The Elves of Cintra (Book 2 of The Genesis of Shannara)

Erisha said. “Maybe other things will have changed, too.”


“Like the end of the world coming, that sort of thing.” Culph sniffed and worked at rubbing away the stubble of his failed beard with one gnarled hand.

“Well, you both seem pretty certain about this.”

“We wouldn’t be here otherwise,” Erisha said.

“No, probably not, considering how your father would react if he found out what you were doing. He won’t even discuss the subject with me, even though he might learn something if he did.” The wizened face tightened. “Does he seem different to you these days? Less reasonable, less patient with matters in general?”

Erisha nodded, looking unhappy.

“Well, it isn’t just me, then.” Culph sighed. “I suppose turning you over to him wouldn’t accomplish much. Even if you don’t belong down here and are being disobedient.” He thought for a moment, studying them. “Have you found anything yet?”

Erisha shook her head. “Have you?” Kirisin asked at once.

“Maybe.” The old man considered the matter. “Maybe you’d like to hear what it was.”

Kirisin felt his heart jump. “We would. We would like that very much.”

Culph rocked back on his heels. “Then I’ll tell you. But only if we all agree that anything said down here in this room goes no farther.

Because if I tell you what I know and it gets back to the King, I am out of a job and maybe exiled, as well. I don’t care much for either result. I’ll be taking a chance on you if I tell you anything. So everything stays right here.

Do we have a bargain?”

Kirisin glanced at Erisha. She nodded doubtfully. “We have a bargain.”

They settled themselves more comfortably on the plank flooring, leaning into the light and closer to each other, conspirators against the night. Kirisin could hardly contain his eagerness; this was the sort of help they desperately needed and could hardly have expected to find. He was a little surprised that Culph was willing to share what he knew with them, but maybe the old man’s sense of responsibility for the Ellcrys was stronger than his sense of loyalty to the King.

“We begin at the beginning,” Culph declared, clasping his hands in front of him as a teacher might to command the attention of his students. “The Elfstones are an old magic, going all the way back to the time of Faerie. They were mined by Trolls and given to Elves to be made over into talismans. Because it was the Elves who infused them with their magic, only the Elves could use them. They were of different colors and designed to do different things. They were formed and shaped in sets of three. The mix of minerals and magic made each set individual. It took years to make even a single set. There is no surviving record of exactly what it was they could do, at least not in the pages of the histories we have. Except for one kind. The blue Elfstones were seeking-Stones and could be used to find what was hidden from or lost to the seeker.”

“The ones the Ellcrys said must be used to find the Loden,”

Erisha interjected.

Culph gave her a look suggesting that interruptions and unsolicited comments were not welcome. “All the Elfstones had defensive capabilities.

They were infused with power to protect the user. Their power was dependent on the individual, a reflection of the combined strengths of heart, mind, and body.

The Stones were the most powerful of the Elven magic, and all of them were lost when the world of Faerie disappeared.”

He gave Erisha another look, cutting off what he knew she was about to say.

“Let me tell it, missy.” He tightened his lips. “Again, except for the blue Elfstones. But they haven’t been seen in centuries, their whereabouts a mystery.”

The way he said it told Kirisin at once that he knew something of that mystery, something that might lead them to the Stones. But he held his tongue, knowing it was better to let the old man tell them what he knew in his own way.

“We know even less about the Loden Elfstone. The Loden was a single Stone designed for a particular purpose, one that was very special. Of all the Elfstones, only the Loden and the Black Elfstone were regarded as more important than the others. But we don’t know why. Maybe, as the Ellcrys has told you, the Loden is meant to act as her protector. Maybe it can form a shield for her as she forms a shield against the demons within the Forbidding.

Whatever the case, we know almost nothing about it. There is no description of it in the histories and no explanation of how it is to be used. And no mention of where it might be found.”

He paused again, regarding them in turn, a bright expectancy in his sharp old eyes. “But there is something.”

He actually smiled then, and it was a frightening sight.