The Xalinor Chronicles

An unexpected outcome

Illanor Saville ordered his guards to find the young human and the little gnome. They immediately jumped down into the arena to look for the challengers who had disappeared without a trace. The two guards were scanning the battlefields for signs of the slaves when the unexpected happened. The zolvan stumbled back up and turned towards them with a crazed look in its eyes.

They fired bolt after bolt at the beast but failed to penetrate its thick hide. It was all too easy for the zolvan. The beast rushed at the guards and gored them to death. Screams of terror were heard from the elves in the crowd who stared at the animal’s terrifying horns which now glistened with fresh elven blood. It seemed the blood had empowered the beast, which suddenly grew larger and became even more muscular than before.

“The beast has gone into Blood Frenzy. It’s all because of those two filthy slaves!” Illanor exclaimed, grinding his teeth in anger.

Prince Vulturius turned towards Illanor with a concerned expression on his face. “Do something! The beast has gone rogue! If you don’t kill the zolvan soon, it might charge into the crowd.”

“Please have faith in me. No harm shall come to you as long as I am beside you.” Illanor turned towards his guards and ordered his elite archers to load the special diamond-tipped darts into their crossbows and kill the beast.

The elite archers quickly loaded their crossbows with the special bolts and aimed at the beast. To their great dismay, the zolvan used a hardening skill that bolstered its armor immensely. The diamond-tipped darts bounced off the creature’s hardened hide without causing any damage to it. Illanor now realized they were in grave danger. His elite archers consisted of elven Ordinaires who didn’t have any strong offensive skills to take down a frenzied adult zolvan. He knew he had to call for reinforcements from the kingdom of Sylvarium to deal with this threat. They would need the help of the elven Sages to take down an adult zolvan that had gone into Blood Frenzy.

Illanor sent a pigeon to the elven kingdom, with a note requesting immediate reinforcements. The zolvan now glared at the crowd with rage and let out a terrifying roar that sent shivers down their spines. Once again, the beast lowered its horns and started kicking the ground with its large hooves.

“It’s going to leap into the crowd. We have to get everyone out of here!” cried Illanor.

The frenzied zolvan was about to leap into the crowd of spectators when suddenly it let out an anguished cry. Blood started oozing from its soft white belly as it groaned in pain.

One of the elite archers pointed towards the zolvan’s underside and yelled, “There they are!”

Jake and Zill were standing under the beast’s belly. Jake held a bloody dagger in his palm, with which he had stabbed the Zolvan’s delicate belly. The huge abomination started shaking in agony. Just as the zolvan was about to collapse, Jake and his partner managed to run to a safe distance.

The great beast started foaming from all 3 of its mouths and soon slumped dead on the ground.

The elves and the humans all watched in disbelief as the two slaves walked away unscathed while the enormous beast died in front of their eyes. Jake and Zill had managed to achieve a feat that no humans or gnomes could ever think of, even in their wildest dreams.

“I can’t believe this. How could a frail young human and a tiny gnome slay such a fearsome beast?” Illanor appeared to be in a state of complete shock. He had never expected the fight to end like this. The adult zolvan had cost him as much as 20 human slaves combined. He had lost not just his coin but also two of his highly trained elven guards in the span of a single night.

Prince Vulturius summoned his guards to fetch the slaves from the battlefield. He wanted to speak to them personally.

As Jake and Zill approached the prince, one of his courtiers came forward to greet them.

“You now stand in the presence of his royal majesty, Prince Varius Vulturius,” he announced.

Jake had often seen commoners bow in front of kings and princes in medieval fantasy shows. He too decided to follow that example.

Prince Vulturius looked rather amused at this gesture. He addressed Jake in a mocking tone, “People of my kingdom don’t bow, but kneel in front of me. It seems either you’re an ignorant rogue or a stranger from another land.”

Jake corrected his mistake and knelt at once. “It is true, your majesty. I am not from this world. I am from a place called Boston which is located on a planet called earth.”

The Prince listened quietly for a while and then burst into peals of laughter. “Earth! That sounds like a fitting name for a court fool. You really are an amusing fellow.” His courtiers joined in the merrymaking and laughed to their hearts' content. None of them believed what Jake said.

“Let us leave the jesting aside for now. How did you two manage to slay the beast?” There was a bubbling curiousness in the Prince’s voice.

“It was all thanks to Zill. Before the fight, he had whispered to me that he could use a special skill once every day to turn himself and his ally invisible for a few minutes. When the zolvan charged at us, Zill used his skill and turned us invisible. We managed to dodge its attack at the last moment. When the enraged beast was focused on the crowd I rolled under it and stabbed it with the poison coated dagger that Zill had hidden in his boots all along. It was impossible to penetrate the hide on the beast’s back but its soft belly looked vulnerable”.

As a child, Jake often used to watch T.V shows about the animal world and he knew that even deadly predators such as crocodiles and sharks were vulnerable to attacks that targeted their bellies. This knowledge proved to be the most powerful weapon in his arsenal.

“That was indeed a cunning plan! This gnome must be an expert Sneaker if he can use such a high-level invisibility skill. Alright, slaves; I shall grant you the gift of freedom.” The Prince tossed a bag of silver moons at Illanor.

Illanor greedily pounced on the pouch and started counting the crescent-shaped pieces of silver. After putting the 500 pieces of silver in his satchel, he replied, “You have purchased them at a fair price. They are now free to go where they please.”

Jake knew very little about this world. He realized that he had nowhere to go now. The young software developer was too afraid of venturing outside the Arcadium on his own, so he requested the prince to take him with him.

“I would have done so, but you see you are not my subject. I mean, I could bring you along as my slave if you like,” he sneered.

The prince’s reply hurt Jake’s sentiments. He had thought that the Prince was a kind-hearted man and would readily take him under his wing but his illusions were shattered instantly. Zill knew how badly the royalty treated gnomes and so he stood silently and waited for the Prince and his companions to leave.

After all the spectators had dispersed, Illanor’s guards shoved Jake and Zill out of the arena with contempt. Jake still couldn’t understand why they treated them so rudely. If they hated humans in general then Prince Vulturius and his companions would not have been treated with so much respect. No, it had to be more complicated than that.

Jake turned towards Zill and asked, “Where do we go now?”

“You have been very kind to me, Jake Wiley. Please come to my gnome warren with me,” replied Zill.

Jake laughed and agreed to join him. “Zill, it is Jake ‘Riley’ not ‘Wiley’.”

Zill reddened in the cheeks and apologized for his mistake. The two of them took the dusty road to the left and began their long journey towards Zill’s warren.