SWNOVELS Chapter 3: Lanialis
The warrior slept not far from the road, next to the trees, wrapped in a cape. Beside him were neat shrubs, fiery bromrhodes, the orange-red leaves made the plants look like huge balls, about the height of the chest of a northerner. Although the shrubs were wild, many might think that someone had kept the flawless spherical shape of the plants constantly on purpose.
Edelmer woke up abruptly. A drop of sweat flowed from the middle of his forehead to an eyebrow and took refuge in it. In his dream, Arinella told him that she had deceived him, that there was no prophecy and the inhabitants of the town had disappeared through the direct involvement of the oldenmessers. But a dream is a dream, it’s time to eat and move on. The warrior was leisurely eating the remaining scone when suddenly an arqilunian young woman appeared in front of him, but it was not Arinella.
“My name is Lanialis GrenRattik, my friends call me Lanis,” the elf-woman introduced herself, bowing respectfully, she had dark blond hair at the roots, and sand-colored at the tips, bright, as if they were caressed by two morning stars. The girl’s blue eyes burned.-
“And my name is Edelmer Arnwaldskar, my friends call me Eder,” Edelmer decided to be friendlier after his last meeting with the arqilunian beautiful woman.
“I know Arinella sent me,” the girl said.
“Where is she?” The warrior asked sharply. He barely managed to hide the sparkle in his eyes when he heard the familiar name.
“She’s… busy,” Lanis dragged on with an explanation. “We need to try to perform the ritual again if you want the dwellers of your town to return.”
“I don’t understand,” Edelmer’s gaze flashed incredulously, he looked at the sword. Sharply grabbing the hilt, he instantly bared it.
“Maybe let’s look at your more fearsome weapon?” the elf-woman said, raising an eyebrow, and her eyes wiggled down.
“Something is wrong here,” the warrior insisted, playing with the hilt of his sword. “First, the whole town of snunorfs disappears. Then a beautiful girl appears and convinces me, telling me about the prophecy and how the kiss of the snunorf and the arqilunian will help me to return my people.”
“Yes, that’s right, I know that Arinella talked about the kiss of the northerner and the elf-woman, but she didn’t mention the hair–” Lanialis jumped over the fiery bush.
“Sorceresses! One has enchanted me, now you?! And why do you need my hair?” the warrior lunged with force, but Lanis was already behind him, a red bromrhod leaf slid along the blade of the sword and fell to the ground.
“You know nothing, Edelmer Arnwaldskar!” the arqilunian jumped beside him as if an earthly cat was playing with a sunbeam. The two shadows of the northerner vibrated slightly, stretched far, but did not lag far behind each other, for Silenta and Iglara were close in the morning.
A powerful swing with such force cut through the air that the Edelmer almost lost his balance.
“Leave him alone! Kras Vos Dracal!” Arinella, who suddenly appeared, released three magical orbs. Swiftly moving in a spiral, the spheres of energy instantly reached Lanis, hitting her in the chest, the elf flew several feet and fell next to the tree.
“You!” shouted Edelmer, two stars reflected in his eyes. “Your prophecy is complete nonsense! And for the sake of Tarragorad’s who is she?” he lowered his sword and headed toward Lanis’ body, “Is she dead?”
“No,” Arinella said calmly.“What did she say? Did she say you should try kissing her now?” the arqilunian was next to him.
“Yes, she did. And she said something about hair... I don’t think I want to ask questions, but I do! I trusted you, but what turns out that you girls just hunt for kisses or what? Everyone has disappeared except you, forest elves? And what does my hair have to do with it?”
“Hmm, not all at once,” the elf began to cast a spell, demonstratively moving her hands, “Lyal Rik Arun!” and small grains of luminous spray rushed to the warrior’s face. The charmed warrior smiled drunkenly.
Arinella slowly approached him and cut off several hairs at once with her small dagger.
Arqilunian felt constrained, squeezed, but drove away negative thoughts. The enchanted warrior had little control over his movements. The dancing thrills inside made her feel as if she was drowning, as if she was choking, without the ability to gasp for air. The intoxicated snunorf did not think much, but in his helplessness, he was so handsome that Arinella watched him for a while.
The enchanted Edelmer suddenly kissed her. And just as she wanted to run away, to disappear once again, hide with her conflicting feelings, she felt that the mighty hand of a warrior was holding her by the wrist.
“Not so fast, beautiful,” the spell was dispelled instantly, Edelmer’s gaze became clear and penetrating again. “Don’t you want to tell me what’s going on?”
“No,” Arinella said and quickly jumped and instantly disappeared into the forest. Edelmer tried to chase her, but no northerner would catch up with the arqilunians.
Suddenly the snunorf heard the stomping of the approaching karkhashes, he had no time to grab the sword, when spearheads appeared in front of his nose. Other riders nearby were examining Lanialis GrenRattik’s body. One of them dismounted, and lightly patted the elf-woman on the cheek, then he turned to the commander, “She is alive.”
Lanialis woke up. And the leader of the riders spoke, “I am Carlfrig Wulfrongson, konungtan of the royal army of His High Northern Majesty Snalm Chrisskarson the Fourteenth! In the name of Sirridwyn, what happened here?” asked a warrior in a helmet and full black armor. On his chest was the sign of the royal army, a circle with a sword in a block of ice at the bottom and two large stars at the top. The konungtans are the middle ranks of the officer ranks in the snunorf army.
The other riders forced Edelmer to approach the scene. The northerner didn’t run as far as it seemed to him when he was chasing the elf.
“Snunorf tried to kill me,” the girl said, breathing heavily.
“Lie! She has burns on her chest, obviously magical! No snunorf knows how to use magic!” Edelmer spoke convincingly.
Carlfrig glanced around, gazed at the elf-woman, then at Edelmer.
“Take them both! We’ll figure it out in Järvanhogen!” Carlfrig said.
Edelmer counted twelve warriors. Six of them dismounted and walked in the direction of the arqilunian woman, and two who accompanied him approached him. Edelmer decided not to resist. They tied the hands of the warrior and, throwing the rope over the karkhash, tied him so that he dragged along after the animal. The elf-woman was wrapped completely as if she was mummified. In the north, foreigners who wield magic were treated with hostility.
As they approached Järvanhogen, Edelmer saw that the city gates had been torn down, and the city itself looked like charred ruins. The wooden houses were completely burned down, some buildings made of stone were partially burned out. The towering castle in the depths of the city, it seemed, would not be touched either by fire or by time, massive stone round towers stood next to cone-shaped ones, a huge wall and triple gates were directly at the entrance to the castle... Järvanhogen may not have been a fortified city, but its castle is still nobody took. But this time the gates were open.
“Not a single corpse, not a single sound,” Edelmer thought to himself. “What happened here?”
“Take the prisoners to the dungeon!” Carlfrig said, “We’ll deal with them later! Let’s spread out, maybe we’ll find someone and find out what happened.” The konungtan added as if he could read Edelmer’s thoughts.
One of the junior officers began handing out tasks to the soldiers. Two of them lowered the fully tied Lanis from the karkhash and unwound the ropes so that only her hands were not free, the other two soldiers led Edelmer.
Snunorf and the elf were taken to the castle dungeon and locked up in prison. The warrior’s hands were freed before he was being locked behind bars, after all, he was one of them, one of the northerners...
“Well, did you like being in the arms of a bitch?” Lanis snapped.
“I didn’t hug her... And why are you insulting her?!” Edelmer got angry.
“Can’t I insult the arqilunian who almost killed me?!”
“You said yourself that she has sent you,” the warrior said in surprise.
“I lied!” She started to move her bound hands and said, “Lyal Rik Arun! Untie my hands!”
The amazing arqilunians knew how to conjure with their hands tied, but they didn’t create a spell for freeing from the ropes.
The warrior obeyed. Enchanted by the spell, he strictly did everything the elf-woman wanted.
“Now pluck out a few of your hairs,” Lanis ordered.
Edelmer obeyed, and then she forced him to sit on the bench. He leaned against the cold stone wall and suddenly felt his consciousness return. Still, when the elf’s hands were tied, she could not put much power into her spell.
The warrior twisted her arms behind her back with lightning speed. Lanis breathed heavily with each exhalation her ears, neat and not as large as those of other forest elves, glowed orange. And suddenly she kissed him.
“What’s wrong with you, with all the arqilunians?” Edelmer wondered with his sober voice.
“I think I love you, Edelmer.”
The snunorf looked at her, let her go and burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Lanis asked.
“I must be mad, or I must be dreaming. I dream that my friends are gone, the majestic Järvanhogen in ruins, absolute chaos, I dream of beautiful elves, they talk about prophetic kisses, and then about love… Confusion! And only is the constant it is pulling off my hair,” Edelmer involuntarily smiled, and again burst out with a low, booming laugh.
“You don’t know what’s going on! And you never will unless we get out of here.”
The warrior pondered.
“Why Arinella did not enchant me the first time but enchant me today?”
“We have a limited time. Long story... And we need a hair to create–”
“What?” Edelmer could not resist and interrupted.
“To create the elixir of Mindartis, the elixir of the ‘fallen star’. When the oldenmesser drinks that elixir, it will cause a surge of Malleresel’s energy. The energy will be felt by the sleeping child of our goddess Sirridwyn. And the dragon will be awakened! The last dragon that Ermir saw.”
“The Dragon? Well, well, you, forest elves, a dragon worshipers, it turns out, you want to turn Ermir into charred ruins?”
“No! The dragon is intelligent. Our goals are purely explorative. There is a legend that the ancestors of the oldenmessers lived outside the Belt of Twilight, that chain of mountains, you know, in the south, which, because of the movement of our stars and also because of the rotation of the planet along a certain axis, is constantly in the shadow zone. No one could ever cross the Belt of Twilight. Not a single traveller has ever returned from the other side. Not a single argiphone has returned! Even the ferrassaps are flying fairies, which are become a rare species, and other flying creatures, such as the yadonagrishes and jartraxies, are unable to overcome the equatorial mountains. The dragon will help, I hope.”
“And you think that the dragon will obey you?” Edelmer grinned.
“We have ideas about that.” Lanialis frowned with a smile.
“Okay, but how many hairs do I need to pull out to finally create your damn elixir?” Edelmer again could not restrain himself and laughed loudly.
Lanis looked at him with arrogance, and then turned her gaze to the dungeon corridor.
“We need to get out of here!” the arqilunian said.
“And what would you suggest?” the warrior looked around the prison room. “Do you have magic to open the lock or get through the bars?”
“No,” Lanis answered.
Stone walls, solid metal bars, no windows, what else to expect from a castle dungeon?
“Try to push the bars apart with all your strength, maybe I will squeeze through.”
The warrior went up to the grate, grabbed the bars with his hands, and with all his might began to push them apart. Nothing worked. Then he decided to kick the bars with his foot and to throw his body against them at a run. However, it was impossible to run in the narrow and tiny room. Finally, one of the soldiers heard the prisoners and walked towards them. When he came closer, he saw that the arqilunians hands were untied, and he was about to run back but didn’t have time. An instantly cast spell with the harmonious movement of Lanis’ hands subdued the will of the snunorf soldier.
A soldier has opened the door and Edelmer took his sword.
“Do you want to take off his chainmail, or his helmet at least?” Lanis asked.
“No, thanks! If we don’t find the karkhashes then the chainmail will slow me down.”
“I see. And we have a long way to go.”
“What makes you think I’m going with you? Will you constantly enchant me? Or what?”
“No,” the elf-woman replied.
They walked carefully along the damp walls of the dungeon. The girl went first.
“When we get out of here, I’ll tell you why you should come with me. I promise not to use magic.” Lanis said.
They walked out of the castle, Edelmer pointed in the direction of creatures with manes, tails and saddles.
“We don’t need them,” Lanis said. “We will fly to my town, to my husband.”
“Fly…to your husband?!” the snunorf opened his mouth in surprise.
Finding no obstacles, they moved towards the main gate. At that moment Lanialis whistled loudly, so loudly that Edelmer’s ears rang. The northerners who had brought them to the prison began to crawl out from different parts of the castle.
Suddenly, a giant bird appeared in the sky. Argiphones are huge creatures, reaching up to ninety feet in wingspan. With their tenacious claws, they could uproot very strong trees. A neat beak and kind eyes... When the bird landed, Lanialis ran, shouting to the Edelmer, “Faster.”
The northerner ran after her, and, out of breath, shouted, “And you wanted me to put on a chainmail.”
The sounds of the bird, its landing drowned out the sounds of the whistling arrows that the soldiers of the royal army were firing. Finally, Eder and Lanis climbed onto the bird, and it took off.
The wind beat in their eyes, and they both closed them.
Even the warm and mighty warrior’s hands were tired and numb from the long flight. When they landed, the warrior knew they had not flown beyond the borders of the vast northern country. Small settlements of the arqilunians, isolated and sheltered by trees, could be found throughout Norvinoria, especially in the south and southwest of the country.
Shullebaches surrounded the town. Lake Peflay Ulu was huge, but if you look around, the horizon did not go far away, merging with the sky, because trees grew along the coast, along the entire length of the lake. The town of Luanfalash could hardly be called a town. The settlement was more like a village with a variety of houses, both on the ground and in the trees. Particularly talented arqilunians built themselves raft-houses, which were located on the water, near the land and tried to drift, tied to the trees.
Edelmer felt uncomfortable. A huge number of elves are concentrated in a small area, and almost all of them wield a variety of spells. Wrong word, unreasonable action, and you can say goodbye to your life.
Lanis led the way along the narrow path, and the northerner trailed behind her. The young elves on a huge training ground, under the influence of a dome of protection, practiced the magic of summoning elementals. Eder grimaced as he saw how a fire elemental tries to incinerate a soil elemental.
They approached the house, from which a long elf came out to meet them, with thin, straight dark blond hair with whitened tips. His green eyes sparkled.
Lanialis’s eyes lit up, she ran over to her husband and gave him a friendly kiss.
“Welcome, Edelmer Arnwaldskar, ” the elf said with a feigned smile. “My name is Vartelar GrenRattik,” he bowed.
Edelmer, putting his hand on his chest, replied with a welcoming bow. It was uncomfortable for him to be in the company of a beautiful elf-woman and her husband. Only recently her tender lips touched his lips, and now he finds out that she is married and she kisses this... this... elf! Edelmer’s thoughts were interrupted by the elf.
“I know you have questions, warrior,” Vartelar hardly moved as he spoke the words, “but today is the day of pacification, may the spirits of the ancestors give you strength. Kvar Dros Frahal!” And the warrior was lifted by the translucent spirits and carried to the house of the GrenRattik family.
The translucent spirits laid Edelmer gently on the bed, and the northern warrior fell asleep.