Dev's stay in Elvenholme was short. After all, he was there on a mission, not to visit. The queen had taken his message and disappeared with it. The prince, Rufio, and a few other elves were always together it seemed.
Dev understood Rufio spending time with his old friend and blood brother and didn't begrudge him the time. While his grandfather was occupied, Dev wandered around the incredible living palace.
There was an indoor bathing pool that had water which was heated by magic and there was a spout in one wall where fresh water fell, constantly replacing what was in the pool. Dev could not discover how the balance was maintained to keep the pool full, yet never overflowing and always warm.
He also discovered that the elves had a stable behind the palace. The horses were magnificent and were all of a type he was unfamiliar with. Dev was stroking the nose of one horse while trying to figure out what breed it was closest too.
Dev noted that the stables were not grown from a tree, but were built of stone. The roof was some sort of slate. Apparently elves did use 'dead' timber in construction after all, just not often.
Dev asked a groom what breed these horses were and he replied with a word that Dev didn't know. He made a mental note to ask his grandfather what it meant, later. As Dev was getting hungry and the sun was setting, he returned to the palace for the evening meal.
While elves did eat some meat, it was rarely served in the palace. Yet Dev did not feel
as if he was missing it. A lot of meals did include fish though, and while Dev liked fish, it was getting to be a bit much having it so frequently.
Dev wondered how long it would take the queen to make a decision on what the king sent her. It had been days now, and still there was no word. Dev sought out his grandfather for information.
Dev caught up to him in the stables as Rufio and the prince were getting ready to go fly some falcons.
"Grandfather, could you ask your friend how much longer it will take the queen to make a decision? I want to get started back to Taslon as soon as possible," Dev stated.
His grandfather looked at him closely for a moment.
"You're bored, aren't you? We could get you a horse, and you can come with us if you wish," Rufio replied.
"Flying birds is not interesting to me. Say grandfather, just what kind of horses are these anyway? I asked a groom, and he replied with a word I didn't understand. He said, Lethlemoth," Dev said a bit hesitantly over the word.
"It is actually more a description than a breed. It means light bringer. In a very real sense these horses can bring light into the darkest places. They are magical in nature and have been associated with the elves for thousands of years," Rufio explained.
The next day Dev was summoned to an apartment in the east wing of the palace. He found himself in a pleasant room. It was full of very old armor and weapons, that were mounted on the walls and standing in the corners.
"Some of these items are over five thousand years old," a voice behind Dev said.
Dev turned and saw the queen. He dropped to his right knee.
"Your majesty," Dev said and bowed his head.
"Rise. Now then young man, I have considered very carefully and with much soul searching how to respond to your king. It was a very hard decision to reach but a decision has been made," the queen stated solemnly.
"Yes your majesty?" Dev asked, almost holding his breath.
"My answer is contained within this letter. However, I will tell you what I am telling him. I will allow one, just one human to come and act as ambassador to the elves from the humans.
"I have taken the liberty of suggesting you, as you seem polite, get along well with everyone, and I like you," the queen said with a smile.
Dev's mouth dropped open in shock. This was definitely something he had not been expecting.
"But your majesty! I am to young for such a post! Surely an older..." Dev was interrupted.
"That is precisely what I want to avoid. The older person who will resort to trickery, bribery, deceit, and outright lies. I have found you an honest person. You are young, yes, but I am sure you would fulfill your obligations to your king with honor. Won't you?" The queen asked gently.
"Why yes, your majesty. I would do all I could for my king," Dev answered honestly.
"Then I see no problems with you being appointed as ambassador," the queen stated and handed Dev a sealed letter.
"There is my response to your king. Until we meet again," she said, turned and left the room.
With his answer in hand, Dev was ready to head back.
Going back was going to be easier than coming had been, as the elves knew paths through the forest that horses could take. The elves rarely rode in the forest, though. They preferred to walk, so as to be closer to their beloved trees.
The next day was a bright morning. Dev, Rufio, and an elf named Merowen were riding to the forest as soon as the sun rose. Rufio had said goodbye to his friend and blood brother. The griffin Graywing soared overhead, pacing them until the party entered the forest, where he screeched a farewell.
The elf was going to go all the way to Spriggans with them, and then bring the horses back to Elvenholme. They rode easily and the trip back was definitely faster than trip out. Dev was curious about that. It didn't seem that they had ridden that far.
"I told you these horses were special, Dev. They seem to be able to cut a trip of two weeks down to one, or even faster. Even I don't know how they do it. But they can, and they do," Rufio said by way of explanation.
Finally, one day, they came out of the forest. It was but a short time from there to Spriggans. Dev was astonished at how quickly the trip back to Spriggans had actually gone.
People gaped in astonishment as they saw the group. No one had seen an Elf in around two hundred years, yet they recognized him instantly as being one. He sat his horse proudly, but his ears were the dead give-away. They were as pointed, just as legend said.
Merowen left them at where the two had left their own horses, weeks ago. Merowen didn't lead the horses so much as they followed him with a purpose, as he turned to head back towards the forest.
As Dev and Rufio headed back to Taslon, the weather started warming. Spring had arrived. Spring was Dev's favorite time of the year. It was a time of renewal: the birth of animals, the spring planting... It had a general feeling of well being.
They stopped off at Westford, in order to use the crystal communications device that was located in the Duke's castle to inform the king that Dev's mission was complete in that the letter had been delivered to the queen and he had her response. The king was anxious to get his hands on her letter, and urged Dev to get back to Taslon as quickly as possible.
Dev and Rufio had discussed revealing who Rufio was, and they decided to wait until they were back at Taslon. The longer the secret was kept, the less time that the mages guild would have to come up with a plan to deal with Rufio.
Dev was riding along beside Rufio one warm day when he had a sudden thought.
"Say, Rufio? I don't really know much about the guild or its structure. Can you tell me a little about it?" Dev asked.
"Sure, what do you want to know?" Rufio asked curiously.
"Well... everything, I guess," Dev responded earnestly.
Rufio laughed long and hard.
"Well, that covers a lot of territory. I guess the best way would be to start at the beginning...
"A little over two hundred years ago, magic users were trained by other magic users. What I mean is that there was no centralized location for training.
"You either found someone to teach you magic, or you didn't learn. It was a master/ apprentice situation for a long time. You were taught about the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water.
"You were taught magic in all those fields and after a year or so, you were considered trained well enough to make it on your own as a magic user. By that time, you should know how spells were structured so that you could make or build your own.
"I was very good at magic when I was young, and discovered new applications for spells and new spells very quickly. I gained notoriety in my youth, and I was proud. Gods, I can't even begin to tell you what an obnoxious ass I was back then.
"Still, as I got older, I saw the need for a centralized location for several purposes. One was to start a school of mage craft, or magic if you will. The other was to establish rules and guidelines to live by.
"I had witnessed people with magical ability trying to establish themselves as local lords and it angered me. These were people who should help their fellow man, instead was subjugating them in several instances.
"That's when I started dueling with other magic users. I won all my fights and still the idea of a central ruling body would not leave my mind. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.
"Everyone has some magical ability you know. Most are just little useful abilities, such as starting fires, finding water, or household spells of some sort. Useful little things. I wanted everyone get to know their ability.
"So I found myself in Taslon one day, and there were no less than forty magic users in or around that city. That was quite a concentration for that time in one location. I started talking with them, and presented my idea of a central training and governing body.
"It took a while, but they saw the need for what I was talking about, and thus the council was born. I chose one strong mage who demonstrated or was powerful in a particular discipline of magic.
"One mage representing the four elements, and then the arch mage. I was the arch mage and no one objected. We presented ideas and voted on them, and if there was a tie, I would cast the deciding vote.
"Over a relatively short time, the idea took off and more and more magic users joined our guild. One benefit was access to more powerful magic users and their experience. Spells were traded and knowledge gained.
"We built the guild hall in a single day using combined magic. We had discussed and studied a long while before we raised the hall. Everyone had the same vision and we had studied plans on paper we had drawn until we saw it in our sleep.
"Of course, carpenters had to finish off things like doors, windows, the roof, but the walls and rooms were done. The work was done quickly and we had a guild. Gods, I can't tell you how proud I was.
"Things went well for a while. You might be surprised at how quickly we became so powerful. We were collecting spells and already had the largest library of magic known at that time. Magic users from all over came to us.
"Here is where pride got in the way. We required they join the guild to read or research in our library. This gave us at least some control over all of them. What started out as a good idea for the benefit of all, soon changed to how could the guild better benefit.
"Then a certain group rose within the guild, a group in opposition to everything I stood for and they had a large following. I never saw it coming. Oh, I saw parts of it, surely, but I was to busy dealing with other things.
"Then the fight happened. It was horrible. Long time friends died, or turned on me, that day. I soon found myself alone, and fighting for my life against no less than four mages of some considerable power.
"I killed two of them, but by then I was becoming exhausted. I knew I would die, and soon. So I used a teleportation spell I had recently discovered, back then, and left. I know it took them by surprise. I teleported to the elves. I had felt their need via a mutual spell we had made. I found myself outside of the castle of the Duke of Garwon. You know what happened then, I believe," Rufio ground to a halt.
Edited by TeNderLoin
Volentrin