“We can’t stay here,” Inama said, leaning hard on her staff. “What our people do is move quickly after an attack. It’s how we’ve stayed so effective in this war. We can’t remain in the same place for long. When Merglan learns of his commander’s death, he’ll come searching for our camp. If he doesn’t, the orcs will, and they’ll find it eventually. We will retreat to the Ramhorn and join my father’s tribe.”
“You’re going to abandon this ground?” Remli said in protest.
“We don’t have an option now. Merglan and his dragon could come at any moment and, without the concealment spell, we’re at his disposal.”
“They could always come at any moment!” Remli growled. “He has had that damned dragon for nearly thirty years. We just forgot about him when he disappeared last, growing comfortable in their absence, but the threat has never gone away.”
“We’ve been effective thus far in the fight because we’ve been able to strike quickly and get away unseen. After seeing the size of his army in Southland, I doubt he even noticed us before. Now that we’ve gotten so big, though, we’ll surely attract his full attention,” Inama said
“Damn it all. This ground is good for an ambush. We shouldn’t just abandon it. So we suffered a defeat. We’ll find a new place to hide, here on the Drakeshead, and we’ll send for reinforcements,” Remli urged.
“No, it’s too late for that. We’re going to join our other tribes, and we’ll hold ground there. I’ve dedicated myself to my people’s preservation. We thought that we could defeat the orc army by combining our forces, but now, after seeing what they’ve brought to the fight, there’s no way we can compete with their numbers in open combat.”
“Not with that attitude!” Remli bellowed.
“What about you, Nadir? What are your thoughts in all of this?” Inama asked, motioning toward Nadir.
“Don’t forget what I risked in order to save you back there,” Remli growled, his face reddening.
“Remli!” Nadir warned. “I don’t want to back down from this fight, just as Remli you don’t.”
With a snort, Remli nodded curtly and Inama opened her mouth in protest.
Before she could interrupt, Nadir quickly added, “But that doesn’t mean I want to drag out the fighting here in the Drakeshead.” Addressing Remli, Nadir said, “You have to acknowledge the massive loss we’ve suffered from this battle. If we continue to fight with dwindling numbers, we’ll only be delaying the inevitable. Eventually we’ll be caught outnumbered and out-ranked.”
“That’s why I say we send for reinforcements,” Remli said. “I have an army of dwarfs in reserve at Hardstone. We can send your ships to bring them here. And this elven force you’ve brought, Nadir, isn’t even half the full might of the Everlight soldiers at your command. You could bring them in full force and together we could crush this orc army.”
“This is not our battle,” one of Nadir’s officers interrupted.
Nadir turned to face the voice that came from behind him, “How do you mean?” he asked. “Did we not come here to fight in the name of Kartania?”
“No,” the elf responded, firm in his stance. “With all due respect to you and King Remli, we came here with you to avenge the death of our leader. Lageena’s dead and the tie to Merglan has been severed. We can now return to the safety of our Enlightened Forest where the sorcerer can’t touch us.”
Nadir stepped back, slighted by his soldier’s opinion. “Are you suggesting we abandon the world to Merglan’s control?”
“Not at all, my King. I am suggesting that we survive his wrath. From the protection behind Cedarbridge’s walls we can replenish the dragonriders and hold out until we’re in a position to pose a real threat to the sorcerer.”
Nadir searched the officer’s hardened expression. “You’d be condemning entire nations to slaughter. By holding back in our protective bubble, we’d be allowing evil to destroy free will in Kartania.”
“I stand firm in my belief, Commander, as do many of our race. We’re done fighting here and need to return home. The fate of the world depends on our ability to produce more dragonriders. You saw for yourself that we can’t rely on a single rider pair,” Nadir’s officer continued, his words an offense to the level of trust he’d held in Anders and Zahara.
Before Nadir could respond, Remli shouted, “And what about us!? When you leave, would you at least bring us home? Or will you just leave us behind because we’re all dead anyway?”
The elf’s face reddened and he responded with a frown, “I’m sorry, my King. Your army has spoken. We’re returning to the Everlight Kingdom. Our people need a ruler now more than ever. Bring us together and we might fight another day. Divide us and we’ll descend into chaos like the realm of humans.”
“And what of Anders, Zahara and Ivan? I will not abandon them here,” Nadir said.
“They have a dragon. If they survive, they can fly away. We don’t have that luxury. We need to move before Merglan can make a plan.”
“I am your King,” Nadir said.
“And we want you to continue to be our king,” the elf said. “But if you stay with the Lumbapi and we return home, the High Council will vote in our favor, for the preservation of life on this earth, and they’ll choose a new king.”
“I don’t have time for this,” Inama said. “You do what you want, elf. I’m leading my people to the Ramhorn. We’re moving out within the hour.” Inama waved her fellow Lumbapi to follow her and she limped away.
The elf officer addressed Nadir again, “We’ll begin loading the ships and wait for your decision before leaving. But we, too, need to leave this place.”
Nadir watched silently as his senior officers turned away. The Elf King turned to Remli and said, “What about Anders and Ivan? I can’t abandon them.”
“What happened to them?” Remli’s daughter asked before Remli could give Nadir a piece of his mind.
“Lageena, she used the crystal to transport them from the battle,” he felt at his side where he’d placed that crystal, forgetting he had taken it from her corpse.
“Lageena came back, but Anders, Zahara and Ivan didn’t,” Maylox said, looking toward Nadir’s feet.
“We can’t just give up hope for them,” Nadir said. “I refuse to leave them with no way of knowing what’s happened.”
Remli’s face turned a paler complexion as he heard the elf king’s grief, “We’re clearly outnumbered and now the Lumbapi are moving west. They don’t fight like we do and, with or without us, they’ll be effective with their guerilla warfare. We have hardened soldiers at Hardstone who will fight for the fate of the world. I don’t want to lose my good faith with the elves at such a critical time. We’re going to need to fight together if we want to win this war.”
“But you’ve seen what just happened. I’ve lost control. They won’t follow me anymore,” Nadir said.
“Being a leader is not about ordering your people to obey, it’s about making compromises, just like I’m about to do now,” Remli said. “Your people want you to lead. They need you to lead them, but they can’t have you lead them from here. We’re just sitting ducks for Merglan if we stay put, despite what I said about the good ground. Sure, if we had enough forces, we could put up a good fight and maybe win, but no one else seems to agree. So, I propose you go with your people and take us back to Eastland along the way. That way I can rally my army and lead a strike force against Merglan. You’ll need to convince your people that together we can defeat Merglan.”
“What about Anders and Ivan?” Nadir asked.
“From what I learned in my time spent around Ivan and Natalia, she won’t be going with you, not even if you ordered her. She’ll stay here with the Lumbapi until she learns more about what’s happened to them. And, at this point, a smaller extraction team led by some fierce dwarfs, Lumbapi guerillas and an elf or two would be the best way to get them out of trouble if Merglan’s found them.”
“You don’t think he’d kill them on the spot?” Nadir asked.
