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Richard, Bartholomew and Frederic were probably dead since Robert could not see them from the post that he was tied to. Robert had also seen at least two of them go down in the frenzy of the battle and chaos that their enemies had caused by their numerous ranks. The battle was quickly over with most of his friends and comrades going down in blood drenched agony.
For one thing, he was glad that his son Tree had not been with them when they had made the attack on the enemy a few nights ago, but for some reason he sensed that something was wrong. Somehow his son was trapped and he could feel him powerless against a power that he had thought was destroyed a millennium ago. Robert felt bad for not warning his son of the dangers that once were in force long ago.
He should have told him of the millennium long war that their ancestors had to fight long before his great, great grandfather was even born who had died at the age of two thousand, four hundred and eighty-two years old, which was more than two millennium ago. Being stripped down to his breaches did not help him much. It seemed that all of his family had some sort of special gift passed down throughout the generations and millennium.
Natural abilities that were impossible to figure out why they existed. His son had a great ability that none in the hundreds of generations of their family had ever been known to have. This made it hard to understand how to use the ability. Robert had the ability to shift into any form he chose after long study of that form. His current form was of the man creature called Robert. The real Robert was a good friend of his that he had raised from birth, which had made it easy for him to assume his form after the fatal day that had claimed his life.
It was a matter of necessity that he was to act and look like Robert, even down to the scars and birthmarks that he knew all too well would be clear to identify him as the real Robert. Courage was a well-needed skill for a task such as this and it also helped that he had the ability to act like and mimic Robert in every way. He had been in this form for the last twenty years, which meant that he had to be careful to show Robert aging the way he was supposed to.
Maintaining the same form for twenty years was more trouble than it was worth. In his true form he was wanted for numerous crimes against the kingdom and if caught, he would be hung. His beloved son was working for the kingdom in order to clear the family name. Everyone believed, including his son that he had died in the fire that had consumed his good friend Robert.
In actual reality he barely made it out alive. If it were not for his friend’s brave act of pushing him out of the cabin inferno and being burnt alive himself, he would not have lived at all. The illness he got from the fire made it impossible to assume any form, but the form of Robert. His illness would not go away until he was able to revert to his natural form and stay in it long enough to heal. Being out of his natural form for more than twenty years he would probably need half of that to heal completely. It would mean that he would have to stay in his elf form for approximately ten years without changing into anything in that time.
His captors had made him too weak to maintain the form of Robert and it would take only a couple of weeks for him to lose his concentration, which would change him back to an exhausted elf and very vulnerable. It would also shock his comrades that happened to be tied to a pole similar to the one he was tied to.
“I am disappointed in you little man. It has come clear to me that you are the highest-ranking officer amongst the captives. Get out of your reverie you puny excuse for a soldier and tell us what you were thinking when your actions killed my older brother.
“We kill people your age, and do not let them have a part in the army. In your case I will kill you and eat you myself. One other thing, how is it that a human like you is able to fire ten arrows into my big brother and that is not the whole thing either. All of the arrows pierced his heart. It is inhuman to do so.”
A tall ogre like creature whacked Robert across the right side of his face with the back of his head sized hand. Pain shot up into his head from the contact of the hand to his face sending brief tears down his tear ducts and across his face.
His face split just below his right eye and across his cheek so deep that if the blood was not in the way, the bone of his cheek could be seen through the crack in his skin. The blow drained him of enough energy that he could not maintain the form of Robert any longer. Everyone, captives and captors alike, watched and observed him change from a fifty or so middle aged man to an elf who appeared to be no more than twenty-five.
He had long, thin, pointed ears and his skin was a pale bluish colour. His complexion was similar to that of a long since extinct race of elves or at least everyone thought that they were extinct, all except the ones who witnessed the appearance of this elf. This elf had lean rock hard muscles that looked flexed even when he was in a relaxed state. Robert had been a relatively short man of about five foot and seven inches tall and the elf was closer to six foot and five inches tall.
The shackles that had held his human hands were now way too tight for his elf hands and wrists. His head felt too heavy to lift it any higher than his heaving chest. The ogre took time to get over this unexplained event, but when he did he placed his hand beneath the elf’s prominent chin and lifted his head.
There was no scar where the ogre had hit him and the elf’s eyelids hovered open just enough for the ogre to see tiny pupils similar to the yellow half moon shape of a cat’s eyes. His clothes were the same as what was worn by the human form known as Robert.
“I knew that something was wrong when I did not smell human on you. An ogre magus is what I am and we ogre magi can smell the stink of magic. You reek of that stink of magic. It may be called something else besides magic, but it smells the same when you use it.
“Strong, you look, but not stronger than Ghak. Ghak can smash any who offend him, and you offend Ghak. Explain to Ghak why you take the form of the human man, Robert? Your comrades look like they would like to know too. My boss and I will know it soon.
“First, you tell us your true name even if elves do forbid it. We will have your name, if you don’t tell us, I will magic it from you. Now speak.” The ogre threatened him with his head sized hand.
“I am known as Hfhouelph. Humans and other races have known me as the mysterious one, Dolfald the dwarf, Ghult the ogre and many other identities over the years.
“Robert was a dear friend of mine and had pushed me out of a burning cabin that he had died in. Wanted by the kingdom for many false treasonous acts, I was forced to position myself into my friend’s identity. Now that everyone knows who I am I could be killed on the spot.
“My twenty years of service to the kingdom in the guise of Robert will be all but forgotten. I have lived the last twenty years without my family ever knowing that I was still alive. Still damaged by the fire that happened twenty years ago, I am left weaker than I have ever been.
“My magic, which is what you call it, will be of no use for many a year. Things like these even I cannot put a definite time for the healing to be complete or even possible.”
As he finished the last word in a trembling of his lips his body shook, his eyes closed and then he went into an involuntary deep trance that nothing would wake him from.