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xPoliceDog29x
"Sir, our messengers have returned from the outpost at the breach" Soren said as he walked into my command tent.
"And what has General Amaya sent us?" I asked.
"She says that the Elves have been dormant and that our army should be able to take those at the outpost by surprise."
"Then we march at dawn."
"I will send a messenger to inform the general then tell the troops."
"See to it that it is done."
"Yessir!"
I looked over the map of the terrain that had been placed on the table in the center of the tent and went over the plans that had been set forward. At dawn the Kingdom of Katolis will march through the breach and into Xadia and take back the lands that once belonged to the Humans in the name of the fallen prince of Katolis, and in the hope that they may be able to find the lost prince in the den of their enemies.
I turned to walk out only to be met with a red-faced Soren as he burst Through the entrance of my tent.
"Sir! A messenger has just been received from the breach. He says that General Amaya requests your presence, and that it is extremely urgent." Soren informs me
"Did he say for what reason would demand this much urgency?" I ask.
"He said that the guards at the Xadian outpost have captured a prisoner. But that he didn't know who or what they are, all he knows is that General Amaya said to tell you that these prisoners could be of vital importance to finding your brother."
My eyes widened as I realized what he was saying.
"She believes that she has a lead onto what happened to Callum!"
"I believe so sir. I will ready your horse and the crowngaurd while you think about what to do."
And with that he turned around and walked out of the tent. I could hear him barking orders to the rest of the crowngaurd and to the stable master to get ready for the trip to the breach. I knew that I should be getting my armor on and getting ready to travel as well but all I could do is sit there and think about what Soren said. How could it be possible for Aunt Amaya to have someone who knows something about what happened to Callum. This must be something extremely important for her to summon me now even though we will be passing through the breach tomorrow as we enter Xadia. I just couldn't wrap my head around it.
"King Ezran, King Ezran, Ezran!" Shouted Claudia in my ear.
"What, what, why are you shouting from not even three inches away!?" I replied disoriented
"You need to get ready to travel to the breach."
I realized that she was right, I had been so caught up in my own thoughts that I forgot to put my armor on.
"Yes, your right I do. Thank you, Claudia." I reply as I move to put my armor on.
"When you are done Soren is waiting outside with your horse and the crowngaurd ready to go." She said as she left the tent.
I finished putting my armor on then strapped my sword to my hip, and finally I picked up the crown and put it on my head. I turned and made to leave the tent but as I did a small book caught my eye. It was one of Callum's old sketchbooks. I decided that if this person truly did know something about the whereabouts of Callum then they would be able to recognize some of his artwork. No matter what happened he would always try his hardest to draw. Even if it was just a stick figure drawn onto the floor of his cell. He would draw, and that would help us determine whether this source of information was reliable.
I grabbed the sketchbook and started to flip through it. There were many different drawings in the sketchbook. There were ones of me, of different places In the castle, there were even drawings of our mom. As I was flipping through the book one drawing caught my eye. It was a drawing of the symbols of primal magics of the world. But the strangest thing was that the symbols seemed to be drawn by someone other than Callum, and that is impossible since Callum would never let someone other than himself draw in his sketchbook. He wouldn't even let me draw in it when I was younger. So, who was it that Callum let draw in his sketchbook? The only person I could think of is Claudia. I will have to remember to ask her when we get back.
I closed the sketch book and tucked it into an inner pocket of my armor. I did a final once over of the room to see if there was anything I was missing for the journey. After I was sure that I wasn't, I exited the tent, got on my horse, and commanded for the convoy to head out.
Despite being King of Catolis for nearly five and a half years now this is my first time seeing an elf in person. The elf was currently chained up in a standing position with his hands above his head. He was slumped against the wall asleep. The first thought that popped into my head when I saw him was that the depictions I had seen of elves were completely incorrect. They had no fangs and their horns were tame in comparison to the image. Also, the clothes that had been depicted as primitive and mostly made of animal fur, were nearly the same design as Katolin style clothes.
This elf's clothes were composed of tight fitting red sleeveless shirt; a pair of tight brown pants; and a pair of simple brown boots which were a lot like Katolin style boots. His weapons were quite confusing though. He had a pair of short swords and a staff. The pair of the short swords and the staff had extensive engraving in a language that I couldn't understand.
The elf himself was a tall and well-built, but thin male, at least I assumed they were male. He had a pair of horns that started just above his hairline and followed the curve of his head until they turned up as they stuck out past the back of his head. His skin was about the same color as Soren's, if not a little paler. He had Plum colored markings that started at where his ear connected to his head and split off with on mark going over his eye and another going under his eye until they met back up with one another on the bridge of his nose along with one that turned down and stopped next to the corner of each lip. He also had markings on his arm. These ones however seem to be the same written language as what is on the one pair of short swords. On a second look I noticed that it wasn't just his arms, it was his whole body that was covered in these runes.
But the most striking thing about this elf is the fact that he looked almost exactly like Callum would have had he been 5 years older. The elf finally woke up from the sleep that he had been in and looked up at us with a groan. I did a mental double take when I saw his eyes. Those were Callum's eyes, this elf's eyes were the same eyes of my brother. He looked up and surveyed the group of people currently in front of him, his eyes finally landed on me and he gave a gasp of surprise.
"I was told that you have information on the whereabouts of Prince Callum of Katolis. What is it exactly that you know about my brother, if you are even telling the truth?" I asked the elf while staring resolutely into his eyes.
He looked down at the floor and chuckled to himself before looking back up into my eyes and replying,
"I did indeed say that I had knowledge about the whereabouts of your brother, didn't I?"
"Are there any questions that you have about your brother?" He asked
"Is he alive"
"yes"
"Is he being held prisoner in one of your cities?"
"No, he has been free to roam the world as he wishes for the past four and a half years"
"Where is he now?"
"Closer than you would think."
"If he was free to roam the world then how come he didn't come straight home or at least inform anyone in the Kingdom of Katolis that he was alive?"
"He found a reason to stay in Xadia and didn't want to endanger that reason by making himself and that reason a target for conflict among both the elves and the humans."
"This reason, it sounds as if it is a person, is it?"
"Yes, he stayed behind for a person."
"Who is this person to him, are they his master, friends, lover?"
"They are someone very important to him."
"That is not the answer to the question I asked."
"I know."
"Why won't you answer this question."
"Why did I answer the other questions?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I could have just lied to you about everything I just said, and you wouldn't know it."
"While that is true this questioning session isn't over yet, there will be plenty of time to figure out what is true and what is not during then."
I pulled the sketchbook out of my pocket and put it on the floor in front of the elf with the face open to a sketch of our family.
"Have you seen any drawings or sketch that look to similar to this one?" I ask the elf.
He looks up at me then looks down at the sketchbook. He stares for a second before looking up and saying, "I have not seen any drawings exactly like this one but I have seen some portraits that have a similar art style to this one."
"Where they done by the man that you claim is my brother?"
"Yes, they were done by him."
He turns to try and look out of the barred window
"What time is it?"
"What?"
"What time is it, from the way I am chained up I can't see out the window, so what time is it?"
I peeked out the window and saw that the it was nearly midnight. I turned back to the elf and replied, "It is almost midnight, why is it so important?"
"Because it's almost time." He replied.
"Almost time for what?"
"Time for me to leave. Aspiro Frigis!"
At the moment the elf yelled the spell one of the symbols on his body began to glow and within moments the shackles on his hands were frozen so cold that they became brittle. He then proceeded to smash the shackles against the wall and run to his weapons. I followed him with my eyes as he ran only to realize that he had gone completely invisible. Then I realized that it was a full moon out tonight, and he was obviously a moonshadow elf.
I cursed myself for my stupidity at not being more observant. I turned around to give orders to Soren and the rest of the Crowngaurd but they were all on the floor, hopefully unconscious, with the elf standing over them. I unsheathed my sword and held it in front of me. The noise caused the elf to turn and look at me. He came at me with his staff.
He struck first with a downward swing aimed at the shoulder of the arm that was holding the sword. I raised my sword to block it but the moment his staff hit my sword he used the momentum of his swing to bring up the other end and hit me in the stomach. The hit knocked me off-balance and I stumbled backwards. He continued the assault and hit me in the stomach again knocking the breath out of me. Then the shoulder and the hand which caused me to drop the sword and be pushed out of range of reaching it.
The elf had the end of his staff pointed at the underside of my chin. He held it there for a few seconds before he removed it and slung his staff onto his back. What was he doing?! Well if he was going to let his guard down then I will use it to my advantage. I charged at him and grabbed him around his middle. He hit me in the center of the back and brought his knee up to my stomach knocking the breath out of me again. Then he grabbed my back and threw me across the room into the wall.
"Let's calm down now sir." He said as he walked over to me. Once he reached me, he crouched down to where I was and looked me in the eye.
"What do you want?" I asked
"I want you to reconsider invading Xadia."
"Like hell I would do that, you took something of mine away so I am going to return the favor, and even if you kill me it won't stop the invasion, it will only give the armies even more of a reason to fight."
"This invasion is in the name of Prince Callum isn't it? What I find funny is the fact that you claim this is in his memory, but he would never have wanted this to happen."
"How dare you speak his name!"
"If I were to arrange for you to have a meeting, a face to face meeting, with Callum would you call of this invasion."
I was stunned at his proposition, but then I laughed in his face.
"You think that you have the time to find him, if it even is him, and then bring him back to me. This invasion will happen whether or not you like it." I said
"Is there no way you can postpone the invasion?"
"You speak as if I have control over all the other monarchs, they will not stand to postpone."
I thought for a second before coming up with an idea.
"If you manage to bring me Callum before we reach the first target then you can try to convince me to call off this invasion. But if they are not who you say they are then I will show no mercy to your kind." I said. The elf seemed shocked at the amount of venom that was in the last part of my statement.
"I will have him to you before you can reach the first elven city. But be warned, you will no longer know who he is, he has changed in more ways than one." The elf said
He then proceeds to turn invisible in front of my eyes. Once I could no longer hear his footsteps, I let out the breath that I had been holding in. As I sat there it hit me, I was going to get to see Callum! I would be able to see my brother! I get to know what happened to him! I can ask him why he didn't come back to Katolis. I can finally know the truth.
