The fireplace crackled in the dense forest. The smell of iron lingered in the air from the blood puddles under the elven corpses. The wind blew quiet and cold gusts of air. The remaining elf sat on her knees close to the fire, still in shock. Lia Sat leaning her back against the big tree she had pretended to sleep against before the elven attack.
The elf hadn't said anything, but Lia ha decided to bring her with her to the clan. She could be useful, or just as a shield.
'She's shell shocked, I think that's the term you humans use' Erythos said in her mind. He was referring to a state of shock from traumatic experience. Lia thought about it, the elf had seen her comrades being torn apart, cut in half, crushed, no wonder she looked like she had seen the devil himself.
The next morning the elf had fallen asleep. Lia was riding her horse towards the clan, while riding she had used her chains to carry the elf in the air.
She would arrive in about 6 hours or so of riding, presuming nothing comes and disturbs her again.
The hours passed slowly. Hell was quiet in the forest of the elven lands. The trees hiding the screams coming from outside. As the clan of Draz'guar came closer, so did the scorched trees. As Vaeris had told her, this clan apparently liked fire a lot, so much so that the chief Karvos had burnt down the forest.
'Are you killing Karvos right away?' Erythos asked.
Lia thought about it again, she had been thinking about that for a while now. The best approach, killing him was a choice, but was it the best one? That she couldn't answer right now. She used her chains to bring the hanging elf closer to her face. She raised her hand and slapped the elf across the face. This woke her up from her sleep.
The elf now wide awake hanged from the chains with wide eyes as she looked into the golden eyes of the knight. "Tell me about your chief" Lia said coldly to the elf.
She opened her mouth but nothing came out.
"Tell me, or should I rip you apart?" She said now with a sharp warning in her cold voice. The elf shook her head.
"H-he, loves his…" she said quietly, her eyes tearing. "And is very strong"
'Maybe this can be finished faster than expected.' Lia thought as she looked at the elf.
The last stretch towards the clan home changed the terrain, as trees became more scares, and the sight of lava and rocks became frequent. Winds brought the smell of sulfur and ash. A smell all too familiar from the wastelands Lia had wandered before.
Now before her laid a mountain, not a village a mountain. The so called village was more of a fort, the walls built from volcanic rock. "Is this your home?" Lia asked the elf.
The elf nodded slowly while looking at the black fort coming closer while Lia's horse walked on.
Elven guards patrolling the walls and gate had already spotted her approaching and was running around on top of the wall. One of the elven guards on the wall stood high and yelled out. "Halt! State your intentions right now!"
Lia looked at the force that had assembled on the wall, all aiming their bows and had a grim look plastered onto their faces. They were eyeing the captured elf hard by the look of it. "I want to speak to the Chief Karvos" Lia said calmly. At the sound of the name, a big elf appeared behind the other elven guards. He was broad, muscular, tall and had a very calm expression on his face. His clothes were very noble looking with a cape. He had short white hair, his face was sharp with a big burn scar on his left side.
"I'm here, speak what you wished to speak about, knight." He spoke with authority, calm and steady. He seemed like a trained leader.
Lia studied the chief Karvos for a moment. He looked didn't strike her as the crazy fire addict.
"I'm here to talk about your elves attacking, unprovoked." She answered while holding eye contact with Karvos.
He stood on top of the gate, he held his arms crossed over his chest. "Let her in, don't be aggressive." He walked of after giving the order. Lia didn't expect to be given access to the fortress this easy. And Vaeris description didn't match Karvos at all. he didn't seem crazy and arrogant, yet.
The big black wooden gate opened with a creak, behind the door stood a couple elves. The looked on edge, Lia's horse walked in through the doors. The eyes of the elves felt like piercing arrows.
Looking around they seemed in rough shape, the looked starved almost. There were children sitting with grim faces, food was being distributed but looked in dire need of more protein and looked more like water. Karvos stood with his arms crossed after e few meters.
After passing the gate the small village could be seen, the houses were in very bad shape, tents were also used. It looked new, like they haven't been here awhile.
The chief had a grim, but almost sad face as Lia came closer. "Could you please let go of her?" he asked, it was genuine.
Lia softly let go of the elf, as she did two others came to help her to her feat.
Karvos looked at the released elf with worried eyes and the shifted his gaze towards Lia. "I'm sorry about the attack you experienced, they were just following my order." He said calmy. "But that don't change the fact that you are with that snake Vaeris."
Lia was confused, something didn't add up. Karvos looks like he really cares about his people, and he didn't seem crazy or like a fire addict lunatic.
'I got a bad feeling that we are being deceived Lia' Erythos said in her mind. 'I don't think the ones how attacked you first were his minions' Lia raised a brow.
'You think someone else attacked me, and tried to blame it on Karvos?' Lia thought back towards Erythos.
The god just nodded in her mind and a grim feeling could be felt. 'And I think Vaeris had most to win from it, he played us' Lia's face turned grim, her mood turned sour. Had Ryn lied to her as well?
"You seem to have realized the gist of it by now" Karvos said as he looked at Lia. "Vaeris isn't the man he seem to be, come I will tell you all you need to know" he turned and walked towards a bigger building at the end of the road. Seemed to be some sort of chief house. It wasn't in great shape.
Stepping into the house brought even more of a surprise, it was filled with elves, wounded, children everyone that could fit. He used this space so that everyone had somewhere to sleep.
On the second floor was his office, it had a couch group and a heavy desk buried beneath maps, scrolls, and crude hand-drawn sketches of the surrounding lands. The smell of smoke and old parchment filled the air. Karvos gestured for Lia to sit on one of the couches while he took a seat opposite her.
He looked tired, older than he had first appeared. Up close, the burn on his cheek reached down to his neck, and his hands were calloused, not from idleness but from years of hard work and battle.
'Handsome' she thought.
Lia removed her helmet, setting it on the table between them. "You said Vaeris isn't what he seems. Start talking."
He looked stunned for a moment at the sight of Lia's face, but regained himself fast. "a month ago, before we were driven here, my clan lived in the green parts of the forest, near the old rivers. Vaeris came to us with promises of trade, of unity. He wanted control of the eastern lands. We refused to kneel." His voice hardened. "One night, his warriors came. Not demons, not beasts, his own. They set fire to our forests and called it our doing."
Lia's eyes narrowed. "He told me you burned your own lands out of madness."
A bitter laugh escaped Karvos. "That's the story he spread. It gave him reason to take what we had left. We fought back, and he called us traitors to the elven cause."
'He used you,' Erythos muttered in her head. 'He used us.'
Lia's jaw tightened. "And the elves that attacked me in the forest?"
Karvos' expression darkened. "My warriors attacked you because I got a report you were on your way to attack us, thank you for sparring at least one of them"
"No, not this. About 2 weeks ago I was attacked while riding with Vaeris."
Karvos shook his head, "Not my doing, I swear upon my life." He said while holding a hand over his heart.
'These fucking elves are driving me insane, I don't even know if I can trust anyone of them.' Lia thought, her expression had turned sour. She thought back to the nights with Ryn, the dinners they had shared. 'He tried sending me here to take care of them'
Lia felt heat rise in her chest, not anger, but betrayal. Ryn's smile, her laughter, the nights they'd talked about Terra, had that all been part of the act? Or was she just a pawn like the rest?
'We have to decide, you will need someone to rule the elves. If this guy is telling the truth he could be a good friend.' Erythos said.
"I need some evidence that you aren't just playing tricks on me." Lia said while holding eye contact with Karvos.
He nodded and stood up, walked towards his desk and rummaged around the parchments and maps. After a bit of searching he grabbed a letter, it was rough looking. He walked back and handed it to Lia.
She opened it and read to contents. It was a letter addressed to a elven commander from Vaeris, the letter was a order to start fires around the Draz'guar home. The symbol on the letter was definitely Vaeris's.
Her jaw locked. "This…" she whispered. "This bastard planned it all."
Karvos nodded slowly, his expression grim. "He's been trying to turn the clans against one another for years. The fires, the raids, all traced back to him or his allies. I couldn't prove it until now, not until someone like you came along."
Lia folded the letter carefully, she put it into her dimensional bracelet. And looked at Karvos. 'if this is some way to fool me again. I will kill every single elf in hell' she thought to Erythos
He just nodded in her mind in agreement.
"What can I help with?" Lia asked to Karvos, her question seemed to make his mood better.
He sighed and leaned back into his chair, "I honestly don't know. We have nowhere to go, and if we do we will probably be attacked again." he looked sad, Lia was still trying to figure out if she could trust him. She wouldn't do to big moves until this had been proven.
"Right now, Vaeris will travel to the smallest clan, he will try to get them into his hands. His daughter Ryn is still at home, I will go and talk to her." Lia said, she wanted to know if Ryn was involved, most likely she was. But maybe some miracle could happened.
Karvos nodded, "Alright, it's a start, we will have to stay here. my scouts are searching for suitable homes right now. But it will take time." He said while looking at the map on the table, it hade circles drawn for possible locations.
Lia stood up, her armor creaking faintly as she adjusted her shoulder plates. Her golden eyes fixed on the map, tracing the marks and the routes drawn with charcoal. She could tell Karvos had been planning this for a while, fallback positions, escape routes, resource zones. He wasn't reckless, he was trying to keep his people alive.
That, at least, earned him a sliver of respect.
"I'll head back to Vaeris's territory before dawn," she said. "If he's preparing for something, I need to see it with my own eyes. If Ryn's part of it…" she trailed off for a moment, her jaw tightening, "then I'll deal with that too."
Karvos nodded. "I will have someone tend to your steed, we don't have much but take what you need." He stood up and stretch out his hand. "You may not trust me, but I will show you that trusting me will be a good choice."
Lia looked at her hand for a moment, his eyes were serious. They had a fire inside them, willpower stronger than most. "Let's hope so, otherwise a white knight may slice your head of in the future." She took his hand and shook in. her helmet appeared and her golden eyes glowed.
Meanwhile in the village of Vaeris's clan Vaerinthal.
Ryn sat in her father's office, her father who had left that afternoon left her some important jobs. She needed to secure the other clans, not directly but through sabotage and deceit.
'Something familiar… lies' she thought about her time with Lia, all lies she told because her father had told her to do so. She knew what he was doing, using her for his gain. She had seen what this knight could do, when she tore through the elves in the forest, our own elves. Just to sell the idea.
She liked Lia a lot, but her clan and father's dreams had to come first.
The clock on the wall ticked in the silence of the office overlooking the village. She pondered about her father's plan. There was a big risk in it, if Lia didn't wipe out the clan, the truth would be revealed. Vaeris needs to finish his task before her, and then go meet her.
Ryn didn't want to think about what would happen if the knight would to find out that she was used and lied to.
"I'm sorry Lia" she muttered to herself.