Chapter Three:
Kaldine I
Off of Tellus, to the distant West sat the continent of Makdon, not far from the continent sat a chain of islands known as the elven islands. The islands were full of trees, birds sat on the wooden branches chirping, as villages and cities sat quietly in the large woods. The houses were made mostly out of wood, and some stone, some of the houses even built around trees and held up on stilts.
Kaldine sat quietly on his horse as they road into one of the Elven cities, the man had bright purple eyes, slightly long pointed ears, and long white hair, the man had a short white beard, but despite his hair color he looked to be about 24. "This the place?" His partner; Aber asked, the other man had red hair, and a clean-shaven face, the man's eyes were brown, and the man had a sword at his side. "Yeah, this looks like it's it. I hope that she's here." Kaldine said, his eyes scanning a small map in his hands as he rolled it up and slowly slid it back into his satchel as he began to ride forward, Aber following closely behind him.
The two rode through the large, almost never-ending forest as they approached a large wooden gate near two trees, there seemed to be no noise coming from inside, and all they could hear was the slight ruffle of leaves as Kaldine held the reigns of his horse tightly. "Intruders!" A man's voice soon yelled, two elves standing high on a wooden outpost, bows in hand as they aimed arrows at the two men, soon Kaldine looked behind him to see several elves on the branches of trees, and several other elves on the ground with swords, spears, and axes. "State your reason for coming here?!?" One of the men ordered, he would slowly look back up to the outpost where the man stood.
"I'm looking for someone, I believe she is here," Kaldine said quietly, his eyes looking up at the men as they watched him closely. "Who are you looking for?" One of the elves asked, their weapons still locked on the two adventures. "A woman, my mother to be exact, she's an elven woman, her name is Malicedine," Kaldine said quietly, the elves slowly lowering their weapons as they stared down at him. "You may enter, however, there's much we need to tell you." One of the elves said, soon the gate began to open as Kaldine and Aber slowly road inside, and were lead to a tavern.
The wooden building was large, it had several tables scattered around where people sat, ate, talked, and drank, a small wooden bar stood at the back of the room where the elven bartender stood. "Sit down at that table in the back, we need to get our Lord." One of the elven guards said as Kaldine and Aber walked towards the back table. "Well, this place is quite interesting," Aber said as Kal looked at him briefly. "If she's here, then I meet her and we leave." He said quietly as he took in a small breath, he could hear the many people in the room talking about outsiders as the bartender slowly came over and sat down two glasses.
"Wood God's Wine, best wine there is." The man said as he looked at the two travelers. "A human, and a half-breed. Ain't that something? I've never seen one of you before." The bartender said as Aber looked at him. "He doesn't really like being called t-" before Aber could finish Kal cut him off, his hands clenching the cup tightly. "Yeah, do you mind leaving us?" He asked as the bartender sighed and slowly left to go serve everyone as Kal picked up the wooden cup and downed the half green half brown liquid, it tasted like grass and bark with regular wine mixed in.
The door of the tavern slowly opened as an old elven man stepped inside, his head was bald and he had no facial hair. "So, you're the one that my men told me about." The older man said as he approached the table and one of his men gave him a chair as he sat down near the two men. "I'm Lord Trinil, you're looking for Malicedine correct?" Trinil asked as Aber nodded. "Where is she?" Kal asked as Trinil let out a sigh and hesitated before answering his question.
"She was taken by bandits a few weeks ago, she was going through the forest to collect a few things. Her and my men were ambushed." The Lord said as Kal looked at him. "Where did they go? I'll find them and retrieve her." Kal said as Trinil stood up and let out a sigh. "They went South, beyond the village and further into the forests; further than me or any of my men are willing to go. The forest is home to a lot of things." He said as his he slowly looked at him. "I'm going," Kal replied as the Lord stopped in his place and slowly glanced back at him.
"There's no telling if she's even still alive," Trinil said quietly as Kal stood up and stared at him. "I'm going, if she's alive I'll bring her back. If she's dead, I'll get revenge for her murder." He said as Trinil sighed and looked at him. "Your determined, fine. I'll send you, and one of my men south, only one. That's all I can afford." He said as Kal looked at him for a moment. "Thank you." He said quietly as the man smiled and nodded. "I'll have the bartender get a room set up for you two tonight, I would like you to join us for our celebration in a few hours as well. It will give you both an insight into our culture." The man said quietly with a small smile as Kal and Aber nodded and the Lord left with his men following behind him.
The sun slowly set as Kal and Aber were lead by the bartender towards the door. "I doubt you two have ever seen anything like this in all your adventures." The man said as Aber looked at him. "Well we don't really go on a lot of adventures, this was an exception," Aber said as the bartender opened the door and allowed the two men to exit as he followed behind them. "Follow the crowd." The Bartender said as Kal and Aber slowly walked into the large crowd of people and followed behind them, the city was bright due to several torches that were lit up and the moonlight and stars above.
The crowd stopped as Kal and Aber took their seats as they looked forward and towards a large stone statue, with two wooden ones behind him. "Welcome everyone!" The Lord yelled out as Kal watched him stand in front of the stone statue, a smile on his face as the audience cheered. "We have two new guests, so let's treat them well," Trinil said as he smiled and clapped his hands together. "We shall now pray to our God's, the God of Earth, the God of Nature, the God of Tree's, and the God of the Woods," Trinil said as everyone slowly closed their eyes and looked down as Kal and Aber slowly did the same.
Once the prayer ended, an old man with a wooden staff slowly walked onto the stage as Trinil looked at him. "Now then, Mage Alkin will allow us to see without the use of fire." He said as the mage slowly stepped forward and gripped his staff tightly as he raised it up. "In honor of The God of The Woods!! I will put out the Fire God's flames!!" He yelled out, soon a bright glow began to come from his staff as he fired a ball into the air, the ball was bright but gave off no heat and allowed everyone to see, as every fire began to extinguish around them. "The God of Wood's worshipers can defeat any fire!" Trinil said as the crowd clapped and cheered loudly.
"What did he just do?" Aber asked as Kal looked towards the bright light for a moment. "I'm not sure, I've never seen magic. I assumed it was just a story, my father mentioned knowing a few magic users but they were rare and I never believed him." Kal said quietly as he slowly looked towards the mage that had created the light, the mage seemed to be stumbling and unable to walk, and his eyes looked strange, almost as if he couldn't see. "Now then, let the light feed our God!" The man said as the ball of light seemed to go back and towards the stone statue, it would slowly go through his eyes and mouth as the light sat inside its head and made it look alive, as the arms of the statue seemed to move and it seemed almost alive before it raised its arms up as everybody knelt down.
"We pray to the gods of nature! To guide and protect us!" Trinil slowly said as the light exited the statue before going into the sky before fading away as the mage stumbled back some. "Now then, that brings an end to our ceremony." He said quietly, the man would slowly smile as everyone began to leave, Kal slowly standing up as him and Aber would walk towards Trinil. "I hope you two enjoyed it." He said quietly as Kal looked at him before Aber started speaking. "It was quite fascinating, we've never seen magic before."
"It's not magic. It's just a trick." Kal said quietly as Trinil let out a small chuckle, and ran a hand over his bald head. "You're a non-believer? Even after seeing that?" Trinil asked as Kal crossed his arms over his chest and slowly nodded. "I don't believe in magic, or God's, I've seen a lot on my travels and I've barely seen magic or God's," Kal said as Trinil looked at him before looking towards the large stone statue.
"Well, I hope you will find faith," Trinil said as he snapped his fingers and one of his guards slowly approached, the man that had been guarding outside when they arrived. "This is my best fighter, Dolken. He's brave, good with a sword and bow, and he knows the land well." Trinil said as Dolken held his hand out and Kal soon took it as they shook hands. "It's nice to actually meet you, well without me aiming a bow at you," Dolken said as Kal nodded and looked at him.
"Well then, now that you three have met, I suppose you'll be leaving tomorrow morning?" Trinil asked as Kal nodded. "We will leave at sunrise if that's fine with him," Kal said as Dolken slowly nodded. "If that's when you want to leave, I'll be ready." He said as Aber looked at him. "I think it would be best if we met at the stables tomorrow," Aber suggested as Kal and Dolken nodded before Trinil and Dolken left.
"Come on, we should get back to the tavern," Kal said quietly as Aber nodded and the two made their way back inside as they sat down at one of the tables. "Do you trust them?" Kal asked as Aber looked at him for a moment and slowly nodded. "They haven't tried to kill us yet, and it seems like they want our help some. I don't trust them as much as I trust you, but I trust them enough to not think they'll kill us." Aber said as Kal looked at him. "You're too optimistic," Kal replied. "And you're too cynical, it's why we work best though. We've been friends since we were children, our fathers fought alongside each other. Whatever threat there is, we will face it together, and we will find your mother." Aber retorted as Kal let out a brief smile before standing up. "I'll see you in the morning then," Kal said as he made his way upstairs and towards his room as he sat down on the bed and soon drifted to sleep.
(I will be releasing chapters in chunks, I'm not sure when the next three chapters will come out. I have one chapter done so I just need to finish two more or perhaps a third and release four in the next chunk.)
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