Chapter 15

Meanwhile, the elf king had consulted his augras. There had to be a way of reversing this. This woman was changing things; he could feel it.

“It’s the balance Lord, it has to be maintained. If we send her back, someone will have to come in her place and...” Augra Tug trailed off under the firey emerald eyes fixed on him.

“Minfinly! I know that! I’m not stupid! Or maybe I am because I seem to have appointed advisors with no more idea than a catcha!

Could we not just kill her?”

The advisors all blanched. The answer was yes, yes they could do that. But it contravened natural law to kill simply because someone was a nuisance.

“My lord, it ahh it contravenes –”

“Yes YES YESSSS! I know!!! It was only an idea. But look, she’s pregnant now, apparently. Soon there will be little elf-men half castes as well as those unicorn-horses.” Actually the unicorn horses were rather good; larger and stronger than the average unicorn, with a horn still. King Qward had asked for couple to supplement his unicorns. In time the genetic material would dilute. In time. “Look, do we know if Krill is still alive, even? I mean humans take a dim view of foreigners; maybe they’ve done away with him?”

“I was in the tower this morning, Lord. I’m sure he lives, though I haven’t seen him yet; there are ripples of elf magic. I’m working on a statistical analysis to line up to a location; I think –”

“Yes, yes, just work harder! Unless we can find him we’ll just end up with another human if we send her back. Goodness knows what a male human could teach us. Do you know I saw my own daughter doing that spell thing on her silv? I shouldn’t have watched of course. But then my wife wants to learn the magic too!

No, we need to sort this out”

“Sending her back now won’t stop that magic, Lord. It is self-replicating it seems. The more elf-maids do it, the more others want to do it too”

“I KNOW!! STOP TELLING ME THINGS I KNOW!! Find Krill”

Ley lines: are lines of ancient magic that still survive. Of course much that is identified as a ley line is, in fact, a coincidental alignment of some features. If you look hard enough, an old tree, a stone in a field, a small hill; whatever you want; they will line up. True ley lines indicate some past magic. Krill’s mill had been a focal point for some ley lines. As the augra started his statistical work, he chanced on a discovery, some ley lines seemed to glow more than others. And they were all in a particular area. That chance discovery helped him concentrate his calculations. When he had the focus, he went back to the tower. And now he could see the valley, the dell, the mill, and there was Krill!

He breathed a sigh of relief, the king could get rather angry if his demands weren’t met.

“Okay” said the king, “we’ve found him, now what?”

Now they had a problem, how to communicate? They could hardly phone him, even if there was a signal there, the elves hadn’t gone down the technological route. They would have to try sending someone close to Krill, but also discovering the human that came the other way, so they could be sent back. Much work needed to be done to try and harmonise the life signs, manage the auras, arrange the chakra; the augras all started to explain. The king looked at them, and they stopped. Like the executive of a large corporation, which he resembled in many ways, he did not want to hear the problems, he wanted to hear the solutions.