The Eldars

58

"Mant, how much longer do I have to deal with this?" Montani complains as they get ready for bed. She's tired and far weaker than she wants to admit. She longs for her babies but each day brings her a feeling that she'll never see them again.

"The reports from the Vacar say that they are perhaps a week out from our outer defenses." Mant says. They had just gotten the last of the Eldar and Dwarven people to the settlement. The area now has a large wall built of stone and wood. The Dwarven engineers made sure that the wall would be strong and sturdy. The wood used was green so less likely to flame up. Fosses with spikes lines trails that lead to the city. The once small village has swollen to the size of a decent city. But still the defenders are so few.

"The outer defenses and elven archers will slow them down." Mant continues but Montani is no longer listening. She gets up and belts on her sword and grabs her bow and a quiver of arrows.

"What is it, Montani?"

"A large group of evil ones is coming up from the north. They'll be here in twenty minutes." Montani doesn't wait for Mant to grab his weapons she's already out the door. Mant hurries after her swearing at how effective she is at evading notice when she wants to.

Mant lets Teondae and the others know even as he listens to the earth song telling him what Montani already knew.

Mant gets there in time to keep an evil one from skewering Montani from the side. She doesn't even hesitate in her firing at the other evil ones. She trusts Mant to protect her while she fights the larger group.

Mant works his way up to Montani and keeps her back safe. Even with all Montani's skill it takes her over an hour to take the last of the evil ones down. 

On their way back into town they run into the troublesome trio. When they go to make a snarky comment Montani stops them. "See this blood covering me and Mant? That's evil one's blood. There was a group of twenty trying to sneak into the town by coming from the north. Next time a group gets this far I'll send out you three as a gift. I warned you before to either start helping or stay out of the way. You haven't. I have no trouble sending you out into their open arms."

The three scoff, "There's no way you two took care of twenty evil one's by yourselves."

Mant purses his lips. The youngest, Margret looks at him hungrily. "Hmm. I killed three, maybe four and Montani killed the rest. I didn't get a chance to kill the others. If you don't believe us, that's fine. You'll find their bodies about three miles north. You can look at them when the sun comes up if you wish."

Mant looks at the three with unfeigned dislike, "Now if you don't mind, Montani and I need to wash up before we can get any sleep."

The three leave the protection of the city in the pearly light of morning and walk north until they cross the path of the evil ones. They stand shocked and in awe and the scene before them.

"It's hard sometimes to know if that's a beautiful sight or a gruesome one. You've been pushing Montani and you really shouldn't. She just might decide to take you with her when she goes hunting the evil ones. She'd use you three as bait." Leean says coming up to the scene of the battle from the night before.

The elves that accompanied him work quickly to build the funeral pyres for the evil ones. They are only doing so because the smell of their rotting bodies will cause illness and disease if the bodies aren't taken care of. The earth rejects them. Fire is the only way to cleanse them.

"There is no way Montani did this," Isabelle says assertively.

"No, these three were killed by a sword, likely Mant since he won't let her go to battle without him. That fourth one was wounded by Montani and finished by Mant. Montani has better eyesight than I figured. Some of these shots would be difficult during the day, but this," Leean shakes his head. "These shots at night are near impossible."

"I still don't believe this was done by Montani," Jenice and Margret match Isabelle's disbelief.

Leean laughs out loud. "I really don't care if you believe or not. Montani doesn't care either just in case you're wondering. She knows who and what she is. She doesn't need anyone's approval. The elves didn't give it to her when she trained with us and Mant doesn't give out compliments much either. He's the one that trained most of Montani's fighting abilities when the Eldar took over.

"You three think that it's some sort of competition. Hate to break it to you, but Montani won it years ago. She won it the day she stopped my father from killing her family at three years of age. Then she somehow managed to get him to teach her in the elven ways."

Isabelle sneers, "You're father, who is he?"

Leean smiles nastily, "The crown prince of the elves, Prince Leear."

The shock on the faces of the three makes Leean laugh like he hasn't for some time. He decides to talk to Montani and Mant about the possibility of a night of entertainment to hearten the people. The fact that such a large group of evil ones was able to make it's way so close to them has disheartened many of the humans. They need to do something to help get them back on track.

"The battle was long and hard but in the end it was well fought. Prince Terran was defeated and the princess was saved by the man that she loved." Teondae tells the entranced audience one of the Vacar love stories.

There is great applause by all assembled. Elves, Vacar, Humans and Eldar, they all had smiles from the happy ending story. But it's the dwarves that love the story the most surprisingly.

Mant takes the stage next and this time chooses to illustrate the story of one of the Eldar heroes of the great war. As the story progresses the people are entranced by the illusions. Montani decides to add her music to the story. She knows this one well. So the audience becomes entranced.

When the story ends the people stay silent and just shake off the wonder of it all.

Then Montani takes the stage. She decides to do her own music once more. The people are against overwhelming odds and need something to help them.

The magic takes them on a journey, a story in itself. The magic makes them feel as if they are the ones living the story, they are the ones encountering and overcoming foes.

By the time she is done there are triumphant smiles and pleased grins plastered on the faces of all members of the races.

"The mother talks through her," was a common comment heard by the Vacar slowly leaving the site set out for the evening's entertainment.

Soon it was just Mant, Montani, Teondae and Leear. "Thank you, tonight did a world of good for our peoples I think." Leear says thoughtfully lost in his head.

"Yes, the people are far more upbeat than they had been. They will be ready for the first attacks on the morrow." Teondae says softly not wanting to break the spell from the music.

"Tomorrow it begins then," Montani whispers out. She's glad that it's finally here. The waiting was starting to get to her.

"Then we should all get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day." Montani says and Teondae nods but plays with something in his pocket.

Teondae makes a decision and leaves the area with the others and doesn't say a word. Now's not the time.