CHAPTER 7 : A GATHERING ARMY

On his return home, Nyluss finds another threat brewing . . .

 

 

CHAPTER 7

A GATHERING ARMY

 

 

 

     After leaving the statue, Nyluss found himself after two long years, home. It was a single three story high house with very abstract and mechanical architecture. The morning sun cast shadows all around the eerie looking home, but it was one of the most beautiful things Nyluss had ever seen. He designed the home, every aspect of it himself, and watched over the robots that built it from the ground up; the only house in the Mioshi Woodlands for hundreds of miles.

     The hover-car pulled in front of the abstract home, white as the clouds in the morning sky, with black windows and a deck wrapped completely around the base of the house. Stepping from the car and lifting the spider-device from the passenger seat, Nyluss again frowned. He could see from a distance his equally eerie and abstract stable, and all of the doors were raised. His hired help, Yu-Anna, was not doing her job up to the standards he expected.

      As Nyluss moved quickly towards the stable, he hoped Yu-Anna would be inside if all the doors were open, for his most prized creature stayed inside the stable, and should he be missing due to raised doors overnight, Nyluss would never forgive Yu-Anna.

     Stepping lightly into the stable, Nyluss called for Yu-Anna a few times before moving towards a stall occupied by a large, but sleek  white pegasus; its mighty wings tucked against its muscular body. Nyluss smiled with relief to see his old friend, who was much smaller when he left the pegasus he won in a race to find what the elves believed to be a lost city. His rival, Cartanus, arrived nearly a full day after Nyluss reached the city, claiming his win, and the pegasus.

     A gentle voice came from behind Nyluss as he rubbed his hand down the pegasus's face. "Have you thought of a name for him in your travels, Nyluss?"

     Nyluss turned only his head to Yu-Anna. "No, I haven't, but one day he'll earn his name on his own."

     Yu-Anna, a young human teenage girl, was tall and thin, but had a fierce, yet curious look in her grey eyes as she pulled her messy black hair away from her face. "It's good to see you home, Nyluss." Yu-Anna noticed the spider-device in Nyluss's free hand as he continued to massage the horse with the other. "I take it you succeeded in your mission to capture the 32nd Soul."

     "Yes, I did," Nyluss said, then turning to face her. "Yu-Anna, I have to say I'm a little disappointed in your work around here. These doors are wide open with no one to protect my stable," he turned and looked at the half dozen other horses in the stable; the pegasus stood out brightly amongst them with his milky white coat.

     "And my father's statue," he continued, returning his attention to Yu-Anna as he approached her, "it's covered in vines. It looks like it hasn't been tended to in months."

     Yu-Anna dropped her head. "That's because of the bandits that have attempted to take over this forest, Nyluss."

     Nyluss grew angry. "Bandits, in the Mioshi Woodlands, what you speak of is lies to cover your laziness."

     Snapping her head up and starring intesnsely into Nyluss's eyes, Yu-Anna grew angry as well. "I speak of no lies, I've seen them! They've been in this forest for over a year now, and the last time I went to tend to the statue they attacked me! I had to sleep next to a river for days so they wouldn't follow me back to your home! They were going to kill me, and you accuse me of lying!"

     Nyluss held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I believe you, Anna. Why didn't you go to the city and warn my mother of these bandits?"

     Yu-Anna again lowered her head. "Because they wouldn't allow me into the city the few times I tried to tell them," Yu-Anna said in sadness. "They do not approve of you hiring me to help you for any reason. You know, after what I did."

     Feeling a sudden sense of guilt, Nyluss raised Yu-Anna's chin with his fingertips. "Never mind what they think, you are a good person, and everyone has a past they wish they could escape from," he said with an encouraging smile. "Wait until I tell you what I did to a small forest."

     Seeing relief in Yu-Anna's eyes, Nyluss looked up and out at the wide and dense forest. There was a cool morning wind filtering out of the forest, the smell of the dew upon the trees and grass could easily be smelled, but Nyluss was searching for an odor of a different kind. Using his enhanced sense of smell like all elves used to their advantage, Nyluss after a few long seconds, found the scent he was looking for.

     "Fire. Those bandits must have a camp not too far from here." Nyluss looked at Yu-Anna. "It's a wonder you survived all this time with them out here. Why haven't they attacked the house and the stables?"

     "They have tried, Nyluss," she responded sharply, "but they didn't dare come anywhere close to your property. They fear you."

     "No, they fear the elves, yet they choose to take over the forest, why?"

     "I think they are gathering a small army, their numbers have been growing for months now."

     "An army?" Nyluss dropped his head in confusion. "Why would bandits construct an army in the Mioshi Woodlands unless they were preparing to - -."

     Nyluss words trailed off as his thoughts came together to form the answer. "Unless they are preparing to attack the City."

     Yu-Anna suddenly appeared nervous. "There are millions of elves in the City, they would be commiting mass suicide if they engaged in battled with the elves."

     "Which is why I believe they have been gathering for over a year, their numbers could be much greater than we realize, or they are led by someone or something much more powerful than anything we elves possess."

     "Nyluss, you've got to go and warn them," Yu-Anna said in horror, "they need time to prepare for an attack."

     A sly grin pursed Nyluss's thin lips, and a mischevious look laced his already intense eyes. "Sure, I could go and warn them," he said with an even more mischevious voice, "or I can take out these damn bandits myself. Coupled with the capture of Jardran the thirty-second Soul, I just might be able to wiggle my way out of my trial and possible sentencing to death."

     "What are you talking about, Nyluss?" Yu-Anna now appeared more confused than ever.

     "It's a long story, Anna, just know that I am a long ways away from being my Mentors and mother's good side. If I go back to the City now, they'll arrest me and hold me until trial, which could take months if not a year. In that amount of time no one will hear my voice, or take me seriously if they did. The City would be attacked blindly and unprepared, no I have to see what these bandits are up to, see what their planning, and most importantly, who or what is leading them."

     Nyluss could feel his heart race in anticipation. "I'm going to need your help, Anna, you up for a little adventure? Who knows, maybe we can both earn back the trust of the elves if we pull this off."

     That same nervous looking face of Yu-Anna grew even more worried. "I don't know, Nyluss, maybe we should just go and warn them now and see what happens."

     Stepping forward and taking Yu-Anna by the arms, Nyluss looked her straight in the eyes. "Yu-Anna, you're all I have right now, you've got to trust me. If we go to the City I will be arrested, I bet my life on that. I followed my instincts to come her first, and it is a great thing I did. I'm trusting my instincts again, and my instincts are telling me to go and find these bandits and find out all I can about their plans. I owe the elves at least that much, and much more even. Please. Help me."

     Yu-Anna lowered her eyes in thought. She had known Nyluss since they were young children, they had grown together, faced each other's triumphs and failures. He had been the only one by her side when she made the greatest mistake of her life, which Nyluss had saved her from being executed by the elven Mentors and the Queen. He had been her only friend for years now, and the only one she could fully trust with her life. Nyluss was loyal and protective of her, but treated her like a little sister. Yu-Anna could not imagine her life without Nyluss, her best friend.

     Looking up at Nyluss, Yu-Anna gave him a pleasent smile. "Alright, I'll help you."

     Nyluss smiled, but for only a moment, then his face turned serious as Yu-Anna saw the gears rotating in his mind as he formulated a plan. "Lets get inside, we have much to talk about."