“Fire!” order Commander Boaz. A volley of arrows flew through the air at the western flank of the high elves. Several of the wicked elves went down. The battle that had been between the elves and high elves had now taken on a new dimension. The giants had arrived, and the tide of the battle turned in the favor of the woodland elves. A portion of the high elves turned their attention to the newcomers and a bloody confrontation ensued.
Lord Keb
As Kana made her way deep into the icy northern regions on her dragon, she continued to mull over the glitches in her plans. Each strategy she had devised seemed to have been discovered in part before its execution. The reports from her network of spies had told her that the dwarves at Mount Carrick had been ready for the attack. The elves in the southern part of the forest had been made aware of the impending assault before her orcs could surprise them. She just found out that the high elves had been ambushed numerous times before arriving outside the outer wall of Tarisdell. The giants had appeared out of nowhere and had the unsuspecting Lord Dukker surrounded. She could not believe her misfortune and did not think that these incidents were merely coincidences. She was going to get some answers one way or another.
The country below her turned to snow as she continued to fly high in the sky. She was going to have a little chat with her old friend about what exactly was going on. He would help her or suffer excruciating pain and endless torment. She could not kill him, of course, but she could make his existence miserable at the very least. She just knew that he had something to do with the leakage of information about her plans, and he was going to answer to her for his meddling. After dealing with Lord Keb, she would be free to pursue her war with the people of Tuwa. She still needed to recruit some other allies and get them involved as soon as possible. Even though her army was considerably larger than the organized armies of the dwarves and man, she knew that her ranks were susceptible to superior battle tactics.
After she had flown for what seemed to be hours, she came upon a mysterious dark mountain that reached so high that it pierced the sky. It was completely covered in snow, and yet it did not look white to the naked eye. The snow was discolored somehow to look gray and dirty. As she approached her destination in the far north, she took deep steadying breaths as she took in her gloomy surroundings. The dragon tried to turn away as it neared the mountainside. He instinctively knew what the place was and what lay beneath it. He did not want to have anything to do with landing anywhere near the cursed place. Kana was momentarily taken aback by her steed’s refusal to follow her command to land. She spurred him hard and tried to use her psychic control over him to reestablish dominance. He resisted the mental attack for some time before he finally succumbed to his master’s will. He swung back around and landed on the southern slope. Kana jumped down and glared at the dragon with such a steely look that he turned away.
“You may leave now, you coward! Come back periodically to see if I am ready to depart. Make sure that no one approaches and that we are not disturbed,” she commanded pointedly. The simpleton does not realize that he cannot be hurt by this cursed mountain while I am with him. She knew that this was the birthplace of evil and that traces of it still existed within the mountain’s bowels. She also knew that her power was greater than anything she would encounter here, so she was truthfully unafraid.
The dragon shot back up into the sky and flew a short distance to a mountain top directly south of the wicked place. There was something more to that strange location than the evil it emits. Somewhere below the jagged slopes lived a creature that could do horrific things to the inhabitants of Tuwa. The beast did not merely kill; it would steal your soul. It was said to feed off of the fears and hatred of the living even though it was not truly alive itself. The overzealous guardian was playing with fire by taking care of her business in a locale that was home to what most referred to as the demon lord. There were stories in the northern lands of his spawn killing whole villages for no other reason than to kill. Many who had witnessed these attacks said that the demons were wraiths and could not be killed by any conventional or magical means. If she falls prey to what lies beneath, it will be on her own head.
Kana entered a small opening on the slope and continued down a narrow passageway that led her to where her fellow Elemental had been bound. As she made her way down the tunnel, she could sense the presence of several ethereal creatures that were watching her from somewhere in the shadows. She could smell their dank and foul breath as she passed the invisible watchers. The walls were smooth as plated glass, which made it difficult for anyone to follow her on foot. She had to glide because every side of the vertical tunnel was slick. They had been magically polished in order to deter potential intruders from sneaking in. Kana did not believe that anyone would be crazy enough to enter such an evil place, but she knew that she would have done the same thing just to be on the safe side. As she continued her journey into the bowels of the mountain, the air became even more fetid and rank. She called up a stiff wind to blow the stench away from her, which also propelled her toward her captive guest.
After a few intense twists and turns, the tunnel opened up to a vast cavern that appeared to have been constructed by some rudimentary means. The bottom of the massive underground cave was covered in slimy water that was filled with bones and rotting flesh of unfortunate visitors. The smell was absolutely putrid and would have caused anyone else to pass out. Kana, however, merely called up the wind again to swirl about her as a protective shield against the foul odors. She descended a little more slowly now until she hovered just above the bent figure of Lord Keb.
His eyes lifted to look at his fellow Elemental. He could not believe that any guardian would break their code of commanding an element or elements that they did not have stewardship over. It was clear that Kana’s power has progressed far beyond the command of fire and wind. She was now commanding all four elements with great proficiency. He knew that an Elemental could feasibly find a way to command the other elements, but he could not believe that one of them would actually choose to break their sacred laws.
“I see that you are still here, my old friend,” began Kana derisively. “You still do not understand why I have brought you here?”
“I simply cannot believe that you have bound me here. Of all the places in the world, why here?” asked a bewildered Lord Keb. His voice shook slightly with disbelief.
“So, you recognize your new home already? I thought you would,” she said with a nasty smile.
“Why bring me here and leave me alone for this long? I have done nothing to you and neither has the council,” Keb pled with her. He could sense the evil around him and that it was now more alive than when he had first arrived several weeks ago. He did not understand why Kana had brought him to this place, and, more to the point, how did she manage to do it? He was simply did not comprehend what was happening to him. None of it made sense.
“Well, at least you know where you are. I thought you would have figured out the reason I locked you away deep within this birthplace of evil.” She had a trace of real disappointment in her voice as she spoke. She believed Lord Keb was the most intelligent of the four basic Elementals. Perhaps he is merely in shock or he is still in denial.
“What have you been up to?” He was beginning to understand exactly what was going on. He could feel her hatred for him and the others. He was also aware of the wraiths that were appearing behind the wicked sorceress. They seemed to be feeding off of his fear and her loathing. They began to whirl around gleefully at the unexpected treat.