Hamertia: The Elven Folly
Chapter 14

“So are you guys gonna be joining the fight?” Feno asked.

“I’m definitely not,” Heath replied bluntly without looking up from his garden.

“I’d love to fight in my first battle,” Horyn said. “But I’m sure Phezran would never let me. Not that I’d want to fight alongside him anyway…well, on the same side that is.”

“So does that mean we’ll have the whole woodlands to ourselves while they’re all away?” Feno’s eyes lit up.

Horyn simply laughed at his question. “Of course not, we’re just one of many centaur clans. What, did you think we were the only ones around?”

Feno blushed. “You guys know I don’t know much about you. That’s why I wanted to come up here to begin with.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Horyn patted his elf buddy’s back. “Heath, why have you been so quiet lately? You get to sit here and take care of your garden without Phezran bothering you about training. What’s the problem?”

Heath remained silent for a long moment before finally taking a long, deep breath and exhaling. “Because you two are going to get us killed.”

Horyn smirked and shook his head. “The hell are you talking about, Heath?”

“How are a couple of fire mages going to defeat Phezran and all the others? They’re gonna get themselves killed and then we’ll probably be beaten to death!”

“Calm down, Heath,” Horyn said, trying to sound reassuring. “The fire mages will take care of them no problem. Right, Feno?”

Feno sat down next to Heath and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. “Heath, I promise you have nothing to worry about. The fire mages are the strongest group in the world. Everything will be fine, don’t worry.”

Another long moment of silence passed before Heath finally brought his head up to look at him. “You promise?”

“Promise, Heath. My friends will take care of everything and then you guys can come live with us. You can garden, read, and everything. It’ll be perfect.”

Before Heath could form a full grin on his face, they heard a ruckus in the distance. Hooves galloped hard against the ground as the centaurs moved in to surround the group of elves who entered their woodlands. Heath, Horyn, and Feno got as close as they could to observe the scene.

“So are you guys ready to head on up north?” Elluin asked, wasting no time.

“We are,” Phezran replied in his usual tone that conveyed not a hint of interest in what they were setting off to do. “But at our pace, we’ll certainly reach the north before you. Unless you elves sprout proper legs, I don’t see how this is going to work.”

“Well…,” Rychell spoke up nervously. “We could always…ride you.”

The centaurs exchanged looks with each other, a look of confusion and disgust on their faces.

“We are not stallions!” Phezran shouted. “We’re not going to allow anyone to ride us!”

“Well…you kind of are,” Rychell continued, his face grimacing a bit, not sure how they would react. “I mean you are half-horse.”

The group of centaurs erupted into conversation, everyone speaking at once. This went on for a few short moments before Phezran finally threw his hands up and shouted.

“Everyone settle down!” he commanded. “It would help everyone get there much faster…” He paused to think for a moment.

“Very well,” he said finally. “You can ride us if you must. At least the only ones who will see it won’t be alive very long.”

“Well we are gonna have to go through the forest,” Elluin said. “It’ll be the fastest way there. But I’m sure any elf that sees it will be impressed by you.”

Phezran and a few other centaurs sighed. “Fine. But no one’s riding me! The eight of you pick a centaur and get on. And be quick about it!”

The elves turned their attention to the group of centaurs standing around their leader. None of them looked very thrilled at the prospect of an elf riding them. However, not wanting to waste any time, they each picked a centaur at random and awkwardly climbed onto its back. Once everyone was mounted, Phezran motioned forward with his arm and they were off.

“Hi Filwood!” Athtar yelled as he ran up to the gnome garden, Rydel reluctantly following along.

“Hi Athtar!” the gnome replied happily as he carried a bucket of water to place with the others. The common area of the gnome living quarters was filled with them.

“What’s with all the water?” Athtar asked. “Are you guys building a pool? You know I always thought it was weird that the forest didn’t have a pool! But I guess we do have a stream. Not that you can really swim in it though. Isn’t that strange? A bunch of water that you can’t swim in? Pretty weird, huh?”

“It’s a little gift for the boggarts,” Filwood answered, his face gleaming.

“But I thought boggarts hated water…,” the confused elf replied.

“Exactly,” Filwood said, setting the bucket on the ground. “We’re going to fill all their holes with the stuff. Seeing such an atrocity will offend them so much they’ll all drop dead!”

“Great idea!” Athtar exclaimed, his face lighting right back up. “Ellie and some of the others are going off to fight some trolls today or something, but when they come back, I’m sure they’d love to help.”

“Ath…,” Rydel whispered. “You know that’s not a good idea…”

Athtar shot Rydel a glare that conveyed a simple message; shut up. Not that he would actually ever say those words to his dear friend.

“Well we could use all the help we could get,” Filwood replied. “There’s a lot of water here.”

“No problem,” Athtar smiled. “I’ll let you guys keep working and tell you when Ellie gets back!”

Filwood nodded and waved goodbye as the elves walked off. Once they got back to the main path, they heard a thunderous disturbance in the distance. They stopped walking, trying to figure out where it was coming from. Before long, a group of centaurs came galloping towards them. Rydel and Athtar jumped off the path as the creatures passed them. They moved so quickly that it was difficult to process what was happening, yet they could both make out that Elluin and the others were riding on the backs of the beasts.

Athtar looked as excited as ever, mesmerized by the fantastic creatures headed off to battle. Rydel, however, was not quite as thrilled by the scene. A look of grave concern on his face, he quickly began walking back toward home. Athtar ran to catch up with him after the horde of centaurs were out of sight.

The elves and centaurs made it through the barren grassland in record time. As they could see the snow covered ground out in the distance, Elluin was thankful that Rychell managed to convince Phezran to let them ride the centaurs. They stopped to take a short break, and the elves climbed off their four-legged companions, their butts sore from the bumpy ride.

“Looks like we might get there and back before the end of the day,” Elluin said, shading his eyes with his hand and looking north. “I didn’t know you guys were that fast.”

A few of the centaurs blushed.

“What did you expect?” Phezran replied. “We have normal bodies…not whatever you call those.” He gestured to their legs.

“Well, we’re all different,” Jorie said, stepping forward. “And see what happens when we work together?”

Phezran smirked and stepped away to graze on some grass with the other centaurs.

“Aren’t you going to have any?” one of them asked. “You should always eat before going into battle.”

“We don’t eat grass,” Druin scoffed. “We have a bit higher standards than that, even in the southern forest.”

“Keep your mouth shut, Druin,” Connak whispered.

“What?” Druin replied, making it a point not to lower his voice. “Am I gonna thwart our plans to kill a bunch of trolls for the high-borns?”

“Stop being so insuborbinate, Druin,” Jharyn remarked.

He would like to think he was being brave by saying this, but he knew Druin wouldn’t bother retaliating with Connak standing by his side.

And indeed, Jharyn was right. Druin merely huffed and walked over to his centaur, unceremoniously mounting its back. “Let’s just get going if we’re still doing this thing.”

The other elves mounted their centaurs without saying a word. Before they knew it, they were off again. The cold air hit their faces as they crossed the threshold into the troll’s snow-covered territory. It wasn’t long before they saw their enemy’s village come into view. Everyone braced themselves for what was about to come.

“Hey Rydel,” Folwin said as they crossed paths in the hallway.

“Hi Folwin,” he replied quietly, hardly even slowing his pace. Athtar rounded the corner shortly after.

“Everything alright, Athtar?” Folwin asked softly. “Rydel seems a little…distant.”

“I think he’s upset because of the centaurs or something,” Athtar explained. “I don’t really know why though, I thought they were pretty amazing!”

“Centaurs? Is that what all that noise was outside?”

“Yeah! You didn’t get to see them?”

Folwin shook his head. “Well, you better go talk to Rydel. He’s probably just upset about what El is off doing today. Maybe try to cheer him up. You always seem able to do that.”

“Alright, see you around Folwin!”

“Oh, and hey,” Folwin called out as Athtar was walking away. “If you want, you guys can go in my room and visit Puff. That might make him feel better too.”

“Thanks, Folwin!” Athtar said as he continued on the way toward his and Rydel’s room.

He pushed the door open to see Rydel lying in bed on his side, staring at the wall. Athtar joined him, gently twirling his orange hair around his finger.

“Are you worried about the centaurs, Ry?” he asked in a comforting voice. “I don’t think they were here to hurt us or anything. They were just giving Ellie and the others a ride up north.”

“Ath, seeing those centaurs firsthand made me really realize what’s going to be happening up there,” he said in the saddest voice Athtar had ever heard. “They’re going to go up north and kill a bunch of innocent trolls. I always knew this was wrong, but actually seeing them made me understand the reality of it.”

Athtar sat up in bed and gently pulled Rydel into his arms. His eyes were welled with tears, which were now beginning to roll down his face. Athtar had never seen his friend so sad or vulnerable and wanted more than anything to make him feel better.

“It’s ok, Ry,” he whispered, kissing his forehead. “I mean…trolls probably aren’t even alive in the same way we are. You know how the one who lived here was. He was just kind of…crazy. They probably don’t think or even feel pain like we do. Ellie and the centaurs will just…get rid of them and everything will be fine. It’s like eating a carrot from the gnome garden. The carrot grows and everything so it must be alive somehow, but not like us. And we don’t feel bad after we eat it, ya know?”

Rydel took a deep breath and exhaled before nuzzling his head on Athtar’s shoulder. “I really hope you’re right, Ath. I just hope it’s over quick and everything can go totally back to normal after this…”

Athtar rested his head on top of Rydel’s, still holding him in his arms. They sat together like this for a long while, and each of them would have been perfectly content if they could do so forever.

The fighting began before Elluin realized it. Not even bothering to shout out a formal declaration of war, the fire mages jumped from their centaurs and began blasting the enemy with flames. The centaurs grabbed the trolls and ripped them apart while others kicked their opponents’ faces in with their powerful hooves, none of them showing any difficulty or hesitation in their actions. Without even realizing it when it happened, Elluin had been thrown from the back of his centaur. He now lay on the ground watching the bloodbath commence in front of him. Only a short distance away, Rychell and Jorie looked on with horror at the extreme display of brutality.

As the centaurs continued to engage in one-sided hand-to-hand combat, the fire mages managed to coordinate themselves quite well. Dakath kept pressure on the trolls by supplying a steady onslaught of fire balls while Druin shot a stream of flames from his hand, which Jharyn directed to hit as many of their enemies as possible. Connak was dealing with a wounded troll, finishing him off by setting his entire body ablaze with his scorching blue flames. Elluin’s view was blocked, however, when Jastra’s face appeared in front of him.

“Elluin?” she said, although her voice sounded quite distant to him. “Are you alright?”

After taking a moment to come to his senses and shake off his nerves, he managed to find his voice. “Yeah…yeah…, weren’t you gonna join in?”

She turned her head to look at the scene. “Doesn’t seem like I need to. I gotta say, I didn’t expect it to be so…brutal.”

“Me either,” Elluin said after another long pause. “At least it should all be over soon.”

Jastra nodded. “But those guys don’t look so good.”

They both turned to see Rychell and Jorie holding onto each other, their eyes tightly sealed shut. Seeing his young friends so terrified made Elluin feel guilty for agreeing to let them come along; but they had insisted. At least that’s what he told himself.

The troll’s wooden abodes were now beginning to catch fire, which spread quickly to the other nearby structures. By the time every troll had been torn apart or torched, most of the village was going up in flames.

“Ransack everything that isn’t on fire!” Connak commanded. “Let’s see what these bastards left for us!”

That was it, Elluin finally thought to himself once he processed Connak’s words. The battle was over as quickly as it had begun. Jastra ran off to join the others in pillaging the village, leaving him alone to survey the scene.

The snow had ceased to be white. The once pure white blanket that covered the ground was now a sea of red, soaked in the blood of unsuspecting innocents, their tattered bodies and charred remains scattered across the land they once called home.

A surge of emotion came over him. He thought for sure when he rode out this morning that he would be overcome with joy at seeing his team victorious and his mission successful. But this was not the case. He felt sad, horrified, guilty, confused. Confused mostly because he felt so many different emotions. He brought his hands to his forehead and stared at the ground in front of him. He became so dizzy and nauseous that he fell over completely, his face slamming into the cold, wet snow. He felt that he would cease to exist if he fully gave into these overwhelming emotions. That’s the way he figured he could best describe how he was feeling; overwhelmed. But before allowing himself to be totally overtaken by insanity, he did what he had done after killing Kellam; he told himself he was justified. He had saved the elves from enslavement. He had made the difficult decision to go to war with the trolls. While many had to die, it was in the name of elven freedom. He was justified.

They arrived back at the forest that evening. The ride back was a silent one. Not even Rychell, by far the most talkative in the group, uttered a single word for the rest of the day. Since witnessing the battle, the only thing he and Jorie seemed capable of doing was staring off in the distance, unreadable expressions on their faces. As he bounced up and down on the back of his centaur, Elluin couldn’t help but to worry about them. He truly hoped they would be back to their usual selves before long.

Athtar and Rydel, having fallen asleep earlier in the day, were now woken up by the sound penetrating the walls of their room. They jumped out of bed and ran to their window, seeing the horde of centaurs making their way along the path below. The elves dismounted their centaurs, exchanged a few words that were inaudible to the boys observing from above, and finally the four-legged beasts were off again, galloping back to the woodlands. Athtar and Rydel exchanged a look before running out the door, making their way to the forest floor.

By the time they made it down to greet the returning warriors, all the other elves in the forest had done so as well. Athtar and Rydel went to stand next to Folwin, Onvyr, and Rania, waiting for Elluin to address the crowd.

“We did it!” he announced once everyone had gathered around him. “We never have to worry about another troll enslaving us again!”

Many in the crowd cheered with genuine enthusiasm while others, particularly Rydel and Folwin, clapped halfheartedly, trying to hide the look of concern and disapproval on their faces.

“We will have more announcements tomorrow about the future of the forest,” Elluin continued. “For now, we will rejoice in our victory!”

The crowd erupted in applause once again before eventually dispersing, most returning to their rooms for the night. Once most of the elves had cleared out, Folwin approached Elluin.

“Congrats, El. Looks like you did it,” he said, attempting to sound supportive. “But can you come meet me in my room then? I just wanted to talk to you about a few things.”

“Sure, Folwin,” he smiled, patting his friend on the back. “And see, I told you nothing would go wrong.”

Folwin forced a grin and nodded before turning around to make the journey back to his room.

“Hey, Ry?” Athtar said finally, forcing Rydel out of his trance.

“Yeah, Ath?”

“Since we slept all day, do you wanna go to the library? I mean I’m sure the books don’t change at night but it would still be pretty cool to read in the dark, don’t you think? Maybe they even have lights in there or something! I never really noticed before because we’re only ever there during the day!”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to be down here at night, Ath,” Rydel replied. “Remember there’s still low-borns who come up here after dark. You don’t want to run into any of those guys.”

“Low-borns don’t read!” Athtar laughed. “At least not the bad ones anyway! I’m sure we’ll be fine! Come on, Ry, it’ll be an adventure!”

Rydel sighed, but then quickly replaced it with a warm smile. “Alright, Ath. Let’s get going before it gets any darker.”

Athtar’s face lit up as he grabbed his friend’s hand and pulled him along as he ran toward the library.

“What did you need to talk about, Folwin?” Elluin asked as he stepped inside the dark room. “Everything went perfect, so I hope you’re not just gonna complain.”

“Not at all, El,” he said, gesturing for him to take a seat next to him on the bed. “I know I didn’t support what you wanted to do, but I’m just glad that you guys came back safe.”

“Well thanks, Folwin. And now everything can go back to normal. Actually, after my announcement tomorrow, everything will be better than normal.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Folwin said, taking a deep breath. “What exactly are you planning on saying to everyone tomorrow?”

“That all the elves of the forest are free to live wherever they want and that we are all free to do whatever we want. No more stupid rules and of course no more meaningless work. We’re gonna create a real perfect society, Folwin.”

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to let all elves live wherever they want?” he asked. “Do you really want fire mages and other…low-borns up here with us and the others. I mean Rychell and Jorie are fine, but…”

“The ones we don’t want up here won’t even agree to live with us,” Elluin interrupted. “Like the fire mages, they’re perfectly happy in the southern forest and won’t give that up. And what if I had just stuck to the old rules? Then Rychell and Jorie would never have had the opportunity to be here with us, where they belong. We have to change things, Folwin. Make things better.”

Folwin nodded. “Alright, but maybe we shouldn’t go too far at first. Maybe just offer the opportunity to live up here to a few low-borns, ones you know won’t be any trouble. I think that would be a better way to go about it.”

Elluin remained silent for a moment. “And you really think that would be better?”

Folwin nodded once more. “I do, El. If we move too fast with all these changes, everyone might not be able to handle it. We can make things better, but we also need to keep the forest stable.”

“Alright,” he conceded. “I’ll think it over tonight and decide on who can move up here if they want tomorrow.”

“Thanks, El,” Folwin said as his friend got up to leave. “I appreciate you hearing me out.”

Elluin snickered. “I do value your opinion, believe it or not. Someone needs to be the voice of reason.”

Folwin grinned, happy that their relationship seemed to be returning to normal. “’Night, El.”

“’Night, Folwin.”

The sun was no longer visible in the sky when the centaurs returned to their home in the woodlands. Still staying away from the common area, Horyn, Heath, and Feno watched as they galloped by.

“Do you think all of them made it back okay?” Feno asked nervously. “So they’ll let me go home?”

“They would’ve killed you already if anything went wrong,” Horyn assured him. “I’m sure they’re all fine.”

“Good to know,” Feno mumbled under his breath.

“And hey, the deal is still on, right?” Horyn asked, turning to face him.

“Of course,” he replied. “You guys have nothing to worry about…And thanks for being so nice to me.”

“We were just as interested in meeting an elf as you were to meet a centaur,” Heath told him. “You ready to go talk to them and ask if you can leave now?”

“I guess so,” Feno replied anxiously. “I don’t really want to go back by myself in the dark though. Do you think one of them will give me a ride?”

The centaur boys shrugged. “Don’t know,” Horyn said. “Can’t hurt to ask.”

Feno nodded and bid his friends farewell, hoping to see them again soon. He reluctantly stepped out from behind the trees and made his way toward the group of centaurs, never having felt so intimidated.

“Ummm,” he said timidly as they all turned to face him. “So, uh, can I go home now?”

“Seeing as everything went according to plan, I suppose so,” Phezran answered. “Farewell.”

They all turned their backs on the elf and began grazing. Feno awkwardly stood there for a long moment before speaking up again.

“I…I was wondering if one of you could give me a ride back.”

The centaurs replied with a collective grown. “Can’t you get back yourself?”

“I just spent all day with an elf on my back!”

“Just let him die in the woods!”

“Enough!” Phezran shouted. “Can one of you just give the little bastard a ride back to the forest? We won’t be rid of him otherwise.”

After another collective groan, a centaur stepped forward. “Get on, kid. Come on, let’s not take all night.”

Feno walked up to the volunteer and struggled to climb onto his back, prompting a few of the others to roll their eyes. As soon as he managed to pull himself up, they were off. The wind blew through Feno’s hair as they dashed forward toward home. A huge smile appeared on the boy’s face, hoping the ride would never end. It was the most thrilling thing he had experienced in all his life. He enjoyed every moment before it finally came to an end when they reached the tree wall.

“Well…are you gonna get off yourself or do I need to throw you off?” the centaur bellowed.

Snapping back into the moment, Feno quickly jumped off the creature’s back. Without bidding him farewell, the centaur galloped into the distance. The elf stepped through the gap in the trees, entering the southern forest. He began walking, hoping to find the others as quickly as possible.

He walked through the trees until he finally found the others in their usual gathering spot. He picked up his pace as he approached them, eager to be reunited, yet nervous to tell them of the promise he had made to his new friends in the woodlands.

“Guys! I’m back!” he called out as he hurried up to them.

“About time,” Jharyn said. “Too bad you missed the battle.”

“Not that you would’ve been much help,” Druin muttered.

“So what did you learn about the centaurs, Feno?” Connak asked. “Seems all they’re good for is crushing skulls. Not that that’s a bad thing.”

“Well I met these two guys, and…kinda promised them that I…well, we…” he began as four sets of impatient eyes stared at him. “That we would kill the others and let them come live with us…”

Connak, Druin, Jharyn, and Dakath burst into laughter. Feno only stood there, unsure of how to react.

“So then they’ll be totally disappointed when we don’t do it,” Druin said between loud, obnoxious fits of laughter. “That’s a good one, Feno!”

“It’s not a joke, guys,” Feno continued, maintaining a serious disposition. “They’re treated really badly there. We need to help them.”

“Why would he help a couple of centaurs?” Druin replied mockingly. “And why would we go through the trouble of killing a bunch of them to do it? We just got back from torching an entire village of trolls. I’m done doing stuff for all these bastards.”

“So you don’t think you could handle it?” Feno asked with a smirk. “I know centaurs look big and scary, but I didn’t think you’d let that stop you…”

“You’re not gonna use that old tactic on me,” Druin barked. “I’m not stupid.”

It took all of Jharyn’s willpower not to laugh at that last remark. “Listen Feno,” he said after he was sure he wouldn’t lose his composure. “Elluin is gonna be making a big announcement tomorrow. If you don’t get the thought out of your mind by then, you can let him tell you what a stupid idea it is.”

“Speaking of which,” Connak added. “We best be getting some rest. After a day of riding on the back of one of those bumpy beasts, the last thing I want to do is spend the night listening to you guys bicker.”

The fire mages each found a place on the ground to lie down. With the events that had unfolded that day, it didn’t take long for them to drift off to sleep. Feno, however, remained awake for a long while. He had promised Heath and Horyn that he would rid them of their oppressors and provide them with a better life. With or without the help of the other fire mages, he intended to keep that promise.

“Jorie?” Rychell whispered in a barely audible voice as he sat on the floor, hugging his legs to his chest.

“Yeah?” Jorie replied, sitting on the bed staring blankly at the wall in front of him.

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“What do you mean?” he asked after a long pause.

“How are we just supposed to go back to living?”

“We just have to pretend we never saw it. Pretend it never happened.”

“Jorie, all I see is the blood and mangled bodies. All I hear are the screams as they were torn apart and burned alive.” Tears rolled down Rychell’s face as he struggled to get the words out. “I never thought that’s what was going to happen. I didn’t know something like that could happen. I didn’t think anyone was capable of being so…evil.”

Jorie hopped off the bed and joined his friend on the floor. He sat down behind him and wrapped his arms around his body. “I know Rychell. I see it too. We just have to try to forget about it. Maybe then it’ll all go away.”

They sat on the floor and cried together for a long time before finally crawling into bed. Their faces still wet from tears and their heads filled with images of the horrors they had witnessed, they eventually fell into a restless sleep.

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