Realms of the Elves

 

This anthology of Forgotten Realms short stories edited by Philip Athans opens with the chronologically-earliest narrative in the series timeline, “Traitors” by Richard Lee Byers, which occurs in -25,090 DR (Dalereckoning). The story opens with elven protagonist Rhespen Ash conjuring magic against enemy wizards, accompanied by an attack by the gold dragon Orchtrien. The beautiful elven maiden Winterflower quickly receives her introduction, with Rhespen visiting her residence, and discovering she has a forte for singing. Following this is a tale of romance, betrayal, and so forth, ending with the appearance of a comet known as the King-Killer.

The second story in the collection, the editor’s own “The Staff of Valmaxian,” opens in -7628 DR, the twenty-third Year of the Sapphire, with the titular elven character, five centuries old at the time, and apprentice to Kelærede, summoning a demon from a scroll owned by his mentor. Over half a millennium later, Valmaxian trains his own student, Third Apprentice Yulmanda, Kelærede at this time on his deathbed, and his granddaughter Chasianna visiting. The narrative concludes about two years afterward, with Valmaxian wondering how to augment the eponymous weapon’s power and again encountering the demon he had summoned.

The third story, “Necessary Sacrifices” by Lisa Smedman, opens in 1342 DR, the Year of the Behir, with Corwyn sensing something amiss, and a drow, a dark elf, cursing him. Two years later, Sorrell traverses a snowy forest and finds an elf-populated cavern beneath an oak tree. After six centuries of debate, moreover, the elven High Council agrees to abandon Cormanthor to the humans like Eaerlann before it, with Sorrell joining the Silent Slayers, whose leader Pendaran leads elves through the Underdark, the rest of the story focusing on a battle against a half-spider half-drow drider.

The fourth story, “The Greater Treasure” by Erik Scott de Bie, occurs nearly a score later in Eleasias, the Year of the Helm (1362 DR), with an elven maid and elflord, Yldar Nathalan and his sister Cythara, approaching the city of Elversult, where many black-robed mages meet their ends. In the city the elven siblings visit the Splitskull inn, where Twilight awakes, and she tells the brother and sister she knows the location of a Bracer, in the hands of Deep Coven, a cult of the demon lord Graz’zt. Fighting ends the story, with Yldar ultimately forced to choose between his sister and the Bracer.

The fifth story, R.A. Salvatore’s “Comrades at Odds,” commences a decade afterward, with the rogue drow Tos’un Armgo, a minor noble in the major House Menzoberranzan, having lost several of his comrades during a raid of Mithral Hall, having fought with his sentient weapon Khazid’hea. The elf Drizzt Do’Urden and his companion Innovindil ride pegasi, attempting to avoid orcs in the Haunted Pass. In a rarity for a fantasy story, this one relates the possibility, in Drizzt’s words, of there being “good” orcs, and Tos’un too sees this potential, being reluctant to kill them.

The sixth story, “Tears So White” by Ed Greenwood, opens with Rathan Thentraver, dining in Storm Silverhand’s kitchen, with Storm herself seeing her five friends disappear, reappearing in a white area, the Tshaddarna, the Worlds of the Weave. Storm hears the telepathic voice of the Witch-Queen of Aglarond inquire the whereabouts of Elminster, with a battle with liches erupting. The final story, “The Bladesinger’s Lesson” by Richard Baker, focuses on Daried Selsherryn fighting in the human settlement of Glen. Overall, this was a good selection of stories, although a timeline noting major events in the Forgotten Realms would have been welcome.