“It is said that those in The Undying Lands of Ravensong forget all their earthly sorrows. Perhaps you will have that same experience. I know I am hoping for that,” Lila said.
“I hope that for you, too, Lila,” I said solemnly, “but I don’t want to forget.”
Jacob, the carpenter, sat across from us and found the landscape much more stimulating than our company. We’d only gotten a grunt or two from the bearded man.
Within a couple hours, we neared the place where the roads diverged. I’d always stayed on the path to Meridian, another small human village. Mother and I would trade for flour and certain jams every few months. But this road to the right was to the Evergate and the Falls.
In a lurch, we turned from the human roads and onto the winding road to the Falls.
My stomach plunged, “I’ve never been on this road.”
“My brother and I used to see how far down we could go before the elves would take us.” Lila smiled at the memory. “Neither of us made it more than a hundred yards before we were too afraid.”
Jacob only grunted, which I took for amusement.
“My mother stayed away from this part of the road on purpose, as if we’d fall into an elf trap and have our toes nibbled on by forest gnomes or something.” I laughed, thinking of my mother’s superstitions. But she had always said the elves take what they want without thought for the short lives we lived. She’d been right all along.
I couldn’t imagine a more uncaring creature than the Elf King who soldiered on ahead of us. Wind whipped at his hair and cloak, sending them both flying regally. Stupid beautiful king and his perfectly beautiful and hateful white hair and forest green cloak. It was ridiculous how regal and majestic he looked riding his absurdly giant white elk.
He’d stolen me away on a whim, for the taste of a cinnamon roll that should never have been his.
I turned my face away from the hateful elf and glanced out the other window. The dirt road below us quickly changed to glittering white sandstone. The stone road stretched ahead through a winding path across yellow hills covered in puffs of red and orange trees. Crisp air greeted me with the perfumed scent of cracked leaves and woodsy fire smoke. The mountainous terrain burst with Autumnal beauty.
The hills turned to cliffs as the hours passed by. Lila, Jacob, and I didn’t have words for the splendor of the road that led to the realm of the elves. If these were just the roads, what would the actual home of the elves look like? Cliffs and plateaus led us through winding twists, and just when I thought I was going to lose my breakfast from the churning of the nutshell carriage, we stopped.
A grand waterfall cascaded before us, lit by the brilliant afternoon sun. Mist spiraled through the air, producing magical prisms of light.
“The Evergate,” Lila whispered next to me, sending chills spiraling down my back. Jacob didn’t even have the decency to grunt at the inevitability of the statement.
Legend was, you may only enter if invited personally by the royal house. Anyone or anything not invited would be burned by the waterfall like acid. I’d never believed such magic could exist, but that was before this horrible morning when the king had shape-shifted right before my eyes, and I was now bouncing around inside a carriage on my way to Ravensong. All of my previous beliefs flew out the window pointing towards the Evergate. The literal Evergate.
I felt small, like a tiny squirrel shaking in its giant nutshell carriage before a mighty wolf. The waterfall spanned my entire vision. I couldn’t see anything beyond the gushing majesty of foaming rainbow waters. The roaring of the great waters made any conversation impossible, not that we had anything to do but let our jaws hang from our faces like rusty hinges of a gate that’d never close.
Without warning, I stared into the cold gold eyes of the Elf King as he looked down into our carriage from atop his elk. I jumped and grabbed onto Lila, my heart flying into my throat. He mouthed words that were impossible to hear. Then he took Lila’s hand, then Jacob’s, saying the same rhythm of words.
He took my hand last. I hated the electric feel of his warm hand in mine. I hated that I noticed calluses on his royal hands, as if he actually worked with them. I hated most of all how my face heated, betraying my strange attraction to the unnatural creature.
“Invited…formal…for all eternity…under my protection,” were the words I read from his lips. Then he spoke in his own elvish tongue, his mouth moving in an unfamiliar, unreadable pattern. I stared at his full lips. His hateful mouth had no business looking like that.
My face heated down to my neck as he gripped my palm. A strange magic surrounded our clasped hands in white sparks, similar to the flash of light I’d seen when the Elf King had transformed from the disguise of his servant just this morning.
He was a monster. Not only had he taken me from my family without question, but he’d taken humans for years. Maidens for decades. How many maidens did one elf need? And worse, had they always been willing? This line of thoughts sent nausea through me and hardened my heart ever further to this creature before me. His beauty was just part of his lure to snare the attention of us simple-minded mortals, and I would not be drawn in.
But he looked so young, not one or two years older than me. The soft planes of his face met with a sharp curve of a nose. And those eyes…
The Elf King’s eyes found mine again after his spells were spent. And my heart leapt on a wind of its own. I hardened my gaze and yanked my hand from his grasp. He sharpened his eyes right back. If it were possible to look any colder than he had, he managed it, sending a spear of chills down my spine. He tarried a while, staring our mutual hatred, then the spell was broken. He spun on his mount and galloped to the front of our procession, then trotted right through the deluge as if his entire body wouldn’t be pulverized by the torrents of crushing water.
I gasped, Lila and I squeezing each other’s hands. It wasn’t long before our carriage hurled into motion, taking us to the same fate. I frantically checked the open windows for a curtain or window to protect us from the great waters, but there were none to be found. The elves wanted us to see this. To see they did not shrink before the might of a massive waterfall. Lila and I stared at each other wide-eyed. Jacob’s eyes widened as well, but still he stayed on his side of the carriage, gripping the velvet upholstery with both hands.
I pulled in a last breath.
The waterfall pelted the roof of the carriage holding our luggage. The wind howled, and the water lashed like an angry, scratching beast. Water blew in through the windows, soaking us all thoroughly. Our hair, makeup, and clothing swished about us in waves as if we were being scrubbed down a washing board. Jacob leapt across the carriage and took us into his large, work hardened arms. All we could do was hang on to each other and scream. The three of us huddled that way, water seeping into our throats until the sun peaked in through the mist.
With a start, I realized we were all screaming, but the downpour had finished. We jumped back from our huddle. We were on the other side of the waterfall, and we were…dry? Perfectly dry. I stared at both Jacob and Lila, not a hair out of place. Our screams died out on our wild faces. We paused there, dumbfounded, then burst into laughter. Hysterical, pure laughter that sounded like the first bird-song of spring to my ears. Pure joy. Joy and amazement.
Magic. I would never question its existence again.
I wiped a tear from my eye and turned to the window for my first glimpse at Ravensong, the Undying Lands of the Elves.
