“Aye, Silverton,” she spat. “We try to live as the wood elves are supposed to live, yet you lure numbers of us from our homes, then denigrate us, and treat us just like our sick cousins who’ve fallen victim to the darkness in the deeper woods.”
“You might be mistaken about the wood elves in Silverton,” I said. “I’ve been there. I fought next to them. They’re not forced to work in the mines.”
“Fought next to them?” she asked. “Why is that?”
“First, the Spriggan King led a force of Darkwood beasts against Silverton,” I said. “I fought side-by-side with many good wood elves while defending the city. Then, just a few days ago, a force from Silverton came south to aid me and my friends against an undead horde. Now, a new battle is looming.”
“And what new battle is this?” she asked. By now, her voice had softened a bit. She was curious about me.
“Those Imperial troops you saw today aren’t the only ones in the area,” I said. “They’ve taken Homehold, they’ve taken Silverton. If you’re worried about the wood elves in Silverton, then you should be worried more about that, and less about me.”
“The Spriggan King,” she said. “Does he live?”
“No,” I answered. “Me and my friends killed him.”
She sighed. “You should have said that first,” she answered in frustration. I heard her scampering down a tree behind me. “I was about to call the wolves and that bear back to eat you alive.”
“That was you controlling them?” I asked.
“A trick of the woods, you can call it,” she responded.
I turned around and saw the wood elf young woman. She was small, even for a wood elf, but wore a hooded cloak customary for the elves of the woods, woven with vines and flowers to help conceal her movements in the forest.
She slung an expertly-crafted bow across her shoulder. There was a dagger made of sharpened wood on her hip.
“My name’s Layla,” she said. “I’m one of the leaders of…” she trailed off. Her dark yellow, amber-colored eyes suddenly shot open wide. “Is that the Soulguard?” she asked.
I nodded. “It is.”
She paused, staring at the gauntlet in disbelief. Whatever hostility she had for me before seemed to soften a bit, then vanish entirely.
“My name’s Gamelord,” I told her. “I’m an Earthman.”
She shifted her eyes from the Soulguard to my own. “You’re a Champion?”
“It sure as hell seems like it,” I said.
She took a tentative step closer, as if she were afraid the Soulguard was merely an imitation. The wood elf girl clapped her hands over her mouth in shock when she saw that it was the real thing.
“Mother Gaia blesses us then,” she said, barely over a whisper. “Tell me, Champion…what of the Mananymphs?”
“Four Mananymphs walk free in this realm now,” I said proudly. “Pandora, Bella, Sephara, and Esmerelda.”
She looked at me in disbelief, like she didn’t know what to say.
“Now, I’m gathering an army to destroy that goddamned Emperor,” I said. “He’s got Ciara, another Mananymph, held prisoner in the Imperial City. I’m going to free her, and every other Mananymph that’s suffered from his oppression.”
“The Mananymphs you freed, can you take me to them?” she asked.
“That depends on you,” I said. “How can I tell that you’re trustworthy?”
“I suppose you can’t,” she said. “But Earthman, if you speak the truth about the Mananymphs, I may be able to help you gather your army.”
“Yeah?” I asked.
She smiled. There was something familiar about her smile. “The wood elves are great friends of the Mananymphs,” she said. “I know this very well. Take me to them, and I promise that when you charge the Imperial City, there will be a legion of elven warriors by your side.”
Well, I figured I could risk that. The girl certainly didn’t seem like a threat anymore. Besides, she’d killed a number of Imperial troops. So far, she seemed just fine by me.
I led her back to the cottage. She said very little to me. In fact, she was so excited about meeting the Mananymphs that I thought she was going to explode.
As we returned to Corvus’ cottage, I saw that Pandora, Bella, Sephara, and Esmerelda were eating lunch on the front steps.
When they heard us approach, they all turned and looked.
Then their jaws dropped open wide.
“Layla?” Pandora said.
That was when the wood elf girl cast off her green robe. As she tossed it aside, I saw that while she had elven features, she was no true wood elf.
No, Layla was another Mananymph.
I laughed in shock as I took this in, and I watched yet another Mananymph reunite with her sisters.
Monstergirl Quest Book Two Page 24
