Gates to Glory: Epic Fantasy Adventure Tale (Ashurran #1)

2.23. Faelivrin of Lindalae

It often happens that a child's fate is clear right from its cradle. There are signs that this one will be a learned man and a scholar, and that one a brave fighter. The same could be said about the Elves.

From his early childhood young Faelivrin strived to learn science, art and medicine, and most of all — language and literature. It wouldn't have been so surprising, if his elder brother, born of the very same parents, wasn't Dirfion, the greatest Elven warrior.

Still under fifty, which was considered the legal age for an Elf, same as eighteen for a human child, Faelivrin had read through every Elvish book in existence. So he got down to learning the human tongue. He had no teacher, but someone as capable of learning as an Elf needs no teacher. By fair means or foul, he managed to get his hands on the translation of some Elvish manuscript in the tongue of Yunan. He started to compare the two texts and decipher the foreign language. In a course of a few months he was able to read other human books and understand them; although many words and concepts were incomprehensible for him, simply because he knew nothing about human lives and customs.

Faelivrin's tutors, having found out such unseemly interest in an Elf, were upset and even angry with him. As a punishment, they locked him up in his home and forbade him communications with his fellow Elves. It had always been a severe trial for any Elf — to be excluded from their society, even for a time. But it was not so for young Faelivrin. He was quite happy in his confinement, reading his precious human books and scrolls. It should be said that books in the human tongue were literally worth their weight in gold in Greyna Thialle, for the Ancients had no relations with humans whatsoever, beside a few sorcerers like Arakhsaw, in a thousand years. There had been many more Elvish books among humans, and more people able to read and write in Elvish, than other way around.

The tutors saw that their ward persisted in his predilections, and decided to take his books away and forbid his learning of the human tongue. They considered it unbecoming an Elf to be more interested in human culture than his own. Faelivrin was a person of gentle disposition, calm and meek. Yet in time of need he could be unwavering like a rock. He refused to comply. When his tutors threatened him with banishment, he went to his brother Dirfion, who was the heir of the dis, governor of Greyna Thialle, and begged for his intercession.

Dirfion had heard him out and thought for some time. He didn't like his brother's studies also. Yet he knew that a war with humans was imminent. Thus someone who could speak their language would come in handy. Therefore he commanded everyone to cease interfering with Faelivrin's studies and help him in every way possible. It turned out to be very far-sighted of him. Some time after the battle Alann Bragollach had happened, and a certain human prisoner was brought to Lindalae.

Now Faelivrin's skills, so despised by his tutors and fellow Elves, were in demand. He was ordered to tend to the captive woman, to heal her wounds and persuade her to cooperate.

Few of the Ancients were ever able to foresee the future. It was a rare ability. Had Dirfion known Ashurran's nature, he would never let his brother come near her.

Ashurran was locked up in a cage made of a quatilla tree, as was the Ancients' custom to keep wild animals for amusement or for study. That tree twined its branches around its captives, without constricting their movements, but also without means for them to get out. If the captives tried to escape or to trash about, the tree tightened its branches to immobilize his prey and to hurt it. Its branches were strong like iron bars, yet flexible like ropes. Only an Elf could command quatilla to unwind its branches and let the captive out.

Thus imprisoned, Ashurran tried to break free, learned that it was impossible at the time, and pretended to calm down and accept her fate. Faking despair, she was ever waiting for an opportunity to escape. It was not her wont to wallow in her grief. She was a girl of action, and she knew better than most that a person's luck could change every minute.