Diamond Elf - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Randy stared at his scouts. “You’re sure?”

“Yes Colonel, the enemy army is retreating, and we think they must have suffered a massive illness judging by the amount of bodies they burned.”

“Care to guess how many bodies they burned?” Randy asked.

“No, but it could very well have been half their army.”

“You’re not trying to play a practical joke on me, are you?” Randy wondered.

“No sir!”

Randy wondered what to do with this information. He could keep the bulk of the Armintan army here occupying an enemy field, or he could pull back to their main camp. The whole point of setting up a field camp here was to prevent the enemy army from getting close enough to the border to attack the main camp, but if the enemy was retreating, there was no longer any point to staying here.

On the other hand, what if this was some ploy by the enemy to trick them into pulling back? The main camp was built to be a bit more permanent and defendable than this field camp was. Not to mention there were a couple dozen small units of soldiers laying in wait to ambush and harass the enemy. Recalling all the soldiers meant that they would be at full strength if the enemy did attack. No matter how Randy looked at it, returning to their main camp seemed to be the best idea.

He sincerely wished Chelindra would return soon. He knew that going after her would not be a good idea because he would have no idea where to look for her, but if she didn’t hurry back, Gabriel might die from the abuse he had suffered.

He issued orders to pack up camp, and resisted the strong urge to try to rescue Gabriel on his own. At this point, if he had lived, he was definitely being held in the Imperial City. Randy doubted he could mount an effective rescue operation in such a well-guarded place as the Imperial City and Palace.

It took them three days to march back to their main camp, and Randy half expected Chelindra to be waiting for him. His hope was crushed the moment he entered camp and was asked, “Is the General back yet?”

“No, she’s still out scouting I’m sure,” Randy replied. He had a hard time believing that Chelindra would still be pursuing him. She could have easily reached the Imperial City by now, and would surely have heard gossip about how he had escaped. He could only assume that she was taking her time in returning in an effort to gather more information about the enemy’s plans and movements.

A couple hours after he had sat down to do some paperwork, a messenger arrived for him. He tipped the woman, sent her on her way, and opened the message.

“Dear Randy, by the time this reaches you, I am certain that you will have returned from being captured. I was inside the city you escaped from the morning you escaped, and tracked you to the river. I am certain you used the river to return to our main camp, and presumably you are either still there, or this message has been forwarded to the field camp where you would have taken command.”

Randy paused to swear aloud, “She was there! Gods damn it!!! If I had only known that, we could have rescued Gabriel!” He had a strong urge to tear the message into pieces, but forced himself to remain calm and read the rest. His guilt over leaving the man behind was probably going to haunt him for the rest of his life.

“On my way back to the field camp, I discovered that the enemy 2^nd wave was in a holding position awaiting information from the first wave. I decided to spy on them, and realized that I had the perfect opportunity to cripple them. According to the conversation I overheard the next morning, the enemy is also on the verge of running out of men to fight.

“I felt this news was far too important to inform the King in a message, and so I am now headed back to KingsSoul Palace. I plan to linger a few days, and will then return to our main camp. Sincerely, Chelindra.”

Randy could not believe it! Rotten luck had caused Chelindra to miss an opportunity to rescue her lover only to turn into a good opportunity to damage the enemy troops, and topped off by her traveling days away! By the time he finally got to tell her his news, there was going to be almost no hope of rescuing Gabriel.

If Randy didn’t strongly believe that men do not cry ever, he would have broken down and cried right then and there. If given an opportunity to trade places with the man – whom he still did not like but completely respected now – he would take it in a heartbeat.

*******

Chelindra lingered in her bath. It was the third one she had taken upon returning to the palace. She hadn’t wanted to waste time bathing when she didn’t have a change of clothes anyway. She had terrified everyone she came across on her way to the palace, since she was covered from head to toe in dried blood, and in the light of day, her once black uniform was definitely a dark red.

It scratched and chaffed as she rode, and she smelled horrible, and once she’d managed to convince the palace staff that she really was her, she had ordered one bath to scrub in, one bath to rinse in, and finally one bath to soak and relax in. She left orders for her bloodied uniform to be burned.

There came a pounding at the door to her chambers. “Open up for the King!”

Chelindra sighed, they weren’t locked, and she doubted that she would have time to wrap a towel around her body before the door opened to admit King Collin. He had almost never come to her, so he must be over-reacting to the news of her blood-covered arrival.

Sure enough, the door opened two seconds after the demand, and she heard the King looking around for her. He commanded almost absently, “You may wait outside.”

“I think she’s probably in her bedroom,” Queen Haylee suggested.

The Queen too?

“What if she is unsuitable for company?” Princess Amara asked.

And the princess? Chelindra sighed. She had added quite a few flowers to her last bath in order to emerge smelling wonderful, so she was not embarrassed to remain where she was.

“Yes, I am in here. You may all come in if you wish.”

“Chelindra, are you hurt?” King Collin asked as he entered her room. “Oh! I’m sorry to interrupt!”

Queen Haylee laughed. “It seems she isn’t suitable for company.”

        “And yet she invited us in,” Princess Amara pointed out.

“It’s not like you can see anything,” Chelindra shrugged. She knew that the majority of the palace residents bathed in a series of communal baths, the royal family included, but she had never stepped foot in them, and everyone knew it. It touched her that the King cared about her sense of modesty.

“And no, I am not hurt,” she added.

The King nodded, and sat in a chair facing away from the tub. His wife and daughter took a seat on Chelindra’s bed, and faced her as they talked.

“Then what is this I hear about you arriving looking like the Goddess of Death come to claim your victims?” King Collin asked.

Chelindra sighed. “I am no longer fit to command your army, sire… I murdered approximately 4000 enemy soldiers in one night. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I think that I made a desperate rationalization based of the sheer hopelessness of the situation.”

“I may need a bit more detail to understand what you are talking about,” King Collin replied.

Chelindra explained what happened, and allowed the royal family to digest her report of events.

“I still do not understand,” Princess Amara stated. “Those were all men who would hopefully have died rather than our men during the battle that was planned to take place. By your hand we have saved numerous Armintan Soldiers and possibly won the war.”

“At the very least you have won a reprieve from battle for the time being,” Queen Haylee amended.

“How does this make you unfit to lead the army?” Princess Amara finished.

King Collin sighed. “It’s always the person in charge who must make the horrible decisions, and I agree that you made the right one… for the Armintan army. I wish I could say that the Gods will see it the same way, but I honestly don’t know what they might think. Perhaps you should seek out a Priest or Priestess of the Gods and obtain their wisdom and perspective.”

Chelindra nodded. She was feeling so tired all of a sudden, and remembered that she hadn’t slept much in days. She also felt that her King should punish her, even a little. Maybe I can provoke him, her tired mind thought.

“There’s one more thing, sire,” Chelindra said.

“What’s that?” King Collin wondered.

“I’m an elf.”

“A what, dear?” Queen Haylee asked after a moment’s confusion.

“An elf. Well, I’m only half elf; my mother was a human,” Chelindra explained. She waited for King Collin to express disgust, and even outrage at her decade and a half long deception.

“Oh…” King Collin mused. “So that explains it. The entire court loves to speculate on why you haven’t aged. The most popular theory is that you are a Goddess incarnate, and that is also why you cannot be hurt.”

“I didn’t think that you believed those rumors, sire.” Chelindra was a bit confused. Why wasn’t he stripping her of her rank?

“I do not remember the Elven myths mentioning the inability to be killed though.”

“I see, you do not believe me,” Chelindra stated.

“You must admit,” Queen Haylee reasoned, “there’s never been any definitive proof that elves exist. All of the tales featuring elves stopped centuries ago.”

“That’s because the Elven Realm has always existed separately from the human realm, and once it was certain that war was imminent, the border to the Elven Realm was closed. No elf has been allowed to leave it since.”

“Except you,” King Collin pointed out, mildly amused.

Chelindra realized that the royal family still did not quite believe her, so she decided to remain patient. “Yes… Once the Realm has been sealed, no one may pass but a member of the royal family, who have the ability to create a magical doorway between the realms.”

“Are you saying that before that, both elves and humans could enter and exit the Elven Realm at will?” Princess Amara asked. The Elven myths were one of her favorite subjects.

“Yes… more or less. A human trying to enter the Realm must prove that he or she means no harm,” Chelindra answered.

“There! You’ve just disproved your story,” King Collin smiled, not that Chelindra could see it, but she could hear it in his voice. “According to you the Elven Realm was sealed a few centuries ago, and no humans have been allowed in since, nor any elves out. How then did your mother, who you said was a human, manage to procreate with your father?”

“Well, she married my father before the Realm was closed,” Chelindra explained in a tone that implied it should be obvious.

“But that would make you centuries old!” Queen Haylee laughed.

“314 if you must know,” Chelindra stated.

Princess Amara bounced in excitement. “Is it true that marrying an elf and living in the Elven Realm will grant a human a longer life free from disease?”

“I’m not sure. The last human I know of to marry an elf was my mother, and she died birthing me.” Chelindra hadn’t thought to ask any of the elders that.

“I’m sorry,” Amara immediately sympathized. Her own mother had died when she was still young so she knew what it was like to grow up without a mother.

“Don’t be, I had my sister Chandra. She was 598 when I was born, and she took care of me like a mother would. Well, as much as our father would let her,” Chelindra paused a moment to honor Chandra’s memory. She repositioned her hair so that it would hang over the side of the tub, and inadvertently uncovered her ears as she did so. Her hair shimmered for a moment since she had to consciously soften her hair to get it to move.

Queen Haylee gasped, “Your hair!”

Princess Amara dropped to her knees next to the tub. “May I touch your ear?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Amara traced the ear from its pointed tip down. “Beautiful…”

Chelindra smiled. Just as King Collin considered her a daughter, she considered Amara a little sister. She gathered a few strands of hair, and pulled them out. Using her magic, she softened them, braided them, and then let the braid harden into a bracelet.

“Here,” Chelindra gave the bracelet to Amara.

Queen Haylee got closer as well, and carefully stroked Chelindra’s hair. “Ever since I first laid eyes on you, I have wondered how you have managed to make your hair look… so unique.”

Chelindra laughed, and even King Collin, who had turned around to see what was going on, had to admit that Chelindra might not be joking after all. They all asked her to tell them more about her past, and she felt so relieved to finally have this secret revealed.

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