Hamertia: The Elven Folly

“What exactly did you mean when you told Athtar that you would make sure none of us would have to serve him again?” Folwin asked.

Still trying to figure out what they wanted to do for the day, the two boys sat together in Folwin’s room waiting for something to come to mind. Folwin lounged on his bed while Elluin lay on the floor on his back, his legs positioned upward along the wall. The room looked similar to Elluin’s, but with a bit more artwork lining the walls.

“Exactly what I said, Folwin,” he replied. “I said that I’m going to see to it that none of us will be under his power anymore and I meant it. What is there not to understand?”

“What are you gonna do, El? And don’t say that you’re gonna go in there and push him out the window, because we both know you would never actually be able to go through with it.”

“And why not?” Elluin asked.

“Because the old bastard is too fat.”

“Well you got me there,” he replied, finally cracking a smile. “But seriously, do you really think we should be content with having to serve someone who does nothing for us? I’m pretty sure that thing isn’t even an elf.”

“El, you know I don’t think it’s right,” Folwin said, trying to sound as sympathetic as he could. “But what happens if we do decide to do something? Is everyone just going to start getting rid of anyone they don’t like? You need to think of the repercussions of this and where we go afterwards.”

“I’ll tell you where we go, Folwin,” Elluin replied, now completely having regained his composure. “Freedom. We’ll have total freedom. Everyone will live together in peace just as they do now. The only difference is we won’t be taking turns serving some old…troll.”

“Well what are you going to do, El? I’ll help you, but you have to have some sort of plan. And nothing can go wrong.”

“You mean it, Folwin?” Elluin asked, his demeanor changing to one of excitement, a huge smile spreading across his face. “You’re really gonna do this with me?”

“I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for revolution,” Folwin replied. “Like the centaur revolution Leofrick told me about once. But we have to do it right. We need to make sure everything stays peaceful afterwards, or we’ll be worse off than before we started.”

Elluin sighed. “What do you think is gonna happen, Folwin? I promise, all the elves will be happy and everything will be fine. We’ll create a perfect world, buddy…a utopia.”

“Well I promise I’ll stand by you with this, El,” Folwin said. “So, what exactly is your plan.”

Elluin moved from his position on the floor and jumped to his feet. “Let’s go talk to Leofrick. He spends all day reading those books of his, I’m sure he’ll be able to help us work out the details.”

Folwin nodded and hopped off his bed. “Alright, let’s go.”

On any other day, Leofrick would be in his library reading one of his many books. Today was quite different, however, as he had just spent the entire night dancing in order to ward off dream demons while he slept. So instead of sitting against a wall with his face in a book, he was lying on the ground in a deep sleep. His much-needed rest was interrupted, however, when four intruders simultaneously barged into his space.

“What the…what’s going on?” he yelled, quickly coming to his senses once he saw the severity of the situation.

Rydel pulled Athtar’s unconscious body through the door, with Elluin and Folwin following closely behind. Planning for their revolution would have to be put on hold as there was clearly a more serious situation to be dealt with first.

Leofrick shook his head and repeated his question. “What happened?”

“Athtar and I were just walking together when all of a sudden…this happened,” Rydel replied in a shaky voice. “I have no idea what’s wrong with him.”

“Then how do you expect me to know?” Leofrick asked, rubbing his eyes.

“I figured if anyone would, it’d be you,” Rydel said, now on the verge of tears. “Please…can you just take a look at him?”

Leofrick sighed and moved in for a closer inspection. “Well, he’s unconscious. That’s about all I can tell. What were you two doing before this happened?”

“We were just visiting the gnomes and…”

“Oh, those things?” Leofrick scoffed. “I understand they grow our food and they’re interesting enough to learn about, but I never understood why elves would want to mingle with them.”

“Leofrick…please,” Rydel managed to say, a tear rolling down his face. “I’m really worried about him. Can you please do something?”

Leofrick sighed once again. “I’m sorry Rydel, I’m just tired is all. Other than the whole unconscious thing, there doesn’t seem to be anything else wrong with him. He’s always bouncing off the walls, he probably just wore himself out.”

Rydel shook his head. “Yeah, but nobody just drops down like that. It must be something else…”

“Well what did you guys do when you visited the gnomes?” he asked.

“We just looked at the new flowers they were growing,” Rydel replied. “And Athtar of course had to eat one, but the gnomes said they were edible.”

“Pfff, edible for gnomes maybe…” Leofrick said sarcastically before catching himself. “What did this flower look like?”

Rydel quickly dug his hand in his pocket and pulled out the flower that Athtar had given him only moments ago. He handed it to Leofrick, who took one look at it before walking over to a bookshelf, identifying the proper text, and pulling it from the shelf in a way only a master librarian could. He flipped open the book and nodded his head.

“Alright…well there’s good news and bad news,” Leofrick finally said in an indifferent tone. “The flower is indeed what caused his unconsciousness, but it has no other ill effects. He’ll simply remain in this state until the anecdote is administered.”

“What’s the anecdote?” Rydel asked hastily, some hopefulness now apparent in his eyes.

“Hemlock,” Leofrick replied bluntly.

“Hemlock?” Rydel repeated. “What’s that? And where do we get it?”

Leofrick shrugged. “I have no idea. That’s not a plant native to our forest and I don’t deal with that sort of thing. You’re going to have to ask Nealey, he’s the one who knows about all that weird outside world stuff.”

Rydel knelt down beside Athtar and gently brushed his face with his hand before getting back to his feet.

“Will you guys go with me?” he asked, turning to face Elluin and Folwin. “Nealey kind of creeps me out. And I don’t really want to be alone right now anyway.”

Elluin and Folwin exchanged a loo. “Our plans can wait till later, El,” Folwin said softly. “We have to help him.”

“Of course,” Elluin nodded before moving his gaze toward Rydel. “Come on, let’s go talk to that little weirdo.”

Nealey was doing what he did every day; sitting on a rock in the middle of the stream that ran through the southern forest. He had messy brown hair that hung down to his shoulders and wore only a dark gray loincloth around his waist. Naturally, he didn’t receive many visitors. Instead, he would spend his days sitting on a rock, tossing small stones into the stream and talking to himself. Preoccupied with these activities, he paid no mind to the trio of elves approaching him.

“Nealey!” Folwin called, tossing a stone in front of the boy’s feet.

“What do you fine fellas need?” he replied in a drawn out, high-pitched tone. His voice alone was enough to deter most elves from coming near him. “How can Nealey be of assistance?”

“We need to know where to find hemlock,” Elluin responded. “Do you know anything about that?”

“Hmmm Nealey has heard of hemlock! Indeed, he has!” the eccentric elf replied, finally orienting his gaze in the direction of his visitors. “But what would anyone want with such a nasty plant? No! Elves have no use for such a thing!”

“Can you please just tell us?” Rydel insisted, stepping forward from behind the others. “It’s important.”

Nealey was silent for a moment. “Well…if it’s important you say; then important it must be. Nealey knows where to find hemlock, oh yes! But it is a place Nealey will never go, so if you think of even suggesting…”

“Just tell us where it is, Nealey,” Folwin interjected as calmly as he could. “We’ll go get it, you don’t have to do anything.”

Nealey sighed. “Nealey was kind of hoping you would insist he would go…Nealey doesn’t get much company, you see, so he doesn’t get much chance to argue. Nealey would never agree to go of course, but still he would like the chance to argue about it.”

“Fine,” Elluin said. “Nealey, would you come with us to get hemlock?”

“Absolutely not!” he shouted before a huge smile spread across his face. “There…now that that’s settled, Nealey can tell you where you can find hemlock…”

“Well?” Elluin asked after a long pause.

“Well what?” Nealey responded in a soft, almost sarcastic tone.

“Where can we find hemlock?”

“All things worth knowing take time to be known,” he replied. “Why do you think Nealey sits here every day tossing stones in a river?”

“Because you’re crazy,” Folwin whispered.

“Because he learns all that he knows by doing it,” Nealey said, ignoring Folwin’s remark. “Nealey has spent his life sitting and waiting, so he thinks you could at least wait a little while yourselves.”

“Nealey, please,” Rydel begged. “We need it to save our friend. Can you please just tell us so we can go get it?”

“This friend of yours must have eaten an athtar flower,” Nealey laughed. “Nealey finds that hilarious!”

“Wait, how did you know his name?” Rydel asked, too confused to be offended by the elf’s laughter.

“Whose name?”

“Athtar’s!”

“The flower!”

“No, my friend.”

“Wait…your friend’s name is Athtar? And he ate an athtar flower?” Nealey paused for a moment before bursting into another fit of laughter. “You’ve made Nealey’s day! Athtar ate an athtar and now needs hemlock!”

Nealey continued his laughing fit while Rydel’s eyes welled with tears.

Once he regained his composure, Nealey continued. “Your friend will be fine! The flower will not kill him, he’ll only remain asleep until the hemlock is administered.”

“I’m really worried about him,” Rydel replied, trying his best to maintain a calm demeanor. “Please just tell us where to find it so we can be on our way.”

“Nealey will tell you first thing when the sun comes up tomorrow. Until then, put your friend in his bed and let him be. He’ll be fine. Of this, Nealey can assure you.”