Chapter 3: True Power Revealed But Dream Crushed
Susan Vandom was walking through the streets of the town called Trader's Central, using an illusion to make her look human and hide symbol of the Royal Knights.
She thought it best for her to blend in during her walk, so people would be looser lipped about many things this town had a reputation for. Mainly about the racial crimes against the offshoot of her race the half-elves.
'Why can't they all be more like her highness? It would make things so much simpler,' Susan she thought to herself, when she heard something behind her. She turned around to notice a group of 15 guards marching down the street and they did not look happy.
'Something must be up for such a large group of guards to have gotten together,' Susan concluded, when she noticed one guard a bloody face and another walking strangely.
"From what you two told me, it seems that Belcoot is sticking his nose where does not belong again. That damn half-breed lover never knows when to mind his own business!" The large one in a captain's uniform growled out, making it clear what this group was gathered for.
Susan wanted to incinerate the man on the spot, but resisted the urge for a more effective approach and waited for them to pass by so she could follow them.
While doing so, she was hearing the story of the two guards bullying a half-elf and in the end; they got humiliated by a group of four adventures.
Minutes later as Susan followed the guards, a young red headed half-elf girl came flying around a corner, ten feet away from the of deputized fools. The injured pair yelled out, "She was with them Sir!"
'This won't be easy to stop, better start preparing a mass hold person spell,' Susan thought, as she started to call on her magic, but then something caught her by surprise.
Susan sensed a dark energy coming from the girl, but it was so raw in nature there was no way the girl even knew what it was.
The pureblooded Elf watched as the young half-elf punch a guard right in the face, followed by a small burst of purple energy.
'An eldritch blast! All I can do now get the girl out of this mess and get her to Sade! Hopefully her highness can keep the girl from being murdered!' Susan thought, as she casts her spell to stop the guards from killing the young half-elf.
Susan then deactivated her illusion spell to show her true race and rank, so to put the captain in his place. She was doing a pretty good job of it, until the half-elf's question made captain act like the poor thing committed the worse crime in existence.
"Your even stupider then I thought and seeing how you're a half-breed that's saying something!" the captain yelled at the half-elf, which got him swift kick in the back from Susan just hard enough to make the man land on his face.
"Be silent or else there will be a fate worse than death in store for you!" Susan warned the one she thought was the truly stupid one and made mental note of yet another insult based on race to along with the rest of her report to Queen Sade.
Susan then made her way over to where the young girl was. She noticed the girl was trying to stand in her weaken state, probably wanting to run at this point. But with the amount of bruises the poor girl had after the sudden assault from the guards, running would be impossible at the moment.
000
Will did not know what to do now the Elvin woman was heading towards her. She always heard the elves treated half-elves better than humans did, but old habits die hard, especially when the hand of woman started to move towards her. This made Will shut her eyes tight and braced herself for what she expected to be a strike of some kind.
000
Susan was confused at girl's reaction to her reaching out to touch the child; then mentally kicked her self. She was forgetting that the young half-elf most likely had expected only violent physical contact from most people.
'Of course she will be scared. She does not know I am only trying teleport both of us to the manor…not that she would feel any better in the home of this town's leader. But at least Sade is there as well, so it should not be a problem,' Susan thought to herself, as she gently placed her hand on the girl's shoulder and began the spell.
000
Will suddenly felt something flowing through her, as she felt Elvin woman touched her shoulder.
It was almost like the first feeling she had when she blinded that man at the inn. Though instead of being a force that was burning up inside her, this one was more like a soothing nature to it, almost like it was asking to take effect, rather than just forcing its way out like before.
Because of this more gentle feeling, the redhead allowed the strange force to take hold, not knowing she was allowing a spell to affect her.
000
Just as Susan was finishing her spell, she noticed a group of four coming around the corner that the young girl had used earlier. From what the Elvin woman could tell, they matched the description the two wounded guards told to their captain.
For a moment it seemed the wizard was trying to counter Susan's teleport spell, but there was not enough time. In a flash of light, she and her half-elf passenger vanished, leaving behind the four adventures.
000
"We were too late," Grizz said, as he eyed the group of guards who seemed to have regained their ability to move after Elvin woman left.
"Yes, but it might be for the best. I got a good look at the Elvin woman's face. It was Lady Vandom, so Will should be just fine under her care. We will just have to wait to explaining things to our young friend later," Belcoot instructed, just before he noticed the two guards from earlier, who clearly had not listen to him.
"Why can't this town hire intelligent guards" Belcoot grumbled, then noticed the captain had finally got back up to his feet and had the look of someone who wanted to pick a fight.
"You won't be lucky as your half-breed friend! Arrest them all!" the captain commanded, but then noticed Grizz's animal companion come around the corner. The larger Grizzly let out a roar, causing the lower rank guard to start shaking in fear.
"It's only one grizzly bear, what can it do against all us?" captain proclaimed, which got the guards draw their swords, now thinking they had a chance simply because of their captain's confidence.
"This is what he can do," Grizz stated calmly and touched his partner on the head. Slowly, the bear grew to the size of a house, making all the guards look up in terror.
A few of the spectators who were brave enough to stick around for the fight, could have sworn they heard the captain squeak out the word, "Mummy!"
000
While the four adventures dealt with the guards, Susan and Will appeared in a room in Lord McDohl's manor. Irving McDohl was the one ran Trader's Central and was one of biggest to be affected by the Queen's restrictions, when she made the treaty with the Elves.
This of course meant he was rumored to be one of the biggest violators of laws against racist acts towards half-elves. But with no proof except for few guards here and there, there were no solid grounds to charge Lord McDohl directly. Only low rank troops or rarely petty officers like the captain from earlier.
But Susan had more pressing concerns at the moment then worrying about Lord McDohl right now. The first and foremost was getting this young half-elf to feel safe and calm. That way Susan might be able to ask her question about the origins of girl's powers.
'If we are lucky it won't be from direct contact with demons or devils,' Susan thought, being more informed on the multiple sources of warlock power then the guards or this girl would be.
Kneeling down so to be at eye level with the redhead, the pure blooded elf spoke gently, "Please open your eyes little one, your safe here," hoping that a little kindness would help get the girl to open up to her.
000
Will hearing this, plus noting the strangely warmer, quieter and more peaceful feeling in the area around her, slowly opened her eyes and was surprised see she was in a simple yet well decorated room.
The floor were made of dark colored wood, the walls were painted white with one wall had window that over looked a stone cobble courtyard.
In the room there was only three pieces of furniture a bed, a dresser, and a desk but all were made of the same dark wood as the floor that were simple yet artistic in design.
But of course to Will, a room like this was fit for royalty from her limited view of the world. Of course, this was just a simple guest room in reality. But to most half-elves, rooms of even barley decent quality were impressive.
000
Susan smiled at the child's shocked and awed expression, as she looked around the room. "I'm going to go get someone who can help protect you from those guards and others who might try to hurt you, so please wait here alright?" the Elvin woman asked, snapping the child out of her trance and giving Susan a small and nervous nod.
Susan gave her young guest a sympathetic smile and left room quickly, heading down the corridor that lead the Queen's room and knocked once she reached the double door of Sade's room.
"Enter," a voice said from the other side of door, which Susan did to see a woman with long blond hair dressed in the attire fitting for the Queen's station. Sade was sitting at a desk going over several documents that were meant finally putting an end to the days of those of the half-elf race would have to force their way past the great wall.
"Susan? What brings you here?" the Queen asked, knowing that her only pure blooded elf knight was last seen heading into town and she normally was not seen again until later this evening. Something must have come up and the Queen felt like it going to be unpleasant.
'Good thing all that is left to do with the documents is to sign them because I get the feeling this will need my full attention,' Sade thought, as she studied the displeased mystic Elvin warrior's face.
"Your highness…" Susan said, taking a deep breath for the new she about to pass on the royal monarch.
"During my walk through town, I encountered a situation the violated several laws which officers of law abused their authority and using unnecessary force to take custody of a most likely innocent civilian, all due racial origins," Susan explained, then told the story of what happened earlier.
000
After about forty-five minutes of explaining the situation and answering the Queen's questions about the matter, the pair headed back to Susan's room. Upon entering, they saw the young half-elf was sleeping on top of the bed.
Sade gave her close friend a sad smile and said, "Normally I would say we should let her rest, but it's best to get the questioning and the test over and done with as soon as possible."
Susan nodded her head in agreement with this and the two women then made their way over to the bed, where Susan gently shook the girl in an attempt to wake her.
"Little one, I'm back," Susan said, as the drowsy twelve year old opened her eyes.
000
Will looked up to see elf from earlier, plus a new woman in more regal attire masking, her shoot up. "I'm sorry I…" Will tried to stammer out an unneeded apology, but was silenced by the two women giggling at her action.
"No need to worry young one, from what I heard you have had long day…but I needed to ask you some questions about your powers unfortunately," Sade explained gently, noticing girl instantly become afraid.
"I don't know how I did that…it just happed!" Will exclaimed, as tears began swelling up in her eyes.
"I swear I'm not warlock, I have never even talked to any demons or devils," Will continued to explain, burying her face into her hands as she let out a few sobs, while the two women looked sadly at the her.
000
Susan and Sade could tell the young half-elf was telling the truth. From what Susan saw when she first saw the girl use the dark power and noticing the red head was shocked at what happened; there was little doubt the child was aware of what was going on.
Both women were very skilled at reading people to see if they were lying, so they knew the young girl before them was being honest.
"It's alright, we believe you….I apologize, I never did ask for your name or even introduce myself did I?" Susan said placed her hand on the child's shoulder to comfort the girl.
"I am Susan Vandom of the Royal Knights, what your name little one?" Susan asks gently, hoping to get a response. It seemed to work, as the girl looked up at her with a look of surprise. Susan was not sure if it was because of hearing the rank of the one who saved her or the fact that someone believed something she said…though Susan had a feeling it was probably both unfortunately.
Sade watched as Susan calmed the girl down enough to get a name, knowing she would have to introduce herself as well soon. But how to do so without intimidating the young one would be the trick, since the child seemed to lack knowledge of those of high social rank outside of the town officials.
Sade put these concerns aside when she noticed the girl now trying to speak. "M…my name is Will," she heard the young half-elf say. Both women were surprised the girl had name more suited to a boy, but assumed it could short for something.
"Is that a shorter version of you name Will?" Sade asked, getting the girl's attention, but noticed a girl was distant for moment as if reliving a memory and it did not seem like a good one.
"It was the only thing my…father called me, when not using half-breed names," Will explained in a tone that made it clear to both others present, that she was afraid of the man.
Before any one could say or ask anything else, there was a loud banging on the door. "Lady Vandom, I demand an explanation!" a voice from the other side of said door, which caused the two women to silently groan.
They both knew it was Lord McDohl and from the present anger in his voice, they guessed he heard of Susan interfering with those guards from earlier. It was only when Susan got in the way of his men doing their 'duty', did the lord ever dare demand something from the higher ranking royal knight.
'Once again the man is going claim Susan was in the wrong, then say he was ignorant of the true actions of his men when I tell him Susan's side of the story,' Sade thought to herself, though knew the Lord will probably try to use Will's warlock powers to gain a small victory this time around.
As Sade thought this she stood and said "I'll handle this Susan. You just focus on helping Will calm down, so we can finish up our conversation after I make the blow hard leave," the Queen stated and marched over to the door, surrounded by an air of authority that only a Queen or King seemed to posses.
Sade opened the door to see the face of an angry looking 50 year old man, with short gray hair and medium build, dressed in the uniform a of high ranking Warmage. This man was Irving McDohl, one of the most annoying lords Sade had to deal with.
The look of anger on the lord\s face changed to one of shock upon seeing the Queen and quickly bent down on to one knee. "Your highness I beg your pardon. If I had know you were talking to Lady Vandom I…" Irving said hoping to save his skin from the queen's wrath, but that was a lost cause.
"Don't try to talk yourself out this insult Lord McDohl! How dare you demand that a member of my elite knights answer to you!" Sade growled out with a tone that had made men of even the strongest will, crumble before her.
000
While this was happening, Will was in a state of state both awe and fear. She had been talking to the Queen of Meridian without even knowing it, which was the reason for her awed state. The fear came from the fact that she was worried that the Queen might have been insulted that a low ranking peasant had not been showing the proper respect.
"You highness, I meant no disrespect but…Lady Vandom stopped some of my guards from taking custody of a dangerous warlock!" Lord McDohl replied, not meeting the Queen's angry gaze, knowing she most likely had already heard about the incident from Lady Vandom. It was most likely that he would have to punish and discharge more of his men and replace them with ones more to her majesty's liking.
'That Elf is getting in the way far too often! It's bad enough I have to deal with Belcoot and his friends all the time, but now 'Lady Vandom' is causing me additional grief! Well, at least she will be leaving in a few days and she will be out of the way for awhile!' the lord thought to himself, not liking the fact the Queen had come personally to implement the new law she had created.
The new law allowed any half-elf with a special pass to go through the gates with ease. Queen Sade had even brought 50 new officers with her, who had shown they would enforce this new law.
Lord McDohl did not want the impure creatures to go through the gates of the great wall. In his eyes, they were the ones who needed to pay the price for the restrictions placed on them by the pure blooded elves.
Queen Sade wanted to snort at this statement, but controlled herself. 'Dangerous my foot, Will was only defending herself! She did not even know what she was doing when that eldritch blast went off!' she thought to herself, before speaking.
"Lady Vandom has already told me, in great detail I might add, at what your men had done before they went to gather reinforcements to deal with one child and four adults!" The first blow to McDohl's case was just dealt and Sade was only warming up.
"Lady Vandom quiet clearly heard them saying they saw some in someone they assumed was a half-elf hiding their racial features. When they confirmed this, they bragged on how and I quote 'they decided to make sure the half breed got what she deserved!'"At this moment, Lord McDohl wanted to curse the heightened hearing of the blasted Elvin race, as Sade continued.
"As Lady Vandom continued to listen to them retell their story, one said he took great pleasure in breaking the girl's arm, as punishment for fighting back. I don't think that appropriate behavior for a guard who was in the wrong from the start. Good thing there someone to heal the injury shortly after said person stopped the attack on the girl." once again, another part of the story McDohl could not defend against, even if it based off what Lady Vandom heard and not saw take place.
"Then let's not forget the fact that Lady Vandom saw your men then try to harm the girl, who accidentally unleashed her power when protecting herself. The power is believed to have been dormant until now from what Lady Vandom witnessed, so you men's attempt to kill her for being a warlock was nothing more than attempted murder! A crime that better not go unpunished, along with all their other offences!" Sade stated, enjoying making the man before her squirm.
"Of course your highness, it will be done at once," Lord McDohl replied in defeat, and started to leave, when Sade added, "And also Lord McDohl, the four adventures are pardoned for attacking the town guards, since it was in the defense of an innocent." Sade knew the racist lord was hopping she would forget that little fact, so saying it at the last moment would be like rubbing salt into an open wound.
"Of course, I'll see that it's done my queen," the defeated lord answered with his back turned, so to hide his anger and closed the door behind him. McDohl knew trying to claim Lady Vandom was wrong would next to impossible, so he had to let the Elvin woman gain complete victory so that he would not have further punishments from the queen.
As Lord McDohl left, Sade turned around towards the room with pleased smile on her face, but then noticed Will looking straight at her with the two emotions from early still on her face. Susan appeared to be trying calm Will but her efforts were lost, due the half-elf being such a state of shock.
"Not the way I hoped to introduce myself to you will. As you have probably guessed, I am Sade Queen of Meridian and if you're worried about something like not bowing in my presence or calling me your highness don't be. It is actually quite a refreshing change," Sade said to
Will, finally getting the young girl to snap back to reality.
"Yes your high…I mean you maj…no I mean…" Will started stuttering out, causing the two women to laugh, finding the poor girl's predicament humors.
But they quickly got themselves back under control, wanting to finish up last bit of business so they could let Will rest after all that's happen today.
"You can call me Sade. The proper forms of address are only needed when in public or when nobles are present, Susan is one of my closest friends, so formalities are not needed here at this time," Sade explain, noticing Will had settled down a bit though still clearly nerves. It understandable, seeing how many people tend to intimidate by those of higher social rank.
"Well let's move on to one last thing, before me and Susan do a little test for your power Will. Don't worry, like Susan said earlier, we believe you but there are other ways to gain warlock power than those of dark origins," Sade explained, as she saw Will get frightened when heard about the test.
Will nods confirming she understands though she wished she could just disappear right now. She was not used to all this attention and knowing her luck, her friend had already at the tunnel using Zerase's and Grizz's magic to destroy it. All she wanted to do was go and find a new place to stay, seeing how her old one was most likely gone by now.
"Now as Susan heard, someone named Belcoot helped you. Are you friends with him?" Sade asked, getting another nod from Will, making the Queen get the feeling she would not be hearing the young girl speak any time soon.
"Well then, it's safe to guess you're the reason they located the poacher tunnel then. For that I thank you. I hired them during the mid fall season to locate it and they were not having much luck, until they said a half-elf friend of theirs started to finish it," Sade said, causing Will to look at the monarch in shock once again.
But before Will could say anything to defend her hard work, the Queen started to speak again, "I can't blame you for wanting a better life and if it was not for your newly gained power, I would keep to my agreement to allow you finish and use the tunnel to enter Elvin lands before they destroyed it."
At first Will thought this meant she would have apologize to her friends for running out before letting them explain anything. But then realized the Queen said her powers had changed all that.
"But why?" was all Will managed to say, as she felt all hope was lost was she still going to punished, even if her power came from a different source the demons or devils?
"While they do treat half-elves better than humans do, the majority of my people treat warlocks rather harshly, unless good fey or divine beings are the source of the warlock's power," Susan explained, as Sade prepared herself to make choice for the girl that would most likely crush all of Will's original hopes for her future.
"That is why I want to put you through a special test Will. If we are lucky, your power will be from a source that is acceptable in the eyes of the elves. If not, I'll have to forbid you from ever going to the Elvin Kingdom," This was clearly upsetting Will, but Sade had already had something to make it up to the redhead.
"But to make it up to you, I'll send you some place where you will safe, just to be sure Lord McDohl does not try to stir up trouble for you because you're a warlock. I'll say to insure you're not a 'threat' as he calls it, you will be placed in what called forced serves…do you know what that means?" Sade asked Will, getting a shake of her head, signaling the young girl did not know what it meant.
"Its sentence given to small time thieves, ones who are proven to only steal to survive, which sadly would probably be true in your case correct?" Sade getting nod from Will, who as to be expected, did not like this backup plan so far.
"When someone is in forced serves, they are given an amount of gold they have to earn. This gold is in essence, meant to be used buy their freedom back. This gold is then given to those who were the ones who got stolen from or in some cases, when we don't know how much give what person, is used to fund projects that help that community in the future," Sade explained, who was surprised by Will seemed to like the idea.
Unknown to the two women, Will was thinking this was her chance; she wanted to make up for all her stealing. At least now she could at least complete one of her smaller goals but then noticed the two women were staring at her.
"I wanted to do that already," Will explained with a small blush, as the two women smiled at girl's honest nature, a rare thing to find in one had take what she needed to live. Most in Will's position would not care, just as long as they got what they needed and/or wanted.
"Well then, you might be going to get your chance. But first, let's see if what your power comes from like. I said, we might get lucky and it will be alright for you enter the Elvin lands," Sade said, as she waved her hand and a blue orb appeared in front of Will.
"Place you hands on the orb Will and we will see what the source of your power is," Sade instructed Will, and the half-elf slowly touched orb in front of her.
The second both hands were placed on the crystal sphere, a warm feeling passed through Will's body, causing her have slight glow; but Susan and Sade were more focused of the orb at the moment to pay attention to this minor detail.
They were surprised to see the symbol for Gifted appear in the orb, both wondering what this young girl's hidden talents would be to go along with her warlock power. The two women noticed a Sword appear next to the gifted symbol, marking the first of Will's classes.
'She is a natural fighter. If the warlock is her other class, Will will be a force to be feared with the proper training, no matter where she lives,' both Sade and Susan though as they waited for what they hoped would warlock class to appear next.
But instead, a dragon head, which representing sorcery, appeared to the right of the gifted symbol shocking both of them.
'She is the same as me/Susan!' both woman thought, as they found out Will was gifted in both classes Susan was gifted in.
But they were in for a bigger surprise, when they saw another picture formed below the gifted symbol 'How much potential does she have!' they both again exclaimed in their minds at the same time, noticing new image was of an eldritch blast.
'Gifted in three classes and one of them the one we are waiting for. Will, you're in for a lot of hard work with kind of potential you have,' Susan thought, as Sade prayed to her god that ether the fey or the divine as the source of Will warlock power, though she also prayed that Will did not have any other classes she was gifted in.
If Will have anymore classes then the three, Sade might have to try and make the girl stay and train to be a knight of the kingdom! Maybe with a half-elf able to stand up the other nobles, they would back off from the rest of the race!
To the lower left of the warlock symbol was a crib, showing that Will was born with her warlock powers. Both Susan and Sade knew this only meant Will was blood related to a warlock, not where the warlock got their power from, but that was most likely coming next.
The final symbol in the lower right started to form and both women kept praying to every known god it was not the demon or devil symbol. But their prayers were not answered, because a demon head appeared and then the orb stopped growing.
Will looked back and forth between Susan and Sade with hopeful look in eyes. "What is it! What is it!" she asked rapidly, reminding them of a hyperactive girl two women knew all too well (Any one care to guess who?)
Susan looked at Will sadly and replied, "Well there is some good new but not the kind you wanted to hear" Susan then watched helplessly as Will fell to her knees.
Susan knew that while the girl did like the idea of paying off her dept, she also knew Will's hopes were more set on a new home, so Susan went over to the crying girl and pulled her into a hug to try and comfort her. Sade on the other hand could just watch and feel completely helpless, despite all her power and authority.
Though unknown to anyone else present in the room, the wheel of destiny was starting to turn for this girl and her fate would affect countless others.