Warring Kingdoms: Birth Of The Dark Elves

Once Eva passed on Alex's commands to his commanders, she returned to him and they made their way towards the city of Xueyphis. Alex mounted Bucephalus while Eva mounted a nearby horse, they then left the camp to continue with their schedule. On route to the city Alex asked Eva"How are you finding living in the camp and learning the skills needed to survive in a place like this?"

Eva responded with a shrug of her shoulders and said" Learning the skills I need to survive is important and I particularly like learning about the dark magic. Clara is an amazing teacher when ity comes to archery, I can already perfectly hit a target that is 30 metres away." Alex nodded his head and smiled, he then sped up a bit before saying" Only 20 metres left until you can begin learning monster taming, keep up the good work. Lets speed up, I have a few tasks I need to complete in the town"

Eva nodded her head and they both picked up the pace. closing the to the town gates rapidly, when they approached the final stretch of land to the gates, they were stopped by the guards manning the gate. The walls of the city were made of a large wooden material unknown to Alex that segments of what seemed to be living stone covering weak parts of the wall .An older guard walked towards Alex and demanded" Who are you and what do you want to do in our fair city? I have seen the small group of Elves that you are training down the road form here and I have been told to not let you in unless you surrender your weapons and come with me."

Alex smiled and said" You have not asked anyone else to surrender their weapons, I have had people watching this location and it seems you are quite keen to take bribes in order to pass with weapons in hand however I do not feel like paying a bribe at this moment in time. Eva take my hand if you will." Alex extended his hand to Eva and lifted her onto Bucephalus before gently tapping Bucephalus' t.h.i.g.hs, following the signal she took into the air, carrying both Alex and Eva over the Cities walls and into the crowds.

When Bucephalus landed Alex hopped off of her and lifted Eva off too before petting the alce and nuzzling up to it. He then whispered" Go back to the camp and protect it while I'm away, if any trouble creeps up, you know what to do." The Alce happily rubbed its head against Alex and took off, drawing the attention of nearby towns people as it soared back over the top of city.

Alex took out the scrolls the assassins had prepared for him and looked for the the map to the mercenary's guild. Once he had a rough idea of where it was he took Eva's hand and pulled her along as he walked through the city. The city looked very different to the town of Basingulch, the buildings were built out of a majestic wooden material that had drawings carved into it. The drawings displayed many different things, some had Elves eating around a table while others had Elves drinking beer.

Alex liked the look of the town but wondered how defensive buildings like these would be if any besieging armies got inside the walls of the city. Before he got lost in his daydreams, Eva tapped his shoulder and whispered"Over there seems to be the mercenary guild" Alex nodded his head pulled Eva towards the building she hand pointed out, he burst into the room and knocked into an Elf in regal armour which caused Alex to trip and Eva to fall onto Alex's back on the floor.

The room immediately erupted into laughter as the Elf that Alex had bumped into poured his beer onto Alex, he made sure to miss Eva and instead extended a hand to her and said" Why are you with this barbaric man? Why not join us at our table instead? I guarantee that you will enjoy it, a lot more." Eva just smiled and shook her head before saying" You should apologise for knocking master over, he has a rather short temper and skills that kill anyone here who is not a hero."

"Master is he keeping you as a slave? Does a human dare to walk into this city with an Elven slave? I will not let him leave this building alive if that is the case" The Elf drew his weapon and rushed towards Alex, only to have his incoming blow deflected by his own shadow. Then like a scene form a play, his shadow continued to fight the man and push him back against the wall of the guild, as it was about to strike the killing blow, Alex clicked his finger and the shadow disappeared back into the floor.

Alex then turned to the Elf and said" One more word, just one and your own shadow will slit your throat, do you understand?" The Elf meekly nodded his head and Alex got up off of the floor and made his way to the receptionist, when he got to the desk, the Elves nearby took sly looks at his papers as he took them out and placed them in front of the receptionist who now had a stunned frown on her face.

Alex smiled and said" Are there any contracts of C rank and below for us to accept?"The receptionist was still stunned by the papers in front of her, the guild had already told her of the exploits of the Silence group and the ruthlessness of the leader of it, the Elven Wrath. She nodded her head and said" The Aneoca Dynasty itself has posted a contract for a group of C rank or above mercenaries to go and defend a culturally important ruin to the south that has been under the threat of raiding from the the Kingdom constantly."

Alex nodded his head and said" We will take the job offer, it is time that we proved ourselves to be a strong force not just proficient raiders. Give the scroll with the details we need to the lady accompanying me and tell me where the slums of this city are as well as where the nearest blacksmith is." The woman nodded her head and said" The slums are in the south-west end of the city , the smithing district is on the way there, you can't miss it."

Alex nodded his head and left the building, Eva picked up the scroll and followed closely behind him. As soon as they left the receptionist took a deep breath and looked at the Elf that was still stunned by the wall and saying"You are lucky to be alive,m you maybe the first man that has angered the Elven Wrath and lived to tell the tale. Stay away form them from now on, I have a feeling you will not survive the next encounter." The Elf recovered from his shock and left the building, he had connections in the Smithing district sand he was going to make Wrath pay for humiliating him.

Alex turned to Eva and said" I will transform into an Alce and fly you back to the camp, I will return here after while you show our commanders the scroll and see what starting plans we can put together for the defence of the ruins."Eva nodded her head and mounted Alex as soon as he transformed into an Alce, the flight was quick and the flight back to the city was even quicker. Alex transformed back into his normal form and walked towards the slums.

He changed his mind regarding the Smithing district because as he flew into the city he saw the elf that had caused him trouble in the guild talking to nearly all of the smiths who then all took gold off of him and shut up shop. When he arrived at the slums, he walked the streets, asking anyone who looked like they could wield a weapon if they would like a chance at a guaranteed meal a month and skills that would help them survive in the world.

Many people refused as soon as they learned of the group they would be joining however more than a few were happy at the chance at a free meal, many joined with their families and Alex walked towards the city gates with 20 more men and women who were willing to fight and 15 more servants who would help with the daily running of the camp.

When he got to the gate, the old guard walked up to him again, this time with his weapon drawn, Alex smiled and cut his hand with his dagger, as the blood dripped onto the floor, darkness flowed out of his other hand and mixed with the blood. Skeletons rose out of the pool and made a defensive stance around Alex who then tapped the floor three times with his foot.

Three shadows appeared next to him and then vanished again, Alex looked at the guard and said" I hope I don't have to kill you, I need this city for the foreseeable future. Walk away and choose to live, take another step forwards and I will kill you." As if to empathise his point, the skeletons all began to laugh at the old guard, the guard just looked away and moved to the side to allow Alex and his people past. The skeletons continued to laugh as they stood protecting Alex's flank, as soon as they moved to safe distance form the city, the skeletons fell apart back to bones.

Alex dragged the new people into formation and told his commanders to begin the assessment process again....