The Elf King (53 page)

“
Would you like to sit?”
Prevost asked her, helping her step back to the cool stone wall
behind them. She did not want to sit, she did not want to miss
watching Qenn. She wanted to be ready in case he needed her. When
he needed her, she corrected. “I’m fine here. Qenn, go. Be
careful.”

Qenn gave her a reassuring
nod, then turned away, facing the shallow ponds. She would not see
him worry, he thought. She needed to relax. He squeezed his staff
tight and felt his heart race. This was dangerous, he knew. He
should not have let the others tag along. He should have gone
alone. He took a deep breath. Lord Estrial had given him the staff,
him alone. A staff that he could use. It was magic. This is the
place where he needed to be. Yet, despite these facts, he wanted to
do nothing more than bolt away before anyone could get
hurt.

He could hear the small
murmurs of his group as they voiced caution, as they told him to
follow through; small words of comfort mixed in with insanity. Kev
Wah was almost frantically pacing the rock, looking as though he
was going to explode. He took another deep breath, trying to
convince himself that it was going to be okay, when he felt the
staff being ripped out of his hands and saw Kev Wah racing away in
a blur.

“
No!” the others groaned
and gasped, but were too late.

They stood in disbelief as
they watched Kev Wah jump off the ledge and sprint towards the
pond, screaming his vengeance. “Show yourself! Come to me, I say! I
command you!”

Kandish held on to Qenn’s
arms, both astonished. Qenn didn’t have a word to utter. He stood
with is mouth open and an ache in his heart as Kev Wah reached the
water. They watched as nothing happened. Kamen Ode began forward,
moving to reclaim what Qenn had lost, but Qenn grabbed his arm, and
pointed to the swirling water next to Kev Wah. Something was
happening.

“
What has he done?” Kamen
Ode barked. His hands balled into tight fists.

“
Qenn!” Kandish groaned
before losing her balance and slumping into Qenn’s arms. Prevost
moved in quickly, helping the elf keep her upright. They thought
about leaving then, getting Kandish out of there before her magic
exploded, but a deep hissing sound suddenly emerged filling the
cavern. They looked back to see Kev Wah standing next to the
swirling water.

Instantly the water
erupted skyward, towering over them before settling down and
materializing into an enormous figure. Kev Wah’s words were barely
heard as he threatened the
LifeWaters
. He stood holding the
staff as if its magic locked inside the wood was going to erupt
itself and save him. But nothing happened.

“
Who disturbs me?” The
voice belled out in an icy tone. The watery figure shimmered in
blue light.

“
I saw what you did to
Corwon!” Kev Wah yelled. “It is time for you to go someplace else!
We don’t want you! Or your curse!”

“
Go.”
The
LifeWaters
pointed back towards the tunnel.

“
No!” Kev Wah screamed in
defiance. “You killed my brother! Others are killing themselves to
get away from you! You need to pay for what you have
done!”

“
Your friend betrayed me.
You betray me as well,” it spoke. Its voice was deep, filling the
vast cavern with a thunderous wake. It disappeared then, sinking
down into the pond in the blink of an eye. Then soundlessly it
emerged, behind Kev Wah, startling him so that he dropped the
staff. He frantically picked it up and tried to use it again.
Nothing happened.

“
Your weapon is useless,
mortal.”

Kev Wah’s response was
drown out by the
LifeWaters’
laughter. Qenn and Kandish looked at each other
in fear.

“
It’s
going to kill him,” Prevost said. They watched as Kev Wah thrust
his staff towards the
LifeWaters
time and time again, but
nothing happened.

“
The staff won’t work for
him. It wasn’t meant to.” Qenn could only watch in numb sickness.
“I need to help him.”

“
I am
more powerful than you could dare to dream, mortal.” Its voice
boomed out again, its size shrinking down to something close to Kev
Wah’s. “I am the
LifeWaters
. I am eternal. You have
drank my water, and now you are so. But this is not pleasing? You
are not grateful for what you have received. I can see your mind,
mortal. I can see your hatred of your life. Of me.”

“
You’ve cursed us!” Kev Wah
tried again to activate the magic, swinging the staff towards the
transparent immortal.

“
I shall
free you of this burden then,” it hissed. It rose up then, dwarfing
the screaming Kev Wah who was thrashing his useless staff
violently. Then the cavern lit with a white light. The group
shielded their eyes, losing sight of what was happening to Kev Wah.
His screaming drowned out as well, lost in the sounds of
the
LifeWaters’
magic stirring to life. Then it screamed, the light
intensified, flaring in bolts that disappeared into the man’s body
standing beneath it.

“
Let’s go!” Kamen Ode
grabbed Qenn and Kandish, running for the tunnel, Prevost a step
ahead of them. They were racing through the tunnel, still hearing
the thunderous bolts, still feeling the heat from the white light,
which still filled the cavern behind them. They were out the other
side quickly, standing next to the waterfall, not looking back into
the glowing lighted tunnel, anxious to be safely away.

A moment later the light
died. All they could hear was the steady pouring of the waterfall
next to them. As they exited the lagoon, standing on the dirt bank,
they saw a body floating out of the tunnel. They did not have to
stare. They knew what had happened.

“
We should get to him
before the villagers see him,” Prevost said. He entered the water
without a reply from the others, and swam over to Kev Wah’s
lifeless form.

“
I’m going to be sick,”
Kandish moaned.

Qenn helped her move away
from the water. He found a log for them to sit on and asked her to
rest her head against him. He watched from there as Kamen Ode
helped Prevost remove Kev Wah’s body from the lagoon. Even from
that distance, and without having to see their reaction, he knew it
was bad. The moon’s pale light shimmered across the water beyond
them with a welcoming appearance. Qenn swallowed hard. All he could
think about was how the staff did not work.

“
That should be me,” he
whispered to himself. He felt Kandish’s hands grip his
own.

“
No, Qenn.” She looked up
to find his eyes. “The staff will work for you.”

But Qenn had a hard time
believing it now. “I don’t even have it anymore.”

He watched Prevost and
Kamen Ode drag the body further inland. They stood over the body,
making awful remarks as they watched it slowly
disintegrate.

“
Why does it do that?”
Kandish asked, her voice barely audible.

“
I think
the
LifeWaters
returns them to their natural age, maybe. Maybe it extracts
the elements out of their bodies that were put in when they drank
the water. Without it, without the magic to keep them from aging,
they would expire.” Qenn stroked her hair slightly. “Just a theory,
I guess.”

“
I’m glad he warned
us.”

Qenn nodded. A tear dropped
out of his eyes and into her hair. He forced himself to think of
something else then, watching Kamen Ode and Prevost bury Kev Wah’s
bones. But all he could think of was how they could very easily be
burying him.

“
They need to know the
truth.” Kandish added softly.

Qenn agreed. But who was
going to tell them? Who would they trust now? Surely they would not
listen to the outsiders tell them of how their beloved
LifeWaters
killed both
of their leaders. It was not something that Qenn looked forward to
doing.

He sat there on the log,
staring out across the lagoon, with a sinking feeling as if all the
hopes he had were shattered. The staff did not even flare, he
thought. Not once did it even resemble a weapon. Poor Kev Wah never
had a chance. But it should have been him, he knew. It should have
been the rightful bearer to the staff standing before the Faerie
creature. He swallowed hard. Would things have turned out any
different? Would he have figured out how to summon the magic of the
staff? Would he be able to reclaim it now, even when the
LifeWaters
had it? Would
it aid him as it was promised? Or would he discover as Kev Wah
had?

Kamen Ode and Prevost
walked over to them then, their faces masked in shadow, their
voices kept low and sullen. They led the way back out of the
foliage, walking to the village, where small groups of people
remained talking about Corwon and how the
LifeWaters
was going to save them
from whatever had happened to him. Kamen Ode paused the group
momentarily. They saw that he had intended to tell them what had
actually taken place, but then kept walking. Qenn heard him say
they would tell them in the morning. Right now they were tired, and
simply wanted to rest. They entered their hut, each walking over to
their bed and slumping down in exhaustion. Qenn asked Kandish if
she was feeling better, and she simply nodded. He knew she was
thinking of the staff as well. They all were. They were all
wondering the same thing.

Qenn laid down and closed
his eyes. He could not get the feeling to leave him. He was scared
now. Even more-so than earlier when it was all happening. He didn’t
have much time to think about things then. But he had thought long
and hard on things now, and the reality of their situation was
frightening. No one said much of anything now, they all laid on
their beds, hoping to drift away into someplace more pleasant. But
Qenn couldn’t. He had to face his fear. He had to find out why the
staff didn’t work.
Kev Wah wasn’t the
rightful bearer,
Kandish had said.
The staff would only work for you,
Qenn
. But that was not enough to ease his
mind. Not after watching it fail Kev Wah. Not after seeing what
would surely happen to him.

An hour went by, then two.
Dawn would be on the rise soon, he thought. He sat upright and
looked to his friends. They would risk their lives to go with him,
he knew. Kandish especially. And her magic would flare out again,
and he did not know if she would be able to recover from it. And
that didn’t even matter, because the
LifeWaters
would destroy her long
before she could even call her magic to life. Either way, Kandish
was in no way able to confront it. But looking at their faces now,
as they all slept deeply, he knew he could not give them a chance
to die. Not when he could protect them.

He settled it then within
himself. He closed away all of his fears, pushed away and blocked
out all reasoning that kept him in the bed to begin with. He would
do it alone. He would go to the
LifeWaters
as he had intended.
Alone.

Qenn took a deep breath and
exhaled slowly. He stared at Kandish for a moment, then rose to his
feet and walked out to meet his destiny.

Chapter 30

T
he air was cool in the early morning hours, borderline
comfortable, Qenn thought, passing between huts, careful not to be
seen or wake anyone. He reached the outskirts and entered in the
wild foliage without looking back, happy to be successful in his
attempt to leave on his own. He missed Kandish already, he
realized. He almost wondered if he was doing the right thing, but
then pushed down the thoughts and implications right away. There
was no room for self-doubts. Weakness and worries were for other
times, he told himself. He was on his own.

Passing through the bushes
and the tall grass that outlined the lagoon, he found himself
wondering of his brother, Tane. He would have made the same
decision, Qenn thought. Tane would be here doing this himself, as
well. Qenn smiled. He admired his brother’s toughness.