The Legend of The Eternal Swords

Chapter 9: The Way Home

The party progressed forward, spotting the  fires in the distance and hearing the sounds of battle. Their goal was to reach the home of the Amazons, the Revenant, as soon as they could and preferably without any confrontation from either side of the war. They walked through the lands that neared elvish territory, remaining cautious as they traveled. Helena held up one hand in the air and stopped the party's advance.

Eilana: "What's wrong Princess?"

Helena: "Listen..."

The party placed their focus on their senses, trying to hear anything even slightly unusual. There was nothing. No wind, no birds, nothing. A faint whistle started coming towards them rapidly and Dion immediately blocked an incoming arrow away from Helena with his armored wrist, deflecting it away.

Dion: "Sniper!"

They dove for the nearest cover they could find, which wasn't much seeing as they were in a perfectly open area with few trees and rocks as cover. Arrows would hit the cover they were behind.

Balin: "Bugger me! How the blasts are we gonna get 'em?"

Queen Marisa: "We need to find a way to advance without killing ourselves."

Talon: "...I've got an idea!"

Talon then rushed out of cover with his arms extending.

Tara: "What are you doin?!" She shouts with confusion.

Several arrows fly towards Talon but are only pushed away thanks to Talon's wind magic. Talon presses forward and Helena stays behind him. While they advanced, the sniper and several armed forest elves appeared and rushed to attack them.

Elvish Soldier: "Kill the agents of the Empire!"

Talon and Helena defended themselves as the others rushed to assist them. They would dodge, block and evade their attackers.

Helena: "Stand down, elf!" She blocks their attacks.

Eilana: "Please! We don't mean you any harm!" She shouts as she tries to avoid them.

The forest elves did not stop their attacks as they were too enraged to listen to reason. The party would neutralize the elves without killing them as best they could. The elves would have some injuries but they were at least alive.

Dion: "It would seem the elves aren't taking any chances on travelers. This war is filled with paranoia anger, and fear."

Balin: "These will not be the last elves we will face as we travel their lands."

Queen Marisa: "It would wise to tread more carefully and avoid confrontation. If we come across any, we must handle it swiftly without bloodshed."

They all nodded in agreement as they walked together through the small forests. The party was able to avoid some elvish patrols as quietly and as quickly as they could before finally heading out of the forests. The group decided to make camp in the open fields away from the elvish lands to get some rest after a long day. Dion and Talon were keeping watch as usual to make sure that everyone would be safe, but then Talon heard movement in the dark. Dion heard it as well as he had his hand rest on the hilt of his sword as he was preparing for a possible ambush. Just as he predicted, several armed Imperial Soldiers were accompanied by fire mages.

Dion: "Alert the others!"

Dion drew his sword from his hilt while Talon ran to alert the others who were resting. However, he would be cut off as the camp was surrounded by many Imperial Soldiers and their fire mages.