Page 35 of In Darkness Forged
When her mind flashed back to the moment he’d emerged from the pool, she nearly let go in horrified embarrassment. But her fear of whatever followed them proved greater than her humiliation, so she hung on and hoped she’d still be able to look him in the eye when this was over.
“Wait,” the night elf said suddenly, and Cuan slid to a stop. Had Aislin been riding alone, she would have flown straight over the wolf’s head.
She almost asked what they were running from, but both Cuan and his rider appeared to be listening—testing the night air for scents or sounds of any pursuit.
Cuan’s ears flattened once again, and he whined just as the night elf’s head swiveled to stare back the way they’d come, eyes bright in the darkness.
“Truld,” he growled. “We will take the road.”
They moved off at a much slower pace, so Aislin relaxed her hold ever so slightly before asking, “What is a truld?”
The night elf seized her wrist so suddenly, she jumped and jerked backward, nearly losing her seat. “Do not lower your guard,” he reminded her coldly. “A truld is a vicious, human-like predator. They are twice the height of a man, as broad as a man is tall, more intelligent than a wolf or a storm cat, and they prefer meat that goes on two legs.”
Aislin couldn’t help a brief shudder. First the render, now a truld. And then there were the aranthas he had described in vague but terrifying terms. Was there anything in this land that wouldnotattempt to eat her?
“It is not too late to go home, human,” the night elf reminded her, as if he could hear her thoughts. Perhaps, like other predators, he could sense fear and hoped to exploit it to get rid of her.
“My name,” she said firmly, “is Aislin. And I am not going home until I have what I came for.”
He was silent for several of the wolf’s long strides. When he spoke again, she thought he sounded at least as curious as he was irritated. “And if you never go home at all? How does your family benefit from this madness? Would they not rather take their chances on the road than send you to certain death?”
And then it was Aislin’s turn for silence because… she didn’t really know the answer to that. Despite her best efforts, Lord Dreichel’s words still haunted her. Was it possible her mother’s magic would return with Aislin’s death? And was he not the only one who’d wondered? Had her whole village breathed a sigh of relief when they found out where she’d gone?
Surely not Brannic and Marinda. They had always defended her, despite her lack of magic. But would they genuinely miss her if she never returned? Or would they wallow in their guilt for a time before moving on to more pressing concerns? Would Sandric care for her mother and grandmother out of obligation only until Aislin failed to return?
And would her family have agreed to a different plan if she’d dared tell the truth about her destination?
“I don’t know.” Her mother had been terrified of her leaving. But she had acquiesced in the end, because this was the only way for them to stay in their home. If she’d known where Aislin was going, she might have tried harder to stop her, but Aislin loved her family too much to ask them to make that choice.
“But it is not my family’s fault,” she admitted quietly. “I made the bargain with our landlord, so I’m as much to blame as anyone. I think a part of mewantedto do this, so I could prove that I’m not what they say.”
“And what dotheysay?”
“That I’m useless,” she replied bluntly. Lord Dreichel had made that part of his opinion quite clear. “That I stole my mother’s magic. She can no longer see the future, and it’s my fault. But if I can do this impossible thing, maybe they would see that I don’t need magic to be useful. That I can contribute without it if they would give me a chance.”
The night elf let out a soft huff of humorless laughter. “You chose to risk death to prove that you deserve to live? Humans are truly incomprehensible.”
“Then what of you?” Aislin snapped, feeling the sting of his dismissive judgment. “How is your reason for being here any less foolish?”
“It isn’t.” He sounded oddly matter-of-fact.
“Then it’s true that you seek revenge?”
“Revenge or justice… it all depends on your perspective.” He was silent for long enough that Aislin believed he did not intend to enlighten her further. It wasn’t as if he’d given her any reason to expect answers in the first place. But eventually, he spoke again, his deep voice rumbling against her ear where she’d rested it against his back.
“My sister and I were what the night elves term ‘wildings,’ which is not a compliment. We lived apart from any of the settlements or family structures, and did not rely on a Marlord or his guards to protect us. But in a land such as this one, safety is typically found in numbers. Civilization itself is a deterrent to many of the creatures that hunt these forests, so night elves have learned to mistrust anything that does not fall within the bounds of the order that civilization has established.”
A strangely familiar story, for all that the characters in it were not human.
“Around two years ago, I sought aid for my sister from the Marlord of Revenfell. He agreed, but in the process, my sister fell in love with his son, Paendreth.
“I knew a Marlord’s son would never be permitted to bond with a wilding, so I believed the lesser danger was to leave and seek help elsewhere. But Paendreth followed us. He begged Lani to return to the settlement with him, and she… trusted him. She had always dreamed of being accepted by a larger community, so she left without telling me and followed him home.”
Aislin’s mind flashed back to the handsome face and broad shoulders of Sandric. The man every girl in the village admired but knew better than to fall in love with. Had it been the same for this night elf girl? Had she trusted in the pretty words of a man who had no idea of the consequences of his own foolishness?
Aislin could guess the rest of this story. Such things probably never ended any differently for night elves than they did for humans.
“Paendreth had left home alone and did not have the experience to be roaming the woods without the protection of numbers. And Lani… She had not yet learned to control her shift.” His voice was so tightly controlled, Aislin could almost hear the effort it took not to break as he recounted the tale. “They must have happened upon a pack of renders. Whether they tried to fight them off, I cannot say for certain. All I know is that I found what was left of my sister lying alone on the forest floor.”