Chapter 2. Old Bonds.
Vanur coursed through the snowy trees barely able to keep the exasperation out of his face, emerald eyes narrowed in annoyance as he swept a random twig stuck in his dark green hair. At 25 he was the youngest weapon master to ever serve in the Alf Royal Forest, his unparalleled talent to wield and masterfully utilize almost any weapon, from swords to spears and hammers to bows had seen him rise meteorically through the ranks.
He was special, a peerless talent not seen in generations! He knew it well, and everyone else knew it too, nothing was out of his reach!
But King Larfal had different ideas. While he acknowledged Vanur's talent, he thought him too brash and arrogant, and in dire need of a lesson in humility.
That was the reason for his current activities, for the past year he had been relegated to the job of a mere scout, serving as captain of the border patrol. 'A noble duty!' the king had told him, stopping undesirables from stepping foot inside their sacred forest.
"Noble duty my ass," Vanur murmured sourly, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to keep them warm. The cold was starting to get to him.
His current patrol was almost over, night was approaching fast, and it was time to head home. He was about to turn around and start making his way back when his long ears twitched as a strident sound pierced through the silent forest breaking the otherwise peaceful atmosphere.
"The alarm horn?" he said, frowning in annoyance. As captain of the scouts, it was his duty to oversee all calls for assistance, even if they were a complete waste of his time "What are those fools doing at this hour…"
Following the sound, it took him hardly a minute to arrive at the site the alarm had come from. A clearing close to the northeast border, which in itself was a weird thing, intruders usually stayed away from such open spaces, preferring to traverse the dense parts of the forest in an attempt to remain undetected.
'Fools, we could find them even if they turned invisible,' he thought derisively as he made his way into the clearing.
What awaited there was something he really hadn't been expecting.
Three of his underlings were already there, bows drawn, seemingly trying to get past a young gryphon who stood between them and a hysterical dwarf child wailing uncontrollably over a prone figure lying on the floor.
"What is the meaning of this!?" he barked, his voice cutting through the confusing situation, "Who dares trespass the sacred grounds of the high elves!?"
The question hung in the air for a few seconds before one of the other elves decided to speak.
"S-Sir we are glad you've arrived so swiftly!" the elf began stuttering slightly, her name was Lauriel if he remembered correctly, a young healer who had decided to join the forest patrol despite her natural gift with healing magic. "We were not sure—"
"Stop the inane drivel and explain to me exactly what is happening," he interrupted bluntly, trying to restrain his annoyance. "Now!"
"Y-Yes Captain! We were about to end our patrol when we spotted the gryphon flying in the direction of the city," she started explaining. "We saw It was carrying two people, so we fired a warning shot to make it turn around, but it descended to the clearing instead."
He gave her a short nod to show he was following her so far.
"When it landed the older dwarf immediately collapsed, the younger one got off shortly after, and we tried to approach her, but the gryphon did not let us get close, and neither dwarf appeared to be able to make it move. We weren't sure how to proceed, so we sounded the alarm," she finished her explanation quickly, turning her head back to the gryphon and the two dwarves behind it.
"Of course, this had to happen just before we finished the patrol." he huffed tiredly as he started making his way towards the dwarves, only to be immediately cut off by a big and angry gryphon.
"Get out of my way bird, we are trying to help, and I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with you right now."
His voice was soft but commanding, trying to convey his will to the creature. However, if the gryphon understood him, it didn't seem to care, choosing to stay protectively between him and the dwarves. "Time to change strategies then…"
"Dwarf girl!" he yelled to the crying child, trying to grab her attention. "Tell your beast to move aside right now or I will put it down!"
The other elves stared at him in surprise, such violence wasn't the norm for dealing with a situation like this, especially when the apparent trespassers were a distraught child and an injured woman. But his threat seemed to work somewhat, for the girl had stopped her wailing for a moment to look in his direction.
Taking advantage of the girl's attention, he tried going now with the carrot instead of the stick.
"Tell the beast to let us pass, and we might help you and your mother before sending you off.''
The little dwarf stared at him incomprehensibly for a moment, before a look of realization crossed her face, hope shining in her teary eyes.
"P-please help my nana, she's hurt!" the girl begged them faintly, voice hoarse, "please…"
Vanur watched the little dwarf collapse to the floor in a dead faint, her last plea seemingly having taken the last of her strength.
"Great, now what?"
With the girl out of the picture, they couldn't get past the gryphon without fighting, and his patience was starting to run very low. Taking his bow, he was seriously considering carrying out his initial threat and just shot the gryphon when a low whistle echoed through the clearing.
Following the direction of the sound, he could see it came from the older dwarf. She wasn't unconscious after all.
The gryphon's attitude instantly changed at the sound, tension disappearing completely from its body as it moved lazily to the side before settling on the ground.
"Finally," Vanur said before turning to look at the only female in his group. "Lauriel! Make yourself useful and examine the woman, I will check on the girl."
They approached the fallen dwarves quickly as time wasn't on their side, night had already fallen, bringing with it colder temperatures, and while regular patrols helped cull the monsters, the forest wasn't completely safe during nighttime.
As Lauriel reached the fallen woman and started chanting under her breath, Vanur focused on the little dwarf. Kneeling beside her, he removed a stray lock of red hair obscuring her face to examine her more closely. The girl looked like she had been through hell, small cuts and scrapes adorning a deadly pale face, completely covered in dirt and soot. Her clothes were torn and scorched but luckily, she didn't appear to be very injured.
The same could not be said for the older dwarf he noted, trying not to grimace at the gruesome sight.
'Gods have mercy.'
The dwarf was in a horrific state, half of her body looked badly burnt, blisters and angry red marks mixing with patches completely black of charred flesh. But that wasn't the worst, dark, sickly lines marred the rest of her visible skin as if some black poison was spreading through her veins.
He had never seen anything like it.
"Why did you come here?" he asked her, as she watched Lauriel work, her hands glowing green as she moved them over the dwarf's body, "the Alf Royal Forest does not welcome outsiders, you dwarves should know that better than anyone, but from what my scouts told me earlier, you were heading to the city.''
The question hung for a moment, only the sound of the gelid wind blowing through the trees breaking the eerie stillness that had fallen on the clearing.
"Can she hear me?" he asked Lauriel after not receiving a response.
"I think so," Lauriel said without looking at him, her face showing only focus as she kept working frantically trying to aid the dwarven woman, "but she's in too much pain to speak, even if she is still able to."
"What do you mean?"
"Her wound is cursed. And I have never seen or heard of one this powerful; it's coming from the burned skin, and it is spreading through her blood, withering her from the inside," she explained shaking her head, a look of frustration breaking through her previously impassive face. "She should be dead by now, I don't understand how she's still alive, let alone conscious."
"Is there something you can do?" asked Vanur looking back at the little girl whose last conscious action had been asking them for help. It seemed they wouldn't be able to deliver.
Lauriel shook her head in sorrow. "I could lessen her pain as much as possible, try to make her comfortable, maybe then she can give us some information if she's able.''
Vanur mulled over the healer's words for a couple of seconds before giving her a quick nod. It wasn't much of a choice, he would be the first to admit that he wasn't a very nice person, but the thought of letting someone die in agonizing pain while something could be done about it didn't sit well with him, even if said person was a dwarf.
"Do it," he said firmly.
Lauriel gave him a small nod before focusing again on her patient, she carefully took out a vial containing a green potion from her belt before carefully feeding it to the dwarf.
"ahhh…" a pained moan escaped the injured woman, her body spasming for a few seconds as her eyes snapped open.
Even though she was in obvious pain, Vanur noted that the dwarf seemed to take stock of the situation, eyes moving slowly, from the little girl lying next to her, to Lauriel still doing her best to help her, and finally to him. Their eyes met, and in an instant, he could tell she immediately recognized him as the person in charge.
"Please…" Her voice sounded strangled as if she was trying to hold back a scream. "Letter… in the bag… King Eldur…" she couldn't finish speaking, a wave of pain seemingly overwhelming her despite Lauriel's efforts.
"King Eldur?" he repeated incredulously, searching her face for any sign of deceit. Finding none, he turned towards his forgotten subordinates who had not moved from their original position, watching the situation with cautious eyes.
"One of you, search the bag for a letter," Vanur told his men, gesturing with his head in the direction of the sitting gryphon, more specifically, to the bag strapped to its saddle.
They all waited in silence as one of the elves approached the beast, and quickly but carefully began searching through the bag. Lauriel was once again trying to help again with her healing magic while Vanur went back to his staring contest with the dwarf. She was tough, he could give her that, surviving this long despite her injuries, lesser people would have given up long ago.
Finally, the scout seemed to find what he was looking for, as he turned around and approached Vanur with an envelope in his hands.
"This better be worth it," Vanur muttered, still looking at the older dwarf.
Taking the letter from the scout, he finally broke eye contact with his enigmatic intruder. This situation was shaping out to be potentially problematic. The implications of a dwarf woman travelling with a little redheaded girl, seemingly escaping a war zone while carrying a letter from King Eldur were hard to miss, and he didn't find any of them particularly comforting.
The letter sported the royal crest of the Eldur line, leaving Vanur little room to doubt its authenticity. Every elf raised in the Royal Forest knew of their neighbouring dwarven kingdom of Bál Eldur, their war-ridden past being a prominent topic of the lessons imparted to the newer generation, especially when many of said wars had involved the elves personally.
Letting out a sigh, Vanur opened the envelope and began to read its contents, eyes quickly darting through the words. The more he read, the more he felt his chest begin to tighten with an uncomfortable feeling.
The last great quest was a failure. Bál Eldur under siege. Rörun Ild Eldur practically begging King Larfal, as the last favour of their apparently long association, to take care of his only daughter if the worst were to happen. There was more, but the contents were specifically addressed to King Larfal, and he dared not read it.
It was a lot to take in for such a short letter. The elves knew of the upcoming battle, they had grumbled about Larfal's decision to triple the number of forest patrols as well as the sentries in the borders, some even calling him a paranoid fool.
How wrong they had been.
Vanur must have stood there, lost in his musings, for longer than he thought because the next thing he felt was a light shove from Lauriel. Looking away from the paper he could see she had stopped using her magic, a resigned expression clear on her face.
"What does it say, Captain?" she asked him quietly, probably hoping for some good news.
"Nothing that must be discussed here," he answered curtly. "Check the little girl, if she's uninjured prepare to move her, we need to inform King Larfal immediately."
Lauriel gave him a tight nod, not looking too pleased with his response.
"You two,'' Vanur said to the remaining elves, watching as they snapped to attention at the captains' words "Get the gryphon to the city as well, if it doesn't comply just leave it here."
"Yes, Captain!"
Finally, he turned towards the last person on the clearing. The dwarf was still alive somehow, now watching as Lauriel gently picked the little girl from the snowy grass where she had collapsed. She had a strange expression on her face, a mix of defeat and resignation, the look of someone who had failed.
Vanur had a good idea why she would sport such an expression, the letter had told him as much, this was the caretaker of the little dwarf, she was supposed to not only escort her to King Larfal, but to stay by her side and protect her until the princess grew up. But she had failed, the strength of her will only lasting enough to reach the elven border.
Vanur realized now that the gryphon hadn't landed because of the warning shot, but because it had felt that its rider was about to collapse.
"What's your name dwarf?" he asked, getting her attention.
"T-Tinna." she said, with barely a whisper, her body wasn't spasming anymore, she was probably beyond pain by now. "Tinna Grand…"
"Very well Tinna Grand, I Vanur Wisteria, weapon master and Captain of the 13th scouting team of the Alf Royal Forest, swear on my honour as a High Elf, to see finished the mission assigned to you. I will escort Princess Rünira before King Larfal, and should he accept her, I will look after her until her age of majority," he said solemnly, watching as surprise and tears filled her eyes.
"Rest now daughter of Bál Eldur, for your oath is unbroken, go back to the earth in peace knowing that you haven't failed in your duty to your king…"
Snow had started to fall again, slowly beginning to cover the ground in a pure layer of white. Maybe the skies were mourning the tragic fate of the dwarves, maybe this was the will of a fickle god, trying to hide the foulness taking place beneath the cloudy skies. In the end, it didn't really matter.
"Thank you…" her last breath carried her gratitude as her eyes closed for the last time, the previously defeated expression, now showing only pace.
Kneeling on the floor beside her, Vanur carefully picked the dwarf up before turning around to see the others still waiting for him. He could hear Lauriel quietly crying as she held the little girl tightly in her arms.
"Let's go," he said with a subdued tone, starting to walk towards the city. "We need to inform the king."