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

Or the walk, she corrected herself, thinking suddenly how good it would feel to slip off her boots and give her hot, aching feet some much-needed relief.

“They’re here,” Ailie said quietly. She didn’t look up or change expression.

“Don’t do anything, Angel. Just wait.”

Angel had no intention of doing anything but exactly that.

She had come a long way under difficult circumstances to see these creatures, and she was anxious to make it happen. She sat quietly, listening to the forest sounds, gazing in the general direction she was facing without focusing on anything in particular, waiting for movement to reveal an Elven presence.

But she never saw or heard the one who finally appeared, a girl no older than herself, who was nothing of what she had expected Elves to be. The girl was tall and strong looking, not tiny and frail in the manner of tatterdemalions or what she perceived Elves would look like. One moment the forest was empty of life and the next the girl was standing there, just off to one side.

Her features were unusual, but not markedly different from those of humans; her face was narrow, her eyebrows slanted, her ears pointed slightly at their tips, and her coloring fair. She wore her long blond hair tied back in a scarf, and her clothing was loose fitting and dyed green and brown like the forest itself. She carried a bow and a quiver of arrows strapped across her back and a pair of long knives belted at her waist. One hand gripped a strange-looking javelin, short and slender, a cord grip wound tightly about its center and razor-sharp metal tips fitted at both ends.

The Elf’s blue eyes swept from Angel to Ailie and back again. “A Knight of the Word and a tatterdemalion,” she declared with a small smile. “Tell me your names.”

“Angel Perez,” Angel answered, still coming to terms with the fact that Elves weren’t what she had thought they would be. “This is Ailie.”

The girl came forward a few steps. “You are the first of your order to come here, and I am guessing that you would not do so without good reason. We never reveal ourselves to humans; you aren’t even supposed to know that we exist. The tatterdemalion must have told you otherwise.”

Angel nodded. “She did. I didn’t believe her at first, but she is very persuasive.”

“I had heard there were still tatterdemalions in the world.

The old ones have told me what they look like. But until today, I had not seen one.” She stared openly at Ailie for a moment, and then turned back to Angel.

“You, on the other hand, carry the black staff of your order. No one who has heard of the Knights of the Word could mistake that. I am Simralin Belloruus. How did you find me?”

“We didn’t,” Angel said. “You found us.”

“But you called. You used my name. I heard you.”

“That was me,” Ailie said, managing to look slightly sheepish without changing expression. “I called you.”

Angel stared at her. “I didn’t hear you call anyone.”

Ailie nodded. “Only Simralin could hear me. And perhaps the Elves who travel with her.”

Simralin held up one hand reassuringly as Angel glanced around in alarm. “It’s all right. They were told to wait in the trees until I was certain of you. I didn’t know at first who you were.” She paused, shifting her stance but keeping her eyes on Angel. “Now that I do know, tell me what you are doing here.”

Ailie stood up, a small and inconsequential wraith against the huge forest trees. “The Word sent us,” she replied.

“The Word?” The Elf girl spoke the name softly, as if even the sound of it was sacred. “Why would the Word send us one of its Knights and a tatterdemalion?”

Ailie looked at Angel, waiting. The tatterdemalion was deferring to her now, giving over the job of explaining what had brought them.

Angel sensed that Ailie understood something about the dynamics not only of their own relationship, but also of the relationship they were establishing with the Elves, that would require the Knight of the Word to take charge.

“We were sent to help the Elves find a missing talisman,”

Angel said. “An Elfstone called a Loden. You must use it to take the Ellcrys from the Cintra and travel to another place. A safer place. The Word believes you are in danger of being destroyed if you stay where you are. The outside world is changing. Things are getting worse. You have a chance of surviving if you leave, and I am instructed to help you.”

Simralin Belloruus stared at her as if she were from another planet. Angel held her gaze, waiting for her response. She tried not to look at the girl’s pointed ears and slanted brows, at the curve of her facial bones. She was still coming to terms with the idea that there really were Elves in the world.

“You must take us to Arborlon to speak with your King and the Elven High Council,” Ailie added quietly.