by T.P. Grish
‘The dwarf who killed the child was a violent prisoner, held captive by the dwarf tribe’ stated Elaina, getting to the point. ‘The dwarves were trying to recapture him’.
The Mayor bristled, ‘What, by Wrazuul’s death, are you talking about?’ he exclaimed, invoking the name of the demon antagonist in the St. Lusian theology. Remus and Elaina explained what had occurred, and what they had learned. ‘So you tried to negotiate with the dwarves?!’ yelled the Mayor incredulously. ‘You realize, if we tell the townspeople about this, you would be burnt at the stake! You are already under suspicion!’
‘Hold on’, said the Sheriff. ‘You expect us to believe that the dwarves weren’t responsible for all the attacks on our town, on the Steelwielder pilgrims?! Witnesses saw dwarves there, lots of them!’
‘No, we don’t. The dwarves were responsible for that. But we killed our share of them and won the battle. I am not saying we don’t have reason to attack the dwarves, I am saying the destruction and death that would be caused by this war will escalate’, said Remus.
Elaina added, ‘The straw that broke the camel’s back was the tragic death of the child. But, what if we capture and kill the dwarf that executed the foul deed, and bring him back here? It has been centuries since anyone successfully destroyed a tribe of dwarves, and it was at a huge cost in lives’.
‘Even if the dwarves did tell you that, what is to say the monsters are not lying?’ spat the Mayor. ‘We will not stop the war based on this story. No matter what cost we will have to endure, we will avenge this boy’s death!’ The Mayor smiled grimly, ‘If you want to make yourself useful, why don’t you go after Weylin again?’ He was amused to see the bewildered looks on Remus and Elaina’s faces. ‘Or didn’t you hear? We received word from town. He has escaped. Used his magick to stun the guards, and ran. No one knows where’. He turned away, going back to his business.
The Sheriff warned ‘You better fight with us, or get back to High Peaks. Don’t ye stir up trouble here’.
It was no use. They weren’t going to budge on the war, and the news about Weylin was disconcerting. Remus and Elaina stared at each other pensively. ‘Well, we need to try and find the dwarf. It may not stop the war, but it is the only chance’, Remus piped in, saying what they both were thinking.
Elaina asked ‘What about Weylin? We both knew he was a bastard growing up, but he seriously injured someone. He also is a Touched’. Elaina stopped for a moment, pondering that word. Touched. She was reviled for being born with the powers, through no desire of her own. But Weylin used his powers for ill. There was a clear difference, right? Whether someone is dangerous was surely about intent…
‘Weylin will probably be travelling north, that’s where he goes when he undertakes his lawyer work, I believe. Yondern is due directly north, from the main road’. Remus’ words broke Elaina out of her thoughts. ‘That is the same direction that the dwarf went towards. Perhaps we can ask people on the way’, he concluded.
Elaina nodded. So a plan was formed. Perfectly on cue, Perfidian appeared behind them, clasping both their shoulders. ‘I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation! So, where are you guys off to? Chasing after deranged dwarves, as if there were any other kind? And of course, a psychotic Touched is the perfect addition to the adventure!’
Remus snorted and set off, patting the guide on the back in thanks and farewell. Perfidian hurriedly packed his belongings and joined them. The three adventurers headed into the unknown.
CHAPTER 6
The main road started just outside the town of High Peaks, and the three travelers cut through the forest to reach it. They headed towards Yondern, keeping on the road. It was faster and safer, despite the risk of bandits. It was a dim early afternoon, tall green trees towering over the wide dirt road, reaching towards the dull blue sky. There was a rough serenity to the rocky terrain of Corsen, as if everything was chiseled out of granite. Despite the ever-present noises and smells of the forest, the forest was relatively quiet. No one else was on the road. Sometimes a rustling would be heard close by, but the sharpened senses of Remus and Elaina could usually identify the noises as regular forest animals, deer, moose and even a bear that thankfully meandered away. Some noises were unidentified, but they passed. One had to always be careful of Fey.
Glancing at Perfidian, Remus mused that the Norlathan man was too carefree, perhaps ignorant of the breadth of danger the wilderness of Corsen presented. He had to give the bard some credit, though, he had the courage to come to High Peaks and accompany them on their trek, despite knowing how dangerous it was. Evening passed and night sprung upon the forest, not so much an absence of light, but a deep and dark presence in itself.
The trio set up camp in a small clearing by the road. Soon they were sitting around a small fire, warming their hands and roasting their meat. ‘So how did you two communicate with the dwarves’ inquired Perfidian, wiping crumbs from his fancy beard with an ostentatious kerchief. ‘I heard you talking to the Mayor, but didn’t catch all the details. Did your studies come in handy with the translation, Remus?’
Remus wiped grease from his mouth with his hand and cleared his throat. ‘Yes, partly. The dwarf had my book, the one I lost during the caravan battle. There were a few words of dwarvish translated into Common contained within the book. With a bit of creativity, we managed’. Before Perfidian asked the obvious, and painful, question, Remus elaborated that he had not regained the book, and that in fact the dwarves had disappeared with said book. ‘And, do you both believe what they said?’ the bard asked, the other obvious question. He glanced at Elaina when he voiced the question.
‘It’s not so much that we believe it’, she replied. ‘But it makes sense. Dwarves are not known to target children. They have been targeting the town recently, but there is always a danger of dwarves attacking humans, like with all Fey. The people have a right to self-defense, but it is simply a bad idea to attack a Fey community in their home ground’. Remus and Perfidian nodded. All three of the nascent adventurers were knowledgeable enough about history not to doubt that statement for a second. The few occasions in recent history where humans have attempted to wage all-out war with Fey had ended terribly.
Remus spent some time practicing using his arquebus, wasting five bullets trying to hit a large boulder. The heft of the weapon was burdensome, and only the last shot hit the target. He did feel that he was learning to manage the weapon’s weight and the energy released when it fired. After the spectacle was over, Remus returned to the campfire, and they all began their final preparations before sleeping.
Perfidian walked over to Elaina, who was wiping some minor but painful wounds from her palms. They had occurred when she had grasped a thorny branch that was in her way during their journey, and had started to scab over. ‘Here’, Perfidian stated, opening a small wooden box that contained some type of cleansing aloe extract. He efficiently scooped some on his fingers and rubbed Elaina’s hands. She winced as the antiseptic temporarily exacerbated the pain, then eased it.
Remus hadn’t really noticed Elaina’s injuries. They were minor, not logically worth treating. People seemed to appreciate these gestures, though, Elaina certainly did. Was he missing out on a facet of life because of his way of thinking?
Remus shook his head and prepared to sleep.
* * *
Elaina sat with her back against a large tree, quarterstaff nearby. She was alert, but she let part of her mind wander. Remus and Perfidian were asleep, it being her shift.
The low fires of the campfire illuminated the forms of her sleeping companions, and cast a dim blue pall over the trees and the road. The luminous sparkling sky stood in glorious contrast, specks of infinite white and red embedded in midnight black. The two moons of Jorlac and Tiberum glared from the dark tapestry. Jorlac was a smaller moon of white with swirls of red, and Tiberum was a larger moon of stark white.
‘It is a beauty that many cannot appreciate’, came an unexpected, feminine voice from behind. Elaina, startled, sprang up, quarterstaff in hand, to face the intruder. Before her stood a breathtakingly alluring female figure, very tall, with a light green-brown tint to her skin and hair. Despite her beauty, there were patches of her skin that seemed to have an ugly bark-like texture. Elaina thought to scream for help, but her voice caught in her throat. The feminine humanoid raised her hands gracefully in a sign of peace. She was completely naked, and seemed unperturbed by the fact. Elaina’s mind reeled as she wondered what this thing was, trying to scour every story and piece of mythology she could remember….
Could this be an elf?
‘Men tend to sleep during nights such as these, unable to appreciate the beauty of it’ the elf remarked, waving her fingers to indicate Elaina’s sleeping compatriots. ‘But a woman as gifted as yourself, can’.
Elaina’s logic fought against the notion- Remus and Perfidian were sleeping because it was Elaina’s turn to keep watch-, but could not help but feel pride at the elegant creature’s compliment. She also realized with a start, that the elf was speaking ‘Common’, the name used to describe the language all humans spoke.
‘Why do you approach me thus?’ Elaina demanded, quarterstaff not dropping one bit.
‘It is easy for the children of the forest to watch the goings on of Humankind, and of the more base creatures of the wild. The peace is disturbed by the fighting between humans and our cousins. Trees are being burnt down, animals are being slain or chased off their feeding grounds by the activity’, the elf elaborated.
‘By ‘cousins’, you mean the dwarves?’
‘Yes, although odd and brutish, they are part of our family. What you call Feykind. The dwarves are contentious, and men often throw kindling on the fire through their own impatience’. She eyed Elaina knowingly. ‘It is tragic when creatures suffer because of the self-interest and tyranny of their leaders. Many of your friends do not understand this, do they? They lack your powers, both the empathetic… and the magickal’.
Elaina realized the Fey knew she was a Touched. She also seemed to know about the personality differences she often had with Remus. Elaina shook her head roughly, trying to make sure she was not in a dream. She wasn’t. This creature was really standing in front of her.
The creature continued, ‘We hope that people like you can help to preserve the peace’. Elaina asked harshly, ‘Why do you elves not broker peace then? All the stories of elves speak of your deception and manipulation!’
The elf appeared hurt. ‘My name is Thilenta… We never give away our names, but I will tell you. I was like you when I was younger. Intelligent… and empathetic. I wanted to help, but people wouldn’t listen. Other creatures do not listen. But we can work with each other, Elaina, to try to affect a change. We are similar’.
Thilenta reached out to Elaina, several large leaves in her hand. ‘These are specially grown leaves, ingesting them will expedite the healing of wounds and will neutralize most poisons or disease’. Elaina took them. The elf said ‘I have something else to show you’, and beckoned Elaina to follow, disappearing into the foliage.
Elaina glanced behind at the still-sleeping forms of Remus and Perfidian, and followed Thilenta. She emerged into a clearing where the elf was sitting cross-legged. She motioned Elaina to join her, and Elaina sat facing her. ‘There is something I can teach you, young one, something that can help you bring resolution to situations of conflict. Your powers over nature’s water and wind will help you learn’.
Thilenta stood and began an elaborate dance, gesturing and chanting. Elaina realized it was a spell-casting stance. As it went on, Elaina noticed a translucent purple wave rippling through the air. She felt a strong emotive influence, pressuring her to feel positive and trustful feelings towards Thilenta. She realized the spell was creating an effect over her emotions, and her perceptions of the elf. She looked up, the form of Thilenta standing in front of her, smiling. Elaina spent an hour with the mystical elf under the twinkling canopy of sky, the elf teaching her how to cast the spell. Elaina practiced the spell and its gestures repeatedly. She felt it drawing on her powers over wind and water, her powers of Touched.
Eventually she managed to create the same effect Thilenta had created, albeit not as strongly. After she was finished, they shared a drink of water that Thilenta had procured, a bundle of leaves holding rain water. Thilenta placed her hand over Elaina’s shoulder and smiled at her maternally, then walked into the forest, disappearing from sight.
When Elaina returned to the camp, there was about an hour left until she had to rouse Perfidian for his shift. She leaned her head against the same tree as before, and considered all that had transpired this night.
* * *
Perfidian had reinvigorated the campfire and cooked a hearty breakfast before he shook his companions awake. The sausages and softbread he had brought from the war band’s supplies were still fresh, and delicious. Elaina woke first, with Remus yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Perfidian noticed Elaina still had the same quizzical expression that she had last night when she woke him for his shift. They gathered around, eating their breakfast and drinking from their waterskins, all of them in a contemplative, yet genial mood.
When they set off again, the sun had fully risen. The morning was a dull one, and the sky was pale blue and free of clouds. They had become used to life on the road now, and the thud and crunch of their footfalls on the road had become familiar. Soon, they saw the outline of a traveler approaching from further ahead on the road. He seemed to be pulling a wagon.
As he neared, they were relieved to see he was an Eruthian man, dressed like a merchant and smiling at them. ‘Hello, travelers!’ the man spoke in his mellifluous accent. They greeted the brown-skinned man in return and stopped to talk. The man was indeed a merchant from Eruthia, visiting selected cities and towns in Corsen. He was heading to the town of Vitter Falls, which was fairly close to High Peaks. He sold jewelry from his wagon; jewelry from his homeland was of particularly high quality.
They informed him of the dangers in the region near High Peaks, and he was grateful, if unshaken. He was, he told them, used to the dangers of the Fey, and the more mundane dangers one could face on the road. When asked about the latest rumours from Eruthia, he told them there were whispers of growing tensions between the Paragonite religion in Eruthia, and the Steelwielders in neighbouring Corsen. The Paragonite religion worshipped St. Palrinah, whom they considered to be a Human Paragon. Paragonites were rare in Corsen, whereas Steelwielders, who were popular in most corners of the known world; were almost unknown in Eruthia. There were, of course, technological and industrial groups in Eruthia, as in every human country, but not the Steelwielders.
They said farewell to the merchant, and he lifted his wagon, stating that he might drop in on High Peaks on his way to Vitter Falls. Remus smiled as they continued on. The people of High Peaks would be showing off their new jewelry for months now, even the poor folk would compete to see who had purchased the finest copper accessories. He thought of the situation in the forest of High Peaks, and hoped that they could resolv
e the conflict before more towns, or even cities, became involved. If the humans called for allies, then no doubt the dwarves would call for allies of their own. No one knew what full-scale war with the Fey would bring, but if the cryptic old stories were true, it would be devastating for the region and the people in it.
* * *
Days of travelling passed uneventfully, at least relatively so, before the trio reached the city of Yondern. The city greeted them with a vast expanse of farmland, the city itself squatting in the distance. Remus and Elaina were taken aback by the sheer size of the city, but Perfidian mentioned that he had briefly stayed here on his journey to the smaller settlements of Corsen. As they approached the city gates they joined an erratic stream of farmers, traders and pilgrims making their way into Yondern, and they could see the figures of farmers tending their fields. The farming hinterland around Corsen was peppered with houses and buildings, rivaling the population of High Peaks in its entirety.
At the gates stood guards, some clad in ceramic-lined steel plate and hefting halberds, heavy weapons, crossbows and long bows. Others wore light leather with fine chain and lighter weapons. There was even a War Suit, the large, mechanical suits of armour which a man or woman would step into. These 8 foot tall machine-suits were favoured by the Steelwielders, but were very rare and expensive. The walls of the city were made of thick wood, with the gate and towers made of sandstone. Visible from the battlements were soldiers, many archers, as well as portable ballistae. The atmosphere was not threatening, however, as the guards left a wide path open into the city, and did not often bar travelers. They merely kept an observant eye on each entrant, occasionally offering a stiff, yet polite greeting.
Remus, Elaina and Perfidian entered with no problems. A large Steelwielder banner hung from the right of the entrance, and a large St. Lusite banner hung from the left; deliberately meant to be seen by all visitors to the city. Shifting to the city itself, they were met with a visual medley of blocky, tan-coloured buildings with exact, straight walls and edges, stretching to the horizon. The buildings were made of thick wooden logs, with the occasional sandstone building. There were more elegant buildings visible in the distance, bearing soaring towers and elaborate geometrical designs, and mosaics made of marble; and in some cases, gold. The main road was wide and stretched deep into the city, and other roads in the distance were also quite wide. Their olfactory senses were greeted with the smell of spice, dust and roasting meat. The clamour of everyday life was underset with the louder tones of industry in the distance.
