Page 66 of The Elves and the Shoemaker
Thankfully, Red and Wim took the hint and nodded their heads in understanding before leaving to give them some much-needed privacy.
Once they were alone, Elias tried to defend himself. “It wasn’t for nothing. I have this.” He presented the large brown rock to them.
“You left us to collect a rock? Did you hit your head on the rock??” Henrik asked in disbelief.
Elias fought the urge to roll his eyes. “We cannot spend the rest of our lives sleeping in shifts and worrying that one day either the Queen’s men or random outlaws might slit our throats in our sleep. That is not a way to live. I returned to the sorcerer—”
“You did what?” Henrik screeched.
“Shhh, let him speak,” Johan said quietly.
“The sorcerer from the tower gave me this rock. If the three of us drop our blood onto it and leave it near the house, it will activate a spell which prevents anyone who means us harm from being able to find us. It is the answer to nearly all of our problems.”
Johan took the rock from Elias and turned it over in his hands, inspecting it before looking at Elias with the saddest eyes he’d ever seen. “At what cost, kjære?”
Elias gulped before staring down at his feet. He couldn’t bring himself to say the words.
“What did you do?” Henrik choked out.
“Don’t make me say it,” Elias whispered.
“Eli? What did you give him?”
“I do not regret it!” Elias snapped.
Henrik practically growled.
“I gave it all up okay! Every drop. Magic no longer runs through my veins. She has left me, and I do not regret it. We will be safe now, and that is all that matters.”
Elias shook his head, trying to rid himself of the memory of the moment that the sorcerer had put his hands on him and taken magic from him for good.
It was different from when he’d worn the bangles which suppressed the magic. There was always an awareness that it was there but just not reachable. Now, the well inside him was empty, and it would alwaysbeempty.
Elias hadn’t even begun to process the grief that accompanied what he’d given up, and he couldn’t handle Henrik’s anger at him over it. He hadn’t lied, he didn’t regret it, but he would be lying if he said it hadn’t left a gaping hole in his soul.
Johan carefully placed the precious rock on the ground before reaching for Elias and pulling him in close. Elias could hardly stand it, feeling himself fraying at the edges in response to Johan’s gentle touch.
“How could y—”
“Stop,” Johan interrupted Henrik’s next tirade. “It’s done. He is home. We are safe. Stop.” He reached for Henrik then and pulled him into the embrace, the three of them clinging to each other in the cold.
To Elias, Johan added, “No more secrets. Enough now.”
Elias nodded his head. “No more secrets.”
Back inside, Elias set the rock in a safe spot, then quickly washed up and ate a few pieces of dried meat as he explained to Johan and Henrik about how he’d come to be escorted home by Red and Wim. Neither of them had been very impressed at the part where Elias nearly drowned in a river, but Henrik was as shocked as Elias had been to discover that Red and Wim were responsible for setting them free in the first place.
A little while later, Red and Wim knocked on the door to say goodbye to Elias.
“Thank you,” Henrik said to them. “For bringing him back to us. And for… for setting us free. We are in your debt.”
Red smirked. “Elias has already cleared your debt. He is quite the storyteller.”
“Don’t be strangers,” Elias said. “So long as you mean us no harm, you will always be able to find us. It will be nice to have some friends in the forest.”
“I’m sure we shall pass through from time to time. I hope your rock was worth it, Elias. Good luck.” Red smiled before climbing onto Wim’s back, cloak billowing out behind him.
“Don’t fall in any more rivers,” Wim grumbled in his own version of a farewell.
