The Quest

Chapter II

Bonjour tout le monde!! I just found out today I got an A* in my French GCSE which I took a year early so YAY! :D Here is the next part of The Quest, thank you so much for helping me get onto the What's Hot List (that has never happened to me before!!! And I'm 31st on Adventure!!!)

I forgot to upload this last time, but here's a pronunciation list in case you're wondering what stuff means etc. some of the terms can be quite confusing methinks.

Anamaia is pronounced An-a-may-a (pretty much how it's spelt!) and Ellaime is pronounced El-aim-eh. Banah = Bain-ah and Dubyh = Doobe-ey

Bainya (ba-I-nyah) – polite address to a woman

Firyann (FIR-i-an) – polite address to a man

Duine (doo-in-EE) – addressing someone, anyone. Generic word meaning ‘person’ it is used for the Elvin race (like human)

Meyrbaill (meh-ar-bay-ILL) – confused. Used as a word to talk about the weakening effect that being far from the Gaean Forests has on the elves senses.

Sifalath (si-FAL-ath) – Capital city of the Gaean Forests

Deheyol (de-YOL) – Another city, to the south east of Sifalath

Taighlai (tag-LAY) – clan or family, most commonly used with old standing nobility

I hope that if you were wondering about anything that clears it up (it gets a lot more complicated further on!!) And if you have any questions feel free to... contact me somehow.

Vote, comment, library-fy, fan and just generally buy my love :D

Chapter II

                 They rode for four days and nights, only stopping for a meal once a day and to let their horses graze and drink. Elves are blessed with amazing stamina, and they tire extremely slowly, and their horses are the same, bred specially from an ancient type of horse, gifted to them by Gaea for the long journeys that Duine travellers find themselves undertaking, and they are extremely nimble, able to climb mountains with ease, but equally at home on plains or in forests, although once they reach the Gaean Forests, Elvin travellers go on foot to avoid damaging plants and because it is easier to navigate the dense trees.

                As they wended their way across the earth the trees thinned out until eventually they were riding through fertile fields, the grass waving at their feet, before towards the end of their fourth night of travel, the land became gradually hillier, and on the fifth day they reached the mountains, through which they had to pass to get back into Bhailetalam, the Ancient Country. This was the land beyond the Eirabail Mountains, and was the homeland of the Duine. Only a very small number of humans had passed through the mountains and been admitted to the Elvin cities, most were left to wander around and then redirected out of the forest using the Duine’s arts, and even fewer were permitted to live there, although there were some humans living among the Duine. The Duine preferred to keep to themselves, and as a general rule took no interest in what was happening beyond the mountains unless it threatened their way of life. After the fall of the Bliain, the Duine had retreated into the Gaean Forests, withdrawing all contact with the world beyond the mountains, and the Council had no interest in ever returning; not only that, but they had absented themselves for so long, most humans thought that they were mythical and didn’t exist; if Duine were to suddenly appear in all their cities there would be some form of crisis.

                As they rode, they could see the mountains rising up ahead of them, their snow-covered tips reaching up into the clouds, shrouded in the swirling mists. Towards the end of the fifth morning, Anamaia and Ellaime were riding through the foothills, climbing higher and higher as they wound their way towards the mountain pass. As they slowly approached them, the mountains seemed to get larger and larger, as if they were growing before their eyes, and by the afternoon there was a strong wind whipping round their faces and chilling them to the bone. Anamaia could barely stop her teeth from chattering, despite her Elvin hardiness, so when Ellaime reached into his saddlebag and pulled out two fur lined woven cloaks, she was very grateful. As soon as she put it on, she felt instantly warmer, and the gloves which were attached brought some feeling back into her hands, although not as much as she would have liked.