Halfblood

Chapter 20

The sudden revelation makes me blink "What? How? But I didn't write--"

"Prove it." The interruption makes me turn on my heels as soon as I realized who was speaking. "Also, unchain me."

Mardil backs away slowly. "I'm very sorry, but I can't--"

"You can't prove it?" Pythonia almost seems to be cackling now. "Then you are a liar who will be punished most severely as soon as my daughter is on the throne."

"I can prove it. What I meant is that I can't unchain y--"

"WHO DARES EVEN SPEAK OF LAYING A FINGER ON MY SON?!" The voice seemed familiar, but it was not until a horse and rider galloped into the clearing that I was actually able to determine who was speaking. Glendil, king of the elves, pulled his steed to a halt and swung down from the saddle to stand by Pythonia's head. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

I stood speechless, unable to understand what was going on as Mardil rushed forward. "Father, no!" Glendil turned to look at him and he continued. "Don't you remember the plan? Killing any of them at this stage would ruin everything."

Glendil's loud sigh rang in my ears as I tried to comprehend everything I had just seen and heard.

Apparently, Mardil is actually Glendil's son. They also had some kind of plan in place that involved us, and no one was supposed to be killed at this stage of the plan. But that leaves me to wonder... what about the later stages? Was someone to be killed then?

"More likely than not." Spectrum seemed unusually quiet this whole time. "We need to be extremely wary of that fact now."

The dragon is right, so I nod and then go back to listening to the angrily voluminous conversation between the two elves.

"I didn't forget the plan." Glendil's eyes are blazing coals as he addresses his son. "YOU MESSED YOUR PART UP!"

"Of course it's all my fault." Tears are running down Mardil's cheeks as he speaks. "You said to get their trust. I did so. How should I have known that I would be falsely accused of lying by this treacherous shapeshifter?" He spat out the final two words as he motioned at Pythonia.

"Of course you couldn't have known." Glendil's eyes soften as he eyes Pythonia. But then he looks back at his son and they flare up again. "But you could have had a better response." Turning his back to Mardil, he begins to mount his horse. "Contact me when you've found the throne."

"Father, wait!" But Glendil paid his son no heed and rode off into the night.

"FINE THEN!" I can hear the venom in his tone as son yells after father. Then Mardil's eyes lock onto mine as he begins to gather wood for a fire. He blinks, then his face drops. "You heard all of that, didn't you?"

I nod. "All three of us did. And..." I add as he freezes in place. "You have a lot to explain."

Mardil doesn't speak for the longest time. Instead, he motions to a bundle on the ground as he goes back to gathering wood.

I of course, take this as a sign to check the bundle out, So I tie the staff to a tree before I go over and unwrap two layers of a rough cloth from what appears to be two smaller bundles of sticks, although it's hard to tell exactly what they are in this light. Noticing Spectrum eying them curiously, I wave him over. "What do you think it is?"

"The humans would stick the sticks in the ground and spread the cloth over top of it." He sighs, and I see a large field filled with men. Working in pairs, they somehow turned their bundles of supplies into old fashioned army tents. "I believe they were then used as living spaces."

Okay. So these bundles of supplies should make two tents when all was said and done. Squaring my shoulders, I got to work. It shouldn't be that hard to pitch a tent.

Even with Spectrum's help, it was. You should understand that there was no instruction manual included, nor even a diagram. You had to put up two poles, tie the ends together, repeat the process about 8 feet away, and then put the top pole across the others. All this before even draping the cloth over the frame and staking it down. Needless to say, I lost track of time before both tents were standing.

"I thought you could share one with the shapeshifter." I turn to see Mardil standing behind me, bathed in the glow of the fire.

"Good idea." Even as I speak however, I wince at how cold and icy my words are. "By the way, Spectrum,  can you please unchain her and bring her over here? We need to have a talk about what happened earlier."