Heir to the Empire

21. Lionmane - Erdudvyl

For days now, the constant grinding of wooden wheels rotating on cobbled roads had driven Erdudvyl towards the brink of insanity. It was a relief when the clip-clop of the hooves from their escort had gradually got louder as they bunched together due to a traveller passing outside.

Even Chrys' endless talking about nothing of relevance was a relief, but after several days of travel, even the talkative handmaiden was finding the travelling difficult to feel motivated.

It was hot as well, hot and humid. Sometimes, when the sun was at its highest it was difficult to breathe in the small cramped compartment of the carriage, and despite warnings from the escort, Loldirr had repeatedly opened the curtains to get some fresh air.

Erdudvyl was thankful for Loldirr's rebellious streak. She knew the curtains were drawn for security reasons, but being able to briefly glimpse the outside world almost encouraged Erdudvyl to follow in Loldirr's insubordination.

The trees, the rolling hills, even the small smelly villages were so different to what she was familiar with that everything felt alien to her. There was such simplicity to human architecture, such a beauty to their landscape that for once she didn't feel pity for them, but a small bout of envy.

Erdudvyl knew it wouldn't last. Soon they would be in Lionmane, to face the most infamous Emperor of the realms of men, Emperor Arnaud III. At that point, she knew she would remember why she felt discomfort around the affairs of humans.

"I heard the Emperor has fifteen wives, what would you do with fifteen wives?" Chrys asked, briefly regaining her motivation.

A smile swept across Erdudvyl's face, she never seemed to feel any discomfort around her new human companions

"One wive, fifteen concubines. Though it is said he only really spends time with one now." corrected Erdudvyl.

"Pig." commented Loldirr, who seemed more aggravated the closer they got Lionmane.

"I agree, I never understand your humans need for a supreme leader who has the ability to use women as he sees fit." Erdudvyl commented a flash of anger flew over her face.

"So you don't have an Emperor or King?" Loldirr asked.

"No, we have a system in which various elves are bred in order to one day lead. Every elf gets to choose the leader for a certain time period, normally ten winters, in which they are held accountable for their actions to the other bred leaders." explained Erdudvyl as she tried to manoeuvre herself in order to gain some much-needed blood flow to her posterior.

"So everyone gets to choose who leads you?" Chrys asked "That is crazy. How could that ever work? It must be chaos!"

Erdudvyl tried hard not to get offended by the question, after all, she had worked out that Chrys had an inability to filter what she wanted to say. "It is successful. We spend a fair amount of time for the leaders to tell everyone why they should be chosen, and plenty of time for each person to make an informed decision. In my lifetime, we elves have seen prosperity and never experienced war."

"That's not bad, " Loldirr commented, "I suppose during that time, humans have probably seen about thirty wars."

"Two hundred and twenty." Erdudvyl smiled with a hint of arrogance.

Both Chrys and Loldirr looked at her with surprise on their faces. "How is it possible that we have so many in that time?" Loldirr asked.

"That's because this will be my three hundredth and fiftieth winter coming up." she commented while looking out of the open curtain.

"Wait, what?" Chrys responded a lot louder than she intended.

"I'm still young by elven standards, we can live up to three thousand winters, though that is rare. Normally two and a half thousand." she smiled especially watching Chrys' reaction to that information bomb.