The elf introduced herself as Amrick before she led them toward the village. As they approached the outer houses, Amrick held a finger to her lips, indicating they needed stealth to get any further.
Galena nodded, showing she understood.
Amrick pointed to them and then the village. She then pointed to herself and Quona and pointed to a little home that was within sight. She would take her daughter home to safety while the other three went into the village to see if any torlics were interested in a fight.
This time, Tark nodded in understanding. They stood their ground as they watched Amrick scoop up the little elf and race back to her home, shutting the door behind her. Galena looked first to Tark and then Elenio. They set their packs down where they were and noisily headed toward the village. She had no intention of sneaking into it though. She wanted as many torlics to notice her as soon as possible, so they would all come out to play.
Getting her sword out and ready, she waited as the others did the same and then strode toward the village, making as much noise as she could. She hoped everyone would pop their heads out to see who was making all the commotion.
“How long do you think we should stay here?” she said, not bothering to keep her voice down in the least.
Grinning, Elenio reached over and grabbed her hand, kissing the top of it while they continued to make their way through the woods. “Are you trying to start a fight?” he said, still grinning at her.
“Was it that obvious?” she said, trying to look innocent.
“I’m glad. I’m getting tired of hiding and running away,” Tark said, keeping his eyes trained in front of him.
They continued on that way, not bothering to make the least attempt to keep their voices down. However, even with the noise, Galena heard footsteps approaching behind, but they were staying behind. Probably getting ready for an ambush, Galena thought with grim satisfaction. Good let them think that they have the upper hand. Galena gave Elenio’s hand a brief squeeze before catching his eyes with her own. Silently, she conveyed to him what she heard and he nodded wordlessly.
They passed several more houses that had been built closer together when they neared the center of the village. She knew it was the center by the lack of buildings, the packed dirt that indicated several elves passed this way, and the vendor stalls lining the area all around. She marched right to the middle and called as loudly as she could without screaming.
“Come out, come out, we want to play. I am the one your master has sent you out to find. Come and see what your master thought he destroyed.”
Elenio and Tark stood with their backs to Galena and each other so they formed a sort of triangle. They all stood and watched as the Torlics in clumps approached the trio. They wore wicked smiles on their faces and laughed humorlessly. Galena smiled in return, wiping the grins off some the torlics’ faces who were approaching her. Anger coursed through her as she thought of all the elves these monsters had tortured over the years. No more, she would see to that.
The torlics removed their own blades, maces, and axes as the approached, seemingly in no hurry, but excited nonetheless. Galena began to see the faces of the other elves, poking their heads out doors and looking through windows. She hoped that they had enough common sense to stay out of the way.
The torlics gathered completely around them. If they wanted to escape, there would be no way out now.
“Well, what do you think? In the mood for a little exercise, or should I do away with all of them in one blow?” Galena called loudly to the other two.
At this, the torlics began to laugh at her, missing what Elenio and Tark said in response.
“I wouldn’t mind making short work of a couple,” Elenio said, eyeing the giant beasts in front of him.
“We’ll call out when we’ve had enough fun,” Tark said, grinning viciously at another group.
“Fair enough,” Galena said, and then she charged. She swung her blade in a downward arch, the torlic raised his blade up to deflect it just as Galena switched the course of her blade’s path and cut the beast in half. Another one meant to attack her from behind, but raising her sword up over her head, she blocked his blow and kicked out with her leg. Her foot caught him in the groin, causing him to double over in pain. Taking advantage of his position, she removed his head in one swipe, using the momentum from the swing to block her next attacker. This time, she thought of a gale of wind as she swung out at the oncoming torlics, sending them flying high into the air and landing with a horrible crunching sound as their legs broke with the fall.
Two more approached from either side. One swung his ax at Galena’s neck, to which she dropped down to a crouch, spun and swung out her leg, swiping the giant beast’s legs out from under him. He fell back, his huge ax imbedding itself deep within his chest. She stood quickly, blocking another blow that was aimed at her head. She swept her blade out and thought of fire as she swung the sword toward his belly. The moment her blade met his skin, he caught fire. The torlic screamed out in pain, his entire body burning brightly. He stumbled around for a moment, catching several other torlics on fire when he bumped into them.
She was striking down two more in a single swipe, when she heard Tark calling out. She stopped and looked around at a dozen more charging toward them, ready to have their turn in battle. She grinned at a charging monster as he approached her and waving a hand in front of her, he caught fire instantly. He howled out in pain before he too fell to the ground. She stood then, looking around. Elenio was still fighting, as was Tark. She sent a large rock flying into the back of one’s head as he was charging Tark from behind. He fell instantly where he was.
Enough, she thought. With that, every last torlic was sent flying miles into the air in every direction, landing several hundred feet away from the village. Galena seriously doubted they had a chance of surviving that kind of fall.
The ones they killed with swords or by other means, she set ablaze. She found it so much easier to do this than try to gather them up and burn them all in a large pile. They didn’t deserve the extra attention. Once she saw that nothing remained of the creatures, but their ashes, she caused a heavy rain to fall, washing away the remains of the foul smelling piles.
When the mud mixed with the ashes until nothing was left, Galena stopped the rain. The three of them still stood in the center of the village, soaked through, but otherwise unharmed.
“I don’t know about you two, but I think I’m going to skip training tonight,” Elenio said, replacing his sword in his scabbard.
“Here, here,” Tark replied, doing the same.
Galena just shook her head, amused with the other two. She was glad they could make jokes in light of the situation. “I don’t know why you two are so tired. I’m the one that did most of the work.”
To this, Elenio grabbed her arm and hauled her to him. He wrapped his arm around her neck and rubbed her head so hard she was sure she would have to shave her head in order to get all the tangles out. She had not had time to braid her hair before they had sped off to save Quona and now, she was sorely regretting it. Her hair hung well below her waist when she didn’t put it up.
She thought about blowing Elenio off his feet and into the nearest tree, but realized that with him still hanging onto her, she would be blown into a tree as well. She settled for biting the side of his chest until he let go, howling with pain. Once free, she grinned. It was then that she noticed other elves coming out from their homes in groups. All of them wore the same amazed expression. It was a look of awe and unbelief, mixed with a trace of fear. She didn’t blame them. No one in history, since the first war, had dared take on a torlic and win. Moreover, it had been equally as long since anyone had used magic without dying.
She saw Amrick approaching as well, one hand holding onto her daughter’s hand and the other arm around her commitment partner. She had a huge smile on her face. “You fared well enough,” she called, continuing toward them.
Galena returned the grin and waited for them reach her.
“We’re sorry they were harassing you at all. It was us they were looking for,” Elenio said when they stopped in front of them.
“Welcome to Corista. I trust you will stay for the feast we shall prepare this evening for we have much to be thankful for it appears.”
“We would be honored,” Galena replied as she tilted her head forward slightly.
“I’m sure we can find someone with room enough for you to stay, or at the very least would be willing to give up the comforts of their home for a few nights.” Amrick looked to the other elves who were all nodding in agreement. Many were already lining up to do such a thing for their saviors.
“No, please. We’ve already caused enough trouble. We will gladly come to the feast that you talk of, but we are able to provide our own accommodations,” Galena said, addressing all the elves. She held a hand up as Amrick tried to protest this, saying, “I insist. It truly is no trouble at all.”
Amrick nodded amicably, but still looked a little dismayed at this.
“If you could send for us when you’re ready, we would greatly appreciate it.” Galena once again addressed all the elves, who were still nodding their heads enthusiastically.
The trio started to make their way through the crowd of elves in the direction they had come from. Their progress was made slow by all the elves that reached out to shake their hands, or touch an arm or shoulder. Many more called out their thanks and appreciation. It seemed they all wanted Galena’s attention. She shook hands, smiled and nodded, and handed out kind words whenever she could until they reached the edge of the crowd. They headed back toward the forest, still hearing the occasional ‘thank you’ as the elves began to drift off back toward their homes in order to prepare for the festivities that evening.
They headed a little ways into the forest until they found a bit of an opening between trees. Taking a couple of branches from different trees, Galena placed them in the small holes she dug out and began the simple task of growing accommodation for them. This time she fashioned the home to be like the first one they’d stayed in when they first started out. It had several floors, ending in a sitting room high up in the combinations of trees, and several bedrooms and washroom below. In the very bottom level was an eating area, as well as an area to prepare food and several places for multiple elves to sit and chat. Galena felt this would be an appropriate gift for the elves of this village for having to put up with the torlics in the first place. Plus, she liked the idea they would never again have to give up their homes for guests. What a huge inconvenience it had to be to continuously give up your home for traveling elves.
Even though this tree house was considerably larger than anything else she had ever grown, it took less time, because she didn’t focus so much on making it pretty as making it large, usable, and comfortable. Like her previously grown tree house they stayed in, her bed mats and chairs were covered in a thick layer of leaves to make them soft enough for sitting or sleeping. The home also contained a fire orb in each room and at least three in the larger rooms to provide warmth during the winter months. She would have to figure out how other elves could control the orbs after they left though. Maybe she would just provide a stone house that they could place the orbs in during the summer months.
Satisfied, she walked up to the home and through the door, Elenio on her heels. She looked around the giant common area as Elenio stepped through the door.
“Where’s Tark?” she asked.
“He went to retrieve our packs.” Elenio looked around the great room and up through the hole in the ceiling where the stairs continued their upward spiral. This time, instead of the stairs intruding into each of the rooms, she had the stairs wind along the tree walls with landings and doorways that led into each of the bedrooms. She figured this would provide more privacy and it hadn’t been hard to do. She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought about creating that type of feature before.
“Do you really think we need all this room?”
“No, but I felt it would be a nice addition for the villagers. A kind of, thank you for putting up with monsters that were sent out to find us, present.”
Elenio nodded in agreement. “Well, I’d say we should wash all this blood and gore off of us, but the rain already took care of that.”
“It didn’t wash the stink off of you,” Galena said, still looking around at what she created.
“I don’t smell that bad, do I?” He raised his arm, sniffing cautiously. He pulled his head back quickly, before making a gagging noise.
“Mmm hmm,” Galena said, smiling at him.
Tark walked through the door, a look of concentration on his face. Galena looked at him and went to retrieve her bag from his grasp. He barely noticed her however. Handing Elenio his own pack, he started up the stairs.
“I’m going to clean up,” he called down to them.
“Well, that was strange,” Galena murmured.
Elenio just watched him as he continued past the first room. Galena filled the water in the first three washrooms and caused the stones at the bottom to heat up, before looking over at Elenio once more.
“Pick a washroom. I’ll take the one that you don’t choose.”