The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 320

Chapter 320

“All right, Ellem?” Tedry asked .

I nodded .

“Guard duty for logging crew today,” he said conversationally . The thin, dark haired boy was sitting on his cot, pulling on a boot .

I nodded again .

“Been almost a week since we’ve been stationed here, Ellem, and I swear by the Vritra I don’t think I’ve heard you say more than three words . Why is that?” The Alacryan was looking at me with one thick eyebrow raised .

I just shrugged .

Tedry smirked . “You know, that’s why I like you, Ellem . You don’t interrupt me when I’m telling a good story . ”

Rolluf snorted from his cot . “No one has ever interrupted you telling a good story, Ted, ‘cause you’ve never told one!”

Tedry paused while he was slipping on his other boot and hurled the heavy footwear at Rolluf, hitting him right between the legs . Rolluf grunted in pain and tried to roll out of his cot but was tangled up in his blanket . The big Alacryan boy tumbled onto the ground, tipping the lightweight cot over .

Tedry laughed hysterically while Rolluf grumbled and disentangled himself from his blanket .

I was already dressed in the blue and silver uniform I’d been provided . I always made sure to be awake and dressed before the others, with my hair pulled up into a knot on the back of my head, disguising its length . It had seemed easy at first, to pretend I was a boy, but the longer I stayed in Eidelholm, the more difficult it became .

“Come on, you dolts,” I said, making my voice deeper . “We’re going to be late for breakfast . ”

***

After Tessia was captured I had thought about using the medallion to go back to the sanctuary . It’s probably what everyone, especially Tessia, would’ve told me to do . Then I had imagined stepping out of the portal, everyone’s expectant gazes turning to confusion when Tessia didn’t appear . I imagined the looks on their faces when I explained that Tessia had been captured in order to save me...and that I had run away .

Then, of course, they would’ve all told me it wasn’t my fault, that I couldn’t have done anything, that they understood and were just glad that I was alive . They’d be kind...just like how they always were . They’d feel bad for me, pity me .

They’d treat me like a child .

I didn’t have a plan, not at first, but I just knew I couldn’t go back to that . I’d seen Tessia after she got back without my brother . I’d been on the other end at that time, but now I knew how much Tessia was hurting, how lonely and helpless she had felt .

No . I couldn’t return to the sanctuary without at least trying to help Tessia . After all, I was the one that let her get caught . I should’ve just gone with Albold, but instead I had stayed to try and play the hero .

She’s my best friend, and she only got captured because of me . If I’d just focused on the prisoners, like Rinia warned, I wouldn’t have been taken hostage by Elijah, I admitted to myself . I have to at least try...

Eidelholm was busier than a kicked anthill for a couple of days after our assault . Using the first phase of my beast will, I spied from the cover of the trees, careful of anyone I saw using mana around town, since there was no way to tell whether they could see things from afar .

Several important looking people visited the village and dozens of new soldiers arrived to replace the men and women we’d killed . I saw Elijah once, meeting with the town’s visitors and showing them the site of the attack, but I didn’t see him or Tessia again .

It was a stroke of pure luck that I overheard Tedry and Rolluf talking near the edge of the treeline on the third day after Tessia was captured .

I found out that they were students from some Alacryan academy, part of a youth soldier training division . At first, their talk had mostly been about the attack . The leaders of the town were called the Milview blood . The two boys were joking about how the Milviews were cowards, how they had held half of their soldiers back to defend them instead of defending the town against the “Dicathian insurgents . ”

One of the older guards had smacked the back of Rolluf’s head and told him to watch his tongue . After that Tedry and Rolluf had moved off a little ways from the rest of the guards, making it even easier to listen in . I had nestled myself in a hollow under a leafy bush and got comfortable . Boo was keeping an eye on me from deeper in the forest .

The Alacryan boys spent a lot of time complaining about being sent to such a backwater hold, and talking about how their friends got to go to places like Zestier, where the real action was happening . It all sounded so...normal . They were just a couple of normal boys talking about stupid, normal boy things .

Then Tedry mentioned what a nightmare it had been for them when they arrived in Eidelholm . The man in charge of their program had been killed, so they were just being shuffled around between guard posts .

That’s what gave me the idea . A crazy, stupid idea...but still an idea .

Tedry and Rolluf followed me to the longhouse, where we each accepted a bowl of oats and milk, then took our normal seats at the end of one of the series of long tables .

“Some big event in a couple of days,” Rolluf mumbled through a mouthful of oats . “Heard one of the Shields talking about it . ”

Tedry rolled his eyes . “There’s always some ‘big event . ’ Probably just another highblood coming to scold the Milviews for letting all those elven slaves escape . ”

Rolluf shook his head, dribbling some oats on the table . “Nope, this is something big . Real big . ”

“As big as your head?” Tedry asked teasingly . Rolluf flicked a spoonful of oats across the table, splattering Tedry’s uniform . “Damnit, I’ll get a smack if I go to guard duty with an oat stain on my tunic, Roll!”

“Maybe should have thought about that before opening your big mouth, eh?” Rolluf teased, a big, stupid smirk on his tan face .

“Did this Shield say anything else about what’s happening?” I asked, my mind racing . I hadn’t seen Tessia since she’d been captured—since she traded herself to save me, I mean—but I knew Elijah was still in Eidelholm, or at least he had been, on and off, so I thought Tessia must be too . Maybe this big event had something to do with her...

“An announcement . Something to do with Elenire—”

“Elenoir?” I asked, cutting Rolluf off .

“Yeah, that . ”

Tedry feigned falling asleep in his bowl . “Don’t get excited, you two . You know they’ll make it up to be this big thing, then it’ll just be, ‘Congratulations to the whositswhatsits blood, they’re being given a hold in the ass end of Elnire—”

“Elenoir . ”

“—and we’re supposed to clap and cheer and pretend like we know who they are,” Tedry went on, ignoring the correction . Then his eyes lit up as something occurred to him . “Maybe it’ll be an execution! They could have caught the Dicathians that attacked the hold—”

Rolluf snorted, spitting flecks of oats on the table . “They beat one of the retainers, Tedry . No one in this little backwater could lay a finger on them—”

“He could,” Tedry said darkly, causing Rolluf to look down into his oats .

The table was quiet for a while .

This wasn’t the first time the Alacryan boys had mentioned Elijah, who they seemed to carry in high, but fearful, regard .

I’d been really careful not to ask too many questions to avoid tipping Tedry and Rolluf about my ignorance of Alacrya, which had limited my ability to dig for more information . If I was ever going to find out anything about Tessia, though, I knew I’d have to start taking more risks at some point .

“Think we’ll get to attend?” I asked, making sure to keep the deeper voice I’d used since sneaking into Eidelholm .

“Only if it’s boring,” Tedry complained . He was trying valiantly to rub the oatmeal off his uniform .

“Maybe, as the youth soldiers in Eidelholm, we could...give a presentation or something?” I asked hesitantly . The two boys didn’t like doing any extra work, so I knew they wouldn’t like the idea, but if it got me involved in this “big event,” then it’d be worth it . Hopefully .

The voice that responded came from behind me . “That’s a fine idea . ”

We all turned to look at our preceptor .

The man in charge of overseeing the youth soldiers in Eidelholm was a nervous mage named Murtaeg . He didn’t seem to have much time or interest in managing our affairs, though, and did little more tell us where to be every day and making sure our little house, which had once belonged to one of the elves, was kept in order .

Murtaeg had rusty red hair, a week’s worth of ruddy beard that didn’t grow in evenly, and watery eyes that quickly darted around the room . _{fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm}

“Hey, Murt,” Rolluf said, nodding to the preceptor .

Murtaeg glared at Rolluf . “My name, as I’m sure I’ve explained several times now, is not Murt . Nor is it Murty, Em, Teach, or any of the other silly bynames you keep calling me . Murtaeg . Remember it, Rolluf . ”

His ears turning red, Rolluf looked down at his empty bowl of oats and stayed silent .

“As I was saying,” Murtaeg went on, standing a little straighter, “I think young Ellem’s idea is a fine one . ” His wandering eyes stopped on me for only a second before darting around the room again . “I’ll stop by Milview Manor and arrange it with Silas Milview . ”

“Do you know what’s happening?” I asked before I thought better of it .

Murtaeg’s eyes snapped to me again, very briefly . “Since this is your idea, Ellem, why don’t you choreograph a short display for the event . I’ll let you three out of regular duties today and tomorrow to prepare . ”

The preceptor didn’t wait for a response, but turned on his heel and marched quickly out of the longhall .

Tedry and Rolluf were staring at me .

“What?” I asked defensively .

“I don’t know whether to be impressed or angry,” Tedry said, his brows turned down but his mouth quirked up in a wry smile .

Rolluf wore a deeply thoughtful expression, as if he were trying to do the mental math on whether he, too, was impressed or angry with me . “On the one hand, no duties for two whole days, which is a total score . ”

“On the other hand,” Tedry said, picking up Rolluf’s thought, “we have to plan, practice for, and then participate in a demonstration—to be performed in front of a bunch of fancy-pants named bloods—which totally sucks . ”

What’s the plan here? the voice that sounded like Arthur’s asked . If Tessia is here, all I have to do is get close to her, I answered .

“I suppose we better get to work,” I suggested .

“Hold up,” Rolluf grunted . “I’ve got something really important to say first . ”

Tedry and I watched him expectantly, both half out of our seats .

Rollof belched loudly, then blew the foul smelling gas across the table . Tedry kicked him hard in the shin, then bolted from the longhall, Rolluf, limping slightly, chasing just behind .

Boys, I thought, rolling my eyes and following after them .

***

Despite being surrounded by my enemies, people who would kill me in an instant if they found out my real identity, the next two days ended up being almost...fun .

Tedry and Rolluf weren’t mindless killing machines, as I’d told myself the Alacryans must be, particularly the guards that had died by my arrows . To them, the whole war was just a kind of game, a distant and romantic fantasy . They were charming and stupid and funny, and we enjoyed creating the short exhibition together .

Neither of them had marks yet—the tattoos that gave Alacryans their magic—so they weren’t at all surprised when I told them I couldn’t do magic either . I didn’t know nearly enough about Alacryan magic to explain my arrows to them, so it was safer to tell them that I had gotten archery lessons instead .

Tedry had the idea to borrow some training gear and stage a kind of mock battle, with me and my shooting skills taking the leading role .

By that afternoon, we had scripted the basics of our activity .

Standing in the middle of the clearing, Tedry rushed at me with a practice sword and shield . I rolled under his swing and brought the heavy Alacryan bow up to fire an arrow at his back .

The blunted practice arrow snapped dramatically in the exact spot where Tedry’s wooden sword would be as he spun and deflected my attack . After that, I would let loose another arrow that would hit him in his thick padded chestplate, causing him to fall backward, let out an overacted gasp and pretend to die .