The Story of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book One

Chapter Twenty-Eight

To all our dismay, we learned Emerlee had escaped in the morning.

"How did that happen? Wasn't she wearing the bracelets?" I asked as I angrily scarfed some of Danela's tarts, making crumbs that Dominic brushed away. 

"I questioned the guards, and it appears she had a teleport device they must have missed. I have sent out some to try to retrieve her." He looked furious, and I felt sorry for the guards that messed up. 

It took a couple of hours of travel, but we arrived at the city of Lars in the late afternoon. Because of the road conditions, the high winds, and our generally grumpy disposition, it had been a tiresome journey. The high winds made the caravan of cars whip on the road, and Luke took the time to lecture on more rules of Aleria, which made our travels seem longer. We took a few cars since my entourage (I definitely had an entourage now) was so large, and I wondered why he couldn't have driven in another car.

I stretched as I got out of the car, and my feet crunched in the snow as I walked around. Because cars weren't allowed in the city, we'd parked just outside along the main wall. We needed to pass through a gate to get inside, and tall Sidhe, dressed in sharp military garb, guarded the entrance. At Luke's appearance, they stood at attention to let us pass. One of the Sidhe guards gave him a letter, which Luke handed to me.

I took the letter from Luke as I passed the guard. He was staring at me with an intensity that made me shiver. His eyes looked like they had cataracts because they were a pale lavender shade with a pupil of a slightly darker shade. His ears were longer and sharper than average, as were his brows which slashed upwards in acute angles, giving a triangular effect with his ears. A nasty scar ran down the right side of his face from the corner of his narrow eye to the corner of his mouth, making his mouth lift into a permanent smirk.

I nodded at him in thanks for the letter, and he bowed at the waist, as did the other guard. After we passed, I asked Luke to tell me what happened to the guard.

"That is Eowyn; he was injured over 1400 years ago during the Battle of the Trees. It's rare to get a proposal from an ancient. You should feel flattered.

I turned my head to look back at him and saw that both guards were facing my way. "He doesn't look that old. Why?"

"He's from a race with older blood than the Sidhe, the Alfar," Luke said.

"Is he made from the Edentrees like the rest of you?"

"No, the Alfar are former angels that sided neither with God nor Satan and were cast to another plane in punishment. They are neither fallen nor ascended, which makes them neutral beings. They lost their wings when they fell. Eowyn was summoned by the Trees to help them fight in the Battle of the Trees. He was responsible for many of the victories leading to Duir's conquest."

"Oh..." I faced forward so I wouldn't trip on something. "Why would someone like that want me?"

Luke looked at me as if I had gone crazy. "Why wouldn't he?"

I looked at him with lips parted, entirely baffled by the question. A faint smile twitched on his lips, and he laid a hand on the top of my head. Tufts of affection floated from him. 

Our walk had taken us to the center of the city. While we stood in the city's heart, I compared it to my home city of San Francisco. Similar to the city of my heart, there were many hills in the Lars, and it was bustling with many citizens, and prosperity oozed from its pores. There was a port at the edge of the city, making it a hub of commerce.

Unlike San Francisco, the city was so clean that I swore the streets shone in spots. Above us, a sheen of purple energy undulated between four towers with glowing orbs that rested on top of them. While I admired them, Luke pointed out that the towers were magical conductors of a sort that allowed technology in the city and kept the temperature warmer than the surrounding environment of ice and snow. I had been so perplexed by the Alfar's attention that I hadn't even noticed that I was getting too warm in my coat. I took it off as I admired the colors of the buildings in white, light blue, and silver. It was evident that the major race within the city was the Sidhe because they were everywhere.