The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 375

Chapter 375

ELEANOR LEYWIN

I rocked side to side as Boo’s broad back swayed with each slow step. His breath was heavy and even, almost sleepy after gorging himself on glitterfish. We were taking our time, moving slowly as we returned from Boo’s favorite fishing spot and headed toward the square outside Town Hall.

I could already hear the low rumble of many voices combining. It sounded like dozens, maybe even a hundred or more…

It was weird. Growing up in Xyrus, a day at the market meant crossing paths with hundreds, even thousands of people. I never thought twice about the noise of a crowd back then. All those people just kind of blended into the background, there but…not important.

Now, the idea of so many people—each one having suffered such horrible loss, surviving the nightmare of these last several months—made me feel uncomfortable. Constricted. Even as this feeling took root in me, though, a golden light issued from my core, infusing me with confidence and bravery.

Smiling, I patted Boo’s neck. “Thanks. I can always count on you, can’t I, Boo?”

The crowds’ volume inched higher and higher as I approached the gathered refugees, almost all elves. Several sent wary looks in my direction as I rode by, and I was surprised by how uncomfortable and agitated the crowd seemed. I wasn’t completely sure what was happening, only that Albold had sent me a message to be here.

My mother was waiting for me in the mouth of an alley that led toward one of the community gardens, outside of the dense pack of elves filling the square.

Staying mounted atop Boo, I reached down and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “What’s going on?”

“I thought maybe you would tell me,” she said, her eyes darting nervously around the crowd.

Following her line of sight, I realized why. More of the elves were looking at me now. Some stared openly, while others shot me poorly hidden glances as they talked quietly to their friends and family. And while some seemed just curious or even—I hoped—friendly, others were much less so.

Then I realized why Albold had asked for me.

I wondered exactly what he and Feyrith had told these elves. Everything I had shared with them about Virion and Windsom’s conversation? That seemed foolhardy, but then, I wasn’t exactly sure what I expected them to do with the information. By the way people were looking at me, though, that must have been it.

I found myself wishing they would have at least not mentioned where they got their information…

Not that I felt frightened. Sitting on Boo’s back, with my mother’s hand wrapped comfortingly around my calf, I had the same warm feeling I did as a little kid when Art would fall asleep next to me while putting me to bed. Like I was protected.

But I couldn’t help but feel like all this unhappiness and frustration I saw around me was my fault.

It had been a couple weeks since I told Albold and Feyrith about Virion and Windsom’s lies. Rinia had warned me to stay out of it, but I still thought they deserved to know. I knew a bit too well what it felt like to be lied to, to have things hidden from me to “protect” me. Mom and Dad were always keeping things about Arthur from me. Even when the Lances took him away, they made all kinds of excuses so I didn't worry.

Like I was too stupid to understand that when Mom locked herself away and cried, something was wrong.

But I wanted to be told the truth so I could grow from it, react to the world as it was, not through the rosy lenses of what my parents wanted to show me.

Still…I knew that the elves might not feel the same. Maybe in scary times like these, some people would prefer to stay ignorant, unaware and clenching onto the hopeful, filtered words of our leaders.

And so I waited, expecting for something to happen since my conversation with Feyrith and Albold, almost hoping for it just to get it over with.

Because, if something bad happened, I knew it would be because of me.

“Thank you for coming, Ellie,” someone said from behind me. I spun around so I was sitting backwards on Boo. Feyrith and Albold had just come out of a narrow alley.

“What exactly is happening here?” Mom asked, moving so she was between Boo and the pair of elves.

They both bowed to her before Feyrith said, “Thanks to your daughter, we elves were finally told the truth of what happened to our homeland, something our leaders have lied about to protect an alliance with false friends.”

“We’re going to make Virion explain himself and his actions,” Albold said forcefully.

Feyrith gave me a tight-lipped smile. “We wanted you to be here, Ellie, to hear what Virion has to say and…offer some perspective, if necessary.” He quickly held up a hand when Mom started to object. “You have been guided by the seer Rinia herself. You were in Elenoir when the destruction occurred…the only survivor of that attack. You heard for yourself the lies shared between Virion and the asura. We need you here, Ellie.”

So I wasn’t brought here to be questioned, I thought in relief. But what’ll Virion say—or deny—when they ask him for an explanation? Either way, it was because of me and the information I chose to share that this gathering of elves happened in the first place.

Mom sighed, stepping back and looking up at me. Boo was twisted around so he could watch the elves, his heavy brows low over his small eyes, and his huge teeth bared.

“It’s fine,” I said to no one in particular. “We’re already here. I just…did you have to tell everyone it was me?”

A light flush appeared on Feyrith’s cheeks and he looked down at the ground. “People took convincing just to show up. We had to tell them exactly how we’d discovered the truth.”

“Oh,” I said. I wanted to be upset, but I couldn’t blame them. If I didn’t want to be involved, after all, I could have just kept my big mouth shut.

I guess I won’t know if what I did was right or wrong until I see how it all turns out. Hopefully, most people are glad to learn the truth, but I bet a bunch of them think I’m lying, or blame me for causing problems.

I glanced around again. More eyes had turned my way now that I was speaking with Feyrith and Albold. An old elf with a cane—one of the council, I thought—was making her way toward us, but behind her, I caught sight of a genuinely friendly face.

Riding above the crowd on Jasmine Flamesworth’s shoulders, my friend Camellia beamed and waved at me. Her pale blonde hair was tied back in thin braids, and there was a sprig of holly tucked behind her ear. She tapped the top of Jasmine’s head and pointed in my direction, drawing a sour frown from her mount.

The rest of the Twin Horns were with them, and when they turned in our direction, the crowd parted to allow them through.

Helen gave me a warm smile and patted Boo’s side. “Ellie. I should have known they’d drag you into this.” She gave Feyrith and Albold a sharp look, her smile quickly dropping.

Durden, who stood out from the crowd due to being at least a head taller than everyone else, frowned in an exaggerated kind of way, highlighting the scars over half of his face. “Ellie, you do know you’re riding your bear backwards, right?”

Camellia rewarded his joke with an appreciative laugh, but it faltered quickly. She looked down, letting a loose braid of pale hair fall over her face. “Sorry, I suppose this isn’t the time for laughter.”

“There’s always time to remind ourselves we’re still here kicking,” Angela Rose responded as she wrapped her arms around my mother, pulling her into a tight hug.

The old elf woman finally made her way through the crowd. She hesitated, looking around at the Twin Horns and me. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but…” Her gaze shifted to Feyrith. “I was hoping for a word before we began.”

Feyrith nodded, looking gaunt and serious. But when he looked at me, there was a softness in his features that seemed to undo some of the damage his time spent as a captive of the Alacryans had done. “Thank you again for being here, Ellie.”

And then they were gone.

I turned around so I was sitting properly on Boo, and Camellia clambered off Jasmine’s shoulders and onto Boo’s back behind me. Her arms wrapped around my waste and she rested her head on my back, squeezing me slightly.

“Things are going to get pretty rough,” Angela Rose mumbled, one arm still wrapped around my mother.

“Let’s hope not,” Helen said. “But if it does, remember that our role here is to keep people from hurting each other.”

Durden pulsed with mana, and a stone arm coalesced in place of the one he’d lost fighting at the Wall. “We’re with you as always, Helen.”

Our strange little family fell into a tense silence as we waited.

It wasn’t long.

Albold and Feyrith eased through the crowd until they could climb the stairs that led into the Town Hall. The usual guards that would have stood there were absent, and the doors were closed.

Albold tried to shout something, but his voice was lost in the din. Feyrith fired a kind of water burst up into the air, where it exploded with a popping, hissing noise, silencing the crowd.

“Most of you already know why we’re here,” he said when the last of the chatter had died down. “Some of you had already seen through the lies of our commander and are here to support this effort, but I know many of you are still skeptical. And I don’t blame you for that.”

He paused, letting his words settle over the crowd. “My fellow elves, we have lost much.” His voice cracked, and he paused again. “No one can heal the hole that has been torn in our hearts and souls at the destruction of our home, the careless genocide of our people. But I, Feyrith Ivsaar III, am telling you now that you deserve to understand why this was done to us.”

Feyrith’s voice rose as he spoke, becoming a shout that filled the cavern. “We have been lied to. Treated like children. Asked to align ourselves with our destroyers. Betrayed by our own leaders!”

This was met with supporting cheers from several elves, but most remained quiet. A few were obviously hostile to Feyrith’s message, glaring fiercely up at him. Beside me, I could see Helen clocking everyone who seemed like a potential threat, regardless of which side of the argument they were on.

“Proof!” a gray-haired elven man yelled, cutting over the cheers. He had a brand burned into the side of his neck, still shiny and scabbed. “How dare you accuse Virion Eralith, a man who has fought for us all his life, of betraying us without proof!”

There were a few cries of support, but more boos as Feyrith’s supporters tried to shout the man down.

“Are we supposed to take the word of a human girl over our own commander!” another elf shouted, a woman this time, her bright green eyes so full of bitterness and disdain that I felt bile rise up in the back of my throat.

The crowd fell into bickering, shouting across each other so their words were lost. All I could see was the division that was being caused, the fracturing of our fragile resistance, and how my words had brought us here.

“I hope you’re not taking their words personally, El,” a worried voice said as Emily Watsken appeared out of the crowd. Curly hair framed Emily’s soot-stained face, and there was a crack around the edge of one of her lenses.

“Em!” Slipping off Boo, I gave her a big hug. “What happened to you?”

She rubbed her cheek, further smudging the soot clinging to her skin. “An explosion at the lab, one of Gideon’s new projects…but never mind that. What did I miss?”

I sighed, leaning back against Boo. “Nothing but a bunch of shouting and dirty looks so far.”

Everyone else said their hellos, although the Twin Horns were mostly focused on the still seething crowd. I crawled back up on Boo, leaning into Camellia, who rested her chin on my shoulder.

“No one really blames you for anything, you know,” she said in a whisper. “They’re just scared.”