Chapter 18 – The Elves, the First Wizards

Elizabeth was alone in the hallway of the ice temple, extremely thoughtful. She looked out the window at the blizzard that was milder now, but it was clear it was still too cold outside. Everything was white, snow and ice and even the coniferous forests that were near the temple and were completely covered in ice. The trunks of those trees were also covered by that glossy ice and looked as if they were candied fir trees and spruce trees. And the twigs seemed to be poured into that icy topping, loaded and bent so much as if they weren’t coniferous but willows.

Miss Edwards saw white bears lurking around the temple. Were they wild bears or guardians of the temple like the two companions of the white wizard? Who knows? But it was certain that only they could survive more than two minutes in the cold outside, with no clothes like the ones Knudlac gave to the children when they came here.

Finally, the door before which Elizabeth stopped opened and Pmyrie, the little elf, if we can call her like that, came out.

The girl approached her, smiling at her as if they were friends for hundreds of years, and the girl’s gentle glance made Pmyrie’s smile.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning. Sure you came to talk about the test,” the elf girl replied.

“You can…? Can you read people's thoughts?” the girl wondered.

“Yes, so be careful what you think,” the elf laughed slightly.

Elizabeth said nothing more, just looked at Pmyrie as she laughed loud.

"I apologize," the pointed-ear girl said, finally. “We don't laugh too much. That was how we were educated ... But if you had seen your face, you’d laugh too, in my shoes.”

She looked at Elizabeth as she was puzzled, so she thought she had to give more explanations.

“We can't read thoughts. At least not as you think. We can deduce instead what might happen, after analysing situations. And after I saw how your two teammates contradict each other, I think anyone realized you’d come at some point to ask for help from ...”

Pmyrie stopped for a moment.

“You’d come to talk with the other teams.”

Elizabeth gasped in relief. First because she couldn't imagine what it would be like for someone to know everything she thought, and second because the elf girl relieved her of the inconvenience of trying to beg for help.

“Yes ... we’re lost.”

“There’s no such thing,” the elf corrected her. “Come to our room. I’ll show you that it’s not easy, but not impossible. If you think about it, no one could do something perfect unless he/she were perfect. A test made by a man, can be passed by another man ... just as a test conceived by an elf can be solved by an elf.”

Elizabeth didn't quite understand Pmyrie's words, but she still followed her into her room.

And when they opened the door and entered the hall of the three elf competitors, it seemed as if they came out. But not outside in the vicinity of the ice temple, but outside elsewhere.

The sun was shining, warming everything around as pleasantly as it was spring, regardless of the cold outside the ice Temple they stayed in. That sun brightened a huge tree, with leaves smelling of a fresh green, whose roots formed a huge hall like the one they had at Elmbridge Magic School. But this was large like London train station and its walls were made of the roots of that tree. In fact, there were no whole walls that formed a room, but the roots of the tree were like pillars of support, which raised its trunk to a height of at least thirty cubits against the ground, making the living room not only high, but also lighted by that strong sun and that let go a lot of rays through the roots.

Of course, that luminous and so hot sun was created by magic, because in that snowstorm outside, surely no sun would resist; it would be really frozen.

In that salon, in one of its corners, the elf competitors had a lawn area of such a beautiful green that you could roll around like a stray puppy and feel pampered in it.

But you’d better choose not to do that, because in that area all sorts of moving obstacles were placed put there for the elves to train. There were thick, heavy logs there, which not only could crush you like a cockroach, but they also had a lot of blades and axes with multiple cutting edges that could split you up at any moment. There were also logs that were quickly raised and lowered by mechanisms, also with the purpose of crushing or splitting. There were wheels with several strings of braided strands, which swirled fast in order to catch you and get you down to the ground or even throw you into the other splitting or bone-crushing traps.

And even more of Nakutsck's inventions were gathered there, meant to trouble Ehm'il. Because elves used to recreate in such places.

The only problem of the elf boy in passing those difficult tests was that he hadn’t even warmed up. So he had to take it from the beginning when he reached the end of the route. And what could be more boring for him, than to do the same thing again, so close to the banal for them.

It was as if someone asked you to solve the same homework again, or to watch a play again that you didn't like that much.

Elizabeth wondered at first when she saw that "amusement park" why they didn't have such a room, but after she saw how difficult it was, though, to get through those tests, even if for Eh'mil it was only the morning exercise, she got that just the most trained adults could pass the tests ... or young but experienced elves. So she didn’t regret they didn’t have that training ground but she enjoyed the so quiet salon they had.

In another corner of the elves' common room, in the distance, there were more moving targets that Fahria, that elf a little taller than Pmyrie, darted so easily, as if she were only shooting the arrows and targets were the ones that had to be touched by arrows, but without moving of course.

Elizabeth tried to see what else that room contained, but it was far too wide for her eyes to cover. However, she didn't have time for that either, because she was interrupted by Pmyrie:

"Come up the stairs to my room," the elf girl recommended, and she started to go up to her bedroom.

Elizabeth, though, not because she didn't want to go up or because she was lazy, but she couldn't even get to the elf's room. Because those steps we talk about, in fact, weren’t a normal stairway. They were just short, thick twigs, or holes in the bark of the tree that the elves probably considered steps. Because the elf girl seemed like she climbed some steps, so easily and gently she climbed them and in the blink of an eye she was in front of her room door. In fact, in front of the hollow that was the entrance to her bedroom.

But for Elizabeth, or for any of us, there were just some very small carvings or just tree stumps, where if you couldn't manage to place your foot very carefully, you’d certainly get back to the start, only more banged and scratched.

As if it wasn’t enough that these "steps" were too small, they were also placed in a chaotic zigzag, and in some areas you had to jump at least a meter in height to reach the next step.

The girl plucked up the courage and tried to climb the steps, using her hands and feet, like an alpinist trying to climb a steep mountain. But after not even three steps, she slipped back from where she started.

She struggled once, twice, even three times ... under Pmyrie's eyes showing the wonder of a child who didn’t understand why another child, older than him, struggled to take the first steps.

The elf girl went down those steps quickly, with no problem, especially since she knew how to walk for more ... lives. Seeing the ease of the elf girl flying on those "stairs", Elizabeth only now realized that if she hypothetically could manage to go up to the top, it would be impossible for her to go down. It would be like she had to twist her legs before she could come back.

“Pmyrie ... don't we go to my room better?” Elizabeth tried to get rid of that torment, tired of so many attempts to climb those steps.

But the elf girl didn’t listen to her, but took her by the hand, threw Elizabeth behind her and began to float on those steps with the same ease with which she had first climbed, without counting that "baggage" ... Elizabeth.

Until Elizabeth was able to breathe again, the girls arrived in the elf’s room.

Inside that room there was no furniture, but still the room was more than furnished. The walls were made of twigs carved in a beautiful pattern, such as the carved panelling in the palaces of the kings or the wallpaper in the room of a mansion. The magic windows of the room opened as if enchanted at the mere touch of the leaves of the tree by Pmyrie. After this simple touch, the branches of the tree slightly twisted, in a sound mix of broken twigs and crackles, to create an opening that would allow air and light enter the room.

“Sit down,” the elf girl urged Miss Edwards.

Elizabeth sat down on probably what the elf's bed should be. That bed seemed like a hand on that tree, as light as a real palm, so it seemed to Elizabeth when she sat down. The leaves were soft and pleasant to touch like a slightly refreshing silk. The girl almost felt like sitting down there to sleep.

Pmyrie looked for something in a beautiful opening in that huge tree. A hollow that seemed to be a cupboard whose doors were made of live twigs and leaves, part of the same tree, which also easily fell apart when touched. And which, after you ended your job in that hollow-closet, got back in place.

“I have a book about powerful potions that could help you. Many of them are impossible to create, considering the necessary materials can only be found in the Sacred Tree House, back home. But surely you’ll find some that might be useful to you to finish this test well and maybe the following ones.

Pmyrie sat next to Elizabeth on twigs sprouting from the same tree, beautifully twisted into a comfortable chair. Also, the same kind of braids in the form of a pleasing pattern of royal wood was there as a beautiful desk in that room.

“And I offer you these two bottles with tears of lake fairies, taken from their pillow, on the stealth, even before they woke up, because they only shed tears at night and those tears disappear pretty quickly. They cure any disease or eliminate the effect of any poison.”

Pmyrie picked up the other bottle and showed it to Elizabeth.

“And fire baby dragon hair. Very difficult to obtain, because you can snatch it only in its first moments of life, because after that they catch fire and disappear forever. And what is more ... his mom is there too,” Pmyrie smiled. “Dragon hair is for creating our strongest potions. It's very rare.”

The elf girl after giving Elizabeth both bottles started reading from the cover of the book:

"Ig ma C´estrale etiun sibo", or as you say: Unusual ancestral magicians.

“Thanks. I also received this book from someone ... just I don't know from whom yet. And unfortunately I don’t know your language.”

"Ataraa’sa mu I’tes" ... and the language in which you want to be translated. If you say these words, you’ll be able to read everything, without counting to what race the words belong. You just have to know the letters of that language in which you want to read ... know the art of reading the letters and words of your language ...”

Elizabeth smiled in gratitude to the elf girl.

“Ataraa mu sites”…

"Ataraa’sa mu I’tes" Pmyrie uttered, touching the book with Elizabeth's hand.

And everything appeared in English. Elizabeth was extremely amazed that she could read the unusual ancestral ma…

But something interrupted her. In one of the walls made up of branches and leaves, the leaves of the tree began to move, as if a light breeze blew, but only at that point.

“All the students are awaited at the place where the first test will take place,” the very clear Ehm'il’s voice was heard, as if he was there next to the girls.

Elizabeth got up and saw through that little opening, as Ehm'il finished his training. The boy then stopped and looked at the window where the two girls were, to check if his message was understood exactly as it should.

When he saw the two girls appeared at the window, he considered they just heard what he had to say so he went to prepare for that meeting of the competitors.

“Can you help me get down the stairs?” Elizabeth asked, taking the book in her arms.

“Of course.”

And the elf girl began to descend with the same speed, without counting that she had the human girl in her arms.

Able to feel the ground under her feet again, Miss Edwards felt much better. She greeted her new friend again, took the book and left for her room to get ready. She now had some special ingredients that could help her in the tests that followed.