Revenge of the Elven

Chapter 7

Taeril entered the part of the cavern which held his people and he marched to the open cages where the elves were still unmoving.

“You are free, we should no longer have to endure this treatment! We must stand up and fight this!” he yelled. Some elves moved just enough to look at him whilst others barely acknowledged him. Taeril looked shocked but he continued, “I have a safe place for us to stay,”

“And what of these collars?” one asked bitterly.

“I cannot remove them, but we will find a way. We must regain ourselves and find a way to go back to how we used to be,”

“You know, boy, you are only going to get yourself killed with talk like this,” an older elven man said.

“I would rather die fighting injustice than become its victim!” Taeril replied.

“Is it worth fighting a battle you cannot win?” another elf asked.

“You cannot be content to just stay here!” Taeril yelled and he looked around at them all. When he had been held here, he paid so much attention to the human magic wielders activities that he had not noticed just how broken these other elves were. He felt a rage boil inside of him and he turned abruptly to Varrell, his eyes burning with rage.

“Look what your people did! Look at them!” he screamed.

“I do not agree with this,” Varrell replied.

“You are a hypocrite and a contradiction! You do not agree with this and yet you agree with the collaring and oppression of my people! You may not directly be taking action against my people, but your inaction perpetuates it!” he hissed as he drew closer, aggressively getting in her face, she felt he may have uttered words similar to those before. Decan moved beside her glaring at the elf.

“Take a step back, friend,” he said in a calm tone but with a hint of threat that he would defend Varrell should he need to.

“He is right,” Varrell said, “Taeril you are right, our ignorance is harm in itself. I understand. These laws against your people are in place to protect others and I see no other way but yes, it is harsh for your people,” she said feeling as though she had also uttered similar words before and Taeril scoffed before he walked away. Varrell moved to the cages to address the elves within.

“We fought and killed your human captors, you are free. We will escort you to the safe place that Taeril has found.” She began, “you owe it to your fallen friends and family to survive, you owe it to yourselves to seek what Taeril seeks, I have seen the horrors that befall your kind, I am having doubts about what is right, but you do not want the fate that will find you if you stay here. We will see you to safety that I promise,”

“What good is the word of a human?” one elf spat. Varrell felt a dreadful feeling stir inside of her stomach like she had believed in the necessity of these laws all these years but perhaps, she looked over to Taeril, perhaps these laws were dreadfully wrong. Slowly the elves began to move and Taeril looked confused as they each emerged from the cages.

“What about your words was different from my own?” He snapped.

“It’s a gift, Taeril,” Varrell shrugged her shoulder with a smug grin on her face and they all followed Taeril's lead to those tunnels and smugglers hideout long abandoned which would house these elves in hope to keep them safe. Varrell noticed along the way Taeril appeared to be hurt and she knew it had been from the attack of that entity. Once they reached the hideout, she went to him.

“I can see you are injured, Kessa is a great healer, let me take you to her,”

“I’ll not let that magic wielder anywhere near me! I’m fine,” he said but winced as he went to sit involuntarily crying out. Varrell crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. He glared at her.

“At least come back to mine and let me see to your wounds,” she said. To Taeril this was a little more agreeable.

“You cannot take him to the noble quarters without a collar,” Decan said.

“You’ll not put one on me!” the elf snapped.

“How about false one?” she suggested.

“You mean to trick me,” he muttered looking away.

“Never, Taeril, if we put a false collar on you then you can walk freely through the city, all you would have to do is refrain from showing your powers,” Varrell said.

“No!” he snapped again.

“That’s fine, I have blankets at my place and plenty of food we could bring down here for your people,”

“I... “ he looked around at the still defeated faces of his elven people. They did look pale and in need of food. “I fear leaving them,” he muttered.

“I will watch over them,” a voice sounded and from the shadows stepped an elf, but she did not appear to be from the group they rescued. She also appeared to have no collar.

“Who are you?” Taeril demanded.

“Well, this was my hideout before you brought all of these, but I can see they have been through an ordeal. I will watch over them until you return with food and comforts,”

“How did you lose your collar?” Decan asked.

“That is my own business,” she said and went to one of the elves. This stranger seemed to glow she was radiant, and her robes even looked expensive so what exactly was she doing hiding in a place like this? Varrell could not help but wonder. The strange elf stepped forward and pulled out a collar handing out to Taeril. He did not take it.

“This is what I use when I need to go above, it is fake, no magic. Your choices are this or they capture you and fasten a real one about your neck and one only they can remove. “ she said and Taeril reluctantly accepted the collar placing it on himself. He glared from her to Varrell and Varrell noticed his whole demeanour changed just from placing that collar on even though it was not a real one; his shoulders slumped and he lost some light in his eyes, she felt for him.

“If we’re going then let’s go. I don’t want to be in this collar any longer than I have to be,” he said, and they headed out to Varrell’s home in the noble quarters.