Elfshadow

"Where you ca

The gold elf's narrowed eyes glittered with malevolence as he changed his tactics. "This is a surprise. You've been so malleable all these years. Who would have thought that you could be as stubborn and stupid as Z'beryl?"

The comment caught Arilyn off guard, just as Kymil had intended it to do. A cold hand of sorrow clutched at her heart. "What do you mean?"

"What else could I mean?" he taunted. "After I learned the secret of the moonblade, it took me fifteen years-fifteen years!-to discover that Amnestria and the elfgate were in Evereska. I might still be looking, had I not encountered some students who had studied under Z'beryl of Evereska."

"I doubt any of Mother's students knew her identity. I can't believe any of them would betray her," Arilyn said.

"Not intentionally, perhaps. In their admiration for your departed mother, they tried to mimic her unusual two-handed fighting technique." He spread his arms wide. "Imagine my chagrin to finally find elf and sword, only to learn that the moonstone was gone and the elfgate still denied me. Naturally, your mother refused to tell me where the stone was, so I ensured that the blade would pass to someone who promised to be more reasonable."

The color drained from Arilyn's face. "You killed her."

"Of course not," Kymil retorted, his voice tight with self-righteous scorn. "She was, as the watch reported, killed by a couple of cutpurses, though perhaps I sold the men some en-spelled weapons. Perhaps I also informed them that she carried a heavy purse."

Arilyn hurled an elven curse at Kymil Nimesin like a javelin. He curled his lip in a show of disdain. "If you must be vulgar, by all means speak in Common and do not sully the elven language."

"You filthy murderer," she spat. "Now I have one reason more to kill you."

"Don't be tiresome. I did not kill Z'beryl," Kymil reiterated calmly. "I merely passed on some information to the cut-purses who did. Of course, I don't mourn the use they made of that information." Kymil paused and swept a hand toward the gold elven fighters behind them. "Soon you will join her in whatever afterlife awaited her."

Arilyn saw a familiar face among the elves. "Hello, Tintagel. Still Kymil's shadow after all these years?"

"I follow Lord Nimesin," Tintagel Ni'Tessine corrected her with cold disdain, "as did my father before me."

"Making a family business out of being assassins, are you?"

"Can one use the term assassination to refer to eradication of gray elves? Extermination would be a more likely term," he sneered.

"That is apt," Kymil agreed. "Once we open the gate, my Elite will slip in and kill every member of the so-called royal family. With the moon elf usurpers gone, the proper order and balance will be restored."

"I see," said Arilyn slowly. "And Kymil Nimesin will reign in their stead, I imagine."

"Hardly." Kymil gave a patrician sniff of scorn. "The high elves, the true Tel'Quessir, do not require the vulgar trappings of royalty. I will restore the ruling council of elders, as it was in the days of Myth Dra

"Will you, now?" Arilyn taunted him. "It seems to me that you'll have to get to the moonblade first. How you're going to remove it from Khelben Arunsun's safe is a marvel to me."

"That is a lie," the quessir snapped. "You ca

"What can I say?" Arilyn returned with a flippant shrug. "It's amazing what one can do when properly motivated. I refuse to die while you still draw breath." Her face hardened.

"Maybe you're right about the moonblade, and it could be that neither of us has long to live. I challenge you, Kymil Nimesin, to single combat. May the gods judge between us."

"Your pretension is almost amusing," said Kymil. "The student ca

"It has been known to happen."

The elf regarded her for a moment, then he noted in a condescending ma

In reply, the half-elf raised Danilo's sword to her forehead in challenge.

Kymil merely laughed and turned to the Elite. "Kill her."

Khelben Arunsun stood by a window of Blackstaff Tower, gazing out into the gathering night. Try as he might, he could not rid his mind of Danilo's words. In the matter of the elfgate, the wizard had done what he thought best. The Harper council had decided that secrecy was the only real protection for the elven kingdom, and they had guarded the secret by dividing it up like so many chunks of bread. At the time, it had seemed to be the most prudent course to take.

Now Khelben was not so sure. Harpers worked in secret, always collecting information and using their talented members to subtly thwart evil or correct imbalance. In the matter of the elfgate, the very veil of secrecy that the Harpers employed, usually with great success, had been turned against them by an elf they trusted. Therein, Khelben knew, lay the dilemma. Bran Skorlsun had been kept busy for almost forty years tracking down pretended Harpers and an occasional renegade Harper. What other disasters could occur if these false Harpers had access to Harpers' secrets?

Danilo had been right about many things, Khelben acknowledged silently. The archmage had knowingly and deliberately endangered Arilyn's life. Without the moonblade, she was unlikely to live through the night. Khelben's heart ached for his nephew, who obviously cared deeply for the half-elf.

The archmage abruptly left the window and walked to the corner of the room where the moonblade still lay. To his knowledge, Arilyn had not named a successor. To whom, then, should he send the blade? Absently he reached for the ancient scabbard, and his hand closed on air.

"What!" Snapped from his introspection, Khelben sped through the words of a cantrip to dispel magic. The moonblade faded, although its faint outline hung in the air a moment longer as if silently mocking him.

"An illusion," he murmured. "Danilo took the sword and left an illusion." The boy's getting too good to keep under wraps, the wizard thought, unable to suppress a small smile of pride.

He passed a hand over his forehead. His sympathies were with Danilo, but how could the boy be foolish enough to endanger the elfgate? Both Danilo and Bran Skorlsun were risking their lives to help Arilyn. Khelben was not sure whether he ought to be angry or ashamed. Perhaps they could do it. Perhaps Danilo could move the gate without a problem, and perhaps Arilyn could defeat Kymil Nimesin. Perhaps I should let them try, the archmage mused.

The weight of responsibility pressed upon Khelben Arunsun, and suddenly he felt very old. He walked the staircase to his spellcasting chamber to alert Erlan Duirsar. The elven lord of Evereska would not be pleased to learn that the moonblade was again whole and on its way to the site of the elfgate.

The sounds of battle rang through the temple gardens, drifting down the labyrinth of footpaths that wove their way to the top of Evereska's highest mountain. Two men broke into a run, the taller of them leading the way. Swiftly and surely the aging Harper raced to the top of the mountain. There, in the very center of the garden, was a sight that chilled him to the soul.

Before the statue of a beautiful elven goddess stood his daughter, fighting for her life against four gold elves. The rising moon reflected from their flashing blades.