War Ambassadors: Chapter One, Part Two.

Continues from Chapter One, Part One.

With the sun set and the full moon rising, I picked my way through the forest, it was hard to see through the shadows cast by the trees and I found myself bumping into and getting caught on them. For a moment I regretted leaving Marco’s camp, but quickly chased that thought away and focused on finding my path. I had little scout training, and what I had learned didn't prove useful at night. I remember in Tamnor I used to run on the ancient paths that wound its way through Hyton Woods. Even at night you could find your way easily for when the moon touched the path, the rock glowed like the stars, they used those forest paths for easy access to elvan cities and fortresses. The path fell into disrepair after Nasgeren. I never understood why the Elves, whom had no diplomatic relations with mortal races, sacrificed themselves. But it wasn't important now; right now I had to get back to my brother.

It was nearly pitch black; a cloud was covering the moon as I stared at it. Great. Now I'll have to use other senses to steer myself, my day was just getting better and better. As silently as I could I walked on the soft undergrowth. Walking with one hand stretched out, I ran into a log. Stop, rest. I thought to myself, if I continued without moonlight I was more likely to get lost, well, more lost. Now more than ever I wish I could teleport like Andy, I had a bad feeling growing in the pit of my stomach; like something was following me, again. My senses told me it wasn't human, or at least it was a psychic of some kind. I gripped my axe with two hands, prepared for the worst. I could just see the shadows moving amongst the thicker trees just 20 paces in front of me. I crept forward from the log. I didn't really want to leave it but as safety nets go, the log wasn't a great option. I needed light; I’d be at a disadvantage if I had to fight with no light source. Looking at the moon I realised if I wanted to see anything I would have to move the cloud. A bit of wind should help; it was the easiest solution I could think of. I raised my face to the moon, but kept in the same stance. I let my senses feel the nature around me, something I did only when I cast a nature spell, in that moment I could feel every tree, the curves and paths of the forest, and every creature, including what was stalking me, but my mind could not make sense of what it was. I breathed deeply and let myself connect to the earth, I felt it with a click in my lower spine, like a cord connected me to the ground and a rush of power rose though me, the coolness of it spread through my body, and the air began to feel warmer as my body temperature fell. I took another deep breath and reached towards the cloud. I didn't say anything, not only because I was being stalked but it just seemed silly. A lot of people made up spells that rhymed to give their power direction but I left that to the temples. The good thing about nature magic is in the end its all Will, if you guide it and put enough focus into what you want it will form. Sure I might have used some power words every now and then if I was struggling but the power was never in the words, it was just another tool to focus yourself. Ritual was a different thing, and mainly used to alter elements, summon fiends and anything that when you looked at it you'd say 'Yup, that's magic'. Ritual was for the obvious, intricate 'you probably shouldn't be doing that' spells. For old magic, the kind that forms mountains and destroys kingdoms, you have to fight the earth itself and survive before the rituals were revealed to you. Then it was a matter of not being torn apart during the ritual itself.

The trick to nature magic was to never ask the impossible, moving a cloud? Yes that's acceptable. Moving a mountain? You'd get a indignant response. My hand still outstretched I inhaled deeply, then blew the air out of my mouth as if trying to keep a feather floating or trying to blow the cloud away myself. Easier than words. I felt the power come up through my spine, cool and swirling like wind, and spill out my hand. My vision clouded with a green aura, the sign of my magic, as my body felt light and in tune with my surroundings. But then something... shifted, my vision blurred and focused again quickly, and the ground shuddered. The earth tried to give me something, but blatantly refused my request. I tried to push again, to force my magic to do my will, and felt the force of the earth retaliate like a slap against my skin; basically saying 'don't be ungrateful'. I dropped my arm and stared at the cloud that hadn't moved at all, and felt myself disconnect from the magic in the ground. With a big sigh I shifted into a defensive position, I heard a rustling sound, the dark figure was running towards me and there was still no light, I cursed at myself, the creature was taller than me. I moved myself into a position so I could hopefully uppercut it with my axe and kill it in one blow; maybe it would even be edible, making a good apology present to my brother for getting lost. The creature was nearly upon me now. Closer… closer, I swung my axe up to make direct contact with its chin and it almost broke its own neck avoiding the blade. I spun around to get its side and felt its tail sweep my feet from under me, I landed on my back and hit my head against a soft log, I couldn't tell if the crack was my head or not, I really hoped it was the log. I gripped onto my axe and held it just above my chest; I began to get up as the creature landed on me, gripping onto the shaft of my axe trying to pin me down. I could barely keep the shaft from breaking my ribs; the creature leaned in and hissed at me, showing very long, very sharp teeth. My anger kicked in as I yelled back at it, some of it's spit dripped onto my cheek as I tried to push back harder, it pulled it's head back and suddenly screeched, craning its head to the side. I watched it drop off me to the ground, squirming and curling like an injured snake.

I stood up and walked over to the creature, axe in front of me just in case, it was slowing down in it's writhing. It was some kind of reptile with humanoid features. The troublesome cloud moved slowly to allow light into the area showing the creature's iridescent skin that shone hues of blue, purple and red. I used my axe to push it's upper body across, it's head lolling to the side, it was still alive although barely. It wheezed as it struggled to breathe, gurgling sounds began to overtake the wheezing. An arrow had pierced its neck, I touched the feathered end of it as the creatures eyes watched my hand cautiously. My fingers tingled as I pulled them away and stood. It had finally stopped moving, a small part of me felt sorry for it, a very small part.

Now I was unsure of what to do. There was no guarantee that whomever fired the arrow was friendly, but if they wanted me dead surely they would have shot me by now. I circled slowly, axe at the ready, and strained to see beyond the trees.
“Put your weapon down.” A man's voice carried out of the dark, I spun around trying to find who it belonged to. My breathing got heavier as my heart pounded.
“Not until I can see you.” I said, my voice only slightly shaky. I heard voices beyond the trees, speaking in a language I couldn't understand.
“I did you a favour killing the Naga,” the voice carried clearly “but now I have my next arrow trained on you.” I swore to myself. “Weapon down, or I will disarm you.” I put my axe out to the side slowly, showing my other hand as being empty and knelt down to place it on the soft ground. I then dropped my other knee and laced my hands behind my head. I didn't bother to wait until he said it. Soft footsteps approached me from behind, I strained my eyes towards the sound but didn't dare move, my axe was picked up by someone behind me. A figure emerged from the dark in front of me, his bow drawn and ready to shoot an arrow into me as promised. He was very graceful, tall and lean. His black hair was similar to mine but not as long, coming to rest just below his shoulders. His hood hid most of his face from me. His leathers were worn but you could still see some intricate engraving on it. He approached, satisfied that I wasn't going to do anything stupid, and lowered his bow. The other voice, another male, spoke softly behind me in that foreign language. The one in front of me nodded slightly.
“You are trespassing here.” he stated matter-of-fact, he sheathed the arrow back into a quiver he had on his back, and somehow placed the bow to rest on the quiver.
“I apologize,” I said, “I am not familiar with the area.”
“Obviously.” His arrogance shone through as I shifted uncomfortably before stopping myself. “Interesting scar on your arm.” The sudden change in topic confused me for a moment, the scar on my left arm, just below my wrist, shouldn't have been visible to him in the dark. It barely showed through the end of my sleeve. It was large, almost the size of my hand, with rivulets of flesh that looked like it had melted like wax. Still shiny and pink, it had healed very slowly. “And this weapon,” he held up his hand and caught the axe as it was tossed over my head, examining the ends of it carefully. “You must be very lost, if you think this kind of exotic weapon would be useful here.” He spun it around and tested it's balance. “Either you stole it and you thought this forest would hide you,” he then knelt in front of me to be at eye level, “or you are very far from home.” I met his pale green eyes unflinching, not giving an answer. He stood looking at the other man, “No doubt she came from the camp nearby. Let's return her there.” He gestured at me to stand and so I did. “My brother, Kandoin, will lead.” I glanced at the man who was behind me, he was the same height and build as his brother, but with white hair. The collar on his leather vest was raised at the neck to partially hide this mouth, I hadn't seen armour like it before. Straps went across his chest for his quiver and blades which were peeking out to the side of his waist. His face was quite handsome, what I could see of it, he looked kinder than the wardrobe let on. His skin was strange though, it seemed to glow slightly, if you looked at it you couldn't tell, but the area around them was definitely brighter. I glanced at the arrogant one, he glowed the same. I whispered, not trusting my voice completely.
“What are you?” The blonde one glanced behind above me to his brother, who I could see shrug in my peripheral vision. He then turned his head to the side, so I could see his ears which were slightly, but unmistakeably, pointed. I gasped and stepped back, to have the arrogant one place his hand on my shoulder partly to steady me and partly to warn.
“Should we be worried that our presence is a shock to you?” Kandoin asked, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. I shook my head,
“I have never met an Elf before.” I said quietly, Kandoin gave a look to his brother, which I thought was worrying, before turning around and walking into the trees. The one behind me pushed to follow, I started forward, at least I might get out of this damn forest.