Avoid the Forest
"Why are they stopped?" the wood elf demanded of no one in particular.
"They haven't," the human next to him noted. "At least not all of them, various small units have been breaking off and moving south all day."
"Why would they scout only south?" The elf tried to cover his surprise of the human next to him.
"My dad said they're not scouts," Jolrael said. "Besides there are too many for just scouts."
"They're going through home," the elf whirled to face the new voice and swallowed nervously at the sight of the two half-mazoku.
"They're going to be ripped to pieces if they keep going in two and threes like that." The purple-haired fox girl smiled viciously.
"You'd think they'd be more aware of what lays that way," Jolrael sighed. "I can't do too much without getting noticed by whoever has stepped forward to claim the dubious honor of Lord of the House of Feanor, but they seem to be massing shortly into the forest beyond."
"What does lie in that direction?" The elf asked, suddenly nervous.
"Home," the red-haired fox-man noted.
"What does that mean?"
"Mom doesn't like uninvited guests."
"I don't like the feel of this forest," one of the elven warriors noted. "It doesn't feel like a normal forest, nor like the woods of Beleriand."
"Yes, there's something...wild about it," the warrior next to him noted. "Why are we going this way anyway?"
"Isn't that obvious, Sailloon has massed its forces along its Northern border," the first speaker said. "We supposed to get in behind them." The elf paused for a moment and stared into the forest. "I've never seen so many foxes in so little space."
"We're being watched."
The rumor passed through the ranks as they marched for the next several minutes, until finally the collected army of elves came to the edge of a clearing in the forest to see a deserted human village.
"They heard we were coming," one of the elves reasoned. "But what human could get close enough to..." There was a sudden outcry from the ranks behind them. They turned back to see several skirmishes in progress, though they couldn't tell quite what the enemy was yet. Somehow they had appeared in the middle of the ranks and they were tearing through the ranks at an alarming rate.
It soon became obvious that they were facing at least six lycanthropes with enough control to take whichever aspect they wanted. Nobody had any silver weapons to use, but most of the elves decided that they could probably do enough damage that it would be possible to take a head and kill the weres. This was a rather futile thought actually, and a fair number of elves decided to turn and run rather than face the risk of death.
Three more figures appeared floating in midair behind the elves' ranks shortly before a series of explosions and icy blasts tore through the back ranks. The five thousand or so elves might have stood a chance if they had maybe a hundred or magicians with them. As it was only one bedraggled elf managed to slip throught the storm of claws and magic.
"Well, that was easy," Sherra said.
"What idiots," Lina hmphed. "What kind of idiot sends on army that size and doesn't send any magicians."
"Lina-san," Filia noted. "Not everybody comes from a country or race where almost everybody knows magic."
"But these are ELVES," Lina protested. "They should know better."
"Are there any stragglers," one of the visiting lycanthropes, in human form again, asked.
"Flee you fool!! Flee before the tremendous might of Naga the White Serpent!! HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!" This was followed by a large number of explosions as Naga flew by chasing one of the few remaining elves.
"I think laughing girl has got them," Sherra noted. "Can we get something to eat? I'm feeling a litt..." Sherra fell forward to the ground. Filia and Lina looked at each in confusion, then at the fainted mazoku.
"Okay, Sherra, I don't get the joke, but could you quit it now?" Lina scowled as the mazoku didn't respond. She walked over and turned over the girl. Not that she was looking, Lina could tell that Sherra seemed thin. Which was odd since, from listening to Naga talk, she had been eating to rival Lina since they met. Even more odd since mazoku feed on negative emotions which were usually easy to find.
"I suppose its too much to hope that she's dead," Filia sighed. Some of the werecreatures stared at her in surprise. "She's tried to kill us on occaision."
"Then why did you let her join us?"
"A mazoku general was willing to help," Lina said. "I wasn't going to complain, after all an elf lord is just as much a problem for them as for us." At the words "mazoku general" Lina's peers stared at the unconscious blue-haired girl. Lina kicked the girl slightly.
"She doesn't smell like a mazoku," one of them noted.
"Yeah weird, isn't it," Lina shrugged and started to turn away.
~You owe her.~
"I was wondering when you'd speak up," Lina growled. "What do you mean I 'owe' her?" Filia glanced at her curiously, and Lina pointed at the sword and the dragon nodded.
~The spell that did this to her was meant for your son,~ Duofolger informed her. Lina narrowed her eyes. ~She got in the way.~
"And why did she do that?" Lina asked.
~She gets these...crushes...from time to time.~ Lina slapped her hand to her forehead.
"Great, my daughter is dating someone who tried to destroy the world, and a mazoku general has a crush on my son," she sighed.
"Lina-san, you are not being entirely fair to my son," Filia hmphed. "He is not the same person that summoned Darkstar."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Lina sighed. "We'll have to do something to help her I guess, but not here. Let's bring her to my place."
"My Lord Fimore," the elf dropped to his knees in front of the awesome presence of the new heir to the house of Feanor. "A survivor has returned from the Forests to our South."
"A survivor?" The young elf lord was incredulous. "A survivor as in they were defeated? A survivor as in there's only one?!!"
"He was raving about beasts that blades would not cut and fire, my lord," the elf said. "And being watched by foxes. Maybe the villagers are all sorcerers my lord." There was a low laughter from a corner of the tent, and a quiet rattling of chains.
"You have something to add to this, human?"
"You're fools," Kalus said quietly. "I know what is in the forest to the south of us. I've spent most of my life hunting such things."
"Are you going to tell us what it is?"
"No you're going to go let me kill it," the human said arrogantly. "I don't care about anything else, exterminate all the humans if you want to. In some way these things are human so I'll be helping you. Kill me if you want after that." The elf lord smiled.
"This has merit," he said. "But don't think that you can go alone. You'll have watchers."
"As long as I get to draw the blood," Kalus smiled in return.
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