Nyssa’s boots made muffled sounds on the leaf-strewn trail. The woods were thickening around her, and the great trees lining the path to Aelinor felt like sentinels watching her approach.
As always when she ventured here, she imagined she could hear whispering. Or perhaps it wasn’t her imagination. Hundreds of years of enchantments were laid upon this forest, woven together and layered on top of each other, so it would be no surprise to learn that their echoes still resonated here. Added to those were the sounds made by the living things of the woodland. Quiet rustling, scraping, and pattering noises, and the occasional chirp of a bird.
As she walked, tiny orbs of light flickered to life in the surrounding gloom, bobbing gently in her peripheral vision. Most were pale shades of pink, like floating cherry blossoms. She stopped for a moment to watch them swirl, hover, then swirl again, coming steadily closer. Although they shouldn’t be this side of the border, the dance of miniature lights coaxed a smile from her. It always seemed as if they appeared just to keep her company while she walked in the forest. However, she knew that in reality they were simply attracted by the salt on her skin and the warmth of her body, both having built up from walking well over an hour already. She also knew better than to reach out toward the lights; like many other things in these woods, they were beauties best admired from a respectful distance.
Having halted, in the serenity of the floating lights she became even more aware of the noises around her. She now realised there was a low drumming sound in the distance. It rumbled through the trees and underbrush, rhythmic and insistent, getting louder. Nyssa’s hand inched toward her knife, even though she had never used it in anger in her life. Whatever approached did so with haste and purpose, but she waited for it with calm resolve. She would be a fool to stray from the path, even on this side of the border.
Within a few moments the noise had grown still louder, closer. Now she was able to make out the individual hoofbeats of a horse galloping, and to feel the slight tremors of the path beneath her feet. Could it be Kellam, she wondered? But he didn’t have a horse. "Come on then," she murmured, "Let's find out who you are.” Her heart began to beat faster. Dropping her backpack and turning in the direction of the approaching noise, Nyssa prepared to face whoever — or whatever — was racing towards her down the dimly lit woodland track. Enough of the dancing orbs had gathered around her that she doubted she would see past their glare until the horse was almost right on top of her, but at least those lights would give the rider some warning of her presence. Hopefully she wouldn’t be run down.
The thunderous gallop grew to a crescendo, then a horse burst into view from behind the bend in the road and was brought to a skidding halt on the leaf-covered path just in front of her. The rider dismounted, feet thudding on the ground. It was Kellam. He stood in front of her, chest heaving, his expression an unreadable mixture of fury and something else. Relief? For a moment, speech seemed to abandon him — either from anger or exertion — but then his words came at Nyssa in a torrent of shouting.
“What were you thinking, setting off without me?” he bellowed, carelessly slinging his horse’s reins over a protruding tree branch. The animal snorted and shook its mane, echoing its rider’s irritation.
The healer gave a deliberately nonchalant shrug. "You're the one who summoned me to Aelinor," she said. "Do you want me to go there or not?"
Kellam's jaw tightened as if he was literally biting back his immediate response. He took a step closer. Nyssa stood her ground. She had never seen him this angry before, but she had also never yet been cowed by anyone’s shouting.
His next outburst was just as loud.“Nyssa, you have no idea — no idea — how much the forest has changed since your last visit." She stiffened at the condescension in his tone. In the meantime, the little lights that had been congregating around her now began migrating towards the elf instead, drawn by the beads of moisture on his forehead, and perhaps his agitation. He attempted to wave the glowing cloud of them away, an even deeper frown etched across his glistening brow, but the motion had no effect.
Before she had chance to reply to him, he continued. “Your little prank of leaving without me could have got you killed!”
Nyssa’s eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms, looking up at the ranger with flashing eyes. However, her tone was calm and reasonable when she repeated his word. “Prank?”
In the brief silence that followed, the little lights hovered between them like a physical manifestation of the tension that hung in the air.
“What else should I call it?” the ranger snapped. “Your ‘hilarious attempt to humiliate me?’ Or, ‘misguided effort to show how independent you are by getting yourself killed? Deliberate bid to piss me off?’” With a huff of irritation, he tried again to sweep aside the distracting floating lights, scattering several while he continued his tirade. This time their movements seemed more purposeful as they returned to hover near his face and neck. They no longer drifted serenely but instead sped instantly back to their formation in direct, determined straight lines.
"Kellam, don't—" Nyssa tried to caution him. But the elf, wrapped up in his annoyance, missed the warning.
“Then despite you saying that you’d ‘think about thinking about it’, you decided just to go off, without any planning or preparation—” He could see she had opened her mouth to respond, but cut her off. “Oh, I beg your pardon — you had a chat with the sewing circle first, and picked up some snacks. Then you set off.”
By now the miniature lights around him seemed to be enjoying the enraged elf’s emotions as well as his sweat, and their muted colours had become brighter. One or two of the bolder ones alighted on the collar of his leather jerkin, keen to sample whatever he was emitting. Another settled on the back of his hand. He flicked it off with his other hand, furious at the persistent invasion of the space around him, in addition to his anger at Nyssa. She winced at his action, unclasping her cloak and reaching for the healing amulet that hung around her neck, just in case. “You’ll only make them worse if you—” but her words were swept aside by his relentless scolding.
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Two more of the glowing creatures fastened onto his hand, to replace their displaced companion. Kellam’s exasperation with them erupted into violence as he swatted at the cloud of lights. “Get off me, you little bastards!” His hand cut through the cluster of glimmering sprites, palm connecting with the largest of them, batting it to the ground. With a tiny thump, its glow was extinguished. Nyssa flinched as though she’d felt the blow herself.
"Oh, Kellam,” she sighed, as what had been a mesmerising dance of lights instantly turned into a maelstrom of fury. The creatures grouped into a frenzied swarm, diving towards him with the wrath of vicious wasps, their previously enchanting glow now tinged with the red of anger.
"Damn it," Nyssa muttered under her breath. She wrapped her cloak around the ranger’s head and neck to protect him from his attackers, ignoring his struggling and cursing. Then with a practiced touch she activated her amulet. A soft, pulsating hum emanated from it, casting a wave of calming energy through the hand that held it. She put her other hand on the elf’s chest and said, “Stay still,” her quiet professionalism overriding the other emotions she had been feeling just moments before.
Kellam attempted to pull the cloak away from his head at the same time as trying to crush the one or two biting, stinging creatures that had managed to reach his face and neck. “Enough!" Nyssa snapped, louder this time, her tone sharp enough to slice through his pain and the remnants of his anger. He stilled at last, and the combination of calm, quiet, and the amulet’s energy was finally enough to disperse the remaining fairies. Nyssa let go of the amulet and helped the ranger to unwind the cloak from his head. The last few lights flickered uncertainly before vanishing into the shadows, leaving behind a darkness full of sullen accusation.
His lecture cut short by the attack, Kellam blinked, the fury already faded from his eyes.
“Sit down on that log and let me look at the bites.” Nyssa said, and now the elf meekly followed her instructions. She knelt by him and opened the flap of her leather satchel, bringing out a balm to lessen the pain and swelling of the bites. While she was tending him she said in a pleasant tone, “A wise elven ranger once told me the First Rule of the Forest was…”
The ranger groaned. “Don’t fuck with the fairies,” he finished for her. “Yes, I still stand by that advice. I think you can see why.”
“Can we have a sensible conversation now?” Nyssa asked as she continued to dab the ointment onto his skin. “Or would you like to shout a bit more, first?”
Kellam looked sheepish.
“Whose horse is that, anyway?” the healer asked.
“It’s Jemmy Flint’s. He owed me a favour. It turned out to be a horse-shaped favour. About half an hour ago.”
“Doesn’t he need it back?”
“Not immediately.”
“I’m surprised Jem would trust you with any of his horses for long.” She mused.
“Why? I’m great with horses — aren’t I, boy?” He reached out to pat the foaming, heaving side of his mount.
“I’m sure she’ll be relieved to hear that.” Nyssa replied, looking pointedly at the mare. “But I’m still not clear why you needed to bring her.”
“I was coming to save you.” Kellam admitted. “But you ended up saving me, instead. As usual. Bloody fairies,” he finished, lifting a hand to his head to feel the raised bumps of the bites and stings around his face and neck.
Nyssa shook her head, then pretend-pouted with sympathy and asked, “Would you like a brave-heart honeygum?” as if trying to cheer up a small child. She squealed as Kellam sprang from his seat on the log and grabbed her, picking her up as if she were the child.
Nyssa looked up into the ranger’s brown eyes as he held her, their bodies pressed against each other and both still breathing hard…and suddenly the moment became awkward. She raised an eyebrow and said, “Put me down, please, Kellam.”
He set the healer back down on her feet and she bent down, still blushing, to pick up her large pack again. She was about to heft it onto her back when Kellam said, “We do have a horse right here, you know. That you could put your pack on?”
Nyssa considered the horse for a moment, then shook her head. “If there’s one thing I learned in my ten years with the army, it was ‘never get separated from your kit’. And fortunately the other thing was ‘never pack more than you can carry.’ So I’ll manage, thanks.”
Kellam was staring at her, open-mouthed until he gathered enough wits to ask, “You were a soldier?”
She made a wry face. “No, I was a medic. I was with the army, not in it.”
The ranger recovered himself. “That makes a lot more sense. I was trying to imagine you with a sword, but my brain refused to do it. Ten years, though. How is it you’ve never told me that before?”
Nyssa shrugged. “It wasn’t the best time of my life. And it was a long time ago.”
When it became clear she wasn't going to reveal any further information, Kellam said, “Well, my time in the army taught me something, too. ‘Any fool can be uncomfortable.’” He reached a hand out for Nyssa’s pack, and she reluctantly handed it over, although she refused to give up her smaller satchel of herbs and medical equipment.
Once her pack was securely fastened on the horse along with Kellam’s gear, she said, “Come on then, let’s get moving again. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll get out of the horrible forest.”
“What’s so horrible about the forest?” Kellam asked, leading the horse by the reins as they resumed their trek along the path.
“Spiders. Snakes. Beetles, bandits, and — no offence — elves.” Nyssa replied.
The elven ranger raised an imaginary hat to her in salute.
“I always feel like something’s lurking behind the trees.” Nyssa said, casting a suspicious glare around herself at their gloomy surroundings. “Or maybe in them.”
“If you hate the forest so much, why didn’t you just wait for me to come with you?” Kellam asked.
Nyssa walked along the track beside him, not speaking, then finally answered. “I suppose it’s because you can suggest where I go, but you don’t get to tell me how and when as well. I like to make my own choices. And not be forced into doing someone else’s bidding. Even yours.”
Now it was her companion’s turn to be silent for a while as they walked. Eventually, Kellam spoke.
"I'm sorry," he said, his tone sincere. "For being an ass. For everything that's coming, for... " he shrugged, "everything."
"An all-encompassing apology? That's new," Nyssa teased, but the warmth in her laughter soothed the raw edges of their earlier confrontation.
“I am sorry,” he repeated. Then, “Besides, if I cover everything in one go now, I won’t need to apologise ever again, right?”
The healer laughed again. She didn’t give any further reply, but now the silence between them was easy and relaxed as they reached the entrance that marked the border between the human and elf lands.
