Quellenna The Wood Elf: Prologue
How well acquainted are you with loss? What about despair? Crippling loneliness? How about, magic? Do you know much about that? Well, I have extensive knowledge about all of the above. It isn’t an easy story to tell. But, I suppose it might be necessary for you to know me on a less superficial level.
My childhood was a happy one. I would spend my days running about the woods with my friends. Picking flowers and weaving them into tiaras and wearing them about the village whilst pretending to be an elven princess. I did some studying, but not much because we were a village of Wood Elves. The things we held most important were hunting, gathering, and construction to make more houses. There weren’t a lot of children in my village, only about four. Elves have very long lifespans so we typically take our time when mating. Most families were lucky if they had one child. I suppose my family was doubly lucky, because I had a younger sister.
She was my best friend. We did everything together. We would play, sleep, and eat together; we would even hold each other’s hands when walking through the village. It was just reassuring to know that I had someone that I could count on to follow me on my silly “adventures” and would love me no matter how I acted. I’m sure she felt the same way.
We were quite different from each other though. Where I had black hair like my father, Emilae had beautiful auburn hair like our mother. Her eyes were also a deep hazel while mine were a green like emerald. Sometimes, it looked like the green and brown in her eyes would slowly swirl around her pupils. It was mesmerizing. Now, Emilae was younger than me by 10 years, which means I was the big sister. I was supposed to teach her things and show her the ropes. That would have been my job, if she wasn’t so bloody smart. She was quick as a whip and a natural at everything she tried. She was always reading and soaking up as much knowledge as possible. That is another thing that differentiates us; I would rather go exploring than sit in the house and read dusty, old books. I felt that venturing out into the woods was more important than reading a book written by some dead scholar.
As a child, at the tender age of 30, I was out exploring the woods on a brisk, fall day when I saw smoke and flame rising above the trees. It seemed to be coming from the direction my village was in. I rushed back to my village as fast as I could, but without being seen. I watched, hidden in the bough of a tree, as my friends and family were burned and slaughtered by an Orc raiding party. To this day, I can still hear their screams echo in my head. I stayed as quiet as I could; sobbing silently into my blouse, praying to any deity that would listen to spare me from the same fate my village was cursed to. After what felt like ages, I was exhausted and I passed out. I woke the next morning to see a smoking pile of ash and rubble where my home used to be.
As I walked through my hollowed out and burned village, I noticed the charred remains of my friends and their parents. I made my way past all of the bodies and smoldering houses until I stood in front of my own home. Or at least, it was my home. All that was left was the barest resemblance of a dwelling. It was a husk of what it used to be. I could barely make out the blackened remains of my parents. It looked like my father was cut down trying to defend my mother. He had died on top of her, shielding her with his body. It looked like my mother was hit across the head by something heavy. That may be why my father was protecting her in such a way. I searched for a good half hour but I couldn't find the body of my little sister. I had high hopes that she escaped this madness like I had. That was the best scenario for her. I'm not sure though. Looking back on everything I've been through in my 300 years of life, it may have been easier just to have died with everyone else. After I finished searching the house for anything useful (there wasn't much) I left for the woods.
Harsh weather greeted me for the next two weeks as I tried to survive on my own. It rained constantly during the day and froze over during the night. I became violently ill during this time and managed to find a safe haven, of sorts, in a cave on the outskirts of the woods. During my fevered haze, I swear I saw something white dart around the edge of my swimming vision. I was in and out of consciousness for the next few days and when I finally awoke, I was lying next to a snow colored wolf. Fear instantly took me, followed by apprehension. I finally resolved to try and rouse the animal from its sleep. This wolf was so beautiful that it almost seemed supernatural. With a trembling hand, I reached forward and stroked the beast’s head. As soon as I touched the soft, white fur, the wolf awoke. It stared at me with two, different colored, but equally beautiful eyes. The left was silver, like the full moon on the winter solstice, and the right was a pale gold like the wheat right before harvesting. This animal’s gaze was full of a deep intelligence and knowing. It seemed like she knew who I was and had something in mind for me. I just hoped that it didn’t involve eating me.
After the wolf was fully awake, she simply stood up and strode out of the shallow cave. At the mouth of the opening she stopped and looked back at me as if saying, “Well, are you coming?” I shook my head and reminded myself that wolves can’t talk and got up to follow her. As I started walking forward, she let out a low howl. Just like everything else about this wolf, it was beautifully haunting. It was almost as if the wolf was celebrating my recovery. With a sideways look and me, and a swish of her tail, she started off again; this time, with me in tow.
After what seemed like hours of walking, I found myself in an unfamiliar part of the forest. Not that that was a feat or anything. The forest in which my village was built is impressively vast. Some human hunters who wander too far into these woods would be lost for months, sometimes years, at a time. Unlike the sections of the forest that I’m familiar with, this section was more… wild. It was almost feral in its atmosphere. This was a place that had not yet been touched by civilization. The undergrowth was thick and hard to traverse. The trees were taller and older and the canopy blocked out most of the sunlight. When you looked up through the tops of the trees, it almost looked like the night sky with thousands of stars. There was also a strange, ethereal energy in this place. My hair stood up on my arms and my blood almost seemed to hum in my ears. “This is ancient magic,” I felt like my elven blood was saying to me. That definitely didn’t ease my anxiety any.
I thought that, by this time, the wolf would start to slow down but I was wrong. She just kept walking with her muzzle pointed forward. She wasn’t even looking around which showed that she knew exactly where she was going and that she had no fear that anything would attack her. That was a little reassuring. A little. After another hour of walking in silence, I could swear that I saw small entities moving in the shadows. Diminutive, winged creatures that glowed pale blue or light green. It seemed that the more I tried to focus on them, the more my eyesight would shift just past them. I could never make out any specific details.
The more we walked, the lighter I started feeling. Like the natural magic that filled the air was making me giddy. Not long after that, I started giggling for no reason. The littlest thing was hilarious to me. I saw a shadow that looked like a bunny’s ears and laughed and snorted like an idiot for 20 minutes. At the end of my laugh session, the wolf looked back at me and gave a sigh while raising an eyebrow. “Is this wolf mocking me?” I thought to myself. Which made me giggle more, thinking about a wolf judging me. After I stopped laughing, the wolf just shook her head and kept walking.
About half an hour after that, my head started swimming but not in an unpleasant way. It was as if my problems didn’t matter anymore, which didn’t make sense because my whole family had just been burned to death. Why was I feeling this way? Will this ever end? Will I just keep acting like an idiot for the rest of my life (or at least until I leave this part of the forest)? I didn’t know, and that scared me for a moment. It scared me enough to bring me partially back to my senses. I suppose the wolf noticed this (probably because I had stopped skipping and giggling) and gave me a sobering look. Somehow, with that look, I got the feeling that our forest hike was almost over.
That feeling proved to be accurate as we walked into a large clearing. Around the edges of the field there stood tall stone obelisks arranged in a wide circle and a cave entrance towards the back. In the middle of the circle of large stones was an altar of sorts. It was made of simple stonework and there were feathers and small bones on top of it as well as some animal furs. It definitely seemed that this place was used as a ritual site. Although this unnerved me a bit, it didn’t make me want to run away screaming in fear. There are many different kinds of magics in this world. This one seemed more natural than the others I’ve heard about. What were the names of those who practice natural magic? Before I could answer my own question, the white wolf let out a low bark. A couple of seconds passed until I noticed some movement on the other side of the clearing. A pack of wolves were emerging from the opening in the cave. This new development definitely raised some warning flags for me, but before I could turn and run, I heard a low female voice behind me. “Do not be afraid, young one.”
I slowly turned around to see a tall elven woman. She had long, thick, white hair that went down to the small of her back. It looked somewhat wild but not unruly. She was wearing many different furs, all of them white. Around her neck was a white fox fur, her legs were clad in white deer skin trousers, and across her shoulders was a white wolf fur. Her midriff was partially showing, I could see the pale skin of a flat stomach. In her hand, she held a staff that seemed to be made of yew wood. It was smooth and slender from where the bottom rested on the grass to almost the top. About half a foot from the top of the staff, the wood seemed to split into a spiraling sphere of wooden tendrils. In the middle of this sphere sat a clear crystal that swirled with green energy. I was wondering who this beautiful woman was until she looked down at me. I could see my unwashed face perfectly reflected in her eyes; one silver and one gold.
The odd feeling I had from that white wolf was accurate. There was definitely something supernatural about it. It wasn’t a normal wolf, it was this woman. I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn’t make any words come out. I was gob smacked. All I could do was stare at this visage of magical beauty with my mouth agape. The woman, seeing me in this state, smiled and started chuckling quietly. It seemed to stir something primal inside of me. “I take it you haven’t seen many druids, then?” She asked, once she was finished laughing. Druids! That’s what I had been thinking of earlier. This woman was a practitioner of the natural magics. I had read about them, during the limited time I had studied, but I never thought I would see one; let alone be saved by one. Druids are a very reclusive people. They would rather commune with animals than with other humanoids. Civilized society was a bother to them. If this woman was a druid, and druids didn’t like people, then what did she want with me?
“No. I can’t say that I have.” I managed to reply. “Who are you? What do you want from me? Why did you save me?” She looked at me with a slight smile and I swear I saw the briefest of twinkles in her silver eye. “I will answer all of your questions in due time,” she said, “but right now; we need to get you fed. Follow me, you must be starving.” At the mention of food, my stomach let out a very audible growl. I was just noticing how famished I was. With only the slightest bit of apprehension, I followed her across the clearing to the opening of the cave. Once we arrived, I noticed just how many wolves were there. There had to be two dozen at least; all of them different shades of grey and black. They looked upon me curiously but didn’t make any attempt to approach. As we entered the cave, I could see a small fire towards the back. Hanging above the fire was a stew pot that seemed to have been cooking for quite awhile now. As I drew closer to the fire, I started to smell the stew. Instantly, my mouth started watering and my stomach started growling even louder. This earned me another quiet chuckle from the woman.
“Please, go, sit down and help yourself. There is plenty.” She said. I hurried ahead of her and sat down at the fire. I picked up a bowl, which was by where I was sitting, and, seeing no ladle, I dipped it into the stew. I filled it up half-way before removing it. I blew on it a few times before greedily digging in. My father once told me that if you left a man in the desert for days without food, to where he is nearly starving, and you give him a cracker, that that man will say that it was the best food that he has ever eaten. I now understood what my father meant. This simple stew was the greatest meal I had ever had. It seemed to be filling me with life again.
Once I finished my third bowl, I leaned back on the cave wall, closed my eyes, and heaved a satisfied sigh. Once I opened my eyes again, I could see the woman smiling at me from across the fire. “Are you finished eating, young one?” She asked me, as she stood up and walked over, in order to sit closer to me. “Yes, I am. Thank you for the meal, and for saving me.” I said out of genuine gratitude. She gave me another smile and sat down to my left, about arms length away. “You have many questions, and I promised you answers, so please, ask away.” Ok. Finally I will get my answers. “Alright. First question: Who are you?” I ask. She gives me an inquisitive look and answers, “I am called Elvera., although, I have not heard that name in over a century.” So her name is Elvera. It seemed too average a name for someone so otherworldly. She keeps looking me over, patiently waiting for more questions. I oblige; “Why did you bring me here? Why did you save me, and how did you turn into a wolf?” My last question made her laugh again. She fixes me with her gaze once more, a playful smile on her lips, “I brought you here because it would be safe for you. I saved you because I could sense a strong natural magic from you and I wanted to cultivate that under my tutelage. And the answer to your third question is ‘magic.’”
“Tutelage? You want to teach me things? When did you notice I had this ‘strong natural magic’?” I ask immediately. Her smile fades for a moment and I can see sadness in her eyes. It’s directed at me. “I noticed while you were exploring my neck of the woods, so to speak. You have a deep connection to the natural world, whether you’ve noticed it or not. I was following you through the woods when I smelled the fire, it was only moments after when you noticed it too and started running back from where you came from. I didn’t fully understand what was happening so I gave chase. I stopped, out of sight, a dozen paces behind you. I noticed the village burning and your tears as you cried in that tree. I kept watch over you through the night to make sure that no harm befell you. The following morning, I left you to go get supplies together to make my cave hospitable for a young elf. After that, I lost you for awhile. I believe it was 10 days before I caught your scent again. It was difficult because the constant rain kept washing it away.
I found you in that shallow cave, shivering. No fire or blankets to keep you warm. You were in a fevered sleep and wouldn’t last much longer unless I did something. So I shifted back into my elven form and cast a healing spell on you to help the fever go away. After the casting was completed, I went back into my wolf form and lay with you until the morning. Now, here we are.”
My head was spinning. I had no idea that a wolf had been following me. A new wave of loss washed over me as I thought of that day again. Tears started rolling down my cheeks as I started to cry. I suddenly felt arms around me as Elvera pulled me towards her and held me while I wept. I let out all the emotion I had been bottling up inside for weeks now. It was a healing cry. One that leaves you feeling lighter after it’s over. Once I had calmed down, I looked up into my savior’s eyes. “What happens now?” I asked. She looked down at me and patted my head before releasing me. She put her hands on my shoulders and looked me in my eyes, with a coy half smile, she said, “Now, I teach you the ways of the Druid. Come! There’s much to learn”
TO BE CONTINUED…
