Elathan and Kayla continued to search the site of Queen Karrashiva's harbor excavation for any signs of the orcs and kobolds that had reportedly been attacking the site. While searching through the underbrush, Kayla heard a distant scream coming from the main site.
"Did ye hear that?"
Elathan fixed her with a curious look as he saw the dwarf run past, heading straight for the source. With a sigh and a shake of his head, he gave chase, easily catching up with the dwarf's shambling run.
The pair came up a battlefield when they reached the site. A group of orcs and kobolds alike had invaded the site, attacking the dwarven excavators and druids as they howled and screamed. Kayla, not one to wait for anyone's word, drew her warhammer and began to charge into the fray toward the closest group of enemies (with Elathan cursing behind her), only to end up smashing into an invisible wall that quickly had her on her backside and mumbling her pain away.
"Do watch your step, little dwarf."
Both Elathan and Kayla looked about for the unexpected voice. The pair managed to spot a tall elf standing in one of the tall trees nearby. The strange gray-skinned elf smirked down at them with an air of superiority as he folded his arms, tucking them inside his silver-trimmed white robes. Kayla looked fairly unimpressed as she put away her warhammer and drew out her crossbow.
"And just who in the Nine Hells are ye?"
"You, tunnel-crawler, may call me Lord," came the elf's snide reply. "But you, my dear fellow sylvan, may call me Horendithas."
Elathan gave the grey elf a confused look as he smiled and bowed to him.
"I would prefer if you would stay put," the elf continued. "If only so that we could speak a little more."
"About what?" Elathan asked in an annoyed tone of voice, gesturing toward the site. "Not to be entirely rude, but we have pressing business in that direction."
"Oh, yes. That. Well, that will be over very soon, do not doubt. I would much rather speak about you, though."
"I'm sorry, but we don't have time for that," the fair-skinned elf replied as he waggled his fingers and applied magic to himself to give more protection. The grey elf smiled widely.
"Ah, so there's fight in you. I like that. They do say that battlers can speak through combat."
At that, Kayle fired a bolt at the elf that went wide. The elf didn't seem to notice.
"Bah, let us through, already," the dwarf shouted, almost literally hopping mad. The grey elf gave a wave of his hand and Elathan, to his shock, felt his protective magic shatter and break, completely dispelled.
"I will not."
Elathan quickly recovered from the blow and launched an assault of his own, fiery rays homing in on Horendithas and giving him a terrible burn that nearly knocked him from his perch on the tree.
"Straight to the heart," he said with a smirk as he clutched the wound. "So that's the kind of person you are."
Kayla, growing more furious by the minute from being ignored, took aim at the elf again, but got distracted by a figure on the battlefield that seemed to dance through the fighting, leaving death in his wake. One of the tougher looking orcs, obviously a leader, fell to the fighter's swords.
"What in the...ah, dammit all!" she yelled as her shot went wide yet again.
Horendithas had a similar look of anger on his own face as he looked at the battlefield and saw that with the fall of the leader, the orcs and kobolds suddenly broke ranks and turned to flee, only to be slaughtered by the now organized dwarves and druids.
"That meddling whelp," the grey elf muttered. His cloak fluttered and quickly formed wings, allowing him to take to the air. "No matter. But before I go, I'll finish our conversation."
Horendithas waved his arm and five magic missiles homed in on Elathan, nearly knocking him over.
"Until we meet again," he said before flying off.
Kayla grumbled under her breath as she went and cast her healing magic on Elathan, who glanced after the disappearing figure of the strange grey elf. The two found afterward that the invisible wall had disappeared and they ran to the site, only to find that the main skirmish had ended, leaving the bodies of orcs, kobolds, dwarves and elves alike scattered around. Seeing that the wounded were being tended by the druids, Kayla noticed a lone figure, dressed in fine leather armor and holding a pair of fine longswords, still wet with blood, in his hands standing in the middle of the site. She casually approached the figure and when he turned, found him to have a very cat-like appearance.
"The chase has ended?" he asked as he let his sword arms rest at ease.
"Chase?" the pair echoed, obviously confused. The hard grip the man had before returned.
"I did not see you take part in the battle," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Who are you?"
"We are part of the Watchers," Elathan explained. "The Queen asked us to look into the strange happenings. We heard the scream and came to investigate."
"I was at the audience Her Majesty held with the Watchers. I do not remember seeing you there."
"Of course. The others arrived before we did, so we didn't personally meet with the Queen. We joined with our fellows later. I'm Elathan and this is Kayla."
The figure looked at them closely for a long moment, then let his tension ease.
"I am Prince Farrln Bloodclaw. I apologize for scrutinizing you so closely, but one cannot be too careful."
"No apology is necessary," Elathan said, shaking his head. "Once the others arrive, we can show you the papers we were given by the Queen."
"Not entirely necessary. You do not give off an air of deception."
"Tell 'em about Mr. High and Mighty Elf, already, Elathan," Kayla mumbled from the side. Farrln tilted his head at the surly dwarf.
Elathan recounted the encounter they had with the grey elf and, by the end, the prince wore a concerned expression.
"An elf with a grey pallor? That does not sound like a darf elf. They are usually black of skin, though the attitude sounds right. I have heard tell of grey elves that live in the Gloamwood far to the north. Perhaps that is where this Horendithas hails from. In any case, it would seem that he is the perpetrator behind this attack, if he so blocked your way."
"Aye, that he is. Refused to let us pass." Kayla tapped her chin a moment, suddenly remembering something. "Did you see a strange, almost ghost-like figure on the field fighting the orcs?"
"The only figures fighting the orcs were the elves and the dwarves. And myself, when I arrived here," Farrln said, tilting his head at the dwarf again.
"I thought I saw something else, but I was too far away to see."
"Perhaps I should go and search myself." The prince gripped his longswords tightly. "Thank you for informing me."
"You're welcome."
The pair watched the prince run off into the tree line and agreed to search the corpses for items of interest. As expected, they found the mysterious emblem on the bodies of the dead orcs and goblins. However, they also found an especially well-crafted broadsword and a pair of equally crafted bracers on the body of one of the orcs.
"Since when did orcs have such nice things," Kayla pondered aloud. "We should show them to the Prince." Elathan agreed and the two of them followed the path Farrln had taken moments before. Walking through the brush, the pair found an odd sight: a wall made completely of ice, with the Prince perched atop peering over the other side.
"Your Highness?"
"It would appear I've found your friends," he said with a backward glance.
"What manner of magic is this?" Kayla asked, looking to Elathan.
"A very cold kind, by any indication," Farrln replied, shifting his bare feet on the edge of the wall.
"Is there any way to get them out?"
"I'm told your elf friend there is skilled with magic. Perhaps a spell to conjure a fire may help." Elathan began putting his hand to the structure and studying it closely.
"Give me a moment to take a look." After a few moments, the elf took a few paces back and began waggling his fingers. "Right. You'll want to stand clear, Your Highness."
A great ball made completely of fire suddenly appeared and began boring its way through the wall. Soon, a hole large enough to accommodate the group inside was created and the group was reunited.
"I haven't searched far, but I haven't seen any signs of your spectre, good dwarf."
"I haven't either," Kayla admitted with a sigh. "I wish I knew what it was."
After Kayla helped to heal Gaylia, who had been injured in their own fight with the orcs, she and Elathan presented the prince with the objects they'd found.
"That's the sword used by the orc I felled in the battle. It's enchanted, to be sure," he said as he regarded the blade. "Those bracers are not unlike the ones I wear."
"Isn't it odd for orcs to have such nice equipment?" Kayla asked as she took the items and handed them back to Elathan.
"It is. It was no common band that attacked this site."
"Not if they're working together."
"I have a feeling capturing this Horendithas will provide us with many of the answers we seek."
"Aye, and clipping his wings would benefit all of us, I'm sure."
"Hm," Farrln said while stroking his chin. "Perhaps Master Noramros would be able to help."
"Where can we find him?" Elathan asked as he adjusted the positioning of his new belongings.
"He is the court mage. He should be at the castle. He may also be able to help the workers here with their sabotage problems."
"Sounds like a plan," Kayla said with a nod. We'll go see Master Noramros once we're done here. But is there anything else ye can tell us?" The prince shrugged.
"You know as much as I do. I do not receive reports directly, so I came here to see what was going on for myself."
"Thank ye kindly. We'll be on our way, then. The sooner we get this solved, the better."
"Well said," the prince replied grimly as he turned to go and check on the return of the dwarves that had gone chasing the fleeing orcs.
The group chatted and determined that going back to the city would probably be for the best, but Kayla wanted another check around the camp before leaving. As she studied one of the bodies, she wondered aloud about the wraith she thought she had seen on the field.
"A wraith," asked Ianster Waveharp, the leading druid who was not without his own wounds from the skirmish. "No, there was no wraith on the field this day. Perhaps it was the Prince you saw. His sword speed and skill are quite talked about in the kingdom."
"He's that quick, is he?"
"Aye. He was trained by fine elven swordsmen and the Queen herself. He is skilled, to be sure."
"Hunh. Well, Mr. Creepy was muttering something about someone interfering. Maybe he was talking about the Prince."
"Mr. Creepy?"
"Oh, sorry. We got in a fight with a grey elf when we tried to join in the battle earlier." Ianster stiffened and his lips grew very tight.
"A grey elf has shown itself here?"
"You know what a grey elf is?"
"Aye. An arrogant and boastful breed of elvenkind. They look down upon anyone but themselves."
"That'd be him then," Kayla said with a frown. "'Bout ignored me like I didn't exist. He was friendly enough to Elathan, though. Well, aside from taking a shot at him."
"I'd hardly call that friendly," the mage said with a frown.
"I do not doubt your claim," Ianster said, rubbing an aching shoulder. "Grey elves look most unkindly upon dwarves and other races they consider ugly. They treat other elves with some respect, but if this grey elf went so far as to speak to you as an equal, then he is a strange one."
"Anyway, was there anything strange about the battle?"
"What of the battle was not strange? Kobolds and orcs working together... But some of the dwarves let the battle come very close to the equipment. It seemed like a troublesome situation, but they were able to beat them back."
"True, it was very strange," Elathan said with a sigh. "We should get going."
"Eh, this close to nightfall, it might be best to stay put," Kayla said, looking at the darkening sky. "Scavengers always come after a fight like this. We should put out at first light."
Elathan and the others thought it over and agreed with the dwarf's insight. The people at the camp welcomed their stay and, despite the dwarf's prediction, the group stayed a quiet night at the site, leaving for Farrlmarr the following morning. The trip continued smoothly for a full day and the group was halfway to their destination by the end of the second. They settled not to far from the banks of the River Gulbrin for a night of rest, Elathan taking the watch to allow his companions a rest.
As he sat watching the fire, he suddenly had a thought to take a walk by the river. With a quick look around the area to make sure nothing looked strange, the elf walked to the riverbank and started a stroll, watching the moonlight glitter on the river's surface. Before long, the mage saw that he had traveled farther from the group than he had intended and started to turn back, but the sight of a figure sitting alone on the rocks nearby gave him paused. Curious, he crept closer to the figure, who seemed oblivious to him. Suddenly, he felt his magic energies being suppressed. The figure turned to face him and Elathan nearly took off when he saw that it was none other than the grey elf from before.
"I'm glad you came," he said softly. "Don't be frightened. I can't use my powers, either. We're on completely even ground. Sit."
"I'd rather stand."
"If that's what you'd like," Horendithas said with a shrug before fixing Elathan with a look. "We don't have to be enemies, you know." Elathan folded his arms and looked skeptical.
"How do you figure that?"
"Because I'm offering you a welcoming hand," the grey elf said with a disarming smile. "I've seen what you can do. I think you can end up doing great things."
"'Great things'? From where I stand, you look to be up to no good."
"You only know one side of the equation. How well do you know that Queen who uses you like a pawn?"
"The side I've seen indicates she rules fairly," Elathan replied, canting his head. "What makes you think we are mere pawns?"
"Because that is what she is doing to you. Think on it. She has spread herself thin, so she summons you to do her dirty work for her. And look from whence you came. Why would she have need to make her usurped city into a port of call?"
"What do you mean, 'usurped'?"
"You don't thing the city has always been ruled by felines, do you?"
"I wouldn't know. I'm not that familiar with the history of the place."
"Well. Why not ask Her Highness just how she came to be High Queen? And ask her how long her reign has been, while you're at it." Horendithas stood and gave Elathan another smile. "We shall speak again, but do keep in mind that we can be on the same side."
With that, the grey elf turned and began to make his way into the thin forest, leaving Elathan backing away from the rocks. He had no reply for the elf, only thinking it better that he return to his friends as quickly as possible.
