It was almost four hours after noon when they finally emerged from The Living Palace and made their way to Yazadril and Nemia’s tree on foot.
There were a great many more elves enjoying the day near their home than would normally be the case, including many of the youths who had sworn to Mark voluntarily, all hoping to see and perhaps share a cheery word with the suddenly-famous couple.
Mark and Talia noticed none of them. He carried her in one arm like a child, and both their expressions were of such introspective thoughtfulness that it was obvious their attention was elsewhere, and that they barely noticed their surroundings.
Talia wore a simple white summer dress that fell to her knees, belted at the waist, with blue slippers, while Mark wore a new kilt, shirt and stout boots that closely resembled the tattered ones he’d worn when he first entered The Nine Valleys. And in a rare display in these lands, they both wore sheathed battle swords. Mark carried huge GrimFang across his back, the hilt over his right shoulder, the tip of the scabbard swinging centimeters from the grass, while Talia carried the sword of Visinniria in a silver sheath at her side.
Between their expressions and their armaments, none chose to speak to them. Instead the scattered crowd accompanied them at a distance, as if it were only chance that they were going the same way. When the couple boarded the lifting platform at Yazadril’s tree and rode it up, the loose crowd of admirers took up station in the area around the tree and continued their leisure activities.
Mark had to set Talia down at the door, for he could not pass the small doorway while carrying her. Rather than knock, Talia let them into her old home without thinking about it, and they heard Nemia’s call;
“We’re out on the balcony! Come join us, for it’s a lovely day!”
She, Yazadril, and Hilsith sat around a small table for six, talking and laughing.
Talia waited till Mark was seated on a huge chair that had obviously been provided for him, then climbed onto his lap and snuggled against him again. He hugged her warmly, and lightly nuzzled the top of her head. Their thoughts were still so far away that neither remembered to offer a greeting, and they sat staring off into space while the other three halted their conversation in Elvish at their arrival, then picked up again in Common. The three older elves were content to leave them be until they were ready to speak.
Hilsith and Nemia were engaged in a friendly argument as to which of them had pleasured Yazadril more times during their encounter, and Yazadril refused to be baited into declaring that either of them was correct. A wide and somewhat self-satisfied grin was locked upon his countenance, and he kept distracting them from their debate by fondly reminiscing on certain moments in their evening that he found particularly memorable.
Finally, in an effort to prove her point, Nemia cast a Reading on herself and reproduced the scene on the tabletop with a miniature Illusion.
“All right, we both keep count of his ecstasies. I will hurry the Reading through the unimportant parts.” Nemia laughed. “And Yazadril, be sure to tell us if we both fail to count one of your peaks!”
They counted, and laughed uproariously at the high-speed antics of their miniature selves during the ‘unimportant parts’.
When Nemia called; “There! I am at four! And that’s the last one!”, Hilsith disagreed.
“Well there is the core of our contention then, for you can plainly see that I was as responsible for that one as you!”
“Well yes, but I had far more of it than you did, so it must count as mine!” Nemia declared with a grin.
“You’re changing the rules!” Hilsith laughingly protested. “Our disagreement is of number, not of volume! And if you wish to contest on the matter of volume, I am sure his first one would give me the victory!”
“Enough!” Yazadril laughed. “At my count you are equaled, at three and one half each! If you wish to contest it further, there will have to be a rematch!”
Talia giggled quietly, and the three turned to her, glad to have finally succeeded in drawing the young couple’s attention, only to find that they had not. The two still stared into space, lost in their own thoughts.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Mark chuckled to his young wife in a quiet rumble, unaware of the other three’s attention.
“I know.” she replied with a wistful smile.
Nemia lightly laid her hand on her daughter’s arm. “What?” she asked with a gentle smile.
Talia jumped in startlement at the touch, then blushed bright red as she met her mother’s smile. “Mark, we’re being rude.” she giggled.
“What? Oh, sorry.” Mark chuckled abashedly as he came back to the here and now.
“Quite all right, and understandable.” Nemia laughed. “But since you chose to speak of it, what were you finding funny just now?”
“Oh. Well it was just after I had first succeeded in joining us, after much effort.” Talia revealed, her blush deepening even more. “I said; ‘I’ve done it!’, for I had not been sure that I could, even with Hilsith’s spells. I looked up at Mark, whose face was full of love and concern for me, but more than that, it was a picture of absolute astonishment! He was looking down at our joining, and said in the most amazed and incredulous voice I have ever heard; ‘That’s impossible!” She giggled again at the memory.
“To which Talia smiled and said; ‘No. It’s magic!” Mark chuckled. “It was amazing. I didn’t think anyone could voluntarily submit to such pain, and she would not reduce it further, saying she had no wish to be numbed. I couldn’t bear seeing it, and tried to make her stop, but she held me in place with magic force and disregarded me. She was in agony, covered in glistening sweat with tendrils of her hair stuck to her face, but when she said that, she got such a smile, a smile of love and care for me, but even more so, it was one of smug self-satisfaction like none I’ve seen before!”
They both laughed again at the memory.
“Mind you, as humorous as I found your expression then,” Talia teased, “My mirth was greater at your look when you realized that Mother had given you magic underbreeches!”
“Oh? And why is that?” Hilsith asked
“It was a look that was amazed, grateful, and horrified, all at once!” Talia revealed.
“The underwear is spelled so as to hide my rampancy, by pressing it against me, and by puffing up around it a bit to hide the bulge.” Mark laughed. “I didn’t realize that until they were all that I was wearing. At first I was surprised, then grateful at the thoughtfulness of it. Then I realized how many times they had saved me from humiliating myself during the wedding! Without them, my many moments of arousal would have been obvious to anyone within fifty meters, as supple as the cloth of my kilt was!”
“I’m glad you appreciate them.” Nemia laughed. “It’s a common feature for the clothes of elven males, particularly young ones!”
“So your lovemaking went well, overall?” Hilsith asked.
“It was absolutely heavenly!” Talia revealed. “At one point I was in ecstasy for over twenty-five minutes continuously! And it was while he was within me, at the height of our passion! The pain at that point was less, and it was no detriment, I assure you!”
“It was paradise.” Mark agreed. “And the sensation when I reached ecstasy within her was unbelievable, for her body kind of ripples upon me then in a way that is almost too pleasurable to withstand!”
“The bodies of elven females sense the introduction of a male’s nectar, my love.” Talia giggled. “Our femininity then engages in contractions that serve to pump your nectar high into our reproductive tracts. Human women’s bodies do so when they climax, as ours do, but theirs do not do so when the male climaxes within as ours do. And our bodies perform these contractions far more effectively. That is why I told you that your seed could not be spilled from within me.”
“Yes, and we males are eternally grateful for the phenomenon!” Yazadril laughed.
“Your mood now is what I would expect after such joyous activities, yet a moment ago it was not.” Hilsith gently pointed out. “Something else must have happened. Is it anything I can help with?”
“No. You cannot help. And I cannot speak of it.” Talia said, resuming her subdued mood.
“Your parents should know, Love.” Mark gently murmured. “They will have hopes for us, and they should know what cannot be.”
“You’re right. Please, you tell them, if you can.”
Mark nodded, and spoke without looking up from his new wife. “It was after we were done and washed up, just as we were falling asleep. She suddenly sat up, her hands on her tummy, with an air of absolute happiness. She told me that she was pregnant, that elf girls always know with certainty. That she would bear my child, an unheard-of thing from a couple’s first mating, and even more so in a crossbreeding than among pairs of elves.
“Before I had even absorbed the enormity of the thought, she screamed and clutched herself in pain for a moment, one hand on her belly, one on her loins. Then she cried in despair.
“When she could speak, she told me that the curse had ended her pregnancy. It killed our baby. Upon further self-examination, she told me that it had also restored her maidenhead, so she is physically a virgin again. It seems the curse will keep her exactly as she physically was at the moment it was cast, in every way.
“Yazadril, Nemia, I only tell you this because it’s natural for you to hope that we’ll make you grandparents, and I think you have the right to know that we never will.
“Please keep this among us. We particularly don’t want Alilia to know. Who knows how she would react? Besides, it’s no one’s business but our own.”
Nemia went to her daughter and hugged her in sympathy.
“The worst of it is that I believe Mark’s seed to be so potent that he will impregnate me whenever my cycle allows for it.” Talia sadly revealed as she returned the hug. “And every time I conceive, I will have to feel the curse kill my baby. I would cry over it, but I have already done so until I am weary of it.”
“How much time passed between the conception and the destruction?” Hilsith thoughtfully asked.
“Not long.” Talia told her. “A few seconds, a minute at most.”
“Hmm. I could remove your embryo in that time, and with Yzell’s skill in such matters, we could implant it in a surrogate mother, if you so chose.” Hilsith mused. “I would be honored to bear your child for you myself, if you wish it.”
“I would as well.” Nemia nodded as she resumed her seat.
“I cannot put my faith in that yet, for we all know that it would be an uncertain procedure at best.” Talia sniffed. “Though I am overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and generosity of your offers.
“Now please, someone introduce another subject, for I don’t want to think about it anymore.”
“All right.” Yazadril nodded. “I’m surprised to hear that you succeeded in restraining Mark with the power. I didn’t expect him to wear my first gift to bed.”
“He did not.”
“Oh?! Have you had a breakthrough then? Found another way for the power to affect him?”
“Not at all!” Talia giggled, her lighter mood returning. “For technically speaking, my spell had nothing to do with him! Rather I cast Movement upon the air that surrounded his arms and torso, and held it in place against him! I’m almost ashamed to admit what a feeling of pleasure it gave me, to control my mighty husband in that way!”
“You cast Movement upon air?!” Yazadril marveled. “What a clever thing! I’ve not heard of it being done before! Creating Wind, certainly, but nothing so fine and specific as that! We must experiment with the technique, for there are many possible uses for it!
“And speaking of new techniques, we have less than three hours to work on awakening Mark’s power before the meeting of The Assembly of the Alliance. If you two wish to eat, you should do so now, and then we will get to it.”
“The meeting of The Assembly of the Alliance? That’s new.” Mark said. “The last I heard, you elf leaders and the Xervian diplomat were going to do that magical talking thing.”
“A multiple Speaking.” Yazadril nodded. “But while we have been enjoying ourselves, others have been busy. Very busy.
“After we sent the warning to the leaders of the world last night, with the haste you suggested, astounding events ensued with shocking and sudden rapidity. The entire world is now a significantly different place than it was those hours ago.
“Firstly, Prince Jaromer of Thon, Prince Gotimin of Sming, and Prince Fayam of Kuth arrived home after the meeting of the Elven High Council to find that the three human emperors who co-rule those empires with them were already meeting in response to our warning.
“From what Prince Jaromer told me by a Speaking earlier today, his co-ruler in Thon; Emperor Osbald, dominated that meeting rather completely. Not surprising really, since Thon is the mightiest nation on the continent, and Osbald is a most formidable fellow in every way, not least of which is that among all human adepts he is Seventh Wizard and Third Battle Wizard. He has lived almost five hundred years, and has reigned as Emperor of the humans of Thon for over two hundred of those. He questioned Jaromer rather closely, then did the same with Fayam and Gotimin.
He then insistently called for an immediate meeting of the councils, senior wizards, generals, and admirals of all three empires, both the humans and the elves.
“When they had gathered, he explained what was known and the conclusions that have been drawn from the evidence.
Then he said to them, and I quote; ‘Ladies and gentlemen, due to the weight of history, the human race is the least trusted race on Kellaran, with the exception of the demon-spawn of Serminak. If any are going to be unjustly attacked due to the machinations of hidden tricksters sowing strife, it is likely to be us and our allies. It is time for us to show where we stand, for if we do not, the rest of the world will never trust us.’ With that he drew the Imperial Sword of Thon, a powerful talisman of justice even greater than my own, and in the binding presence of many elven wizards, he swore upon it that he would not break the peace, and that he would defend the innocent, and that he would uphold justice, forevermore. He then demanded that they all do the same, and they did, every last one of them, even the elves.
“He and they then summoned the kings, councils, wizards and military leaders of the northern kingdoms of the humans to attend immediately. Some refused, and were fetched to the meeting in their nightclothes by forced Translocation, for the wizards of the northern kingdoms are paltry indeed compared to those of the three empires. Osbald told them that they would swear to justice upon his sword as he had, by Compulsion if necessary.
“King Sorin of Venak and half of his delegation immediately attempted to escape, as did several from other kingdoms, including the Royal Wizard of Finitra and three of his colleagues. When their way was blocked both physically and magically, they attacked. Sorin and most of the others were killed. Six were captured and questioned by magical means. The rest from the northern kingdoms then swore the oath, with blood still pooled on the floor.
“Osbald and Jaromer have not said what they learned from their captives, insisting that it is too crucial to entrust to a Speaking. Though it is exceedingly difficult, a Speaking can be intercepted.
“Osbald then contacted certain allies he had among the dwarves of Kletiuk and the giants of Felion. I was rather surprised to find that any human was on a first name basis with anyone from either of those races, and to learn that he had allies among them was a staggering revelation! He revealed what he had done, and shortly, similar meetings and swearings were being held among nations of those races, and then among the nations of the gnomes of Felion, who are closely allied with the giants there. In fact, we’ve learned that the societies of the gnomes and the giants are as intermingled as those of the elves and humans of the empires!
“In Kletiuk, perhaps a tenth of the attending dwarves refused to swear to justice, and two of those were leaders of nations. All tried to fight their way out and were killed. In Felion, all the representatives of the gnomes swore. Six giants tried to escape, none of them of very high position, but none fought and all were taken into custody for questioning.
“An alliance was then formed between the nations of the humans, dwarves, giants, and gnomes. The elves of the empires stated that they intended to join that alliance pending the approval of the other elven nations.
“They selected an ambassador, the eldest king of the gnomes, who contacted the Grand Council of Xervia, while Jaromer contacted me, and through these two routes, they were informed of the separate alliance made by Alilia, myself, and the ambassador from Xervia last night, while we learned what they had done.
“The leaders of nations of every race outside the dark continent will meet tonight in the Hall of the Grand Council of Xervia, where we will formally declare The Great Alliance of The Nations United for Justice. In order to be sure beyond any doubt that the meeting is not infiltrated, every one of us who attend will swear Osbald’s Oath upon The Truthstone of Falgaroth. I know nothing of that artifact, but word from Xervia is that even a senior wizard or sorcerer of the dragons could not swear false upon it, and that’s quite impressive.
“Then we’ll all share what we know, and discuss what further steps we should take.
“The Xervians tell me, and I quote; ‘The attendance of Mark and Talia Longstrider is necessary, for they are Key to the Nexus.”
“Wow!” Mark breathed.
“Wow indeed.” Yazadril nodded. “Such a complete gathering of the powerful has never been held.
“Now, we should work on awakening your power in the time we have before the meeting, for your attendance will be taken more seriously if we can succeed in doing so.
“But this is great!” Mark said with a grin. “If everyone is allied, there won’t be a war!”
“That was apparently Osbald’s intent from the moment he received our warning. As I say, a formidable fellow.”
“And all that because of you, my husband.” Talia smiled. “The warning would not have been sent were it not for you. Your wisdom has triggered the uniting of most of the world as a force for justice and the greater good. Obviously you really are a key to the future!”
“Now don’t start piling all that on my shoulders, for I don’t want the weight of it!” Mark laughed. “I made a suggestion, and that’s all!”
“If you insist.” she giggled.
“Before we start working on my supposed powers, I’d like to ask a few questions toward my more general education.” Mark told Yazadril. “I’ve been sort of saving them up.”
“This would be a good time to get them answered then, because I’ll need Talia’s attention for a moment.” Hilsith stated.
“Just as well, for I need two more procedures from you.” Talia told her. “Due to the demands of the curse, I will need to fully accept Mark within me in every way I might with an elven male of average dimensions.”
“Ah. I think I can help you there, though as you would with an average elven male, you will still need to develop your skills in those two disciplines to achieve complete envelopment.
“And I’ll cast a spell that will prevent you from becoming pregnant. It’s a minor thing, and the spell the humans use is directly applicable, which is lucky, as there is no such spell designed specifically for elven females.”
“I am probably the first elven female to want such a thing.” Talia nodded sadly. “But it is a welcome thought, and good thinking on your part. I’ve no wish to feel the curse kill our child whenever I couple with Mark.”
“Exactly.” Hilsith nodded as she rose from her chair. “Let’s step inside.”
“Before you go, would you be able to bring me my globe?” Mark asked Talia.
Talia smiled and plucked it out of the air with both hands, then released it to float in front of him.
“Thanks Love.” he smiled.
“You owe me a kiss for it.” she grinned, and collected a long one before following Hilsith inside with a giggle. She turned to close the door and saw that Mark had been staring at her behind as she walked away, so she took the time to show him an enticing little wiggle and bounce. Satisfied with his expression, she smiled smugly and closed the door.
“Now, what would you like to know, Mark?” Yazadril asked.
“What? Oh! Ah, what was that?” Mark asked sheepishly. “I was lost in thought for a moment there.”
“What did you wish to ask? Your general knowledge questions?” Yazadril gently reminded, as Nemia giggled and Mark blushed.
“Right. Well first off, I was wondering how many people there are in the world, approximately.”
“A natural question. Let’s list them by race, from least to most, and add them up as we go along.
“As you know there are about three and a half million elves, with nations all over the world.
“There are exactly nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine dragons, and a bit more than half of them reside on the Dark Continent, the rest in Xervia. They have chosen to limit their population at that number.
“Next most numerous of the known peoples would be the giants on Felion, with perhaps one hundred and fifty million.
“There are perhaps two hundred million unicorns upon the plains of Xervia, say three hundred and fifty million gargoyles in the Xervian mountains, and about five hundred million Selkies in the lakes, rivers, and coastal waters of that continent.
“As Alilia said last night, there are close to six hundred million humanoids on the Dark Continent.
“They’d notice if we even named the continent?” Mark asked.
“No.” Yazadril smiled. “Though some credulous fools think they would. Thus the custom to refer to Serminak as the Dark Continent.
“To continue, there are close to one billion, two hundred million dwarves on Kletiuk, and slightly more than two billion gnomes on Felion.”
“Great skies above!” Mark exclaimed. “I never dreamed there were so many people in the world!”
Yazadril smiled. “Mark, there are some four billion, two hundred and fifty million humans on Kellaran. Most are on Debivin, and a fifth of them live on various islands and archipelagos scattered across the oceans, of which there are thousands, most of them too small to be shown on your globe.”
At that, Mark could only gape.
“Now, how many do we have so far?”
“Uh, I’ve got this, but you’ll have to give me a moment.” Mark replied as his brow furrowed in concentration. “I get… Nine billion, two hundred and sixty-four million! Is that right?!!”
“Yes, and in addition to that subtotal, there are unknown numbers of the hidden races on Xervia. From what I’ve been able to learn, there are perhaps four hundred million of them who are larger than a gnome, give or take a hundred million, and some of those are as large as a unicorn. There must be a billion of those of the hidden races who are smaller than a gnome, or as many as three billion, and some of them are a small as my hand. Sprites are that size, and we know of their existence for a fact since a few elves have seen one, though never outside Xervia.
“Furthermore, there are two races that are kept in quarantine in Warded reserves in Xervia by the Grand Council. The first are the ogres, of which there are perhaps two million, the second are a race of insects whose name translates as The Swarm. Only the Hive Queens of that race are intelligent, of which there are a few thousand, but there are hundreds of millions of worker drones of the hives, which are the size of squirrels and no smarter than dogs.”
“So there are some eleven billion people in the world, or there about?!! Eleven thousand million!!” Mark marveled. “That’s almost inconceivable! You’d think the very ground would collapse from the weight of them all!”
“Not quite.” Yazadril chuckled. “It’s a very big world we live on, Mark. Kellaran is over twenty-eight thousand leagues in circumference, that’s one hundred and thirty-five thousand kilometers. And, most of the people have congregated in cities and towns and other settlements, which occupy a very small proportion of the land area. Though more than half the world is covered by the oceans, if you picked ten places on the land at random, and visited them all, it is likely that at none of those ten places would you see a single person of any race or any of their works, from horizon to horizon. Most of it is undesirable and unwanted land in its natural state, deserts and mountains and swamps and whatnot.”
“Oh. Well, my next question has to be; what are gargoyles, selkies and ogres?” Mark asked
“You’ve heard of trolls?”
“Yes, and seen paintings of them. But I thought they were mythical.”
“Troll is another word for ogre, and they are definitely not mythical. What they are is three and a half to five meters tall, ugly, smelly, somewhat solitary, and more mean when disturbed than a mother bear after you’ve kicked her cub.”
Yazadril cast an illusion of two figures standing beside the table. “Gargoyles, male and female.” he pronounced. The muscular ape-like creatures were identical except for their loins and the female’s breasts, of which there were four, the lower pair smaller than the upper. They were dark gray, with heavy brows, tiny eyes, and thick fangs that were almost tusks protruding five centimeters out of their wide mouths, two upper ones and two lower ones each. They had huge arms and rested on their knuckles, and bat-like wings protruded from their backs. In their hunched-over posture the tops of their heads were about a hundred and seventy centimeters high.
“I’ve seen statues of such things in pictures of old buildings, perched on the rooflines. I thought they were just decoration though. It kind of makes sense, since these two look like their skin is made of stone.” Mark commented.
“The carving of the statues you’ve seen is a tradition that dates back to an earlier age, when gargoyles were often hired as guards for important buildings.” Yazadril told him. “They never sleep and are possessed of almost infinite patience. And while their skin is not really stone, it’s almost as difficult to pierce with a sword as stone. Their wings are only for guidance in flight, like those of dragons, for like the dragons their entire race has the inherent ability of Flight.”
He erased the illusion, and cast one of another pair, these about a hundred and twenty centimeters tall with sleek brown fur and long gray whiskers. “Selkies.” he declared.
“They look just like big otters with slightly longer arms and legs!” Mark chuckled.
“Not surprising, since selkies and otters descended from common ancestors. The female is the larger.”
“Ah. Let’s see. Why are the hidden races hidden?”
“Because they fear everyone else.” Yazadril told him as he dismissed the Illusion of the selkies.
“Among animals, some are predators, like wolves and lions. Violence is their way of life. The humanoids of Serminak are like that, as are the dragons.”
“Really? I mean, my bodyguard and his mate seemed pretty civilized to me.”
“And they are, but it is also true that the hunting of live prey provides almost all of their diet. The only exceptions are treats and confections. Killing is their life. And the dark dragons of Serminak are not civilized in any way. Those would greatly enjoy hunting, killing, and eating you or me, and would consider us to be rare treats indeed.
“There are other animals, like horses and mountain sheep, who are not predators, but who have some violence in their natures. Their males battle for the right to mate, and they are quick to defend their own with great force. Similarly, most peoples are capable of violence, but are more often peaceful. Humans and elves fall into this category.
“Then there are animals with almost no violence in their natures. Like rabbits, they will flee from attackers at every opportunity, even if it means abandoning their young to die, and they will only defend themselves when they are trapped, or otherwise denied the opportunity to flee from attack. The hidden races of Xervia are like that. They are incapable of attacking others, and some do not even have the ability to defend themselves. It is simply not in their natures to do so. Thus they remain hidden, and under the protection of The Grand Council of Xervia, which is composed of the leaders of the hidden nations, and of the unicorns, gargoyles, selkies, and dragons of Xervia.”
“I see. And how many of the races are magical?”
“Why all of them, to one extent or another!” Yazadril laughed. “The selkies have the least magic in their nature, as is reflected in their short life spans of fifty years or so, and in the fact that they only have about a dozen true magic users among them, and only a few hundred others who are capable of casting one or two simple spells.
“More magical than selkies is a category that includes humans, giants, gnomes and dwarves, though we’re not that sure about the gnomes.