The Elf Queen of Shannara

The queen took a long, slow breath. “Let me rest now, please. Lay me back, Eowen.”


The seer did as she was asked, her green eyes frightened and lonely as they followed the queen’s face down. For a moment they all remained motionless, staring silently at Ellenroh. Then Triss and Dal moved away to settle their gear and set watch, whispering as they went. Gavilan walked off muttering to himself, and Garth slipped from view as well. Wren was left staring at the Ruhk Staff, gripped now in her own hands.

“I don’t think that I should . . .” she started to say and couldn’t finish. Her eyes lifted to find Eowen’s, but the red-haired seer turned away. Alone now with her grandmother, she reached out to touch the other’s hand, feeling the heat of the fever burning through her. Her grandmother slept, unresponsive. How could she be dying? How could such a thing be so? It was impossible! She felt the tears come again, thinking of how long it had taken to find her grandmother, the last of her family, how much she had gone through and how little time she had been given.

Don’t die, she prayed silently. Please.

She felt a scratching against her legs and looked down to discover Faun, wide-eyed and skittish, peering up. She released Ellenroh’s hand long enough to lift the little creature into her arms, ruffle its fur, and let it snuggle into her shoulder. The Ruhk Staff lay balanced on her lap like a line drawn in the gray light between herself and the sickened queen.

“Not me,” she said softly to her grandmother. “It shouldn’t be me.”

She rose then, carrying both the Tree Squeak and the Staff up with her, and turned to find Garth. The big Rover was resting against a section of the cliff wall a dozen paces off. He straightened as she came up to him. The hard look she gave him made him blink.

“Tell me the truth now,” she whispered, signing curtly. “What is there between you and my grandmother?”

His gaze was impassive. Nothing.

“But the way she looked at you, Garth—she wanted to say something and was afraid!”

You were a child given into my care by her daughter. She wanted to be certain I did not forget. That was what she thought to tell me. But she saw that it was not necessary.

Wren faced him unmoving a moment longer. Perhaps, she thought darkly. But there are secrets here . . .

Trust no one, the Addershag had warned.

But she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t be like that.

She broke off the confrontation and moved away, still stunned at the whirlwind of events that had surrounded her, at the way in which she was being rushed along without having any control over what was happening. She glanced again at her grandmother, feeling torn at the prospect of losing her and at the same time angry at the responsibilities she had been asked to assume. Wren Ohmsford, Queen of the Elves? It was laughable. She didn’t care who she was or what her family background might be, her whole life was defined by how she perceived herself, and she perceived herself as a Rover. She couldn’t just wish all that away, forget all the years she had spent growing up, accept what had happened in these last few weeks as if it were a mandate she could not refuse. How could her grandmother say that she had been raised as an Elessedil? Why would the Elves want her as their queen in any case? She wasn’t really one of them, her birthright notwithstanding.

Almost without thinking about it, she stalked over to where Gavilan sat back against a moss-grown stump and squatted down beside him.

“What am I to do about this?” she demanded almost angrily, thrusting the Ruhk Staff in his face.

He shrugged, his eyes distant and empty. “What you were asked to do, I expect.”

“But this isn’t mine! It doesn’t belong to me! It shouldn’t have been given to me in the first place!”

His voice was bitter. “I happen to agree. But what you and I want doesn’t count for much, does it?”

“That isn’t true. Ellenroh would never have done this if she weren’t so sick. When she’s better,” she stopped as he looked pointedly away. “When she’s better,” she continued, snapping off each word like a broken stick, “she will realize this is all a mistake.”

His gaze was flat. “She’s not going to get better.”

“Don’t say that, Gavilan. Don’t.”

“Would you rather I lied?”

Wren stared at him, unable to speak.

Gavilan’s face was hard. “All right, then. I realize that you didn’t plan for any of this to happen, that the Elves aren’t your people, that none of this really has anything to do with you, and that all you wanted to do was to find Ellenroh and deliver your message. You don’t want to be Queen of the Elves? Fair enough. You don’t have to. Give the Staff to me.”

There was a long, empty silence as they stared at each other.