4
So that they may meet when he came back, Nelian suggested that Mahdia
continue the ruse. That way she wouldn't have to explain to her father why
she hadn't been out visiting while Qelin was gone. Though Mahdia was
gettin' tired of tricking her father and wanted to tell him about Qelin ,
she didn't thin it through and nodded that she would meet him again next
week at the regular time. She told me of this meetin' and I thought it may
be a bad idea to keep up a deception that was for naught. But she said she
had promised Nelian and would at least visit with him and tell him she had
changed here mind. This seemed only fair. But I thought it needed to be
out in the open and went to Cain that night and told him of the meetin's
with Qelin. Cain, to my surprise, only laughed. He wasn't the fool we all
thought he was and had known all along who who she was visitin'. Everyone
in Navelorn pretty much knows everyone else and even elves aren't above
gossip. Cain had heard about their meetin's soon after they had started.
He was a busy armorer and hadn't really done anything about it but it had
grown in his mind and he decided he didn't really mind her seein' Qelin but
he was going to confront her on her deception sooner or later. We elves can
be single minded at times and when busy with somethin' may put aside other
till it is too late. Time is a great healer amongst our race but it can
also be a great curse. I don't think the shorter-lived races can understand
this. So he and I had a good laugh over my silliness, thinkin' I could fool
anyone in Navelorn and we had a drink and put it behind us.
A few weeks went by with Mahdia falling back into the routine of helpin'
with deliveries and a bit of workin' around the leather works. No pretense
was made as to the meetin' with Qelin. Cain had accepted that his daughter
would chose whomever she wanted. She was raised too headstrong and
independent to try and put a bridle on now. She didn't bother contactin'
Nelian after that last time and never spoke to him again to my knowledge.
But Cain wanted to have no more secrets between him and his daughter and so
went to find Nelian to make sure he understood that there would be no more
deception. Cain found his house without trouble but no one answered the
bell when he rang. He tried a few more times but then got too busy to
bother with it any longer.
Mahdia busied herself with helpin' her father and on her spare time
wrote and played songs for the children around the haven. Many would come
to listen to her. She noticed a few times Nelian watchin' from a distance
but he never approached. A couple of times she headed towards him to just
say hello but he always turned and walked away rapidly. One day a child
brought here a flower with a note that said Nelian was ashamed of the way he
had been actin' and if she would come by his house to talk tonight, he would
explain.
On arriving home, she told Cain of this note and her father decided that
it was time to talk to this elf, Nelian. He went again to visit him but
only found the house again dark and empty but a note was set on the platform
of the entry stair. Elven houses are many times built into the thickest
parts of forests and in the trees themselves. Care is taken to suspend the
platforms without harmin' the trees. Most of the time the homes are reached
by ladder or stairs, which wrap around the trunk. In the case of Nelian's
house it was the later type with a well built staircase wrapped around the
trunk disappearin' into the foliage above. Cain picked up and read the
note. It was from Qelin. It spoke of his love for her and asked that she
meet him at their regular place.
Assuming it had been delivered by Qelin, for Nelian to arrange for
Mahdia to meet him, he went to Mahdia and asked her where they regularly
would meet. Mahdia was a bit embarrassed and ashamed of the secrets she had
kept from her father and could keep them no more. She asked why he wanted
to know but without his answer she could deny him no longer and told him of
the shady glade she and Qelin had used. Cain went to the place thinking to
meet Qelin and finally meetin' him. If he seemed as good an elf as Mahdia
and I had described, he planned to give him his blessin'. In hopes of
surprisin' Mahdia with bringin' Qelin home to her he was shocked to not find
the young elf but a haunt from his past.
As he walked into the openin' of the glade, another elf stood there
waitin'. When the elf turned both of them looked at each other in surprise.
Cain had expected the surprised look but not on the face of the banished elf
Gallon.
Angry and confused, Cain moved closer to Gallon with a simple question,
"What are you doing here?!"
With an effort Gallon straightened himself and smiled, " I was not
expecting to see you here either, my old friend."
"We are not fiends. Where is Qelin?" Cain was still confused but the
sight of his old rival had brought back many feelings he thought he had
gotten over. "And you have not answered my question, what are you doing
here?"
Gallon, the elf who had passed himself of as Nelian to Mahdia and
myself, stood quiet for a moment and then with a look of resignation he
said, "I suppose it has to come out sooner or later. Your daughter, Mahdia
and I are in love. We plan to run away and wed tonight."
Cain looked at him aghast. "You liar! She would have nothing to do
with you just as her mother wouldn't long ago!"
This caused a wave of emotion to run its course across Gallon's face.
He looked at Cain furious but just as suddenly he calmed and turned away.
With his back to Cain he replied, " We shall see, Cain. The truth has a way
of being written by the ones who are victorious." Then with some arcane
words and manipulations, he disappeared.
Meanwhile Mahdia wondered what here father would say and after a short
time decided to travel to Nelian's house. Cain had not told her not to go.
He hadn't really explained anything. So she went across the haven to the
out of the way house and findin' it empty decided to wait.
I had decided to turn in early that night. I would be taking some armor
and weapons to the academy out post in the Deep Wood the followin' day and
wanted to set out early. So leavin' the forge I went on to the house in the
trees nearby. Later that night I was awakened by the sounds of some callin'
for help and that there was a fire.
Cain didn't know what the reappearance of Gallon at this time meant or
how he had gotten the idea that Mahdia was in love with him. He wondered if
he had passed himself off as Qelin to his daughter. All he knew now was he
planned to take here away and he knew the temperament of the elf and would
not let that happen. He also saw that the elf had increased his skill with
spells and knew he may have to take justice into his own hands to stop his
plan. Runnin' back home by the light of two half moons, he reached the
forge and his armor and weapons. But as he turned to enter the common room
to arm, there, backlit by the coals of the coolin' forge was Gallon. He
snatched at Cain's chest grabbin' and pushin' him back into the forge.
Somethin' came away in to his hand. But with a few passes and some
mutterin's eldrich energy coruscated around his hands and as he backed out
of the armory he released a ball of magical fire that ignited the inside of
the forge and exploded to encompass the smithy. It immediately burst into
flame. Cain was at the center of the conflagration. He lived long enough
to take a few steps forward and collapse in the doorway of the common room.
Gallon hurried away using sorcery to mask his trail and confuse the eye
of those who may be watchin'. He made his way to a safe distance out of the
light of the now hugely burnin' smithy. He looked on the chaos he had
wrought and then realized somethin' was in his hand. A chain hung from his
closed fist and on opening it he sees a locket. In the safety of his spell
he splits the locket with a fingernail to see the small portraits within and
catch the locks of hair as they fall out. The hair of the woman he loves
and her daughter laid in his his open hand. Then Gallon began to laugh.
I arrived a few minutes later to see the smithy, my livelihood and my
best friend burnin' and collapsin' to the ground. The rest of the haven
came out to fight the fire but mostly they tried to stop it from spreading
to other nearby trees and the Singing Forge was no more. Durin' this time
Mahdia had come runnin' to our side of the haven havin' seen the flames and
I stopped here before she was able to see the burnt and ruined remains of
her father. But she pulled away from me and runnin' around side of the fire
found here father's charred remains. She pulled the corpse to here breast
and screamed in grief and rage.
Then as I moved to draw her away another elf bent and helped here from
the scene. He spoke to here in kind and reassurin' words and it seemed to
me a good idea when he told me he would take her to his house and care for
here for a few days while the mess here was cleaned up. It was not good for
here to have to deal with this now. I nodded and watched as Nelian walked
away with his arm around Mahdia's shoulders and here head leanin' against
his.
Chapter 5
