The Corrupted Sentinel

The Deal Breaker

                            ~~~~ Anjui's POV ~~~~~~

Time seemed to go very quickly for Anjui. It felt almost like yesterday that he had taken the throne of his home, and given his army the plans for expansion across all of them, but that was many days and nights. To be exact it was a little over two months ago. It was very near to the time of war for the High elf houses, and it would be a bloody one. Most likely the second bloodies war upon the crescent isles in the history, that only to the civil war which had caused the faction to split in half the first time.

The young male elf had left the safety of his home to gather his dream, but to do that he needed far more soldiers, and much more land under his banner to make sure they lasted. Anjui sat at the center of a line of horses, himself upon a young mare, her coat was a dark chestnut brown. Next to him rode Ado upon a light golden yellow stallion. Around them rode armed and fully combat ready guards. The two in front of them rode a silver white stallions. The two behind them rode black mares.

While they were away Anjui set in motion the plans he had placed. While his trip would lead him north and hopefully be a success he doubt it would last long and he would expect an attack from house Aelori even if they agreed to the reason why he was there in the first place. While time was a key factor the young king had placed his commanders in over seeing the construction. Their focus needed to be on the capital first then to go and expand the forts outside of the city. If they had to wait on fortifying the forts then at least the majority of the construction would be done.

The group had set out across their lands to meet the trees of the Silver woods. Inside these woods was house Aelori, a person they had made an enemy of during the brief night during the winter festival. They would be stubborn, but worse was that Anjui knew guards were already watching them and waiting on the orders to attack the group before they reached the estate of the nobility. The order it seemed never came, but Anjui knew that if they were to be ambushed it would have to happen before the estate, otherwise if a single survivor were to escape they could claim the house attacked them out of war season.

Anjui realized they would have a hard time finding the house if they didn't already know where they were at. It was actually the reason why he brought along with him the guards. the four of them had already been to the house and would know where it was. They had been to House Aelori with the ambassador from the house before, a few times they traveled back and forth. The group stopped as they came face to face with a swift fall. It was what kept the outside world away from the house itself. The house had no walls, no towers nothing, but it was hidden so well within the forest itself one could go one hundred years inside the forest and walk past it several thousand times and not know it.

The guards took a left turn and disappeared below the cliff line. It was almost like they had fallen, but it wasn't so. They had taken a pathway down. The twins follow the pair and were followed by the other guards behind them. Looking over the side Anjui saw that it was at least one hundred feet drop from where they were at to the river or sea below. Going across a perfectly carved bridge the group was halted at the end of it by two guards that came away from the stone that surrounded a door. "State your business here." called one of them in a female voice.

Anjui looked over the pair. Nothing gave away who they were accept their figure. he could tell one was a male the other a women. He could also tell by the way their cloaks sat upon their figure the male had a blade under his cloak with likely an arrow and bow at the ready and a few hidden knives likely in his boot and tucked up his sleeves. The female just held a bow and arrow, and a sword at her left hip, but her cloak was partly open to her bow already being drawn. "I said state your business."

Anjui looked the women dead in the face without so much as flinching or skipping a beat. 

"I am here to see Lord Aelori." Ado held up a scroll which he handed to the guard. Anjui watched the exchange and spoke more. 

"Lord Aelori will wish to hear what we have to say. Hurry and deliver that to his side." The female went to break the seal upon the scroll when Anjui stopped her. 

"That is for Lord Aelori's eyes alone." the female handed the scroll over to the male companion and nodded, she had her bow redrawn and ready to fire.

As the male guard disappeared several other guards appeared from the stone bridge behind them ready to kill them at any moments notice. Anjui and Ado exchanged a look and returned their gaze to the doorway. It seemed like hours for the male guard to come back, but it was ten minutes. "Lord Aelori will see you." Nodding with grace the group rode through the doorway and into the city itself also bustling with life.

While the door was unremarkable the city was magnificent in its own right. Built it seemed taller then most trees one would think you could see the city buildings in the distances, but unless you were inside the city itself you couldn't even tell. Like the Felwood house the silverwood's capital city was butt up against a cliffside, To the east was the only doorway into the city itself. The rest of the city was surrounded by a drop into either a part of the Silver woods, or into a river that cut into the silver woods that allowed them to dock their ships inland instead of on the coastline.

Walking down the pathway Anjui paid close attention. in the center was a single fountain that was currently off, due to war coming soon it was unlikely it would be on until war was over due to elves being known to use tactics like poisoning a water source. To the right of the unused fountain was stones marked by pillars on either side which then lead into he guessed was a theatre of some kind carved into the stone itself. That or an arena either would do. To the right was a pathway that lead to a temple that was also placed right against the cliffside. Continuing down the pathway they had come the city itself came into sight. A grand estate that held not one, but four different giant homes.

"Each house holds one of the Lord Aelori's family members. The first one is where he stays with his wife and their children stay. The next is for his siblings and their families. The third is for his wife's siblings and their children. the very last one is where Lord and Lady Aelori's parents stay, It is also there that the soldiers that guard the city stay. Most citizens live behind that with a wall between the estates and them incase we are attacked."

It was a smart lay out to Anjui's thoughts. Put your nobility closest to the entrance and the citizens as far from it as possible incase of an attack. The soldiers patrolled the grounds were close by and could easily go from their homes to defend the citizens instead of the estates themselves. The male guard waved his hand. "Lord Aelori will see you in his throne room, however I must return to my duties." without another word the guard turned and disappeared back the way the group had come and back out the gate.

Anjui, Ado, and the four guards were stopped at the entrance into the estate. They dismounted and continued into the estate. Now Anjui understood the words his mother spoke about hoping her home was as graceful as their own. It was like they had build the city itself out of the living trees around them. while Anjui's eyes wandered the halls he knew his brother wouldn't let him stray to far. It was then the bump into his side from his brother's elbow that got him to look straight ahead. Sitting upon his throne was Lord Aelori and to his right was Lady Aelori in her own chair. On either side of them were children, likely their children. To Lord Aelori's left looked to be the crown prince and person who would inherit the crown. on either side of the noble family sat several other members of the nobility to the house. Not specifically the rulers of the house, but high nobles on the land, or lesser nobles.

"House Aelori greats you Lord Anjui, and you Prince Ado. What is it..." Lady Aelori was cut off when her husband threw his hand up for her to be silent. His face bright red it seemed with anger. in his hand was the scroll Ado had given to the guard earlier. 

"This is fowl play; and I will not stand for it you runt. To think you can claim your house by taking it from under your parents. Then to turn around and use their claim upon my own house to claim it from under my family as well." Gasps went out across the nobility that had all gathered around, and a look of surprise came to Anjui even from his own guards and brother.

Of course a smile played across the young elf's face. 

"That lord Aelori is not saying I am claiming your house, it is a statement to my parents from you and the Lady Aelori written and signed by both of you and sealed stating that our two houses will be merged by marriage of the young lord Ado, to your princess Lady Tasia." Ado seemed shook, it read on his face after all that this knowledge was all new to him. It was known however their mother was a cunning lady that always sought power for herself even if it meant using her children to get it. 

"I am not asking for the marriage. In fact I am asking for it to be nulled, however this would tarnish your family name and the house reputation which would cause you to loose trading partners and value which would bring down your house rank probably lower then its greatest enemy."

The Lord stood up from his seat storming down to come face to face with Anjui. 

"I will not take to threats boy. Now speak what you want and be done with it." waving his hands out from his chest Anjui's smile only grew. 

"I want your house Lord Aelori." it was that statement that seemed to set it off. the entire family stood up, but without word as Tasaer had his hand in the air for silence before they could speak of outrage. 

"What does that mean for my family?" Anjui locked his eyes with the lords the smile still upon his face. 

"Nothing will happen to you if that is what you mean. You will still stay here within your estates, Your family will act as regents to the Silver woods for my family. There are minor changes that would happen and that is all."

Lord Aelori's face went from its bright ruby red to a ghost white. His eyes flickered from Anjui to the letter and back a few times before he spoke again. 

"And what would these changes be Lord Anjui?" Holding up four fingers Anjui looked to his brother from over his shoulder. 

"The crown of House Aelori will go to my brother Ado, as of the moment of signing to the agreement, and it will stay within his family unless he deems it necessary to go to another instead." putting down one finger the young male paused a moment to let his words register not only with the man standing in front of him, but all of the nobility gathered.

"The second change is that House Aelori will now become apart of house Masjhol which then means the banners that are flying here in the capital and in any other city shall be changed to our own. The insignia upon your soldiers and the armor your soldiers wear will be changed to match our own soldiers. This also means that your army now becomes apart of our own. While small its still useful." The lord watched as Anjui put down a second finger holding up two still in the air.

"The third, is that to make sure this exchange works correctly I shall be placing my sister Shaelia here within Shyr Tadorar for you to watch. And I shall take with me in return your young prince Mylas with us to return to Masol Thysaer. An exchange of nobility I feel would allow us to work better together as we can correspond with each other faster then taking the journey between the two capitals and dealing with formalities such as stopping to announce who we are and such. "

Coming down from his own chair the Prince Mylas joined his father at his side. "And what prey tell is the exchange of prisoners for?" Anjui looked at the young prince. He was a high elf about the same age as Anjui. They could have been twins themselves in a sense. Mylas had blue eyes, golden blonde hair that draped down to about mid back. He stood a little shorter then Anjui and Ado by maybe an inch. His ears were a little shorter as well. His figure thin, but one could tell he had the muscle tone of a swimmer. 

"It is not an exchange of Prisoners young Mylas. It is an exchange of family. This leads me to my last condition. While House Aelori will become apart of House Masjhol, it will still retain its own nobility, however their name will become Masjhol as well. So young Mylas, you would be known as Mylas Masjhol. instead of Mylas Aelori. I will not make the same mistakes as our ancestors in allowing a single person to rule the entire people. I will make an empire out of our people, by allowing the nobility to rule the lands they hold by their own. Those only above them will be myself and my brother Ado until we pass the crowns to another. I will have House eclipse be one of the strongest houses in the elven Empire, but first you must agree or you must fall."

Mylas looked to his father and back to their family. Taking the letter from their father's hand he read it through. Anjui took in a deep breath. 

"They never planned on you taking the house over Mylas. They had planned on merging Aelori into Thaelyr in the near future with your older sister's marriage to my brother. He would have taken the crown instead and my mother would have expected him to pledge his loyalty to our father by blood and giving the crown of House Aelori over to our father. Your father and mother already knew what she was planning and were going to allow it to happen, they even agreed to it within the letter."

It was then the lady of the house stepped down and grabbed onto her son. only he wiggled out of her grip and with tears in his eyes and running down his face "Is this true? Do you see me as not fit to lead our people?" Both lord and lady stayed silent. 

"They agreed to the terms my mother laid down as long as she met theirs. It was laid down that they would still retain the lands as their own and would be considered High nobility within the house. The difference between the agreement I wish to make and the one our parents would have made is that instead of sealing the agreement by marriage we are sealing it by exchanges an important figure."

A deep breath was let out by lord Aelori and sobs came from his wife as she went to embrace her child again repeating over and over to him that she was sorry for what they had done. 

"Very well. We agree to your terms. On one more condition of our own. As your parents only had two conditions to our own one, you have four so we will have two. Your sister was banished with your parents and older siblings, allow them to return to the lands their family now have as their own. Let them still retain the name of Thaelyr, and allow them to be nobility within your house."

Anjui looked to his brother, but the male had confusion on his face for a brief moment but nodded to his brother. Anjui returned his head to face the lord only to see his own family walk out from behind the noble family that all sat back down in their chairs. Without a blink or second thought Anjui looked specifically to his parents. 

"I agree, however if I find out they plan or try and retake the throne of the house from under me I will have their heads. I am ruler and I will not loose my house because of sentiment for family. If need be I will take their heads myself."

A look of despair appeared across the Felwood family, but also of a victory. They were allowed to return to their home and they would be glad for that itself.  

                                            ~~~~Ado's POV ~~~~~

During the relax time he had Ado had watched as many of the construction of the home was under way. It was a slow progress at first. It had to do with their altitude, and so they had to get the resources to build the walls from the lower lands or possible from the mountains that surrounded them, but that meant destroying what natural borders they had. and that just would not be allowed.

Ado had sent a message to the Dwarven clans that would be found in the underway under the Crescent isle. Anyone who had known their history knew that there were a total of twelve major houses within the Dwarven world. There were three that called home under the Crescent isle, four would be found under the Abor country. the other five would be found within the mountain ranges of the middle country of Arath. Leaving no Dwarven people to be found in the underway or the tunnels of the old world and far western country of Dalin.

To the north was countries that elves didn't keep track of besides that Humans expanded upon them like rabbits, and Orcs were north of that, and even farther north was the frostlands of the Norsemen and Trolls. To their south was the great land only known to have the civilizations of the Lizardmen and desert races. below them was the southern frozen lands, that supposedly were uninhabited besides the natural ice cold creatures such as polar bears, dragons, penguins, frost worgs, but the tunnels of the old dwarven empire once made it believed that the dwarves ruled even these lands.

Ado was now finally after weeks of waiting getting the three houses under the Crescent isle to come to their hall. Most dwarves would have preferred to meet in a setting of their own making, however Ado would not leave his brother to be assigned by someone before his reign actually saw first light. He also made it very clear that his brother the king of the house would be there and they can speak terms of an agreement between the dwarven houses and the house of Starlight.

He had met them at what was known only as Si Bali. It was the gate between the tunnel systems of the Underway and House Masjhol. The Vale was not a normal passageway, but was an old fortress built back in the days of the Elven empire, when dwarves and elves were at war. Fortified to be protected from the tunnels themselves and outside the mountain range it was built into Si Bali was the second most fortified stronghold on the crescent isle that only to the Capital of the entire isle itself of Mi Shareas.

Within the walls of Si Bali Ado had met with the three dwarven houses. Izril Karag(jewel mountain), Grom Sar(High Might), and Azril Grong (Silver Anvil). The first to arrive was the Silver Anvil clan, their person was a young women who seemed bright and very new to the idea of politics. She however had the look of a warrior to her, the battle paint was clear upon her face and the many scars on her arms were visible outside of the tunic. The most notable one was the fact she was missing her right hand. The second to show was that of the Jewel mountain house, represented by an older male who held on him robes of nobility, but he held no scars, and no war paint which must have meant he was raised in the priesthood or into the mage ways. As any child of noble dwarves were thrusted into war, and to not have any battle paint meant he must not have taken a life at his age, and for an older dwarf not to have taken a life meant he must have been a healer at one point or another. The third was that of House High Might. Represented by a young male himself he held a sense of arrogance about him like he was next in line to rule all the clans, and it was possible Elves didn't keep track of where the crown of the dwarven people would pass, but he also had his war paint and a few scars like that of the female companion, however he also seemed fully intact.

"Greets From House Masjhol." giving a sort of bow Ado kept his eyes on the dwarves in front of him. While the elves and dwarves have been at peace, they still had old hatred of one another between clans and houses. The first to speak was the older dwarf in almost perfect elvish. "Mal iar o aidor." Ado stood to look at the dwarf, a sly grin upon his face. 

"An i***t would have met you at the gate and done business there. I have invited you into Si Bali. You are surrounded by elven wardens and your several thousand feet above the tunnels and your armies." The dwarves seemed to be a little upset with this information, even patting themselves down to make sure they still had their weapons upon them only to find they had already been disarmed at the gate, however Ado was also not carrying any weapon, and three dwarves to one elf was an unfair match.

Ado let his smile slip away from his face to return to the stone face he had upon his person before. "Get to the point young one, what is it you have asked to meet us for?" the young prince stepped around a table to reveal several maps upon the thing, a few of them were the new plans to the Citadel of stars. The next was an exact replica of the underway tunnel system found in the world, each entrance and exit was marked with a blue marker while the dead ends were marked with red. The cities were marked with yellow and the abandoned cities were marked in purple. the map seemed to have details that updated itself, with new tunnels being added and some old ones being covered up do to cave ins and the like, but all the systems were there all marked down on the map itself, of course the details were written in elvish, so the dwarves while they could speak it couldn't understand the elvish runes.

"We have records that you are trying to excavate tunnel systems from the underway back into the Pit, but the ones you have uncovered lead only to the Darkworld. The tunnels that your people had built back when the dwarven empire ruled the underground and before it fell to goblins and mass war between the clans. We also know that your rebuilding some of the ruins of dwarven cities in hopes to bring back your empire as much as possible. These cities would open up trade routes for your people which would allow for expansion and more trade and diplomacy with the surface races." the two young dwarves seemed stunned how could elves know of this, especially elves that were uniformed of the world around them due to their own choice of enclosing themselves on the island.

The old dwarf's stone cold face looked at the map, moving a few of the pages out of the way his eyes drew to a single paper that seemed to cover the table itself. "What is that?" Ado looked down to see the paper the dwarf's hand is upon. 

"That Lord Jewel Mountain is a map of Karaz Rik." This is what had caused the old dwarf's face to glow a bright. "We thought all maps of the city were gone, burned in the purging fire." Ado cleared off the rest of the maps and set them in the chair he would have sat in and nodded. 

"That is correct. Karaz Rik's original details are here. The elves helped build the old dwarven capital, it was designed by my Great Grandfather, the First of our kind Casha."

The two younger dwarves came clanking in their armor up to the table to look at the map itself. "How is this possible that the elves have plans of our old empire capital? Especially in this detail." the dwarves marveled over the detail in the map. It showed in the very center of the city was the Royal quarters. It was meant to house the King and his family. It was a symbol to the city and instead of being dug into the ground it was raised like a tower over the rest of the city. It was the single pillar that held the pit's roof up. Around it in a circle were twenty four houses. Each systematically placed like that of a clock. Starting at the far north and skipping every other house was one of the original dwarven twelve houses. The other twelve were minor nobility or houses specifically built for important figures like Merchant lords, or the Arch mages. Around them was a wall that blocked off the nobility from the rest of the city incase it was ever attacked. Around them was the warrior's cast ring. It was the ring that contained the armory, the army forges, stables, barracks, and the houses to the warrior cast. Another wall separated the Warrior cast from the city. Around the warrior cast was the commons. The market, the shops, and housing for those in the common cast. Bound in another wall outside of it was plain fields that had probably sense grown wild with all sorts of plant life, that is if it wasn't burnt to ash by the creatures that occupied it.

"The king would be greatly interested in these plans." Ado threw the maps from his chair back onto the table. 

"This is not what we have come to discuss. You need a place for the stone you remove to be taken or brought to. I am saying I have a use for it, just bring it here to Si Bali and we will take care of it from there." the three dwarves seemed a bit angry as Ado covered up the map, perhaps their focus was on the map, but it would be on him now. "Let us discuss this with our king. We will send a messenger with his answer." Nodding Ado snapped his fingers and a few elven guards appeared from the stone walls. 

"Escort our guests back to the door and their guards. They have a long journey ahead of them."

Nodding the elves escorted the dwarven people out and Ado returned to the map that had peaked their interest. It had even drawn his attention. He knew the reason why the dwarves were so interested in it was because the dwarves were always trying to reclaim their old capital. It was the marvel of the dwarven civilization and the peak of their golden age. It had fallen during the civil wars, and the goblins and orcs drove the population to starve itself out. Then dragons came. and purged the entire city. Any trace of the old city was lost to the dwarves, so records of any kind was very valuable to them. However what drew Ado's attention was the fact Anjui was also interested in the city itself, more specifically the very thing the dwarven throne was carved from.

Ado had left The vale and returned to Masol Thysaer, it was also there he spent the remainder of what time they had before leaving on their journey across the lands of the crescent isle. Ado's deal paid off. He had gotten a message three days later that said the king accepted his deal and so Masol Thysaer would grow and so would the Fortresses, and it was in thanks of effort of the dwarven miners and people.

The trip to Shyr Tadorar, the Capital to house Aelori was a very decent one. Through the lands of Masjhol they didn't have any trouble at all, even though they had brought with them guards incase they ran into some on the way from the folks that worked in the fields or lived in the country, or even the guards at Pandyrl Shar. They however seemed glad of the change of the Crown, even if it was to a young lad who had no current experience in actual war, but one day that would change. Their passage within the Molaes Shyr however was far from smooth. It was a matter of watching themselves and making no threatening moves as they had been on a constant watch from the house Aelori guards sense they had left the Fortress on their border.

It wasn't however until they reached the gate that would lead into Shyr Tadorar that they finally encountered a guard. the one that had spoken first was obviously female as her voice gave it away, but she had demanded they stated their business. Ado looked to his brother who only stayed silent, and the guards did not speak either only gripped the reigns of their mounts tighter between their fingers. Anjui had answered her after the second attempt of finding out the reason they were there, but this time his brother answered. It was the look Anjui gave him that told the young prince to give up the scroll.

Producing a letter from within his tunic Ado handed it over to the guard closer to him, which so happened to be the female. Anjui spoke some more, but before he could finish Ado watched as the girl looked it over a few times. In an attempt to figure out what it was they had wanted she was about to break the seal, but Anjui screamed for her to stop. She handed the letter to her male companion and he had disappeared. It wasn't long before he reappeared at the doorway. The female spoke again of how Lord Aelori would see the group.

Ado, like his brother was impressed with Shyr Tadorar. It was a grand house indeed, even for the size of land they claimed they had managed to build even a city as large as its capital, and still have room for probably many more. Instead of his focus being on the details of the city however the young prince kept his eyes on the people around them. Caution was his trade, and it didn't fail him. Curious eyes gazed upon the twins along with the guards they had with them. Of course many eyes were of soldiers and that of the common folk who likely were returning from the fields or headed out to them.

Within the throne room Ado paid attention to the nobility and royals in front of him. The young prince did side glance once or twice to look at the guards which were placed every few paces placed up against the wall in pairs. Eventually his brother Anjui caught his eye, but Anjui wasn't looking forward at the nobles in front of them, but around at the building itself like it was what he had come for instead. Nudging him slightly with his elbow Ado had forced Anjui to focus on the task at hand. Dealing with the nobility of the house.

What had happened within the next few minutes seemed to all be a dream to Ado, how was it his mother could use him to conspire for power, even from a lower house of all things. Yes she would be expanding their territory and even expanding their trading value and military out put, but it also would hinder them in the long run, as to merge the two houses meant that diplomatic ties would end up being damaged somewhere for Felwood. It wasn't until the word Marriage came out of his brother's mouth that Ado was paying attention. So the rumors of it were true their mother had indeed planned on using all her children to bring other houses to bend and knee under her foot if she could. She was indeed a clever women, but not witty enough to have it done quicker.

It was however the young Mylas's voice that had called his attention away from his own thoughts. Ado had just heard whispers of how Mylas would be returning to Masol Thysaer with the pair, but their sister Shaelia would stay here in Shyr Tadorar. How was it possible that she would stay here when they didn't know where she was at? Or did Anjui know where their family was, but did not speak of it as it did not matter to him? There was a moment of silence before more words were spoken. The deep voice of Lord Aelori and how he had a condition of his own and that was that their family would be allowed to retain the family name of Thaelyr, and also allowed to return to the lands they once claimed as their own, as nobles under Anjui.

These words shocked him, but yet Ado couldn't speak out against them. He missed his siblings, even his mother and father, but he would keep an eye on them and make sure none would take the crown from Anjui by any means.