A Certainty Among the Ruins

“A book?” The elf looked at him, unconvinced.

“That’s right, a book,” Silas confirmed. “They say there was once an order that specialised in wielding ramals. They trained warriors to fight the dark spirits. They were rather like knights.”

“But the way you describe it, it sounds more like a legend than a certainty…” Leyade absent-mindedly stroked Elindra’s tail, her expression troubled. The dragon had curled up in her lap.

“And what part of history doesn’t have a little legend in it?” The half-elf looked at her eagerly. “So much of the history of a country, a person or an object is a story passed down by someone who claimed it happened that way. The beauty of it is being able to discover whether it’s true, don’t you think?”

Silas spoke with a broad smile and a passionate gleam in his eyes. He clearly meant every word. Discovering the truth excited him.

“That sounds lovely, Silas.” Leyade could appreciate the beauty of the idea, but she could not shake the feeling that she was chasing shadows. “But I can’t pin everything on a legend.” She sighed. “I need something certain.”

Silas sighed at her expression.

“You’re already relying on legends, Leyade. In fact, you’re proving some of them true,” he began with a calm smile. “To many people, Liarieth is a legend.” He held out a gloved hand and gestured around them. “Fairies, centaurs, dryads, sylphs… After the First War, when the faerie peoples and the gnomes went into hiding, no one believed they still existed, or even that they ever had. And yet…” He glanced at her with his amber eyes. “…here they are. No one believed any ramals remained. Some people don’t even know what they are. Only the royal families suspect that they are still scattered across the elven lands. But you, Leyade…” He pointed at her. “An innocent village girl who probably worshipped spirits without ever having seen one has not only met one, but received a ramal from her. Some people think spirits are divine beings beyond our reach. Others believe they are nothing more than fantastical legends, and some think they never existed at all.”

Silas paused, then chuckled softly.

“And you’re going to tell me you can’t rely on legends? Come on, Leyade. Just say you don’t trust me. That would be a more convincing objection.”

The half-elf draped an arm over the back of the bench and rested his head on his hand, watching Leyade through narrowed eyes.

The young elf regarded him in silence. He was right. She was complaining that it was only a legend while sitting in a faerie forest, in the capital of the fairies, talking to a half-elf after fighting a dryad over a ramal.

Leyade looked around. This place of brilliant colours, impossibly shaped trees of unimaginable size, dreamlike flowers and creatures from fairy tales was real. She was sitting here after speaking to its queen and the entire Council. For Selvida’s sake, she had met an intelligent fox who could use magic!

Before she knew it, Leyade was laughing. It was honest laughter, holding everything she wanted to say but could not. For the first time in a long while, she was laughing again. Truly laughing.

The half-elf watched her, chuckling at the sight. From her lap, Elindra tilted her head and looked up at her in bewilderment.

“Now I feel silly,” Leyade managed at last, wiping away tears of laughter.

“Oh, don’t feel silly. It’s understandable. Sometimes you don’t realise what you’ve achieved until someone points it out. Especially when you’re so caught up in your quest that you haven’t even stopped to take in where you are,” Silas reassured her, taking a map from his satchel. “Here. To put your mind at ease, I’ll give you something certain. Look at this.”

The brown-haired half-elf spread the map on the bench between them and began to explain.

“I won’t ask whether you understand it. You can obviously read a map, can’t you?”

“What do you think?” Leyade raised an eyebrow at him.

He nodded in amusement and traced a finger across the sheet.

“Here are the ruins of Falathel. It was once a very prosperous city. They say its inhabitants gathered knowledge and information from every corner of the world.” The excited gleam returned to his eyes. “After the First War, this was all that remained: ruins. There are plenty of stories about the place, though. They say it’s dangerous to venture too far inside, and especially to remain there after nightfall.”

Leyade looked up from the map.

“What happens at night?”

“No one knows for certain.” Silas shrugged slightly. “But they say that if you enter Falathel at night, or you’re still inside when darkness falls, that’s the end of you. No one who has spent the night there has ever come back out.”

“How reassuring…” Leyade murmured.

“As I said, they’re only stories,” Silas replied. “But if that book still exists, I believe this is where we can find it.”

“I see. And the ruins don’t look very far from here, do they?” Leyade leaned closer and began measuring the distances on the map. “At a glance, I’d say three days’ travel at a good pace.” She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “Getting out of Kalneria is the problem.”

“Don’t worry about getting out. Leave that to me.” Silas pointed at himself. “And perhaps we could get there sooner…”

“Yes, if we could find horses or something…” Leyade suggested.

Silas considered it for a few moments, drumming his fingers on the map.

“If we could find some horses, or some other form of transport…” Leyade murmured, thinking it over too.

“That’s it. Give me at least an hour, and I can arrange something.”

Silas looked at her eagerly, certain he could manage it.

With a broad smile, Leyade sprang to her feet, forcing Elindra to leap from her lap and glide clear rather than tumble onto the ground.

“Then it’s settled! We’re going to the ruins of Falathel!” The elf punched the air with a little hop, then gathered her things. “Come on, Silas! We’ve got so much to do!”

Leyade dashed off in a direction chosen seemingly at random.

Then she doubled back to the bench and picked up the wooden cup that had held her juice.

“Nearly forgot to return this…”

Before Silas could say anything, she was off again.

“But…” Elindra began from where she sat on the ground. “Where is she going?”

Silas shook his head before answering.

“To meet her destiny face to face.”