Elvenshore: 03 - Elf's Bane (21 page)

“The Dwarves had their wars with Elves too. I think that we can all get along now. I truly hope so as it seems there are a lot of Elves in my home area now.”

When they came down off the hill
, another messenger was there with the decree granting the Dwarves Mount Ealdwine and the approaches to it, except for a small area that would be retained by the Elves for a winery. It was signed by Chancellor Kolis.

Aron nodded his
approval, “It is good that Kolis did that before he left office. I don’t think Chancellor Mauric would have. He is not going to be good for the Elves.”

“Are
 you going to have problems with this Mauric?”

“Possibly
; my father said he was power hungry,” Aron responded. “It is  a good thing that we will have the Dwarves here now in case Mauric gets out of hand.”

Sarchise smiled, “Only if I can get t
hem some more ale, they get grumpy when they don’t get their ale.”

“We have so
mething similar that we drink, made from honey. We call it meade. Maybe they can develop a taste for it.”

Sarchise smiled, “It’s worth a try.”

 After traveling all day the next day, they stopped at the Capital of Fernar Darus next to the garrison of Elves that was already there. The Dwarves were tired but most of them went into the city to see how the restoration was progressing. When they saw all that needed to be done they stepped in to help. The group ended up staying a week to take loads of debris out.

 
When Sarchise met up with Kolis inside the walls of the Capital, he thanked him for allowing the Dwarves to stay.

“I did it before
Mauric took power; he would have denied it.” Kolis replied.

“I have not met this Mauric
. Is there going to be a problem with him and the Dwarves?”

Kolis did not hesitate
. “Yes.”

“Do I need to pull them out of here for their own safety?” Sarchise asked
.

“No, the army will not follow Mauric, so it is only a matter of time until they unseat him
from the silver throne. The Elves will have to find their place in the world again. It is all part of the rebuilding process,” Kolis replied. “Your Dwarves are welcome here by all of those who fought side by side with you. You did not have to come, but you did. For that you will be always honored.”

“Thank you again,” Sarchise said.
"Oh, I keep hearing them refer to the silver throne, have you found it, and is it like the one the Elves had in Elvenshore?"

Kolis replied,
It was made as an exact duplicate of the one in Elvenshore and we have found it. It is badly damaged but we will fix it when we have the time. Right now we have our world to rebuild."

After a week of working in the ashes of the destroyed city
, the Dwarf troops marched out again. When they reached Vil Mawe they were greeted warmly by the other Dwarves who had come from Elvenshore.Sarchise was particularly happy to see Fordin because he had fought alongside the young commander during the last Gremlin war.

“How are things in Elvenshore?” Sarchise asked
.

“The Elves have moved into the city of Santera and are thriving there. They have elected a Chancellor who, as his first act, removed the banishment of Amlius. All of the races seem to be getting along. The Queen of the Valkyrie is very ill. That is about all that has changed since you have been there.”

“Any word on Fawn?”Sarchise asked
.

“She went to the Hidden City and was still there when I left.” Fordin replied.

“How about my twin sons?”

“They are well
. I visited the Mountains of Iron and went through the Golden City before I left and then stopped by to see them. They are starting to walk, even though they are not good at it yet.”

“I miss them so
. I think my days as a warrior are over; I will move to the Lost Cityand live out my life with my family after this.” Sarchise proclaimed
.

Fordin gave him a dubious look, “I doubt that.”

Sarchise just shook his head and then asked, “Have you explored the land yet?”

“I didn’t know I was allowed to.”

“The Chancellor of the land his given the Dwarves the mountain and all of the approaches to It for our part in this war. If you stop at the Capital city and help with the restoration, then they are less likely to question your movements when you head to the mountain. The Capital is straight north of here and has an Elf garrison there.”

Fordin was happy at the thought of being able to see the mountain
. “We will march out first thing in the morning.”

Mauric and several of his appointed leaders along with an escort of half a dozen of Aron’s men had come out of the swampland to survey the damage.
It was the great tour of the new Chancellor. Mauric wanted to see where he could settle his people and where the land was uninhabitable. He had been appalled when he visited Vil Falcress. It had been so completely destroyed that except for a large area of ash, you could hardly tell there had been a village there at all. He had seen the new grave sites where the Humans had buried the male Elves of the village that had been killed.

It was one
thing to be in charge of a large powerful land; it was quite another to be over a destroyed land. Mauric was second guessing his jump at seizing power. They came across the town of Morgus Tier next. He saw the large hole in the wall where the Trolls had pushed through. He visited the fresh graves on top of the hill and noticed that Bellios had been laid to rest there.

Mauric was overheard saying to one of his advisors, “There is nothing left here either. Where am I going to be able to set up the government if all is destroyed?”
 

Two days later he rode into the Capital and again was dismayed at the level of destruction. It was then he noticed that the Dwarves of Fordin’s command were helping with the cleanup of the city. “What are they doing here? They should not be in the Capital.”

Kolis overheard him say that and came up to the group. “I invited them to help and they accepted my offer.”

Mauric was indignant
. “You are not the Chancellor anymore.”

“I am the Mayor of Fernar Darus, and the one in charge of rebuilding. I need all the help I can get
, and the Dwarves are excellent workers.”

Mauric just looked down at him and then rode off in a huff.

The group them proceeded to Vil Mawe, Mauric was delighted that the village was still intact and was getting back to normal. The moat had been filled in and all of the refugees were building permanent homes where their camp had been.

When Mauric
rode into the center of the military camp, His counselors and he went to see Verian. “I will make my temporary Capital here in Vil Mawe until the city of Fernar Darus is rebuilt. I will take over this tent as my quarters until larger ones are built.” Mauric looked around at Verian’s command building
.

That was the last
straw for Verian. He could not tolerate Mauric, and was not going to let the Chancellor be in the same town as he was bossing him around. “No, you will not take over my command center,” Verian said bluntly.

Verian turned beat red, “How dare you defy me
? I am the Chancellor!”

“You are the Chancellor of the swampland
; your authority does not extend this far. Nobody around here voted you in. We are still under martial law in this region, and that puts me in charge,” Verian replied
.
He could feel his shoulders knotting up.

Mauric stomped his foot and pointed at Verian and said
to the troops nearby, “Arrest this man.”

Nobody came forward to arrest Verian. The commander just smiled and said to his men, “Have the remnants of the Calvary escort Chancellor Mauric back to the swampland where he belongs. We will maintain martial law until we can have a proper election.”

“Yes, Sir,” the two nearest men said and walked Mauric out of the tent.

Mauric
shouted on his way out, “You have not heard the end of this!”

One of Verian’s Captains asked, “Do you think you should have done that
?”

“I could not have him in the same village as me
,” was Verian’s reply.

Sarchise had
heard all of the yelling and came over to see what was going on. “It sounds like the war has started up again.”

Verian laughed, “Only the one between the Elves.”

Sarchise just shook his head and made his way back to his quarters.

Waiting was the hardest thing that Sarchise had to
contend with. It was two weeks before the ships came back. At that, only two ships returned, not the five that everyone had been expecting.

No Dwarves disembarked either, so Verian and Sarchise meet with the Captains of the ship to find out what
was going on.

“The five ships got caught in a storm and were damaged, so they
are in South Fort for repairs. There are not a lot of shipwrights in the city. The repairs are going slow. Our two ships headed out full of seasick Dwarves, but we came across the seven ships and the message that the war was over and no more Dwarves were needed, so we went back and unloaded them. We then came back here to see if there was anyone needing transporting.”

“You did well,” Verian said. “You can take Sarchise here and as many of the Dwarves as you can fit in your vessels. Sen
d the rest of the ships back, because we will have other Dwarves back from the mountain by then depending on how many stay.”  

“Yes
, Sir,” nodded the Captain.

Sarchise was delighted to be going back and he packed his gear right away. The ships left the next morning. They were
able to fit all of the Dwarves at Vil Mawe on the ships. Between the losses in battle and those that stayed in the Mount Ealdwine, there were not a lot left.

Fordin’s warriors had not returned to Vil Mawe yet and Sarchise did not know how many, if any, of those would return to Elvenshore
and would need transporting back to Elvenshore.

Elvenshore

When the ships bearing the news that the war was over came to Elvenshore, there was much rejoicing amongst the Dwarves.
It meant that there loved ones would be coming home. Some of the wounded had been sent home earlier and through them Fawn had learned that Sarchise was still commanding the troops. She had sent out four Valkyrie with extra horses to bring Sarchise to the Lost City with all haste when his ship arrived.

The Valkyrie had sat idly by waiting weeks for the return of the two ships. In the meanwhile, five ships had departed bearing He
mlot’s family and the other families of those Dwarves that were staying on the Far Shore. A week later, after the last of the repairs, the seven ships headed out. The ships were taking wine and ale to the Elves and Dwarves, along with a few Dwarf families. It was looking like the ship Captains were going to benefit the most by the current state of affairs of having both Dwarves and Elves in the two lands. Trade was already blossoming. One of the Captains was going to bring some horses back from the Far Shore as there was a shortage of them in Elvenshore.

When the Valkyrie that had been staying in South Fort and
waiting for the ships saw the sails on the horizon, they were overjoyed. They went down to the dock to watch the docking and the unloading of the ships.

The Valkyrie watched as the Dwarf warriors marched out of the ship. Their tunics were dirty and worn but they Dwarves were a proud race and marched out of the ships like an army on a parade ground.
Even thought most of them looked a little pale from the sea journey. Sarchise followed. He saw the Valkyrie and wondered if they were bringing him bad news.

“My Prince, I am Fladia, I have been sent by Fawn to bring you to back to the
Lost City.”

The Dwarves had always called Sarchise, ‘my Prince,’ but this was the first time that a Valkyrie ever had. It puzzled Sarchise, but he let it go
, thinking that they had just adopted the title that the Dwarves had given him. “Thank you, I would like to head out without delay.”

“As you wish
, my Prince.”

Distances were so much greater on
Elvenshore. The entire Far Shore could be taken up in only one of the four kingdoms of Elvenshore. Sarchise knew he had a long ride ahead of him, but since the ships docked in the morning, it allowed the group to start out before noon.

He said goodbye to the Dwarves and gave command of the warriors over to Oswin, one of the few commanders to come back
to Elvenshore
.
The group gave him three cheers as he rode off.

Sarchise and the Valk
yrie mounted up and headed out. The group took the King’s Road and stayed at the Inns that had sprung up along the way. Sarchise was enjoying the familiarity of the food and the taste of the wine. He did not want to insult the Elves of the Far Shore, but the wine over there, was not all that good.