by Edward Brody
“Yes,” the Queen said, shaking her head. “The damage is worse than I imagined. I can feel the forest crying in pain.”
The King slumped his shoulders, turned his head and looked like he was on the verge of tears. “Such a young forest, too. These children did not deserve such a plight.”
“It is awful, my Queen,” Arryl said, “but there has been little damage since my men arrived. I’m not sure why these… others allowed such things to happen.”
“Hey,” I groaned and waved my hand towards him. “The attacks were way worse before you arrived. Things slowed down right around the time we put you and your men in our guard.”
Arryl smirked and snorted.
“Enough about this travesty,” the Queen said. She adjusted herself straight, raised her chin, and her tone suddenly became harsh. “Ambassador, do you know why we are here?!”
“Not really,” I said as I glanced to Arryl, “but I have my suspicions.”
Arryl crossed his arms.
“We received word that there is an orc being coddled here,” the Queen said. “Is this true?”
“There’s no orc here anymore,” I said.
“It’s true!” Arryl said. He stepped forward and pointed his finger at the ground. “He brought it here and they cared for it for days, playing with it, feeding it. It was disgusting!”
Jax, who was nearby leaned into my ear and whispered through his teeth to me, “I told you it was a bad idea…”
The Queen flared her nose and puffed her chest. “Why would you bring orcs into our forest, Ambassador?”
“It was just a child,” I explained.
The Queen’s eyes went wide, and she looked around at everyone with a shocked smile on her face. “Just a child? Just a child…?”
“It couldn’t hurt anyone,” I said. “I’m not a baby killer.”
The Queen cackled and turned to the King. “Do you hear this?”
The King’s brow wrinkled, and his mouth was set in a tight line as he nodded to the Queen.
“An orc child will one day be an orc marauder,” the Queen stated. “An orc child will someday have ten more orc offspring, which will sow a hundred more orcs that could someday slay our kind or burn our forest like you see here today.”
“Well, I—” I started before I was cut off.
“How dare you,” the Queen spat. “How dare you shelter an orc in our forest.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”
“I’m told you brought an orc warlock into Edgewood and nearly got people killed as well,” the Queen continued.
“Nearly got people killed?” I shook my head. “I captured an orc, but no one was put at risk.”
“Lies!” Arryl said. “It used its filthy magic. It almost killed us.”
“He’s lying,” I said, shaking my head. “There was no real danger.”
“Unacceptable,” the Queen said. “Why would you dare bring an orc warlock here, endangering our forest and the elves?”
“Gunnar did nothing wrong!” Keysia shouted. “He just doesn’t understand.”
The Queen’s jaw dropped open. “Is that how you talk to your Queen? Know your place, dark elf!”
Keysia tensed and bowed her head.
“I brought it here for questioning,” I explained. “I was given a quest to return the child to the Wastelands, and I just needed some information. It was quick and—”
“A quest?” the Queen questioned.
I nodded. “Yeah, a quest.”
“From an orc?” the Queen continued.
I swallowed and half shrugged as I nodded again. “Um… yeah.”
“My King…” the Queen muttered as she turned.
King Ryvvik pursed his lips in anger.
The Queen turned back to me and tilted her head as she glared at me. “Ambassador, have you joined the Scourge?”
There were subtle gasps from many of the citizens kneeling behind me.
“What? No…” I said, shaking my head.
“Mother,” Jax said through gritted teeth. He rattled his head and darted his eyes around as if he were trying to avoid eye contact. “I assure you: Gunnar is not part of the Scourge. He’s just a little hard-headed and a little dumb.”
“Where is the orc child now?” the Queen asked.
“I returned him to the Wastelands.” I shook my head and took a step forward. “Because of what I did, Highcastle and the Scourge have agreed to peace for a year.”
“You helped the Scourge…” the Queen muttered.
“I…” I continued to shake my head as I searched for the right words. Truth was I had helped the Scourge, but I couldn’t just come out and say that—not with the interrogation I was getting. “I helped Highcastle and Edgewood and everyone. The orcs and goblins are gone!”
“Ambassador!” the Queen shouted. “You have committed treason against the elves!”
The elves behind me started mumbling.
“My Queen…” the King muttered. “We don’t have to—”
“Gunnar Long of Edgewood, Ambassador—” the Queen continued.
“Mother, no,” Adeelee interrupted.
The Queen turned and looked to all the other High Elves. “Is it not treason? To coddle an orc, to bring warlocks into our forest, to cater to the Scourge’s wishes? If this is not treason, I do not know what is!”
“It is!” Arryl shouted. “This human is a traitor!”
“It’s ignorance,” the King said. “He is a Reborn.”
“Ignorance perhaps, but ignorance is no excuse for treason!” the Queen cried. “We cannot let such crimes go unpunished.”
“Crime?” I shook my head and laughed. “I didn’t hurt anyone.”
“Gunnar Long, Ambassador of Edgewood, you stand guilty of treason against the High Elves of Mist Vale!” the Queen said loudly.
“What?” I continued to shake my head.
The Queen raised her hand to me. “And as with all traitors against the crown, you shall pay for your treasonous crimes!”
A thick vine shot out of the ground underneath me and wrapped tightly around my body. I instinctively tried to get away, but it was no use.
“Mother!” Adeelee cried.
“Gunnar!” Keysia wailed as she looked up and held her palm out as if she were about to cast a spell.
“Are you a traitor too, dark elf?” the Queen asked.
Keysia turned to the Queen looking frightened and desperate. “No…” she muttered and shook her head as she lowered her arm. “No…”
“Kneel!” the Queen said coldly.
Keysia squeezed her eyes tight, dropped to her knees, and bowed her head.
Another vine shot out from the ground beside me, wrapped around my arm, and pulled it sideways, stretching it to its maximum extension. I groaned loudly as I felt my arm unseat from its socket, and I reached over with my free arm, helplessly trying to break myself free from the vines.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Aaron said as he marched beside me, waving his arms.
“Yo, stop!” Jeremy yelled and pulled a dagger from his belt.
Immediately, the High Elf guards all jumped in front of every human that was standing nearby, placed their hand on their weapons, and held out an arm in front of them, blocking them from intervening.
“Hey, watch it!” Aaron cried when he got a good shove.
“Please, Mother, don’t do this,” Adeelee whined. “He has helped us so much. He has helped me.”
“It is required,” the Queen said solemnly. “Do you think I get enjoyment out of this?”
“Stop!” a deep voice yelled out.
I turned my head just enough to see Garrik, the dark elf who had once killed me, out of the corner of my eye. He was pushing through the sea of other dark elves and making his way towards me.
He threw his arms down once he was in front of me and looked up at the Queen. “Stop it, now!”
“Are you ordering me, dark elf?” th
e Queen asked. “Have you already gone mad?”
He rolled his shoulders, snarled, and lifted one of his arms straight out to his side. “Take my arm instead.”
“What?” the Queen asked.
“I accept punishment for the Ambassador’s crimes!” he said loudly. “Hand your sentencing down on me!”
Several elves around us started mumbling in confusion.
The Queen’s eyes narrowed. “Why, dark elf, would you accept the penalty for this human’s wrongdoings?”
“Because this human has done more for us in a short time than our King and Queen has done for us in our lifetimes.”
All the High Elves gasped, and the mumbling amongst the dark elves increased.
“What did you say?” the Queen asked.
“Gunnar has given us jobs, trade, and even food,” Garrik explained. “He has welcomed us into his village…” He looked down and frowned. “…even when some of us didn’t welcome him into Edgewood.” He looked up and rattled his head. “He’s given us protection. He’s given us hope. He’s made us feel like… like… like we have some worth as elves—something even our own kind have not done.”
“My children…” the King muttered sorrowfully.
The Queen looked away and frowned.
“You can take my arm instead,” Keysia said as she stood up defiantly. “He doesn’t deserve this.”
“Take mine!” Donovan yelled from behind me. “I will stand in.”
“Donovan…” Adeelee muttered. Her eyes were huge as she watched him march forward.
“Don’t hurt him, please,” Shal said as he stepped in front of the pack of dark elves. “We had nothing before he got here.” He waved his hands to all the elves. “Now we’re all part of something. We’re all part of Edgewood Village because of him.”
The King wrinkled his brow. “You’ve all joined these humans? All of you?”
“Yes,” Shal answered. “All of us.”
The King and Queen glanced at each other in disbelief.
“It must be done!” Arryl yelled. “The Ambassador is an orc-loving traitor!”
I groaned loudly as the tension of the vines tightened against my arm.
“Please, take mine instead,” Keysia cried, thrusting her arm in front of me.
“No, Keysia…” I grunted.
“It must be me!” Garrik yelled. “It is a small price for the debt to which I owe the Ambassador!”
The Queen shook her head slowly, and the vines wrapped around me slowly unraveled and retreated into the ground. She sighed and glanced to the ground.
I heard several people holding their breath all exhale at the same time.
“Gunnar Long of Edgewood!” the Queen suddenly shouted again. “As a traitor, you shall pay for your crimes with a limb!”
She lifted her hand and a vine shot out from the ground and squeezed tightly around Garrik’s body.
“Mother!” Adeelee yelled.
Another vine shot out from the ground, grabbed Garrik’s arm, and in one swift move, yanked it away so that it was torn from Garrik’s body. Garrik screamed at the top of his lungs, and blood sprayed from the open cavity of his shoulder.
Everyone looked away as the vines released Garrik’s body and dropped him onto the charred ground. The vines retracted to where they had come, and the one holding Garrik’s arm dragged the limb deep underground as it disappeared.
“Garrik!” Keysia cried as he dropped to her knees over Garrik and struggled for what to do. “Rina! Help, please!”
Rina ran from around the other guildmates, kneeled beside Keysia and began to administer care.
Garrik continued to writhe and scream.
“Look,” the King said low to the Queen. “They have no fear of the dark elves.”
The Queen stared for a moment but soon turned her Great Beast around. “Come. We must leave this forest.”
The King paused, and after a moment muttered, “Not yet…” He took a deep breath, puffed his chest, and rolled his shoulders.
The Queen looked at him and paused.
“You know what we must do, my love,” the King said.
The Queen jerked her head to the ground he was staring at and then back to him. “What?”
“We are the rulers of this forest…” the King continued.
The Queen glanced away and shook her head. “No… not today.”
“It is our duty, my love,” the King continued.
“We can’t,” the Queen protested.
The King took a deep breath and began to dismount his Great Beast. “Then I will do it myself.”
“No, Ryvvik!” the Queen shouted. “You know what will happen!”
“I’m well aware,” he said.
“Father, you mustn’t,” the Princess protested.
“I must,” the King said. “You will understand someday when you are Queen.”
The King began walking away, and the Queen lowered her head and sighed. “I can’t let you do it alone.”
“Mother, father…” Adeelee whined.
Queen Faranni slipped off her beast and walked towards the King with sadness etched across her face. When she was in distance, the King grabbed her hand and smiled. They walked a few more meters away from everyone, and they both took a deep breath before dropping hard on both their knees with their backs facing us.
Still holding each other’s hands, they raised their arms high in the air. After a few seconds, a light green hue surrounded their bodies, and soon after, that hue grew into a giant blaze of green energy that rose several meters above their heads. The energy grew wider and started spinning like a whirlwind, before hundreds of long strands of ribbonlike magic arched out of the whirl and slowly crept in all directions.
The energy slithered under burned leaves and curled around charred tree stumps and fallen logs. It snaked between us all to find broken branches and blackened bushes, before several of the strands curved down and burrowed straight into the ground.
Our surroundings grew brighter as if everything was suddenly lit up by sunlight, and tiny bright sparkles of energy fell down like rain onto the ground.
“Whoa…” Jeremy said as he looked around in awe.
Trees started growing out of nowhere, and the blackened stumps browned as their trunks started growing upwards again and sprouting branches. The burnt foliage on the ground seemed to be absorbed into the soil like fertilizer as dark green grass and bushes sprouted everywhere, and in no more than a minute, the ruined portion of Edgewood looked as it had before the rain of fire, minus our buildings that were still annihilated.
The intense bright light disappeared, and a kaleidoscope of butterflies flew by. For the first time in a while, I heard birds chirping overhead.
“Wow,” Aaron murmured quietly. “I didn’t see this in beta.”
I looked down to see that Garrik had been bandaged and Keysia and Rina were still on their knees helping him. He was wincing, but between winces, his wide eyes rolled in every direction, shocked by the display.
The King and Queen stood, and when they turned around, they looked as if they had dramatically aged. Their skin was wrinkled, and their hair had both turned grey. Their limbs looked a little thinner, and their curves, muscles, and jawlines had noticeably softened.
The King smiled at the elderly Queen and reached out to touch her face. “You still look as beautiful as the first time I met you.”
The Queen reached out, rubbed her hand across his boney chin, and smiled. “Not bad… I’ll learn to live with it.”
They both walked confidently back to their Great Beasts and jumped on as easily as they would have in their younger forms.
The Queen leaned over and brushed her hand across the head of her mount before she caught something out of the corner of her eye. “Arryl…”
The head guard stepped forward. “Yes, your majesty!”
“You’re removed from this post,” she said.
“What?” he asked.
“You’ll be coming ba
ck to Mist Vale with us.”
“Really?” Arryl smiled widely and placed his hands behind his back. “Well, I’m honored to be selec—”
“You’re fully demoted and will restart your training as a recruit.”
“What?”
“I recognize your effort to report wrongdoings to me, but you were sent here to guard Edgewood and work under the Ambassador.” She briefly glanced up to me. “It would be impossible for you to serve here in good relations now, and it is repugnant to see a subordinate soldier working so hard to sabotage the ones he’s assigned to protect.”
“But I was—”
“The order is final,” the Queen said. She turned her head. “Yylindral…”
A female elf with long, golden blonde hair rode her horse closer to the Queen. She wore the same general gear as the other High Elf soldiers, but unusually had a layered metal breastplate and a long metal pike in addition to her bow. “Orders, my Queen?”
“You’re to assume Arryl’s position here in Edgewood,” the Queen ordered.
Yylindral scanned the sea of dark elves with wide, worried eyes, but when she looked down at Garrik, who was holding a bloody bandage where his arm used to be, she swallowed and nodded. “Yes, my Queen.”
The Queen homed her gaze in at me. “Ambassador.”
I bit my pride and answered with, “Yes, your Majesty?”
“If you wish to remain a member of our faction, think clearly of your actions.”
I swallowed and darted my eyes to the side. “I will…”
“That’s enough, Faranni,” the King grunted.
The Queen shook her head and grinned. “No…”
A vine shot out from under me, wrapped tightly around my body and carried me into the air and right in front of the Queen. I grimaced and groaned as I was held in front of her.
“I will not strip you of your title, but you are no longer permitted free passage in Mist Vale. Until we can trust you, you must be accompanied by a guard at all times when entering our city. Further—” She reached out, touched my forehead, and it felt like my breath was sucked from me. “—I hope you enjoy magic wands.”
The vines loosened, and my body dropped into a heap on the ground.