100TWC - Day 82: Advantage

[ this post is a continuation of "Heart Song" from earlier in the writing challenge ]

The little old man looked directly at Tani as she entered the clearing. His eyes were almost as bright green as his tunic, she noticed. She took another step. He stopped playing. Released from the spell of the music, Tani slumped to the ground, the soft carpet of leaf litter breaking her fall. She had not realised she was so tired, but now that the music was gone a terrible fatigue overwhelmed her. The old man stood up and slung his pipes around his shoulder.

"The effect will quickly pass," he reassured her. His voice too had a melodic quality. A faint reminder of the beautiful strain he had been playing. "Come," he continued, "sit."

Tani struggled to her feet. "The Hunt. I have to--"
"They will not find you here," the elf replied.
"How--?"
"This part of the forest is shielded from mortal eyes," he said. At her questioning glance he held up his hand. "Unless they have heard my heart song."
"Heart song?"
"Some call it soul music," he said with a wry smile. "But among my kind we call it heart song. The melody one plays with one's heart. The one no other can play."
"It was beautiful."

He smiled.

"But I can't stay here," Tani said, looking around the clearing nervously, unwilling to believe that it was somehow protected from the Pack. From The Hunt. "I must find my way out, without being caught."

The old man reached inside his tunic. "I have something here that will help you in that regard," he said enigmatically. He opened his hand. A fine gold chain fell from between his fingers, dangling almost to the forest floor. It held a pendant of some kind but in the dim light Tani could not make it out.

"What--?"

The elf wound the gold chain around his fingers and let the pendant drop. It was an amulet of clear amber, held in an intricate clasp of elder wood. He beckoned to Tani. She stepped closer and bent down to allow the elf to slip the chain over her head.

"We call it The Advantage," he murmured. "Only one of your kind has ever worn it before."

A shock of recognition tore through Tani's mind. "Riki!" she exclaimed.

The elf smiled his gentle smile again and nodded.

"What does it do?" Tani asked.
"Its function begins and ends with its name," said the elf, whose circumlocution was beginning to irritate Tani. "When you need an advantage, the amulet will provide one."
"So how do I work it? What do I need to do?"
"You must do what you must," the elf replied infuriatingly. Tani bit down on her anger. This was a gift beyond price. The object that had allowed Riki to defeat The Hunt! It wouldn't do to lose her temper with the giver. "Follow the path you have decided upon. Fear not. Behave as you always have, as you know you should. The Advantage is now yours. You will see."

Tani grasped the amulet, staring into its smoky depths. Unlike most of the amber pieces she had seen in the past it held no fossilised insect or creature of any kind. It absorbed what little light there was in the clearing and reflected only a dusky remnant.

"But--" Tani began, looking up. The old man was gone. She stood alone in the clearing. Through the darkness, back in the direction from which she had entered, several wolves howled. A shiver passed through her. It was time to leave. She looked around the clearing, intending to select the best exit. All but one of the gaps between the ancient oaks were now blocked with thick briars. Almost directly opposite her, a single path was her only option.

"Guess that's the way to go," Tani thought, wondering at the same time whether this was The Advantage's doing or the elf's. Or if there was any difference. She tucked the amulet inside her shirt, surprised at its sudden warmth against her skin, and left the clearing at a run.

[ this story is continued later in the writing challenge - on Day 98 in "Game" ]