Page 35 of No Ordinary Drakeling
“The Lich Sentinel’s here to see you.”
“Should I go out there to meet him?”
Wesley’s sigh was loud through the phone. “No, I’ll send him to you,” he retorted and hung up.
Seconds later, the Lich Sentinel was framed in the doorway. “Good afternoon, Ellery. Zane.”
Ellery stood and motioned him toward a chair. “Lich Sentinel, please have a seat. Can I offer you anything?”
“It’s Alaric and no, I’m fine,” he said as he sat. “I have an update on the search for your mother.”
“Thank you for returning her scarf. Was it any help?”
“After ten years the trail is very weak, but we were able to follow her from the hut since hardly a soul has traveled in the area. She walked straight off the land claimed by Chieftain Fen-Lynthi. Not far from his border, there’s a river. Are you familiar with it?”
“I am.”
“Her trail ends there. Despite our best efforts, we cannot pick it up again.”
Ellery understood what the Lich Sentinel was trying to tell him. The most likely reason they couldn’t find a trace of her beyond the river was because she never got out of it again. “You believe she drowned?”
“I’m sorry, but yes. I can tell you that at the point she entered, it is a rather steep drop from the land. You said she left at night. She might not have been able to see where she was going. We believe she tumbled in and now walks on the other side of the veil. We can tell from her essence that she was, as you said, ill in the mind. My men believe it was a physical illness that tore away at her brain.”
“I didn’t know elves could have that. I thought they were immortal unless injured in such a way that their heart couldn’t beat, or they bled out,” Zane said.
“I called the hospital and spoke with Dr. Tranelephas. He was instrumental in helping the Arch Lich when he was ill. Dr. Tranelephas explained there’s an extremely rare virus that can affect elves this way. In Elvish it’s calledTriskavalis. He cannot say for sure if it was the cause without her brain to examine, but he told me the symptoms of dementia are associated with it. Ellery, he’s willing to discuss it further with you if you wish. I have his card,” Alaric responded as he placed a business card on Ellery’s desk.
“I have never heard of that virus,” Ellery said.Triskavalistranslated roughly to “melting of the mind,” and it fit.
“It’s one hundred percent fatal, and if she lived for more than a few years with it, she did better than most.”
“Thank you, Alaric. You have aided me more than you can imagine. It helps to have the answers.”
“No problem. Let me know if there is anything else you require. I’m looking forward to your mating ceremony and finding out what color dragon you are.”
Ellery found he appreciated people more who gave him a shot at surviving, and so he smiled brightly at the Lich Sentinel, then said farewell to him.
“I’m sorry about your mother,” Zane offered.
“It is not anything I did not expect. I knew she was dead, and it does help to know why she died. She always had wild mood swings and that sort of thing, but she did go into a deep decline the last few years of her life. I cannot imagine how she caught a rare virus, and I am glad more of the tribe did not contract it.”
“Alaric said it was very rare. We can look it up on the Internet and see if we can find more information, or you could give Dr. Tranelephas a call.”
“I think I am comfortable with what I do know right now.”
“Then let’s get packed up so we can get home for this cocktail party to start introducing you to the Council at large.”
Ellery chugged the rest of his coffee and did as he was asked, even if his heart was thundering in his chest.
* * *
After being chastised by Wesley for wearing his cloak when it wasn’t necessary, Ellery hung it up in his room, then took a few steadying breaths. He shook off his annoyance at being talked to like a child, and Ellery walked back downstairs where the men who made up his new family were congregated. Around them waitstaff zoomed about, filling tables and arranging cloths while Wesley barked orders at nearly everyone in the vicinity.
“Ready for this?” Costas asked.
“Of course,” Ellery lied.
“It’s only about a hundred people—you’ll be fine,” Chrysander assured him while Ellery mentally rolled his eyes. That was about twice the size of his former tribe, so why Chrysander assumed this was normal for him, he didn’t know.
