Elves are stereotypically known for their prowess at moving through their forested homelands and skill at archery. However, although the stories of them being in tune with the environment of their birth is true, their prowess with the bow is the same as any other races in Erasis, and instead comes from their skills at crafting bows from the specially grown wood.
Their skill with the spear, however, is one to be feared. With the innate ability to control the wood of the spear, mixed with a specially developed martial arts style, the spear wielders of the Elves are unmatched.
-A Short Treatise on the Species of Erasis
By Kamzin Jooi
Alyssa leaned back on her chair, watching as the sun came up, slowly lighting up the courtyard showing her the night shift guards coming back to the barracks after their night of vigilance and the replacement shift going out. She was tired, after the battle and finding the young mage the soldiers she had sent for had arrived. The young captain had ben horrified at the sight that greeted him, valiantly trying to hide his inexperience. She had made him organise to gather the dead and take them down for preparation in the infirmary's morgue, to the specifications of the individuals religion.
She had sent the rest of them to the infirmary as well. Pip and the girl were still unconscious from using so much magic, the trained healers had said they just needed rest and sugary, preferably mana infused, food. Am and Will seemed to only have a few superficial injuries, and her own shoulder had been healed pretty quickly, now only a dull throb in the background. One of the archers had both her legs ripped off, but was still clinging to life. The rest of them had a random assortment of wounds that had been easily healed, and had quickly fallen asleep.
Alyssa had also been told to sleep but couldn't. The faces of those inexperienced city guards haunted her. So, she had come up here, and started writing out letters to their families, which she had piled in the corner of her desk. She would go out later and deliver them personally.
She got up, sleep dragging at her, threatening to drag her under. She fought it, blinking hard and shaking herself to wake up. She still had one more thing to do. She walked down the stairs to the courtyard, the building still quiet, the administrators of the barracks not up yet. She strode across the courtyard to the building on the far side, furthest away from the rest of the buildings in their little compound in the city. It was a huge place, built when it had to look after the thousands of injured in one of the Great Wars hundreds of years ago.
As she entered, a cool chill washed over her. Part of it were the enchantments that kept the building at a set temperature. The other part was the thought of the thousands of souls that had died here, slowly leeching the life out of the building. There were bright yellow flowers placed sporadically wherever there was space, someone trying to brighten the place up. Most of the building was shut, only the east wing in use, now. She made her way along the corridors to the ward where her people had been placed.
As she got near the ward Vanya stood up from where she was sitting on a window ledge and walked up to her. The purple haired young woman looked refreshed after the care of the healers and a nice night’s sleep. "You look terrible, Commander" She said with a dopey smile. One of Alyssa's eyebrows rose slightly as she took a closer look at the purple haired mage. A slight dilation of the eyes and excessive touching were symptoms of the elixir mixed by the Healers given to mages who had taken one too many hits to their shields. She looked around to see if she could spot any Healers as the drugged mage decided that she needed a hug to help her feel better.
A Healer turned the corner as Vanya was cuddling into the Commanders chest, and hurriedly came over to help get her back into her bed. "Sorry about that, Commander" the young man said, blushing. "I thought that she would still be asleep for a little while more" He led them to the ward where she had left her squad, "How is your arm, Commander" he asked, looking at the bandage wrapped appendage in question.
"It's a little sore, but healing nicely, thank you. And, please, Tayre. I told you to call me Alyssa." She grinned widely at his blush, making him look even younger, and making her feel a little more awake too. Her smile faded as she entered the ward, and saw half her people still in sleep’s embrace, covered in cuts, bruises and bandages. "How are they all, Tayre?" she asked looking around.
"Well, firstly, Am left after her initial check-up right after you did. Vanya, here and Pip are just regaining their energy, the Dwarf had a broken rib, but it's fully healed already" He looked at the Dwarf lying on his bed, looking a lot smaller without all his armour on.
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"Sir Caleb and Will are still asleep, Will should probably be discharged in a day or two, Sir Caleb in a few more days as he seems to have broken a rib too, though his is taking longer than Pip's since he doesn't have the benefit of a Dwarf's Physiology." He started walking down the ward, "The two archers are just tired, some small cuts and bruises that we're going to let heal naturally" He looked back at her, bright blue eyes meeting hers, before continuing " The other soldiers aren't too good, I'm afraid. The one that had his legs cut off will be with us for a few months, and will be honourably discharged from the Guard." He sighed deeply, his brow furrowing as he looked upon the legless Guard as if he should be able to do something about it.
Alyssa put a hand on his shoulder in comfort, squeezing it gently, before moving on to the next two beds, "And what about these two?" she said looking them over, she remembered vaguely of how they had fought that night, on the hill. If these two hadn't been there the fight might have gone even worse than it had. "Brothers?" she asked, looking at the similarities in their faces that she hadn't noticed last night.
"Yes, twins actually, I think the cut of their hair and beard is to tell them apart. The Guard Captain that came last night to identify the dead also identified these two and told their family."
"And how are they?"
"They seem to be doing quite well, one has two fractures in his arm, and the other a severely bruised leg, but they seem to be healing well. Much better than expected, so I've asked one of the elves to take a look at them to see if they have some elf ancestry in them so we might give them some elvish potions." Interesting, she could see what he was talking about, with their fine features and slight tilt to their ears they may indeed have some elvish blood in them.
"And finally, the mageling." Said Tayre, walking up to the last bed in the ward. The bed had a wide space around it with some type of water and earth based shield set up to avoid any damage if the girl had any uncontrolled bursts of magic, with a wooden chair next to it. On the chair sat an old woman, her hair was white, skin wrinkled like a prune, but her back was straight, and her grey eyes sharp. Tayre bowed slightly as he approached, saying "Elder" in greeting. Alyssa nodded at the woman in greeting, looking at her in fascination. There were only a few dozen Elders for each of the mage castes and she had never met a Healer Elder before. The serenity of her presence rolled off her in waves, somehow making her feel better with just her presence. "Come to see the young mage, have we?"
"Yes, Elder, how is she?"
"She's a strong one to be sure, her soul burns like the flames of Elorim's forge." Alyssa's eyes widened in awe at this casual mention of the gift of seeing souls, and glanced at Tayre, who had a similar expression on his face. "To have such Willpower that she stopped her strength being drained, and even now she fights to regain consciousness." The old woman shook her head, and stroked the girl’s forehead. "With anyone else, I'd say it'll be a few months before she wakes." Alyssa's face fell slightly at that, she didn't have the time to wait for so long for any information this young woman could have.
"But," the Elder continued," I'd say this one will be awake within a day or two"
"Ah, brilliant. Do you know anything else about her, maybe from her clothes?" she asked, turning to Tayre.
"Yes", said Tayre, bowing to the Elder and walking off towards the opposite side of the room from the girl’s bed. Alyssa nodded to the elder as she followed, slightly sad at losing the feeling that she had when near the old Healer. A few seconds later she felt it again, and she turned her head towards the Elder, who smiled benignly at her before shutting her eyes, her hand resting on the young mage's forehead.
Tayre led her towards a low table upon which some clothing she recognised as the young girl's was folded in a neat pile, all nicely cleaned and mended. "We think that her name is probably Artemis" he said, holding up a battered looking coat, and opening it and showing her its collar. ‘Artemis’ was spelt out in a flowing script in some sort of gold thread that was obviously much too rich for someone who looked as poor as the girl did, and clashed jarringly with the obvious raggedness of the coat. "How are you so sure that it's her name and not someone else's whom she got the coat from? He raised an eyebrow at her in imitation at the slight implication of the girl being a thief, but let it go.
"The Elder told us." He said simply. It took her a moment to realise that the Elder could somehow recognise names from souls, and nodded slightly in respect of the Healers power...and at the thought of what such power could have in the wrong hands. "Though," he continued, putting the coat down, "She also said it wasn't her Given name, but a Taken name?" he looked at her to see if she knew what that meant, but she shook her head. The terms sounded familiar, but she couldn't place them, so she told him to continue with his findings.
He picked up a pair of boots that looked like they would cost an average man his earnings for an entire year. She couldn't resist taking one from him and feeling the exquisitely soft fur that covered the tops and insides, turning it over and recalculating the cost of them when she saw the sole was made from the pad of a Whisper Cat. She whistled softy, now even more sure that the young girl was a thief. She ran her finger over the sole which arched like a stretching cat, and she grinned slightly at the trouble she was going to cause when they sent her to the Academy to get her to control the magic.
"These have some sort of enchantment on it" Tayre said, "I thought maybe you could tell us what it is?" he asked.
"Sure thing, sweets." She said, grinning as he blushed again, smiling wider when she saw the Elder wink at her across the room, over his shoulder, having caught the exchange. She concentrated, focusing her mind and chanting focus words under her breath. The weave became clear to her, slowly, and turned softly into runes she could read. "The enchantment takes the silence aspect of the whisper cats and enhances it as well as adding extra grip." Very interesting, to be sure, looking around with her focus still active she noticed the coat glowing softly too. She picked it up trying to read it's weave, but it was unfocused, as if it was just an aura rather than an enchantment. "Hmm, that is curious." she muttered.
"What is it? We didn't find anything on the coat." Asked Tayre.
"It's just...It looks like that the girl's power leaked out, and some of it just bled into the coat. It's definitely her signature." She explained recognising the magic from that crater they had found. This was very odd. Going by this, the girl’s magic had manifested years ago, but she had somehow managed to hold it in until last night. Gods, but the girl had one enormous Will. Her gaze fell on the tiny figure on the bed opposite, the morning sun’s rays lighting up her face and making her look entirely too innocent and angelic for the trouble Alyssa was sure she was going to cause when she woke up.