Chapter 9 The River Nix

Out of the dust of chaos rose a powerful leader in Brightsburg who elves learn to fear. His war drums beat loud into the dead of night. He prays to the war god Eris atop Mount Glacier for victory. Goats, pigs, and humans accused of witchcraft are sacrificed to win favor of Eris. Horns declare the coming of a greater firestorm than even the fire god Devon could ever unleash. The growing army of the Modred swept through nearby elf villages with a fury never seen before by the oldest elf. Store houses raided, elves slaughtered everywhere, and homes burned down were committed by this enraged army. Fairies were captured and roasted on campfires. A pair of fairies escaped on a falcon to warn other villages. They reached Leesville to warn that any creature not human is in danger. The Chief of Leesville ordered a stone wall built along the edge of town. Elves gathered all hunting weapons and glued flax together to make primitive armor. Shields from Rondan colonists hanging on walls were taken down. Their treasures were buried deep into the ground. Every villager was armed to the teeth for the impending battle. Children too young to fight were carried to Starn Marslin’s forge. Alaric, Kali, and Oden (Alexis’s brothers) were appointed guardians of the children and pregnant elves, for they were the youngest trained warriors. The approaching smell of fear crept into the babes’ cries as they waited for the war party to kill them all. Modred’s horsemen encroached closer to Leesville three days later. Alaric changed Nix into a deer so she may warn Sylvania of the army. She is to continue onto Etonville and hide in a temple where the gods will protect her. She cries from panic and Alaric slaps her across her cheek.
“There is no time for fear. You most go on to warn others that the humans are coming. Be strong and run for our lives, Nix.” encourages Alaric.
Nix cautiously steps down to the river. Mermaids hearing the news arm themselves and peek up from the river. Some of the bravest mermaids have dried themselves to join the elves along the stone wall. Their queen posts herself near the waterfall rocks as a lookout. Centaurs, fauns, sprites, and brownies sit in the bushes to harass the soldiers on their way around the mountains towards Sylvania. It is believed the humans plan to destroy elf and werewolf villages here. Werewolves have disappeared from sight and are believed to have run to Etonville.
Mid-afternoon approaches on this bright summer day as the arrows and slinged stones enter Leesville. Many villagers fall onto the protective wall hit with arrows. In the heat of the day, older children hide behind their shields while the adults return projected arrows. Mounted horses jump over the wall with riders cutting everything in sight. The elves and mermaids fight back with astonishing courage, to the surprise of the humans who were knocked from their horses. Adolescent elves sling rocks and arrows at the invaders, all the while repelling missiles directed at their heads. The mermaids clash swords with the soldiers setting elf homes ablaze. The horsemen take no prisoners and ignore the wounded laying on the ground. Children hide from the horsemen to have their throats cut. They race on to the Aurora River and the queen mermaid calls for the mermaids to kill the men and horses that are about to leap over the river. Alaric, Kali, and Oden drop an avalanche of boulders down on the leftover army. A few humans were ordered to scale the mountain to be hit with spears aimed by an elf seeing their armor shining in the sunlight. The shrunken army charged over the river to be caught by mermaids. The survivors of the Battle of Leesville went on around the mountains to seek the werewolf village of Sylvania. The night sky falls and the search for wounded begins. A handful of deserters from the cavalry came by looking for treasures. Oden shoots one with his arrow and refuses to give the man a drink of water, until he confesses the leader convinced the town that Nix’s wedding started the drought and caused the plague. He listens intensely as the man describes Chief Modred’s plot to steal from Etonville’s newly arrived grain and elf villages stood between Brightsburg and Etonville. Kali finds Nix upon the waterfall rocks of Aurora Falls.
He brings Alaric over to see that she had been shot with an arrow and the queen mermaid appears with his child. She claims a scout killed her and the man carefully stepped over the wet stones to finish her. He slipped to bloody himself and plunged into the water. He struggled to cling to the smooth stones. She asked how a childhood friend could hurt her. He laid his aching head to rest on the descending streams of white water. He declared to her that when she married that elf, she became the enemy. She recalled how Brightsburg cheered Alaric when he paid their tribute after the riot. He dismissed her memory and clung onto the slippery rocks tighter. When they stopped speaking to each other, she ordered the man pulled into the river and drowned. Alaric named his part-elf, part-fawn son; with thick hair, black deer nose, tail, elf ears, elf cheeks, elf chin, and two legs with hooves, Eurick after his great-great grandfather. Alaric contacts his sisters immediately with the cherry and starfish they had given him at his wedding. He spends the night next to his wounded father. His father is proud of his new grandson with an amulet hanging from his neck. He made Alaric promise to give little Eurick a toy he had made for him, a magical toy sword. Starn struggled to speak to his tormented son who gazed upon his dead mother covered in blood. He knew he would soon be dead and leave Alaric behind.
“I am an old man, my boy. My last evening on this blessed earth has come. I shall leave you to fight our enemy and comfort your mother in Roanoke.”
“No father, I will heal you and we can fight together this dreadful Modred.” interrupted Alaric.
“No, my son. I shall pass on as you sleep. I hear your mother calling me home. I must leave you. Just remember to be brave now and always remember we loved you and your sisters no more, no less than the other. We know you were jealous of your sisters’ betrothals and had to etch out your own destiny alone. Just remember, we love all three of you together, my son. Now sleep well, you need strength for tomorrow. Good night, Alaric.” finished Starn. He closed his eyes into a deep slumber he shall not awake from.
His father died in the night before his sisters arrived. They mourned their mother who was stabbed to death in the battle and their father shot with poisoned arrowheads. The wounded creatures were taken into the troll caves for they expected the horsemen to return this way back to Brightsburg. The young elves were cared for by the trolls until an older relative or kind elf took them in. Some of the sprites, fauns, and centaurs welcomed the orphaned elves into their homes. Alexis came to retrieve his nieces and nephews. One younger cousin of Alexis rejecting the Black Forest was sent to live with Alaric’s sprite cousin. The elves decided to leave the dead elves and mermaids as they lay to enshrine their souls. Some say ghosts of the elves slain in the Battle of Leesville still wander the woods where they fell. Not one elf resettles Leesville. Lixi, Gilda, and Alaric divided their parents’ belongings that survived the fire. Alaric took a toy sword, a mirror with strange writing on the frame, a bracelet from Kadacia, an amulet to Talin, and a magic wand. Gilda and Lixi grabbed her cooking pots, dishes, and jewelry. Alexis, Oden, and Kali divided their family’s treasure hidden in the dirt. A burial for Nix was arranged the next day. The mermaids took the deer to the depths of the mucky river bottom and covered her like they did with Queen Aurora long ago. Only Alaric was in attendance. He wished to mourn his love alone. Iris came to her friend to be pushed away by his grief and anger. Alaric insisted that she plotted to hurt his love so she could have him for herself. She was appalled at the suspicions and defended she had no part in the bad weather or the battles. She demands to know why he distrusts her so unexpectedly.
“You always have an ulterior motive for anything thing you do,” stated Alaric. “There has to be a reward for you in order for you to help me. Searching for the Cup of Hades, you wanted to see Eris and knew Nix would steal the magical cup. That is why you did not help me undo Maya’s curse.”
“How dare you presume my intentions. I came to comfort you, my friend. If you no longer desire my friendship, you shall not have it.” declared Iris before vanishing.
“She does love you very much. She never wished Nix harm. She wanted you to be happy, Alaric.” said Alexis from behind a tree. He comforted his best friend in his loss, for he also felt much pain.
“What do you mean you know she loves me?” asked Alaric.
Alexis quotes,
“As Gilda always puts it:
Love is patient, Love is kind
Love is humble and generous
Love is calm and encouraging
Love never keeps score
Nor does Love hurt
Love is gentle, Love is honest
Love is hopeful and strong
Love protects and trusts
Love never accuses
Nor does Love ever end.”
Iris reappears to claim Alaric is forgiven since he is overcome with grief. She declares that she would do anything in her power to bring Nix back. Though, it is not her decision to make. Nix must ask to come back to life first. Next, Maya must grant rebirth from drinking the Cup of Hades and then Isis must allow Nix to leave the underworld. She admits feeling great love for Alaric and would never cause him pain. Alaric apologies for his accusations of betraying him. He asks Iris what he does now.
“Have you no intelligence in that elf head of yours? You ally yourself to their enemy. One with a great army to defeat these ravaging humans.” answered Iris.
With that said, he changed Oden and Kali into brownies to gather information on the Brightsburg army. Alexis transforms himself into a hawk to carry them to Etonville. Alaric burns incense in the elf temple with a mural of Queen Aurora fighting King Hades. He pours prayer oil into the newly called River Nix and summons Queen Aurora to the surface. In a moment, the famous mermaid arises from the riverbed. Surprised at the summons, she observes her hands and feels for her hair. She spots Alaric looking up at her.
“Are you the one who summoned my soul?” asks the Queen.
“Yes, your holiness. I called you to help plan a strategy for war. You defeated griffins murdering your subjects. Humans are now destroying anything un-human. We all need your guidance, your holiness.” answers Alaric.
“I see, master elf. May I rest from the long journey from Roanoke first?” beckons Aurora.
Alaric offers fish and mead to the Queen. She flicks her tail as she eats. She was enthralled from drinking mead. Aurora inquires what assistance he was expecting to hear from her holiness. Alaric answers that he lacks strategy skills to lead a vast army across the mountains to attack Brightsburg. He did not lead anyone in the Battle of Leesville. It was Kali’s idea to send down an avalanche. Oden aimed the spears at the climbing soldiers. All Alaric did was shoot arrows, transform Nix, and find homes for the orphans. Queen Aurora informed the elf that he needs his own followers and muster charisma to fight against this army, as the Chief of Leesville did. He also needs spies to know what his enemy is doing and passwords so the enemy does not know what he plans. He needs supply trains to support his army and weapons to keep fighting. Alaric decided to ask Elmo and Alexis’s brothers to be his spies. They all speak languages that humans would not understand. He pays a visit to his sprite relatives across Aurora Falls to enlist their help, if he can convince a great army to help them. Alaric doubts Lotan is organized enough to suppress their own subjects. He doubts Kadacia would care for events that occur outside their realm. Blythe has a peace treaty and can not cross the Temple of Eris without repercussions from Lotan. Rondan trades with everyone so they would play one army against the other to take what either loses or seek profit for themselves. Alaric ponders Queen Aurora’s advice after she returns to the afterlife. Laurel sailors have been supporting the starving elves, so there would be one alliance to bargain. Trolls and centaurs are masters of metals, thus being nonhuman might be Alaric’s advantage in weapon supplies. Now, he had alliances to make. He convinced the Rondans to colonize more along the coastline for more trading posts, if needed. The Chief of Laurel assured Alaric that he can count on continued trade. The trolls and centaurs stashed weapons behind Aurora Falls where he and Nix kept their extra supplies. Kali, Oden, and Alexis returned with news that the elf Chieftess Daphne allied Etonville to the ogres in the surrounding Victyrian Swamps. The ogres waited on the east side of the village to block the army from retreating back to Sylvania. He heard that brownies continuously harass the army. Etonville repelled the attackers and little of their newly arrived grain was stolen.
The army was heading towards Rosewood Ravine when they last spotted the dust from their horses. Alexis guessed they would either go through Dragon’s Pass or walk over the mountains to make it back to Brightsburg carrying their booty. They could not find the werewolves anyplace. They must have scattered to the winds. Alexis left to retrieve his armor and weapons in the Black Forest. Last of all, Alaric builds a raft to make an alliance with fiends who surely will reject his proposition to fight Brightsburg, or perhaps he can be persuasive enough to commit them into the Borderland conflict. Everyone says he is crazy, but will continue fighting Modred’s army. Determined by criticism, Alaric builds his raft log by log. He ties them together with twine rope as he plots schemes in his sad head what he will say to Modred’s enemy. His sprite relatives made paddles for his journey. Brownies bring him potions. Pixies give him fairy dust. Iris gives a golden sail that no storm could tear. Treasures of Olin are hidden among the logs. After many days, Alaric adds the final touches, a rudder and his newborn son. As he ties the last log, an old friend pays a social call. Hariem offers a reed mat to sleep on and wishes the crazy hero luck in his bold strategy. He praises Alaric’s heroics and courage in battle. Ashamed of his cowardly friend, Alaric ignores him. He twists his golden sail with an irritated expression on his face. Hariem next tries to explain that some humans tied him to a tree and taunt him with spears. One scorched his fur with a torch and laughed at Hariem’s screams. A cub he adopted came out with Alaric’s sword to have a human take it from him. The man screeched as the sword shined and sizzled on its own. That frightened off the torturers and the cub untied him. He concluded by thanking Alaric for the magic sword. Alaric at last glared at him with his intense eyes. The werewolf stops speaking to gaze at his friend with sad, weepy eyes. He next thought of how to get Alaric to talk to him for a moment before continuing.
“I’m sorry you lost your village. Sylvania greatly fears humans and hid in the brush wherever we could to avoid being seen. Our homes were destroyed too, Alaric.” That worked.
“You are sorry?” questions the hero as he peeks out from the sail. “You hide like dogs, while the rest of us fend off your enemy and are massacred for it. My parents are dead. My son has no mother. My home is ruined. You werewolves hide like cowards and you are sorry.”
“Alaric, you do not understand how cruel humans can be.” explains Hariem. Alaric lifted an eyebrow to that observation. “They use us for target practice, tie us to trees, burn us, and thrust swords into us long after we are dead.”
“You are correct, Hariem. I do not understand how you can not fight back using my sword.” observes Alaric.
“If we resist, we are dead werewolves!” shouts Hariem.
“You are dead werewolves when you do not fight back!” declares the elf.
“We survive by running away and hiding from our enemies,” finishes the werewolf.
“And what will you do when there are no places to hide anymore. Humans are everywhere in this world.” finishes the elf.
Hariem stiffens his lip and turns away.
“Did you see my son? I named him after my great-grandfather Euric.” blurts out our hero.
“Yes I did. Elmo let me see him. I noticed you turned two elves into brownies that were very rude to me. Elmo said Nix tried to reach our village and her escape was thwarted by her human friend. He also said you are plotting an alliance with Illium. I wish you luck. Perhaps, if you persuade the Blythan emperor to break the treaty with Lotan, I could be your spy too.” offered Hariem.
“Those are acceptable terms to me, dear friend. I recommend you stay with my sprite cousin Leander until my return. My unicorn guardian Kiko still wanders around the forest waiting for me to call him. Tell him not to worry.” asks Alaric.
“I swear to it. Where is Leander?” begs Hariem. Alaric makes a strange call and Oden responds twitching his sword at Hariem. Kali follows shortly behind.
“Take Hariem to Leander’s tree house and find the cubs Hariem is in charge of,” orders Alaric. The brownies bow their heads and fly away into the treetops.
“I wish you luck, Alaric. I know everyone will learn your name soon.” finished Hariem before following the brownies.
Alaric the Fool set sail on the evening tide to the farewell cries of sprites, fairies, elves, mermaids, and werewolves. Eurick sleeps in a basket under the stars. Mermaids splash around in the waves making a sail unnecessary. In addition, mermaids catch shellfish for Alaric. Sitting at the rudder, our hero steers along the coast to Illium to the south. Later, when Alaric goes ashore to get some sleep, mermaids sing praises to Alaric the Brave Fool. He hurls a piece of fruit at them to have it belted back at him. They quiet their annoying singing to let the hero sleep. Closer and closer the raft slips toward Illium and fewer mermaids surface. He knew he was close to the Blythe capital when the mermaids stopped resurfacing completely. A large cargo ship holding jars sailed past on its way to Ithaca, Alaric guessed. From a distance, Alaric could see the fire of the lighthouse on the horizon. His destination approaches. By morning, the guard towers of Illium welcome the elf.