“
Drexus, what do you remember?” She didn’t hesitate in her response.
“
I did a stupid thing my love. I tried disposing of the last few crystals all at once. I was so looking forward to taking our trip together. I screwed up, the power I released was too much.”
She paused as she coughed a little. She was getting weaker by the moment. She looked around a bit,
“
Where are we?”
Wollfen was holding back tears as he realized the situation, Drexus had been possessed the entire time.
“
It’s okay don’t worry about it, you are safe now.” She smiled a little at him.
“
As long as I’m with you I’m happy, you are going to take care of me right?”
Wollfen nodded but couldn’t reply, he was too choked up. And, like the whisper of a breeze, she was gone. He sat there for a while cradling her head looking at her serene face. Finally he reached down with his other hand and closed her eyes. Standing up Wollfen stalked over to Luthein who had been quietly watching on.
“
Do you know what you have done? Do you understand? Drexus could have been saved!” Wollfen was speaking now through gritted teeth. “The entity did all this, it had her!”
Luthein gave a little shake of the head in response and it aggravated Wollfen even further,
“
Damn you and damn your kind! You think you are so cultured and superior! You are no better than the orcs!”
Dark came up behind him and touched his side but Wollfen wasn’t interested. He was getting more and more worked up as he thought about all that had transpired. He turned,
“
I need to be left alone for awhile.” He then stalked off to another part of the hall away from the eyes of the others.
Luthein came to a realization all of a sudden. He had inadvertently destroyed a lot of Wollfen’s respect for the elven people with his actions. He looked across at Dark whom he could see was upset. Maybe he could make some sort of reparations.
“
If I may? You will have to forgive Aerassis for his outburst, you see, this is twice now he has lost his wife.”
Dark stood there as she digested the information from Luthein. Wollfen had kept everything quiet, no one had said anything. Her mind was in a spin. She walked down the hall to where Wollfen was and she looked at the tears on his face.
He turned to her and spoke in a quiet tone,
“
I am sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, it’s hard to explain.”
“
You need to try, I am having trouble with this. You told me you had lost your wife over a hundred and fifty years ago.” He closed his eyes and nodded.
“
Yes I lied to you a bit when I told you the story, I had already found Drexus again and when I related the story to you of the loss of Drexus and the loss of my wife. I didn’t want you to put two and two together so I made sure the dates were far enough apart as not to arouse suspicion. I didn’t feel for her anymore like I did, especially after my meeting with her. You see when I found her again at the end of the journey from the Kingdom it didn’t feel like her at all, she was different and it's been a hundred years.”
Wollfen stopped for a bit, he was torn up inside. He had been caught by surprise when the old Drexus came out. He had hoped she could be rehabilitated, but didn’t expect a dramatic return to her old self at her death, it wasn’t fair. Not on Drexus, Wollfen or even Dark.
“
I am sorry for not telling you everything, but I have been so used to having to hide myself and my true origins for so long, it has become an ingrained habit. Even now I am still learning to open up to you Dark. I do truly love you and believe me when I say, I want to be totally honest with you. It will take time though, I have four hundred years of history behind me. I recognize that none of this is fair on you, it wasn’t fair on Drexus or even me for that matter. It's a lot to try and understand.”
Dark looked at him considering his words. She decided that the relationship they had was truly a unique one and that it would throw up obstacles in their way that no one else would ever need to face. But one thing she did focus on that gave her a lift was the knowledge that he did love her, she truly believed it. She leaned forward and gave him a warm kiss.
“
I think the both of us need some time to ourselves. When things are sorted here and we have some time alone we can talk again okay?”
Wollfen nodded. He knew what a special woman Dark was for doing as she did and handling things so well.
Madeira had been busy. She had contacted Iris by mind touch and gotten her to organize a collection of loyal sorcs to converge on the throne room. She had to move quickly to consolidate her power before someone else attacked. Right now she had the upper hand and word of Drexus’ death was spreading quickly. She mind touched a couple of sorcs outside the chamber to travel down to the wharf to seek out Captain Serhatnan and have him return to the tower with his men. She knew he would be a good ally and she needed her own troop of men for physical protection.
Madeira came to Wollfen and spoke to him, the battle wasn’t over yet.
“
There are a quite a number of sorcs and Isogorrean troops gathering to mount a counter attack. I will need your help Wollfen.”
Wollfen looked up and Madeira could see the redness of his eyes, why was he so upset?
“
Why would they be counterattacking? Drexus is dead, you allowed that information to get out didn’t you?” Madeira nodded.
“
Yes I did, but the others out there also know we are a very small force and there is a sorc by the name of Alexis that has aspirations of her own to be Queen. She was second only to me in the hierarchy and right now she is making her play for power.”
“
She mustn’t like you too much then.” Madeira shook her head.
“
That hasn’t got anything to do with it. Her and I are friends but in Isogorr when an opportunity like this arises you go for it and this sort of opportunity has never existed before.”
Wollfen and Dark returned to the rest who were standing around. Some of them were in conference with others around the tower but most of them were waiting for Madeira. She addressed them,
“
Alexis and her troops will come crashing through that door at any moment. I expect they will hit us first with her soldiers and then a magical attack on our minds. I know we can resist the magical attack but the troops I’m not so sure about. There aren’t many of us armed here.” Luthein stepped forward.
“
Do not worry, all my elven brethren here came fully equipped.”
He signaled them and they all reached behind their backs. From under their cloaks they slid out swords hidden away. They all stood there at the ready.
“
We will give a good account of ourselves.” Luthein turned to Wollfen, “I do not expect you to forgive me for what I have done Aerassis, but all along we have known it was necessary. We are still on the same side and intend to see this through.”
Wollfen gave a cautious nod at that comment and made a condition of his own.
“
When all this is done, you will give an explanation of your reasons for killing Drexus.” Luthein nodded in return.
“
It shall be so.”
It was as if the opposing forces had been waiting for that agreement to come to pass, they waited no longer and a battering sound started coming from the main doors. The seven elves including Luthein lined up facing the doors as they shook and creaked. Wollfen stood to one side, as did Dark with Loranda on the other side. Night had her swords out too.
Finally the doors gave way with a crash and a wave of Isogorrean troops poured in. They ran headlong at the waiting elves and just before they reached them fell to the ground. As they did more troops behind fired their crossbows at the line of elves cutting them down where they stood. Wollfen did not hesitate and hacked into them. He swung Cerendell with brute strength and no other blade or armor could stand up to it. Whatever Wollfen hit was cut down and the room was filled with screams of agony. Dark and Loranda were busy too, not quite as effective but holding their own in dispatching some of the attacking soldiers.
More soldiers poured into the room and most of them made a beeline for the four combatants fighting like demons. Some of the soldiers approached the sorcs standing their ground but were held back by sheer mental willpower by them. It couldn’t last long though as their magic reserves were already low. Alexis entered the room followed by her own loyal sorcs while the fighting was still going on and she approached the staring Madeira who was locked in the task of holding back the soldiers in front of her. A call went out from the ground.
“
Now!”
The seven elves sprung up and attacked. Six of them attacking the rear group of soldiers in battle with the four and Luthein ran up behind the sorcs swinging his blade. Two were cut down with a single strike. He swung again a second time killing a third. Then Alexis turned realizing what was going on and sent out a mental blast against this attacker but nothing happened. A fourth sorc went down in a spray of blood and Alexis gave out a shriek of fear as Luthein bore down on her, but he did not kill her. He simply hit her in the head with flat of his blade and she was knocked out. He then went to work and struck a number of the soldiers frozen to the spot in front of him until enough were killed to enable Madeira and her followers enough energy to mind blast the others. They rest crumpled on the spot. Luthein turned with his sword at the ready as another wave of soldiers entered the room and Madeira placed her hand on Luthein’s arm.
“
It is okay, these are the ones loyal to me.” She turned to Captain Serhatnan standing at the door. “Wollfen and the others are being attacked! Give him support!”
Immediately he barked orders and the men hit the other soldiers from the rear joining the elves already in the fray. It didn’t take long after that to win the day.
Turning to Luthein standing by her side Madeira was wondering how the elves survived the hits by the crossbow bolts, Luthein pulled open his shirt a little and she looked in,
“
What you see, is mithril, it is a metal so hard and light it is impervious to any steel weapon. We have it weaved as an under cloth for us to wear.”
“
I am very impressed Luthein, it is almost magical.”
She turned and looked down at the unconscious Alexis lying on the ground and Luthein came up beside her.
“
What do you intend on doing with her?” Madeira sighed.
“
By all accounts I should have her publicly executed as an example to others to show my total power, I don’t really want to do that though.”
Luthein bent down and held the woman’s head feeling it and using his own mental powers to explore her. Finally he stood up.
“
She is a powerful sorc in her own right, it would be a shame to waste such a talent. Do you suppose it would be alright if I took her back to the enchanted lands?” Madeira continued to look at her.
“
What would you do with her? You must understand, I personally have nothing against her, I don’t think she should be punished. If our roles were reversed I would have acted in exactly the same way.”
“
You have no worry about that. I have no intention of seeing her suffer. The most that may happen to her is that she will feel homesick.” Madeira considered what he had to say.
“
Very well, when she awakes I will tell her she is exiled from Isogorr until such time that I believe she can be taken back, would that suffice?” Luthein nodded.
“
Yes, that will do fine.”
Wollfen approached from the other side of the room, he was having trouble negotiating all the blood on the floor and kept slipping. When he had swung Cerendell, it dismembered the soldiers in his path and made a large bloody mess. He looked down at Alexis who was still lying on the floor.
“
What is your intention Madeira?”
“
I will hand her over to Luthein. He has suggested she go to the enchanted lands.” Wollfen turned to Luthein.
“
What do you want of her? What do you expect to be able to do with her?”
Luthein decided it might be an opportunity to set some right for his earlier action.
“
I am offering sanctuary, so in some small way I can make reparations for having taken a life this morning by offering her own back.” Madeira also added her weight to the argument.
“
This works well for me. With her gone I can tell the sorcs that I have taken power here and there is no one to stand against me. We can exile her and I won’t have to publicly execute her. That act would still strengthen my position as new Queen but at the same time there won’t be bad blood from putting her to death.”
Wollfen couldn’t argue with the logic but he still felt the elves had another reason. He was sure they wouldn’t divulge it openly to him anyway, they had kept the decision to kill Drexus from him.