“Greetings, human. I must apologize for what has happened, but please give a chance to explain myself,” Aelar almost cried while going down on all fours before the human, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Huh. Really? From my point of view what you’ve done is pretty obvious. But sure, since you’re asking so nicely, I’ll give you a chance,” the human said, motioning for the elf to stand up.
“Thank you. Thank you. You will not regret this. I know it doesn’t look good for , but I am forced to collect workers for the great Liraeth, Chosen of Lunareth. There is a war coming, and they want servants to gather resources—that is all. You would do best to take your ti and flee from here as fast as you can.”
Aelar tried to sound honest, even though he internally despised the human for forcing him to go to such lengths. Lyanna was already looking at him strangely, but thankfully she kept her mouth shut.
“A war? That doesn’t sound good. You might be right—I really should leave. By the way, what resources are you gathering with the slaves?” the human asked, looking actually worried, though that was hard to tell with his golden skin and glowing red eyes.
To Aelar it didn’t matter. He just needed to keep talking. Ti was everything.
“I simply hand them over to the authorities. I know of fields where many plants grow, and there are also places for seaweed and other natural treasures beneath the surface. It would be a sha to miss out on those when we are already this close. There are, of course, the great wonders of this world, and a lot of workers will be needed to bring them ho.”
Aelar explained slowly, hoping to buy more ti—but that plan failed spectacularly.
“Wonders of this world. I’ve heard of a few already. Which ones do the elves want?” the human asked, which surprised Aelar.
They only knew of those wonders because Liraeth’s patron had told them. Could it be that this human had received a high blessing?
“We don’t know where they are yet, so I can’t tell you exactly. But it is certain that every wonder is protected by a very powerful beast. I heard that our leader still wants to search the ocean depths for pearls, but that is all I know. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Aelar said this while holding back a smile.
This human was stupid. The support group had to be close already.
Yet to his dismay, one of the slaves finally gathered her courage and shouted loudly:
“Don’t believe a word this elf is saying! He called for support long ago—I heard it with my own ears!”
This was outrageous, but Aelar couldn’t punish her right now with the human watching.
“Ah, great. So the elves running over the water are the support. Then the negotiations can finally start,” the human said happily, as if he had just solved a great riddle, while motioning over Aelar’s shoulder.
Aelar imdiately spun around to see how many had co to their rescue.
But there wasn’t a single one.
A sharp pain cut through his neck, and suddenly the world began to spin.
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