Realms of the Arcane - Brian M. Thomsen [50]
I didn't even bother to look at the map. "The Grotto of Dreams," I whispered.
I thought Aliree would have dashed to the grotto now that we were finally here. Instead she gripped me tightly. "I'm afraid, Muragh."
"Don't be, Aliree. It's your dream waiting in there."
She smiled then. Strange, but there was a sorrow to it. "No, you're right, I'm not afraid. Not with you here, Muragh. I'm happy. Happier than I've ever been in my life. Thank you."
Then, holding me in her arms, she walked to the mouth of the grotto and stepped into the green-gold light beyond.
Somehow, here far beneath the ground, it was a garden. Warm sunlight filtered down through a canopy of fluttering green. From somewhere not far away came the bright sound of water. Birdsong and thistledown drifted on the air. For a time, I was motionless, entranced by the beauty of the place. Then all at once, memory rushed back to me. I turned around.
"Aliree?"
But all I saw were vine-covered stone walls and flowers nodding lazy heads. The half-elf was nowhere to be seen. I walked forward and breathed the sweet, scented air.
Walked forward? Breathed sweet air?
I didn't dare look; it couldn't be. But I had to know. Slowly, I glanced down. I saw him then, reflected in a clear pool of water: a man clad in green, his face boyish, kindly if not so very handsome, and framed by unruly brown hair. I blinked in shock, and so did he, and at that moment I knew we were one and the same. I lifted my hands-real hands, covered with warm flesh-and brought them to my face. Not hard bones, but soft, smooth skin.
"I'm alive," I whispered. Then all at once laughter took me, welling up like the clear water in the spring. "I'm alive!"
I did a dance, a foolish caper, but I didn't care. It felt so good to move legs, to swing arms, to feel a heart thump in my chest. Alive! I knelt by the pool and splashed water on my face, gulped some down. It was sweet, and so icy it hurt, but I relished both taste and sensation. Alive! I plucked a flower, held it to my nose, breathed its heady fragrance. The sunlight was so warm on my skin. Alive! Truly this place was the Grotto of Dreams. Lliira's joyous magic did dwell here. Aliree had been right.
Aliree…
The flower slipped from my fingers. Certainly she was here, somewhere in the grotto. Certainly she had discovered her dream as had I.I had to find her, to show her my new self, to hug her tight in jubilation with living arms.
I ran through the garden, searching. Then I pushed through a tangle of wisteria and came to a halt.
"Aliree!" I started to call out, but all at once the word caught in my throat.
She lay on a bed of fern, beneath the trailing branches of a willow. Silvery leaves drifted down around her, falling like tears, tangling in her hair. Her eyes were shut, her hands folded over the bodice of her golden gown. Lilies bloomed around her, as pale as her skin.
I knew at once she was dead. It was the stillness. No living thing can ever be so perfectly, so beautifully still. I sank to my knees beside her. Tears slid down my cheeks. I thought the pain in my chest would strike me down. Oh, yes, I was indeed alive.
"Why, Aliree?" I whispered. "I thought your dream was to be cured. Why this?"
But even as I said the words, I knew the answer. She had told me herself. I would give anything for the pain to be gone, just for a minute, just so I could sleep. And now, at last, she had found what she wanted. Not a place where she might be rescued by some fleeting fantasy, but a place where she could be what she was, a place where the elven part of her could rest as well as the human. Sometimes, when you love something so much, all you can do is give it up.
"Sleep in peace, Aliree," I murmured. I bent forward and pressed my lips to hers, but they were already cool.
I'm not certain how long I knelt beside her. The angle of the sunlight never changed.