The End is Near

Chapter 10

July 14th, 2045 [New Moon] – Banff

"This Cave of Silence," Mickael asked, "Where is it?"

I studied him intently. His features were perfectly formed, perfectly proportional with wide slightly slanted eyes, eyebrows symmetrical enough to have been drawn onto his high forehead, delicate nose, pink lips, perfect teeth.

Physically, he was more muscular than most of the Rae in the clearing. But it wasn't a human sort of muscularity. Even his muscles were perfectly symmetrical. Honestly, his features were much too perfect for me. And his demeanor?

Well, I'd been told the Rae didn't really like to show emotion much. The warriors made that dislike of emotion into an art. An enemy was never to know what they were thinking. Everything about him underscored an inaccessibility that made a huge joke of my intended attempt to 'get to know my brother'. Only the color of his eyes gave me a miniscule amount of hope. They were the exact leaf-green shade as mine and reminded me that of our shared ancestry.

"It's not exactly a where," I answered.

"It's not really a when either..."

His face showed no expression, but his quiet was enough of a prod for an additional attempt at explaining.

"It sort of exists in a bubble of time and space. Theoretically it is accessible from anywhere and everywhere in the Universe."

"So what's in it?" he asked.

"Well, that's the real question now isn't it," I smiled.

He looked at me blankly.

"Lighten up warrior. You'll see when you get there."

I might not be able to get to know him as my brother immediately, but I was damned if I was gonna let any aspect of one of the Rae get to me. If poking fun at his uptight behavior threw him off-balance then yay for me.

We had a few hours within which to get there, get my answers and get out. I found it amazing to believe that I was even contemplating this. For a second I wondered just how good Jahalazar's gift of prophecy was.

She had told me I would be summoned. That I would need to help them and that I would only know how when I got there. Truthfully, other than appealing to them to ally with the humans, I had not known exactly what I was going to say until the words were coming out of my mouth. Did that mean I too had a gift for prophecy? Or was it that this Destiny was something that was laid before me and I had to stumble along blindly on a set path?

She had forced me to learn this particular spell and I had never had any real intention of using it. In fact we had fought about it frequently and I had only succumbed in the end when she ordered me to do so. Moving myself and inanimate things around was easy. Moving other living things? Not so much.

A command from Jahalazar was not one which could be taken lightly. With her a command was definitely 'do or die.' So I learnt it. Then I tucked it away in some dim corner of my memory.

The spell to get to the Cave of Silence was a separate one. We had not fought about this one so much, as I was fascinated by the thought of a magical place where secrets were revealed. Was it a place of prophecy that told the future? Or a place that had all the secrets of the past? She had never told me what the purpose of the Cave was, only that it had answers. Getting there required no knowledge of the whereabouts of a place. It required no knowledge of what that place looked like. All it required was desire and desire aplenty I had.

Grasping both of his upper arms firmly I met brother's eyes. "This is it," I said, "This is the test of whether or not you trust me. I know all full-blood elves are taught never to trust humans, even half-blooded ones."