had become. Even better, he had something to look forward to when the sun rose. It was a day that promised to be one of the best days he’d known in months. Tomorrow would be the first day of spring. The imps and sprites would be able to travel once again, and he intended to call them to come see him.
Chapter 2 – Return of the Imps
Kestrel awoke after the sun was above the horizon. He was sweating with terror, for the nightmare he had awoken from had been more gruesome than usual. He’d been frozen in place, unable to move, and watched as a horrific version of a Viathin had been eating a prisoner alive. He knew that the prisoner in the dream was a very good friend, though he did not know who it was. Kestrel had been unable to exercise his powers, unable to flip Lucretia at the monster, unable to help in any way. The powerlessness had been horrifying.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to shake away the feeling of helplessness, then suddenly remembered that spring was beginning, the sprites and imps would be able to travel once again, and he had a reason to feel more cheerful. He smelled the aroma of fresh-baked rolls, and realized there was a covered tray of breakfast goods sitting on a table near the door to his room. He ambled over to the tray and grabbed a roll, one baked using the coarse acorn flour that all elves enjoyed, still warm and fresh as he bit into it.
He went to clean himself up once the roll was gone from his hand, then went downstairs and opened the windows of his study, including the glass doors that opened onto a patio. He wanted to give the imps plenty of space to fly in when they came to see him.
Satisfied that space was available, Kestrel took the additional precaution of stepping out onto the patio. He walked to the center of the patio, standing on the smooth slate floor, then grinned as he looked up into the sky and whispered.
“Dewberry, Dewberry, Dewberry!” he said softly. He didn’t know how well the imps and sprites actually heard him when he called; he imagined that a whispered request would be like a ghostly, soft voice heard just beyond the range of certainty, making his sprite friend doubt what she heard, then decide to follow the uncertain sound.
His mind was just finishing its speculation on the appearance of a perplexed sprite, when the sky was filled with a half dozen blue bodies all around him, a circle that blotted out the blue sky as they arrived, circled, then plummeted upon him, driving him to the ground under the weight of their grasping hugs.
“I told you I heard him! Is this not worth leaving the celebration?” Dewberry crowed to the others.
She was the one who had claimed, or wrestled her way into, the prime position, atop his chest, her face directly in front of his.
“You are alive! Kestrel-friend, we are so excited! You are alive!” she repeated twice in her excitement, before she pressed her cheek against his and hummed with happiness.
He looked over Dewberry’s shoulder, and saw that Stillwater, Killcen, Odare, and two others unknown to him, were also part of the pile that weighed him down.
“You all made it home,” he said, glad that the warriors who had accompanied him deep into Uniontown had completed the very long trip all the way across the length of the Inner Seas to return to the Swampy Morass. They had carried the body of Canyon, the fourth imp who had been in Kestrel’s bodyguard unit – physically carried it by flying across the countless miles – back to his home in the Swampy Morass to bury him with his ancestors. When Kestrel had watched them fly away he had worried about their chances of successfully reaching their goal.
“When we flew away from you, we feared that you would not prevail,” Odare spoke the very thought he had, in reverse. “Then, just as we were halfway h ome, we all felt our hearts lift with a strange happiness.
“I told them it meant
Chapter 2 – Return of the Imps
Kestrel awoke after the sun was above the horizon. He was sweating with terror, for the nightmare he had awoken from had been more gruesome than usual. He’d been frozen in place, unable to move, and watched as a horrific version of a Viathin had been eating a prisoner alive. He knew that the prisoner in the dream was a very good friend, though he did not know who it was. Kestrel had been unable to exercise his powers, unable to flip Lucretia at the monster, unable to help in any way. The powerlessness had been horrifying.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to shake away the feeling of helplessness, then suddenly remembered that spring was beginning, the sprites and imps would be able to travel once again, and he had a reason to feel more cheerful. He smelled the aroma of fresh-baked rolls, and realized there was a covered tray of breakfast goods sitting on a table near the door to his room. He ambled over to the tray and grabbed a roll, one baked using the coarse acorn flour that all elves enjoyed, still warm and fresh as he bit into it.
He went to clean himself up once the roll was gone from his hand, then went downstairs and opened the windows of his study, including the glass doors that opened onto a patio. He wanted to give the imps plenty of space to fly in when they came to see him.
Satisfied that space was available, Kestrel took the additional precaution of stepping out onto the patio. He walked to the center of the patio, standing on the smooth slate floor, then grinned as he looked up into the sky and whispered.
“Dewberry, Dewberry, Dewberry!” he said softly. He didn’t know how well the imps and sprites actually heard him when he called; he imagined that a whispered request would be like a ghostly, soft voice heard just beyond the range of certainty, making his sprite friend doubt what she heard, then decide to follow the uncertain sound.
His mind was just finishing its speculation on the appearance of a perplexed sprite, when the sky was filled with a half dozen blue bodies all around him, a circle that blotted out the blue sky as they arrived, circled, then plummeted upon him, driving him to the ground under the weight of their grasping hugs.
“I told you I heard him! Is this not worth leaving the celebration?” Dewberry crowed to the others.
She was the one who had claimed, or wrestled her way into, the prime position, atop his chest, her face directly in front of his.
“You are alive! Kestrel-friend, we are so excited! You are alive!” she repeated twice in her excitement, before she pressed her cheek against his and hummed with happiness.
He looked over Dewberry’s shoulder, and saw that Stillwater, Killcen, Odare, and two others unknown to him, were also part of the pile that weighed him down.
“You all made it home,” he said, glad that the warriors who had accompanied him deep into Uniontown had completed the very long trip all the way across the length of the Inner Seas to return to the Swampy Morass. They had carried the body of Canyon, the fourth imp who had been in Kestrel’s bodyguard unit – physically carried it by flying across the countless miles – back to his home in the Swampy Morass to bury him with his ancestors. When Kestrel had watched them fly away he had worried about their chances of successfully reaching their goal.
“When we flew away from you, we feared that you would not prevail,” Odare spoke the very thought he had, in reverse. “Then, just as we were halfway h ome, we all felt our hearts lift with a strange happiness.
“I told them it meant
Similar Books
One Week To Live
Joan Beth Erickson
Mountain Woman Snake River Blizzard
Johnny Fowler
Jungleland
Christopher S. Stewart
Neighbours And Rivals
Bridy McAvoy
The Captain's Wallflower
Audrey Harrison
PlaybyPlay
Nadia Aidan
Ladyhawke
Joan D. Vinge
Playing Keira
Jennifer Castle
A Little Harmless Addiction
Melissa Schroeder