Riddermarch by Ellen Quellery (top fiction books of all time .txt) 📕

to get over such strong feelings as it would have a flock of birds or a nest of squirrels.

"Is it over?" Erleon called down from the highest branches of the tree.

Everyone looked up. The boughs themselves seemed to be cradling him, as if to let him fall would be a disgrace.

"It is, I'm afraid," Ranoft said. "Ants, apparently, have decided to join the party."

Erleon rolled his eyes, knowing what that meant.

The tree branches eased him down to the ground. When he stood on his feet, he dusted himself off with a thankful glance to the leaves above. But everyone in their party stared at him.

"What?" Erleon looked around himself.

Ranoft set a hand to his forehead, seeing the stunned looks of the aristocrats around him. Though taking in the especially the dark looks of the baron and baroness, he said, as his sisters smothered snickers again, "I think we need a bit more practice remembering we aren't at home."

Chapter Four: The Cursed

 

 

 

 

Rumors passed in and out the party from the picnic as they rode back to town. While they did, Jastalettel took a carriage with Dale Rawling, who insisted on escorting her back - though this time his friends Ernest and Alder accompanied them. Ranoft sat with them for Jastalettel's sake. The other three Riddermarches ended up in a carriage of their own, as no one dared sit next to Erleon who hardly seemed aware that he had done something wrong.

"He always seemed a little off," one gentleman in one of the other carriages murmured on the trip back, squeezed in next to a lady who did not wish to be in a carriage with a Riddermarch. "Something in his eye."

"It's in all their eyes," another lady hissed, with barely any elbow room. "They're unnatural."

"You're just saying that because you are jealous," said a gentleman, trying not to rest his hand on top of a lady's skirt.

"Of those - dare I say - ladies? They're positively wild!"

"I think they really are descended from elves..."

In Jastalettel's carriage there had been silence - until Ernest finally said to Ranoft, as straight as an arrow, "Are you descended from the Elfking?"

The other two gentlemen gasped and attempted to apologize.

But Ranoft, glanced once at Jastalettel and nodded. "We believe we are."

The men drew in sharp breaths.

Jastalettel averted her eyes.

"What's it like?" Ernest whispered, leaning near.

Ranoft chuckled. "We don't know what it is not like."

The men were shocked.

"We know we are different," Ranoft said. "We see and hear things other people do not hear and see. The language of birds and trees are common to us. And conversation among the insects is mightily entertaining."

The gentlemen stared more.

"The fact of the matter is, we find other human beings...clumsy."

"And loud," added Jastalettel.

The gentlemen looked to her.

She smiled painfully, though she appeared fragile and lovely when she did. "Going into society is a trial for us. Different noises. Different smells."

"How different?" Dale asked.

Seeing his earnest interest, she relaxed and replied, "Many of you overdo it with your perfume. And the nonsensical chatter this morning.... Oh!"

The men stared as she went on.

"Long sleeves versus short sleeves? Lace versus satin? Muslin verses silk? And whether a person has a proper dimple in her elbows, or has a Greenwoode style bonnet? I have never heard such ridiculous prattle, and I've listened to finches!"

The gentlemen laughed.

"Though we heartily agree about the ladies' chatter," Dale looked to his gentlemen friends, "Is there not anything you found agreeable being among other people?"

Blinking her dark eyes at him, Jastalettel thought on that a long moment. As she did, Ranoft interjected, "I find the common folk to be refreshingly honest. But society seems to...corrupt everything."

"Corrupt?" Alder protested.

"Too much pretending," Jastalettel said.

The men went quiet.

"It is not to say that nature is completely honest," Ranoft explained, with a peek to his sister. "But that there is a lot more pretense and pride among human beings. That, and the need for control."

Ernest peered more intently at him. "What exactly do you mean?"

Sighing, Ranoft said, "Human hierarchy is different than animal hierarchy. Though both posture, in their ways, to attract suitable mates - "

The gentlemen flustered, hearing such things spoken so plainly.

"Human beings stoop to incredible deception and intrigue."

"Ladies going on about their frocks and gowns when she-animals are the plainest among nature..." Jastalettel murmured in exasperation. "Entirely backward."

Ranoft smirked. "That is true. But I was meaning more along the other games of man."

"Games of man?" Alder interjected.

Nodding, Ranoft said, "A personal example, perhaps?"

They nodded.

Taking in a deep breath with a look to his sister, Ranoft said, "Lord Baron Rooke is an old rival of our father. They both wanted to marry our mother. When the whole..." He shook his head and fell into silence. He stared off, lost in his thoughts for moment before he finally continued, "Lord Baron Rooke is extremely powerful. Competition between them had been fierce. But Father won Mother's heart. And there are days we believe that he is the cause of our mother's current state - "

Jastalettel cut in. "I believe Lord Baron Rooke has been constantly trying to punish our father for what had happened to our mother - because of the Elfking's curse - and likewise taking it out on us. The Lord Baron loved Mother. Father has assured us of that."

"He desired mother," Ranoft said. "That is not the same."

Jastalettel huffed. "Such a powerful curse could not have come from the Lord Baron. It had to have been the Elfking. Father is more than able to take on a spell from a mortal sorcerer!"

The listening gentlemen grew more intrigued, listening intently.

"I concede that," murmured Ranoft. "But her curse does not smell of elf magic..."

Jastalettel cringed, nodding on that.

Then Ranoft looked to his watching listeners. Chuckling, he said, "As you can see, dealing with the lord baron has been a trial for our family. And this invitation to these celebrations is not a friendly gesture, as one might suppose. It is a veiled challenge, as he hates all of us. He would love to hurt our father with all that is in him."

"But Father is gone," whispered Jastalettel to her brother, though the others heard. "He's still looking for the Elfking to end the curse."

The three gentlemen drew in dramatic breaths.

"So there really is a curse?" Dale Rawling asked in the quietest voice.

Both Jastalettel and Ranoft nodded.

The city gentlemen shared looks. It was not those of fear though. Rather, they were fascinated. Ernest asked, almost excited, "Then the sorcerer...?"

"Isn't it obvious? We believe he is Lord Baron Rooke," said Ranoft. "But we can't prove it."

"And not your father, as many suppose?" asked Alder who peeked to his friends.

"No!" Jastalettel almost laughed it. "Father rarely uses magic at all. Only for Mother. And it is to make her life easier. He's done all he can."

"That's almost romantic," murmured Dale.

"It's the saddest romance, really," Jastalettel said with a commiserating nod, feeling friendlier towards him. "No happy ending."

The gentlemen stared again.

"Not unless Father finds the Elfking," Ranoft said.

"But even if he did," Jastalettel murmured, "You know the Elfking will eventually claim one of us for an heir. Or he will never leave the family alone."

"He'll curse us more," Ranoft muttered.

"So you truly are doubly cursed?" Ernest asked, almost nervous now.

Sadly, Ranoft replied, "What happened to Mother is the worst of curses. The rest of us are quite unscathed."

*

Erleon, Azuesh and Grennanod rode back with hardly a spoken word to one another - though their eyes argued for them. Azuesh and Grennanod thought Erleon was being reckless. He should have known better. He had been out enough. Why had he let down his guard? And so on. When they got out of the carriages, the sisters huffily walked away from him.

Erleon climbed out slowly, then walked to the horses with a thankful remark before leaving the party entirely.

"Erl!" Ranoft called after him as he and his sisters were climbing into the family carriage to go home. "Where are you going?"

"I need to walk to blow off steam," Erleon said without looking back.

Shaking his head, Ranoft climbed inside the family carriage and ordered the driver to take them home.

The carriage ride home was also silent.

Until, Azuesh exclaimed, "Ants! Really?"

Jastalettel huffed. "Oh, would you stop! I was subtle."

"But we ended the party," Grennanod chided. "Which means we failed the first test. Ugh! How in the world are we supposed to enter society properly if you call on ants and Erl does his thing with the trees? In public!"

"And you are supposed to be the older ones!" Azuesh said.

Jastalettel colored. "I was outnumbered and attacked on all sides! I'd like to see you stand up to what I just went through! Human...people fight with sharp words rather than claws and stingers. And they hurt worse. Nothing ever felt so painful."

"Maybe that's what it means to be human," Ranoft mused.

The ladies went silent.

"To risk being hurt by invisible barbs..."

They rode on a quiet distance before Grennanod said, "I suppose this means we are not ready to hold our own dinner party."

Both brother and sisters stared before Ranoft laughed. He shook his head and said, "No...not ready for that. But...and Jasta knows this - there are a few in that party that would interested in visiting Witsend Manor, knowing the kind of family we are."

Grennanod's and Azuesh's eyes went wide. "What?"

Jastalettel nodded, though she shared a puzzled look with her brother. "Yes, at least three gentlemen. Brother was honest with them, and they were intrigued."

"Maybe a garden party?" Ranoft suggested.

"Something out-of-doors?" Grennanod clapped excitedly.

"Come to see the freaks," Azuesh said more skeptically.

Ranoft shrugged.

"Perhaps...from the others they might bring along," Jastalettel said. Yet she shared a more hopeful look with her brother. "But I do believe for us to properly 'come out', we might be able to hold a small...curiosity satisfier. Show them what a real picnic is like."

And her sisters smiled.

*

"What do you mean they invited us all to a visit at Witsend Manor?" the lady in pink exclaimed, her blue eyes open in astonishment. "I've seen no proper invitation - "

"They said they would send one shortly," Ernest replied, too excited to let the moods of the ladies in his traveling party upset him. All three had been ruffled over the entire ant ordeal. Their friend's fluffy frock was soiled and torn in so many places that it resembled a shroud for a spider.

"But an elf-cursed family?" declared her friend in blue, looking for support among the other ladies there. "It would be like stepping into a nest of...of...weasels! I won't go!"

"Are you not even curious?" Alder asked. "Do you not wish to see if the legends are true?"

"I do not wish to be caught in them!"

But Dale shrugged and said, "You don't have to come. I would be more than happy to go by myself.

The ladies gasped, then crowded around him.

"She is bewitching you," one of the ladies warned.

"She-elves have their way then eat their mates," her friend chimed in.

"Your mother will never see you again."

"She sent the ants on me!" the stung, puffy, and red-splotchy girl in light muslin (with less flounces on now) declared. "I know it!"

"Probably," Dale chuckled, thinking on it.

Ernest raised his eyebrows.

"You were harassing her," Dale said, and smiled. "And she bore it admirably."

"You really are besotted!" But Ernest