“Who’s there?” the deep voice came from the otherside.
Oh God. That voice was scary. He was totally ten feettall.
“I was a friend of your brother, Yalash.” The druid spoke calmly, as if he didn’t want to anger theelf.
A whimper came from the creature on the other side of the fence. “Yalash isdead.”
Isaac nodded. “I know. Please open the gate so I can explain our situation. Yalash was a good friend ofmine.”
There was silence a moment. “Do I need my illusion? That will take aminute.”
Isaac shook his head. “No. There are nohumans.”
Oh my God.Holy crap. He needed to put on an illusion to cover his ghastly form from humans?I think I’m going to passout.
If his form was anything like his deep and menacing voice, my dragon might rip right from my body infear.
The gate creaked and I clamped down on Logan’s hand. It was dark, so I couldn’t see details, but when the gate opened wide, Isaac steppedforward.
“Hello, I’m Isaac. The earth druid.” Isaac was looking down at the ground, hand on his knees, and that was my first indication that my initial assessment might have beenwrong.
“Ahh, the earth druid. Yes, Yalash spoke of you often. I’m Griddish. Come in,” the deep baritone voicesaid.
As Isaac stepped into the yard and moved out of the way, the moonlight fell on the elfin creature. All three feet ofhim.
“Oh my God,” I said, startled. He was so … cute. Little pointy ears, white silken hair that fell to his back, smooth pearlescent skin, and knobby little fingers. I wanted to hughim.
Isaac was making hand motions behind the elf’s head. But I couldn’t figure themout.
“Oh my God. What?” the elf said, that deep voice misplaced on his tinybody.
Isaac cleared his throat, and when I looked up he was shaking his headvigorously.
‘I think Isaac’s having a seizure,’I toldLogan.
‘He wants to make sure you don’t comment on the size of the creature,’Loganresponded.
Oh. Whoops. I bent down low and met the elf’s crystalline pearl eyes. “Oh my God, you’re real. I’m so honored to meet a real, live elfin creature from the land of Faery,” Iimprovised.
He looked down his nose at me for a moment but then nodded. “Yes. I am the last of my kind. It can be quite ashock.”
I’d heard that last of my kind stuff before. Turned out not to be true, but I simply nodded and followed Logan into the yard as the elf shut the gate. Isaac sighed in relief, and I wondered just how dangerous this cute thing could be. If I commented on his size, would heattack?
We walked along a path lit by glowing blue glass bulbs that I couldn’t see any wires going to. They merely hovered a few inches off the ground, illuminating our path with an indigo hue. I wanted to reach out and touch one, but with my luck, it would shoot purple magic and shatter everywhere while simultaneously castrating theelf.
As we walked deeper into the backyard, I couldn’t help but gawk at the beautiful craftsmanship apparent in every little thing. Something as simple as a candleholder was hand carved from wood, with scrollwork and flowers. Bright light bulbs hung from the trees, glowing various shades of blue and green. But the most jaw-dropping item in the yard was the lattice hammock made from thin, woven wooden fibers. It was suspended between two large trees, with a little pillow and woven blanketinside.
The elf walked to a workbench where he’d clearly been working with some wood. Shavings were scattered across the top of the table, along with some weird looking tools. The elf simply hopped up into his chair and then picked up a piece of wood and startedcarving.
“What do you want?” he said, hunched over his piece, not making eyecontact.
Isaac looked dismayed for a moment, but then crouched to one knee. “I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting you on my visits out to your old farm. You were alwayshiding.”
He stopped whittling for a moment. “I don’t like people. OnlyYalash.”
Isaac nodded, pulling his staff from inside of his coat. “I’ll never forget when Yalash made this forme.”
The creature stopped what he was doing and peered backwards at the staff. His face scrunched in pain as he reached out, stroking the wood. “Yalash loved this piece. Said it would do greatthings.”
