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Chapter 4
Relian was finally alone.
After a full day of meetings and military trainings, he could relax even if he didn’t sleep. He sat down on his bed, swiftly undoing the warrior braids at his temples. Frowning down at his dusty jerkin and leggings, he gave them a few swipes.
He’d helped train some of the new recruits, a task which required much patience. Something he had little of today, it seemed. He grimaced. Even though elves were swift of foot and agile, the trainees had tried hard to dispel that notion. One was so clumsy and inept that he accidentally released his arrow too soon. Unfortunately, Relian was in the direct line of fire. Only quick reflexes saved him from an arrow to his behind. As it was, he had a few bruises from flinging himself to the ground. That young elf probably would never be more than a sentry.
Lying back on his bed, he meant to stretch and rest his weary body for a moment. But his heavy lids said otherwise. Would the dreams return this night? He closed his eyes. The only way to find out would be to sleep.
Awareness soon intruded on Relian, along with the seeping realization that all wasn’t normal. His eyes shot open, taking in what his senses had been telling him. Dismay made his heart pound uncomfortably in his chest as he propelled himself to his feet, looking for an enemy that wasn’t there. The full magnitude of the situation hit him, then.
He blinked, hoping to clear his vision. It couldn’t be! But it was. The veil. This place looked just like it, but never had he—or anyone else he knew of—ever woken up in the midst of it. In all his long years, he’d never heard of anything so unnatural.
Why would he wake up here? Could it have something to do with her? Maybe this...was a dream. His sleep had been strange of late, but this felt very tangible to him. The ethereal quality here far exceeded any found in elvin homes, but that dream-like quality didn’t detract from the conviction he was here in the flesh.
Yes, this was real, at least to a degree. Once he settled on that conclusion, his befuddlement somewhat abated. The magic of the veil wouldn’t give him any answers until it deemed the time right and then only what it chose to, nothing more. He shouldn’t worry unduly about something he couldn’t control. The veil had never hurt his kind before and, in fact, had sought to protect them. Why would it begin to do anything but that now?
His curiosity overtook him, and he decided to explore his temporary room. To his knowledge, elves had merely walked through the veil, not lingered in it. The mist encompassed far more area than he expected. He couldn’t see where it began or ended, given that the mist became quite thick in some places.
As he wandered around, he made out a figure curled up on the floor to the right of him. Reaching for a sword that wasn’t there, he cautiously crept toward the lump. When he caught sight of wavy auburn hair, he halted abruptly.
It was her hair. Walking closer, he saw tresses that cascaded down to slim shoulders, which rose and fell in a steady rhythm. She was asleep. He moved around the body, wanting to view her face to determine if she resembled the young girl with auburn hair he’d seen years ago.
His indrawn breath broke the silence. Desire and horror mingled in his stomach as his fears proved true. He could see the child’s features in the young human’s visage, from the bow-shaped lips to the oval shape of her face. She was shapely, though no more than the average elvin woman, and her height roughly equivalent to some of the shorter females.
His gaze flickered over her strange attire. She wore a shirt of some strange pink material. It looked soft and stretchy, and his fingers itched to touch it. Her tan trousers were somewhat baggy on her. Not knowing whether to laugh or cringe, he saw on her feet the oddest article of clothing yet. The shoes had colorful stripes drawn on the cotton-like fabric. Overall, they were exceedingly peculiar.
Emotions he couldn’t accurately describe filled his chest. He wanted to hug her, kiss her. He wanted to push her away as an abomination that shouldn’t exist in his world. Shock, relief, fear, anger, and happiness were all jumbled into those elusive sensations. Relian stopped short, taken aback by that last emotion.
Happiness? He, being neither blind nor stupid, could reason through all the others, even the relief. His fate somehow was entwined with hers. To what degree and for how long, he didn’t know. His dreams definitely hinted, no, screamed of an intimate relationship. It didn’t mean he had to like it, though. He frowned. No, he didn’t like it at all. She drew him as a moth to a shining beacon, though. That was unconscionable.
She was human. A sneer curled his lip. How could he desire one of those? They were crass, bold, and loud. Unrefined, or so the tales went. And fragile, too, in mind and body. He barely remembered the humans he’d come across in his childhood, and he’d only met a few here in Eria. And the latter were likely the best the species had to offer since they all had elvin mates. An elf would never settle for someone so grossly inferior.
Just then, the slight movement of her hand and a small sigh from her lips caught his attention. He stilled for a moment before melting back into the fog and waited. Soon, they would meet, and he’d see just what kind of human she was.
***
Cal groggily grabbed for a blanket that wasn’t there. Her eyes shot open. She wished she hadn’t bothered, because what she saw didn’t reassure her in the least.
As she slowly rose to her feet, her legs trembled under her. A thick mist or fog surrounded her, and it...twinkled.
She studied the mist with false calm and decided the effect was like that of flickering fireflies. The oddly beautiful but disturbing fog stretched out in all directions as far as she could see. There were no walls, floor, or ceiling, at least that she could find. As she didn’t plunge through the bottom, though, the mist had to be quite solid in some ways.
As she swung her hand into a particularly dense patch, her fingers cut right through it. She scowled at the offending mist. Dare she say it? The mist felt and acted like...well...normal fog, except for where it served as a floor. Could this be the same mist she’d seen throughout the years?
Pinching her cheek, she winced. Nope, she was awake, though she couldn’t be too sure of anything else. Cal dropped her hand back to her side. Her brain felt fuzzy. Where was she? There had to be a door out of here. She couldn’t miss her theory class, because she really needed a good grade.
The disjointed thoughts rushed through her head, almost startling her out of her stupor. She stifled a hysterical giggle. None of this was very logical, but it was all she could manage.
All too soon, reality crashed down, hard. Panic followed behind like a close friend. If there’d been walls, they would’ve been closing in on her, crushing and suffocating. Oh, god. Oh, god.
“My lady, who are you, and what are we doing here?”
The refined voice icily cut into Cal’s thoughts, disrupting her mantra and returning her to the mist.
The voice, it was...it sounded...
She froze before she jerked around. In spite of the mist, she instantly recognized that noble face and bearing. That hair, there was no mistaking it.
