登陆注册
10428800000009

第9章

THE MAGE OF ALFHEIM lay quietly in the darkness of her study. She stared up past the knots that tied the ends of her hammock to the ceiling, past the rustling treetops, past the swift-moving clouds, and farther still into a darkness deeper than space. Neither awake nor asleep, the Mage lay still, gazing deeply into the past, back to a time that existed perhaps only in legend. She was passing through the Gates of Vattar, in the dreaming ritual that Elves practiced nightly beneath the light of the moon. In her mind's eye she saw the two most ancient Gods, Alvar and Oni. Alvar's home was the sky, Oni's was the earth. Alvar and Oni were neither male nor female, but both male and female in one body. Basking in the golden light of their separate realms, they had little need for contact with one another. But one day a flower grew along the horizon between earth and sky. It was a beautiful flower, the most beautiful thing that Alvar and Oni had never seen, and they both wanted it for themselves.

Full of desire, Alvar and Oni met at the horizon where the flower grew. They drew their daggers, both ready for a fight to the death. Alvar struck first, slaying the female half of Oni. Oni struck next, killing Alvar's male half. The two wounded Gods stood in an ocean of Blood and stared at each other. Oni was now only male, and Alvar was only female. With the realization of the horrible thing they had done, the Heavenly Warriors threw down their daggers and fell into each other's arms, in sorrow and dismay. Each of them was incomplete, imperfect, and mortal. They saw the possibility of Death. Before, the Gods had been solitary. Now each did not draw a breath without the need for the company of the other. The beautiful flower was theirs to share. From that moment on, the sky and the earth were joined. The Gods came together as male and female, and Alvar gave birth to the first Faeries born of this world.

What does the story mean? the Mage wondered. What does the legend say about the way we must live in the world, the way we must share the bounties of the earth? Is there something to be learned about the Humans, and the borders that have been breached?

A worried crowd was gathering on the branch outside the Mage's quarters. The Mage had not left her room all day, and now that darkness had descended, the Elves were anxious and fretful. "Is she all right?" the Elves cried.

"The Mage is tired," whispered Tuava-Li, getting up from her place next to the door. "All of our chanting in the Human realm exhausted her. You should all get back to your work. We must be ready for the Clan to return before the next full moon."

The Elves grumbled, shuffling their feet. "Why should we work our fingers to the bone, when the Humans are ready to destroy us?" one demanded. "Soon Alfheim will be nothing more than a memory. We haven't lived here in three hundred and sixty moons. What does it matter?"

"This business with the wedding shoe is just the first of many battles, mark my word," argued another. "What are we going to do about the Human? Will our chanting wear him down? The little magick we have isn't enough. We have to take more drastic measures, if we want to get the shoe back again."

Another Elf wagged her finger at Tuava-Li. "We have to face the facts — the Mage is old. What if she doesn't have the strength to lead us any more?"

"What would you have us do?" Tuava-Li snapped.

"We could cross the border into their realm," an Elf exclaimed, "sneak into the Human dwelling, and take the shoe by force!"

"Elves can't enter a Human's house without an invitation, you know that," Tuava-Li said. "The Mage says the Humans have forgotten that our kind exists. They tell of us in Faerie Tales, to entertain their children, but they don't believe we're real. If the Human who has possession of our shoe saw us, he'd be terrified. He'd think he'd gone mad. He would never invite us into his house and give us the shoe. Alfheim would be endangered all the more. Listen, even if we did find a way to enter his house without his invitation, the Mage says Human dwellings are full of metal and contagion. We'd be overcome long before we could find the shoe and bring it home. Don't you understand?"

"But we have to do something," cried the Elves.

"Aye," said Tuava-Li, "and we will. When the Mage is rested, she'll take us into the Human's dreams, and we'll wrest control over his actions. The shoe will be ours again, soon!"

"Well spoken, Tuava-Li," said the Mage, stepping into the moonlight. "Twice now we've called out to the Soul of the Human boy. Once during the night, and again in broad daylight. He's not strong enough to resist us for long."

"What about the machines?" argued another Elf. "We stopped some of them. But there'll be more. Alfheim will be destroyed if we do nothing to stop the Humans. We ought to tell the Synod in Ljosalfar now that we need more help — before it's too late. We can't allow another tree to fall, and the boy, and the shoe. It's all too much. Our troubles have just begun!"

"You're wrong," Tuava-Li insisted. "If our Mage didn't have the support and trust of the Synod, they wouldn't have sent us back here. We stopped the machines, didn't we? We can stop them again. You've got to be patient — and patience will help to temper your tongue with wisdom!"

"My children," soothed the Mage, "later this very night we'll return to the home of the Humans. Princess Asra will soon have her shoe. Conflict is our enemy, disharmony is what we have to fight. We don't need soldiers and armies to achieve what we desire." The Mage raised her arms as one who grasps at something just out of reach. "After all, are we not Elves?"

同类推荐
  • Love So Rare

    Love So Rare

    When Dawn inherits half of a luxurious estate in South Africa, she's overjoyed--until she finds out that to keep the estate, she must marry the man who owns the other half: Ralf Deverell, whose golden good looks draw her in even as his cold, unwelcoming eyes freeze her out.Unwillingly, Dawn goes through with the arrangement. Sure, she can find some legal way out of it, but Ralf's presence fills her with an undeniable desire--and soon she realizes he burns for her, too. But can their love survive in such troubled circumstances?
  • The Hunter and Other Stories
  • The Casanova Embrace

    The Casanova Embrace

    From the carcass of a Washington, D.C. car bomb explosion, the CIA launches an investigation into the mysterious events leading to the assassination of Chilean dissident and infamous casanova, Eduardo Allesandro Palmero. As CIA investigator Alfred Dobbs rummages through the evidence, Palmero's mysterious life, from heir to the Chilean oligarchy to a fist-raising Marxist and trickster in disguise, comes to light. But what Dobbs soon discovers soars beyond his wildest imagination.At the height of international terrorism, Eduardo fights his war with an unlikely weapon—seduction. From Marie DeFarge to Frederika Millspaugh to Penny Anne McCarthy, Eduardo orders his sex-craving subjects into battle, tearing them from a life of tranquility and into the passionate caress of a man who will stop at nothing for a cause, his cause. Soon enough, Marie, Frederika and Anne are making headline news as part of a South American terror squad.
  • Betrothed (Book #6 in the Vampire Journals)

    Betrothed (Book #6 in the Vampire Journals)

    TURNED is a book to rival TWILIGHT and VAMPIRE DIARIES, and one that will have you wanting to keep reading until the very last page! If you are into adventure, love and vampires this book is the one for you!
  • Trans-Siberian Express

    Trans-Siberian Express

    An epic tale about a land and a people Winston Churchill called "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."American cancer specialist Dr. Alex Cousins is on a covert mission to the USSR. He is tasked with prolonging the life of Soviet Politburo Chief, Viktor Moiseyevich Dimitrov, who is suffering from advanced stage leukemia. But the tenuous confidence between the unlikely colleagues is shattered one night as Alex accidentally discovers Dimitrov's diabolical plans for a nuclear strike on China. Alex soon finds himself dispatched, homeward bound, on a six-thousand-mile journey aboard the Trans-Siberian Express; long enough, Alex realizes, to silence him from alerting the U.S. of the imminent destruction.
热门推荐
  • 独倚风云

    独倚风云

    她是龙梦琦,又是沈梦琦,也是云琦。她本是龙吟国郡主,何故在二十一世纪生存了15年?在两地来回穿梭之际,她与他展开了一段恋情,身怀武功的她如何捍卫自己的爱情?将来要继承皇位的她,能与现代的他在一起吗?她又与江湖人闻风色变的云霄宫有何关系?情节虚构,请勿模仿!
  • 培养青少年思维能力的故事

    培养青少年思维能力的故事

    知识能够守护生命,是保护自己的盔甲。成长是一种历程,我们从无知到有知,从天真到深沉,我们用生命书写着成长的哲学,正是这些哲学的智慧丰富了我们的人生;成长是一种升华,成长的过程就是将软弱升华为刚强,将平淡升华为壮丽:成长又是一种幸福,它是人生中的一分财富、一种感悟,让我们在成长中激励自己,乘风破浪,勇往直前!如何适应社会,在复杂的成长环境里生存、发展,让生命既充满阳光和雨露,也承受义务和责任,是每一个未成年人必须面对的课题。《青少年健康成长大课堂》愿陪同青少年朋友快乐成长,打造成功的健康、理想、阳光的人生。
  • 大汉公主(全集)

    大汉公主(全集)

    苏武牧羊,公主和亲,李陵降胡。英雄美人,斩不断的情丝缕缕,谱写一曲大汉由强转衰的时代悲歌。
  • 寄刘少府

    寄刘少府

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 中国艺术经典3

    中国艺术经典3

    本书从书法、绘画、建筑、服饰、民间传统工艺等多方面地展现了中国艺术的魅力,让青少年在阅读中受到传统艺术的熏陶,提高自己的人生品味。
  • 怡山礼佛发愿文略释

    怡山礼佛发愿文略释

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 失踪之谜百科(科学探索百科)

    失踪之谜百科(科学探索百科)

    人类社会和自然世界是那么丰富多彩,使我们对于那许许多多的难解之谜,不得不密切关注和发出疑问。人们总是不断地去认识它,勇敢地去探索它。虽然今天科学技术日新月异,达到了很高程度,但对于许多谜团还是难以圆满解答。人们都希望发现天机,破解无限的谜团。古今中外许许多多的科学先驱不断奋斗,一个个谜团不断解开,推进了科学技术的大发展,但又发现了许多新的奇怪事物和难解之谜,又不得不向新的问题发起挑战。科学技术不断发展,人类探索永无止境,解决旧问题,探索新领域,这就是人类一步一步发展的足迹。
  • 颂古钩钜

    颂古钩钜

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 莎蕾拉的终极男团

    莎蕾拉的终极男团

    一觉醒来就变成血精灵族“女王”殿下的莎蕾拉,被陌生的美男军团牵引着,踏上了复兴血精灵族的复仇征程……他们将乔装潜伏,进入魔法世家、海妖水城、兽使楼域三个奇异世界去惩罚叛变首领!然而一切没有看上去那么简单,莎蕾拉对被告知的使命毫无记忆,而且在旅程中发生的种种神秘事件,让“女王”越来越迷茫,仿佛一切都是被美男军团操纵般,让她每往前走一步就愈加怀疑自己的真实身份……
  • 九言圣

    九言圣

    开门阵、休门阵、生门阵、伤门阵…八门阵法;天遁、地遁、人遁、神遁、鬼遁…九中遁法;孰强孰弱?代表身体的临言、能量的兵言、宇宙共鸣的斗言、治愈的者言、操控人心的皆言……我将以九言后人之名破除一切,不过在那之前,我得先按照师傅的吩咐找个会神遁的媳妇。