Landel had gripped the arm of the captain and posed a rather bizarre question. Harwin was taken a back by this sudden turn of events and awaited the captain's respond. Farelen glared for a while, but eventually, responded:
“I see that nothing escapes your eyes, but I am not obliged to answer your questions! Now am I, boy?”
Farelen forced the hand of Landel off of his arm. Of course, when it came to brute strength, the former was second to none in the elfin race.
There was tension in the air. Landel placed his hand on the hilt of his sword whilst Farelen grinned with malice in his eyes.
“Please do not fight amongst yourselves. I am sure, whatever you saw, might have been a mistake amidst the tough battle.”
Harwin tried to calm both of them down but was promptly ignored by Landel.
“We are travelling togather under the orders of Graftel, and he has bestowed upon me the second highest title in the entire race. If we are to consider ranks, you are obligated to answer my questions. Now then, answer, why did you attack Grantal?”
“You have let that small ceremony get to your head, boy. It is atleast a century too early for you to command me; whatever I did, I did under the orders of someone who has earned his title and authority.”
Farelen also placed his hand on the handle of his axe.
“You will—” Landel was interrupted by Harwin.
“Landel, he has already given you the answer. Captain Farelen did it in accordance with the orders of commander Graftel; you can ask the details of it when you come face to face with him. You already know of what Grantal’s father did so such precautions had to be taken.”
Harwin tried to give a logical answer to Landel, even though, he himself was shook by this sudden revelation.
Landel, after hearing the words of his friend, stared at Farelen for a reaction, a tell, as to confirm whether Harwin was correct or not. Upon seeing the lad's persistence, the giant sighed and stated:
“You should trust his word. Try to learn a little from him, that is, if you wish to replace the sword-saint. There are sometimes when you should learn to keep your mouth shut. You have talent for swordplay but do not forget that the captains have centuries of experience.”
Landel returned to his stoic expression, but it was clear that he was annoyed. Soon enough, they returned back to inspecting the area and then returned to the camp after making sure there were no enemies, especially Wvyerns, nearby.
All of them took dinner and then a few of them slept for the first half of the night.
Now that they were at a dangerous spot, it was decided that Landel, Kraft and Viyetral together would give the first guard duty followed by Farelen, Harwin and Alisa.
The night went by without any major events. Harwin and Farelen did not discuss the matter regarding Grantal again, even when they sat beside eachother. The former knew when to pursue a matter and when not to.
Alisa, however, was more chatty than usual; she was also grateful to Harwin for saving her life whilst also impressed by his feat. Well, he was the chivalrous knight when the moment demanded it, so it would have impressed anyone.
Grantal did not wake up in the morning, either. He was fed porridge, heavily diluted with water, as to not let him starve to death. Alisa had learned the basics of treating a injured person from Iquaral, so to her knowledge, Grantal would wake up sooner rather than later.
They took breakfast before travelling further. Most of their meals consisted of bread, sometimes meat and also some native greens from the forest. During their journey, at least till they had reached the mountains, they took time to hunt as well.
Wyvern meat was tough to carve out, and none of them knew if it was even edible or not, so they did not harvest any.
They began to follow their trek once again, but their pacing was slower this time around as to detect any impending danger beforehand.
It was in the middle of the day that they halted once again, not due to fatigue but because the captains heard a group of men heading their way.
Stolen story; please report.
It was a skill possible due to the exceptional hearing of elves. Elves could hear from great distances but this sound was rather loud for any ambush or outlaws, who would try to hide their presence. The party still they approached carefully — unmounted now.
Landel also vaulted out of the carriage. He was signalled by Viyetral to carefully check who was heading their way; the lad was more than capable to leap astoundingly high, so after he had found a cliff-side to land on, he took a post there. In just a matter of moments, he returned down.
“A small party of dwarves. All of them are well-equipped and armed. They look well-trained as well,” he reported.
“The dwarves are not affiliated with any of our enemies. It will be safe to deal with them, but we have to do it without drawing our weapons until absolutely necessary. Also, how many were there?” Viyetral asked.
“About ten or so.” Landel answered.
“Gor, you speak the dwarven tongue, right? It will be best to talk to them in their native tongue, as this might make them more prone to listening to us.” Farelen asked Harwin who nodded in response.
With all things ready, they met the party head-on. They even raised their hands above their heads as to appear harmless.
Alisa and Kraft were ordered to stay at a distance due to their affinity for ranged combat, but they were instructed to only attack if they felt that the dwarves were acting suspicious or outright aggressive.
Soon enough, the two parties came face to face. Of course, the first reaction of the dwarves was to raise their weapons, but then they looked closer to find that the men before them were unarmed.
“We come in peace. We are travellers and are just passing through this route.” Harwin proclaimed.
“A HUMAN SPEAKING OUR TONGUE! AND WHO ARE THESE ELVES WITH YOU? ARE THEY YOUR MASTERS OR SLAVES? THAT GIANT THING OVER THERE CERTAINLY DOES NOT LOOK HARMLESS.”
One of the dwarves stepped forward. He had all the typical features you would expect of a dwarf — short-stature and fierce expression. He wielded a war-hammer which was much larger than himself. He had a muscular build which certainly made it easy for him to wield the massive weapon.
“That is a friend of mine. He is just naturally huge, he means no harm. All of these fellows are my travel companions. We are just making our way to the first town.” Harwin explained.
“I AM IMPRESSED HUMAN, YOU SPEAK DWARVISH TONGUE WITH A NATIVE DIALECT. WHAT IS YOUR NAME?” The dwarf asked with an intrigued look.
“I am Gor. These here are Viyetral, Landel and the tall fellow is Farelen.”
“MY NAME IS TOLBORF, I AM THE LEADER OF THIS GROUP. WE WERE LOOKING FOR A WVYERN THAT HAD ESCAPED FROM OUR CLUTCHES, HAVE YOU SEEN IT?”
Harwin was certainly astonished. The earlier statement by Farelen and Viyetral had assured him that no ordinary group of even one hundred could take that thing down, but these dwarves had not only been hunting it down but had managed to scare it away. None the less, he calmed his nerves and responded:
“Our party barely managed to defeat it. It suddenly dropped from above and began to attack us, infact, one of our comrade has gotten injured in the process as well. Unfortunately, he has still not woken up.”
Harwin explained the whole situation. He knew dwarves were straightforward and did not appreciate shrewdness. They appreciated it when people did not twist their words.
“THAT IS QUITE THE FEAT THEN! YOU PEOPLE ARE WARRIORS AND NOT SIMPLE TRAVELLERS I SEE! THAT WILL CONTRADICT YOUR PREVIOUS STATEMENT, NOW WILL IT NOT?”
Tolborf was certainly wiser than the average dwarf. He had picked on something that could potentially be troublesome for the human and his group.
“As I stated earlier, we mean no harm. If it helps, I have two dwarf friends as well. You might know them, they had even invited me to visit their homeland one day. Their names were 'Gowther' and 'Darwin'.” Harwin explained whilst a bead of swat trickled down his forehead.
“OH, YOU MANAGED TO BEFRIEND THAT DRUNKEN FOOL, HE IS AN OLD COMRADE OF OURS. HE HAD RUN AWAY FROM GILBERT TO START HIS OWN BREWARY OR SOMETHING. A COWARD BUT A FRIEND NONE THE LESS. WELL, ANY FRIEND OF GOWTHER IS A FRIEND OF OURS AS WELL. COME ALONG, WE WILL ESCORT YOU TO OUR SETTLEMENT, AND FROM THERE, YOU CAN ACCOMPANY A CARAVAN.”
Tolborf’s demeanour had suddenly changed. Even the other dwarves in his group were smiling and laughing upon hearing about Gowther.
“I thank you. Will it alright to let me comrades know of what we have discussed. None of them speak dwarvish.”
“GO AHEAD! ALS, LET THAT ELFIN BOY AND GIRL KNOW TO COME OUT; A STRAY ARROW COULD DISRUPT THIS WHOLE DIPLOMATIC PLAN OF YOURS.” Tolborf advised with a smug smile. Harwin was appalled, if he had not used his connections, their fate could have been totally different.
He quickly turned towards the others and said:
“They have agreed to give us safe passage, and even offered to escort us to the main route of the First town.” Harwin continued:
“It also appears that they were hunting down that Wyvern. They are impressed but also annoyed as we basically took down their hunt but are willing to let it go. They are already aware of the presence of Alisa and Kraft so it will be best to get them here as well.”
“I see, these men are not ordinary then; it will be best to do as they say. Landel, go fetch Alisa and Kraft.” Viyetral instructed him.
Once all of them were here, Harwin introduced the others as well:
“This here is Lady Alisa and the gentleman is Kraft. We apologize that we had told them to keep an eye on you but I am sure you understand that we had to take such precautions.”
“I DO NOT MIND. I RESPECT YOU LOT AS YOU HAVE DEFEATED A WYVERN, EVEN THOUGH, THAT WAS OUR HUNT. NOW THEN, TAKE YOUR BELONGINGS AND FOLLOW US. YOUR PARTY WILL BE MY GUEST TONIGHT! I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR YOUR STORY.” Tolborf did not suggest but simply commanded and then lead his party back on the road.
It was an unexpected outcome but certainly something fortunate for the elves. It will be here that they will build a great foundation that will help them quite dearly in the future.
