The tower of spires was exactly what it sounded like; from the ground, it looked like a flower pot burst with at least a hundred delicate towers bursting from its base. I looked up in awe. The structure looked like it would topple over any second, but from the thick carpet of ivy crawling over almost every surface - like every other building here - it had stood for centuries without ever falling.
"Weird building, isn't it?" Idrissa gazed up nonchalantly at it, one slim hand over her eyes to block out the light.
"I think it's fantastic!" I oggled her. I guess she was used to it, living here and everything.
She laughed. "I guess it is, the first time you see it. I gotta admit the thing's got charm.
Idrissa ushered me to the door. Four elvish guards in silvery armour stood at attention in front of the massive oak doors, and one stepped forward at our approach.
He was blonde haired, and he looked terribly bored. "Password?"
"You saw me leave!"
"Password, madam." His voice was flat.
Idrissa rolled her eyes at me. "Callidora."
I looked at her in surprise at the mention of Apollo's mother, but the guards stepped aside without a word and let us pass. Idrissa took my hand and led me inside, barely glancing at the bored head guard.
Inside, the base of the tower was circular and gigantic. Elves wondered around in pairs, drifting around with their heads close together and what looked like scrolls spilling out of their arms. No one paid us any attention. In the middle of the room was a collection of hundreds of delicate stairways, all leading away up to different spires. I stared in amazement; how did people find their way around this place.
"Stay with me, my dear." Idrissa tugged my hand and began to climb a set of stairs confidently. She obviously knew where she was going.
Upon closer inspection, I realized that the staircases were polished wood, and hundreds of carvings had been meticulously set in them. They looked like stories; as we walked quickly passed, I stared at the carving of an elf deep in a ferocious fight with what looked like a mongool, and another carving of two young elves getting married. I wanted to ask Idrissa about them, but she looked extremely distracted - I wondered just how urgent my presence was needed wherever all those elves and Apollo were meeting.
Finally, several minutes later, we arrived at another wooden door that was just as heavily engraved as the staircases. She pushed it open without hesitation and pulled me into a room.
I had expected something similar to what I'd seen in Feloix Felaii; hundreds of delicate chairs looking down at a single dais, and maybe instead of a variety of different creatures seated in those chairs, just a multitude of beautiful, pale elves watching everything silently. However, the round room we entered was much smaller than I expected, and giant ceiling high windows spanned the room at small intervals. A spectacular view of the gren could be seen all around, and the light that filtered in was airy and light. In the middle of the room was a single, huge circular table, at which ten people sat. Instead of the silent, respectful spectators I'd expected, each elf was on his or her feet, shouting and brandishing fists at each other. Apollo was the only one seated, but he was also having a heated conversation with a wizened elf across the wide wooden surface. Beside me, Idrissa clucked disapprovingly at the sight.
As I looked, an elf I immediately recognized turned and locked eyes with me.
"Aha!" Ildor called out loudly, pointing at me with a flourish. "The answer to our problems! Quick, you fools, be seated. Lilah, my dear, come closer."
The rest of the table reluctantly took their seats. It looked like they wanted to keep arguing. Apollo's face lit up as I approached, and I smiled nervously at him. Idrissa took a seat beside Edilara, and Ildor pulled up a chair seemingly out of nowhere and held it out for me to sit on. I mumbled my thanks to him, and Apollo watched me from across the table. I was now beside the elderly elf he had been arguing with; he looked at me unabashedly with dark hazel eyes, and his dark hair contrasted sharply with his white, fluffy sideburns. I thought distractedly to myself that he kind of looked like Abraham Lincoln in elegant white elvish clothing.
In fact, everyone seemed to be wearing white finery. Even Apollo fit in; his white dress shirt hugged his trim body handsomely, and he looked like he belonged at the table full of beautiful people. I felt horrible self conscious in my ratty tee shirt and skinny jeans. Apollo should have warned me to bring my nice white gown, I thought sarcastically.
"So, Lilah." Ildor angled his body to me and took my hand, a lovely smile lighting up his face. He ignored everyone else completely. "We, the Elvish Council of Ten, have a problem we need you to remedy."
"How can I help?" I asked, wondering what on earth they wanted with me. I wasn't very useful, not next to people who could teleport with some magic water and make tattoos move.
"We are at a standstill, child." Abraham Lincoln looked down at me seriously, but his eyes were soft. "We need another vote, and you are the answer."
"Me?" I asked dumbly. I felt like I was asking that a lot lately. "Well, I'm happy to help, but why didn't you ask another elf to help you? I'm just a human."
"Precisely."
Everyone turned to look at the source of the snide voice. I hadn't even noticed Isidre seated two seats down from Apollo, but I wasn't sure how; she was giving off waves of hatred toward me that no one could have missed. Idrissa shot daggers at her with her eyes, and even Apollo looked annoyed. His eyes had narrowed into slits as he looked at her, and I wondered if he'd put together what had happened.
"Regardless of your lineage." Abraham looked at Isidre sternly, his eyes hard as he took in her profile. Apparently she was a sore thumb among them. "You are ideal because you are informed of impending war. We can't just pluck an elf off the street, and Apollo's vote does not count because he is the one who presented the idea."
"What idea?" I asked, looking at Apollo.
"I proposed that the elves work with the mongools." Apollo said it in a rush, as if he was wary of interrupters. "The elves are famous for their gifts of archery and swordplay. The mongools are extremely fast with knives and remarkably strong with hand to hand combat. If we paired the two groups together, we would minimize damage on our side and maximize damage to our enemies."
He didn't have to voice who the enemy was. Everyone knew.
"Okay." I said slowly. "I don't see what the problem is; that makes sense."
"Ah, but you need to know one thing, dear one."Abraham looked at me, his eyes soft again. There was a long scar along the right side of his face; it was raised and white and looked extremely old. "Before the Varaii Agreements, the elves and mongools had been engaged in the Three Hundred Years war. It ended more than a thousand years ago, but the elves of today have been taught by their elders that the mongools are not to be trusted."
I considered this, remembering the carving I'd seen on the staircase, and everyone watched me. The chair I was seated in was monstrously huge, and I felt like it was swallowing me up slowly. The eyes on me didn't help either.
"What were you fighting about?" I asked Abraham.
He blinked, as if the question was an unexpected one.
"Land." Ildor said slowly on my other side. "In the Middle East. If my memory serves me correctly from the days I was in school, our ancestors only barely managed to fight the mongools out in China."
I paused. "Who had the land first?"
The silence was loud, and Ildor cleared his throat. "Well, the mongools." The elves shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
I looked between Ildor and Abraham with a raised eyebrow. "So technically you were the ones to be mistrusted?"
No one was looking at me now. Apollo looked like he wanted to laugh though; his eyes were bright and his lips were pressed into a line, but a small smile was still peeking through. He looked ridiculously cute.
"Okay." I said when no one spoke. "So its tense between you guys. So what? You both have a common enemy now, so the past should be set aside. Even if it's only temporary."
"So you are voting that we should collaborate with them?" Abraham asked me, his own eyebrow arched.
"Might I ask something?" Isidre spoke up. Everyone looked like they wanted to say no, but she went ahead anyway. "How do we know the mongools will accept this ridiculous idea? Even if we were to throw aside our proud history, those bumbling idiots will only be interested in feeding on us."
"You're mistaken." Apollo's voice was cool and harsh. He stared at Isidre hard enough to laser her in half and succeeded in making her blush a faint pink. "The mongools are extremely intelligent and humble creatures. They are kind and wise, and I have several friends among them who would give up their lives for the right cause. They have never fed on another intelligent creature, and they never will."
The room was silent. What he said made sense; despite their hard skinned, reptilian exterior, I'd liked the few mongools I'd briefly talked to in Feloix Felaii. Their accents were heavy but cultured, and they were extremely polite and quiet. They kept to themselves, but they were kind and level headed when spoken to; they weren't "bumbling idiots" at all.
"Plus," Apollo went on, "if you were to review your teachings, Isidre, you would find that they only became violent when they were on the defensive. There's not one place in history that the mongools ever sought out wars themselves."
Isidre scowled at the table top, her light hair falling like a curtain to hide her flushed skin. I felt a childish rush of satisfaction at her obvious embarrassment; Apollo had shut her down good.
Apollo turned his gaze to Abraham, who had been watching everything with a small smile. "The mongools are not creatures who live in the past. They'll listen to me when I speak to them, and when they see how flawless my suggestion is, they will agree, Ebram."
I blinked when I heard his name. That was too close to my nickname for him to be a coincidence. Maybe I was a psychic!
Ebram nodded slowly. "You speak with conviction, Apollo, as always." He looked around and met the eyes of everyone seated at the table. "I am announcing a new vote. Your previous vote will be disregarded if you change it, and it will be final."
Everyone nodded in understanding.
The elderly elf stood up, glanced at me and spoke clearly. "Aye."
One by one, people around the table got up and cast their vote with a "aye" or "nay". I counted quietly in my head as they went, and by the time Ildor gently touched my elbow it was another draw. I got up and cleared my throat.
"Aye."
Ebram began clapping, and everyone around the table followed suit. Apollo leaned back in his chair and winked at me when I looked at him.
"The vote has been made." Ebram announced. "We will work with the mongools in battle, and disregard our history. The Elvish Council of Ten is adjourned."
Everyone immediately pushed back from the table and began to drift away; Idrissa and Edilara had their heads close together as they walked idly to the door, and I watched Isidre sweep out without a glance to any of her comrades. Ildor was deep in conversation with the lovely lady next to him, and Apollo was speaking quietly to another elf.
It was just me and Ebram Lincoln.
He held his hand out sombrely. "I did not have the chance to introduce myself properly, young lady. I am Ebram, High Tribune of our beloved Vehr Dren."
"Hi, Ebram." I shook his hand warmly. "It's very nice to meet you."
He smiled, and it transformed his old face beautifully. I wondered how old he was.
"Can I tell you something?" I blurted out.
"Of course."
"When I first saw you, I thought you looked like Abraham Lincoln. He's -"
"-an American president." His eyes were twinkling as he finished my sentence.
I oggled him. "You know about him?"
He chuckled. "I know very little about human history; I only know of that man because your Apollo told me the exact same thing when he first met me."
I laughed with him. "Well, you do. Are you sure you're not him?"
He patted my hand lightly. "I'm quite sure, my dear. I think I would remember if I lead a human country, and an important country at that."
I decided I really liked him. Beaming, I opened my mouth to continue the conversation, my body angled to the old elf completely, when something flashed at the corner of my eye. I took a better look; outside the window directly to my left, something white flickered in the deep blue sky above the tall trees.
"What is that?" I asked curiously.
Ebram turned to look, and as he did a loud wail suddenly cut through the air. The sound seemed to vibrate in my blood, and I couldn't see the source of it. Accompanied with the wail, like some freak sound system, a voice drifted in a panicked garble.
"Attack! Attack! The dren is under attack!"
The remaining elves in the room immediately sprung up, the blue lines on their forearms suddenly glowing a dark red. It looked like someone had carved the lines into their skin. Outside, the flickering dot first turned into ten flickering dots, then suddenly thirty, and then a bare minute later a cloud of flickering shapes obscured the sun. I stared in horror; it could be no one else but the faeries.
Ildor whipped out the glass instrument that looked like a thermometer and raked it down his forearm. "All warriors to the armoury!" He spoke into the tattoos shifting wildly red on his skin, and his voice sounded thunderous in the room and outside of it. I realized that that was how the wail and panicked voice had carried around the dren. "All warriors to the armoury immediately! Archer commanders, ready your guard in the trees, fell as many of those bastards as possible..."
His voice drifted as he hurried out of the room, but sounded again a few moments after he disappeared. "And get all the elders and children to the shelter! Now!"
Apollo was suddenly at my side. "Lilah, let's go."
I didn't reply as he pulled me from the room. The remaining elves hurried after us; I looked back to find Ebram following without difficulty, his legs surprisingly spry. I don't know why I was surprised to see it. It was obvious after all this time that humans were the weakest things around.
He saw me looking and smiled grimly.
We were barely down the ornately carved staircase when a deafening boom made the spire shudder. A few elves behind me cried out. I looked up at Apollo wildly, and his face was hard as he looked around me. The shuddering continued, as if the whole building was trembling in terror, and then suddenly stilled.
"Okay." Apollo breathed. "Come on, let's keep going -"
With an ear splitting crack, I felt my body lean horizontal. It wasn't my vision; the stairs, the walls, everything was oriented except my body knew that it wasn't. The spire teetered for a second, undecided on whether to fall or not, before deciding to do it. With a jarring shudder, the spire crumbled from its base and began to fall.
The air exploded with terrified screams and agonized cracks and booms as debris began to fall. My vision was a jumble of airy light, cracked stone and pieces of polished wood; there was a flash of white as an elf hurtled passed me. Everything was rushing as the spire headed toward the ground at a sickening speed. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, bracing myself for what I knew would be an excruciating impact
Suddenly, I felt blazing limbs encircle my slight frame. Apollo's strong limbs held me close, and he tucked my head into his chest. For a moment, everything slowed down. My senses were heightened tenfold - my skin seemed to sear where it made contact with Apollo's, the sounds of crashing and shrieking and thundering booms grew louder, as well as Apollo's quick breathing. I could smell his lovely skin, the smell of the forest and pine needles and soft moss. And although my cheek was pressed against his broad chest, I registered the fact that no heartbeat thudded against my profile.
Then the world exploded and everything sped up again.
My vision was black and spinning, and thousands of stars flashed through colours faster than I could keep up. Sounds were muffled and my skin didn't register any touch. For a wild moment, I wondered if I was dead.
"Lilah?!"
Oh.
That was all wrong. I obviously wasn't dead, because how could Apollo be with me? He couldn't die. Bizarrely, memories of my troubling dreams flooded back to me. They were so clear and vivid I wasn't sure if it was real or not. They'd been pushed to the back of my mind as Apollo and I travelled from one place to another, but for some reason, they were here now, reminding me of my weakness. Reminding me that Apollo and I weren't forever.
"Oh God, Lilah; please answer me, love!"
I blinked my eyes open. Apollo's beautiful face swam above me; his features were twisted with worry. I wasn't surprised to see that he didn't look like he was in pain at all. I glanced around minutely - my entire body felt stiff and sore.
"What.. How.."
"I made sure I got most of the impact." He gently pulled his arm from under me; it was unmarked. "You'll probably feel stiff though."
"Yeah."
Apollo gently unwrapped himself from around me, and as he did, it was as if a shield was lifted. A multitude of sounds made a cacophony in my ears; the crashes and the booms were still there, but they sounded far off. I realized with horror that they were other spires falling. There was the sound of screaming and cries of rage, and what sounded like steel hitting steel - but these were also far off. Where we were, it was completely silent. The screams of terror had been abruptly cut off.
Apollo gently pulled me to his feet, his emerald eyes scanning me to make sure I wasn't hurt. I wasn't looking at him though. The spire had crumbled around us; there were giant haphazard pieces of the staircase strewn about; I could make out a carving of an elvish woman leading a trail of little children on the closest piece to me. A fine white dust covered everything; a cloud of it was still settling on giant piles of debris and wreckage. There was a small crater where Apollo and I had landed; apparently his body was stronger than rock.
The worst part were the bodies though.
They were like morbid white little islands in a sea of white dust and mountains of stone. They were all still in death; their limbs jutted awkwardly in horrible angles from the terrible fall and their silver or dark hair fanned like halos around their pale faces. Silver liquid was pooling around each of them.
Apollo wrapped his arms around my waist from behind me. "I couldn't save them." He said quietly into my hair.
I didn't answer, my wide eyes still taking in the carnage. As I looked around, something caught my eye - a shock of dark hair and white sideburns.
I tore out of Apollo's arms and ran over to him. I was too late though; his hazel eyes were still and empty as they stared into the distance, and silver blood spattered the long scar on his face. I wondered vaguely how he'd gotten that scar - I'd never get to ask him. His elbow was bent the wrong way, and both his legs looked broken in several different places. His face was frozen in shock. Ebram had died without knowing death had hit him.
I felt Apollo's arms gently try to tug me away.
"We can't just leave him here!" My voice was curt. Strangely, my eyes were dry.
"We have to." Apollo's voice was heavy with grief, and I looked back to find him staring down at Ebram in sorrow. I realized for the first time that the old elf was one of his close friends too. "The faeries will be here soon, my love."
I looked back at Ebram, and a lump formed in my throat. The thought of leaving him here - leaving anyone here - was so terrible, but Apollo was right. It wasn't like we could calmly walk by the battle just outside the spire ruins and start digging graves.
Suddenly, Apollo picked me up and ducked under a leaning stretch of the staircase. He was curled around me again, tucking us into a ball into the shadows.
I twisted so he could see my face. Faeries? I mouthed.
He nodded curtly and put a finger to his lips. His face was stoic again, his eyes distant as his ears strained.
After a minute, I heard them too.
It was a hum, first. A sound I couldn't identify until a shadow drifted in front of us; it was as if a cloud had drifted across the sun. The staircase above us obstructed our view, but I knew it was no cloud drifting that was making that shadow or that hum. It was a faerie, his wings moving so fast the individual strokes became a blur.
My eyes followed the shadow as it moved. He was obviously searching the wreck.
"All clear!" I jumped at the female voice. Apparently women could be warriors too.
"Check under debris." A male voice answered from far away. "Leave no one alive."
Apollo stiffened underneath me. He obviously hadn't expected this.
We were both frozen as we watched the shadow drift slowly around. I could see her now, dipping down to upturn wood and stone easily. She had golden hair, and her black armour had holes in the metal so her gorgeous wings could move. Her face was beautiful too, but it was extremely sinister. Apollo and I watched as she got closer, her eyes obviously not strong enough to pick us up in the shadows. What were we going to do??
Suddenly, she was right in front of us. She had blue eyes that were flat and cold, and they locked with mine first before moving to Apollo's. It was like they couldn't look away, and I saw her hand tighten around the broadsword in her hand.
"Apollo." She whispered.
"Kai." He answered quietly.
Her eyes flicked to me before going back to him. I was waiting for it, waiting for her to slash her sword and kill me, waiting for her to try to kill Apollo.
Instead, she pulled something from the depths of her armour and pushed it into my grasp. Her eyes were still cold, but her face had softened.
"Run into the trees." She said softly, so quietly I had to lean forward slightly. "Then call him."
I blinked. Call who?
"Thank you." Apollo's voice was soft and grateful.
Kai nodded curtly.
"Kai!" The male voice yelled. She glanced up. "You done yet? They need us by the waterfall."
"Coming!" Kai looked back at us. "Fare you well, Apollo Ambrosia. Don't let us down."
Then with a hum of her wings, she was gone.
We waited for at least five minutes, Apollo no doubt straining to hear if any other faeries laid in wait. When he was satisfied there weren't, he pulled me up and we ran through the debris into the waiting forest. Inside the tree line, I looked back. I could still see Ebram's dark hair and ivory sideburns from afar. The white dust was beginning to settle on him too.
Comment, vote, fan! (:
So the faeries finally struck /: what did you guys think?
In case you guys weren't sure what Abraham Lincoln looked like, that's a picture of him to the right. Ebram looks exactly like him, minue the beard. Also, I went back to previous chapters and uploaded pictures of what I thought oter characters looked like as well. Goodnight! Sleep time for me.