Elise spent the rest of the day in her room doing nothing. She didn’t cry– she didn’t know the Drow well enough to cry for them– but she did feel hollow. Elise had brought up the idea of continuing with the plan, and sending her straight for the drow, to negotiate, but Hallbjorn rejected that idea. Without Marie and Claudia, the odds of the plan succeeding were reduced. For the moment, she would just have to wait while he reconsidered what he wanted to do.

She continued to do nothing for the rest of the night, not moving from her spot in the corner of her bed. She ignored the plate of mushrooms that Jona had slipped in for her dinner, but at some point late in the night when she woke up from her restless sleep, she gave in to thirst and drank some of the lukewarm water in the bowl beside it.

The next morning, she planned to do nothing again. She knew she couldn't stay like that forever, or even for the rest of the day, but she just couldn’t bring herself to move any further than was necessary to sate her thirst. However, someone else had other plans.

There was a loud knock at the door about an hour after Dwarven Sunrise, when the streetlights turned on. Elise ignored it the first time and the second time, but when it came a third time, and showed no sign of impatience, she knew she would have to respond.

“What is it?” she called.

“Lady Greta is here for your lesson,” said a Jona’s voice.

“What?”

“Lady Greta is here for your lesson,” repeated the maid.

Elise had been expecting something more formal, like a summons from the king, or a message relating to the prior day’s failed mission, so hearing of Greta shocked her so much it brought her back to her senses.

“I’ll be right there,” said Elise.

She hopped out of bed, stretched her legs and ran to the door, opening it with {Prehensile Vines}.

“Is she in the library?” asked Elise.

“Yes,” said the maid. “Allow me to escort you.”

Greta was waiting for her at one of the tables in the library with her arms crossed and her face looking even grumpier than usual.

“You’re late,” she harrumphed.

“Sorry Teacher, I didn’t know you would be coming today,” said Elise.

“Of course I came! You skipped out on me yesterday.”

Elise had been so caught up in wondering why Greta had come to do their lesson that she had almost completely forgotten what had happened at their last lesson when Elise put her to sleep.

“I’m so sorry, Teacher. I should never have done that to you. I just didn’t-”

“Bah! Does it look like I care? Sit down, we’re already running behind.”

“I-” Elise hesitated. “Yes, Teacher.”

“Good. They told me you haven’t eaten since yesterday, so I brought some snacks.”

She tossed a small sack of fresh morels from her garden on the table in front of Elise.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Don’t give me that,” said Greta. “You need to eat if you want to grow.”

“Teacher, I swear, I’m not hungry.”

“Why not?”

“What?”

“What made you lose your appetite?”

“I don’t know,” said Elise.

“That runt Hallbjorn told me you went out on a mission yesterday.”

“He did? When did you talk to him?”

“Just now, obviously. Are you feeling sad that you failed?”

“Maybe a little.”

“Don’t be. Everyone fails! You’re not special. You don’t get to starve yourself just because things didn’t go your way.”

“But people died,” said Elise. “They died, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“People die all the time.”

“But I promised to take them back to their homes. But then when the danger started, they were the ones protecting me, and there was nothing I could do to save them.”

“So you’re sad because you’re weak? How is not eating supposed to help with that? If you’re weak, that just means you need to get stronger, and if you want to get stronger, you need to eat. So eat up!”

“But-!” started Elise before stopping herself.

“But what?”

“Nothing.”

“The past is done. Bad things happen. All you can do is learn from your mistakes and do better in the future. But you can’t to better in the future if you starve yourself.”

Elise turned to the bag of mushrooms, and a feeling of hunger came over her. Greta’s words struck a chord with her, and she realized how foolish she was being. Marie and Claudia’s deaths were tragic, but they did not affect her goals. It was just like with the warg. If she wanted to stop things like that from happening in the future, she needed to move on, and keep growing.

While she ate, she formulated a plan in her head. Hallbjorn hadn’t summoned her, so he hadn’t made a decision yet, but she had made her decision. If he still hadn’t summoned her by the end of the lesson, she was going to go to him and deliver an ultimatum. Either he would send her to the drow to negotiate, or he would send her to the surface so she could leave. No matter which option was chosen though, she would be leaving by the end of the day.

“Are you ready?” asked Greta when Elise finished eating.

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Good. I’ve decided to change the lesson plan. We’ve been covering pre-Dark Age history up until now, but we’ve gotten far enough now that it’s time to move on. I’m sure you’ve had enough talk of Dwarven tax politics and human tax policies. To cut a short story shorter, Benedikt the Braindead’s son was no wiser than he, and a couple decades later, to escape total enslavement, the majority of the remaining dwarves packed up and left. They found a large cave in the side of a mountain deep in an uninhabited forest that they thought was suitable, and so began the Dark-” She coughed. “The Dark Age.”

“Teacher, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Gideon the leader of Albionia heard of the flight of the dwarves, and chased them all the way to the mountain. The dwarves like to say that it was because the humans simply wanted to enslave us, but in truth, we had mutinied against their tax collectors and made off with quite a bit of their gold. We still have it, actually, in some vault somewhere deep under the castle.

“Anyway, the humans chased the dwarves all the way into the cave, and with more numbers and higher levels than the dwarves could ever hope to fight against, so rather than fight, they simply collapsed the entrance to the cave behind them. A few dwarves died in the incident, but many more humans did, or so the stories go. We don’t know for certain because no one has been able to return to the surface to confirm it yet.

“Benedikt’s son Bjorn believed that such a large cave system must have had another exit somewhere, but he was wrong. The entrance that was collapsed was the only way in. The rest only went down.

“The dwarves traveled through the caves– nasty places by the way. Full of all sorts of nasty bugs and frogs and other sorts of slimy cave creatures– for three months until they finally came upon a place worth settling down in. You can probably guess where that was, right?”

“Here?”

“Not quite. Do you know what this place was before?”

Elise thought back to her conversation with Claudia and Marie. “The home of the Drow.”

“Yes. Good. The dwarves came across a cave that had everything they needed: water, trees, and even edible, but dangerous livestock.”

“Omnivorous Cyclops Cows?” Elise guessed.

“Yes. How did you know that?”

“I ran into a couple before.”

“I thought you said you had never met the Drow before.”

“I hadn’t. I found the cows in a cave and had to run away.”

“Did that cave have an enormous black tree with glowing white fruit in its center?”

“Yes, is that-? Did I find the home of the Drow?”

“It would seem so,” said Greta. “How unfortunate for you. If you had gone back, you likely would have been discovered by the Drow, and you would be living a life of luxury.”

Elise wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Knowing she had been so close to the species that would have worshiped her without meeting them made her feel strange. What if she had gone a few hours earlier, or a few hours later? The cows might not have been there, and she might have made it far enough in to meet a Drow. What if she had decided to go back there instead of exploring the lake? If that was the Drow’s home, surely they would have noticed the appearance of the wyrm’s intrusion after the cows destroyed the vines hiding it. Perhaps there would have been drow waiting to give her a warm welcome when she got there.

“But enough on that,” said Greta, interrupting her train of thought. “The dwarves found the cave of the Drow. Can you guess what happened next?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Greta had a slight smirk, which Elise knew she meant she was asking a trick question. The Dwarven answer would be that the Drow attacked, and the dwarves fought back out of self defense, ultimately driving them out of the cavern. But that was clearly not correct.

“Did the dwarves take over the cave before the Drow could properly react?”

“Of course not!” snapped Greta. “Where did you-” She coughed again. “Where did you get such a ridiculous idea?”

“Teacher, are you feeling sick?” asked Elise.

“I feel-” she doubled over and coughed a few more times before straightening up. “I feel fine. I just had something lodged in my throat.”

“Teacher, there’s the epidemic going around-”

“You think I don’t know that?” Greta snapped. “I said I’m fine. Now, the Drow. They actually welcomed us with open arms.”

Elise had a bad feeling about the old woman’s cough, but she did seem to be doing alright, now that the coughing fit was over, so she let it slide.

“They did?” asked Elise.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t they? They are an underground race. They can’t stand the sun. They were curious what the outside world was like, and what living in a place where the sky wasn’t made of stone was like. The language barrier was a problem for a short while, but we soon learned each others’ languages, and started living together in peace.”

“What happened?” asked Elise. “I- I talked to some drow recently.”

“Yes, that runt Hallbjorn told me about it. Told me they said some strange things to you.”

“They said that the dwarves killed their Sister Tree. I’m not sure exactly what that means though.”

“We did not kill their Sister Tree,” said Greta. “It died on its own. But that wasn’t the start of the conflict. That only happened near the end, and was the last straw that made negotiation impossible. Now stop asking questions and pay attention.”

“I- Yes, teacher.”

“The drow are a strange people. They worship trees and Fey. More specifically, they worship their ‘Mother Tree’ and Titania, Goddess of the Fey. They say their people descended from the union of an elf and a Fey, and they sometimes have strange, Fey-like powers, and the tree is supposed to be a gift from Titania herself. I think that last bit’s a load of hogwash; it’s just a big tree.

“But anyway, their Mother Tree bore exactly one seed, which they planted in a nearby cavern, the one the dwarves found. It was not nearly as large or powerful as the Mother Tree, but it was magnificent nonetheless and the Drow and dwarves became such close friends that the Drow granted dwarves access to the entire cave containing the Sister Tree. They hoped that the dwarves would eventually come around and see how wonderful it was. The dwarves never did quite that much, but they did have a healthy respect for it, and made sure to treat it carefully, so as not to offend the Drow.

“However, that was not enough. In the end, the dwarves and Drow were too different. The dwarves’ population began to grow, and they started to expand the cave, carving houses out of the walls. The Drow didn’t like that– they thought it was a violation of Nature– but they tolerated it for a time out of respect for the dwarves.

“No one knows exactly how the conflict started. We don’t have many records from that time, because the Drow did not allow us to collect wood to make paper, so all we have is testimony from those who were alive during the war. At some point though, the relationship between the two races soured, and turned from friendly to antagonistic. Sometime around the year 789, almost 400 years ago now, the drow committed the first- the first murder-”

“Teacher!” said Elise as Greta doubled over, coughing violently.

“I’m-” started Greta straightening up, but she never finished her sentence.

When she tried to continue, she coughed again, this time sending a small splatter of blood and bile into Elise’s face.

“Teacher? Anna! Anna! Get a doctor! She’s sick!”

“Oh no! What do I-?”

“Go get a healer!”

“Okay. Okay. I’ll be right back.”

“Teacher, the healer will be here soon. Try to stay calm.”

“I’m not panicking, you-”

Another spatter of blood burst from her mouth and she gripped the table, hacking as though someone had punched a hole through her lung. Elise ran up to her on the table, but didn’t know what to do when she got there. She was too small to support the old woman, and even if she was bigger, she had no idea what kind of first aid she would even give in this kind of situation.

An idea came to her, and she enabled her {Fey Wings} and started sprinkling the woman with as much {Fairy Dust} as she possibly could, thinking as hard as she could about the woman being as healthy as possible. It seemed to work, and the coughing subsided, but Greta still struggled for air, gasping and wheezing, and she could barely sit upright at all.

“Where is she?” said a voice from the library door.

Elise turned to see an old dwarf with a braided gray beard and a white robe. She used {Inspect} out of habit and saw that he was a [Healer of the Body, lvl 13].

“Over here!” called Elise.

He ran over to where Greta was struggling, and immediately picked her up and laid her out on the table as quickly as he could without hurting her, and then he put his hands on her and got to work. Elise sensed a gentle mana emanating from his hands as he moved them about her torso and head, and five minutes later, Greta’s breath had steadied, and she had fallen asleep.

***

Around noon, Elise, Hallbjorn, and an older dwarf named Kristofer who was Greta’s only remaining son were seated around a bed in one of the castle’s guest rooms where Greta lay asleep. The healer said that she was not in danger, but that what he was able to do was limited. He had cured the disease, but the damage it had done to her lungs couldn’t be healed fully. Healing skills used the body’s natural healing, so on older patients whose bodies were no longer able to fully keep up with the skills, there was only so much that could be done.

“She will live at least another month,” he said. “Maybe three or four if she’s lucky. But she’s already well beyond the age that dwarves usually start to fade down here. Nothing short of a miracle would keep her alive beyond that.”

“I understand,” said Hallbjorn. “Thank you for your care.”

“Anytime, Your Majesty. She should be waking soon. I will be right outside if there are any issues.”

The doctor stepped out, leaving the other three in melancholic silence. The only sounds were of their breathing and their heartbeats.

“Well, I can’t say I wasn’t expecting something like this,” said Kristofer with a sigh. “She’s been healthy so long that I’ve been getting nervous.”

“True,” said Hallbjorn. “A shame it happened the way it did though.” He glanced at Elise. “You doing alright?”

“I’m fine,” said Elise. “Not totally fine, but I’ll be okay.”

“That’s good,” said Hallbjorn, nodding. “You did well. If you hadn’t been there, it could have been much worse.”

“Aye,” said Kristofer. “Thank you for that.”

Elise had only met Kristofer twice before then, but she liked him well enough. Probably as a product of being Greta’s child, he held much less animosity toward the Drow and Fey than most dwarves did, and after a prickly first meeting, he had warmed up to her enough to treat her normally.

They returned to silence for another quarter of an hour until Greta’s eyelids fluttered open.

“Mom!” said Kristofer, leaning forward and clasping her hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Kris?” she said, looking around. “Where am I?”

“You’re in the castle. You collapsed, remember?”

“Collapsed? Oh yes. Where’s the brat? We never finished our lesson.”

“Mom, the lesson is over for the day.”

“Nonsense! I haven’t finished yet!”

“The healer said you need rest.”

“I’ll rest when the lesson is over.”

“Teacher, you need to rest,” said Elise.

“There you are, brat,” she replied. “Someone go get me my books so we can continue. What’s with all the long faces?”

“The healer also said-” started Kristofer. “He said you might only have a month left.”

“All the more reason to continue the lesson. Where are my books?”

“You will not be continuing the lesson today,” said Hallbjorn. “This is a royal order.”

“Runt,” said Greta. “I wiped your grandfather’s arse, you can’t tell me what to do.”

“I can, and I will. You will be resting for the rest of the day at least, and then for as long as the healer says you need to.”

“I’ve got a month left, and you want me to spend it bedridden doing nothing?”

“The healer said you had one to four months, and I want to make sure you get the full four. So you will be resting until I say so. That is my final decision. I’m glad to see you’re doing better. Now that you’re awake, I’ll be heading back to work. Please rest, for your own sake.”

As soon as the king left, Greta turned to look at Elise, who was sitting at the foot of the bed.

“Brat,” she said. “Go get the books. We’ll continue the lesson anyway.”

“Mom, no,” said Kristofer.

“Quiet, Kris. Brat, go get the books.”

“No, Teacher.”

“No?”

“Teacher, I’m leaving?”

“You’d better be back with the books.”

“I’m not- I might not be coming back.”

Greta gave her a long, hard stare before sighing.

“I see,” she said. “Well don’t let me keep you. Run along.”

“I’ll try to come back,” said Elise. “Before you- you know…”

“Before I die? That’s fine. I won’t be going anywhere just yet. I’m not dying without seeing the sun.”

“I’ll make sure you see it sooner than later,” said Elise. “I promise.”

“Good. Good. Now go. Stop wasting time on this old hag.”

“Thank you for everything, Teacher. I enjoyed our lessons.”

“Hmph.”

“Goodbye, Kristofer.”

“Goodbye, Elise,” he replied. “I’m not sure where you’re going, but good luck. Try not to die. My mother would be sad.”

“Hmph,” said Greta again.

Once outside of the guest room, Elise made a beeline straight for the king’s office, with Baldur and Jonas jogging at her heels.

“Hallbjorn,” she said as the door opened.

“What is it,” he said, jumping to his feet. “Did something happen to Greta?”

“What? No. She’s fine. I have something else to talk to you about.”

He sat back down, looking relieved, and started straightening his beard.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I’m leaving.”

“...When?”

“Now.”

“Where are you going?”

“That’s up to you,” she said. “Either I’m going to the drow, or I’m leaving for the surface.”

“So if I say I want to negotiate-”

“Then I’ll go to the drow.”

“And if I say we’re attacking?”

“I’m going to the surface. Either way, I’m leaving.”

The king pondered for a moment, then sighed.

“I’m sorry to have to put you up to this, but I’d like to try negotiating again.”

“Alright.”

“I know this isn’t your kingdom, but I need to make the best decision for the kingdom, and that means taking you up on your offer. I hope neither of us come to regret it.”

“It’s fine,” said Elise. “I don’t want you to die. If I left, knowing that staying might have saved lives…”

“I understand,” he said, nodding.

“I know of a way to get to the Drow without going through the main gate,” she said. “The cave that I was first found in, the one with the lake. On the other side, there’s a wyrm tunnel, and from the wyrm tunnel, I can get to the Drow’s cave. If you can get me there, I can go the rest of the way on my own.”

The king’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know this? I thought you had never met the Drow before?”

“I hadn’t,” she said. “I found their cave though. I didn’t realize it was their cave until the lesson with Greta this morning. If I can get back to that cave with the lake, I’ll be able to get to the Drow’s cave within an hour.”

“Then I will get you there,” he said. “It will be much easier than getting you to the main wall.” He stroked his beard. “Do you have any issue with leaving right now at this moment?”

“That’s what I was hoping for.”

“Then we’ll do that,” he said. “I’ll deal with the Council later. Your guards are outside the door right now, right?”

“They should be.”

“Jonas! Baldur!”

The door opened a crack and Elise’s guards poked their heads in.

“Yes, Your Majesty?” said Jonas

“You are to take Elise to the northeast lake.”

“The northeast lake, Your Majesty?”

“Did I stutter?”

“No, Your Majesty. I will do as you command.”

“Good. Take this.” Petur walked in to grab the note from the king’s hands. “Elise, do you need anything else before you leave?”

“No, but… You’re a good king, Hallbjorn, and I’ll make sure you become a great one.”

“And if this works, I’ll make sure they put your name in the history books right next to mine.”

Elise had no prior interest in going down in history, but when she heard him say that, she somehow became even more motivated than she already was.

“I’ll see you on the surface,” she said, turning to leave.

“The next time we meet, it will be under the sun,” said Hallbjorn with a grin. “Good luck.”