Fall of the Elves by Alexis Samson

Author:Alexis Samson [Samson, Alexis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-07T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“I'll start. ‘A’ my name is Anna and my sister’s name is Beth and we all like playing with our father’s caltrop.”

“What’s a caltrop?” Husi asked, pausing mid-clap.

“It’s something humans have,” I said. “You can’t interrupt. Keep going, Jusedoral.”

“‘D’ my name is Derelle and—”

“No, no, no,” I stopped, glaring at her. “Doral, you can’t use elf names. It’s against the rules.”

“I don’t know any human names starting with ‘D’,” Jusedoral said, brushing her blue hair over her shoulder. “I can’t believe Rela taught you this game. It seems so childish.”

“Rela didn’t teach it to me,” I said. “Other humans did.”

“And how old were these humans?” Jusedoral asked, violet eyes flashing.

“Hmm? Oh, five or six.”

“Zariah,” Garlen groaned, dropping his hands. “You’re twenty-three. Far too old to play children’s games.”

“Besides, human names are so strange,” Jusedoral said.

“What kind of a name is Anna?” Husi asked, scrunching his nose.

I leaned forward to pluck a juicy grape from a bowl and scrutinised it carefully. “Rana thinks Husi sounds like a sneeze.” Deeming the grape acceptable, I popped it into my mouth.

My friend turned to glare at the dragon who was sunbaking some distance away. Eyes still closed, Rana draped her tail over her face in a futile attempt to protect herself from Husi’s scowl.

“Hu-si,” Jusedoral said, miming a sneeze. “Hu-si.”

“Excuse you,” Garlen laughed.

“Hilarious,” Husi said drily.

“Alright, alright, stop teasing him,” I said. “Husi, I think you have a beautiful name. Now, let us move onto more important issues.” I looked pointedly at the gleaming sword sheathed in a beautiful hilt strapped to Jusedoral’s side. “Tell us, how is married life?”

Jusedoral smiled sweetly when Garlen leaned in to kiss his wife’s cheek tenderly. They’d had the ceremony shortly after I’d returned from Varal. I’d cried. Rana had teased me endlessly. Then she’d gotten quite drunk at the feast afterwards and made a number of long, sappy speeches.

I’d enjoyed reminding her of it the next morning when she’d awoken with a splitting headache. Even dragons weren’t immune to the effects of alcohol.

“It’s wonderful,” Garlen said, answering in place of his new wife. His golden eyes were on Jusedoral, his hand playing with the ends of her deep-blue hair. “Mother is very happy with my choice. But even if she wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter. I am the luckiest elf in Asarton.”

Jusedoral’s blush deepened, as Garlen had probably intended. She snuggled into her husband’s side and smiled happily at the sword strapped to her waist.

I hope we will soon be hearing the sound of an elfling scurrying about the forest, Rana said, resting her head next to me. She clucked in approval when I began to scratch at a spot on her neck.

“Oh, no,” Jusedoral said quickly. “Not for some time.”

I pushed Rana gently. While mated dragons couldn’t wait to hatch their eggs, elves typically waited at the very least a century or two before having children of their own. After all, once you were a parent you were stuck as one for life. Elf pairs liked

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