She had no idea what these were. Sure, some form of wolf, but barbarically distorted.
Eliahope scrambled to shoot the leader of the small pack. Aiming her arrow true, she quickly aimed - but missed due to the sudden shaking nervousness in her. A second too late, and her nerves changed her aim. It was now she realized the differences in hunting, and being hunted.
“Get your head on your shoulders, Aria!!” Sterline yelled, taking a war hammer and charging in with Sahri, Alix, and Yasha. Leaving Eliahope with Theodar.
“W-What in Fovera…” Theodar muttered under his breath as he summoned fire from his hands, shooting it forward and narrowly missing Yasha.
“THEO! You RAT” Yasha growled, looking over her shoulder before swinging her club at one of the monsters.
Suddenly, Eliahope caught her breath, whether more afraid of her her compatriots than the wolves, or a sudden comradery she couldn’t tell you.Lining up another shot, she stilled herself before letting loose another arrow, shooting right between the eyes of the front wolf - still, it didn’t respond and continued to snap at Sahri. Eliahope went pale.
“U-Undead! UNDEAD!” Theodor called out “NECROTIC!”
Eliahope had only heard about these types of creatures before. Creatures that rose from the grave, their life being a direct opposition of the natural order.
Sterline backed up for a moment, planting her hammer in the ground - she seemed still as the other three front-liners protected her. Suddenly, a glow originating from the ground like vines crawled on her hammer as it illuminated her weapon in magic. And with a solid swing, she hit the wolf in the side - the vines from her hammer, in a flash second, crawling and disintegrating the creature. The other three front-liners kept the wolves busy as Sterline came by, one by one, hitting each creature with her glowing hammer - and one by one they disintegrated before their eyes.
As the night quieted once more, the group of friends huddled around Sterline as she kneeled to the ground, collecting the dust from the creatures into small vials.
Eliahope sat back, keeping herself by the fire and holding her breath as the rest of the group muttered amongst themselves. Hearing small peaks in the conversation, as they discuss what to do next. After roughly 5 minutes, the rest of the group nods and come to sit at the fire - sitting down.
“Alright. The shift is over, so we’ll have breakfast. In the meantime, Aria, you have a choice. You can go forward on our own, or you can take a truth serum and answer some questions.” Sterline stated nonchalantly, pulling out her cast iron pot and some ingredients, “It’s a three-day journey, we’ve never seen Uncannis in this area before, and you lied. You’re a threat now.”
Eliahope twitched, attempting her best to be calm when being trapped. “...O-only if you take one as well…” she muttered before curling up, grabbing her blanket and wrapping it around her for warmth and comfort, never having missed the hearth of her home more.
Yasha quickly jumped to defense, but Sterline raised a hand - “No, that’s fair. Honesty for honesty. We’re all new. She doesn’t know us. I’ll take the truth serum.”
As the rest of the camp became slightly more comfortable and relaxed around the fire. Sterline laid down seemingly a large pieces of pork into the skillet before sighing, and rummaging in her bag to retrieve two vials.
“Alright - see here. Two potions, boh labeled as truth serums. Both look identical to one another, AND, you can pick which one you take. I will take the other.” Sterline held out both her hands. Eliahope chose the one in her left hand. “Alright, drink on the count of three. And some ground rules: If you choose not to answer questions, we can ask why if we believe it suspicious or need to know information, if you refuse to answer the why and the original question, we may ask you to leave.”
Eliahope nodded, downing her potion - with Sterline doing the same.
“Alright, so this is how we’re going to do this. Hi, my name is Sterline Sunsmith. I am a dwarf, and I hail from the dwarven colony in the northern mountains of the Hearan Empire. I am a cleric of Almair - the deity of the forge. Now, you’re turn.”
Eliahope took a deep breath, “My n-name is… Eliahope.”
Sterline squinted, “Surname?”
“Enniasi,” Eliahope breathed out, she prayed that due to their limited knowledge of elves, hopefully it wouldn’t tie her to anyone, “ I-I’m a half-”
“No way. You’re a half elf??” Sahri cut in, “Also, why lie about your name?? Who’s Aria??”
“W-well, My mother, a human, was Aria. And I lied about my name because my Father is a devious and cruel man whom I want no connection to.”
“Alright, back to the greeting.” Sterline chided.
“Right. I’m a half elf, and I hail from a Myunlun farmtown to the north of the continent. I’m not currently employed, though I wish to document our history in the making but more importantly finding the cure to the Elvish Plague.”
“Is you Aunt even real??” Alix chirped in with a childish anger, puffing out his cheeks.
“Yes, she’s very real. She’s the only good to the Enniasi name. She’s a nurse who’s trying to help her neighborhood fight the plague.” Eliahope started twisting her hair slightly, “Why did you guys approach me in the tavern? What is this job?”
“Well, it was Sahri who approached you - your guess is as good as mine for her intentions and reasons. But this job is a well paying delivery to a very well to-do woman in Luesall, Lady Samfa. As we said earlier, most caravan’s have settled for winter because it’s more dangerous in winter because of the weather and the beasts.” Sterline flipped some pork, speaking nonchalantly. Almost as if she had done this multiple times before, “Why are you heading to Luesall?”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Originally I wasn’t. The captain on my ship said their was a Ulene temple in Luesall, and when I was in the tavern I was hoping to have a more concrete plan than go to the temple, but here I am. I was put on the spot.” The elf looked around, Yasha was seemingly much more relaxed than she had for the whole shift. Sterline was giving no indication of any emotion she held, Sahri and Alix appeared poutish and angry - though quickly subsiding. Theodar, looking frankly uninterested in the whole event. Seemingly the tenseness had subsided.
“Why do you care at all about the elven plague? Half elves aren’t allowed unchaperoned in the Elvish Embassy or Isles, just like humans.” Theodar asked somewhat mockingly.
“Well, the only connection I have left in this world is my aunt. I can’t live there and interact with the elves until they accept me… a-and I don’t know, I guess I’m hoping they’ll make an exception if I discover what this sickness is.” Eliahope sighed, tighting up slightly. “How’d you all know I lied?”
Sterline looked at Yasha before turning her attention back to the meal, “Yasha is extremely keen. Originally, she could tell that you lied about your name, your mother passing - in some way - and something was off when you said you were an elf, but she took that as you might have some feelings about our kin. That and a general air of ‘untrusting’.” she shrugged before continuing, “But, the lies were somewhat small enough, and you had given a lot of truthful information, so we didn’t see it as reason for you not to tag along, especially seeing as Sahri had her heart set on it.”
“Okay, well…” Eliahope looked at the cart, finding herself rather relying on this crew, “...I’m sorry I lied.”
“Apology not accepted.” Sterline said, once again monotone and almost flippant. Sahri whispered something in her ear before sitting back down, “Correction - you’re apology can be accepted if you tell why you lied.”
“We didn’t even know you! I extended kindness! You lied for no reason!” Sahri huffed. “It’s just bad faith. You eat our food, you rely on our protection, you ride on our cart - what in Fovera is wrong with you??”
Eliahope, taken aback, thought for a good moment. Elven culture was… different than this. In the embassy no one asked your name to start with, because names were direct lines - they were connections, and you may not want such. It was frankly intrusive to ask someone’s name upon first meeting them in the embassy. When you can live forever, you’re much more… careful about whom you connect to. She desperately understood that human culture was different, afterall she saw it first hand with her mother.
“...Can I answer that in a story.? It’s a bit harder to describe plainly.” Eliahope muttered, averting her gaze.
The rest of the group looked amongst each other, before Sahri sat criss-cross before the fire. “I’ll take a story, as long as it’s entertaining.” she gave a small smile, Eliahope straightening out of the ball she had contorted her body into.
“Alright, then here is the story of the… The rabbits, the hares, and the jackalope.” Eliahope positioned herself in front of the fire, the warmth and the light emanating amongst them.
“Long ago, far away from here there was a meadow and a forest. There lived two groups - the rabbits and the hares. The rabbits lived in their burrows - tens of rabbit families to a burrow, they favored connection, and making a point to know every rabbit they came across. Afterall, they all shared the burrow, you should know who your fellow rabbit.
“Then there were the hares - and while they resembled the rabbits in some ways, and from a distance could even be mistaken for such - they had vastly different ways of going about life. Hares seemed to enjoy the woods. There were bigger monsters, but there were better places to hide. The hares would sometimes interact with each other but overall they preferred to run as fast and as far as they could within the woods.
“To the rabbits, the hares were mysterious beings of the forest, they could not fathom how they could survive, or why they wouldn’t come live in the meadow. And to the hares, the rabbits seemed crowded, crammed, and almost poisoned by their burrows, and they couldn’t understand why they would stay in the meadow.
“But, as species are wont to do - one rabbit was romanticized by the hare’s lifestyle, and one hare was curious about the rabbit and stood at the edge. The two met on the edge, and fell in love. And beyond all odds, the rabbit found herself with a litter. At first, the hare was excited, and moved to the meadow for his love. But as the hare stayed in the meadow, he felt increasingly crowded, confused and frustrated. And the rabbit, with the potential of a family, craved the safety and care of her burrow. And as their child was born, a mythical creature neither had ever seen, the hare viewed their child as an anchor, and the rabbit viewed their child as an unknown.”
“What was born was a jackalope, once again looking like the other, but especially when young couldn’t be deciphered from one or the other. Soon, the hare couldn’t handle the crowded nature, and pleaded for the rabbit to join him in the forest. But the rabbit stayed. The hare, heartbroken, turned to the forest to never be seen again - leaving the rabbit with the jackalope. And while the other rabbits accepted the jackalope, as it grew, it became more and more clear that it was not a rabbit, and they began to get confused and concerned as to a potential hare within their ranking, and kept a wide breadth around the wild creature.
“Then one day, the jackalope looked toward the forest. It didn’t feel welcome into the burrow, and felt cast aside. It hoped that possibly, just maybe, it would have better luck in the forest. So one day, it left. The jackalope’s mother kissed it’s head, and wished it the best of luck, and sent the jackalope on its; way. Hoping it may have better luck with the hares, knowing the fellow rabbits would relax into the burrow, and praying mayhaps the jackalope would find peace.
So, the Jackalope went into the forest, but as soon as it crossed the forest line, large antlers sprout from it’s head, just like magic - the hares in their forest witnessed this, and knew: This wasn’t one of the rabbits, and it certainly wasn’t one of them. So, the jackalope had come to the forest to hopefully find somewhere they belong, but instead of the somewhat hesitant rabbits, the hares were avoidant, some even completely hostile.
“So, What did the Jackalope learn? It wasn’t accepted by rabbit or hare, and had only seen glimpses into each of their lives - without being able to act in either fully. It doesn’t learn what’s allowed where, and where it will be accepted. So, the Jackalope cuts off its antlers, but it still doesn’t work. The rabbits still sense something is wrong - and so do the hares. But! There jackalope learns one thing: both groups, if the jackalope is careful enough, accept it as a weird version of the other. The rabbits accept the jackalope as a weird hare. The hares accept it as a weird rabbit. It isn’t accepted in either the forest or the meadow fully. But there’s nowhere else to go, so what does the rabbit do?”
Eliahope went quiet, a long pause fell amongst the campfire. Several of the party members grew agitated with the pause, “Well, I don’t know, what did the jackalope do?”
“Exactly, I don’t know. The jackalope doesn’t know what to do.” Eliahope explained, “But I have a plan, and it’s the best I got. I have the best chance of fitting in with the elves - as I can connect via my aunt, and they have a problem. My guess is that if I can solve their greatest problem, they’ll finally accept the weird rabbit into their forest."
The rest of the group shifted around the fire, somewhat uncomfortable.
"And then maybe I'll learn how to act correctly."