The Queen of the Elves

Chapter 12

The darkness was just beginning to lift as Mason finally reached the cells of Caroline and Bernard. He knew he had to hurry, but he still crept carefully along. It wouldn't do to get this far just to be caught because of recklessness. He was half way down into the cave when he remembered that last time he was a bat. He liked changing, and he thought it would make everything all the simpler. So he transformed once again into a bat. He shouldn't have done that.

Caroline still sat huddled in the corner of her cell. Bernard was out of ideas. He simply couldn't get her to talk to him. She was scared, he guessed, which was understandable. He was scared, but he wasn't shutting down. He almost wished that he was though; he didn't want to see the dust falling down upon him. He didn't want to feel the air being sucked out of him. That was the way of the elves though. They killed by magic only, they wouldn't stoop to bullets, or the noose; magic was the way. Caroline was lucky, he decided, and it was better just to leave her. He should have thought of that before, before he had tried so hard to talk to her.

A noise disturbed the absolute silence of the cave as a bat screeched and landed on the ceiling. Bernard looked listlessly at it, a blankness clouding his eyes. Suddenly a net shot into the cell and grabbed the bat. The guard whooped triumphantly, he had gotten his tormentor, now he would get his revenge. The bat flapped furiously and the whole cave was filled with the racket. Bernard looked pityingly now upon the creature, but there was nothing he could do for the thing. There was nothing Bernard could do at all. He dragged his eyes away as the guard pulled the net back out of the cell with the poor bat fighting to pull back towards Bernard.

"I got you now, you little, you little... Shut up!" The guard growled as the other two guards nearby laughed at their companion.

The guard grabbed the bat in his huge hand and began to squeeze. The bat screeched and screamed, then fell silent. The guard laughed victoriously and threw the lifeless creature into the fire.

Richie was still under the curse, and it seemed that he was watching himself from a far way off. He had seen himself drag Caroline down under the queen's supervision into the dark cave cells. He had seen how beaten and bruised and tired and hopeless she was. He had seen her staring at him with fear and pain as she had when he had forced her to ride Bernard's dragon. That seemed so long ago now, yet it had only been two days. Everything had seemed so innocent then. Adventurous almost. He had never kidnapped anyone, and now that he had he didn't ever want to do it again. He watched as he did the mindless tasks the queen set up for him and struggled to free himself from the snare of her spell.

He knew how, but it was terribly difficult. He was glad at least that, being half human, he could still think enough to try. It was simple enough, but it was next to impossible to accomplish. The spell could be broken if a tree spirit cursed it. A cursed spell it's next to useless. But how do you get a tree spirit to curse a spell? You'd have to find one that's not on the queen's side, and you have to find one that reads thoughts. Thankfully for Richie Gail was disloyal to the queen, was fluent in thoughts, and nearby, having moved during the night in order to watch over Caroline.

Caroline, if you haven't noticed yet, has a sort of way about her. If you can get her to talk to you, which really is very easy if you try, then you will feel sort of like you need to protect her. She has that innocent feel, the kind that begs protection, the kind that can hardly be resisted. Gail had found himself in her trap, wanting to protect her, for he was a very paternal spirit. Therefore he had bought Mason from Silvia and sent him with the dwarves to free Caroline, then he uprooted himself and made out for the elfin village himself. He got there just as Richie was sent into the outskirts of the village to collect the magical dirt of the ants.

Gail thrust his roots down just as Richie came walking over. Richie recognized the tree immediately, for all the fantastical creatures knew who Gail the merry one was, or rather is. He immediately thought.