“I don’t know . . . I’m a little hazy . . .”
“It is difficult, I agree. Do you want me to review with you?”
Freya was trying to remember who exactly Brize Norton was. The name rang a very faint bell, but she thought it was a place, not a person . . . Maybe one was named after another?
“These are the names of the guardians of knowledge:
Hanamiem, Tusemptoulous, Alsanaz, Moem, Noetinous. These are the names of those who stand at rest before them: Teitauem, Aufaem-”
“Leigh,” Freya said, deliberately interrupting. “Do you ever wonder why we’re doing what we do?”
“We’re doing very important work, Freya,” Leigh said, turning the radio off. “We’re retrieving information that’s been lost for centuries.”
“Why? For what purpose?”
“Why?” Ms. Sinton smiled, as if she just realised that she was being put on. “But you know why, dear. Listen, this is just the hormones. Relax, and you’ll get through it. I remember when my sister had her first, it was months before-”
“How . . . how long have I been pregnant?”
“What?”
“How long, precisely?”
Leigh, still keeping her attention on the road, stole a couple sideways glances at Freya. “Well, I don’t know how long precisely, but it’s been about six months since your anniversary dinner when you announced it to us all-that was May third. You do remember that?”
Freya twisted her wedding ring around her finger.
“As I was saying, the names of those who stand at rest before the guardians are Teitauem, Aufaem, and Acsatalt standing at Hanamiem; Raeruoak, Zocuam, and Zyquruis standing at Tusemptoulous; Ribmisot, Ribmitet, and Fusout standing at Alsanaz; Tuiujiat, Viorinrhvut, and Fasynipiat standing at Moem; and Ingekaper, Atuhis, and Ingekipap standing at Noetinous.
Proceeding from those standing before the guardians are those known as the myriads, who are Ekram, Zuler, and Kukilaor proceeding from Teitauem standing at Hanamiem; Umtip, Cenut, and Memeniat proceeding from Aufaem standing at Hanamiem; Jaekuq, Dojqubir, and Rylnshus proceeding from Acsatalt standing at Hanamiem; Iofunipiat, Eavashuapout, and Liomes proceeding from Raeruoak standing at Tusemptoulous; Tenclu, Teqiqiu, and Ujasu proceeding from Zocuam standing at Tusemptoulous; Rulaki, Ryngnge, and Shoqi proceeding from Zyquruis standing at Tusemptoulous; Cescimu, Guplacim, and Lukracem proceeding from Ribmisot standing at Alsanaz; Tumnot, Elsinuph, and Encutout proceeding from Ribmitet standing at Alsanaz; Raidi, Menc, and Cofiz proceeding from Fusout standing at Alsanaz; Jesnubim, Usuoeim, and Feaiovhe proceeding from Tuiujiat standing at Moem; Telme, Irjitoli, and Imimiv proceeding from Viorinrhvut standing at Moem; Guplivek, Ipieuak, and Cuoaega proceeding from Fasynipiat standing at Moem; Rujku, Angaragh, and Akakash proceeding from Ingekaper standing at Noetinous; Faquculur, Allugu, and Rasth proceeding from Atuhis standing at Noetinous; and Ullil, Akurri, and Ulamue proceeding from Ingekipap standing at Noetinous.
“Surrounding them are those who are known as the helpers of they who proceed from those who stand before the guardians and their names are Uzson, Lameffarrsiari, Ursapagla, and Thernilugfu surrounding Ekram proceeding from Teitauem standing at Hanamiem; Zerriol, Ujeiquaem, Ezegum, and Stamao surrounding Zuler proceeding from Teitauem standing at Hanamiem; Spugheom, Usgisi, Euzam, Leuleu, and Mazpesh surrounding Kukilaor proceeding from Teitauem standing at Hanamiem. Jimeolamemipem, Fareka, Ucuzul, and Replu surrounding Umtip proceeding from Aufaem standing at Hanamiem; Narpal, Eullauj, Ralungel, and Fareka, surrounding Cenut . . .”
Freya felt herself nodding again. She felt so tired these days. Something to ask the doctor about. Her head reclined back on the chair’s headrest, and she closed her eyes and drifted away.
3
The journey through the forest took them three days. During the first night, when Daniel was curled up in the back of the cart, just on the edge of drifting off to sleep, he heard someone call his name so loudly and so clearly that he jerked around and sat up, staring into the darkness for some time, hardly daring to breathe.
“Daniel!”
He would have answered, but the voice was clearly, unmistakably Freya’s. K?yle and Pettyl were huddled close together on the seat up front. They had obviously not heard anything out of the ordinary. Daniel lay back down but didn’t sleep. He was feeling tired-and more than tired, weak. He was obviously malnourished and kept thinking back to the stone that Kay Marrey had given him that he had foolishly let drop in the forest on the first night. Perhaps that contained minerals that he needed. Well, maybe he’d find something to replace it at the Fayre-or better yet, a way home.
They made good time, it would seem, since they traveled during the night. Daniel didn’t know how they or the horses could still see the road, but he imagined that their elf senses were equal to the task. K?yle and Pettyl took turns driving, allowing the other to sleep-stretching out in the back of the cart while Daniel rode up front. The only rest off the road they took was for the horses when they needed to be fed. Daniel enjoyed the journey.
The movements of the cart, though not always gentle, were comforting, and the shifting green treescape was like a tonic for his soul. It was three long days of calm and peace, and the last of that for a long time afterwards.
He came to know Pettyl better. She was very talkative and told him stories of Elfland and histories of the forest, in particular tales of the birds that Daniel found especially compelling.
On the afternoon of the second day, Daniel heard Freya call his name again as they stopped to feed the horses.
“Daniel!”
He was drinking a hot tea-like drink that Pettyl had made and nearly spilled it all over himself when he leapt off of the stone that he sat on.
“Daniel,” Pettyl said, “are you alright?”
“I’m fine. It’s just a little hot,” he said, holding out the tin cup. He sat back down and drank, trying to hide his anxiousness. It sounded like Freya needed him, and badly.
And so it was that they came to the lowlands and joined a road that K?yle had not asked for. And so they left the forest, but not before K?yle gave a song of thanks to the forest for what it had provided them.
This last leg of the trip was a short one, but fascinating, for they now traveled along a road that was intermittently cobbled and well worn. The landscape was open, and the strange distortion of distance meant that Daniel was able to see miles farther than he could in his own world, giving views of hilly farmlands where houses of bulbous design, constructed from white carved stone and wood, dotted the landscape.
“Who lives in those?” Daniel asked Pettyl.
“No one very much, I should think,” answered Pettyl. “Many of these are now abandoned since the nine princes gained rule of the kingdom. Some of the farmers have been chased off, some killed, and some dead in the wars. The widows and daughters will have worked the farms for a short time and then dispersed to wherever their relatives were still living-or to become married elsewhere.”
“That’s too bad,” Daniel said, gazing glumly at one of the odd structures.
Not long after, they passed through an entire elfin village- similarly deserted. There were only a dozen or so buildings, but they were magnificent. They were carved out of the same white stone as the farm buildings, and the shapes-unlike Ni?ergeard’s, which were all lines, ridges, and arches-were organic, as if they had grown like shells to house strange, enormous creatures. But they were old and decaying. Roofs and walls had collapsed and spilled out into the streets, allowing a view of the rooms inside, which looked like honeycombs, no less organic than the exterior.
“This place was beautiful once,” Pettyl said. “We came here often, being the nearest settlement. The spires and edifices were decorated with flags and banners of every colour under the sun.