A Tale of Fortunes Cross

Ch. 18: Six Years Later

They continued to expand and live peacefully. They ran the shop for another six years, it made almost ten in total. The town became a bustling center of commerce. The king became a regular customer. At this point relationships had changed drastically. Sarah and Veena were ferociously competing for Karaans attention; completely unbeknownst to him of course. Letholdus and Zevesda would intentionally spur them on. Zevesda had grown quite close to Veena and Sarah in this time; and so had Letholdus, who began teaching both of them more about magic. Letholdus' apprentice became quite adept at carving even complex seals. Letholdus, Sarah, and Veena eventually learned the truth about Karaans father, Letholdus was even more amazed by Karaan, Sarah didn't really know how to react, Veena didn't care either way but she tried to make him happy, Zevesda already knew from her time with him before so it was no surprise to her. Everyone except Letholdus had updated their garments. Veena wore a white robe with purple enlace on most occasions; it was made of a very rich material usually reserved for nobles. The same could be said for Sarah's red dress, it didn't have much color it was just a plain red dress, but it looked beautiful on her. Zevesda grew accustom to a new sapphire greed dress. It had gold enlace that she claimed to be made from her winnings gambling Sarah. Karaan wore a pure white hooded robe. It was a gift that the king himself had commissioned. It was absolutely amazing, made from the coat of a Northern forest shaw that died of old age; its fur colored white with age. This was Karaans pride possession, he wore it every day. It was a symbol of his amazing power, influence, and riches. Radluc was the dragon equivalent of two hundred years of age. He had grown quite large, standing just taller than Zevesda. They started to let him out at night, he would always come back in the morning, occasionally a brox would be found heavily injured or dead with several bites taken from it. He never displayed any magical tendencies and the town had begun to become suspicious; he had also begun to eat more and more gold, his appetite was getting quite voracious. Letholdus sat everyone down one night and they had a discussion about Radluc. Letholdus started by saying "I've been thinking lately and dragons kept in captivity never learn to breath fire, or fly. They're usually quite weak as well. I think that we might be able to fix some of that with gold, but I'm getting worried. I mean we could just let him go now, or we could take it on ourselves to make sure that he grows as healthy as he can." At this point Radluc was a member of the family, they were willing to give up their fortune for him. They began thinking of ways to improve his odds. Letholdus was the first to throw out a suggestion "We can hire a group of dragon experts to help us find a solution, we have the money." They liked that option but they continued to discuss the matter for some time. Veena said "We can use magic around him and let him learn by watching." They continued to talk until Zevesda reluctantly suggested in a stern uptight voice "The faira" Everyone looked at her. Karaan remarked "they hate humans, I don't think they would really be willing to help us; and even if they were we would have to pass through elvish territory to reach them." She replied in the same annoyed voice "They might not like humans but they love dragons. From what I've heard they often play with them in their villages. They would never turn down a dragon needing help. I'll admit it's a little risky they might try to take him from us, but the faira abhor violence so I somewhat doubt that." For her to even suggest such a thing was quite amazing. Sarah spoke up "I heard a rumor about a path that the elves allowed merchants and such to walk through their forest, it's not far from here." Letholdus was quick to remark "Yeah I heard the same rumor. It's a little doubtful but it's worth a try." They discussed the topic longer and after three days they all came to the unanimous conclusion that the elf forest was their best option. They asked Narl, a large man that worked for them loading and unloading in the back to run the shop. Over the years Narl had shown many times that he was more than capable of not just running the shop but keeping up with finances as well and it wasn't unusual for them to leave him in charge when they took a break. He was shy with people, but he was just as good as Karaan at negotiating price, if not better at times. They all packed up and left. They told everyone that they would be leaving early in the morning to get a head start, and that they were going to check out a possible business venture to the east. They left early in the morning keeping Radluc in the carriage until they were a fair distance from the city. By this time though Radluc was sleeping fairly soundly. He was use to sleeping during the day and waking up at night, which worked out quite well. He would run off at night and come back in the morning. Letholdus found it beyond amazing that he always knew exactly where to return to, even though dragons are usually quite stationary. He stated that he believed it to be in part because of their great sense of smell. Shown even more so by his tendency to show up right around breakfast. They assumed that he was hunting while he was out at night because he never ate much; but even though he was always sure to take a nibble or two of some cooked meat before going back to sleep in the back of the cart. It took a few days to reach the next town. Zevesda and Letholdus went into the town to gather some supplies while Karaan and Sarah snuck around with Radluc being cautious not to let anyone catch them. It took two days to go around the village but that gave Letholdus and Zevesda plenty of time to buy what they wanted and grab a few drinks. They walked to the next city, as they did they entered the forest. Radluc never seeing this forest in his life was curious. He was in a mountains forest as a baby but even still the trees were never this tall or wide. He plaid as they walked to the village. Letholdus and Zevesda spent four days in this city; they weren't just gathering supplies but information as well. The supposed path through elvish territory was only half a day's journey from this city. It was in the narrowest part of the forest. In the pub Letholdus met with a contractor; a contractor is someone that travels from town to town looking for jobs that they can do, they find a contractee and sign a contract to complete the job, they don't get paid until the job is done, and the job is fairly risky. But it usually pays very well. A man can save up and retire with ease doing that. He told Letholdus that he had come through the path only a few days prior. The bar tender vouched for his story saying that he often hears similar stories. Letholdus was a little skeptical, it's very unusual for elves to allow humans through their territory like that. But he had no reason not to believe them. Zevesda had also heard other such rumors circling through the town, people coming through every few days. They headed out toward the forest. They made sure to prepare very well. In elvish territory it is forbidden for outsiders to hunt, even other elves not from the local tribe. The rules are very strict even when you are allowed passage. There was an obviously well-traveled path and Zevesda scouted ahead to be safe and found no elvish scouts watching the path suggesting that it was safe. So they proceeded with only the usual caution. Even though this was the narrowest part of the path it would take over two weeks to reach the other side so they made sure that they were very well prepared. They could collect water along the path so that kept them from going thirsty. Radluc was allowed to hunt since he was a dragon and they were seen as normal predators in the area. He quickly discovered shaw, not only were they fun to chase but they were delicious as well. He on occasion brought half of one back for the others. They asked Zevesda who said "It should be ok as long as it's a gift." He was very happy. He learned how to climb trees and he would use it chasing shaw. He would show off and purposefully chase them across the path while they were all walking. Everything went fairly smoothly until the fifth day. It was midway through the day and they were all walking as normal. Karaan and Zevesda on the front right, Letholdus on the front left making sure the cart didn't go into a ditch or anything, and Sarah and Veena talking in the back right. They were walking along when Zevesda nudged Karaan who whispered "Yeah." He stopped to let the girls catch up to him and said. "Hey I need you two to help with something." They asked "What." He replied "One of the wheels on the other side feels a little wobbly I need help checking it out." They agreed somewhat skeptically. They walked to the other side and Zevesda jumped over the horse and grabbed Letholdus shoving him back. Karaan said "We're surrounded prepare to fight." They all panicked but their time in the store prepared them, dealing with people trying to rob or start fights taught them to act quickly and not to question comments like that. Karaan drew his daggers, Letholdus began preparing his staffs, Sarah drew her sword and Zevesda drew her knives. Veena did nothing at Zevesdas request. An elf in a tree a little further up the road shot a warning arrow. Zevesda yelled "Maroon! Scitrakay!" The elf fired another arrow, this was showing that he denied the request. Sarah asked "What's going on? I thought we had permission to come through this forest? And besides aren't elves supposed to not attack other elves or something?" Zevesda replied "Well I thought so too, but apparently we were misled for some reason. And you're right, but as long as I'm guarding you then I might as well be human." Karaan said "Well stop guarding us, talk to them and see what's wrong." Letholdus agreed. But Zevesda said "That's not the way it works. In order for me to do that I would essentially have to renounce you, it doesn't matter the situation if I did that it would be an utter disgrace, I'm sorry but I'd rather die." Karaan said "I don't care how skilled you, Sarah, and Letholdus are. We aren't going to be able to fight our way out of this." Zevesda agreed but still refused saying "We're smart we'll figure something out." They were all panicking. But they were ready. Several others popped out from behind trees there were three, they appeared human. One with a bow and two with swords. Letholdus let loose a large fire ball in the face of the one with the bow. Zevesda and Sarah attacked the ones with swords. Zevesda jolted dodging his swing and gashing open his chest, then kicked him back. He fell on the ground his gut falling out. Sarah on the other hand blocked her opponents sword using her seal it shattered then she was quick to turn around and gash into him. She forgot to release the seal so it cut him like glass, this wasn't a very clean cut. It didn't kill him but he had cracks running through his entire chest he essentially burst open. He died when he hit the ground, the shock burst his heart that already had a small crack running through it. But before they could turn around two other men were attacking Veena and Letholdus. Letholdus was able to push his attacker off with a mild gust then Zevesda jumped back in and took it from there, but this ended in her getting shot in the shoulder by the hidden elf. This let her find him though and she swung her sword releasing wind sickle toward him. It missed but he moved to change location this bought her time. She did the same thing to the human in front of her, this injured hum pretty bad but didn't kill him. It wasn't necessarily meant to, this attack causes many small cuts over open skin of the target when it hits causing a lot of pain and hindering movement. She jumped back behind the carriage. Meanwhile Veena pushed her attacker off with a gust of wind as well; she did so in a panic, but accidentally made the attack too powerful; pushing her attacker more than thirty feet back and into a tree where he hit hard enough to hear several bones crack. He flopped to the ground like a rubber toy and lay there completely motionless. Zevesda yelled for everyone to squeeze under the cart, a good elvish archer can hit a moving target with a kill shot from over a hundred feet away, their speed and dexterity allow them to move around in a forest and find new positions very easily. He alone was a much larger threat then the other five. They had to get somewhere with the least amount of coverage. They did. Zevesda thought for a minute and decided that the only way to defeat him was to go out and find him. So she did. After Letholdus had closed the wound with some basic last resort healing magic she ran out and began to scout the immediate area. She tried to taunt him out by screaming "Bawlevae! Bawlevae!" She searched for a little while and didn't find him. She panicked it was an obvious trap. She ran away several hundred feet then climbed a tree and jumped back to the cart, making sure to keep her watch up. Karaan had put up a mud wall around the cart. There was an arrow sticking out of one side but she knew they were all safe. She was relieved to see this. But before she could let out a sigh of relief she slipped and fell. She caught the branch but hung there. Hanging there she saw him grabbing another arrow and realized that he just shot at her. He ran off but she wasn't having it. She swung to the trunk and using her knives let herself fall catching herself and slowing down just before he hit the ground by shoving her knives into the tree. Right away she took chase. She had won this match. An archer is a long range fighter an elvish hunter can't hunt a prey that knows he's there in the forest. In an open field it would be easy to hit any moving target but when your target can jump behind a tree just as quickly as you can release an arrow then you've lost; but this didn't mean that he was giving up any time soon. As he ran he would aim at Zevesda who let him shoot. As soon as he shot she swung her sword letting out a powerful sickle it knocked the arrow off course and into a nearby tree and hit him. He was able to avoid it so that it just scratched up his hair and, ears, hands and cloths a little. But the next time he went to fire his bow the string broke. Zevesda was aiming at his bow, not him. But being an elf that lived in a tribe in the forest he only had experience hunting so even though he was older than Zevesda he couldn't interpret her motives. He stopped where he was and Zevesda walked up to him saying "Shutamaroohahuma! Elvaehumashoota!" They talked and she walked him back to the cart and told everyone to come out. He was on the ground. Karaan asked Zevesda what happened. Zevesda hit the elf on the back and said "Go on speak." He spoke up in a somewhat deep but smooth voice "I am sorry. I was trick by huma the." Karaan asked "You can speak human?" He replied "Yes." Karaan asked "Explain the situation please." He replied "huma the trick me, say huma attack elvaetrae. Huma help; humaelvae attack huma attack. Huma attack stop. Trae clean huma." Zevesda spoke up. "Basically they told him that other humans were trying to take the forest, meanwhile they were spreading rumors that the elves left the path open to merchants and other travelers. Then they offered to help defend the forest from the other humans and even clean up the mess after the fights. Supposedly they did this in order to maintain positive relations with the elves and show them that not all humans wanted their forest. What he didn't know is that they were the reason that the humans were coming through and that they weren't actually cleaning up the mess. The elves wouldn't care about bodies because they decompose naturally and would offer food for scavengers so they just moved them off the road and took the carts and anything valuable and made a killing. And because it all happened in elvish territory no one could do anything about it. They were protected by the elves." Karaan sighed "That's actually a brilliant plan. Too bad they ran into us I guess. Anyway what next?" Zevesda replied "He knows now that he was tricked he still has some honor so I'll let him go and we will not move from this place and he will go and fetch the tribe leader. And we will talk to him. I wouldn't worry after they were humiliated like this and we stopped it for them its very unlikely that they wont let us pass. But if we move from this spot we may be seen as hostile if we're spotted by another scout so its best if we don't move and we all sleep in the back of the cart. I mean we're practically setting ducks but they would be less likely to attack us then. Also be a good idea not to cook anything for a few days unitll he gets back." Karaan asked "A few days?" She looked at him said "Go to elder." He stood up and ran off. She said "Yeah the reason there weren't any scouts is because he was the scout and he was expecting us. This is pretty far from the tribe at the moment so they only put a couple scouts here. There isn't a huge chance that we'll be found out if we don't move or cook so we should be good; maybe." Karaan sighed "Well you know best." She giggled saying "yes, yes I do." She whispered "We should have Veena hide her eyes when they get close, you know how I reacted and I'm a maroon. They would kill all of us and him without hesitation." Karaan said "yeeeaaa... that might be a good idea now that you mention it." They waited for about three days. On the third day the elf ran up early in the morning, they were still sleeping in the back of the carriage. He awoke them and told them that he village elder would be there soon. It was only about ten minutes when a very old elf followed by a host of about twenty other elves some younger some older. Karaan whispered to Zevesda "Ummm, why are they with him? we aren't in trouble are we?" The village elder stoke up saying "You are not. Not often elves living in forest see talk human." The village elder was obviously very old. He had a large grey beard and long grey hair reaching almost to the ground. He walked with a staff made of strange red wood. He wore a strange white-yellow robe died slightly green from leaves and brown around the bottom probably because of mud. Karaan was surprised he asked "You speak human?" The elder replied "Yes, I understand human speak. I live long time, learn much." The others were just as surprised. Karaan asked "So will you allow us to walk through the forest?" The elder responded "Yes, talk first though." He glared at the elf that attacked them he walked over, put his bow on the ground at Karaans feet and bowed onto his hands and knees. The elder said "His fate, yours." Karaan looked at Zevesda who spoke up "His fate belongs to you." Karaan looked at him and asked "What do you mean by that?" The elder thought for a minute how to word it he said "You decide, die, maroon." Karaan asked "Are those the only options?" The village elder replied "Die, maroon." Karaan sighed, he didn't like having to make that decision. He looked at Zevesda who said "Sorry pal, you identified as the leader by talking to him first. If you don't make a decision it will be a major insult and then we might not get out of here. And don't think about choosing another option either, that would be an even bigger insult." Karaan put his hand to his head. The village elder jumped back. Zevesda shouted "Nah! Humapoor!" He looked at her for a minute and calmed down Karaan asked "What?" Zevesda said "That's a major insult to elves, it basically means; your presence offends me, leave." Karaan asked "What does?" She replied "The hand gesture you just made." Karaan looked at the elder and said "Sorry, sorry." The elder replied "Fine, custom different, I..." Just then they were interrupted by a large minor dragon jumping out and taking down Epona. It had its mouth her neck and with little effort it pulled her head off of her body using its foot to hold the body in place. Everyone backed up quite a bit. Sarah said in a nervous shiver "R-r-radluc?" Letholdus replied "No... it's too big and doesn't have the pendent." The elvish leader looked over trying to understand them all of the elves backed up with them. The elves lined up some with pouches in front and others preparing to cast a spell. The dragon let out a loud roar as it took another chunk out of Epona. A tear came to Karaans eyes. Not from fear but from the loss of a dear friend. The dragon growled staring at them. It reached out and grabbed the corps walking backward dragging it, growling in a threatening manner as it did. They were all genuinely terrified, even the elves. They couldn't do anything but watch as it backed up several feet with Epona and took another bite. It let out another roar. In the middle of its roar it was pushed off the ground and sideways by a powerful blow to its side. It was another minor dragon a slightly smaller one. It had jumped out of the forest and pushed it off of Epona. It got up and roared, it charged to the other dragon as it got up and with a powerful head but knocked it over. It quickly shoved its front foot into the other dragons face, then did something that surprised everyone. It roared in the face of the other dragon, several times. Before biting its neck and jerking it to the side and breaking it. Roaring in the other dragons face however; that was truly surprising no one had ever even heard of a dragon doing that before. That wasn't a territorial behavior, or a challenge. No one knew what it was. Not even the village elder had the slightest clue. Veena ran up to it hugging it screaming "Radluc!" she cried tears of joy and sorrow at the same time. Over her years with Karaan she had formed a very close bond with Epona, going as far as paying a week's wage for a single apple for Epona. Radluc lowered his head holding her close. It was known that dragons are affectionate to their children like this so that was no surprise. Radluc walked to Karaan and laid down by his side as Karaan pet his head. The village elder was the most surprised by this. It was something that he had never heard of before. Even other elves. A dragon acting friendly with humans. Maybe fairys but humans... He knew of pet dragons but those would never act in this manner and wouldn't stand the slightest chance against another dragon. Who was this human? Just then one of the other elves shouted "See'er!" Karaan and the group all thought the same thing. NO! They got ready for a fight but just then another elf walked out of the forest. Very calm almost empty. His eyes shinned bright white the only distinction between his iris and the rest of his eye was a very thin but easily seen golden ring that seemed to separate his iris from the rest of the eye. Just as everyone let out a sigh of relief looking at the new weird elf he began moving to Veena. He grabbed her jaw and looked into her eyes. Radluc didn't like that he got up and began growling ferociously. The elf simply waived his hand down with a "shhhhh" and Radluc calmly laid back down. He said "Humasee'er" the other elves instantly jumped and prepared for attack and the see'er threw his hand up saying "Nah!" he never looked away just stared into Veenas eyes the entire time. He let go and they both sat down just staring at each other. Karaan asked "What's going on?" The village elder walked up and silently whispered "Talk. Shhh" Everyone was quiet and the elves all promptly peacefully sat down placing all of their weapons or magical items to the side. Zevesda did the same. Karaan and the others didn't really know what was going on but they did the same. They sat there for about ten minutes without the slightest movement, just the occasional breath. Then the guy see'er pointed at the village elder as if out of nowhere and signaled for him to come to him. Karaan whispered "What's going on?" As the chief got up and began walking, the see'er pointed at the elf that attacked Karaan and made the same action. Zevesda answered "That's how see'ers talk. Like I told you before they speak the language of the faira it's not a verbal language its basically manipulation of magic so they appear to just stair as their actually talking." Karaan said "No, I mean the village chief is listening to him like he's the boss. But I doubt he's half your age." Zevesda said "He's probably older than that. But yeah see'ers are only second to faira since they are the middle men to faira an order from them is a direct order from a faira. Not even I could disobey that." Just as she finished he pointed to Karaan and made the same gesture. Karaan slightly panicked but walked up and sat down like the other two. The see'er looked at the village elder and placed his hand on the elf that attacked Karaan. He slowly lifted his hand and moved it to Karaans head, Karaan squinted as he placed his hand on his head. The see'er then said "Slave." Everyone looked at him, the elves included. He did it again; placing his hand on the elves head and then slowly moving it to Karaans and saying "Slave." It was obvious to everyone what he meant by this. He meant that the elf should be Karaans slave. But this was an outrageous order from an elf to another. The other elves looked surprised but none of them questioned this they accepted it just like that. This truly showed the influence of the see'er and the faira. Veena and the see'er stood up slowly and bowed their heads slightly closing their eyes and turning away from each other then the see'er walked off back into the forest. The village elder turned around and said "Bahbah" Karaan asked "What?" Zevesda responded "Food, food. He's going to throw us a feast!" The elves all jumped. In the fuss the elder said something to the elf that attacked Karaan and he left. Zevesda grinned so Karaan knew that it was ok. All but him came back with something to eat and started cooking it right away. The elves loved playing with Radluc. They would occasionally offer him some meat, but they were very surprised when he didn't accept it. However after it was cooked he would walk up and grab it out of their hands. This surprised them even more they had never seen a minor dragon act so bold and kind at the same time. Some of the younger elves curiously plaid with Karaans hair and ears. He chuckled some of the older ones plaid with Sarahs hair and ears. But they disguised it as braiding. Sarah had never had her hair braided before. She asked why they were doing that and Zevesda replied "You should keep you're hair in a braid if you are bound to a man." Sarah was surprised Letholdus shouted "She's just messing with you, it's how they hunt, keeps it from getting in your eyes." Sarah said "They why are they doing it?" The village elder sat next to her and joined them chuckling. He said "They like children. Want play hair." Zevesda laughed "Got ya!" They ate very well that night. Karaan made the remark "I absolutely love elvish food!" All of the elves staid with them that night Letholdus talked to the village elder about dragons. He learned a little, though not much more than he already knew. He confirmed that the same minor dragon will stay in a general area for about the length of an elvish lifespan. But after that they tend to disappear. Meaning that Radluc would be past the minor dragon phase in only another five to ten years. The elf that attacked them came back just before dark. He was carrying a large bow. The village elder said "Gift with apologies." Karaan asked Zevesda who said "The archer belongs to you by command of the faira. That's not the tribes decision, so they are giving you their best bow to make up for the disgrace of attacking you." The village elder spoke up "apologize" Karaan said "Seraie" The elder was somewhat surprised to hear this, not because it's unusual for humans to speak a little elvish but because he had very little accent saying it. He asked "You speak elvae?" Karaan replied "Not much, but many elvae friends, I think them often." The elder found that particular sentence much easier to understand, he thanked Karaan for his kindness and handed him the bow. Karaan graciously accepted it and they left. Several of the elves that braided Sarahs hair asked if they could escort them the rest of the way. The village elder gave them permission to ask Karaan for his permission, he accepted remarking "I like being in the presence of elves, when they aren't trying to kill me that is." Everyone chuckled. The elder apologized again and Karaan explained "It was a joke for fun and entertainment. Not insulting elvae." He didn't understand but he took Karaan for his word. Before they left they discussed which way to go. Karaan said "We're supposed to be on a business deal. Then it hit him. Before the elder could leave he had Zevesda translate. They had a conversation where Karaan asked if he could arrange for safe travel for only merchants working for him through the elvish forest. He told the elder that no harm would come to anything in the forest and that they would not need protection. He said any harm that comes is on the person and the elves can do as they like. If people begin to act irresponsibly then he can stop it immediately. He was reluctant to agree to anything like that but after a little more talking and persuasion he agreed to allow one cart, one horse, and one human through the forest at a time, if they had a special insignia Karaan happily agreed to that. Then there was the matter of getting out of the forest with their cart. But Letholdus came up with an excellent idea. He guided Radluc to the front of the cart and tied him to the reins. He wouldn't accept the mouth bit, and it was too small for him. But he came up with the next best thing. He tied it to his wings. Since dragons wings are sensitive to change in pressure and they naturally would turn their body when pressure was put on one wing it worked out great. Now they just needed a way to get him to move. The village elder left. They sat there for some time trying to get him to move but nothing worked, he just lay there. Then Veena walked up and touched his nose. She suggested "Get on him and ride him." they didn't know how to respond to that but Karaan agreed. He took a blanket and put it over his back and as soon as he did the overjoyed Radluc got up and began playing. Veena touched his nose again to calm him down, but he enjoyed this new game a great deal. As they walked out Karaan asked Veena what she talked about with the elf. She said "The faira took a liking to Radluc. They asked their see'er to follow him. They didn't agree with taking a dragon as a pet because it upset the balance; but they didn't disagree either because he was happy and well cared for. He the faira have been watching us since we entered the forest. They didn't want to interfere with us however when they watched out fight with the bandits and the elf involved they could no longer set back. They intervened saving Zevesda. They don't disagree with mu existence like the elves do, in fact they see it as a blessing of some sort. It's hard to interpret the exact meaning but blessing is pretty close. I was sure to ask him about Radluc's health and fire. The faira live much longer than elves, and so they can watch a dragons life cycle. They said that he should be able to learn on his own. It should come naturally to him. They took a particular interest in Karaan but wouldn't say why. They also commented on Letholdus' robe but I didn't understand what they meant, it was too complex for me. Oh yeah and they don't actually want the elf to be a slave, they want him to be a dedicated guard. But there isn't a good way to say that in elvae so they just went with the human word that everyone would understand." Zevesda commented "What about Loki." To which Veena replied "No that doesn't describe it well enough." Letholdus asked "What else did he say?" She replied there wasn't a whole lot more, he mostly went on and on about Radluc. Sorry it took so long, you much have been bored out of your minds waiting there for so many hours." Everyone looked at her. Letholdus said "It was only a few minutes." She replied "Really? It felt more like a day, I thought for sure it was at least several hours." Karaan said "You didn't really talk about that much did you?" She replied "Well he went on and on about Radluc and me and the elves and all of us. He didn't say many important things but he talked for what seemed like forever, there was certainly enough information there. And I'm not so young, I can tell the difference between a minute and an hour and a day. It certainly felt like more than a day." Karaan said "Well there's no use in dwelling on it. They continued Sarah asked "So what's the plan?" Karaan replied "Well we're going to go talk to the king. There's a war going on right now and good armor is invaluable in a war. Our demand will skyrocket, we will have to close down shop just to keep up with it. As they walked Karaan asked the elf that attacked them what kind of bow he had; the bow was obviously strange it looked like three wooden vines wrapped around each other with one large black. They appeared to be continuous vines with one end. And the strings were weird as well. First of all there were three strings on the bow instead of two. One coming from each vine. Next they were obviously made from an unusual material. But the weirdest thing was that they appeared to be coming out of the bow, not tied to it like most strings. He explained that it was a gift from the faira to their village, that it was a nearly three thousand year old living bow. Like Letholdus' robe it absorbed magic from the host. But unlike the robe it didn't need constant contact, it could enter into a state of hibernation for hundreds of years. The entire bow was a single piece even the strings were part of the living item. An arrow could be loaded onto each string and very accurately fired in three different directions at the exact same time, it could be loaded with three different arrows fired in rapid succession rather than having to pull the string back, a semi-automatic bow, or all three strings could be used at once for a very powerful shot capable of piercing even dragon scales, with the right arrow of course. But on top of that applying magic in different ways allowed the bow to strengthen or weaken, making the shots more powerful or increasing accuracy. And beyond all of that the bow had a wind seal carved into it, much like Zevesdas knives; so it didn't even need arrows to fire. It could fire up to three wind shots in rapid succession. They were weak and didn't do much damage, but could cause the user pain, slow them down, wear away at hide or cloth armor, or deflect arrows. Also since it is a living bow if it were ever damaged or the string broken then it's very easy to repair, it literally repairs itself. But on top of all of that the bows properties made it equivalent to a very powerful staff able to channel awesome spells, and they could be complied with its wind seal to make what he called magic arrows, however this used a great deal of magic and put a lot of strain on both the user and the bow. The bow was so special that the elves even gave it a name, the Trarkbaw, meaning tree bow. This was a special name not only because the elves don't give individuals names but because the name when used in this sense means living tree bow, or living forest bow. Basically saying that it is an entire living forest inside of a single bow, it has as many uses as there are trees in the forest. He admitted that he wasn't skilled enough to use it and asked Karaan if he knew anyone more suited; Karaan didn't and told him that he would have to improve anyway so it would be best if he used it while he improved so that he could improve with it. Karaan felt bad for accepting that after hearing that it was a one of a kind gift from the faira. But Zevesda and the new guy both reassured him that that's the way the elder wanted it, only a gift with so much magnitude could make up for the disgrace that was brought to them.