Departure

As Eleazar's three teams leave on their missions, surprise visitors enter Westmark.

44.

Departure

 

At sunrise the next morning, the forces of Westmark and Dullerm mustered to the east of the city and began their long march toward King’s Reach.    Syndi’s parents woke her an hour before the march, to tell her goodbye.   Though she was determined to break free from them - especially her mother- she nearly cried as they disappeared down the stairs to join the others.

 

For a moment she almost raced after them, pleading to go with them and asking for their forgiveness for her plot to get away.

But she knew that things would just go back to how they had been, so she fought the urge.   Instead she sat in her bed, wrapped up in her blankets, staring out the window at the sunrise and wondering if she was doing the right thing.

 

Two hours after the troops marched off, Duke Eleazar assembled his team on the airship docking platform.    Nine of the eleven were Drow or part Drow, with Alvis and Sam Mellis as the only humans in the group.   

Muld had come through for them and met them on the platform with a large basket full of enchanted ‘air masks’ as he called them.  

“They will work for several hours - until the cloth is so dirty that air will not pass through it, but the enchantment upon them will clean them and it will then work again.” The Practical Magician told them, “  However, it will only clean them every six hours.   If the mask gets clogged up before that, it won’t clean it until the spell activates after six hours have passed, so you may lose functionality if the masks clog with soot quickly.”  

“When this happens, discard the mask and take another one - you all should have four each.    If you are delayed, or wearing your last mask and still have hours before it is restored, you’ll have to wash out the mask - use alcohol of some sort and then you should be able to reuse it.”

Archmage Drake - still wearing the form of the Drow wizard, Devin, was quite impressed with Muld, and the young Elf was quite awed to be in the presence of the great wizard.

Drake claimed that he had no idea why he had not been recalled by Yesh, but intended to do all he could to assist them until he was taken away.    Sadly, he didn’t have all his spells at his disposal, but he still had enough to make him extremely formidable.

 

Alleania could not help but enjoy the sunrise as they prepared to leave.  For her, each moment of breathing or any biological function was wonderful.    The restoration of her living state had eased the tensions between her sister and her and it was almost overwhelming for her to feel welcome and accepted.   Yet she readily accepted her role in the sneak attack and had spells made ready as well as taking a wizard’s staff that she had brought from House Ar’Rilla’s inventory. 

She had suggested that Aedric’s group use the Faesidhe teleportation platform to the west of Westmark and just send their forces magically to the platform in the Clearing of the Ages.   But when Drake had cast a spell to check to see if this pathway was still open to them, he learned that somehow the Faesidhe had managed to ‘lock down’ the platform after Alleania had used it to take her group there from Westmark.

“Probably a type of Lock Magic Portal spell,” Drake had told them, “I’m afraid that method is no longer available to you.”

 

Aurei left Aidan with Ollie and the children of Uyuit, who had volunteered to go with the team back into the Underdark and on to Aeropolis for the raid.    Although she hated being away from her baby for so much time, she knew that the only way she could ensure a peaceful world for her and the other children was to end this struggle.

 

They boarded the airship ‘Phoenix’ in mid-morning and bid goodbye to the others who were going into the Faesidhe forest or to Orc Pass.    They watched the Phoenix take flight toward the northwest with prayers for their safety, then, after it disappeared from sight, they resumed their preparations.

 

Syndi joined the others just as the Phoenix was taking off, and thankfully none asked her where she had been.   Their focus now turned to seeing the group off that was going to attempt to put down the Faesidhe rebellion.    A company of 30 Sylvan archers were given horses so they could keep up with the others, and joined 20 knights that Sir Alvis had assigned to ride with them as support.   

Aedric was very glad for their presence, for he was uncertain about what the rebels would do, and since all in his ‘command team’ were family members (except for Carn), he was particularly concerned for their safety.

As he was pondering how best to keep them safe from an ambush, there came a commotion from the western gate.   

Aedric looked up, anticipating some sort of surprise attack from the Faesidhe rebels - though this would certainly not be the tactics he would have imaged that they used.

Instead, he and the others were amazed at what they saw coming through the gates.

It was a large group of almost nightmarish looking creatures.    They weren’t hostile or threatening, and all of them were basically humanoid in appearance.   But they looked as if someone had taken parts of various races - Orcs, Goblins, Bugbears, Humans, Halflings, Dwarves, Elves, Trolls, Lizardfolk, Hobgoblins, Ogres, and other races that they had never heard of- and mixed these parts together to make these patchwork creatures.    Some almost looked like normal representatives of their race, but most were a hodge-podge of features.    They shambled through the gates, all wearing grey and brown clothes that looked as if they had never been new.    It was apparent that they were all self-conscious of their deformed hideous appearances, for all of them kept their eyes downcast and stayed very close to each other as they entered.

Leading them were two people, one of whom they recognized.

Both were riding familiar horses, and were escorting other horses.   A few of the women and children of the creatures had been placed on several of the horses’ backs.

It was Valmiai; she had returned with their mounts that they had left behind in Helios’ valley.    Snoe was thrilled and relieved to see the animals safe again and they hurried to greet the Inion Sidhe lady and see who it was that rode by her side.

She was tall and very pretty - with lovely blue eyes and flowing blonde hair.    From her delicate pointed ears, she was Elven, and she resembled Valmiai.

Before they could ask, Mathlyn let out an excited squeal and ran past the rest of them.   Valmiai and the other lady both leapt off their horses and ran to her and the three embraced and cried, speaking together in an unknown tongue for a few minutes before any of the others could get their attention.

“These are my sisters!”   Mathlyn told the group, her eyes sparkling with jubilation, “Valmiai, you know, of course, but this is Elina, who I haven’t seen in eons!   She disappeared with a group of my sisters that went to stop Helios.   But now two of my dear sisters are reunited with me!”

“How did you find her?”   Aedric asked Valmiai.

“She was imprisoned in Helios’ tower.   When the tower began to disintegrate I sent you all off on your way.   I did not want the fine horses to die at the hands of monsters either, so I raced from the tower as it was falling.   To my amazement, all the imprisoned chess pieces were released as the place fell.    Several of them died as we attempted to get out of the tower.   Moralea - the black Queen that we faced, and one of my sisters- died as the Death Knight threw a spell at her to get her out of his way as they fled.”

“Yesh, have mercy!”   Mathlyn gasped.

“She died quickly, and when we had made it outside, I attacked the undead abomination.    To my amazement, I was joined by Elina, and we destroyed the Death Knight.   She had been imprisoned in the chess piece room along with the others.    Many of the Goblinoids imprisoned just ran off as soon as we were outside and safe.”

“But we were surprised to find that our horses were not there.    Elina and I tracked them across the valley and there we found that they had been taken and cared for by those living in a camouflaged village.   It was these people.”  She gestured to those that had come with them into the city.

“They call themselves ‘Talminor’ which is old Elven for ‘The mixed people’ or ‘Mongrel men’ as the legends sometimes call them.    They are descendants of some of Helios’ experiments with mixing the races.    They are a peaceful and shy people, but dwindling slowly in number as some of them are unable to reproduce with others of their village.   Many more are killed by some of the terrible monsters that hunt in the valley.”

“I persuaded them with great effort to leave the danger of Helios’ valley and come here, where they would find acceptance and welcome.”

“They are welcome here.”  Amala said, speaking to them as they stood meekly by, “On behalf of my parents, who rule this Duchy, I welcome you here.”

Her words seemed to please them, for many bowed or nodded to her.   Amala turned back to Valmiai, “You, however, are NOT welcome here!”

Before anyone could stop her, Amala had her swords out and both blades were pressed threateningly against the sides of Valmiai’s neck.

“Remove the geises.”   Amala demanded.

“Peace, Amala Dullerm!” Valmiai replied, fear evident in her voice, “I did not harm you, nor mean you any harm.”

“You stole my identity and put curses upon me - I’d say that was harmful!”

“Amala.”   Carn’s gentle voice behind her stole some of her fury and she lowered her swords just slightly.

“Carn, don’t try to stop me, she deserves this treatment!”

“She is Queen Mathlyn’s sister.   I knew some of their other sisters and I saw how the Faesidhe treated them - locked up in cells across from the Great Tree.    She is unorthodox, but she is not evil, nor is she your enemy.   Release her.”

“But-“

“Release her.”   Carn repeated, and to everyone’s amazement, Amala’s swords fell to her side.

“Now, apologize to her.”  Carn demanded and she glared at him for a moment, but he gave her a stern look.   Finally she sighed.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry!”  She said frustratingly, “But you owe me an apology too!”

“No, child, I don’t.    What I did to you wasn’t my own decision, actually.   It was told to me by Yesh in a dream.”

Amala just frowned at the lady, to indicate her disbelief of the statement.

“It’s true, dear girl.    Years ago I cried out to Yesh for protection when fleeing from the Faesidhe.   He shielded me, but there was the condition that I was to watch out for a specific family and do what he told me to do for them.”

“Well, surely you can reverse it.”

“I can, but it is not Yesh’s will.”

Amala groaned and rubbed her forehead.

“Child, my intervention changed the flow of events so that the demon was destroyed.    But there were other reasons that this had to happen this way.”

“Oh?   Why?”   Amala asked bitterly.

Valmiai only smiled and nodded at Carn, who was glancing at the Talminor.

“Oh.”   Amala said, understanding now what she meant.

“So, where is Gamel?”   The Inion Sidhe woman asked, glancing around those clustered near her.

“He’s leading the group into the Underdark.”   Mutt responded.

“What?   Why?” She questioned, and Mutt explained it to her.

 

“Then his group will need my help!”   Valmiai exclaimed after the Goblin finished telling her.    She turned to Elina, “I must go and join them --- why don’t you join the Goblin’s team - they could certainly use your skills, and that way all three of us can help each group.”

“Alright.”   Elina finally spoke, revealing a voice as lovely as she was in appearance, “Go with the blessings of the Creator.    But return safely, for I greatly desire to spend time with my sisters.”

Valmiai embraced Mathlyn and Elina, then began chanting a spell, only to disappear a few moments later.

“She doesn’t stay around long, does she?”   Darv commented.

“She has a greater purpose, Master Dwarf.”  Elina told him with a gentle smile.

“So you will go with us?”   Darv asked her.

“If you will have me.”   She responded and Darv turned to Muld.

“We’d be thrilled to have you, Lady Elina.”  Muld said with a bow to the Inion Sidhe lady.

“Then I would be glad to accompany you.”  

 

Aedric glanced at his grandmother, “We had best prepare for our departure, Amilyo.    If you would rather accompany your sister with Master Muld’s group-“

Mathlyn shook her head, as she hugged Elina, “No, Elina understands our duties.    We have not seen each other for centuries, but we shall have the chance as soon as our duties are done.”

Elina smiled at her sister, than at Aedric, “I am also looking forward to chatting with the grandchildren of my sister.   But for now, I can wait, for I know this mission is important.”

 

Aedric nodded, “Alright, then, if everyone is ready, then we should be riding toward the Faesidhe forest, and the others should be heading to the docking station to board the Autumn Maid.    May Yesh protect and bless both of our missions and keep all of us safe from harm."

Reviews

[Elina]

"...away from her baby for so much of the time..." It may sound better if you remove "of the."
"...the others could get them to notice them." The end may need a little re-working for clarification.


Haha! What a lovely surprise...It actually took my brain a moment to register that it was my own name I was reading. I feel truly honoured to be in your book!

[Eddie Davis]

You are most welcome, I only wish I had placed her into the book closer to the start.