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"It was colder there. Heat bubbled from the ground, but the sun was blue, and very small."
Luumefanya was speaking quite freely this far from Illora. As normal, Vindifinda thought, her thoughts were almost sacriligious. Wizards could never fully be trusted, the unfiltered exposure to magics changing what they valued as real. The world was an illusion to a wizard, even the least of them.
And Luumefanya was definitely the least of them, even though this was her "expedition". Vindifinda prepared a clever comment, but her brother responded faster.
"I have heard this claim before, that we walked through some great door, as a people. It is wrong. We were created, side by side with the forest elves, by Leti. If we were from some distant place, we would not be able to hear Leti's song, we would not be elves."
Caradatost spoke firmly and correctly. Vindifinda knew her brother would not fail to challenge a crazy story, spoken as if it were fact.
"It's just a story." Nimtol said, defending her. "She was just saying what a few in the wizard order believe."
Nimtol was, by some small amount, nominally the highest ranking of the group. "Ohtar-anga", ranked iron, in the Order of Fighters. He was a warrior of no particular renoun, however, and famous for his love of drink. He had likely offended a superior to be ordered on what amounted to a training mission.
Silence followed. Paurym, the wizard novice, had said nothing. Vindifinda, laden with a heavy pack, looked further south. To their left, the Mer'duin- "wild river" in any language. To their right, mountains- the only visible snow for weeks was up there at the peaks. The river, at least, was a reasonable temperature, and every night had been spent as close to it as possible. Vindifinda scanned the mountains to the west as best she could. First with a fast pattern she had been taught, then focusing on small areas. She tilted her head a bit one way, then the next. She was looking for a certain shaped precipice, described carefully by Luumefanya. It probably did not exist. Vindifinda was spared some of the heat, a fact that Caradatost knew but the others did not. Many frost elves wore a menekamir fastened to their necks, a small locket normally shaped as an acorn, for protection by Leti and luck, crafted just for that elf. That was expected, but Vindifinda and Caradatost had ones that were actually enchanted, a gift from their mother. The enchantment was minor, but even a little magic was far better than none. Caradatost claimed his helped him with his orisons, small prayers to the forest that had magical effects. Vindifinda's cooled her slightly, and in this weather, it was far more valuable than prayer.
The five of them- had been officially assembled as an exploratory party. Luumefanya, a wizardess of little skill, had made a claim of a vision she had of a grand hall once populated by frost elves, full of weapons, silver, and art lost to the frost elves for centuries. She said that she would recognize the mountains if she saw them, she claimed it was south, near Mer'duin, the wild river. Apparently someone in her order took her seriously, but not very. She was sent south to Cairastras with a writ, and pled her case, but was not provided with the full search team she had demanded- far from it. Instead, the high ranking order members had met briefly, and summoned Nimtol, who was told to gather three novices and accompany Luumefanya.
Vindifinda had not been there, but Caradatost had described to her how she had fumed at the insult. She swore to find evidence of a buried greathall, even if it took all summer. The mild insult levied at Nimtol- that he would be expected to follow orders from a "Temol-tinta", the lowest wand rank of wizards- was caught by Caradatost and inevitably by Nimtol, but not at all by Luumefanya.
So to Vindifinda it was a training mission. Her chance to prove that she should be accepted into the ranger order, and her brother, already almost guaranteed a spot on the druidic order, would assuredly get a Tua for this- a formal request for service, entry into the order. Paurym, a secretive sort until he had had some wine, shared a similar ambition. What was was an insult to Luumefanya and Nimtol was a great opportunity to the three younger elves. Born to a shipwright and a carver of wood, Vindifinda and Caradatost had recieved some training as children in ship building, a specialty of their city, and the profession of their father, but from a very young age it was clear that both heard some manner of snow-song, their childhood adventures in the nearby forests and with the animals that lived in the cold there being far more memorable than any trade that their parents could teach them. They had spent much of their youth training as possible members of the ranger and druidic orders, respectively.
Her eyes caught something at the edge of the most distant mountain. She tensed, and hurried her pace.
"What do you see?" Luumefanya asked. "Do you see something we seek, or just some other piece of rock to marvel at uselessly?"
Vindifinda looked back at her. "It may be what we seek, but given that our mission is to stare at distant rocks, I cannot be sure. Perhaps, once I have marvelled sufficiently, I will know more?"
Paurym quickly looked away, likely smirking, but Luumefanya looked away, cross.
But over the next few minutes, it was quite clearly the precipice in question, and Luumefanya's moved shifted from one of umbrage to one of exhileration. This was, after all, the first evidence that her vision had been anything but a delusional dream.
That night was in high spirits, and Nimtol shared some of his wine. Vindifinda was sure that his packs had been entirely full of it at the start of the journey, he struggled to find balance when the Swift Striker had dropped them on the shore. Since that time, the packs had shrunken steadily, but tonight, with a goal in sight, the wine flowed freely.
"What do YOU think, Paurym? About the claim of the small blue sun?" The others were out of hearing range, and Vindifinda had been made curious by the aborted argument.
Paurym looked to be sure he was not being overheard. "It is not really a story about where frost elves came from, even were it true. If you were to listen in on the remainder of the story, it is actually about appeasing the sun to shrink in the sky, to fly further away, to be a small blue dot instead of a burning yellow one. To turn the whole of Abril to a land frost elves can have dominion over. I have listened at doors when the story was spoken, and ultimately the speaker brings up methods to appease... Calor. The point of the story is to recruit, not to explain."
Vindifinda was shocked, speechless. "Please, say nothing of this. These words are spoken only in secret, and none know that I have heard them. I am sure that any who worship in secret would defend their secrecy with any means that they can."
And with that, the joy of the day was shattered.
The next few days were high spirited, but not for Vindifinda, who faked a pleasant mood. As the party moved towards the mountain and the sun bore down on them, spirits faltered, but no further quarrels broke out. Climbing was not trivial, and this leg required much of it. It became a bit easier after a day, however, as the mountains lifted high enough to have cold breezes and even snow under some of the trees. Once the treeline was passed the refreshing chill was all around, and even Vindifinda's mood was lifted.
Eventually, they came to the area under the precipice. Luumefanya had said that there would be a door, and the search for that involved much shoveling of snow away from the rockface. After an hour, everyone was very much tired of this, but it was not until the third hour that Caradatost cried out.
"Here! The door is here!" The other four quickly converged, and it was exactly as described, a door to a great hall. Vindifinda was the first to find the lock- the mechanism was a heledope, a ceramic device embedded in the metal of the door- traditional for frost elven strongholds, but rare in the modern era. Vindifinda had never actually had the chance to open such a lock, and she did not ask permission. She touched the ceramic and concentrated. The disorder inside it, the heat, she calmed it, cooled it, just as she would any small broken object. The ceramic, broken into pieces, assembled itself, mended, and fit into the slots inside the door that she could not see.
"I have unlocked it!" she exclaimed.
Unlocked as it was, it still took another half an hour to actually open it, as snow and rocks had to be cleared.
Luumefanya was the first one in. The hallway was large, and lead downward. Nimtol held a large torch with a blue flame- such wood was expensive, Vindifinda thought. The torches illuminated an old structure, dug into the mountain. There were skeletons in unnatural positions, remains of furniture, and some rusted weapons. But there was certainly no art, no silver. Over the next few minutes, the moderate extents of the great hall were found. It was abandoned, and the dead were not even recognizable as frost elves.
It was then that the torches extinguished. The great blue torch went dark first, and then seconds later each of the mundane torches simply stopped producing light. In the pitch darkness, the five elves spoke hurriedly, finding each other.
In a tense voice, Paurym spoke. "The flint and steel do not even spark."
"We must leave. This way." Nimtol spoke. Vindifinda, for the first time on this expedition, drew her amptulwe, a hooked polearm, and moved it slowly with her right arm, while holding to her brother's hand with her left. The elves began moving towards the entrance to the room, when suddenly there were lights.
Several of them.
Phantasms of human soldiers stomped about the room, wielding weapons made of cruel steel. Some looked locked in battle with unseen opponents, others looked as if they were swinging again and again at something low to the ground. Luumefayna screamed. vindifinda saw that one of the phantasms, softly glowing, was looking directly at Luumefanya, and her Luumefanya's eyes locked directly at the gaze of the phantasm. Nimtol reacted first, pushed her away, breaking her gaze. Luumefanya stumbled, and then took off at full speed towards the exit.
"Don't look directly at them" Nimtol said. Caradatost's arm moved up to Vindifinda's head. She felt her head being pushed to look downward.
"Close your eyes, all of you!" Caradatost commanded. With eyes closed, the four made their way to the entrance of the room. The four were at the entrance when they stopped. Vindifinda kept pulling.
"Paurym? PAURYM! Close your eyes, fool boy!" Nimtol was scared, but his order was common sense. It was obvious that Paurym, curious, had stolen one last glance.
Nimtol lifted him up with his right arm, his left on Vindifinda. Together, the four made their way out of the room of phantasms. Paurym stared catatonic for only a brief bit longer, and then begin to struggle. Vindifinda and Nimtol both held him, and soon Caradatost joined. The group made their way to the entrance of the greathall, and in the fading light saw Luumefanya. In her haste she had impaled herself on one of the weapons that had been on the wall. She was in a pool of her own blood, a rusted polearm covered in fresh blood, unconscious.
Once outside, Paurym alternated between pulling mightily to free himself and run, a situation likely to be fatal as they were on a mountain, and staring into space. Caradatost and Nimtol both tried their best to help Luumefanya, but she had lost much blood.
What had been an exploratory mission had turned into a disaster.
That night the group made camp not too far from the entrance. Lummefanya was awake, with no memory of the phantasms. Nimtol had been silent for much of the journey, but as the campfire was lit, he had words.
"Luumefanya's injury is great, but the wound is clean. Paurym has taken the greater injury, it seems." He gestured at Paurym, tied up and staring at the stars.
Luumefanya coughed. "Phantasms such as this have no place here. Those were humans, captured as visions"
Worthless exposition, Vindifinda thought. That had been obvious immediately.
"This place is cursed." Nimtol continued. "We will go north, return home."
"I am in charge, at least unless this injury takes me." Luumefanya said, with some effort. "And we must find out from the humans what this is."
"It grows hot, this season is already too warm." Nimtol said. "And humans will more likely butcher us than talk to us. Which humans would you find? The rest of the company that did not get captured as phantasms, eternally slaying our kin likely centuries ago? Humans at that age are dust."
Luumefanya seemed to consider his words for a moment, or perhaps she considered only her own pain.
"We must send one then. There are humans whose memories are longer than their lifespans, ones who can see a longer horizon than a brief life of rutting and rotting. The Kin of Troubadours would know of this, have tales."
Nimtol wasted no time responding. "The Kin are storytellers and entertainers, wandering the hottest lands and talking of which corpse they mated with last. Why would we risk any one life to bring them another story?"
"They have books that they must study, stories that they must learn. If any humans remember what transpired, or know of any of these phantasms, they would. We have two who are noviced to orders of the wild. We simply send one of them. I will write down what has transpired here. I am ordered, even if barely."
Nimtol calmed. Vindifinda realized that his concern was that he would be the one sent to seek humans in the heart of Orroland, in the heat of the coming summer.
He looked towards Caradatost, and Vindifinda realized that he would be the worst choice of the two. Without a way to keep cool, he would spend every day in the shade, stationary, moistened. He could cast orisons, but not proper spells. And her menekamir would not help him- it would only work for her.
Vindifinda spoke before Nimtol could issue an order. "If you do not send me on a mission that is clearly suited to the order of rangers, then they will never accept me. That is not a druid's job. I will go to the hot lands. I will represent the Khelek'Quessir to the humans."
Nimtol squinted at her, then nodded. "Once we are at the base of this mountain, you will go to the home of these kin. I am sorry your journey will be so much longer. I will speak well of you on our return."
Caradatost was not very happy. "I should go with her, then."
"No, we have two infirm to take care of now. Our journey will be hard enough with these hot days."
And thus, Vindifinda Nixelita began her journey towards Whitestone, signed letter in hand, seeking the Kin.
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