The next day, they entered the Elvish part of the forest.
As with the Bear King’s Kingdom, there were no markers that Henry, Grace or John could see. But Robert seemed to know when they were in Elvish territory.
They met a rabbit walking along through the forest. Robert greeted the rabbit by name, and said, “Tell the Elf King that we have come. We will wait here for him.”
Robert then sat down to wait. Robert explained to the others, “It is very dangerous to proceed through the Elvish territory without permission. Even for the Son of Midor. We will wait here for the Elf King to come to us.”
They only waited an hour before a delegation of elves arrived.
Henry, Grace, and John were all surprised that the Elves looked nothing like they expected. They had known some elves in the city, and the elves were usually of diminutive stature--about half as tall as a human.
These forest Elves, however, were just as tall as humans. If anything, they were taller than the average human. They had pointed ears, but other than that, they looked extremely human looking.
The tallest one stepped forward, and nodded at Robert. “Greetings son of Midor. You honor us with your presence.” He then turned to regard Henry, Grace and John. “Who are these humans that you bring into our territory?”
Robert explained about the situation of Henry, Grace and John. The Elf nodded. “You are welcome to seek shelter in our town,” he said. “I will lead you.”
They followed him through the forest. As they ran through the forest Henry, Grace and John began to notice that the things were changing around them. The trees started getting bigger and thicker. Before long the trunks of the trees were as round as houses. And then, they started noticing that there were windows carved into the side of the trees. And through the windows, they could see movement and faces. Eventually they realized that the Elves had their homes inside of the trees.
At first, there were just a few tree homes. But gradually the tree homes got closer and closer together, and before long, they realized that they must be in the center of the Elf town.
In some ways it resembled a human town. There was a central path going through the town, and houses and shops on either side of the path. But everything was inside of the trees. There were windows and doors carved in on the side of the trees, but there were no outside buildings in the forest.
There was much of the noise of a human town. The sound of Elves coming and going, shopping and bargaining. But it had all the smells and colors of the forest. It smelled like dirt and moss and fresh leaves. And like everywhere else in the forest, it was full of green. Green ivy hung from the trees, green bushes grew on the ground, and as always, leaves growing in all of the trees above their heads.
Henry, Grace and John also noticed that it was not only Elves in the Elf village. Other animals also filled the paths, and were darting in and out of houses. A hedgehog was in one of the wine shops, trying to bargain over the price of some Elvish wine. The next shop over was actually run by animals. A family of foxes was selling fruit and vegetables that must have been harvested from human fields, and the Elves were paying in silver and jewels.
Near the Elf market, Robert showed Henry, Grace and John the mouse market. It was just behind a bush next to the Elf market. Here, the mice had set up their own food stalls, and were bargaining with each other for the price of goods. “The smaller animals have their own separate stores,” said Robert. “It’s more convenient for them. But all of the buyers and sellers here are under the protection of the Elf Kingdom, so they set up their stalls next to the Elf market.”
“Protection from what?” asked Grace.
“There are thieves and brigands in the forest just as there are in the human cities,” said Robert. “But no thieves dare attack the markets under the Elf King’s protection.”
They continued walking. Although the town had shops and schools, it did not appear to be the case that everyone had employment. Most of the Elves and animals were either relaxing and talking to each other, or were hopping through the tree branches playing some sort of game of tag.
After days in the forest, the sight of civilization--even an Elf and animal civilization--made the human children feel almost homesick. They all felt that they wanted to stay in the Elf Town.
“How would you like to live here?” Grace said in amazement.
“I could get used to it,” John said. “It’s like a city back home, only much greener. And it smells fresher.”
Only Henry was discontented. “There’s nothing for us here,” he said. “We are Princes and Princesses. We can not waste our days being idle in an Elf town.”
After Henry’s outburst, the three walked in silence for a while. John was the first one to break the silence. “There’s one thing I don’t understand,” John said to Robert. “You told us that we should never harm a tree in the forest. So how could these Elves carve their homes into the trees?”
Robert answered. “The Elves carved nothing,” he said. “The trees grew this way themselves. Some trees prefer to grow this way to attract Elves. Then when the Elves move into these trees, they protect them.”
“Protect them from what?” asked Grace.
“From fires, from termites, from giants and from trolls and from anything that could harm the trees. Out in the forest, most trees are unprotected. But if they can attract an Elf village, like this one, then they are protected from anything. But the Elves would never move in without talking to the trees first.”
“You told us that trees deep in the forest can talk,” said John. “Can these trees talk?”
“We are not quite deep enough in the forest for trees to talk out loud in a language humans can understand,” said Robert. “But the Elves can talk to trees anywhere. Elves are especially sensitive to the sounds of the forest.”
The Elf King came out, and greeted Robert warmly. Robert introduced Henry, Grace, and John, and the Elf King also greeted them. He brought them in to his tree house, and served them Elf wine. Henry, Grace, and John (who had been used to delicious wine from their days in the palace of Mora, but who had only had water since they entered the forest) eagerly accepted it and drank it down with relish. Robert and the Elf King talked about the news of the forest, while Henry, Grace and John drank their wine. After a couple cups of wine, they became sleepy.
“May we stay the night in your village?” asked Robert.
“Of course,” said the Elf King. “I’ll have the finest beds made up for you.” The King clapped his hands, and his servants ran off to prepare the beds. While they were gone, Robert and the Elf King continued to talk. But when the servants came back, the humans were led to a large hollow tree. In the tree, there were four beds made up of leaves and grass and feathers. Henry, Grace and John collapsed onto the beds, and slept soundly.
Robert, meanwhile, spent the night enjoying the hospitality of the elves. The Elves brought out the flutes and the harps and sang Elvish songs. They danced in the moonlight, and Robert danced and sang with them.
******************************************************
In the morning, Henry, Grace and John woke up feeling well-rested, and it was Robert who was exhausted.
The Elf King brought them breakfast. Since there was a big market right in the middle of Elf town, the Elf King bought them huge plates of fruits and vegetables. They feasted better than they had in days.
Robert asked about buying supplies. Grace had been without her bow and arrows ever since they had been captured by the soldiers. The Elf King brought in several Elf-made bows for Grace to try out. They were all of the finest quality, and for each bow Grace marvelled at how strong the wood was, and how smooth it was. The Elf King let her test each one out until she found one she liked. Robert negotiated the price with the Elf King, and Grace had to part with one of her jewelled rings. Grace didn’t hesitate, but took her ring off immediately.
John marvelled at all the books in the Elf library, although most of them were written in ancient runes that John could barely read. (John had studied some of the ancient languages, but he couldn’t read them fluently.) The Elf King offered to give some of them to John, but he declined. He had very little room in his backpack for books.
Before they left, the Elf King gave them a gift of all the fruit and vegetables they could fit in their backpack. Unlike the bow and arrows, the Elf King didn’t charge them anything for the food, and they thanked him graciously. Then, once they had loaded up all their backpacks with all the food they could fit, they set off.
“So where to next?” asked Grace.
“Now deeper into the forest,” answered Robert. “We will travel for a few days through forest that is not claimed by anyone, and then we will come to the land of the fairies. And after the land of the fairies, I do not know what is next.”
“What about the soldiers?” asked Henry.
“The Bear King has given them free access through his kingdom,” said Robert. “The Elf King will not give them passage through his kingdom, but they can easily go around it.”
“It’s a huge army that King Richard sent,” said John. “They could easily fight their way through the Elves.”
“They would be fools to try to fight the Elves in the forest,” said Robert. “Out in the cities, maybe they would stand a chance against the Elf army. But in the forest they would never have a chance. The Elves are too closely linked to the forest spirits. And the forest spirits have powerful magic.”
“Forest spirits?” asked Grace.
“The nymphs, the dryads, the satyrs, and many more. You can’t always see them, but they are everywhere in this forest. And the Elves are constantly in close communion with them.”
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