Page 70 of Crown of Flame
“No. We’ll rebuild here. This is our place. The little forest critters do not even come here anymore because they know that this is our place. We can rebuild a new place, a house, one that is even better than before.”
“Well,” I lean forward and place a loving kiss on her shoulder. “I am sure you know what you want. So I’ll follow your lead.”
A bright, dazzling smile stretches across her face, and she pushes me onto my back. She straddles me and leans down to kiss me.
“But first,” she whispers as I feel myself harden beneath her. “We need to eat.”
Then, with a quickness that surprises me, Serena jumps up and pulls her clothes on.
I’ll have to go hunting. I need to get animal skins for her so that she can make new clothes. Or maybe we should trade with one of the human settlements.
My thoughts are reflective as Serena and I walk into the forest. I walk in ahead of her, and she falls back as I break into a sprint, darting here and there, until I capture an animal – one that Serena calls a dripir.
It is quite large, so it should keep us supplied with meat for a few days, and it dies quickly enough.
Serena has gathered wood for a fire, and we walk back to the destroyed hovel where she dumps the firewood in a pit. I summon a ball of fire and light the wood quickly, while Serena skins the cleans the dripir.
She carves up some of the meat with a knife that she produces from thin air, and soon the smell of roasting meat fills the air.
“What did you think Aldris meant?” When Serena speaks, her voice is soft and timid. In fact, I have never heard her sound like this before.
I have never heard her sound anything but brave, I think to myself as she turns the meat.
“It was an empty threat.” I shrug and try to keep my voice light. I do not need to worry her.
You might be right. Aldris did not have time to alert his cronies before he died. He thought he would win the fight.
And if it wasn’t an empty threat then… I’ll deal with it when the time comes.
“You know dark elves,” I tell her and help her take some of the meat off the fire so that she doesn’t burn her hands.
“They’re full of bluster and talk. Aldris couldn’t keep his mouth shut, and in the end, we won. You won.”
Her face lightens, and some of the tension clears from it.
We eat quickly, as the sun starts coming up. When the first light leaps over the horizon, Serena and I are ready to start building.
She explains exactly what she wants, and after I visualize it for a few moments, I am ready.
I pull the elements around me towards me, and with a loud, creaking groan, I pull rock and wood directly from the ground.
Serena is quite particular about what she wants. Soon, four large, tall walls are standing in the clearing.
I use some of the remains from the hovel to fortify the walls and strengthen the foundation of the house.
We walk inside, and Serena inspects the place with a wide smile on her face.
“Once we’re finished, we can go over to one of the camps and trade for some furniture. It's quite large, so we’ll need to make it very comfortable, otherwise it will be cold.”
The concept of furniture is still baffling to me, although I know that humans and dark elves use them daily.
You’ll get used to it in the end.
Serena continues to instruct me, and I add more walls on the inside, with archways in some of the walls so that we can walk between rooms.
I add a stone staircase, which we walk up, and then I add another layer of rock and wood, to create a floor for the second story.
By the time I finish, the sun is hanging high and fat in the sky, although the sky itself is hazy and gray with cold.