Kat awoke to find a pair of silent eyes staring at her in wonder. A toddler wrapped in a ragged blanket sat beside her, sucking its thumb. Its eyes mirrored her own confusion and alarm.
“Mama?” it inquired.
She shook her head. “No, I’m Kat,” she said, puzzled.
“Kitty!” he said, grabbing her tiny wrist in his chubby hand.
She looked at her hamadryad wrist in the human child’s hand and sighed. Two halflings make two wholes, she thought, amused.
“Oh, no, Krozer,” she groaned in irony, “You’ve gained the one thing that you wanted most. You’re human now.”
The child cooed happily.
Kat heard a distant groan and an idea came into her mind. One night had passed, and the human was waking from his unconsciousness. As she watched the child whimper in cold, she bundled him as best she could and approached the traveler warily.
The traveler sat up with a groan, cradling his head in one hand and propping himself up with the other. As his vision cleared, he saw the hamadryad watching over him and he shuddered, gaping in horror and amazement.
“Lady, are you hurt?” he asked quietly.
Kat shook her head.
“I am sorry for wounding you—you startled me. I did not expect to encounter the elves in this wood.”
“Are you a friend of the elves?” she asked him.
“I should like to think myself as one,” he spluttered.
“And do you have family?” she inquired.
He nodded. “A wife and a father.”
“Will you help another?” she asked, showing him the boy. “There was an accident. The boy has no one to care for him. I cannot help him—I am unable to provide him with what he needs to survive. Will you . . .?”
He eyed the boy. “Aye. As penance for your wounding. I will take him with me.”
“Will you care for him?” she asked sadly. “He is dear to my heart. I wish I could—but I cannot care for him in this forest. He has a life to live in the city!” she wept, kissing the child.
As she handed the boy over to the human, she added, “But. . .”
“Yes?”
“Will you send him back here, if he needs help? He is dear to me,” she repeated.
“Of course, lady.” He took the child in his arms and rose to his horse, preparing to leave.
She wept as she watched them leave.
* * *
The child was taken to an orphanage and remained there until he reached adulthood. He was given the human name Alec, and was told little of his childhood. He knew nothing of the forest or of his previous life. Having no family and no means to procure a livelihood, he was forced into the King’s Army. Although often plagued by headaches, he swiftly rose up through the ranks, his ambition fired onwards by his loathing of his surroundings.
His entire life and career was filled with ennui; even his greatest achievements and promotions did not stir his heart. His only true moments of happiness came at night, in dream, when fleeting visions of past lives would occasionally surface.
One night while Captain Krozer was patrolling with his men through the forest, his attention was caught by an excited whoop.
“Captain, look what we’ve caught!” one of his soldier boasted as he heard a scuffle draw near.
Two of his men dragged an elf before him. They had bound its hands with a belt and trussed it in a cloak so that it could not escape.
Captain Krozer caught his breath in amazement and horror. “What have you done?!” he asked, shocked.
“We’ve caught an elf. Think of what renown we’ll get when we present it to the King—he’ll reward us grandly, for sure! And he’ll likely promote you for this,” one of his soldiers volunteered.
He shook his head. “You fools! Have you not heard tales of Fey vengeance? It is not worth promotion if you endanger all soldiers in this wood!” The captain picked up the creature and carried it out of camp and into the forest. “We have to free it, and now!”
“You can’t!” they spluttered, then held their tongue in fear of insubordination.
Captain Krozer gently placed the elf on the ground and smacked him on the wrist. “You, too, are a fool for being caught by humans. Not all humans will be smart enough to free you, so do not be foolish enough to be recaptured. Now stay still while I unfasten your bindings.”
It took a while for the captain to free the elf, for he had to untie him by hand and could not use a knife lest he accidentally fatally injure him. Finally he freed the elf’s hands from the belt and winced as he heard the elf cry out in pain. The metal buckle of the belt had chaffed against his elfin wrist, and the pain would not relent even after he was released from the metal.
The captain sighed in sympathy but then stopped, recalling his soldiers were watching him. He shooed the elf away with a motion of his hand, barking, “Go, now, and get proper help for that among your own kind. Hurry now, it is not safe for you to stay here overlong!”
The elf began to shamble away as Alec turned to his men to discipline them. He began to remind his soldiers of the dangers of encounters with elementals, but gasped mid-sentence. One of his soldiers gave a warning shout, but too late; once he had turned his back on the elf, it had attacked him. Alec turned to find an elfshot dagger sticking through his side; he tossed the elf bodily from himself, and approached his attacker.
“You’ll die in this forest, Krozer,” the elf spat, then disappeared in a tree.
Looking down at his shirt, he noticed blood; soon he began to feel the pain of the wound. He could feel the elfshot poison of his opponent spreading through his veins, but Krozer had little time to heed it. He had to get his men to safety before any further retaliation could occur. “Men,” he cried, “let’s go!”
* * *
Captain Krozer paid a heavy penalty for deserting his post; he was given the greatest flogging any back had felt in a decade. Fortunately, he was spared from most of the pain, as the elfshot poison from his wound kept him locked in fever for days. Surgeons did their best to cure his wounds, but lacking knowledge of Fey healing, they could do little to aid the wound upon his side. A thick scar soon appeared over it, but the poison continued to course through his body.
It was if he had aged twenty years in the short week he spent convalescing. His hair, once full and as dark as the forest, turned white overnight. His headaches overpowered him, and his youthful vigor had abandoned him. The pain, however, was a blessing: for during that week he was in bed, he could dream.
He dreamed of the life he had forgotten. He remembered the warm and soft smile of a woman and the promises of love. As he dreamed, he knew that there was another life waiting for him in the forest and a woman to share it with.
As Krozer awoke fully from the fever, he found himself in his bed. His teeth chattered despite the covers piled upon him. There was something tucked in the crook of his arm. Upon investigation, he found it was a small ragged toy from his childhood.
“What is the meaning of this?!” he croaked, trying to sound authoritative but failing miserably.
“In fever, sir,” his companion John said, “you cried out again and again, like a child, for your pet cat. So we searched through your travel bag, sir, and found this plaything from your childhood.”
“What a frightful puss!” Krozer said, eyeing it weakly, pretending disdain but unable to let go of it.
“Yes, indeed it is, Captain Alec.”
“Captain?” he arched an eyebrow. “Have I not been demoted for this foolish prank?”
“Of course not! You are the finest leader this generation has seen! But, sir. . .” John’s voice fell to a whisper.
“What? What’s wrong?” he cried feebly.
“The poison from the dagger has changed you. Your appearance is. . .altered.”
He felt his nose and ears warily, then sighed in relief. “At least I’m not transformed into a toad, eh?” he groaned.
“It isn’t that, sir—your hair has gone white! You have aged a lifetime in these few weeks!”
“Really?” Krozer sighed. “One step closer to the grave, then.”
He commanded the youth to give him a mirror, but his vision was too clouded with age to see anything but shadows.
* * *
Captain Krozer never fully recovered from his injuries; his youth and strength had abandoned him. His body was too old for a soldier’s life, but he was too young to receive a pension. Once more he found himself on the streets.
He remained homeless for only a matter of hours. Before dusk fell onto the city, his loyal friend John had found him and led him to his home.
“I have a home outside of the barracks,” he explained, “Where I live with my son. It isn’t much,” he apologized, leading him within his tenement, “but you may stay here with us as long as you’d like, sir.”
“I cannot accept such hospitality. . .” Krozer spluttered in humility and frustration.
“Nonsense! I am merely returning the favor. I was on the streets, and you took me in, employed me, and protected me. It is now my turn to take care of you. We’re friends, aren’t we?” John asked.
“You are too good, much too good to be my friend,” Krozer sighed.
“Nonsense! And, sir, I need your help once more,” he whispered.
“How can I help you like this?” he uttered in frustration.
“I need you to stay here and care for my son while I’m on patrol. He has no one to care for him while I’m away, and he misses his mother so much,” John replied forlornly.
“What happened to Martha?” Krozer asked in horror, fondly recalling John’s wedding.
“Fever carried her off two weeks ago. Her death was a powerful blow to our hearts,” the young man sighed, choking back a tear.
“John, I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” he spluttered, realizing that he had not heard of Martha’s death because of his illness. “Of course I will help.”
John nodded, “You’ll adore my son. I named him Alec, after you.”
* * *
When John introduced Krozer to his son, the boy was all eyes. He studied the new guest silently while Alec unpacked his belongings. As he shook out his blanket, the ragdoll toy fell out.
Krozer picked it up and offered it to the boy.
“Cat,” the boy whispered.
Kat. The word became a name in Alec’s mind. “Yes,” he said, stunned, “It’s named after the woman I love. Take it now, Alec, for I no longer need it.”
* * *
The weeks and months rolled by and for the first time in his life, Alec Krozer belonged to a family. As content and fulfilled as he felt caring for the boy, he was still haunted by dreams of his past. Every heartbeat drew him closer to the forest, but it was the child’s cough that ultimately brought him home.
He noticed the cough that encumbered Alec before he noticed it in John. For days on end the boy struggled to breathe, lying on his pallet in utter misery. At first Krozer dismissed the boy’s illness as mere congestion, but he became alarmed when his coughing fit ended with spittle of blood.
Krozer thanked the fates that John had come home early that evening; he urgently whispered his concerns. “John, your boy needs a doctor. He is consumptive.”
John nodded in sorrow. “Martha has passed her sickness on to us. Krozer, sir, what will I do? I’ve been thrown out of the Army—they are coming to take me away! They will quash an outbreak with my death, but what can I do for my son?”
“I don’t know,” Krozer said, worried, “but I am certain that together, we will find a way.”
* * *
John found a way out at the end of a rope. Krozer found him in the morning, dead. He freed his friend’s body and laid him on the pallet beside his dying son.
The child stirred from his uneasy slumber and looked at the motionless body of his father. Tears fell over the child’s face as he realized that his father was dead.
“I’m sorry, Alec, but the cough got him,” Krozer lied, trying to protect him from the truth.
Alec began to cough, spitting up blood over his father’s shirt.
“But the cough won’t get you,” he said with determination. He picked up the child, wrapping him in blankets and stated, “We are going to the elves. They will help us.” And he left the City.
Krozer stumbled through the forest with the child still in his arms, determined to find help. He thought of returning to the place where the elf had disappeared, but his instincts took him deeper into the woods. He found a familiar circle of trees and sat down beside an aged oak.
“Elves of the forest,” he announced, “I beseech you. Please heal this child! Do not let him perish!”
To the silent wilderness he continued his plea, “Please spare this child as I have helped the elf.”
Doubts crept in, as they always do, like ants in a well-sealed room. Krozer could feel the cold overtaking his body, but he clung to consciousness and his goal of saving the boy. At last his call was answered as a green-skinned feminine creature appeared by his side.
He swallowed his sense of alarm and asked her, “Will you help him, lady?”
She nodded, adding, “If you leave your metal behind.” She turned around, signaling for him to follow.
Krozer quickly stripped himself of metal and once more picked up the slumbering burden in his arms. When she welcomed him into a tree, he asked anxiously, “Will you trap us inside the tree, and eat our flesh? There are stories of elves doing the like to unsuspecting travelers.”
She smiled sadly and shook her head, leading them inside. She warmed a soothing beverage for her guests and, caressing the child’s brow, asked, “Who is he?”
“I care for him,” Krozer answered awkwardly. “His parents are dead, and have left him in my care.”
Again she smiled serenely, triggering a memory in Krozer’s mind. “Kat,” he called.
Her whole body shone in radiance as she smiled. “You remembered my name!” she said, awestruck.
He shook his head. “Only recently did I remember it. I only began to remember you after I was elfshot.”
“I’m sorry that he hurt you, Krozer. The elf was a friend, and he did it to bring you back to the forest. But I am sorry that you were hurt. . .”
“I was elfshot on purpose?”
“It was not my idea,” she nodded. “But I was so glad to see you again—and you were so gallant to free that elf! I was there, Krozer.”
“What?!” he called, dumbstruck.
“And so was half of the forest’s inhabitants, watching your act of kindness. They would not believe me when I told them of your past kindnesses until they had seen your actions on that night. They were amazed that you were loath to kill one of their kind. You have redeemed yourself in the eyes and hearts of the Fey.”
“Is it all true? Are you really Kat? Was I really an elf? Were we really in love?”
She nodded.
“Do you still love me, Kat?” he asked.
Again her smile shone through her translucent green body. “Are you ready to return to the forest, Krozer?” she asked, “Can you give up your humanity one last time?”
“Can I take the boy with me?” he asked in turn, “Can we raise him as our own?”
“If he chooses to. Ask him if he wants to stay with us.”
“He’s a child! He doesn’t know what he wants.”
“Krozer, you cannot take his humanity from him without his permission.”
“I am his guardian,” Krozer huffed, “and I say that he has no future among men. He will die of consumption without Fey ichor in his veins, and I’m certain he’d rather live than perish.”
“Krozer,” Kat urged him, “You must ask him if he wants to stay. Otherwise he will grow to despise us, just as you despise your mother.”
“I don’t despise my mother,” Krozer said quietly, “I understand now what she did and why. But I understand your request, too.” He shook the boy gently to waken him.
“Alec,” he called quietly, “Will you live with us in the forest? As an elf, you will no longer feel pain or cough up blood as you do.”
The boy snuffled painfully.
“And your parents wanted you to live a long, healthy life. You can make them proud by outliving many generations of men as an elf. And Kat and I would love to have you live with us.”
“Please, Alec,” he whispered, “Give up the pain of humanity and join us as an elf.”
The boy nodded sleepily, taking Kat and Krozer’s hands in his own.
The couple kissed, embraced their son and readied themselves for the serene transformative sleep.
* * *
At first the other elementals were wary of Krozer’s reappearance in their woods, but in time they grew to understand his ways. He was still as fierce as ever--but he was fierce only in protecting his elfin son and hamadryad mate. In time Krozer learned of his mate’s work while he lived as a mortal, and grew to love her even more. Kat had worked her magic upon the Death Trees, taking away their memories of torment and transforming them into gentler spirits. Under her watchful care they became Sentinels, tree spirits and faithful watchmen, the perfect protectors of their new elf prince.
Alec grew to be a strong, healthy elf who, despite his human origins, held none of the wicked traits of humanity. His health was restored by his transformation and he soon became the darling of the Fey realm.
Krozer, redeemed by love and his own actions, gained his heart’s desire by giving up the humanity that he had craved so fiercely. With Kat and Alec’s help, his home became a citadel, not a prison, of love.
