuasion."

  "As if the 'most hated elf of the empire' has any room to criticize," she said, flaring defensively. ?"He saw that you were poisoned and offered to perform your death rites," she said, her voice rising with her irritation. ?"You almost died, but luckily I thought you were worth saving. ?Luckily, I took you home. ?Luckily, I gave you my amulet. ?And luckily, it worked, though my appearance does not suit you."

  He stared at her for a while, looking her up and down, as if reevaluating Caelfel entirely. ?Breaking the silence, he said, "Would you like to come inside?"

  Her irritation instantly evaporated, and she answered with an eager nod.

  3. Harboring

  Caelfel harbored an odd fascination with how the most hated elf of Honey Water kept his house. ?So as she moved around his front room, she did little to suppress her urge to look at everything. ?Feraan, who remained by the door, did not reprimand her for her curiosity. ?But he kept his eyes trained on her and his back to the wall with his arms folded. ?There was nothing particularly extraordinary about the room, nothing odd or out of place. ?Feraan was a messy elf if anything, piles of loose scrolls and open books littered every surface while other ordinary objects poked out from beneath the papers. ?Eventually Caelfel managed to tear her eyes away from the room.

  "How are you feeling?" she finally asked. ?He lifted his chin and squinted at her.

  "As you have already pointed out, I am alive."

  "What about your back? ?Does that trouble you?" She circled around him and reached for the spot on his back. Before she could touch it, Feraan issued a sharp hiss. His shoulders tensed, and when he spun around, Caelfel hardly recognized him. ?He had the look of a wounded animal fighting for its life. ?She started to withdraw her hand when he grabbed it, crushing it in his grip. ?Feraan violently wrenched her arm around her back, causing Caelfel to bend in an attempt to lessen the sudden pain. ?He twisted her arm, holding it to her back.

  Caelfel dipped and spun in an attempt to free her hand. ?She succeeded for a moment until Feraan, with lightning speed, grabbed onto her wrist and slammed her against the wall. ?She squirmed under his hold. ?His grip was like iron as she struggled against him. ?

  "You are hurting me," she said softly.

  In the span of a few blinks, he released her, and his pained features hinted at a wound that was proving a heavy burden. ?His ragged breathing was loud in the silence that followed. ?She looked up from massaging her wrist where he had grabbed her and saw him blinking furiously at his hands.

  "I'm sorry. ?I did not mean to-" But he couldn't finish.

  Caelfel knew from his wild eyes that the outburst was unintentional. ?She had seen the look many times before when hunting animals during trade season. ?She cleared her throat to draw him away from the moment. ?"No, the fault is mine. ?May I look at your back?" she asked, thinking his permission would be better than provoking another attack. ?She would keep her hands to herself unless otherwise asked.

  Feraan looked surprised and he struggled to speak. ?"Don't you think you've done enough?"

  Caelfel wasn't sure if she understood his question enough to answer it properly. ?"I found you in the forest. ?I feel as though I'm responsible for you."

  "If I recall correctly, it was I that found you."

  "That's right. ?You killed that goblin." ?She paused. "What happened to you? I looked away for just a moment, and then you were on the ground, unconscious."

  Feraan rolled his eyes. ?"I was shot with an arrow."

  Caelfel sighed.

  "I couldn't help but notice that there has been a Royal Decree issued that forbids anyone to save me, yet that didn't stop you."

  "It didn't," she agreed. This only seemed to frustrate him.

  "I don't understand-"

  "You're welcome," she interrupted, smiling.

  "That means you've committed treason. ?You understand that, right?"

  "Do you plan to report me?" she countered.

  "As if I would sign my own death sentence. ?I don't think you're worth that."

  "No one has to know."

  "No one saw you hauling me back to Sal'Sumarathar?"

  Caelfel faltered. ?"Everyone knows there was nothing I could do for you anyway. You were poisoned, and there's no antidote for that. No one knows about my amulet, save for my parents."

  "Your parents," Feraan sighed, sounding exhausted.

  "They don't know what happened and if they did, they wouldn't say anything."

  "I've no doubt of that."

  "Do you know my parents? ?You recognized my name in the forest," she asked.

  "Did you not recognize me as well?"

  "I don't have your infamous reputation," Caelfel pointed out. ?This made Feraan look more uneasy. ?He gripped the nearby table for support, and Caelfel realized his previous outburst must have drained him more than was at first apparent. ?A thought occurred to her. ?"May I look at your back?" she asked again.

  His face was instantly guarded. ?"Why do you need to see it?"

  "You have an open injury that needs tending," she pointed out flatly.

  When Caelfel wouldn't back down, Feraan eventually relented. ?He begrudgingly lifted the back of his shirt, and Caelfel could tell that he held himself with a tense, almost nervous air. ?She instinctively wanted to reach out and comfort him, but stifled the urge.

  "I promise to behave myself," she said, tapping her chin as she inspected him. ?"It appears as though you are wearing some bandages, the same ones, I believe, that I dressed you with."

  She couldn't see his face but she imagined him rolling his eyes. ?On the shelf above him, she noticed a pair of snips and instructed Feraan to hand them to her. ?Caelfel smiled at her command, and Feraan audibly voiced his annoyance, groaning as he reached for the snips. ?When he handed them to her, she used them to cut away the blood-stained bandages, revealing a deep wound that still leaked multi-colored fluids.

  Caelfel frowned. ?"This is looks rather atrocious and far beyond my abilities," she said, doubting the task she had been so eager to accept. ?"I don't have a healer's hands."

  "I don't doubt that. ?Describe what you see," he said, thinly disguising his impatience with her incompetence.

  Her frown deepened. ?"Blood. ?Red, yellow, and green blood."

  "Blood isn't yellow or green. You're probably looking at pus or poison. ?Here-"

  Feraan waved his hand in space above his head, creating a floating image of his back as it must have looked before his injury, bare without any blemishes. ?Caelfel marveled at his use of magic. ?Nothing more, she told herself. ?She would not be caught ogling his bare back with its toned muscularity that hinted too broad for an ordinary elf.

  "What color is the skin around the infected area?" he asked.

  "Dark purple, almost black. ?What does that mean?"

  "I wouldn't know. ?Unfortunately there is not a healer among us." ?The remark felt heavily sarcastic and mocking. ?Caelfel pressed her lips together and didn't say anything. ?He moved his fingers in circles, recreating a similar but not quite exact replica of his injury on the shimmering image.

  "No there's more coloration along the bottom, purplish," she said, pointing.

  He corrected the image. ?"Has any of it healed over?" he asked.

  "There's some scabbing." ?And Caelfel pointed where in the translucent twin of his back.

  He cursed darkly to himself as he adjusted the magica
l image. ?"You will need to help me clean it, since I can't reach it on my own," he admitted after some time. ?With another wave of his hand, the image disappeared altogether.

  Caelfel tried not to think about how unpleasant that would be. ?"Of course, just tell me what to do, your greatness."

  He ignored the remark and gave her some very specific instructions while fetching a pan of water and a tiny glass vial of a cleaning agent. ?He got the water from the fountain in his garden and handed her a cloth satchel full of rags and a small but very sharp knife. ?She was to lance the wound to drain it of any pus or toxins and clean it thoroughly before bandaging.

  "Can you handle that?" he asked roughly.

  "Exactly how much do you know about healing?" she asked, becoming more and more uncomfortable with the task he had charged her with.

  "I have quite a bit of experience, but don't act like you've never done this. ?You are making me nervous."

  Caelfel fell silent and looked at him pointedly.

  It didn't take him long to understand her pointed stare. ?His shoulder sagged against the wall as he eyed her sharply, dumbfounded by her inexperience. ?"Never?" he asked with a scoff.

  "Are you sure we shouldn't get someone else to do this? Another healer, perhaps? My father was a healer long before I was born."

  Feraan scrutinized her hands that cradled the bundle of rags, and Caelfel knew he was second guessing himself. "You will have to do. ?There's no point in leaving the house."

  His tone was so harsh and critical that Caelfel's eyes fell to the floor. ?Her stomach flipped uneasily. ?"My house is only a few minutes away. ?My father wouldn't mind."

  He removed himself from the wall. ?"If I'm going to stay alive, we can't go to anyone else about this. As far as everyone is concerned, I am dead. Do you understand?"

  "I understand that you seem to be placing an enormous amount of faith in me to keep you alive," she said in a low voice.

  "If only my rescuer had had some proper medical training," he muttered wistfully.

  She sucked in a deep breath to prepare herself. ?"You will need to lie down on your stomach."

  Feraan nodded and led her to his bedroom, which was a large room with a vaulted ceiling and a bed in the shape of a perfect circle. ?Caelfel wasn't sure which was more peculiar, that he so easily took her into his bedroom or that he had a circle bed. ?She imagined Feraan did not receive many visitors, something that probably came with being the most hated elf of Honey Water. ?

  Before she started, he moved his hands to create another image of his back with the wound. ?With it he demonstrated the procedure she would have to do to properly clean the injury. ?Caelfel admired the detail and the perfect likeness he conjured for her. ?Her mouth fell open in amazement.

  "If you live through this, you must show me how to do that," she said when the image disappeared. ?"I do question your judgment of using magic in your condition."

  He gave her a sideways look. ?"Focus on your task. My magic is helping, and I would risk using my magic over you killing me."

  He pulled his shirt over his head, baring his back to her.

  Caelfel took the knife into her grip, measuring the width of the injury with her finger. ?She played the vision through her head, mimicking the movements in the air before performing them. ?Feraan waited silently for her to proceed, so she began without warning, slicing through the flesh with a quick movement. ?

  Feraan winced beneath her fingertips. ?She commented, "I don't believe you were so delicate to pain in your vision." ?

  Feraan snarled in response, his back vibrating beneath Caelfel's touch.

  "I wouldn't advise doing that again. ?My knife may slip, and you would be much worse off," she said, biting down on a laugh.

  She made quick work of draining the fluid that ran clear and red. She used the cleaning agent and water to wash the wound, scrubbing away the pus with rags. ?Feraan uttered no word of complaint, but Caelfel could tell how much pain he was in by how he recoiled from her touch. ?He said nothing throughout the entire process.

  She finished soon enough, wrapping fresh, new bandages around his chest. "There we are," she said grinning. ?"Still alive, aren't you? ?I did a good job."

  Feraan stood, replacing his shirt. ?"I've had better from other novices. It is obvious you do not have a healer's hands."

  Caelfel suppressed a scowl. ?After all, she had admitted the same herself. ?"What happened before when you twisted my arm behind my back?"

  Feraan scowled. ?"What happened is that you learned to respect personal boundaries."

  A silence followed that Caelfel did not know how to fill. ?Thankfully, Feraan did.

  "You were accepted to the college, then? ?For everyone's sake, I hope you are not training to be a healer." he asked.

  Caelfel remembered mentioning the Eye of Ewyn to him. ?"Yes, I was accepted. ?I plan to be a battlemage," she admitted slowly.

  He arched an eyebrow at her answer. ?"Let's hope your aim is better than your bedside manner."

  Caelfel rolled her eyes. ?"Did you study at the college?"

  He gave a careless shrug of one shoulder. ?"I studied there for a short time before I was expelled."

  There was a story there, if the casual dismissal was any indication, but Caelfel did not have the chance to ask about it before he changed the subject.

  "You realize that if anyone finds out that I'm still alive, or at least if the wrong person discovers the truth, that could mean death for both of us. ?Do you understand how serious this is?"

  She looked at him and his desperately impatient expression a moment before answering. ?"Someone will find out eventually. ?Even if your house is tucked away outside the city, you can't hide your existence forever."

  "Let's hope that day is so far away from now, it won't implicate you."

  "That is rather gallant of you," she remarked derisively.

  "You're right, though. ?It is only a matter of time before someone discovers that I am still alive. When that time comes, I can handle the matter alone. ?In the meantime, I suppose I shall return your debt by ensuring your safety. Your carelessness has brought danger upon us both."

  That stung Caelfel, but she brushed it off. ?"Why not just leave Sal'Sumarathar? ?Everyone seems to hate you anyway."

  Feraan looked away, and his expression appeared ancient. ?"I can't leave."

  He wouldn't explain why, so Caelfel continued. ?"Tahlmus knows I took you back from the forest. ?He's on the Council. ?If they found out you were alive, he would know I was responsible."

  The information angered Feraan. ?"You let Tahlmus see you?"

  "I didn't have much choice," Caelfel said defensively. ?"He was my hunting partner."

  Feraan sighed. ?"The only thing we can hope for is that my presence remains hidden. ?Taking me back to the city would mean nothing to them if I died anyway."

  "Do you plan to stay locked in your house forever, then?" Caelfel asked. ?She found slight amusement in his reactions, though perhaps she should take the situation more seriously.

  "My plan is to make sure no one sees me," he amended. ?His eyes lost focus as he mentally engineered some elaborate plan.

  "Can I see you?" she asked suddenly.

  He gave her a suspicious look. ?"Do you want to come see me?"

  "You'll need someone to clean the spot on your back."

  Feraan groaned, as if in defeat, and Caelfel inwardly rejoiced over her victory. ?"Just make sure you aren't being followed."

  Caelfel glanced out a window, almost to reassure herself that she wasn't being followed now, and noticed how quickly the sky had darkened. ?"I should go."

  He followed her gaze. ?"Is there something wrong?"

  "No, my parents will just be wondering about me." ?She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. ?"Shall I return tomorrow?"

  Feraan only offered a blank stare. ?"Only if you feel it is necessary."

  Caelfel thought it was but did not say so as she bid him good night.

  She had
all but forgotten her entrance exams to the college until she was bombarded with questions upon arriving home. ?Her parents' questions subsided when she assured them she had been accepted. ?Eviat breathed a sigh of relief, but Sylaera only smirked. ?Her mother's concerns were elsewhere.

  "It is dark. ?Surely they did not keep you at the college so late?" Sylaera asked.

  "No," came Caelfel's slow answer. ?She remembered her promise to Feraan, and struggled to find a suitable reason. ?"I was visiting a friend. ?One of the other archers from the hunting party was not accepted. ?He seemed quite distraught, so I walked him home." ?Her parents exchanged glances, but the answer satisfied them.

  "Thoroth came to visit you," Eviat said later while they were eating.

  Caelfel pushed baby leaves around on her plate. ?"Did he?"

  "He wanted to know how your exams went and how well you were faring after yesterday's hunting party," Eviat explained.

  Caelfel was suddenly alert. ?"Did he say anything else?" ?Thoroth had seen Feraan, so he probably wanted to know what became of the dying elf. ?Thoroth couldn't know of Feraan's condition either. ?Caelfel would have to keep it secret from all of them, and the gravity of the ordeal finally seemed to settle on Caelfel. ?She was not sure how well she could keep secrets.

  "He was particularly insistent to see you," Sylaera interjected. ?Caelfel looked at her beautiful mother and not for the first time in her life, wondered if there was another meaning to her words. ?With the arrival of this sudden uncertainty, Caelfel was not inclined to respond to her mother. ?She went to bed that night to dreams filled with daggers and goblins.