Wendy IV

"I'm sorry, but I'm really not a daughter of Hoeth," Wendy said.

"But you have the gift of healing," the elf said, "If nothing else, you are favored by him."

"I'm sorry," Wendy said, "But I don't even known who Hoeth is. How could I be favored by him?"

"One does not need the favor of a god to have his favor," the elf said simply. Wendy could only sigh. Ever since she healed Durthu, elves from all over Athel Loren had been gathering before her to seek her healing, claiming she was a descendant of one of their gods. She was currently in a large, open hall underground that reminded Wendy of the guild hall, sitting on one of several tables, with elves mingling about. Orion himself was sitting on a throne, polishing his spear. The elf before her was seeking some kind of blessing.

Wendy did what she had been doing every time an elf came seeking a blessing. She held per hands, and gave them a slight power boost with her magic. The elf seemed to accept it as if it were a literal gift from the gods. The elf thanked her, and left. Wendy sighed, as she collapsed onto the table, face down. Carla, in her cat form, was standing on the table next to her.

"This is so embarrassing," she moaned, as she flushed a bright red.

"Muscle through it, child," Carla said, "We do need to stay on their good side."

"This is worst than when I would sing at Lamia Scale," Wendy said, looking up slightly, "At least they didn't treat me like a god."

"I don't see why they would need to," Carla said, "It seems they've got two gods walking around with them all the time." They had been told that Orion and Ariel were literal gods on earth, as avatars of the gods, Kurnous, and Isha respectively. That was admittedly somewhat strange, the idea of gods walking among them. Wendy was never particularly religious, nor was Carla, or any member of Fairy Tail. In fact, Wendy had only ever seen the Kardia Cathedral with its intended use occasionally. She did believe in some divine force (her partner for a time was a God Slayer after all), but she never gave it that much thought.

"My Ladies," Asarith called, as he approached them, carrying some papers under his arm.

"Asarith!" Wendy said smiling, "You are not here to seek my blessing, are you?"

"I apologize for them," Asarith said with a slight smile, "We were always a fairly superstitious lot." He set the papers down on the table.

"Here are the maps you requested," he said, "It shows the whole of Athel Loren, as well as the world." Wendy thanked her friend, and opened the maps with Carla. The first one was a map of Athel Loren, and the various realms that formed it.

"We're here in King's Glade, aren't we?" Wendy asked, pointing to one of the southern realms. Asarith nodded.

"How many are there?" Carla asked.

"Twelve exist, but Cyrthal is more an outpost than a functioning realm, and Anmyr will likely be abandoned within the next couple seasons," Asarith answered.

"Really, why?" Asarith opened his mouth, but then closed, as he nervously shifted on his feet.

"Cyanathair," he finally said, "the Corruptor."

"Cyanathair," Wendy said, trying to say it like them, though it was hard.

"He is a Beastman unlike any other," Asarith explained slowly, "As vile as some of them are, he is more so. His kind call him 'Morghur'."

"Morghur," Wendy echoed. That was certainly easier to say.

"Where exactly is this creature?" Carla said, "If our time here has taught us anything, its that you are the greatest hunters that ever were. So why don't you hunt him?" Asarith was silent, as his hand seemed to go down to his knife.

"If the Cadai are good, then he is still in the beyond," Asarith said. Wendy and Carla had more to ask, but he quickly left after that.

"I hope we didn't offend him," Wendy said.

"I don't think that was offense," Carla said, "That seemed more like fear." Wendy pondered about that fear, but figured she wouldn't understand, so she turned her attention back to the maps.

"So if we're here in Athel Loren," she said, "That means…" She moved the regional map aside, revealing a world map. The region that housed the forest was in green, which made Wendy balk at just how big this world really was.

"Our friends could be anywhere," she said, "This world is huge." Carla furrowed her brow, and folded her paws.

"Well, let's take this one step at a time," she said, "We need to figure out what to do while we're actually here in Athel Loren." Wendy puffed her cheek out in thought.

"We could just ask Orion if we can leave," she said, "They probably trust enough now, right?"

"I don't know," Carla said, "But we still need to know more of the world outside. When we dropped into this forest, in under an hour, we were attacked by a minotaur. Who knows what else is out there?" Wendy knew Carla was right, as she sighed and looked back at the map. Her attention was grabbed by the sound of a hawk, as one flew through one of the openings in the ceiling of the hall. She watched as it landed on Orion's shoulder, and seemed to whisper some things in his ear. The king narrowed his eyes, as he suddenly rose to his feet, reached behind him, and pulled out his horn. He blew into it, sending out that eerie, resonating sound throughout the hall. Immediately, all the elves at the tables got up, and started hurrying out. Wendy noticed Asarith was hurrying back towards her.

"What's going on?" Wendy asked.

"The hunt has been called," the elf answered, "You must come with us." Wendy didn't really have time to argue or ask questions, so she didn't bother, as she and Carla (after turning into a human), followed Asarith back to the surface.

When they got out, they saw entire battalions of elven warriors moving about, out of the treelike, into the clearing. Orion himself had already made his way up there, and was shouting orders to various groups. As Asarith ran to go get his stag (which sounded very weird when he put it like that), Wendy and Carla came up to Orion.

"What's going on?" Wendy asked.

"Word from Cavaroc," Orion answered, "A herd of Beastmen has been sighted moving into our lands. Our forces must be mustered for the hunt."

"How many are there?" Carla asked.

"We do not know for certain," Orion answered, "But they always travel in great numbers, so we must deploy equal numbers." Wendy looked around, seeing what looked like thousand of elves emerged from the trees. She guessed there had to be nearly 10,000 warriors present. Emerging out of the trees were various tree spirits as well. It looked like it was going to be a truly great army.

"So what do we do?" Wendy asked.

"You march," Orion answered, "You prove yourself to the Wild Hunt." He then marched away to a small ledge, where he looked over his army.

"The Wild Hunt, begins!" he declared, as he blew into his horn again. The elves all cheered together, as they turned, and darted back into the trees, vanishing. Wendy and Carla were then grabbed by the Wild Riders, who darted into the forest after Orion.

Note: So the Wood Elves are marching to war, and Wendy's coming with.

The way the Warhammer Fantasy verse approaches ideas of the divine seems to be that all religions are to some extent true. Aside from the Chaos gods, the Elven gods really exist, as do the gods of men. As for Fairy Tail it always seemed to straddle a middle ground between Eastern notions of physical gods who can be challenged and defeated, and Western notions of all seeing, all powerful gods.

Please review. Next chapter is Gray making his way through the Empire.