The Elven Queen

CHAPTER 3

Morning came and lined up at the palace gates were two envoys, the one to my right consisted 3 knights, Shya, a councilman and Diplomat and Itotia my head shadow, they were the envoy set for Durhgan, they are to ride to the docks where a ship is to take them to Durhgan, upon arrival, a party prepared by the King is to welcome them and to my left is my envoy consisting of 14 knights, Uncle Desmond, head of the Sylphorren Army and Arya my scribe, as soon as I came in to view they all formed perfects row and got down on their knees, hands to their chests showing the pledge of loyalty

“Long live the Queen, may your reign be prosperous!” they chanted in unison, there diligence will forever leave me impressed

“Warriors! today we will all be embarking on important missions into uncharted territory, whether it is venturing behind enemy lines or signing a truce with new friends, stay on guard, we are Sylphorrians, warriors, proud as the markings that dance across our skin we are not so easily removed that is why as of this moment, dying shall be considered an act of high treason, come back alive that is an order” I said while kissing the marking on my left hand, it was a star, same as the one on the Sylphorren coat of arms, I got it on the day of my coronation

“YES YOUR MAJESTY!!” they shouted out at the top of their lungs, their once stoic faces morphed into various emotions, pride, admiration, fear, all of them had strong emotions except my dear friend who gave me an unamused look while mouthing ‘overly dramatic much?’, I responded in a mature way of course, I maturely ignored her

“At ease, may you all be prosperous” on my command they rose to their feet and moved to their vehicles, I watched the backs of Itotia and her men walk further away from me till they were out of sight, I said a small prayer for the safety of my men

“Shall we leave, Your Grace?” I almost jumped out of my skin when my uncle appeared by my side, for a man of his build it outstands me how he can move without making a single sound, he towers over me a good 215 centimeters of pure muscle and yet he is so light on his feet, as if it wasn’t strange enough to have an elf taller than 2 meters, what a monster

“Yes commander, Lead the way”

He guided me to our carriage and got in with me, I watched as the weapons and men loaded into different vehicles till finally everything was set and we started to move

“Which gate shall we be taking?” I asked my uncle

“The gate in the outskirt of Main town Your Grace, it will transport us to the gate on the edge of the Drussel Forest over Vesterraunan territory, we ride the rest of the way” I only grunted in response

Sylphorren like all other Elven Nations is well known for its vast stride in various areas, we aren’t one of the three powers for nothing, our greatest achievements are in technology more specifically our Gates, years back a breakthrough was made in Slylphorren that revolutionized transportation like never before, The Gates, the first gate could only transfer one person at a time over a short distance, now we have Gates that connect every city in Sylphorren, and can transfer people and carriages anywhere in the country in a matter of seconds, Naturally there is a private one on castle grounds but that one was calibrated to transfer people not carriages, that is why we will be using the one in Mains to take us as far as the outskirts of the country

Riding into town we are met with cheers from the people as the imperial carriages zoom through the streets, screams of admiration call after us, I can feel my heart tighten, seeing the people, their happy faces, going about their daily lives, it reminds why I do what I do and who I’m doing it for, it continued like this till we got to the Gate, The Gate in particular was called Gate Sophia since all gates are named after their State, appearance wise it looks like two tall white pillars with symbols engraved from head to toe

“Your Grace” a man who I assumed was the one in charge came up to me and bent the knee doing the salute of loyalty “May your reign be prosperous” the premises of the gate were empty, most likely evacuated just for this

“Thank you and may you too find prosperity” I responded from behind the partition created by the curtains on the carriage windows, even with the blinds on I can see the smile that beamed across his face as he lit up like a little kid, I couldn’t help but laugh at this, I can see that my reaction made him feel a little embarrassed cause he blushed a bright shade before walking off quickly shouting “Activate the gates!!”

Not long after he said those words, the engravings on the side of the pillar started to light up in a particular sequence and the pillars roared to life creating a veil of energy that hummed and swirled in bright hues of greens, blues and purples, the carriages in front disappeared into it one by one till it was our turn, I noticed the manager at the edge of the gate, so I pulled back the curtains and waved at him, he couldn’t help the smile that broke out as he started waving both his hands in the air sending us off. I truly, truly will do anything to protect these people

Personally, going into the gate is never a pleasant experience, everything gets blindly white, I start to look like I’m fading away into dust and then poof we come out on the other side feeling a little nauseous, I really don’t like it, good news is, we arrived instantly, the Drussel Forest was in sight, now it’s just a 4 hour ride to Raiens.

Upon emerging from the gate we were greeted with more cheers from the citizens, so many were gathered which surprised me because we were far out and this area wasn’t very populated so it warmed my heart to see so many of them, I waved off to them as we rode into the forest their cheers muted by the large trees.

Riding fast the trees turned to a blur of green, every now and then swift movement in the trees would catch my eye, for the most of it, my concentration fell to my tattoos, a habit I picked up over the years, to Elves at large, markings are not to be taken lightly, they symbolize conviction, it is frowned upon to wear clothes that cover them and erasing them is seen as taboo so no one gets them for the heck of it, they are usually given by people of power to warriors for various achievements or are gotten as a promise of sort, kind of like the one I got on my left hand of the star on the coat of arms, I began to trace my marks, from the crescent on my face to symbolize the moon, to the spiral going down my left arm, I’m not sure what that one meant but my mother had the exact same one, I went lower to trace over my clothes, on my thigh is the matching tattoo Itotia and I got, it’s of a small dot in the center surrounded by two quill daggers, there’s a real funny story behind this

“You can’t be bored already?” my Uncle’s deep voice brought me out of my thoughts

“You know I hate long trips, with nothing to do and no threats to worry about” he just shook his head and chuckled at my childish response

“So, when did you notice them?”

“The moment we came into the forest”

I’m not surprised my uncle noticed them too

“Itotia is such a slave driver, making them wait for us at the edge of the forest like that, she could’ve at least prepared a carriage for them since she’s making them follow us”

“You’re one to call someone a slave driver, Your Majesty” he playfully dragged out the last bit to emphasize his point

Earlier into the forest, the movements that caught my eye, the irregular rustling of leaves, the creak of branches, the swaying of trees, the dark silhouettes jumping from tree to tree so fast you could only see a dark blur,. They could’ve fooled anybody, but anybody isn’t me, and apparently neither is my uncle, all those clear indications that we were being followed the fact that they haven’t attacked us and from their pattern of movement I can say that they are not our enemy, in fact they were shadows, and from their technique it must be the twins, that little hypocrite gave me that speech about how she believes in me and all that crap then she goes and sends two babysitters after me, I hate that I didn’t think of that, their orders must’ve been not to engage because they were keeping a fair distance.

I’m surprised at her choice though, the twins might have geographical advantage since they specialize in stealth and long ranged combat but depending on the situation wouldn’t that put them slightly at disadvantage as well? Not that I doubt them, those two are very fine soldiers they are shadows after all, I have full faith in them, there are even times when I wonder if we’d met on different circumstances would we have been better friends? But that can’t be helped now, all I can do is hope that this treaty signing goes off without a hitch