Egelric asks for help
Egelric stared up at the elf from under his heavy brows. “Who let you in here?”
“Your steward, I believe it is,” Vash said. “The man with the curly hair.”
“He lets you have the run of the castle, does he?”
“He’s right out in the entry. Shall I call him?”
“No. Come in and close the door. You didn’t hear any little boy feet padding around out there, did you?”
“No.” Vash pulled the door closed and smiled. “They have you at a disadvantage, don’t they?”
“So far I’m big enough to pick them up off the floor, where they can’t do so much damage. And I decide when they go to bed.”
“Do they stay there?”
“Not always. Have a drink?”
“Please, and thank you.”
Egelric watched the elf out of the corner of his eye as he poured the wine. He was smiling and seemed relaxed. Egelric would have to keep him that way, and he hoped the wine would be enough.
They had met only twice since that afternoon at Alwy’s farm a year before, both times during Aengus’s absence. Egelric had no desire ever to meet this or any elf again, but he could not let his own prejudices stand in the way of finding Maire’s husband and her little girls’ father.
Vash had not been able to help him find Aengus and had claimed to know nothing of his disappearance, but those two recent meetings had at least sufficed to clear away some of the awkwardness. The elf, it seemed, still wanted to be his friend.
“I’m surprised to see you so soon,” Egelric said as he handed him a cup. “I only hung the ropes from the towers this afternoon.”
“I’ve often been passing by recently. To be honest, I’ve been hoping to speak with you.”
“Miss me already?”
“Perhaps a little. Let us drink to your cousin Aengus.” Vash lifted his cup. “He has returned home, hasn’t he?”
“Aye.” Egelric lifted his cup along with him, but he watched the elf with a wary eye, wondering whether this mention of Aengus was a coincidence.
Egelric thought that Vash displayed an astounding naivete at times, and neither did he seem skilled at hiding his true feelings. Nevertheless, he knew so many things he hadn’t told that even his artlessness was not terribly revealing.
“It wasn’t about Aengus that you wished to speak to me, was it?” Egelric asked.
“No.” Vash blinked at him. “Why should I? I didn’t find him.”
“No, but your friends did, didn’t they?”
“Ah…”
“It was August who took Aengus home, wasn’t it?”
“I suppose I may tell you it was, since you already suspect as much.”
“Who was the other? Was it Kiv?”
“It was August’s brother, Tashnu.”
“I see.”
“You haven’t met him,” Vash added after a moment.
“No.”
“Good wine,” he said after another silence.
“I shall give your compliments to the Baron. It was a gift from him.”
Vash nodded. “So…”
“So, what did they have to do with it? Your friends.”
“They found him. That’s all. And let him go. But I didn’t – ”
“And the other one?”
“Ah… The elf girl with him?”
“Aye.”
“Took her home.” Vash studied the color of his wine with rapt attention.
“Home is where?”
“With us.”
“But she’s not one of you, is she?”
“What do you mean?” Vash briefly looked up at him out of the one eye that was not covered by his hair.
“If she’s groveling at the feet of your friends. As you made Sela do.”
“She’s one of our servants, you might say.”
“Serving you how?” Egelric barked. “By luring men into traps, or keeping them there, or – or – breeding with them, or the devil knows what?”
Vash wrinkled his nose in distaste and walked past Egelric to stand before the cold fire.
Egelric regretted having spoken so harshly, but he had mentioned Sela, and he still had not forgiven the elves for the treatment she had received at their hands. As miserable as Lena and Aengus might have been in their prison, he had sometimes imagined worse punishments for Sela. Aengus, at least, was a gentle man and seemed to care for Lena.
Vash stared doubtfully into his cup as if he were hoping it was only the wine that had left a bad taste in his mouth. “Are you trying to tell me they…”
“Aye! If it isn’t obvious! After two weeks!”
“Oh!” Vash shuddered and sat his cup down on the table. “Oh, no.” Then he turned slowly back to Egelric, as if a new idea was gradually coming upon him. “And at the turning of the season, too!” he wailed. “Oh, no! You can’t do this to me again!”
“Do what to you?”
“Another one of your half-breed children! Oh, no!”
“I do this to you?” Egelric slammed his cup down beside the other, splashing wine across the letter he had been taking such pains to write well. “Aengus never asked to be thrown in that pit! I don’t suppose that poor girl did either! Who the devil was behind this? And why?”
“I wasn’t!”
“No, and you claim not to have known about the plan to kidnap my grandson, either, but it was your friends who were behind that!”
“But I didn’t – ” Vash turned his head sharply away and stared down at the floor for a moment. “Your cousin is a Scot, isn’t he?” he asked softly.
“Aye. More than I, who have but a grandfather from there.”
“Is there something different about the Scots?”
“Different how?”
“I don’t know. So that you can have boy children with elven women.”
“I’m certain I don’t know why that’s so difficult anyway! Malcolm and I both managed. Without even trying,” Egelric smiled.
“And you’re both Scots.”
Egelric bowed. “So our blood is stronger than yours.”
“But how can that be? That’s what I’m trying to understand.”
“Perhaps that is what someone else is trying to understand.”
Vash turned his head so quickly that both eyes were briefly exposed. “You don’t think – ”
“Aye.”
“But that’s…”
“Despicable.”
“Vile! No elf would do such a thing!”
“Would an elf steal a helpless, seven-week-old baby from its screaming mother’s arms?”
“They brought him back,” Vash mumbled.
“What about a two-week-old baby? They didn’t bring him back.”
Vash shook his head slowly and sighed.
“There is nothing of which I think your kind incapable, Vash. The only elf I’ve ever known to commit a generous act is you, and the rest of you more than make up for it in atrocities.”
“You don’t understand…”
“Then explain! It’s time to explain.”
“I can’t explain. I don’t even know. I’m not the leader of the elves. They don’t obey my orders. They have done things of which I do not approve. And nothing has happened the way it was supposed to happen!” he choked.
Egelric supposed he was thinking of one “nothing” in particular.
Vash swallowed and lifted his head. “That is why I need your help.”
“My help?” Egelric frowned.
“I need your help to find the answers to these questions. I can’t even explain these things to myself. Do you understand?”
“How am I supposed to help you?”
“You told me you’ve seen the Dark Lady.”
“Oh! Oh! Is that it? She’s behind this, is she?”
“No! I don’t know. I’m not thinking of your cousin, Egelric. I’m thinking of my own questions… lies we were told. I’m hoping she knows the truth.”
Egelric laughed. “You do bring a new meaning to the phrase: ‘the devil only knows’!”
Vash tried to smile. “Perhaps she does.”
“Who lied to you, then?”
“Her sister.”
“And who is her sister?”
“The Bright Lady.”
“Ach!” Egelric chuckled. “I should have guessed.”
“You’ve met them both, Egelric. The Bright Lady saved you when you fell through the ice. Do you remember?”
Egelric took a breath to say he didn’t, and then he remembered a dream he had had when he was ill all those years ago. He had dreamt of a lady who glowed like the moon, and who had held his chin in her hand.
“And you met her sister too, once. You told me.”
“Ach! As for that… the bright one was certainly a dream, and the dark one might have been as well…”
“But how did you find her? I need to know.”
“I certainly wasn’t looking for her. But – listen, Vash. If I’m to help you meet my friend the devil, you must help me help my cousin.”
In truth, Egelric had very little information to contribute about the Dark Lady, but he intended to get the most out of it.
“What can I do for your cousin?”
“He wants to know what happened to Lena-elf, and he especially wants to make certain that, if there is a child, it won’t be harmed.”
“Oh…” Vash looked away and furrowed his brow in thought. Then he winced with all his face. “Oh…”
“Remind your friends, Vash,” Egelric growled, “when they tell you that there is ‘only one punishment for her’, that neither she nor Aengus is responsible for what happened. And if it was your friends who put them there, and if they harm Lena or her child after all, then they are worse than savages – worse than devils. Breeding men and elf women like cattle, only to – to – I don’t even want to think about it.”
“They wouldn’t do such a thing,” Vash murmured.
“See that they don’t! And I should like to have some information about her as soon as I might. I should at least like to reassure Aengus that she is well and safe and content where she is. Now. He has a wife and daughters, but he’s not a bull to be led off to other cows and never look back.”
“I understand.”
“Now. About your Dark Lady…”
“Yes?”
“I shall tell you all I know. You shall see it isn’t much.”
