Egelric tells what he knows
Once he had calmed Sela and seen her and the boys comfortably installed in the bedroom, Egelric rejoined Ears in his kitchen. The elf was staring down into the last dull embers of the fire.
“If I had known you were coming I would have kept it up,” Egelric said to him. “I’ve been hoping to see you for days now.”
“I warned you I don’t always come this way,” the elf replied.
“I was beginning to worry.”
“I’m touched,” he smiled. “And I thought you were angry at me.”
“For telling me what I don’t like to hear?” Egelric shrugged. “Have a drink?”
“Oh, no! I dare not. I was on my way to meet my cousin, and I shall have to hurry now as it is. Not that cousin!” he added hastily when he saw Egelric begin to frown.
“Oh, one of the butter-stealers, then?”
“That’s right,” he laughed. “But he likes your apples best. He still steals them.”
“In that case you should bring your cousin some evening and we shall introduce him to cider.”
“I wish I could,” the elf smiled. “Some day. But he’s waiting for me, so if you only wanted to chat, I shall have to come another time…”
“No, I had something rather important to ask you. Do you know what happened last night of the new moon?”
The elf’s smiled vanished at once. “Do I… Do you?”
“I know what I know, and I shall tell you, but first I should like to know what you know.”
“I don’t know anything. I only know that no one was killed. Did we rejoice too soon?”
“The Baron was here that night, and although he claims only to remember having chased a bat out of his room, he also went down into the crypt beneath the court of the castle.”
“Did the bat follow him?”
“There were four men with him, but none of them mentioned a bat. There is a stone table down there, with some sort of glassy sphere that floats unsupported over its surface. Do you know of that?”
The elf shook his head slowly.
“The Baron touched the sphere, and there was a flash of light, and then, there was a statue there of a demon creature, and after the light the statue was gone – so the men said. Does that mean anything to you?”
He shook his head again.
“And one of our priests went to the church that night and found it all lit with a blue light, and at the altar he met a demon and struggled with it, and he was injured and did not wake for days.”
“What do you mean by a demon?”
“A – a demon. Like a man, but black, with great wings like a bat’s, and horns on its head.”
“A man and not a woman?”
“He said it was a man. I understand the creature was naked, so I suppose he was able to tell the difference. Were you expecting a woman?”
“I only want to know whether Hel got into that crypt. Druze said she must be prevented.”
“I can’t swear that she didn’t, though the men didn’t see her. Is it true she can turn herself into a bat?”
“You told me she could. That’s all I know about it. When is the next full moon?” he asked and went to the window to peek outside.
“In a few days. Why? Is there a danger?”
“No. I have to go somewhere then. I wish I could ask Druze,” he muttered. He appeared agitated.
“Why can’t you?”
“I can’t tell him I am speaking to you.”
“I thought he knew. You told me once he brought you here.”
“He doesn’t know I’ve been coming back. Help me, Egelric – how can I tell him about this without telling him how I know?”
“What would Druze know about it anyway?”
“He was alive when it all began. He knows what went on in that crypt.”
“What did?”
“He doesn’t talk about it.”
Egelric shrugged his shoulders in disgust at the mere memory of the creature. “I cannot understand how you speak to him at all. He’s – vile.”
“Now… that isn’t his fault. You can’t imagine how he has suffered, I think.”
“And how he made those men suffer, that he killed?”
The elf sighed. “I think there have been days when you would have done as much to any elf you crossed, and we have made you suffer far less than your grandfathers did Druze and his family. Besides, he hasn’t hurt any of your men in years. He even helped me bring Sela to you. You are in his debt, I remind you.”
“And why did he do that?”
“Because he isn’t as vile as you think. And because I asked him.”
“You?” Egelric chuckled grimly. “He’s quite fond of you, I’m certain.”
“Aren’t you?” he smiled. “You shouldn’t find it difficult to believe. Besides which, I already told you: I am his grandson’s grandson.”
“What?” Egelric gasped. “You never told me that! That creature had children?”
“He had a daughter before he died. Didn’t I tell you? I thought I did.”
“Oh, I like that! I get you drunk on several occasions, and instead of telling me things that you forget you told, you believe you told me things that you never did.”
The elf laughed. “I much prefer! I thought I told you – oh, no! I remember now. It was Alred I told,” he giggled. “We were talking about poetry.”
“What?”
“Druze was a great poet, you know. We were still singing his songs a hundred years after he died – although he wasn’t happy with the way some of them had altered over the years.”
Egelric could only stare at him for a moment, speechless. The elf was clearly greatly amused by his discomposure.
“Now I do need a drink,” Egelric said at last. “Please tell me my daughter is not a grandchild of his.”
“No, no. Of his brother, rather, who has been safely dead for nearly a century. But you remind me that I can’t stay long. What shall we do? What will happen now? Did this demon creature do anything? Do you think the statue had something to do with it? Do you think the bat was Hel?”
“I think that my answer to all of your questions is ‘I don’t know.’”
“That isn’t terribly helpful, Egelric.”
“I was hoping you would know something that could help me.”
“We aren’t supposed to be helping one another, anyway, so I suppose we mustn’t be too disappointed. At least I know what you know now.”
“I wonder whether I know what you know.”
“What?”
“You obviously have a great number of secrets from your fellow elves. I wonder how many things you know that you haven’t told me.”
The elf gave him a mournful look. “I was about to say I tell you everything I can. But in truth I tell you far more than I may. I hope we won’t regret it.”
