Elmerah smiled, then crooked her finger for Saida to lean in toward her. Once she was close enough, she whispered, “We’re going to murder Egrin and Daemon, then put Isara Saredoth on the throne.”
Saida straightened, her eyes wide.
Alluin sighed. “When I said she’d take it better coming from you, I failed to consider that you’re . . . well, you.”
Ignoring him, Elmerah looked up to Saida. “Well? What do you say? Want to help us overthrow an empire?”
Saida’s expression grew serious. “The Empire has broken its treaties with my people, sending Dreilore to attack us, and framing us for horrible deeds.” She crossed her arms. “Of course I’ll help.”
Elmerah turned to Alluin. “Perhaps you were right in letting me deliver the news.”
“There’s only one problem,” Saida added.
They both turned back to her.
“Isara Saredoth left Faerune last winter. No one now knows where she is.”
Elmerah hesitated, then turned to Alluin. “Could your scouts not tell you this?”
He frowned. “Because Valeroot elves are so often allowed within the crystalline walls? We had no way of knowing this.”
She turned back to Saida. “Did she say why she left?”
She nodded. “She wanted to study the old Akkeri temples to continue her father’s research. As far as I know, she has not been heard from since.”
Alluin stood. “We must find her. Our entire plan is dependent on her taking the throne. If we assassinate Daemon and Egrin without knowing where she is, we might end up with one of their allies as ruler.”
Elmerah hunched her shoulders. Could nothing be easy? “Do we at least know where these Akkeri temples are? Perhaps some nearby villages might know of her whereabouts, or if she even still lives.”
Saida nodded. “Yes, I know where they are, though not what we might expect upon our arrival. Perhaps once Merwyn is awake, we can ask him.”
“That seems our only option,” Alluin agreed. “For now, we will make for the nearest Valeroot settlement to find fresh mounts and supplies, then we will head south.”
Elmerah moved to the head of her bed, then slumped against the pillows. “Just when I thought the situation could grow no worse, we add in Akkeri temples. Aren’t they supposed to be filled with traps and monsters?”
Alluin chuckled. “Oh come now, I’m sure they’re no match for an Arthali witch.”
She smirked. “That’s true. It’s the two worthless elves I’m worried about.”
Alluin and Saida both laughed.
It was an odd feeling for Elmerah, laughing with two elves who’d somehow become something akin to friends, but she found she didn’t really mind it. She also didn’t mind embarking on a bit of an adventure, her lonely swamp not quite carrying the appeal it once did.
Now, Akkeri temples on the other hand, those she minded, but perhaps they’d be filled with jewels, and she could live out her life a rich woman with Egrin Dinoba’s head on a pike outside her front door.
Rissine
Later that evening, Rissine prepared to leave. Elmerah escorted her out the inn’s back entrance. Once she knew whether Thera still lived, which was unlikely, she’d take the sleek black horse she kept housed at the inn’s stables to Port Aeluvaria, where a ship awaited her.
Yes, she’d been planning this for a very long time, if not in this exact manner.
Elmerah glanced at her as they walked over crunchy pine needles toward the waiting horse, tethered to a tree by the innkeep far from where any militia men might notice.
Reaching the horse, Rissine stroked its sleek black mane, then turned to her sister. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me? It will be easier to convince the Arthali clans with you by my side.”
Elmerah shook her head. “I told you already I want nothing to do with the Arthali further than using them to overthrow the Empire.”
Rissine pursed her lips. “But Akkeri temples?”
“Are you worried about me, dear sister?”
Rissine chuckled as she untied the horse’s reins. “I’ve never had to worry about you a day in my life. Even as a child you could protect yourself.”
“Yes,” Elmerah sighed, “and you made me prove it.”
Rissine frowned. If anyone knew how to hold on to old grudges, it was Elmerah. “Will you never forgive me?”
Elmerah stared at her for a moment, then replied, “Probably not, but at least now that you’ve made yourself useful, I won’t have to kill you . . . at least not yet.”
Rissine laughed, then put her foot in her stirrup and swung her leg up over her saddle. “Oh my dearest sister,” she turned her horse toward the distant road, “I’d like to see you try.”
Later that evening, four more travelers left the small inn under the cover of night. One wished to lift his peoples’ curse, though he knew he might not survive. One wished to save her homeland, though she feared she hadn’t the strength. One had lost everything, but would fight for what was right, no matter the cost.
And the final traveler, though she had lost much, and had many wishes yet to be fulfilled, was simply glad to feel the wind in her hair, the weight of a cutlass at her belt, and the promise of adventure ahead.
Or so she kept telling herself.
The story continues in Curse of the Akkeri, coming soon!
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