Ronthiel opened his eyes to Leradien’s face, peering into his. She was looking at him with keen interest. Shinayne was also there, as well as the boy, though neither was as concerned for his welfare as Leradien.
“What happened?”
“You took four poisoned darts,” said Shinayne. “Each one could knock you out for a couple of hours on their own, but four were more than enough to kill you—and most unpleasantly. But you’ve only been out for half that time. You seem to have an unusual resistance to drow poisons.”
“What about you?” Ronthiel asked Leradien. “You took one too.”
“Yes. But you can’t poison a drider when it has demon blood. Those darts were completely harmless to me,” she said.
Her beautiful ruby gem eyes looked wondrously into his with a soft smile. “But you didn’t know that, did you? You tried to save me!”
Ronthiel was wary of the look in her eye. He didn't like where this was going. He shook his head. No, he didn’t.
“You did. You actually took those darts to protect me,” she said gently. “You silly, little elf boy! How could you be so noble?”
“Just stupid, I guess,” Ronthiel replied. “Oh! My back hurts!”
“You have four dart wounds, so you’ll hurt for a while. I bandaged them for you. They didn’t bleed much,” said Shinayne.
“Thanks,” said the elf to her. “What happened to the steeders chasing us?” he asked.
“Well! You killed one rider,” said Shinayne, “right through the neck. One of our Black Dragon sentries killed the other. So how is it possible,” she wanted to know, “that their poison darts just barely affect you at all?”
“I don’t know,” he said in all honesty.
“Whatever it is that kept you alive, I sure want to know what it is. There’s only one immunity that I know of for it and which Leradien mentioned—the blood of a demon. Yet that’s only possible if-”
Shinayne stopped herself in mid-sentence then, looking at Leradien in sudden alarm. In return, the drider deliberately avoided her openmouthed gaze. The satyr boy also looked uncomfortable when Shinayne looked at him next.
“You didn’t?” Shinayne asked both the boy and Leradien.
Neither said anything.
“I think you two have some explaining to do to him,” Shinayne said, and then turned and deliberately left them alone.
“What’s she talking about?” asked the elf.
“Oh! Who cares?” said Leradien. “You’re alive, aren’t you?”
“How about you?” Ronthiel asked the boy. “Do you know what Shinayne was talking about?”
The boy fidgeted and shrugged uncertainly. “What does it matter?” he answered.
“You two are hiding something!” accused Ronthiel. “What is it?”
“What we two know doesn’t matter,” said Leradien. “It’s what I know that matters.”
“What do you know?”
“I know who you’re going to marry when you get back to Durham Forest.”
“Who?” he asked, curious to hear.
“Me,” she replied.
“You?!” exclaimed Ronthiel, bolting upright in surprise, his dart wounds instantly forgotten. “Are you crazy? We've already had this discussion!”
He should have laughed at her, but he didn’t.
“Actually,” she said, “for once I’m perfectly sane.”
“I’m not marrying you!”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not!”
“You took four darts for me. You tried to save my life,” she explained. “That means you love me. And elves only fall in love once, so you have to marry me!”
Ronthiel stared, openmouthed, at her, and finally looked at the boy for help when unable to find the flaw in her logic. Unfortunately, he found no market for pity there.
“She’s right,” the boy reluctantly told Ronthiel. “Elves do only fall in love once and you obviously have.”
Ronthiel was still unconvinced. He couldn’t possibly be in love with Leradien!
Or could he?
“But I can’t be in love with you. I mean, think about it! Half of you is a spider. How is that supposed to work?”
“We’ll figure it out,” she replied confidently.
“That’s what I’m afraid of!”
“If it’s any consolation,” the boy told him, “Leradien’s in love with you too. The only way to get her to destroy those two fire beetles was to send you on that mission alone. I knew she loved you too much to let you do that by yourself.”
“You planned my doing that?!” Leradien turned and demanded of him. “Why that’s mean!”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
The beautiful drider simply smiled and tossed her gorgeous white hair for him. It did.
“Did we get the fire beetles?” Ronthiel asked Leradien, grunting as he once again remembered the pain in his back.
“We got them. We both got one.”
“Both were smashed,” said the boy. “One even went over the cliff with its driver. The other stopped and blocked the entire column behind until they finally shoved it off the road. You two slowed them done something serious but they’re on the move again. Come on! If you’re able, we have to get moving!”
“You can ride me,” said Leradien to Ronthiel, reaching down and, with one hand, picked him up and placed him behind her.
“Now wait for just a moment!” Ronthiel suddenly wanted to know. “If an elf can only fall in love once and you’re an elf too, then how can you have possibly been in love with the boy first and then fall in love with me second?”
“I’ll explain that later,” answered the boy for her. “Right now, we have to leave. While we’ve been talking, the orcs have been attacking our Black Dragons rearguard. But, without their two fire beetles, they’ve had little luck getting close. Still, there’s too many of them and the Black Dragons will have to fall back and retreat this way any minute. We’ve got to get out of here and up through the Three Candles. Leradien, I trust you’re willing to take care of Ronthiel until he’s better?”
Leradien nodded and promised, “I will let no harm come to him.” And then turned back to give the elf a word of future warning. “Just don’t ever forget that I’m the boss,” she said, “because after we get married, there won’t be any elf girls living out back!”
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