Chapter 27

Part 3

“I will key it to you now.” Alilia told her, and nodded.

“Thank you.” Talia nodded in return as she felt control of the platform pass to her. She turned her right palm up and lifted it a bit, and the platform smoothly rose a quarter of a meter.

“My betrothed, your chariot awaits!” she announced with a giggle and a sweeping gesture of presentation. “We will keep it at this height above the ground, and start at walking speed, increasing speed only as you get used to it, and as you learn to trust it.”

“All right.” Mark agreed with a grin as he tested it with his foot. It didn’t move at all under his weight, so he sat down sideways in the chair, swung his legs onto the leg rest, and leaned back. The chair was severely reclined, though the headrest supported his head in a vertical position so it was easy to watch where they were going. He was gratified to find that he could get a good grip on the armrests, and that the footboard was positioned against his soles so he could brace himself solidly with his feet and his shoulders. “Wow! It’s very comfortable!” he said as he settled in. “I think this could really be fun, as long as we stay low like this!”

“Ah. One more detail.” Alilia nodded, and Summoned a wooden trunk of a similar style to the platform from her distant home. She placed it on the platform behind the chair, and she concentrated again as she cast spells to attach it solidly to the platform, and to recolor it slightly to match.

“Good thinking!” Nemia laughed, and she loaded Mark’s possessions as well as her own barbering and tailoring supplies into the trunk, and Talia settled into Mark’s lap with her back to him.

“And if the rest of you would allow me?” Alilia asked as she rose a quarter-meter into the air.

The others nodded their agreement, and they all rose as far into the air, though they stood as if on solid ground.

“And we’re off!” Talia gaily announced, and pointed her finger forward.

PART 4

The platform smoothly accelerated to the speed of a brisk walk, and the others faced forward as they floated along, maintaining their same formation close around the platform.

As they reached the path leading up to the pass, Mark announced; “This is fine! You can go faster if you want!”

“All right. I will gradually accelerate to the speed of a galloping horse. Just tell me if you want to slow down.”

Soon they were flying up the path fast enough to make Mark’s heart race, his hair and beard blowing behind. The platform remained level front to rear despite the increasing slope, its front remaining one quarter-meter above the path at the closest, its rear higher, and Talia skillfully tilted it from side to side at the curves in the path, so they didn’t slide sideways in the seat.

Mark let out a wordless shout of exhilaration, and released his grip on the armrests so he could hug Talia around her tummy, and she promptly laid her arms along his huge fore-arms and squeezed them tight.

“You like this?” she teased with a giggle.

“Yes, a lot! I’d have thought there’d be more wind!”

“I’m deflecting most of it, though a bit of it is fun! Would you care to try the pace of a falcon on a long flight? I assure you it’s perfectly safe.”

“Sure!” he laughed in joyous excitement, and they smoothly accelerated again. “Oh Wow! Oh wow!” he called as the ground flashed past.

“I must admit,” Yazadril commented with a thrill in his voice, “I’ve often flown faster, but doing so this close to the ground is very exciting!”

“So it is!” Theramin laughed.

In only moments they were above the tree line, then moving over bare rock as the slope reached its steepest.

“The Sentries know we’re coming.” Dilimon calmly informed them. “They won’t be in the way. They tell me that the path is clear as far as Nemion’s garden.”

“We’ll have to be higher for a few moments after we crest the pass.” Talia told Mark. “At this speed, if we followed the ground, you’d be thrown out of the chair.”

“What? Talia!” Mark exclaimed, re-gripping the armrests as they speeded to the top of the pass. “TALIAAAAAAAA!!!”

The Sentries’ towers and emplacements flashed by on either side, and they shot up and over the lip of the pass and high into open air, before gently arcing down to smoothly align with the path running down slope, only now the back of the platform was a quarter of a meter from the ground and the front was higher.

“Sweet mother preserve me, girl!” he stammered as his heart pounded in his ears. “You almost scared the life out of me!”

Talia giggled contritely. “I’m sorry. I was hoping you would find it fun! And it would be best if you could get used to flying.”

“Well, it was fun, in a terrifying way, now that it’s over!” he admitted. “Only next time, warn me sooner!”

He bowed his head and nuzzled the side of her neck, and kissed her ear.

She turned her head sideways and up so she could murmur private words to him. “Now you are arousing me! Which would be fine if I were not piloting this craft! The distraction could be dangerous!”

She chuckled as he suddenly stopped, and she faced forward again.

“That’s a good point, but you still owe me one for the scare back there!” he laughed, and in a moment of spontaneous, mischievous temptation, he slid his hands up her torso, under the top row of gauze strips, to cup her small but perky and beautifully shaped breasts with his fingers.

“Ahh, that is nice.” she crooned, leaning into his hands a bit as her nipples hardened. “You can hold me like that, but do not caress me there, or we will crash for sure!”

He enjoyed the sensation for a moment, then slid his hands back to her tummy before the other elves noticed. “I’m sorry, that was not the act of a gentleman.” he rumbled contritely.

“Among my people it is!” she gaily assured him, but he kept his hands where they were.

“My! This valley is perfectly round!” he exclaimed.

“All of The Nine Valleys are round.” she informed him. “They were formed by the impact of a falling star that broke into nine pieces before it struck the ground, many millennia ago. Their bowl shape, and the material of the fallen stars, gives The Nine Valleys the most powerful magical fields in the world. That is why my people claimed them for their own as soon as they had cooled, and why we have defended them vigorously since then.”

“These valleys were the very first place permanently settled by elves, in the dawn of our race, over two hundred and thirty-six thousand years ago.” Yazadril added proudly. “Before then, we were secretive and nomadic, for we had found no place that was both worth defending, and defensible by our then-meager numbers. The world was very dangerous then.

“You know, two human wizards have intruded as far as the first sentry line near the top of the pass. But to my certain knowledge, they never saw over the edge. In almost a quarter of a million years, you are the very first human to see any part of The Nine Valleys. Most certainly the very first, ever, who has passed within!”

“I’m, uh, humbled by the honor… Thank you!” Mark stammered.

“Ah, he is a treasure!” Nemia laughed at his boyish manner.

“No. I’m the one who’s found the treasure.” Mark chuckled, smiling down at Talia. “If even my being here is unique, how much more rare and special is it that I should marry a princess of the mountain elves? I tell you, my mind is becoming completely boggled by the incredibleness of everything that’s happened! Six months ago I was just an ordinary forest ranger. And now, Princess Talia of The Nine Valleys will be my wife! Why, I’d bet I’m the first man who’s ever even touched an elven princess, anywhere, ever!”

“You may be right about that.” Hilsith agreed with a smile. “What’s more, to my knowledge, with ten thousand in attendance, it will be the greatest wedding ever held!”