Lo was happy, for the first eight years of her life she had lived in the humid heat of the jungle, the other seven in a frozen land where it snowed every other day. Where she was now though, it was pleasant all year round, without mosquitoes biting or wolfs howling to keep her awake. It was strange here, so peaceful and relaxing. She was lying in one of the gardens, her head resting on Fengir's stomach as she read one of the books she had brought from a little shop she's found. It said it was full of magical artifacts, but as far as Lo could see, the small tome she held in her hand was the only object of any significance, and the shop owner was selling it for less than a silver.
It spoke of strange symbols that primitive magic used to focus energy. They had been found inscribed into ancient weapons, buried deep beneath the sands of the desert. To her it was interesting, some of the designs mirrored those that ran along her arm, others were swirls and spirals and the final set were cruel, talon like marks, carved into ebony sword and only found in the southern most ruins before any who went further in were never heard from again. If she didn't have other matters she would have liked to take an expedition beyond the point, she now envied Anise for still being able to.
It had been a few days since she had been in court and hadn't seen John since, Drez on the other hand, he was becoming a good friend of hers, it was a surprise to everyone that a dwarf and an elf were getting along so well, and gave the king a lot more hope that the alliance would work. She heard footsteps and looked to see a young man walking towards her. Cocky, confident, far too self assured for his own good.
"Hello gorgeous, my names Tristen."
Lo remained silent and continued reading her book, giving Fengir a slight pat.
"Hello." He gave her leg a slight nudge with his foot.
She folded the corner of her page before closing the book. "What is it?"
"Is that how you speak to the son of a lord?"
"No, it's how I speak to people who think that everybody should fall in love with them instantly, I don't like that."
"And why shouldn't people fall in love with me instantly?" He gave a confident smile that made Lo want to punch him.
She slowly pulled herself up and noticed that his gaze had shifted from her face to her breasts. "My eyes are up here."
"While that is my second favourite area of you, I like to, admire all parts."
"Is that all you see me as?"
"No, those are number three, this " his hands fell to her hips and gave her rear an squeeze "is my favourite."
Lo couldn't take anymore of him dissecting her appearance and smashed her knee into his groin. "Like I said, I really don't like your type, it's almost as if your over compensating for something." She said as he collapsed, trying to protect himself from a blow to the same area. She snapped her fingers and a small trail of lightning started to dart between her fingers. "Now, you will not touch me unless I give you permission, the same applies for looking at anything below my neck, do you understand?"
Tristen stayed silent until the lightening struck to the side of his head, leaving a small crater as another bolt appeared in Lo's hand. His response was a whimper. "Yes."
Lo turned around walked away, and yet again his eyes fell to her hips, swinging naturally as she walked. "I told you not to look there, Fengir, deal with him please, no bleeding though."
Anise looked at the ring on her finger, when Parcid had taken the mansion he had found that the old lord had been storing a large quantity of the tax that was meant to help the people rebuild, there was more than enough to pay for the stone masons, and new guards, and a new orphanage, and to renovate the old orphanage, then finally he'd put a bit to the side for the wedding. It may have been slightly corrupt, but it was no where near the amount of the man he'd removed. She just couldn't look away from it, it was a band of gold with a single diamond set into it.
She was lying on the bed in Parcid's house, facing away from him with his hands holding her close. "Are you sure it has to be you, surely someone else would be able to convince the royals, you could stay here." He murmured.
"The queen's going to be the main problem, she isn't particularly fond of you if you hadn't recognized."
" You can't exactly argue with the results we've been getting."
"She's a noble, she'll find a way."
"You do realise after the wedding you'll technically be a noble."
"My mother and grandmother were both thieves, that instantly removes me from the whole arrogant, smug thing."
"What about me?"
"Don't worry love, the whole being a bandit cancels it out."
"That was a one time event."
"Four years is not a one time event."
"Okay, one very long time."
" I don't know what you're laughing at, she's out of your league." Tristen said. He told Drez and John what had happened and neither could stop laughing.
"What so you mean out of my league, I'm going to be king so the only girl that fits into that category would be a goddess."
"Considering he's still covering his groin, it seems her knee may be the hammer of the gods."
"I suppose you could do better dwarf?"
"Well, considering future king here is too scared to talk to his future bride, she floored you, and she's not hurt me so far, I think I'm doing rather well."
"Oh, she also said I might be overcompensating for something, what does that mean?"
John fell silent as Drez burst into another laugh, after fifteen seconds he fell silent." Do you honestly not know?"
Neither of them gave any reply.
"She's implying that you have a small cock and are trying to make up for it."
"She can't say that about me, I'm the son of a lord."
"You're looking at her the wrong way."
"Actually Tristen's been looking at her every way."
"No, you think that because she's a lady, she's been raised to be polite to everybody, but what you're forgetting is for the last seven years, she's been raised among what you think of as the common folk."
"What do you mean?"
Drez put his hand to his face and started to think. Things with the dwarves were simpler, don't put your pick axe in your friend's wifes, and no mining his metal and you were fine. Humans though, they had all these complicated, like flirting and romance. And flowers, they weren't practical and took up water, although up here they didn't have to pump water to the bottom of the mine, and they didn't have a mine, they built there homes on the surface.
"Look at it like this, not everything in the mine is iron."
"I don't see how this relates to the situation."
"Just because a person should have a certain personality it doesn't mean they have to."
"So you're saying that just because she's a noble doesn't mean she acts politely to everyone."
"See, future king boy gets it. She'll appreciate subtlety, unlike the other noble girls she's never been taught to think that men are better than her, never got that part of your society, both genders mine ore just as well, so she's not afraid to kick your arse if she wants to."
"So how do I do this? Without getting my arse kicked." John asked
"You do realise your asking a dwarf for tips on seducing an elf?"
"Better than asking for tips from you farmland. Don't act like just because your male means you own her, chances are she could rip your head off before you get close to her."
"You really know how to ease people's nerves."
"I could have said rip your bollocks off if that would have made you feel any better."
Khalenhad walked through the street, his sword still dripping with blood. The red dawn were becoming desperate, striking random targets in the night and fleeing as the sun rose, he wanted to know why. Each night their attacks became more and more irregular, now it was down to one every fortnight, still higher than he'd like but lower than when they'd started the purge to force them to the surface.
Then there was the high amount of tips on the cult's Safe houses. It all just felt to suspicious. Like someone inside the group wanted rid of them. And finally there was the group that had attacked him tonight. Their robes were a stark white, stained with the blood of their victims. And all were woman, a stark contrast to the dawn in almost every aspect, including their methods. Whereas the dawn either hunted paladins as a form of revenge, or women who were later found raped and murdered. The newcomers however, were the opposite, only targeting men, the bodies never found. The only reason he'd been attacked was due to interrupting an attack.
He'd searched the bodies and found a single note.
Hello Khalenhad,
I've been watching you for some time and I thought you might like the location of another safe house, the map's on the other side of this letter.
Yours sincerely, V.
The newcomers had been watching him, and willing to sacrifice their own men, or women,merely to give him a note. That made him angry. The sender knew his patrol, knew when he'd be there, and willing to sacrifice the most important resource they had, or the attackers were willing to sacrifice themselves. At first it had seemed like a gang war, the women of the city giving the men to the same treatment that they were recieving. This had changed that.
Lo was enjoying her breakfast, another thing she liked was easy access to fruit that wasn't preserved in some way. But there was a downside to her new residence, people constantly wanted to talk to her. First there was Drez, him she didn't mind, then there was Emily, then the queen, and then the near infinite range of nobles that were interested in befriending the first elf to join their ranks. It was incredibly tiring. Then there was yet another knock on the door.
It was John, holding a small bouquet of flowers. "Hello, I'm John, the ."
"I know who you are." Lo interrupted.
"These are for you." She quickly took them and placed them in a vase which she had brought from the supposed magic shop.
"Thank you."
"I thought that since you're new here I could show you around."
"Like a date?"
"What? No... well yes."
" Sorry but I've been here for four days so it's a bit late."
"Erm, sorry just I thought that, well you know what's going to happen so we should maybe try to make this work."
"Ah, that's sweet, just next time try to find something for us to do."
"Well, there's a tournament in honour of my fathers birthday, I'll be competing but you could sit with my family and if I loose I'll sit with you."
"Being slightly ignored by my future husband, it's like you're already king."