I heard the bear groan loudly. I didn't feel anything touch me. I opened my eyes. The bear was fighting with the horse. I just noticed there was a hooded figure riding the horse. A paladin, thank God! I have to say, I loved Paladins now. The bear slashed at the paladin, but it couldn't touch it. The paladin was blocking with a shield. The paladin was turtling, the bear couldn't get past the shield. The horse attacked the bear from behind. The bear eventually fell to the repeated horse attacks. The bear fell to the ground.
The paladin chanted a melody and the bear corpse faded away. I quickly knew I was dealing with a Eldar now.
Well, I guess that was what happened. I saw the whole thing upside down, and it looked pretty weird. The paladin then turned to me. I couldn't make out any details. The face was covered by a hood, and the robes worn were very loose.
The paladin went up to me. "How did you get here?" the hooded figure asked. The voice was well disguised. I couldn't tell who it was.
"Um, I just walked on over." I said. I didn't have anything else to say.
"Lies are your skill?"
This paladin was persistent. "What do you want anyways?"
"The truth."
I sighed. Might as well give in. "Fine, I got drunk and woke up in the forest. You happy?"
The paladin giggled. Then all of a sudden, fell down on the ground and laughed like crazy. I was a bit curious of the paladin's behavior.
"Is there something funny about that?" I asked.
The paladin got back up and faced me again. The paladin took off the hood to reveal the face of...XaMayCa. I rolled my eyes, but I knew that embrassment was going to show soon.
I wasn't sure how I had first met XaMayCa. I think it was at some trivia function or something. But, she was a great friend. At least when I saw her. I don't think she came to Tantallon or Nepeth that much. Eldar mainly stay in the south, I think. Whenever I saw her though, I knew the day was going to turn out good.
"How did you know I was here?" I asked, still in a bit of shock.
XaMayCa looked odd. "You shouted for help didn't you?"
I recalled that I did. Not sure how long ago, but I did. "Oh yeah, I must have forgotten while I slept."
"You had time to sleep? I tried my best to be here as fast as possible."
"If you were fast, how come you came right before the bear was gonna get me?"
"Hey, give me a break okay? Your lucky I got out this fast. I was already saving children from a burning building when you shouted."
"Really?" I was interested.
"Really." XaMayCa looked serious.
I had to compliment her. "Your a saint."
"Literally."
"Well, this has been fun." I cleared my throat. "But, the blood has started to rush to my head, and I feel a bit woozy. Can you get me down now?" I really wanted to be let down.
XaMayCa jumped up. "Oh yeah!" XaMayCa quickly got out a knife and started cutting the snare. She did, but I quickly fell to the ground.
Needless to say, it hurt. Not too bad, but enough to stun. "Ow" was all I let out.
"Sorry," she said. "I tried to catch you."
I slowly rose up. "That's okay. I..." Something hurt. I wasn't sure what. "I can rest up if you take me over to that village." I pointed to the south.
"What village would that be?" XaMayCa looked hesistant.
"The one with that puff of smoke. Can't you see it?" I pointed to it again.
XaMayCa looked at it. "Oh that. That's Duender."
"Duender?" I honestly never heard of it.
"The headquarters of the Eldar. The village of those who didn't want to live amongst the politics of the North."
I just smiled and nodded. I guess I had more to learn about the Eldar. "I guess I can rest there. Can you take me over there?"
XaMayCa suddenly looked uneasy. "I don't know. The Eldar don't look too kindly on outsiders."
"Come on? If they won't let me, I'll just leave quietly."
XaMayCA sighed. But she gave in. "Okay sure. Get on the horse." XaMayCa quickly got on the horse and I followed and sat behind her.
With a quick kick to the horse's side, XaMayCa sent the horse running. I got a little scared, the horse seemed a bit quick for me. It was well trained, it avoided all the obstacles in its way. I just wondered how it did that.
"I suggest you duck." XaMayCa said. I did what she said, no questions. A branch barely scraped missed hitting my head.
I still wondered about the fast speed of the horse. "How come it doesn't hit anything on the way?" I asked.
XaMayCa shrugged. "I trained it well."
"Okay." I said. I shut up, I knew I wasn't gonna get much out of her now.
Soon enough, we reached the village. The horse was still in one piece, so everything was fine. Duender seemed pretty small and quaint, but it was well guarded. I could see sentries everywhere. There was townsfolk all around. I only saw humans and elves. I couldn't find any dwarves, and I didn't expect any orcs to live with elves.
XaMayCa stopped the horse at the village entrance. "Stay here, i'll talk to the guard about you." she said. I watched as XaMayCa got off the horse and headed over to speak with the entrance guard. They spoke a few words, but I couldn't hear, they were too far away. The guard looked angry and shouted at XaMayCa. XaMayCa seemed to calm him down. They started talking again. I believe the guard gave in to XaMayCa and opened the gates. XaMayCa ran back and jumped on the horse. She started moving the horse again. We got past the gate. The guard quickly closed it behind us.
"What did you use? Some kind of magic?" I said.
"No." XaMayCa seemed to reflect for a moment. "Well, maybe the magic of money."
"Ah, just like a real saint too." XaMayCa turned to face me and gave me an evil grin.
We rode through the village. The horse didn't go fast this time. I saw only a few people working now. There were still no dwarves or orcs. A few people looked at me riding by. When they did, they looked shocked and some even ran away. After a few minutes of riding through the village, XaMayCa stopped the horse in front of a large manor. It seemed out of place compared to the rest of Duender. A small boy came running up to us from a nearby stable. XaMayCa jumped off the horse and I followed suit. The boy took the horse and led him into the stables.
"Here, why dont you come in?" XaMayCa said.
"Is this....your...house?" I said, amazed. She must be living pretty good if it was.
"The whole thing?" XaMayCa laughed. "No, I only have a small room in it. This is where the Eldar are stationed."
"Ah. I see. Well, you know what to do, lead on." XaMayCa walked to the manor and I followed right behind her. I didn't want to lose sight of her and get lost.
We reached the manor doors. XaMayCa opened it with little problems and went inside. The door shut quickly behind her. I went up to it and pulled on the door. It didn't budge. I tried even harder to open it. Still wouldn't. I took a few steps back. I planned to smash the door down. Hey, I knew the trouble it would get me in, but I wasn't a patient person.
I got a head of steam, and charged at the door. As I was just about to make impact though, it opened. I ran through where it was. But I couldn't stop. I kept going and going. I slammed into a wall.
I got up, a bit dazed. "Wha?" I shook my head, hoping to clear the mind. Everything looked blurry.
I heard a voice say, "Are you okay?" It was probably XaMayCa, but I wasn't too sure. It sounded both high and low. But very quickly after, my vision cleared and the pain vanished.
"Hoo." I said. "Did you get what hit me?"
XaMayCa was at my side, helping me recover. "Hmmm...maybe I should have told you only Eldar can open that door. It's all in the headband." XaMayCa pointed to the headband she wore. "Don't worry though, I just cured you of any pain."
I stood up. "Thanks. So, how much do I owe you? Saving me, cutting me down, taking me here, curing me?" There was some sarcasm in my voice, but XaMayCa seemed to take it seriously.
"All in a saint's work."
"Really?" She was serious!
"Really."
"Eh, you better take me to that room then. No more suprises for me."
"Fine, follow me." XaMayCa walked through the hall and I followed. We reached a staircase, and I followed her up. Then we walked on the second floor until we stopped at a door. It had 'XaMayCa' carved into it with bold letters. She opened the door and held it wide open until I got inside.
Once I got inside, I saw a room of good size. I think it was bigger than my room in Nepeth. Not the fanciest in the world, but it was good enough. A bed, table with two chairs, fireplace, a locker, assortment of foods and drinks in the kitchen, a bookshelf, and a pile of gold.
Wait a minute, pile of gold? "What's up with the gold?" I asked.
XaMayCa had already took off the robes and hung them. She was hidden behind some walls. "Just donations from the local clergy. Seems I'm the patron saint of lost souls or something else," she said.
I snickered. Figures, the patron saint of lost souls coming to rescue me. I walked around the room, examining it. I went to the chair and sat down. Ah, it felt good to get off my legs for once. I didn't do it in so long. At least since that time in the pub.
I had nothing to do...so I got back to thinking...
