Rise of Kalshara
Chapter Two: Peace Among Races
They gulped, looking up at the creature as it raised it's club over it's head, ready to bring it down on the two teens, and they seemed too frightened to do anything…
Ailya yelped and quickly pulled out a dagger, despite herself, and flung it clumsily at the lizard-man. It hissed in surprise, quickly stepping to the side, avoiding the dagger, and watched as it hit the ground with a 'clank'. The creature turned a beady eye on the elf and her friend, and hissed again. "Zazila!"
At the call, another of the creatures, one slightly smaller then the first, came running around the bend. Its scales are a deep, sea-green color, and its eyes a crimson. It also didn't have any horns or spikes anywhere on its body. This new creature was holding a sickle, and looked between the two teenagers and the other lizard-person. "Hiss! Why call me for such weaklings?" Its voice sounded more feminine compared to the first lizard.
Both Ailya and Hugh were shocked that the monsters could speak the common tongue. But Hugh smirked then, and stood up boldly, which made Ailya eye him wearily, wondering what he was doing. He put a hand on the hilt of his dagger, which was strapped at his side, and spoke, "What do you want with us, you filthy creatures?"
The lizards looked at each other, and something similar to laughing came from their throats. Hugh growled, and withdrew his dagger, swiftly moving to point the blade at the red lizard's throat. But he wasn't fast enough. The green-blue lizard quickly moved and grabbed Hugh's arm, bringing its maw in close and flicking its tongue over Hugh's cheek. "We're not here to harm you."
"Then why was your friend about to smash us with that club?" Spat Hugh, taking no regard of the venomous glare he received, and tried to pull his arm away, but to no avail. The lizard was much stronger then he was, and a lot more experienced with this sort of thing, it seemed.
"Zazila, that is not true! I thought they were going to attack me!" The red lizard shouted, and nearly broke its club in two, fuming. It whipped its tail around angrily, and pulled its scaled lips back in an attempt to snarl.
Zazila, as the blue lizard was apparently called, turned to the teens and glared at them. She flicked her tongue at Hugh's cheek again, and sniffed at the human. This resulted in a disgusted look from both of the teenagers, though the boy was quickly getting annoyed with this.
"Ew, get away from me." Hugh growled, still trying to pull his arm away from the iron grip of the lizard-person.
"Razik," hissed Zazila, turning to the red lizard, "should we take them back to the camp? Or kill them now?" She turned to the teenagers as she asked this, growling menacingly.
Ailya bit her bottom lip, and Hugh attained a look of pure horror on his face. Both teens knew that they couldn't stand up to the strength of these two lizard-people and their weapons. Teeth and claws, plus what they are carrying, smashing against their heads and rending their flesh doesn't sound at all too pleasant.
Razik shook his head, and poked his club at Hugh's stomach. "No, we shouldn't kill them. They come from the city, and if they find their bodies, we'll soon be found out, I can quarantine you this. But we shouldn't take them either, they look like what we would call our hatchlings. I doubt they can be of any use to us."
Zazila sniffed, and pondered Razik's words for a moment before scowling. "But look at the girl. She's different from all the others!"
Razik snorted, taking a quick glance at Ailya. She furrowed her eyebrows and turned away from the lizard, but that is when he noticed her paler-then-normal-human skin, or however else he would have put that. A grin crossed his features as he also sighted her ears. "A half-elf, eh? I haven't seen one of their kin in a long while."
Zazila smirked, and nodded, letting go of Hugh. He held up his dagger in defense, and glared at Zazila. "Don't touch me, or Ailya, again!"
The female lizard chortled, and gave him a boisterous look. "You two are coming with us… We won't hurt you, so long as you don't struggle, got that?"
Hugh scowled, and shook his head. "How can I trust you?" He continued to hold up his dagger in a defensive position, ready to strike and possibly try to disarm the lizard-kin of their weapons at any time.
Zazila hissed, "You can't. Now come with us, both of you." Her steely gaze shifted to the elf girl, and a low rumble emitted from her throat. "Up!"
Ailya scrambled to her feet, not wanting to upset the creature, and gulped. She looked down to where her dagger fell, and looked at Hugh. He noticed where she was looking to, and nodded.
"Do you think Suriza will be able to get them to help us?" Razik asked the female lizard curiously, which earned him a shrug.
While the lizard had been talking, Hugh quickly slashed his dagger at Zazila, but she was quicker, and blocked with her sickle, locking the dagger within the curved blade and pushed Hugh to the ground. While that happened, Ailya dove for her dagger, and yanked out her other, then tried to slash at Razik's tail. Hugh was up on his knees, watching carefully.
He yelped when his tail got stabbed and pinned to the mucky sewer floor. Ailya had somehow managed to stab her dagger into the stone floor. She watched in horror as a sticky blue substance started to leak out from around the dagger, which, presumably, is the lizard-folk's blood.
Razik cried out angrily, smashing his club over Ailya's head. She yelped, and fell to the ground, now unconscious. Hugh gasped, dropping his dagger as was about to dive for the girl when Zazila grabbed his collar and hoisted him back to his feet. "She earned it, now come with me. Razik, bring the girl."
The other lizard nodded, bending down to yank the dagger from his tail, tossing it uselessly to the side, then grabbed Ailya and threw her over his shoulder, following Zazila down the tunnel they had come from.
Hugh watched in dismay as the lizard handled Ailya's limp body roughly. He growled, turning back around and following Zazila to whatever his and Ailya's fate may be.
After what seemed like hours of walking, they made it to a broken part of the sewers, which looked like had been taken down and a tunnel, now leading out and most likely up, was in front of them. Hugh scowled as he was pushed into the dirt tunnel by Zazila, with Razik following close behind.
After another half an hour of walking through the tunnel, spotting no other curves or exits from it, they start to climb up a steep hill, Zazila poking Hugh with her sickle the whole way up there.
He grumbled, but earned a sharp whack to the back of the head, and continued to climb. He looked over his shoulder, sighing when he saw that Ailya was still unconscious. Hopefully that brute lizard hadn't had killed her…
They reached the surface soon after, and Hugh stared up at the starry sky as he was pushed forwards. He looked around, and saw the walls of Bowerstone off in a distance. "Hey! Where are we!" He hissed, turning around and glaring at Zazila.
She frowned, and gave him a noise of impatience, swishing her tail about angrily. "Outside this 'Lookout Point' I saw on a map." She answered him as if it were no big deal.
"Map? Where'd you get a map?"
"Does it matter?" She asked, slipping her forked tongue out and inspecting him. He seemed to get a lot friendlier, and she couldn't figure out why.
"Yeah." He growled, but cooled himself down quickly.
The lizard-girl looked about. Though the two troglodytes didn't know it, they were dangerously close to the Guild, in between a stretch of copses of trees and plains between Bowerstone and the Guild. She turned her scaly head towards him, deciding to answer his question. "We got it from a band of strange creatures living in a forest south of here."
"Greatwood? You encountered Hobbes?" Hugh asked, his curiosity getting the better of himself.
Zazila shrugged. "They were squat, nosy little imp-like creatures. Ugly too, but they had spell casters with them."
"Hobbes." Hugh confirmed. "But why would Hobbes have a map of Bowerstone and the area around it…"
"Just shut up and come." Zazila hissed, already stomping off to the south. In the dark, they seemed to not be noticed by any other living creature. None human, anyways. They got to the bank of a river, and the two lizards started to waddle across it, dragging Hugh with them.
Once on the other side, now dripping wet, they shook off and continued eastwards, having, unknowingly, already passed the guild, and were starting to march off east, towards whatever may lie beyond.
It was almost sunrise by the time they got to their destination. They had been walking east for many hours, and had crossed a large expanse plains, and over some hills, and were now at the base of a mountain range. They took southeast now, heading back into a clump of forest. Nestled deeper into the forest, on the base of the small mountain, was a camp.
A camp full of other lizard-people.
Hugh blinked, and looked over as Ailya started to stir. Razik dropped her clumsily, which made Hugh growl, but he got pushed away by Zazila when the elf girl started to sit up. "Ow… my head… what happened…?" She looked about, getting a better grasp of what was around her.
She gasped, and suddenly, it all came flooding back. "Where have you taken us, you stupid lizards?"
Razik growled, but Zazila shushed him. "I dunno, but I don't think we're in Albion anymore…" Hugh said, looking about.
"Impossible. Did we go east?"
Hugh shrugged. "Yes, we went east, you nosy little nuisance." Razik growled for her.
"Oh! Did we pass mountains? We aren't out of Albion until we go through the Jagged Spine Pass." She said proudly, remembering her geography.
This confused both lizards and Hugh. "We are at the base of the mountains; we didn't go through them… So…"
"Arg! You two are noisy!" Razik spat, raising his weapon. Zazila smacked him though, and growled. He turned and snapped at her angrily, almost catching the end of her snout in between his jaws.
"Don't knock them out again, we need the chief to speak to them, you dumbscale."
They continued to argue back and forth like that until they reached the village, and ignored the stares all four received while the lizards lead the two teens to a large tent, larger then any of the others in the center of the encampment.
Zazila disappeared into it, telling Razik to watch the two humans until she returned. He snorted, but nodded anyway. Once she returned, she signaled for the two teenagers to be brought in. Razik nodded, and pushed both into the tent, and in front of a large lizard.
It had to be at least eight feet tall, with deep ebony scales that held a dark green sheen. No spikes marked this monster, which is probably what set the females from the males of this race. It was wearing heavy leather armor, and had a nasty looking scimitar with jagged, serrated teeth-like edges strapped to its side, along with a wooden shield strapped to its back. A wolf was sleeping next to its feet, marred heavily with scars across its face, and dull gray fur.
The creature looked up at the two teenagers, its bright green eyes glinting. "Welcome, to the Troglodyte tribe, Human and Half-Elf." Said the creature. It sounded vaguely female. "Now, before you assault me with insults of how those two may have treated you, I'd like you to know we aren't trying to make enemies." She nodded, looking down at the two.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Hugh growled, grinding his teeth together at he balled up his fists at his side.
"Wait, Hugh, don't upset them. It's like… a billion to two if you upset them." Ailya warned, biting her lower lip in worry.
The boy groaned, "I suppose… What is it you want from us, lizard?"
The Chief sniffed, and sighed. "I feel so loved… Anyway, we got chased away from our home, beyond these mountains, by terror hounds. A bit like the Balverines you got here, only much bigger and… well, that's beside the point. I would like it if we went back to that city you came from, and hopefully make allies…"
The lizard held her breath once Ailya took on a thoughtful look. But Hugh was far from thrilled. "No way! I bet you'll betray us and kill us out in those plains!"
"Hugh, please." Ailya pleaded, grabbing the boy's wrist and yanking on him slightly.
"Oh…alright…" He sighed in defeat and watched as the Troglodyte leader form a smile of sorts on her features.
"I don't want to be in Albion longer then possible, I really dislike it here, to be truthful… But things are happening to the East, and to the North, I cannot explain what exactly. Not yet." The lizard chief said.
Hugh still eyed the Chief with disdain, but Ailya nodded. "I'll take you to my mother to have an audience with her. She is the Mayor… the 'Chief'… of Bowerstone, the city."
The Troglodyte nodded, grinning. "Fabulous! You can stay and rest here for the day, we leave at dusk. Alright?"
"Uhm…Okay…" Ailya nodded in agreement, though she wasn't sounding sure of herself.
Hugh pulled her away and out of the tent, to the edge of the camp, looking her in the eyes. "I don't think this is a good idea, Ailya. We are probably already going to be in a lot of trouble…"
The elf sighed and laid her head on the boy's shoulder, which surprised him a bit. "What else can we do, Hugh? If I refuse, they definitely won't take us back to Bowerstone…"
Though it took him several moments to register, he wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace. "I understand. We probably wouldn't survive very long if we tried to go back on our own." He tried to make the best of it by giving off a goofy grin and poking at her sides.
"Hehe-hey! That tickles!" She grinned, and slipped away from him. She was about to charge at him with her own arsenal of tickle attacks, but a troglodyte walked up to them and tapped her shoulder. She jumped, yelping slightly, and turned around, eyeing the troglodyte wearily.
He laughed, and shook his head. "Don't be like that. I'm not going to hurt you. Chief Suriza requested I empty out a tent for you two. Follow me, if you will." He slid on his heel, quickly turning the other way and walking off.
Hugh and Ailya exchanged quick glances before they both went after the lizard-man. They needed some sleep, especially Hugh after what he had endured.
S'Rin paced around the dining room of the manor, obviously worried beyond reason with only his wife to comfort him. Hugh's parents had visited, wondering where he was, but they had got worn out and retreated back to their home in a gloom. "Where is that girl?" He growled, quite literally wearing a hole in the floor from his pacing.
"I'm sure she's fine. She's stronger then you think, S'Rin, and she always has Hugh with her…" Tesil started slowly, approaching S'Rin carefully, as to not upset him even more.
"I've told her not to sneak out. And now she's missing! I do believe there are creatures in the sewers, where else would she have gone too?" He asked urgently, spinning on his heel and facing the Mayor.
Tesil shook her head. "I don't know. I don't like it either, but, S'Rin, I assure you that she's still safe… It may be dawn, and she may be anywhere by now, but I can feel it. Her life essence is still within Albion, and is still beating strongly."
Just like an elf, he thought. "Anyways, S'Rin," the Elf started again, looking crestfallen, "you promised to go to Snowspire, you can't let the Snow Trolls wreck the city. I'll send out a search party while you are away, okay, dear?"
The Hero growled, but nodded, though looked rather displeased. "Fine. Send me word tomorrow morning, or sooner if they turn up, okay?"
Tesil nodded, and turned to disappear out the door of the manor. She flew down the curved stairs that led to the ground, glancing around as the sound of crickets started to fade, and birds started to awaken from their sleep. She sighed. It was so peaceful here as of late, but her daughter disappearing… It disturbed her. She had run away from her home to escape such troubles. But, they just unfold everywhere, she figured. She wondered if Ailya had run away… Or if that human friend of hers did something… She shook the thought from her head.
She swiftly made it to the guard that was keeping watch on her garden, and told him to send out a search party to look for her daughter and her friend. He nodded, and hurried off to gather up a search party.
They would go on to search the area around the Lookout Point, the Guild, and even past the long stretches of Greatwood into the ominous, dead wood that is Darkwood.
Both Hugh and Ailya were up by noon, and were set about looking around the camp. The fact that they we're still alive assured them that they wouldn't be attacked if they did peek around.
They were the center of rumors in the camp that day, but for the most part, the Troglodytes seemed rather friendly. One in particular, a young 'hatchling', Syzil, a dark, forest-green colored Troglodyte child, befriended Ailya rather quickly. Hugh didn't completely trust the intentions of any of the lizard men, but he put his faith into Ailya.
"So, you know how to use a bow too?" Ailya asked excitedly, almost jumping for joy when she found out that Syzil was about the same age as the half-elf. She looked back at Hugh, who gave her an unenthused grunt. "Oh, come on Hugh, we can at least seem friendly. They did give us food and shelter."
"Whatever," came the disgruntled reply. She frowned slightly, and shook her head. She just couldn't seem to get to him.
Syzil chuckled, and nodded. "Aye, girly, I do. I'm the best with a bow in my tribe, actually. The adults find it hard to swallow, but… Heheh." She grinned proudly, fiddling with an arrow in her claws. Her tail swished very lightly, which, Ailya guessed at this point, was a sign of happiness or gratitude. Or they swished their tails in different ways depending on their mood… It confused her greatly.
"Oh! Can I see you use it?" Ailya practically begged the lizard girl, who grinned and nodded, and they both took off past a cluster of tents, towards an archery range the lizards had set up.
"Oi!" Hugh grumbled, marching after them. He looked thoughtful as he stopped, standing next to Ailya, not paying attention to what either her or the lizard were doing. He failed to notice Syzil notch an arrow, somehow holding five more in the same hand, and she shot off all five, including the original, almost meticulously at the same time. The first arrow hit bulls-eye on the target, and the other five hit the exact same mark, splitting each arrow in half as they hit.
Ailya's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "Amazing! You're really good!"
"Thank you," Syzil said proudly, and turned to Hugh. "So, human, how'd I do?"
"What? I wasn't watching. Go away." He said huskily, spinning about and crossing his arms.
Syzil blinked. "What's wrong with him?" She asked Ailya curiously, but received a shrug as an answer.
"I haven't any idea, I think he may not like it here…" She looked at him as he snorted at her comment. Her lips curled in a smirk, and she looked at Syzil. "Or he feels I'm not giving him much attention. He must, like, have a thing for me, or something."
Syzil seemed to have understood her comment, because the lizard and Ailya both burst in a fit of giggles as Hugh spun around, his face red with embarrassment, sputtering. "I-I... I don't…!"
Ailya grinned, and patted him on the shoulder as his face continued to redden, "Sure you don't. Sure you don't… I'm only messing with you, Hugh." She giggled, and jumped away, wondering what his response will be.
He covered his face with his hands, and then started to rub the red away from his cheeks as he calmed down. He smirked at Ailya, but didn't move to do anything. "You win, for now, Ailya dear."
The rest of the day went about smoothly. Ailya and, Hugh especially, came to better respect the Troglodytes. After a heated argument between the two friends, they were called upon by the chief, Suriza. They were escorted to the chief by Razik, who muttered bitterly, and Syzil followed out of curiosity.
"We will leave in half an hour," Suriza barked half-heartedly. "Razik, you take charge while I'm gone… And Syzil, tonight will be your test for adulthood. You'll travel with us and help defend the group. Understood…?"
Syzil grinned and nodded, enthused. "I will excel in the task, Chieftain." Suriza nodded in approval, and then, half an hour of packing provisions and other such items they might possibly need, and Hugh and Ailya being given both sets of hide armor, they set off.
Over the river and through the woods, quite literally. They, Hugh, Ailya, the Chief and her pet wolf, and Syzil, were nearing the walls of Bowerstone after traveling on foot for several hours, though the sky was still littered heavily with stars. It would still be another couple of hours before sun up.
"Hmm… I got the map from Razik," Syzil mumbled, fiddling with the piece of parchment and eyeing it oddly, as if she didn't know how to read it. But then she turned and stalked off, with the others following quietly. She stopped, and grinned. Now in front of her was a large burrow that led downwards. "Here it is! The hole that Razik and Zazila dug to get into the city's sewers."
Hugh stopped, and glared at the Chieftain. "Why did you send them here to invade our sewers?"
The wolf growled at Hugh for his tone, but Suriza patted it on the head and quieted the beast down, then turned to Hugh to answer his question. "I sent them here as an envoy to speak with your leader, but they apparently thought sneaking in would be the best thing to do…"
Ailya nodded. "It would." This gathered attention to her, and she shied away for a moment before continuing. "Never before have I seen or heard of any that looked like your kind. If they had just marched up to the front gate, the guards would have probably freaked and killed them right there and then."
Syzil nodded, "Probably. Even though the humans where we live accept us." She sighed, and hopped down into the tunnel and led the way. Each of the others followed them, with Hugh and Ailya in the middle, and the Chief and her wolf bringing up the rear. As Syzil reached the actual sewer, she gagged in disgust. "What an awful malodorous stench! You have miasma in you're city's sewers? Ugh."
Ailya put her hand to her nose and mouth and gave an awkward glance at Syzil. "Miasma? Its all just garbage people throw down here." Hugh nodded his agreement, and had followed the same action that his friend had.
Suriza crumpled her snout in disgust, as did the wolf. They could apparently smell it better then Hugh or Ailya. "I suppose the… waste has to go somewhere… Ugh! Just lead us to where we have to go, and please hurry."
As told, Syzil hurriedly tried to find her way around the sewers, the smell often getting to her as she accidentally turned the wrong way once or twice. The awful smelling water that seeped along the floor disgusted them all, so they stayed on dry parts as much as they possibly could.
Finally, they reached a metal stairway leading up to a hole. Ailya recognized it, just faintly, as the Bowerstone Quay as she peeked over to top after she started to climb. She groaned in discomfort after the others came up and she confirmed it was the Quay. "We have a long ways to go to my mom's house, and we'll have to sneak about without getting the attention of the guards. You brought the cloaks I mentioned about, right?"
Syzil nodded, pulling on her backpack's string and pulling it off her back to rummage around in the contents of the bag. She pulled out four black, cloth-hewn cloaks, handing one to Hugh, Ailya, and Suriza, and draping the fourth over herself. The others followed her actions, and then they all turned to Ailya. They already determined she was the one to lead them through the city, hopefully without getting caught, as she knew the better hiding spots then Hugh did.
She led them past many oblivious guards, choosing the darkest shadows to stalk through to get to the gate of Bowerstone South. She turned to Syzil, and with a quick whisper, asked for her to hand over some rope. Once she had to rope, she climbed up a nearby tree, and, without alerting the guards, tied it to a thick branch. She looked down and signaled to them for them to start to climb up.
Syzil was the first up, and she watched Ailya as she carefully took the rope and climbed down the opposite side of the wall, looking about to make sure no guards were watching, then dropped to the shadows below. Once Syzil made sure she hit the floor, she grabbed the rope and yanked it back up towards her, then dropped it for the next person to climb up. That process continued until all of them were over the gate. Ailya quickly questioned about Suriza's companion wolf, but the lizard Chieftain told her to watch.
The wolf crouched tightly against the ground, and then jumped up, kicking his back paws against the tree once he felt gravity start to betray him, and latched onto the wall. He pulled himself over, and jumped down to land besides Suriza.
"Talented dog," Hugh murmured, quite amazed by the feat the wolf just performed. Without another word, Ailya stalked off towards the gate to Bowerstone North, as swiftly and quietly as ever. The guards were few in this side of the city tonight, she noticed, and she wondered why. She bit her lip and looked towards the huge store, which was closed, and then down the rows of streets that lead to the Prison. They would have to run across the stretch of open street, with a few guards crawling all over it.
She turned and looked at Suriza, who figured out their problem with a simple sweep of the area. She smirked, and brought the wolf over. "Xavin here is not any regular wolf…" She started in a low hiss, trying to avoid alerting the guards. "He is what we call a 'Shadow Fahng'."
"What?" Hugh asked, rather loudly, and in which Ailya smacked her hand across his mouth and they all retreated further into the shadows as a guard glanced over, looking straight at them. But he seemed to not have spotted them, as he turned around again and wandered off.
"Anyways…" Suriza hissed, casting a sharp glance at Hugh, which he shrunk under, and continued her explanation. "He can melt in and become the shadows, and can travel from shadow to shadow. He can only jump shadows if they are connecting to each other, but look. It is dark, and shadows are everywhere. He could invade the guards' shadows and knock them out. They won't remember anything, even if they did see us, after they wake up. Given, he could quite easily kill them, but I don't want that."
Ailya nodded, "Me either. Well, Xavin wouldn't mind doing this… uhm… task…?" She looked towards the wolf, as if expecting him to answer her question. And, to her and Hugh's great surprise, the wolf shook his head, then stood up and howled. It was shrill, but then his fur started to change color, and his features sink. The wolf sunk into the ground after changing completely black, and what looked vaguely like a canine shadow, or an outline of sorts, shifted. He took off from the spot, and jumped on the first guard's shadow.
Before the guards could react to the howl, all three in the area were out. They fell to the ground, and made no sounds as doing so, courtesy the wolf, and then Xavin shifted away from the shadows on the other side of the wide street, seemingly grinning at the group.
Syzil seemed to smile, "What a wonderful beast." And with that, they all stood and sprinted across the street, taking care not to let their fleeting forms be noticed by any other guards that may have been farther away from them.
Ailya lead them across the dark shadows of the city, with dawn quickly arriving, and stopped them when she noticed her mother was sitting at the top of the curvy stairs that led to the entrance to her home. She furrowed her eyebrows and tried to think of a way to get to her without any trouble, but no such ideas came. With a sigh of defeat, she turned to the lizards and told them to stay here while she and Hugh go greet the Elven Mayor.
Tesil looked down to notice a couple of shadowed forms creeping towards the stairs, and just when she was just about to call for the guards, the two forms that were Hugh and Ailya showed themselves in the faint light of the moon, and the elf woman looked at them, surprised with widened eyes. "Ailya! Hugh! Where the hell have you two been!"
Ailya cringed at the serious tone her mother gave her, and she looked to Hugh, wondering what exactly to say. "I'll explain… After I show you some people I brought with me… Mother, please don't hurt them, they've done nothing but help us…"
Tesil eyed her daughter for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "Very well…"
Suriza, Syzil, the wolf, and the elves, Ailya and Hugh were all sitting around the table in Tesil's manor, and everyone was as quiet as the grave. No talking was commencing, no eating, and no nothing. Tesil's eyes were closed, and she had her elbows on the table and her fingers locked together as she thought. Ailya had already explained where she and Hugh had been, but the Troglodytes hadn't yet explained why they had come.
"So…" Tesil finally started, letting the air of anticipation slowly slide, "What is it you wanted to speak about, er, Suriza?"
The lizard-queen scratched the side of her cheek, and Xavin looked at Tesil curiously as the lizard began. "Well, as Ailya had said, we were chased away by terror hounds, lycanthropes, a greater version of Balverines, if you will, and there are troubles brewing in my homeland and in the Northern Wastes. We, my tribe, would like to… Compromise. We need room and board until we can go back across the Jagged Spine Pass. We will help defend against whatever this unknown threat is…"
Tesil furrowed her eyebrows and thought about it for a long while. She sighed, "What choice do I have? Yes, I suppose you can bring you're… er… Tribe here, but be warned, I'll be keeping a very close eye on you all."
Suriza stood up and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Mystical Elf. When shall I leave to bring the rest of my clan?"
Tesil thought for a moment, and then answered slowly. "…Tomorrow morning… I'll have a group of guards escort you."
"Very well." With that, Hugh and the others were led to separate rooms for the night.