Roe inspected the piece of flint to figure out how to best hit it to make a flint scrape. She grabbed the hammer tool to hit the core stone and thought about Thorundur. Obviously he had forgotten all about her because he was too occupied with Aliendre. He had not visited Roe since Roe had used the magic potion. She hated all Elves. Roe grabbed the hammerstone and hit it hard against the flint. Satisfied she inspected the result and prepared to grab the hammer stone to hit the flint again when she heard her mother calling her name quietly. She looked around and saw Otter and Wolf hurrying into their hut. They seemed to be alarmed by something. Roe turned her head and gaped.



She was dazzled by the creature that was approaching her. It shone in the sun and she could not feel any scent from it because the wind was blowing from her. Could it be one of the spirits coming to punish her for what she had done to Aliendre? When the figure came into the shadows of the trees it didn’t shine anymore and she could feel the scent of a horse. Otter called her name silently from the hut to make her run away and hide. Roe realized that hiding would be the most sensible thing to do but her curiosity was much greater than her fear. Now that the creature had stopped shining she realized that it was an armored rider that she was looking at. The rider looked exactly like Aliendre had described the Elven warriors in her stories. What could a mighty Elven warrior be doing here? The horse was black like her old friend and looked very much like him. The wind turned and she caught another well known scent, but that scent didn’t make sense at all.


“Roe I have much to tell you,” the rider said with Thorundur’s voice. He took off the helmet and tried to make the horse stop which took him a while. Amazed Roe realized that the horse he was riding was the same horse that she had found in the human realm and that she had given the gift of freedom. How could this be? Thorundur jumped down from the horse that was stepping around so that Thorundur almost lost his balance. He did not smile at her.

“What are you wearing Thorundur, and where did you find, she paused because she had almost said the name that she had called the horse, “where did you find this horse?” she continued.


“Aliendre has run away together with the human prince,” Thorundur said and it was clear that he was upset. “I think I know where she might be and I’m going to take her home,” he continued.

Roe gaped. The potion must have worked after all but Thorundur’s armor and the expression on his face made her fear that something had gone terribly wrong with her plans. She had never seen Thorundur like this before. Although he had been upset and angry before he had never before looked like he did today. Of course the strange outfit made him look different but there was also a grim expression in his face that made him seem like a completely different person. “I don’t like this at all Thorundur,” she said. “If Aliendre ran away she probably wants to be where she is now and why can’t someone else go and take her home if you think that’s a good idea. What are you wearing by the way? It looks very uncomfortable.”

“This was my grandfather’s armor. He died in the war against the Dark elves and Toraldor has kept this armor in his house.” There was pride in Thorundur’s voice. Toraldor and I found this horse running around in the forest and we caught him, although it wasn’t easy. He has a lot of temperament this horse. His name his Night-sky”


Roe snorted. She found the name that they had given the horse ridiculous but she chose to not say anything about it. “Does your brother know that you have taken the armor and the horse and are going to take Aliendre home?”

“Of course not, he would only want me to tell the elves from the court were I think she might be but I am going there myself. Besides I don’t know for sure that they are there.”

“Is that a sword?” she said at pointed at Thorundur’s side. The first time she had heard about swords in Aliendre’s stories it had disturbed her very much. As far as she could understand swords were not useful for hunting but were only meant to hurt other people with. “Would you really be prepared to use a sword against another person?” She couldn’t help the accusing tone in her voice because she had never understood how elves and humans could kill or hurt other people on purpose.

Thorundur snorted. “I think it will be enough that I show the human my sword and tell him to let her go.”

“I think you underestimate humans. It may not be that easy.”

“What would you know about that Roe? After all I have actually met one human and how many humans have you seen?” There was a scornful tone in his voice that he never had used against her before.

She couldn’t really admit that she knew much more about humans and their ferocity than she would have liked. Instead she changed the subject to the horse. “Do you really think that it’s a good idea to ride the horse? It looks like you don’t really get along with each other?”


Thorundur’s eyes were narrow when he looked at her. “The horse is faster than I would be without him. Besides it isn’t that easy to ride a horse. This is a very wild horse and I haven’t much experience of riding but I’m sure I will manage.”

“I thought it was just to sit on their back and let them carry you wherever you wanted to go,” Roe mumbled and patted the horse on the neck. She called him the name that she had used before, a name that was a sound that she had heard horses do when they were friendly. He seemed happy to see her again and pushed his head against her arm.


“No, riding is much more complicated than that,” Thorundur said and for the first time since he came he was laughing. But it wasn’t a very friendly laugh Roe thought. She had to bite her lip to not tell Thorundur that this horse was her friend and that they had travelled together. This was no time to argue with Thorundur about less important matters. She had a feeling that she was on the edge of a disaster.


“Please don’t go Thorundur. The human may also have a sword and you could get hurt or even killed. You don’t have to do this.”


“You don’t understand Roe.” Thorundur’s voice sounded desperate. “If Aliendre gives her heart to a mortal she will die! She will also become mortal. The prince is killing her. You must understand that I have to save her if I can.”


Roe gasped. She hadn’t known this. Thorundur put on his helmet again and with great difficulty he mounted the black stallion who was stepping around. Soon Roe could only see the back of Thorundur as he disappeared into the forest with the armor shining in the sun.

It was not the prince that had killed Aliendre, it was she. She had killed her with the love potion just as surely as if she had poured poison into the tea. Death would not come immediately of course, but Aliendre would age like mortals and like mortals she would not escape the fate that other elves did not have to face. Suddenly Roe realized the total extent of the horrible truth. She could never have Thorundur unless she wanted to kill him and she loved him too much to let him die. It was also obvious that he had never loved her and never would. He was even willing to risk his own life to save Aliendre. Roe’s parents found her sitting on the ground moaning with her face buried in her hands.