Chapter 84: The Traitor in the Dark Elf Lands

The scream pierced through the air.

Nira was halfway across the courtyard when the alarm bell clanged.

Once.

Twice.

The bell tolled unceasingly.

Dark Elves spilled from the surrounding buildings and into the courtyard, weapons and wands in hand, running towards the eastern gate as the feeling of safety that had pervaded the Duskryn estate vanished.

Nira halted under the stone archway as she heard shouting outside. Then she heard the impact of something ramming into the outer barricades.

"What happened?" She demanded.

A young guard ran past the gates, a streak of blood running down one cheek. "The eastern patrol has retreated!" He cried in alarm. "There are monsters coming through the forest!"

Nira frowned.

"Again?"

The guard nodded furiously. "They’re not the usual ones. They’re moving together." Nira immediately drew her dagger. That bothered her more than the attack itself. It wasn’t unheard of that monsters would wander into the lands of the Dark Elf, but they could be territorial, as well as aggressive.

But monsters didn’t simply move together, not unless there was something controlling them. As Nira was about to exit the courtyard, her father appeared in the hallway. Lord Vaeron Duskryn was dressed in a dark cloak over his armor, silver black hair tied back at the nape of his neck, and though his expression was calm, the bow in his hands meant that he had heard the alarm.

Lady Sylvara Duskryn stood at his side, her outfit consisting of a deep violet robe lined with light leather armor, and while Vaeron had a weapon, Sylvara did not. Her power had always laid in her healing and defensive magic. Kaelith stood behind them, with a sword at his side, trying desperately to mask the fear in his expression.

"Father, I’m going to the eastern wall," Nira said.

"You will stay here." Her father said firmly.

"The patrol is being overwhelmed. That is why I’m going."

She said.

"You can fight," Vaeron said. "I know."

He looked towards the eastern gate.

"That is why I don’t want you charging into some unknown attack."

The ground shook again, and Kaelith flinched, but Sylvara quickly placed a hand on his shoulder. "Stay with me." She said gently. Kaelith swallowed and nodded. Nira noticed the way her father’s gaze was not fixed upon the gate, but on the forest. As if he knew something the rest of them did not.

"Father, you know what this is." She said quietly. Vaeron did not answer immediately.

"I know that these attacks have become too well coordinated," A horn blew from the eastern wall, then again. The gates were beginning to close. Nira’s grip tightened around her dagger. "We need to know who is controlling them." Nira said. "They will eventually come after the capital."

She added.

Vaeron nodded.

"We know.

We want the scouts to find them,"

He turned to Captain Edris Veyran, who was already standing by the courtyard entrance, fully armored. "I want the scouts to find them." Vaeron said. Edris bowed his head in acquiescence. "I will take care of it." He began to depart, but Nira’s gaze locked onto the man’s expression. A look of fear that wasn’t so much for the monster, but for the truth that he was afraid of something else entirely.

She followed him with her eyes until he left through the gates. "What is it?" Sylvara asked. Nira looked at her mother. "I don’t know yet." Inside the forest, Edris moved quickly, two dark elves at his side, until they reached an area along the eastern patrol path. They found several dead monsters scattered across the ground, and one of Edris’ men knelt by one of them.

"These are all dead." One of Edris’ men said.

"These monsters were killed by arrows." Edris looked at the bodies, his gaze hardening.

"No.

There are no defensive wounds,"

The man’s face changed as he stared at his captain.

"The monsters weren’t attacking the patrol.

They were running from something."

Something rustled through the darkness, and both of Edris’ men raised their weapons, but the Captain stopped them.

"Lower your weapons,"

A figure stepped out of the trees.

They looked to be a demon.

Edris’ men quickly aimed their weapons at him.

"This is a demon," one of them muttered.

The stranger didn’t react, his eyes completely black.

Edris stared at him.

"You came too early,"

The demon smiled.

"No.

You are the one who is late."

The men gazed at their captain, puzzled.

"Captain?" One of them said.

Edris slowly turned to face them, the fear in his expression gone, replaced by something colder.

"I am sorry,"

The first man barely had time to react before a dark blade pierce his heart.

The second one stumbled back, but Edris grabbed him by the throat and drove him into a tree.

"Captain, why?"

Edris looked at him.

"I’m sorry.

I’ve gone too far,"

The man’s body crumpled to the ground and Edris stood there, staring at him for a few seconds before turning back to the demon.

"You hesitate again,"

Edris clenched his fists.

"You promised me that he would be safe."

"He will be.

My son."

"Yes. I know,"

Edris looked towards the distant lights of the capital of the Dark Elf.

"My wife is dead.

My daughter died during the winter famine, and my son is the only family I have left,"

The demon smiled.

"Then you understand why obedience is so important."

Edris’ jaw tightened.

Years ago, Edris’ family had been trapped on the outskirts of the land during a migration of monsters, and he had pleaded with the council to send soldiers to help them, but they had refused.

It was far too great of a distance to ask to the capital, and when the help finally came, it was too late for his wife and daughter to be rescued.

Only his young son had been saved, but he had become ill, and it had taken medicine to keep him alive, but that medicine was hard to find, and even harder to afford, and the Greater Demon had promised to supply it.

Edris had accepted the offer, never suspecting that first it would have been just information, then patrol routes, then soldiers, then monsters, until now he had gone too far and he was helping the demon plan the destruction of his homeland.

"I only wanted my son to live," Edris whispered.

The demon looked at him.

"Then continue,"

Edris closed his eyes, but when he opened them again, the hesitation was gone.

"Where do you want the next group?"

"West.

I want the creatures to get closer to the inner settlements,"

Edris looked back at the capital.

"That will keep them occupied and will stretch the military thin enough that I will be able to slip in unnoticed,"

Edris said nothing, but he knew what it meant.

The monsters would attack and the Dark Elves would retaliate, but the military would be so spread out that it would be difficult for their forces to react in time.

Then eventually, the greater demon would enter the chaos.

Eldris had paved the path for the demon.

Now he just needed to keep walking it.

Back at the Duskryn estate, Nira stood on the eastern wall as she watched the forest move.

It wasn’t natural.

Thousands of glowing eyes pierced through the darkness.

Monsters were coming, but something else caught Nira’s eye.

The eastern patrol had not returned.

"Where is Captain Edris?" She asked.

One of the guards shook his head.

"We have heard no report."

Nira’s expression darkened.

That was unusual.

Eldris always gave a report, always.

Vaeron stood beside her, arms crossed over his chest.

"Do you sense anything?"

Nira closed her eyes, feeling the mana in the forest.

She could sense the monsters.

Dozens of them, then hundreds, their mana erratic, but their motions strangely coordinated.

Nira opened her eyes.

"Someone is directing them,"

Vaeron’s face was grim.

"I suspected as much,"

A messenger appeared on the wall.

"My Lord!"

Vaeron turned.

"What happened?"

"The western settlement has also been attacked,"

Silence greeted the messenger’s words.

Nira looked at the messenger.

"The western settlement?"

"Yes."

"That is impossible,"

The monsters were coming from the east, but if the western settlement had also been attacked, then it was not a simple migration of monsters, but an attack.

Vaeron’s eyes narrowed.

"Who gave the western patrol their orders?"

The messenger hesitated.

"I believe Captain Eldris."

Nira’s expression hardened.

"Eldris?"

"Yes,"

She looked out at the forest.

A chill crawled up her spine.

The pieces were beginning to fit together.

Eldris was missing, the monsters were coordinated, and it looked as if the attacks on the two settlements had occurred at the same time, but it was impossible.

Unless... unless Eldris had ordered both patrols.

Nira turned towards her father.

"Something is wrong."

Vaeron nodded.

"I know."

Behind them, Kaelith suddenly shouted.

"Mother!"

Sylvara turned, and her son was staring towards the forest.

There were shadows weaving through the trees, then more, then more, until the monsters were attacking the outer settlement.

Sylvara immediately raised her hands, and a barrier of violet light spread out from the wall, keeping the first monster at bay before Kaelith drew his sword.

"I can fight!" He told his mother.

"You will stay behind me," Sylvara said firmly.

"But-"

"No,"

Her son stopped.

Nira looked at him, seeing the fear in his expression, the same kind of fear that she had when she had first been able to return home, but then she saw something else.

Kaelith wasn’t afraid for himself, but his mother.

Nira smiled faintly.

"Stay close to her."

Kaelith nodded, and he and his father watched as the ground shook again.

Vaeron took aim with his bow.

"Archers!" He shouted.

Dozens of arrows rained from the wall, striking the monsters and making them scream in rage as they charged forward.

But Nira’s gaze was still on the forest.

She was no longer wondering where Eldris was, but wondering why he hadn’t returned.

And deep within the forest, Eldris stood beside the creature that had ordered him to kill the two patrols.

He watched as the first flames consumed the distant settlement.

His hands trembled as he remembered his daughter’s face, his wife’s voice, his son’s labored breaths.

Then he remembered the promise.

Your son will live.

Eldris lowered his head.

"I am sorry,"

The words were barely audible.

Then he turned away from the burning village, knowing that he had chosen his family, but the Dark Elf Lands would pay the price.