The Conquest of Mytheyr
Chapter 15

“Father!” the masked Dark Elf protested, ripping off saidmask, “You can’t be saying we will do nothing!”

Morgansighed inwardly. The company had been asked to wait outside, and Teren, Vathand she had come into the forest town’s greathouse. Teren was representing thepeople from his village, Morgan was representing the help the Dragonkinoffered, and Vath… Morgan wasn’t sure why Vath had followed them in. Hecertainly looked like he regretted it now, as he was shifting his weightnervously, hoping no one would notice him.

“We will doprecisely that, Asa.” the Chief said firmly. “This enemy is beyond you, beyondany of us. You are young; you know little of the evil things twisted magic cando.”

“Please listen to him,” Asa’s sister begged, “just thistime, Asa.”

“Excuse me,” Morgan said, stepping in. Usually, she’d allowthe family to sort its own issues out. But Asa reminded her of someone. Also,they needed an army, quickly.

“I knowwhat Semele is capable of. I’ve seen it, too. But that is no reason not tostand against him. He will come, whether you do something about it or not. Butwe plan to put an end to him before this goes too far. We need any help we canget.”

Asa’sfather sighed heavily. He met Morgan’s eyes, and they sized each other up. Theyboth saw age, wisdom and pain in the other. But one was full of regret, and theother wasn’t.

“In truth,” the Chief said, “Icannot keep any here who do not wish to stay, my son included. We will give yousupplies and a place to sleep tonight, but tomorrow you will leave. Shouldothers go with you…” he gave a sad look at his son, and nodded slightly to him,“then that is their choice.”

“Well,”Morgan said, as they walked out of the greathouse, and Teren went to talk tohis people, “I thought that’d go down hill when they started arguing, but thatwasn’t too bad.” Vath nodded, barely paying attention. “Hey! Follow me.” Morgantold him, jogging off.

Confused,Vath followed Morgan. She stopped in a seemingly random place, on the edge ofthe village near a large knotted tree. She took off her satchel, and rummagedthrough it, pulling out a crossbow and a quiver of bolts. Vath did a doubletake, wondering how they could have possibly fit in such a small bag, beforerealizing that it was probably magical. The crossbow was made of a black wood,and its metal components were made of a strange silver metal. The bolts weremade of the same metal and wood, and fletched with gray feathers. She loadedthe crossbow and handed it to Vath.

“Crossbow,target.” she said, pointing at the tree. “Line up your target with the bottomof this V,” she tapped the metal sight, “then pull the trigger. Don’t aim withone eye closed; it throws off your perspective.” Vath lifted the crossbow. Itwas heavier then he expected, and his shot landed far left of the place he wasaiming for.

“Tryputting your left arm here,” she said, standing behind him and moving his arm,“so that the bow rests on it.” Vath blushed at her touch, and was grateful shewas behind him, and couldn’t see it. Morgan handed him another bolt, and Vathloaded it, surprised at how hard it was to pull the string back. He lined uphis shot again, and this time only slightly missed. Morgan applauded, andlaughed. “A near miss is still a miss.” She handed him another bolt, “Again.”

They spentthe rest of the day like that, Vath shooting and Morgan offering little tips ofadvice. By the time the sun started setting, Vath was hitting his target atleast seventy percent of the time.

“Just practice incessantly and soon you’ll be able to hit afly in flight.” she chuckled at the redundancy of her statement, and reached toscratch the back of her neck, her fingers encountering something foreign.

“Vath,”Morgan said confusedly, turning around and moving aside her braid, “Is theresomething on my neck?” Vath looked, and recoiled.

“There’s a giant bug!” he exclaimed.

“Ugh!” Morgan cried in disgust, “Can you get it off? I can’tsee it well enough.” Vath made a face and grabbed the bug’s head. “Pull it outslowly,” Morgan instructed, “or you’ll just break off its mouth.”

Vathcringed, and pulled it off, dropping it immediately. Morgan crushed it underher heel, and the tick popped, its meal of blood spattering everywhere. Theyboth made the same disgusted sound at once.

“Those are nasty little fuckers.” Morgan said, rubbing theback of her neck.

“I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you swear.” Vathnoted.

“I swear like a dwarven sailor, but only in certain company.You haven’t been around me long enough.” Morgan smiled at him. “Today was fun,though, minus the big ass tick.”

“It was fun,” Vath answered, trying to hand her thecrossbow.

“No, you keep that.” Morgan said, handing him the quiver.“Dig those bolts out of the tree, too.”

Vath slungthe crossbow over his back using the strap on it, and he buckled the quiveronto his hip. Morgan looked him up and down appraisingly.

“You look like a badass.” she said, smirking. “Go dig thosebolts out; I’ll save you something to eat.”

“Ok, see you soon.” Vath said, and Morgan dashed off, thedying light flickering on her wings. Vath smiled to himself, unbelievably happybut unable to explain why.

Someonecame up behind him as he wrenched the bolts from the bark. Vath spun around tosee the chief’s son, standing uncomfortably close.

“Who are you?” Asa demanded.

“Vath Burntbush.” He answered, taking a step back, slidingthe bolt in his hand into the quiver.

“You know nothing of the nature of magic, do you?”

“I- wait, what?” Vath said, startled at the sudden question.“Of course I know. I am an elf.”

“Show it to me, then.” Asa told him, holding a hand out. Asmall ball of purple Dark magic the size of a marble formed above it, thesurface of it not liquid or gas, but not quite solid either. “Manifest it. Showthat you can.”

“What’s it to you?” Vath said, pulling the last two boltsout and walking away.

Asa stood,arms crossed, ball of magic resting above the back of his hand. It dissipated,and Asa brushed his short gray hair out of his eyes. His black eyes narrowed ashe glared at Vath’s shrinking figure.

“I knew it.” he hissed under his breath.