Chapter 50

Part 5

Then they reached the area of Alilia’s people.

“The temporary demesne of The People of Life.” Dilimon told Mark.

“This is what it’s like around my home.” Alilia stated proudly. “It’s a perfect illusion.”

“It’s beautiful!” Mark smiled.

Though many of the plants and trees were of types he knew, it was a far more lush forest than any Mark had ever seen. Though it was dry, the air seemed full of moisture, like it had just finished raining. The trees, both the giant varieties and the more normal types that grew between them, were much larger than those in The Nine Valleys, as well as being more closely spaced. None of the bark of the trees could be seen, for every bit of it was covered with other plants and mosses. Where there was room for ground cover between the trees, it was covered with an amazing variety of bushes bearing leaves, flowers, berries and nuts. It seemed impenetrable, yet a more careful look revealed a dense profusion of wildlife moving through it; from squirrels to deer to great bison, from weasels to wolves to immense bears. Great flocks of birds winged overhead through the branches of the great trees, with an occasional raptor diving after prey. Clouds of insects buzzed and hummed between them, though none bothered Mark or the elves. One could almost feel all the life growing at a fantastic rate. Everything glowed with a soft light that made any additional illumination unnecessary.

There were no activities or facilities at ground level here, but the great trees had many platforms, walkways, and structures. They were built against the sides of trunks and hollowed into the wood, on the branches and slung beneath them, and suspended between the trees on giant webs of thick, cabled vines, and all were packed with elves. No tree or vine had been cut or attached to make the constructions, instead it had all been grown into shape and into place.

“It’s easy to see why your folk are called The People of Life, Alilia.” Mark commented as a hand-railed lifting platform descended to the forest floor at the edge of the area. “I’d love to visit your lands sometime.”

“You will always be welcome there.” she nodded.

The size of the lifting platform wasn’t apparent until it had reached the ground, and over two dozen boarded it. Similar platforms were touching ground on either side, though most elves simply flew up, and a few Translocated.

The view only became more beautiful as they rose through the branches to an absolutely massive open platform over three hundred meters above the ground. It was suspended by hundreds of the living cables, and there were thousands of elves engaged in celebration upon it.

One of the elves who waited upon their arrival there was not celebrating. She was a very delicate seeming beauty with ice blue eyes and black hair, wearing a simple yet attractive black dress, and she was crying in a mixture of sorrow and rage. She accosted Alilia immediately. “How could you do it?!!” she demanded without preliminary. “You, who know exactly what it is like as much as anyone can without experiencing it themselves, you are now another female’s rapist!! It matters not that you were too cowardly to do the deed with your own hands, and so forced an innocent to be your weapon!! You are still the one who is violating her! And for eternity, Alilia!!! Eternity!!! You are the worst rapist who has ever lived, or who ever will live!!! You have shamed us all!!! How could you do it?!!!”

Alilia stared at her, and could find no answer, but tears gathered in her eyes.

“You must forgive her, Yzandra.” Talia softly insisted, for she had guessed who faced them. “Even as I have forgiven her. She was overcome by grief at the death of her son, and under the influence of the curse cast upon her and my father. If you want to lay the blame where it truly should be, blame the unknown wizard who cast that curse.”

“You based your curse upon my experience, didn’t you?” Yzandra demanded, ignoring Talia for the moment.

Alilia tearfully nodded.

“Does she know what she faces?”

Alilia shook her head. “In general, but not yet in detail.” she murmured guiltily.

Now Yzandra turned to Talia. “You forgive her now, but you’ll feel differently before another century has passed! Gods’ teeth, you will hate her and the very air she breathes in a week! I will tell you what she lacks the courage to say! You will be raped in the most brutal ways, and if you try to prepare yourself for it to reduce your suffering, you will be raped by surprise! You will be bound, naked and helpless, in the most humiliating positions imaginable! You will be tormented upon your most private places, with cruel little whips, and with pins, and with hot candle wax! You will suffer buggery, the ultimate violation! You will be violated in every place with phalluses and fingers and every common object that can be made to serve the purpose! You will not be able to feel forgiveness for her after decades and centuries of such torments!”

She turned back to Alilia, and spoke coldly. “Until the end of days. Who would have thought it possible. Alilia the Great, Princess of The People of Life. The cruelest rapist who ever lived.

“I am renouncing my citizenship, for I am shamed by it. I leave tomorrow for The Stone Islands.”

With that, she turned on her heel and walked away.

“Now you hold right there, Yzandra!” Talia called sternly. The instant she wanted down, Mark sensed it in her body language and released her. She set out after Yzandra with determination in her stride, down an invisible ramp that deposited her feet on the wood just as she drew abreast of the outraged elf, who had stopped at the call.

“You have not considered what I have said with any seriousness at all, and furthermore, you are acting just like Alilia did when she cursed me!” Talia lectured. “For you have shown undeserved discourtesy to myself and to my party, a behavior you would normally abhor in yourself and which you will regret when this has passed, and anger has driven you to do it! Now I realize that painful memories have been reawakened in you by all of this, and I feel deeply for what you have gone through. But still, you must try to control your emotions, and realize the truth of what I am telling you!

“Alilia was cursed, Yzandra! Her son was lying freshly dead upon the ground right there, horribly broken and bleeding, because she had been cursed! She was IN HIS MIND, trying desperately to find out what had happened, at the final moment of her son’s death!!”

She took a deep breath, her eyes locked with Yzandra’s, and continued more calmly. “No one could be held responsible for their actions under such circumstances.” She looked around, and saw that everyone within earshot had stopped to listen. “No one.” she repeated firmly, and turned back to Yzandra.

She shook off the mood, and took a more friendly tone, with a gentle smile. “Just as I will not hold this outburst against you, for it is all too understandable.

“Furthermore, you must realize that what I face will not be the terrible ordeal you experienced, or even the tiniest fraction of it. I can imagine what a horror that was, and I feel great sorrow for your pain. It must rip at your heart to think of me having to go through that for eternity, but I will not. You need not feel that bad for me. I will not experience imprisonment, or enforced solitude and monotony. I will not be tormented by strangers, or feel the emotions that go with it. I will merely have rough sex with my husband, who loves me, and who will only be doing it because he is forced to do so to serve my needs, and that difference in intent changes everything.”

Yzandra broke down crying, and Talia stepped up to hug her.

“My father and Alilia were cursed to sow discontent among the elves, Yzandra.” Talia softly told her. “We must not let our unseen enemy succeed in that.

“Come. You should celebrate with us for a while. It will be good for your mood.”

She drew her over to the group.

“I’m sorry, Alilia.” Yzandra sniffed.

“As am I, Yzandra. As am I.” Alilia nodded, and Talia drew the three of them together into a tearful hug.

“I think we’ll go to the privacy, girls.” Hilsith smiled, and turned to the group. “We’ll meet you at that table full of deliciously scenting delectables over there.”

The four made their way into the crowd, who resumed their celebrations, albeit with a more subdued mood.