SWNOVELS Chapter 6: Uldra
Several days have passed since Uldra, Detlef and Julianip had to hide in the castle; they were hiding in different rooms because they knew they were being sought. And they could not find the ancient elves, since the oldenmessers quickly discovered the corpse of Venolenuan and cast an invisibility spell. The larmarians constantly moved, knowing that the oldenmessers would not leave them alone, but the larmarians skillfully hid. The ancient elves could not find them, despite using an advanced clairvoyance spell that could show the past and part of the present. Fortunately, the clairvoyance spell did not show the future. Uldra did not know the full power of the ancient elves, nor did she know that in the presence of dragons, their magic was significantly weakened. The oldenmessers and larmarians could not find each other. Taewan Rosat even turned to dragons, knowing that they were excellent at distinguishing smells, and opened the doors of the castle and windows and asked them to sniff. The dragons could only smell the strong scent of skulds, trees with a stone structure that grew right inside the castle, creating a bizarre geometry. This was the first time the larmarians saw a dragon up close or rather saw its mouth with its nostrils, which nearly broke the window in the room where they were hiding at that moment. But the dragon felt nothing.
Finally, after so many days, they saw one of the oldenmessers, Sephron Ultrakt, in the library, although he was old, but looked more severe than Venolenuan. Sephron fiddled with some books. Detlef with his axe almost crept up to the ancient elf, when Tola Dalzol suddenly appeared and began to conjure.
“Kir Akht Das Montal,” the old woman cast a spell that created ghostly hands that began to choke Detlef.
Uldra rushed towards him, but immediately found herself in a magical cage, conjured up by Rzalu, who appeared out of nowhere.
“I surrender,” said Julianip, and watched in horror as Detlef gasped, the terrible translucent magical hands did not let go of the larmarian’s throat.
Detlef’s grip loosened, and soon he finally gave up, while the magical hands continued to squeeze his throat.
Uldra burst into tears in the magical cage. She looked through her tears at Detlef’s lifeless body. Suddenly, the last of the four oldenmessers, Taewan Rosat, appeared.
“Why didn’t we think of that in the first place?” Taewan asked. “It’s elementary! One gets the impression that we do not use the accumulated knowledge.”
“All because of self-confidence,” Sephron noted, “millions of years of life make us look for simple, capacious, convenient solutions. Searching for enemies in the castle seemed to be the most optimal solution, this is not surprising. Arrogance made us underestimate the enemy, and this is far from the first, and not the last time.”
“You’re right, Sephron,” Tola agreed.
“And what do we do with those two; maybe we need to kill them now?” Rzalu suggested.
“No,” Taewan said, “we killed the one who killed Venolenuan, and the rest may be useful. Of course, our relative’s worthless life was–”
“Worthless?!” Rzalu interrupted irritably. “Venolenuan followed your false trail, pulling me along, but he believed in the bookish nonsense that you slipped. He was a blind patriot of the faith, just like me. Show some respect, Taewan!”
Taewan raised an eyebrow and pointed at Detlef’s body with his hands.
“I am showing,” he said.
Suddenly they heard a dragon roar calling them.
“Oldenmessers,” Ulli’s voice rang out, “askaldenfirst has returned.”
The voice trailed off.
“Apparently that’s how we’re invited to the meeting,” Rzalu suggested.
“Of course, dragons are extremely courteous only when they want, but they rarely want to be polite!” Sephron noticed.
Rzalu created an additional magical cage for Julianip and the oldenmessers left the library.
Uldra continued to cry.
“We will take revenge on them!” Julianip said.
Uldra sat with her knees tucked to her chest, and, sobbing, looked at Detlef’s body.
“You are pathetic and cowardly, Julianip,” she suddenly turned to him, “you were free while they were talking, you could take that candelabrum over there,” she pointed to the massive candlestick, “or those scissors over there,” she pointed to the other side of the table. “You could have done something, but you just gave up, like a snotty boy,” she snorted dismissively and wiped the tears.
“There was nothing I could have done!” insisted Julianip, “If I had stepped in, I would have died, and there would have been two dead bodies lying on the floor. There’s no point in being a hero when there are no good options. Look at your hero, look at him! If you had listened to me, we might have drowned in the sea, or we might have been caught up and burned by dragons, but there might have been one chance, just one, that we’d have made it to the continent alive and unharmed! And surviving in a castle with oldenmessers guarded by dragons, getting out of that library alive,” he looked around the large room, “we have no chance...”
Suddenly their magic cells disappeared...