In the Land of Stories Old

Chapter 23

The fairies Elana had been thinking of had already taken a contract somewhere else, but they were able to point her to an entire family of elves who were looking for work and so she asked two representatives to come to the Black Castle and meet the princess. The elves showed up a few days later, spindly-limbed creatures about three feet tall with large eyes and even larger ears, and Elana could tell that their best efforts to hide their complete horror at the state of the castle and the way Snow was dressed weren’t going to last very long. And then Merlin had come in, no doubt because one of the guards had told him the elves had arrived, and both elves squealed in dismay. “Oh no! No, you not marry him dressed like this! We be back with family to fix this. Fix everything! You no worry!”

And with that they both disappeared, and Snow turned shocked eyes to Elana, who was laughing. “He’s really pretty,” she explained, waving a hand at Merlin, who contrived to look somewhat offended, as he always did when someone said that about him. “And he’s a magician—elves traditionally prefer to work for people who have at least a little bit of magic, because it’s just more comfortable for everyone all the way around. Oh, and they don’t get paid in gold, so you don’t have to worry about that.” Now there were two pairs of wide eyes staring at her, and she laughed again. “No, it’s nothing weird, and your first-born is safe. They’ll bring back a contract, you’ll see.”

“Why do they talk like that?”

“That particular elf, because she’s old—the old ones have the accent, the younger ones don’t. They apparently brought it with them from what they call the Old Place, but nobody knows where the Old Place was or if it even still exists. It might have been before the Cataclysm. The elves won’t talk about it—that’s actually written into their contracts, by the way, so don’t even ask.”

The two elves were back not an hour later, contract in hand and nearly vibrating with excitement. And it was a very simple, straightforward contract. The family of seven elves would live in the castle and would be allowed to do all the work they wanted, although they wouldn’t interfere with personal projects or off-limits areas unless given permission. They were capable of doing their own budgeting, but would confer with Merlin and Snow regarding the royal accounts. The only tangible payment required was their keep, as they would be living in the castle full-time, and they reserved the right to break the contract with no notice given if they weren’t treated with appropriate respect by the royal family or other regular inhabitants. Guests who were impolite—to the elves or the royal family—would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis by the elves themselves. Snow read the contract twice and then looked at Merlin, who had been reading over her shoulder. “This sounds too good to be true.”

“I know, it does. But it is a magical binding contract—it will bind their family to our family specifically—and I can’t feel any hidden areas in it. So, what do you think?”

She sighed and leaned back into him, smiling when his arm automatically went around her. “I think we can’t afford to say no. We have to have some kind of servants, you and I and the rest of our friends can’t keep doing all the work. And Elana has assured us repeatedly that this isn’t taking advantage of the elves—they apparently need some way to expend their excess magic or they’ll get sick, that’s why the contract specifies we’ll let them do all the work they want to.”

“Then we’ll sign it,” he said, kissing her cheek. “I’ll just go get them from the antechamber.”

He came back with the two elves, who were giving him looks that he didn’t seem to know what to do with. “Is something the matter?” Snow asked.

The younger elf just barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “The prince shouldn’t be fetching visitors like a servant, that’s all. We’ll have a lot of work to do retraining all of you, I think—you’re used to doing everything yourselves.”

Snow smiled. “We really haven’t had a choice. I will have to ask that you not interfere with Prince Hans in the kitchen, though. He’s kind of taken it over, and I don’t know how much he’ll be willing to share.”

“Let me see about that before we agree. I’ll be right back.” The elf disappeared, then reappeared a few minutes later all smiles. “Prince Hans is willing to share the kitchen. He said that will give him time to make things which are more complicated, and to go hunting more often for truffles.”

Snow squeaked in dismay in spite of herself, and Merlin dropped his head into his hand. “I’ll talk to him, my love. If he goes again, he’s taking Arthur with him.”

The elf snickered. “He said you would say that. He said to tell you he has no plans to go any time soon, or alone, although Prince Arthur has ‘tattled’ and you are not allowed to go with him.” He bowed to Snow. “We won’t let him try, Your Majesty. Elves can tell where magic comes from, at least up to a point, and the guards here reek of your future consort. I don’t know how he left before—the limit for most mages under these circumstances would be two steps outside the front gates.”

“It was just necessary,” Merlin told him with a sigh that came out more tired than he intended. “A ravening ghoul, the first time. And then the Princes Vinci went out to get un-cursed, and they didn’t come back when they said they would. Prince Jack still had his arm in a sling and Prince Hans was needed here, so Prince Arthur and I went out to find them.”

“Understood,” the elf said, and this time he bowed to Merlin. “You have to do what needs to be done, we know that. Do you have any other questions about the contract? Because our family is waiting, they are eager to get to work.”

“No, no more questions,” Snow said. “But if at any time you feel like the contract isn’t serving you, or that we aren’t treating you properly, I want you to tell us. None of us have ever been around elves before, so we’re bound to make some mistakes.”

The old elf shook her head. “No mistakes. You be polite, and respectful, that is all elveses ask. If you forget, we reminds you.”

“Very well, then let’s sign the contract. I can get a pen…” The old elf produced a quill pen made with a gray and brown feather. “Should I get some ink?”

“It make its own.”

This time her younger companion did roll his eyes. “It’s a blood quill, used for signing binding contracts,” he explained. “Signing in blood is messy and difficult without one, but for the binding to properly take the signatures need to be purely blood and not blood mixed with ink as mages usually do.” He inclined his head to Merlin. “Mages have their own reasons for doing that, of course, but this works best for our needs.”

“You’ll get no objection from me,” Merlin told him. Snow took the quill and signed. “All right, love?”

“A slight sting, but more like a mosquito than a bee,” she said, handing the quill to him. He signed as well, but then had to sit down rather abruptly on the step. “Merlin?”

“Just a bit dizzy, it’s nothing,” he disclaimed with a wave of his hand. “I just…wasn’t expecting the draw on my magic, although I probably should have been.”

“I’ll get you some tea…” Snow stopped when the elves both shook their heads at her. “No?”

“You not servant, you future queen,” the old elf scolded. “I get tea, you get magician to kitchen for drinking it. Since we already know there be no other place for having it in.”

Merlin stood back up, only a bit unsteadily. “Well then, I guess we should go to the kitchen. And we should probably ask Hans what he meant by ‘more complicated’, since he regularly makes things I’ve only seen before at balls and weddings.”

“I’m almost afraid to find out,” Snow said, falling into step beside him and putting her arm through his. The elves had already disappeared. “But hopefully that will keep him too busy to go out truffle hunting again…”

fanfiction In the Land of Stories Old