“See the ruined buildings,” Mistake said to Eltor. “They are unchanged after thousands of years. You can still see the boulders that the elven siege machines threw over the walls.”
“The boulders are there,” conceded Caldal, “but that does not verify that elves put them there. They could just have easily come from human sieges engines.”
“Be quiet, Caldal,” MistyTrail said irritably. “I have heard enough human bashing for one lifetime.”
Caldal looked shocked at the reprimand, but Eltor shook his head knowingly. He reached for Mistake’s hand and held it. She turned and looked at him questioningly.
“I do not like the thought of you going into the city without me,” Eltor said softly. “I would like to guard you. Do you think the Astor would allow it?”
“I have not been chosen to go into the city,” frowned Mistake. “I will be staying here with you.”
“But I thought you were one of Rejji’s chosen?” replied Eltor.
“Not this time,” sighed Mistake. “Bakhai and Mobi will go in as they did last time, but Wyant will be taking my place. I guess Rejji feels it is necessary that one of the Fakaran tribesmen see the city. I wish he had chosen me.”
“Perhaps he has not chosen you because he does not want you hurt?” countered Eltor. “You are close to him, aren’t you?”
Mistake looked into Eltor’s eyes and saw fear in them. It was not the fear of being at Angragar that she saw. It was the fear of losing Mistake to another man. She smiled sympathetically.
“We are close,” admitted Mistake. “Rejji and I met when his village was destroyed by Jiadin bandits. They killed everyone except Rejji. We have been through a lot since then, Eltor. We were captured by the tribes and sold into slavery in Khadora. We were captured and sentenced to die by the Qubari. We met the Sage of the Mountain and flew on the back of a dragon. We were together when Angragar first opened to Rejji’s touch. Yes, we are close. I know that is not the real question that you want answered, but I have no answer to give you for the other question.”
“Do you mean that you do not know if you care for him?” asked Eltor. “Or is it that you do not know if he cares for you?”
“I am not sure of either,” admitted Mistake. “As it stands, we are extremely close friends, maybe more, but I don’t know. I feel confused every time I think about it.”
“Is there any hope for me?” asked Eltor. “Do I fit into your future plans at all?”
“I can’t answer that,” sighed Mistake. “I have grown rather close to you as well, Eltor, but I sometimes wonder what that feeling really is. Am I just excited to know an elf? Am I just thrilled to be thinking about a trip to Elvangar, the land of the lost elves, or is it something more personal? I just don’t know. I am confused.”
“I understand,” Eltor nodded and smiled weakly. “There are no conditions to my offer to take you to Elvangar. I want that known up front. If you do decide to come with us, I will not take that as any commitment to me. I want you to be happy, whatever path that may be. I will even understand if you chose to remain behind here. Even though you are an elf, you have the right to choose your own life. I will try to respect your decision.”
“Try to?” asked Mistake.
“Well, yes,” grinned Eltor. “If you decide to stay and do not marry Rejji, I might be forced to form an elven raiding party to come and kidnap you.”
Mistake laughed and squeezed Eltor’s hand. “Thank you for saying what you did, Eltor,” she smiled. “I know that it must have taken a lot of courage to say those words. It shows that you truly care about me. I shall never forget them.”
“They are going in,” MistyTrail said excitedly as she pointed to Rejji approaching the massive gates. “I wish Lyra had chosen me. It is so exciting.”
The Astor approached the gates and turned to make sure that everyone was ready. He then turned and placed his hand on the gates. They swung open at his touch. The twelve chosen walked through the gates. Rejji turned and looked at the Qubari army on the other side of the gates. He fought the temptation to touch the gates again and make them close. Leaving them open just seemed wrong to him, but he turned and joined the others.
Emperor Marak took the lead with Gunta and Halman flanking him and a step behind him. Axor followed close behind the Emperor. Lyra, Rejji, Bakhai, Temiker, and LunarSigh formed the middle of the procession. Behind them came Mobi, DarkBlade, and Wyant.
“We will try to get to the temple with as little fighting as possible,” announced Emperor Marak. “If we must fight, everyone stay together. Our goal is the temple, not to see how many we can kill.”
The Torak led at a moderate pace. He did not try to hurry, but neither did he dally. He proceeded at the fastest pace that would allow for stealth from each of the members of the group. They advanced over six blocks before the first hellsoul was sighted.
“Three blocks off to the right,” Gunta said softly. “It was a single hellsoul.”
The Torak merely nodded and continued at a steady pace. Just before the intersection two blocks later, Marak held up his hand and gave the signal for hellsouls. The group tensed. The Torak marched into the intersection and immediately swiveled to face his left. Gunta moved swiftly to stay on Marak’s right, while Halman slowed to avoid showing himself.
Three hellsouls shrieked and charged. The Torak stepped forward and sliced into the lead hellsoul. He disappeared in a puff of smoke. Gunta repeated the procedure on another hellsoul by decapitating him with one stroke. Halman stepped around the corner and struck at the third hellsoul, which was trying to attack Marak from the side. The hellsoul went down under Halman’s strike, but the head was not totally severed. Halman stepped forward and completed the task, sending up another wisp of smoke. The Torak immediately turned and continued the path toward the central square. Gunta and Halman resumed their places.
“This is almost identical to the last time we were here,” frowned Gunta. “Would they use the same strategy each time?”
“No,” answered the Torak as he nodded ahead. “They are more ready than they were the last time.”
The street in the distance was already clogging with hellsouls. Shrieks echoed from every direction, and more than one member of the group muttered an oath under his breath.
“We are turning to the left at the next intersection,” Emperor Marak declared loud enough for the whole group to hear. “Close up the group now, and be prepared for a quick stop as soon as we are out of sight.”
Everyone moved forward until the group was compact. Emperor Marak turned left at the next corner and stopped when he felt there was enough room for everyone. As soon as he stopped, he turned around.
“Turn around and reform,” ordered the Torak. “This will not be much of a diversion, but it will gain us a few blocks.”
Halman moved to the corner and peered around it as the group reformed into their original positions. They stood silently for a moment until Halman waved the group forward.
Emperor Marak led the group out of the side street and continued marching across the wide boulevard. After he had gone an additional block, he turned to the left onto another wide avenue that paralleled the original one. There were no hellsouls in sight.
“They will wise up soon enough,” Gunta commented softly.
“I know,” replied the Torak. “Let’s take each block as we can. This avenue is the one that runs directly in front of the temple.”
They made three more blocks before the hellsouls managed to discover where they had gone. Shrieks rang out from their left as they passed through another intersection. Halman looked to his left and saw a large crowd of hellsouls moving towards them.
“The bulk of them are no longer before us,” Halman reported softly. “They are off to our left.”
“There will be more ahead of us,” replied the Torak, “but be ready for anything.”
They made two more blocks before a worried voice came from the rear of the procession.