Five-Hitin

The King's Tome was a huge, circular structure. The center was the actual throne room where all important meetings were held and an outer ring was were the history of the elves decorated the walls. The center circle was made of huge oak trees that tower over the rest of the forest. The outer ring was constructed of shrub-trees. The branches were stretched to make an archway that was about seven feet tall and five yards wide and that blends into the oak trunks, enclosing the archway.

 

There was one opening in the outer ring. It was a slim doorway a little shorter than the archway. On either side of the entry were two tall trees.

 

Mr. Grand and Mrs. Morris stopped the group a few yards from the guard trees and door.

 

“Now, you lot have got to be careful,” Mrs. Morris reminded them. “We don't want anything bad to happen to the only elven ruin in the world.”

 

Amirra was the only student who didn't murmurer reassurances to the older lady. She stared hard at the tree to the left of the doorway She would have sworn that she had seen that tree before. The strange, familiar feeling came from both trees instead of just the left one. A few seconds later she finally remembered where she had felt the strange feeling before.

 

Amirra's loud and sudden gasp drew the attention of the whole group.

 

“Amirra, are you alright?” asked Mrs. Morris.

 

“Those trees aren't really trees,” the elf-girl replied. She pointed to the left tree. “That one has been following us.”

 

Her fellow students laughed at her. She looked around in distress. The people she had been with her whole life were laughing at her. She looked to her teachers. Mrs. Morris had a worried look on her face and Mr. Grand was trying hard not to glare.

 

“This is no time for jokes, Ms. Elf,” he said.

 

“I'm not joking!” Amirra said. “I'll prove it!”

 

Before anyone had time to react Amirra had flown past her classmates and reached for the left-hand tree. When she touched it a flash of silver blinds the group. She backed up and bumped into someone a good head taller than her.

 

“Young lady, that is not how elves use magic!” a female voice scolded. “You could have seriously injured Bastian!”

 

A male voice cursed. “What do you mean 'could have'? I'm gonna have a burn mark!”

 

“Stop being a baby.” Slim hands wrapped around Amirra's wrists. “And you are going to apologize.”

 

The colored spots were clearing from the vision of the students and teachers. Standing between them and the Tome is not one, but three people. A tall man with silver-blue hair leaned against the outer ring carefully studying his pale chest with silver-yellow eyes. A tall, slender, silver-pink haired woman held Amirra's wrists in her hands, her silver-purple eyes stern. The two trees were gone.

 

“What have these humans been teaching you, child?” the woman asked. She turned to the man and said in the same stern tone, “I told you we shouldn't leave her with them. She has learned next to nothing with them.”

 

“Excuse me,” Mrs. Morris said as she stepped forward, “who are you and would you please release my student?”

 

“I am Theme,” the woman said. “This is Bastian. I will not be releasing her until she apologizes for hurting Bastian.” She turned back to Amirra. “Elves do not use magic like humans. We can't just throw it around wily nilly. We have too much for that.”

 

Amirra was staring, wide eyed, at the two, her startled gaze jumping from one to the other. It took her several minutes to gather her scattered thoughts. “You two are the elves from my dreams.”

 

Theme, seeing the confusion on the younger woman's face, sighed and waved a hand at the ground. The dirt leaped up and solidified, creating a bench big enough for three or four people to sit.

 

“You lot can go ahead into the Tome,” she said as she made another bench opposite the first. “I do not want you staring at her as we explain this.”

 

Mrs. Morris and Mr. Grand looked at each other for a minute. Mr. Grand nodded and turned to the other students.

 

“Come on, then,” he said. “Lets leave the elves to deal with the elves.”

 

Mr. Grand herded the students into the Tome. Mrs. Morris sat next to Amirra on the bench and put an arm around her shoulders.

 

“An explanation would be nice,” she said with a disapproving glare directed at the now seated elves.

 

“When Amirra first came to the forest we knew she was one of us,” Bastian began.

 

“Bastian said to leave her alone and hope she never finds out about us,” Theme said with disgust in her tone.

 

“It was the only thing we could do,” Bastian growled. It was obvious to the other two that this was an old argument.

 

“Oh, yea, lets keep a girl from her heritage,” Theme mocked. “What a great plan! Why didn't I think of that?”

 

“I was doing what was best for her!” Bastian roared.

 

“And how many daughters have you raised, Bastian?” Theme asked as she put her hands on her hips.

 

That stopped Bastian in his tracks. He went back to inspecting the hand print shaped hole in his blue-green shirt.

 

“Bastian.” The female elf's tome was hard enough to cut diamond.

 

“I haven't raised any,” he said in a defeated voice. “We raised four daughters and two sons. Life-mating and raising children is a compromise and a partnership.”

 

“That's right,” Theme said primly. “And every good elf should know when to shut his trap and let his mate do what is best. You blundered this enough as it is.”

 

Bastian took a breath as if to argue, but the glare Theme gave him made him reconsider what he was going to say. “Then I will now shut my trap, dear one.”

 

Amirra looked up at Mrs. Morris. The banter between the two reminded her of the Cahugvasmer dreams and made the young girl smile. Mrs. Morris relaxed after seeing her expression.

 

“Good.” Theme turned back to Amirra and Mrs. Morris. “I'm sorry about that. We have trouble agreeing on some things.”

 

Mrs. Morris smiled and said, “Reminds me of my husband and I.”

 

Theme returned the smile and turned to Amirria. “We have not been in your dreams, child. Every year since coming here you have been drawn to our Cahugvasmer celebrations. We couldn't turn an elf child away from the greatest elven holiday.”

 

“So those weren't dreams?” Amirra asked.

 

Bastian nodded. “We were surprised to learn, a few years after you arrived, that you thought you were dreaming. Elves don't dream and humans don't all the time.”

 

Amirra thought for a moment. “Neither of you are my elf parent, are you?”

 

The two shook their heads slowly.

 

“We don't know whose child you are,” Theme said softly. “The Forest has a power all it's own and we don't know how it works. You could have been born a couple thousand years ago or more recently. All we know is that you are one of the only four living elves left.”

 

“Four? Who is the fourth?” Mrs. Morris asked.

 

“The king himself,” Theme said calmly. “The humans couldn't kill him, the Forest wouldn't allow that, so they put him to sleep and sealed him inside his throne room.”

 

“There is a prophecy imprinted on the seal,” Bastian added. “The Forest made sure we all knew the king would come back. That's why we left you with the humans. Your name is in the prophecy.”

 

“My name...” Amirra stared at the Tome. She was frightened and excited at the same time.

 

The elves nodded.

 

“But we will have to take the risk that you could accidentally wake him up,” Theme said. “You have next to no control over your magic. Only an elf can properly teach the use of elf magic.”

 

“Why would waking him up be bad?” Amirra asked as her head tipped to the side like a bird's.

 

“Lets just say his Majesty is not happy about being locked up,” Bastian said slowly.

 

“The message engraved in the tablet.” Amirra stood up suddenly. “He remembers what they did to him and his people and he wants revenge!”

 

Theme nodded sadly. “If he is ever released, or even woken up, he will kill as many humans as he can manage.”

 

“And we wouldn't be able to stop him,” Bastian growled. “We are sworn to guard and serve.”

 

Amirra was about to reply when she felt the air change. The other elves felt it to and jumped up. Bastian flew into the Tome and Theme grabbed Amirra by the shoulders and pushed her in the opposite direction.

 

“Fly!” Theme yelled. Several voices shirked in fear. The three women looked at the Tome. As soon as she saw it Amirra turned and fled as fast as she could.

 

A huge cloud of black magic rose through the open ceiling of the throne room. It spread across the sky above it. The dark mass swirled and moved as if it was looking for something. It seemed to spot the fleeing girl and gave chase.

 

Theme's dark purple magic flowed out of her and put itself between the dark cloud and the young elf. The cloud easily swallowed the woman's magic, just like it did her mate's. Theme collapsed on the ground and the dark cloud continued it's pursuit.

 

The girl stayed ahead of the cloud for a good five minutes before it was practically nipping at her heals. She desperately throw her silver magic at it, trying to distract it so she could find a place to hide. The cloud just swallowed the magic and continued after her. It knew she was tiering and that it's goal was close at hand.

 

The girl was slowing and the dark magic managed to lock around her legs. She felt two large hands grab her and drag her back. She screamed in fear as the dark cloud surrounded her and she felt herself trapped in the magic's unbreakable embrace.

 

Back in the Tome, under the seal that bound him to his silk lined coffin, a dark haired and dark eyed elven man held the bright silver magic of the young elf in his arms. He forced her magic into him at the same time he forced his magic into her.

 

Dominic smiled wickedly. He was finally awake and he now had the elf of the prophecy bond to him and under his control.

Author's Note

Boum-bum-bummmmmmm!!
OH, SNAP!!