Mildred gently scratched at Wynn’s skirt with her feet, then settled down in Wynn’s lap with a contented flip of one wing. Wynn stroked her as she thought about the question. “The queen said we all have magic.”
“Elves don’t.” The girl sounded very sad. “We have nothing. We hide, we hunt, we die.”
“What is that?” Wynn pointed to the thing in her hands.
The elf looked surprised. “This?” She held it up. “It’s just a book. Haven’t you ever seen one? I know men in the Otherworld have them. Elves shared the idea for books with men long ago. I have seen pictures.”
Wynn shook her head. She had lived her whole life in the Otherworld with her mother. Her mother didn’t have a thing like that in her hut. The elf opened it up, and delicate squares of leaf-like material arched in a beautiful fan. On the leaves were pretty drawings and lots of squiggled patterns that made Wynn dizzy to look at them.
“You read it. These are pictures of words. When you write words down or draw pictures, you can keep them forever and you don’t have to remember them. Then when you die, those thoughts stay in the book, and you can give them to someone else. That way nothing is lost, even if you are gone.” The elf girl scooted beside her and brought the book in front of Wynn. Wynn turned the pages, looking at the beautiful pictures painted with such vibrant colors. They were of fairies.
“You like fairies?” Wynn asked. She didn’t think the elves liked fairies at all. The elf leader didn’t like her. He was very mean.
The girl got a dreamy look in her golden eyes. “Oh yes. They are very beautiful, and magical.”
“But you are very beautiful,” Wynn said.
The girl raised one eyebrow. “I have green skin and no hair.”
“And that is very beautiful,” Wynn insisted. “Your skin looks like my garden. And it has flowers on it. That is good for hiding. What is your name?”
“In your language, my name is Lexicon,” she smiled at Wynn. She had a very nice smile. “You can call me Lexi.”
“I am Wynn.” Wynn said each word as clearly as she could. She reached out a hand, and Lexi took it.
The pretty light flickered in the room. Mildred felt warm in her lap. Wynn was happy again. Lexi was wrong. She was magic. Wynn smiled at her.
“I need your help,” her new friend said. Her eyes were very shiny, and she blinked them, then looked away.
“I can help,” Wynn said. She was happy to help.
Lexi gave her a strange look. Her nose scrunched up. “You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”
“I don’t understand,” Wynn said. She hated those words. But none of this made sense to her. If Lexi needed help, she would help. Lexi was very nice.
Lexi sighed and closed her book. “How do you know if you can help me, when I haven’t even told you what the problem is?”
Wynn blinked at her. “You need help.”
Lexi nodded. “That’s right.”
“I will help.” This didn’t seem very difficult to Wynn.
“And you ask for nothing in return?” Lexi’s forehead wrinkled.
“I will help,” Wynn insisted.
It took a long time for Lexi to answer. Wynn knew how it felt to search for words, so she waited.
“My brother is dying,” she said. “And it’s all my fault.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEENElric
ELRIC THREW A STICK DOWN in frustration as he watched what little light they had slowly die. They had been searching for a new trail all day, but it was no use. Night was upon them, and he was exhausted. He could barely stand without swaying. They would have to find shelter, and quickly.
No matter how hard he had searched, he couldn’t find any sign of Wynn, only the tracks of a band of wild pigs. They were strange, though. The space between the tracks seemed very regular, and the beasts had lined up in perfect rows.
Elric rubbed his neck as Osmund came closer with the stone in his branch glowing brightly. One reaper was dead, and he was glad for that. But, there was another reaper somewhere in the woods. And the fact that Wynn had met with a monster even more powerful and deadly than the reaper filled him with fear.
“Elric,” Osmund called. Elric found his way back to him with his heart in his throat. He still feared the worst at every moment. Osmund looked up at the canopy, secured his ax in a strap across his back, and then tucked his glowstone torch beside it. “We have to climb up a tree and wait out the night. Otherwise anything could sneak up on us in the dark, including whatever killed that reaper.”
Elric sheathed his sword and laced his fingers together to give Osmund a hand up. He boosted Osmund to the first branch and watched as the woodcutter expertly climbed to the topmost branches of the tree.
Reaching over his head to pull himself up on the first branch, Elric climbed more cautiously. He was never comfortable with being off the ground. He struggled higher and higher into the upper branches of the tree, to a place where he could peek through the highest layer of the leaves. Osmund reclined in a crook of a branch, as if he were in a hammock. “Not a bad view,” he said.
Elric found a sturdy branch to lean against and glanced up at the sky. He lost his breath and nearly fell out of the tree. He had seen the night sky many times, but he had never seen anything as magical as this.
The stars opened up in a great blanket above his head. They formed thick bands of light mixed with distant stardust that looked like clouds. They
