Chapter 4
It has been 10 years since I sent the group I met towards the mountains. They should be settled in by now. I have followed the roots for the last 10 years, I made frequent stops to explore the villages, cities and various sites on this side of the planet. Everywhere the roots grow there will always be trees. They get life from the world tree, which makes them stronger and live much, much longer. It does not bring them to life though. I have not yet set foot in any other area but woods. . . It’s awesome to see so much life, but I would also like a change of scenery, thus I visited the villages as much as possible. I should however be quite close to the end of the roots. I travelled about 15 thousand kilometres, the roots grow slow so it should be reaching the other side in about a thousand years.
I keep walking just like any normal day, tracking the roots, there has been a few cases where I needed to actually excavate the roots and remove elements trying to corrupt or eat at it. The roots will have a self defence mechanism when they are completed but are quite fragile while it grows. Thus it is kept a secret to keep it safe. I am the only one that knows of this on this planet. As I walk, I see the glow on the end of my staff getting dimmer. I stop and swing it around me, did the roots stop here already? I estimated another 100Km. I backtrack and the light brightens. I walk ahead again the glow dimming. I decide to excavate. On my travels I made a few tools that I can use. Since my knowledge is above what the people are capable on this planet, I know what to use in most situations, and I have the capacity to design my own tools.
One would think that I need a Smithy to make tools, but I can grow my tools from wood, anything metal I will need to actually use a smithy or my portable factory, which I stupidly left on my ship. But growing wooden tools takes me a few minutes and they do the work just fine. What is even better is growing a wood golem to use the tools. But in order to not spook the locals I do the digging myself. I have to say that it is quite fun to use primitive tools every once in a while.
I start my work with a will, curious to see what is happening to the roots, they are quite deep underground, around 10 meters. It takes me all morning to dig to the roots, late afternoon I stop digging, I have a 3-meter square 9-meter-deep box that I dug. Its almost time for dinner, I climb out and decide to look for wood for a fire. I peruse the surrounding brush and collect thin dead branches, after collecting an armful of fire starters and dumping them near my hole I started looking for bigger dry branches, these need to hold through the night to provide warmth. It is becoming winter, and is quite cool. I have a sleeping bag, people here will just think that it is a weird looking blanket as they do not know what a zip is. This is my best buddy in the cold nights, coming up beneath my neck and having an automatic blow-up cushion. A solar charger gets the batteries back to full strength which gives my heating system in the sleeping bag enough juice to warm it up for me.
Earlier today I was lucky enough to run across a family of rabbits, I picked one off with a carefully placed stone between its eyes. The rabbits scattered after that. This bunny was going to be my food tonight, close to my camping spot there is a bush with edible leaves. The flavour is not the best but hey, any food tastes amazing when you're hungry. Skinning the rabbit and removing the unwanted parts took some time. By the time I was done it was night. I started the fire with flint that I bought from a village long ago, its worn out so starting the fire took some time, I should probably get a new one. It was quite tiring getting a spark out of this set. I had a gas lighter but used it up years ago. I spiked the bunny on one of the sticks I had close by and held it over the fire.
How I wish I had some spice for the meat! Ah well, the aroma is still awesome. My fire is burning cheerfully, eventually I am able to eat my dinner, enjoying the meat with the not too amazing leaves. Gotto get some green in my system too! Before I could finish though I hear footsteps. They are hitting the ground hard. I hear more footsteps. Looks like someone is running and someone is chasing, more people chasing than running, 2, no 3 people chasing one? They are still about 3 minutes away, about 1 km. Yes I can hear that far, no I am not an elf, yes my hearing is amazing thank you very much.
I continue eating, Ill only be able to judge the situation after seeing it, after a few minutes the sounds get quite loud. The bushes shake violently and a Woman bursts out of it, fear and exhaustion plain on her face. My mouth drops open, what the HELL is an elf doing here? The woman sees me and immediately panics. She turns to flee in another direction. Ugh I can't leave an elf out here. After all they are my minions. I reach out to her mind. “Stop.” I command her. She freezes in place immediately. I can see she is now in full panic mode. It's understandable as no one should be able to command them as the world tree protects them. Except of course for the administrator for that oath system.
“Come sit at the fire and eat, there is edible plants in the bag, open it and eat.” She walks stiffly to my bag not able to disobey my commands. “Oh, and calm down.” I see her shoulders sag but her eyes still show that she is panicked. Do not worry, I will not hurt you, you are safe now.” “P. p . please let me go” she mumbles between mouthfuls of food I notice that she is stuffing herself. The poor thing must be starved. “There are men after me, they will kill us both.” I looked at her and started laughing. She looked at me like I am crazy. “Just stay behind me girl I will take care of your pursuers.” Being exhausted it looks like she won’t run away at least.
I turn my attention to the bushes. There is a heavy shaking from the bushes and 3 men pop out. “HA! Caught you at last you bitch!” One of the men shouted. He could not say anything else though, his eyes grew larger and his hands went up to his neck. He looked down and saw the wooden throwing knife embedded in his neck, a gurgle came out his mouth, blood flowing freely from the wound as well as from his mouth. He scrambled around trying to keep his balance. The other 2 men looked at him in shock, being woodsmen, they recovered quickly and looked towards me. Unfortunately, my “throwing knife” was my eating knife and I only grew one. I looked at them like nothing happened.
The two men had their axes out now and came running at me. I got op lazily and started walking forward, there was about a 10-meter gap between us and closing very quickly. One of the men was a bit faster and lashed out horizontally with his axe. I stretch my right hand to grab the blow, and the man grinned. He however soon had a very confused look on his face as his axe came to a sudden stop, caught by my hand. He looked at my hand and could see the metal bent on his Axe head where I caught it. Taking advantage of his confusion I punched him in the stomach. His body crunched up, blood coming out of his mouth and he flew back 2 meters. He did not get up. His friend saw the whole thing in the few seconds it happened and dropped his axe. He spun around and ran.
I sighed and turned to the young elf behind me. “Now young lady, you have some explaining to do. You may start by introducing yourself.” The elf looked at me, looks like I made an impression. “Thank you master!” she said with her mouth full. “I am not your master youngling.” I say to her, she shakes her head vehemently. “This one will server master from this day to my last!” The sense of urgency in her voice was clear. I hesitated a bit. Elves would not need a master unless they gave an oath to someone to become their master, and that person dies, I created this so that they can swear an oath to protect the world tree and not go back on their word. But this was usually implemented once they reached adulthood. This elf must have a story. “Do you require me to be your master?” I ask the girl. “Yes master, I need a master to survive or I will die.” I ponder her statement for a while, her eyes keep studying my face while she stuffs herself with food. Wait a second. . . Is she eating meat?? As far as I am aware elves only eat Fruits, nuts and vegetables. They only place should would learn to eat meat is from the humans.
“You were caught by the humans weren't you?” I asked her, she stopped chewing and her face became sad. “Yes master, I was caught when I was little.” She answered. Tell me your story elfling. Once I have heard it I will make a choice. She scooted closer to the fire and told me her story. It was very late at night that she finished her story. It looked like a load was lifted from her shoulders when she finished. “We will discuss the rest of this in the morning Emelia.” I tiredly said yawning, which also set her to yawning. “Yes master.” She replied. I probably need to get her something to sleep in, fortunately I can grow her an elven bed, which will protect her from the elements. She is also young enough to not have learned about elves not being able to grow living wood, normal wood should not be a problem though. And it is very unlikely that she could have learned anything while with the humans. “Emelia, please close your eyes and turn your back to me.” I asked the girl. “Yes master” She replied in a subdued voice, her body was trembling. I felt really bad about scaring her, but I could not have her see what I was about to do.
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As soon as she turned around I proceeded to grow her a simple wooden bed, well calling it a bed may be a bit much, let’s call it a futon, then a capsule like cover for the futon that she could open and close which would keep the cold air out and keep her warm. “Ok Emilia, you can turn back.” She turned around looking at me with a questioning gaze, she then spotted the bed with the open capsule and her mouth turned into a smile. “Master! How did you get an Elven bed here? And it is one the traditional ones!” she asked me excitedly. She did mention that she was caught 10 years ago, and that should have been the last time she slept in one of these. “I made a deal with an elf to allow me to grow one.” I replied. As far as I remember this was a general skill for the elves. “Thank you master!” The girl said cheerfully while inspecting the bed from all angles. “Allright Emelia, I will be going to sleep now, we will discuss what to do in the morning.” I said, throwing a few of the bigger logs onto the fire. “Yes Master, sleep well.” She said while pulling down the capsule over her bed.
I sat at the fire for a few more minutes mulling over her story. She was captured by humans, which means that soon there will be another war between humans and elves. Elves will not stand for their young to be taken, it will be kept under control until the war faction gains enough traction. Then they will move. I do not want to have a war between the two peoples, but the humans need to be made aware that this is not acceptable. There are more important things at stake. But I need sleep so I will not dwell on this any longer. Everyone needs sleep. Except Wood Golems, or actually any golems for that matter. Anyway, time to sleep. I get into my sleeping bag and sleep claims me a minute later.
Morning came all too soon. I woke to the smell of cooking food. I lifted my head, but I'm still drowsy. “Good morning master.” Emelia’s lovely voice sounded in the clear morning. “Morning” I said still not sure what’s going on. “I have prepared food for you master, it should be ready in the next few minutes. Did master sleep well?” I sat up smelling the cooking meat stew, it smelled completely different from what I cook, another flavour was mixed in that I did not recognise. I looked around me, the sun was busy peeking over the horizon, just visible over the trees, then I looked at her, she was beautiful, her hair is black as night, her nose small and perfectly formed, her eyes were deep green with light a blue shimmer where the white would normally be. Her body was perfectly proportioned in an hourglass figure, her shoulders small but tanned a very light brown, her breasts were a bit too big for an elf, but fitting in perfectly. Her hips were not too wide and her generous bottom sways when she walks. She has long legs, that I unfortunately could not see due to her brown robe.
I caught myself staring and mentally admonished myself. I looked up and saw her face beet red. “Master is welcome to look at my body, I do not mind.” I looked at her blushing as well. “I did not stare intentionally.” I said out loud. It has been a few thousand years since I took a lover. It just does not usually work out as they are always after power. But this elf does not know who I am. “Please do not mind me, I will not make any move on you, you are safe from me.” Emilia stopped making food. “Master does not need to worry about me, I will serve master in any way master needs.” I stared at her, she looked me directly in the eyes. This girl, does she even know what she is saying, she has not even got the ageless look that the elves get when they are older. So, she must still be in her teens. “Thanks Emilia but you don’t need to worry.” Is it just me or did she look a bit disappointed in my response? She brought me food in a bowl, with the spoon. Oh, she probably does not have a bowl either. I went to my backpack and acted like I fiddled in it, I noticed that she kept an eye on me. I grew a bowl and a spoon from the ground behind the pack out of her sight. A few seconds later I acted like I found it and gave it to her.
“This is for you Emilia. Grab yourself some food as well.” “Thank you master” she replied, the look on her face was of confusion. She could not have seen me grow the bowl, could she? No, I don't think so. I walked back to my stump I used as a chair and sat down to enjoy breakfast. Needless to say, it was superb, I don't know what she did but this was by far the best meal I had since coming to this planet. This time around anyway. Emilia took a seat on the other side of the fire-pit straight across from me, the fire has died down and was giving the last bit of heat before it would die. “We need to talk about you needing a master Emilia. I am aware that you need a master, we are too far from the Elven lands for me to return you in a timely fashion.” (Oops I almost said too much.) I think to myself. If I said anything about the world tree she would know I am not just a simple man. “The problem is that if you swear your oath to me you will be serving me till I die. This oath of yours, if sworn to me cannot be broken or transferred, by anything. Being away from me for long periods of time will also cause you grief. Are you still sure that you want to swear an oath to me?”
The elf’s answer came immediately. “Yes master, It feels right, the other humans forced me to make an oath, but I will gladly give it to you.” The poor girl must be influenced by the absence of the oath. But there is not anything I can do, unless she swears an oath to the guy that fled last night. No, that's not an option. Well, we don’t have to do it immediately, from what I can see she should still be fine for about two more days. “I will take your oath should we not come across someone more acceptable by day end tomorrow.” I told the expectant woman. “As master commands.” She replied, I saw the quick pull of her mouth before she gave another smile and continued eating.
We finished the meal in silence and I headed to the hole I dug yesterday. Emelia started tidying up the campsite, I climbed down and grabbed the shovel. I did not have to dug much deeper before I hit the root. I cleared up the ground around it revealing the brown root, an earthy smell permeated the air. I smiled, there is nothing wrong with the root at least, it looked healthy and I could see it growing. Now I can go to the other root on the opposite side of the planet. Ill check up on the group of people I sent to the Silver tree at the DragonsReach mountains as well. They should have settled in nicely now. I climbed out of the hole, Emelia was also done cleaning up the site except for my sleeping bag.
Filling the hole back up was very easy, I grabbed a log and pushed the dug up pile of dirt into the hole, it took me about 5 minutes to close it back up. Emelia kept an eye on me the entire time, it was quite obvious that I am not a normal human. But she kept quiet and waited for me to finish. I headed back and rolled up my Sleeping bag, The elven bed started to dig itself into the ground. It would become a tree in a few years, a living tree at that. The only one of its kind outside of the elven forest. With my mission complete for now its time to leave, I think we will make for the nearest village to check of there is someone capable to look after Emelia. If I remember correctly it should be about half a day’s travel.
We set off, with me leading, Emelia kept close to me, always keeping an eye out for anything that could hurt us. I would hear it coming long before she did, but it is a good habit to keep up your guard. Nothing came close to us, as usual, my presence would keep most animals away. We did not speak a lot, but it was not an awkward silence. She seemed to enjoy the nature around us, I did catch her staring at me now and then. We stopped for lunch when we got to small clearing in the woods. Berries grew all around the edges. Emelia also managed to find some vegetables which I would never have thought to look for. All hail the elves!
We ate quickly and I shared my water bottle with Emelia, she did look embarrassed at drinking from the same bottle. It’s cute, and would melt most men’s heart, but I am immune to this by this time. We continued on and soon I could hear human voices and sounds from the village. A few minutes later we exited the forest and could see the wooden walls of the village. It was not meant to keep out invaders, just animals and was also not patrolled by the town guard. We followed the wall till we came to the gate, a guard stood there leaning on his spear. He perked up when he saw us standing a little straighter.
Who goes there!? The guard challenged us. He did not move from his post or even level his spear. This town was quite far from the city’s, so Banditry was extremely rare out here. Not that the town had much to steal anyway. These people led a simple life, the basics were all they needed, and everyone helped everyone else. “I am a traveller sir, here to get lodging for the night for me and my companion.” I gestured to Emelia. The guard’s eyes went wide when he saw her. “An Elf!!, by the gods!” I glanced at Emelia, she did not show any reaction. She must be used to this then.
“Are we allowed to go in?” I broke the guard out of his sense of wonder. “Yes, yes, you are going to the tavern I assume?” He answered not taking his eyes off Emelia. “Correct, we will be there for the night, thanks.” We left the guard, he was still staring at Emelia, his eyes now wondering to her swinging behind. The brown robe, which I assume was white at some stage clung to her body, and her body was amazing. Then again most Elven women had awesome bodies, the men did too but I don’t swing that way. We headed in drawing stares from everyone who saw us.
Ignoring them I headed further into the village. It was not very big, If I had to guess I would say there was around 500 villagers. The town was barely a Kilometre in diameter. The houses were all built from wood with little distance between them, the exception would be the village chief’s house as well as the Tavern. We came upon said buildings very soon after entering the village. The tavern was the biggest building in the town. Standing a whopping two stories tall. . . Yea let’s just go in and get a room.