Forbidden Fantasy - 1. Chapter 1

My senses were alive with the night, a trait strong among me and my elven kin. The moon was bright and the stars added their own light to the world. It was Winterfest, the celebration that marked the turning of the season, although where I am from one would never know it was Winter. There was no snow, it did not even get cold at night. It was cool, yes, but my tribe and I wore little or no clothing all year. One would say I was immune to seeing anyone naked, it was just natural. I was immune...until I met him.

I have always been a free spirit even for an elf. I was tall for my tribe, at 5'8” I was almost the size of a human, and rather pleased with my physique. I was 170 pounds with no fat and a stomach my lady friends always asked to use to wash their laundry. “It is to laugh,” I would always reply with a sneer. I have light blond hair typical of a moon elf and cobalt blue eyes. And, of course, the pointed ears, sharp cheek bones and high arching brows of an elf. I like to laugh as much as any other elf, but I also like to be alone to think very unelfish thoughts.

It was well past the deepest part of the night when an alarm was raised to the south. It rang out of intruders and all of the able bodied elves dashed for their weapons to drive off these interlopers. I was a trained healer so I was not expected to go to the fighting, but I grabbed my club and cut south east to possibly flank any that tried to escape. We may be carefree but we are not careless and we protect our lands fiercely. Woe to the intruder of our forest.

My feet made little noise as I ran through the underbrush and over bushes. I could hear the sounds of a pitched battle coming from my right so I veered to intercept and aid my kin. What I saw when I arrived was something so strange that for a moment I could do nothing but stare. I am not old for my kind, only one hundred and fifty-two years old, and I knew humans and goblins on sight, but I had never seen one human take on twenty of the goblins single handed while twelve more lay dead all around. He was magnificent. Standing well over six feet and wielding a greataxe, he seemed to dance among the four foot tall goblins and wherever his ax swung another goblin fell. He growled his challenge in a language I had learned long ago but had rarely used so I could not catch the subtle insults. Whatever he said had the goblins even angrier.

Rather than sit there like a bump on a log I darted in and slammed my club down on the head of the nearest goblin. He went down. There was a moment when the human and I fought back to back without even acknowledging the others presence. It was as if we moved to the same rhythm, the same piper played the same tune for the both of us. I would duck and he would cleave a goblin while I protected his flank.

Within moments the goblins were dead and I was barely even breathing hard. I turned to look at the human and for the first time I noticed the many wounds he had. He turned on me for a moment, still caught up in the heat of the battle, but I lowered my club and looked back. He had the most stunning green eyes I had ever seen. Like fresh clover dotted with golden honey suckles. I could have stared into those eyes for the rest of his natural life. Then he passed out. I dropped my club and barely caught him before he hit the ground. He was a lot heavier than I first thought and I went to one knee before I was able to compensate. Now that I had saved him, there was only one thing left to do, but it was forbidden. No human had ever set foot within our village and lived, but I would not let this one die.

After strapping my club and his ax to my back I picked him up and made my way quickly back to the village. Everyone was either off to battle or were waiting by the edge of the glade so no one saw me carry my patient into my hut and place him on the farthest cot from the door. I drew curtains closed and set about to gather up my potions and herbs to heal him. Once that was done I slipped silently into his alcove and looked at him closely for the first time. He had wide spaced eyes, a dusting of a beard on a face that I now found almost too young to belong to a man. Gods above he could not have been more than eighteen in human terms, an infant to my thinking. His hair was raven black and matted on one side. I quickly sprinkled some tincture onto the goose egg and cut there and turned to deal with the rest.

He wore armor like none I had ever seen. Ours were magically hardened hides or bone pieced together to cover vital areas. His was made of very fine chain links or metal. “How in the name of the Gods am I supposed to get that off?” There were numerous wounds where the goblins' weapons had broken through so I started there. Cutting off the armor was easier than I thought once I discovered the fastening leather straps. As I peeled off the metal I gaped in awe. I thought I had a nice body. This man-child had arms as large as my thighs and a chest as deep as any ogre's. It was covered in dark curls of hair and I could not resist reaching out to feel them. No elf has body hair so this was as new to me as each new day. The curls were silky smooth and slick with sweat.

Shaking myself out of my stupor I took up one of the soaked bandages and began to wash his wounds. Twice he mumbled something but he did not wake. I made a thorough search of his torso and found many scratches but nothing life threatening. I turned my attention to his legs and wondered for the first time in memory what he would look like underneath the breaches. I knew he had very powerful legs, their girth alone was larger than my waist, but what would they feel like? I found myself getting aroused for the first time thinking about seeing someone naked. I took a deep breath and had to fight down my primal urges. I had to tend him. I cut off the breaches and immediately applied pressure to the artery because his life blood was slowly seeping out of a long gash in his leg. With my other hand I wiped away the blood gently and poured a generous amount of the tincture onto the wound, even though it would take me many months to replace what I had used. The wound was looking as if was a month old rather than an hour and I deftly wrapped it in bandaging, feeling the solid muscles beneath the skin.

Gods his legs were nice. I have always liked legs. Yet all other legs were nothing compared to the ones I had in my hands then and I was getting so turned on I had to pull myself away and leave the alcove. I had never felt this aroused in my entire life and I knew that I would do anything just to see what lay under that small loincloth that he wore under the armor. I was calming down when my people came in to treat their various scrapes. “Kiven, we need your healing skills,” said the leader of the tribe and my Father, Johar.

“How many wounded?”

“Six.” Not bad, I had room to spare. “Who is in the last alcove?”

“Someone who does not wished to be disturbed during this...uh... sensitive time.”

“Sat on nettles, did he?” I merely smiled and let my Father think what he wanted. “You seem troubled.”

“It is Winterfest and I have to be in here. What manner of creature invades on this night?”

“Goblins. A whole tribe by the looks. We found what may have been a smaller band but they were dead.”

“Good. Now, if you will excuse me, I have patients to heal. Out.” He chuckled and left while I made my rounds. Most of the injuries were superficial and I simple bound them and sent them on their way. One wound needed more than that and I was not happy to see it was my good friend Flora who had it. “How many times do I have to tell you not to get mangled when I'm not there?” I asked. Her leg had been mauled by one of the goblins war mounts, nasty canines with poisonous drool.

“As many as it takes until I stop.” She smiled at me but it slid off her face when she looked at my face. “What happened to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You've a black eye.” I wondered if I had actually gotten hurt. I guess I did although I could not really feel it.

“It's nothing.” I drew out the toxins with a purge and then put a diluted amount of tincture on the bandages. “Someone came in after sitting on nettles. He was most adamant about getting them out but one got a bit caught in a sensitive spot and he elbowed me.” I used my father's own concocted story. It was a good one since nettles were abundant at the moment.

“You are a horrid liar, Kiven. What happened?” I knew she would not let it go so I helped her to the last alcove. It was that or she would make a huge noise about it.

“You promise you will tell no one else what you are about to see?” She nodded. She was the only person I ever told anything to including my attraction to men. It was rare in my people and not exactly accepted because we elves are not a fruitful lot. A child is born maybe every twenty years to the tribe, once every hundred to the woman.

I pulled back the curtain enough so that we could slip in and she covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming. “Kiven, you know humans are not allowed to be in the village.”

“What should I have done? Let him die in the forest where he had killed that small band with only minimal help from me? Damn the rules! I will not let this man die.” She looked at me with compassion in her eyes.

“Well...he does look pretty bad. You say he killed them?”

“All but four of the thirty-two. Clubs are not very effective against hard goblin skulls.” She nodded. I looked down at my hand that had unconsciously gone to the man's muscular calf.

“Oh no. Kiven you know you can't...not with a human. Treating him is one thing but...” She trailed off.

“I have done nothing yet. He lost consciousness out there.” I sighed and began to massage that calf. “Does not mean I am not sorely tempted.” She shook her head and left.

I stayed the night in the infirmary to make sure my patient was safe from internal and external harm. I knew he would live if he had not lost too much blood, but he was not out of the woods yet. It was nearly dawn when he stirred. I sat up and snagged the water bottle from the bed side where I had kept it. He looked over at me in confusion that broke into recognition. “You need water,” I said, knowing that my accent would be thick. I cradled his head as he drank and then lay him back down.

“Was that you in the woods?”

“Yes. I not see human in years. Forgive if I not speak right.” I wanted to ask him some many questions. Mainly I just wanted to stare into those eyes.

“You saved me.” His voice was deep and made shivers slide up and down my sides and seemed to nestle between my legs. “Thank you.”

“No thank necessary. I am Kiven of the Moonray tribe.” I was checking the lump on his head. I knew it would be tender even with the aid of the tincture, but I needed to be sure it was healing.

“I am Jacob of Ivywell.” That was the nearest human settlement and some two days travel from here. I did recall an Ivywell in that direction. “How bad is it?”

“Is not bad. Tincture helps, but rest is best healer.”

He nodded. “I...think I may be unable to rest. I remember that elves do not like humans.”

I chuckled. “Not true. We not like humans in village, but humans not bad. Hairy, but not bad.” I grinned and he smiled back. I thought his legs were the best part until I saw that smile. It brought the light of the sun into my hut and filled me with a feeling I could only describe as warm.

Then the smile slid off his face. “I'm in the village aren't I?” I nodded. “And no one knows, am I right?”

“Not right. One other knows but she no tell.” He tried to sit up and I placed my hands on his broad chest to push him back. “You stay. Not healed yet.”

“But you could get in trouble. I need to leave before that happens.” I shook my head touched by his want to keep me from harm. I also realized I had not taken my hands off his chest and I pulled them away as I blushed. The blood from my face changed course to my groin and I had to go put on a robe lest this Jacob see what he was doing to me.

“Rest, Jacob of Ivywell. If you hunger I find you food.” He nodded. I dashed out of the hut and grabbed some of the food that was still set out from the night before and went back in.

After he had eaten I left him sitting up in the cot and set about to tidy the rest of the room. “Do you live here alone?” he asked.

“I do. I am healer for village and need space.” He nodded. I could feel his eyes follow me as I moved from place to place to put things to rights after the night. I could feel his gaze deep inside and it made me very aware that he had seen me naked and had not once looked away. When I returned to his bedside I pulled back the blanket to check his leg, but he snatched them from me. “Need to see leg.”

“Later, it feels fine.” He was turning red and I was amused to see the blush went down to his flat stomach.

“How old you? Look man in body but child in face.”

“I'm twenty, but yeah I'm a little baby faced.” He seemed to take it as a compliment. “You? I never could place an age to an elf.”

“I am 152.”

“Gods, I am always shocked to hear your people's ages. You look my age but you're old enough to have known my grandfather's grandfather when he was a lad.” I smiled, catching most of what he said. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“Feel pain?” I asked.

“No...” he said weakly.

“Feel tired?”

“No...” I was missing something. Perhaps it was a human problem I knew nothing about.

“What you feel?” I asked as I felt his forehead to make sure he had not developed a fever.

“Something I have not felt in a long time.” I looked into his eyes and I could see the lust therein. My insides flipped as I sat next to him and his hand slid over mine. It sent a tingle up my arm and I knew I would never be the same again. Our eyes were locked as he pulled me close for a kiss. His lips were soft and his kiss gentle. Even if I had not wanted this I could not have refused because his strength was more than mine and I was strong. He held me firmly to him with one arm while the other hand softly caressed my cheek. My hands were back on his chest and tracing the lines of muscles under the hair.

When he let go I stayed with my face only an inch from his. Both of us were breathing heavily and I saw such desire in him that I was no longer thinking. His hand slid from my back to the tie of the robe. I watched his face as he undressed me and I knew he liked what he saw. “Gods you're beautiful. I have never seen such a perfect body.” Those hands that could easily snuff out a life were so gentle when he slid them down my own chest and thigh. There was no hiding the fact that I was aroused, not when his eyes seemed locked on that spot.

I dove in for another kiss as his hand slid around my length. They were calloused in all the right places from wielding his ax and the feel of the skin against mine was like a lightning spell to my brain. I whined a bit as he ran his hand up and down my length. He stopped to play with the cleft below the head and I trembled. I was getting close to my climax and seem to know it because he stopped and made room for me to lay next to him. I was past caring about rules and even the fact that he was hurt. His mouth found mine again and I slid my hand down his back and settled on his thigh. He trailed the kisses down my neck and over my chest to my stomach and finally I felt the warmth of his mouth engulf me. I'm not small for an elf and at eight inches he seemed to have some problem taking it all in his mouth. He pulled back until just the head was in his hot mouth and swirled his tongue around the tip. Any thoughts of him being inexperienced because of his age were blasted out of me head. “Aa so'tova mii!” I whimpered and I think he got the gist as I shot my essence into his eagerly waiting mouth. I had not climaxed in months and all of that pent up energy coupled with the fact that this was more taboo than he could know sent me into the embrace of Luna.

I shuddered and let out my breath as he licked the last drop from the tip. He kissed his way back up to my lips and I shared my own essence with me. It was a new experience and one I could learn to like. “Jacob, that so good.” He smiled at me and I could tell he was feeling the need for his own release. I laid him back and began to nibble at his neck right below the ear. He groaned a bit but kept his hands to himself. My tongue made lazy circles as I traveled down to that wonderfully hairy chest and settled on his erect nipple. Arching his back he had me apply more pressure and nibble on it which seemed to really excite him. I had put off what I had wanted for this long and I could not put it off any longer. I untied the loincloth and pulled it off.

Gods above he was massive. I had never seen anything so big on a human or elf, maybe on a rutting stag. Ten inches long and two across, I was glad I had waited for this moment because I was too aroused to think about the pain I knew I would experience. Had I not, I would not have wanted to do what I was planning. This massive length was nestled among more ebony hair and his large nuts seemed swollen with his need. I looked up at him and I could see he did not want me to be frightened of him. Like I would let fear stop me!

I went past his length the his ankle and began to kiss and stroke my way up to the prize. He gripped the blankets as I kissed the inside of his uninjured thigh, flicking my tongue back and forth as I inched closer to my goal. His legs were by far the most arousing thing in my entire life. I could not get enough of the feel of his skin quivering as I ran my tongue from the knee area slowly upwards. “Gods, Kiven, stop teasing me.” I chuckled as I did as he asked and took him in my mouth. Being my age helps because you learn a few things. When I first took him in my mouth I showed him how my tongue could bring him to the point of his climax but not let him cross over. I took every inch into my mouth and throat and he gasped out my name as he was right there, yet I would not finish it. “Why?” He asked.

“This why.” I straddled his hips and let the tip rest against my anus. His eyes were half lidded and glazed as I eased myself up and down on his length to get used to the girth. His breathing was quickening and I knew he was getting close so I stopped and waited until he could breath easily. He was about to ask another question when I sat all the way down, every inch disappearing inside of me. It felt as if my inside would burst and it came out as a guttural moan when he raised his hips to met my downward thrust. I stayed there knowing both of us would be done too soon if I moved. Our eyes locked as I leaned forward to kiss him again and he surprised me by rolling me onto my back with him on top.

He began a slow and steady rhythm that had me digging my nails into his shoulders. “Do you like this?” he asked, his voice husky with lust. The feelings were alternating between my anus and my throat depending how deep he went.

“Yes, oh yes. Troatha aa'r,” I said and he somehow knew what I was asking because he slammed all of it into me with a force that was both pleasure and pain. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he plunged in and out of my insides and there was no going back now. I would never again find his equal. I felt my own climax coming back as he began to shudder above me, his eyes glued to my own as he spilled his seed in me. I could feel the heat sear me and push me over into another intoxicating release. We stayed there until he could no longer hold himself up. He eased onto his side as he fell out of me, my hole throbbing with the brutally good pounding it had taken.

We kissed and smiled at each other as we gazed into each others eyes. “I need get up. You need rest.”

“After that I could sleep for days.” I smiled and kissed him again, pulled on my robe and tucked him in.

When I left the alcove I saw Flora standing there with a look of panic and amusement in her eyes. “You two were pretty loud. Be thankful I was able to cast a silencing spell on your hut when I heard the first groan.” She spoke in Elven so Jacob could not understand. The smirk on her face made me grin. “Unrepentant toad.”

“If you had been me you would have not cared.” My grin took in my face.

“So, brother of my soul, will you introduce us, or shall I tell your father?” I knew she was kidding about the father part, but him meeting her was suddenly scary. Flora was so much more attractive than I, both physically and socially. I was a healer, she a wizard. My father was the chief, hers the tribal elder. I was too muscular and tall, she was willowy and graceful and petite. She could dance and speak his language perfectly, I could not dance and my command over his language was atrocious. “Are thinking I am better than you again? You have that look.”

“You know me so well.” Too well.

“Yes, I do. If this...human,” she shuddered upon saying that word, “is that fickle I would not let him share the same air with you.” I had to grin. She always knows how to lift my spirits.

I led her to the curtained alcove and peeked my head in. Jacob was looking like he was asleep, but his eye opened a crack. He grinned at me and rolled onto his back, exposing the injured thigh. “My friend want meet you. She like sister...bossy older sister who no take no for answer.”

“Your human tongue is horrid, Kiven,” she said in his tongue flawlessly.

Jacob looked mildly put off by the words, but he nodded. I pulled her quickly in and I watched as her eyes lost their focus. She was staring at his eyes. She seemed almost charmed, even enchanted. Then she shook it away. “I will start by saying, friend of Kiven. I may be a lowly human, but I would prefer it if you did not insult him even playfully in my presence. He saved my life and I would not care if he were a mute or a dullard, no one will insult him.” It came out in a tightly controlled voice that was a bit of a growl. I had to blink in amused awe. I knew the fire that burned in him, I had seen it in battle and felt it in bed. Flora was struck speechless...

...which lasted all of two heart beats. “He'll do. I'm Flora, by the way. How is your leg?”

Jacob nodded as if that were enough. These two seemed to have an understanding already. “It is better than I thought it should be, but then Kiven seems to be a very excellent healer. I'm Jacob of Ivywell.” Jacob's eyes turned to me and he smiled. I wanted nothing more to feel those powerful arms around me.

“He is at that. I do not know how many times he's patched me up.” She grinned at me, seeing the look in my eyes, knowing that I was fast falling for this human. “What, Jacob of Ivywell, what were you doing in the woods with goblins?” I wanted to shush her. It was none of her business and none of mine. He could be in the forest if he chose and he was killing the goblins, his motive was above reproach.

“Hunting them. The tribe attacked my village and I was seeking my revenge.” It was a perfectly honorable reason and one I could have guessed by his defense of me. He was filled with strong emotions, almost a Berserker in battle save for the cold and calculated maneuvers. When he went at something he did not do it half way. I knew all of this, knew it as surely as I knew my own feeling for him.

“I am grieved to hear of your village. It must have been very recent for I had not heard they were attacked.” His jaw clenched a few times and he nodded. “Will they need aide?”

“No, the village will recover well without the goblin raids.” His pain was very real and I laid my hand on his shoulder as I sat down. He must have lost loved ones to this attack. Elves knew about suffering and losing loved ones. As long lived as we were we could be killed quite easily with certain weapons. There was a war hundreds of years ago between many races. Elves and Dwarves were allied against humans and the dragons chose to stay “neutral”. They chose to kill both sides. The adaptive humans fared far better than the others, they being a very fruitful lot. Their populations grew even as ours dwindled. They took our lost lands, we pulled in our borders. We elves had grown to tolerate humans, but the betrayal of the dragons, who gave the humans cold iron weapons to kill us, can never be forgiven. “I...am very surprised by your compassion. I was always taught that elves were aloof and cold.”

“Perhaps towards humans as a whole. Towards individuals we are quite capable of showing the full range of emotions, I assure you.” He smiled to push away the bad thoughts and her breath caught. She was not immune to his charms either. “I should let you rest. You are in the best of hands...and other body parts.” She laughed when the both of us turned a few shades of red. I looked at his face and I could tell he was not at all unhappy about it either. She left with only the slightest limp and stifling her giggles.

“She is...a lot to take in.”

“I've known her 100 years. She still has new parts I not know.” I caressed his cheek, the hairs still fine and soft as a doe. He leaned into the touch and smiled up at me. “You rest. Check on you in a while.” He nodded and rolled over onto his stomach. Another oddity. Elves sleep flat on our back and stiff as a tree. I could not stop how my eyes slid to his ample backside. It was round and firm, solid muscle overlaid with just enough padding to round it out. The sheet covered him from the waist down and although I knew what lay beneath I could not help but become aroused again. I had never been this...virile. Elves were just not this way. No one else I knew could even get this much arousal in the same month let alone the same day.

I slipped away and fled to my own walled off room adjacent to the infirmary. I closed the door and sagged against it. My heart was fluttering in what I knew was the start of something I could never hope to finish. I knew I could never be with him how my heart wanted. Not only would both of our peoples take up arms my heart could not handle having him for so short of a time as fifty years. To my reckoning that was not even a tenth of my life, and if I lived a long life for an elf it was not even a twentieth, possibly not a thirtieth if I lived as long as Flora's father. My heart could not handle loving him.

But I wanted to so much. I wanted so much to have those years, fleeting as they were. I have never wanted anything so much in my life. I would give up everything to be with him. I would leave the woods, leave my people if he was not welcomed here. I had not known him for a full day and I wanted him so much it was frightening. I would call it fascination with the unknown, but I would not give up my people for mere fascination.

It was well into the day when I brought in something for him to eat. I woke him with a gentle kiss and he rolled over with a smile. “Here food.” I helped prop him up so he could eat comfortably. “How feel you?”

“I can't believe my leg is this painless. You must have strong magic.” He dove into the rabbit and berries like a starving man. Tincture will do that if too much is used.

“No magic, just herbal knowledge. Flora is aa'mak, not me.” He looked confused for a moment. “Aa'mak is magic user.” He nodded then. When he finished eating I set the plate to the side and stood. “Time to test leg.” He nodded and threw back the covers, exposing every part of his anatomy I wanted to see. I held out my hand for him to take and I helped him to his feet. He winced only a bit as he put his weight on his legs, but my mouth opened in awe. I had completely forgotten how tall he was. I was tall for an elf, but he was taller than most humans. He smiled down at me and slid his arms around my waist. There was something in his eyes that said he was very glad I was there and it made my pulse quicken. “How is leg?”

“It hurts, but I can stand.” I nodded and pulled away. As much as I wanted to stay in his arms I needed to check to see if he was well enough to walk. I had to get him out of the village before anyone else saw him. He took a few tentative steps towards me, his gait a limping hobble, but he could move about. He was panting with effort even after the four steps. I nodded and helped him back to the cot to sit. “That must have been some wound.”

“Down to the artery. I need take off bandage.” He stood again and I quickly removed the wrapping and look at it. There was no infection, which was good, and the wound was not going to leave too much of a scar. I gingerly touched the area and the leg twitched. That momentary flexing made part of me twitch too and I was glad I was wearing a robe. “It not bad. Healing fine. Let air out for a bit then re-wrap it.” He nodded and sat down again. I slipped out of the alcove to get him something to wear as small clothes. When I went back in he was reclining again. “Here. Wear if you want.” He looked at the breachclout and shook his head. I shrugged and left it on the table next to him.

I was doing my best to be clinical, but I could not stop myself from going to his bedside and caressing his face as I leaned in for a kiss. He returned it with a smoldering passion I had never encountered in an elf. If he had his way he would be kissing me for hours, that is what his lips told me. If I had my way I would kiss him for the rest of his natural life. As I pulled away he pulled me into the cot with him. “How do you do it?” I looked at him quizzically. “I have not felt this alive in years.” His eyes took a distant look. “It was a goblin raid that took my beloved from me. I had asked a young lady to help me with the one thing I could not get; a child. I wanted someone to raise and care for and she was happy to help, she'd done the same for other couples who could not have a child.” I nodded. It was very common in the more prolific species and humans the worst. Half their children died before their first year. He wore a sad smile. “She became dear to me, but nothing more than a very good friend and the mother of my two girls.” The smile he wore was one of fond memories. “They were my jewels, my princesses. Twins as alike as apple pips. They were two years old when the goblins raided. They and their mother died.” I reached up and wiped away a tear. “I was fifteen then. I...it was the first time I had killed anything. I killed with my wood ax and stood numb as I watched the killers die of mortal wounds I had inflicted.

“Since then I have trained everyday against the time I will kill every goblin I come across. I have never found a measure of relief, a moment of humanity. Then I open my eyes to see you and it's like...I found something that was untouched by the evil in the world.” I smiled at the oblique compliment. He had seen my caring side only. I was by far one of the more wicked of my people. I killed many creatures simply to remove a possible threat to someone or thing I cared for whether or not that particular creature deserved it. “You find that comment amusing?”

“I not that pure, Jacob.”

“Kiven, do you kill for the sake of killing? For the fun of it? For greed? To hear the creature scream and beg for mercy?” I shook my head at each question. “Then you are not evil. Every kill you have dealt has been as swift as possible, I bet.” I nodded again. He seemed to see directly into my soul, knowing how I acted even so soon after meeting me. “You are a good person, Kiven. So different from what I had learned of elves. You...give me hope for a brighter day. For that you have my thanks and my love.”

He had said it! He had said the most powerful word in all of living. He loved me. There was nothing I wanted to hear more. “Jacob, I not speak you language well to say what I want.”

“If you speak Dwarven I know that as well.”

I hid my shock well, I think. Most humans find other languages hard to get right. I smiled and switched to Dwarven. “My friend, I am very glad to have saved you. You have filled me with more happiness in these past hours than I have ever felt. I found in you the part of my heart I have been missing.” He smiled at me and at how formal I was being. There was Dwarven and there was Dwarven. The common dialect would not do for something like this. “I was not whole until you came into my life.” The next tear I wiped away was one of joy. I switched back to his native tongue. “You make me happy. I love you.”

“Kiven?” came my Father's voice from the entryway. My eyes widened and I slipped out of the alcove making sure the curtains hid every part of Jacob.

“Yes, my Father?”

“I have to tell you that more goblins have been sighted along Tiradel Pass and to expect wounded. The whole tribe except for the youngsters will be going.” He left then and I could see through the door that he was not lying. Every able bodied elf was preparing for battle, wearing cold, determined faces like armor. I shut the door and began to gather everything I would need. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I felt one of the aa'mak open a portal to the Pass. I knew when it closed because there was an audible snap.

“Jacob, we need to get you out of here now,” I said in Dwarven.

“I heard. I need to get up to that pass.” He threw back the curtains to show he was wearing his armor and huge ax.

“No way! You are staying here.” I realize how silly I sounded saying he needed to leave and then told him he had to stay here.

“Kiven, please! One of them might lead me to the tribe that killed my people!” I knew why he had wanted to go but he would be killed in his weakened condition...but how could I say no when he was pleading with his eyes? Gods above they were so eloquent when he felt strongly. “Please.”

I left the infirmary and found the person I knew would be here still. “Flora, I need a portal to the Pass.” She looked at me like I was insane. “It's that or my patient is probably going to walk.”

“What? In his condition?” I nodded. She let out a very foul expletive that I was glad no elf child had heard. “Let me guess he used his eyes.” I nodded. “Fine.” She limped quickly into the infirmary. “Jacob, of Ivywell, listen well. If you go and get yourself killed and hurt my soul sibling I will torture your spirit for the rest of my life. Do you hear me?” He nodded with a cynical smirk on his face. “Then stand still.” She began to cast a spell that I knew she only used in dire need. This was not dire need, his life was not threatened. This need was a matter of the heart, mine. His entire body began to glow a bright white as her healing spell began to take effect. All the little hurts I had dismissed were closing and healing before my eyes, the leg not as much because of the tincture's healing properties. She ended the incantation and shook her head. The spell took a lot out of her. “You will have maybe an hour before you collapse. Most of the energy for that came from you, so use your time well.” He nodded as I grabbed my war mace, a wicked spiked club of metal ensorcelled to always strike a clean kill. I also pulled on my battle leathers and a light breastplate. A half-helm went on my head and plate boots.

When I rejoined Jacob, Flora was nearly completed with her spell. “I thought elves wore no armor.”

“This from the War.” He nodded. “I good fighter, but I am needed to heal. Besides, someone watch your back.” He nodded. He was also checking me out. I admit to some conceit that I look good in the armor. The hairs on my neck stood up and between us and Flora was a portal made for standard travel, not like the one the entire tribe which had to be open for a lot longer.

“Meet up with the tribe or its a very long walk back.” A day at an elf's jog no human could hope to match. We ran through and into the perpetual snows of the Tiradel Pass.

We were atop the canyon wall looking down at the goblin tribes marching lines. This was odd enough because goblins did not march and they had no order in the tribe except a pecking order. Plus there were at least seven tribes out there when goblins did not band together. Something was wrong here and I could tell Jacob knew this also. His eyes were searching for some sign. “There,” he whispered so softly even my keen ears almost missed it over the winds that howled year round through the Pass. He was pointing to one of the goblin tribes, one of the largest I had ever seen. At least twenty thousand strong, it would take my whole tribe to bring just that one down. I could see that these goblins wore some sort of marking in there armor, a black claw. It tickled in the back of my memory, that black claw, but I could not call the information forth. I nodded and we slipped down the way and I readied one of the few inherent spells I had.

“Hold on,” I mouthed and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I leaped off the wall and enacted the spell. We slowed as we fell and became feather light as we touched down silently in the snow behind the goblins. He let go and nodded at the three in the back. He was so focused on this that I was worried for him.

With more speed that I would have given him credit for he dashed up and struck to knock out not kill. When I got there he had pulled out a coil of rope from his small pack and bound them tightly. Once they were secured he stood and looked at me, a fire burning within the depths of his eyes and I knew what he was planning even before he lifted his weapon. The unusual part was how I raised my own. I was not here for blood, but I could see why he was driven. Goblins were rapacious murders hellbent on killing and pillaging anything they could. It would be doing the world a favor to rid it of a few more of them. My grip tightened and I gave a curt nod before we stealthily began picking off the back goblins one by one. His mighty ax simply cleaved them in twain from shoulder to hip. They had no chance to even cry out before they died.

I raced to the other edge to start there, my mace slamming down in the back of the skull where the brain met the spine. I would not have chosen that spot, but my mace did. It would only strike clean kills. I danced to the next kill and spun onto the next even before the body fell to the snow to leak its crimson life force and stain it. There was a time where I rolled past Jacob as we switched sides and he merely stepped over me as if he knew I would do just that. Our dance of death was silent, stealthy and working until one goblin turned his head to sneeze and saw Jacob wading through their ranks. He raised the alarm and the goblins spun far faster than I would have ever thought they could. These were no ordinary goblins, they were trained and honed to the best edge they could be. They fought as well as any human could, a feat I would have said was impossible for a goblin. Our weapons flashed in the sun and glinted off the walls. The roars of the goblins echoed around and almost covered the sound of our weapons clanging. I was faced off against five goblins and I twirled around with a kick and I slammed down the mace at the same time in the opposite direction. Two dropped, one dead the other with a broken nose, and I pirouetted out of the way of a slice.

Jacob was spinning his ax faster than any human could and he was leaving dead goblins by the dozens in his wake. I had speed on my side, but his powerful body was in top condition and he just left carnage wherever he went. He had taken a few scratches, but nothing I could see that was going to need attention. One goblin got in a lucky parry in but that only delayed the inevitable because Jacob simply brought the other side to bear and removed the goblin's head.

The canyon was filled with a loud thrum that seemed to come from everywhere. I grabbed Jacob by the shoulder and threw him to the side as a thousand arrows fell into the ranks. I joined him and sidled to the side to go tend to our prisoners. My tribe was there now and would finish what we had started. He saw that when the first ball of fire the size of a horse rained down on the foe. With a look of frustration he took a breath and quelled his temper to help me. “Your people are efficient,” he said with grudging respect. “I can see why my people have feared yours for generations.”

“Do you fear us?”

“By us you mean you. No, I do not fear you.” He smiled as we got to our catch. “At least, not unless you have that mace in your hand.” I smiled and gave him a pat on the back that could be seen as merely friendly but he would understand was more. One of the goblins was awake and struggling. “Quit struggling or I will kill you slowly.” he said in their guttural language. It only made sense he would learn the tongue, but this was his third one he knew.

“You'll kill me anyway,” it spat back.

“Maybe not. You will answer my questions or I will kill you.” He delivered his ultimatum with a hard voice.

“You will all die in the coming of Ingalome'stracazillio!” he yelled. What in the Nine Hells was that?

“Then he is on the move?” Jacob knew who this person was. Perhaps it was the name of the tribal leader who had attacked his village. The goblin stayed silent. “Answer me!” he yelled. No answer came. With coldness born of trauma Jacob pulled out a knife and cut off one finger. The goblin jerked in pain but kept silent. Whoever this Ingalome'stracazillio was had trained these goblins for torture. Jacob cut another finger off and the goblin twitched, his brow breaking out in sweat in an effort to not talk.

I had to stop this. “Jacob, he obviously is not talking your way. Shall I try mine?” My tone was as frosty as the air around us. “Perhaps once I have invaded his mind he will talk. Of course I could take this pain he has felt and trap him in it for eternity once you've killed him.” Jacob looked at me and nodded with a sinister grin. I pulled out my healer's kit and a thick black paste I used during burials in the field. It was just soot mixed with wax and fat, nothing special except in the ritual use. “Hold his head while I paint the symbol that will open his mind to me.”

“I'll talk!” the goblin said prudently. “He's coming. He's coming back.”

Jacob nodded. “From where and how long until he does?”

“From the Swamps of Sorrows and I don't know. I swear on filth and grime.” A solemn goblinoid oath if there ever was one. I made as if to still paint the symbol but the goblin seemed to give up. I saw he had lost too much blood to stay conscious.

“Nice job, Kiven. I never would have guessed you were bluffing,” I smiled.

“I could not stand to see him suffer. A clean kill is better than torture. Why is this man so important?”

He stayed silent for a moment, seeming to be arguing inside on whether to tell me. “He is no man. He is a dragon of the foulest kind. An evil black that not only killed scores of humans, elves, Dwarves and the innocent creatures of the fae, he turned on his own kind and slew a hundred dragons before he was banished by a very powerful human wizard. He vowed to get revenge on the wizard and his loved ones. That wizard was from Ivywell. Ingalome'stracazillio sent the Black Claw clan to wipe it out.” So that was why these goblins seemed to be so organized. They were controlled by a dragon. “Now he is on his way back since the banishment ended with the death of the wizard. No one will be safe.”

“Why? We elves have survived and I could bully my Father into helping.”

“To kill him is to end the curse on the dragons. Or I should say dragon. A great red, a mere wyrmling compared to Ingalome'stracazillio, but still he was old when the War was fought. He is trapped by the black. This red is the last dragon once the black is dead.” I blinked in shock. No more dragons? It sounded too good to be true, but I knew that a world without dragons is a doomed world. All sentient life needed dragons else they would look elsewhere for a common enemy. While there was at least one dragon there would be an ultimate enemy that all life had to fear and put aside all other squabbles to conquer.

“The world would decay faster. We would destroy it and ourselves with our wars.” He nodded. “How do you know all this? I mean you are so young to grasp such a concept.”

He chuckled. It was a lifeless laugh. “I am older than my years, trust me. When Ingalome'stracazillio moves he will strike fast and hard. If he is killed then the last dragon is freed and...I don't know what he will do.” One would think he would be grateful, but dragons were known to be touchy about debt. If a dragon owed you he may kill you so he did not have to owe you any more. “Yet to let that monster live is to make him a threat for every generation until he was killed.”

“Kiven, what are you doing here?” My Father was coming over, stepping over fallen goblin bodies that we had killed.

“Flora said I would be needed here.” He nodded, not second guessing my words where Flora was concerned. “Father, this is Jacob. He has been following the movements of these goblins. Half of that is his work.” Jacob got the hint. I was speaking Elven to be more formal and less familiar with him. If it hurt him he did not show it.

“You fight well, human. Why track goblins?” My Father's tone was polite, but there was no warmth. He was not fond of any human although this one he was treating with more respect than he would have any except a child who had yet to learn right from wrong.

“They were responsible for the death of my people. I came to find out who sent them and to get what revenge I could, Tribal Chieftain.” Naming his rank was a phenomenal stroke of diplomacy and it eased my father a bit.

“An understandable motive. You have prisoners I see, and one dead.”

“Died during questioning that Healer Kiven helped with. My methods are crude and his got answers before the little creep died from the wounds I had inflicted.” Him praising my help was another political move, but I still felt the warmth of the praise.

“And? Please share what you have learned.”

“Father, now is not the time. I'm sure there are wounded for me to tend and it is cold enough to freeze the blood in the veins.” He nodded. “I am sure the human would also like to get somewhere warmer. Perhaps Tanner Elfriend's old cabin since he cannot come into the village.” Tanner had been the last human to see our home but that was almost a hundred years ago. The cabin was only two hour's walk over easy terrain.

“You speak wisdom, son.” Johar turned back to Jacob. “My thanks to your help here. Would you be willing to come south to guest in our forest until your own wounds have healed and your tale told?”

Jacob bowed at the waist. “I would be honored. I understand this is not common.” My father nodded and turned to go back to the tribe. When I knew he was out of earshot I sighed. “He is a very stern elf.” I nodded. “He does not know you prefer men, does he?” At that I shook my head. “And this gives you reason to come some place where we could be alone.” I smiled and nodded. “You are tricky, Kiven, very tricky.”