What Enchantment Hides - Book 1

Chapter 1

         The elves kept to themselves. They were an arrogant people group, intent on preserving their pure bloodline and ostracizing those who would disagree with its importance or who would fall out of line with the status quo. Banishment was also a punishment for those who overstepped societal and diplomatic lines. Whether written or spoken, laws and standards were highly favored and honored by the elven leaders. They lived in the city of Barkit, a forest dwelling people, content to remain in the trees or huts surrounded by overgrowth. Their government was not quite a monarchy, and yet not a diplomacy or dictatorship either. A counsel ruled and made the law and judgements. These men would select their successor when they became too old or physically incapable of meeting the requirements of their post. Technically their successor was chosen much earlier, yet there was always a possibility of the chosen elf being disregarded or dropped for any number of reasons by the elder who selected them. The people had no choice in the matter, other than to vie for the attention of the counsel from a young age. However, the counsel was made of only five men. Beneath the counsel in importance were the diplomats. Despite the Elves keeping separate from men, they did keep solid political relationships with the forest angels in Ynhilay. This was the position of one such man. Fraynik would have been on the counsel if rumors hadn’t been spread about him. His name was cleared too late, and someone else took the position he had been pursuing for so many years. He settled for the job of a diplomat. His son Kikarii would one day take his place if he was not chosen by one of the elders. Because of this, the young elf accompanied his father each day to learn and observe what he did from the time he could walk. He was what some would consider spoiled. He was, after all, the son of a high ranking official.

         The days wore on as he followed his father to and from work each day, sometimes staying all night in the counsel hall as Fraynik reviewed financial, political, and structural reports. One night, they went home rather late. The house was dark and quiet, his mother was asleep. Kikarii heard noises from the tree house closest to theirs. He was five, but highly skilled at concealing himself already. He silently slipped from his bed and out the window. Balancing on the branch outside, he made his way toward the end where another branch intersected it. He carefully, tiptoed across, to the other tree and listened curiously. He would be in big trouble if he was caught, but it was the middle of the night and the couple in this house were always in bed early and the wife was pregnant, so she was rarely wide awake this late at night. His foot slipped and the voices ceased. Kikarii held his breath and crouched, wide-eyed against the massive tree trunk. The man continued talking, but in a whisper this time.

         “...found him by the river… robbed and killed… enchantress has been… execution is set for tomorrow… I’m sorry, Harita.” Though the conversation was whispered so quietly at the end that he only heard bits and pieces, he was able to put together what had happened. Her husband had been seduced by an enchantress and had been found dead by the river. That meant there would be a public execution for the enchantress and shaming for the husband as an example to others. It was ridiculous, really, because men only became involved with an enchantress due to their supernatural power of seduction. Elves were less susceptible than most, but they were not immune and making an example so other men did not follow suit was a useless event and only really served as an act of enforcing power. Hearing the woman weeping in despair bothered the young elf and he sneaked back to his room. Climbing into his bed, he lay awake, staring at his ceiling, unable to sleep.

         Morning came much too quickly for him. A yelling at his window by one of his friends woke him with a start. After figuring out that nothing was urgently wrong, his adrenaline wore off and he rose groggily and rubbed the sleep from his stinging eyes. The sun was much too bright for someone who had only slept two hours. Asking his friend to repeat the story for the third time, the excitement had died down a little due to frustration. Kikarii shrugged as his friend ragged on him for not listening. This time, though, the boy heard it all. The execution was being set up and the enchantress was caged in the clearing. Kikarii threw his boots at his friend and ran to get dressed. Laughing, the other boy scrambled down the tree again. Kikarii threw off his nightshirt and short pants and pulled on his green tunic and brown breeches. He jumped from branch to branch, lower and lower, until he reached the ground. His boots were thrown at his face and he hopped on one foot as he pulled the boot on the other, trying to rush after the elf who was already running toward the clearing.

         The clearing was where the counsel met publicly to enforce laws and punishments. It was gigantic, more like a large field than a clearing. Cages hung from the enormous trees and prisoners and criminals were put inside and left there for days or sometimes even weeks until their sentences were decided. The enchantress was in one now. The boys burst into the clearing, and slid to a stop on the dirt, staring up at the stunning woman slouched in the cage above them. Her long red hair was dirty and knotted. It looked as if she had been handled roughly before being imprisoned. Her hands were shackled with razor rope, named for the pricks that sliced into one’s skin with every movement. There was a collar with a chain around her neck. The chain was attached to the top of the cage and her shackled feet were tied to the bottom of the cage, also with razor rope. Her beautiful face was scraped, dried blood at her mouth where her lip had been split. The boys marveled at how breathtaking the woman was. As they stood staring up at her, she turned her head and met their eyes. Gasping, they looked down at the leaf-strewn ground. Her deep green eyes were piercing and it seemed as though they could look right through you.

                   What seemed like only minutes later, a horn blew and the counsel members stood before the gathering. A moment later, the wife of the dead elf took her place slightly forward of the onlookers. A man spoke loudly, his voice booming across the green expanse. “We are here to dispose of the filth before you. Here hangs the cage that keeps captive an enchantress of great destruction. She seduces men with her unnatural beauty and charm and entices them to do her bidding until she has finished with them. Then she dispatches them to the afterlife as she searches for a new prey to snare. Such was the case with Harita’s husband. Because of his selfishness and desire for what he did not already possess, he has left his wife a widow and his child fatherless before he even enters this world. The man received what he deserved as will this sorceress.” His voice echoed briefly among the trees as the tears silently slid down the widow’s face at the insults hurled at her deceased spouse.

         With a nod at the guards, the cage was lowered to the moss. The sides were dropped and the enchantress was heaved off the ground and tied to a tree only about a meter away. Her collar was unchained from the top of the cage and wrapped around the trunk of the judgment tree. The rope around her ankles was tied to the tree as well. Shears were handed to the head guard and he proceeded to cut her hair. Then taking a razor, he shaved the rest. Her long red locks fell to the forest floor in chunks. As they did, one or two men leaned forward, tempted to go and take the hair. They were held back until the woman dropped her gaze from them. When she was completely bald, her face was cut up and beat until it was a swollen, bloody mess. She was then stripped to a loose, black robe that she had been forced to wear after being captured, and was marched to the center of the clearing. A rope was hanging from a tree there and a ladder was erected next to it. There, she was to hang. Kikarii watched in horror as her neck was sliced to make the hanging more horrific and agonizing for the prisoner and she was pushed off of the ladder unceremoniously. She struggled instinctively, but it only made the slice on her neck open more and the pain become unbearable before she suffocated. Staring in nauseated horror, Kikarii could not make himself look away. His friend shoved him after what he realized was a full minute of his name being called over and over. He would never forget this day, he thought as he walked home, his breathing heavy and his heart pounding in his ears.

         Five years had passed since the execution and Kikarii had been to more. He found all of them to be distasteful, which was a good thing since he was only ten. However, some of the boys reveled in the public executions, hoping to grow up to be a member of the guard so they could participate with the arresting and punishing of criminals. Despite his abhorrence of the executions and his extreme disinterest in being a guard, he would join his friends in practicing with swords and bows. The young elf woke up this morning and pulled on his boots, grabbed his travel bag and rushed down the stairs to his father, who was kissing his mother goodbye. The boy hugged his mother and caught up to Fraynik, The father ruffled his son’s hair and they mounted their horses, heading to Ynhilay for a political trip. This was Kikarii’s first time seeing the forest angels and he could not contain his excitement. Little did he know, he would be the next one standing before the counsel.