"You're a long way from home," Pony remarked. The words just fell out of her mouth in her astonishment at seeing Belli'mar Juraviel suddenly appearing at the entrance of the cave where she and Bradwarden had put up for the night. Outside a blizzard raged, wind blowing the snow sidelong and piling it high against the sides of trees and hills.

Pony's remark was true enough, for they were far to the east of Dundalis now, and even that place was far from Juraviel's home.

Juraviel trembled a bit, but did not reply.

Recovering from the shock of seeing Juraviel, Pony went on. "I believe that your Lady Dasslerond and I said all that needed to be said, Belli'mar Juraviel," she said curtly, and she felt Bradwarden's strong hand on her shoulder as she spoke.

"Easy, girl," the centaur advised. "This one's ever been yer friend."

Pony turned on him sharply. "Enough of a friend to tell me of his Lady's -  "

Bradwarden stopped her by placing a finger over her pursed lips. "There's something bigger amiss, unless I miss me guess," he said softly, and he turned back to the obviously shaken Juraviel.

"The girl's right, elf," Bradwarden said to him. "Suren that ye're a long way from yer home - farther than I've ever seen any elf wander in a long time, to tell the truth, unless ye're lookin' to find Andacanavar, yer ranger friend, out and about."

Juraviel shook his head slowly.

"You came to see me, then," Pony reasoned. "Well, know that I have nothing left to say to you or to any of the Touel'alfar. Of your people, I hold least enmity to you, but after what you did to me, I doubt that I could ever call you 'friend' again. Please begone." As she spoke, the woman dropped her hand into her pouch of gemstones, preparing to defend herself should Juraviel or any other elf that might be hiding in the area make a move against her.

In response, Juraviel slowly lifted his hand and opened it, revealing the emerald gemstone that was the heart and soul of his people, and of Andur'Blough Inninness.

"Lady Dasslerond is no more," he said softly.

Pony's eyes widened and Bradwarden gasped.

"She gave herself to Andur'Blough Inninness, wrapping the valley in her life's essence to shield it from searching eyes."

"I would not have come back," Pony stammered.

"Not yours."

"Yer son," Bradwarden reasoned. "Aye, but the new king went hunting for the elves that trained him!"

"Many of my people are dead at Aydrian's hand," Juraviel confirmed. "He marched to our valley with hundreds of warriors. We tried to stop him. We tried to defeat him, or turn him aside. But he is powerful. So powerful."

"What are you saying?" Pony demanded. "Aydrian attacked?"

"We tried to turn him aside, to dissuade him from his designs of conquest," Juraviel explained. "But he crushed our resistance through his power with the gemstones."

"And so yer Lady went out to face him?" Bradwarden asked.

"She went out to deny him, in the only way she knew," the elf explained.

"She gave herself to this gemstone; and wrapped in her life's essence, Andur'Blough Inninness is lost to the world until the conditions of her enchantment are met."

"And Aydrian cannot break this enchantment?" the centaur asked. "Well, it seems he's not all-powerful then!"

"He cannot," Juraviel replied.

"Then why are you out here?" Pony asked. "Why isn't Juraviel with the rest of his people in their hidden valley?"

"It is hidden from all, human and Touel'alfar alike," he admitted, and that widened the eyes of both Pony and Bradwarden.

"A desperate enchantment indeed," the centaur remarked.

"We are homeless, and hiding."

"Out here?" Pony asked incredulously.

"I have come alone," the elf explained. "The gemstone of the Touel'alfar holds many powers, including one that allows me to travel great distances quickly. Still, it has taken me several days to find you."

"And now you have, and I bid you go away," said Pony, and Bradwarden clasped her shoulder again and gave a squeeze.

The woman turned sharply on the centaur once more. "What do you expect of me?" she asked, then whirled back on Juraviel, her blue eyes clearly reflecting the anger and pain she felt at that moment. "And what do you expect of me?" she asked the elf. "I thought that you, above all your people, were my friend."

"I was always your friend, Jilseponie," Belli'mar Juraviel quietly replied.

"But you were always Touel'alfar first," the woman snapped.

Juraviel lowered his gaze, conceding the point. "I erred," he admitted.

"An apology from an elf ain't no small thing," Bradwarden said softly.

"An apology because he needs me now," the woman reasoned. "Is that not so?" she asked Juraviel.

"Lady Jils - " Juraviel began, but he stopped short and took a deep breath.

"Pony," he corrected. "I come to you because it is right that I come to you. I should have come to you with news of Aydrian as soon as Markwart was thrown down and peace was restored to the land."

"Yes, you should have." There was no compromise in Pony's stern tone.

"We all should have, and I spoke with my Lady Dasslerond more than once on that very subject," Juraviel went on. "But we did not. It was her choice that Aydrian was the price of our involvement in aiding you and Elbryan against the errant Markwart."

"Her price!" Pony roared.

"It was her choice to make, not mine. When one is appointed to rule Andur'Blough Inninness, she does so with advisement, perhaps, but not through a poll of her subjects. The rules were Lady Dasslerond's to make, and mine to follow. You have known that about us for many years; never have I misled you on our rule. We are not a people who make our choices independently of Lady Dasslerond's rule - not even my friend Tuntun who died beside you and Elbryan in the bowels of Mount Aida."

The mention of Tuntun did set Pony back on her heels a bit, and stole a bit of her angry edge. Gallant Tuntun had given her life to save Pony and Elbryan, had offered herself up to a most horrible death to serve the greater cause of defeating the demon dactyl. The mere mention of her reminded Pony of all the good the Touel'alfar had done for her and for those she had loved. The elves had saved her and Elbryan on that terrible day three decades before when the goblins had overwhelmed Dundalis. The elves, particularly Belli'mar Juraviel, had been with her throughout her ordeals, and had indeed saved her life that fateful night on the field outside of Palmaris - and had saved Aydrian's life as well.

"My Lady was wrong in her choices regarding your son," Juraviel admitted.

"She knew that before she gave her life. I apologize to you for her, as well as for myself. It will forever haunt Belli'mar Juraviel that he failed Pony as her friend."

His words had Pony's legs going weak under her. She knew that he meant them, profoundly, and saw the honest pain that was etched on his fair elven features.

"There is nothing that I can do now to undo that which has happened,"

Juraviel went on. "But now we face - together, I hope - a trial as great as that brought upon us by the advent of the demon dactyl. Your son, this tyrant Aydrian, desires no less than did Bestesbulzibar."

Pony slumped back against the wall and slid down to a sitting position.

She noted that Bradwarden, hovering over her, silently asked her permission, and so she gave a slight nod.

"Well, ye might come in then outa the cold," the centaur told the Touel'alfar. "I just bringed in some more logs and me friend here's to get the fire blazing again soon enough."

Juraviel moved in tentatively and sat down opposite the low-burning fire pit from Pony. They said nothing as Bradwarden dropped some more kindling on the coals and Pony took out her ruby gemstone and her serpentine. She brought a white-glowing shield up over her hand and forearm, then thrust the hand among the logs and called upon the powers of the ruby. In seconds, she had a fire blazing.

Then she sat back, her blue eyes staring at Juraviel above and through the leaping orange flames. She didn't speak at all, and made no motion for him to do so.

And so they sat quietly for a long time, just getting the feel of one another again - as friends and not as enemies.

"Lady Dasslerond believed that your Aydrian was the only hope of our home," Juraviel finally explained. "He alone could defeat the spreading rot of the demon dactyl, so she believed. And so she kept him as her weapon. In her mind, the Aydrian who was your son died that night on the field, and while you were saved, he was not. Not truly. What was taken from you was not your son, but rather the hope of Andur'Blough Inninness.

"I know that it must sound horrible to you to hear it put so callously,"

Juraviel continued. "But you must understand that our entire existence is threatened. Even saying all of that, I tell you without condescension and without condition that my Lady was wrong in her assessment, and in trying to use any man in such a manner."

"And we see the result."

"Her price has been ultimate," Juraviel reminded. "But now we must get beyond her grave error and salvage what is left of the world." He gave a helpless little laugh - a curiously human gesture, and nothing Pony had never heard from him or any other elf before.

"The great irony here is that the root of my Lady's error was my own doing, I fear," Juraviel explained. "It was I who pushed Lady Dasslerond and my people too close to the affairs of humans. We became more involved than ever since the time of Terranen Dinoniel - and the world was certainly a different place back then. And now here I am, risen from the ashes of my ruined homeland, once again to interject myself and my people into the affairs of humans."

"Instead of running away and hiding."

"Indeed," the elf agreed. "We could do that. We have found our kin, the Doc'alfar, and they have extended their hand to us. We could allow Andur'Blough Inninness to fade from our memories, and find a new way and a new life far removed from Aydrian and Jilseponie and all other humans."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because he's knowing that yer Aydrian, this thing yer Aydrian has become, was partly the doing o' him and his kin," Bradwarden reasoned.

Pony regarded the centaur, then slowly turned back to regard the diminutive figure sitting across the fire.

"He speaks the truth, my friend," Juraviel answered her unspoken question. "We of the Touel'alfar bear great responsibility for King Aydrian and the monster he has become. And so I come to you, out of mutual need, and offer to you my services."

"The armies of humans are vast," Pony reasoned. "And if Aydrian is as powerful with the gemstones as we believe, he would seem unstoppable."

She gave a little shrug. "My people will survive the tempest that is Aydrian. The human lands will go on long after he is dead, long after we are all dead. Your own numbers, though, are diminished, by your own admission. Go and hide, Juraviel - I tell you that as your friend. Go and hide your people away. Your warriors are magnificent, I agree, but you do not number enough to offer any true advantage to our cause. We will win or we will lose, and not a hundred elves could possibly tilt the balance."

"I do not intend to throw my warriors in battle before your Aydrian ever again," the elf agreed. "We cannot afford to lose many more, else we will cease to exist altogether!"

"Then what're ye to offer?" asked Bradwarden.

Juraviel again held aloft the emerald. "You have allies," he explained.

"There lives in To-gai, south of the mountains, a ranger trained by me, the warrior woman named Brynn Dharielle, who has risen to lead the To- gai-ru to freedom from their Behrenese oppressors. Even now, Aydrian has reached southward to Behren, and even now, my couriers are advising Brynn to oppose him."

"There's the first glimmer I heared in a bit," Bradwarden said hopefully, and he nudged Pony.

"With this gemstone, I can travel great distances in a short time,"

Juraviel explained, holding forth the emerald once more. "I can take few others with me, and so I will be of little help in moving armies or the like. But in securing a line of communication between those who would oppose Aydrian, and in scouting the movements of Aydrian's forces, we Touel'alfar are without equal."

Pony stared at him while she digested the information, and while the potential gain to her cause began to blossom in her thoughts. She had understood the desperation of her situation in coming to Vanguard in search of Prince Midalis. She knew that it was likely that Aydrian had already grown too strong to be supplanted by Midalis, even with her support.

But now this. Now the possibility of finding all the loose threads opposing Aydrian and weaving them into a single force... "I accept your apology, Belli'mar Juraviel," the woman remarked quietly.

"Help me. Help me make the world as it was."

"And help you to defeat your son?" the elf reasoned.

Those words stung Pony's sensibilities despite her logical agreement, and she knew not from where her response came, "Help me to save my son."

She saw the look of concern shared by Juraviel and Bradwarden at that curious reply, and she understood that look better than she understood her own reasoning.

Still, the woman did not back down from her impetuous statement.

For if she surrendered hope itself, there would remain nothing else.

P/S: Copyright -->www_novelfreereadonline_Com

***