The Queen of the Elves

Chapter 10

Mason suddenly felt a change in the pressure that was being put on him. At first it was beginning to lighten and he wondered what could be going on above. Maybe there was an excavating crew digging and they would dig him out and he could make a run for it. Caroline had to be somewhere underground, so he could find his way… How would he get past all the tree roots underground? Maybe he could steal some kind of cloak? Would the trees be able to recognize him anyway?

Then the pressure suddenly increased. A weight forced down on his chest and he wheezed with great alarm. His breath became choked and he attempted to yell at Silvia through the tube.

“I swear I won’t do anything again! Please! It was all a mistake! Don’t kill me! Please don’t kill me!”

He had no idea if she had heard, but even if she had he assumed that she wouldn’t care. If she wanted him dead then her mind was made up. What a terrible way to die though.

With a sudden second increase of pressure Mason’s body couldn’t take it and he blacked out with a gasp. As soon as he was unconscious he was suddenly lifted out of the soil and tree roots bound him securely.

“There you are. He’ll awake in a few minutes, but it’s easy enough to knock him out again. I hope you are happy with the sale, I know I am.” A small teen-aged girl smiled with pleasure. That girl was the tree spirit Silvia.

“Ah yes,” murmured a little man who was also a tree spirit.

“Then have a nice day, and may your roots grow ever deeper.” With that Silvia stepped back into her tree and left Mason wrapped in the little man’s roots.

“Well,” the little man laughed, “I suppose you won’t be talking for awhile. I will go and get a friend of mine to take you to where you need to go. I will see you later.”

The tree spirit disappeared into his tree. Moments later a dwarf appeared and lifted Mason like he was a mere sack of potatoes. The roots around him loosened and released and the dwarf started off into the sunset. For it was setting, the day had expired three times over. Yes, three days had passed since Caroline had gotten taken down into the goblins labyrinth, but none of them realized that, not Bernard, not Richie, not Caroline and not Mason. They had lost all track of time in the tunnels. They knew a long time had gone past, but they didn’t know.

The dwarves carried Mason all the way across the great, abandoned glade, and then they set him down and disappeared. A moment later he awoke. He blinked twice and squinted. Where was he? Had he died? Was this heaven?

He stood slowly, and immediately fell back and decided that he wasn’t in heaven. His head throbbed piercing. He rubbed it painfully and sat for a minute longer. He tried to remember what had happened. He had dreamed that Caroline had been murdered by elves. He thought for a minute though, that hadn’t been a dream, but it still was fuzzy what had actually happened. He squeezed the bridge of his nose. Then he remembered and jumped up.

“Whoa!” he gasped and sat back down once more.

“Caroline died? Maybe she’s not gone yet? Oh, what happened to her?” he took a deep breath and slowly raised himself to his knees, then he slowly raised himself until he was standing. He looked around and saw Richie’s tents off in the glade and he looked the other way. He was at the brink of a large forest. He realized instantly where Caroline and the others must have been taken. He knew that they were with the elves because they had violated the queen’s sacred rule. Therefore anyone that caught them was obliged to pass them on to the elves. The worm had caught Richie and Bernard, and either had eaten them or handed them over and the goblins obviously handed Caroline over.

The elves would have taken them all immediately to the Mound. Therefore Mason needed to go immediately to the Mound. He closed his eyes and became a leopard. He leapt into the forest at amazing speeds and rushed off to find Caroline… and Richie and Bernard, he reminded himself.