Squaring up to the faint outline of the glimmershade, Eli moved his hands in the motion he’d practiced with Aratessa before speaking the incantation as he moved forward.
“Umbracil!” He said softly.
His hand glowed gold for a moment before fading. Around him, the room brightened rather than darkened – a result of the glimmershade’s bioluminescence. To his dismay it appeared that he was still having trouble casting the spell.
“Give it another try?” Aratessa said behind him.
Taking a deep breath to relax, Eli moved his hands and said the incantation again. “Umbracil!”
When nothing happened his scowl deepened. The glimmershade in front of him continued to ramp up the intensity of its glow, causing him to have to turn around and face the wall once more. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second time until the bright glow beyond his eyelids faded once more.
“Let’s try again?” Aratessa suggested.
“May I offer an observation, your highness?” Captain Duskrend said.
“Of course.”
“His incantation and motions are good – excellent even. I believe it is his mentality which is blocking him from casting.”
“What do you mean?” Eli asked.
“You are trying to command the darkness and force it to do what you want.” Captain Duskrend explained. “You must embrace the darkness and become one with it. Make it into your ally.”
Eli raised one eyebrow. “Let me guess: I’m merely adopting the dark, whereas you were born into it? Something like that?”
“I…no, but that is an eloquent way to put it.” Captain Duskrend replied, her own brow furrowing. “Did you learn that from an elven philosopher?”
Shaking his head, Eli turned back to the glimmershade. “No. I’ll try to keep your idea in mind though.”
Closing his eyes for a moment, Eli took a step forward. In his mind he pictured himself wearing all-black armour – a mix between medieval and modern tactical gear, covering his entire body. Almost unconsciously, the image of him began to morph – long ears grew from his head and a black cape sprouted from the back of his armour, trailing to the ground.
He supressed a laugh as he refocused, remembering back to his first lessons on magic. The fact that magical ability and emotions were closely intertwined had been drilled into him, reinforced by his own experiences of using emotional memories to power his own spells. To his surprise a memory bubbled to the surface: one of him sitting outside by a campfire and looking up to see a universe full of twinkling stars above him. His mother sat beside him, putting a blanket over his shoulders so he wouldn’t be cold. It was that moment as a kid he realized that darkness didn’t have to be scary – it could be warm, comforting, and full of wonder.
In front of him the light from the glimmershade began to glow brighter again, causing him to channel that emotion while moving his hands and casting once more. “Umbracil!”
To his surprise an orb of pure darkness appeared midway between him and the creature. It wasn’t enough to shield him from the bright light entirely, but it succeeded in lessening the effect. He poured more mana into the spell as he continued to step forward, grinning at his success.
Unfortunately for him it was short-lived. As he neared, the creature bounded to the side of his orb of darkness and away from him, causing him to wince in pain and release the spell. He quickly backpedaled as he turned around, walking back to the wall with his eyes squeezed shut. When he neared the wall he heard Captain Duskrend chuckling under her breath.
“You didn’t expect it to stay still, did you? That’s why it’s important to cast the spell on top of the glimmershade, and move the orb with it.”
Exhaling in frustration, Eli opened his eyes to find that there was now a large dark spot in the middle of his vision – one that didn’t seem to be going away. He grit his teeth in frustration before summoning his mana, causing his hands to glow gold again.
“Guérir líkami!”
The healing spell washed over him, restoring his vision. When he looked at Aratessa though, he saw her eyes were wide with surprise. She rushed over to him before running her hands across his scalp, taking a moment to trace his long, pointed ears.
“It worked!” She said with a broad smile.
Looking down, he saw that his normally-pale skin had turned the same color as Aratessa’s – an ashy-grey. His arms still felt fairly muscular, but as he rolled his shoulders he realized he was much more limber than in his human form. Bringing his own hand up he felt the pointed tips of his ears before raising one eyebrow at Aratessa.
“I take it my hair is white now?”
“And your eyes are such a lovely shade of red.” She replied, her red lips curling into a smirk.
“Let’s see if it helps.” Eli said before turning back to the glimmershade. “Umbracil!”
Another dark orb appeared almost 30 feet in front of him – this one larger than before, blacking out the light from the creature almost entirely. He ground his teeth as he pushed yet more mana into the spell, mentally commanding the orb to move closer to the glimmershade as he neared it. The darkness began to move but to his great frustration it was far too slow, causing the agile animal to easily avoid it and halt his progress across the room.
“It appears you’ve achieved your goal.” Captain Duskrend said as he turned back around. “Well done. It takes years, sometimes decades for dark elven casters to accomplish what you’ve done in a few short minutes.”
“Perhaps we should take a break.” Ziran suggested. “While your capacity for learning new spells is exceptional, pushing too far could end in injury.”
Eli considered it for a moment before inspiration struck and he shook his head. “I just want to try one more thing.”
“Very well.” Ziran nodded.
Turning towards the glimmershade he cast the spell one more time. “Umbracil!”
Instead of focusing on covering the creature itself, Eli pointed the spell towards himself. An orb of darkness covered his eyes, protecting them. As he started to walk forward the light from the glimmershade began to pierce his makeshift barrier but he poured more mana into the spell in response, blocking it out.
He continued to move towards the creature, balancing the darkening effects of the spell against the need to see where the glimmershade was. More than once he thought he was close to it only for it to bound away, the source of the light moving with it. The entire time he did his best to keep his rising frustration in check, focusing instead on backing the creature into a corner.
When he was finally close enough he reached out hesitantly, his fingers grasping in the air. To his great relief his hand made contact, causing the light around him to fade. His hand ran through the beast’s velvet like fur as he dropped the darkness spell in favor of another.
“Alara morinamin!”
Images began to flash across his mind, each one faster than the other. Eventually it settled on a scene featuring a younger-looking Captain Duskrend and Zephyra locked in a tight embrace as they pressed themselves against the stone wall of the darkened room he was currently in. Their lips quested across each other’s bodies, and Zephyra’s hands frantically worked the belt on Captain Duskrend’s pants. When she finally pried it open she pulled down the captain’s greaves in one swift motion before kneeling in front of her.
“Oh, little moon.” Zephyra sighed as she kissed the captain’s thigh. “You are so beautiful.”
Chuckling softly to himself Eli sent feelings of thanks to the glimmershade before carefully severing the connection and pulling his hand away. The creature looked up at him as he slowly backed away, intelligence clearly sparkling behind its eyes. When he turned around and started making his way back to the group he heard it bound deeper into the dark room, leaving them alone.
“Impressive.” Vespera nodded as he neared.
“Yes.” Aratessa agreed before kissing him on the cheek. “We’ll have to keep working on it when we get home, but this is certainly a breakthrough.”
“Do you want to go next and show me how it’s done? Maybe now that I can cast the darkness spell I’ll understand your pointers a bit better.” Eli replied as Sira handed him a mana potion.
Aratessa nodded, but before she could do anything the door to the hallway opened and another dark elven guard stepped in. “Begging your pardon, but the Raven Queen requests your presence. It appears that several petitioners wished to meet with you before the trip through the city.”
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Slumping slightly, Aratessa looked over at Eli. “Duty calls. Another time, perhaps?”
“I’ll take you up on that.” Eli said before knocking back the mana potion, grimacing at the taste.
“Come. I’ll show you the way.” Captain Duskrend said before leading the group back out into the hall.
Another trip through the maze-like underbelly of the Raven Queen’s castle followed, during which Eli could have sworn the captain had doubled back at least once to confuse them. When they finally emerged into the great hall he was greeted by the sight of several dozen dark elven women, all of whom were wearing expensive-looking formal outfits. A quick glance across the crowd gave some hints as to which houses they represented: in addition to the Raven Queen’s own people incorporating black feathers into their clothing there were shawls draped over backs which resembled leathery wings, black-and-yellow striped dresses, black spotted fur headdresses, and yet more that he couldn’t even begin to guess the animal they were trying to represent.
“Excellent, you’re here.” Zephyra called out over the crowd. “Come! Allow me to introduce you.”
All eyes in the room turned to look at them – first at Aratessa, then at Eli. Their collective predatory red eyes seemed to narrow at him, giving him an intense look. He stiffened his back and debated stepping in front of Aratessa as a defensive measure but was stopped when Vespera placed one hand on his shoulder.
“Relax.” She said, leaning in from behind him. “They’re not going to attack.”
“You’re sure about that?” Eli whispered in response.
“Yeah. I can practically smell their lust from here.”
Aratessa chuckled in response before kissing Eli on the neck and interlacing her fingers with his. She then pulled him forward towards the crowd, and in seconds they were arms-deep in introductions and politicking. Eli did his best to keep up with the cascade of names, titles, and houses – something that Aratessa seemed to do with complete ease. She also revelled in the fact that every one of them took a pass at him before moving on, her grin growing every time they made a ham-fisted attempt at flirting with him.
After what felt like an hour the Raven Queen stepped in, declaring that their convoy was ready. With great difficulty Eli held back a sigh of relief until after they’d stepped into a carriage – one being drawn by an enormous lizard creature. When he collapsed onto the soft material he slowly rubbed his temples while Aratessa and Vespera talked.
Tuning out their conversation he took a moment to look around. The compartment they were in had more in common with a limousine than a beast-drawn carriage from Earth: couch-like cushioned benches covered every wall except for around the doors, and a dim purple glow emanated from the floor. The ceiling was adorned with the stylized shape of a black raven, and the windows themselves looked tinted enough to prevent anyone outside from seeing the occupants.
“-and did you hear the representatives from the House of the Bat?” Vespera asked excitedly as Sira and Ziran climbed into the carriage. “They wanted better trading terms with the demonic realm than the ones we offered the House of the Raven!”
“I know!” Aratessa nodded excitedly. “And the House of the Hyena too, they-” She stopped mid-sentence, looking over at Eli. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” Eli said finally, rejoining the conversation.
“Are you quite sure?” Sira asked, concern in her voice. “Do you need a potion?”
“Is the potion tequila? If so, then yes.” Eli replied.
“Not feeling up to the politics today?” Vespera said.
“It’s not the politicking, it’s the flirting.” Eli complained. “Did all of them have to hit on me?”
“Yes.” Aratessa replied, unable to suppress her grin. “You were excellent at being my…what’s the human term? Arm-candy? It distracted them, and allowed me to make progress.”
“You know, most human men would be overjoyed to have this problem.” Vespera reminded him.
“I’m already surrounded by the most beautiful women in any realm.” Eli countered. “All of whom support and care for me. I’ve got no interest in having sex for political gain.” He paused and looked at Aratessa. “I’ve only got room for one dark elven woman in my bed.”
Aratessa kissed him deeply in reply, something that perked him up considerably. “I know.” She said comfortingly. “And that’s why I’m so comfortable with them doing it – I know they don’t stand a chance.”
“Aww.” Vespera said teasingly.
Eli rolled his eyes then glanced out the carriage. “So where’s the first stop on our tour?”
Ziran was the first to answer. “The dark elven bestiary.” He said, causing Vespera to wrinkle her nose in response.
“You knew that right away.” Eli replied.
“I asked for a copy of the schedule this morning, then memorized it.” Ziran explained. “I thought it would be prudent to be prepared.”
“He’s also excited to see the bestiary.” Sira added, teasingly.
Eli raised one eyebrow. “I think I’m missing something here. I thought a bestiary was a book?”
Aratessa laughed in response. “On Earth, maybe. But here, it’s where we keep stables of tamed creatures.”
“Oh! Like a zoo.” Eli nodded before looking back at the desert elven siblings and recalling their fondness for dragon-like flying lizards. “Let me guess: they have a wyvern?”
“That’s what they claim!” Sira answered.
“I intend to see it for myself.” Ziran added.
The rest of the trip went quickly, with Eli glancing out the carriage windows at regular intervals to take in the city from ground-level. He quickly learned that his impressions of the city from the air had been entirely accurate – unlike Irandell, the buildings around them were entirely a dark, gothic style. Despite the lack of architectural diversity though, there was still no shortage of interesting things to look at, from small parks filled with bioluminescent mushrooms to throngs of elves moving through residential avenues. At one point he saw a school full of dark elven children spill out into the street, obviously being dismissed after the day’s classes.
When he tore his eyes away from the window he saw that Aratessa was gazing outwards with a similar sense of wonder. Smiling, he grasped one hand and squeezed it before leaning close and kissing her on the cheek. The action caused her to smile too, matching his gaze.
“What’s on your mind?” He asked.
“My mother.” She replied. “She’d be so proud to know that her house is finally being welcomed back to Shadowhome, even if it’s as an external trading partner.”
He squeezed her hand reassuringly. “She’d be proud of you, Tessa.”
“Thank you. That means…more than you can know.” She said softly before kissing him briefly.
When she turned back to the window Eli took a moment to lean back and catch Vespera’s eye. She smiled at him sincerely before tucking a stray strand of hair behind one ear. He didn’t miss the way she arched one eyebrow before leaning back languorously, undoing several buttons of her black silk blouse to show off more of her cleavage.
She’s going to be the best kind of trouble. Eli thought to himself, realizing how close he and the succubus had become over the last few days.
When they came to a stop the group hopped out only to be met by a dour-faced Captain Duskrend. “I have news. The thief made contact.”
Raising one eyebrow Eli looked at the walls of the enormous compound, then back at the Captain. “When do they want to meet?”
“As soon as possible. We should leave immediately.”
“Let’s go then.” Eli nodded.
“We are coming as well.” Sira added somewhat reluctantly, speaking for herself and her brother.
“That’s a bad idea. And as much as I’d like to come as well, I don’t think I should go either.” Aratessa countered. “We still don’t know whether there’s a traitor or if we’re being watched. It’s going to be way too much of a giveaway if all of us go missing in the middle of a planned public visit.”
“Agreed.” Eli said. “Vespera and I will go alone. Sira, you and Ziran need to go with Aratessa.”
“We can protect her, if that’s what you’re concerned about.” Captain Duskrend offered.
“It’s not that. I want the two of them making a big show of the fact that they’re there – it’ll help draw attention away from the fact that we aren’t.”
“Devious.” Aratessa grinned before kissing him on the cheek. “I like it. Now hurry – go find your thief.”
