Lily of the valley

8

The sun rose late in the lowlands, by the time it had come over the mountain ridge it was mid morning. Katherine and Lily got up as soon as they awoke, eager to continue their journey. The sound of them pottering around the kitchen awoke Gertrude who came in to say goodbye.

"Leaving so soon ladies?" Gertude mumbled, rubbing crusty yellow sleep from her dark eyes.

"I'm afraid so, but thank you so much for having us." Spoke Katherine while Lily prepared their belongings, all gifts from Florabella. Gertrude looked over the bags, curious about their strange thin fabrics and ornate designs.

"Oh it's been an honour." Gertrude picked up a sleeping bag from the floor and examined the text that wrapped around its casing. "What language is this?"

"Elvish." Responded Lily.

"Elvish!" Gertrude was stunned, "where did you get this?" The grand mythology of the elves had worked its way into all manner of societies, people saw them as a higher race, a race of grace and knowledge. The elves being egocentric accepted and encouraged this view of themselves, for the most part they saw humans as weaker and unintelligent versions of themselves.

"There's an elf in the forest, quite close to here, we stayed with her and she gave it to us." Katherine spoke.

"Oh I've always wanted to meet an elf!" Gertrude exclaimed, looking at the elegant curves of the script a little more closely.

"You should go and visit her, she'd be glad of the company, she was complaining about how lonely she gets. Just don't travel at night and follow the sound of singing." Katherine advised, hoping that Gertrude would go and visit Florabella, it would be good for the elf.

"Ohh thank you, I might just do that... I'd love to meet an elf." Gertrude set the sleeping bag down beside the women's scarce other supplies. "Where are you travelling today?"

"Across the meadow and towards the wastelands." Lily cut in, passing Katherine a cotton rucksack filled with breads and meats in an attempt to hurry their conversation along.

"Well it seems we must be going. Thank you so much for having us." Katherine and Lily hugged Gertrude goodbye and set out into the day. The sun was high in the sky and beat down on their heads with its great celestial fury. They were low on water for such heat but had to journey on regardless. Florabella had given them a compass, it was a creation like nothing humans had ever dreamt of and like everything the elves did it had incredible decadence. They followed the swinging arrow southward, climbing up and down valleys and across vast plains of wildflowers.

Village people worked the fields, feeding livestock or tending to crops, sweating in the midday sun. Some of them sang whilst they worked, some of them exchanged stories, some worked in silence, listening only to the birds and the breeze. Katherine and Lily stopped at every stream to wet their faces with fresh cold water and refill their water bladders. Having lived upon the frozen mountain their whole lives the sun was a strange thing to them, they felt such comfort and wooziness under its gaze. The later in the day it got the hotter it got, the heat made them weak and so they stopped in the shade of a large evergreen to have some lunch. They ripped some sourdough off the loaf and ate it with cheese and grapes, they watched the sun light up the landscape brilliant gold as they dined. The temperature was so delectable in the shade, warm yet fresh, they could have fallen asleep against the trunk of that tree had they not some higher goal.

When they had found their strength again they got up and continued on their journey, as the companions moved southwards the ground gradually became bare of plant life. There was evidence of scorching and drought, underfoot there was a layer of dry dirt over hard rock. A strange debris littered the landscape, shards of broken steel, fragments of broken bones and smashed wood. The further into the wasteland they got the more and more debris covered the earth, flesh still clung to bone and gave off an abhorrent stench. The further they went the fresher the bodies, ravens circled overhead and wandered the ground pecking at the dead.

"What is this?" Katherine asked, nervously covering her nose with her sleeve. Lily just shook her head in disbelief,

"I'm not sure..." She'd never seen anything like it, a sandy sea of bodies, a cold grey sky, blood in the earth. They did not know whether they were wandering closer and closer to danger, but there was nowhere to go but forward. Every snap of bone or sudden gust of wind caused them to start, hearts racing from every sound and every bit of movement in the corner of their eyes. Then in the distance there sounded a horn, loud and clear it cut through the air. It was followed by the mass roar of a thousand headed army, they seemed to come from nowhere, filling the field with shouts and glinting steel. Valiant knights fought beside the peasantry, wielding pitchforks, bits of flaming bannister; and whatever else they could get a hold of. Their enemy barely reached their waists, but fought with such passion that their height was no hinderance at all. Dwarves, goblins, trolls and other creatures of the underworlds.

Katherine and Lily were paralysed, they stood like statues on the battlefield, invisible to the warriors. They clung to each other, wide eyed to all the death circling them. A knight upon a black horse with long black hair interrupted their terror, his armour was of iron and gold, his sigil of the seven legged spider was unknown to Katherine.

"What are you doing here? This is no place for women!" His face was concealed by his helmet, the iron was rusting deep gold.

"We're travellers! We were heading south when you all rushed out!" Katherine yelled over the din. The knight audibly sighed, he had vowed to protect the innocent and knew that he must keep that vow instead of getting the rush of battle that he wanted. "Who do you fight for?" The knight dismounted his black shire, the chaos of war surrounded them but he was calm.

"Queen Isolde."

"I haven't heard of her." Responded Katherine.

"Not many have... but they will." The knight removed his helmet, "I am sir Doran, I shall take you to safety." Sir Doran moved to help Katherine mount his horse, Lily gripped her arm. Katherine looked to her treasured friend, bewildered.

"I have heard of Queen Isolde... we should not go with him." Lily rushed her whispers, not taking her eyes off the knight.

"We can't stay here." Katherine took a step towards the horse and Lily pulled her back.

"She is an enemy of your father!"

"Ladies?" Sir Dolan hurried them, the swarm of clashing swords circled tighter around them.

"Then we won't tell her who we are." Katherine shook her arm from Lily's grasp and mounted the mare. Lily's loyalty got the best of her fear and she too climbed atop the horse. Sir Dolan held the reins and led, they travelled in uneasy silence. She felt the whole time as if they were riding straight into the jaws of a monster. They rode south-east, away from the crowd of slaughter, the landscape turned to a moorland of great valleys and mountains. For a long way they travelled and saw naught but grass, no hunters huts, no soaring birds, no trees, just nothing at all.