Word: elfland
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...with his sword and was not welcomed, being an intruder. From great oaks the coiling ivy rushed down at him and, when he lopped the tendrils the trees themselves moved upon him in a foremost phalanx, forcing him to blaze his trail to the lawns of the palace of Elfland. There he slew the palace guard-four splendid knight whose thick and curious elfin blood was awesome to behold. And Lirazel, the Elf King's daughter, stood among the bluebells and gazed am wondered and loved and went away with Alvaric to the Vale of Erl in the fields...
Their son was Orion. Lirazel had wanted to call him "an elvish name full of wonder and made of syllables like birds' cries at night." But Alvaric was ten years older when he returned from Elfland and took seriously the admonition of the Freer of 'Orion," Christom. He only compromised on "Orion," a name of the heathenesse and, with time, grew more set in his mind against all things elvish...
...Lirazel, who understood nothing of men and Earth, read a rune that had come to her by a troll from her father. And she was blown away by the northwest wind into Elfland again, leaving Orion with Witch Ziroonderel to nurse him. When Alvaric asked the witch, "Whither," she shook her head all mournfully, saying: "The way of the leaves. The way of all beauty...
...moonstruck man, a poet, a mad man, a lovesick lad and a shepherd boy well used to lonely spaces set out with Alvaric then on his second quest, which was a weary one. Elfland had ebbed away, its King being fearful of Alvaric's enchanted sword. But Alvaric could not rest for love of Lirazel, and through long years that crazed company wandered the world's ends...
Orion grew up to be the lord of Erl and a great hunter. His hall was filled with stags' heads. Then, one evening, he unleashed his thin black hounds at the very edge of Elfland and cut off a white unicorn from its faery retreat. That was a brave chase and when Orion brought home the head, the Parliament of Erl began to feel their lord was indeed a magic lord. When he employed the trolls for whips and the will-o'-the-wisp marsh-folk to help him hunt unicorns by night, they knew his magic beyond...