Element. Flame of Elisar. Marie K. JETH

all pale and her eyes full of horror.

      I fell silent as her reaction frightened me. Why was she so scared?

      Nargara always was very balanced, and I had never seen any trace of fear on her face. But back then she was scared, and I could tell she was scared a lot. A cold shiver ran down my back. Elcha was silent too, and terrified.

      “Tell me more! And what sort of tentacles?” she asked getting her composure back.

      “Well, it was all black, with a horse-like muzzle, large, and the skin was very peculiar, as if decorated with some pattern. And the tentacles moving on the back of the neck. Looked like they were trying the air around.”

      And even though Mammy tried to keep her face calm, I could see her hands were trembling.

      “Was it alone?” she asked in a dry voice.

      “Yeah. Do you know what species it was?” I dared to ask.

      “That was not an animal” she was definitely hiding something as she took her empty gaze away. “And, Ricka, you can’t even imagine how lucky you were.”

      She sat back on the bed and I could feel some kind of tension in her movements. Or she was just tired. As I did not understand it, I went on scrutinizing her face and waiting for

      explanation, but next moment she changed the subject.

      “We spent about a day looking for you. The Sun had set and you were not to be seen. First I sent a message to Gorhar, and the answer came that you left the Fortress long before. Then I took Elcha, Truvle, Yoos and a couple other men asking them to help me comb through the way from the Fortress to Karun. And it had not been before the next morning, at break of light, that Truvle noticed some footprints. We followed them and came out to the cliff, and the place was all in blood…” she paused, apparently appalled at the picture that her verbal recollection brought back to her mind, and then continued, “Yoos said that the prints led to the waterfall, and then disappeared, so we decided to move along the river. And after a while Truvle found you… When he brought you in his arms, my heart stopped…” she fell silent again and brushed a tear from her cheek, which left a wet path on it. Elcha was sobbing, too. And I got some ugly tension turning into a feeling of emptiness, which began to spread through my body. Even the thought of what they had to experience there, at the river, and that I could see them never again, made my heart shrink in pain.

      “We thought you were dead, but Uncle Truvle could feel your pulse – just a thread, but it was there. And then we got all these decoctions, just forcing them down into you, in smallest drops, for almost two weeks.” Elcha said as she wiping his face with a sleeve.

      “Forgive me, Ricka, my fault!” Nargarra said in a squeezed voice, “We shouldn’t have relied on your speed…”

      “Oh, come on. I’m still here! And where did you find the mours? Yuck!” I smiled and made a wry face as I looked at the bowl Nargara had in her hands.

      “You’ve been in bed for nearly three weeks. The wounds skinned over in around ten days but you remained unconscious, so I had to turn to some radical measures,” Nargara smiled, too, and then added in a tough tone, “but don’t even think about getting up just yet! The bones will be knitting wrong and then you’ll remain twisted forever!”

      “And nobody will marry you,” Elcha laughed through tears.

      I smiled, and it was a sincere smile as my heart felt relieved a bit.

      “By the way, Sorren came again; nearly broke the door asking to see you, but Mammy wouldn’t let him in anyway. She told to come again as soon as you are up, and he promised to come with his folks to propose to you.”

      “Again!… Please, tell me this is a joke!” I moaned pulling the blanket over my head. As I looked out of the shelter I added, “Why not tell him I did not survive?”

      That made everyone laugh.

      The Birthday Gift

      I stayed another three weeks in bed, strict supervision over me. All that time, Nargara made me drink all sorts of potions. I had never taken so much bitter and smelly stuff in my life. However, it all worked, so my fractured bones were getting better rather quickly. By the third week my patience was exhausted and no matter how hard they tried to keep me in bed, I got up for the first time.

      And when the pain in the ribs subsided, Nargara said our family business proved rather dangerous a venture, so I should know how to protect myself, and then told me to go to Yoos to study some hand-fight. On top of that, she made all sorts of protective amulets, so with each step I made my travel bag now clinked as it was full of flasks containing rather dangerous liquids called proudly Battle Elixirs. And every time I opened my bag I gave all those things a suspicious look – no, not that I feared for my life. I was rather anxious not to mix them all up and give one of them to a customer – and then, instead of getting healthier and younger, one of them would turn into a handful of ashes.

      Nargara laughed as I told her about my fears, yet, just in case, she tied different color ribbons to the bottles thus making it easier for me to tell which was which. And she also decided to place the elixirs for customers separately, in a special little birch box.

      In other words, they did their best to have me armed as heavily as they could ever imagine, and Truvle tried to keep up…

      They both were average size and turned out surprisingly light. The weapon looked like two claws – slightly elongated and bent at the ends. The blade splashed some bright patches of the Sun reflected from the intertwined light and dark metal. The butt had three little grooves, while the handle was bent up at tang, thus running away from the blade, which kept it fixed securely in the hand. Just another unbelievable piece of work by Honored Master Truvle.

      I felt on top of the world! My own weapon! I just could not believe that I would be allowed having it. I wanted to scream and jump with joy. Even as a teenager, I could watch for hours, all fascinated, a piece of weapon – some truly murderous beauty – taking shape under the hammer. And now one of these masterpieces was mine! But then I noticed Truvle’s mocking

      glance, full of irony, as if he was watching a child who was given a book and just enjoyed holding it never even realizing it could also be read.

      “So, what’s the secret you put here for me?”

      “You try and find it,” Truvle smiled and sat on the anvil.

      I examined the blades. Nothing special at first sight… smooth blade, bent like a claw, a little rough handle…

      No, it was always about some tiny details – Truvle loved them. The tang, the blunt side of the handle, had several gems, all red. Ruby. I pressed them a bit but nothing happened; then I tried to turn them – all in vain. Impatience was growing inside me. I turned the blades trying to have a better look from each side but that never brought me any closer to the secret. I was getting really angry – I pursed my lips and stared at the blacksmith who was definitely having great fun.

      “Shall I help you?” he offered smiling at all thirty two.

      “I will mana…,” and I felt a little bump under my thumb, pressing it automatically… Nothing! And then I swiped my index aside and it moved – the ring in the handle did move.

      “Aha! Here you come!”

      Snap! And something got in its place. I gave a triumphant scream. But at that moment the blades got out of the handle and dropped on the floor with a clink full of resentment. I was shocked, and stood there, not able to move, holding what remained from my beautiful blades.

      And Truvle was laughing so hard I thought he would bust a gut. He laughed so that the floor was shaking, and his already red face got burgundy.

      “I imagined this moment more than a dozen times while making these,” he moaned with laughter. “But you still went beyond my expectation!”

      And he went on laughing wiping the tears streaming down his round face.

      I could feel my face going crimson. Not with laughter,