Posted: 27 March 2022 (reading time: 8 minutes; 1526 words)
Recap by Melissa Savlov
As Asgarday∂a makes their way into Vogsal, Laguza seems to be growing. Before they know it, she’s 10 inches taller, slightly taller than Vyshka! The giants are impressed, and so are Laguza’s friends.
Off to the side of the main road, Belnirith notices that Graklak, the orc, and her father, Narjarhil, are training the soldiers and local townspeople. Narjarhil gives Belnirith a crushing welcome embrace. Her lets her know that someone important is waiting for them in the Great Hall. He stuns them all by mentioning that they specifically asked for the ill-tempered hermit Vyshka, who continues to grumble about her companions not helping her when she was poisoned.
When they reach the Great Hall, Bersei is standing outside the door. He says that there are elves inside and that their leader will “only talk to Vali and Vyshka.” However, all of Asgardey∂a are welcome inside. As the weary warriors enter the longhouse, it initially appears to be empty except for Vali, sitting a chair, and a stately Elf sitting stiffly across from him, saying nothing.
The white-haired elven leader is radiantly beautiful, with a powerful aura. She emanates nobility, serenity, quiet power, and seriousness. Vyshka recognizes her as Lady Dalya.
Belnirith notices that the hall is less empty than they’d thought. Osk sits at the bar, and Laguza recognizes Gættr and some of Vali’s bodyguards standing at a respectful distance behind around the room. Eventually, Greunthrn also perceives numerous elven archers in the shadows. They are not actively aiming arrows, but Greunthrn knows that they are known for having very quick reflexes and could kill them all in an instant if they so desired.
Lady Dalya nods at Vyshka. “I have a gift for you.” She pulls out a helmet and throws it at her feet. It’s the helmet of a Nyrene soldier. (Nyrene are the high elves.) It’s completely spattered with blood, with a giant arrow hole caving in the side of the helmet. “This gift is an apology for what happened to you and your family. We should have done more. I can’t make up for what you’ve lost. Now that my mother has retired to the Feywild, I am in charge, and we are protecting our own.”
Vyshka bows solemnly and says, “Thank you so much, Lady Dalya.”
“I know that Asgardey∂a has been helping the humans and Vali in his quest. We have stood back while it was just between humans. But now elves are disappearing. Where we live, around the edges, small numbers of women and children have been vanishing. We cannot track them, even using our arcane ways.” Lady Dalya glances meaningfully at Belnirith, then returns her gaze to Vyshka. “If it were the Nyrene, they would be missing from the central areas of the forest, but they’re missing from the edges, nearer human realms.”
Belnirith asks why Lady Dalya has sought out the humans, which is quite unusual for elves, particularly the nobility. Lady Dalya replies: “Unfortunately, we don’t have any kind of standing army. We have many highly skilled archers, skirmishers, but we don’t have an army.”
Graklak then stomps into the longhouse uninvited, oblivious to the noble elf he has just interrupted. Lady Dalya raises an amused eyebrow. But Graklak remains oblivious and gives Vali a standard status update. He half-heartedly salutes before turning and heading for the door. On his way out, he notices Laguza’s increased height and nods at her approvingly.
Graklak heads for the door, but in walks Bersei and Styr, a scout who was spying on Belmunt, at the door. The scoutmaster and scout also have a report for Vali. But Styr gawks at Greunthrn as he approaches; he appears to recognize the ranger. But he manages to pry his eyes away and delivers his report. Seeing this, Graklak decides to remain in the room and listen.
Styr has been monitoring Belmunt on Vali’s behalf and, oddly, not a single troop has entered the city. He and Bersei find this very suspicious. Bersei nods in agreement. “Also, come nightfall, I’ve noticed slavers entering Belmunt through the eastern gate. The slaves are all women and children, which is to be expected. But it’s not just humans. Some of the slaves are elves.”
Lady Dalya and the shadow-obscured elven archers gasp.
“The weird thing is,” Styr continues, “one of their leaders looks exactly like you.” He turns and points at Greunthrn. “Only prettier, if you’ll pardon my saying so.”
“That must be my twin brother Gjøhn.” Greunthrn frowns. “He’s probably there at the behest of my father. We must confront this evil as soon as possible.”
Lady Dalya turns to Vali. “We need an army, or for our elven fighters to be made into an army.”
“We have some good trainers. Belnirith’s dad and Graklak are doing a great job training some of the townsfolk,” Greunthrn offers in a moment of inspiration.
That’s when Graklak steps up and returns to the center of the room. “If you pretty little things think you won’t break like twigs,” he gestures at Lady Dalya and the elves, “we’ll train them.”
Lady Dalya bows to him. “I promise you, lost cousin, we will not break like twigs.”
Now it’s Graklak’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “We can spare 50 orcs. That still leaves about 200 for you, Vali.” Graklak offers. Vali nods. Graklak then suggests to Vali that he make Vogsal their home and lead as King from there. It’s close to where many types of people live -– orcs, elves, giants, etc. As Vali considers this suggestion, Asgardey∂a asks leave to make preparations for their journey to Belmunt. They need to take a long rest, but they’ll set off first thing in the morning.
As they prepare to leave, Asgardey∂a learns that Belmuntian soldiers on their way to attack Vestri Keep were denied passage through Blüstrom.
Meanwhile, Belnirith makes a quick visit to her father. She inquires about her mother, but Narjarhil doesn’t know where she is. Belnirith is surprised to discover that her father trusts Yuki but not her mother.
“She is so far off the deep end now… Whatever they’ve promised her, they will destroy her.” Narjarhil shakes his head sadly. “All I know for sure is that she is dealing with forces that will kill her.”
“She believes that they will apotheosize her,” Belnirith points out.
“She probably does. But, when you’re dealing with powers that kill only to prove themselves powerful to each other, they don’t care who they kill or why. They just enjoy the show of power for itself. You saw what happened to Yli. He was promised power by the Old Ones, but they left him an empty shell. They are pitting people against each other so that no one gains more power than they have.”
But Belnirith still hopes to save her mother somehow. “If I can find her, maybe I can send her a message to warn her.” Narjarhil shakes his head sadly. “If you need us, we’ll try to help, but the Aesir won’t come down until the Great Old Ones do.”
Before she leaves, Narjarhil tells his daughter that he is really proud of her and her friends. When he expresses that he will leave this realm right after Belnirith heads out for Belmunt, she holds him tightly, reluctant to say goodbye.
That night, Asgardey∂a shares another dream. They are immobile, and in front of them hidden, black mucusy tentacles seem moving everywhere. Belnirith sees her mother’s back. She is looking at something that appears to be as big as a mountain.
Belnirith’s mom is on her knees. She yells out: “Great Cthuga!” inflicting psychic damage on the dreamers. “Yli is dead. He is weak and worthless. I will bring you to Haettrland so that you and your children can do whatever you want, thanks to me.”
“How…?” A loud, growling voice, rattles through their heads.
“My daughter and those insects she travels with…”
“No….” the voice growls.
Suddently tentacles stab Belnirith’s mom in the eyes and skewer them!
“Be my eyes…” the voice commands. Then other tentacles shove new, glowing, reptilian, eyes into her head.
“Go….” the growl commands.
Belnirith’s mom turns around, shaking and clearly in agony and traumatized, but with a crazed, quivering smile. Blood drips down her face from her red, reptilian eyes. Looking directly at the dreamers, she declares: “See the wonder of the Great Cthuga! Join us!”
They all wake up a bit traumatized by the shared dream, with Belnirith still exahusted. They decide to rest some more to recuperate from the experience, then head out to Belmunt to confront the traders.
The weather as they set out is absolutely terrible, with high winds and biting cold. Belnirith in particular is suffering from the wind and cold. But they sleep in covered shelter and face better weather the following day.
Finally, on evening their second day of travel, they reach the snowbank Styr told them about far enough away but within eyeshot of the eastern gate of Belmunt. They suspect that Gruenthrn’s family business might come by with some slaves soon…
TO BE CONTINUED…
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