Elvenshore: 03 - Elf's Bane (8 page)

The two sat there and made small talk with those around the fire for the next few hours.

The Far Shore 

When
Armurous arrived at the Capital he assumed that he would continue on to the seaport of Vil Mawe to be evacuated, because of his injuries, but a rider had talked to the teamster and had the Commander diverted to the Capital. The teamster stopped the wagon in front of the gates.

There to greet Armurous was Mauric, the counselor to Chancellor Lanor. He was a thin Elf, with brown hair. He had dark eyes but wall tall and charming, “Greetings Armurous, how are the legs?”

“Broken and painful,” Armurous knew he was being gruff, but he didn’t want some politician making small talk after a long, agonizing wagon ride.

“I am afraid to tell you this, but since the Chancellor is missing, that means you are the ruler of the land until a new election can be held or the Chancellor returns.” Mauric was smiling pleasantly as he said it.

"I
am in no condition to rule the army; I am certainly not in a condition to rule a nation.”
Armurous was annoyed by Mauric in general.

“If you relinquish the duty
, the next in line will have to take over as Chancellor.” Mauric’s smile seemed to broaden as he spoke.

“Who’s the next in line?” Armurous asked.

“Well, I am, of course,” Mauric said.

Armurous thought about all the stupid decisions that Mauric would have made over the years if Chancellor Lanor had not stopped him. The only reason he had the post was that he was Lanor’s good friend. Suddenly, the pain came secondary to the welfare of the nation. “In that case, I will accept the Chancellorship, and my first act is to dismiss you as an advisor.”

Mauric was crushed. “But I have been the counselor for years,” he protested.

Armurous ignored him. “Take me to the palace,”
he told the teamster.

“Open the gates,” the
teamster yelled, and after they swung open he drove the wagon towards the palace. Mauric followed along the side of the wagon, not knowing what else to do.

To
Armurous’ horror, the women and children still roamed the streets of the capital. “Why have the people not been evacuated to the coast to get on the ships?” he screamed.

“I didn’t know that it was needful
; you drove the monsters back at Morgus Tier,” Mauric replied.

“I have a new job for you, you are to get all these women and children to the coast and evacuate them to Elvenshore.” Then turning to the driver, Armurous said, “What is your name?”

“Kolis, Sir.”

“Kolis, you are now my counselor
. I want you gather all of the leaders that are left in the city to the Chancellor’s chambers.”

“
Yes, Sir.”             

Mauric
stomped off. He had never been so dejected in his life. He debated about just walking away, but then he realized that the fate of hundreds was now in his hands and the only way to prove his capabilities to the new Chancellor was to do his duty to perfection. He gathered up a hundred of the reserves soldiers that were assigned to the capital and had them go from house to house finding all of the women and children. Once the women and children had gathered a few days' provisions, he had them meet just outside the gates. Then he sent the troops back out to find all the wagons that were available. It was dark by the time the wagons left for Vil Mawe and the coast. The group was escorted by the reserve troops.

 
When the leaders in the capital had gathered to his chambers, Armurous looked around and said, “I am the new Chancellor, you will be taking orders from me until the situation is resolved.” He had been set upon the throne but had a stool also, to prop up his legs.

All of the leaders nodded that they understood.

Armurous looked at Under Commander Harsted.  “How many troops do you have in the capital?”

“Five hundred of the regular army and one thousand reserve, not including those that Mauric took with him to the coast.”

“When did Mauric leave?” Armurous asked.

“Two hours ago,” Harste
d replied.

“He’s traveling at night
? Does he not understand that the enemy only attacks at night?” Armurous could not hold back his frustration. Turning to one of the Captains he said, "Take your men outside the gates, if the Trolls come, attack them from the wagons so that the women and children can get away."

"
Yes, Sir," the Captain said and then hurried out to gather his troops.

 
The Chancellor looked at the remaining group and asked, "Can anyone tell me what the situation at the seaport is?"

Another one of his Captains spoke up
. "Sir, there are about a five hundred refugees waiting to board the ships. Those that Mauric has with him number about fifteen hundred. So we have around two thousand that will be awaiting ships. The original seven ships have not returned. "

The Captain
continued, "For all we know they may return full. Elvenshore could have been overthrown; that was a threat and one of the reasons we left. If Elvenshore is still in the hands of the free people of the land then we may have reinforcements on the ships. Another five ships left yesterday. All that is left in Vil Mawe is eight old and leaking ships."

Armurous sighed and then looked at Kolis, "Take you
r fastest horse to Vil Mawe and when you get there, find all the shipwrights. Have them look at all those leaking ships and see if any of them are fixable. If there are some ships they can fix, get them all of the materials they need for the job."

Kolis bowed and then hurried out.

"We can only assume that these beasts are undefeatable. Do not hope to win a victory, but do what you can to save our race. We will hold this capital until the last of us are dead or until all the women and children are on ships. We have to buy time for the seaport to be evacuated of all they can to Elvenshore. If not Elvenshore, then we will have to find a small island somewhere to live until it is safe to come back here. The Humans of the Far Shore managed to survive an onslaught of the Trolls, we will survive also," Armurous said.

The city leaders and military men nodded in agreement.

Armurous continued, "We have word now that Chancellor Lanor was found dead, next to his son. The only good news we have had lately is that the women of Vil Falcress have made it to the swampland and now live among the Humans there. They are safe."

Under Commander Bellios stood looking at the damaged wall. Night after night the Trolls had hammered on it and during the day, he and his men had reinforced it with timbers. During the last attack, chunks of the wall had fallen off and the Trolls had taken them and thrown them into the town, causing heavy casualties among the Elves.

Bellios knew that the wall could not take another
night’s pounding. He was amazed that it had lasted this long. He wondered if the Trolls were ever just going to give up and crawl back in the hole they had come out of, never to be seen again.

One of Bellios
’ captains came up to report, "Sir, the wagons were taken by Mauric when he evacuated the women and children from the Capital."

Bellios sighed, "Does he really need all those wagons
? I sent my wounded back in them with the hopes the wagons would return with supplies and maybe even reinforcements. I now have more wounded that need evacuating."

"He does not need all of the wagons. He had one family per wagon, sometimes only a mother and child. He could have done with a third of the wagons he took."

"I guess we will have to walk the wounded to the seaport. Take your men and some stretchers and head out with the wounded. The wall won't hold much longer and there is no reason to give the enemy more targets," Bellios replied.

"
Yes, Sir," the Captain said as he left.

After the Captain's men and the wounded headed out,
darkness began to fall. Bellios could see the large shapes coming towards the wall. So far all of the arrows that his warriors had shot at them seemed to be having no effect. When they tried to shoot out their eyes, the Trolls only put up an arm to deflect them. With the first crash against the wall, more stonework came down. The timbers that were the wall's main support were starting to crack.

"Shore up the
wall," Bellios yelled and ten soldiers with yet another timber came running up. Just as they reached the wall, a large rock came over it, killing or wounding most of them. Several more timbers split and then the wall came crashing down, burying all of those who were near it.

Bellios  just barely missed
injury by the wall's fall. When the Trolls started rushing through and clubbing everything in their path.

"Fall back," Bellios commanded, "Retreat through the gate."

The Elves began fleeing through the south gate, but Bellios stayed behind. When several of his men saw that he was not leaving, they stayed with him. 

At first the Trolls seemed content with smashing buildings and then setting them afire. Half of the city was up in flames by the time that one of the Trolls noticed that not all of the Elves had fled. He walked over to them. They tried to attack but a quick swing of his club took out half of them. Bellios was thrown several feet through the air by the force of the club, before smashing into a building. He struggled for breath, but he was too badly
injured. He saw that most of the Elves under his command had escaped. He knew he had done all he could. Then he faded into unconsciousness and then he died.

The cattle and the sheep were on their way back to the swampland with an escort of twenty of Darnic's men. That freed the rest of them to roam the land. Besides seeing an occasional rider, he had not seen any Elves since the day that Vil Falcress had been destroyed.

They had been riding south when they saw the fires of Morgus Tier. Darnic headed his men in that direction. When they arrived there most of the Elf army was heading towards the Capital, bearing their wounded with them.
The Trolls were still content with smashing buildings and starting fires.

When Darnic came up to them he said, "Give me your wounded and we will ride with them to the capital." The Elves complied and soon there was a wounded Elf on each of the Human's horses. Darnic and his men cradled the
injured as they rode to Fernar Darus to take them to safety and deliver them there. The rest of the Elf warriors headed out on foot. Now free of their burdens, they started making good time.

The Trolls left back towards the mountain before dawn so that there was no longer a threat to the troops. With the backdrop of the burning town, the Elf sol
diers marched back towards the Capital.

 
When Darnic arrived at the
Fernar Darus and the wounded were taken to the healers, one of the guards stopped him. “The Chancellor desires to see you.”

“The Chancellor is dead,” Darnic replied
.

“Chancellor
Armurous now sits on the Silver throne.”

Darnic nodded and then let the guard lead him
to the Chancellor.

When he entered the Chambers he noticed that th
e
Armurou
s
looked like he had aged years since the last time he had seen him. His broken legs and now the weight of his office were all taking a toll on the Elf leader. Chancello
r
Armurous gave a smile when the old Darnic walked into the room.

“My dear friend,
”
Armurou
s
said, “what is happening at Morgus Tier, we see the town is on fire and now I hear you have brought a lot of the wounded back with you.”

“The town is shattered.
The monsters have smashed through the north wall and have set the town on fire. The survivors are led by a Captain and I fear your Under Commander Bellios is dead as he is nowhere to be found on the outside of the city. Your men will have to hurry back here or they will be caught on the open road by the enemy in the night. There is now nothing between the mountain and the Capital, you can expect to start seeing attacks tomorrow,” Darnic reported.

The Chancellor went back to his hollow, drawn look, “How do I stop these demons?”

Darnic got a sad look and said, “You don’t stop them, you run from them.”

Captain Verian found himself in command of a beaten army. The one Sub Captain that he could not stand had proved to be his bravest officer. The tall and lean Istuin with thin brown hair was just back from his fifth trip back into the burning, enemy -infested town. This time he did not bring back a wounded man like he had the other four times. When Verian had first met the young Sub Captain, he was resentful of him. Istuin had been given a commission because his family was well connected politically. His uncle was the mayor of Fernar Darus, his wife’s grandfather had been Chancellor and in the distant past Istuin had been related to the Elf Kings of old. If there was still an aristocracy in the world of Elves, Istuin would be part of it.