Chapter 9

The group walked, side by side, into the Elvin village. Compared to the other villages they had been in, this one was very small. It was only comprised of a few shops, an inn, and a few cottages. The elves around the village surprisingly weren't hostile. They looked at the new comers with understanding in their eyes. Caleb turned around to face the rest of the group.

"Guys, do you want to break off for the morning, find what you need to find, and meet back at the inn near noon?" Caleb asked, hoping to be alone for a little while in the village.

"But what about Xershies? He's still in trouble somewhere!" Tigo called from the back of the pack.

"We are no good to him, if we don't have any supplies, or gold! Besides, that's why we leave at noon," Y'Ron spoke up, also wishing to be alone in the all white elf community.

With that, the members of the group nodded and began walking in separate directions.

Glad to at last be alone in a real elf village, Caleb's thoughts wandered to his father. His father was a tall man who was not an elf himself. His mother had been an elf, his father a woodsmen. Caleb had never known his mother; she had died giving birth to him. For this reason, Caleb had never known much of the Elvin world. He had heard stories of this town and how his father had met his mother here, but he had never seen it himself.

His thoughts continued wandering while he walked toward the weapon shop. It was a two story building, much like the one that he had bought Frostorm from.

He jerked his thoughts to the present as he entered the building. It was surprisingly well lighted for a shop with only a few windows. The weapons he saw were amazing. Mythril swords and knives, dragon scaled shields and armor, and fantastic bows. A particular item caught his gaze, near the right side of the counter.

Thirty thing arrows, their heads tipped with Mythril. They were designed to cut through even the most hard of armors. As he neared the counter, he lifted his bow from his back. It was getting old, and he needed a new one. This one, however, had been given to him by his father, and it had some sort of magic.

Caleb's thoughts drifted to when Xershies told him his bow was special. Xershies had said that he couldn't tell Caleb what the bow's magic was, or even what the symbol meant.

"May I help you?" Asked the tall elf behind the counter.

"How much for those Mythril arrows?" Caleb inquired, still thinking about Xershies' words.

"Only fifty gold. Pretty cheap really," replied the elf.

"I'll take them. Do you do weapon refurbishing here?"

"We certainly do! May I see your bow?"

Caleb very reluctantly handed over his bow to the shopkeeper. As he took it, he noticed the small crest on the side of it.

"Oh wow. I haven't seen a bow of this caliber in a very long time. The last one of its type I have seen was owned by a woman in this village."

Caleb looked straight at the man as he spoke of the woman.

"What was her name?"

"Umm. To my recollection it was Meera Felkow. I believe that she married a human."

Caleb perked a little bit when he heard the name.

"Thank you, I'll be back around noon?"

"Well, I don't think I can do anything about it by noon today."

"Oh, well. Never mind then. Perhaps I'll return later and have it done."

The shopkeeper handed Caleb's bow back to him, and they exchanged money and arrows. Caleb walked out of the shop with his new Mythril arrows, and the knowledge that his mother had lived in this village.

(crest)

Y'Ron was a little reluctant to walk into the white Elvin village, but did so anyway. He had never seen a village like this one. His old community of elves had been a hovel in the ground. They usually couldn't see sunlight, and had to hide from the constant warring between the different elf clans. His life had been a war filled one, and he was refreshed to see peaceful elves.

As Y'Ron passed the edge of the village, a chill went down his back. He turned quickly, with his hand on the hilt of his sword. No one, however, was there. He scanned the edge of the woods, as if looking for someone, but he didn't see anyone. He only sees that two of the gryphons had stayed behind to hunt, they were eating a small animal. Only the mountain behind them offered him any resolution to turn around and go into the village. As he did so, he kept his hand on his sword.

Y'Ron began walking into the village, and noticed that Caleb was going into the weapon shop. He decided that he would go to the opposite side of the village, and check out the general store first.

It was only when Y'Ron was half way to the general store that he took his hand of his sword.

I wonder what it would be like to be a white elf…

Y'Ron immediately erased the thought from his mind. It was a thought that had occurred to him many times over his past adventures. While human, and other races, weren't always accepting of elves in general, they certainly accepted white elves over dark elves. Very unexpectedly to Y'Ron, he received very peaceful, rather than scornful, looks from the other elves in the town. The elves actually acknowledged his existence, rather than trying to ignore it.

Tigo had already made it to the general store, and was peering through the window.

"Spending money doesn't seem to be a problem to you," Y'Ron said to Tigo jokingly.

"For your information, I am observing the finer arts and crafts of the Elvin race. Like this cloak for example," Tigo spoke as he pointed toward the cloak on display in the window. It was a long black cloak with a hood. "Not only is this thing comfortable, but it is said to offer more protection than chain mail."

Tigo sighed, and put it back down.

"Too bad it only works for elves."

Y'Ron chuckled quietly.

"Let's go in, and ask the price. I've haven't heard of this item yet."

The two men walked into the shop, and approached the clerk. Y'Ron asked the price of the cloak in the window. The inquiry merited a laugh from the clerk, who lent forward and whispered into Y'Ron's ear.

"I don't need it that badly…" Y'Ron said, rather dejected. Tigo simply laughed.

"I see that not even dark elves can receive everything they want," came a voice from behind the three.

Y'Ron turned around very quickly to face Dega, who was chuckling.

"Just kidding, Y'Ron. I'm as dark as you are," Dega said approaching the counter. "I'll take this."

Dega threw a black cloth mask with only eye holes onto the counter. Its mouth was covered, but was well ventilated for warmth and concealment.

"That will be fifteen gold coins."

Dega handed over the coinage, and tucked the mask into one of his bags.

"Why did you get that Dega?" asked the curious Tigo.

"You never know when one might come in handy," Dega replied, but the slight movement of his eye brow convinced Tigo that he was lying.

Tigo and Y'Ron took one last look at that cloak.

"You guys need to lower your standards a little bit. Pick something closer to your price range," Dega said, laughing.

The other two scowled and then sighed a sigh of defeat.

"Not that I'd need it anyway. It's been a decade or so since someone actually drew blood from me," was Y'Ron's response.

"Ha! You sure do think highly of yourself," Dega said, with added laughter.

Y'Ron smiled before replying. "I don't think… I know."

The three shared a laugh before deciding to head toward the inn to find Caleb.

The group of three walked out of the shop, and made their way toward the inn. It was almost noon, and they would soon have to set out.

As they made their way toward the inn, Caleb came from just outside the inn toward them.

"Hey guys! I sold all of the stuff that we took off the goblins and bought a few potions and other necessities for the trip. If you need one of them, just ask! I've got them in my bag."

The group nodded, and they headed toward the inn. It wasn't quite noon yet, and the group decided to stop by the inn for lunch.

After the meal, the group left the inn and walked toward the edge of the village. Caleb and Y'Ron were both sorry to have to leave the elusive Elvin village. Dega was deep in thought.

Elvin villages always did have something special about them. He thought.

"Well. I think we are ready now. Let's go!" Caleb said, taking the lead spot in front.

The group set out from the same entrance they came in. Y'Ron again felt that chill down his back while crossing the threshold. Y'Ron and Caleb were sad in their hearts, and Dega was pretty much neutral to the whole situation.

The four adventurers made their way to the spot where they had been dropped off by Valex, just outside Marengale. The path to Evren connected at that spot. Y'Ron was hoping to see the gryphons one last time.

"I saw two of the gryphons out here eating just a few minutes ago," Y'Ron said looking around.

The group stopped a few feet from a large barely eaten carcass. The two gryphons were no where to be seen.

"I wonder where they went so fast," Dega said, not really caring.

Caleb felt very worried. Gryphons hunted large animals that took a while to eat. If Y'Ron really had seen the gryphons start eating this animal just a few minutes ago, they should still be here.

"That's odd, where the heck could they have gone? Did they just run off?" asked Tigo.

"No. Gryphons don't just run off from their food.

Caleb's mental connection to forest creatures was making him very uneasy. He thought that he could hear something.

Help…

His head jolted one direction.

Help…

His head jolted the other way.

"Caleb, are you ok?" asked Tigo, concerned at his comrade's panicked movements.

"I think that the two of them are in trouble somewhere close."

Caleb listened for a few seconds longer before sprinting down the path to Evren. The other three saw the direction he was going and all broke into a run after him. Caleb's speed was great, but he was too late. The others showed up shortly after Caleb had stopped dead in his tracks. They looked onto a horrible scene. The two gryphons had been slaughtered by something. One of their wings was torn off, and the color of their feathers could not be distinguished from their blood. Caleb fell to his knees next to the two dead gryphons.

"This is horrible… Who would do such a thing?" Tigo said, concerned for Caleb and his connection with the animals.

The other two simply patted Caleb on his back, and remained silent.

Y'Ron walked around the chaos of broken bodies on the ground in front of him, examining them for some clue as to what happened. He noticed something embedded into the ground, next to where Caleb knelt. It looked to be a crest of some sort carved into the dirt. It was a jagged V with a straight horizontal line through it. Y'Ron spat upon the symbol, and turned toward the forest.

He simply said, under his breath, and with disgust. "I swear… When I find you, I'll kill you."