Dark One Rising(139)
“Sorry,” she said, betweens swallows. “I didn’t realize just how hungry I was.”
“It’s quite alright, Melenthia. You must keep up your strength for your training. You will be expected to eat when you are told and to get the rest you need. Your training will be tiring and drain what strength you have. But, with each day that passes, your training will become your strength, and you will require less breaks.”
“How long will my training take?”
“That depends on you. If you concentrate, keep your focus and strive to learn, it won’t take more than necessary. If you let yourself be distracted with thoughts of others or fear or worry, it will take longer.”
She stared at him. “I’m going to be gone from my home, training with the Elves but you don’t know for how long?”
“No. The time that passes will depend on you.”
“I shouldn’t be away that long. Fallon could destroy everything before I’m finished. If I’m gone too long, there may be nothing left to save when we’re done.”
Sol looked over to Tomaz, and he nodded back. “You will be gone for unmeasured time in Vallis, but for the rest of the kingdom, only a little time will pass.”
“How can that be?”
Sol explained. “Vallis is the oldest city in Aelethia, with a heritage going back thousands of years before man ever settled here. It doesn’t follow your calendar, or any of man’s set schedules. It moves at a natural pace, one with the universe, the pace our Mother Creator intended. You’ll find that when you’re there, the peace and serenity will start to flow through you. You won’t need to know the time, or what day it is. Everything happens in its proper order. While you’re there, you’ll naturally fall into the patterns and time frames that flow through the city. That’s precisely why Tomaz looks only to be in his twenties, when in reality, he’s over a hundred.”
She glanced up at him, eyes wide. “You’re over a hundred years old?”
“Yes.”
“Is everyone in Vallis that old?”
He laughed. “Some. Some are older.”
“Do Elves live forever?”
He laughed, not in mocking but with genuine amusement. “No. Elves die just like everyone else, when their time comes, but we do not get sick or develop diseases as you humans do. We can be killed by sword or lance, just as you can, but old age comes slow, and when we go, we become one with the earth. The soil and our bodies become joined. Our spirit remains in the trees and on the wind.”
“This is a lot to understand.”
“Yes. I do not expect you to understand. Few do. Just know that you will be safe in Vallis under the protection of the Elves, and your training will go the speed it needs to. We will make sure you are truly ready.”
“How will you know?”
“You’ll know. Then we will too.”
She continued to eat in silence. After she had her fill, she felt sleepy and leaned back against a tree bole to rest her eyes. She must have drifted off soon after that because she didn’t remember anything except Dain’s face in her dreams, the gentle breeze on her face as she dreamed of his arms around her and his pale blue eyes gazing at her with love.
***
It took two more weeks to get to Vallis, and every night when they stopped, she trained for an hour with Sol on simple incantations and another hour with Tomaz with sword. She was wearing pants and ruffled shirt tucked in, black boots no longer shiny after a weeks ride.
She was practicing her swordplay now, the sun having just set, the sky glowing a hazy muted orange under the gray cloud cover. Melenthia was able to keep up with the elf, but after an hour of non-stop fighting, and the other hour of mental concentration on her spells, she was tired. So tired, that despite the hard and cold ground, she usually slept deep and had to be roused when morning came.
Her and the elf were kicking up the dirt, swords clanking together, echoing in the cold night air. Tomaz would come in for a strike; Melenthia would parry it, Tomaz reacting quickly with another overhead swing.
Sol prepared the dinner for tonight, cooking a stew prepared from dried flowers and vegatables, with spices that Tomaz had gathered from the forest. Elves did not eat meat. Since they considered all living things to be related to them, they considered it disrespectful to eat their kin. He did not, however, forbid her or Sol to eat it, but out of respect for him, they opted to leave it out. Even though it was nothing but vegatables and spices, it smelled good. The aroma wafted to her nostrils several times, making her stomach growl.
She had mastered two spells already: lighting the fire without tinder, which Sol told her was really for learning simple words and meaning, and levitation, which was to learn control. He doubted either of these would be used when she faced Fallon, but they would prepare her for the more complex spells she would learn in the coming year.