Tark watched his generals work with the different groups they’d chosen for the purpose of training as many elves as possible in the shortest amount of time. Granted, Mira sped up this process considerably, but Tark still felt it was necessary his lead elves teach several groups just as he taught them. This allowed them to train many more elves than it would have been possible for just him alone. He still worked with his top ten chosen on a daily basis to keep up their skills, but they spent most of their time now helping to prepare others for the upcoming war against Rau.
Among the other elves was his commitment partner, Taura. He placed her in Morgo’s group because Morgo had become one of his most trusted advisors and generals as well as an excellent teacher. Tark wanted to make sure he gave Taura every chance to become the best possible warrior she could. He hadn’t been crazy about the idea of her joining in the war with hundreds of other elves, but after their argument, he relented. Now, not only did she train with Morgo most mornings and evenings, but also with Tark any free moment he could spare. He knew Morgo was a very able teacher. Even so, Tark felt it was his training that pushed Taura the hardest and made her the capable fighter she was becoming.
While Taura was busy training and dealing with every other aspect of being the leader of a small army, their daughter, Silva, spent most of her time with Quona, Amrick’s daughter. Amrick was the main leader of the village the elves claimed as their training site, as well as Silva’s guardian should anything happen to him or Taura. She’d opted out of being trained for the sole reason that the remaining elves would need a capable leader and she felt she was just the elf for the job. She was strong, able and decisive when the moment called for it. She didn’t back down from a challenge, and the only time Tark ever saw fear in her was the time she thought she had lost Quona to some torlics.
Before Tark would even agree to training Taura, they made sure Silva would be taken care of by a capable elf. They both considered Venia for a short moment before deciding, due to her mental state, they would have to find someone else to take care of her and her infant son as well. With the death of her husband, Melan, Venia had been stricken. She was mentally broken, much to Tark and Taura’s dismay. She was barely able to take care of herself. However, since her arrival at Corista, she had made some progress. Such as starting to feed herself and acknowledging others by staring vacantly at them. Although taking care of her infant son and grooming herself was completely out of the question.
After ruling out Venia, that left only one other elf in their mind who could raise their daughter well. They approached Amrick with the request of being Silva’s guardian to which she graciously agreed. They approached Morgo with the request of caring for Venia if they were unable to return and if nothing happened to him during battle, as he had taken a particular interest in her since the moment of their meeting. He took in her vacant expression and her lack of participation in daily activities or anything surrounding her with great interest. On the second day of their arrival, Taura found him patiently setting food before her and talking soothingly to her all the while. He held her young son, Jamin, on his hip like an experienced father. Other times, he could been seen leading her around the village and pointing out things that interested him or just reading to her while she stared blankly at different objects in the room. When Taura told Tark this, he’d been amused and approached Morgo. Morgo simply stated he found Venia interesting and left it at that. Tark however, suspected there was more to it.
Almost a week went by when they began to notice small changes in Venia’s demeanor because of her time with Morgo. Life would flicker in her eyes and dance around her mouth for a few short moments before fleeing her once more. She showed signs of noticing Jamin when her son became upset or laughed. Taura even found Venia staring at the washbasin, as if she was waiting to be bathed. They were small victories, and Tark couldn’t help but see them as good omens.
Tark focused once more on the mock sparring occurring all around him and smiled with satisfaction. He noticed a group of elves collecting in the center of the training field and wandered over to see what was causing all the commotion. In the center of the group of elves, he found Naradin going against Hasa and Weila in a practice battle. He smiled, thinking Naradin didn’t stand a chance against the terrible two. The twins were incredibly fast and although Naradin had a great knack for staying calm in the midst of fighting, he still couldn’t compete against their speed. However, he lasted a great deal longer than Tark would have ever thought he would. It was several minutes later and to a great roar of cheering from the watching crowd, Naradin pinned Hasa, but found himself at the mercy of Weila, who had a knife at his throat. Tark clapped with the rest of the crowd. It was a great effort on Naradin’s part.
Tark had met with his closest elves, the ones he considered his ten generals that morning on the progress with the different groups they selected and worked with on a daily basis. They too, were extremely proud of how far all the elves in each of their groups had come in the short amount of time. They hadn’t known as he did, that Mira was at work in the elves’ training. He felt it was an unnecessary piece of knowledge and decided to let them take the credit for the incredible progress. He figured this would do wonders for their self-esteem.
Hasa and Weila decided to train groups together due to their uncanny ability of working as a team. They had been very successful in this particular area. Morgo and Nina had been working with the underground elves on honing their magical abilities during battles and using their powers to aide others during combat. They both reported the few underground elves who chose to fight, had come a long way. They were able to increase the amount of magic they were able to do, without passing out.
Before leaving the underground world, most of these elves only used magic for day-to-day use and were unaccustomed to using it for any other purposes. The first week alone, caused most of them to remain unconscious off and on for hours at a time. Now, only one or two would overdo it, causing them to lose consciousness for a short time instead of the hours that would have been normal before. The other generals were also reporting the same improvements, much to Tark’s delight.
It was nearing noon and Tark was starving, but he had to head toward Amrick’s house first. He had received a message that some of the scouts he sent out were coming back with reports earlier that morning, but he hadn’t had a chance to head there until now. They were waiting for him at Amrick’s until he had a chance to discuss the happenings in Tomiro. Tark was pleased to be heading there because he hadn’t been able to see his daughter yet that day and he missed her dearly. He was called away for an urgent matter long before she awoke and then stayed busy for the remainder of the time.
Tark strode into Amrick’s front yard, smiling as his tiny daughter and Quona came into view. They both wielded sticks, practicing their own form of sparring, before ending in a fit of giggles at each other’s attempts to disarm the other.
“Keep that up and I’ll have to recruit both of you for the coming war,” Tark said with humor in his voice.
Silva spun around, squealing with delight as she took off at a full sprint toward her father. Tark braced himself before stretching his arms out wide in preparation to catch the flying spitfire known as his daughter. Taking one last step and propelling herself forward, she sprung into his arms, wrapping her own little limbs tightly around his neck.
“I missed you this morning, Daddy,” she said quietly into his ear.
“I missed you too, little one.” He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. “Do you want to come in with me while I talk to the scouts I sent out?”
Silva shook her head as she answered, “Amrick told us we needed to stay outdoors while you talked with the elves. She said we could come back in when it was time for our noonday meal.”
Tark pulled back, evaluating Silva’s serious expression while the feeling of his stomach dropping filled the rest of his senses. It always made him nervous to discuss with others the whereabouts of Rau or any of his soldiers. Now, with the knowledge Amrick didn’t want the little ones to overhear what the scouts had to say, did not bode well at all. “Well, run along then and I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he told her as he set her down, his voice sounding falsely cheery in his own ears.
Silva kissed him on his cheek before running toward Quona. The smile he wore just moments before, slipped from his face as he walked up to Amrick’s front door, opened it, then stepped through. What he saw confirmed his fears. The news he was about to hear was not going to be good. So much for hoping Rau would have a change of heart, deciding he’d had enough ruling and was going to join the elf ranks. Tark sighed heavily and then sat at one of the chairs surrounding their eating table. “Let me have it. What has caused all the gloomy faces?”
* * * *
Tark raced toward the training fields. He had to gather his generals, especially Morgo and Nina. They needed answers, the ones only magical elves could give with the mirror waters. Not waiting until he had the attention of everyone’s watchful eyes, he raced to the center of the field before shouting as loudly as he could, “Generals, to my home now!” He sprinted toward his tree home, pleased to note his generals caught his urgency and ran along at the same pace as he did. Morgo reached his doorstep at the same time as Tark breathing heavily too. “We need your mirror waters and Nina’s as well. I want to see a couple different things and as quickly as possible.”
Morgo nodded briefly before running up the stairs to retrieve his and Nina’s mirror water bowls. The remaining nine raced into the room and Tark indicated they needed to find a seat while they waited for Morgo’s return. The look of concern was pasted on everyone’s face as they regarded Tark and fought to catch their breath. He returned their looks, indicating with a single finger they had to wait until they were all together to hear the news. Morgo returned shortly, holding two wooden bowls in his hand. Reaching the last step, he walked quickly toward Nina, handing her a bowl before sitting down next to her. He looked up expectantly toward Tark, trying quietly to catch his breath.
“I have just met with the scouts. I know this may come as a surprise to you,” he started, sarcasm thick in his voice, “but Rau has sent a small army toward us.”
Morgo held Tark’s gaze, but many of the others looked away, staring at their hands or the floor in an uncomfortable silence.
“The scouts reported several thousand of Rau’s soldiers, no more than a week out from here, traveling at an incredible pace. Morgo, can you bring up an image of the army heading our way? Nina, I need you to see if Galena will appear in the waters this time.” The last couple of times he asked to see Galena, they were unable to view anything. Tark attributed this malfunction to the fact Galena may have been in the cave at the time. However, it had been a week since he requested an image of her, so he was hoping they would be able to see something this time.
The group leaned over Morgo’s bowl first and gasped at what they saw. There were at least twice as many dark creatures as there were elves, trained and ready to fight. They saw everything from torlics to the giant earagos. Instead of his heart dropping into the pit of his stomach, he felt as if his heart lodged itself in his throat making it difficult to breath.
“Dear gods, what have we gotten ourselves into?” he heard Yeia mutter somewhere to his left.
“I’d say we’re in for quite the battle,” Fala said with more calm than Tark felt.
His insides squirmed and quaked with a fear that threatened to show itself, making his generals realize what a coward he truly was. He took a calming breath before addressing Morgo again. “Can you show us Blackwell?”
Morgo nodded before furrowing his brow in concentration. Before them appeared another image, every bit as disturbing as the one that it replaced. Thousands more dark and disturbing creatures filled the image in the bowl as they shifted and moved around the great black castle. Tark heard Hasa groan behind him as she beheld the image captivating them all.
“And here I was hoping he sent the majority our way in order to cut us off before we even got started,” Tark said dryly. He put his head in his hands, praying silently to Mira for a peace he did not feel, but desperately needed. “Nina, do you have anything?” he heard himself whispering, dreading the answer.
“Yes.”
Tark jerked his head up, relief so profound and comforting, stealing over him as he stepped over to peer into Nina’s bowl. Galena appeared to be walking through a forest, a new blade hung at her waist. If this was the Sword of Lumina, it was nothing like Tark imagined. Instead of being adorned with jewels and wealth that none of them had ever experienced, it was held in a shabby and worn looking scabbard. The hilt covered in a worn looking leather. Nothing fancy at all. Tark’s brows furrowed, questions racing through him faster than he could keep track of. Shaking his head, he returned his focus to the problem at hand. Galena looked well, other than a tightness around her eyes and a glow that had not been there before she left. “She survived,” he whispered mainly to himself.
A collective sigh left the mouths of several of his generals.
“We need to get prepared. We cannot let them get as far as the village. We need to go to them so we give our loved ones as much of a chance at life as possible. We’ll send out Morak and some of his elves to pick off as many creatures as he can, while the rest of the army moves out.”
Morak jerked his head once in agreement, as he continued to stare at the image still on display in Morgo’s bowl. Morak had been training his own group of elves in the art of shooting a bow and arrow as this was his strength. “It won’t be much, but we’ll do what we can from a distance,” Morak said calmly.
“Stay as far away as you can. Don’t get in a direct battle until we have all collected and made ready to fight. We’re already severely outnumbered so let’s not make that gap even wider. However, I want you to cause as much damage as possible,” Tark said, not taking his eyes off Galena. “The rest of us need to get prepared to head out in the morning. Morgo, tell Pangoro what to look for once we’re gone so he’ll know when to give the villagers the heads up on when to leave. The rest of you spread the word. We leave for battle tomorrow morning at sunrise.”