– Yes Ikru, a terrible idea. That bastard with his disgusting magic destroyed all of the Northerners, once inhabited Yeagrefgort – Tagrin said dejectedly.
– Northerners were the ancient descendants of humans. Do you know what will happen if king Grifgerd know we released him? We will forever be enemies with humans – Inohildis added indignantly.
– Exactly! He betrayed us! – Nodis cried – HE'S CRAZY! Necromancy has consumed his soul! He betrayed our laws, our morals, and our King! The elf w-w-who – Nodis even started to stutter because of outrage – He had renounced from the bright Elven magic in exchange to dirty necromancy! And you're offering to release him?! Do you really want him raise the corpses?!
Very soon, the indignation got more and more intense. Ikru was silent, taking the “strikes” for her not really good idea. Tonnord was silent as well. He was concentrating on his thoughts, and his head was slightly lowered, looking somewhere at the one point. He was absolutely sure there would be a lot of enemies when the key will be passing. Dark magicians are not stupid at all, and it would be a big mistake to underestimate them. The idea of Ikru was good – on the one side. But on the other side – absolutely terrible. King Grifgerd and whole Preeosted will find out shortly about that and would be a scandal. Although Tonnord knew what to say to the king of the people “well, you know we had no other choice. This is a desperate measure in the name of saving all of us”, but most of all, the lord of the elves afraid that Ethelkir might escape. And if so, hundreds of thousands of the walking dead begin to walk around Araklia, bringing terror to all of the residents. That will only mean one thing – the elves can forever forget they have friends somewhere.
A little more than half a century ago, when Ethelkir has been caught, all the people insisted on his execution. The elf who took necromantic is not the elf anymore, and Tonnord was ready to execute him. But because of Ikru, that didn`t happened and the dark elf was imprisoned. Ikru had a sight which "told" her he should be kept alive because he would be useful in the future. All this time Tonnord remembered about it and now realized this is exactly right moment. The Lord of the elves raised his right hand, and everybody were silent right away.
– Borgind and the key will be well protected. We will release Ethelkir. It is clear he won`t cooperate with us for a simple “thank you”. I will personally go to him and tell him that I will guarantee his freedom if he helps us…
– But how come, my lord – Tagrin interrupted, confused.
– My brother, don't jump to conclusions. I will lie to him and you Ikru – he turned his view to the sorceress – will kill him immediately after completing the mission.
For a few seconds Tonnord got paused expecting to hear some comments, but they are not followed and he continued:
– With a large enemy force, a squad of ten warriors is just suicides. And I can't take that risk. Not with the lives of ordinary soldiers, and certainly not with the lives of my commanders. If any of you have better ideas than Ikru suggested, I'd love to hear them out.
No one said a word. Tonnord only saw a synchronized shake of their heads. Everyone agreed with him.
– Well, let's discuss the next steps. We need to decide who will be in this squad. – Tonnord looked around – Absolutely clear Ikru will be with us.
– I'll go, my Lord. – Inohildis said quickly – I first offered this plan. And I still hope there won`t be many enemies over there. But if not, well… Even though it`s wild disgusted for me, but will have to resort to using dirty Ethelkir`s magic.
– Then I'll go with you. How can I leave you unattended? – Tagrin smiled, slamming Inohildis`s back – If suddenly something happen? Who am I going to compete for the amount of drank Elven ale? – Tagrin laughed.
– With me! – Rigan shouted with a smile.
– Oh, come on. Rigan, you can`t standing up after your fifth drink!
They all laughed and began to discuss the old days, but when Tonnord raised his arm everyone get quiet.
– Well, so be it. Ikru, Inohildis and Tagrin. The fate of our world will depend on you. At your own discretion, take the best fighters into your squad. You know better who exactly you should take. Only one question remains, – Tonnord turned to the sorceress – If we succeed, once the key will be in the hands of Tagrin or Inohildis, we will need to quickly return to Afleeakwein. You do understand that leaving the chase by horseback is not a good option.
– Yes Tonnord I know. Unfortunately, I don't have immediate movement spell that dark mages have. They got it only thanks to the Naabs by the way. But I can enchant a scroll that will return one elf to the place which will be in this spell.
– Just one? – Nodis asked dejectedly.
– Enchanting a scroll is a very difficult process. It usually takes a day.
– We don't have that much time Ikru – reproachfully told Tonnord.
– Yes, my lord, I know that. I have some ideas how to do this faster, and I'll try to finish it by the time our squad is ready to move out.
– All right – said Tonnord and rose from the chair – Tagrin, Inohildis, get the squad and get ready to move out. Ikru – take care of the scroll. I'm going to go to see Ethelkir. The meeting is over.
The squad was assembled very quickly. But they all had to wait for the sorceress, who had been working on the scroll of return for a very long time. It was late in the afternoon before they set out. Moving parallel to the road leading to Pleepmorr, they moved around any area where they could meet someone. Ethelkir was riding one horse with Ikru, under her strict supervision. His hands were bound with magical fetters to avoid any tricks that might come to his mind, clouded by half a century of imprisonment. For the first twenty-four hours they ride at full speed without a single stop, and only after that, when they reached the eastern side of the Canyon of Death, they did a short stop to rest their horses. On the evening of the second day, as they rounded the mountains of the western hillside, Inohildis was the first who saw a bright flash in the sky.
– Look! – He exclaimed, pointing by his hand – What is that?
Ikru looked up at the sky, and then cried out to Tagrin:
– Tagrin, do command for a stop!
The squad stopped. Everyone turned their view to the west. Lightning danced one after another in the evening sky, which seemed absolutely incredible because there was not a single cloud around. Very soon, a new, more powerful flash lit up the sky, and a huge purple ray get down from the sky to the ground.
– Take cover! Quickly! – Ikru shouted, and all of them immediately galloped off in the direction of the mountains.
Quickly climbing a small slope, they found a small spot of land surrounded by high mountains on the three sides. They all dismounted at once.
– Quickly tie up the horses and sit on the ground! – Ikru shouted.
Unfortunately, because of the mountains, it was no longer possible to see what was happening in the sky, but it was not necessary. Very soon everyone felt it. Nothing happened for the first few seconds, and then the ground shook. At first, it was like the echoes of some earthquake that happened somewhere far away and only a small part of it reached here. But then the vibration began to increase with each passing second. Stronger and stronger until it reached its maximum. The horses got wild because of fear. A furious rumble and a devastating shock wave swept across the entire western area. From behind the massive mountain which blocked the squad from the west side, a lot of wreckage could be seen flying along with the shock wave. Parts of roofs of houses, wood boards, stones… In addition, the shock wave destroyed the tops of the mountains which covered the squad and the wreckage of stones fell down. The warriors were able to evade easily, but two horses were unlucky. One was killed. A part of rock which is falling to the other direction, destroyed the stone where the animal was fastened, and the horse galloped away in fear. When the horse ran out from the shelter, it was blown away by the shock wave along with other wreckage which flew from the west, where once was Zerton City. When everything finally quieted down, Ikru got everyone in a circle.
