Chapter Fifty-eight

Strange Satyrs

It was late afternoon by the time we parted ways with Aurel. I took the lead again as we traveled. Having my hood up, I was feeling more comfortable if we found anyone else on the road, but I still wanted to be aware of anyone. It made me nervous not knowing who my family was, or how other elves would react to me.

Once I saw Jörgen's magical hand appear in front of me, swiping at my feet, but it grabbed hold of Keothi instead and disappeared. Jörgen gave me a mischievous grin and looked away. That wizard sure had a weird sense of humor. Sometimes I appreciated it, sometimes it was annoying.

The sun was setting low on the horizon, we must have been getting close to the fork in the road Aurel had told us about. The road rose up over a small hill. Ari'yasa called out from the back of the group. "We have a hostage situation!"

About a stone's throw away from us, just off the left side of the road, were three creatures that looked made of rock, but were shaped with the upper half of a human and the hind legs of a goat. They reminded me of a fey creature I'd heard of, a satyr, but composed of rocks.

They had black, braided ropes tied around a wood elf, who, looking at his armor, was probably a guard. They were dragging him onto the road to cross it. One of the creatures was pushing the elf with a wooden club. The elf was resisting, but wasn't going to be able to get out.

Ari'yasa pushed her way to the front, casting her spell that brought vines up from the ground to entangle them. One of them broke out with his club, but the others struggled against the vines, including the elf. The creature closest to us spotted our group and said something to the others. He was looking away from us, so I couldn't read his lips, but I couldn't really understand what he was saying. I was only able to make out the word "ears" in Common.

Melima shouted something at them. It sounded similar to Elvish, but I couldn't understand it. Keothi ran forward, halving the distance between he and them. They looked at him wide-eyed, despite him resting his hammer on the ground. "Do not struggle. We mean you no harm."

I followed after him, pulling to the right side of the road just ahead of where he stopped. I left my bow on my shoulder, but if they made any moves to harm someone it was coming off and firing before they knew what hit them.

Now that I was closer, I could better see the ropes around the elf. It wasn't actually rope, it was the creatures' hair. I looked over at Keothi, speaking in Dwarvish, a language I figured the creatures wouldn't know. "That's not rope, that's their hair."

Melima ran full speed towards them, stopping just out of their reach and holding out her arms to keep us back. She said something again in the language I didn't understand. The elf gave her a strange look. Racial tensions, of course.

Ari'yasa called out from behind me in Elvish. "We mean you no harm. Do you need to be rescued?"

The elf nodded his head firmly. For some reason, it seemed that he couldn't speak. The rock satyr that had escaped the vines walked towards Melima and said something. The other two broke out of the vines with their clubs, then started hacking at the vines holding the elf. They were grumbling, and while I couldn't understand what they were saying, I could hear the frustration in their voices.

"Melima, what are they saying?" Sephra asked, running up to her.

Melima shrugged. "They claim the elf?"

The elf was looking around as he struggled against his bonds and the vines. He made eye contact with me, giving me a pleading look that said, "help me."

Naidaroe came running up as well. "Is the elf for sale?"

The creature gave a confused look, and Melima said a single word. The creature shook his head vehemently. Guess they weren't willing to part with him.

Naidaroe sighed and said to Melima, "Do what you need to for the welfare of the elves."

One of the other rock satyrs bent over, shouting in pain and holding his head. Keothi ran in front of Melima, holding his hammer in a defensive position. I shouted to Melima in Common, "Tell them to let the elf go, and we'll let them live."

I cast my mark on the rock satyr behind the bound elf and stepped next to Naidaroe. I drew my bow and pointed it at my chosen mark.

Melima lashed out a streak of lightning at the creature in front of her, then lunged to grab him. The creature easily dodged away from both, staying out of her reach. Ari'yasa threw a whip out at him, but it bounced right off his thick skin.

He tried to step back, but Keothi hit his legs, stopping him. Melima also threw an orb at him, causing him to quake. The creature unwrapped his hair from around the elf, though the other creatures still had their ropes of hair around him.

The rock satyr closest to me cast a spell, and a huge creature made of rock came out of the ground, an earth elemental. They weren't going to negotiate. I let my arrow fly, hitting the rock satyr in the back just below his hairline.

I also stuck the one that conjured the elemental in the leg. It didn't go in as deep as the first one had, apparently weapons needed to be magical. Why did we keep running into things that we needed magic to fight? It made it harder for me to be of help.

Keothi made another swing, but didn't connect. The elf pulled himself free of the vines with the help of one of the creatures holding him captive, then backed up as far as the rope would let him. Sephra vanished in a flash of light and reappeared on the other side of the vines. A hound appeared next to them and snapped at one of the ropes. He got it in his mouth, but couldn't break it.

Naidaroe moved out of the way and cast a spell. I couldn't tell what it did, but Jörgen cast one at the same time, which brought two more smaller elementals. The large elemental swung at Keothi, who was still recovering from his last swing and was just out of reach. It also swung at Ari'yasa, striking her in the side.

Keothi smashed his hammer in the sternum of the rock satyr in front of him. A second swing missed, just because of how the creature bungled back from getting hit so hard.

I flew into the air to stay out of reach of the large elemental, then stuck two arrows into the rock satyr I'd marked. It looked up at me and snarled. He wasn't happy.

Melima threw a ball of acid at the one in front of her, then reached out with her hand sparking with lightning. The satyr stepped just out of her reach. All the vines around him started withering back to the ground. Ari'yasa must have let go of her spell.

The ground thundered beneath the elementals and one of the rock satyrs. One of Jörgen's elementals looked about ready to fall apart, but the big one also had several large chunks fall off. Ari'yasa stepped away from it, to the east, but the elemental caught her as she ran, smashing into her leg.

The rock satyr in front of Keothi and Melima threw a spell at Keothi, but nothing seemed to happen. The satyr stomped in frustration and seemingly melted into the ground.

The one to the east followed Ari'yasa, out of my sight. Sephra's hound followed him, holding onto his hair. The other one, the one I had marked, followed to the east, throwing a rock at me. I wasn't expecting it, and it hit me hard on my arm. These little things were mean.

Sephra threw a crazy ball of energy into the trees. The ball changed color and shape and didn't fly straight. One of Jörgen's elementals burrowed into the ground and popped up on the other side of the larger elemental. Both the smaller elementals smashed their arms into the legs of the larger elemental, but it ignored them.

Naidaroe ran around the scuffle, grabbing the arm of the elf. "Tawariell, behind you!"

I looked back, and she appeared with the elf well away from the rest of us. The elf was safe.

Jörgen cast a tidal wave at the large elemental, causing it to fall over. It got up, swinging both arms at Keothi. The goliath had to make a quick dodge to avoid the first arm, but was well out of the way of the other one.

He followed the motion of the errant swing with his hammer, smashing into the shoulder of the elemental. He then drove the hammer into the center of the heap of rocks, making them all crash to the ground in a heap. "No one is allowed to be bigger than me in combat."

I flew higher into the air, trying to get out of range of the rock satyr hurling rocks. Ari'yasa was lying motionless on the ground, with the other satyr standing over her. My heart dropped. I couldn't lose someone, not again.

I wouldn't be able to get to her fast enough to help. I fired two more arrows at the rock satyr I'd marked. My nerves were raw, and my first one flew wide, but my second one drove into a chink in the rock he was made of.

Melima rushed over to Ari'yasa, popping a cork and pouring a blue potion into her mouth. The druid revived and backed away from her attackers, fleeing to a tree.

The ground opened behind Keothi, and the missing rock satyr emerged. He swung twice at the goliath, hitting his legs, but Keothi was unfazed.

The satyr I'd marked melded into the ground. The other one swung at Melima, though the swing that connected seemed to bounce off of her.

Sephra hurled a ball of energy at the rock satyr behind Keothi, hitting it with a thunderous boom. The small elementals got around the same satyr, but were too clumsy to strike him.

Jörgen got closer to the fighting and shot out a burst of fire from his hands. It burned the two rock satyrs, but also got Keothi and one of the elementals. The elemental crumbled to the ground. A splash of acid hit both of the satyrs, which they tried to wipe off.

Keothi made a barrage of swings against the satyr behind him, smashing him into the ground. A blackish-green ichor oozed from the deceased creature. He looked at the last one. "You should have let the elf go." The creature chattered back angrily.

I released my mark on the creature that had disappeared underground, casting it instead on the one remaining on the surface. I whispered to my bow, "lachogoth," to cause my next arrow to burn with fire. That arrow flew wide, but my next one hit the rock satyr in the back of his shoulder.

Melima launched a ball of energy at him, connecting with a boom even louder than Sephra's. She hurled a bolt of fire at him, singeing him. The air began to smell of burnt hair.

The rock satyr slipped underground, out of sight. Sephra's hound stalked to the east, sniffing the ground. It seemed to have lost the scent of its prey. I could see the ground moving ever so slightly towards the east. They weren't coming back anytime soon.

Naidaroe brought the elf to everyone else, and I landed with them. Naidaroe was holding a small sack that was covered in blood. It looked like it had been in his mouth, which would explain why he didn't talk during our attempt at negotiating. Naidaroe asked him his name. "My name is Terone Silverleaf."

"Why did they take you? Tell us everything you were doing. You're safe now," Naidaroe said.

He took a look around at all of us. He was alarmed at Sephra, and uneasy with Melima, but seemed most comfortable with Naidaroe and I, addressing us more than anyone else. "Well, we were on patrol going east. Those creatures, they seemed to come out of nowhere, right out of the rockface, as we were traversing one of the smaller canyons here. Well, not really canyons, more of a ravine, but there were six of us, and we thought that we could overtake them, but they easily started overpowering us. Four of us were overtaken by the creatures, and they were able to take us down, one by one.

"During the battle I was knocked unconscious, and when I came to, I was being dragged through the forest toward the east. I don't know how far, where I am." He looked around. "Where am I?"

"We're on the road towards the fork that split towards both Felspring and the Tree," I said.

"If that's the case, and we are on the road to the High Elven capital and the Tree, then I am almost at least a day's journey from where I was. Strange. We were on the northwestern side of the city, just doing our regular patrols when these creatures attacked."

"Do you know why these creatures wanted you?" Naidaroe asked.

"I don't know particularly. We've had a lot more attacks as of late. From the west, but I wasn't expecting anything from the east. The guard, we rotate through different areas to guard, but this was unusual, we were unprepared for the attack. And the fact that they were able to conjure another one of those elementals at the time they attacked us. That's what took most of our band down. We are only mere fighters. But thank you for saving me."

A lot more attacks in Elven land, taking elves. Could it be that Loltha was enlisting creatures of the dark to attack and bring her elves? Rewarding them with bounties? They didn't seem to be of our plane, could they be from the Shadowfell? The priest at the temple of Kord had mentioned Loltha had been banished there. Though they did seem more feylike.

Terone told us that there had been a lot more attacks from the mountains lately, and there had even been reports from the White Tree of unusual creatures attacking nearby. It wasn't unheard of for people to be dragged away. Sometimes they escaped, sometimes they didn't. He was lucky we came across him.

Things were worse than I thought they would be. How fast were things moving? They weren't nearly as bad on Lystran. How much time did we have left? How many more innocent people would be killed or taken?

"Well, if we are where you say we are, we are probably..." He looked down at his armor and reached for his side. He had no weapon, only his green armor with a symbol emblazoned on the chest— an elongated diamond in the center, with two smaller diamonds on the sides, tilted out.

"I'm kind of defenseless right now, which way are you all going?" He looked between the three of us elves. He wouldn't want to stay with us if we were heading to Felspring. Not after what Aurel told us about relations between the elves.

"We're heading towards the Eternity Tree," I said.

"What takes you there?"

"Have you been meditating?" Melima asked.

"N...no. No one can." Terone replied.

Melima nodded. "That's why we're going."

"You know something that we don't?"

"Yes, I think." Melima was right, we didn't know that we knew more, we just hoped that we did.

"Well, any help would be greatly appreciated."

"What are you asking for? Are you asking for an escort?"

"Well, either an escort back to the city, or at least a weapon so I can defend myself."

"Come with us! Come with us and you can have a weapon," Melima said.

"Thank you, thank you so much."

"What city were you guarding?" I asked. I was guessing it was a border town somewhere.

"We were protecting the capital city, Dolanaar. The Wood Elf capital, of course."

My stomach dropped. That meant the capital city was being attacked. They were attacking the heart of the wood elves. Plus whatever was going on with the Tree.

Jörgen pushed me forward, closer to the elf. Seeing his distrust of Melima, I'd been trying to keep my distance, with my hood up to hide my ears. It might be better for the time being to keep my High Elven heritage a secret.

"My name is Melima Moonfeather," she said. "I come from the High Elven court."

Terone's eyes grew wide. "Why are you here? I didn't think any of the royals left the High Elven city."

"Well, until me!" Melima said.

"Unusual."

"Yes, indeed. It's a long story, and we'll tell you along the way."

"I would be glad to hear it, if you're willing to tell."

The sun was setting on the horizon, so we decided to set up camp. We cleaned up the road a little bit. The elemental was strewn across it, and vines had grown up through the road, breaking it up. There wasn't much we could do about the broken road though.

We went up the road a little farther, hoping to get out of any cross trails the rock satyrs might have had in the area, and camped a couple stones throws off the side of the road. Terone was impressed with the means we had for food. We had rations, but hardly ever used them. I was nearly always able to find plenty of food in the forest, and Ari'yasa knew a spell to create it if we needed. He was also in awe of the dome Naidaroe made for us to camp in.

My hood was down when I came back with food. Terone gave me a strange look. Later he asked me, "Who are you? You are a strange one. Not as strange as your fellow companions, but you appear a wood elf, though your physique seems of high elf."

I took a deep breath. "I am half of each. I take more after my mother as a wood elf though."

The surprise in his eyes was unmistakable. I laughed nervously. "Yeah, I know I'm not normal."

"There has not been a match between a wood elf and a high elf in many a year."

"Yeah, I didn't realize that because I grew up around humans, so I didn't think I was all that different."

"Where did you grow up?" Terone asked.

"I grew up on Lystran, in Raishan."

The surprise and confusion in his face only grew. "That must have been different, growing up with humans. You are young, yes?"

"I am, yeah." I wasn't about to tell him just how young I was. The more I traveled on Fenraas, the younger I felt, though I still felt my age catching up to me because of the effects on the Tree.

"I, myself just passed my hundred and fifty years."

"I'm a bit younger than that."

"Well, I'm new to the guard, just finished my training, so..."

"Well, congratulations."

"Thank you. I just wish the rest of my guardsmen could have been able to— I don't know, maybe they did survive, I don't know."

"I know what you mean." Though the ache of losing Sindus had waned since landing on Fenraas, I still felt the pain and the guilt. Both that I'd led us into disaster, and that I had survived while others perished.

Melima walked over. "Terone, can you tell us more about what's going on with the wood elves in the area, what they've been experiencing?"

"As of late, it's just been more strange creatures and strange anomalies or strange aberrations happening in the west wood, west of Dolanaar. Though I don't get out much, training with the guard and being on guard, we don't get out into the wood, though the reports have said it's quite dangerous out beyond this road."

"Can you elaborate? What is it that's going on, or, you said strange anomalies."

"There are lots of rumors around. Some believe it's the work of the gods, some believe it's the work of strange fey creatures, some believe it's a sign of the Tree dying. Most believe that somehow the Tree is failing, which is why we cannot trance. But I don't have any connection with those that are in charge, so your guess is as good as mine, probably better."

"Those in charge? What do you mean?"

"Well, the Wood Elven council of course."

"You said there haven't been attacks from the east?" I asked.

"No, there have been more from the east. The guard has been increased, things that normally stay in their own territory have been coming out from the east towards the city, having to be intercepted by the guard."

"Do they have a purpose or a motive? Have you been able to determine any kind of motive of the fey?" Melima asked.

"Well, the fey have always been mischievous, and have always been, uh...more territorial once they reach new lands. The only way that I could see there would be new fey creatures in the area is if some sort of portal or something has been opened, or a rift has happened between the material plane and the Feywild," Terone said.

I sighed to myself. "So much division..."

"Well, we should all get some rest, it's a bit of a journey back I think from where we are. Do you all keep a watch, or how does all this work?" He motioned to the dome with a bewildered look.

"We don't usually keep a watch when we're using this. It keeps us safe, nothing else can get in while the dome is up."

"Interesting." He put his hand through the wall of the dome, then pointed to Naidaroe. "She's the one who controls who comes in and out?"

"Yes."

"Interesting. Strange magic, but interesting." He asked each of us where we were from, and how we got together. We seemed so strange to him, and I could understand why. We really were the unconventional group.

Jörgen pulled a pair of spectacles out of his pocket and put them on. When you saw him at just the right angle his eyes looked huge, and the lenses sheened. He looked at Keothi. "Wow, you're a lot uglier than I thought."

"You're just as ugly as you've always been," the goliath replied. Like it or not, we were a strange group.