Princess Elodi's Arc

Chapter 54 of 55

The keel scraped sand. Elodi stepped onto the beach with the otter on her shoulder. The villagers by their boats did not run and did not raise spears. They only watched. She raised one empty hand and walked toward the tower, its mossy walls rising above the trees. Behind her, Damon carried the hawk. Blackwell stayed at the rail with her crew, waiting to learn if this shore meant welcome or war. The villagers parted as Elodi neared the arched door at the tower's base. No one spoke. She could not read their faces. A fisherman gripped his net. A woman pulled a child behind her skirt. Elodi's heart pounded. One wrong word, one wrong move, and this quiet could turn to blades. Her whole family sat on that ship, unarmed, watching her guess. Wind swept across her face, warm and sudden, smelling of crushed leaves. Elodi shut her eyes against it. When she opened them, a woman stood where the doorway had been empty a breath before. Green wings spread behind her, thin as glass and veined with gold. A crown of ivy and gold sat in her dark hair. The villagers dropped to their knees at once. "What brings you here, mortals?" the woman said. Her voice scraped like a rasp on wood. "I am Eirlys, queen of the fae. I guard this land." Elodi understood then. These people were not the danger. They served her. One command from this queen and the whole village would rise with spears. Elodi lowered herself to one knee on the wet sand, the otter clinging to her collar. "We came off course in a storm," she said. "We seek no land and take nothing. Only water and a heading home." Eirlys studied her. Her green eyes moved to the otter's jeweled collar, then to Damon and the black hawk on his wrist. "You come with kind animals as pets," she said. "They're companions, not pets," Elodi said. A long silence. The villagers did not lift their heads. Then Eirlys smiled, slow and sharp. "Few speak plainly to me. Most lie until I taste it." She waved one hand, and the kneeling people stood. "You may fill your barrels at our spring. You may sleep here in my lands”. Elodi breathed out. The danger had a name now, and it had chosen mercy. "Thank you." Elodi rose. The fear of being cut down was gone.