Endalia

Valeray III

I watched the ice-eagles take flight. They’re massive, and dissipate into mist to form a giant, sentient cloud flying at speeds unimaginable. The fog-owls stay where they are. I can see they’re not much for scouting. They’re much bigger than the ice-eagles, almost twice as tall with talons bigger than my arm made of ice.

My mother and I are 1-woman armies each. My mother is now standing larger than the giant she has. She is entirely made of wood, berries, vines, and leaves. Below her waist, she is simply a mass of vines moving around. She reminds me of the mermaids in the ocean. Both are deadly.

“Mother!” My voice sounds like ice when it’s hit with a small rock. Bell-like. “What do you want me to do?” I’m inexperienced in the ways of war.

“Gather your fighters and go east about two miles. There should be a smaller Priest encampment nearby.” She tells me. “I know Priests hate us for doing what we’re about to do, but we’ve got no choice.”

“You have another choice.” A sweet voice says to our right. Mother’s head snaps to the left, my right. “I’ll take care of the Priests.” The voice says. I look. I see an amazingly beautiful woman standing there. The gentle animals of the forest have crowded around her; All the animals of all eight Holds. I see a few earthen-elves, a crowd of fire-fairies crowning her head. There’s water-pixies at her feet and air-leprechauns holding her hands. Behind her, contrasting sharply, are the people of Light and Dark. There’s dead animals surrounding her, each looking at her like a goddess. The live animals are nuzzling her.

“You know that if you’d attacked the Priests, you would have died, my dear sweet Lilian.” The lady says to us. Her voice, her power...this has to be the Lady Duchess. She looks at me. “No, I am not the Lady Duchess.” She laughs. “The Lady Duchess has too many problems. If she’d come, the Priests would already be dead and you two would be in the heart of the Immortal City eating sweet-cakes and laughing to Red-Beard’s jokes.” She chuckles. “No, I am but Pinedale, her stewardess.” I stare.

If her stewardess has this kind of power, what kind of power does the Lady Duchess herself have?

“My dear child.” Pinedale says to me. “The Lady Duchess is currently rousing the army. This Priest problem has become too great. But it is too much for just the Isles. Even if we summoned the Southern and Middle Isles, we still wouldn’t have enough of an army to defeat the Priests.” She shakes her head sadly. “No, my child. We must go to the Giant Isles. Unless we can get the armies of the Giants to invade the heart of the Priests-the Imperial Lands-we stand no chance. We have, at the most, a month to get the armies of the Northern, Eastern, and Plains Giants to the Imperial lands. My Lady Duchess would send an envoy to the Giant Isles, but she’s too busy putting spells on the entire army. They can fight without fear of dying, for the army is made up of only Immortals, but they can be harmed. They can be torn apart and still live. That pain is too much-it often drives Immortals insane.” Pinedale stops. Her sadness is livid through the forest. Even the Dead-bears are snuffling in sadness.

I ask, “Well, could I go? I have a Hold over water...” I trail off. I hear my mother sigh.

“Valeray. You have a Hold over more than just water.” My mother tells me. “I didn’t want to tell you, for it could make you a target for the Priests. For now, let’s just go take the little girl and run. Pinedale says she can take care of these Priest encampments.” My mother starts shrinking. I watch as she turns into human again. She collapses.

Pinedale holds out her hand. Her hand is covered in a golden glow. The glow detaches itself from her hand and flies to my mother. “That was too much, too soon. Your mother collapsed from exhaustion. She would have died if she’d tried attacking.” Pinedale looks at me. The glow enters my mother’s body. She sits up. “Keeping a form like that,” Pinedale motions at my ice-form,”is physically exhausting on a person.” She paused. “Speaking of which...child, are you tired at all?” She emphasizes “all”.

“No...why?” I ask. I feel quite alive.

“Someone of your training should be dead by now, holding that form for so long. Come out of it.” Pinedale instructs.

I do. It only takes a moment. I simply ask the water to leave me, and I’m back into human form.

“It takes an extremely powerful Holder to keep that kind of power up.” Pinedale tells me. “Tell me, have you had any training from your mother?”

“Other than how to keep my Hold a secret...no.” I say. It’s true. The only training my mother’s given me is how to keep my Hold’s power a secret.

“Interesting...” Pinedale murmurs. She perks up. “Well, time for you to get going. Take your mother and this little girl,” she stops speaking and claps her hands once, surprising the air-leprechauns, “on this sleigh to the Immortal City. I’ll give you some light-deer.” She smiles. “They run fast.”

After thirty seconds on the sleigh, I realize “fast” is  a major understatement. I can’t see the trees going by.