Desmond's View

Two days later, Faylen went to her father's library and knocked on the door, going in a second later but leaving the door open long enough for me to see that his aide was in there with them. I shot her a smile and headed toward the king's room, remembering what Faylen said the map should look like and where it should be. Sneaking a glance behind me to make sure I was alone, I sneaked in and closed the door. Ok, now where is that map? I did a quick glance around the room and saw a dozen or so scrolls that looked older sitting on a table by the window. Hurrying over, I peeked in the end of each one to see if any of them looked like a map. Finally finding one, I went to open it but heard footsteps coming toward the room.

Thinking quick, I ducked under the table and pressed myself as far into the corner as I could, hoping not to be seen. A soldier opened the door and did a quick scan of the room, before leaving and closing the door. I waited until I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore, then crawled out of my hiding space and opened the map. It wasn't the same as what Faylen had and actually had an entirely different road system on it, so I stuffed it down my shirt to hide it, and headed out the door, closing it as quietly as I could. Just as I let go of the knob, a voice from behind me spoke up. "What do you think you are doing, human?" I jerked around and saw a soldier coming around the corner.

"I'm here to speak with King Delsaran," I said as I knocked on his door.

"He is not in there. Why do you need to speak with him?"

"That isn't a matter of your concern as it's personal to me. If he's not in his room, do you know where I can find him?" I asked as the soldier walked closer.

"He is in his private library but you are not allowed there either." I huffed out a sigh.

"Do you know when he will be done in there? I would like to speak with him to get my questions answered and hopefully my issue resolved."

"He will be done when he is done," he said as he grasped his sword and stopped only steps away from me.

"There's no need to become violent or rough with me. I'm not a danger to King Delsaran. Since I can't see him right now, I'll gladly wait until I'm able to see him. Thank you for your help though." I turned and headed down the hallway toward the main hall, making sure to keep my mind focused on my family in case the soldier decided to read my mind. I walked into Faylen's room and closed the door behind me, now stuck on thinking about how much I still missed my parents as I pulled the scroll from my shirt and set it on her table.

I leaned on her window and looked out as a Xanadu Cassowary flew by with a Silver-tailed Darter in its grasp, just letting my mind wander on my parents and how much I missed them. "Desmond?" I jumped and turned, seeing Faylen in the doorway. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yes. I was just thinking about my family."

"Alright. If you are sure you are fine, I will not press the issue. Were you able to find a map different from what I have?"

"It's on your table," I said as I gave her a nod. "There's an entirely different road system on it. I've never seen it on any map before," I said as I left the window and met her at her table.

"Really?" I nodded. "Fantastic. That means that there should be no soldiers on the road we take." She unrolled the map and looked at it carefully. "This is indeed an old road system. I have not seen this map in almost 200 years. I am surprised my father still has it."

"What do you mean? The roads of Inyarel used to be different?"

"Very different. The old system used to connect the cities by the most beautiful route whenever possible, going through forests, hills, along the shoreline of the Sea of Ikos. Travel was not for safely speeding to our destination to accomplish a task, but for enjoying the journey. What better way to enjoy a journey than to have beautiful lands surrounding you?"

"Why did the road system change then?"

"As humans settled in more of Inyarel and began killing the elves, the old road system died with us. Each year, there was less reason and more danger to journey to other portions of Inyarel. Eventually, the old road system was reclaimed by the land. Apparently, Father marked those reclaimed sections with an X. There are only two sections left and one of them leads to Tebury from here. The other leads to Waham from Tebury."

"Can we take it? The one from here to Tebury. Is it possible that the entire road is not reclaimed?"

"It is possible, but the road winds through Dragon's Veil and crosses Baste River before winding through Dragon's Veil some more and finally crossing grasslands. That would be the most likely place the Old Road would be reclaimed, and it is about a week between Dragon's Veil and Tebury. That is a wide area where we can get lost."

"Is it too risky for us to go?" Faylen looked at me, her sapphire blue eyes sparkling with something I hadn't seen from her yet, but what I could only describe as mischief.

"Nothing is too risky if it means we will have aid in this war. But we need to speak for a moment before I make any plans on when we can leave," she said as she rolled the map up. I looked at her curiously. "I know you were ingrained with the belief of coexistence before you could speak, but who ingrained this thought in you?"

"My parents, my friend's parents, all of the family elders. Any time there was a gathering of all the families, they would tell stories of how the elves and people of Tebury used to help each other. There were even some stories that ended with everyone of Tebury being a..." I paused, trying to remember the exact term they used in those stories.

"A what?"

"A Hybrid is what they called it, I think. A half-human, half-elf. I always loved those the most. After I heard those, I would have dreams for a week of what the elven woman I would marry would look like, if I was able to marry one anyway. She'd always make my friends jealous when I'd describe her to them." Faylen chuckled.

"What would she look like?" I closed my eyes and let the childhood image of my elven bride to be fill my mind.

"Hair that was the color of the light brown sand on the shores of Baste Lake, eyes as deep blue as the gems from Dorione, tall and fit of course," I said, opening my eyes briefly. Faylen smiled.

"Of course. All elves are tall and fit."

"Exactly." I closed my eyes again to help picture her better. "She'd also have the most inquisitive mind toward humans and our culture, be willing to teach me things about the elves and their culture, and she'd have a voice so soft that it would feel like a gentle summer breeze when she would speak to me."

"She does sound beautiful."

"She was, but she was just a dream," I said as I gave my head a slight shake, clearing the image from my mind before opening my eyes to see my dream still in front of me. I took a deep breath and went to Faylen's window again, trying to clear the dream from my mind and leaning heavily on the window while the dream began changing. Well, she used to be a dream, I thought. Now she's a real person.

"Desmond, are you sure you are alright?" Faylen asked from behind me.

"I'm fine. Just letting my mind get caught up in the past."

"Do not lie to me, Desmond," came her voice in my mind. "Any elf can hear thoughts and touch minds."

"Get out of here, Faylen. It's not safe for you to be in my head," I thought with a smile, not looking back at her.

"Do you truly believe you could harm me and survive?"

"No. I just mean that my thoughts do not always have the best intentions. Sometimes a thought will play out in my mind before I can stop it and it's a thought I shouldn't even be having. Please. For your safety, leave my mind."

"Turn and look at me." I turned and looked at Faylen. "I know what type of thoughts you human men have," Faylen said softly. "I've touched your minds before. You are a human, Desmond. I am an elf. Birth status aside, it would never work between us. If I chose a human to bond with, I would be imprisoned. I have worked too hard and trained as a princess my whole life in preparation for the day I take the crown. I must do what the law of my people states, and that is choosing an elf to bond with when the time comes."

"I know. That's why I never say anything to you about my thoughts and why you should stay out of my head. The thoughts I have for you are a danger to my own mind. I would not wish for you to hear them, much less know exactly what I want to do by seeing one playing out."

"Typical human. You think you know what is best for everyone," I heard in my head. Faylen spun and stormed out of her room and I turned back to her window, still trying to clear the image from my head. After a while, I saw Faylen draw her swords and about seven other soldiers circle around her in an open field. She fended off most of them, but the last one outmaneuvered her and stopped as her sword pressed against Faylen's throat. They spoke for a moment, but Faylen readied herself again and the others grabbed their weapons, attacking Faylen and getting fended off. Again, the same soldier ended with her sword against Faylen's throat. She lightly tapped Faylen's arm with the broad side of the sword and I saw Faylen arch an eyebrow, getting a smile in return. They all went for a third round, but I could barely keep track of Faylen's swords this time. When the flurry of weapons stopped, she had her swords crossed in front of her, one on either side of the soldier's throat. Lowering her weapons, she took a deep breath and looked up at the window. I turned away and went to my bed, sitting on it and letting myself fall backward, still trying to shake her from my head.

For the next month, Faylen and I didn't speak much about our personal histories. I focused my efforts on finding ways to keep from thinking about my childhood dreams of her and she spent most of her spare time in the training grounds, only being in her room to go to bed or meet with her soldiers. Unable to stand not talking to her any longer, I finally gave in when she came in for bed tonight. "Faylen, I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked as she looked at me as a Wisteria Quail flew by the window.

"I shouldn't have told you to stay out of my head. I just didn't want you to find out how bad I want you."

"Why not? I told you I had already touched your mind and saw your thoughts before. What would be so different from what I saw in those?"

"When I was a child, the things I did to the woman in my mind were harmless, Faylen. Snuggling next to her in bed, playing in the fields, learning things about the other's culture. Until the day we spoke of her, the most I had thought of you was of your beauty and kindness, both of which are still innocent. The difference now is that I'm a grown man and I don't want just those childish things anymore. I want to be with a woman in every way possible. I want to have children with her. I want to grow old with her. I want to have her in ways that no other man will be allowed. When we first started talking of my childhood dream, I was only thinking of those innocent things we would do. By the time we finished talking of her, my mind had begun to change those innocent things to fit the desires of an adult man. And when I opened my eyes, my dream was sitting in front of me. I didn't want you to see me as a danger when you saw how quickly those images were changing and playing out in my mind. That's why I told you to stay out of my head."

"I have seen with my own eyes what you human men do and want. I am not as innocent to the ways of human men as you would like to believe, Desmond." She turned away from me for a minute and sat on her bed as she let out a sigh. "I understand your reason for asking me to remove myself from your mind. It was not right of me to invade your thoughts in the middle of a dispute. For that, I too apologize and I forgive you."

"You have no reason to apologize to me, Faylen," I said as I moved to kneel in front of her. She gave me a gentle smile.

"If you believe as much, I will not apologize then. However, I do disagree." I smirked.

"Can we go back to speaking with each other now? And seeing each other for longer than just going to bed or for a meeting with your soldiers?" She nodded. "Good. I was beginning to worry I'd made you so mad at me that we'd never go back to normal. Or worse, that you'd order me killed."

"Not likely. I have barely gotten any information from you on where the human king keeps his health and food stores."

"I've told you he keeps most of them at Giwic Keep. Besides, he hasn't had much on the roads lately but before I left, he had plans to send troops out the following week for a trip to bring supplies to Madun. They will have some of the health stores, but mostly food." She nodded but looked at me.

"Let us go to bed. We will discuss this more when the sun rises." I nodded and went to my bed, laying down and pulling the covers over me as I tried to ignore my desire for Faylen. When I woke up in the morning, Faylen was already at her table with maps of battle plans laid in front of her. I stood and walked to her, running my fingers through my hair to comb it down some. "Good morning, Desmond," she said without turning away from the maps.

"Good morning, Faylen. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Which pathway would the human king have his troops follow? On the fastest route through the mountains or the safer route past Dorione?"

"He preferred them to take the fastest route when transporting supplies, and that path takes them right past Gulonde."

"Good. Do you know when the soldiers will be passing by here with the supplies?" I thought for a moment, muttering to myself to help think through the time frame.

"Mountain pass from Madun to Giwic Keep, about 12 weeks. Allow a week for rest and resupply. Another week for delay after my leave. Another week for them to travel to Gulonde. Take out the two months I've already been gone." I looked back at Faylen and smiled. "They should be passing back by here with the supplies in another seven weeks."

"Wonderful. That will give me time to get the new battle attire fully finished and make plans. However, I need to send troops to gather supplies to last us until then." A Xanadu Cassowary screeched as it landed in the window opening, hopping to turn around and look back out.  "I have never seen a Flamifoutu so close to people of any race," she said softly.

Elves have different names for the wildlife of Inyarel. Why does that not surprise me? Well, one more thing for me to learn. "I've always known them as Xanadu Cassowarys. And when I was in Madun, the people would often complain of the noise from the Pointer Finch."

"Why would they be called either of those?" Faylen asked softly, trying not to scare the bird off.

"Well, humans call it a Pointer Finch because of the point of feathers on top of its head," I said as I pointed out the crest. "As for Xanadu Cassowary, I've got no idea why my parents taught me that for it's name. It's just what I was taught growing up. The elves call them Flamifoutu?"

"Yes. When in flight, their tail makes them appear to have flames behind them," she said as the bird flew off. "Such a beautiful bird requires a beautiful name. The only name that does not fit is the name humans have given them. Pointer Finch. Such an unimaginative mind and name. I've never heard something so dull used to describe something so beautiful." I smiled.

"I've never heard of them as Flamifoutu, but the name seems to fit them quite well."

"It does. Back to our plans. Where were we?" She seemed a bit lost for a moment so I spoke up.

"You needed to send troops to gather supplies to sustain for seven weeks."

"Ah, yes. That was right. Thank you." I nodded and she looked back at her map for a moment before going to the window. "I can spare to send five. That should be enough to gather all the supplies until then. Come. Let us go get breakfast before finding the soldiers I will send to gather." Two months later, Faylen and I were in her room at her table as she called for the commanders to come to her room. “I have completed the battle attire that you suggested, Desmond.”

“Really?” She nodded. “Will you be wearing it for your raid tonight?”

“If it will work as well as our formal attire, yes.”

“What do you mean? I said the formal attire would be perfect.” She got up and walked to her wardrobe.

“I had to change a few things to make it different enough to be noticeably not my formal attire.” She pulled out a hangar and turned to face me. In her hand, was the skimpiest clothing I’d ever seen for a woman. It would show off every inch of her body except her breasts, crotch, and buttocks. The outfit was a creamy color with gold detailing along the edges and green leaves made of thread sewn over the very center of the lower half and centered on both the left and right sides in the front of the top. In addition, there were two strips of cloth on the sides that held the pieces together, but it didn’t look like they would really be needed. “Will this work?” I jerked my gaze to her eyes and forced myself not to ask her to put it on for me.

“Y- yes,” I stuttered out, clearing my throat. Get a grip on your emotions, Desmond. You can't have her. She'd never agree to be yours.

“Good. I will wear it for tonight’s raid then. If it works as well as you say, then we will have a large haul of food stores with some to add to our health stores,” she said as she hung up the outfit. A Xanadu Cassowary flew by the window as it let out a loud screech, making me jump and stopping my voice as I opened my mouth to speak to her. I smiled and chuckled at my jump, then looked back at Faylen when it was quiet again.

“I feel it’ll work better than I initially thought, Faylen. You may be able to lure the human soldiers into a trap.” She looked at me, curiosity filling her eyes. “You still have time to change your plans from the typical raid you do.”

“To what?”

“Wearing only your new battle attire, you could pass by the human soldiers with no weapons and they would follow you to a clearing in the woods where your soldiers are waiting. At that point, you could take sword in hand and have all of them as prisoners, taking everything you can carry for food and health stores.” She looked thoughtful and nodded.

“Alright. I will try that as well. Hopefully our stores will be filled after this raid.” I smiled, knowing that their supplies would be overflowing after this raid if they took everything they could carry. The elven commanders came in and Faylen relayed the revised plan to them. They seemed nervous on letting her walk around King Betyn's soldiers unarmed and alone, but no one said anything. "Desmond, go make sure no one is in the hall then close the door for me, please." I nodded and headed past her. I looked up and down the hall, then closed the door when I was satisfied there was no one out there. "Thank you." She looked back at the commanders and spoke again. "My father is to know nothing of how our raid is accomplished tonight. I have received information that I am hoping will help us even more, but I need to wear attire that is very similar to our formal attire. I will leave wearing our normal battle attire, but when I reach the ambush area you will be in, I will be wearing something entirely different. Total silence from all of you is required on this topic. If this attire works, I will inform my father of how the raid was accomplished." They all gave her a curt nod, but one looked nervous about it. "Good. I will meet you all at the South gate with your male troops when the sun reaches the wall. The human soldiers should be setting up camp by then." Most of the commanders left but the one that had looked nervous stayed behind. "Yes, Saevel?"

"May I know why your father is not to know of the attire you will be wearing for this raid?"

"Because I want to ensure it will work well before informing him. This is also why I am only allowing male soldiers to come on this raid. If the attire works as well as I have been told it will, then I will have our female soldiers fashion some of the same."

"I do not feel comfortable letting you be alone around the human king's soldiers in nothing but our formal attire. It is very revealing of the female body and humans cannot be trusted, especially those that the human king commands," he said, shooting a slight glare in my direction.

"I understand your concern, Saevel, but this is why I am not letting our female troops come with. If things do not go in our favor, I do not want them to fall victim to or see what the soldiers can and will put them through."

"None of us want that to happen to you either, Faylen. Who will rule us when your father dies if this raid goes poorly and you are taken captive? Do you remember what they did to your mother? They would do the same to you."

"I remember all too well what they did to my mother," she said with a bit of harshness in her voice. "Have you forgotten that I was found hiding in the top of a tree above her defiled body? I watched everything they did to her. I heard everything they said, and heard every plea she made as she begged them to stop or kill her. Do not think I need to be reminded of that horror she went through, and do not think that I need to be told that I am facing the same horror on tonight's raid. Go inform your troops of when and where we are to meet." Saevel left and Faylen turned to face her window, leaning on it heavily.

"Faylen, are you alright?" I asked gently.

"I will be fine, Desmond." Her voice sounded off and I didn't believe that she was fine, but I didn't want to push for information and have her get hurt in any way, so I kept quiet. I stood there in silence near her, just hoping to give her some comfort. After a while, she straightened and took a deep breath before turning to see me standing there. "Thank you," she said softly. Her eyes were shining and a little red but other than that she looked and sounded perfectly fine.

"For what?"

"I could feel the comfort you were giving me. You are becoming more elf-like than I knew a human could be." I smiled, glad that I was able to give her some comfort in her time of need. We cleaned up the battle plans she'd laid out on her table and I helped her pack for the raid as she got dressed in her new attire, finishing just as the sun started to sink to the wall. "I need you to promise me that you will remain in here, Desmond. Not many here trust you and I sense that there are some that will kill you if given the chance, simply because you are a human. My absence will give them that chance. Promise me you will remain in this castle until I return."

"You have my word, Faylen. I will stay in this room and only leave for meal times until you return."

"I doubt they will, but if things go poorly, I want you to aid my father and Lanquar the way you aid me. If things go well, I will return by morning." I nodded.

"Stay safe, Faylen." She gave me a soft smile and nod before heading off to meet with the soldiers. Every so often, I looked out her window towards the south gate to see if she was back, but was always met with the disappointment of darkness. A Wisteria Quail landed in the window at one point and screeched at me, flying off as I went back to check on the south gate again. I finally collapsed from exhaustion as the moon reached the middle of the sky, but my dreams were haunted by visions of Faylen being attacked all night. I awoke as the morning light reached her window, and hurried to see if she was returning. To my pleasant surprise, I saw the south gate open and soldiers walking in. I could see that they were carrying a large amount of things and felt a smile curl my lips, knowing that she would be happy that their stores were now filled to the brim with supplies.