TERRITORY WARS: The Royal Ballads (On Hold)

PROLOGUE

The Veil of Magic

It was day and no birds chirped. Two dwarfs walked through the thick forest. A third lagged behind them with good reason.

"Try to catch up Bony," said the foremost dwarf leading the way. Being a half-dwarf he towered over the other two.

In fact they were all half dwarfs albeit of a different kind. The tallest was a gobbish dwarf (half goblin), the other was an elfish dwarf and the last was a dormit dwarf.

Bony had been reluctant to follow them from the start, "Pilf, do we really need to steal from the dead?"

Pilf grunted, "They didn't seem to need it."

Brunny, the dormit dwarf and the ugliest of the three snorted, "One handed his trinkets to me."

He laughed when he saw the look on their faces. A laugh as ugly as his face.

"What madness made a dwarf lay with a dormit?" Pilf said airily.

Brunny only laughed, "The same madness that made a goblin fall in love with a dwarf."

"Whatever," he straightened the map, "We must be close."

"Close to what?" asked Brunny.

"It says here treasure of immesurable value."

Brunny snorted, "Says the map we got from a dead elf."

"He wasn't no ordinary elf, you idiot! He was a magician. Did you not see his robe?"

"The robe of a dead elf."

"I miss Thandir," Bony said with angst.

"That rotten old half elf. Good thing he let us go. He'll marvel at my wealth when I show it to him. Maybe he'll even be my servant for a change."

Brunny sniggered in agreement, "Yeah, he'll see. That stupid old fool."

Bony was hurt by their insults, "He is not an old fool. How could you say that? He treated us so well. I never wanted to leave. I would've stayed even if it meant losing my freedom."

"What is that?" Pilf halted the group, "Did you see that, just up ahead?"

"Looks ter me like something blue," said the half dormit.

"Spare us the obvious, would ya? Let's get closer. That's where our treasure is."

"We should turn back," said the elf dwarf sheepishly.

But as always no one listened, so Bony followed them but kept his distance. He would leave them when the time was right. Alas, the time was never right and Bony had no choice but to follow. He didn't know these woods well, neither did Pilf nor Brunny.

They were lost on their trail for gold. It had been a week and half since their departure from Thandir's abode and none of them had bothered to inquire about where they were headed. They walked as the trail took them.

They could be close to Goblar for all they knew. Whoever walked in these forests could easily lose his way. They meanwhile had travelled for some days, fending for themselves so well that the half elf, Thandir, would have been proud. Bony put it down to grace from the ancestors.

They started seeing corpses two days ago; one or two dead bodies at first but now the corpses had come quicker and plentiful. What they had managed to take from these corpses was enough for them to sell and make lots of money but the other two were greedy and their hunt for treasure had grown ever more.

And they had been heading for the dwarf settlement at Wilik.

No sooner had they gotten closer to the blue beam than they saw corpses more plenty than they had ever come across; Elfs, Wilkins, goblins, dwarves and humans.