The Gate - Elvish Has Left

The herald then said, "Candidates, repeat after me: I, your name, do solemnly swear and pledge my sword to the Rose Order of Knights and my liege, to defend and obey her until she departs this demesnes or death shall take me, and to uphold the honor of knighthood."

When Stefan and Lelu repeated the oath, Pina then said, "And I, for my part, do swear to defend and honor Stefan and Lelu as befits a true knight." She took the ancient gladius, that ugly short sword, its pommel stained with blood from uncounted battles, and patted the candidates on their shoulders with the sword, and as aides appeared with shiny new spurs and swords Pina announced, "I dub thee Sir Hanover and Sir Sebat. Receive now your spurs and your right to suitable arms, and my sword to your side to serve and defend me well. Arise, Sir Knights!"

The audience sat in stunned silence, a green man and an elf sworn into knighthood? Is this woman crazy? But the knights of the Rose Order of Knights shouted "Hoo Zah! Hoo Zah! Hoo Zah!" they were overjoyed to receive an elf in their midst. Again Queen Mary, and the princesses Hahn and Cookie rose and forced the nobles of the empire to give them a standing ovation. Beefeater Caty, the head of the Rose Order of Knights presented Stefan and Lelu with the ceremonial spurs, shields, and swords and suddenly they were surrounded by the Rose Order of Knights.

"How do I tell them I don't ride horses?" Stefan silently asked Lelu as he shook hands with Bozes.

"I don't either," Lelu answered as she hugged Hahn.

There was a huge reception for the new knights in the grand reception hall. The Rose Order of Knights had plans for their new recruits, and when they found out Stefan's skill with a rifle, they wanted him in the field at once. Queen Mary even addressed the audience, she stood at the podium in the reception hall, a large drink in one hand, a burning cigarette in an impossibly long ebony cigarette holder in the other and opened with a breathy, "Hiya boys," which had the guards, troops and knights howling. Even Princess Pina found herself laughing along with all her advisors. Queen Mary gave a speech on how she hoped that these events would lead to a new, more peaceful relationship between humans and Warrior Bunny, and she held up the relocation center at Alnus hill as an example. She called Itami up and teased him like a burlesque stripper would, rubbing her tail against him to the howls of his men, then she thanked him for making Alnus Hill a refuge for all humans and demi-humans, then she gave him a kiss, her red lipstick glowed on his cheek, then it faded away.

Then she called up Stefan and Lelu and told all the true story of the "Battle of Ukaru Valley" and how they freed the captives. While she spoke, Princess Pina's fairies circled over her head in rapturous excitement, there were fairies freed that day too. At the end of her speech, her lipstick turned gold and she gave them a kiss on the opposite cheeks from when she kissed them before. "You're now my knights too. I'm especially good at knight," she purred bringing loud laughter from the knights, man, and woman.

"I'm sorry, but I'm taken," said Stefan. That was the wrong thing to say, Queen Mary's hormones seemed to go into overdrive.

"Mmmm, you're a marine, aren't cha big boy," she purred bringing hoots and hollers from the men as she rubbed her body against him. Suddenly she switched over to Lelu and began hugging her from behind, her hands getting dangerously close to Lelu's breasts. "That means you're out to sea for long, long months, ain't that right dear?" Now the women in the Rose Order of Knights began hooting and pounding the table.

Suddenly the spell was broken, and she was all business. Everyone in the hall realized it too, it was time to be the queen. "When you are done with your current mission, I have work for you. I will coordinate with your commanding officer, Knight Caty, and your liege, Princess Lada. You will be briefed on your orders after the wedding." Suddenly the iron ruler was gone, and she was Mary, Burlesque Queen once again. She walked to the side of the stage where several of the Rose Knights stood mingled with the "Thank you and have a good night." Her voice dripped of sex as she stepped back to her seat

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

The room that Pina had given to Stefan and Lelu was sumptuous and luxurious, according to Stefan the mattress was like sleeping on a marshmallow causing Lelu and Carny to demand an explanation as to what a marshmallow was. Neither believed that a marshmallow was a candy that originated in a swamp. Carny was bouncing off the walls with excitement, "Rose Order of Knights!" she bounced on the bed in excitement, "That's so awesome! Does that make me your page?" then she suddenly calmed down. "Why not the empire's army? Why didn't you join them?"

"If we joined the Empire's army Stefan would have had to take an oath to serve the empire, and he won't do that," explained Lelu.

"Why not?"

"Because I already swore a sacred oath to another country, and I refuse to break that oath by swearing allegiance to this empire," said Stefan.

"So, by swearing to the Rose Order of Knights he swore an oath to an organization, not a country. He joined the Rose Order without invalidating his oath to the You Ess and can quit the Rose Order any time he wants without violating an oath to the empire," said Lelu.

Carny pulled her ears down and held them together under her chin and rolled her big brown eyes skyward. "Stop! You people are so confusing!"

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Three travelers stepped off the coach at Nangda, the small outpost city, two were tall, the third was short. Their gray cloaks were pulled up over their heads against the rain and their back packs were the same drab gray as the cloak. It was a dark, dim day, a cold misty rain was falling, and a fog hung in the air making the day even gloomier. The coach dropped them off at the inn, then turned and headed to the coach house. Nangda is the end of the line and the coach and team need attention before returning to the Imperial Capital. They got a room for three and the man that signed the inn register used the name Madison Avenue.

Like all small town inns, the room was tiny, but at least it was heated. A small coal brasier roasted merrily in the corner and Stefan pulled up a stool close to it and wrapped himself in a blanket and stayed close to the flame shivering.

"What's wrong with poppa?" asked Carny.

"He's tired and achy," whispered Lelu. She was getting concerned. After returning from the gate, they were both weak and worn out, she recovered and Stefan was doing quite well, strong enough to be a threat to the guards that beat and tortured her, but ever since they started this quest to find her mother he's been sliding downhill, and ever since the rain started, his body has been wracked with pain in the joints.

"I'm ok," muttered Stefan, "just cold... and this damn rain! And why Nangda? Since coming to this world I've only seen four places, Nangda, Alnus Hill, and the palace."

"What's the fourth?" asked Carny.

"Nangda again, this time in the bloody rain," grumbled Stefan.

"He's hungry," said Carny and Lelu to each other. Stefan is always grumpy when he's hungry.

But while he sat by the fire, he was keeping an eye out the window. Down below in the rain spattered streets of Nangda, he saw four guards run to the inn. It may be nothing, but it may be trouble. "Get your cloaks on!" he shouted, accompanied by a series of coughs and wheezes. They quickly pulled on their still rain soaked cloaks and crouched in the corners, Stefan pulled his shotgun out of his pack and stood by the door waiting. He was about to jack a round into the chamber when he thought about what he was doing and swapped ends, holding the gun by the barrel like a baseball bat.

They heard booted feet stomping up the stairs and suddenly the door flew inward propelled by a heavy kick by a guard, Stefan swung, catching the guard right in the throat. The guard sagged to the ground like a sack of oats and Stefan stood over him with the gun, barrel poised over the guard's face. To the guard, the barrel of the gun looked as big around as a sewer pipe.

"I told him to knock" said the head guard.

"That's right, he did say that," said the inn keeper who was standing with the guards in the hallway.

"When you said knock, I thought you meant..." said the young guard sprawled out on the floor.

"Ah hem," said the captain as Lelu and Carny stood and revealed themselves, "The mayor requests the honor of your presence at his chateau to discuss matters of and pertaining to the witch."

Stefan who still hasn't moved yet said, "Can I shoot him?"

The captain thought for a moment while the young guard lay on the ground in terror, he heard about Stefan Hanover and the Boom Stick. "Nah," said the Captain, "I'm short handed this time of year, getting close to harvest and all."

They reconvened in the mayor's office who greeted them like long lost children. "Mister Hanover! So good to see you, Mrs. Hanover! Let me look at you! You look marvelous! And Carny! Still cute as a button!"

"Ok mayor why are we here?" said Stefan.

"It's been ages! I just wanted to catch up!" Mayor Vanderhorst was in a full jovial mode.

"It's been a month," said Stefan as they all sat. "We're not residents, we can't vote for you, what's up?"

Mayor looked uncomfortable. He gestured the guard sergeant to close the door then said, "Mahgah Boiya." Stefan started at the mayor, waiting for the punchline, but the mayor just repeated himself, "Mahgah Boya!"

"I don't get it," said Stefan, but he glanced at Carny, she looked shocked, and she began to whisper an old poem from her childhood.

"Mahgah Boya stalks the grass at night

Looking for bunnies whose head to bite..."

Lelu didn't look much better, she grabbed Stefan's hand and suddenly his head was filled with horrible stories of the evil witch Mahgah Boya feeding her unholy lusts with the souls of children that she captured and mangled, cooked alive in her stew pot that was heated on a fire built from the dried bones of the children's hapless parents.

For the first time ever, Stefan pulled his hand away to break the images she flooded his head with. "Ok, bad fairy tales, but..."

"Fairies don't have tails!" shouted Carny.

Vowing to be more careful with what he says, Stefan continued. "What I mean is that these are old fables..."

"No, they're not," said Lelu. "In Stefan's home world a witch is a practitioner of a religion..." started Lelu.

Stefan rose from his seat, "Ok, look. Back home, some people believe it, some people don't. Que Sera, Sera. But there's no scary magic..." His rant was stopped with a kiss from Lelu.

"There is magic here, and much of it is scary. An elven mage that turns to the dark side and worships Emroy becomes a witch that cannot be stopped, and they are called Mahgah Boya. Imagine Rory Mercury with magic. A lot of magic."

"Mahgah Boya hired one of the guards to kill Mister Hanover and bring his wife and bunny to her," said Mayor Vanderhorst.

"So that's how you knew we were coming here," said Stefan.

"No, your queen sent me a message, she also told us about Mahgah Boya," said the mayor. "The population of this town only half is human, the rest are mostly bunny, some foxes and cats, and a few retired bucks. So, when an elf and human couple bearing two marks of the queen arrive, someone is going to notice."

"Then let's find that witch and give her a .243 caliber enema, then get that mage so we can go get your mother," said Stefan.

"I don't think it will be that easy, but I like your thinking," smiled Lelu sadly. "First we need some fairies."

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

"Ok, now watch this," said Lelu. They were both sitting by the fire in the common room of Mayor Vanderhorst's chateau, just an odd couple in love, a painfully average looking middle aged human male and a beautiful elven female, he had his arm around her, she was resting her head on his shoulder, the firelight reflecting off of her chromium hair. "I can't see the pet shop because..."

"Pet shop? Why do you want to see the pet shop?" interrupted Stefan.

"Where else are you going to get fairies? Now pay attention. I don't know where the pet shop is, but I know Carny, so I can see her. Here we can see her as she walks through the city market, now down Grind Gold Street, and there it is!" Lelu's far seeing emerald eye gave her a clear picture of Carny walking through the rain and mist, and Stefan was able to see to because Lelu shared her vision with him through their bonding. Now that she could see where the pet shop was, she could look inside before Carny got there. "They only have two, I was hoping for at least three."

The idea is that they will use the fairies to look for the witch and the mage the same way they used Carny to look for the pet store. Lelu will know the fairies and she'll be able to follow them with her farseeing emerald eye as they fly ahead of them. They watched as Carny dickered with the storekeeper and discovered she's quite good at negotiating a good price.

They met Carny in their room, she was carrying a small cage covered with a fancy looking cozy decorated with needle point and lace edging. She pulled the cover off and showed that the cage was set up like a tiny studio apartment, they had a tiny bed, a tiny dining room table and chairs, comfortable furniture, even a tiny dressing area with tiny modesty screens. The two fairies stood looking at Stefan, Lelu, and Carny who were all looking at the fairies. "It's like they're waiting for something," said Stefan.

"They're waiting for their names," said Carny. "Don't you know anything about fairies?"

"Guess not. How about Tinkerbell and..."

"No!" demanded Lelu. "They get proper names!"

Stefan looked back at his years of otaku reading between battles, alerts, exercises, and training. He loved reading the folk tales of other countries. "Ok, the brunette is Tana, and the blond is Orla."

The two darling little fairies absolutely loved their names! The fairies squealed and hugged each other and jumped up and down in joy, finally they bowed to Stefan and said, "Thank you master!"

"Those are perfect names!" sighed Lelu as she held him close and hugged him tightly, thankful for whatever reason that they were bonded. Tana, the brunette had a name that means Fairy Queen, and Orla means Golden Queen. Now that they're both named "Queen" there will be no bickering over which fairy is in charge... or possibly he made it worse.

"Now what do they want?" asked Stefan, Tana and Orla were waiting with their arms crossed under their voluminous (for fairies) breasts, toes tapping impatiently.

"They're waiting for the feast," said Carny. "It's part of the naming ceremony." She unwrapped a piece of cheese and broke off four pieces. "This is their favorite food." As she handed Stefan and Lelu a piece, he looked at it cautiously, then sniffed it. It reminded him of provolone.

"Cheese? I thought fairies liked honey and nectar and stuff like that," Stefan said as he broke off a small piece for Tana and Orla then opened the cage and handed the small piece of cheese to the fairies.

"That's their everyday food, to them, cheese is a special treat." said Carny who had raised fairies since she was a young kit. Orla and Tana hefted the piece of cheese to their table, to them it was the size of a country ham, and each broke off a large chunk. "Ok, does everyone have their cheese?" Carny asked. Then, "Itadakimasu!" and they all ate their piece at the same time. There was a sparkle of fairy dust over all five partakers of the cheese and their union was complete.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Three days out from Nangda, traveling northeast they continued to skirt the edge of the great forest Silva Bleak. The forest was named for the unique pine trees whose needles were so dark they were nearly black. Being an elf, Lelu loved forests, but Silva Bleak was so dark, so stifling that she felt uneasy just entering the woods a few meters. Sunlight didn't penetrate to the forest floor, so there was no underbrush, it was just a confusing maze of tree trunks and fallen branches on a soft mattress of pine needles. Travelers needed a lantern even on the brightest of days. The very best part of Silva Bleak was that it was perfect for sleeping during the day, since they were traveling at night, they could set up a nice comfortable camp without worry of being seen, the branches were so thick they needn't worry about rain, and they could hide in the darkness for 24 hours a day if they desired.

Lelu was starting to worry about Stefan. He's normally the type where she had to jog to keep up with him when he walks, but ever since their bonding he's slowed down, and it's like he used up what energy he had cleaning up Princess Pina's guard corps. Every day he seemed to be getting slower and slower. He never complained but she could feel the aching in his poor abused back. Old injuries were coming back to haunt him, and now she noticed that his beard was turning grey.

Before they left Nangda they bought a horse and a wagon to carry their belongings. Even though the spells Lelei put on their backpacks allowed them to carry everything they wanted, regardless of size or weight in a backpack that never weighs more than five pounds, Stefan was starting to have a hard time walking for more than an hour.

"Where is Orla and Tana?" Carny asked Stefan. They were stopped for the day and were camped about fifteen meters deep in the forest while Lelu was at the forest edge allowing their horse that Stefan named Duck Soup to feed on the grass.

"Those two? They're over there fucking again," Stefan said, pointing to a tree where the fairies chased each other around the tree trunk then up into the branches in a dizzying pattern of sparkles and glowing contrails. "Horniest damn creatures on any planet." At first, he thought they were lesbians, but both Carny and Lelu assured him that Tana, the brunette, was a boy and Orla, the blond, was a girl. Stefan had seen them naked, in fact they're naked most of the time, and they look identical to him. There was no glaring or subtle difference in their physical makeup that Stefan could see. "How do you know that Tana is a boy?" he finally asked Carny.

"Duh! She's got brown hair. Go back to sleep old man."

Lelu listened to the conversation and laughed... and then it hit her -- old man -- Stefan was aging before her eyes. When they had met, she was ordered to kill him and she was afraid of doing it because he was a vibrant man in his thirties, but now he seemed to be twice that old. And she... she felt younger, at least thirty years younger, but to an elf that's not much. She made sure that Duck Soup was staked out and she dashed back into the woods to check on Stefan. He was asleep by the time she got there, and she dropped to her knees and studied him closely. Damn it! He is aging! Aging rapidly. "What's wrong?" Carny asked.

"That witch!" swore Lelu through her tears. "She wants to kill my Stefan, she must have cast a spell on him, look how old he's getting."

"He is... we got to find that mage you've been talking about."

Lelu nodded, "I don't know if she can help, but we can't go up against a witch when he's like this." Something fluttered past Lelu leaving a trail of glittering sparkles in its wake. She called out, "Come back here you two, there's bats in the forest."

"Bats!?!" cried the fairies in unison, and like twin flaming arrows they rocketed back to their comfy little cage, and they pulled the door shut then they recharged with some honey comb they keep in a tiny cooler.