Valadel

Chapter XIX

"I...I don't understand...how is he..."

    "Alive?" Said Valyn, finishing Danticus' thought.

    "Yes! I mean...did you use your magic? Like you did to me?" Danticus asked Aryanne.

    "I did. More so than I did for you. You were dying when we found you, not dead. He had been dead for hours when we found him. You're lucky the monsters didn't eat him like the other two. Something," she struggled to say the rest. "Or someone didn't get to him in time, lucky for us. The other bodies had been picked to the bone."

    "Do you think it was the Scrag?" Valyn asked.

    "Possibly. Although, I never once have witnessed the cursed ones feasting among the dead." Said Aryanne

    Danticus thought about Gregor and Darius, the two who had perished in the initial assault from the cursed ones. Darius was hardly older than he was and suffered such a gruesome death. Danticus could go as far as to call him some kind of mentor. He definitely saved his life in the battle against Oathbreaker. Gregor had told him of his tale on the Pride, and it was all Danticus could do to rid himself of the guilt he had, that Aryanne could heal him and his cousin but not those two.  

    "Well, what would happen if he feasted on the dead? You mean to tell me that in the span of a thousand years, he hasn't eaten anything? How has he lived? Gods, how have you lived?" Danticus asked, snapping out of his thought.

    "We had a system. After we ran out of the cured food we stored, which was enough to feed hundreds of people for decades, we resorted to eating the fish that would swim through the barrier and into the kingdom. That's all we have tasted for the past hundred years." Said Tyren. "Damn, do I miss the taste of wine." 

    Danticus smiled. "I promise you all the wine you can drink when we get out of here."

    Tyren smiled. "I doubt it'll taste as good as it did when us elves made it. But who knows. You men could have a God of wine for all I know."

    "I wish..." Danticus said.

    "As do I." Said a voice from behind him. He turned to see an alive Cristomir, resting his arm on the doorway. Danticus stood up from his chair and raced to hug his cousin.

    "Cristomir," he said. "I, I, I broke my promise." He pulled away from his friend and kin.

    Cristomir looked down. "It's fine, Danny...I just, I need a minute to gather my thoughts." 

    Danticus smiled and hugged his cousin again. "Of course, come sit." 

    "So...where are we exactly?" Cristomir asked, sitting in the old, wooden chair. 

    "We're in the elve's refuge." Said Danticus.

    Cristomir raised his eyebrows. "Elves?" He said. He glanced towards Tyren and his kin. He stared at them, studying their features with an intense curiosity. "Wow," he said at last. "Never in my life would I have thought myself in the presence of those who came before...nothing like I could've imagined," he cleared his throat nervously. "Thank you for bringing me back."

    Aryanne smiled and smirked at her uncle, as if a point had been proven. "My pleasure, Cristomir."

    He rose and sat with the rest of them. "I have so many questions...you must tell me how, when...why..."

    Tyren sat across from them. His gaze turned towards the wall, which were almost barren, save for one drape. "Do you see that banner there?" he asked Cristomir.