Jardonac 5

Chapter 10

Gaur was walking to Japheth's house. It galled him to do so, but he was going to Japheth to tell him of their plight. They didn't even have anything to eat. Gaur knew there existed plenty of edible things in the woods, but it would have taken several hours to walk there and he hadn't been since his visit with Vira. Going would have been painful. Shimea had wanted to accompany him to her father's house but he made her stay; he was going through the worst section of town and he didn't want her along. Gaur thought he knew who stole his property and uprooted the plants; only someone with a grudge would go through the trouble of wrecking it so. He needed to put a lock on the door and to get a dog. He would be ready next time.
           
Japheth was understandably angry and insisted that he go see his daughter himself. He soon put things to right, refurbishing their house with the necessities and even giving his daughter another horse. Gaur told him he'd pay him back. Japheth said no need, but he placed an order for another chair. Gaur suspected it was to sooth his pride, and went to work on the chair immediately, pouring out all his anger and frustration on it. He was done by that night, the fastest he'd ever done anything, and he wanted to deliver it right then. Shimea didn't insist he stay, only sighed and told him that in a city like this it was a wonder they hadn't been robbed sooner.

Jaw set, he walked out of the house with the chair under his arm. Bemused, Shimea watched as he disappeared into the street, thinking of how determined he looked. He was so deliberate in everything he did, he never wasted a movement. He walked with purpose, and he worked just about every moment he wasn't with her. Sometimes she wondered if all his activity wasn't just to cover up something. Once in a while she walked into his workshop and found him sitting, just sitting over his work, eyes vacant and mouth twisted into a frown. When she spoke he'd lose the look and wouldn't tell her what he'd been thinking about. And then sometimes she'd catch him looking at her face with his strange dark eyes, as if he was searching for something. And he was full of hidden talents, of which she was sure she'd seen only a few, and he'd never tell her how he acquired them. She sighed in frustration and pulled back her beautiful black hair. Her husband Benjamin was as complicated as one of the pieces of furniture he was always working on.
 
Gaur walked fast through the grimy streets. Again he had chosen the fastest route through the dirty section of Sarnel, only this time it was getting dark. Rough looking men were coming out of the doorways and walking, sometimes staggering down the street. They were men who lived selfish lives with no room for anything but self-pleasure and had no money for anything but the cheapest kind. Gaur turned a corner and came up unexpectedly to a dead end. Somehow he had made a wrong turn, probably misguided by his roiling brain. He shook his head and turned around, walking back to the main ally. The sun was going down in a flame of red and streams of color fell between the buildings. Then someone stepped out of the shadows and came at him.
        
At first Gaur didn't recognize him, but when he saw the bandage around his arm he knew. His lips tightened when he saw the stone knife the man held ready.

"I told ye I'd get even." The man said, his voice filled with hate, "I told ye. I wanted to make ye suffer, but it ain't workin'. You get the rich folks to bail ye out, and it'll happen every time. Until ye're dead." The man stepped closer, and when Gaur held his ground he said, "ye better run, Benjamin, I ain't alone."

Gaur looked around and saw other men gathering around, rough men with evil faces. Men that ran to shed innocent blood, lying in wait in the dark. He tensed, not feeling for his ax because he knew it wasn't there. He wanted to fight, but he had no weapon and there was Shimea waiting at home...he turned and ran.

The men ran after him, cursing and howling like a pack of dogs. He could hear their feet as they ran along the allies, pounding on the dirt and trash. He turned down one ally, and then another, not knowing where he was going or how he was going to get away. The sun had sunk another few inches when finally he turned yet another corner and realized he couldn't make it to Japheth's house.

He looked down at the chair in his hands, a light one which he'd foolishly kept, thinking he would outrun his pursuers and make it to his destination. Now he didn't know where he was and was hurting from cramps and lack of breath. Time had come for him to fight. He turned around and backed up a few steps, breathing hard. Even though he was human he was much stronger than most other men because of who he had been. At first he had left his pursuers behind, but they were unrelenting, buoyed on by hatred and sure of their prey. Within a few seconds the first of them appeared around the corner, faces lined with fatigue and hate.

Now that their victim had stopped they slowed down and began to spread out. Gaur backed up until he felt the wall of one of the houses behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a dimly lit doorway and briefly wondered if he could slip through it, but discarded the notion. The door was shut and he'd be attacked as soon as he turned his back to try the handle. He held the chair loosely in one hand, ready to swing. The men stood just outside his reach, each edging toward him, ready to rush. The man with Gaur's knife darted forward and Gaur swung the chair as hard as he could, clouting him on the wrist. The chair, light as it was, broke the man's wrist and then smashed against the wall and broke apart.

Then they all converged on him, like so many dogs on a cornered lion. He fought fiercely for a few moments, using a chair leg and his fist and teeth. Whenever he saw the flash of a blade he grabbed and broke the wrist that held it. They were so close they were hitting each other as well as he, but he sustained several dagger thrusts in his shoulder and side. They were winning. Then unexplainably, the attackers began to fall away. Gaur didn't realize it until there were fewer than five men left, and by then they had realized it too and were running off. Someone else was attacking them from behind.

Gaur drove his chair leg into a man's stomach and when he fell there was no one left of the original pursuers. He straightened, sweat pouring down from his face. He could feel the warm blood seeping through his clothes and suddenly the exhaustion, delayed from the excitement of the fight, caught up with him. He swayed and caught the man who'd saved him by the shoulder to keep from falling.

"Are you all right?" a familiar voice asked. A thrill of shock ran through Gaur. It was Jardonac.
 
Chapter 11

Holding tight onto Gaur's shoulder Jardonac brought him
across the street into one of the houses. Once inside he put him on the floor and lit a lamp to see by, then he asked Gaur where he'd been hurt.

Gaur told him. "How...how..."

"I'll tell you in a moment, be quiet." The next few minutes were spent doctoring Gaur's wounds, of which he had five dagger wounds and numerous bruises. Surprisingly Jardonac had medicine with which to treat it and clean cloth.

"When I found out that you weren't coming, I asked queen Salu if she could make me human. She did, but she wasn't too happy about it."

"Why would you want to do that?" Gaur asked, irritable.

Jardonac actually laughed, "It's not so bad."

"How did you know where to find me?"

"Vira's not the only one who has a magic mirror."

"Does your fairy queen do nothing but copy other's magic?"

"My, you're in an ugly mood. Copy other's magic? It's the other way round. Salu's magic is better. The mirror not only told us where you were, it foretold where you would be. I drank the potion that would humanize me and went to the house across from where you'd end up. Then I went and bought the things I'd need in case I had to bandage myself. I didn't get hurt, but it's a good thing I bought them anyway." He gave Gaur a wry grin, "that's the second fight I've ever been in, and in the first one I didn't do anything."

"Where'd you get the money?"

"Salu conjured it up for me. I'm really quite helpless by myself." He grimaced suddenly, "She concentrated the potion just enough so I could stay lucid; let me tell you, Vira did a great favor in knocking you out. That is the most pain I've ever been in, barring the time when an arrow passed through my wing."

"What happened to your wings? Did they drop off?"

"No. As I grew they were enveloped. They're inside of me now." Jardonac chuckled again. He seemed happier than Gaur thought he had a right to be.

"Why are you so happy? Don't you know what you just lost?"

"Lost? I don't fly anymore if that's what you mean, but this feeling is indescribable. You know, at first I did this out of loyalty to you, but I wouldn't exchange it for anything else. It's like, it's like being suddenly free to go anywhere. Anywhere Gaur, and I can think thoughts at the same time. Like flying all the time. It's euphoric, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me." Jardonac's light eyes were sparkling. "The fairy queen says since you rejected the offer she gave you she'll give you another chance at accepting the favor. She can do great things with her magic, and she seems to have taken a shine to you."

Gaur looked down at the glass vial Jardonac put in his hand. It matched exactly the one in his dream. "Odd, a fairy taking a shine to an elf."

Jardonac caught the irony, but smiled anyway. "She's not the only one, Dirzan's here too. In fact, I think he's at your house right now. We better get there before he charms your wife away." Even so they stayed the night in the abandoned house. Jardonac had bought mats as well. At Gaur's home they found Dirzan who'd been waiting for them in the shop. When Jardonac saw Shimea his eyes widened and Gaur heard him suck in his breath.

"This is my wife, Shimea." He said, "And Shimea this is my friend, Jardonac." He caught his mistake as soon as he made it. He should have said Jerome. Dirzan had already introduced himself as Daniel. When Shimea heard that they were old friends she made a feast for them, buying a suckling pig as a centerpiece and some fish to go with it.

"I know you don't like meat Benjamin, but this a special occasion. It would be unacceptable not to offer your friends the best in Sarnel." Dirzan ate some of the suckling pig, a tiny smile touching the corners of his mouth. He said it was very enjoyable, but then Gaur knew he was used to the richer foods of Salu's court. He goaded Jardonac into eating it for politeness sake, but he threw up after he had had just a small piece. Gaur would have liked to show them some of his workmanship but all they had was the table and the couch, so he showed them those. Dirzan commented on the couch's carvings.

"Interesting," he said, "the snake there on that one leg and the man on the other. Is that an ax he has in his hand?"

Gaur glowered at him and glanced through the doorway to where his wife was putting things away. She called at them, "Benjamin had a little trouble with that one. He usually so careful with perspective but he made the snake as big as the man."

"Or perhaps," Dirzan replied, smiling sardonically, "The man is as big as the snake?"

Gaur's friends stayed with them that night, he put them in the workshop. When they were gone Shimea drew him aside.

"Why did your friend look at me like that, when he first saw me?" She asked. Gaur sighed. "You look a lot like someone we both knew."

"Who? Who did you know?" she asked, "and why does he
have such a funny name? Where is he from? I don't mean to sound suspicious but," she shook her head, "I need to know. Please, tell me Benjamin."

"You won't believe me if I tell you."

"Trust me Benjamin, trust me to believe you."

"Well then," he looked steadily into her eyes, "I'm an elf. Or was. And my two friends are fairies. Or were, their fairy queen turned them into humans. The elf queen turned me into one a long time ago. That's why they look and act the way they do, and that's why Jardonac's name is so outlandish."

She gave a short, unbelieving laugh. Gaur shook his head and ran a brown hand through his thick, dark hair. "What will it take for you to believe me?" He asked himself. "Wait here." He went outside for a few moments and then came back in carrying a small glass vial in his hand. "I poured most of this out." He said, "and diluted it with water. But it's still potent. The fairy queen gave this to me, in case I ever wanted to become and elf again."

He tipped it back and drank it. For a moment they stood there, her face scrunched with unbelief and concern and his locked into a wry grimace. Then suddenly he doubled over and groaned. Shimea inhaled sharply. The tips of his ears were growing longer, parting the hair from his head like a horse's. He straightened, holding his stomach, and she saw his face begin to change subtly. It was growing wilder and the expression more akin to an animal's.

His already dark eyes became almost black and the ends pulled upwards making a pixyish effect. The change resulted in a sprite, an unhuman being, untamed and decidedly elfish. She backed into the wall. He looked at her with those wild, fairy-like eyes and said, "Do you believe me now?" His voice echoed around the room and it was Benjamin's voice.

"Yes." She said, subdued, "yes, just please, please change back. I believe you." 
       
The next minute he was himself again, the sweet man she loved and she ran into his arms. "Don't ever do that again." She said, "I love you the way you are now."

He smiled, his hand ran through her long, black hair. He whispered, "And I love you too."

Chapter 12

Jardonac became a bookkeeper and married Rachel, a tall ginger haired girl with a narrow face and large brown eyes, one of Shimea's friends. Dirzan became a merchant dealer in wines and married Elizabeth, a slender, coltish blonde. She had large blue-green eyes and liked expensive clothes, they fit one another perfectly. Those two only had a few children, as fairies do, but Shimea and Gaur had fourteen. All of them were very pretty. They decided it was Vira who had been mistaken , in the end.