Valentine
Valerian Delacroix was alone.
He had been alone for a long, long time. But he hadn't always
been here. Here was a Room in the Void Between the Realms. All
he knew was that he'd been sitting in his Paris apartment when
he felt someone fighting hard against a Dark Elf. He had sent
forth his scrying spell, homed in on the source . . . and then
had been pulled into the Void. He'd had about three seconds to
form this emergency Room, or he'd have died right away.
Then, he started working on how to get back out of the Void. But
nothing had worked; his mother just hadn't taught him enough magic
to help him get out of this situation.
That had been two weeks ago.
He snarled. How much longer could he stand it in here?
He had to do something to get himself out of here before his control
over the energy flows slipped and the Room dissolved back into
the Void from which he'd formed it.
He could have tried to call to other Elfs months earlier, when
he had spotted the earliest signs of Dark Elf work -- any Elf
could mind-speak across the Void to the Elf Realm -- but if he'd
tried to explain what had happened, they'd never have believed
him. They refused to listen to any suggestion of Dark Elf activity
in the Human Realm, just as they had closed their minds all those
years ago during the Elf-Elfy war. They didn't want to think about
their distant cousins, the Humans, or even their much closer Elfy
cousins, fighting Dark Elfs. Now, though, it was probably too
late for that; speaking across the Void, he knew, was possible,
but from the Void was not. At least, it wasn't possible for him;
try as he might, the only place his scrying spells would show
him was that same Human Realm town he had been looking at when
he was pulled into the Void.
He didn't know much about the Elfys, and neither did any other
Elf he had ever asked. Could they be aligned with the Dark? He'd
been watching the ones he had found in the Human Realm, ever since
he had been trapped here, and none of them had done anything except
defend themselves. That was not what Dark folk of any race would
have done. He was inclined to trust them. If he ever got the chance.
He'd almost managed to reach someone a week ago -- the very powerful
young Elfy mage he had been watching, apparently in the area that
he had been searching when he'd been pulled into the Void -- but
the Elfy had wrenched himself away at the last moment. He hadn't
meant to pull the Elfy into the Void anyway; he'd only wanted
to get out, or to find someone to help him get out.
It hadn't worked. He was still stuck here.
And on that note, he'd rested enough; it was time to try his escape
spell again. Maybe this time he'd get lucky . . . .
*****
"What was that?" Bruno yelled. Something arcane was
happening nearby. All he could tell from the brief flare of power
was that it was somewhere within ten miles of where he sat --
Market Square Park, one of only two large open areas in Knightsville,
away from the riverside, at least -- and that it reeked of Elf
magic.
::You didn't have to yell like that,:: a voice remarked inside
Bruno's head. He snorted. Trust Jelena to start the conversation
with a snide remark. She had always been a bit crusty in life,
or so he'd been told, and five years on the Other Side had done
nothing at all to mellow her. ::I felt it, too. I'll check it
out.:: The sense of her presence disappeared from Bruno's mind
before he could say anything.
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