Nick stares up at the night sky and coughs up a mouthful of water.
“You ok?” a voice asks.
“Oh my head,” Nick mutters sitting up.
“He’ll be fine,” another voice says.
“Are you sure?” the first voice asks again and Nick sees Kevin standing a few feet away from him talking to a small figure that he guessed was Questapatania.
“What happened?” Nick asks rubbing his head.
“Man you should have seen it,” AJ says appearing beside him, “It was amazing.”
“Well would you mind telling me what happened then?”
“We all kept going and you stopped, which you shouldn’t have, and Quest stopped too, so she turns around and faces the Riders that were coming at us. She jumps into the air and pulls out this sword. She said something that I couldn’t understand that was probably in elvish dialect and the river just rose. It divided and rose then fell onto those Riders. It was absolutely amazing Nick. We were a good amount away from her and we all just stopped and stared at it. Even the werewolf didn’t know what to say. Absolutely amazing,” he says and turns to look at her.
“Where’s Brian?” Nick asks.
AJ points over to Nick’s right where Brian is sitting across from Questapatania on the ground staring at her.
“What’s she doing?” Nick asks.
“Singing,” AJ says, “Dangerous power elfin magic.”
Nick stands up and walks over to where Brian is sitting with Quest and sits down.
“Feeling better?” she smiles up at him.
“Yes,” Nick says sitting down next to Brian, “You stopped because of me?”
She nods, “The village is only two hills over and they are not a very welcoming bunch and your vampire friend didn’t want to stay there tonight. I think its better to stay under the stars anyway.”
“Elves are the oldest beings on this Earth right?” Nick asks as she nods.
“Everyone try and get some sleep,” Kevin says walking up, “We need our strength.”
AJ jumps up into a tree in back of them and sits down on a branch, “I’ll take first watch then.”
“Ok thanks AJ,” Kevin says and lays down on the ground, “You too Nick and Brian.”
Nick rolls his eyes and walks over to an open space near Justin and lies down.
Justin looks at him quickly and then turns away on his side.
Brian gets up and walks over next to Kevin and lies down. He figured he was safest around Kevin.
Nick stares up at the stars and then over at Justin again. He could see him staring at something intently and follows his gaze. Questapatania was sitting on a small hill in front of him back to him staring up at the sky singing softly.
“O mor henion I dhu’: Ely siriar, el sila. Ai! Airon Undomiel. Tiro! El eria e mor. I ‘lir en el luitha ‘uren. Ai! Aniron.”
Nick looks back up at the night sky as the stars shin down on them and Quest starts singing again. He feels his eyelids get heavy as they start to close on him. The world went dark, but he could still hear the soft singing in his ears. He would give anything to know what she was singing.
Brian wakes up and shields his eyes from the sunlight pouring down on him. He sits up and looks around at everyone who is busy putting their gear back on their horses. Quest on the other hand was sitting on the same hill she was sitting on the night before with AJ who was floating about a foot of the ground playing a lute. Kevin was mounting his horse swinging his cloak around himself as Nick did the same. Justin was leaning against a tree staring at AJ and Quest.
Where the hell had life taken him now? He was hoping that when he woke up it would all be a dream, but it wasn’t happening. He was on the run with a vampire, a werewolf, a Rider whatever that was, a witch, and an elf. And as for himself he was the thing they were all protecting. Well they never mentioned this in Sunday school.
“C’mon we have to get to the village,” Kevin says, “AJ put the lute down.”
AJ rolls his eyes and hands the lute back to Quest before mounting his horse.
Brian looks over at Justin who was staring at Kevin on the horse with distaste. He wasn’t sure though who Justin hated more Kevin or the horse.
“C’mon Justin,” Kevin says.
Justin growls softly as the horse backs away from him.
“Well you can’t do that to a horse,” Quest says to him, “You can ride with me if you like.”
Justin looks at Kevin and then walks quickly over to her jumping on the horse behind her.
“I knew having a woman was going to be a bad idea,” Kevin mutters.
Brian looks at him and smiles.
“An elf at that too,” he sighs and kicks his horse to start the journey.
Brian stares at the hillside as they pass hill after hill. There was no way he was still in the same world he knew. They only road for around fifteen minutes before a small village appeared in the distance. Questapatania begins to make her way to the front of the line next to Kevin leading the way toward the village.
“Fairies are cheap huh?” AJ says from the back of the line and she turns around to look at him.
“Not in the least, “That’s the guard station there.”
“Then where’s the village?” Brian asks.
“You’ll see,” she says as they approach the guards’ station.
Brian stares as two small men appear in the doorways of two of the small houses to look at them. They didn’t look like fairies to him. They were dressed in what looked like suede pants and cloaks similar to Kevin and Nick’s. Brian looks over at Kevin who opens his mouth to say something, but stops as the men motion their arms to keep them moving. As they pass them they bow slightly to Quest and look up at Brian.
“Ah geez,” AJ says as he sneezes, “Here we go.”
“Where are we going?” Nick asks.
“Have some patience,” she says as she approaches a taller house, “Follow me,” she says as she begins walking towards the house.
“Oh boy,” AJ mutters as Brian watches Quest vanish through one of the houses walls, “To hell with it now,” AJ says following her.
“They teach you this?” Kevin asks Nick.
“No,” Nick says as he follows AJ through the wall.
“C’mon Brian,” Kevin says grabbing Brian’s horse y the reins and leading it through with his own.
Brian feels the pull of something pulling him inward and suddenly the force is gone as he looks up at a large palace that seemed to be made of glass almost with smaller houses surrounding it.
“Magic,” Kevin says, “They use magic to hide this place,” he says staring at the city as they begin walking through it.
“I can hear AJ,” Nick asks as he hears AJ start to go into sneezing fits in front of them.
“Poor guy,” Kevin says they get closer and closer to the palace.
“We
“We’ve been expecting you,” a small plumb man with a balding gray head says coming up to them.
He looks like a munchkin, AJ says to Kevin telepathically as Kevin smirks slightly.
“I’m Lord Draco,” he says addressing mostly Kevin, “We have gotten word that you want one of our warriors.”
“Not a warrior,” Quest says as he turns to stare at her, “I’m the warrior. You know the prophecy my Lord. We need a giver of light.”
“Very well,” he sighs, “I think I know who can help you. How is your kingdom my Lady?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she sighs, “My stepfather keeps me out of those affairs now.”
“Such a shame about your father my dear. He was a great man,” he says as she drops her head slightly, “But on the matter at hand. I think I know who will help you. He’s young, but he knows what he’s doing. I’ll be back with him shortly wait here please,” he says and quickly vanishes.
AJ sneezes loudly behind them and Brian turns to stare at him, “I hate this place. Get me out of here before I die.”
Justin looks back at him and smirks.
“I hate werewolves too,” AJ mutters as Nick looks at him smirks slightly.
“Can’t we all just get a long,” Kevin says, “This is going to need trust and you have to trust people AJ.”
“I trust people,” AJ says, “Not just them,” he mumbles.
“AJ.”
“Sorry, I…Jesus that scared me,” he says as Lord Draco appears before him with a young man standing at his side covered in a green cloak with the hood up.
“This is Lance he says. He is one of our youngest wizards, but one of our best. I’m sure he’ll be able to help you.”
“He needs a horse,” Kevin says.
“It’s already been sent for,” Draco says, “Lance these are the people you will be traveling with. The fellowship.”
Lance stares at them all with a set of green eyes and then over at a man who is walking up with a tan horse for him. He sighs and walks over to the horse mounting it and walking over to the others, “Are we ready?” he asks quietly.
Kevin looks at Nick and they both nod, “Let’s go then,” Kevin says.
AJ shakes his head trying to prevent himself from sneezing only causing another outburst of sneezes while they are making their way out of the city.
“Lance?” Kevin says.
“Yes,” he says not looking at Kevin.
“You’re a wizard?”
“Yes.”
“Why did he pick you?” AJ asks sneezing again.
“Because I didn’t want to go,” Lance says curtly as AJ looks over at Brian.
“Dark Lurkers,” Quest says to herself, “Where in God’s name would they be.”
“Caves,” Nick says.
“Forests,” AJ offers.
“No,” Justin speaks up, “The ground.”
“What?” Nick says.
“The ground, they’re going to be Silicas, the hole dwellers.”
“Never heard of them,” AJ says.
“They live in holes in the ground. They hate heights. We hunted them in our past. We don’t get a long very well.”
“Silicas. Silicas, where have I heard that name before,” Nick says, “Does it mean something else by any chance?”
“I’m not sure I’ve been raised calling them Silicas.”
“Dwarfs,” Quest mutters.
“I can show you the way, but I refuse to go inside the gates,” Quest says, “Elves and dwarfs do not get along especially these ones. I absolutely refuse to set foot in that city. Some of you can go.”
Nick looks over at the gates to his right and sighs. They had been riding for hours and she had taken them to the outer gates of the dwarf city. Now she had given up on a good reason though. It was common knowledge that dwarfs and elves did not get along and their ancestors had been fighting for ages. After all fathers was killed only a few years ago in the war against them.
“Very well,” Kevin says, “Justin, Lance and Nick stay here with her. Brian, AJ come with me,” he starting off toward the city as the two of them follow on horseback.
Nick looks over at Quest as she gets down from her horse and stares at them as they go inside the gates. Justin gets down from the horse as well and watches them with his arms crossed over his chest.
“O mor henion I dhu’: Ely siriar, el sila. Ai! Airon Undomiel. Tiro! El eria e mor. I ‘lir en el luitha ‘uren. Ai! Aniron,” Quest sings softly as Justin and Nick look at her.
Nick looks up at Lance who is still on his horse watching AJ, Brian and Kevin vanish inside the gates. Nick turns his head toward Quest and watches as she sings. He still needed to know what she was saying.
“From darkness I understand the night. Dreams flow, a star shines. Ah! I desire Evenstar. Look! A star rises out of the darkness. The song of the star enchants my heart. Ah! I desire…” Lance says jumping off his horse and standing next to Nick.
“What?” Nick asks.
“That’s what she is singing,” Lance says, “It’s an old elf song. My mother used to sing it to me all the time before I went to sleep when I was younger.”
“It’s beautiful.”
Lance nods, “They always are.”
Kevin looks around the village, which were homes that were built into the hillside. Windows were in the sides of the hills and small doors lead into the homes. There were people running around in the street around their horses. They were the size of elves only broader in the shoulders.
I always was warned about elves, AJ says to Kevin telepathically, They always told me stories about how barbaric they were and the things they did to elves. You sure this is a good idea getting a dwarf.
The prophecy says a dwarf. We get a dwarf, Kevin says back, We can’t change it. It’s set.
Fine, but when whomever we get here and Quest try to kill each other you are stopping them, AJ says back.
“Excuse me sirs,” a voice says from their feet and they look down at a short man with short black hair and almost black eyes, “You must be looking for me.”
“Why would we be looking for you?’ Kevin asks.
“I’m the power of night sir,” he says looking up at him, “My Lord sent me out here to keep watch for you. We got word from the fairy folk that you would be coming, so I was sent out.”
Kevin looks at AJ shrugs, “Your name?”
“Chris sir,” he says looking up at them.
“You need a horse,” Kevin says.
“A horse? Us dwarfs don’t exactly like horses sir.”
“Nick help him up onto your horse,” Kevin says as AJ nods.
“Over here,” Nick says to him as he walks over and AJ helps him onto the back of his horse.
“Let’s go,” Kevin says to AJ and Brian, “We need to keep good time,” he says kicking his horse and breaking into a gallop.
AJ looks at Brian and does the same following him.
Brian stares at the two of them and sighs doing the same praying that he won’t fall off.
“Here they come,” Justin says watching the distance as three figures on horse back race towards them.
Quest stares at them as they get closer and then looks at the ground walking over to her horse.
“Is that him?” Nick asks them as they stop in front of them and all get off the horse.
“Yes,” Kevin says, “His name is Chris. Chris this is AJ, Brian, Nick, Justin, Lance and Questapatania or Quest if you prefer.”
Chris stares at her as she locks eyes with him.
AJ looks at Kevin and sighs, And so it begins, he says to him.
Kevin shakes his head and sighs.
“The shape sifter now?” Nick asks.
“He’ll find us,” Quest says.
“Where do we go now then?” Brian asks.
“Lothlorien,” Quest says getting on her horse again, “A council needs to be held to decide what we need to do. Are we going or what?”
Justin jumps on her horse again and holds on to her waist.
Nick looks at Kevin and shakes his head telling him not to say anything. Nick sighs and gets on his horse as the others do the same. Chris getting on AJ’s.
Kevin looks up at the sky as the sun starts sinking below the hillside and gradually the day fades into night. He looks over his shoulder at the others who are keeping their eyes forward watching the road. AJ rides up next to him and looks at him.
“This is gonna be a long journey isn’t it,” AJ asks,
Kevin nods looking forward, “We’ve only just begun.”
AJ looks back over his shoulder at Justin who is resting his head on Quest’s shoulder as she sings softly, “Werewolves,” he mutters.
Kevin shakes his head and pulls up the hood of his cloak quickly.
“When the cold of winter comes. Starless night will cover day. In the veiling of the sun. We will walk in bitter rain. But in dreams I still hear your name. And in dreams we will meet again. When the seas and mountains fall. And we come, to end of days. In the dark I hear a call. Calling me there. I will go there. And back again,” Quest sings softly.
“Shhhh,” Justin says poking his head up quickly and scanning the hillside, “I hear hooves,” he says and keeps looking, “There,” he points in the distance, “Someone on horseback dressed in all black.”
“How can you see that?” AJ asks.
“I’m the werewolf remember. To watch over you both night an day.”
Kevin stares in the darkness until he can finally make the figure out, “Wait here,” he says to them.
“No,” Lance speaks up, “Let me do it,” he says walking forward on his horse and holding out a hand as a ball of light appears in it. He looks over the hillside at the approaching figure and throws the ball at him lighting up the night sky as the figure looks up to see it.
“A Black Rider,” Nick says as it continues getting closer.
“Don’t move,” Kevin says taking out a sword.
“Kevin…” AJ says as the figure becomes feet away.
“Not now AJ.”
“Kevin.”
“I said not now AJ!” he says raising his sword.
“Kevin no!” AJ yells as Kevin takes off on his horse towards the figure, “Kevin no!” AJ yells riding after him as Chris jumps off the back of the horse, “Kevin! Stop!” AJ yells catching up to him.
“AJ go back!” Kevin yells swinging his sword around to hit the figure as it races towards him.
“Kevin no!” AJ yells jumping off his horse and tackling Kevin off his.
“AJ what are you doing?” Kevin yells standing up as figure rides up to him and stops. It’s black face staring at him and then it’s black hooded head turns and points to AJ on the ground lying beside, “AJ get up I need help,” Kevin says looking at him, “AJ?”
The black hooded figure jumps down from its horse and floats over to AJ and turns his body over.
“Oh God,” Kevin mutters staring at AJ who has the end of Kevin’s sword protruding from his chest. Kevin looks up at the hooded figure as a blue light forms on its hands, “Oh God,” Kevin says staring at it, “HELPPPPPPPPPPPPP!”
