The Traveler: Part 1

Chapter 30

The gate was enchanted, she was sure of it. Most likely made to enhance the success of teleportation, rather than having an actual counterpart gate. The main arches curved upwards in perfect symmetry with various bifurcations off the bulk beam. Iespeth touched the cool, carved stone wondering of what it was made.

"Impressive, is it not?"

She heard a voice behind her and wheeled around quickly. It was the beautiful woman with mounds of hair piled intricately on her head with whom the sorceress Yennefer had spoken to via megascope. Francesca Findabair, the Queen of the Elves.

"A relic of our forefathers. Exquisite, truly, what those who came before us accomplished. I assume, then, that Yennefer was not in the slightest fatigued from porting you here? For that is this gate's purpose; acting as a focal point for transplanetary travel."

Iespeth examined the queen carefully, wanting to choose her words wisely. "Not in the slightest," she said with a convincing smile.

The woman smiled as if taking a personal pride in the elven artifact. "As queen of Dol Blathanna, I welcome you to the land of the elves. Given the unusual circumstances of you coming here and your acquaintance with two members of a particular organization, of which I am a member, I thought it fitting to offer you a guide to our beautiful land."

"Oh? And what organization might that be?"

"I thought it might be common knowledge by now," the queen replied with incredulity. "Why the Lodge of Sorceresses—well, now called the Lodge of Sorcery—of course."

Iespeth nodded, pretending to know what she was talking about. "So, this guide you mentioned?"

"Galarr," the queen called out. A tall man stepped out of the shadows of an adjacent corridor. "This is Iespeth. She is a close friend of someone rather important. Please, show her the beauty of our home so that she knows it is also her home."

The man was slim, and his hair was black with a distinct hint of dark blue. He had sharp features which gracefully framed his big, bright eyes. He took the queen's hand and bowed, almost dropping to one knee. When he was done, the queen turned to Iespeth, expecting the same treatment.

Iespeth carefully tried to replicate the eloquent way in which Galarr showed the queen respect, somewhat eager to appear genteel.

The queen reached out her hand for the emerald-eyed elf to pay her respects. Just out of curiosity, Francesca thought, sending out a small magical pulse as the elf touched her fingers. She wasn't prepared for the burning sensation through her body, radiating in her extremities. It was as if the purest form of energy was exuding from the emerald-eyed elf herself. A Source. A pure source of energy. The truest I have ever known. She forced herself to appear composed.

Galarr and Iespeth left the queen standing there, perplexed and in utter shock. It would be another week until she could consult with her closest advisor and friend, the Aen Saevherne, Ida Emean aep Sivney. Alas she was momentarily away on a matter of great importance.

"It must be her that my vision was about. The Swallow was not the flame. It is her. It is her we must follow," the sage would tell the queen. But, by the time this information would be shared, it will have been too late.

***

The capital city of Dol Blathanna was an amalgamation of old elven architecture, human destruction and their subsequent additions, and addenda made by the few elven craftsmen that had in the recent years made the last Aen Seidhe civilization their home. The layout of the city had the potential to be a complicated layout with a short, meandering promenade starting at the palace and winding its way through the hills like a snake navigating reeds in a pond. However, its small size made navigating it simpler. The walls of structures which lined the main road contained exquisitely painted murals, statues carved into the stone structures, and where no art was to be found, strategically grown vines with blooming flowers and budding fruits. Various smaller paved paths jutted out like tree branches seemingly at random from the main road leading to dwellings, workshops, and whatever other secrets these tributaries might hide. Iespeth would later realize that the city was constructed with strong influence from the Golden ratio – a mathematical favorite of the elves who enjoyed mimicking nature and often employed it in their architecture and city planning.