Elf World Shadows Rising

by Matthew Pequegnat

  “Me not know vat ya want. Ivan know nothing.”

  “I knew it,” Moss shrugged, “ya poor dumb bastard.”

  Ivan was confused. He was not use to being on the receiving end of such a confrontation. And this runt dwarf was beyond his capacity to comprehend, why he was not able to get up and kill this pip squeak. Once again convinced he could get up and squash these pests, he struggled to get up. And in doing so lost consciousness, again.

  Moss looked at Myst. “This has to be the dumbest Ogre I’ve seen yet.”

  “You get the picture why he is an outcast from his own people and working for scum like Haddar. No self respecting Ogre clan would have this foul bastard.”

  “Ya right there Myst, but self respecting and Ogre what the hells…? Now I hope this ain't going to take all day.” He poured a pot of water over the Ogre’s head to wake the brutal slave trainer.

  When Ivan had reawakened, Moss brought a cage over to him. He put it on the Ogre’s stomach. Inside was a large sewer rat, sitting on a wire floor. “When I take away the floor trap, the rat will try to escape. Do you know what it will chew through to get away, hum, do ya?”

  Ivan began to sweat. Like most Ogres, he had superstitious fears about being eaten alive, as well as a whole host of other cultural fears that Ogres suffer from. It was always surprising just how many things frighten the eight foot tall monsters.

  “She’s gone, they took her away. Ivan not know where.”

  Moss grabbed the trap, and started to pull it open. The rat jumped and started to squeak in fright and agitation.

  But the rat’s fear was nothing compared to that of Ivan. "They took her to the Haddar place up in the mountains by Tazco. Please, that’s all Ivan knows. Ah, ah, no! Don’t let it eats me!”

  Myst looked the Ogre in the eyes. “You had fun with the little girl Elf, didn’t ya scum. How bad did you hurt her? I bet you liked it right, I can tell, I can read your soul. Filthy scum.” Ivan did not have the intellect to even try to lie about it, not that it would have done him any good.

  Myst looked over the balcony at the water, “Lets make it look accidental; that way Haddar won’t know we are after him yet. Care for a morning swim?”

  Moss heaved the struggling Ogre over the rail, and together they fell into the sea. Moss was stronger in Fire Magic than Water Magic, but extraordinarily he had more than just a passive skill in both magic forms. So the water held no fear for him, as they plunged into the dark waves.

  By then, Ivan Grelnich had nearly escaped his bonds, and was trying to swim for the surface and freedom. The dark water blinded the Ogre, as he attempted to discover which way was up. He would kill these two slowly he swore, painfully slow torture that would last a wondrously long time.

  Moss grabbed him around the neck and started to swim for the bottom. While the Ogre could not see in the murky water, Moss had no trouble seeing under water, and no one could out swim a dwarf, not a chance. Moss reached the bottom, and grabbed hold of a broken cable. The Ogre was hitting him in a panicked attempted to get free and find the surface and air. Moss sat back to wait, it would only take a few minutes, and he could hold his breath for half an hour at least. Yes he decided, he did enjoy having the benefit of Water Magic.

  ~

  Myst walked into the office of the senior military attaché of the Embassy of The Empire of the Sun. A tall reddish blond Elf was standing behind an ornate bark wood desk reading a report. The Elf had the green and gold tunic and trousers of the Imperial Army, and embroidered on to the left chest was the silver dragon of a Brigadier General.

  Myst marched into the office, stopping a yard before the desk, and coming to attention and saluting the Brigadier. “Colonel Myst Sunstar, I.S.S., Sir,” Myst barked in proper formal greeting.

  “So your Myst, ah, I’d heard that you were being sent to handle this mess here. What can I do for you Colonel; all of my resources are at your disposal needless to say.”

  Myst liked the look of this proper officer, so unlike the sod that was running the Embassy’s Military Intelligence. Brigadier General Ral Cordan was rumored to be one of the brightest and most capable of the General officers in the Imperial Army. He had successfully held Fortress Redoubt in the last war against Yagon, even while outnumbered by more than twenty to one, by those damn Orcs and Frost Elves. It was a victory that help to win the campaign to drive out them from the Wildlands and the northern border.

  “General, what I need is one of your couriers to go with me up into the mountains, to relay orders back to my staff here. I need one of your people instead of one of the intelligence officers assigned to the embassy, because I believe that they have been compromised.”

  “I have had my doubts as well Colonel, the enemy seems to know too much of our operations to be coincidental. I have a bright young Ensign that just arrived last week, and most likely hasn’t been turned yet. I’ll send for him, and you can take him with you.”

  The general called in his secretary and sent for the officer in question. “Colonel, we very much need to get the Ambassador back. She is one of the brightest leaders that the Crown has. Her lost will be devastating to our successful operations on the Eastern Continent, where she has been trained to be our top expert here. For over thirty years, she has been posted to all of the countries on this continent, and has built up not only a vast knowledge of the different countries, but also she has built up important contacts with the leaders of these countries. I can not overstate the importance of your mission, not only for the good of our Country, but selfishly for me and my family as well. Kayla is my niece, and her lost would be a terrible blow to myself and to the rest of our family. Bring her home to us Colonel.” Tears were streaming down the face of this strong and proud man; a hero who had won the Knight’s Cross at Redoubt.

  Myst was truly moved at the Generals words, “Sir, I will do all in my power to bring her back safely, that I swear by my oath and honor, as an Officer and Knight of the Imperial Army.”

  Brigadier General Cordan, came around his desk and gripped Myst by the shoulder. “That I know well. It is why I asked for you personally.”

  That surprised Myst, while he knew he had a high reputation within the Intelligence Service; they tended to keep that knowledge secret and within the Service itself. General Cordan would not normally be privy to such information.

  “I was there that night at Saltanapur. I watched you earn your Knighthood storming the breach in the castle’s wall. That was the bravest charge of troops that I have ever seen, and the bloodiest. I was General Reodan’s aide that night. We stood on the hill and watched, as you rallied the men up, and into the jaws of death, and saved not only many of their lives, but the fate of the attack as well. That is why I know that you will not turn back in the face of danger, and that you will bring us victory if anyone can.”

  Myst shuddered as he remembered the events of that night, so many years ago. It was a malevolent haze of shadowy memories. The bodies of over sixteen hundred Sun Elves were piled in the breach that night. Three thousand had died taking the castle in that twilight of blood and slaughter.

  They had sent wave after wave of Guardsmen with their Elven Pikes struggling up the collapsed wall. The companies of Fusiliers, trying to inch forward under the murderous barrage, attempted to cover the Guardsmen with their crossbow fire. Then the Border Rangers thrown into the chaos, working desperately to exploit the previous charge of the Guards. Soldiers everywhere hugged the rubble, trying to stay alive in the rain of death that had descended on them. Crossbow bolts, boiling oil, and boulders cast down the slope onto them was not the worst, no, it had been the dark magic. Fireballs and explosions of death sucked men from their hiding places. Tossed them into the pit at the base of the wall, where men had tried to dig themselves shelter under the bodies of their comrades.

  He had finally snapped and charged into the rain of death. The bolts had rattled the stones around him in a torrent of flying steel, as he pulled himself up the pile, yard after yard
. Magical rockets hissed flame and confusion, some sped wildly skyward, others crashed searing into the advancing men that some how were following Myst. The crash of ballista’s in counter fire attempted to cover the few brave attackers. Their shots busting the stones and dust from the parapet and embrasures, in a futile effort to slow the enemy’s deadly fire.

  Myst, overwhelmed with rage and fear, climbed higher. A shot threw up a broken stone to cut open his scalp. Smoke wheeled and churned, stinging his eyes and searing his lungs. As they scrambled higher, the shots of the Fusiliers behind them where sending bolts just inches over their heads. Blood exploded as the Guardsmen next to him was cut in half by a flaming rocket, that burned the night in its hellish flight. All along the breach, flames spat out, and magic blasted in streams of sparks and choking smoke. He had made the summit of the breach, only to be met by a counter charge of Shadow Elves. Swords clashed in the demonic trap; curved tulwars, favored by the enemy, met the hand and a half long swords and pike. A sergeant had dropped like a gaffed fish, as a sword opened his head, and he flopped onto Myst’s legs. Myst stumbled, and the fall saved his life from the howling black kilted men.

  He was able to get back up, standing tall in the breach. A man rammed a spear at him; he parried with his sword, and then lunged upward taking him in the throat. A sword slashed at his head from the left; he ducked, and lunged, taking the man in the chest with his steel. He twisted the sword as he pulled back to break the suction hold of the wound. He scrambled past the summit, lashing out at the wave of men that threatened to throw him back. It was all he could do to hold his ground, to thrust and stab with his bloody sword. He stabbed again and again, thrusting and snarling at the enemy. “Come on!” he roared at the top of his lungs. And suddenly there were men all about him in the blessed green and gold, as they spilled about him and down the inner wall to hack the enemy without quarter given. The blood bath had turned, and now it was time for the Shadow Elves to reap what they had sown.

  He remembered the sounds afterwards of the dozens of priests, chanting their healing magic, trying to save the thousands and thousands of wounded. For hours they had saved lives, dropping from the exhaustion of casting so many, many spells. Some of the priests had died, too drained and weary to breathe anymore.

  Suddenly, he was back in the General’s office. Sweat dripped from his brow, as the remembered terror subsided.

  The look in the General’s eyes, told he knew where Myst had just been a second ago. There also was a gaze of deep respect and compassion that can only be understood by those who had faced the ‘dragon’ themselves. A bond that the brave share, forged in the horror of war, paid in blood, in death, a very high price by far.

  A knock at the door and a very young officer entered and reported, “Ensign Fornost, reporting as ordered, Sir.” He looked to Myst like he had just graduated from the Military College and was on his first posting. He was maybe twenty years old, five foot ten and one hundred seventy pounds or so. His sandy color hair and gray-blue eyes were a bit unusual for a Sun Elf.

  “Ensign, you are hereby assigned to Colonel Myst for as long as he needs your services. Get your kit together and meet him at the main gate in ten minutes. Questions?”

  “No Sir, by your leave Sir.” And out of the office marched a very eager, and very young Elf.

  “They gave him an Embassy assignment right out of the IMC?” (Imperial Military College)

  “I know. What is the Army coming too? Why, I was stuck with the Third Lancers patrolling the passes in the Mountains of Twilight for my first thirty years out.”

  “I had my first sixty something with the Border Ranger myself, Sir. But this seems to be a pattern. General Trendal has a brand new Ensign as a secretary at the High Command; who’s making up the assignment list?”

  “General Rish Laspire took over as chief of Personnel, what must have been two years ago. That would explain it now wouldn’t it.” General Laspire was not known as being the brightest light of the officer corp, but good at parties though.

  Myst smiled at the joke, “Thank you for your help, Sir. By your leave?”

  “Carry on Colonel, good luck!”

  Myst collected the young Ensign from the front gate and headed into the wealthy part of town. He was glad to see that the Ensign had changed into civilian clothes; a nice heather color trousers, tunic, and long coat; it would blend into any surroundings.

  They headed up avenue Crystal and stopped at the Cafe Tera patio dining area. Sitting at a small table overlooking the square was Moss, much nicer dressed than what was his usual. He could pass for a wealthy ship’s captain in his dark blue silk shirt with the wide sleeves, and the black leather pants. A small cup of coffee sat at his elbow. Moss grandly gestured for them to take seats and join him.

  “My, don’t you look respectable,” Myst kidded him as they sat down at the table.

  “This is Ensign Kell Fornost. Ensign, this is Lieutenant Moss Blackforge. He’s the one you will report to when I send you back with information, and only him, and if you can’t find him, then the General. Do you understand?”

  “Yes Sir,” he squeaked.

  Moss’s eyebrows seem to rise a few inches at the sound of the ‘officer’. “Elves,” he thought to himself, “weird bunch.”

  “You will avoid anyone else at our embassy, particularly the military intelligence section and Colonel Asitain.

  Yes Sir,” Kell managed in a normal voice.

  Moss took out a little leather bound notebook and a stub pencil and wrote a note in the book.

  “What are you doing, making a grocery list?”

  “Ack, close you are there Myst, a list of people who needs killing. Problem is I keep filling these little books up…”

  Myst was also considering the advisability of taking the Ensign along with him, but he needed someone who could report back to Moss. And Moss had to stay to keep an eye on the Haddar compound, just in case the Ogre had lied to them.

  “We are heading back to the hotel to pick up our guide, go ahead and send for Elise to get her butt over here to help you keep a look out. She’s probably just getting into port at Koa; she will have to miss working on her tan I guess.”

  “That sure will piss her off good Myst. Wish I could see her face when she checks into the Consulate and they tell her to get right back on a ship,” Moss chuckled with delight.

  ~

  Myst went back to the Imperial Hotel to check out and pick up his things. Ensign Kell Fornost, Myst had sent to the stables to see to their horses. Crossing the grand lobby, he went to the front desk, "Send Renna up to my room, and have the slave girl pack my things and bring them down to me. Also I need to see the Hotel’s General Manager immediately."

  “Yes, Sir, immediately,” the Star Elf clerk responded’ and then she scurried into the manager’s office. A few seconds later, the General Manager came out, a very dignified Star Elf with silver at the temples of his finely stilled black hair.

  “May I help you, Colonel ?”

  “Yes there is indeed; I have a financial proposal for you, let’s talk in your office shall we.”

  Renna came down to the lobby a few minutes later with Myst’s bags. The desk clerk looked over at her and was surprised at the tears that were filling Renna’s beautiful deep blue eyes.

  “What’s the matter Renna? You know that the guest always leave after a few days. If you want when he comes back, I‘ll make sure you are assigned to him again.”

  “I, just didn’t know that he was leaving already. He didn’t say anything to me...”

  “Well dry your eyes. They want you take the bags into the GM’s offices as soon as you got here, so hurry up.”

  She hurried into the great office. The GM was sitting behind his desk, and Myst was sitting in one of the great leather chairs. Both watched her as she came in; the GM was looking almost kindly for a change.

  “Renna, I’m going up to the mountains where you used to live. Would you be willing to go with me as a guide?”
Myst asked her.

  She was stunned. Her mouth dropped open and she couldn’t think of what to say; she could not begin to comprehend what was happening.

  “Renna, we have enjoyed having you here at the Imperial Hotel, but now Colonel Myst has bought your service. He is your master now.”

  Slowly she walked over to Myst; she stopped and dropped to the floor, kneeling at his feet, with a look of overwhelming happiness on her angelic face.

  “Well lass, will you be my guide?” he asked gently.

  “Oh yes Master, it...Yes, Yes.”

  “Well then, there is only one thing left to do.” Myst reached out and took Renna’s neck in his right hand, and pulled down so he could grasp it tightly.

  She felt a strange tingling of magic that went down her neck and throughout her body. A glow of magical power radiated from Myst as he gathered power.

  “I, Colonel Mystros Greydon Sunstar, Knight Lord of the Imperial Army of Solara, do hereby and for evermore grant you Renna of Gathor Woods, .... FREEDOM!”

  The tingling flared in her neck at his last words and an audible click echoed across the grand office. The irremovable black ‘S’ rune had changed, to a white ‘F’. Never again could she be made a slave; the magic rune could not be removed or again changed while she lived.

  She looked up into Myst eyes, and fainted in his arms.

  CHAPTER 7

  The early Autumn sun was shining its crisp bright light directly over head; the cloudless sky a sharp bright blue. On a hill, overlooking the main eastern road out of Zengara, sat a very beautiful Star Elf woman upon a massive roan stallion.

  She was dressed as the custom of Star Elves, all in varying shades of purple and pink. She had on a very bright pink loin cloth, dark purple sandals, and a medium purple open traveling robe. The robe was trimmed in gold thread, and closed just under her full breast with a large gold clasp, inset with an emerald the size of a pigeon’s egg. On her head, she had on a turban like cloth hat done in reddish purple and gold. A golden tassel hung from the turban, down the right side of her lovely head.