We arrived at the Binding Tree shortly after sunrise. A circular clearing was worn around the massive tree. Tymara showed us a place away from it to keep the horses and rest. Opening myself back up, I sensed the other elves a distance away. Tymara must have been talking with them as I felt no unease on their part. I could sense their anger at the Baalocs and their resolve to keep them out of Brimgrove. Scanning around, I felt the unicorns, down to five, our deer family, and the edges of a few villages. Directing my attention to the north, a presence as cold as ice hit me. It was not the cold hate of undead, but just cold, no emotion. I asked Tymara what lay north of here. She was reluctant to answer. Finally, she told me of a relic of an old war was there. An old race of underground elves had magically made man-like beings out of stone. They were sent against the surface elves to keep them away from the cave entrances of the below surface elves. The surface elves destroyed all but one. That was what I had felt, a creature of living stone whom elf wizards of old had partially fused to the ground. It could not move as it was part of the rock beneath it from the knees down and one arm was also captured. No one could determine any intelligence or soul in it. It was avoided by nearly everything. She said it would be best for me to leave it alone as well. I was going to do just that when I felt a need pulling on me from it. I thought it was just me until my sisters started staring towards the north.
"You feel it too?" I asked them all.
"Yes, something is very sick," Sarah replied.
"And weak, painfully weak," added Callie.
I told them what Tymara had said. We all went to Kendar and Tymara and explained what we were feeling. The other elves arrived as we were speaking. Tymara informed them of our feelings. The leader of the other troop said it was worth a try to see if something could be done about the golem. The seven of us, Kendar, Tymara, and Lurox, the leader of the other troop, headed towards the need.
In less than an hour, we arrived in an open area. Before us, standing nearly twenty-five feet above ground, a male-looking being of pure marble stood white in the sun, leaning to its left with its hand unseen below ground. The need was radiating from it almost to the point of pain. It was motionless.
"See, it is a chunk of rock. No cleric or wizard had found any life in it," Tymara stated, almost in anger.
Just then, it moved, rumbling the ground beneath us.
"Free me," rumbled in my head.
My sisters heard it, too. The elves did not act as if they heard anything.
"Free me, I hurt."
The seven of us approached. We told the others we would be safe. We stood at a comfortable speaking distance.
"Explain, please, we are not sure how to free you or help," I told it.
"My legs and hand are being squeezed by the rocks. I can bear no more torture."
"The elves cannot hear your voice. They think you are only stone."
"My race is stone, living stone. The underground elves forced us to fight. I am the last of those, but my race lives, deep under the ground. Please, I only wish to go home."
We relayed his words. The elves were shocked. None of them even guessed he was alive and in pain. They informed us that the spell used to imprison him was ancient and unknown to any of their tribes.
"Fortunately, Greed, Envy, Vanity, and Sloth are ancient magic users. They will guide us," Anna said confidently.
We circled the marble man. Without touching them, our swords rose from their sheaths and hung between us and him. The swords began to hum as they examined the spell holding him and searched their memories for a counter spell. Their probing found another spell preventing his mind voice from being heard by elves. They searched for another counter spell to allow the elves to hear him. Finding both, they quickly taught it to us. As we began, Lurox began writing it down, both of the counter spells. The barrier fell first and the elves heard his voice for the first time in hundreds of years. With it gone, the imprisoning spell began to fall. He began to slowly rise from the earth. His hand was freed first. He flexed his hand with an odd crunching, grinding noise.When he rose enough for his knees to be fully above ground, he flexed them too, with the same noise accompanying those movements. It took an hour to fully free him. When his feet were free, he sat down and cleaned the dirt and growth from his feet and legs.
"Thank you. Now I can return to my people. I did not know if I could stand another visit from them and the pain of their departure."
"Wait, the 'Meeting of the Giants'. Our elders said that was a memorial service for their fallen. That was when we thought you were lifeless stone. They were trying to free you?" Tymara asked.
"Yes, it took an entire year to gather the magic to attempt the spell. They have managed to get me as far as you had seen me. I was originally up to my waist with both hands caught. Each year, they have inched me up a bit at a time. Recently, the ground has begun squeezing me, nearly crushing my legs and hand. I was afraid of becoming impaired by the time they managed to get me out of here. Once again, thank you, young ones."
I felt the warm breeze that carried Faerie knowledge to me. Without thought, a tumble of words fell out in the Faerie language. When I finished, everyone was staring at me. The marble man, however, was not staring, but smiling.
"On behalf of my people, I accept the friendship of the Faerie Queen, her heir, and their court. It will be my pleasure to take it back to my people. As for the demons you spoke of, I am familiar with them. The large non-solid ones we call harzans. Our people generally avoid their domain as the fire of their realm is one of the few natural things that can destroy us. The solid ones are harzicons. Their shape-changing ability is flawed when they try our shapes. They can only become the rough stones: sandstone, flint, and granite, usually. Any other stone reveals their lack of familiarity with our people. I will tell my people of their involvement in the conflict going on here. Anything else?"
I placed my hand on one of his cool fingers, "No, you have been delayed long enough. Go in peace."
He stood up, making more "crunch""grind" noises, and walked towards the north. We all headed back to the Binding Tree. Everyone was unusually quiet, even my sisters. When we returned, I received the same silent stares from the other elves. The human soldiers were clueless. We assembled near the Binding Tree and informed the humans of what had happened. They stared at me as well. Lurox broke the silence.
"Your Faerie speech is very old. Who is teaching you?"
"My ancestor, the Faerie Queen."
Other than my sisters, Kendar, Tymara, and her troop, everyone burst into an assault of questions. A few of the remaining humans accused me of consorting with devils. Elves wanted to learn it. I backed away and the unicorns came charging in and surrounded me, keeping even my sisters at bay with their horns. A human soldier drew his sword and took two steps forward. In vain, the unicorns tried with their limited ability to ward him off mentally, but it went unheard by him. The elves tried verbally, but he claimed that he did not have to listen to "inferior beings" and took a third step. A unicorn raised up on his hind legs, leaned forward, and impaled the soldier through his armor, chest, back, and armor. Shock widened his eyes as blood began flowing from his mouth. The unicorn shook his head and sent the man flying. Taking his place back in the circle, he rubbed his bloody horn on the grass to clean it a bit. Kendar called for everyone to stand down. He apologized for his soldier and for making me feel threatened. I told him I accepted, but I needed to be alone for a moment. Lurox said we were not heading out until morning anyway, so I could take my time. I and my unicorn protectors went to the edge of the clearing. I sat and cried. They laid down near me. The one with the bloody horn tried, in his way, to explain, but I told him there was no need.
"You did what you though was right. I find no fault in that. What upsets me is I fought beside him and he still claimed elves were inferior and Faeries are devils. Did he think we were inferior to him?"
The unicorns huddled closer as I continued to sob. After a while, I felt Callie gently seek me out and ask if I was alright. I bid all of my sisters to join me. We huddled with the unicorns and voiced our fears, doubts, wishes, and concerns. We were oblivious to the passage of time until Tymara asked if we were hungry. Realizing we were, we rejoined the others. Tymara apologized for all the elves because they had overheard us speaking.
"With the powers you wield, it is easy to forget that none of you have seen two decades of life. We see you do ancient wonders, speak forgotten languages, undo centuries of mystery, yet you are still just girls, virgins by the way the unicorns act. We will try to keep that in mind."
The unicorns stayed on alert, but allowed the others to get close to me. Tymara and her troop left a few hours before sunset. Unfortunately, the rest of the humans, besides Kendar, said they could not handle this anymore and were dismissed to return to Raval. We got better acquainted with Lurox and his troop. Lurox began explaining the differences between his tribe and Tymara's.
"Relatively speaking, we are newcomers to these woods. The war with the underground elves was draining her tribe's resources. Our prince and his wife, both highly skilled warriors, led an army fifty-thousand strong from our homeland far to the west to aid our fellow elves. The magic used to get us here was strong, divinely granted by Starlight, a celestial being of great power. She anchored it to our prince and his lady. Only they could reopen it from this side once our task was done. We fought. Many died. Before the last of our enemies fell, our prince and lady vanished. No one could find them. About half of those healthy enough to travel began the long journey, on foot, back home. The other half and the wounded stayed here. Three hundred years have passed since then. Our fellows sent word that our king had perished. A chancellor holds the throne for our vanished prince to claim. We are considered exiles until we can find our missing heirs and return to our homeland."
"How are you going to get back?" several of us asked.
"The Pedestal of the Lands, housed in the Temple of Starlight, is our means of travel. The large gold bowl, crafted and gifted by the Faerie, holds the power source, water from the deepest of springs known, carried by mermaids in the shell of Ocean. The temple is a giant geode, selected and carved by dwarfs. Leprechauns polished the points to direct sunlight into the bowl. Unicorns used their horns to etch mystical runes inside the bowl. Dragons heated and cooled the pedestal to fuse it with the floor of the cave. Many others had a hand in its creation. There is no door. Dryads grew enchanted vines to cover the entrance. Brownies, in their meticulous way, etched the instructions for its use upon the rim of the pedestal. We know its general location, yet, without our royalty, it is useless to us."
We were all silent, taking in his words. We wondered how the pair could have vanished. Lurox told us they were chasing the enemy leader into the woods. Several minutes later, the royal pair's horses returned riderless. Retracing the horses' paths revealed no footprints, just horse and deer tracks. Not a shred of clothing, piece of jewelry, or item was found. We settled down for the night with the puzzle wandering through our minds.
I was in the room again. Vanity standing beside me as usual.
"What do we seek tonight?" she asked in a playful manner.
"The Temple of Starlight. I feel it is important. I cannot explain why, but I think we need to see it."
Opening the "outside" door, we entered a dark cave.
"Something is wrong, Vanity. Lurox said this place was bright."
We looked and saw the hole that let the light in was covered in vines, roots, and dirt. Asking them to move, light flooded inside. The crystals reflected light to a central point. The pedestal was there, but it was empty. No gold bowl, no sparkling water, just a bare stone stump. Looking around revealed skeletons. Their armor told us everything. Vanity and I looked at each other.
"They are not going to like this."
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