“Thank you,” she said modestly. “But I wouldn’t have been in this round if you hadn’t carried our team through the last round.”
They reached the meeting spot a few minutes later, the first ones there, and unburdened themselves of their gear. Kestrel felt warm and sleepy in the late afternoon sun, so he sat down against the tree trunk with his eyes closed, and began to nap until he heard others arrive and talk to Vinetia. He opened his eyes and watched them chat until the last pair from their group arrived.
It turned out that Kestrel and Vinetia were the only ones to make it to the second day of competition, and it was considered a success for the squad to have anyone get that far; no one else had in the past several years. “He’s good enough to be guaranteed winning in the next round too,” Vinetia said proudly. “He’ll be in the finals, before the king and everyone, while the princess prays to Tamson that he not win and wear her colors!”
“Let’s go drop our things at the base and go out for dinner at the fair. What are we going to have tonight Lucretia?” asked a guard who Kestrel didn’t know.
“You can have whatever you want. I’ve already got plans tonight,” the blonde guard said with reserve, drawing hoots and questions from the others, but offering no clues.
When their trip across the city was finished, Vinetia pulled Kestrel aside. “Lucretia says that you are to meet her down in front of that leathermonger’s shop,” she pointed to her right down the road, “in an hour.”
Kestrel nodded his head, then impulsively grabbed her hand in his. “Thank you for taking me as your partner this morning, Vinetia. I know you’re good enough you could have gone with no partner at all.”
“You made it an interesting day, but don’t go soft on me now; we’ve still got tomorrow to get through,” she answered. “Have fun tonight, but not too much fun!” she warned, then they parted ways. Kestrel went to his room and put on his clean shirt, having sweated profusely throughout the afternoon competitions, then fidgeted for a while until he decided to walk down to the meeting place. As he went down one set of steps he heard several pairs of feet walking along his hallway, but he continued on and arrived at the appointed location several minutes early.
Lucretia arrived just a few minutes later, changed out of her uniform into a becoming outfit that Kestrel knew would make him the envy of every male elf who saw them together.
“I imagine you don’t want others to overhear the rest of your story,” Lucretia commented as she took his arm and led him into town, “so I thought we could go back to the fair, get some food from the vendors, then wander off to a secluded bower where we won’t be interrupted.”
Her plan made sense to Kestrel, so they began to stroll through the city again. “Where are you from?” Kestrel asked her as they walked.
“I’m from a village out in the far eastern frontier of the kingdom. There are a few elven villages further east than we are, but not many,” she replied.
“And what’s past that?” he asked.
“Woods. Trees, forest. Emptiness. No one knows how far it goes on. They say there’s a great lake on the other side, but it would take weeks and weeks to get there; there is a story that centaurs live on the other side of the lake; folks believe it — that’s why we don’t like to ride horses, you know. We certainly don’t have any humans around our part of the Eastern Forest,” she told him with a sidelong glance, “or sprites or water imps or gnomes or yetis. Just elves…boring elves.”
“Which is part of what makes you so interesting,” she added, glancing at him again. “How much human blood is in your veins? I’ve never seen anything but pictures of humans.”
“My grandfather was human, but I never met him,” Kestrel said. “I came close to humans when I looked at the forest fire remains about a week ago.”
“When was that?” Lucretia asked, as they arrived at the edge of the festive gathering.
“That’s when my whole adventure began. I was on my way to Center Trunk with the report about the fire, to give to Colonel Silvan, when I met Dewberry and you’ve heard that part of the story already,” he answered.
“You work for the spies?” she studied him with more than a sideways glance this time, and their stroll halted as they faced one another.
Kestrel remembered the reference the guide had made the night before. He too had known Silvan was a spy.
“I just carried a message to the colonel. I didn’t know he was a spy,” he answered.
They began to walk again. “He’s not just a spy; he’s the head of the spies. He reports directly to the king when he wants to,” Lucretia said, as they reached a vendor’s tent where baked potato skins were filled with minced venison and herbs. Kestrel stood in line and bought two, while Lucretia bought two skins of fruit juice.
“Follow me,” she spoke peremptorily, and began to dart through the crowd, then left the festival grounds and entered a seeming labyrinth of hedges and ornamental trees, until Lucretia ducked through a narrow gap between two bushes. Kestrel followed her in and found a cozy opening, about the size of a room, comfortably floored with a layer of soft, dry leaves, where Lucretia already sat, her legs extending off to one side as she patted a spot to indicate where he should sit next to her.
They exchanged foodstuffs and said nothing for a minute as they each began to eat their food.
“Okay,” Lucretia spoke first, “so you told me you were in your room when the sprite woke up and disappeared. What happened then?”
And so Kestrel resumed his tale, telling of Dewberry’s reappearances and the confusion they had created for the poor innkeeper. “So she granted you three wishes?” Lucretia asked.
“That’s sort of what she said,” Kestel agreed. He had finished his food, and lay comfortably on his back, and Lucretia lay on her stomach next to him. “But bringing the arrows to me today may have counted as one of those.”
“It shouldn’t, not if you didn’t specifically ask her for them,” the elf maiden said emphatically.
“What would you wish for if she could do anything you asked?” she asked.
“I’d wish to look like everyone else,” Kestrel said.
Oh no, you shouldn’t!” Lucretia said insistently. Kestrel heard others wandering among the bushes nearby, but as the sun began to set, he focused all his attention on the attractive girl beside him. “You do look different from everyone else, but that’s not bad,” she told him.
“What would you wish for?” Kestrel asked her, as there was a disturbance in another bower nearby.
“Adventure. Excitement. Something different. Life was so boring in my village that I came to Center Trunk to be in the Guard, but there’s still no great adventure here,” she answered. “Not even small adventures like meeting a sprite, not for me!
“And not adventures like winning the princess’s colors in the archery competition tomorrow!” she added with a smile.
There was filtered light nearby, noticeable in the increasing darkness, and as Lucretia and Kestrel drifted closer together in their conversation, as Kestrel was thinking vaguely of Cheryl while wondering if he was going to kiss Lucretia, as her hand reached up and touch his oversized ears, gently tracing the pattern of whorls in a way that was exciting, not embarrassing, the light approached their sheltered green nook. Their bushes began to flail, and then both of them sat up and shielded their eyes as a trio of lanterns, carried by men, came into their intimate, green nook.
“Kestrel?” an elf’s voice sounded from behind one of the lanterns.
Kestrel stood up, and gave his hand to Lucretia to help her up as well. “Who’s asking, and what are you doing here? How did you find us?” he asked.
“Colonel Silvan asked that you come to his office immediately,” the voice said. Kestrel’s eyes were adjusting to the glare of the lanterns, and he could see the three guards who were holding them.
“Immediately? Can’t this wait until the morning?” Kestrel asked in astoundment, his unexpectedly intimate evening with Lucretia apparently ended for no imaginable reason.