“I will have silence in my court!” The Queen yelled into the room with a commanding voice. All the people present went from raucous and rowdy to silent in the same second.
The presence she commanded was completely unlike what he was expecting as he was guided through the room. The obese woman was instantly gone. The Queen was now here
"I have gathered you all here for the bestowal of an important reward and I will not have you all making a fool of this event. Any who continues to do so will have their food withheld. "
All of the people on the sides paled at the threat like it was the worst possible thing they could imagine.
“Now that I regained order of my court, I shall commence the honors. Egosum, savior of Prince Legoass and Princess Antila, protector of common folk, and killer of orcs, you have done an immense service to our kingdom.” She paused to let the words sink into the crowd.
The uproar that he was expecting to come never manifested as the elves all around stood stone still, waiting for the Queen to continue.
“Without your interference, I would not have a kingdom to rule, family to love, and food to eat.”
Around him, a series of tight gasps left the lips of some of the fattest elves. The mere thought of going without food appeared to be a horrific possibility.
“Elronhub already gave you our entire supply of frgobit for your services, so I will give you something else of even greater value.”
She stood up and took careful steps down the stairs before stopping a short distance from him.
“I shall grant you the highest honor possible of an outsider. You shall receive a permanent knighthood under the Kingdom of the Nothern Elves, personally bestowed by me, Queen Earindil, the first of her name.”
Oos and ahs around the room let him know that it was of some value, but the use to him was completely unclear.
“I shall also provide you with a blessing of the forest. The very trees around you will protect you in your deepest time of need.” She slammed the staff she carried into the ground and a wave of magic rose into the air and swirled around the tip of the instrument.
She pointed it towards him and tapped each side of his head with the glowing pole. He watched as the energy leached into his body with each touch to his skin. An odd feeling of protection covered his skin. The glow was almost unnoticeable to him if not for the dim lighting present.
“With your knighthood bestowed, you shall be a friend of all elves you meet. The Northern Kingdom will always have a home for you. Beyond our borders, the Southern Kingdoms will provide help and lodging if you show them this medal.”
She pulled an ornate loop made of some sort of dark, reflective vine and hesitated at where to pin it to him with his very obvious lack of clothes. The medal was eventually laid before him to view before she walked back up to her throne to sit.
“The kingdom thanks you for your services and will be eternally grateful.” Her tone carried a finality to it that told him it was time to head off to the side. The old elf, Elronhub walked over and collected the award for him before guiding him to the crowd on his side.
“The final point of this court is to formally accept the new addition to the court's tenure. Elronhub has worked tirelessly to improve the kingdom and put his life on the line to lead our warriors out of the safety of the forest.”
A wave of murmurs spilled across the room.
“Order! He has earned this momentous reward and provided me with the most luxurious of gifts as thanks. Guards, carry it out.” The command saw a few armored men bring something into the court.
The whispers of surprise and desire were blatantly obvious now, yet the Queen stuck her head up and basked in the envy pointed her way.
‘What is even going on here?’
Egosum's surprise reached its crescendo as he finally saw what the gift was that the old elf had provided.
The large white crane he had accidentally killed was placed on a golden spike, embroidered with the finest etchings.
“The court is released. I shall now partake in the giant spear crane in my chambers.” Her tone carried unhidden gloating as she stood up and motioned for the guards to follow her out of the room.
As the door closed behind her, the room erupted into noise. Screams of derision and anger filled the air. It was complete pandemonium.
“Hello, Egosum. What do you want me to do with your medal?” The old elf spoke to him with a very nonchalant tone.
“Can you hold onto it until we leave? I have some questions that I want to ask, and I need my mouth for that.” The elf shrugged and waited for him to speak.
“So, what in the world is wrong with this place? Why are all of these elves fat and what was that shit with the crane?” The rapid-fire questions seemed to catch the man off guard as he glanced around at their company.
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The few dozen people ignored the apparent newcomers completely and acted like the most pompous group of pricks Egosum had ever seen in his short life.
“Those are pretty complex questions. Where to start? Hmmm. Well, they are all gluttonous fat bastards because that is the preferred look within the court and it's a good way to communicate that you are different from the average rabble.”
Egosum cut him off before he could move on.
“But the queen seemed rather nice when she wasn’t ranting about treason because of the feast.” The old elf looked like he wanted to burst out in laughter at the comment.
“Well, she does actually care about the people, believe it or not. I mean, she left the palace to wake everybody up and did a lot of charitable work with the recovery. There is a reason we wanted to get the royalty back beyond the orc crisis. It would hurt to see her sad you know. She already does so much”
Egosum stared at him with the most perplexed look a toad could possibly offer.
“Sure.”
“Now what is wrong with this place? That is a good question. These people are just ignorant of the outside world. It's been hundreds of years since they even left the palace. It is like its own little world facilitated by magic and the benefits these people can offer to their households outside.”
A particularly loud short about the crane drew both of their attention.
“And there’s that too. Cranes are a big deal. Best tasting thing even apparently. There was a reason no one touched it during the feast. If she heard about it, she would have been livid. That was why I gifted it to her. You should have seen the look on her face. It was priceless. She cried when she felt the roasted skin.”
"There is no way it is such a big deal for everyone to lose their minds over it.”
The old elf merely shrugged with uncertainty at the statement.
“Yep. I do not understand it either but what do I care? I am tenured baby! Woohoo! Let’s get out of here. The body odor from these freaks is insufferable.”
The pair walked out of the court and left the palace with the medal in hand. Cinera and Coyotl sat off to the side, waiting for them to come back.
His speechless friend perked up and hopped over to him as he left the doors.
“I am officially a knight.”
-
The trio traveled back to the storage room they called home with Cinera sulking all the way there.
Egosum shook his head instead of ruining her vision of an elven court.
They were officially done. There was nothing left in the Elven kingdom for them to do.
A strange emptiness filled him as he thought about the future.
‘What do I do and where do I go now?’
He knew what his final goal was with the new information he pried from the musical troop, but he was unsure of how to carry it out. The steps between now and reestablishing his civilization were separated by many years of effort and uncertainty.
“What's on the agenda for today? Are we heading out to explore or are we chilling out for a bit or…” The leading question had hit his worries on the head.
Cinera had gotten over her exclusion, but, like the rest of them, was left with nothing to do in the calm elven kingdom.
“I don't know.” His empty reply allowed an air of uncertainty to fall over the group.
The childish voice of a young elf from outside broke through the dead air.
“Did you hear about the beastman attack? I heard they killed all of the human’s livestock. The human city-states sent a bunch of warriors into the forest after them, but they all ended up dead or missing. How cool is that.” The chipper voice spoke about the gruesome topic with glee.
“You are a weird fucking kid.” The aged voice of a parent signed and pushed the kid along as they disappeared from sight.
Egosum fell into deep thought about his next move. What he lacked the most right now were allies and personal strength. If he was too far away to head back to the swamp he was born in to investigate, then he was going build his way to it.
“I’ve decided. We will go see what the beastman attacks are all about.” His proud voice echoed through the empty room.
Cinera and Coyotl looked at each other in confusion before shrugging it away.
“Sure. It’s not like we have anything better to do."
'Why is everyone a prick?'
Egosum pinned the medal to her sweater and the trio headed around to say their goodbyes. Words of appreciation and promises to return were exchanged and a large group of elves saw them off as they traveled down the ramp to the forest floor.
It was the first and the warmest goodbye he had ever received. His stay had been a rollercoaster of emotions. From nothingness to embarrassment to happiness, it was a wild ride.
The massive trees that blocked the sun's rays from leaching onto the ground slowly disappeared at their backs. All signs of civilized life faded from view as they traveled away.
One last glimpse back and he felt confident to say that he actually enjoyed his time amongst them.
‘If the elves weren’t so bad, I wonder what other races would be worth sparing from mass murder? Maybe the beastmen will be added to the list if this excursion goes well.’
The abnormally large foliage turned into normal trees as the common forest life finally made its way back. Light peered through the oak and maple branches with ease, nourishing the understory with the life-giving mana.
It was a serene walk through what he could only describe as pristine nature. They had left in the direction a few of the elves confirmed as the place of the beastman attacks and now searched for anything that could get them closer to finding the perpetrators.
The sounds of birds accompanied them for hours until they suddenly went completely silent. Cinera and Egosum barely noticed the disturbance until Coyotl froze completely.
“What is it? It isn't even close to nighttime. We should keep on moving.” She brushed past him as the toad looked around the area.
The eerie silence was made worse by the insects finally cutting off all noise that was common until now.
“Cinera, hold on, something isn’t right.” She turned around to talk when she suddenly froze and her mouth dropped open.
“What?” The quiet question received no answer. “Come on.” He looked at where she was staring and noticed it was many feet above him.
A cold chill ran up his spine as he felt hot breath pour over him.
He hesitated to look up when he heard deep intakes of breath from only inches away.
He was paralyzed, not in fear, but uncertainty as his mind raced for whatever could be hovering above him.
He felt the wet nose of a mammal touch his back as it inhaled his scent before yanking its head back. Loud crashes signaled its disappearance as it fled into the surrounding trees.
He flung his head to the side to try and catch a glimpse of the beast, only to see the wispy mana of the moon trailing behind something just out of sight. He turned to his companions.
“Okay, what the fuck was that?”