Hall of the Elf Lord

"I am Sir Vesian de Surrac, knight-errant of the Order of the Griffon. I have come for the Lady Isabelle whom you have abducted by magic."

"So you have," the elf lord mused. His eyes danced along Vesian's form and his mouth twisted with mirth. "Well, here I am. I am called Saimdol, Lord of the Twilight Realm and Master of all that lies between Night and Day."

"Saimdol," Vesian began. He willed his hand to the hilt of his sword, but it would not move. He strained against the spell that bound his mind and body, to no avail. With a deep breath, he pressed on. "I challenge you," he proclaimed, and the music that pervaded the hall dimmed for a brief moment. "I challenge you for the lady's freedom."

Saimdol's mouth crooked upward. "Freedom?" he replied with a mocking smile. "I have put no chains upon her, nor do I threaten her with spears. She is free to leave when she wishes. Or perhaps instead she will join the orgy. There are many here who would gladly see that."

Saimdol gestured past Vesian, who turned to see three naked elf men sprawled out on couches as they watched Isabelle dance. They stroked their erect cocks, smiling like cats watching a bird peck at the ground, and Vesian swallowed. He could not deny how much he wanted to see Lady Isabelle fucking, on all fours and used by strong, powerful men, and even to be one of those men, but he also knew it to be a cruel trick of the elf lord. He looked to the Lady Isabelle. She continued to dance in entrancing circles, but he could see in her jade eyes a plea for aid. She was no willing dancer in the elf lord's court.

"You lie," Vesian declared. The herald above him bristled, but Saimdol merely smiled again. "She is not here of her own mind and I will fight you for her freedom."

"Fight me?" the elf lord laughed. "I fear that would be a quick affair. I am far more than your equal at swordsmanship."

"Try me," Vesian challenged. "You may be surprised."

"Perhaps. But I have a different idea. I propose three tasks. Finish them, and I will free the lady."

"What sort of tasks?" Vesian asked suspiciously.

"Simple tasks, of the sort a mortal such as yourself might find it easy to accomplish."

"Then why do you need me? You no doubt have many warriors in your hall that might serve you so."

"My reasons are my own. Still, the offer stands. If not, we shall have that duel. Servant, bring me my blade."

From the gloom below his arboreal throne appeared an elf in a sky-blue mantle, a sheathed blade laid across his arms. He climbed the twisting stair to his master's side with alacrity and upon reaching the precipice, he knelt and presented the sword to his master. Saimdol stood from his throne, set aside his orb and staff, and took the sword. He drew it forth and in the twilight it glowed with a pale, eerie green light. Vesian felt his heart flutter at the sight.

"Shall we duel?" Saimdol asked. Vesian gritted his teeth.

"Tell me more of these tasks."

Saimdol smiled. "I thought so. Lady Valurra," he called, and a woman stepped forward from the roots below the throne. Vesian felt his breath catch at the sight of her, for her beauty was stunning. She was an elf, with the long, pointed ears of her kindred that gracefully stood up to either side of her head. Long brown hair past her waist in rich waves, swaying in a breeze that Vesian could not feel. She smiled at him, her blue eyes burning in the twilight of the hall, and her pale, delicate hands went to the golden girdle that bound her green gown about a narrow waist. There she drew from a pouch a ring. It was impossibly delicate and made of silversteel, studded with gems that sparkled as she held it up.

"My lordship," she said in a voice of silver bells, "Demands that you bring him this ring's mate, a twin in all respects."

Vesian shrugged. "I have no knowledge of such a ring."

The lady smiled again. "I do. I will show you where to find it, but it must be you who retrieves it."

"Lady Valurra will set you the three tasks," Saimdol said from his throne, his sword now sheathed and laid over his shoulder. "When you have finished, return to me and I will deliver the Lady Isabelle into your arms."

"See that you do," Vesian glowered. "And see that she is unharmed and unspoiled during her stay."

Saimdol made a mocking pout. "But she is so beautiful," he lamented, and Vesian saw the naked elves watching her frown as well. "And so alluring in her naked glory... Make haste at your tasks, for we will only restrain ourselves for so long."

Vesian decided that was all the assurance he would get from the elves and turned to Thibault behind. The squire was staring about in awe, from Isabelle to the Lady Valurra, then to the expanse of naked bodies mounting and thrusting about the cavern. Elf and mortal alike fucked in the cool air of the elf lord's hall, and Vesian wondered where all the mortals had come from? Had they all been lured here as Isabelle had? Could he free them all?

"Must we go right away?" Thibault murmured, one hand rubbing his cock through his trousers. "I would like to experience the orgy first, and this should only take a little while."

"You heard the lord," Vesian hissed. "We must complete three tasks, and quickly, else he'll set his men to despoiling the damsel."

"I've never fucked an elf before," Thibault complained, "And we've not been to an orgy since last midwinter at the countess' manor..."

"A lady requires our assistance," Vesian reminded him with a shove, and Thibault had the decency to look guilty.

"Leave your servant," Lady Valurra instructed, striding up beside him. "These tasks are given to you and you alone."

Thibault brightened up. "Well, you go on ahead and you'll know where to find me." He immediately began removing his surcoat.

"You're awfully eager for someone who not too long ago was refusing to come into the forest."

But his squire ignored him to strip naked and head off in search of an elf woman with his cock in his hand. Vesian sighed to himself, only to be prodded by the elf woman at his own side.

"Follow me," she commanded. "Your first task awaits."

---

Vesian stood at the edge of a silvery pool not far from the lord's hall. With Valurra by his side, he looked down into the glassy depths and saw little but their own reflections. The pool was perhaps a mere ten paces wide, with no tributaries or outlets, standing almost perfectly still beneath the emerald boughs far above. Yet he could not escape the feeling that something sinister lurked below the surface.

"The Mirrorpool," Valurra proclaimed. "It is a watery fragment of a world long lost. Lost to us, for we are no longer welcome there. But mortals like you are strangers there, and you will not experience the perils that bar us from it."

"Perils?" Vesian asked cautiously. "What is down there?" Valurra looked at him with a wry smile.

"The ring," she replied. Vesian sighed.

"What else is down there?"

"That is hard to say," the elf answered with a shrug of her slim shoulders. The forest breeze stirred her hair and a strand blew across her face. Vesian was momentarily struck dumb by her beauty. Valurra seemed not to notice, instead turning her eyes to the pool. "None among the elder kindred have been down there in an age."

Vesian mastered himself and followed her gaze to the pool. Now and then a slight breeze stirred the surface of the pond, and in the ripples that broke the watery mirror he thought he spied a pair of eyes looking back at him. His hands dropped to his waist, where he wore a sword at one his and a thrusting dagger at the other. The breeze stilled, and the ripples faded, but Vesian's unease did not diminish.

"Well?" asked Valurra. Vesian turned to face her again. This time, her beautiful face was marred by a smile that mocked him with the arrogance so typical of elves. He felt himself frown.

"I would know more about what this is before I dive down there and into the clutches of some beast that lurks in the dark depths."

"What more is there to know? I have told you the ring waits for you. Standing around up here isn't going to bring it up. You must dive down there and find it."

"How am I going to find a little ring in a deep pool?" Vesian demanded with increasing exasperation. Valurra raised an amused eyebrow and tilted her head to one side in thought. A lock of dark brown hair fell across her face again and she brushed it lazily away.

"I tend to forget that humans cannot see so well in the dark. Very well, I will put a spell of light on you so that you might find it. The ring should glow with its own light, but after so long in the dark, it may be quite dim."

"A spell of light," Vesian grumbled. "That should attract every flesh-eating thing that dwells below."

"If you rather go in the dark then I shall keep my spell. But it will make little difference for it is a small pool and whatever dwells there will likely known of your passing whether you are lit up or dark."

That did not make Vesian feel any better and he now wished that Thibault was here with him. He envied the squire even more than he expected to, with himself stumbling around a hostile, enchanted forest on various fool's errands while his squire was sucked and fucked by beautiful elves in a grand hall.

But he sighed and pulled his surcoat over his head. There was little point to waiting around.

"Very well, give me your light. At least I'll be able to see what is trying to eat me."

"And at last you make sense," Valurra teased. She raised a hand and called out in an ancient tongue. Vesian felt the hairs on his skin stand on end as sorcerous power coursed through the elf. A tiny mote of light appeared in the air before him, growing in size to that of an apple over a few mere heartbeats. It floated lazily at the tip of the elf's finger until she touched his forehead and the glowing orb separated to circle slowly about his head. "There," she proclaimed. "Are you at last ready to complete the first task?"

Vesian sighed again. He looked into the pool, the light globe circling his head like the evening star. "As you wish," he said, took a deep breath, and then he stepped over the rim over the pool and plunged below. The water was cold, colder than he had expected. It swallowed him up in its chilly depths and he felt himself pulled down. He had swum in his mail before, but this time he felt different. The water's grip was stronger and more insistent. He kicked and groped about for a hand or foothold on the rocky rim. His mailed foot struck off a jagged rock and he grunted in pain, bubbles cascading up from his mouth, but he caught onto another rock just afterwards to slow his descent and now felt secure enough to look around.

He was perhaps two fathoms below the surface, the water already uncomfortably tight around him, but he could see in the pale glow of Valurra's orb that the pool's bottom lay far below still. Below him, the light dimmed, and long shadows danced on the pool's rocky walls. He gritted his teeth and tried not to lose his breath, for he was in the realm of Tarnilaen the Dark God now.

Above him, the surface of the pool shone like a silver roof. He was not so far from it, but it looked so small to him, and the water around it so dark. Vesian felt his pulse quicken and turned away from it. He had to find the ring before he ran out of breath. He lowered his gaze to the darkness on the pool's floor. Long shadows and rays of light played across the floor in their turns, and he strained his eyes against the cold darkness for any sign of a ring.

At last, he spied a flickering mote of light and dove for it. The water tugged at him hard as he released his hold on the wall, and he sank quickly toward the floor. As he drifted past the rock walls, he spied narrow, circular holes in the rock that ran deep and dark. He did not want to think of what lurked inside, though Valurra's light globe threatened to show him.

But instead he turned his eye toward the spot on the pool's floor where he had seen the light he hoped was the ring. It was nearing quickly, though not quickly enough for his liking. Yet at last he set his feet down on the soft, chalky floor as the water crushed him in its grip. His ears were screaming in pain, as if daggers were being shoved into them, and he bent over to scrabble through the soft mud in desperation to be gone and on his way back up to the surface as fast as he could.

A long shadow flickered overhead. Vesian tried to put it from his mind and search for the ring. His mailed fingers raked furrows in the long undisturbed mud, scattering dried leaves and riling up a cloud of mud. The shadow above his head flickered again. Vesian would have inhaled deeply were he not already underwater. Slowly, he turned a dreadful gaze upward toward the source of the shadow.

Not far above him floating a great eel, its serpentine body flicking back and forth in the distorted light that came from above. A baleful yellow eye stared back at him, lidded beneath a glossy membrane that snapped open. The eel's mouth slowly opened to reveal needlelike fangs and jagged, rending teeth. They stared at each other a long moment, and slowly the eel turned its head toward him to lock both eyes on him. Two sickly golden orbs glared malice at him, and the eel's bulk began to cut through the cold water toward him.

As the light flickered, a flash from below caught at the corner of Vesian's vision. He tore his eyes from the approaching beast and looked down. There, half-buried in the mud, was a ring of silversteel and studded gems, was the ring. A perfect mate to the one Valurra had shown him above, he almost thought it might be the same ring, cast down here by the elf woman when his eyes were turned.

But it was unimportant. He snatched up the ring in a fistful of mud and turned himself back to the eel. The beast was fast approaching now, a stream of white bubbles flowing from its flanks as it streaked toward him. Vesian drew his sword, straining against the cold, crushing water as well as his own waning breath.

The monster flashed down at him and Vesian thrust his blade back up at it. The eel's maw opened wide, expecting to tear him to pieces, but the sword plunged down its throat instead, and Vesian felt the blade bite flesh. The beast's fangs still descended on him, its jagged teeth threatened to rip him open, but with a twist of his sword hand, Vesian turned the terrible mouth aside and the teeth cut uselessly at his mail.

Thrashing in its death throes, the eel's bulk buffeted at him, threatening to knock the breath from his body and leaving him drowning even in his moment of victory. But Vesian wasted little time in leaving the dead beast behind. He kicked himself upward, propelling himself toward the rocky wall of the pool where his hands might aid in his ascent.

His breath was fading fast. Fighting against the pull of the water sapped his strength and caused his lungs to burn, but also lessened the crushing grip of the water around him. But he feared it would not be enough. The silvery surface of the pool seemed so close and yet still so far away. Darkness began to creep in at the edge of his vision. He hauled himself from handhold to handhold, feeling the insistent fire in his lungs as his last breaths faded. The surface loomed just above him, so close!

But Vesian felt his hope fade. He could not reach it in time, and as he weakly reached a hand toward the lip of the pool, he felt himself sinking back into the realm of the Dark God. His eyelids became heavy and darkness overwhelmed him.

There was a flash of light, and a pulse of energy ran through Vesian. His eyes flew open again, and he felt a fresh breath fill his lungs. Wasting no time, he seized a rocky protrusion in his hand and hurled himself upward.

He broke the surface of the pool and gasped for air. Clear, cool, and scented with the smell of the forest, it filled his eager lungs. Water streamed from him, his clothes were soaked, and his lungs and arms still ached from exertion, but he flopped to the grass forest floor and pulled himself out of the water to lie panting under a forest canopy.

He choked down gulps of welcome, fresh air, his chest heaving and his arms outstretched. The sun had never felt so good on his face.

A shadow fell across his face, interrupting his relieved luxuriating in the sun. Lady Valurra looked down at him with mild interest.

"Do you have it?" she asked, holding out an expectant hand.

"I am alive, yes," Vesian replied sarcastically.

"So you are. The ring," she demanded. Vesian sighed and opened his hand. There, caked in mud, was the ring. Valurra wasted little time in picking it up. With a sneer of contempt, she shook off the mud, which splattered onto Vesian beneath her. She raised the recovered ring and its mate to her eyes for inspection. The elf looked from one to the other, then back again until at last she smiled with satisfaction. "I knew it," she breathed in amazement. "At long last."

"What are they?" Vesian asked from the ground.

"Keys to a lost world," Valurra murmured in wonderment, seemingly half-forgetting that Vesian was beside her. She marveled at the rings another moment, then snapped herself out of it.

"Come along," she said, stuffing the rings into her pocket. "Your next task awaits."

"Might I have at least a moment to rest? I nearly drowned down there, and a close brush with eternity in the Dark God's clutches has a way of wearing on a man."

"Indeed, but you are made of sterner stuff than that, I warrant. You want to save the maiden, don't you? You had better not be dawdling then. She looks so delicious and naked in that hall. Saimdol might decide to keep her as a plaything instead of letting her go back with you if you wait any longer."

Nothing more than amusement, Vesian reminded himself bitterly. He hauled himself to his feet, still dripping wet as he did. Valurra gave him an innocent smiled, to which he replied with a scowl. The elf laughed.

"Do not play so reluctant with me, Sir Vesian. You crave adventure. I have seen a hundred of your kind before. Brushes with death, the thrill of battle, and the touch of a woman are what drive you."

"Have you now?" Vesian asked with rising interest. He wondered how long the elf had lived, for rumor said that they were immortal and as old as the world itself.

"Indeed," Valurra replied, leading him away from the pool and into the forest. Vesian had to hurry to catch up to her, his wet clothes thick against him and his mailed boots squelching in the soft dirt of the forest floor. Valurra cast an amused look over her shoulder and smiled, but said no more.

"What is the next task?" Vesian asked after a lengthy silence convinced him she would not enlighten him.

"A band of satyrs dwells in a nearby hollow," Valurra said after a moment of thought. Vesian began to wonder who was truly setting these tasks? "Saimdol has grown tired of them, for they drink and sing loudly, get drunk and run through the trees, brawl, and molest his women. You are to drive them out. He merely said drive them out, but I say kill them. They are savage beasts and we are better off rid of them."

"Why does Saimdol not do this himself?" asked Vesian. "He surely has no shortage of warriors at his call."

"He does not," Valurra agreed. "But it matters little, this task is given to you and so you must do it."

Vesian frowned again. He was finding the forest to be every bit as confounding as the peasant tales had warned him. A small part of him wanted to abandon Isabelle to her fate and flee back to the mortal world where things made more sense. Yet he had left his squire behind at the orgy, and while he might leave a lady in danger, he would never leave his friend Thibault.

There came a sudden pounding on a drum that thundered through the forest and caused Vesian to jump. A raucous cheering followed it and Valurra scowled.