Lovely Dark Things

NINETEEN (RUBY POV)

The human boy steps back and gets out of my way, looking at me out of the corner of his eye, and doesn't try to hide his fear. I hold back a smile while walking slowly, the sheaths of my long knives hit my hips rhythmically and a second human looks at my short jacket in awe while he fixes the hood lined with fur over his head to protect his face from the cold wind. From a dark elven point of view, temperature is perfect today and, even if there's ice on the ground, out steps are light and we don't slip. Humans, on the contrary, are too clumsy.

The northern lands of the Empire look nothing like Baalberith. Beyond the plains where they grow cereal crops, the mouths of rivers where they build fortresses and cities with commercial ports, beyond the big forests where aristocrats go hunting to have fun and the tall mountains that they consider to be the borders of their country, there's a frozen land covered with snow most of the year, with no trees and surrounded by cold seas... but deserted. Only a few trolls dare to live in caves although they're always attacking the southern villages, trying to escape from ice. My kingdom, however, is full of cities, temples and shipyards and full of life even in the dead of winter.

The Empire does share a feature with Baalberith: the chaos wasteland stretches far to the north of our countries, full of demons and weird creatures that usually watch our borders, waiting for us to show the slightest weakness so they can attack us, but they got braver lately and feel stronger because, well, it's de Doomsday and they're the main characters in this story. The weapon designated by the gods to kill all rational life in this world in order to start from scratch again... But we're ready to fight for survival, of course, and my girl won't give up easily. I know she has a plan even if the hasn't told me about it yet but she's weighting something in her head and looks more confident with each passing day. My human is very smart... even if some idiots don't think the same.

This military camp is massive, tents stretch as far as the eye can see, protected from the north wind by some hills. It was Iselen the one who chose this spot, of course, trying to make life easier for those humans, most likely. Dwarves don't like extreme cold because their underground mines keep constant temperature but they're tough people and can endure anything as long as their businesses get benefits. Light elves also hate cold weather and are wearing as many fur coats as humans do but our race is strong despite all. There's no wood available around us and dark elves are generously sharing the witch fire so those weak idiots can get some heat and they don't die while they sleep because temperature plummets every night.

I keep walking towards my tent across this orderly chaos where all races are mixed up trying to live together without killing each other, staring at each other with suspicion but following the orders and doing their jobs... It's amazing how much shit we can put up with when the lives of people we love are at risk. I don't know why Iselen decided that we should fight in the north of the Empire, she could've picked out the north of Baalberith or even the frozen lands beyond the sea around our enemies' island, but I guess logistics was the main reason. It was easier for her to gather all human soldiers and dwarves here than getting hundreds of boats to carry them to the other side of the ocean.

The advisor has put much effort in organizing this military camp too, she spent a lot of time designing this mobile city with streets and avenues fringed by tents, some of them fancy and some others more plain, there're carts, kitchens, workshops, armouries, stables for animals... Everything has a specific spot and tents and wood barracks must be put up exactly on the same spot in our next camp. This way, we'll all be able to find what we're looking for. Of course, our leaders' tents are always in the middle and that's where I'm heading now, towards Baalberith banner that's fluttering above the king and queen's tents... and our tent too.

I get calmer when I walk into the area reserved for dark elves, it's funny because I feel more relaxed surrounded by my people and the familiar smell of my camp, and not with humans despite they're weaker. The truth is that we're too busy to kill each other, not only getting ready to win this war, but watching our slaves so they don't feel tempted to escape and run to the south, back to their homes. Luckily, the new steel Iselen taught us to forge in order to make new knives is also useful to make stronger chains.