Chapter 16

Part 2

“You should have let me die yesterday!” Talia sobbed bitterly. “I cannot live without Dalia! I cannot live without Bezedil! I cannot live with what I am going to do! Oh sweet Source above, the curse is so horrible!”

“Listen to me, Talia!” Yazadril told her insistently. “You must have faith, my love! In eight thousand years, I have never met a problem that I could not solve eventually!”

“Then kill me! Find a way to kill me! You must, Father! Swear it to me, please!”

“I will not.” Yazadril stated firmly. “Listen to me Talia; Alilia made a mistake when she chose to give you to Markee, of all people! He alone is immune to magic, my love! The curse cannot affect him, and it cannot make him do anything! He is truly a good soul, and he will not rape you! I am certain of it!”

This finally seemed to release Talia from her dark mood a bit. Her crying slowed, then stopped. She slowly sat up and wiped her eyes and face with the hem of her ripped and bloodied nightgown.

She looked up at her father, and he recoiled a bit from the horror and intense pain he saw in her face, then he threw his arms around her and hugged her tight.

“You do not understand.” she told him, and her heart-rending pain was plain in her voice. “He will rape me. I will make sure of it! I will do whatever I must to make him do it!

“The poor boy is damned for eternity! If he truly is a good soul, it is the most tragic part of this entire tragedy.”

She gently pulled back from Yazadril’s embrace and took his hand in one of hers. She held her other hand out to Nemia, who clasped it in both of hers. Tears flooded both their faces, but they managed to not be overcome by weeping.

“I am so very sorry for the death of Dalia.” she told her parents. “She was… She was half my soul.

“And now I must go to him. Father, please cast Tongues upon me, so that I can speak his language.

“Mother, please help me to choose something to wear that might make me appear attractive to a human, if such a thing is possible. I know that it may not be, since we are not even of the same race. But this will be easier for him if he does not find me repulsive.

“Actually, since humans and elves have been known to produce half-elven children, you are of the same species, if just barely.” Yazadril told her. “At any rate, it is well known that many human males find elven females to be very attractive indeed. And you are very beautiful, Talia.”

“That is good, then.” Talia nodded. “Please, help me prepare quickly. The urge to go to him grows stronger by the moment. If you do not help me, I will go to him regardless. You cannot stop me, and I cannot stop myself.”

“Come then.” Nemia said as she stood and wiped her eyes with her handkerchief. “I have some clothing that I made for myself when I was preparing for my marriage to Yazadril, when I worried that he might be too old to feel desire for me. A needless worry, as it turned out, but the garments are very enticing. And I will enhance your coloring a bit.”

As her bedroom door closed behind her and Talia, Hilsith turned to Yazadril.

“Theramin and Dilimon have requested to accompany you when next you visit the human.” she told him. “And I think it would be wise if I was there.”

“I agree, and I will inform Theramin and Dilimon that we are preparing to go.”

“There is a knight of The People of Life on the ground below us.” Hilsith continued. “I suspect he is monitoring Talia’s whereabouts somehow, so that he can inform Alilia when Talia goes to the human.”

Yazadril shrugged.

“And Yazadril, I am sorry I was caught unawares by Talia’s Sleep spell. I should have monitored her more closely, as I should have suspected that she may still be suicidal.”

“That is all right.” Yazadril nodded. “We learned from it.”

“We learned?” Hilsith prompted.

“That Talia cannot suicide, and perhaps cannot be killed in any way.”

Theramin and Dilimon arrived a minute later.

“Greetings, Yazadril.” Theramin gently said when Yazadril answered the door. “I have been chosen to represent the Council of the High People in dealing with the question of Alilia’s curse upon Talia. Dilimon here will represent the Sentry Corps.”

“Welcome, both of you.” Yazadril said as he ushered them in.

“We both met Markee last evening, when we explained to him that you would not be meeting him due to a family emergency.” Dilimon told him. “We gave him a few supplies and things to make his camping more pleasant, and visited with him for an hour or so. He is quite a likable fellow.”

“He is that. And he has had a grave injustice done to him.” Yazadril sadly revealed, then related what he had learned of the curse. “We will see what we can do to minimize the suffering that he and Talia face. Time enough to reach judgments after that.”

Soon they were ready. All except Talia had changed into their hiking clothing; stout boots, pants and tunics suitable to walking in the forest, as Yazadril had worn when he met Markee. Nemia carried a large basket of barbering and tailoring supplies.

Talia wore a garment that was as enticing as any there had ever seen on any elven female. Since Yazadril had seen it years before, and had happily removed it from Nemia’s giggling form, he knew that it was composed of a long white silk ribbon with hundreds of strips of almost-transparent white gauze sewn to its edge. The ribbon was artfully wound around Talia’s torso from her armpits down to her hips and back up again, where the two ends were tied in a bow over the center of her collarbone, so that when she stood still the overlapping strips of gauze covered her from just below her shoulders to halfway down her thighs. When she moved, the gauze strips moved in the breeze, revealing tantalizing glimpses of her nakedness beneath. Her tiny feet wore matching sandals of white silk ribbon over white leather soles. Nemia had enhanced Talia’s color, brightening the blue of her eyes to an incredible magic sparkle, and deepening the pink of her lips and the blush of her cheeks in a subtle way that enhanced the fine bone structure of her face. Dilimon had stared at her a moment before he recovered his aplomb.

“We are ready.” Yazadril told Talia, unsure how she wished to proceed.

“I will walk.” Talia said, the horror and pain still plain in her voice, though her eyes were now dry. “I must go to him, but I am in no hurry to begin my torment.”

“Then we will walk as well.” Yazadril said, and led the way to the door, then down the many steps to the ground.

When they reached the ground, they found Alilia waiting for them by the foot of the spiraling stairway. Talia faced her, and spoke unflinchingly.

“I sorrow for the death of Bezedil.” she stated quietly. “I would gladly have burned in fire for eternity if it would have saved him.”

“Then you should be glad that I did not think of that, for if I had, that is exactly what would have happened to you.” Alilia calmly returned.

Talia simply nodded, turned, and set her feet upon the path to the pass.