19 - Escape

Releasing this to the $5 tier just a little bit early because I have to leave and won't be back for a couple hours, and better early than late.

The king worked fast once he made decisions. Not twenty minutes after the Council meeting was over, Elise was back in the dungeons with Bragi and two of the Royal Guards who had explicit instructions to obey Elise’s every command, even if she told them to free the Drow. She was under no illusion that they would actually do so if she asked something unreasonable, such as removing their armor and weapons and giving them to the Drow, but it was far more power than she thought she would have had.

“Elise!” exclaimed Claudia. “Are you alright? What’s going on? Are they threatening you?”

“I’m alright,” said Elise. “I don’t have time to get into the details right now. I have something time-sensitive to discuss.”

“Anything,” said Claudia. “What is it that you need?” She glanced at the dwarves standing in the doorway. “If it is for the secrets of our home, however, I will have to decline. Even for a great Fey, I cannot betray my home.”

“And I wouldn’t ask you to,” said Elise. “I just need you to answer a question. If I told your leaders that as long as the Drow stop their attacks, the dwarves will be out of the caverns in three months, would the Drow actually stop their attacks?”

“Th-three months?” she asked. “How? Are you-?” She glanced at the dwarves. “Are you the ruler here? Are they under your control?”

“No!” said Elise, glancing nervously at Bragi. “No. Never. The only one under my control is myself. However, the dwarves are preparing to leave these caverns and return to the surface. If you simply wait for them to do so, your prophecy will be fulfilled without needing to lift a finger.”

“The dwarves are preparing to leave?” asked Marie. “Are you certain?”

“Positive,” said Elise. “They do not have any definite plans yet, but before you were discovered, they were nearing an official decision.”

“We cannot forgive the dwarves for what they’ve done,” said Claudia. “But if we can resolve the conflict with no casualties, I believe our queen will be amenable to such a plan.”

“Are you sure?” asked Elise. “I’m sorry for doubting so much, but since the fate of two races hangs in the balance, I don’t want to jump to conclusions and chase achievable solutions.”

“Well…” said Claudia. “I think so. Marie would know more. Marie?”

“Hmmmm…” said Marie. “I’m honestly not sure. Queen Salome is very cautious. Even if we say that it was you, a great Fey, that told us, she may be cautious. She is advised by an Archfey who has been alive longer than the Dwarves have lived here. However, if you were to go speak with the queen in person, I believe that she would listen.”

“That… makes things more difficult,” said Elise.

Her position was tenuous enough as is. If she went to speak with the Drow in person, it would be almost impossible to get back to the city safely. At the very least, there would be no chance of her being able to leave the castle anymore if she did manage to get back. Josef and his factions would most definitely leak the information of where she had gone, and with a negative spin involving something like betrayal, and the city would be up-in-arms about it. 

“Are you a prisoner here as well?” asked Claudia. 

“Not exactly,” said Elise. “I could leave the city if I wanted to. However, I would probably not be allowed back.”

“You do not have to come back,” said Marie. “There is always a home for Fey among the Drow. You would be held in the highest honor and granted all your needs and desires. You would be treated like royalty.”

“That does sound nice, but… I will need to talk to the king before I make a decision. I was told that you take a poison before going scouting. How long do you have left before it kills you?”

Claudia and Marie grimaced and shared a glance before responding. 

“Two days,” said Marie.

“I will try to resolve it before then. Until then, have you eaten since being brought here?”

“No, my lady,” said Marie.

“Bragi, send someone to fetch some food for them. And make sure it’s not poisoned.”

“Eh? Food?” he asked. “You sure? They’re ghouls. They don’t eat proper food. They eat flesh and drink blood.”

“We do not!” snapped Claudia.

“Please?” said Elise. She used {Charm} so she wouldn’t have to waste any more time. “I’ll bless you. A few more inches to your beard should be worth it for just a small meal for some Drow, right?”

“Eh, I suppose,” he said, trying to hide his excitement. “Blessing first though.”

She sprinkled him with a bit of {Fairy Dust}, and he ran off toward the kitchen, caressing his newly lengthened beard. Elise then had the other two royal guards lead her to the king. He was in his office at this time, and when they walked in, he hastily put something back in his drawer before greeting her.

“I hope you’re bringing me some good news,” he said. 

“Well, it’s not bad,” she said.

“That’ll do too, I guess.”

“The Drow think that it’s possible to convince their queen of at least a non-aggression pact for long enough that the dwarves can dig to the surface.”

“Well, isn’t that good news then?”

“It is, but there’s a- what’s the word? In my language it’s caveat, meaning- it’s a condition! There’s a condition. They said that their queen might listen to just them if we send them back. However, they said that the odds were much better if I went to talk to her in person.”

“Ah,” said the king. “I see.”

“Yeah…”

“Well, do you want to go?”

“You’re asking me?”

“No, I’m asking the door behind you- of course I’m asking you! You’re not my subject, and you’re not a prisoner. You have a say in this too.”

“I’m not sure,” said Elise. “I just don’t want anyone to die when there’s a solution where no one has to.”

“Aye, I agree. So, do you think you can achieve that if you go speak to them in person?”

Elise hesitated. “I think so. But it would all be for nothing if you can’t convince the Council to make the move.”

“Leave the Dwarf politics to the Dwarf king. You only need to worry about the ghouls. If you can convince them of a non-aggression pact, I’ll handle the Council. I’ll use my royal authority if I have to. I will take my people to the surface, and I’d like to take as many as I can. I don’t like just letting the ghouls go, but if it can save my people, I’d clean the ghoulie queen’s toes with my tongue if I had to.”

Questionable metaphors aside, Elise was struck by how noble Hallbjorn seemed in that moment. She had spoken to him long enough to know that his hatred of the Drow ran deep. During his reign, they had killed hundreds of his people. They had even killed his own wife. It would be completely understandable if he decided to take the Dwarven warriors and fight to the bitter end against the Drow prophecy. 

“If you are confident that you can convince the Council, then I am confident I can convince the Drow queen,” she said.

“Well, then if that’s settled, we don’t have much time. Best get to it. Go get prepared. I’ll send someone to prepare a carriage for you and the ghouls. You’ll be leaving out the back and traveling through the back alleys. Don’t want to risk an angry mob if word gets out. There’s one gate toward the Northeast side of the city where you can access Drow territory. It’s locked and heavily guarded, but I will send word for them to open the way for you.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“I told you to call me Hallbjorn.”

“Thank you, Hallbjorn.”

Elise turned to leave, but stopped halfway out.

“I think you’re a great king, Hallbjorn.”

“Great?” he said. “No, not yet. I haven’t accomplished anything yet. But a good king? Aye, that’s my goal. If nothing else I hope I’m at least remembered as that.”

“You’ll be remembered as a good and great king,” she said. “I’ll make sure of it.”

He chuckled. “I’d like that.”

Elise didn’t have much to prepare. She didn’t have any personal possessions, and she couldn’t exactly carry any provisions either. She did do one last sweep of her room though, just in case. She had borrowed a few books from a library that would need to be returned. She couldn’t carry them herself, but she let one of the castle maids know.

She followed the maid back to the library, where she had one final conversation with Anna. She didn’t explicitly say goodbye, but she tried to make sure the conversation had a bit of finality, and Anna seemed to understand subconsciously, even if she didn’t connect the dots at that moment. Her goodbye was more serious and less cheerful than usual, at least.

The rest of the castle was filled with a tense atmosphere. Even though the king, Elise, and the Council should have been the only ones who knew exactly what was happening, between the alarms earlier in the day, and all the bustling about the dungeon area, even the cleaning maids knew something important was going on.

The “carriage” that the king prepared for them was more of a wagon, and the Drow would be hiding inside empty crates in it. The wagon itself was one of the wagons that delivered food and other goods to the castle on a regular basis. Though Hallbjorn hadn’t gone down himself to avoid appearing suspicious, he had sent a message that this day and time was actually normal for the wagon to be leaving, so no one would find its appearance strange until it deviated from its course and left the city proper, at which point, it would be too late to stop it.

Bragi was the one who brought the Drow to be loaded in. They arrived with sacks over their heads and the chains still on their hands and feet. The sacks and leg chains were removed when they arrived so that they would be able to see and run if things got bad, but the handcuffs remained. The driver, a Royal Guard named Snorri, had the key to unlock these, and he would when they reached their destination, but letting the drow pass through the city with a single guard and no restraints was going too far. Hallbjorn wasn’t comfortable with it, and the Council members who knew the plan were positively frothing at the mouth at the thought.

A few minutes later, they were on their way. Each of the Drow was in an empty crate made of coarse black wood, and Elise was nestled inside an empty barrel that smelled strongly of the mushroom liquor that the dwarves loved so much. It was almost enough to make her gag, but she withstood it. Barely.

They made it out of the castle without any issues, but Elise twitched and flinched at every sound she heard outside. None of it sounded suspicious on its own, but that in and of itself was suspicious, since there was no way that the plan to send the Drow back had been kept completely secret. Whoever had leaked that Elise was a Fey– likely Josef or one of his lackeys– would have also leaked that they were going to release the prisoners and try to negotiate with the Drow. 

Elise was almost relieved when the wagon ground to an unplanned halt. It was not a good thing, but at least the manifestation of Murphy’s law would not be a mystery anymore. 

“Halt!” said a voice from in front of the wagon. “State your business!” 

The one who spoke was one of six blocking the road in front of them, if Elise counted the breathing sounds correctly. He had a deep, gravelly voice that carried well, even though he wasn’t speaking that loudly. 

“Just bringin’ back me wagon,” said Snorri, a royal guard disguised as a simple laborer. “What’s the holdup?”

Whoever was blocking them stepped forward and Elise heard the sound of armor plates scraping together. However, it was not the same armor that the city guards wore, nor the armor of the Royal Guard. Whoever had stopped them was someone independent. 

“There were ghouls in the city earlier.”

“Aye,” said Snorri. “And they were captured. What of it?”

“Not all of them,” said the man in front. “Some escaped. They could be hiding anywhere.”

“You think there are ghouls hidin’ in me wagon?” asked Snorri. “Are you alright in the head?”

“Can’t hurt to check. The ghouls are sneaky bastards. Can vanish in plain sight, and travel through shadows. They could be hiding in your wagon, and you’d never know.”

“I just came from the castle, y’know!” said Snorri. “If there were any ghouls in here, someone would have noticed.”

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Just show us what’s in the wagon, and we’ll let you pass. Easy as that.”

“No!” said Snorri. “You have no right to search me! You have no right to stop me at all!”

“Rights are for times of peace, and there’s war abrewin’. Show us the wagon.”

Elise was getting a bad feeling about what was happening. Whoever was stopping them sounded like they had no idea about the plan to free the prisoners, which almost made them more dangerous. If they were willing to go as far as to stop seemingly civilian wagons out of ordinary suspicion and vigilantism, what would they do if they found out what Elise and the king were planning?

“Guards!” shouted Snorri. “Guards, help! I’m being accosted!”

“No guards patrollin’ ‘round here,” said the one in front. “They’re all too busy checking the edges of the city for intrusions. Just stay calm, and nobody has to get- What the-!”

At that moment, Snorri jumped down from the driver’s seat and started attacking the vigilantes. Elise breathed a sigh of relief. He was a Royal Guard. Whoever these idiots were, they wouldn’t be any match for him.

Or so she thought.

The sounds of combat– clashing metal, grunts of effort and pain, armored footsteps– lasted about a minute before they came to a halt. She expected Snorri to return to the wagon and drive onward, but instead…

“I surrender,” said Snorri. “This isn’t worth risking my life for.”

“You made the- right choice,” said the vigilante, panting. “Who in the hells are you, anyway? Ain’t no wagon driver who can fight like that.”

“I won’t say. But feel free to search the wagon. Not that you’ll find anything.”

Elise panicked. She hopped out of her barrel and onto the edge of Claudia’s crate. It was empty. She was about to turn and look to Marie’s when suddenly, Claudia appeared below her, still in the crate where Elise had last seen her. The Drow woman made a hurried gesture toward herself, and Elise jumped into the box with her. Claudia held her tight to her body and a wave of mana passed over them and they both vanished.

And not a moment too soon. At that point, the vigilantes’ heavy footsteps reached the back of the wagon and the cloth cover was thrown open. Two dwarves jumped inside, and the whole wagon shook as they made their way to the front, checking each and every crate. When they reached Claudia and Elise’s crate, Elise held her breath. 

The two dwarves peered down together. One was a young man. Very young, by the length of his beard, which barely hid his neck. The other was much older, and there were only a few traces of brown left in his mostly gray beard. Neither of them reacted when they looked inside, meaning Claudia’s stealth ability held. 

They moved on, checking the last few crates and barrels, including Marie’s but it seemed that Marie had a similar, if not identical ability, and they did not see her either. 

“Nothing in here,” called one of the dwarves inside. 

Elise didn’t let out her breath yet, but she did release the tension in her body, as did Claudia. After the vigilante’s talk of the Drow being able to vanish in plain sight, she had fully expected them to be better at checking for invisible people, but either they were incompetent or lazy, and had done a very poor job.

“Alright, come on out then,” said the main vigilante leader’s voice. “Sorry, sir. Didn’t mean to suspect you, but these are dangerous times.”

“I understand, but you can’t go around stoppin’ carriages like this,” said Snorri. “You’ll be arrested.”

“Aye, but better that I spend the night in jail than the city go unguarded.”

“Hey Dad, what’s this?” said one of the voices in the carriage.

“Doesn’t matter, son,” said the other. “This doesn’t belong to us.”

“No, Dad, look.”

“It’s just a white hair. Come on.”

“No, look closer! It’s not white, it’s silver. See, it’s shiny?”

“Alright, then it’s a shiny, silver hair. Let’s get out.”

“Did you say there’s a shiny, silver hair?” said the leader.

“Yeah, Boss. I found one in a barrel. Hey, there’s another one in here!”

A pair of heavy footsteps walked around the carriage and then jumped in the back. It walked up to where the other dwarves stood and for a moment, nobody spoke. All the tension and then some had returned to Elise’s body. 

“There’s only one thing in the city with hair like this…” muttered the low, gravelly voice.

He proceeded to make his way through the wagon, kicking every empty crate and barrel he passed by. Elise felt both her own heartrate, and Claudia’s heartrate below her climb to dangerous levels. They would be found if he continued like this.

Claudia stood up and hopped nimbly out of the crate, not making a sound. She held Elise at her side and crept over to an empty space on the wagon’s floor. Elise hoped Marie was doing the same. 

That strategy worked at first. When the old dwarf kicked the crate they had been in a few seconds prior, it moved just as an empty crate would, and he frowned and moved on. Elise held her breath again as he made it to the front of the wagon, and went to kick the final crate, the one where Marie had been hiding. It rang hollow as well.

But something was wrong. The crate was clearly empty, but it didn’t move right. It got caught on something that wasn’t there, and the dwarf noticed that. For a moment, he did nothing. Then, all of a sudden, he swung his axe, and a spurt of blood appeared alongside Marie with the axe embedded in her collarbone.

“Ghoul!” roared the man, pulling his axe from the bleeding Drow. 

Claudia wasted no time, and wove between all the disorderly wooden containers toward the exit. Unfortunately, the other two dwarves were still there, and though she almost managed to slip by, her shoulder brushed against the younger dwarf’s shoulder, and that was enough to break the invisibility.

“Another!” shouted the young dwarf’s father. “And she’s holding the Fey!”

Most of the time, Elise was very glad for her near 360 degree field of view. It let her see danger coming from all angles, no matter which way she was directing her attention. However, sometimes, she felt it was almost a curse, because she also couldn’t look away from things she didn’t want to see. She felt very cursed indeed when she saw the old dwarf in the wagon relieve Marie of her head. 

Now visible, and without any weapons, Claudia didn’t even bother to fight, and dashed away down the street. She was far faster than any of their pursuers, and after a few random twists and turns, they had completely lost the dwarves. When they came to a particularly narrow abandoned alley, Claudia slowed to a stop, and set Elise on the ground.

“We must separate,” she said. 

“No, we can still make it!” protested Elise. “You’re fast! We can get around them.”

“I am sorry, Great Fey, but I may be able to, but not with you.”

Elise wanted to argue more, but she knew the Drow was right. Elise had no stealth skills, and was slower than Claudia by a significant margin. And she stood out too much. If Elise was with her, she would not only slow her down, she might even give them away.

“I will tell our queen of what happened. I will not forget you. I promise, I will do my utmost to return home and convince my people of your proposal. You should return to the invader- the dwarf king and inform him of what happened. We can still make this work.”

“Got it,” said Elise. “D-don’t die.”

“As you command, Great Fey.”

And with that she turned and ran. Elise turned to leave as well, though in her case, she flew instead. She had already been spotted by the vigilante dwarves, so what she needed now was speed, not stealth.

She made it back to the castle before the alarm bells went off again, entering through the window of her tower bedchamber. She immediately made for the king’s office, where she knew he would be, since that’s where he had promised to be to keep suspicion to a minimum.

“Elise?” he said. “What’s going-”

It was at that moment that the alarm bells started to ring again, and the king’s face turned grim.

“It failed,” he said.

“Mostly,” said Elise. “Marie- one of the Drow is dead. The other is on the run. She says she thinks she can make it, and she will try to convince her queen when she does, but with the alarms going off… I don’t know.”

“Let’s hope she makes it. And without killing any of my men.”

“She doesn’t have a weapon. Her hands are cuffed.”

“The ghouls don’t need weapons to kill.”

“I don’t think she would. She knows what’s at stake.”

“She’d better.”

“Also…” started Elise. “I was spotted. I know it was an official mission, but the rumors won’t be good. Claudia– the Drow that’s still alive– was holding me and we escaped together.”

“What exactly happened?”

“There were some vigilantes. They stopped the carriage. And there were no city guards around to stop them, since they’re all patrolling the perimeter of the city right now.”

“Dammit,” said the king. “Wait here for now. We’ll see if your ghoul makes it out. If not, we’ll need a new plan.”

The Council was called again, but the king chose not to attend, instead staying in his office with Elise. News kept coming in about the situation, ranging from direct testimony from Snorri and the vigilantes from a rumor from the wrong side of the city that the Drow were leading an army inside. The chaos slowly died down, and Elise was beginning to think that Claudia might have actually made it out, until one final message came in. It was only a few words long, but it made Elise’s heart sink.

“Ghoul found,” read the king aloud. “Exterminated.”