Death Knight Box Set Books 1-5: A humorous power fantasy series

by Michael Chatfield

  ***

  Aila stood up as there was a knock at the door. She opened it to reveal six elven guards in full armor waiting for her.

  “The city lord demands your attendance.”

  “Certainly,” Aila said, feeling that their wording was weird. Maybe they’re more abrupt and abrasive.

  She left with Tommie and Anthony falling in behind her. The guards quickly surrounded them all. They all had grim and impassive faces, as if they were taking Aila and her companions to their execution instead of to see the city lord.

  “Lovely high elf hospitality,” Anthony muttered.

  The cold glare from the guards seemed to make the Mana in the air and within their bodies slow.

  Aila shot Anthony a look.

  “Fancy little Mana trick you got there,” Anthony said; one could practically feel him rolling his eyes.

  Aila shot him another glance, to which Anthony shrugged.

  “Solomon, I have a job for you,” Anthony said in a whis- per so Aila could only barely hear him.

  His voice dropped again and she couldn’t hear him any- more.

  She disregarded him and she grabbed her bag tight that was holding the letter from her mother. Finally her trip was coming to its end; then she could return back home. She liked adventure, but she had seen and done so much in such a short period of time, she wanted to go home and relax.

  She looked to Tommie and Anthony. Tommie was look- ing around, taking in the sights. His eyes filled with cu- riosity as, like a gnome does, he looked at the different structures that had been grown out of the land to create the fresh and vibrant city that weaved through the trees, making them look natural and beautiful.

  People talked to one another as they passed.

  “Is that a dark elf ? Does she have no shame, spending that much time hiding from the world?”

  “I heard dark elves are all murderers and devil worship- pers,” another said with a note of displeasure in their voice, as if they were an expert on the subject.

  “With such simple clothes—and I heard she said she was the princess of the dark elves,” another said in an aloof voice, lifting their nose in disdain.

  Aila frowned but she didn’t talk out at them. They reached the center of the city. A large tree stuck out from the rest; in front of it, a flowing creek of pure blue water from across the city pooled into a bubbling foun- tain.

  It was idyllic and peaceful, in contrast to their proces- sion as they marched up toward the city lord’s hall.

  They were halted in front of the city lord’s throne, but he was nowhere to be found.

  “The city lord is dealing with a few emergency issues. He will be with you shortly,” an advisor to the side of the throne said.

  Ten minutes quickly went by and they started to get tired from standing on their feet for so long.

  “Must be really important,” Tommie said.

  “I bet.” Anthony sat on the ground. The advisor’s eye- brow twitched at seeing Anthony’s cavalier attitude.

  “Gotcha,” Anthony said in a low voice and he laid down, humming a tune to himself.

  Tommie sat down sometime later. An hour must have gone by now.

  An hour and a half passed before the doors opened.

  “Presenting City Lord Aevaris of Morhtheaus,” the advi- sor said.

  Tommie got to his feet as Anthony slowly got up.

  “You dare to lie down in the presence of our city lord!” a part of the group that had come in with Aevaris yelled.

  Aevaris held up his hand. “It can only be expected from the lower races,” Aevaris said in a tired voice as he sat down on his throne.

  “This meeting was supposed to be about the informa- tion coming from the dark elves,” Aevaris said in a neu- tral voice. “But now I have learned of the unsanctioned slaughter of beasts within this forest and under my juris- diction.” Aevaris looked pained and frowned slightly as his eyes fell on Anthony.

  “You didn’t—”

  “Silence!” The aide who had yelled before infused Mana into their voice, enough to deafen everyone in the room.

  “You might be angry with them, but we need to judge them impartially,” Aevaris rebuked the man.

  “I am sorry, City Lord. It is just—”

  Aevaris nodded and waved off the remaining words. “Have you sent word to the elders?” Anthony asked.

  “Trying to talk over others will not make your case any better. What is your name?”

  “Anthony. But have you?”

  “The elders are busy people, studying the arcane for cen- turies. To disrupt their studies for someone who killed beasts without seeking approval, do you think they would listen?”

  “I don’t know. Why don’t we ask them? The letter, Aila?” Anthony asked.

  The city lord let out a tired and annoyed sigh, seemingly coming to the end of his patience.

  Aila passed Anthony the letter. As he reached out to his side, a shadow appeared from the floor and wrapped around his hand. It disappeared, revealing what looked like a mirror.

  There were branches and leaves wrapped around water that remained suspended between it.

  Anthony injected Mana into the mirror and then placed the seal on the letter into the water. It didn’t get wet but adhered to the front of it.

  “Thief !” Aevaris yelled, his voice booming as he looked at the mirror.

  The guards turned and leveled their weapons at Antho- ny.

  Anthony’s arm and leg glowed. Shadows appeared around his leg; a horrifying face formed from the shad- ows while a yellow dragon snaked around his hand, looking at the elves.

  “You know, I have a skill. I can read when someone is ly- ing to me. I can tell when someone is trying to seem neu- tral but they’re actually lying through their teeth. I call it the Eyes of Truth. You engineered this whole thing. You didn’t want to see us; you didn’t want to pass our mes-

  sage to the elders. I saw how our attendants neglected their duties and how my mount and her children were caged up and they weren’t fed enough.

  “I went to go and get food, and also give you an excuse to bring us here. I only needed to get the mirror of com- munication to talk to the elders,” Anthony said.

  Aila looked at dismay at the city lord.

  He sneered. “Arrest him and his accomplices! How could a dark elf, thrown out from the high elf society, be anything but a dangerous person!”

  The guards made to move forward but found that there were shadows holding their feet firm.

  “Let’s wait and see what the elders have to say, shall we?” Anthony looked at the mirror.

  Aila could see that there was a person on the other side.

  “The dark elves send signs of the next divide’s appear- ance,” Anthony said to the person there, in high elf.

  “You know our tongue?” the city lord said.

  “Bit of a tongue twister,” Anthony said. There was a change in the mirror.

  The water shimmered and shifted as Anthony held it out straight. A water-formed elf appeared.

  “Elder Vulmar.” The city lord touched his head and reached out his hand as he saluted.

  The other elves repeated the gesture and fell to their knees.

  Anthony held up the letter and orientated the elder so he could see Aila.

  “Your name?”

  “Aila Wranoris, daughter of Queen Wranoris,” Aila said.

  “Your words ring true and the seal is accurate. I will gather the elders,” Elder Vulmar said.

  “Well, there is one problem, Elder. You see, we’re under arrest for, I guess killing some beasts to feed our mounts who weren’t being fed enough, and well, we were just arrested for stealing this mirror of communication. But then again, I did it because we have been sitting around for two days because the city lord was too busy to see us.” Anthony chuckled.

  Aila’s legs trembled at the strength that rolled off him.

  “Have the elves forgotten their oath?” Anthony’s words were infuse
d with power, power that froze one to the spot while their brain could only think about running away, that turned their blood to ice water while sweat fell down their back.

  Elder Vulmar, bearing the brunt of this force, stumbled back in the projection. “Guardian? But I thought...”

  “Oh, didn’t the dark elves teach you anything? You al- ways need to check, Vulmar. Do you keep the pact?” An-

  thony asked as if Vulmar were playing within the palm of his hand.

  Vulmar stood straight, looking at Anthony. “We remem- ber our oath and we honor it.”

  “Good. We will need a guide and can set out in an hour. I will leave the city lord for you to deal with. It seems the younger generation forget that it was the dark elves who left the Deepwood to seek out new information, look- ing to increase their knowledge and study the inorgan- ic world while the wood elves looked at understanding the organic world and took to calling themselves high elves. Prejudice and arrogance are two things that I ab- hor,” Anthony said.

  “Our lessons have been too relaxed.” Vulmar bowed in apology, his eyes burning with self-deprecation.

  Anthony nodded. The golden dragon around his hand grabbed the mirror and took the mirror over to the city lord.

  “Aevaris.” The elder’s voice was like rolling thunder clouds in the distance, promising darkness and destruc- tion in the future. “Get our guests a guide and make sure that they reach Thelsedorei without complications.”

  “Captain Lensa, take them,” Aevaris said.

  Lensa stood, saluting and bowing to the elder before she turned toward the trio. “Please come with me.” She bowed and saluted them as well, with no less reverence

  than she had toward the elder. She led them out of the hall.

  As the doors closed, they could feel a disturbance in the Mana behind them as Vulmar started to let loose.

  “Well, on to the next part!” Anthony said, whistling as he followed Lensa.

  “Somehow, you’re the most unreliable, reliable person I have ever met,” Aila muttered.

  “Just hate it when people aren’t straightforward and lie to one another. Just isn’t nice.”

  They left Morhtheaus behind and headed in a straight line for Thelsedorei, the elusive and hidden capital of the high elves, and the birthplace of all elves.

  Chapter: Quest Update

  The trip to Thelsedorei was quick and without any is- sues. Elves appeared here and there, letting them past them. Their eyes fell on Aila, examining her.

  Anthony heard the roar of Thelsedorei. “What is that?” Tommie asked.

  “The Everwater, that supplies the Evertree,” Aila said.

  “They’re rather literal with their naming,” Anthony sup- plied.

  “Everwater and tree?”

  “There is a massive sinkhole in the forest—a bunch of lakes lead to it. At some point, a massive tree grew out of it. Don’t know if the elves came from the tree or they found it—lore is always difficult like that.

  “The tree reaches above the large sinkhole and the branches spread out. The elves grew the branches into their city that continues to grow upward and outward every year. The sound is from the water falling under- neath the tree and into the sinkhole.”

  As they got closer, the air seemed to be fresh. Water shot into the air from falling into the massive sinkhole.

  They came out of the forest. There was a still canopy above them but there were now plots of farms that

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  stretched out in front of them, with elves working with beasts to tend to their crops.

  A wall appeared in the distance, made from interwoven branches of silver that seemed to have a gold glow about them in the afternoon sun.

  “Wow,” Tommie said.

  “Bit better than Morhtheaus?” Anthony asked.

  Neither he nor Aila said anything as they both stared up at the city. The waterfall underneath covered it all in mist, catching the sunlight.

  They went through the fields and reached the main gate. The doors opened, with the branches bending down.

  Inside, the city grew in and up. Houses were built through multiple levels or hung off branches.

  “I heard that some call it the City of Gods,” Tommie said.

  “The Golden City.” “The Tree City.”

  “The city where the elves conduct all their business from?” Anthony asked.

  Aila and Tommie shot him a glance.

  “What? Others might think all of those things, but to the people here, it’s just home—the elves’ home.” An-

  thony’s voice softened as he looked from Aila to the city as they rode in. “Though, it is one of the most beautiful cities I ever saw. But nothing compared to her.” Antho- ny’s voice trailed off.

  Tommie heard the pain and confusion in Anthony’s voice.

  “Damn memories.” Anthony shook his head, dismissing his feelings as Tommie retracted his gaze and looked at the city.

  ***

  They were taken to a residence that was close to the el- ders’ quarters.

  They had just settled in when a guest arrived.

  “Elder Vulmar,” Anthony said as he saw the elf being guided into the house.

  “Anthony.” Elder Vulmar saluted and bowed to him. An- thony felt that the respect was more natural and that there was something hidden in the elder’s eyes. Anthony used his Eyes of Truth, but he didn’t see that there was anything false in his actions.

  “May the tree always see you,” Anthony said, feeling it might be good to give the old fella a break.

  “And may Dena bless your growth.” The elder smiled as if he had expected Anthony to say that.

  The elves do live for a damn long time. Do they have any information on me, on my past? Anthony usually reacted on instinct, his body working before his mind had time to react; with it, he would unlock memories and glimpses of the past, but they were rare.

  Although he was joyful on the outside, he held the fear that he might never know everything about his history. He felt as if there were something massive that he couldn’t remember, something that was a part of his memories, a key part of him. But he couldn’t pin it down.

  “I am sorry about the way you and your companions were greeted in Morhtheaus. I cannot make amends but I will look to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. We have seen that our people might need more education on the outside world. It seems that in isolation, some of them have built up prejudices. Not a quality that we hope to see in our city lords,” Vulmar said.

  “Mistakes were made but solutions can be found and im- plemented,” Anthony said.

  “It is painful for us elders as most of us have family mem- bers and friends who are dark elves. It seems that the younger generation have forgotten.”

  Anthony nodded. It made sense. Thelsedorei was the birthplace of the elves, but the dark elves were those who sought the darkness, entertaining their curiosity.

  “It is time that we started up the elven exchange once again. We stopped it in the troubling times with the hu-

  mans and the beast kin fighting one another. Elves are seen as commodities outside of the Deepwood.”

  Anthony sighed. It had been that way for generations. The elves, with their natural beauty, were sought-after slaves for evil elements of any race.

  “Elder Vulmar.” Aila came down the stairs and saw him there.

  “Princess Wranoris.” Elder Vulmar saluted her but only bowed his head to her. “I have been sent over to collect the letter from you. Might I be able to do that?”

  “What will you do with it?” Aila asked.

  “The elders have been convened. We want to read the letter and verify its contents,” Vulmar said.

  “Anthony?”

  “Everything he said is the truth,” Anthony said.

  Aila pulled out the letter but hesitated for a few seconds before she passed it to Elder Vulmar.

  “Thank you for the trust that you are placing with me. I hope that you have a restful night. We s
hould review everything and make a decision by tomorrow morning,” Vulmar said, as he dismissed himself.