Walking Through Shadows Ch. 03

The rest of the day passed slowly for Orlaigh as he prepared himself for the conversation he was determined to have that night. He planned speech after speech and discarded them all.

His first thought had been to corner Nia and force her to tell him what was going on, why he had been brought here and what her duty was but, as he watched her walking ahead of him, he realised that he could no more force her to tell him anything than he could fly. The woman was strong, independent, and stubborn but so beautiful and vulnerable as well...

Orlaigh's mind drifted into fantasy. In his mind's eye he saw her come to him, her long black hair swirling around her shoulders, her emerald green eyes locked on his and her soft, full lipped mouth raised to kiss him.

As his mind wandered, he stopped watching his feet and, for the second time that day, fell over. Standing quickly, Orlaigh blushed as he realised that the Elves surrounding him were laughing at his lack of grace and Nia was shaking her head while trying not to smirk

'Damn the woman' he thought 'She has me so besotted I can't concentrate and she doesn't even know!'

Smiling at the others, Orlaigh started walking again and soon found himself drifting into fantasy again. This time he pictured Nia in the firelight at camp, they were alone and he watched as she slid off the dark leather armour she always wore, revealing a thin tunic and leggings. In his mind, she slowly removed her clothes to reveal creamy white skin, unmarred and smooth. Her toned body and full breasts were perfection as she walked towards him and....

CRASH

Orlaigh found himself on the floor again, but this time the crash had been a landslide ahead of them rather than his own clumsiness. One of the fallen rocks had taken his feet out from under him and he wasn't the only one. Rising to his feet, he looked around to check if everyone was all right. Although he didn't know the names of any of his fellows, he knew that there were fifteen of them, including himself. Counting quickly, he realised that there was only fourteen. With a sudden feeling of dread, he moved towards the pile of rubble ahead of him. His stomach dropped as he saw a pale, blood covered hand and a sweep of midnight black hair among the debris. The missing Elf was Nia!

With a cry, he ran forward, shoving the elves who were already trying to dig her free out of the way. Summoning his power, he began to lift the rocks away much faster than the others could. As he moved the final rock, he uncovered her broken and bleeding body. Amazingly, she was still conscious and stretched her hand towards him and tried to speak

Taking hold of her hand with tears in his eyes, he bent towards her to hear the words she spoke to quietly

"You...care...about...you" Nia gasped as she slid into unconsciousness.

The tears Orlaigh had been holding back began to run down his face as he realised what this meant. In the few days that they had known each other, they had become so close. He had thought that his feelings would be unrequited. Elves took so long to come to a decision about anything, how could he know that she would come to look at him as he looked at her?

Taking a breath, he looked deep inside himself to the well of power that he carried within. Adding his own life force to it, he fed healing magic into her body. Under his hands, bleeding stopped, bones mended and bruises faded. When he finished, he collapsed, still holding Nia in his arms.

Orlaigh awoke alone. He was lying in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar hut. The last thing he remembered was holding Nia as he healed her. Sitting up quickly, he groaned as his body protested. Shrugging off the aches in his muscles, he rose from the bed and then immediately sat back down as a wave of dizziness washed over him. Realisation that he had added his own life force to his power in order to heal the elf was what had left him weak; he slowed his movements as he looked at his surroundings. From outside, he heard voices approaching.

"Ah, you are awake" came an unfamiliar voice as the door to his left opened.

The speaker was an aged, male Elf. Orlaigh was amazed; he had not known that Elves aged so.

As if reading his mind, the elf spoke

"Don't be so surprised Human. Elves age, just much slower than humans. I am...old. I remember the pact that humans and elves made so many years ago. I was born to be the keeper of that pact and to ensure that it was renewed. If you look at the pact, you will even see my name as one who signed it. I am Isymir"

Orlaigh sat in silence while he listened to the elf talk. Very few records had survived through the years and, other than the pact, nothing was really known about that time. This old woman, however, was a walking library. She explained the first coming of the Shadow to mortal lands and how it had nearly wiped out the humans before turning to the elves in an attempt to swallow them. Both races had banded together and fought back. This much was still known in human lands. What Orlaigh hadn't known though was how and why the pact had come about.

After the Shadow had been defeated, humans and elves lived side by side for many years while both races re-built. It was this rebuilding that had made the pact necessary.

The damage that had been done was extensive with large areas of the land belonging to both races left uninhabitable. The elves had the ability to help the land recover quickly and used them to bring life back to the ravaged country. However, humans had tried to move into the newly healed lands, pushing the elves back further and further. Eventually, the elves had started erecting barriers to keep humans out, leaving everyone with little habitable land. Seeing the misery that everyone was now living in, a group of Elven elders and humans had come together to form a contract to ensure fair dealing for both the races. The dwarves had been called in to mediate as their mountain kingdoms had been largely unaffected.

The pact that Orlaigh was aware of meant that all regions on the coast and inland to the foot of the Dwarven Mountains belonged to the humans while all forested areas and the uncharted areas of the country behind the mountains belonged to the elves. The mountains continued to be the realm of the dwarves. As the mountains were uninhabitable by the standard of both humans and elves, this had never been an issue.

However, as Isymir explained, there was much more to the pact than humans were now aware of. The elves had healed the lands that humans inhabited and then created wards to help any future damage heal quickly. They would not try to claim land from the humans after this and would provide warriors to fight the Shadow whenever necessary.

The cost of this help had been that a child would be conceived between an elven woman and a human male. This child would go on to hold high office in the country. At first the elves had wanted the child to take the throne and so ensure that there would be elven blood in the royal line for generations to come. However, as the pact prohibited the elves from claiming human land, this had not been feasible.

Instead it had been decided that the child would be conceived of the most powerful human mage and the most powerful elven mage and taken as the king's advisor. The elven blood in the child would ensure that they lived long enough to accumulate wisdom enough to give good advice to the king while the human blood would allow the child to be accepted.

At this point, Orlaigh stopped the elf

"How does this relate now? I was an orphan, nobody knew my parents and I am the king's advisor."

Isymir smiled sadly at him

"Ah child, all the king's advisors are orphans in these times. As the centuries passed, and the original pact was forgotten by humans, it became tradition for an elf to select the king's advisor. This is how we ensured that one of the correct line was always chosen. This included you. You were born from the blood of those who formed the pact so many years ago. You are, in fact, my many times grandchild."

Isymir paused to let the news sink in. He had expected anger at the fact that Orlaigh had been allowed to think that he had no family as he grew up. Instead he was surprised when Orlaigh calmly stated that he understood and asked him why he had been brought here now.

"It is simply that the blood started to run thin and the children of my line lived shorter and shorter lives. We were slow to intercede as the intelligence and wisdom the children still showed remained enough for us to believe that the pact was still valid. Now there is an increase of the Shadow Spawn in the land and it is time that our connections were reaffirmed."

The anger that Isymir had been expecting a few moments ago now flashed into Orlaigh's eyes.

"So, let me see if I have this right. You are my Grandfather and for reasons that I do genuinely understand, you allowed me to grow up thinking I was alone in the world. One of your people made me Kings Advisor and then had no further contact with me. Next you call me into a forest in the middle of nowhere to meet with you because you want to make sure you get your own way if there is another invasion? And I have to calmly accept whatever you tell me because it's my duty to continue this pact and I have no idea....."

Orlaigh broke off as the word duty brought to mind the conversations he had had with Nia.

"Nia has a duty too. Let me guess, the 'duty' is to father another child, yes?"

Isymir nodded and drew breath to explain further. He had known that this would be difficult and had planned out what he was going to say in order to convince Orlaigh that this was for the best. Before he could speak though, there was a knock at the door and Nia herself walked in.

Seeing Isymir sitting with Orlaigh, Nia bowed low to the elder and asked leave to speak privately with Orlaigh.

Isymir nodded again and rose to leave. As he reached the door, he turned to look at Orlaigh

"I am sorry that you were alone for so long. I have watched you and you have made me proud"

With that, he left, leaving Nia and Orlaigh alone.

Without looking at Orlaigh, Nia began to speak

"I hated you for a long time before I met you. I didn't want to grow up to have the child of a human and to never see it again. I wanted to have a home and a husband. I wanted to take my child in the forest and teach it all I knew. I wanted to do so much and so little. I wanted to have what every other person around me had. A family. I never aspired any higher."

"When I was told about you, I resented that those things had been taken from me without my consent. I have the most powerful magic but I am not allowed to use it until I have had your child. I wanted to be a healer. I had hoped to go out into the world and work with warriors fighting the Shadow and then come back to live a normal life. I can't do that though."

Orlaigh tried to speak but Nia raised a hand to stop him.

"When I first saw you, you were teaching. You had taken some students out into the meadow behind the palace and were teaching them about herbs. One of them fell and you picked him up. There was a look on your face that was so...gentle. He had hurt his knee and you healed it. Your assistant said that it was a waste of power when there was so much else it could be used for and you told him that if you have the power to stop someone hurting then you should. The only pain you should never try to stop is the pain in someone's heart because sometimes there are things you cannot forget, you can only learn to live with."

Orlaigh sighed as he remembered that day. He had seen the boy's tears and had wanted to stop them. As a child, no one had ever been there to comfort him when he fell and he had learned to live with that. It was why he always healed grazed knees!

"That was the day I stopped hating you. I still hated my duty though. I hated it more because I know what having to abandon this child will do to you. I do not want you to have to learn to live with this pain. Do you remember when I told you that you trouble me? It is because of this. I don't want to hurt you. I have come to care for you a lot. I know that we have only known each other a few days but I have been watching you for many years. I want to go ahead with the ritual. Once it has been completed and I have had the child, I will become the elder here. I can make changes. I can speak to your king, make the pact common knowledge again and you can see our child and help raise it."

Nia finally paused and looked at Orlaigh

"Nia, I don't know where to begin. I...care for you too. I didn't know that you could come to care for anyone this quickly but I do. I damn near killed myself to save you. Don't ever think that I don't care. I just don't know if I can get you pregnant and then not see you again until the child is born. Plus how can you turn over three thousand years of tradition on your own?"

Nia smiled in relief. She had expected outright refusal, at least this way she could explain her plans to him

"Not all our people are happy with the way we are secluded now. In fact, the majority would be happier if the pact with humans was made public again. We feel that our growth is being stunted by the secrets we keep. We keep away from your people so that we don't say too much and it limits our relationships with you. I have spoken to many of my kind and they will stand with me when I make the changes." "As to you not seeing me, one of my supporters is skilled at manipulating memories. He'll wipe out your memories of your time here, leaving you with just the memory of our time 'together' and my name. When the time comes, I will call you back and your memories will return."

"NO! I will NOT be manipulated into like that! You cannot expect me to willingly forget everything" Orlaigh yelled

Nia gently placed her fingers over his mouth as she continued to explain

"Listen to me. When the time comes, I will need you to be at my side. Until that time I need you to carry on with your duties to the humans as you always have. There can be no hint of what is to come and, if you are left with the knowledge, it is possible that it will come out before I am ready. Please, try to understand. We need to do it this way so that no one gets hurt."

Orlaigh grasped her wrist firmly and moves her hand away from his mouth

"I will think about it. I need some time to myself to process everything. Can you leave me until tomorrow?"

Disappointment shone in Nia's eyes and it broke Orlaigh's heart to know that he couldn't immediately give in but he remained firm. "Please, you have had years to come to terms with this. I have had an hour. All I ask is for one day to think things over."

Nodding, Nia rose and left. As the door closed behind her, Orlaigh heard her giving instructions that he was not to be disturbed unless it was mealtime.

When he was sure that she was gone, Orlaigh rose and dressed in the breeches, boots and shirt that had been left in the hut. He was still feeling weak from his healing efforts and thought that the fresh air would do him good. Hopefully it would help him clear his mind and calm him turbulent thoughts.

Heading out the door and further into the camp, he saw several elven warriors sitting around a fire. Moving closer, he listened to their talk. His understanding of Elvish was enough for him to get the general gist of what they were discussing. The Shadow attacks were increasing and they needed to increase their numbers. The talk turned to plans of them banding together with humans and training them but they had been told to keep away from human settlements in accordance to the pact. Concentrating as he was on translating, Orlaigh didn't realise that he had moved close to the group. As the warriors saw him, they stopped talking and watched him.

Orlaigh smiled faintly and moved on. Had Nia arranged for them to be sat there for him to overhear? But that would have meant she had known that he would go outside. Maybe it was coincidence. Either way, it gave him more to think about.

Orlaigh was quickly beginning to tire. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. A night of sleep would allow his body to replenish its lost energy and, perhaps, allow him to think more clearly. With this thought in mind, he headed back to his hut to sleep.

Removing his boots, Orlaigh lay down on the small bed and closed his eyes. His mind was still working overtime trying to process everything. He had discovered he was part of an ancient tradition and one that had saved millions of people over the millennia. Was it fair of him to refuse to do his part? His mind kept travelling back to the conversation he had overheard. This race, these people, had done so much. Humans had done so much. He had a foot in both worlds now and the ability to ensure that both races worked together to continue to save lives. Maybe even push back the Shadow far enough to grant peace for a few centuries. Nia wanted him to help her make changes that would bring the people together and allow them to make that push.

All he had to do was to spend one night with this beautiful woman. A woman he had come to care for deeply in such a short time. He wouldn't remember it and it wouldn't hurt him and then, when the time was right, he would be brought back. He would be given the memories back and he would have a child to care for and love. He would be forever bound to Nia, the woman he knew deep in his heart that he already loved, and he would be serving the people of the country that he loved.

Orlaigh laughed bitterly. ALL he had to do was have a child and then forget it. ALL he had to do was allow a child to be used as he had been.

But then, the child would be loved. It would have parents to guide it. It would be safe here and when the time came, it would have the guidance he wished that he had been given... but was it right to allow the child to be born for duty rather than love?

After many hours, Orlaigh reached his decision and was surprised that sleep claimed him quickly once he had. When he awoke, the sky was still dark but he felt rested as if he had slept for a long time. Looking outside, he saw enough small changes around him to know that he had slept through the day and into the following night.

Fresh cloths and a bowl of water had been left on the table in his hut along with some food. Orlaigh quickly washed and dressed himself in clean clothes and then forced himself to eat despite his nervousness.

Leaving the hut, he wandered through the trees, stopping occasionally to ask the few elves he saw where Nia was. They all smiled at him and pointed him in the direction of a small clearing, well away from the main camp. Orlaigh was uncomfortably aware that they knew why he was looking for her and, as usual when he was distracted, found that he was spending a lot of time tripping over his own feet.

As he approached the clearing he saw that a fire was burning there and a lone figure was standing beside it. Coming closer, he saw that it was Nia and felt his heart skip as he drank in her beauty.

Her midnight black hair was loose around her shoulders, her skin was as pale as the moonlight, her mouth full lipped and pink and the fire light reflected in her eyes, making them glow as he looked at her. The black suede leggings so wore seemed to fit so closely as to be part of her skin and the leather corselet she wore as part of her armour seemed to have been designed to fit so that it was a part of her. Her mouth curved into a smile as he realised that he had been staring at her for several seconds without speaking. Drawing a breath, he looked away and began to speak quickly.

"I don't know if we are doing the right thing but I know that we are doing it for the right reasons. I know that I care for you a lot. Even though it's been such a short time, I know that I love you. I want to be with you, even if it's only for tonight. I know that I won't remember you until you let me and I won't remember that I have a child. It hurts that I won't know you until the time's right and it scares me that if anything happens then might never again know what happens tonight. I don't want the child to grow up not knowing me or knowing me and hating me for it. Despite all that, I still want to do it."