The Awakening (24 page)

“Yes, I hear it too. We had best be careful. I like not the sound of this,” Giles warned.

“It certainly is bright,” the dark haired elf remarked.

“Unnaturally so,” Alemar added with concern. “What could be generating it?” she asked, as they all walked almost directly underneath it. “It must be suspended from the ceiling. There is no stand upon which it sits,” she said, looking in all directions.

“And no means to reach it,” Clovis said.

Giles pressed the hilt of his spear and the tip promptly extended, allowing him to poke at the platform above their heads. He reached up and prodded the underside of the container. Instantly, the light began to shoot out at amazing speeds in all directions, buzzing and clamoring, sparking and glinting, and then dissipating into the heights of the huge chamber. They dropped to the floor and shielded their eyes and heads, as the streaks flew rapidly past them, hitting into their faces and bodies as they escaped into the dark sky above. The cavern became a vast theater within which an amazing light show was now being performed.

“It is alive,” Clovis yelled over the buzzing.

“Yes, I see too. But ‘it’ is not a single thing, not a unit. They are insects of some kind. Thousands of them. Glowbugs maybe. They must be attracted to whatever is on that platform, and they illuminate the chamber for whomever resides here. It is brilliant,” Alemar concluded, still laying upon the damp surface and looking up wide-eyed but cautious.

“You scared them off, Giles. The light will soon be gone,” Clovis noticed, with concern.

It was rapidly growing black in the chamber, as the source of the light was swiftly dispersing, flying upward and out the passageways dotting the walls. Within moments, they were blanketed in total darkness. They could neither see one another nor anything else in the immense cave.

“What now?” Clovis asked. “Does anyone have a torch left?”

“I do,” Giles answered, and he proceeded to light it. As soon as it ignited, a gust of wind swiftly blew it out. He re-lit it, thinking that the occurrence was only coincidence, but again it was blown out almost immediately.

“Strange,” Alemar said. “Try again, Giles.”

Once more, he sparked the torch to flame, but just as quickly the fire was snuffed out. Alemar heard a scraping sound nearby, but she could not identify it.

“Where are you Giles? Clovis?” she asked, but they did not respond.

“Where have you gone? I cannot hear you,” she said, her concern mounting steadily.

She stood up and reached in all directions like a blind person, hoping to encounter one of her companions. Then, she heard a sigh ahead in the darkness.

“Is that you Clovis?” she asked.

Her query was greeted with silence. A moment later, she distinctly heard what seemed like a muffled sound, a voice perhaps, but it appeared as if it was coming from underneath a heavy blanket. She continued to grope with her hands, hoping to contact one of the others, yet unable to understand what could have happened to them.

Her fear and frustration were escalating to the point where she could no longer contain them, and she continued to hear sounds although they were completely unintelligible. She breathed deeply, calming herself methodically in the pitch black chamber, slowly and steadily in and out, until she had regained her composure. With her mind settled somewhat, she began to reason more clearly, and with reason, her memory became sharper. She began to laugh to herself, and in the darkness of the room, her laughter echoed throughout, snowballing and building in intensity.

“I am such a fool sometimes,” she said aloud, as she reached into her tunic. She grasped the small, silver cocoon that held the finger length piece of wood given to her by Crea. She retracted it, pulled it taught upon its chain and then willed it to ignite. She watched as it began to glow from within, spreading its luminosity throughout the entire area. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the light, what she saw before her she could hardly believe.

Giles and Clovis were both completely shrouded in greyish- brown coverings that were draped over them from their heads to their knees. It appeared to be a cloth of some kind, but Alemar was certain it was somehow something more alive than mere cloth. Next to each man stood what looked like a thick stalk or tall stem of a plant topped by a cap of this self-same brownish covering. The cap hung over the top of the trunk like long hair, unparted and draped over a person’’s head, though it appeared to be all one continuous piece, rather than many individual strands. This odd hair-like substance extended downward about three feet, reaching midway to the surface. It was that which enshrouded the elves as well, cloaked over both Clovis’ and Giles’ heads, muffling their words and making their communication indecipherable.

Alemar watched carefully as these objects moved gracefully, though only slight waves radiated from their tops to their bottoms. What had at first appeared to her to be a single stem, soon became more clear as the light intensified. At the base of each, she thought she could discern appendages that looked like feet, though less sculpted and more bulbous. And under the folds that hung around them, she began to see movement, and then an arm-like offshoot reached out from one and rested atop Clovis.

About all that remained visible of her friends were their legs from the knees down, but she continued to hear their muted sounds as if they were trying to commune with her. The odor was unmistakable. It was the same smell as when they entered, only much, much stronger than before. And it seemed to be emanating from these creatures, if that was in fact what they were.

She crept closer to the two upright figures, not knowing which side was their front and which side was their back, and she held the light aloft before her. It was clear now that one stood beside Clovis and the other beside Giles, obscuring her companion’s vision with the folds of their ‘skin’. She only hoped that it did not also restrict their ability to breathe underneath the fleshy covering.

To her great surprise as she drew closer, she saw one shift position, apparently enough to face her, and she clearly saw what looked like two eyes peering out from under the fleshy wrinkles. The eyes were large and covered with a filmy, greyish lid that opened and closed rapidly as she watched. The skin everywhere was blotched and mottled in various shades of brown. The lips were large and full, and the nose was almost flat with small air holes instead of nostrils, which were also concealed by small filter-like flaps.

“Mother. The female,” a deep, muted voice uttered.

The other figure shifted to face Alemar, and then responded, “Yes, Father. I see.”

The voices reminded her of something she had heard before, but she could not put her finger on it. It nagged at her, as she listened closely and watched cautiously. She did not want to upset or engage them in any way until she understood better what they had done to her companions.

They did not move in a way that anyone would ever describe as walking. Rather, they slid across the floor. The lower portions of their bodies resembled a woman’s full skirt, that dragged behind them as they inched forward.

“What is it she holds in her hand, Mother?” he asked.

“I know not Father, but it is beautiful, though it hurts my eyes,” the female said, blinking more quickly as she gazed upon the glowing twig.

They all of a sudden looked to Alemar like giant mushroom people, and she could not help but giggle as the thought occurred to her.

“She is a happy elf, is she not, Father?”

“Yes, it appears so, Mother.”

It also struck her suddenly that the familiarity in the sound of the voices that she could not pinpoint was due to the fact that it was not quite a spoken utterance that it resembled. The words, although clearly said aloud, reminded her of how Oleander’s voice sounded to her inside her head, and this recognition relieved her tension greatly. It also gave her the courage to speak herself, though she shielded the light a bit this time so as not to impose it upon their apparently sensitive eyes.

“Who are you and what have you done to my friends?” she asked, seeing now that Clovis and Giles, though no longer shrouded, were still not moving.

“Are you Alicea?” the female asked her, opening her curtain-like eyelids wide and peering at her closely.

“No, I am Alemar, daughter of Whitestar of Eleutheria. Alicea was my great, great, great, great grandmother,” she replied.

“There is a strong resemblance, Mother. Can you not tell?” the other questioned.

“It has been a long while, Father.”

“Are they all right? They do not move,” Alemar asked again, referring to Giles and Clovis.

“They are fine, dear. Do not worry. We just did not expect them. Tell her, Father,” the female said to her companion.

“We have been waiting for Alicea for a very long time. Were you sent in her stead?” he questioned Alemar.

“By whom? I was instructed to come here, but I do not know if it was by the one you have in mind,” she replied.

“Is there more than one who knows of us, Mother?” he inquired, appearing to be a little confused.

“I do not know, Father. Perhaps,” she responded, tilting her capped head sideways in a quizzical manner.

“Why are you here, dear?” the woman asked after a moment’s hesitation.

Alemar herself was confused by now as well. She really did not know exactly why she was there. She only knew that Oleander had told her that she would find what she sought in the Caves of Carloman. But she did not want to reveal too much unnecessarily to these strange beings. They seemed friendly, but she could not determine their true motivations so easily.

“Could you release my friends from whatever it is that grips them so? I would like to know that they are unharmed before I do anything else,” she asked politely.

“They are unharmed, dear. I told you that. But if you wish, I will allow them to speak freely,” the Father said.

He pivoted upon his stem-like body and within seconds, both of the elves began to speak at once in a discordant jumble of unintelligible sounds.

“What has happened to them?” Alemar asked alarmed, and she walked toward Giles and Clovis.

“It will take a moment for them to regain their coordination. That is all,” the woman said.

Soon, both the elfin men were shaking their arms and stamping their feet, as if they were trying to shrug off the results of having sat in an uncomfortable position for a very long time.

Alemar grabbed Clovis by the shoulder and looked at him closely. He appeared to recognize her, and he smiled into her eyes.

“Weho,” he said, as if he had not seen her in a while. “Why do you look so troubled? I feel like I just woke up from the best sleep of my life,”

Giles too, smiled at her and seemed perfectly fine. They did not appear to be alarmed by the two beings standing right nearby, and they certainly did not seem to object to their presence.

“That was quite a nap,” he chided, smiling at the two figures beside them.

Alemar was stunned by all of this.

“They learned much about us during that brief respite, Father.”

“Enough, Mother,” he answered her.

Finally, Alemar backed up a few feet, put her hands upon her hips and spoke up.

“What is going on here that I am not privy to? I do not understand at all,” she said, frustrated.

The two inhabitants of the cave shuffled over to Alemar’s side and then blinked their eyes repeatedly at her before speaking.

“Mother and I needed to know who these men with you were and in finding out, they in turn learned who we are.”

“We did, Alemar, and you have nothing to fear from them,” Clovis assured her.

“Absolutely nothing,” Giles emphasized, having once again regained control of his body.

“Well, now that you both have settled that for me…” she responded, “…I can answer your question, Father. Should I call you that?” she asked timidly.

“That is fine, dear,” he replied.

“Oleander told me to come here. He did not fully explain to me what I should expect either to see or to gain,”

“You heard that Father? Oleander. I suspected so.”

“Yes, we have been waiting for one of your kind. What happened to Alicea?” he asked.

“She has been dead for a hundred tiels,” Alemar replied, surprised by the question.

“Has it been so long, Mother?” he commented.

“It has been since shortly after the rocks fell from the skies, Father,” she answered.

The original source of illumination in the cavern had begun to return to its platform above them since the moment that Alemar had partially concealed the light she held. But she had not noticed it during all that was happening right before her eyes. At Father’s mention of the ‘rocks falling from the skies’, Alemar happened to look upward and she saw the thousands of tiny lights streaming randomly back down. The glow from the suspended dish was growing in intensity.

“How did you train them to alight thereupon?” Alemar asked, pointing above her.

“They needed no training, my dear. They nurture the seeds. The seeds feed upon their warmth,” the male replied.

At the mention of seeds, all three of the elves already pointed ears perked up.

“What grows from these seeds, Mother?” Giles questioned, and it was clear now to Alemar that there was a limit to the information that was bestowed upon him by his previous communication with their hosts.

“Trees, my boy, trees,” Father rejoined.

They all knew immediately that they had found what they had come in search of, and they could barely hold back their excitement.

“We are the Seedkeepers. Did you not know that already?” he asked, surprised.

“No Father, we had no idea,” Alemar replied, while jubilation inflated her spirits like a balloon.

“Are you here to retrieve them?” Mother asked.

“Yes, I think so. I believe that this is what Oleander sent us here for,” Alemar said with confidence.

“It is time, Father. We have waited long for this moment,” she said in a tone that was tinged with sadness.

“Yes Mother, we have,” he concurred. “Come. Follow us,” Father instructed.

He slipped his dappled arm through his companion’s, and they slowly made their way across the spongy surface, their fleshy crowns draping behind them like capes in the wind. Alemar, Giles and Clovis followed closely after them, until the entire group was directly underneath the suspended disk. Mother and Father reached their arms upward and their entire bodies elongated, slimming considerably as they extended, until they were high enough to grasp on to the edges of the container. As if it was a ritual they were performing, they placed their long fingers equidistant from one another all around the edges of the broad disk. Carefully, they pulled upon it, lowering it slowly until it was just above the ground.