Guardians: The Last Elder

Chapter 20: Stalker alert

"As usual, there was a story behind the story, and that is where the truth was hidden."
― Kenneth Eade (Beyond all recognition)

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All our faces resembled the same shocked expression. Whatever we were expecting, it definitely wasn't it. Ozoman...even the name sounded dangerous. Why would his language be engraved in the bodies of the victims?

Josh was the first to recover from the surprise thrown at us. He coughed and said, "Well, we had no idea." At least, this part was true. "Like we said, we just happened to stumble across it. But thank you, Lady Melissa, you have been of great help. If you wouldn't mind--"

"How would even writings from this language be in the archive? I thought they burned anything related to Ozoman hundreds of years ago. This book is the only copy of the language, Ozra as far as I know."

"Yes, exactly! How strange!" Vanessa exclaimed, eyes wide. "Mr Blackwell would like to hear about this. Maybe if we could borrow this book from you so as to translate the meaning of the writings--"

"I can always translate it for you," offered Lady Melissa kindly.

"Oh how thoughtful of you but--" Vanessa fumbled a little, trying to come up with an excuse.

"But we have our training sessions in just another half an hour. Look, it's already morning. We promised Mr Blackwell we would be back in time, right? We must get going!" I said, trying to sound believable.

"Right," Vanessa said, grateful. "We must get going. I am sure we would be able to work it out, or we could just ask someone for help. We do have some competent linguistic experts."

Lady Melissa nodded reluctantly. "If you say so. But you must return this book to me, without any damage preferably."

"You got it, Aunty!" Kace agreed. He carefully took the book from his aunt's hands and said, "Thank you so much for your help. We'll come meet you soon! Now, let's get going guys!"

After we had all climbed down, along with Lady Melissa who had insisted she walk us till the river shore, a deep baritone voice interrupted us.

"Leaving so soon?" asked the voice. I saw Lady Melissa stiffen slightly. The four of us turned to face another two elves standing in front of us, one male and one female. They were easily the tallest and the most beautiful ones by far. Lady Melissa was, of course, beautiful but the two standing in front of us had a completely different aura in them. Not just of beauty, but of power. I could almost feel it, coming off them like invisible waves. 

The male elf was dressed in a silvery tunic with dark trousers. He had long blonde hair, almost white, falling till his waist. A circlet of shining gold leaves sat in his forehead. His stance although seemingly relaxed, was still straight as an arrow. Beside him, was a female elf with similar blonde hair except it was tied in a braid and was almost skimming the floor. She was wearing a white gown with a bluish tint to it. The fabric, that had almost moulded into her slim figure, seemed to shimmer as she moved, as if it were made out of gleaming water. Huge long sleeves of intricate designs flared beside the flowering skirt and a similar circlet of gold leaves sat in her forehead. 

I felt like a clumsy goblin that hadn't bathed in four years in front of them.

"My King," Lady Melissa said, bowing. She turned to the female elf and bowed again, saying, "My Queen."

"Lady Melissa, keeper of the elfin library and a maestro in the harp," said the Queen, smiling.

"Well, I hear we have some guests?" The King said, turning his electric blue eyes at us.