The Elf Legacy - Book Five of The Magi Charter

Jordan David

Description

Time marches on... Santas and Elves come and go at the North Pole complex. For some the reasons they choose to leave are personal, for others it's a dismissal. Santa's annual Mission must never fail despite how each passing year adds complexity amidst a world plagued by endless wars and upheavals. The denizens of the North are not secluded from the human world's problems. The complex is not the utopia that some want it to be. Santa and Elves must come to terms with the turbulence of history and not allow personal issues to disrupt their commitments. Anna, Tetsu, and Hilda will each face challenges that threaten their legacies and centuries old friendships.

About the series: The Magi Charter
For over two thousand years the legend of Santa Claus has endured. His is a mission of peace as outlined in the Magi Charter, given to the first Santa by the Child. From humble beginnings following that First Christmas the Santa lineage has been passed down through the ages. This epic adventure tells the story of those Santas from the founding of the North Pole and the origin of the ancient elves, to our modern times where the world's problems effect even those in the secluded complex of the North, and concluding in the distant future which finds Santa and the elves committed to their mission on a galactic scale where Christmas traditions are barely recognizable. Even in that era those committed to the Charter must find a way to deliver that which is needed most to those most deserving.

Sujets

• Fiction
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 17 août 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456622930
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Elf Legacy
 
 
Jordan David
 
 
Copyright 2019 Jordan David,
All rights reserved.
 
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2293-0
 
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
The Magi Charter
by Jordan David
 

The Elf Brief
The Elf Archive
The Elf Coup
The Elf Accord
The Elf Legacy
The Elf Resistance
The Elf Directive
The Elf Sojourn
-Contents-
Chapter 1
A New Promotion
Chapter 2
Cold & Hot
Chapter 3
Elf Fatigue
Chapter 4
Leopold’s Legacy
Chapter 5
Intrepid Duo
Chapter 6
Lucrative Info
Chapter 7
Sol Lux
Chapter 8
Perturbing Preludes
Chapter 9
Anemoné
Chapter 10
Sasta Nollag
Chapter 11
Flickers in the Dark
Chapter 12
The Affliction
Chapter 13
War of Wills
Chapter 14
The Pickle Barrel
Chapter 15
Lesser Stations
Chapter 16
El Dorado Cider
Chapter 17
Jungle Shadows
Chapter 18
A Drama of Errors
Chapter 19
Crystal Clear
Chapter 20
The Flap-jack Proposal
Chapter 21
Disillusion
Chapter 22
Christmas Traditions
Chapter 23
The Council
Chapter 24
Dina Eckhel
Chapter 25
Dancing with Oblivion
Chapter 26
The American Elves
Chapter 27
Looking Forward
Chapter 28
Mantua
Chapter 29
Reykjavik Bound
Chapter 30
White Star’s Follies
Chapter 31
The Christmas Ball
Chapter 32
The Siren’s Temptation
Chapter 33
Canyon Grand
Chapter 34
The Staff and the Ring
Chapter 35
Paramorphs
Chapter 36
The Exile
Chapter 37
Resistance
Chapter 38
Behind Closed Doors
GLOSSARY
 

 
Chapter 1
*
A New Promotion
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Granules of sand fell into the lower bulb of the hourglass. Anna happened to choose just that moment to glance up from her book to see the last bit of sand fall atop the mound at the bottom. In the glass, her reflection showed a lass of ten with brown eyes and hair pulled back to reveal pointed elfin ears. She might be mistaken for a student herself, but one only had to spend a minute in her presence to know this was entirely her domain. With a sigh, she sat back and stretched, looking over her apprentices, all six of whom were frantically trying to finish their assignment or as much as they could.
“ Time is up. ”
Getting down from her desk, Anna came over to inspect their work. The five lads were quick to lay down their quills, but Dorotea defiantly paid no heed to Anna ’ s approach and continued to scribble out the last few calculations on her paper. Of an age with Anna, Dorotea was a strong-willed lass from Bologna and did not like someone telling her when her work was finished. Anna knew the personality type all too well. Her own roommate, Fede was from Milan and just as headstrong. Not wanting to give the lass any lee-way, Anna plucked the paper from Dorotea, the lass ’ s quill making an ugly smear down a column of figures.
“ Very good. I see you remembered to include the road tax for the lumber shipments … and yes, you ’ ve compensated for the exchange rate of the rubles. Hmm … unfortunately, you did not quite finish … though I ’ ve no doubt you would have been able to determine the total cost of wax. ”
Dorotea made a sound like a snort as if that last column was the most insignificant of items. “ I would. I don ’ t see why this should be a timed test. Who cares how long it takes to add expenses, so long as it gets done right? ”
Jordanus, a lad of eight, and Petrus, a small lad of six, both nodded their heads in agreement.
Anna took up Jordanus ’ paper and went over his figures. “ A time limit adds pressure to the assignment. We all must be able to work under pressure, yes? Besides, there are plenty of times when you will not have the luxury of taking your time. Goods come and go here and out in the human world nonstop. Every day brings changes to prices and the availability of materials. You know what Colin says, ‘ Time costs money. ’”
An Asian lad in the middle of the group, Qin gave her a smug grin and held up his paper for her to check. He quite agreed with Colin ’ s financial philosophies. Qin was one apprentice who would make an excellent financier. Why he ’ d ever been assigned as a cobbler ’ s apprentice was a mystery, but luckily Colin found the lad, pulled him out of the Factory and immediately put him into Anna ’ s scribe class. The lad had only been studying with the group less than a year, but he ’ d already caught up to John Tynemouth, her best student.
“ Alright for you , Qin Jiushao! ” Dorotea fumed at the grinning lad. “ You ’ d be happy adding reindeer dung if someone told you to do it. Wax is useless. I was double checking the sums of more important things, like … flour, and … um … wool. ”
Qin, now a bit crestfallen, took back his paper and upon seeing Anna ’ s mark of approval on it puffed himself up, and shared the passing grade with his seatmate Witelo, a skinny lad of fourteen.
The six scribe apprentices were seated on benches at wooden tables designed for two. Each had their own glowbulbs set out upon the desks shining a bright white color. Anna picked up Witelo ’ s paper and saw the lad had missed more than one table of sums. She was not surprised. Witelo did not seem to have what was required to be a master financier; at best he might serve as a clerk. Clerks were still needed after all; even the other departments had records to keep.
“ Wax is important, Dorotea. Any supply we import to our home here at the top of the world must be carefully considered. There is a cost and a risk with every item. If a thing were not necessary, it would not be here, ” Anna reminded the class, lest they start thinking they could pass judgment over which things they were to keep track of. That sort of thinking would lead to one giant mess of the accounts. There was a limit on space after all, the warehouse, as big as it was could not store the world.
“ But we have these ! ” Dorotea argued holding up her glowbulb. She was not one to back out of a debate no matter how wrong she was. “ Candles are not needed. We should take stock of such unnecessary things and stop buying them. Glowbulbs are a thousand times better than any candle. ”
“ Did you become a department head when I wasn ’ t looking, Dorotea? Or Santa Claus even? Wax has a hundred uses besides candles. The craft elves use it for many things, the kitchens use it to seal casks of foodstuffs and beverages. Otherwise, provisions would spoil sooner and cost us even more in supplying the North Pole with food. We also use wax ourselves for sealing documents and correspondence with the human world. And lest you forget there are still plenty of elves who prefer to work or read by candlelight. ”
Finished with Witelo ’ s test paper, Anna proceeded back to her own desk, identical to the others, though arranged to face her pupils. She made a few notes in a ledger marking off the grades that each apprentice had earned on the exam. Dorotea had wisely gone silent on the subject. Anna was every bit as strong-willed, and the lads knew they ’ d be here a lot longer if the two got into a full-blown argument. The six began capping their ink bottles and straightening up the other papers on their desks, charts of mathematical formulas and rules of accounting.
Orangish light was starting to fill the finance archive as the sun neared the horizon. It was close to autumn, though in this frozen land the only change in seasons was the amount of sunlight. In another couple of months, the sun would dip behind the horizon and not be seen again until spring. An endless night filled with the moon and stars and illuminations of the aurora borealis lights. Anna wished not for the first time to have better lighting in the archive. These ever-shorter days of sunlight made for shorter time with the apprentices. One could only do so much with glowbulbs.
Around the makeshift classroom were shelves full of scrolls, stacks of papers, and no few books. Stand lamps, each with a dozen or so glowbulbs, stood ready to be lit. Those never did work right. True, they were better than having candles, but still … the archive hall was just too big with its cavernous vaulted ceiling, it seemed to swallow up any artificial light.
“ That will be all for today. I want you to study your Latin and elfin tables, there will be a test on that sooner than you think. Witelo. ”
The skinny lad gave her a weak smile, he ’ d been playing with his glowbulb. His skill in translating Latin phrases was worse than his arithmetic. The six mumbled a good night to her and quickly headed out of the archive. Their voices and steps bouncing off the bare stone walls and marble floors.
Anna watched them go. She put out her own glowbulb and straightened up the benches and desks. After putting away a few of her own reference scrolls on a shelf, she looked around the hall. Now bathed fully in the orange glow of sunset, the colors of the stone and fine marble were all washed out. When it was midday, and the good light streamed in through the windows on the roof the true splendor of the archive could be fully experienced. Originally the hall had been designed after a grand cathedral, intended for Santa to meet with distinguished guests. That never happened though. Not one Santa in all these years had received a single visitor here.
Instead, the hall had been taken over by Colin and Michael, the financiers of the North Pole. It made sense. Theirs was a department that needed space. The financiers had a large collection of books and no shortage of papers and documents from all over the world. Anna and Joan were their first apprentices, learning the arts of a scribe and later accounting. Over the years, the financial records of the North Po