Chương 302: 3.3

Their journey south continued like that. Alder would join Jewel and her party for evenings if they camped alone or otherwise stayed in seclusion. Would vanish into wood or field when any other party passed them. The elf was wholly absent whenever they entered a village or during the entire ten days they stayed in Zapadvah and its fortress. March Lord Kird did not outright dismiss their boasts that Jewel's entourage had acquired a wandering elf escort who refused to be witnessed by anyone else.

He didn't outright insult her by claiming she lied. YetJewel could see in the wrinkled lines of his face and smell of his sweat that the silver haired man did not believe her. Apparently there was a long standing tradition of 'elf tales' told by woodsmen, shepherds, travelers and children who wandered the woods in the north east of his lands. And her testimony was far too close a match to the usual sort of shape of them. Jewel suspected Alder in its wait for her had probably shown itself over the years.

But the court did give pause on one detail of the encounter. Apparently in the local elf tales it was only lone witnesses who saw what was probably Alder. The fact that Jewel's entire party could vouch for seeing it had gotten comments. But not trust in the truth of the matter. Yes, no one outright told her the Countess and Shining Wyrm of Viznove that she was saying anything but the truth.

But Jewel could hear in the hallways that many in the baron's court thought it was fear or loyalty to her person as Countess or direct lady over them that had led to the outpouring of agreement to have also witnessed Alder. She'd have been offended if the tone was not so flattering for her entourage. Often said as a praise for the quality of their valor and loyalty to her. Or disparagement that the local footmen could not be trusted to cleave so closely if their own lord was caught up in a wood hazed story.

Apparently if it was the March Lord Kird who insisted on boasting an elf tale agreement would not be so unanimous. Which flattering it might be, this was still quite frustrating. If she pressed they would agree and swear she told the truth to her face. But in private and away from her? That was another matter, and it already had caused problems. Muriel had to order the guard not to mention Alder after the second fight broke out over ale with the March Lord's own footmen.

It all would have been so much easier if Alder had just shown itself. But the elf refused to be witnessed for the entire visit. And yet as soon as they departed and were well into the woods again Alder once more returned to their camp nearly every night. Always bearing caught game of the woods. Stag, birds, rabbits, piglets or boar.

The quality of the hunting the elf brought for meals had actually eventually gotten Dariusz to request Jewel adjust their itinerary so they could camp in the wilderness more often than planned! And the flavor of the elf made roasts tempted her to humor him! They were delicious! But she had a schedule to keep. Still over time the tension of a living myth among them faded. Despite the endless stories warning of their wrath and dangerous nature, Alder was ever polite and was winning over her entourage to a man.

The elf's offerings every night they camped away from others and its quiet unobtrusiveness had calmed the footmen. The skill with which Alder worked with Dariusz and his wife to elevate what should have been rather plain traveling fare to a quality that challenged a feast? That won over the other staff. And then there was the music around the fire. The first night the elf sang it was just their voice, the clap of hands and the stamp of a foot.

The second night under the stars was five days later and that time there was an instrument of pale white wood and bone. Strings set between it. And the music that was played was glorious! This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Slender fingers strung along tightly woven gut and faux fire flared and flowed with the song. The stars shone. Strange miracles twisted in the air around Alder, cutting and parting the music. But none touched any listener.

It was all done in service to changing the sound! And Jewel had never heard anything like it before, not in the Capital, not in all her feasts and festivals. They had woken in high spirits all of them, and as was custom now there was again no elf. Alder was gone, but the instrument was left behind, an object of genuine fae treasure! Jewel could taste and feel how it touched the world. Not quite like sorcery, not like a ritual, but made in a shape to hold and carry either?

Like the temple of the silver lady had a passage to the sky to funnel the faux fire of prayers. Like how old cantor structures could catch and hold many ritual workings under their domed roofs. Like the tree in Valasect. They had reverently packed the instrument which Alder had not given a name for that night. Jewel was unsure if it was a gift or not. A few of the more musically inclined in her party had taken a chance to brush the strings with their fingers and declared it a very well made but foreign instrument.

But beyond some care taken to maintain the magical artifact no one had dared to try playing it yet. And now it was two days since they last saw Alder. Until just that moment. Just like before the Elf arrived and simply ambled alongside them as if that was how they had always been journeying. Jewel had mostly lost her caution although she and all her party were of course still ever so polite with Alder.

"Was it a gift?" The Elf blinked at Jewel. Confusion washing over the delicate features and the presently mostly dark skinned face. Without a canopy of leaves overhead Alder's hair and skin darkened to an almost black bronze. Only their shaded skin remained pale.

"Was what a gift?" Jewel held her expression still, had the inevitable elvish fickleness finally been trespassed? She marsheled herself for possible violence, but tried to keep every sign of it from her face or body.

"The instrument you left in our camp? Was it a gift?" Confusion changed to delighted amusement and again that laughter which echoed and swam across the fields filled the air.

"Oh! I Apologize, but a gift of such a thing? If it pleases, you may keep it of course. But I merely shaped it as a noise maker for that evening. I'm already fashioning another for our next night by the fire." Alder swept another pale bone and wood instrument from their robes. An instrument that was similar after a fashion to the first one. But the number of strings were different, the shape of its hollow cavities and openings altered.

There was also a spout on one end which Jewel thought meant this one was somehow both a flute and a fiddle of some kind?

"It is not done yet though, but I think it will make a pleasing sound when I finish." She was not particularly knowledgeable about music and its instruments. But even Jewel could see this was an entirely different kind of tool, not even the way it seemed ready to shape sorcery and miracles was the same.

"You... made that 'noise maker' for just that one night?" Alder smiled with a bemused joyous delight and raised the entirely new and yet just as skillfully made and beautiful object.

"As I am making this one, a short time of shaping and working and properly treating the bone, wood and gut strings. I think this one is even better than the last honestly. Still done in a rush of course, and I am long out of practice." Jewel stared at the completely novel instrument.

"Are you going to leave that one as well? After you play it for us?" The elf smiled even wider and again laughed, although there was a sadness to the voice and a pain around its eyes.

"Of course, It will have served its purpose and I can always make another one later if it is needed. A better one I expect." The elf continued to stride without further word. The apparently unfinished treasure once again hidden away in the robes somewhere. Eventually Smithson spoke up from his place riding behind Gem.

"Then is there no problem with us keeping them?" The smile grew again to the point where Jewel thought there would be another laugh only for it to falter into a sudden frown as Alder's gaze lingered on the Nurse Knight's face. The elf's voice was uttered with a soft brittleness. Full black eyes staring at Smithson with a haunted expression.

"Of course child, you can keep as many of them as you wish." Then with that deeply lined frown Alder turned away from them and in seven steps was away across the grasslands and in two more completely lost from sight. Smithson's tone broke the sudden quiet.

"I... Did I insult him?" Jewel peered the way that the elf had left. Almost seemingly having fled. She was unfortunately as uncertain as her Knight. The elf's scent was as one with the earth and the fields here. In the woods it was the same as the trees. Not absent like some horrors, but one with the world in a way so total as to be lost in it immediately.

"I don't think so, my Knight, But Alder did seem troubled by something..." They made camp in the wilderness that night but Alder did not appear to feed or serenade them.