Of Dark Elves And Dragons

by Greg Curtis

  “It’s the wizard. I’d guess Virris failed.” Of course Arnou was right. It had to be the blasted wizard, druid of the first circle or whatever, and the fact that his army was here meant his prized assassin had failed, failed badly in fact and then confessed everything.

  Umber closed his eyes and rubbed at them briefly, realizing how badly things had gone, and yet knowing that they shouldn’t have. Virris was a master of his guild, he had killed hundreds of people including many other wizards over the years. He had walked into enemy camps with just a poisoned dagger and walked out, his mission complete, and never even been seen. He had never failed. And more than that he had promised to kill the wizard. Promises apparently worth nothing. All he could hope for was that the man was dead, and that he’d suffered horribly before his end for his failure.

  “And after they’ve finished levelling the castle, they’ll be coming for you.” Arnou was right again, and Umber suddenly realized that this wasn’t actually an attack on his castle, a levelling of his armies. It was an attack on him, and there was nothing he could do. Suddenly the pain was gone as the thrill of fear blasted through his veins, a feeling he hadn’t known in many years. And with it he had a plan forming, and not one he had ever considered before.

  “The stables!” Of course he had to flee. He knew that. He hated it, he had never retreated before, but there was absolutely nothing he could do against such a powerful army. The most he could hope for was that while they wasted time knocking down his castle, he could escape. It was that or death, and he rather suspected that his death would not be an easy one if the wizard was this angry. Best to disappoint him.

  He sprinted out of the war room, heading for the great stairwell as fast as he could, leaving everyone in his wake. No one he noticed from the lack of noise behind him had chosen to follow him, not even Arnou, but then they probably had no need, and why give your life to save a dead man? Later, if he survived, he would repay them for their treachery.

  On the stairs his boots made a racket as the steel shod toe ends smashed into the stone, but over the racket of the titans slowly demolishing the outer wall, and the panicked cries of the servants and guards running around in confusion, it was little enough. A few people stopped and stared at him, some even tried to shout questions at him, but he ignored them all, descending the four massive flights of stairs in a blur and arriving on the ground floor faster than ever before.

  Once there, he turned sharply, realizing that heading through the throne room and the great hall would actually be taking him closer to the titans, and the stables where his horses were kept was at the back of the castle anyway. Of course to get there he had to sprint through the dining hall, the kitchens and scullery, and there more people stopped and stared and wondered why their king was running like a mad man through the parts of the castle he almost never visited. He ignored them all as he ran for the rear door and the private gardens beyond.

  In fact the door was already open when he reached it, as a lot of the servants had already had much the same idea as him as they milled around in confusion in the gardens, wondering what to do as they waited for the titans to head their way. They were still wondering as he sprinted past them, lungs labouring for breath by then, heading for the royal stables. Maybe he should have spent a little more time in the practice yards since taking the throne.

  But he didn’t care about that as he could finally see his destination in sight, the doors to the stables already wide open and the grooms standing in front of them looking frightened. Just a short few hundred more paces and he was safe. Then the horses could do the running.

  “Got you!”

  The voice came out of nowhere, so loud that it actually sounded as though an army was shouting at him, but that was not important as he suddenly felt himself lifted off the ground by a wind storm, and then started spinning wildly. In mere heartbeats he was so high off the ground that he knew if he fell he would die, and he could actually see the ramparts and battlements of the castle below him. But he was also spinning around so fast that it was hard to make out anything at all clearly.

  “I knew you’d run. Bold with your army to protect you, craven without.” The man sounded pleased with himself, which maybe he had a right to be, but Umber didn’t care about that as much as the fact that the endless spinning was making him ill. Moments later he let his breakfast loose and watched as it sprayed in all directions. It didn’t matter though. What mattered was that he had to kill the wizard, fast, and spinning as he was in thin air, he couldn’t even see him. Foolishly he drew his sword and then watched as it was torn out of his grasp to fly somewhere away into the distance before falling to the ground.

  Then, just to make things worse, he felt terrible blasts of wind tearing at his clothes, ripping them off him piece by piece, and there was nothing he could do about it save watch their torn fragments fly off into the distance.

  Just like that he was naked and unarmed.

  “Not so easy when you can’t send your armies to do your killing, is it?” The wizard was pleased with himself, in fact he was all but laughing at him, and Umber hated that. But not as much as the fact that as he was held there, spinning, he was still retching, and there was nothing left in his stomach to come up. The pain in his stomach was terrible and getting worse. “Or your assassins.”

  Umber would have protested, if he could have said anything between retches, but there was no point anyway. The wizard knew everything.

  “People!” The wizard’s voice grew so much louder in a heartbeat as he addressed Umber’s people, and if he could have Umber would have covered his ears. But spinning around as he was it was all he could do just to keep his hands together, and he suspected if they parted, they’d be ripped off.

  “Time to get yourselves a new king. This one dared to send a po-faced assassin against me.” He didn’t sound angry about it though, more frustrated and irked, as if it was merely an inconvenience. Maybe it was. “And that after I had so clearly warned him of the consequences.”

  “Don’t let your new ruler make the same mistake. And stay out of my forest!” He added the last in a scream of thunder so loud that it shook the heavens. It was a warning, a threat and a promise, and even though the world was still spinning furiously beneath him, Umber could make out the people staring up at him, and sense the fear in them. They would not come after him. Even if they’d liked him they wouldn’t have dared to face the wrath of such a wizard. He could also see the castle in ruins. The wall was gone, nothing more than a huge pile of rubble along the entire front, and the titans had made a start on the front walls of the castle itself, simply tearing it apart until most of the great hall was open to the air. This would be a lesson they would not soon forget.

  And then, as if it was nothing, the titans were gone, simply sinking into the ground and vanishing without a trace. As if they had never been.

  Umber stared as best he could at that, shocked at the way a battle could start and end so abruptly, before unexpectedly he found himself lifted up much higher into the air, to be carried away, and he knew a sense of dread. It seemed the wrong direction, but the wizard had promised to send him directly to the underworld, and given his obvious power, he had little doubt he could do it. No wizard was that powerful, no matter what those blasted emissaries had claimed, but this one apparently was.

  “Now you kin-slayer. I’ve got a nice little spot all picked out for you to enjoy. A lovely little crag of rock out in the western ocean, where you can spend the rest of your days learning to fish. Your assassin’s already there, on a crag across the way, waiting for you. You can wave to each other.”

  Abruptly the wind storm started heading higher and faster until everything was a spinning, twisting, sickening blur, and Umber knew a sense of doom. He should have been relieved that he was apparently going to live, but he wasn’t. The chances were that Virris would try and kill him when he got there. It was one way to cover up his failure, and the man did not admit to failure. Meanwhile he was unarmed sav
e for a belt knife. And then if by some miracle he did survive, the thought of spending the rest of his life on a rock in the middle of the ocean did not appeal. And worse than that, he couldn’t swim.

  The wizard might not be sending him to the underworld after all, but it seemed he had found the next best place.

  Umber gnashed his teeth in helpless fury, silently promising vengeance such as the world had never before seen against this wizard. But even as he did so, he knew he had no chance. Not against a wizard of such terrible power. No one did.

  That wouldn’t stop him though.

  Chapter Six.

  Two weeks later Alan and Dava stopped for the night in a small clearing in the middle of the great forest of Gorgotha.

  They chose a spot where their small fire would not be seen, and where they could both hide and through Alan’s woodland friends, observe anybody who might approach too closely. Not that anybody should have been nearby. These parts of the Gorgothan woods were almost never travelled. The legends of strange creatures and terrible monsters were enough to keep most away, and the rest simply had no reason to come there anyway.

  The forest itself wasn’t a destination in its own right for them as it was nothing but endless trees and the occasionally dangerous creatures that called them home, but crossing it was necessary to reach their destination, something Alan would rather not have had to do. But the trail that led through the forest to the distant Gorgothan Mountains, was the only established land route to them. And it was a tricky one. Even reaching the forest had been a task.

  The forest was completely surrounded by mountains, which made flying more risky than it should have been. Even for someone who could fly as a bird, the dangers of being in the air above the forest were considerable. The mountains were home to many flying predators, not least of which were the drakes, of which at least a dozen colonies were known to exist. And as if that wasn't enough the tricky air currents and winds that blew in and around the peaks would have upset the flying carpet. So they'd chosen to travel by horseback.

  But even the trail was dangerous because the ancient mines that had been the sole purpose in heading for the mountains, had been played out more than a thousand years before, and with them empty, there was no actual need for anyone to travel the path back and forth. So for a thousand years the trail had simply deteriorated and become a part of the forest, until it was difficult to even know what was trail and what was forest. The creatures of the forest itself included a great many predators. Some of those predators were the last of the great and terrible magic creatures from the time before the ancients had destroyed the world. And so perhaps it was fortunate that Alan was travelling with one of those ancients. If nothing else Dava could tell him what to expect along the way.

  Thus far though, the journey had been relatively peaceful. Wolves of every shape and size, and even dire wolves were mostly all that they had encountered, and though they were dangerous in their packs, they didn’t present any real threat to wizards as a few fire balls had sent them fleeing. Then they had passed a family of tree bears, far larger and more deadly again, but fortunately more concerned with harvesting berries than chasing a couple of wizards on horseback. And on one of the days they had been travelling Alan was sure he had heard the sound of a diamond monitor lizard in the distance stripping back a kill in one of the tree tops, but they hadn’t seen it. Dava had said it was just the wind. Maybe he was right.

  As usual, while Dava started up the fire - his magic with the fireballs meant that they would have a blazing fire in seconds - Alan spent his energies raising a few earth elementals for protection, just in case. There was little that would attack them in the forests but the elementals added just that little bit of extra comfort.

  Soon the camp was set up and they were settling in for the long cold night. The horses weren’t hobbled but knew enough to stay close, and were soon grazing happily in the firelight, while the two wizards sat down and enjoyed another meal in the woods as the water for the tea boiled away.

  “So Dava, are we far enough away from the others that you’re ready to tell me a little more of your plans?” Not that he really minded having been kept in the dark. After the meeting with the elders from Soolleni Woods and Nightfire, an event he would remember until his dying days with unadulterated if somewhat guilty pleasure, he felt free as he hadn’t in many years. A burden had been lifted from him and if Dava wanted to go on a mission and tell him nothing of why or what awaited them, that was all right with him.

  The elders had agreed with everything he’d said in his previous meeting, namely that dark elves were not in league with demons. And much as they’d hated it, they had done all that he’d asked for. They hadn’t really had a choice as honour and justice both demanded it. That didn’t mean they’d liked it, or him.

  An official pronouncement had been made by them and then sent to the restored elven great council, that the killing of dark elves was a crime like any other, and already many soldiers had come forward and confessed their evil, and not just locally if the news he had been given was true. They’d had no choice, and because of that his mother’s kin would walk more safely in elven lands for years to come. Perhaps even long enough for them to be redeemed in the eyes of their cousins.

  It would be a long time before the news trickled through to the dark elves themselves, and longer still before they dared to walk out in the open of the woods, but the journey had begun, and Alan could rest a little more easily, believing the ghosts of his parents were also more settled. It was a blessing for which he gave thanks for every day to the Sky Father and the Earth Mother.

  In particular he had enjoyed telling the news to his parents as he tended to their graves. He remembered many difficult days from his childhood when his mother had wept for all the kin she had lost, and his father had comforted her as best he could. But those tears had not stopped, and in his memories they never would, until now.

  It was also a blessing which he’d hopefully added to. In sending a message to the few dark elves he knew, telling them of the release, he’d also asked them to further the process by sending in turn a list to the elders of each elven province, of those dark elves who still followed the teachings of the Everliving. It might take time but one day he hoped, the last of that evil demon worshipping cult would be gone, the last of its followers rooted out, and his kin would forever be free from its taint.

  Because of that Alan could wander freely as a terrible weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and nothing Dava could tell him or hide from him about their journey could upset him unduly. If he died this night, his life would have been worthwhile and he could rest easily. Not that he particularly wanted to die. Still he was curious. What could they have read in those books that had made this journey so important?

  “We are. I’m just not sure you will want to hear it.”

  “Why? It's already clear we’re heading deep into the Gorgothan Mountains because you believe there are more of your kin there. The high elven scholars of Heartsong thought the same for many years, but few were willing to make such a long and difficult journey to find out.” It was a guess but a good one and Alan wasn’t completely surprised when Dava’s eyes opened wide in surprise.

  “That doesn’t trouble you?”

  “Why would it? You’re good people and I assume that those you’re going to awaken are equally so. I’d also guess that they can help with the battle against the necromancer.” It was simple logic as far as Alan was concerned, and the only reason they had been travelling south for a week and a bit instead of north to the S’mon Gorge and battle.

  “My thoughts as well. But while you’re right, you’re not right enough.” It was Alan’s turn to be confused, but he waited patiently for the explanation.

  “You understand that Ashiel is without her parents, her brothers and her betrothed?” Alan nodded, suddenly hoping against hope that they were the ancients he was hoping to awaken. It seemed almost beyond belief that Dava should know where they were
and that they would still be sleeping safely there after so many years, though it would be welcome news. He said as much. Even about her betrothed, Afri, who he had only learned of a few days earlier.

  It had been hard learning that she was betrothed to another, even if it had been five thousand or more years ago and there was no way of knowing yet if he had survived, but it had also been a welcome lesson in reality. He had never had any real hope of forming a relationship with her, just the idle daydreams of a foolish youth. And besides, Rosalie would have been hurt, even if they had never spoken of anything more permanent than simply enjoying their time together. She'd already been upset meeting the ancient. Still, the news of Ashiel's betrothed had shattered his fancies, bringing him back to the real world, and that was good. Besides, Afri was said to be a master of flame, and his would be a welcome strength in the battles ahead if he still lived. Fire was a true weapon against the undead.

  “I know that feeling and so does Ashiel. It’s why she’s been so nervous lately. Not knowing whether to hope or grieve, or both. But that’s the least of what we’re going to do. And while I know that you are a good man and that you will help us as best you can, I’m not sure you are going to be happy to give all that we’re going to ask of you.”