"So what about the other races, then? You’ve told me of the Ellathia, the People as you call them, and the Nargu, and you’ve talked of the other races that he exterminated centuries ago. But you’ve also hinted of other races that still exist today.
Tell me about them; how many are there? what are they like?”
Another day, another question. One amongst many that Alex would throw at me today, I guessed.
I let out a big sigh and Alex frowned at me, eyebrows arched skyward as if daring me to moan yet again at her bombardment of questions. And how I had moaned.
At first, telling my story had been such a relief. To have someone sit an listen and know that they believed what I said, that they did not just listen out of politeness, but really wanted to hear what I had to tell, had been almost satisfying.
But her constant questions, and the direction they took me was quite often disturbing, forcing me to dig up those memories that I had purposely buried deep, and in a few instances, had even truly forgotten about completely. Today’s first question did not fall into either of these two categories thankfully.
Even though I sighed, I had one tale here that I would tell with a light heart – my first and only failure for my master.
“Apart from the people and the Nargu, only two other sentient races remain, but both are near extinction. That they have survived at all after his efforts to eradicate them, is a testament to their strength and endurance. It also goes a long way to explaining why he wished to destroy them in the first place. Why he feared them, I suppose.
“The Giants are the most human like of the two races. Apart from their size and strength, there is not really a great deal in their appearance to distinguish them from the People. They are referred to as Giants, but really for the People they are creatures out of history, legends even. Very few have ever seen a Giant, and those that have will have been scoffed at as liars, spinners of tales or drunks even.
"The Giants do exist, they name themselves the Roken – Stone Changers. Legend says that they fought alongside Al'kar in the war against Dar'cen, and that they made a great sacrifice to ensure his defeat. But even before they joined Al'kar in the war, their numbers were sparse, for Dar'cen hunted them even then.
"A bounty was paid for their capture, alive not dead; My master took great pleasure in the torture and torment he inflicted upon them.
“The Giants are the size of Nargu, seven to ten feet tall, and they look just like large versions of people; some thin, some fat, some muscular… all shapes.
As I said, apart from their great size, little distinguishes them from the People.
"Their eyes are more oval and are slanted slightly, and their skin is a sallow, yellowish colour. At least the only one I ever saw had that colouring, but then they have lived below ground in hiding ever since Dar’cen’s coming. Even after his defeat, they refused to ever again live under the light, and I believe that that decision is the only reason that they still exist today, for he has hunted them ever since his return.
"They are very, very strong; each easily a match for two, possibly three Nargu. That was why he found them such good sport. He would pit a Giant against teams of Nargu, bout after bout until the Giant finally fell.
"But that was not why he hunted them. The Giants have an innate magic, a magic possessed by all Giants… they have power over the stones, the rocks, the very stuff the world is made of; they can mine it, change and transform it with just a touch. With this power they were able to hide themselves from him, but the very power that allowed them to hide in the very bowels of the earth was what he wanted of them.
"With the aid of the Giants, with their power, he would have been able to amass huge stockpiles of the crystals he needed to travel to other worlds, to our world. But they refused to willingly help him, and they alone of the races that remained after his conquest of Ellas, could resist his compulsion, and so he hunted them relentlessly. Despite their magics and their hiding places, huge numbers were slaughtered before the war with Al'kar ever began.
"All this, you must understand, I learned from Jain and Setia. My own knowledge of the Giants is very limited.”
“But you mentioned that you saw one. When was that? What was he like, it was a he wasn’t it?” Alex asked, excitedly.
I hesitated, shame and sadness filling me at the memory of that day.
“Yes, he was a male, a man. Giants they may be, but they refer to their different sexes as the men and women, the same as the Ellathia do, indeed as we ourselves do.
"I watched him die, killed for my master’s sport in one of the bouts I talked of. Then it was nothing to me, a spectacle I was made to watch. I felt no pity, no sadness, but I took no enjoyment from it either. I felt nothing. Now I feel ashamed that I did nothing, that I did not, could not act.
"The terror and fear my master can exert is beyond imagining, and yet this Giant, Findal was his name, turned that fear, turned it to hatred, and used it to fuel his anger and strength in the bouts he fought. I can see it clearly now, how it angered and enraged my master that his powers could be so easily diverted and used against him.
"Findal killed twenty Nargu that day, five with bare hands in the last bout.
"After that my master destroyed him in a fit of rage. He killed all those present too, all save me. No one was to be allowed to talk of what Findal achieved that day.
"He was a brave man, a very brave man, truly a giant among men, a giant amongst Giants. His was a memory I must have buried very deep indeed. Until I started to answer your question, I had no recollection of him at all.”
“I’m sorry David. I never intended to hurt you with my question, I didn’t mean for you to dig up such memories. Please, I’m really sorry. Stop me next time, just tell me to mind my own business,” Alex blurted, obviously embarrassed.
“Slow down, Alex, it’s okay. Really, it is okay. There’s a great deal that happened to me in those days when I was under his control that I don’t remember, or at least I have forgotten about. Your questions make me think about what happened then; they help me to remember in a way.
"Most of my memories of that time are really awful, but they are my memories, and I do need to remember them… I need to remember how truly evil he is.
"I had forgotten how courageous Findal was, I had forgotten Findal completely.
"My first thoughts, when you asked your question, was that for once my answer would be one I could tell without guilt or sorrow. But then, I thought mainly of the Ella’ren, with only vague recollections of the Giants, and nothing at all of Findal. Your questions do no harm, Alex, truly they don’t. Yes, there will be times when I do not wish to answer you, when I am afraid and ashamed of what my memories hold. But even those memories I will tell you of… if you will listen.”
I smiled at her but could see that she was not convinced, and still felt bad about asking such questions.
“Alex, you cannot possibly know what questions will cause me pain. Even the most simple of them may lead me down a path to some dark and evil memory. It is unavoidable. I spent years under his control, and even in the years that followed I still witnessed many of the atrocities he and his servants committed; very little that I have to tell you has a happy ending.
"But please continue with your questions as you have been, and help me to finish my story; help me to tell it all.
"You don’t have to feel any guilt with your questions, I promise you. I need to tell it all to someone, if only to unburden myself. You are the one I would like to share my story with.”
Alex grinned, a big wide grin. “Of course I’ll listen. I want to hear your story, all of it, every last detail. And if my listening helps you, then all the better.
"You know I believe you don’t you? Despite how fantastic and unbelievable your story is, I do believe you. I really do.”
I nodded slightly, but I wasn’t sure really. I knew that she believed me on some level, but I thought that to Alex my story was like listening to a news broadcast about some war torn region far, far away – upsetting and sad, but of no real consequence in her day to day life.
“Your story draws me in. I know it’s because of our book, and how obsessed with fantasies Sarah and I were… and because of the woman Carthia. But I really can’t help myself; I want to hear all your story, I need to hear it. I want to sit and listen to you all day long… I think of nothing else.
"I’m sorry if that sounds crass. I do feel for you and all you went through, I really do. But your story is just the most amazing fantasy tale, much more so than than anything I’ve ever read, more so than role playing, more so than my imagination could ever conceive.
"The only thing that comes close are Sarah’s dreams and our book. And it’s the book that drives me… so we have something in common… you want to get your hands on the book to look for links to what happened to you, and I want to hear your story to look for links to our book.”
My eyebrows raise a little at that last remark. Alex had argued all along that the Carthia thing was just a huge coincidence.
“Look, I’m sorry. I know that I’ve rebuffed all you’ve said about the book being linked to your story. But now, I just don’t know what to think. I will let you read the book, I really will… but not yet. I know I’m being stupid but I can’t help it, it’s because—“
“It’s fine, Alex, really. I can wait, honestly. Just promise me one thing if you can.”
“I’ll try."
“If I say anything that you believe connects to your book, no matter how small, will you promise to tell me… there and then? Not later, when you’ve had time to think it through, but straight away. Please, Alex, this is important to me.”
“Yes, I will,” she answered, no hesitation at all.
“That was quick. Are you sure you don’t want to consider my request a little first. Not that I want you to change your mind or anything, but you are so very protective of your stories. I thought you might hold back.”
“It’s not the stories themselves… well perhaps in a way it is, at least those based on Sarah’s dreams, the parts where Sarah lived as Carthia. Those parts are personal, they mean a great deal to me. But more than that it’s the book itself.
"Sarah held the book, wrote in it, it’s her handwriting, her thoughts and dreams. The book is so much more of Sarah than any photograph or video could ever be for me. I will tell you immediately, I promise… but that does not mean that I’ll actually give you the book. I’ll tell you what I think the connection is, read from the book perhaps, and then we can talk it through… but I want something in return.”
“Anything,” I said, instantly.”
“If we come across anything that I think might be a link, you’ve got to answer any question I ask, no matter how painful or horrific. You’ve got to answer… deal?”
“I thought I’d already covered that. I will answer any question you put to me, anything at all. So yes, deal.”
“Good. Now perhaps you can continue with the other races you were telling me about. You said there were two, and you’ve only told me of the Giants. What about the other race?”
“Yes, probably a good idea to talk of them, the other race that is. They are called the Ella’ren, and I’ll happily tell you about them. For once I have a story that’s not horrific, and although I didn’t think so at the time, has an outcome that I find quite satisfying.”
“Why David, you almost look smug.”
“This is, I believe, the only time I really failed him, and now I see my failure as a victory. Perhaps not a victory that I can really claim as my own, but at least a small victory for the world over Dar'cen. Now be quiet for once! No questions until I finish. I’d like to savour this particular story.”
Alex smirked and pulled her fingers across her mouth, mimicking zipping it closed.
I smiled too, a grin really, as I said, “The Ella’ren are the most wicked and evil race I could ever imagine.”
Alex’s mouth opened, a question already on her lips. I’d purposely phrased my opening remark of the Ella’ren, even though in many senses the remark was true, to goad Alex a little.
I held my finger to my lips hushing her, and she blushed ever so slightly and closed her mouth.
“Wicked and evil in the nicest possible way, I suppose I should have said. Think of your friend Jamie, how he plays the fool and all the practical jokes he’s played on people. Then multiply how he is by ten, or even a hundred, and that comes close to how the Ella’ren behave every single minute of their lives.
"They live for the pleasure they get from causing mischief, in any way they can, to any and all that cross their path. They are happy enough to taunt their fellow Ella’ren, but get much more pleasure when, together as a group, they can play havoc with another race.
"That’s what I mean by wicked and evil. The time I hunted them, emotionless as I was during those days, I quickly learned to hate them with a vengeance.
"Had I been lucky enough to catch even one, I would still be torturing the creature today.”
I paused again, waiting for Alex’s inevitable questions, but she just smiled at me, lips firmly pressed together.
Smirking inwardly at how much she must be bursting with questions, I continued. “The Ella’ren are a very small race. With only one exception that I saw, their tallest no more than two feet. They are slight of build, skinny you might say, and yet despite their diminutive size they are very strong, each easily the equal of an average man.
"Their preferred habitat is somewhere heavily wooded, but they will set up home anywhere, especially if it means they have a source of sport near.
"Quite often they will move in close to one of the People’s settlements, sometimes even within one of their dwellings, in a barn, a loft or even under the floorboards.
"They are human in shape, two arms, two legs, hands, feet… all the physical attributes we have. Their features and looks, however, are much like those things from the eighties movie where creatures infested an American town, The Gremlins, I think the film was called.
"The Ella’ren’s skin, if you can call it that, is a greyish brown colour, and made up of extremely fine scales that have an almost leather like texture. By all accounts their skin is extremely tough, but I never actually got my hands on one, so I don’t speak from experience.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"In looks they do actually resemble those creatures from the movie; wide mouthed with small pointed teeth, large eyes that seem to dominate the face and large pointed ears.
"Their worse feature by far, is the high pitched scream that they consider laughing. The greater the prank, the louder the laughter, and as it becomes louder so the pitch increases, and then more and more of them join in. The noise is horrendous. It is deafening, disorientating and almost debilitating. They escaped from me on several occasions simply by laughing at my clumsy attempts at catching them. I’m sure they didn’t even realise that it was their laughter that made me so clumsy in the first place.
“He sent me to hunt them. Again, as with the Giants, he wanted captives. As many as I could capture in a month, he said. He had a use for them, and needed large numbers for the changes he wished to make to them. What the changes were I never found out, but it could not have been good for the Ella’ren, or the world in general; nothing he did was of benefit to anyone except himself. His Nargu had already failed miserably in their attempts to capture Ella’ren.
"So I was sent, leading a dozen Nargu, into the Western realm, to the great forest of Lwycoed, where Ella’ren abounded.
“The area for miles around the forest is sparely populated simply because of the continual harassment by the Ella’ren of any that were foolhardy enough to settle there.
"Despite the fertile land and the abundance of wild life in the forest, the People made their homes as far as practical from Lwycoed to avoid the worst of the Ella’ren attentions, but still be able to send hunting expeditions into the forest.
“I spent almost four weeks under Lwycoed’s leafy boughs. It’s a huge expanse of woodland, stretching some twenty miles to the East and another thirty to the North. Numerous different types of trees exist there, but Lwycoed is most renown for the Great Greys. Enormous trees, perhaps ten or even twenty yards around their base, stretching hundreds of feet into the air. Their distinctive, ridged bark is a dark grey, almost slate grey in colour – hence their name.
"The Great Greys are the reason the Ella’ren favour Lwycoed. Many make their homes in the branches of the Great Greys, hundreds of feet above the floor, but not all thankfully, some set up home in the smaller trees, or in the shrubs alongside the river Lwydare. The river is wide and slow moving, and despite the vastness of Lwycoed, you are never far from the banks of the Lwydare as it meanders its way from North to South.
“Apart from the love of anything wicked, the Ella’ren’s other passion is water. They swim like fish, and will spend hour after hour in the water playing and occasionally fishing. It was this, second of their loves, that I thought would allow me to easily catch them. What a mistake that proved to be.
“Long before we even reached the river, the Ella'ren knew of our presence. They began to taunt us almost as soon as we entered the great forest.
"The taunts started with twigs, branches, fruit, anything that could be dropped on us from high above. It was followed closely by their horrendous laughter as soon as any of our group took a hit. Returned arrows just thudded into the trees, and so high up were they that my knives, even with my enhanced strength, would not fly that far.
"Once, in temper, I sprang up the sides of one of the Great Greys. It took me only seconds to where the group of Ella’ren had been, but the were long gone. I had thought to get close enough to use my knives, but they were nowhere to be seen. I could hear them though, their laughter was almost unbearable. It so disoriented me, that I slipped and almost fell as I made my way back down, and that emboldened them even further; increased laughter and excrement followed me all the way to the base of the tree.
"If, at the time, I had possessed normal emotions I would have been humiliated in the extreme, but all I felt was anger, anger and shame that I was already failing at the task my master had set me.
“In those weeks in Lwycoed, I did everything I could to trap or even wound one of the Ella’ren, and I failed miserably. I never even came close to hitting even one of them with my knives, and they had never failed me before. My knives would fly at them, but the target would just not be there when the knives struck. Their speed was uncanny.
“While the Ella’ren played in the river, I set the Nargu to wading down from the North, while others guarded the banks ensuring none escaped.
"I, with the remainder, waited while the Ella’ren were driven toward us. Simple you would think; over a hundred Ella’ren played in the river that day, so catching one at least should have been child’s play. Not so. They darted between the Nargu beaters’ legs, biting them as they passed with their small but extremely sharp teeth. They formed small groups to trip the beaters one by one, and as each fell splashing and spluttering into the water, the Ella’ren howled with laughter.
"The surrounding trees filled with spectators who too joined in with the laughter. Not a one of them tried to escape, they remained in the water biting, tripping and taunting until I eventually tired of the humiliation and ordered our withdrawal. Even then their taunts and jeers followed us from the treetops as we made our way back to camp.
"That day, and all the days that followed, we did not catch a single Ella'ren, did not even lay hands on one. Without doubt, they are the most infuriating creatures I ever had the misfortune to come across.”
“So why did Dar'cen want them?” Alex asked.
Smiling, I said, “I just knew you wouldn’t be able to hold out until the end.”
“But I thought you had finished,” she said, her embarrassment clear as she began to colour. “You stopped. And what you said last sounded just as if it was the natural end to your story of the Ella’ren. It did!”
“I suppose I did that on purpose,” I said. “Just to see if I could make you take the bait and jump in with your inevitable questions. Sorry, Alex, just a bit of fun, honest!”
“You can be a right shit when you want to be,” she said and zipped her mouth closed again.
“I’ve quite a bit more to tell actually, and then I’ll tell you how he took my failure, but I’ll gloss over the punishment he meted out.
“We tried all sorts to trap an Ella’ren, in the end I would have been happy with just the one to show for my efforts.
"We tried nets in the river, but the Ella’ren easily avoided them when they wanted to. Some would purposely swim into the nets, allowing the Nargu to capture them. Then, when the Nargu began to cheer, the captive would tear the net to pieces with its teeth and swim off, only to surface yards away howling with laughter.
"We tried snares, we hunted out their dwelling by the river bank, but it was all for nothing. Every move we made was watched continually from the treetops, they knew where we were at all times, and knew exactly what we were doing.
"I swear that they didn’t watch us for their own safety, but to be able to quickly find us as soon as they hatched their next scheme to taunt us with. Nargu fell into holes filled with excrement, biting ants, snakes and all other manner of of horrors – legs were broken, some were poisoned by snake bites and others near bitten to death by ants before they could be pulled free.
"The holes were enormous by Ella’ren standards, big enough for two, perhaps three Nargu to fall into, and deep enough that they could not easily clamber free until whatever filled the holes had done its work. Dozens of Ella’ren must have taken days to dig those holes, and then cover and camouflage them so well. At first they would bait us, get us to chase them, leading us towards their pits. Then when we became wary, the pits would be randomly spread across an area that they somehow knew we would next cross.
“In the nights, while we tried to sleep, they would swarm above us in the trees. They were almost impossible to see in the daytime, their colours blending in perfectly with the trees, at night when very little light from the stars reached through to the base of the trees, they were truly impossible to see unless they wished to be. Torches and fires only cast light a small distance, and besides the light destroyed what little night vision we had anyway.
"No, they were all but invisible hanging there, sometimes just out of arms reach, taunting and baiting us. Occasionally we would see the glint of their eyes or their sharp teeth, but they only showed that much to get the Nargu to loose and arrow, throw a knife or axe at them. Barring my knives, whatever was launched was never seen again.
“Excrement and anything they thought might get a reaction was dropped on us. We strung tarpaulin between the trees as makeshift covers to give some respite from whatever was dropped. But they just cut the ties. Even with a Nargu posted at each, they would somehow sneak in and sever the ropes. And then the downpour would begin anew.
“They never did anything really harmful or vicious though, nothing that would permanently injure or kill – a broken leg, bites, poison and humiliation was the worse they doled out.
"I believe, that to them, all they did was just harmless fun. Fun at our expense, which made it all the more enjoyable, allowing them to put aside their internal feuding and bond together against us. Plaguing others was something they could all take part in, and together they could all laugh and enjoy the frustrations of those who were the brunt of their jokes.
“It was not a pleasant experience, and one made all the worse by the fear and shame of failing my master. I almost wept at my constant failure, and inside I quaked at the punishment that would surely follow. The Nargu were worse than I, at least he would let me live. He had invested far too much in my creation to simply do away with me. But he had no such qualms with Nargu, and they knew it. Yet they would still return to him, such was his control over them, his compulsion and the need they felt to please him.
“On the last night they tormented us yet again. It was different though, almost as if they knew we planned to leave the following day. The tormenting started as soon as we settled for the night, even before full dark fell and they were still visible to us."Stones, sticks, excrement and even dead birds were dropped. Burning brands were thrown at our tarpaulin, and as soon as sufficient damage was caused, water and urine poured through. On and on it went.
“Then suddenly, in the hours of dark just preceding sunrise, all laughter abruptly died and the barrage of missiles stopped. The silence was so sudden and so complete that we all looked about, all stood, all with weapons drawn, expecting some form of attack, something far worse, more potent, than all that had gone before.
"Seconds passed and nothing. The seconds stretched into minutes and still nothing. Slowly the Nargu settled again, sitting at first and then stretching out on the ground hoping at last for some sleep. I was long past sleep, and so sat with my back against a Great Grey, and watched and waited; the silence and the lack to torment was not normal, and it was enough to force me to alertness. I would have been alert anyway, even in sleep, but this change, this silence, was a red flag to me, a warning.
"Something was coming and I was not prepared to be caught unawares.
“I sat silently for twenty minutes or more as slowly, one by one, the Nargu drifted into fitful sleep; their harsh breathing, almost deafening snores and constant jerking was an indication to all that they slept. Then, when I was sure that they all slept, the eyes appeared, staring at me from the shadows outside the glow cast by our fire. Red the eyes were, blood red and gleaming unnaturally in the darkness; their glow and colour not from the reflected firelight, but from within the creature itself.
"I sat still and watched as slowly the creature move forward into the light.
"An Ella’ren, but larger, much larger than those we had hunted, those that had toyed with us. It stood at least four feet tall, a well built muscular body with a great barrel of a chest; huge by Ella’ren standards. We stared at each other. It weighing me up, and I itching to do my master’s bidding – to leap forward and capture this creature, throw a knife at it, injure it and then take it for my prize. But I knew it was futile, all the other attempts had failed and this would be no different. Greater than my itch, was my desire to know why this Ella’ren came to me, and what it wanted. The tormenting had stopped to allow this one to come forward. Was it just another of their jokes, a prelude to the worse that would follow?
“The creature spoke, ‘Why do you hunt us, servant of shadow?’ it asked.
“Silence followed. I waited, the creature waited and said no more. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime of quiet, I relented. ‘Because my master ordered it,’ I said.
“‘Why? What does he want of my kind? He knows we will never again stand against him, knows we will lend no aid to those he seeks to dominate.’
“‘I cannot answer for my master, and I do not know the answer to your question.’
“The silence again stretched before us. I had questions, but knew also that there was more the Ella’ren wanted to say. Minutes again passed, and still nothing. In the trees above, I knew that huge numbers of Ella’ren had gathered, whether to watch and listen, or for some other purpose I did not know. But I suspected that the Ella’ren before me had stayed silent to allow those above to gather, and to witness what he would say.
“Finally the creature spoke again, ‘I am named Gremok. I lead the Ella’ren, as you name us. I lead all the Ella’ren. I have travelled far to be here this night. My people have amused you to ensure you remained until my coming.’
“‘I am honoured,’ I responded flippantly, my itch flaring at the proximity of so very many of those my master had commanded me to capture.
“‘No. It is your master who does me honour, great honour, to send one such as you against us.’
“The trees echoed with giggles at his remark, and my anger grew at his barely concealed contempt for my master.
“‘Be silent, my children,’ Gremok said, in a voice bereft of anger or command, almost as a parent speaking with his favourite child.
“The silence that followed was immediate and complete; the wind blew and the leaves rustled still, but all else was as if his children held their breath even. His control was absolute, almost akin to my master’s, and yet I sensed no fear, no terror from Gremok’s children. They followed him because they wished to, because they respected him. Not out of fear or compulsion. I did not think on his control back then when I was facing Gremok, but it came to my mind on many an occasion later when I began to first question my master’s commands.
“‘He hunted us before, you know, in those dark times when he ruled this world. He hunted us, and when he failed he tried to instead destroy us. He wants what we possess… do you know what that is, what he desires from us?’
“I did not. My master did not explain why he wanted these creatures, and I did not ask. That was the way of things, no one ever questioned his will. Even later when I did begin to question his commands and looked for the reasons behind the things he would have me do, I never asked, I never openly questioned him. All my questions were furtive, secretive things, never openly giving even a hint of wanting to understand the reason behind what he demanded.
“So my answer to Gremok was, ‘No.’ Just as I knew he had expected. But he did not laugh at me, did not mock as I had expected. He simply smiled, if that very wide mouth and those so very sharp teeth could be said to form anything resembling a smile that is.
"He then said something strange, something that has stayed with me all this time. Even today it makes no sense to me at all.
“‘I knew that he would send you to us,’ he said, and after a short pause, ‘We have met before, we two. Though you will not remember it yet. We have met before, and we will meet again.’
"He gave a slight laugh then, not the horrendous wail that came when the Ella'ren enjoyed their little torments. The laugh was quiet, almost as if he laughed at himself somehow.
“‘Forgive me,’ he said. ‘I do not mock you, I merely laughed at my own indulgence. We will meet again, and you will then understand what I have said, and perhaps appreciate my humour.
"Ask then for our aid… and if you pass the test, it will be given without reservation. Remember my name, it is Gremok Battlehand.’
“And with that he was gone, just gone as if he had never been, as if I had dreamt all he said. All the Nargu still slept, the Ella’ren in the trees above stayed silent, and to me it seemed as if I was completely alone in the world.
“The following day we left empty handed. He was not pleased at my failure, and yet his punishment was not harsh, not by his standards at least… I survived.
"The Nargu did not, they all suffered terrible deaths at his command, and he fed well that day on their terror.
“Later, years later when I was free of him, we again hunted the Ella’ren, the five of us. I wanted to find Gremok, I wanted to question him and ask for his aid as he said I should. We did not find him, nor would any Ella’ren stop and speak with us, and when we tried to capture one, we again failed miserably.
"More surprising was that the Ella’ren never once bothered us, never taunted, never mocked. We saw them in their hundreds in the great trees of Lwycoed, but they never once did anything to us. They watched from on high, followed us, but let us be. It was very strange.”
“So you never did see this Gremok again, then?” Alex asked.
“No. Although later, as we left Lwycoed, we did hear stories from some of the few settlers that had braved the surrounding area. Stories and rumours that is. They said that the ancient leader of the Ella’ren, one who had led the Ella’ren for many generations, had finally died.
"For months, they said, the tormenting had ceased as a mark of respect for their dead leader. At first, I thought our torment free stay within Lwycoed to be explained by the respect the Ella’ren showed at Gremok’s demise. But the settlers said that the respite had lasted almost three months, before starting up again over six months earlier.
"Gremok’s death did not explain why they ignored us under the boughs of Lwycoed, and with his death went any chance of our meeting again, and an explanation for his strange words.”
“And you don’t remember meeting him before… before you met him in Lwycoed?” Alex asked.
“I had never met him before that day, Alex… he was someone who would be very hard to forget. Before the visit to Lwycoed, I had never set eyes on an Ella’ren, let alone Gremok.
"His prediction about us meeting again was patently wrong; he could well have been mistaken, or it might even have been a part of yet another of their pranks… though if it was, I confess I do not see what the prank was.
"Regardless I will never know now, will I? So what next then, Alex? What’s next on your agenda?”
“Well I was wondering about Dar'cen and … “
As her question played itself out, I heard my inner voice laugh as I thought to myself Same day, yet another question.