We marched across the plains in the dead of night. The moon was gone, the red star was nowhere in sight. A horde of elves with flint spears and knives raced across the empty plains as silently as we could. It would be tough to hide a force of this size from the Oracle and her scouts, but we wanted to try. I broke off of the main force with a couple of skilled hunters after asking everyone to smother their torches. We were close.

I circled around the Jora tribe’s camp and went up to the cave where elder Starry kept his blessings. This was where Noel and I were supposed to meet. I looked around but couldn’t find her. She must not be back yet. I would have to wait. I told the other hunters to stay there in case Noel came back, and made my way to the front of the camp. I hid behind a rock and observed.

Nothing had changed. A few hunters were asleep, as were some of the hostages, but most people were awake. The Oracle sat by the elder’s tent, her one visible eye closed. Still no sign of elders Starry or Vell. Sharun’s eye glowed red, he was still under the Oracle’s control. I watched, and waited for Noel to return. The main force of independent elves would be waiting for my signal.

The night grew older and older. The sky lightened and the first rays of sunlight began filtering through the atmosphere. There was no sign of Noel. I considered telling one of the hunters to go look for her at the Immortal of Desire’s tree, but I wasn’t sure if that would offend the immortal. I bit my lips. If the Oracle decided to send out a scouting or foraging party in the morning, or if she decided the hostages weren’t useful, I would have to start without Noel or the Immortal of Desire’s help.

The sun peered over the horizon. The Oracle opened her eye and whispered. A Hon tribesman nodded his head. He began gesturing to other hunters. They raided the Jora tribe’s food storage and had breakfast. They didn’t give the hungry Jora tribesmen any food, even the children. The hunters then formed a party and their leader pointed towards the great plains. I sat by the exit of the camp and shrunk into the shadows.

A party of hunters marched forward. Yells and cries came from the front of the camp. The other hunters looked over. A bunch of elves lay in a pile near the camp’s entrance. Someone at the front of the group had tripped, apparently over nothing, and made the rest of them crash on top of each other. A few cuts and bruises but nothing major. They would get up in a moment.

Another yell, another cry. One of the hunter’s had gotten too close to the campfire. His tunic was on fire so he threw his spear to the ground and tried to roll over. Someone came over to help him. The Oracle frowned. The burning hunter’s spear fell near the Jora tribesmen, but they didn’t dare pick it up.

Another yell, another cry. A hunter had gone behind a tent, but he didn’t come back. The Oracle finally realized something was wrong and told Sharun to catch whoever was behind the tent. The greatest hunter ran off, leaving the Oracle’s side.

Another yell, another cry. Two hunters fell on the ground, clutching their feet as if they had stubbed them. More yells, more cries, as minor inconveniences happened to a whole bunch of hunters. The Oracle, now furious, told the Hon leader to stab a Jora tribesmen to get their cowardly enemy to reveal themselves, which was when the Hon leader’s wooden spear caught on fire, burning his hand. The Oracle followed the flame and pointed the rock at the entrance of the camp. She needn’t have bothered, since a bright flame burst into the sky from behind the rock, catching everyone’s attention.

Two Que hunters rushed towards the rock. Another hunter ran towards the Jora tribesmen. As he got close, a female elf jumped out of the crowd of huddled tribesmen, grabbed the spear on the floor, and parried the hunter’s attack. She kicked him in the shin, whacked him with the other end of the spear, and stabbed him. The Oracle snarled and raised her staff, but fell over herself to dodge a knife that came out of nowhere. A young elf cursed from the crowd. He couldn’t believe he’d missed.

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The two Que hunters circled the rock and stabbed their spears, hitting nothing. They looked over to the scouting party on the ground by the entrance, and shouted in alarm. The entire party was rolling on the ground, trying to put out the fires on their bodies!

I ran through the rolling hunters, grabbed a few spears, and threw a couple towards the Jora tribesmen. The female Jora hunter grabbed her defeated enemy’s spear and passed it to another Jora hunter. Four Jora tribesmen had weapons, the rest charged towards the elders’ tent, where all the weapons were kept.

The Oracle recovered, as did the Hon tribe’s lead hunter. They rallied the remaining hunters and told them to attack but as I ran into their ranks, tripping them with magic hands, setting fire to their clothes, or whacking and stabbing with my spears, the whole camp was drowning in chaos. Angry yells came from the entrance. The scouting party had recovered, though many had lost their weapons or were in no condition to fight. The rest charged towards me.

The Que leader, who had been a part of the scouting party, dashed towards me and the four armed Jora hunters. The five of us stood shoulder to shoulder, deflecting spears, taking advantage of any openings I created with my magic. The Oracle didn’t use her own magic because of the mass of Hon and Que hunters in the way.

Noises came from the camp’s entrance. The Que leader looked over. He told the Hon leader to deal with the five of us as he took most of the hunters to meet the Bandari and Hus hunters. We grabbed more spears from enemy hunters, and three more Jora hunters joined the battle. The mass of hunters was gone and the Oracle entered the battle. I rushed forward to meet her magic, and the enemy hunters gave me a wide berth. I burned anyone who came in my way.

Five unarmed Jora tribesmen joined their hands together and sent out a stream of water. With water splashing in their faces, the Hon and Que hunters were easily beaten back by our Jora tribesmen. The slippery, muddy ground made the retreating hunters fall to the ground, helping us collect a couple more spears.

“Outsider!” yelled the Oracle as she pointed her staff at me.

I put my back to the enemy hunters and dared her to fire. She launched red beam of light, much smaller than The Terrible’s laser, but just as deadly. I leapt out of the way, ignoring the cry of pain that rang out behind me as a Hon hunter got pierced by her own leader’s attack.

I cast a fireball at the Oracle, which she wiped out with her free hand. But behind the fireball was a spear, which she barely managed to parry with her staff. She took a step back and tripped over my magic hand. I ran up to her but she fired a laser from the tail of her staff. I twisted out of the way, crying out as the laser seared my shoulder.

I used my motion magic to grab a sharp piece of flint and hurled it at the Oracle. She rolled out of the way, even though she shouldn’t have seen my attack. I grabbed the spear I had thrown at her before, and approached her as she stood up. I stabbed the spear at her legs but she met it with her staff.

I backed up, swinging my spear the other way, aiming for her head. She tilted the top of her staff and blocked me. I leaned in, reaching a hand towards her torso, but she jumped back as the flames left my hand. I changed my flames to a fireball and launched it at her but she knocked the fireball back at me with her staff like it was a baseball.

I dove out of the way and then rolled again. The Oracle’s laser carved the ground and followed me as I rolled. She didn’t give me any time to get up, forcing me to roll further and further like an armadillo. I grabbed a rock and threw it over my head. Her laser touched my back but my rock swung down like a hammer from the air, knocking the wind out of her lungs as it slammed into her chest.