Tempus Fugit had ensured that I only needed two hours of downti to ditate, clear my Slots for High Moon Renewal, and was then free to start a new day.
The fortified locations of the Khirifi in the Duchy of Elb had been wiped clean of them. There might be scattered patrols or forces in the middle of being transferred who were still alive, but their bases of operations and thus supply depots were now gone, and in the hands of native Elbers who were not going to give them up again.
Indeed, with the horses, weapons, and armor the dead had left behind, the Elbers were very quickly going to find themselves equipped to do battle once more, possibly making up for their poor performance from years ago.
King Antius had crossed into the Duchy and secured a foothold that the Khirifi were going to have no way of breaking without so really powerful magic... the kind of magic that I had just violently shut down. Soon enough a fleet would also be crossing over to Isoford and taking the territory formally. The odds the Elbers would turn down his leadership were slim to none at this point, especially given what I had done and my recomndations.
To the Khirifi, it was going to feel like a giant hamr had dropped down out of the sky and blotted out all their work of the last decade. Then they were going to trace it all back to and take on so really unsightly expressions.
Whether they would realize that before I started rolling them back up was a different matter.
A lightning bolt crackled skywards from the trailing edge of the forest below. It didn’t get within fifty yards of , but it obviously had been sent up to gain my attention. Given I was Invisible at the mont, that ant soone was actually looking at the sky with invisibility-piercing magic, trying to find .
Far be it from to deny their invitation. I had a Mystic Shield, basically a Globe of Invulnerability good against up to Valence VII’s (VI’s for clerics), ready in case I was about to be attacked, and wouldn’t that be a nasty surprise to anyone trying spells on . It basically shut down almost all spells of the Casters hereabouts, as there was only a handful of powerful Casters here in the Northlands who could spin spells that powerful… and the Caster of that Lightning Bolt wasn’t one of them.
My Vista of Eternal Darkness saw them before my eyes made them out, camouflaged in tree cover via treeslipping and Elven Cloaks as they were. I ignored the one in the open, directing Duum to spiral down as lightly as a butterfly and then stop and hover exactly in the middle of their group, facing the concealed ones more than the obvious one.
“If the five of you would care to speak openly instead of skulking?” I asked in rather cutting Elven they could all hear without raising my voice.
Acutely embarrassed that I’d found them out, the other four elves ca out of cover, bows in hand but arrows hastily unnocked as I waited there on Duum, who was hovering there lazily fifteen feet off the ground. His sonar was also blanketing the area and letting know I hadn’t missed anyone close who might have a Div Ward powerful enough to deny my Detect.
“Lady Edge,” the first one to break cover spoke up, his Brown-Gray Aura indicating he was the highest Level, a D Rank, and the others were spread from Eight to Ten. “I am Revylon Tauirmist. I greet you in the na of the Court of the Wilderwood.”
He was average height for an elf at about five foot, fair of skin, but very dark of hair. He and his clanmates, all male, were all very dark brown or straight black in hair color.
One of the alyn tribes, who only acknowledged Waynder Equavus under protest as the Lord of Elves in the North.
Also probably the ancestors of the shadow elves, and thus my own ancestors.
They had so bad history with humans, stemming from a battle in which badly mauled humans had fled under magical bombardnt, leading to the elves having to carry the victory and taking losses they blad on the fleeing humans. This had so warped their worldview that further help from or alliance with human forces had beco nigh-impossible, resulting in even more elven losses and even attacking human lands in retribution by those elves.
The elves responsible had been cursed by the dying elf king of the day for their actions, rendered sterile and unable to have children, as well as blackening their hair to match their hearts. It ant their numbers had plunged and they had been forced to abandon any thoughts of retribution against humans to protect their children, but they still did not get along with any of the humans in the north at all… including King Antius and his frankly heroic companions.
Once treacherous and cowardly, always treacherous and cowardly in their minds. The fact that so many humans who fled to the woods were indeed that way, and both the Khirifi and the Empire of Iberon didn’t have many positive aspects about them at all, didn’t help matters.
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However, most of the Elbers were perfectly happy to leave the elves alone if they were left alone, but it also ant the alyn clans did not lift a finger to help them, except on a rare individual basis, during the entire decade-long fighting against the Khirifi, considering it a conflict between greedy humans that was none of their business.
For their part, the Khirifi also ignored the elves, not wishing to be caught up in the kind of guerrilla warfare elves excelled at, and correctly reading that the isolationist elves weren’t going to do anything.
They could always be dealt with later, regardless. Isolationist ant not a threat and not competition, and also vulnerable to being dealt with pieceal when it was ti to finally turn on them.
These fools were solidly Brown to Gray, what was good for their tribes and clans was what was good, and that was that. They had the taview of frogs in a well, and I had about as much use for them.
Fate said so of them would manage to flee the Doom, and eventually grow into my ancestors in the other tistream. It hardly ant I had to encourage them in the here and now.
“An envoy of the Wilderwood Court,” I repeated calmly, regarding him absolutely neutrally, clearly not impressed by his status. “Given we are nearly forty miles from the borders of your Court, and the swamp behind you is not part of it, you must have a keen wish to speak with , elder. Even going so far as to set up camp on my path to Fort Brazenhorn.”
His smile was clearly a bit forced. “There were so attempts to speak with you at the Weirwood Court, but you were… evasive,” he said politely.
“I was rather cuttingly negative, elder,” I corrected him directly, unperturbed. “The lack of initiative, xenophobia, cowardice, and deflective bla of the alyn clans did not impress or Belle in the slightest.” I leaned forward as he flinched. “Ah, you have heard of the path of Elven Magery. You are hoping to learn it from , as Belle will not teach it to you, and High Lord Equavus is obviously not going to advocate it for you and risk losing it for the Ceruil clans.
“You will not bother to learn it. It is, after all, derived from human magical Traditions, and so you want nothing to do with it.”
His expression of thwarted desire and stunned revulsion was really rather hilarious. “You… you must be jesting…”
I just elevated an eyebrow.
“You co from the future!” Ah, so that had escaped him. “Surely this must be knowledge that was discovered in the future by our people!” he demanded of .
“That knowledge exists in this ti, discovered by the People who had long contacts with human Wizards of great power, discovering that our people’s natural and instinctive focus on martial ability could be bent and channeled into greater magical power instead. All of the initial higher-Valence spells were of human design, although naturally the styles and thods of the two Traditions have diverged over the centuries, much as the more basic spells have, yet are both understandable to the other,” I corrected him with detached, cruel patience. “The one thing that has been done has been suborning so of the natural Druidic, Primal magicks into elven magery… but this new Halcyon thod has been very inefficient and not a proper Theurgic Tradition. That is probably because the elves try very hard not to let humans know of this ability, fearing they will lose an edge, when in fact humans will eagerly take it and improve upon it.
“It is really rather funny to look at the foibles of my people, and I shake my head at it. We think ourselves so superior with our universal skill in magic, and our long years, and grace and artistry… and the humans take everything we pride ourselves in, exceed it, improve on it, and leave their mark on the world, while we fall into shadow and dreams, lost and never rembered.
“Like the alyn are doing even now.”
My dark amusent at their expressions was infuriating them, but they dared not get angry at . “If this Tradition exists, we can learn it independently then, Lady Edge!” he challenged .
“Indeed,” I so nodded. “And once again, competing with humanity and deriving from its creativity and ambition benefits the People, much as we hate it. Much like having to deal with dwarves ant we ventured into using tal instead of all wood and leather.” Again, the expressions on their faces. “But I have things that need doing, elders. If you have no more questions?” I asked perfunctorily, Duum starting to rise with only the slightest shift of his wings. “If so, I will regularly be in attendance upon the Weirwood Court, and can be contacted there. You really are rather exposed here, and should go hide back in the Wilderwood.”
“Attacking the invading humans will only bring disaster upon all of us!” Tauirmist exclaid loudly.
Maybe he even believed it. More likely it was just trying to guilt into obeying one of their decisions.
“They are conquerors and slavers. NOT attacking them is madness, because they WILL turn on you and the disaster you attempt to avoid will co at the ti of their choosing, instead the ti of yours,” I replied icily. “What hunter waits for the beast in the wilds to stalk them? Quit being fools and engage the world, elder. The world does not care and will roll over us as ti passes as surely as the mountains rise and fall… and the mountains rise and fall at the whims of the Immortals, not the will of any mortals, including the elves!”
Then I was out of their shouting range, and winging south once more, heading for the new northernmost outpost of the Khirifi.
Dealing with Soul Eaters was going to cost the Khirifi their lives, and my rcy quotient was non-existent for shit like that.
The only way they had to counter was coming after with similarly high-Level stuff being dispatched.
The Khirifi didn’t have the powerful people of their own to unleash on , which ant their Immortal Patron was going to have to pull so strings and send so things after personally who could handle , or co down and do the job Himself.
Of course, He was also going to be leery that soone was backing , and that might result in Immortal vs Immortal, which was very much not permitted on the Pri, so He’d have to be secretive or back-handed about it.
I expected the next ramp-up to be efreet granting Wishes and trying to attack with those things. Unfortunately for them, I could Counter a LOT of Wishes, and genies Wishcrafting also drew a LOT of Immortal attention.
I didn’t know which Immortals would be attracted, however…
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