Twang!
The crossbow user had a stunned look on his face as he stepped backward, looking at Tommie holding a cast- iron pan before his eyes rolled back and gravity took control as he fell backward.
Only the traders were left in the aftermath. As Anthony held out his hand, the reptile happily hit her tail against Anthony’s hand but gentle enough so she wouldn’t hurt him.
“Nice teamwork!” Anthony grinned and looked back at the caravan, hearing the groans and the complaints from the guards and the unlucky bystander who was stuck un- derneath one.
“If you’ve got beasts coming after you, it’s usually be- cause you went into their territory. Just keep on going and toss down some beast repellent. They’ll give up the chase if they think it is hard and most of them are as scared as you are, even more so. If the repellent doesn’t work, then toss some meat off into the distance—that’ll get them off your trail. Don’t let greed cloud your judge- ment. I know that is hard to understand—you are traders, after all—but Ramona here would have kicked
your guys’ asses by herself.” Anthony sighed as he shook his head and turned back to “Ramona.”
“Okay, get off the road and find somewhere better to stay,” Anthony said.
Ramona looked at him and then the convoy. She looked at Anthony again and then bowed her head. A small flame that was no bigger than a seed appeared from be- tween her brows and floated toward Anthony, entering his helmet.
There was a sound of rolling thunder between the two as white runes appeared in the air around their arms and clamped down on their arms.
Beast submitting to master freely? Isn’t this the strongest kind of bond that a creature can make to someone else? It puts their life in the other’s hands completely. They would be willing to die for them and listen to all of their orders.
Anthony put his hands on his hips. “You’re going to make it difficult for me, aren’t you?”
Ramona tilted her head to the side.
Anthony pinched his fingers together in front of his hel- met and drew out a small flame as well and sent it for- ward.
It sunk between Ramona’s eyes. She closed her eyes and there was a rush of wind around them. The forest shook, but Ramona stood perfectly still.
Aila felt the power of the forest rush toward her, like a dam had broken, with power flowing into Ramona’s body.
Soul sharing contract? It’s a contract rarely created between lovers, let alone a beast master and his contracted beast. The two can communicate with each other over large dis- tances; they can send messages to the other over a certain distance and even share power. With the accepting of a master freely, then Anthony’s power would increase, but there was little change. But then when Ramona took in his soul, these changes, aren’t they a bit too big?
Ramona opened her eyes. Her wild and raging aura from before seemed to have disappeared. Her control over her power reached another level. Feeling one’s power was one thing, but being unable to feel the limits of their power would lead to opponents underestimating them and putting them off-balance when someone released their aura.
Anthony patted Ramona, who lowered her head slight- ly, accepting him fully. Her eyes were no longer wild and panicky but there was a poised look in her eyes, as if sur- veying the world from atop its highest peak.
“Well, I think that this is where we’ll part ways,” Antho- ny said.
Aila nodded and moved forward to go next to Anthony.
“Please accept me as your disciple.” Tommie dropped the cast-iron pan with a loud noise and dropped to his knees, prostrating in front of Anthony.
“Nope,” Anthony said, without pausing.
Tommie looked up in shock, not expecting to be reject- ed so fast.
Aila could see the distress in his eyes. Did you have to be so harsh?
“Though you can come and adventure with us,” Antho- ny said in the next moment.
“Can I?”
“I said it, didn’t I?” Anthony said.
“Yes, yes! Okay, I’ll get my stuff !” Tommie jumped up and then looked around, and then dropped to his knees again and made to smack his head against the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“Paying respects?” Tommie said.
“Respects? You smash your head into the ground like that, then you’ll only get a concussion.” Anthony shook his head.
You implanted your face into my bedroom floor and you’re telling people to not hit their head against the ground!
“I, uh, yes,” Tommie said, kneeling there, not sure what to do now.
“Well, go and get your gear.” Anthony waved him on.
“Kids these days—all over the place,” Anthony said to Ramona. She nodded her head as if she understood while Aila shook her head because she didn’t understand at all.
Don’t worry, Ramona—you’ll learn just how smart your master is soon! Poor creature to be stuck with such a man.
The convoy tended to their wounded and shot them glances, creating an awkward standoff before Tommie appeared with a bag two times bigger than he was.
“I’m ready!” Tommie smiled, ignoring the dirty looks from the rest of the convoy members.
“Well, Ramona, we best go and see your little ones and then we can head off toward Thelsedorei,” Anthony said.
Ramona turned and led them away from the road. It wasn’t long before they got to a cave.
Ramona let out a cry.
Two smaller versions of her rushed out. They didn’t even look at their mother as they looked at the three people with her.
Ramona let out a noise. Aila could feel she was dis- pleased with the lack of attention, while she could also sense the two other’s curiosity.
“Look at them, so small and cute!” Anthony said. The two of them circled around them and were around An- thony as he pat them and gave out scratches.
“Small” was a relative word.
“They’re as big as a thoroughbred horse!” Tommie yelled out.
“Cute, aren’t they?” Anthony petted the two beasts. Aila chose to ignore how the reptiles were wagging their tails as if they were two puppies, both of them trying to get more attention from Anthony.
They’re cute if you don’t mind the fact that they can kill a fully grown man by themselves.
“Semantics. All right, let’s get going. Now that Ramona’s my contracted beast, she’ll be coming with us until we can find somewhere for her to bring up these two little tikes in safety,” Anthony said.
“I’ll call you Rachel and you can be Ryan.”
Ramona and her children dropped down, making it eas- ier for them to get on. Tommie had the most trouble, with Ramona walking over and nudging him onto the suffering reptile.
Ramona led the way, with Anthony sitting on her com- fortably.
Without the carriages and with Ramona and her chil- dren being better suited for the forest than the larger, heavy-going beasts pulling the carriages, they were able to make quick time, passing through the forest.
Roars would greet them occasionally, with Ramona re- sponding with her own roar.
They passed through the forest, the landscape blending together.
“When will we get there?” Aila asked.
“Didn’t you get a map or something of where to go?”
“I got a map to the Deepwood and instructions to make contact with the elves and that I would get an audience with the elders,” Aila said.
“Elves and their secrets—guess the mirages would make it hard on their trained beasts.” Anthony started talking to himself.
“So when?” Aila interrupted him before he started talk- ing to himself and involving Ramona in the conversa- tion. He had done it before already. Basically, anyone who was nearby and would allow him to ramble on turned into his victims.
“We’re already here. Can’t you feel all of the arrows pointed at us?” Anthony pointed into the trees. Aila looked around at where he was pointing. With her eye- sight, she was able t
o see the elves who blended into the woods.
“What are you pointing at?” Tommie couldn’t see them.
Aila took down her hood and showed her ears off as she pulled out a letter. “I’m here to meet with the elders.
I am Aila Wranoris, princess of the dark elves to the north.”
An elf appeared before them and stepped out from a bush. “Welcome to Thelsedorei.” The elf put his hand on his sword. “Put your hands above your head and dis- mount.”
“Ah, I love a proper high elf greeting—all surprising en- trances, trying to control the other’s emotions, make us feel awe or fear, while also plenty of hair flicks. Where do you get your conditioner from? I haven’t been able to find out for the sun knows how long.” Anthony jumped off his mount and raised his hands.
The elf glared at him and Aila felt the bow strings around them tense up as tight as her cheeks.
“Really like the open concept, you know—allows one to breathe, feel more in harmony with the world. Though I guess all creeping around in the forest doesn’t really con- nect you to the outside world.” Anthony shrugged.
“Well, that’s one way to say hello,” Tommie said.
Aila let out a sigh, her hands in the air holding the letter that had been her quest for the last few weeks. For some reason, she didn’t feel that relaxed even as her quest was coming to an end.
Chapter: Morhtheaus
They were assigned a guide and escorted into the “city,” which was hard to actually compare to the rest of the forest. It was impossible to tell it was a city; one had to look up to even see any hints of activity. The whole city was high in the trees and one could see the people going about their business.
“You’ll have to leave those down here.” The guide indicat- ed Ramona and her children.
“They’ll be fed and watered, right?” Anthony asked.
“Of course,” the high elf said, barely restraining the eye roll implied in his words.
“Stay here. I’ll come and visit you tomorrow,” Anthony said while petting Ramona.
Ramona nodded, as if understanding. Her two children started to play fight each other, wrestling underneath the high foliage of the elven city.
They walked into a tree, stepping on a platform that was pulled up by contracting tree vines.
People passed them, heading down and out of the city.
They passed through the guards and entered the city. It was hard to say how many levels there were to the city. It was like a city built in a hilly area; there were floors and roads peeking out of one another.
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“Stay close. It’s easy to get lost in all of the roads and dif- ferent alleys,” the guide said.
Aila had never seen the high elves’ homes before and tried her best to look in every direction, trying to take it all in.
Tommie looked around, comfortably telling them about the best places to get a drink, a restaurant’s specialties, or interesting sights he had found.
Anthony looked around but he didn’t look to be shocked like Aila or to be confident like Tommie. In- stead, he looked like a local. Nothing seemed to faze him; instead, he seemed to be looking at the develop- ments of the city compared to his memory.
“This is strange. I feel like I’ve been here before.” Antho- ny shrugged and shook his head. “And still, my memo- ries are all jumbled up in there.”
It’s no wonder that the high elves are said to be a secretive group. All they need to do is step on to the main level of their cities and it would be hard to find them.
“When will we be able to see the city lord? This matter is of utmost importance and urgency,” Anthony said to their guide.
“I have sent word to the city lord. Wait here until he makes a decision and summons you,” their guide said as they reached a simple tree house.
“I hope he doesn’t take longer than two days to come up with the decision,” Anthony said.
The high elf ’s eyes narrowed. “I will pass on your words.” His words sounded more like a threat than a promise.
The guy didn’t pay them any more attention; he turned on his heel and left. Most would say he was even march- ing toward the center of the city.
Aila frowned and followed Anthony into the house. “What was all that about?”
“The high elves don’t do anything without purpose. They’re masters of social etiquette and hidden mean- ings: the way they say a word, the way they look at peo- ple, which building they host us in.”
“I think the message I’m getting is that we’ve only just met them, and you started antagonizing them!” Aila said.
“Don’t worry, one way or another we will meet the elven leaders,” Anthony assured her.
Aila and Tommie looked at each other.
“You’ve said nothing but the truth ever since I met you,” Tommie said.
“Who knows, they might be busy with something else,” Aila said, feeling as if she had to defend her distant cousins.
***
“They came into my city and they tell me that I need to meet them! That, and access to the elven elders! Do they know who I am? Do they even know who we are?” The Elven City Lord Aevaris’s voice rang through the cham- bers of the city lord as the guide who had deposited An- thony, Aila, and Tommie at their new residence knelt in front of him.
“They also insisted that you meet within two days, my lord,” the guide said, not bothering to hide his anger at their words and serving to stoke the city lord’s own ire.
“A mere dark elf comes into our city, thinking that she is our equal! Nothing but the dregs of our society that were kicked out for turning their attention toward ma- nipulating the dead instead of the living. Saying that she’s the princess of the dark elves—even if a dog is a princess, does their position matter?” the city lord yelled, taking a few deep breaths and trying to regain his composure.
“Hear my orders,” Aevaris declared. “Make sure to inves- tigate their backgrounds first!”
An elf stepped out from the wall, graciously dropping to their knee. “The gnome—the one called Tommie—I know of him.”
“Speak,” Aevaris said imperiously.
“He is nothing but a simple merchant. I would guess that he was their guide to find us.”
“Very well. Investigate the knight who is protecting them,” Aevaris said.
With his orders, the elves started to move.
***
The city lord was sitting on his throne the next day when one of the elf sentries ran in.
“City Lord, the merchants’ caravan from Laisa has just arrived.”
“They were a half day late. Did something happen?” Ae- varis asked.
“They said that Tommie betrayed them and the dark knight turned on them. Most are bruised, a few having broken bones.”
“How did this happen?”
“The knight—I guess he fought them all?” the sentry said, not believing his own words.
“Defeated them all?” The city lord frowned. “Do they have any idea who he is?”
“No, sire. They think that he’s some kind of human but they ran him over with about seventeen carriages and he got up as if nothing had happened.”
“Thirteen carriages?”
“Yes, my lord, fully loaded.” The sentry hesitated. “They said that he was kind of simple, slow even. Most of them believe that it was not him who actually defeated them but his armor, saying that it must have been heavily en- chanted and strengthened.”
“What is the elf to him?”
“They said that he was the party leader.”
The city lord frowned, thinking on all of this new infor- mation. “It is clear that this is the dark elf ’s quest. This Tommie must have joined them in Laisa as their guide. The knight is the unknown factor here.”
Another elven sentry ran into the room with a pleased smile on their face. They dropped to their knees as the lord looked down to them.
“Lord, lord—the knight went down to see the beasts that
they brought with them. Seeing that they do not have enough food, he charged out into the forest, only to return later with a carcass of a white deer!”
“Oh.” Aevaris’s tone was light but there was a vicious look in his eyes. “As high as it is, our duty is to protect Deepwood and the creatures in it. We are its custodians. Any killing or poaching upon our lands must be taken very seriously!” the city lord said. “Summon them. Let us see what reason they have for killing our sacred beasts.”
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