The Throne of Bones.

13. Day's Gone.

Even though Eliós had a depressing atmosphere above and around it, somehow the morning seemed more peaceful than most as the critters returned to their trees dens and holes.

The citizens were amidst cleaning even a full week after the city was destroyed, but twelve days was a lot of time so they were very near to cleaning up the last bits of broken and burnt debris.

"Minto, I have questions." Wolfsword turned to the halfling as they packed their belongings in small spacial backpacks for departure. "Will you take offence?" 

Minto looked up at the large male before him and shrugged. "That only depends on what kind of questions you ask sir-Orc." He replied lightly.

"Your parents, of what race were they?" He asked as he fitted three bound and sheathed swords down into the little bag.

"Hm... my father was a Fae." Minto dragged his fingers through his hair softly as their faces came to his mind. "He was cast out of his homeland after saving a refugee Demon of Néthark from death by taking her as his mate." 

"Do you know what rank they held?" Okorak pressed. 

Minto went deep into thought as he tried to remember what his father had told him years ago. "Hm, my father... he once mentioned that he had a high rank among his people, which is why they dared not go after his life or his wife despite his breaking of one of their sacred laws, he was a Grand-something-a-nother." Minto tapped his knuckle on his head as he tried to remember but eventually gave up. "I don't see the importance of a title though."

"What of your mother?" Wolfsword asked, somewhat intrigued by the half-assedly delivered tale of Minto's father.

"Nothing." Minto chuckled.

"Nothing?" Wolfsword repeated.

"That's right, I know absolutely nothing about my mother other than her name, and that she was once living in Néthark, they refused to tell me no matter how much I pressed so I eventually stopped asking."

"Strange." Wolfsword licked his tusk then continued packing. "Do you still wish to know?" 

"It doesn't really matter to me if i know or not." Minto was handed a sheathed sword attached to a holster by Astrá who came lightly dressed in a regular commoner's blouse and pants that were tucked into her boots. "In the end, they're my parents no matter their past."

He sighed, latching the holster around his waist, closing his backpack, and putting it on.

"Lady-Astrá." Laná swiftly walked toward them. "A mob has gathered outside of the gates." She stated.

No longer did she or anyone else wear the uniform of the crimson fortress, but rather they were all dressed as common folk.

Astrá c****d her head to the side with a smile. "Should I welcome them in then?" She asked sarcastically. "Nobody can get in, and we are preparing for departure, ignore them Laná."

As the morning turned to day the newly formed party of four stood ready at the gate with nearly three dozen elves behind them.

"Alright then." Astrá took a calming breath before taking hold of the lock and yanking it off. 

The moment the gates began to open a rush of fire poured in causing everyone to double back, Astrá was quick to raise her hands and counter with her own flames, causing a small explosion to rush back outward.

As they stepped through of the gates and outside of the influence of spacial magic they almost gasped at the numbers, almost three hundred people stood before them armed to the teeth; Orcs, Elves, humans, Trolls, and half-breeds and even some sentient beasts that resided in Eliós.

"What is the meaning of this?" Astrá asked stepping forward.

"The witch holds power in her words, kill her before she curses you!" An armoured Orc shouted from within the mass.

"Cut out her tongue!" Screamed another from the mob.

"Kill the witch and burn her followers!" 

"Elves!" Astrá called, and the former servants of her household came forth and to her side, staring down the mass fearlessly.

"Even now, when faced with death you won't repent?" Bree stepped forward with golden fire coating her sword. 

"It's like I said yesterday Miriá." Minto passed her a complicated glance as he took his bag and turned it on his chest. "What's the point of learning manners, when we're going down a path of savagery?" His wings grew out and stretched open dramatically causing a gust of magically amplified wind to burst through the mob.

Murmurs broke out in the mob, then those murmurs turned to shouts of anger.

"Kill them, the Demon appears again!" 

From the front of the line several elves raised their decorated crossbows and began gathering magicule at the tips of their fingers creating blue glowing arrowheads.

Before any of them fired a shot the ground began to quake, then in the midst of the mob a great vine arose knocking away dozens at a time, from that vine thousands of smaller vines shot out and snagged everyone and in an instant immobilizing them, the vines mercilessly slammed everyone against the ground and each other several times then lost their elasticity and grew leaves transforming into a mature tree after a minute of standing still.

Wolfsword turned just in time to witness Minto lowering his hands with a bead of sweat rolling down his chin. "With such little effort he..." the Orc slapped his own forehead and chuckled, this boy never ceased to amaze him. 

"What dark sorcery is this?" Bree screeched as she tried vainly to release herself from the vines. "Hurry and free yourself before the tree takes your life."

"Enough of you." Keeping true to his promise, Wolfsword drew his sword and raised it to remove Bree's head from her shoulders, but Miriá's call made him pause mid swing.

"Killing her, would be staining your hand with unnecessary blood." Astrá spoke in Miriá's stead, then walked over to Bree and cut the vine enough that she would be able to free herself after a little struggle.

"Escape the vine and free your comrades, by then we should be long gone."

Bree hissed at the redhead, but dared not speak up again.

Okorak sheathed his sword and turned his back. "Good ridden."

After that day, they were branded as outlaws, they were wrongfully linked to the many Dragon attacks throughout all of Idgiá and hunted down, as rumors had it: "Astrá the Crimson Witch" used the power of Ignium; a Demon clan, and summoned the Demon with wings like darkness, blood coloured skin, and horns all over its hideous head, this demon had been the one that called the Dragon Ashrótt, and led him to attack the Heart of Idgiá: Wolfberry, and later that same year, Eliós the city that would have become the new beast capital.

Colluding with Astrá was "Bloody Wolfsword", the fire breathing high Orc that practiced dark arts and was utterly corrupted by it, a hundred-strong army of suicidal elves being manipulated against their will through Astrá's witchery, and a wicked succubus, it was rumoured that Miriá could steal your soul by simply staring in your eyes, she was a temptress who had slaughtered many men to grow strong and then was summoned by the witch to do her bidding.

All these individuals together were said to reside in an evil forest that appeared overnight in the southern kingdom of Slyth that was named Splinterfire because of the leaves that glowed red and burnt like hell's fire at night, warding off any who dared enter after the sun went down, it was a few miles away from an important industrial town called Waybrook where it was said they would next attack.

Those were the rumours.

Since Eliós, a full year had passed without sight or sound of the rogue army called The Red Death, but the forest was watched day and night for any slight movement because many believed that they were busy creating some weapon to strike Idgiá again.

Many believed them to be harbouring and nurturing the rumoured returning Demon King. Truth is, the rumoured "Red Death" were nowhere near Splinterfire, they were hundreds of thousands of miles away to the northeast border of Magmus and still moving, slowly making their way toward Dairoth the Capital kingdom, and then cross the Idgián sea to Arká, the first of two continents they would need to cross before reaching Néthark .

In this time, Minto had grown a full head and neck taller, with more defined muscles honed through rigorous training non-stop day and night, his hair was now in the middle of his back, while his horns had remained the same size they always were.

Astrá had long since cut and dyed her hair black to move around freely from town to town with Miriá who had grown but a mere inch and now had tall curly hair and two small horns where the previous ones had been broken back in Wolfberry. 

What had changed though was her physical maturity, she had become as equally eye-catching as she was beautiful.

Wolfsword had gone through a few changes himself, shaving the hair from his head and face and wearing merchants' clothing to seem unassuming as he traveled with the others by a large spacious wagon pulled by his Great-horse who had found him after they left Eliós.

The elves had all gone out on their own, except for Dariél and the triplet who had followed and assisted the party despite being told not to several times. 

They were stopped at an unknown and unnamed town and were in the middle of eating in a tavern called The Buried Duck after a long day's journey when Laná, one of the elf triplets came bearing news from the town they were in.

"Lady-Astrá." She whispered coming closer and gesturing that all of them join in as well. "I just heard news of a Dragon's location, a day east of here."

"Is this news valid, did we not hear two towns ago that a month has passed without sight of any dragon in any direction?" Astrá asked back in a low tone skeptically. 

"This news comes from a human dressed as a merchant who came into town just now on a frantic and frightened horse that collapsed as soon as it stopped running, the man himself seemed to have been frightened into insanity." Laná replied in a hushed tone.

"He probably became scared after a robbery gone wrong and has chosen to blame it on dragons." Wolfsword chuckled then began eating again. "Besides, if you think him to be insane, then why would you believe his words?"

"Okorak, do not question my judgment, you know us elves can sense wether what a person says is sincere or not!" Laná sat back in her chair and waved to the waitress across the room with a pout befitting a spoilt princess.

"Minto, what do you think?" Astrá asked turning to him.

"On the off chance that the crazy merchant is right, do you believe that we would triumph over a dragon as we currently are?" 

"We have been training for this haven't we?" Minto asked back turning the bowl to his mouth and scoffing down the rest of the food hastily. "Even if it turns out to be fake, we should see this for ourselves-" 

"Hey there merchant." An Orc twice the size in body as Wolfsword came and dropped his heavily armored hand on his shoulder. 

"You treat your slaves well; giving them the privilege to eat beside you and your Elf and Human guests like this, an Orc like you really seems like an honourable fellow, so how about we make a trade." He suggested, giving Wolfsword's shoulder a nice squeeze.

The sudden intrusion rendered them all extremely annoyed.

Wolfsword looked at the half-drunk Orc from head to toe, rolled his eyes and ignored him, finding the plate before him much more appealing.

"No thank you." He replied well mannerly.

"Oh come on, I can pay you my weight in gold pieces for that halfling boy, and double for the girl!" He raised his voice while tapping on Wolfsword's shoulder harder and harder causing the tavern to simmer as more attention was drawn to them. "Let us trade!" He laughed.

"You..." Wolfsword stood and stared up in the Orc's face, it was a high Orc wearing golden armor with the Idgián King's crest on his chest, no doubt a part of the King's Noble army.

"Let..us..trade... little Orc." The Noble Soldier rested his hand on a hilted sword as tall as a human with his teeth baring and a grin on his smug face. 

"Or I take them for free."