by Aaron Oster
The gnomes had been completely against the idea, vehemently stating that the humans could not be trusted and that the gods – who’d so graciously warned them – should be. The Speaker of the Council of Five, which was the governing body which ruled the race as a whole, had even gone so far as to hurl insults and death threats at him, though Morgan hardly cared what the angry white-bearded man had to say.
Tork, surprising absolutely no one, had sided with the gnomes, but seeing as they were outnumbered, the decision to end the war was made for them. Without the support of the elves, dwarves and beastmen, the trolls and gnomes couldn’t do all that much. The dwarves were the ones who were going to supply nearly all the ships, and it was the beastmen who acted as the main scouts and advance troops. The elves had the numbers, vastly outstripping any of the others. And, while the gnomes had knowledge and the trolls had strength, neither could wage war on an entire race. At least, not successfully.
When the gnomes had left, it had been with dire threats of retribution. Tork hadn’t said much, though it was clear that he was agitated. Malachi seemed happy to have the war end and said he’d be sending delegates over soon as well.
Elyssa announced that the wedding would take place in exactly two weeks because she didn’t want to wait any longer than that. She’d invited all the rulers, though Morgan had a feeling that the gnomes and trolls would not be making an appearance.
Ragnar was the last to go, warning Elyssa to be careful and never go anywhere with Morgan if Gilderon wasn’t there. At least, until they were officially married. Then, he left, leaving the two of them alone once again.
“Are you going to explain why you need to pretend to be an idiot in front of your supposed allies?” Morgan asked, giving her a sidelong glance.
“Sure,” she replied as she got to her feet and stretched from side to side. “Come for a walk with me in my gardens. We can talk and get to know one another a bit better. We are going to be temporarily married, after all, and it would do us both some good to get some perspective.”
Morgan thought about it for a moment, then nodded. He didn’t see any reason why they shouldn’t get to know one another. He honestly didn’t know how long it would take to defeat the gods, and if he was going to be stuck with this woman for several years, it would probably be better for the two of them to talk a bit beforehand.
“Great,” Elyssa replied. “I’ll have someone escort you out while I go get changed into something more comfortable. As nice as this gown is, it’s really heavy and a pain to walk in.”
“I can imagine,” he said, eyeing the flowing monstrosity covering her slender frame.
She smiled at him then and turned to leave the room. Morgan rose as well, heading for the door, only to find Gilderon there, once again, glaring at him.
“Go on, then. Say what you want,” Morgan said, crossing his arms.
“You are a filthy disgusting human! You are a plague upon this world and a disgrace to all living creatures. A scourge upon Somerset, an infestation that should be wiped out! I hate you and your kind with all my heart, and if it were my choice, I would strike you down where you stand!”
Morgan let out a snort, then turned to leave. However, the elf’s hand shot out, clamping onto his belt and stopping him in place.
“Did I say you can leave?” Gilderon asked.
Morgan let out an internal sigh, then turned back to face the elf. It was one thing if he was overprotective of Elyssa due to their close relation, but his hatred of humans clearly went far beyond that. It puzzled Morgan, as it had been thousands of years since the races even interacted, so Gilderon had little reason to be acting this way. But that was fine. Morgan had his ways of intimidation.
Purple light tinged with black flared around his body as he used his Aura Flare. It had been quite some time since he’d needed to intimidate someone, but he was glad for the skill when the situation demanded. His eyes burned like twin coals of burning golden light, and his aura seemed to stretch until it filled the entire corridor, dimming the lanterns in the sconces and causing the very flames within to shudder.
Gilderon recoiled, his eyes going wide as he staggered back, nearly losing his balance in the process.
“Listen to me, and listen well,” Morgan said, his voice still calm, but now carrying an edge to it. “I don’t care if you don’t like me on a personal level. But, regardless of what you want, I’m here for the time being. You don’t need to like me, but let me make you understand one thing. If you act like this against anyone I care about, especially the other humans coming here, I will raze this city to the ground and all the people along with it.
“If anything happens to them at all, I’ll assume it was your doing and destroy the city.
“You think you know power. You think yourself strong because you managed to knock me out after I’d sustained a head injury. Well, I can assure you that as you are now, you stand no chance of beating me. In fact, the only reason your group was even able to slow me down was because I didn’t want to accidentally hurt my companions.”
Morgan allowed his Aura Flare to fade, the light in the corridor returning to normal as he did.
“Y-You’re bluffing,” Gilderon said, though he was clearly sweating. “There’s no way you could destroy an entire city on your own, not without our soldiers stopping you first. We would…”
“One skill,” Morgan said, cutting the elf off. “That is all it would take.”
With that said, he turned away from the elf once more. And, when Gilderon tried to stop him, he simply sped up a half-step at the last moment, causing his hand to close on empty air. No more threats were levied, no more warnings. All that greeted Morgan was utter silence.
While the past couple of years had tempered his lust for battle and impulse to kill, Morgan would go through with that threat in a heartbeat. Gilderon might not be able to hurt him, but he might have gone after Grace to try and get at him. He could already see that the elf was going to be a problem. It was better to have put the fear of retribution into him now, rather than after something had happened.
After walking a few more moments, he realized he had no idea where to even go. He was supposed to meet Elyssa in her gardens, and she’d be sending someone to guide him there. So, hoping Gilderon was gone, Morgan turned back toward the meeting room. As he walked, he allowed his hand to drift up to the pendant, depressing the side as he did. He hoped Katherine would answer now, as he needed someone to talk to. Besides, this alliance would affect not only him, but the entirety of the Five Kingdoms, and seeing as she was one of its rulers, she needed to know all that had transpired here today.
28
Shedra angrily stomped from the meeting room, his fists clenched in impotent rage as he railed against the humans, elves, dwarves and everyone else who would ruin all of his carefully crafted plans.
“Sir?”
“What?” Shedra snapped, whirling on his servant for the day.
“The…Uh…Council wants to convene a meeting,” the woman said, pointing over her shoulder to where the rest of the Council was staring after him.
The very last thing Shedra wanted to do right now was talk to them, but he knew that he had little choice. Sitting alone in his study, drinking copious amounts of scotch and cursing at the world for screwing him wasn’t going to solve their problems. They needed to make a plan. This wasn’t over just yet. The idiot queen was only engaged, and the wedding wasn’t for another two weeks.
“Fine,” he snapped, turning back around and heading toward the meeting room. “But go get us a few bottles of scotch.”
“It’s still morning. Are you sure…?”
“Now!” Shedra snapped, causing the woman to jump, then run off to do as she was told.
“No disturbances!” he said, whirling on the others as the councilors flew back into the room. “Except for the scotch,” he amended a moment later. He then slammed the door in their faces.
“What are we going to do, Shedra?” asked Nava, the old
est member of the Council, a decrepit woman who appeared to be more dead than alive.
“If the others aren’t going off to war, a takeover will be impossible!” exclaimed Tibsmith, his greatest opposition in the Council.
“I agree with Tibsmith,” Qwal said. “All of our plans will fall apart, and Strangler will not be pleased.”
“Can you all please calm down? I’m sure Shedra has some sort of plan to rectify the situation. Don’t do?”
This came from Eon, the calmest of the group. He had a presence that seemed to demand respect. As an accomplished scholar and the foremost in his field, he’d been elected to the council seven times, and while Nava was the oldest among them, Eon had been on the Council for longer than any of them.
“Yes,” Shedra replied, glad for the silence that Eon’s words demanded. “We still have two weeks before the wedding, meaning that we can still stop it from happening.”
“But how, pray tell, are you going to do that?” Tibsmith demanded. “You saw that elf and the way she was practically drooling over the human. There’s no way she’s going to be talked out of it!”
“Perhaps we can appeal to the dwarven king?” Nava suggested. “Convince him that this is a bad idea?”
“He’s the one who proposed an alliance after they announced their engagement!” Tibsmith exclaimed.
“No,” Shedra said. “Appealing to any of the other rulers would be a waste of time. We all know where they stand on this issue, and nothing will change their minds. Right now, they hold all the power, as we are outnumbered. The charter of peace we’ve signed clearly states that majority rules in matters of the fate of our continent as a whole, and if three out of the five agreed to call a ceasefire and sign a treaty, they will not back out.”
“So, what alternatives do we have?” Eon asked. “Can we kill the human and void the marriage?”
“It wouldn’t do us any good,” Shedra replied. “Killing the human would just insight anger between the elven side and ours. They know that we are opposed, so if he turns up dead, we’re going to be the first ones they blame. Best case scenario, nothing happens. However, even if they didn’t retaliate, they would trust us far less, making a takeover all the harder.
“If I were them, I would foist the blame completely onto us in a situation like that. We’d become a target for the humans’ rage at killing one of their own. Without the aid of the others, we don’t stand a chance against them. Plus, if we do something like that, the trolls are likely to abandon us as well, to avoid any association.”
“That was well-reasoned,” Eon said, causing the others to nod along in appreciation, even Tibsmith.
Among the gnomes, nothing was prized as much as logic and reasoning. It was because of his ability to think the way he did that Shedra was chosen as Speaker in the first place. Well, that, and his complete ruthlessness when it came to completing the will of the Council.
“If that will not work, then what is your proposal?” Qwal asked.
“We contact the master,” Shedra replied.
This statement made everyone pay attention, and the room went silent as a grave. Suggesting something like this was not something they’d been counting on. Contacting her was a huge risk. The creature was temperamental at best, and they were only working with her as a means to an end. However, while they did, they were completely at her mercy. The deal they’d struck assured that there would be no betrayal from them. Ancient as this creature was, it knew how to make a favorable deal. One that even the gnomes couldn’t slip.
“Are you sure that’s a wise course of action?” Eon asked after a few moments.
“She is wiser than any of us and may offer some insight into our plight.”
The Council members looked between one another for a few moments, hunched shoulders and wizened features giving nothing away as to their thoughts. Shedra was confident they’d go along with his plans, though. They always did.
“Very well,” Eon finally said. “You may proceed.”
Shedra dropped to his knees, pressing his face to the floor and forcing his heart – which had begun hammering at the prospect – to slow down. He breathed in deeply several times, then called out.
“We seek your guidance, master. The elves, dwarves and beastmen have conspired to stop the war. The elven queen will soon be married to a human, and we will be forced to abandon our plans!”
The rest of the Council bowed as well, and they waited in silence for the reply to come. They had no idea how long they’d need to remain as they were, prostrated upon the ground in a sign of subservience and loyalty. It didn’t take nearly as long as Shedra thought it might, as the answer came only half a minute after the question was posed.
“Kill the elf. Blame it on the humanssss. Anger. War. Hatred. Blood! Do not asssk me such trivial quessstions again, lessst I lose confidence in your abilitiesss.”
The hissing, sibilant voice of the World Beast Strangler echoed throughout the room as she gave her orders to the Council. Shedra suppressed a shudder as her presence faded from the room, taking along with it the feelings of dread and unimaginable power. World Beasts were truly monsters among monsters, and he, for one, was glad that they were on the same side.
“Well,” he said, rising shakily to his feet and trying to hide the fear that the others were clearly showing. “We now have a plan. We will the elven queen, and make it look like the humans did it. We may as well blow a few sections of the palace up while we’re at it. And, if the delegates of the dwarves and beastmen are there as well, we kill them too.”
Shedra smiled as the other Councilors nodded in agreement. It was a perfect plan, one that would insight hatred between the two races and assure that the topic of peace was never broached again.
***
Grace let out a long sigh of relief as Lumia exited the tunnel, flapping her powerful wings as they emerged into the light of the early morning sun. It felt good to be out of there, especially knowing what was inside, and she was more than a little happy to be putting some distance between her and the lair of the World Beast.
“How are you holding up?” Lumia asked, drifting down to the ground and finally setting her down.
“Better, now that we’re out,” Grace replied, standing on shaky legs.
She was completely exhausted, not having slept the entire night. However, the relief she felt from being out of there was keeping her on her feet and preventing the imminent collapse she could feel coming on.
“Hey! Looks like I finally found you! Damn, it took forever to track you all the way here!”
Grace whirled in place, as did Lumia, only for the two of them to relax as Hilda came into view. She’d been wondering what had happened to the woman, as she’d likely been locked out of the barrier when she’d gone off to scout. However, it seemed she’d tracked them down on her own and was none the worse for wear.
“Where’s Morgan?” she asked, coming to a halt a few feet away and looking between the two of them.
“We don’t know,” Grace replied. “He told us to run, but after an explosion went off and we were sent off-course, we came back to find that he’d disappeared.”
“And you couldn’t track him?” she asked, addressing her question to Lumia.
“Why do you not seem surprised at my appearance?” Lumia asked. “And how did you know I was intelligent enough to speak?”
“Please,” Hilda replied with a snort. “I might be dense, but I’m not an idiot. I could hear the two of you talking from time to time. Besides, you resemble the small version way too much for me to miss.”
“Guess that makes sense,” Grace said, a bit embarrassed that she’d inadvertently given Lumia’s secret away.
She wasn’t sure if Morgan would be mad about that and could only hope that he’d understand. That was, if they could even find him. She was about to ask Hilda what had happened to her since they’d been separated, but both she and Lumia suddenly went very still, both turning to the north, with their muscles tensing up.<
br />
“We know you’re there,” Hilda called out. “May as well come out and face us like real men, not the cowards you are.”
Grace couldn’t spot anything, but she did have a skill for locating things she could not see. She clicked her tongue, activating Echolocation, and watched the soundwaves as they gave her a good view of the landscape before her. What she saw was hardly encouraging. Dozens of figures, elves by the looks of it, dotted the landscape all around them. She had no idea how strong they were, or if Hilda and Lumia could take them all. After all, they had managed to capture Morgan.
“We are not men,” a voice called back. “We are elves.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Hilda said, getting into a fighting stance. “Are you just gonna keep hiding like a bunch of pansies, or are you gonna come out so we can fight?”
There were a few moments of silence before a couple of the elves emerged. They were dressed similarly to the ones that had ambushed them last night. They were all wearing matching uniforms and carrying a militaristic air.
“We have not come to fight,” the lead elf, who was female, said. “We have come at the command of our queen to collect you.”
Hilda let out a snort and didn’t allow her posture to relax.
“And what makes you think we’ll just let ourselves be ‘collected?’” she asked, making air quotes with her fingers.
“We come from our queen, bearing a message for the one called Grace.”
They all started at that, and none more so than Grace. How could they possibly have known her name?
“And what exactly is this message?” Hilda asked, being the first to recover.
“She says, and I quote, ‘Morgan needs a haircut.’”
Hilda gave the elves a weird look before turning her eyes to Grace. What she saw was completely unexpected, as the girl, instead of looking puzzled, practically beamed from ear to ear.
“Morgan’s alright,” she said, feeling the beginnings of tears prickling at the corners of her eyes.
