Pursued(126)
“I will swear any oath you deem necessary that I am telling you the truth,” Elise said steadily. “But if you choose not to believe me and decide I am worthy of punishment or death, then I have a request to make of you, wise Elders.”
“A request?” The pointy-eared Elder frowned. “You are hardly in the position to request anything, outsider.”
“But we will hear you anyway,” said the Elder with glowing eyes. “Speak, human girl-child.”
Elise nodded gratefully. “I request that whatever punishments you decide to hand out should fall on me and me alone. Merrick is blameless in all of this.”
“Elise!” Merrick began angrily, but she kept on talking.
“He has already been punished once for my sins,” she continued. “I wish to formally absolve him of all guilt and take the responsibility for my actions all upon myself. It was no one else’s fault that I acted as I did—the blame should fall entirely on me.”
“Elise, no!” Merrick took her by the shoulders and spun her around. “Fucking stop talking like that now.”
“No,” she said calmly. “No, Merrick, I won’t. It’s true—I’m not going to let you take any more of my punishments.”
“And what if they decide to hand out a punishment that might kill you?” he demanded. “Do you want to die?”
“No, of course not—that would drag you down with me,” she said. “But I also don’t want you paying any more for my mistakes.”
“Enough!” The beast-mouthed Elder roared and they both turned to face him. “Your sentiments are noble,” he growled, looking at Elise. “But your words are lies.”
“No, I swear it!” She shook her head frantically. “I told you—”
“You said that you acted on your own and no one else should be blamed,” the Elder with glowing eyes said. “Yet there is one here who claims he was with you—in fact, he claims that the fault is entirely his, just as you claim the fault is entirely yours.”
“What?” Elise looked at Merrick. “Merrick, you never—”
“It is not the Kindred warrior,” the Elder with pointed ears said. “It is another.”
“Well then, who?” Elise asked, clearly confused.
“It is this one—Brillem of the Billibs.”
* * * * *
Elise stared in wonder as the Elder with glowing eyes reached down behind the table and lifted a pale blue miniature pony in her hands. Gently, she placed the little creature upon the rigid leaf table where it pranced and nodded its head up and down, as though acknowledging Elise.
“Did you say Brillem?” she asked, nodding at the little pony. “His name is Brillem?” The name seemed to be pronounced with an almost neighing sound, which made sense, she supposed.
“Indeed I did,” the Elder with glowing eyes said. The pony/billib neighed loudly and then snorted three times. “Yes, child of the forest, you will have your say,” the Elder told him.
“But…but…” Elise shook her head disbelievingly. “It…he can talk?”
“Of course he can.” The Elder with pointed ears frowned. “All living things have a voice—you simply have to have the ears to hear them.”
Elise rounded on Merrick. “Did you know this? That the billibs are a sentient species with language and everything?”
He shook his head. “Hell, no. They mostly keep to the Deep Blue so we don’t seem them much around the villages.”
“It does not signify if you understand this one or not.” The Elder with pointed ears nodded at the pony. “He is here to speak on your behalf and we are here to listen to him.”
“But I’ve had a shot of translation bacteria,” Elise said, frowning. “Why can’t I understand what he says?”
“Billib language is much more about thought transmission than mouth sounds,” the Elder with the beast-mouth growled. “You might be taught to understand their language if you were willing to open yourself—but there is no time now.”
“Brillem wishes to speak for you,” the Elder with glowing eyes said. “He says it was he who led you into our homeland and took you to the sacred skrillix. He knew it was wrong but he says your need was great and he owed you a debt. Apparently you saved him from a xenox?”
“Well, I don’t know if I saved him, exactly,” Elise said. “Merrick did most of the fighting.”
The pony pranced and neighed.
“Brillem says that you sheltered him with your body and refused to give him up though you were facing certain death,” the Elder with glowing eyes said softly. “Such courage we admire.”