Black Horde: War Horn (Book 1) (2 page)

Hall  petrifaction in quietly, elves had taken their place at the royal table, the silence pierced only a few waiters in a hurry, that loaded with dishes and drinks the full table. The table fallen prey to elves hunger, all taste the dainties, Ilimael sat to the right of the kind, starving homesickness, rushed taste, but in a manner full of royal manner . Slowly, slowly the solemn atmosphere give away, from a king sing hall was filled with a fine flute music accompanied by a harp. The banquet became increasingly more familiar and now most of the guests at the table had combined in discussions and debates: about the city, forest, wine and deer, about food and music, about Ilimael and king, about Frey and Alheim, but nobody, none of those who were current with what happened with Ilimael not have the courage to remember about them, about orcs, even if there were  elves  that could not abstains, but all remained silent.

In all, the painting of table   Ilimael finished to ate and was sipping wine, relaxed, feeling the warmth of home and safety of the forest. He was thinking of that he should leave soon and this time for longer time, about the woods, the places where he grew up, about his sister, the king, sipping slowly the cold wine. His imaginary process was interrupted by a warm touch of Bhelemer, that approached she’s lips to prince ears and said:

-Please, I want to talk to you tonight,  I saw visions again and  I'm afraid that they may became real,

- All right, sister, he covered she’s head  with his big palm and kissed her on the forehead; do not worry, I am home, said the prince.

After several hours of discussion, music and wine, with a final speech of the king, the banquet was over. All the elves leaved the hall, in which started cleaning work,  forasmuch as elves are big amatory of order and ideal cleanliness. The king disappear into one of the corridors of the castle. Ilimael remaining in the hall, was watching to the battles in details painted on the walls of the hall, and suddenly felt a heavy breath back and said:

-I miss you, old man, especially your advice, ending the phrase, he turned back.

In front of him stood an old elf, with a staff of lime in his right hand, it was Teladril, former general of elves armies, from the time of Naruin, the only  alive elf, who fought in the last of the two wars against the orcs, who witnessed the rise of the prison walls of  Dorgarrd , located far away in the land of  Iron Plains, he was a skillful fighter with a lot of merits and mighty facts. Teladril was his teacher and mentor and he remaining till present, this old elf occupies a prominent position in the hierarchy of black forest elves and his image after his death was to be carved forever in the hall of kings, beside the great warriors of elves nation.

Ilimael embrace his hand and  beaten the old elf on the back with the palm in sign of respect:

-I am glad to see you, master, you have remained as strong as I left you, said prince jokingly,

-Do not flatter , young prince, however you will not escape the punishment, the old man replied,

-Should I be punished, wondering spoke Ilimael?,

-Elves attacking orcs in the open plain, unseen!, Ilimael, this contradicts all my counsel, had criticized Teladril,

-Tsss, with his finger on his lips in sign of silence, old man is not the place for such discussions, let's go master in a quite place,

-Don't tell me, your majesty, that I am wrong, forgive me for my boldness, but you do foolish things,

-Yes, I understand that since I felt your cold breath  near my head, but now I would like to go somewhere away from other ears, I have some questions without answers and I would like to find them, said Ilimael and gestured general to follow him.

The road was short, they had taken into one of the corridors leading to the south wing of the castle where were placed gyms and warehouses. There lived Teladril, in a small room, because  even till present he occupies the post of mentor and coach of young elves warriors.

When they seen themselves alone in Teladril room, Ilimael start the dialogue:

-Teladril, I do not know what happens but I do not feel comfortable, I have a bad feeling, this year we won 3 groups of orcs, they were not numerous, however, and so they created enough problems for us.

-Yeah young prince, it seems a bad sign!

-What are looking orcs here, have they forgotten what happened, they do not remember those 2 bloody wars?, said the prince while filled 2 cups of wine,your cup old man, and tell me, maybe you know why orcs came  so far, asked Ilimael and handed the cup of wine to his mentor,

-I'm sorry your majesty, but I can only give a negative answer, only you, Ilimael, son of Mitry, you need and you have to find the answer, the answer that seems to me will bring, only harm to your majesty, replied humbly Teladril. Small groups of orcs always gave prowls to black forest, but your father, the king has not always attracted importance to them and let things run according to the march of time,

-Teladril, I want to tell you that you were a good teacher, learned me to fight, to hide, to flee, to go riding on black deer, you learned me to wield the sword and bow, learned battle tactics and strategy, I learned to be brave and fearless but you never told me about orcs, and great was my surprise when I meet them for the first time, when I saw those animals with heavy iron armors and helmets, with large sharp swords forged in the mountains hot lava, their eyes were black as night and this bloodthirsty animals have made us to run 5 days and 6 nights after them, master!, do you realize that I  saw evil in their eyes, the way they move and speak and fighting as if it were the last day of their life, actually so was, but I read in their faces black bravery, a total lack of fear, they put us on fire, finished prince outraged the phrase sipping the last wine from his cup, I want to know who they are and where they come from, where they were and where they are headed, asked the prince, and now I want to hear an answer.

-Majesty, with your permission I am going to fill our cups with wine, since the history of iron plains orcs is not a short one and it's not one cheerful neither for us nor for them, said Teladril, rummaging through the pantry cabinets, seeking for a fresh bottle of wine.

He took a bottle of wine, sat on a chair by the fire in the room, took a sip of wine and said:

-Orcs, wretched animals, the darkness, the cursed childrens of night, cursed by the creator himself, they  have  thousand’s of names and everywhere they go they bring only death, fire and blood. No one do not know where they came from or where they come , on some of the shelves of dusty and forgotten rooms of black elves library are some reviews in which is said: ''orcs draws their existing since before all tribes and peoples, that earth tired of times created them, or that they were here when great Frey created the elves or everyone who got in Svartalheim rebelled and escaped into our world taking shape and the embodiment of orcs, but certainly no one knows and in no book is written who they really are and seeking the rest one’s are just legends. I know that  orcs once, before the two wars, inhabited all the land known to us today and were living in wandering tribes  and small barricaded settlements. They lived from  murders and robberies, and not infrequently deleted from this small world our elves settlements or villages populated by people, they had no fear of giants of Cold Islands , and nobody until your grandfather has not dared to face them.

-I know, master, Naruin, if you remember, he is now near Frey and orcs are over the forest and conceive their horrific deeds into their black heads hidden by helmets, what now?,

-Ilimael, to fight the enemy you must know how he thinks, to know what he thinks and how they will proceed further, the old man replied.

-Master, you like to say that we should capture some orcs to get some information out of them, said enthusiastic prince,

-So do majesty, but you should know that the kind is not decidedly to war against orcs or at least give them reason to attack the elves, there are too many signs of question for us to rush into these difficult moments.

-I do not care, Teladril, I am doing what I was trained for, whole life to do, I have to protect my home, regardless of means, but I can not fight with  those stinking orcs without to find out what attracts so hard them, to northwest, towards the land beyond the forest, because they were headed this way, and this I am  determined to do as soon as I leave the house, said Ilimael,

- Your Majesty, I would recommend you to listen to my advice, the advice of an elf who has seen and been through a lot, the orcs may be stupid but not in so way as to permit you to find their plans and in no way they will not  allow you and your 500 army to strolls freely in the fields of iron, they will die by the thousands but will resist,  replied the old man, rummaging again through cupboards looking for a bottle filled with wine.

- To know you're right, old man as usual, but I did not say 500, or as orcs are many but are not so keen to observe a small group of elves, elves clever then stupid animals, we will cross their plains and discover their dark secrets. For the moment I will take into account your advice, but I would like to retire now, I am afraid that after the next bottle I will need help to get out of the room, finished Ilimael and sipped the last drops of wine , got up and left the master room.

After discussion with general, in his  minds, prince was seeing an explosion of thoughts, feelings and reliving, he thought about the action plan, about the elves that would go with him and the road would go through, thinking carefully over every detail of the following days, while walking throw the corridors of castle. He have no directive, and walked chaotic by default but turning randomly to the corridors that went out in his way. After his imaginary process he had been interrupted by meeting with a soldier elf.

-Your majesty, the King  awaits for you in the war hall  in 2 hours, solemn soldier said with a tone of respect and after that  retired in one the corridor where he appear. Ilimael felt a discreet discomfort, which may related to discussion that should take place between him and his father, the king, or perhaps related to the fact that he knew that he was commander of the royal troops, and soon he would have to leave the house. Two hours passed quickly and Ilimael arrived among the first in the hall of wars, yet not first. The hall vibrate  in discussions of the few elves arguing among themselves about the present situation, and the appearance of the prince made them to stand up from their seat and salute him.

-We wish you a long victorious path for you, majesty, we are honored to have you join us in these bleak times that are upon us.

Ilimael without to revoke a verbal response was heading to his chair, he sat down and pulled from his waistband a bracelet with a medallion hung on it and lift it up to eye level.

-Doooorgarrrrrrd, pronounced slowly prince.

Hall was filled again with heated discussions.

-Dorgarrd, how?, and why?, what about Dorgarrd?, it can be truth?, a lot of questions arised between present elves, all of them looked puzzled at bracelet  from his hands.

After a few moments, large hall doors opened and made his appearance accompanied by Teladril, the king and few of his generals. The king sit comfortably on his throne and without anyone to expect, punch the table, making the gathered elves startled.

-Orcs, what the hell are they doing here, they forgot results of the last war, they really have forgotten the name of Naruin, in the name of Frey, I want to know what they are looking for, here,  shout the king expressive. Mitry was sober, loving and servant by law, he tried to maintain peace but on the other hand was a fire easily peeved, and exceptional impulsive.

- Your majesty, until this moment we have no data eloquent  for orcs intentions, said Kessel, the elf who often accompanied Ilimael in its campaigns,

-Dorgarrd, pronounced again the prince, this time he threw hard bracelet on the table,

-What's with Dorgarrd?, the king said,

-It's a elves bracelet, father, he has emblem of Dorgarrd elves army, the prince continued explaining.

-I see, it's a bracelet, and I know well that it belongs  to elves that are far from our  plains, what importance have our brothers bracelets,NOW?

-This bracelet, I found it on the last orc killed by my sword, which means that this dead orc had not other way to get the bracelet than to take it by force from an elf who wear such bracelets, and? Yes, the elves, in  Dorgarrd, were elves from Seletorn family, the last elves that remain to live on Iron Plains.

-Ilimael, you want to say that Dorgarrd fell?, asked the king.

Ilimael does not knew the answer, just how much he wanted to know he could not answer to the question. Created confusion in the room, made Teladril  to intervene and  help the prince to defuse the situation.

-Majesty, the messengers from  Dorgarrd visit nine months ago, last time, when they asked for supplies, weapons and shields, then no one remembered about orcs or jail, so there were not arouse reasons for concern.

-But Teladril the reasons appear now, even if you all do not recognize this or do not want to understand the created situation, Dorgarrd fell and I guess you  will just find there ruins, said Ilimael.

-How? shouting the king, rising from his seat, It can’t be truth, the sons of Seletorn had at their disposal 3000 elves, it's impossible to be beaten and not to sent any news, impossible,

-I'm afraid it's possible father, if orcs from jail in some  unknown way to us, could escape and take power on the prison, then everything is possible, replied Ilimael,