“Just because people are of the same race doesn’t mean they’d get along with each other.” - Old folk saying.

Sudaksina stayed true to his words and arranged for a convoy for Aideen, Kino, and Eilonwy to travel on within three days. The delay was mostly because he was waiting for one of his more trusted subordinates to return, as the route was not one he could send the others for. Elves in northern Ur-Teros, especially the ones who still kept to themselves, were known to be easily moved to violence, even the ones that no longer raided their neighbors.

As it was, most of the smaller groves had either gone extinct because they were unable to compete with their neighbors and became the target of vengeance over centuries of bad blood, were conquered and assimilated into some of the more powerful nations like the Caliphate, or mostly isolated themselves in their groves, such as the region the convoy was about to pass through.

This grove was one of the largest in the north, and was the only one that stood the test of time, retaining their independence to a strong degree, though they too had changed their ways due to outside pressure. The last recorded elven raid in the north was over three centuries ago, and while the elves in this last grove could not be called the best neighbors, there was at least a peaceful – if tense – coexistence with them for the time being.

It was also one of several reasons why the mighty Hassid Caliphate – the de facto hegemon of Northern Ur-Teros – had not intervened with the imperialistic ambitions of the Vusilans. The elven grove happened to be right between the two nations, which reduced their mutual border to a mere tiny strip on the south. It was quite impractical to march a large army from Hassid towards the east for that reason, and they themselves lacked a good reason to interfere for the moment.

Mostly political nonsense, as if they truly wanted to intervene neither the elves nor the other nearby nations would be able to stop the Caliphate, but the Caliphate itself wasn’t the most united at the present day, which was another reason for their non-interference. They were too busy putting out the fires in their own territory to bother with other nations.

While nobody mentioned it in Vusila, Aideen also knew that the third reason was because the Assadun Emirate to the south was giving the Vusilans a run for their money and handed them one minor defeat after another. The Vusilans kept a tight lid on those news and punished those that dared to spread them, but naturally people who had their connections would get wind of it despite their efforts.

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The convoy departed from Baur-Fah without much fanfare. The only people on board were the wagon’s driver, two guards who rode beside them on lean, predatory lizards around the size of an ostrich, and the three of them inside the wagon. There was not much in terms of trade goods, as the wagon’s driver – one of Sudaksina’s nephews – carried all that mattered in a large storage ring he kept hidden on his person.

There was also no proper “road” between Vusila and Hassid, as the route that crossed the elven grove was more of a forest path than anything. It was the reason why they used a rather small wagon for the trip, while the lizard mounts used by the guards were very comfortable in the forested environment. In fact, Aideen felt that the lizards were more relaxed once they entered the forest proper.

For all of Vusila’s ambitious expansion, they left the elven grove alone because for them, it was simply not worth it.

Sure, the Vusilans could have defeated the elves. There were not that many elves in the grove, and the Vusilan army was large and mighty, but it would not be an easy victory. There were large differences between beating back an elven raid, where the elves were fighting outside of their forests, and invading an elven grove, where they fought in defense of their homes.

To fight against elves in their own forest had always been a recipe for a bloody battle where even the winner would not be able to celebrate given the losses they incurred during the battle. Elves fought to the death when defending their lands, more often than not. In the forests, their familiarity with their forest homes, on top of their agility in the woods, turned them into far more elusive and deadly foes compared to when they were out on a raid.

It would be a far too costly affair to drive out this last group of elves from their groves, which themselves had little value for either Hassid or Vusila. As such, they were left alone as a sort of buffer between the two nations.

For merchants to use the elven grove as a shortcut was a rare thing, but some of them – like Sudaksina – had connections that enabled them to do so. Granted, the nature of such connections could be rather fickle at times, and anyone traveling through the elven groves would do so at the risk to their lives, but such were the risks of doing business.

When the convoy stopped to rest on their second night inside the grove, Kino and Eilonwy heard vague noises from all around them, and moments later, a javelin landed right next to their campfire, deeply embedded into the forest soil, evidence of the power behind the throw.

Their merchant guide raised a hand, signaling them to not react to the provocation and just wait, and moments later, figures that were barely visible in the dark suddenly appeared on top of branches of the surrounding trees, as well as from the forest all around them. There must be at least two dozen or so elves, clad in their traditional tribal leathers with menacing looks on their faces.

One of them, a tall elven male with the skin of a bear wrapped around his body, its head serving as a sort of helmet with his face set in its opened mouth, stepped forward and addressed them in elvish. It was a different dialect than what Aideen was used to, but understandable enough.

“Speak, strangers,” intoned the elf solemnly. “Why do you intrude into this forest of ours?”