Hamertia: The Elven Folly

“Wake up guys!” Jastra shouted as she walked up to the sleeping fire mages. “The meeting’s gonna be starting soon.”

The elves slowly stood up, rubbed their eyes, and stretched. They were never too fond of being woken up at daybreak.

“This better be a good meeting,” Connak yawned as he warmed his hands by conjuring up a blue flame.

“Do we even have to go?” Druin asked, sounding just as indignant as usual. “I’m not really interested in anything that white haired buddy of yours has to say.”

“Attendance is mandatory for all elves,” she responded, speaking like a proper courier. “But don’t worry, I don’t think it should take very long.”

“Dakath is also not interested in high-born’s speech,” Dakath added. “…But Dakath will listen anyway.”

Jastra rolled her eyes at the unnecessary remark and continued relaying her message. “We’re meeting at the border of the northern and southern parts of the forest. Don’t take too long getting there.”

She began walking back north before Jharyn came running up to her.

“So what exactly is Elluin gonna be saying?” he asked. “Is he actually gonna keep his promises?”

“Well…kinda,” she replied. “But I think you’ll like the arrangement.” She winked at him and gave him a quick peck on the lips before hurrying off.

Jharyn ran back to rejoin the others, hoping they hadn’t noticed his brief disappearance. Luckily, no one said anything as they got ready to make the short journey northward.

Elves from all parts of the forest were rushing to get to the meeting spot. Athtar and Rydel ran out of the library to join everyone at the border. Onvyr and Rania hurried to get dressed and made their way outside. Folwin, happy that Elluin had listened to his reasoning the night before, joined up with his friend in the hallway. Rychell and Jorie were still asleep, but considering what they had just been through the day before, Elluin didn’t feel the need to wake them up. Jastra went around relaying the message to every elf in the southern forest. While some showed no interest in attending, others ran toward the border to see what all the fuss was about. By the time Elluin arrived, everyone of importance was there to greet him. Wasting no time, he began making his announcements.

“As you all know, the war waged against the trolls ended in a decisive victory. A victory for all elves! And as I promised, some changes will be coming to the forest!”

Looking out in the crowd, he saw many smiling faces along with some rather disinterested ones, particularly those of the fire mages. Nevertheless, feeding off the energy of the majority, he continued.

“But I also realized that rapid change may not be the best way forward. We can’t just change every part of our way of life overnight. That’s why I’ll be announcing one small change this morning. I’ve decided to give a small number of low-borns the opportunity to live in the northern forest. The offer will be extended to those who have shown interest and who we believe will be able to function in high-born society.”

As a formality, Elluin pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. He was lucky enough to find a large supply of the commodity in a troll dwelling before the structure was reduced to ashes. He held it up to his face and read off the names. The only fire mages included among them were Jharyn and Feno. Rage built inside the others.

“That bastard lied to us,” Connak snarled under his breath.

“We should burn them all right here, right now. No mercy,” Druin replied, speaking in a hushed tone so as to not attract attention.

“I thought we all agreed we didn’t even care about being allowed to live up there,” Jharyn said. “Why do you guys care so much?”

“Because he lied to us,” Connak responded, barely able to contain his anger. “Of course we would never accept the offer, but that bastard isn’t gonna get away with taking advantage of us like that. He’ll regret ever coming to us for help when he meets the same fate as those trolls he despised so much.”

Although he was standing right beside them, Feno heard not one word of what his fellow fire mages were arguing about. The only thing on his mind after hearing his name on the list was how this opportunity might allow him to help his centaur friends. If the fire mages wouldn’t help, maybe Elluin and the others would.

“You’ll have the rest of the day to think about it,” Elluin continued speaking to the crowd. “Please come to us with your decision by then.”

Without putting any further thought into it, Feno blurted out his decision. “I accept!”

Connak, Druin, Dakath, and Jharyn looked at him in shock as the young fire mage pushed his way through the crowd to stand among the high-borns.

“Alright then,” Elluin said. “Any further announcements will be discussed at later meetings. Thank you for coming and enjoy your first day of living in a troll-free world!”

With the announcement made and official business taken care of, the group of elves dispersed.

“That traitorous little bastard,” Druin scowled once he and his companions returned to the southern forest. “Connak, what do you plan to do with him? Or do I have to take the initiative as usual?”

“What are you so mad about, Druin?” Jharyn asked with a sneer. “You never liked Feno, anyway. Thought you’d be happy to be rid of him.”

“He was a fire mage!” Druin shouted. “He betrayed his brothers! It doesn’t matter if I liked him or not or even if I’m happy he’s gone. He’s a damn traitor!”

“Calm down, Druin,” Connak said in a surprisingly calm voice. “We’ll make sure he gets what’s coming to him.”

“We better, or I’ll see to it myself,” Druin declared before finding a large rock to lean against. “Don’t go soft, Connak. The southern forest still belongs to us and Feno was one of our own. Don’t let that high-born bastard think for one second that he has any power over us.”

“You weren’t exactly very nice to Feno,” Jharyn interjected. “Are you really that surprised that he decided to leave?”

Druin shot him a nasty glare but decided against moving from his rock to bash his face in. He wasn’t in the mood to have Dakath slam him on the ground again.

“They offered me the opportunity to live with them as well,” Jharyn continued. “Maybe I should go up there and pretend to accept their offer. I can try to convince Feno that he made a mistake abandoning us and bring him back.”

Connak slowly nodded his head. “You think you can handle that?”

“I might as well try. The opportunity is right there and this way we won’t have to hurt Feno. He’s still a fire mage, after all. We should never forget that.”

Druin scoffed as Connak continued nodding his head affirmatively. “That just might be the best way to handle it. If you’re up to the task, all I can say is good luck.”

Jharyn smiled and with a single confident nod of the head, he turned and began the journey to the northern forest.

“You trust him?” Druin asked once he was out of earshot.

“Jharyn is a loyal fire mage,” Connak replied. “I trust him just as much as I trust you.”

Druin smirked and stretched out on the rock. His eyes closed, images of Feno burning alive flashed through his mind, the grin never leaving his face as he vowed to make these visions a reality.

Now crossing the border to the northern forest, a grin was present on Jharyn’s face as well. He had no intention of ever returning to that wretched place where he received no respect from someone was supposed to be his brother. He would accept the offer to live among the high-borns in the northern forest and finally be with Jastra. Druin and Connak could no longer stand in his way. He would finally be happy.

After trailing behind the others on the way back to their dwellings, Feno finally ran to catch up with Elluin.

“So…why did you pick me to come live with you up here?” he asked timidly. “And why not the others like you promised?”

“Because you seem a lot like Rychell and Jorie,” Elluin smiled. “You haven’t been corrupted by the negative influences of the south. Maybe someday the time will come when the others can live up here too, but we need to be careful for now. Besides, the other fire mages didn’t want to live up here anyway.”

“But what about Jharyn?”

“You can ask Jastra about that,” he grinned, nodding his head over in her direction.

Feno nodded, remembering the time Jharyn had shared his secret with him. “So do I just sleep outside or something?”

“Of course not,” Elluin responded. “We’ll get all that figured out soon enough, but for now you can stay in Rychell and Jorie’s room. I’m sure they won’t mind.”

Feno followed Elluin up the tree ramps to the elven dwelling. He was amazed to see how many doors lined the long corridor. Never had he imagined he would get to live in such a place. The realization that this was his new life overwhelmed him.

Elluin gently pushed the door open once they arrived at their destination. They found Rychell and Jorie sitting on their bed, just waking up, neither of them appearing to even notice the intrusion.

“Good morning guys,” Elluin said, leading Feno inside the room. “Feno is gonna be living in the northern forest from now on and needs a place to stay until we can make other arrangements. I told him he could stay in here with you guys for now, is that alright?”

The boys nodded without looking up, their eyes fixated on the ground in front of them. With that, Elluin turned to leave, closing the door behind him. Feno awkwardly stepped closer to his new roommates, who had yet to even look up at him.

“You guys okay?” he asked quietly. “I promise I won’t bother you or anything.”

After a long pause, Rychell finally spoke up. “We’re fine. Just…nothing…sorry. Do you want to go do something?”

“Well this is my first day here, what do you guys usually like to do?” he asked, trying to sound as cheery as possible, hoping it might rub off on the other elves in the room.

Rychell offered a slight shrug, still looking as distant as ever. “We could go to the library or something.”

His voice was a soft whisper, as if he were completely deprived of all energy and emotion.

“That sounds like fun,” Feno responded, trying not to sound as uncomfortable as he felt. “You guys lead the way.”

Rychell lethargically got to his feet and took Jorie’s hand. Without uttering another word, he pulled his friend along as they walked out the door. Feno followed closely behind, bewildered by the usually cheerful boys’ strange behavior. He wondered if the northern forest was really as great as it seemed.

“Ry, look at all this paper Ellie gave me!” Athtar exclaimed as he set it down in front of him in the library. “We can finally write our book!”

“So what do you plan to write about, Ath?” Rydel smiled.

“Gnomes, of course!” Athtar replied. “Me and Onvyr are going to see them today…you don’t have to come along if you don’t want to…”

“Yeah, I think I’ll sit this one out,” Rydel sighed. “Is he gonna be meeting you here?”

Athtar nodded. “Yeah, you and Rania can hang out until we get back. I don’t think she’s interested in what we’re doing either.”

“Well that’s good to hear,” Rydel said under his breath.

“Ry?” Athtar said, suddenly taking on a much more somber disposition. “You’re not mad that I’m helping the gnomes with this, are you? I mean you know why I have to do it, right?”

Rydel pulled Athtar into an embrace and patted his back. “Of course I’m not mad, Ath. I know you really care about the gnomes and I’m not gonna hold that against you. But you understand why I don’t want anything to do with it, right?”

Athtar nodded his head as he stayed wrapped in Rydel’s arms. At that moment, the door creaked open with Onvyr and Rania stepping through. Athtar jumped up after giving Rydel a quick kiss on the cheek and rushed over to them.

“You ready, Onvyr?” he asked excitedly.

“Definitely,” Onvyr replied with a huge smile on his face. He pecked Rania on the lips and quickly followed Athtar outside.

Rania turned to face Rydel a mischievous grin on her face. “And you say you two are only friends?” she teased.

Rydel could only blush in response.

“So you really think the gnomes can defeat the bogarts, Athtar?” Onvyr asked as they made their way to the gnome garden.

“Of course!” Athtar replied. “Gnomes are a lot smarter than a bunch of little creatures that only dig holes all day! You’ll see, Onvyr! The gnomes will have their land back in no time!”

“But won’t you miss them when they leave their garden here in the forest?”

“Filwood said that some of them would stay back here. They spent a lot of time on their garden, they wouldn’t just abandon it!”

“Makes sense,” Onvyr nodded.

“Yup! And thanks for coming along with me, Onvyr. Ellie said he was too busy getting everything in order here after the troll battle. I wish he cared about the gnomes as much as we do.”

“Yeah, just let him work on getting everything back to normal,” Onvyr said. “I’m sure you and me will be able to handle it.”

They arrived at the gnome garden, which now seemed to be covered with nothing but water buckets. Filwood ran up to greet them.

“Athtar!” he shouted. “And…uh…”

“Onvyr.”

“Right. I think we’ve finally gathered enough water buckets! We march on the bogarts tonight!”

“Tonight?” Onvyr asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The sooner the better,” Filwood replied. “If we leave now, we should be able to get there by tonight.”

“What?” Onvyr blurted out, sounding hesitant for the first time. “Are you sure you’re ready? How are we even gonna transport the water buckets?”

Filwood rolled his eyes and motioned to the scene behind him. The gnomes were busy loading the buckets onto carts. Onvyr had never seen anything done so efficiently. At the front of the carts were a pair of gnomes, ready to pull it along to their destination.

“I think we’ll manage,” Filwood continued. “So are you two ready for the adventure of a lifetime?”

Onvyr and Athtar exchanged a look of excitement, smiles spread across their faces. “We’re ready!” they announced in unison.

“I don’t see why you have to keep bringing it up?” Rydel said, the grin on his face showing that he was more amused by the conversation than annoyed.

“I just think it’s cute,” Rania insisted. “You guys are so close, it’s nice.”

Luckily for Rydel, the door swung open before he was forced to respond. Rychell and Jorie strolled inside with Feno coming in after them. The young fire mage’s eyes widened as he looked around at the book shelves.

“Wow,” he said in awe. “This place is amazing!”

As Feno continued eyeing the library up and down, Rychell and Jorie took a seat in the corner.

“Are you guys alright?” Rydel asked, noticing that the boys didn’t seem like their usual selves.

They only half-heartedly nodded their heads in response.

“You guys are gonna have to teach me how to read,” Feno said, completely forgetting that his companions were not in the mood for such a task.

As he looked over the books on the desk, a picture of a centaur quickly brought his mind back to his original mission. He had to talk with Elluin about helping Heath and Horyn. Scrambling toward the door, he bid the group farewell.

“Sorry guys, I just remembered something really important! I’ll catch up with you later!” he announced as he ran out the door.

With Feno gone, Rydel returned his attention back to the elves slouching on the floor. “Are you sure? You guys don’t look so good. If there’s anything you wanna talk about, you can tell me.”

After a long moment of silence, Rychell slowly lifted his head to meet Rydel’s eyes. “We went along to the battle yesterday,” he said, barely able to get the words out. “It was…awful. We can’t get those images out of our heads. We just want them to go away.”

Rydel knelt down on the ground in front of them as a single tear rolled down Rychell’s cheek. “I tried to convince him not to do it,” he said warmly. “And you two shouldn’t have gone along.”

He wrapped his arms around both of them and let them rest their heads on his shoulders. “Nobody should have to see that kind of atrocity. But it’s all over now. Whatever you two saw already happened, it’s done. And it will never happen again.”

He held them for a long while as Rania sat on a stool observing. She was overcome with emotion as she witnessed just how caring an elf Rydel was. She joined them on the floor and wrapped her arms around the three of them, pulling them all into a deep embrace.

Feno returned to the elven dwelling just as Folwin was making his way outside.

“Woah!” he gasped. “What is that thing?”

“This is Puff,” Folwin replied, stroking the bird’s head. “I’m looking after him for a while. You wanna come see some of his tricks?”

Squee!

“I’d love to sometime. But right now, I really need to talk to Elluin. Do you know where he is?”

“Should be in his room. If you want to join me and Puff, just come look for us in the forest.”

“Thanks!” Feno called out as he ran inside.

Looking down the long corridor, he realized he forgot to ask where to find Elluin’s room. He shrugged and began going door to door, knocking on each one. After several attempts, he managed to find the room of an elf kind enough to give a young fire mage directions. Feno made his way to Elluin’s door and knocked without hesitation.

“Who is it?” Elluin called out.

“Feno,” he replied. “Can we talk for a minute? It’s really important.”

“Sure, come on in.”

Feno pushed the door open and stepped into the brightly lit room. Elluin was lounging on his bed, flipping through the pages of a book.

“So what’s so important?” he asked.

“It’s about the centaurs,” Feno began, nervous about how their conversation was going to go. “I promised these two guys, Heath and Horyn, that me and the other fire mages would…take care of the other centaurs and let them come live with us, but the others wouldn’t go along with it.”

Elluin laid his head back on his bed and chuckled. “So that’s why you came here?”

“No,” Feno replied defensively. “I mean, not entirely. Please, they have really rough lives there and I promised I would help them. There’s not that many centaurs there…I’m sure you and Jastra could handle it…”

Elluin shook his head, still appearing amused by the ridiculous request, as if he thought Feno was joking. “Not gonna happen,” he said bluntly.

Feno moved in closer and took a seat at Elluin’s feet. Sitting back up in bed now, Feno looked directly into his eyes.

“Please, El. They’re really nice and they deserve to have a better life with us here in the forest. You let me come live here with you, why can’t a couple of centaurs?”

Elluin sighed before continuing, his demeanor now much more serious. “Tell you what, if you want to go down there and help them sneak out or something, that’s fine. I’ll let them live here with us. But trying to attack the rest of those centaurs would be a suicide mission. There’s no way I’m risking that.”

Feno smiled and wrapped his arms around him. In truth, he too would have liked to see Heath and Horyn escape without bloodshed. The anxiety he felt over the prospect of having to return to the woodlands was temporarily alleviated by the relief of Elluin agreeing to at least part of his plan and the excitement he felt about his centaur friends coming to live with them.

“Thanks, El,” he whispered.

“Sure, buddy,” he replied, patting the boy on the back before pulling himself out of the embrace. “Run along now and get to planning this big rescue mission of yours.”

Feno smiled at him once more before darting out of the room.

Jastra was the first elf Jharyn ran into after coming to the northern forest, his face lighting up the moment he saw her. He could hardly contain his excitement as he ran up to her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

“It’s so awesome to see you!” he exclaimed, not having to worry if anyone else could hear him.

“So I see you decided to take Elluin up on his offer,” she smiled as she hugged him back.

“Of course I did,” he replied. “I would never give up an opportunity to be with you.”

They kissed for a long, passionate moment before either said another word.

“But why did he extend the offer to me?” he asked once the blissful moment finally ended. “He doesn’t even really know me.”

“You think I would have let him not offer it to you?” she said with a wink. “I told him if you weren’t allowed to come live with us, then nobody was.”

Jharyn couldn’t help but let the joy he felt show on his face. He beamed with happiness, unable to put his emotions into words. Instead, he pulled her into another embrace, wanting to feel as close to her as possible.

“I love you, Jastra.”

“I love you too, Jharyn.”

They walked back to Jastra’s room together hand-in-hand, stopping only for a moment in the hall to let Elluin know that Jharyn would be living with them. He asked if he would need to make a new room available, to which Jharyn and Jastra only laughed. Shrugging it off, Elluin returned to his own room for the evening. Finally arriving at their destination, they slammed the door closed immediately after entering and hopped on the bed together. Laying down and facing each other, they gazed into the other’s eyes.

“I can’t believe this is really happening,” Jharyn whispered, the smile having never left his face since he first saw her outside.

“Believe it, Jharyn,” she replied. “We finally get to be together on the same side of the forest…live in the same room, never have to worry about the others catching us. It’s going to be wonderful.”

“Speaking of the others, where’s Feno?” he asked.

Jastra simply shrugged before kissing him; not something that bothered him in the slightest. She rolled him over on his back and climbed on top of him, her lips never leaving his. They wished they could make this moment last forever, and as the perception of time slipped away from them, they felt that perhaps they could make it do just that.

Dig dig dig dig, dig dig dig dig, sing a digging… “What the hell?!”

The boggarts stopped their digging and dropped their shovels in shock as gnome-pulled carts appeared in the distance. The scene was truly surreal. The gnomes charged with pulling the carts, generally known as mule gnomes, moved with tremendous agility and speed. An equal number of water buckets and gnomes occupied the back of the carts.

Unsure of how to react, the boggarts ran around in circles and screamed. Some stood in front of their holes in a desperate attempt to defend them. They didn’t know what the gnomes intended to do, but they would sooner give their lives than allow their holes to be harmed.

When the gnome army finally descended on them, the boggarts were still in a state of chaos. Meeting no initial physical resistance, the gnomes parked their carts at the threshold of the hole-covered land and jumped to the ground. Filwood grabbed a water bucket and fearlessly, if not a bit awkwardly as the water bucket was not much smaller than himself, marched up to them.

“Surrender now, boggarts!” he shouted, lifting the water bucket in the air. “Or every last one of your precious holes will be flooded!”

A few boggarts had already fainted at this point, unable to bear the thought of such an atrocity.

“Wait!” one of them shouted, pushing his way through the crowd.

“Identify yourself!” Filwood demanded.

“Remly Boggart!” the creature replied through heavy breaths. “There’s no need for this!”

“Then surrender the land back to the gnomes!” Filwood yelled in the sternest voice a gnome had ever managed.

“You know we can’t do that,” Remly Boggart replied, attempting to counter Filwood by remaining calm. “This is sacred boggart land, we won it from you fairly, we can’t just abandon it.”

“There’s nothing fair about a hole digging competition!” the gnome shot back. “Never once has a gnome dug a hole that serves no purpose. You’ve desecrated our sacred land with these monstrosities!”

Remly Boggart searched for a response, yet nothing left his lips. After a long moment of silence, Filwood continued.

“What say you, Remly Boggart?” he asked. “Will you surrender this land back to the gnomes and leave immediately?”

After another long pause, the boggart spoke one final phrase. “We will never surrender.”

With that, Filwood marched right by him and, without a hint of hesitation, dumped the bucket of water into the nearest hole. Once again, the scene erupted into chaos. Some of the boggarts screamed in horror while others attempted to shield the holes with their bodies. Still more boggarts dropped to the ground at the sight of the desecration.

By the time the last drop of water had fallen from the bucket and into the hole, every gnome had jumped from their cart. Each one wielding a water bucket, they descended on the land and proceeded to flood the boggart holes. It all happened so quickly that Athtar and Onvyr were left in a daze. Once coming back to their senses, they too reached for the water buckets, taking one in each hand, and hopped down from the cart. Running up to join their gnome companions, they found a couple of holes to dump the contents of their buckets into.

Bloodcurdling screams filled the air as the horrific scene continued. Gnomes were kicking boggarts from atop the holes in order to flood them, while others decided to stuff them inside the holes before filling them with water. Athtar and Onvyr continued retrieving water buckets and doing their part to contribute to the battle, although as it unfolded they began to wonder if they were really doing the right thing.

By the time the buckets had all been emptied and every hole within sight filled with water, the gnomes and their elf companions hadn’t yet noticed that the screaming had seized. Their objective complete, they took a moment to survey the battle scene. All around them, boggarts lay lifeless on the ground. The sight of their land and the holes they loved so dearly being decimated proved too much to bear. Athtar and Onvyr exchanged a solemn look, each now beginning to regret the role they played in the massacre. Filwood, however, simply shook his head.

“This is going to take forever to clean up,” he murmured, his hand planted on his forehead. “Well, gnomes,” he proclaimed in a slightly cheerier voice this time. “We did it! We’ve taken our land back from the boggarts!”

Cheers erupted from the crowd. Filwood allowed them a moment to rejoice in their victory before moving along with business.

“But there is still much to do,” he continued. “The boggarts have left us with a wasteland, cutting down trees to make room for more holes, holes that are now filled with water. We must begin to rebuild. New trees will be planted and the holes filled in. As for these things,” he said, motioning to the bodies that littered the ground. “Just throw them in the holes before filling them with dirt. Until this is all taken care of, our place of residence shall remain at the forest garden.”

With a quick hand gesture, Filwood instructed the gnomes to gather themselves and return to the carts for the ride back to the forest. Reconstruction of the ancient gnome land would begin once they returned with tree seeds and shifts could be properly assigned. As he began walking back to his cart, Athtar and Onvyr ran up to him.

“Was all this really…necessary?” Athtar asked, choosing his words carefully, not something he did very often.

“Yeah, I thought we were just gonna scare them a bit with the water buckets. I didn’t think it would go like this.”

“What did you expect?” Filwood asked, genuine confusion in his voice. “Everyone knows boggarts can’t handle the sight of their holes being disrespected, their hearts just go out. They were given the choice of returning our land to us or death. They made their decision.”

Filwood turned around and continued walking back to his cart. Athtar and Onvyr exchanged another look before running to catch up with him. Once everyone, gnome and elf, had boarded the carts, the ride back to the forest began.