The First Snow. Chapter 1
“The First Snow”
Chapter 1
Anna Vyshegorodtseva
The First Snow
Chapter 1
The Little Folien
The way foliens run is alien to human physic. They use all four limbs and fly through the woods with silence and ease unachievable by humankind. Obifreemall ran just like that and had a great cause for this endeavor. He was being chased by a pack of wolves. Their mouths were filled with foam, and he could hear them breathing. He knew their eyes were burning red. He knew the thirst for blood fueled them, and he knew also that he had no chance of surviving if he were to stop. So, he raced through the blueberry thickets, his skin torn by the branches. He knew he had to reach the plains; the wolves would not follow him there.
Another amazing ability of a folien body is the compass that is built into their brains. A human running in thick twilight with no orienteer whatsoever, except for occasional trees of unusual shape, will soon start running in circles. The wolves knew this far too well, so they did not expect a two-legged humanoid creature to run in a straight line. Obifreemall fled at a steady, feverish pace, and the only reason why he happened to trip was the smell of smoke that suddenly appeared in his foggy fear-filled world. There was smoke. No one in these endless woods ever started fires. There was not another intelligent being for miles on end around here. Obifreemall had learned it the hard way. Smoke meant fire. Fire meant danger, but this smoke was… tasty. It smelled like his small bonfires when he would cook his kill or dry his clothes. This was civilized fire.
The plains appeared out of nowhere. The pine trees ended so abruptly that Obifreemall lost his grip on the ground and went flying through the tall waves of feathergrass. He rolled to a stop and froze. The ground smelled different. Everything smelled different, and there was the sky… So much sky. The sunset was pushing against the dark dome of nightfall crawling over the world and little specks of stars already glittered at the dark side of the horizon and above the trees.
The wolves lingered at the edge of the forest. Obifreemall could see their eyes shining with uncertainty and hunger. He tried to be as still as possible, hoping that they lost him in the tall grass, but they saw him. He knew they did. One of the wolves finally decided to make a run for it and stepped out into the dim light of the sunset and his reddish back suddenly was engulfed in flames. A moment later the flames became real. Something shot through the sky over Obifreemall’s head, and the wolf let out a shriek and bounced up in the air. It retreated into the woods, whining and growling. Obifreemall looked up in confusion and then came the shout. He could not understand the words, but words were not needed. The wolves scattered through the woods, throwing disappointed glances at their abandoned prey.
Obifreemall lay silent and thoughtless in the grass. He simply could not move anymore. Too much of his energy had been used up for the run. His short thick fur was wet, and his black fox nose twitched as it noticed some new scents in the air. Leather and wool – things that are unnatural for the feral world.
‘Kairi in, pallil?’ said a voice right over Obifreemall’s head. If it was a sharp voice, the boy would have launched into a sprint and fled, but this was a low, melodic voice that rolled the “r” in the most elegant way. Obifreemall looked up and became as still as a rock. A figure was leaning over him, its head seemed to reach the pale burning sky.
‘A folien, aren’t you?’ came the voice again, this time slightly sharper because of how the common language made one sound. ‘Who are you, kid?’
In the fading light of the sunset, his face looked like a fresco. It was long and pale, with large icy eyes, a well-structured straight nose, and thin lips. The flowy sandy hair wavered in the wind, tucked behind long pointed ears.
“It’s an elf!” the thought shot through Obifreemall’s mind. He’d seen elves before, but it had always been his parents who would talk to them, not him. He can talk now…
‘What’s your name, kid?’ asked the elf. Obifreemall stared at him. Speech! He could talk! He practiced talking with his kill and his firewood, he just had to do it for real now!
‘Don’t worry so much, kid, it’s ok. I don’t bite,’ the elf gave him a small smile. ‘Come, I’ll give you some tea and you’ll tell me all about it. You look young but I don’t seem to notice anyone else of your kind around here.’
Tea! He was being invited to have some tea! He was invited to “tell all about it!”.
‘Come,’ the elf leaned over Obifreemall, examined him with his cold but kind eyes, and asked carefully:
‘Would you let me touch you?’
It was only his little smile and the harmony in the sound of his voice that kept Obifreemall from jumping up and running away. Yet without a powerful enough panic, he could not bring himself to stand up. So, the elf bent over, picked the boy up, and carried him somewhere. Obifreemall froze, shaking in the grip of his strong hands. He shut his eyes. Every single muscle in his body was trying to make it known to him that he had exhausted himself to every possible limit. He had to run for his life, there was no other choice…
The elf smelled of damp wool, smoke, and cinnamon. Obifreemall dared not open his eyes until he was wrapped into something warm and placed on the ground. He lay there motionless for a few moments longer and only then peeked out of the covers to check his surroundings. The fire blazed right in front of him, and he jerked at the sight, only to realize it was just a bonfire. It smelled of some good soup. Obifreemall watched his giant savior place himself on the other side of the fire and cross his long legs in tall leather boots that smelled of fresh wax.
‘I’m Neroln,’ said the elf and offered Obifreemall a hand.
The boy stared him dead in the face, not knowing what to do with the hand. Neroln sighed and took out a large cup covered in chipped blue enamel and filled it with some fragrant tea. The smell of mint filled Obifreemall’s world and the boy breathed full lungs of it. Neroln placed the cup in front of him and waited. Obifreemall took the cup, smelled it again, and took a sip. His tongue was burned immediately, but he did not care about this little inconvenience. The tea was too good to let cool. The mint started working quickly and soon Obifreemall was encompassed by a comforting slumber of relaxation. It took him only a few minutes to fall asleep.
* * *
The vastness of the sky was as blue and transparent as a polished sapphire and seemed to swallow up the world. Light yellowish brushes of the feathergrass swayed gently against it, and Obifreemall watched the dance of the wind from the comfort of his slumber. The sky. He had forgotten what it looked like. The boy lifted his head and looked about. Only then did the realization of what had happened dawn on him. He thought about it for a moment longer, then leaned back on the ground. The sun was bright but cold, and Obifreemall had no desire to leave the warmth of the blanket quite yet.
‘Good morning, lad,’ said Neroln’s melodic voice, followed by the rustle of branches that he had brought for the fire. Obifreemall jumped up like the wild animal he was and turned around.
In daylight, Neroln seemed to be even taller. His blue eyes were paler, but they reflected the brightness of the cold spacious sky. His skin had been tanned by the sun and now made a strange contrast with the sandy-blond hair and his brownish clothing. He wore a chain mail on top of a thin quilted jacket, though it was mostly covered by a long brown vest with a stand-up collar. Two belts wrapped around his waist, and one of them was being pulled down by the weight of a shiny longsword in its sheath. Obifreemall stared at the sword so hard that he nearly went blind. He had never thought swords could be this wonderful. Folien swords were always short and wide and looked more like daggers. This, on the other hand, was a real longsword.
‘I hope you’re hungry because I intend to tame you by giving you some food. You need a good bath and someone to teach you to speak. You’re a wild little creature now and that’s no good,’ said Neroln having not the slightest idea of how much Obifreemall could understand.
‘Hungry?’ said the boy suddenly. Neroln froze for a moment and tilted his head to the side, looking at him with genuine curiosity. Obifreemall was smiling happily. His practice of talking to twigs and dead rabbits was paying off. He did not comprehend the very first words Neroln had told him last night, but after that, everything seemed to be clear enough.
‘Yes, are you hungry?’ asked Neroln slowly.
‘Raakauuuuu[1]!’ stated Obifreemall joyfully. He looked at the elf with impatience.
Neroln raised an eyebrow. Obifreemall decided to switch to the universal language of gestures. He opened his mouth, showing off his long sharp fangs, and pointed there so expressively that Neroln immediately understood the message.
‘Sure, you’re hungry, wait a moment, the oatmeal isn’t ready yet,’ he said waving a hand at the fire behind Obifreemall. The boy nodded, and Neroln started to pack his things.
‘Where?’ inquired Obifreemall watching him closely. Neroln looked up, then straightened out and pointed somewhere far beyond the horizon in a long gesture.
‘Back to Elviy,’ he said. ‘And where are you heading, pup?’
‘Me lost,’ stated Obifreemall in his lisping folien accent.
‘For how long?’ asked Neroln. The conversation was happening, Obifreemall was inspired, so he continued:
‘U-uaa, long time back, two vaatzit back I was in chshaat, accidentally. No my fault. No matz and shatz fault too, me was…’
He tried to remember the accurate word in the common language.
‘Gave, sent, ki… kidnapped! Me was kidnapped!’ he lifted his eyes, beaming with excitement, to look at the elf. A thin little wrinkle of concentration formed between Neroln’s frowned eyebrows.
‘Two what back?’ clarified he carefully. ‘Vaatzi?’
Obifreemall nodded energetically.
‘Vaatzit! Two vaatzit!’ he showed the elf two of his four black fingers.
‘What is “vaatzit”?’ asked Neroln. Obifreemall’s triangular fox ears drooped down and pressed against his head in discouragement.
‘It’s… It’s… when snow!’ said he, raising his little paws towards the sky.
‘Ah, winter?’
‘Winter!’
‘Two winters ago, you were kidnapped and then left where?’ Neroln was working hard to put together all the pieces of the puzzle.
‘Yes!’ stated Obifreemall, very pleased with himself for being able to conclude a full dialogue with another intelligent being.
‘So, you’re homeless?’ noted Neroln and sighed. ‘Well, you can tag along ‘till Elviy, if you’ll behave yourself.’
Obifreemall nodded happily, and Neroln gave him a cup of water-based oatmeal with some sunflower oil and raisins for breakfast. Obifreemall had tried raisins before, mom and dad used to buy them as a treat for him, when he lived with them far away, in the northern woods. Now they seemed so distant, and Obifreemall’s memories of them had been slowly fading. He could remember their faces and his mother’s warm hug but that was it. The oatmeal surprised him with its taste, and the boy finished all of it before Neroln asked him another question:
‘What’s your name, little fox?’
Obifreemall had to think about what the word “fox” meant before he responded with:
‘Obif-eemall.’
The “r” sounded very unconvincing, and Neroln immediately repeated it wrong:
‘Obifeemall?’
‘No, Obi-fr-r-reemall,’ growled Obifreemall, baring his teeth to make it clearer.
‘Ah, Obifreemall, wonderful,’ Neroln nodded. ‘And how old are you?’
‘Tzatza winters,’ said Obifreemall proudly.
‘Tzatza?’ Neroln waited for a translation patiently.
Obifreemall showed him all eight of his fingers and then two more.
‘Ten?’ clarified Neroln.
‘Yes!’
‘Wonderful,’ Neroln started stirring the coals in the fire to put them out. ‘Here, take the pot and go wash it over there, in the stream by the woods.’
Obifreemall glanced at the forest, smiled at the elf, and went off, skipping through the grass toward the edge of the woods.
‘Just be quiet!’ ordered Neroln, and the boy slowed down.
His body was still hurting mercilessly after everything that had happened yesterday, but he was used to running silently and quickly, even in pain. On his way to the woods, he recalled that he had tried to hide in the grass somewhere around here last night, so he looked around in search of the spot.
Then he noticed the wolf. The silvery fur was sticking out of the lingonberry thickets, barely visible among the leaves and brunches. Obifreemall froze in fear, staring at the sight. Then his keen eyes noticed that the wolf’s body was unnaturally still. Above it, hiding in the thickets of a bush stood a proud, blue-feathered arrow. There was no movement in the woods, but Obifreemall listened for a few moments with his fluffy fox ears attentively set upright. Then he gathered his courage, put the pot on the ground, and scurried towards the woods in a cautious trot.
His greatest enemy showed no signs of life, and Obifreemall approached it carefully. The wolf lay with its heavy silvery head tucked in the moss among the blood-red berries. Its long wiry legs stretched out into the thickets. Obifreemall looked at the arrow in admiration. It went in right under the wolf’s shoulder blade, between the ribs, so death must have come to the animal instantly. The fur around the arrow and the lower part of its shaft were charred. The arrow was on fire when Neroln had sent it on its way last night.
Obifreemall carefully grabbed it and slowly pulled it out of the wolf’s cold body. He wished the animal a safe return to the wild forests of the spirit world and walked back to camp. On the way, the boy examined the arrow more closely. It was a long, heavy, and frighteningly beautiful one, with its elegant silver tip and worn-out blue feathers. The arrowhead was narrow and as long as Obifreemall’s hand, so it could easily penetrate a chain mail. This was very clearly a war arrow.
The folien returned to the camp with an unsettlingly grown-up look on his childish face. He put the washed pot by the coals left from the fire and silently gave Neroln the arrow.
“Ah, thanks, I thought it burned completely,’ said the elf matter-of-factly as he took it from Obifreemall’s paws.
‘You killed?’ asked Obifreemall very quietly, and Neroln looked at him intently.
‘I did. He attacked you and me,’ said the elf calmly. ‘When someone is trying to take a life, that life must be protected.’
‘Thank you,’ said Obifreemall and lifted his smart apprehensive eyes to look at his companion.
‘You’re not just a little wild kid,’ murmured Neroln as if speaking to himself. ‘You feel the world…’
Obifreemall did not say anything to that. He simply took his sack made from animal skins where he kept all his belongings. Neroln put some dirt on the coals of the bonfire, took his backpack and his bow, and nodded at the vastness of the plains:
‘Well, it’s that way. We’ll cross Alvin a bit further south, there are better currents there. If we get stuck on this side of the river tonight, we’ll get shot in the night, if the wind won’t blow us away. It’s a long way, we’ll stop for lunch, but for now chop-cop! Come along!’
Neroln adjusted his belt that held the sword and caught Obifreemall’s admiring gaze. The elf narrowed his eyes in suspicion, turned, and started walking through the waves of feathergrass southward. Obifreemall, who had already forgotten about the wolf and could only think about swords now, ran after him. He wondered why elves needed such long swords when the short ones were way easier to use. They surely looked very pretty and very shiny.
The grass was fragrant and very dry. It rustled when Obifreemall made his way through it, jumping up from time to time to make sure he was moving in the right direction. Fortunately, Neroln’s tall figure was hard to lose sight of. Obifreemall tried to calculate exactly how many times he would have to stand on his own shoulders to make up for Neroln’s height. Twice? Or three times?..
During his time in the woods Obifreemall had grown quite a bit, and, since comparing heights was as common of a thing among his peers as talking about the weather, he longed to show off how tall he had become. Deep inside he had hoped that once he would be back to civilization, he would be able to compare heights again. Yet he had to save his dreams for later because comparing heights with Neroln was complicated. Obifreemall even started suspecting that he would never be as tall as Neroln. At least he had never seen other foliens being this tall.
After a few hours of walking the tiny folien and the ridiculously tall elf ended up on the steep shores of a river. They walked for another half an hour downstream. Then Neroln went down to the water and crossed the river, stepping from stone to stone and taking small leaps where the gaps were wider and the water faster. Obifreemall followed him bravely, knowing that where Neroln had to make a step, he had to jump. It took him a few minutes and he crawled out on the side of the river drenched like a wet rat. Neroln took pity on him and even agreed to make a small fire to help Obifreemall dry out a bit.
The boy sat down and fluffed up his fur. He stretched out his small callous feet. He had no shoes and no shirt for a very long time now, but his pants still held up well, even though he had to fix them a couple of times. His fur was usually enough to keep him warm. Neroln produced a piece of bread, wrapped in a towel, and a small bag of jerky that he gave to the boy. Obifreemall grew up on a diet of meat of all kinds and ways of preparation, so this lunch gave him some excitement. Neroln cut a slice of the slightly dried white bread and offered it to the boy as well.
‘Here is Elviy?’ asked Obifreemall, taking the food.
‘No-o,’ Neroln smiled. ‘Elviy is far. We’ll walk ‘till nightfall and rest at night in the foothills. Then we’ll walk more and reach Elviy by the evening.’
‘A-ah,’ sighed Obifreemall. ‘We are hurryoing?’
‘I’m assuming you meant hurrying, and yes, we’re in a bit of a hurry. If not for you, I would’ve walked all night and reached Elviy by morning, but it’s ok if we slow down,’ Neroln gave his tall boots a strange look.
The boots were new. They still smelled of wax and fresh leather, and they did not have folds at the ankles yet. Obifreemall desperately wanted to touch them.
Some people consider speech and a writing system as a sign of civilization, some are content with the idea of intelligent thought, and some only see settled groups of people as civilized. Obifreemall had his own take on civilization and was certain that the only true sign of civilization was the presence of shoes. He liked to walk barefoot, he liked when nothing restricted his toes, but footwear gave one a power that barefoot people could never possess. People in shoes did not need to care about looking under their feet. They could run as fast as they wanted, they could kick things and
people. They had power over those with no shoes.
‘What you doing here?’ asked Obifreemall suddenly, looking up at the long face of his new friend.
‘What am I doing?..’ Neroln looked as if he wanted to get offended but decided against it. ‘Part of my job is secret, but most of is fairly simple. I’m studying the local systems of government. I highly doubt you’ll understand me, but I’m writing a research paper on feudalism and monarchy under the influence of said feudalism. Elviy is a perfect place for this sort of study.’
Obifreemall listened with his eyes wide open but most of the meaning, indeed, escaped him.
‘You write?’ he clarified with curiosity.
‘I do. It’s like a book, but shorter,’ explained Neroln, drawing a rectangular in the air in front of him. Then he made some strange gesture with two fingers which was supposed to mean “shorter”.
‘Book…’ Obifreemall had never seen a book in his life. When the foliens of his clan wanted to write something, they used pieces of bark or leather or sometimes just dirt to do it. Sometimes they drafted runes around the camp to ward off evil spirits and summon the good ones. Neroln searched in his backpack for a moment and extracted a notebook. He gave it to Obifreemall and explained with a smile:
‘This is just my diary. It’s like a book or my paper. Here I write down things I learn.’
‘O-oh!’
Obifreemall opened the notebook and stroked the fragile sheet of paper. At some point, his mother tried to teach him to read the common language but it required time and commitment, and now Obifreemall could only barely understand a few words now and then. He looked through the notebook. The notes were being taken in several languages at once. Some Obifreemall recognized, and some looked completely alien.
‘I also want to write down all learn!’ he said thoughtfully and returned the notebook.
‘Well, you’ll have to learn to read and write,’ said Neroln. ‘Every educated person has to know how to do that.’
‘I’m not person,’ stated Obifreemall.
‘You are a person. You aren’t a human, but you are an individual,’ replied Neroln.
‘A-ah.’
‘Everyone has to learn to read and write because from there you can learn anything,’
‘Really?!’ now Obifreemall was truly excited.
‘Really,’ Neroln nodded. ‘Well, how’s your fur?’
Obifreemall jerked his ears, then touched his disheveled shoulder. The fur was still damp, but it was much better now.
‘Ur,’ said Obifreemall proudly.
‘Yes? “Ur” means “yes”?’ asked Neroln with professional linguistic fascination in his voice. Obifreemall nodded. ‘Is it dry?’
The boy looked at him in puzzlement. Neroln narrowed his eyes and tried again:
‘Dry? Warm? The river is wet, the water is wet, the grass is dry…’
‘A-ah, ur, dry,’ Obifreemall puffed up his chest. He could now communicate with his friend on a truly good level.
‘Time to go then,’ Neroln got up, rubbed his knees, and threw his shabby brown cape over the shoulders. Soon the fire was out, and they were walking through the grassy plains to the south yet again.
The eastern shore of the river Alvin bore a narrow path, embedded in the tall feathergrass. It twisted lazily among the smooth greenish-grey humps of foothills. On the right, behind the slopes of the hills rose the ghostly, transparent peaks of the mountains. They were not very tall here, but their rocky slopes were already covered in snow and the sun, reflected from it, played strange tricks with one’s eyes. It was hard to tell whether it was truly mountains or just oddly shaped clouds on the horizon.
The sky was bright and clear, and the wind blew so hard, that even Obifreemall’s fur did not save him from the cold. Neroln’s sun-bleached hair flopped in the wind, creating beautiful whirls, and by the end of the day it got very tangled. The road was long indeed. Obifreemall, whose endurance was strengthened by life in the woods, grew tired very soon. They walked on until sunset. The sun, red as blood, took a long pause at the very edge of the horizon, before descending in one magnificent movement. The wind changed its playfulness to wild fierceness as if it wished the whole world to become flat and smooth like an egg. Each breath produced a small cloud. Obifreemall’s legs grew numb, but he kept walking determinedly behind his quiet companion.
Neroln refused to talk while walking. He watched the changing landscape with his large, squinted eyes and listened carefully. Obifreemall tried to ask him questions, but Neroln quickly put an end to that. The further they walked, the gloomier he became, and by nightfall, he started limping. This greatly perplexed Obifreemall, who always thought that if you have footwear, you have no right to complain about the quality of the road.
When the world drowned in the first blues of twilight and when Obifreemall’s folien eyes switched to night mode, Neroln announced it was time to make camp. In the hum of the wind, his peculiar voice sounded even more melodic. He pointed Obifreemall to a small dent at the slope of a hill. It was well protected from the wind by a few large boulders. Neroln put down his backpack and the bow, left it with Obifreemall, and walked off to look for firewood.
Obifreemall sat silently in the shadow of his hideout and stared at the stars with his shiny blue eyes. He was used to knowing what was going on around him. His ears immediately rose to catch any unusual sound, his eyes could identify any strange shape of the night. The sky slowly grew darker, until the small sparkling beads of stars started appearing on the indigo velvet of the heavens. Neroln was gone for half an hour, but that was enough for the young folien to start worrying about his newfound friend. Obifreemall started shaking in the cold, fear and weariness were only feeding his anxiety when he finally heard the rustle of clothing. In a moment he saw Neroln’s light face and hair as he approached the camp.
‘U-u-ua!’
‘What’s up?’ Neroln walked up to the boy and threw a bunch of branches in the middle of the dent.
‘I’m happy you back!’ exclaimed Obifreemall. ‘I was ookaau-u you won’t back…’
‘You don’t need to worry about me,’ said Neroln with a weary smile. He took out a kettle and a pot. ‘Wait a few more minutes, I’ll get some water. Put together the fire if you know how.’
Obifreemall happily started breaking up the branches to form a small tight hut out of them so that the wind would not blow out the fire. As he reached for the small rocks, he used to get sparks for fires, Neroln returned from the river. He put down the pot and the kettle and in one quick movement of his hand started the fire. Obifreemall leaped up into the air, then scurried back and pressed himself against one of the boulders. He stared at the fire, then looked up at Neroln with his eyes round like soup bowls.
‘Shaaffa-a[2]…’ breathed he with a superstitious fear in his voice. Neroln smiled.
‘Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything bad, I just started the fire. It’s very easy. Like this,’ he sat down to be close to the boy’s eye level. He took one of the small branches, waved a hand over it and the end of the branch lit up with steady orange flames. Neroln’s pale-blue eyes lit up too and stayed that way for a few moments. There was no reflection of the fire in them. Obifreemall forgot how speaking worked for a few moments.
‘It’s not scary,’ repeated Neroln and started to fix the fire. Obifreemall lifted his shaking paw and pointed at his own eyes.
‘A-ah, the eyes… yes, the eyes light up,’ said Neroln and smiled as kindly as he could manage with how long and serious his face was. ‘They always shine when I feel a true connection with Golte Evere. You see… I can’t do a lot of magic. They say it depends on faith, but I don’t quite get that. I have a friend though… He can make such magic that one can only stand and watch. But he doesn’t use it often, only for important things. He is… a special soul.’
His calm and low voice somewhat soothed Obifreemall’s fear. He smoothed down the fur that puffed up on the back of his neck and made himself comfortable. He wanted to hear more. Everything he knew about magic was from stories and legends his mom used to tell him and his siblings before bed. Magic could be good or evil, it always had two sides, and sometimes it was hard to tell them apart. Yet Obifreemall considered himself skilled at identifying one from the other. After all, he had heard so many stories! Now it was time to test his abilities.
‘I can start a fire,’ Neroln continued, pointing at the bonfire. ‘Sometimes I can stop a fire from spreading if it’s small. Sometimes I can tell if Hekere is somewhere close to me and even help scare him away, but that’s only if there’s someone strong to help… Anyways, I’m not a very good mage.’
He shrugged and threw a few more branches into the fire.
‘What Hekere?’ asked Obifreemall very quietly.
‘Who is Hekere… He’s sort of, the worst who exists in the world,’ Neroln looked up at the sky. ‘You see, I’ve never been interested in these topics, so I only know what my parents taught me when I was a child. Hekere caught a group of elves back in the day and took away their wings. Then he conquered a bunch of humans and tortured them for pleasure. Then he tried to kill all the wingless elves, the ones who escaped, then… it’s a long story. He’s bad, and that’s all you need to know.’
Obifreemall was looking at him with a serious expression.
‘Mukhata,’ he stated. ‘Bad spirit, big spirit, evil, u-u-u-u.’
‘Mukhata?
Obifreemall nodded then opened his mouth, pressed the back of his tongue to the roof of his mouth, and repeated, accenting the “kh”:
‘Mukha-a-ata.’
Neroln tried again, sighed, and put the kettle in the fire.
‘I’m no Mukhata and I don’t serve him,’ he said to reassure the folien. ‘If I’m on anyone’s side, it’s Golte Evere’s.’
Obifreemall looked at him happily. There, the test was passed! This was good magic! Satisfied with the explanation Obifreemall calmed down and focused on drying his fur. Neroln pulled his backpack closer up and unbuckled the straps of his boots. He pulled them off, examined them carefully, banged them on the ground, and put them by the fire. Shaking his head in disapproval, Neroln started to unwrap the long windings that covered his legs below the knees. In astonishment Obifreemall watched him take off his grey wool socks covered in dark bloody spots. Something clicked in the boy’s soul when he saw Neroln washing his blistered feet with the water he warmed up by the fire.
He was indeed an elf, like the ones Obifreemall knew from the magic stories, he was tall and mysterious, and he spoke strange complicated words, but he was a living being. The young folien knew far too well the pain of blistered feet, and compassion bloomed in his heart. Some elves used to come to his village when he lived with his parents. They traded sweets and thin leather, dyed fabrics for capes and shirts, and strange food and drinks that Obifreemall was never allowed to taste. The drinks were only opened when all the children would go to bed, and the adults would burn fires and sing all night long. But elves were also warriors in old legends, they helped foliens out in the past, and there were a lot of elvish words in the folien language.
Neroln put clean bandages on his beat-up feet and started preparing dinner. Obifreemall watched him silently, afraid to ask questions. After a while curiosity finally overtook him and he asked:
‘What we have in dinner?’
‘Not “in”, “for” dinner,’ corrected Neroln. ‘Soup with rabbit meat.’
‘O-oh! I love rabbits! They soft and not stinky. Animals eat grass and sometimes stink, but rabbits not. Strange but foxes and wolves, hinters, I mean, not stinky.’
‘Hunters,’ corrected Neroln again.
‘Maybe it because meat doesn’t rot inside them?..’ mused Obifreemall. He looked up to see Neroln’s expression of disgust.
‘Lad, usually, when people cook or eat food, they don’t talk about such things,’ said the elf coldly. Obifreemall was taken over by embarrassment.
‘Sorry! I not know!’ he screamed, panicking.
‘Don’t yell,’ snapped Neroln. ‘I know! That’s why I told you.’
‘A-ah,’ Obifreemall lowered his head. He thought for a moment, then asked again:
‘What we do in….’
Whatever the name of their destination was, it was escaping Obifreemall’s mind, but Neroln understood his question.
‘First of all, I’ll get rid of you,’ said he bluntly. Obifreemall stared at him.
‘What you mean “get rid of”?…’ he asked fearfully. Neroln was bound to understand that it was not the meaning of the phrase that the boy was asking about.
‘I meant that I’ll get you to a place where people will take care of you better than I ever could,’ explained the elf. The tips of his long ears grew red and dropped slightly. Obifreemall started shaking with anxiety.
‘But who lives there? That place? Who take care?’
‘Other kids, like you, live there and adults take care of them.’
‘What adults?’
‘The common kind. You’re a child, I’m an adult.’
‘M-mh,’ sighed Obifreemall. ‘I don’t want other adults. You’re the best-best!’
Neroln smiled with unusual warmth, but shame was burning up in his eyes.
‘Lad, I can’t give you what you need,’ he said. ‘I’m single, I wander around, I live with my brother, and go into enemies’ camps. I’m stranded in a human city; you don’t need me.’
‘But I like you,’ noted Obifreemall. ‘You’re elf! And you cook tasty!’
‘No, lad, I can’t keep you,’ replied Neroln. ‘I can’t.’
‘But, Neroln…’ Obifreemall was starting to sob. ‘I’m scared… There be wrong adults! I don’t want anyone but you!’
Emotions were taking over him, pushing his speech to a new level. He had completely forgotten to say the “rs” but he was saying enough for Neroln to understand everything. Obifreemall tucked his face between the knees and wept. He was waiting for Neroln to scold him for crying. His father used to do it to teach him to overcome tears and become stronger, but Neroln just sighed and kept to his cooking. Slowly Obifreemall calmed down and sat there on the ground, staring at the fire. He was wet and dirty, and his hair was getting into his eyes. Neroln finished preparing dinner and gave the boy a cup of soup.
‘Don’t leave me,’ said Obifreemall in a muffled tone. ‘Everyone left me, the whole world!..’
Neroln did not say anything but waited for him to grab the cup. Then he sat down on the other side of the fire and started eating. If Obifreemall was less hungry, he would have thrown away his dinner and walked off somewhere into the night. Resentment and sorrow were still strong in his heart. He could wait for a long time, but he always wanted to hear an apology, even if it was vague.
They ate in silence. Neroln watched the fire with his eyes narrowed, but his gaze was set somewhere way further than the fire. Obifreemall had his side facing the warmth of the fire and did not want to look anywhere. Soon Neroln took his empty cup, put it in the pot, and left it to be washed in the morning.
‘You should sleep, if you can. I’ll keep watch so that no one attacks us at night. There’s a lot to explain, but it is not the safest of times these days,’ said the elf, fixing the bandages on his feet. ‘I’ll have to put out the fire.’
Obifreemall decided to not reply. He took out a blanket made from pieces of fur sewn together and wrapped himself into it. He curled up into a ball and stared into the darkness of the night. The wind grew ever stronger, whistling among the hills and beating up the feathergrass. The stars were becoming paler, and black puffy clouds crept over the horizon in the south.
“Tattaratzsch[3],” thought Obifreemall and wrapped himself tighter into his blanket.
* * *
The rain was insufferable. It was only starting to drizzle when Obifreemall woke up to the light of the grey autumn dawn. Neroln shook him awake and told him to get ready to go. Obifreemall got up and put his fur blanket on a stick by the fire to dry it a little bit, but soon the rain became heavier and the young folien put his belongings away into the mostly waterproof sack. Yet these were only minor problems, given the issue of constantly wet fur. It was the greatest source of annoyance for any folien, so ever since he woke up, Obifreemall looked like a porcupine ready to strike. Neroln was also not in the mood for talking and did not seem happy about the rain either.
Obifreemall never left camp on rainy days unless it was an absolute necessity. It was safer and warmer to sit by a fire under the cover of a fir tree and drink hot water instead of wandering around wet merciless woods. Today, however, he had no choice. He followed in Neroln’s steps, and the cold rainwater crashed on his head in endless streams. The road became wider as they went on, but it also got muddy, and Obifreemall kept sliding and tripping. His fur soon became completely drenched, so he gave up trying to shake it off. He tried his best to not complain, and Neroln must have respected that because he gave the boy one of his shirts that stayed dry in his backpack. He tied the sleeves and the hem, and Obifreemall felt at least a little bit warmer.
By the evening the weather only got worse. The damp morning drizzle slowly grew into a real downpour, which only happens in October – the water fell from the sky in an endless flow and charged at the two wet figures on the road from every direction, depending on where the wind was blowing. The cape did not save Neroln from being drenched as well, and his wet clothes glued to his long, lean body. He took off the hood of the cape and walked on with a determined expression on his face, while his hair became darker and started to look rather sad. There was soon no warmth left in the water-filled and wind-beaten world.
Finally, the curtain of rain gave way to a magnificent sight of yellow light, pouring out of the windows in the great white walls of the city of Elviy. Obifreemall felt excitement and terror rise in his chest as he gazed upon the end of his journey. He could still run away. He could turn around right now and disappear into the rain, and no one will ever find him again. He could still run back to the woods… But the woods… Obifreemall followed Neroln downhill towards the city.
Civilization lay ahead of him. Civilization, where everyone was wearing shoes. He had been trying to get there for two years now. The city consisted of a circular white wall with many tall watch towers that rose above the steady stream of river Alvin. It gently bent around the city creating a natural moat. A few bridges were built across the river, but they were made of wood to make sure it was easy to burn them in case of an attack. The other side of Elviy was protected by the gloomy mass of mountains that penetrated the low rain clouds and cast a long dark shadow over the city.
A soggy wide road led out of Elviy’s main gate, crossed the bridge, and disappeared in the drenched plains. A smaller road, the one Neroln and Obifreemall had followed along the foothills of the mountains, met the main road at the gate. When the two travelers approached the entrance to the city, there were only a few people, who were trying to get their carts through the ankle-deep mud into the city. No one was leaving in this weather. Very wet guards were standing watch by the gate, and Obifreemall examined them with silent fascination.
The narrow streets of Elviy were drowning in cold sludge and puddles. Water dripped from the roofs and poured out of the gutters. People were still running their errands, but they did not look friendly. Obifreemall grabbed the hem of Neroln’s shirt. He was not getting a good impression from all of this. He was afraid. He had no fear when it came to fighting wild dogs with his bare hands, he could outsmart wolves, he could defend himself from all the creatures that came out on the darkest nights of the year, but he was afraid of the rumble of the city and of its people. It smelled of clay and wet rock, of metal, waste, and food, of cats, horses, dogs, people, and rotting wood.
Finally, Neroln turned into a wider street and went up a small porch that led inside one of the low-standing houses built of light stone. Obifreemall followed him in, still clenching the elf’s shirt. The room they walked into was small with low ceilings and a weak reading lamp that pushed against the darkness. There was a small furnace in the corner, and Obifreemall felt warmth seeping into his wet shirt, even though the water was dripping off him. There was no doormat or rug to rub against, so Obifreemall decided to wait to dry out.
The room was filled with doors and bookshelves that held very thick and very old dusty books. There was also a staircase behind a tall desk. The desk was occupied by a common specimen of the city of Elviy. He was a man of approximately forty, with thin golden curls and a wide cleanly shaved face. He wore a red coat lined with fur and a beret with a very long pheasant feather. He was writing something so rigorously that he did not notice the guests for a good minute. In the meantime, Obifreemall tried to fluff up his fur, and Neroln crafted an expression of complete dissatisfaction with everything in the world on his face.
Finally, the man raised his head and attentively studied Neroln’s tall figure. The elf had to stand, leaning forward with his head bent down to accommodate the ceiling.
‘Good evening, how may I help you?’ inquired the man, shaking his beret feather and putting away the quill.
‘Greetings,’ said Neroln taking a few steps across the room and placing himself on a stool in front of the desk because standing in this room was simply undignifying. ‘You’re the owner of this shelter, am I correct?’
‘Ah, that’s what you need. Yes, it is me,’ said the beret man and offered his small white hand of a low-ranked aristocrat for a shake. ‘I’m Gvendri, happy to help you.’
Neroln looked at his hand contemptuously, then nodded slightly but did not accept the offer. Gvendri seemed to not mind this condescension, as he continued:
‘Name?’
‘Whose?’
‘Yours.’
‘Lord Neroln Einanroe,’ Neroln stared him in the face without blinking but Gvendri simply raised his eyebrows upon hearing the name.
‘Are you from Orlind?’
Neroln nodded.
‘So, what is your interest in our shelter?’ inquired Gvendri putting the quill away yet again.
‘I found a boy in the woods in the north. He’s a folien, he needs help while his parents are searching for him if they’re still alive,’ said Neroln in a quiet clear tone. His voice filled the room and made books stir in their places on the shelves. Gvendri raised himself to look over the desk at his possible fosterling. Obifreemall looked up at him. He still had not let go of Neroln’s hem. The boy’s wet shirt was loose now and reached the floor, and he looked like a very wet and very scared pile of fur.
‘What’s your name?’ asked Gvendri.
‘Obifeemal,’ whispered Obifreemall.
‘Obifol?’ Gvendri seemed surprised. ‘Fine, a folien it is… We’re trying to not take in any more kids because of the war, all the rooms are full, but we’ll take him. He looks strong, we need more hands for work.’
Neroln gave him another intense gaze, becoming slightly uneasy. The beret man paid no attention to it and continued writing. Suddenly one of the many doors opened and a girl dressed in a long gray dress walked in. She was wearing a white soiled bonnet and held a basket in her hands.
‘Master Gvendri, we have sorted all the grains and even put them into different jars, even though you didn’t ask us to do that… Can we please have some more of that bread with butter?..’ she said almost inaudibly, side-eying Neroln in complete horror. Obifreemall watched her in no less horror.
‘I didn’t ask you, so you didn’t need to do it, you little scoundrels! I told you not to come in here when I have guests!’ screamed the man in the beret, scaring both the girl and Obifreemall. The boy pressed against Neroln’s leg and started to tremble uncontrollably. The girl jumped back and ran away, shutting the door, as the other children, who were hiding behind it, squealed. Neroln’s big hand suddenly patted Obifreemall’s shoulder and squeezed it encouragingly.
‘Morons, they get in the way all the time!’ Gvendri rubbed the bridge of his nose. ‘Forgive me. Gods, what have we here… Ah yes, Obifol, here, take this and go through that door. You will get a jacket and some bedsheets for the next three months. Sir, this is for you, sign here that it was you who brought the child.’
He gave one paper to Obifreemall and the other to Neroln. He pushed the inkwell and the quill towards the elf. Obifreemall hugged Neroln’s leg and shut his eyes hoping that if he kept them closed for long enough, this nightmare might pass.
‘Don’t you loiter around here! Take this and go!’ shouted Gvendri and his face became truly red.
‘Don’t be hasty,’ said Neroln calmly and pushed the paper away from himself. ‘I’m afraid I cannot leave a child in these conditions. I will look for another place.’
‘There are no other!’ snapped Gvendri. ‘They’re all closed because of the war!’
Neroln’s hand squeezed Obifreemall’s shoulder again, and the elf got up, becoming again incomprehensibly tall. Gvendri was taken aback by this sudden change, but he recovered quickly.
‘Thank you,’ Neroln nodded politely. ‘But I will not leave a child in a place where he will be treated in this manner. Even if it is simply a young wild folien. Even if I’ve only known him for two days. Good day.’
‘But!… But!’ Gvendri got up too, but it did not add any points to his physique. Neroln turned Obifreemall around and pushed him towards the door.
The beret man walked them to the door. Neroln took Obifreemall by the hand and led him down the street back towards the gate. His limping ceased, and he held his head proudly lifted until they disappeared from Gvendri’s sight. Then Obifreemall stopped, freezing in the power of a thought that came to his mind.
‘You won’t leave me?..’ he breathed, pulling on Neroln’s finger and forcing him to stop too. ‘You…’
‘Eh,’ Neroln sighed. ‘You’ll be endless trouble… We’ll try to find your parents or some relatives. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll take you to Orlind, we’ll find you a place there.’
‘Neroln!’ squealed Obifreemall. ‘You’re the best-best! I told you!..’
He hugged Neroln by the legs as tightly as he could.
‘Well-well,’ Neroln patted him on the head. ‘Come along then, we’ll go to my brother, he lives here.’
‘Ua-a-a!’ shrieked Obifreemall. Fear, rain, cold, hunger, it all suddenly became so unimportant. He grabbed Neroln’s hand and skipped next to him, laughing at every step.
[1] ‘Very hungry!’. In folien language the length of the sound of ‘u’ at the end of a word identifies the level of interest a person has in the subject.
[2] Magic
[3] It shall rain.