Of Magic And Men

Peter woke up more sore and stiff than he ever had before in his time working on the farms back home, he knew to continue training he would have to work on his physique as opposed to just working on sword skills. At this point in his life, Peter wasn’t a weak-looking man, Alaya may make fun of him, calling him farm boy, however, he was a farm boy, through and through, he was toned well from his labors. So, Peter got up and put on his robes from the previous day. It was not yet dawn, so still dark out, he decided not to explore too far, he did not want to go beyond the camp, but he did want to see what the place had in terms of food. Just as he stepped out past the partition of his tent he heard a low growl emanate from his stomach, he was suddenly aware that he did not eat at all yesterday, no wonder he had been so entirely worn out.

“Shh, I’ll feed you soon.” he jokingly mentioned, patting his stomach.

“Do you always talk to yourself out loud?” Alaya had approached him so silently, he hadn’t even noticed her beside him, she must be a master at stealth, he thought, either that or he was just so tired he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings, both could have been true.

Peter was surprised to see Alaya up so early, most people he knew rose with the sun. He grinned, thinking about what else they might have in common. Could she perhaps like archery? Or maybe she liked the fancier things in life. He then remembered that he wasn’t back home anymore, what he knew to be fancy may be completely different here or possibly not exist at all.

Alaya didn’t look nearly as annoyed as she had before, but still equipped a stoic expression, emotionless in her features. Maybe he should worry about trying to impress a girl he just met, later and focus on his current task of finding food. His stomach let out a mighty howl, how embarrassing.

“Do you by any chance know where I can find something to eat?” Peter asked sheepishly.

Alaya smirked, “Follow me, the cooking tent is this way.”

Peter followed diligently as to not get lost, but at the same time taking this opportunity to look around and learn about the camp. He noticed many tents in different colours, shapes, and sizes. He was curious to find out who resided in these tents and whether they were all elves, like Alaya, or were dwarves and other races real too.

“Alaya, I was wondering, are there other races in this realm besides elves? My mother used to tell me stories of this place and I would like to know if what she spoke of was real.”

“What races did she speak of?”

“She spoke of short, stout beings, that were amazing in battle, with a reputation for being cunning strategists, known as dwarves. My mother also mentioned a strange race of creatures that were a gathering of snakes and could somehow move and function as a group, but could also separate while still operating with a hive mind, she said never trust one of them.” As Peter described these races Alaya stopped in her tracks.

“Interesting that she told you of the serpentine people, then again it’s logical she would have held on to resentment toward them until the end.”

“What do you mean resentment, did my mother know one personally?”

“Yes Peter, she did, a serpentinian is the reason we need your help, and also the reason you grew up without a father.” Alaya was still facing away from Peter with her head down. It seemed to be that she didn’t want to have this conversation, she didn’t want to be the one to have to hurt him.

“I thought my father died in a fishing accident. Please tell me what happened.” Peter needed to know the truth, what exactly did happen to his father to make him leave his family.

“Come, Peter, you need to eat, I’ll tell you the story of your father as you eat.” Alaya walked a little further then turned into a huge white tent, as he entered the tent after her, he could smell something absolutely amazing, he started to salivate a little, what was that delectable smell? The room was set up in a particular fashion, everything seemed neat and tidy, all the tables and benches were lined up not even out of place by an inch. One large table sat in the middle of the room, running along that table were multiple piles of different types of foods some he recognized as carrots, potatoes, and other vegetables, some he did not, such as a steaming pile of light yellow lumps, they looked so fluffy and soft. Peter approached the middle table and inhaled, everything looked and smelled so delicious. He beamed ear to pointed ear, he looked up at Alaya to ask permission to indulge. She simply passed him a smooth wooden plate from the pile at the end of the table. Peter grabbed some of the soft yellow lumps and a few other things that were new to him, this one meat piqued his interest as it was presented on a stick. It reminded him of street meat he had seen vendors sell in Hurget. He took a mountain of food onto his plate then went and found a seat at one of the dining tables, Alaya followed with her plate of considerably less food and took a seat across from Peter. Refusing to go another minute without some sort of food in his belly he dove in. First to the yellow lumps, when he placed a morsel in his mouth it was almost like it dissolved, the flavour was unlike anything he had tasted, it was savory and sweet, creamy yet rich. Peter gobbled down more of the yellow lumps before asking Alaya what they were.

“They are eggs, don’t you have eggs in the human realm?”

“We do I just never had the opportunity to try them, they’re incredible!” scarfing back more of the eggs.

Once he had cleaned his plate he looked up at Alaya, she had also finished eating. Acknowledging the time had come to get serious, Alaya sighed and begun the tale.

“Your mother, Harsesh, was one of our best warriors, not only did she have the weaponry skill that easily bested mine, but she also had the most incredible magical ability. She was a dear friend of mine and a pupil to my father.”

“If my mother was an elf and my father was human, how did they meet?”

“I’m getting there be patient. You are not wrong, by normal circumstances they never would have met, however, Harsesh traveled to the human realm in search of fighters. We were fighting a war that seemed to have no end and we had taken heavy losses. Your mother pleaded with your king to send troops to aid us, but despite knowing our war could spill across to the humans' realm your king rejected us. On her way back she encountered a soldier who had overheard her conversation with the king.”

“I’m guessing that was my father?”

“Yes, now let me finish, the soldiers’ name was Jerrick Finley, your father. After hearing how she had come so far only to be turned away, Jerrick offered his help, even though he was but one man, he made us hopeful, he came back to our realm with your mother. Once here, he fought and won so many battles for us, but there was a traitor in our midst and when it came time for the final battle between us and the forces of darkness Jerricks most trusted partner turned their back on him, Jerrick had been stabbed in the back. Harsesh knew retreat was the only option, so she gathered Jerrick and fled back to the human realm in hopes of saving him. Unfortunately, his wounds were too great and shortly passed on.” Peter looked dumbfounded.

“At the time your mother was already pregnant with you, so she took the name Catherine Taylor Finley and stayed in the human realm to raise you.” She paused, “I know this is a lot to take in, but we don’t have time to sit around, we must go speak with my father.”

Peter seemed to have more questions than answers at this point, like, who was the traitor? And why did they betray his parents?