Hamertia: The Elven Folly
Chapter 3

Rania was still sitting on the small stone bridge, her crying never really having ceased. This went on for quite some time until a newcomer appeared.

“What’s wrong, Rania?” a brown-haired elf asked. He wore a green shirt that matched the surrounding plant life and resting upon his shoulder was a round, white owl-type creature. “Come on, you know Puff doesn’t like to see elves upset,” he teased, trying to lighten the mood. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Rania wiped a tear from her face before responding. “Onvyr is busy serving him and Jastra doesn’t even care. It seems nobody does. The next time I see that ugly old…thing, I’m gonna…”

“What are you gonna do, Rania?” the boy asked. “You know nobody likes it, but we have to look at what nature teaches us. Sometimes you just have to learn to adapt to the environment you find yourself in.”

“It’s easy for you to see it that way, Kellam,” Rania replied, clearly not taking much comfort in his words. “You’re just like Rania, he doesn’t even know you exist. You just spend all of your time down here in your precious nature, while the rest of us have to take turns working for some old troll.”

“Life completely engulfed in nature has its challenges too…”

“Like what?” Rania snapped. “All you do is walk around in the forest all day with that poof-ball on your shoulder. You can’t possibly know what it’s like to live in a community where someone demands servitude but gives nothing in return.”

Kellam simply smiled. “Well if you ever need someone, just come looking for me. Feel better, Rania.” He lightly patted her shoulder and went on his way.

Elluin, Folwin, and Rydel walked back to the library in silence. Leofrick had fallen back to sleep and Athtar’s body was still lying on the floor where they had left him. Rydel took hold under his shoulders while Elluin and Rydel lifted his legs.

“Let’s get him back to his bed,” Rydel said. “Nealey better be done with his games tomorrow and just tell us where we can find this special hemlock plant.”

The library was built into the base of one of the forest’s massive trees, so they would need to get Athtar’s body up quite high into the branches where the living quarters were located. Luckily, the tree grew in such a way that the branches acted like ramps, allowing easy access from the ground all the way up to its highest points.

The three elves carried Athtar to his room, remaining silent all along the way. Fortunately for them, the other elves seemed to all be in other parts of the forest, so there were no awkward encounters or questions to be answered. Once they arrived at their destination, they took care in placing Athtar on his bed and covered him up with a blanket.

“Are you going to be alright, Rydel?” Elluin asked. “Do you want us to stay here with you for a while?”

Rydel solemnly shook his head. “I’ll be alright. I just hope we can find this hemlock stuff and that it actually works. I hate to see Ath like this...”

Folwin stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be alright, Ry. We’ll go out tomorrow and fetch some hemlock. We’ll bring it back here and Athtar will be right back to his old self. Just try to get some rest until then, alright?”

Rydel pulled Folwin into a hug and held him there for a long moment while Elluin subtlety rocked back and forth on his heels and toes.

“I sure hope you’re right, Folwin.”

“I know I am, buddy,” Folwin replied, patting his back.

Rydel released him from the strong embrace. “Alright, I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” he said, forcing a light smile.

Elluin and Folwin exited the room, closing the door behind them.

“You don’t think he’s being a little overdramatic?” Elluin remarked after they were out of earshot. “I mean it’s not like Athtar is in any danger, he’s basically just sleeping.”

“El, you know how close those two are. We’ll get the hemlock tomorrow and everything will be back to normal. Besides, wouldn’t you be upset if I suddenly fell unconscious?” he said with a snide grin.

“I’d be celebrating,” Elluin replied, smiling. “Let’s just hope that little freak actually tells us where we can find this plant. His nonsense gets old pretty quick. But you know how low-borns are.”

“I’d still trade a punk like Xander for one of them any day,” Folwin laughed. “At least those low-borns aren’t pretentious elitists who pretend to be better than everyone else.”

Not paying attention to exactly where they were, Folwin had the misfortune of being right outside of Xander’s room when he made that last remark. The door suddenly swung open.

“Talking bad of an elf behind his back?” Xander said, stepping into the doorway. “Why, you’re no better than the low-borns yourselves.”

“I didn’t say anything I wouldn’t say to you directly,” Folwin replied defensively. “You act like a pretentious elitist. See, I just said it right to you.”

“Of course I act like an elitist!” Xander shouted. “Because I am the elite! Why shouldn’t I act like what I am?”

“Just keep telling yourself that, Xander,” Folwin replied calmly. “You have no actual right to call yourself that. You may have black hair and ears that point straight up, but you don’t actually do anything. You just sit in this room alone all day telling yourself how wonderful you are. Now why don’t you go back in there and leave us alone.”

“At least I don’t associate myself with lowlifes! Tell me, what were you doing in that retched southern forest talking to them anyway?”

Not wanting to drag the conversation on any longer, Folwin decided to just bluntly reply with the truth. “We need hemlock to help our friend, alright? That’s it. We’ll be going on our way now.”

“Is that so?” Xander muttered to himself as the two walked away. He slowly stepped back inside his room and closed the door.

Feeling that she had spent enough time weeping atop the stone bridge for the day, Rania made her way to Onvyr’s room to wait for his return. She sat on his bed for a while until the door finally opened. The elf who stepped into the room looked exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept in days.

“Onvyr!” Rania shouted as she ran over and hugged him.

She led him over to his bed and helped him lie down. His eyes immediately closed, but she continued talking to him before he could have the chance to fall asleep.

“What did he make you do today? Are you ok? You know I hate seeing you look so tired like this.”

“Bringing drinks, food, dancing for hours to ward off demons and anything else he’s afraid of; the usual stuff. But I feel better now that I’m here with you,” he said, forcing a weak smile.

Rania returned his smile and hugged him. “You get some rest now, Onvyr. I’ll stay here with you all night, ok?”

Onvyr grinned once more before dozing off. Rania crawled into bed next to him and closed her eyes, relieved that he was finally back with her.

Nightfall came and Leofrick was just waking up after having slept all day, albeit with a few interruptions. He grabbed a book from the shelf and had just opened it up when all of a sudden there was a knock on the door. He let out a long sigh before answering.

“Come in,” he said, not sounding all that thrilled. “This better be important.”

The door opened and Xander stepped in through the threshold.

“I see you’re awake, Leofrick. I thought you’d still be sleeping after having been up all last night,” he said in his usual conceited tone.

“I just woke up and was about to return to my reading. And unless you have important business, I’d like to get back to it.”

“Oh, I assure you I come on very important business,” Xander replied. “Apparently, there are those among us who doubt my elite nature.”

“If by ‘those among us’, you mean everyone but yourself, then yes, I suppose you’re right.”

Mustering all his willpower to ignore the remark, Xander continued. “I figured that if I could prove myself knowledgeable in various subjects, they might respect my claim more. That’s why I’ve come to you, seeing as you know so much about so many things. I want you to teach me everything that you’ve come to know.”

Xander walked over to sit on a tree trunk seat. “Go on then, be quick about it!”

“If you wish to learn anything about anything, you’re going to have to read about it yourself,” Leofrick smirked. “All of the knowledge that I’ve gained has been the result of tireless study. You’ve never stepped foot in this library before and now you come in here expecting me to teach you everything that I’ve learned over the course of my life in a single night. Just get out of here if you’re going to be so ridiculous.”

Xander leered at him.

“Tell you what,” Leofrick sighed. “I’ll start you off with a book on basic elf manners and etiquette. I think that’s just what you need.”

As soon as Leofrick turned his back to search the shelves for the book, Xander stood up and pulled a dagger from his waistband. He walked up and thrusted the blade into Leofrick’s back.

“Looks like you’ll only be the smartest elf in the forest for a few more seconds,” he said as Leofrick gasped.

It took a few intense moments for Leofrick to stop struggling for air and his body to go limp. When it finally did, Xander let him fall to the floor and pulled the dagger from his back. He dragged the body outside, figuring one of the low-borns would take care of it in the late hours of the night.

Once the body was removed and his blade was cleaned in the stream, Xander returned to the library and locked the door, ensuring that no low-borns would come wandering in during their nighttime roaming hours. After briefly assessing the scene, he noticed a book that laid open on the floor. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was open to the page describing the athtar flower and its antidote, hemlock. He grinned as he picked the book up, sat back down in his chair, and spent the night reading.

Sunlight shone in through the windows, marking the start of a new day. Rydel slowly opened his eyes, Athtar’s face being the first thing he saw. He stayed curled up with him on the bed for a while longer before mustering the willpower to get up. Still in his clothes from the day before, he immediately left the room and went in search of Elluin and Folwin.

“Are you guys ready to go?” he asked as he burst into Elluin’s room, not even bothering to knock.

As usual, Folwin was already in the room trying to get Elluin, who was buried under his blankets, ready for the day.

“Come on, El,” he said impatiently. “Nealey said first thing in the morning. Let’s just go get this taken care of.”

Elluin groaned as he pulled the covers off his head. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” he murmured as he dragged himself out of bed. “Not all elves are meant to wake up the second the sun comes out, you know.”

“Only low-borns stay up at night and sleep during the day. I didn’t know you respected their ways so much,” Folwin laughed.

“Guys, can we please just get moving?” Rydel pleaded. “We have to help Athtar.”

“I’m sorry Ry,” Folwin sighed, stepping over to the bed and grabbing Elluin’s hand. “We’re going.”

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