Darkthorn’s Blog

The scene moved on to Ruiena’s funeral. Humans stupidly buried their dead in the ground. Blackmain agreed with the elves. Burning was much more hygienic, and the loved one could not be disgraced in death. Not that elves died very often, but in the battles and infrequent duals it sometimes happened. The ashes were tossed to the winds, or dedicated to the health of a tree. Living so close to nature, and gaining so much from it, the elves needed to re-pay the benefits somehow.

Cimon was standing at the head of the group, looking suitably dark and morose, even though his pale robes were reflecting the watery sunlight. The royal blood was diluted further by the last king’s death, so the royal blue was getting paler. Cimon began speaking.

“It is clear to me that no-one of us could have done this. The queen was well loved…”

Some of the courtiers sniggered at this; her maids alone would have hated her enough to poison her off, given enough incentive.

Cimon continued, staring down the others. His deep voice took on a more sonorous tone.

“It is clear to me that this must be revenged. My agent, my agents think that it was Wayland, in revenge for Julia’s betrayal and death. Others still think that it is the work of the elves again.”

Blackmain reeled back in shock. No-one he knew had been around to do it and in any case, as if any elves would associate with the Queen and her sort. Elves did not care to interfere too often. What they had seen before had confirmed that it was indeed Cimon who had killed her. He almost lost his grip on the vision as Cimon continued.

“We are going to war on all those that harmed us, have harmed our kingdom. No more will we put up with the inferior races. Our blood will once again be pure. When I am stated king, I will bring fortune and glory back to these people, make things better. Send out the heralds, proclaim the coming of a new age, under my rule. No more will we be sullied with elves, or strange neighbors. We shall crush all in our path to greatness. In my world, all humans will be free to walk without fear from the dreaded elves.”

The vision ended abruptly, as if the elven leader had decided that enough rubbish had been heard. Blackmain returned to his surroundings with a jolt. This couldn’t be right, no-one in their right mind would take on the elves. Sure, the elves were never seen, and this tended to breed the assumption that they were shy and weak apparently. Wayland wasn’t exactly an easy pushover either, however weak their current monarchy was. Their people were united, and there was less bickering in the streets to start off with.

He wondered how long Cimon had been planning this, it hadn’t been long yet since the Julia had been rescued. He hoped Julia was safe, the fact that all of the elves had come to the meeting meant that she was alone. Not to be worried about now though, murmuring was beginning to break out in his head as the others discussed what they had seen.
It was usual for them just to retreat further, but the patches of forest strong enough to change into the homes was growing smaller. This clan had not yet been affected, it was far enough into the forest that expansions didn’t matter.

With Julia on their side, perhaps it was time to make an offensive move. A meeting of the other clans would need to be called, because this would affect all of them. Cimon seemed determined to wipe their race out. Although the prophesy said that everything would be successful, the loss of too many elves would be disastrous, they had to maintain their place in society. Equality would be welcomed.

Even the elves’ tortures could be worked into society, there was always some humans, just like Blackmain who would be interested in fulfilling their masochistic desires. Others would just be curious. It wasn’t as if elves needed torture or anything like that, except as a past-time to make their long lives go faster. Things wouldn’t change so much. The humans would probably benefit more from the alliance, healing from the elves and eventual spell work, should they choose to offer it. Peace was best, always.