She’d slowed down for Emi’s sake.

  The little elf was quite out of breath, and there were circles under her eyes. Tex noticed again how small and fragile she looked.

  He also noticed Neesha surreptitiously glancing at Emi with great concern and sadness in her eyes.

  Tex stopped to let them catch up, but the little elf smiled and chirped something in her sing-song voice — probably, “Don’t worry about me! I’m fine!”

  Then she picked up her pace, all smiles, but still huffing. It seemed like she was short of breath.

  This was worrying, but Tex concealed his concern. She was so good-humored; he would have hated himself if he made her feel bad.

  Tex tried to help her save face by pretending to be tired himself. He did this a few times, but Emi could never be induced to stop for long. As soon as she’d catch her breath, she’d start off down the trail, turning and waving her hand at them. Her pretty soprano voice rang out like a cheerful bell: “Leitoh! Didrami longui, nestaa-ha!”

  Tex couldn’t help but chuckle. Her cheeriness was infectious.

  He watched her pretty blonde hair flowing behind her. Why was she so fragile?

  His throat tightened.

  Please don’t tell me she has some kind of serious illness.

  Eventually, the ground became more level, and they came to a stream that babbled over a rocky bed. Neesha crouched beside it and took a deep breath through her nose before running her fingers through the water.

  Then she turned to Tex and Neesha. “Dwenos.”

  She and Emi started scooping mouthfuls from the stream. They seemed confident the water was safe to drink, so Tex joined in.

  They stopped there to cook the bird. The elf women promptly got to work, obviously eager to impress Tex. Emi finished plucking it as Neesha gathered moss and twigs for kindling. Neesha tried to make Tex sit down and relax, but he wouldn’t have it. He hated being idle, so he searched for fire-starting sticks.

  The bird was delicious. Its breast was full of turkey-like meat — exactly what Tex needed.

  After the meal, Emi and Neesha had a mild argument that was obviously about Tex. Emi spoke pleadingly in her cute little voice, frequently glancing at Tex.

  Neesha responded compassionately, but she was evidently trying to dissuade Emi from whatever it was she wanted to do.

  The little elf slapped her hands onto her thighs and pleaded, gesturing towards Tex.

  But Neesha remained adamantly opposed.

  Tex was brimming with curiosity. He would have given his left nut to talk to them fluently.

  As they neared the top of the mountain, the trees became more sparse, unveiling the blazing blue sky above them. Looking over the area they’d come from, Tex saw a vista of thick jungle stretching out towards a chain of mountains in the distance.

  Tex felt the blistering sun burning his face and neck, so he draped his flannel shirt over the top of his head to protect himself.

  Lawrence of Arabia, he thought, and wondered how the elves‘ skin didn’t get burned.

  Although the sun didn’t worry them, Neesha and Emi both scanned the bright blue sky with some trepidation.

  Spotting something, Emi pointed. Squinting his eyes against the sun, Tex saw birds soaring in the distance, closer to the other mountains.

  He noted a large beak and long, pointy wings, more like a bat’s than a bird’s.

  “Pterodactyls,” Tex said in amazement. “That’s what tried to eat me.”

  They were safely far away — for the moment, at least — and circling a certain spot.

  But it was a sobering sight.

  When Tex and the elves ascended to the top of the mountain, Tex was glad to see there was still some tree coverage. The blistering sun hovered behind them like a brutal sky god as they approached the vista on the other side.

  The first thing he saw was the shimmering horizon: a vast sea stretched out before them. Only a single, small island broke the endless expanse of water.

  Directly below them, forest clung to the mountain’s base and continued towards the sea, but some plains broke it up a little to the north. A sand-colored ridge rose beyond the plains and appeared to go out to the sea.

  There was also a river that came from the south side of the mountain and snaked its way through the forest until it cut into the ridge.

  “Must be a ravine there,” Tex said.

  With revulsion, he noticed scores of pterodactyls circling over the shore to the north. Again, they were safely in the distance.

  They also noticed the smoke of campfires curling up in a couple of places around the landscape.

  Emi suddenly became excited and pointed southeast, towards the sea. She looked at Neesha with a mixture of joy and sadness in her eyes.

  Tex followed Emi’s finger to a spot along the shore where the forest gave way to a beach. Squinting his eyes, he could just make out a couple of wooden structures.

  What was it, an elf village? A million questions swirled in Tex’s mind. Again, he felt intense frustration at not being able to communicate with the elves.

  Sure, he was already understanding a few phrases. For instance, he figured out that “nestaa-ha” was added to the end of a sentence to make a question. But he didn’t have time to learn a whole goddamn language.

  He decided they would go down the seaward-facing side of the hill and explore down there, since that was where the elves seemed to be heading, anyway. The river would have fish, and he could also take a much-needed bath.

  In the meantime, he started looking around for rocks and sticks, raw materials for tools and weapons. As he was searching, the girls once again got into an intense discussion about him.

  “What’s this all about?” Tex said. “Is there something you need to tell me?”

  Emi spoke something into Tex’s eyes and then gave Neesha an imploring look.

  “What is it?” Tex continued. “You want to go back to your home… Is that it?”

  Emi turned to Neesha and rapidly whispered something. Then she walked up to Tex and took his hand.

  Neesha shifted on her feet and sighed but said nothing.

  Giving Tex a meaningful look, Emi led him by the hand towards a tree. She assumed a formal, almost ceremonious air.

  Still holding his hand, she began reciting a musical prayer, casting her eyes at the trees and then towards the sky.

  After that, she put her hands on Tex’s shoulders and stared up at him with her big green eyes. She blushed deeply when he looked down at her, but she held his gaze.

  Tex burned with the urge to wrap his fingers around Emi’s little waist and crush his mouth onto her cherry-red lips. They were standing in such an intimate pose — like lovers about to dance.

  His jeans were suddenly tight again in the crotch area.

  But he reined in his thoughts, because Emi obviously had some other purpose in mind, and he could see that she was almost becoming flustered under his gaze.

  She continued her litany, still gazing into Tex’s eyes. He suddenly understood plainly that she was attracted to him and considered him a highly venerable person.

  But why could he suddenly sense this so clearly?

  This sense grew stronger, and soon he even perceived Emi’s feelings and thoughts; he saw the world through her eyes.

  It only lasted a moment, but it was startling, not only because the experience was strange in itself but also because Emi’s view was starkly different from the prevailing ideas of modern Earth.

  For her, it was taken for granted that a natural rank order existed between elves, men, and other creatures — and also among the members of each group.

  The noblest were at the top.

  Although she didn’t necessarily disdain other beings, she considered her kind to be very high in this hierarchy — many rungs above the Skrillings, for instance.

  Even so, she did not consider Tex her equal. He was above her. She regarded him as a person of great nobility, and this made her very conscious of her inferior rank with respect to him.

  Emi’s eyes sparkled knowingly, confirming that the connection ran both ways. She did not look into his thoughts, however, but continued her melodic recitation.

  By degrees, Tex came to understand her words.

  Her soprano voice rang out:

  …Once again, I sing:

  Oh, Great Star of the heavens,

  Whose light banishes Darkness

  And gives sight to our eyes

  Who gave form to the world

  And whose wisdom flies

  On beams so bright

  Giveth thou this noble man—Tex—the tongue of Sundvarr, that we may cast off the darkness between us.

  A slight pain shot into Tex’s temples, and he felt a satisfying rush in his brain. It was as if new neural pathways were rapidly forming, and his mind was gripping a whole new world of concepts, sounds, images, and logical sequences.

  The thrill that came with this was like the satisfaction that a piano student feels when he can finally play a difficult piece with ease after many weeks of practice — except it came all at once.

  Then the process suddenly ended.

  A heavy weariness fell over Tex. The window into Emi’s thoughts slammed shut. She lifted her hands from Tex’s shoulders, staggered, and fainted.

  Tex caught her around the waist as Neesha rushed towards them.

  “This is what I was afraid of!” Neesha said.

  Emi’s head lolled backward.

  Her face was wan and sweaty, and the lines under her eyes were more pronounced.

  “Will… Will she be alright?” Tex said, speaking the elf language as naturally a native.

  “She needs to rest. Come, let’s put her down under that tree in the shade.”

  Tex picked up the delicate beauty, her languid body falling limp in his arms. He carried her to the tree and laid her down as gently and reverently as if he were carrying the Crown Jewels.

  Chapter eight

  TEX ROLLED UP his flannel and put it under Emi’s head for a pillow. A frown creased her brow. She turned her head from side to side, moaning.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Tex said anxiously.

  Neesha stroked Emi’s hair. “It’s… a disorder.”

  Reaching into a pocket on the inside of her animal hide covering, she pulled out a dark green leaf. She ground a piece between two stones, and then took a pinch and dabbed it under Emi’s nose.

  After a few breaths, Emi calmed down and breathed more easily.

  “She’ll be alright,” Neesha said, not entirely convincingly. “She needs to rest awhile. I… I told her she was pushing herself too hard, but she never listens.”

  “She gave me the ability to speak your language,” Tex said, looking at Emi admiringly. “I take it that’s why she got so tired out.”

  “Yes. And she was already tired from the hike.”

  Tex gasped. “I can’t believe I’m suddenly speaking Elvish!” He had a perfect command of the language; he could speak it in its highest form, just like an elf noble, but also in a more common form.

  Neesha smiled. “Emi is very gifted.”

  “But... she’s sick? Will she be alright?”

  Neesha stood up and motioned for Tex to walk a few paces away from Emi.

  “She’ll be alright today,” Neesha whispered. “But… we don’t know how many days she has left. The best thing we can do for her right now is to let her sleep.”

  Tex swallowed thickly. “You mean…”

  Neesha looked at him with watery eyes. She didn’t need to say it. Tex could see the answer in her eyes.

  Emi was dying.

  “She was small as a child, and weak. Maybe that made her more susceptible… or maybe it’s because of her gifts.”

  “You mean her magic? But you have magic too.”

  “Of course — as do you. But hers is different. She’s a healer; it’s a very rare gift.”

  “Neesha, I have to tell you right now, I don’t have any magic — none.”

  She looked at him with a bemused smile. “What do you mean? Of course you do. We saw you —”

  “No. This is what I was trying to tell you before.” He picked up his rifle, which had been leaning against a tree.

  “See this? This is not an instrument of magic. It’s just a…” he wanted to say machine, but no elvish equivalent came to mind.

  The only thing he could think of that was even remotely similar was Ngor Odun, which was the idea of a wooden carving that becomes animated by a spell.

  But that was pretty far from the mark.

  He sighed. “Look,” he tapped the rifle with his fingers, but Neesha didn’t look at it.

  “Neesha, look. Don’t be afraid. This is what we call a machine in my language.”

  She reluctantly looked at it, and her eyes went wide with wonder.

  “M-machine? What is that?”

  “Watch.”

  Pulling out the magazine, he took out a bullet and held it up. Neesha gaped in amazement as it glimmered in the sunlight.

  “This is like a spearhead. When you press on this” — he pointed to the trigger — “it throws the spearhead out very fast.”

  “That is magic.”

  “It’s not magic. All you have to do is push this. Anyone can use it. I’m not a wizard, Neesha. I just tricked the Skrillings into thinking I am. I’m still going to protect you and Emi the best I can. But I need you to know that I’m just a normal man.”

  Neesha searched his eyes for a moment. Then she pushed her fringe aside and frowned at the rustling leaves.

  “I think you truly believe this… But you’re wrong. You are not a normal man. You are he, you just don’t know it yet.”

  “Who is he?”

  “The Prophesied Hero.”

  Tex guffawed.

  “Why do you laugh? It’s true!” She grabbed his forearm. “We knew you were coming; we heard the Skrillings speak of you. The prophecy was unfolding; a madman with flaming hair came out of the wilderness—”

  “Flaming hair?”

  “The one who came before you; his hair was red as fire. The Skrilling witch doctor inspected his entrails and divined your arrival.”

  “They did seem to be expecting me,” Tex murmured.

  “It gave us hope. Some of the Skrillings said they didn’t believe it, but we could see they were afraid.”

  “You can understand their language?”

  “Yes, most elves learn to speak all the major languages of the islands.”

  Tex looked out at the glittering ocean. “Islands…”

  Turning back to Neesha, he found her staring at him dreamily.

  “You come from across the Deep, don’t you?” she whispered. “Of course you do. You certainly aren’t from any island I know of.”

  “Actually… I’m not from this world,” Tex said, considering how to explain it when he didn’t even know himself.

  “Then you do come from across the Waters!”

  Tex reflected. “Well… perhaps I do. Tell me about this prophecy.”

  Neesha rattled it off in a school-girl voice as if it was something she’d learned as a child.

  “A stranger will appear in the last days of the Sundvarr, when The Last King has reigned for 250 winters. This stranger will be a sorcerer of immense power, a father of Gods, one to rival even The Last King and his multitudes.”

  “A father of Gods? What does that mean?”

  “It’s what the Prophecy says. It also says you will be a favorite of the gods— at least, some of them. That means they will bless you with… certain advantages.”

  Tex shook his head. “None of this describes me. I’m not a father of gods, and I’m not a sorcerer. I just have a weapon no one else has, that’s all.”

  But Neesha just kept gazing at him with glazed eyes, apparently not even listening. She truly believed he was her hero, and it gave her hope.

  Tex felt a rush of warmth in his breast. It felt amazing to give those two beautiful elf girls so much hope.

  He just didn’t want to end up disappointing them when they found out he wasn’t the Prophesied Hero.

  Tex returned to the Prophecy. “Did you say 250 winters?”

  “Hmm? Y-yes. That’s why he’s called the Last King. He means to live forever.”

  A phrase from the prophecy came back to Tex: The Last King and his multitudes…

  He thought about the Skrillings. What was that phrase they kept chanting?

  “Kdar Tol,” Tex muttered. “Is that his name? Kdar Tol?”

  Neesha started and grabbed his arm.

  “Yes, that’s his name,” she hissed. “But we don’t say it!”

  “Sorry… I should have known.” He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Tell me more; tell me everything.”

  She couldn’t tell him everything, because it would have taken hours. But the two of them sat down beside Emi, and Neesha talked while her friend slept.

  Tex learned that the “world” comprised a group of islands in a vast ocean. This archipelago was called Forn. Different species of humanoids lived there, though many of them were dying out.

  Of all the different species, only the elves naturally possessed magic abilities, unless you counted certain other obscure creatures, such as nymphs, which no longer appeared outside of stories.

  But the elves were disappearing, too. The time of magic was passing away, and the elves apparently had no place in the new age.

  Their magic had slowly waned for 200 years. Some of them, like Emi, suffered. They were afflicted either with deep sadness or infirmity of the body. Either way, it often killed them.

  This was a shock to the elves, since they naturally had long lifespans compared to humans.

  They also came under attack by Kdar Tol, who killed them en masse, forcing them to retreat to the remotest regions.

  Neesha spoke of this with intense sorrow and bitterness.

  “We ruled the world for 3,000 winters. But now he has reduced us to living like vermin.”

  Strangely, Kdar Tol did not belong in the coming age any more than the elves. But he kept himself alive and powerful through some ghastly means. The elves couldn’t stop him, because he’d acquired a dark power that utterly overcame their magic and rendered them helpless.