There was a long moment of silence between them. None of the wanderers seemed to breathe.
Finally, E’olin answered with a great sadness in his eyes. “No. No, I’m sorry, Gelbus. I cannot. The royals will never take up your request. They want to avoid war, not encourage it. They long for Oriceran to be as peaceful as it once was.”
“But—” Claire argued.
“I’m sorry,” E’olin said. “As much as it pains me not to be able to help a friend, I cannot.”
Now it was Tabby’s turn to protest, but before she could get a word in edgewise, Gelbus place a hand on her arm to let her know it was okay.
He had fought this battle before; he knew when to surrender. There was no convincing the Light Elves. As great a people as they were, sometimes they were just set in their ways. Gelbus supposed that was true about a lot of people.
“Can you send us on our way?” Gelbus asked solemnly.
E’olin smiled, but the gesture had lost its luster. “Of course, friend. Where to?”
Gelbus read him the coordinates. They may not have been one hundred percent correct, but they were in the general vicinity of the clearing. That would be good enough.
They all floated down to the ground, where E’olin opened a portal. They could see the Dark Forest on the other side, though this far out from the madness, the trees didn’t look nearly as brooding as they would’ve, had they been near the Widow’s lair.
E’olin shook Gelbus’s hand, standing straight and tall. That was one thing the Gnome liked about the Light Elves: they never squatted or got on their knees to greet a Gnome. To them, Gnomes were their equals.
“I wish you the best of luck, Gelbus Cogspark. It pains my heart to see you go—and you two, young women.”
“Then come with us,” Tabby said. “If you are so holy and good, come with us and fight evil.”
That sadness was back in E’olin’s eyes. “I cannot. If I did, I’d risk a lot of trouble, or, as you say on Earth, I’d risk a big headache.”
Claire whispered, “Do we really say that? I don’t think so.”
Tabby ignored her.
“Sometimes, doing good is worth that risk,” Tabby said to the Light Elf. With that, she turned around and disappeared into the portal, leaving E’olin standing there with a dejected look upon his face. He looked like a man caught in a mental tug-of-war.
“Thank you,” Gelbus said. “We shall meet again, friend.”
“We shall,” E’olin said. He patted the Gnome’s hand and smiled. There was a tinge of happiness in that smile. Happiness and hope.
Frieda approached the copse of trees where the dark witches dwelled. A fire burned bright in the center of the ring. No one sat by it.
Odd.
She wouldn’t lie to herself and say she felt brave at that moment. She felt anything but. After all, she had defected from their order and gone on her own adventures. It had been her goal to get into the world in between and fight the darkness there in order to earn her place among the witches—but now…things had changed.
She had fallen in love. All these years on Oriceran, she had never been sure what love was. Of course she knew the concept, but she didn’t know what it truly was until she saw Ignatius Mangood.
Falling in love with a wizard from Dominion, Frieda. She shook her head. It even sounded odd in her own mind. Imagine how the Head Witch will react when you tell her… Gloria would probably slap her down and make her breathe in the flames.
Frieda had paused at the fire, and was watching it intently. She wasn’t even aware of doing so until twigs snapped behind her, bringing her out of her daydream.
She whirled around and there, unsurprisingly, was Gloria.
The old Head Witch stood in her dark robes, which were frayed at the bottom, swaying with the breeze. Her face was the picture of youth; as stunning as any Earth movie star Frieda had seen on her short stint on the planet.
“Frieda, I never thought I’d see you again,” Gloria said.
A rush of longing came back to Frieda, almost as powerful as the love she felt for Ignatius. Almost. But she wanted Gloria’s approval. This was the witch who had raised her, who had helped her see into the flames.
“Here I am,” Frieda replied, stretching her arms out. She tried to remain cool and calm. “You knew darn well I was coming here. You saw it in the flames.”
Gloria had been known to watch the fires so much that you could see the flames dancing in her pupils, even if there was no fire around for miles.
“You know me so well,” her old mentor said. “But the answer is no.”
Frieda’s heart broke. She saw the mask of seriousness the Head Witch wore on her face and knew there was no convincing her.
But you have to try, Frieda, she thought. You have to try for Ig.
Frieda reached out and took Gloria’s hands. They were cold, but beneath the cold skin, a burning power simmered, electric to the touch.
Frieda dropped to her knees. “Please, Gloria,” she begged. “Please.”
In those fiery eyes, she noticed a hint of pity.
Good, good, that’s what I want. That’s what I need.
“I was wrong to leave the tribe and go off on my own,” she continued. “But I’ve learned and grown.” Frieda’s cheeks dampened with her tears.
“I do not care, Frieda. You defected. There’s no sympathy for traitors. The war you are recruiting for is your war alone; do not drag us into it.”
“A war against the Arachnids! We have a chance to stomp them out for good, to reclaim their part of the Dark Forest.”
“The Arachnids? I did not see that in the flames,” Gloria mused.
“There is plenty we cannot see in the flames. Plenty that slip by, just under our noses.” She did not mean to be insulting, she
