Rise Of The Godking - Chapter 100 The Elf 1

The village easily had a population of a few hundred. In the middle of it was a large town center with a fountain that was shooting out sparkling jets of water. All of the jets surrounded a statue of a wizened man who looked mischievous, with a sparkle to his eyes and a smile playing on his lips.

The sculptor had to be appreciated as the statue was entirely lifelike. In another time, Daneel would have loved to study it, but at the moment, his eyes were rooted on the member of the species that he had fought, once, before making amends and adding them to the roster of those firmly on his side.

The elf wasn’t very tall. Like all those of his species, he was slender, with light skin that slightly sparkled in the sunlight and gentle features.

Around the fountain were arrayed shops with men and women in front hawking their wares, calling to anyone who passed in a good-natured way. He stopped at each and every store, and all the people he talked to seemed to know him. He was wearing a loose shirt and breeches that had been pulled up above his waist. Both were a shade of green one would see at the beginning of autumn, lush and filled with life given birth on the heels of death.

His most striking feature was his ears, of course. Unlike the elves he had read about back on Earth, the ones he had met on Angaria and even the one he was seeing now had pointed ends at the bottom, instead of at the top. A human’s earlobes were rounded; the earlobes of an elf were as sharp as tiny daggers, and there were supposed to be many designs to them.

He had heard from the two married elf queens who had fought for him that much could be learned from the exact style of an elf’s ear. Alas, he now wished that he had taken the time to study this, as the ears of the one he was seeing were definitely unique even though he had seen hundreds of them back on Angaria.

Below the sharp points of each ear, a tiny, floating globe of light was present, vivid and distinct despite the strong glare of the sun that blanketed their surroundings. The globe seemed to glow brighter when the elf laughed, but because it was so small, Daneel didn’t know whether he was imagining it.

“It’s rude to stare. That’s an elf. It might be your first time seeing one…but it’s best to move. They don’t take kindly to people ogling. Long, long ago, on the Mainland, their Empire stretched from coast to coast. All of the species lived in fear of them, in fear of their natural ability for magic and their intellect that was greater, in the most part, than that of other races. Then, it was said that some elves used to pluck out the eyes of any humans who looked at them for any amount of time longer than a few seconds. I’m truly glad we don’t live in such a fucked up age…but like I said, it’s rude. Come on. Along with a bed, I’m itching for some good hot food, too. I don’t know about you…but I’ve worked up an appetite.”

After asking the system and finding out that the elf was the one looking at him, he realized that his study of the being had not gone unnoticed. Not knowing what to make of this, he just followed Alex’s back as the man weaved through the people milling around the town center, and soon, they were stepping into an inn named ‘The Hanged Wizard.’

He read it off a signpost above the door. It was written in the tongue he had learned in Graiton, on top of a roughly drawn image of a hanged man with a long beard.

The inn’s common room was large, with two counters on either side. There were enough tables to fit over fifty people inside, and there were at least ten other such inns in the lane they had entered.

Soon, the two of them were closeted inside a private booth on the end of the wall opposite the door. It was carved so that it blocked out all sound from both sides, with a flimsy wooden door available to keep out unwanted visitors. It had been assigned to them after Alex had fished an unprocessed crystal from somewhere in his coat and had hinted to the female innkeep who had a ruddy face and a round belly that they needed some privacy.

As soon as they were inside, the first question that came out of Daneel’s mouth was, “Why did the elf empire fall? And…how is this place so big? I’ve seen no one traveling on the way except you. How many people actually journey among these islands, any way?”

Behind the black tiger’s mask, Daneel couldn’t see Alex’s expression, but he didn’t miss the amusement that sparkled in the man’s eyes. Shaking his head and taking a seat, he rested his back against the cushions that had been fixed on to the back of the wall and said, “You don’t waste a second, do you? Well, let me see. Why did the empire fall? Why do all empires fall? Er…sorry. I started to paraphrase my teacher there, for a second. And before you ask how a slave and a liar can become a historian, let me answer that first. There are more islands than you can imagine, surrounding the Mainland like flies around stinking poop. Yeah…my teacher always said I suck at comparisons, but who the fuck cares? Anyway, there are islands where you can pay to learn anything you want. I learned history on one such, among other things…and I have a debt to pay to them, as I went there with nothing but the clothes on my back. Getting to the point: it fell because of greed, of course. They started fighting between themselves…and left themselves wide open for a rebellion.

‘As for the rest of your questions…at any second, there must be thousands of travelers, easily. As for why you haven’t seen any…well, my friend, you were in a very obscure part of the islands that is typically not the destination of anyone who wishes to go to the main attractions. It is also in a portion that is still firmly under the control of the ruling family, which means that there is nothing to see. It—”

“—is also supposed to be a place as uninteresting as they come, but who would have thought that I would find two rebels in an area where the Garbonor family says the situation is more or less stable? I’m assuming that we are talking about this village, of course. Or am I wrong?”

A singsong voice suddenly intruded on them, preceding the very elf that Daneel had stared at outside.

Alex’s eyes widened, and deep lines came on Daneel’s brow as a wary look entered his face, too.

With a laugh that sounded like music, the elf continued to say, “Don’t look so aghast! We can hear better than you humans. I know that it is rude to eavesdrop…but I was just outside, and I couldn’t resist the urge. It’s rude to stare, too, of course! If you’re concerned about my deduction…then don’t be. A single look at your clothes makes it apparent you’ve seen some tough times. That means that you either achieved your freedom recently, or have just gotten away…so, all in all, there is nothing to worry about. I’m here for one thing, and one thing alone. Say…do you have any messages?”