The battle lasted less than ten minutes. When the smoke cleared, thirty-seven elves lay dead among the burning buildings. Not a single member of Grim's group had suffered serious injury.
"Survivors?" Grim called out as he dismounted to begin the now-familiar ritual of ear collection.
"Seven families made it to the woods," Huangyan reported. "Mostly women and children. The men tried to fight and died early."
"Get them back here. We need information about elven movements in this area."
The surviving villagers emerged from hiding with obvious reluctance. They were simple farmers, unused to violence on this scale. The sight of Grim methodically removing ears from elven corpses clearly disturbed them, but they were too grateful for rescue to complain.
"How long have the elves been attacking?" Captain Wei asked their apparent leader, an older woman whose dress was singed from the fires.
