Hanzorian

  My name is Hanzorian. For three hundred years I have served as his royal majesty's chief intelligence officer - in other words, I am the captain of the Shadar'kethal. When speaking to such humans with the need-to-know, we are called the Shadow Hawks. However, this is somewhat misleading as the word kethal refers to just about all birds of prey - if you translate the compound word literally, it would read as "windrunner." But his majesty pointed out that humans enjoy snappy-sounding names that are easy to say - I conceded to this point.

  Call me pedantic if you will. I prefer my own tongue to that of the humans. I didn't begin my life working at the court of the king; for I am actually an elf of common birth. My family dealt chiefly in the clothing business, and never did I imagine that I ever would come to hold the position that I do. Certainly, my stipend is generous, but my eternal loyalty to my king and to his family goes beyond money. Being able to serve my king is my most treasured asset.

  Why do I trust him so? Perhaps you wouldn't understand, but I suppose I can try to explain. His majesty is the sort of ruler who thinks outside of the norm, who can improvise, who isn't afraid to look for talent in unusual places. Of all the divine generals, as he calls us, only about half of us are of noble birth, and some of us aren't even elves at all. Each and every one of them was hand picked by his majesty, and it has been a great honor to work with each of them - they know their jobs well.

  As for how I found myself in his majesty's service, I'll tell the tale in brief. There was a war in one of the more distant elf kingdoms, across the mountains. We were called to send reinforcements to aid them, as per our defensive alliance. The second prince, having not even seen his hundredth summer, was selected to lead a contingent across the mountains.

  Indeed, it was in this very war that his highness Prince Valyrian first distinguished himself. The full tale of that is mayhap better told by the man himself; I had only a bit part to play. I was always good at moving silently, and so I was enlisted as a scout. One day I saw some spoor in the valley that led me to believe there was an enemy camp nearby, and sure enough I found it. After reporting my findings to the prince, we gave battle and obliterated the enemy.

  Following our return home after several more battles, I was surprised by a summons from the palace. I had first feared I had done something wrong, yet I dutifully showed up in order to face whatever punishment his majesty had in store for me. When I arrived, the king asked me a series of questions - the details were unimportant. Suffice it to say that the king liked my answers and then he proceeded to heap praise on my head for my scouting; he claimed that I was instrumental in securing victory.

  Then he proceeded to lecture me about finding the right people for the job. He asked me how I felt about just how prepared we were for an attack. I couldn't help but be frank and told him about all the faults I saw in our defenses. I said that if information is key to winning, we were setting ourselves up for failure. The king clapped and laughed, and threw the word "wonderful" around a great deal. I had expected to be struck down. This reaction was unexpected.

  At that point he put his hand on my shoulder and said, raising the index finger of his other hand declaratively, "my boy! You are just the sort of fellow I need in my Shadar'kethal." I had never heard of them before, for they weren't the fearsome and efficient intelligence agency that they were today. I graciously accepted the job offer. Before long, I had been promoted to captain.

  As their leader, I sharpened the Shadar'kethal into something resembling a masterfully crafted kukri where they had been something of a dull kitchen knife before, glorified chamber guards. Our duties expanded to include finding out things in other nations, in other words, espionage. Each of our agents became a master at discreetly gathering intelligence. Eventually our artificers came up with a magic cloak that permitted us to pass unseen by all but the sharpest of eyes and those became a part of our uniform.

  Whenever a conflict broke out, some of us would be attached to the intel corps for the purposes of eliminating enemy officers and mapping out troop movements. In case you were wondering, it was actually prince Valyrian himself who sang my praises to the king. Hm.

  One day, fourth princess Illiana showed up in the king's audience chamber unbidden and unexpected. This was strange, none of my agents reported seeing her enter the city, and surely she must have been several days out still. With her she had brought one human male, and none of her retinue.

  Concealed in the shadows as I was, I heard the entire conversation between her highness, his majesty, and this highly suspicious-looking character. The story was troubling. How could the Shadar'kethal have failed to notice that such a plot was in the works? Moreover, the way they described the assassins told me that they were professionals; they had to have some kind of backer.

  I was already ready to begin investigating when his majesty commanded me to do so. I saw that the princess was recklessly trying to leave with that stranger, Elianora knows only what his intentions were and furthermore the assassins might still be looking for her. I had the king stop her.

  She puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms, but she obeyed - at least for the moment. When I had a moment, I approached her from the shadows, "highness," I said.

  She curtsied and replied, "aye, ser taciturn?"

  That moniker. She used it every chance she got. Fine.

  "Your highness, did you collect spoils from the battle?"

  The princess nodded.

  "Good," I said, "bring them to my office. I will need to borrow them for my investigation."

  The princess did as requested, though she did click her tongue. Very well. I understand. Your new friend had saved your life, and he was in an unfamiliar place, you wanted to help him, but your highness, your own safety is important to me, too.

  You are my sire's precious daughter, after all, worth more to him than all of the gold in his treasury. I will serve and protect the king's family until the day I die - that is the oath I swore. I should be flensed for even having had this attempt on her life happen during my tenure; it wasn't within our borders but I see that as being no excuse.

  But the time was now to get down to business - what was I looking at? Glass vials containing magic potions, a wand made of manzanita wood, a dagger, and a sword. The weapons were of human make, yes, I think these were made by one of the smithies in Caer Caradon - the sort typically sold to foot soldiers or novice adventurers. This didn't narrow things down at all, blades such as these were abundant.

  I moved on to the wand - hmm - I stroked my chin as I handled it. Fair craftsmanship and it appears to be the variety of wand that holds a number of spell charges as opposed to the sort that serve as an arcane focus. Likely made by a wizard living in a mountain town where this sort of tree grows - any merchant could get their hands on this.

  But what is this - I held aloft one of the potions and scrutinized the maker's mark thereupon - I recognized this mark. There was a general goods merchant and wine dealer in town: a human by the name of Popper, who often sold glassware with this exact mark; whoever bought these vials must have done so with the intention of filling them with potions.

  I knew of him because of the first prince's foolish habits, plus I had a dossier on him like I did with every known entity in the Kingdom. I cradled my chin in my fingers. Come to think of it, wasn't that man behaving strangely of late? I don't think I'd seen his wife selling muffins where she usually did either.

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  Then and there I commanded my agents to look into him, follow him for a while, and investigate his family discreetly. It didn't take long for our investigations to bear fruit. Every person who knew the family noted that something was off.

  The wife hadn't shown up to her job at the bakery in many days. The children, who were supposed to be attending the mixed elf-human schoolhouse, hadn't attended lessons in the same amount of time. Well now that was odd indeed.

  The very next day, I had the man brought in for questioning - I enlisted the aid of our head inquisitor, Sharisiel, to extract such information as we could. I always enjoyed watching the inquisitor work - she was brutal, efficient, and could always extract the truth from her prey.

  Yes, once you were under the cold gaze of her obsidian eyes there was nothing that you could hide from her. The rotund man folded almost immediately and began to blubber, begging for his life. He told me everything. That is when I convened the war council, and I also begrudgingly invited the human as commanded.

  The council chamber had a round table; though it would be more correct to call it a ring. Each person looked inward towards a circular space surrounded by his or her own section of table. Everyone important was there, of course. Being a war council, of course the second prince was there too.

  I had the cur on his knees in the middle of the room, surrounded by eyes glaring daggers; he seemed surprised to see Illiana there, too, he likely thought her deceased himself.

  In front of everyone he revealed the entire plan - they were going to make an attempt on the first prince's life three nights hence. The details were all laid out; the mood of the room was one of shock and disbelief; but that strange man, that Victor, he…he was sitting there, with a pensive expression.

  I knew that expression. I had worn it many times myself. I think that is the first moment where I thought there could be more to him than meets the eye. Then he went and said something outrageous. Since her majesty Queen Varielle had enchanted the council chamber with her unique gift, everyone in the room could understand him, myself included - the effect only applied to those standing in the central circle, and those sitting at the table. It did not persist outside the council chamber. But I digress.

  What he said was, "I say we let 'em try."

  The room fell silent, this was ridiculous, the second prince was dumbfounded and the princess had her hands over her mouth.

  The king ordered everyone silent, then said, "pray, sir hero, could you elaborate for us?"

  "Well, your majesty," he said, standing up and gesticulating as he spoke, "a wise man from my old world once said: all warfare is based on deception." I blinked, that was a more profound statement than I'd expected. He continued, "So these cock-asses were fixin' to kill that guy," indicating the first prince, "who doesn't stand a chance in a fight. So what if we get that guy," he pointed to the second prince, "to disguise himself as his brother and take 'em all out - they won't know what hit 'em."

  That…that was a surprisingly good plan,

  The second prince started laughing and banging on the table, "I fucking love it! Yes! Let's do it! I gotta get 'em for tryin' to hurt sis ya know."

  I wasn't ready to admit out loud that I thought it to be a sound plan. He may have been more crafty than he let on, but was I ready to trust him yet? But Mr Popper flopping on the ground cried, "but - I still don't know where they have my family held! They promised to let them go!"

  "Sorry to break it to you, pal," said the otherworlder, "but when scumbags like that promise to not kill someone, they're always lying. I'll bet they were fixin' to kill you and them anyway," the merchant began to sob, the otherworlder leaped over his desk, and put his hand on the man's shoulder, "so I'll make you a deal. If I go rescue your family, will you help us spring this trap?"

  Rescue? As if echoing my thoughts, the merchant blubbered the same, "r-rescue? How?"

  He stuck his thumb up, must be a gesture from his world, and said "with my trusty Cadillac. Now I reckon we can figure out where they are if we put our heads together, and in my car we can get there in no time at all."

  He was right. If what the princess was telling me was true, his vehicle could be useful. Fine. But I'll insist on joining the operation.

  "Hey, Han Solo, wanna come with?" Was he addressing me? Moreover was he inviting me to join completely unbidden?

  "Hanzorian," I insisted, "as captain of the Shadar'kethal, I am duty-bound to oversee any extraction operations."

  Prince Valyrian, laughed, "there he goes, mister stick up his ass."

  So, they thought me a stiff. I cared not. I only wished to prosecute my duties efficiently, precisely, and swiftly.

  The otherworlder said to the prince, seemingly in my defense, "Well I heard he was the best recon guy in the kingdom, so I want him on this mission. A squad leader knows how to delegate tasks. Pick the right guy for the job."

  I didn't know who appointed him squad leader, but he had the right idea, then he took the liberty of requesting a regional map. He bade the merchant stand with us.

  "So how exactly didja get captured anyway," the otherworlder asked.

  Of course I knew, the poor sod told me everything. What he said wasn't new to me - he had been abducted on the road, he didn't know how his family had gotten taken. One night he was at an inn on the southeast road, he only had one beer but passed out. I deduced he had been drugged.

  The next thing he knew, he was bound and gagged inside of an old farmhouse, and he saw his family tied up and blindfolded in the same room. The ruffians had warned him that he had better cooperate or they would all die. He had no ill will towards the prince, or to anyone in the kingdom, really, but fearing for the life of his children, his paternal instincts took control and he acquiesced.

  Outside there was a field, but no signs of life otherwise - the farm was abandoned. They blindfolded him, and they marched for approximately four days.

  The otherworlder pressed him thus: "Could ya provide me more detail about that?" Hmm? Where was he going with this?

  "Well, for the first day or so it felt like we were on the road, and, then we walked through the trees for the remaining three - it was rough going."

  "And you wound up here," the outlander pointed towards the southeast gate, where he'd been expected, and the merchant nodded.

  Wait. The southeast gate. Then it dawned on me, "they took a roundabout way, to hide their route. That tells me that your family may be closer than we imagined. But what side of the forest could you have come from…oh. Merchant, did you smell anything or hear anything?"

  "Now that you mention it, there was a distinct honey-like smell that started as soon I got the sense that we were under tree cover, it stopped before the day's march was over, though."

  Princess Illiana gasped, "that could have been…bluebell flowers?"

  The merchant nodded, "ah yes, yes, that's it! It smelled of bluebell flowers."

  I nodded, "Northwest," I said, "that side of the wood is full of bluebell flowers. Furthermore," I indicated a spot on the map, "here there once was a human settlement that was razed some decades past - if there were any farms there, they would have been long abandoned. You must have taken this road here, which is rarely used these days except by adventurers and hunters."

  The otherworlder said, "about how far is that, then?"

  I did some calculations in my head, "I estimate it to be…sixteen leagues, more or less."

  "That's forty-eight miles. Great. I can getcha there in an hour. Shall we go?"

  "Surely you can not be serious," I said, disbelieving. Why was he grinning so widely?