Chapter Nine - Legends from the Past
The Drunken Dragon was full of smoke and the sounds of chatter. Aayla sat in a dark corner, nursing a large tankard of the strongest mead the tavern offered. It was a dry mead, with a taste that lingered even after the tankard was empty. She was on her third. She slouched comfortably in her chair, tankard in hand, eyes roaming the dimly lit room, enjoying her observations of the humans that had flocked there as soon as the workday had finished. Their conversations varied from discussions of the weather to buying new work horses to the newest rumors from the northern reaches of the kingdom. She tuned in and out of the different conversations around the room to amuse herself while she finished her tankard and searched for the barkeep’s daughter to flag down for another.
“…storm’s brewing to the west…”
“…good, it has been too dry of late…”
“…fifteen hands…”
“…thick coat and good hooves…”
“…elves moving deeper into the forest…”
“…harvest will be lean if we don’t…”
“…monsters from the west…”
“…hunter took down a Melded last month…”
Aayla’s eyes widened and she stopped surveying the room and she remained looking at the group seated a table away from her corner. It was a motley group of men of varying ages and of varying trades. It was one of the older ones who had made the statement. He was still speaking so she leaned forward to hear him better.
“It was a tall as a bear and strong enough to throw an ox. It had both fur and feathers and a terrible ugly face from what my cousin Rrolf said. And yet this hunter came out of nowhere and took it down. At first Rrolf said he thought it was one of the mountain villagers but its hair was white, like an old man’s, but this was no old man. That hunter was stronger and faster than ten of the strongest men in the Kingdom. He took down the monster like it was nothing. His blade was black as midnight, probably darksteel or maybe even obsidian. But that blade ripped through the Melded as if it were made of water. Rrolf said it was gruesome but spectacular to watch.”
At the mention of the hunter’s hair color, Aayla had heard enough. She began making her way from her table to theirs, arriving as the trader recounted his cousin’s thoughts on the hunter’s fight.
“Did the hunter use magic?” she asked, not waiting for any of them to notice her. The trader jumped and glanced up at her.
“Not that my cousin mentioned, elf.” He seemed to be holding back a sneer.
She placed her hands on the table in front of him and looked levelly into his eyes. “Elves and humans bleed the same, you know. Melded and Hunters pose a threat to all of us. Now, are you sure that the hunter didn’t use magic?”
He nodded. “Rrolf didn’t say anything about any magic and his sister was a mage so he would know it if he saw it.”
She straightened and wiped her hands off on the sides of her tunic. “Thank you. Now, which village was this and where?”
“Bergloch. It’s on the southern tip of the Dragon’s Spine, on the other side of the River Teilen. You can get there from the desert pass or by going through the edge of the Boskluin to get to the mountains. There’s a road. It’s more of a settlement than a village but the people there are as strong as the mountainside they live on.”
She placed a silver coin on the table and left without a word, the trader and his tablemates staring at her with wonder and confusion. She went upstairs to her room.
She was frustrated. Going after this Hunter, this person of legend, sounded epic but she was not supposed to leave the city until this annoying Shendi business was over and delt with. She flopped on her bed and grumbled to herself.
“Why does this always happen to me? I ‘get’ to babysit the prince; I ‘get’ to take this message to Daraltis, I ‘get’ to go on grand adventures, but never in my own timing. Not that I would ever choose to babysit the prince, ever. Kill me if I ever do because then I would most definitely be possessed by the darkest of black magic.” She chuckled. “I’d actually like to see someone try to kill me, possessed or not. Would rid me of my babysitting duties cuz they’ll either succeed or it’ll be considered a war crime or murder and I can escape the law to become a legendary outlaw.” She contemplated this idea for a little bit while laying on her stomach.
Waiting was her least favorite part of these sorts of missions that Reya would give her. Waiting was the bane of her existence. It takes time away from adventuring and fun; it made her board and that made her irritable, which always led to her getting into trouble. Even as she was reflecting on who would be most likely to succeed in killing her if she was possessed by black magic, the idea to use some of her darker arts to play some honest pranks on these humans popped into her head. She resisted the idea for as long as she could. She decided that the best way to prevent trouble from happening was to need to find something fun to do that was fully and undoubtedly within the bounds of her orders to remain in the city to do her queen’s business.
She got up and began pacing the floor of the small room, talking out loud to herself.
“I could go tavern hopping and see how many of every single type of drink I could drink before I begin to react to the alcohol. Or I could go to the park and shapeshift into different animals that don’t live down here to see how many people I can freak out before the Tower Mages hunt me down and put a stop to my fun. Or I could do both. I could start in the taverns and then go out and shapeshift for fun. Even better!”
She cackled and rubbed her hands together with excitement at the idea. She scurried around the room throwing off her armor and changing into one of her looser tunics that was less likely to become messed up between her shiftings. In the midst of tying up her long blue hair, there was a knock on her door. She paused for a moment, curious at how she could have missed the footsteps of someone coming to her door. Whoever it was knocked again, causing her to utter a low grumbling sound as she let her hair fall down her back and she stomped over to the door. She opened it and standing in the hallways was a knight, his sandy hair was curly and framed his face. Two things struck her – the striking blue of his eyes that reminded her of someone else, and the fact that the tabard he wore over his armor bore both the ring of stars insignia of the Knights of the Stars (the King’s best knights) and the mace often attributed to the Brown Scholars, the tabard itself was a dark green rather than the usual bright yellow of King Theodore.
“Banshee Stormrage?” the knight asked.
“Mystery knight?” she replied.
His lips twitched but he retained a serious look. “The king requests your presence at the palace immediately. He has called a meeting and wishes that you be present. I am to take you there straightway. Do you need anything before we leave?”
Aayla glanced down at her tunic and sighed. “Yeah, I need to change.” She closed the door and went back to her bed where her armor and leather clothes were scattered on the floor. With almost as much speed with which she had thrown off those clothes not ten minutes before, she pulled them back on, tightening and adjusting all the straps and clasps to be just so. For extra measure, she threw over her shoulders a lightweight cloak and belted on her sword. She went back to the door, opened it, and stepped out into the hallway, quickly braiding her long hair over her shoulder.
“I’m ready now. Lead on, knight.”
He nodded, glancing momentarily at her sword, more out of curiosity than concern, before turning and leading her down the stairs and out of the tavern. Tied to the hitching post out front were two horses, a large brown stallion and her own horse, Gauflyn. She checked the saddle before climbing onto her horse’s back.
“I took the liberty of having your own horse prepared, Banshee Stormrage, as I believed you would prefer to ride a steed of your own people than one of ours.”
“And you didn’t think that any of your animals would let me ride them either. Don’t lie, we elves are not the favorite riders for any animal. Too much magic.”
The knight only bowed his head. Once he mounted his horse, they both turned their animals and he set their pace through the city directly back towards the palace. The ride there was much faster than her wandering walk earlier that morning. The sun was setting behind them, out over the plains surrounding the city, and they cast long shadows on the street ahead of them. There was still some light when they arrived at the gates to the palace. Servants were waiting for them, and when they had dismounted, their horses were taken away to the royal stables. Aayla followed the knight across the threshold of the gates and into the palace itself. She was not asked this time to disarm herself; the guards merely nodded to the knight and let her pass.
The room that he took her to was not the throne room. Rather, he took her further down a side hallway and into a large meeting room. There was a fireplace set in the back wall, the fire inside it was a comfortable size. A wooden table took up the bulk of the room and some of the chairs around the table were occupied. At the head sat King Theo, to his right and around were seated an ornately dressed woman – she assumed this was the famed Queen Madis – a huge man – his skin was dark as obsidian and his mage robes were pulled taunt over his muscular frame – a woman in a green and white dress – not a small woman but seemingly so compared to the man next to her, her eyes were a deep and dark blue, soft but older than her body – and two dwarves who were perfect copies of one another – thick black beards with glints of silver braided in three braids and held by huge sliver rings set with red gemstones of varying sizes, deep-set brown eyes, and lumpy noses. There were a few empty chairs to the left of the king, the knight – after bowing to his master – motioned her to one of these, he himself taking the seat across from the Queen. She sat and found herself looking into the flit-like brown eyes and the muscle man. He flashed her a smile, revealing that he was not simply a chiseled lump of rock, but rather a human with emotions. She winked in return.
“Well, now that we are all gathered here, I’ll tell you why you’re all gathered here.” Theo folded his arms on his chest and leaned back in his chair, tipping it onto its back legs. “The elves think that there is truth to their legend of the Shendi and their queen has sent one of her Banshees” – he motioned toward Aayla – “to investigate what we know about it ourselves. rather than be dragged into a fight over who is right and how they know anything about our internal affairs, I am going to cut right to the chase. I want there to be no competition, only cooperation. So, I am right now forming a group that will do whatever it takes for however long that it takes to get to the bottom of this issue. Fynlas, you are a knight turned scholar and I trust your instincts, I have chosen you to be on this task group. Eudora, you are one of the most knowledgeable of the ancient prophecies and mysticisms of both races, I also want you to work on this issue; in fact, because you hold no rank I want you to be the one to lead the group and to be the leasion with me and the elven queen, providing both of us with updates on your progress. Milche and Honig, your chief ordered you both down to Daraltis to aid me in whatever I ask until your ransom is sent. I want the two of you to help this group in whatever ways you can. Zachyal, you are one of my most trusted knights as well as Eudora’s brother; the same blood runs in your veins that has a deep connection to magic, I also want you to help in any way you can. And finally, Aayla Stormrage, Banshee, I want you and another elf of your queen’s choice to be a part of this task as well. You will be better able to fulfill you mission of spying on us by also helping us in the cause. And you shouldn’t be outnumbered either. Have your queen choose wisely who she sends down here to join you. Now, is that understood? Eudora is the leader of this mission and you are to get to the bottom of this Shendi business to the satisfaction of myself and that of the elven queen.”
There was no response from anyone in the room.
“Good, now I can go to bed. Come Madis.” The king and queen stood and left the room, leaving six quiet individuals seated around a table, their bodies casting wiggly shadows on the walls from the fire.
The dwarf twins talked softly together before excusing themselves and leaving. Aayla looked at the three humans still seated at the table with her. The two men were looked at the mage named Eudora. The older looked concerned and his brow was furrowed. The younger – her brother, apparently, Aayla could sort of see the similarities – seemed more curious than worried though there was still care in his eyes. She was staring between Aayla and Zachyal at the wall behind them, a very faraway and almost empty look in those dark blue eyes. Aayla cleared her throat, still looking between the humans.
“Well, so is that just it? We make a crew, I get another elf, and we go wonder in the woods thanking fate that we aren’t at war again? Eh?”
Fynlas and Zachyal glanced at her and both shrugged. Eudora blinked and shifted her gaze to Aayla.
“I guess so. This whole thing is news to me.” she shook herself before turning to Fynlas. “And this coming so soon after the Council wanted to know about students practicing black magic and talking about the Shendi. Odd, isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question. Fynlas didn’t say anything, only sighed. Zachyal and Aayla raised their eyebrows.
“Eudora, so what are we supposed to do next?” her brother asked.
“Aayla Stormrage, you need to recruit another elf or have your queen appoint someone. Once we have a full group, then I guess we’ll set of to see what we can learn about this Shendi. In the meantime, my job is going to be figuring out what we already do know – because I currently know nothing.”
Fynlas nodded, “sounds good to me. With that, I will bid you a goodnight then.” He rose and was next to exit the room.
“I’ll walk you to your house, Eudora.” The siblings stood and walked out together.
Aayla shrugged and rose to her feet, following them at a respectable distance. What an interesting evening, and all probably prompted by her own arrival and the queen’s mysterious letter.