《Edelholz》


 1. The reason for everything

    Beringianus stood by the window and looked out over the city as the red rays of the sunset made it look as if it was on fire. He sighed loudly to himself as he recalled what had happened during the day. It had all started around midday, when someone knocked on the door to his office. He granted the person permission to enter and an almost crying Cricetus entered.


    Beringianus felt a cold shiver down his spine, this was truly the first time he had seen Cricetus this close to tears. He immediately asked what the matter was and got the news that would come to change the fate of many.


    Criceuts swallowed and looked down on the polished black stone floor before he answered.


    ¡°Your Excellency, a great mistake have happened.¡± He paused, as if grasping the energy to tell what had happened. ¡°We had kept five of the most dangerous convicts in the royal dungeons. However, by the usual ten¡¯ o¡¯clock guard switch we found the guards, assigned to guard the prisoners, stuffed in a cleaning closet, knocked out and their uniforms missing.¡± Beringianus had a bad feeling in his stomach but he had to ask. ¡°I see, and what do you want to say with that. Has something happened to the convicts?¡± Cricetus looked up at the emperor and answered in a weak voice. ¡°¡­They have escaped your Excellency. They probably disguised themselves as guards and we estimate that they escaped around the morning meal.¡± As soon as he¡¯d said the last word big wet tears started running down his cheeks and Cricetus started to cry. ¡°I am so very *hic* sorry, *sniff* your Excellency. I have made an unforgivable *hic* mistake but I beg You, please don¡¯t fire me. I have nowhere else to go.¡± Sobbed Cricetus.


    Beringianus stared at his servant and old friend. ¡±Of course you won¡¯t be fired. You are my oldest and most trustworthy friend. We will just have to come up with a solution to fix this mess. Do you have any suggestions?¡± Cricetus looked up at his rulers face with relief and disbelief. He could not understand how someone so powerful could have such kindness for an old servant. Cricetus chose his words carefully, since he didn¡¯t want to say something that could make things worse. ¡°If your Excellency doesn¡¯t mind me saying, I think your Excellency should speak with the royal court magus. He is sure to know what to do to catch the escaped convicts.¡± Beringianus thought about the unexpected suggestion. He wasn¡¯t particularly happy about going meet and speak to the old coot. It was well known that the royal court magus was quite weird, but desperate times calls for drastic actions.


    Beringianus sighed deeply, it could almost be interpreted as a groan, before he answered the nervous Cricetus, whom which had interpreted the silence as disagreement to the suggestion and tried desperately to think of another idea. ¡°Yes, I shall go and speak with the magus. It was a wise decision Cricetus. I just have to overcome my aversion and go and counsel with the court magus.¡± Cricetus sighed silently in relief and quickly excused himself and left as fast as was polite.


    As soon as the door closed did a slight groan escape from Beringianus as he turned around and walked towards the tapestry that hung on the wall that faced the direction of the east tower. It was a portrait of his great-grandfather, the only ruler that had succeeded in keeping the peace between Edelholz and the neighboring country. The same day as Beringianus grandfather was crowned as the new ruler, did the peace treaty break and the neighboring country declared war against Edelholz. The fighting has continued to this day, however Beringianus has managed to uphold a fragile truce between the two kingdoms. Beringianus gazes up at his ancestor and thought as always that the elf stared right through him with his ice blue eyes that looked so much like his own. If you compared the two, you would find them practically identical with the only thing which told them apart were their hair. Beringianus hair was slivery white and flowed down to his waist when it was let down, while the ancestors hair was black as coal. The King pushed the tapestry gently aside to reach the thing which was behind it.


    A cool breeze travels through the room, even though no windows were opened. Unexpectedly there was no wall behind the tapestry, but an opening big enough for a very muscular and tall elf to go through.


    It was with great reluctance that Beringianus stepped into the secret passageway to the royal magus''s chamber. He shivered when he walked past the door openings now covered by a layers of magic and stone. This path used to be the dungeon where the political prisoners were held before it was renovated into the pathway to the royal magus. He hated to walk past these remnants of a cruel era, only to imagine how it easily could have been him in there, had he been born a few hundreds of years earlier. He brushed of the cold shiver that went down his spine and tried to remind himself as to why he even walked on this horrible path.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    He wished he could forget the reason behind it as he wanted with all of his heart to turn around and never have to meet the magus. Beringianus hurried his steps and almost ran the rest of the way. When he finally reached the big wooden door did he stop and hesitate, was it really such a big crisis that the ruler himself had to ask the castle magus for advice? Get it together, Beringianus! Of course, it is a big enough of a problem that you have to call for the magus, and in any case, how in the world could you otherwise catch those damned escaped convicts. He gathered his courage and just as he raised his hand to knock on the door he was interrupted by a voice from inside. ¡°Come inside, you are expected.¡± The voice was calm and collected, but Beringianus could feel the power behind the short sentence. He opened the door quickly and stepped inside. The room was filled with mounted animals and jars in every size and shape filled with mysterious liquids. In the middle of the room stood a black circular table made of an unknown stone like material. There were small chairs of the same material placed around it.


    In the farthest corner of the room stood a figure and looked out of the only window, that was more like a hole in the wall than an actual window. ¡°It pleases me that you come seeking my aid willingly¡± said the shape emotionlessly. ¡°Yes, we have an emergency. Five convicts have escaped, the five most dangerous ones. What should we do?! Even though they are elf¡¯s have they most likely already crossed the border to our ever-loving neighbors. If they have succeeded there is nothing we can do!¡± stated Beringianus with sadness and exhaustion. ¡°Well, I have a good strategy if that is the case¡± said the dark shape comforting. ¡°R-Really?! What is it? There is no time!¡± said the ruler. ¡°All in its own time, I believe that you wish to hear what my beloved has to say first.¡± Said the shape as it turned around. The dark hood hid its face so only darkness was seen, but Beringianus knew that its face constantly shifted into different shapes, so he was quite grateful to not be able to see such a disturbing thing. But what truly bothered him was what the magus just had said. Its beloved referred to its spiritual guide from the spirit realm, which was what gave the magus ¡°good¡± advice if needed.


    If Beringianus felt discomfort to be in the magus precense, it could not compare what he felt when the spirit came to visit, every hair on his body stood up and he felt as if the spirit could read his deepest thoughts. He felt completely open and as a ruler of a kingdom and an elf, that was something he loathed to feel. ¡°If you deem it necessary, magus.¡± Said the ruler as dignified as only a ruler of royal blood could say. The magus walked towards the table and emptied a small bag that had been inside his long sleeve. The sand that came out of the bag was the same shade as the table and thus it looked like the table had grown a miniature mountain. The magus started to quietly mumble something under his breath and the sand started to move as if a wind blew on it. Finally had the wind shaped the sand into a upside down cone and different shapes started to form in the miniature tornado. Then a hissing voice that was so unpleasant that even though Beringianus didn¡¯t understand a single word it still creeped him out. As the voice died out the same happened to the wind and the sand was once again piled into a miniature mountain that the magus quickly collected it in his bag and hid in his sleeve. ¡°My beloved has spoken. The condemned ones have unfortunately already crossed the border to our neighbors. Bur do not worry, my beloved has wonderous news. My beloved has predicted of a golden conjurer that can cross over the border without breaking our ¡°truce¡±. I will cast a locating spell to find the chosen one to be sure that the conjurer comes in time. If your Excellency allows, would I like to open a portal to every adjacent dimension so that there will be no doubt that the chosen one will succeed in arriving.¡± Said the magus. ¡°But if you open that many portals, it will increase the chance that something else comes though. Something that fulfills the demands yet is not the chosen one.¡± Said Beringianus thoughtfully and added ¡°Moreover you risk opening a portal to a dimension we have had no contact with.¡± ¡°That is completely reasonable consequences you bring up; however I have a solution for those also. You just allow everyone that comes through come to the castle, as they cannot go back without my aid and your permission.¡± Answered the magus quickly. Beringianus was quiet for a while. ¡°Well, then. That is how it will be. Open the portals!¡± the ruler ordered and quickly left the room with the magus unpleasant laughter still echoing in his ears.

 2. Two surprises in one day

    Cassandra awoke with a jerk because of her phone vibrating. Who would be calling while I am sleeping? She thought sleepily. ¡°Yes, hello?¡± she answered absentminded.


    ¡°Cassie! Where the hell are you? I have been waiting forever, shouldn¡¯t we meet up today?¡±


    Said an irritated voice from the phone. It took a couple of seconds for her to remember what the voice was talking about.


    ¡°Danny! I am so sorry, I¡¯m on my way. Will be there in ten.¡±


    She hung up and ran of the bed, threw on some random clothing that was laying on the floor and brushed her teeth at the same time she threw on her jacket and shoes. Cassie was in such a hurry that she missed the threshold and fell. She managed to catch herself with her hands just as her nose was about to touch the ground, but her knees were not as lucky. Ow, stupid threshold! Now I¡¯ll have bruises and limp for a week! She grumbled to herself. Cassandra limped as quickly as she could to the subway. When her stop came, did she practically run to the park and started to smile as she saw the dark blond youth that was walking towards her.


    ¡°Danny, I am so sorry you had to wait so long for me¡±


    She said remorsefully. Danny looked down on her but did not say anything as if measuring if he should forgive her or not. But then he let out a blinding smile that made his sky-blue eyes sparkle.


    ¡°No worries. Girls need longer to get ready.¡±


    He said playfully as he took in her messy hair and wrinkly clothes. Cassandra blushed slightly and quickly tried to change the subject.


    ¡°What was it that you wanted to tell me that was so important that you wanted to meet on a Sunday?¡± she asked.


    Danny worked part-time at a restaurant and was usually unavailable on weekends as that was the restaurant as busiest. Cassandra was curious as to why he wanted to meet, but she wasn¡¯t worried that something serious had happened, he would have told her if that was the case. That was one of the things she liked so much about him, he was so right to the point and always said what was on his mind. Now it was Danny¡¯s turn to blush at what she said.


    ¡°Y-Yes, it was actually something I wanted to talk with you about, but we don¡¯t have to stand here. Let¡¯s sit down on that bench over there.¡±


    He said. Cassandra was about to burst with curiosity, but she held herself together, sat down beside him and waited for him to continue.


    ¡°Cassie, we have known each other in over ten years now and we are good friends.¡±


    Danny started saying. Cassandra felt her panic rise. What if Danny doesn¡¯t want to be friends anymore, maybe he thinks that I am not a god enough friend and told me to come so that he could end our friendship!! She started to think.


    ¡°Yes, you have been my best friend for as long as I can remember.¡±


    She said in a squeaky voice.


    ¡°Yes, exactly. That was what I wanted to talk with you about today.¡±


    Danny said with a smile. He looked to the ground when he started to speak again.


    ¡°I have felt this for a long time, I don¡¯t want us to be just friends.¡±


    He took a deep breath and raised his eyes to meet hers.


    ¡°I want us to be together.¡±


    Cassandra was speechless. What? Boyfriend and girlfriend? I see, lucky he still wants to be friends. She exhaled in relief and suddenly realized the meaning of what he just had said. Oh my god! He wants us to be a couple. I don¡¯t know what to say. I don¡¯t want to be his girlfriend, but it will destroy our friendship if I say no. What am I supposed to do? Cassandra felt how her forehead started to sweat. How could she possibly get out of this situation? I have no other choice, trust my instincts. She took a deep breath. This is it!


    ¡°Oh, Danny. I don¡¯t know what to say. I am so surprised, this is the first time someone ever said something like this to me. I would love to be your girlfriend, but I want to take it slow.¡±


    She said with a sparkling smile. However, if you looked close you could see that it didn¡¯t reached her eyes. Danny was too happy to notice anything other than hearing her answer repeating in his mind. He gave her a tight hug of pure joy and was pleased when he hugged him back. Luckily, I am such a good liar. Otherwise had our friendship been destroyed forever. Cassie thought relived.


    They sat on that bench and talked for a long time and afterwards they walked around the park, in a couple of stores and ended up in a caf¨¦. Cassandra had been absentminded the whole time and only listened and sometimes maid some agreeing noises like ¡°mm¡± or ¡°yes¡±. When the clock struck five pm could she not stand this anymore. I must get out of here and think about everything that has happened. She thought dispirited. What can I say that would give me an excuse to get out of here and not take him with me? Now I know! Cassandra looked up at Danny and smiled a gleaming smile.


    ¡°Danny, I am sorry, but I have to go home now. I have to clean the apartment and go grocery shopping for tomorrow when you come over for dinner.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    At first Danny looked a bit disappointed but then he smiled. ¡°Of course, sweetheart, it would not be so good if you invited someone over for dinner and it wasn¡¯t clean and that there was no food.¡± Cassandra released a relieved breath.


    ¡°Yes, that would not be so good. We can talk tonight about the time you¡¯ll come over tomorrow. See you tomorrow. Bye.¡±


    ¡°Bye.¡±


    She hurried away out of the caf¨¦ with those words and rushed home. As soon as she had closed the door did she drop to the floor and started to sob quietly and burst into tears. Jesus! What am I going to do! I have messed up so badly. I don¡¯t want to be together with Danny, I don¡¯t want to kiss him. I just want us to be friends. Cassandra didn¡¯t know how long see sat there and cried while thinking of how incredible stupid she had been. But Cassandra is someone who doesn¡¯t dwell on depressing things for long and if she had decided something she was going to stand by that decision, instead of going over all the ¡°what ifs¡±. No, I must get it together! I have said what I have said and done what I have done. Now I must face the consequences and be Danny¡¯s girlfriend and he my boyfriend. I have also heard from many couples that love comes after you have been together with that person for a while. ¡°Love comes with time¡±. I will surely fall in love with Danny after we have been together for some time. If I only give it a chance, everything will work out. She smiled and felt much better after reaching a decision. What am I supposed to do now? Right, I have to go grocery shopping for tomorrow for real. I think I¡¯ll take the bike to the store.


    Cassie loves to go biking, she found it refreshing at the same time as you burned calories. She made a mental list about everything she had to buy while she biked down the road towards the store. I think I¡¯ll make hamburgers for the diner, Danny likes to eat a lot and that¡¯s easy enough to make a lot of. Right I have to buy breakfast also¡­No! Typical! Cassie had been so busy with her planning that she missed to turn right at the previous crossroad. She decided to bike through the park instead of turning around and challenge the traffic by doing a left turn on a bike on a highly trafficked road. This is so typical me, now I must take this big detour. Cassie was so busy berating herself that she at first didn¡¯t notice that her surroundings had changed. Wait a little. Did the park always have these many trees? Around her were a dense forest. The road got narrower and narrower until it was only a small strip of trampled soil. I am completely unbelievable! I managed to get lost in a park with only one road that goes in two directions, home and the store! Oh well, it probably just that I don¡¯t recognize this because I always take the bigger road.


    *Phsssh*


    Eh? What was that sound, that doesn¡¯t sound like something good. Cassie stopped and stepped down from her bike and discovered what had made that sound just now.


    ¡°No!¡± she exclaimed in despair.


    This is so not my day, first I take the wrong way twice and now my bike has a flat tire. I think I better walk the rest of the way to the store. She sighed deeply and started to walk away from her bike. After about fifteen minutes did she feel a stinging pain in her left foot. She discovered that she had gotten big blisters on her heel after taking of her shoe to examine the cause of the pain. Stupid shoe! It can¡¯t get worse than this. She starts to limp forward and hope that it¡¯s not far to the store. By now the road is so thin it can barely be called a path anymore. Just as she is about to give up does she notice that the path is starting to expand further ahead. It is a sign of frequent use when a path gets wider. I can glimpse something shining over there between the trees. Finally, I am by the store. She increases her pace even though her feet hurt and as she reaches the clearing she is met by the sight of a lake. A lake, a stupid lake! There¡¯s not supposed to be any lakes in this park. Where am I? I think I ought to turn around and go home. I¡¯ll tell Danny that we¡¯re eating out. When she turns around to go back she hears a lot of noise from the direction she came from. What was that?! I think I should go home next to the trail instead so that I don¡¯t get an unwanted meeting with a bear or another scary animal.


    She starts to walk back in the direction of her bike and the noises in the forest increases in volume, so she increases her pace more and more until she is running at full speed. Please, please tell me that I am by my bike soon. The sound came closer and closer until it is right behind her. In that moment a prominent tree root makes its presence known and she trips forward. Just as she is about to hit the ground does she feel something swish by over her head.


    Cassie looked up and saw an arrow in the trunk of the tree next to her. The sound of a lot of branches breaking make her turn around to face what it was that made that sound. Something black and enormous reveals itself between the trees. Cassie hear the sound of another arrow and the creature falls to the ground with a loud thud, an arrow sticking out of its head. I-is it dead? Wait a moment, is that wings? She is shocked to discover big black wings on the things back that glittered in the sun that came through the thick foliage. The creature looked like a mix of a bat and a lizard, but magnified many times over. Dragon, yes it looks like a dragon. This must be a dream, I must lack sleep. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be back in the park if I try to wake up. Cassie closed her eyes and opened them again. Nothing had changed, she still stood in front of the ¡°dragon¡±. Suddenly leaves rustle in the same direction as the giant reptile came from. Oh no! Someone or something is coming, and I don¡¯t want to be here to find out if it¡¯s a who or what. I must get out of here. There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll stay here, it¡¯ll be the death of me. She panicked and started to run when she felt pain radiate from one foot. No, no, no! this is not happening! Come on, come on! One more step, you can manage one more step! Cassie half ran half limped the short distance towards a tree with an especially wide trunk. She managed to dive down behind the tree just in time. The rustling was replaced with the sound of feet walking on hard packed soil.


    When Cassie felt reassured that the thing in the glade hadn¡¯t noticed her did she carefully peek out from behind her tree. The thing that had walk out on the path was not another creature but a woman. Cassie released a relieved breath. Thank god that it wasn¡¯t one of those horrible creatures. She felt curious over what kind of woman could possibly kill something that frightening so she took a closer look at the woman. The woman stood with her back turned toward Cassie and had her waist long chestnut colored hair in a tight braid. She wore long pants and a long-sleeved shirt made of some material that made her look as if she melded with the shades of the forest when she stood still. She carried a bow and a quiver full of arrows on her back. Cassie felt quite overwhelmed and worn out over everything that had happened today. She took a step to the side to stabilize herself when the world started to spin, but missed and stumbled out of her hiding spot. The woman turned around so quickly that she turned fuzzy.


    The last Cassandra saw before she fainted was a pair of incredibly beautiful amber colored eyes.


    Then the world faded out into darkness and everything turned black.

 3. Hunting overgrown lizards

    Lynx had a feeling this would be a good day. The weather was beautiful with clear skies and no one had sent a messenger with a repetitive recruiting slogan. Lynx had seen tracks in the forest of black scaled Wyverns for at least a couple of days now. This was a bad sign as that meant that the local population had grown too big for their usual habitat. She was a bit worried that this meant that the reason for the messengers absence were that they had been eaten. She thought about doing nothing as the silence were very pleasant, but she left that track of mind quickly as she reasoned that that wasn¡¯t perhaps the best way to make those annoyances stop bothering her. With a sigh she went and collected her quiver with arrows and bow and prepared herself with a cumbersome hunt.


    If you wanted to lessen the black-scaled Wyverns numbers quickly, you had to aim to kill the females, as the females killed the males after each mating season. So if you killed a couple of females, their numbers would reduce drastically.


    Lynx carefully stepped through the foliage while keeping a lookout after wyver trails. It was best to hunt black-scaled wyverns during the day as they had eyes more focused on night time hunting and you yourself had better sight. For the thousandth time Lynx cursed that she was only born as a half-elf. If she had been born a pure elf, she wouldn¡¯t have to humiliate herself with hunting during the day, as unfortunately being half-blood meant that she missed the nighttime vision at the genetic lottery. Someone with a pure elf heritage would hunt during the night as a proper huntress would do. She laughed quietly to herself as that thought swept through her mind. As if any thoroughbred would ever ¡®lower¡¯ themself to hunt at all. For a species with great abilities, they were a very good at pushing the hard work onto someone like her. At least the nobility, she¡¯d to admit that she hadn¡¯t had much contact with the commoners. Yes, perhaps she wasn¡¯t that bad, as she was brave and a good enough huntress to hunt one of the most dangerous predators even though she didn¡¯t have magic or night vision.


    Lynx stopped abruptly as she spotted an big indentation in the ground. She crouched and felt it, it was still warm. It couldn¡¯t have gotten far from here. She thought pleased and a dangerous smile spread over her face and she started to follow the tracks through the forest.. No matter how much she complained about hunting during daylight, was there nothing she loved doing more. She stopped when she heard the sound of beating wings. Perfect! Lynx thought with elation. She slipped smoothly and soundlessly towards the direction of the sound. With great experience did she drew an arrow from her quiver and prepared her bow. She saw something black glimpse between the tree trunks and smelled the typical musk the female black-scaled wyverns secreted during mating season. Lynx was now moving slowly towards the trees, being careful not to step on something that would reveal her position. What a relief that she hadn¡¯t been mistaken. In front of her was a giant figure with their back and tail turned towards her.


    A black-scaled wyvern female stood and drank from its watering hole, completely unaware of the danger behind it. It didn¡¯t know what it was that revealed the enemy but a feeling in its instincts warned it that something wasn¡¯t right behind it. With astonishing agility for something its size, the lizard jumped aside and felt the sound of one of the two-leggers flying claws whiz passed. It immediately started to move towards the treeline, for it was far too open in the glade to attack a two-leggers. If it could take cover behind the tree trunks, the likelihood of attacking the two-legger would increase greatly.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Lynx swore quietly to herself when she saw her arrow miss her target and that the overgrown lizard started to move towards the trees. It would be much more difficult if the sight was hidden, as she would have to risk revealing herself to approach the then warned animal.


    She loaded another arrow on her bow to make one last attempt to subjugate it before it reached the trees. She took a deep breath, then another one and on her third breath she let go of the taut bowstring and released her arrow. Her aim was true and the hit it right at the temple, where the skin was thin and weak. The wyvern falls to the ground right in front of the trees and is dead before impact to the ground. She lowers her bow, but doesn¡¯t immediately approach the beast. It was always best to wait out the death throes before approaching as many have lost hands and feet in their zeal. You should never forget that wyverns is a predator with a body mass many times yourself and has sharp claws and teeth.


    After about thirty breaths, she gets up and starts purposefully walk towards the wyvern. She wonders what she¡¯s going to do about the carcass. It was good in theory to reduce the number of black-scaled wyverns, but now that she had hunted one, she realized that she didn¡¯t really know how to go about to move the lizard. The previous times she had hunted them it had been on royal orders, she¡¯d only had to mark the spots on a map and it became someone else''s problem. Hm, this was maybe a little hasty decision of me. *sigh* Oh, well. I guess I¡¯m going to have to drag it home by myself. Who knows, wyvern meat might be a delicacy? She inspected the wyvern up close and put away her bow. This would require both of her hands as she realize that the lizard was even bigger up close. How was she supposed to carry this thing? Maybe it wouldn¡¯t be completely damaged if she dragged it by the tail? Just as she was about to go and pull the arrow out of the lizard, she heard a twig crack. She turned towards the sound and prepared for battle, it was likely that it was some predator who wanted a piece of her prey. What surprised her was that it was definitely not a predator that came out from behind the trees. at first Lynx thought that it was a young elf that had gotten lost, however as she met the leafy green eyes she realised that they were rounded like a human. Human! She thought horrified. She quickly reached out and hit the humans neck with her hand before the human could react. The human woman collapsed on the ground unconscious. By Lunar and all that is blue! A human. A human here in the forest far away from the border. Is she a spy? Lynx looked at the human a little more closely and realized that is was unlikely to be true. She was strangely dressed and had nasty blisters on her feet, not at all suitable for smuggling oneself into hostile territory. I should still bring her home for observation. It¡¯s never wrong to take extra precautions in a situation like this.


    Lynx looked at the wyvern and to the downed human and back to the wyvern again. Now that she had decided what to do about all this, how was she to make it possible? She let out a deep sigh. She had a feeling that this would take a while.


    What a hassle.