The Sword Of The Elves: Fantasy Novel

By Alfred Bekker

The Sword Of The Elves: Fantasy Novel

 

The second volume of the saga of Daron and Sarwen.

 

The magical sword of Elf King Keandir is stolen. Daron and Sarwen find out that the evil Elven mage Jarandil is behind it. To prevent the powers of the elves from becoming weaker and weaker, he wants elves to be allowed to use black magic. With the stolen sword, Jarandil wants to summon the powers of the Fearbringer, who was believed dead. Daron and Sarwen try everything to get the king's sword back.

The continuation of the Elven trilogy by Alfred Bekker!

 

Overview Elven Children 1-7

The jewel of the elves

The sword of the elves

The magic of the elves

The flame spears of the elves

In the centaur forest of the elves

The spirits of the elves

The ice demons of the elves

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alfred Bekker
• Release date: Feb 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215230718

Alfred Bekker

Alfred Bekker wurde am 27.9.1964 in Borghorst (heute Steinfurt) geboren und wuchs in den münsterländischen Gemeinden Ladbergen und Lengerich auf. 1984 machte er Abitur, leistete danach Zivildienst auf der Pflegestation eines Altenheims und studierte an der Universität Osnabrück für das Lehramt an Grund- und Hauptschulen. Insgesamt 13 Jahre war er danach im Schuldienst tätig, bevor er sich ausschließlich der Schriftstellerei widmete. Schon als Student veröffentlichte Bekker zahlreiche Romane und Kurzgeschichten. Er war Mitautor zugkräftiger Romanserien wie Kommissar X, Jerry Cotton, Rhen Dhark, Bad Earth und Sternenfaust und schrieb eine Reihe von Kriminalromanen. Angeregt durch seine Tätigkeit als Lehrer wandte er sich schließlich auch dem Kinder- und Jugendbuch zu, wo er Buchserien wie 'Tatort Mittelalter', 'Da Vincis Fälle', 'Elbenkinder' und 'Die wilden Orks' entwickelte. Seine Fantasy-Romane um 'Das Reich der Elben', die 'DrachenErde-Saga' und die 'Gorian'-Trilogie machten ihn einem großen Publikum bekannt. Darüber hinaus schreibt er weiterhin Krimis und gemeinsam mit seiner Frau unter dem Pseudonym Conny Walden historische Romane. Einige Gruselromane für Teenager verfasste er unter dem Namen John Devlin. Für Krimis verwendete er auch das Pseudonym Neal Chadwick. Seine Romane erschienen u.a. bei Blanvalet, BVK, Goldmann, Lyx, Schneiderbuch, Arena, dtv, Ueberreuter und Bastei Lübbe und wurden in zahlreiche Sprachen übersetzt.

Book preview

Alfred Bekker

The Sword Of The Elves: Fantasy Novel

The second volume of the saga of Daron and Sarwen.

The magical sword of Elf King Keandir is stolen. Daron and Sarwen find out that the evil Elven mage Jarandil is behind it. To prevent the powers of the elves from becoming weaker and weaker, he wants elves to be allowed to use black magic. With the stolen sword, Jarandil wants to summon the powers of the Fearbringer, who was believed dead. Daron and Sarwen try everything to get the king's sword back.

The continuation of the Elven trilogy by Alfred Bekker!

Overview Elven Children 1-7

The jewel of the elves

The sword of the elves

The magic of the elves

The flame spears of the elves

In the centaur forest of the elves

The spirits of the elves

The ice demons of the elves

Chapter 1

Shadows in the night

The cry of a giant bat woke Daron from his fitful sleep. The elf boy sat upright in bed the next moment and listened.

Rarax!" he thought.

The giant bat served as a mount for Daron and his twin sister Sarwen after they had tamed it with their magical abilities. Something must have frightened it. It immediately fell silent again, but Daron, with his fine elven ears, could still hear its breathing from a great distance if he concentrated on it, and the same was true of the giant bat's heartbeat.

Why was Rarax's heart pounding so hard?

Daron swung himself out of bed. In no time, he had slipped into his tight-fitting pants and boots and thrown on his doublet of Elvish silk, for it was clear to him that he had to check on the giant bat.

Even though the dragon-sized flying monster was chained in its stall, one could never be sure that it could not break these chains with its tremendous powers.

Daron went to the open window and looked out. From his chamber, one could see over all of Elbenhaven - over the castle, the associated city, and the harbor where hundreds of ships lay. A gray wall of fog lay on the sea outside. It seemed like an impenetrable wall. The moonlight shone into it, making it glow strangely.

Daron listened again. He tried not to pay attention to the roar of the sea or the slap of the waves crashing against the quay walls in the harbor, so that the sounds would not distract him.

There was more, he thought.

I know! the thought-voice of his twin sister Sarwen answered him. She had apparently awakened as well. Daron recognized her footsteps in the hallway, and so he was not at all surprised when the door to his chamber opened in the next moment.

To human ears, this would have been completely silent, but to Daron's ears, the door creaked far too loudly. So he murmured a magic formula to muffle the creaking, audible only to elven ears, because he wanted to avoid waking the other inhabitants of Elbenhaven Castle. For a brief moment, his eyes went completely black.

Weapons Master Thamandor recommends having all the doors of Elbenhaven Castle thoroughly oiled, Daron heard his sister's voice of thought again. "That would be better in the long run than trying to fight the problem over and over again with magic."

I know, Daron's thoughts replied. But I think he's just saying that because he's magically inferior. That's why he depends on his inventions, after all.

Daron had already heard her grandfather, the Elven king Keandir, talk to some servants about the novel lubricating oil that weapons master Thamandor had developed in his workshop. But since it would only have made the doors squeak-free for a good hundred years and would have had to be reapplied to the hinges afterwards, the members of the throne council had agreed that it was not worth the trouble. The fact that spells had to be renewed much more frequently was not seen as such a problem among the long-lived elves, because a spell did not require running from room to room and lifting the doors off their hinges, only to laboriously put them back in again afterwards.

Have you also been awakened by Rarax? asked Sarwen's thoughts.

Yes.

The two elven siblings were so close that each could understand the thoughts of the other, as long as he allowed it. And so they communicated very often in this silent way, when others should not overhear them or they did not want to speak aloud to each other for some other reason.

Rarax seems to have calmed down a bit again, Sarwen commented.

But a deep furrow on Daron's otherwise smooth, ivory forehead indicated he disagreed, and his next mental message confirmed it: Listen to his heartbeat and restless breathing!

Sarwen stroked back her long dark hair, through which the pointed elven ears stood out, just as they did on her brother. What do you think that means?

Daron was as perplexed as she was. I don't know. He seems to sense something that troubles him deeply.

Perhaps another creature of darkness.

I've thought of that, too, Daron confessed. After all, this giant bat is itself filled with the dark force. So it would be logical for other creatures of darkness to be attracted to it, don't you think?

Don't forget that you and I are also filled with the power of dark magic, Sarwen objected, and for a brief moment all light disappeared from her eyes as well, and they went completely black. And are we perhaps constantly attracting any creatures of darkness?

At least we've managed to tame Rarax to some extent, Daron conceded.

And you think our dark magic is the reason he obeys us? Well, at least most of the time.

Daron did not answer. His face suddenly took on a strained expression, and Sarwen also thought she heard something.

Flapping wings! recognized Daron.

But not from Rarax!

No, it's multiple pairs of wings, and they're much smaller, too.

Anyway, I'm sure I've never heard anything like it.

Let's go see!

Good.

––––––––

Daron strapped on his weapon belt, in the scabbard of which was an elven dagger. Then he and his sister left the chamber. They hurried through a long hallway and a short time later came out into the open.

The guards at the great door of the palace of Elbenhaven Castle paid no further attention to the two Elven children. It was not unusual for Daron and Sarwen to leave their chambers in the middle of the night and roam around outside. Both were already over a hundred years old and could take good care of themselves. Besides, elves did not need so much sleep.

Think about it, Sarwen pressed her brother with her thoughts. "What could that have been?"

Do you think I would keep it from you if I had a clue?

They reached the open gate to the outer courtyard of the castle and suddenly heard a dull, humming sound - so deep that it caused the stones at their feet to vibrate slightly.

Rarax is snoring, Sarwen stated aloud.

And we had forbidden him to do so, because in the long run he would damage the foundations of the castle, Daron replied.

I always thought Armsmaster Thamandor's concerns were a bit petty, Sarwen admitted. I mean, a few cracks like that in the masonry are easy to mend with simple magic, after all.

Not for someone like Thamandor, Daron pointed out.

Sarwen sighed. Yes, we take magic for granted, but it must be bad to be magically deficient.

Especially for an elf.

Why especially for an elf?

Well, if you're a magically deficient person, you won't stand out because almost all people don't know very much about magic. That's what I mean by that.

As they walked through the outer courtyard of the castle, the snoring became unbearably loud, so they both sent a very definite thought to the animal.

Hush!

Rarax snorted once hard in his sleep and then was actually quiet.

Well, if he already obeys us in his sleep - so much the better, Sarwen said. Perhaps in the future we can leave him in his stable without chains.

I don't know, Daron muttered.

You don't trust Rarax again yet.

Are you surprised?

Sarwen shook her head. No.

Only recently, the giant bat had kidnapped the two Elven children all the way to the Wildlands and thrown them off there. They had had to follow it into the dark realm of the Bone Lord in order to catch it again, and only after they had survived a very dangerous adventure there had they succeeded in returning to Elven Haven. Daron did not want to experience something like that again ...

They reached the stable.

Daron immediately noticed that the giant bat's wings were not folded on its back. Instead, it had spread them out. A sign of how restlessly it slept. It was also tossing and turning restlessly.

Again, the heartbeat of the dragon-sized creature accelerated. Daron could hear it quite clearly.

Maybe Rarax is having a bad dream, Sarwen opined.

Yes, I think so too, but ... Daron's eyes turned black and his expression looked as if he was concentrating hard on something.

But what? asked Sarwen.

But his mind is closed to me. I can't figure out what's tormenting him. It must be ...

He did not speak further, but Sarwen understood him even so.

It must have something to do with magic?

Yes.

What should we do?

Let's let him wake up, Sarwen. Just for a brief moment. That might free him from his nightmare.

Daron approached the huge animal, which resembled a massive bat. Its eyes were closed and breath hissed through its large nostrils. The half-spread wings took up most of the stall.

Wake up! commanded Daron. But apart from the fact that the giant bat's heartbeat increased a little again and it breathed a little harder for once, nothing happened. The breeze that blew out of its flared nostrils as it did so tangled Daron's dark hair.

Come on, Rarax! Wake up already!

But there seemed to be something that prevented even that very intense thought from waking the giant bat.

Something is wrong!, Daron heard his sister's worried thought.

The elf girl turned toward the other stables where the elf horses were. Some of them snorted and seemed nervous as well.

Daron touched the giant bat's snout with the flat of his hand and tried once again to wake the giant flying monster. What power is keeping you asleep, Rarax? Now open your mind already - and your eyes, of course!

Sarwen flinched and stood rooted to the spot. She turned her gaze and let it glide over the row of buildings in the outer courtyard. But even with her sharp elven eyes, she could see nothing in the dark recesses between the houses.

And yet Sarwen sensed that there was something there.

Daron, watch out!

A shrill sound rang out - so high that even elf ears could hardly hear it.

Dark shadows suddenly emerged from several of the alcoves. Black wings, longer than an elfman's arms, fluttered up, then the shadows pounced on Daron and Sarwen.

Sarwen stumbled back a step. In the pale moonlight, she saw a winged ape approaching. Its mouth was wide open and showed predatory teeth. In its right paw, the creature held a trident; its left gripped Sarwen's robe.

Chapter 2

Winged monkeys

At least a dozen winged monkeys armed with tridents