“You know how I told you Bo and I were adopted by that family in Brookside?” Anders nodded. “Well, they had to adopt us because my parents were murdered in their sleep.”
“That’s awful,” Anders said, shocked that Max was telling him this.
“Tony always thought I did it to them and hates me. One day when I was out riding with Tony’s oldest daughter, nomads from the Bareback Plains attacked us. I hid in a coyote’s den after they knocked me off my horse. She didn’t make it in time and the nomads killed her. Once they were gone, I brought her body back and Tony nearly beat me to death. No matter how many times I tried to tell him what happened, he remained convinced that I’d killed his daughter. I don’t know if that makes you feel any better or worse, but at least you know why Merglan is attacking your family. I don’t know why people attacked mine,” Max returned to the camp, leaving Anders standing alone.
Anders came back to his spot around the fire, lay down on the ground, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
Over the next several days, Anders and Max followed Ivan and Nadir through the forest. Ivan and Nadir didn’t mention anything more about Anders being the Prophecy. He was actually beginning to think it might have just been a bad dream. It had been a week since they left the Rollo Island warriors to visit the elves. They walked along a lightly used path that wound through the dense forest and across the occasional meadow. Anders wished he could explore the area further, but knew they had to catch up with the warriors.
As they marched through the forest, Anders tried to keep his mind away from the sadness he felt about leaving Zahara behind. He found himself recalling a story his uncle used to read to him and his cousins before bed. Anders remembered it as one of his favorite stories and spoke of an elven hero with bronze skin and dark curly hair. For the first time, it dawned on him that he hadn’t seen anyone like the hero described in the story. So he asked the Elf Prince, “Nadir, can I ask you something?”
“Yes you may,” the Elf Prince said in a soothing voice.
“One of my favorite stories I remember from my childhood was about an elven hero with bronze skin and dark curly hair. When we were in Cedarbridge I didn’t see anyone who matched that description. Are there only fair-skinned elves in the capital?”
Nadir nodded slowly, “I know of which tale you are referring to. Yes the elves you saw at the High Council in Cedarbridge are all of fair skin tone and silver hair, but this is not how all elves appear. Just as you humans have your differing ethnicities, so do we elves. Your time in the capital city was cut short so you did not explore much. If you had, you’d have seen that the city is filled with diversity and many differing elven cultures.”
“I guess that gives me another reason to return,” Anders said finding his mind returning to Zahara once more. After several minutes of silence, Anders asked the Elf Prince, “What’s it like in Eastland? Have you ever been there?”
Nadir smiled and nodded, “I have been, several times. The mountains of Eastland are the oldest in our world. The first inhabitants of the mountains are what we call mountain trolls today. They once thrived in Nagano as one of the first species to inhabit Kartania. Their villages were scattered across the fruitful valleys of Nagano.”
“I didn’t know trolls were such an ancient species,” Anders said. “They lived with the dragons?” he asked.
“You could say that,” Nadir said. “It wasn’t a very healthy relationship, however. Dragons were the main reason the trolls were forced to move from their villages and up into the mountains,” he continued, motioning toward the snowy peaks above them. “Trolls are not very fast creatures and they’re very simple-minded. They primarily eat meat, but living on the valley floor for so many years, they adjusted, eating grains and greens, or pretty much anything they could find. When the first dragon eggs appeared and hatched, the dragons needed something to eat as well. Being carnivorous creatures, and growing to great sizes, dragons began to hunt trolls.
“Since trolls are simple-minded, it took them a while to adapt to the changes they were experiencing. Those who survived were the trolls that had enough sense to flee the valleys. Every troll that insisted on staying behind, lacking the understanding that they were easy prey for dragons, was eaten. At this point in history when dragons were new to our world and they had plenty of trolls to prey on, the population of dragons increased rapidly.
“For a while, trolls were able to roam the mountains freely without worry; but once all of the trolls in the valleys had been eaten, the dragons adapted by expanding their hunting grounds. Trolls that had become accustomed to the safety of the mountains were at greater risk of being eaten by dragons than those now hunted in the Eastland Mountains. Those that had enough wits about them to realize they were no longer safe, hid in caves and holes in the ground. Diving deeper into the darkness to flee the dangers above ground, trolls quickly discovered they were not the only ones who occupied these mountains.” Nadir said and then suddenly stopped talking.
Standing together, Anders followed Nadir’s gaze to see the Rollo Islanders’ camp below. He was glad to see that the group was roughly the same size as it had been when they left.
“We’ll continue this conversation another time,” Nadir told Anders before they walked downslope to meet the warriors.
Upon their arrival, Red, Jorgen and several other leaders welcomed Ivan, Max and Anders, but gave Nadir a hateful stare. Ivan had to quickly calm them down when they saw there was an elf in their company.
“He is here to fight our common enemy,” Ivan said to Red, who was drawing his sword in anger. “I have negotiated with their people; they are willing to keep the peace while we combat Merglan and his forces if you are.”
Red let his hand drop off his sword and stepped back. He turned to the other leaders. Their quick discussion ended in Red storming off to his tent. Red’s father, Jorgen, said to Ivan and Nadir, “We agree to keep the peace and work together to fight our enemy. You are welcome to join our efforts, elf. Please excuse my son; he does not yet understand the gravity of the situation.”
“On a better note,” Ivan said. “I have the location of Merglan’s base. He has been building an army there. The orcs came from this location. Asmond, Nadir’s father, had elf spies tracking his location. After the orcs attacked, the elves were able to get an exact location on where they began their campaign.”
“This is good news,” Red’s father said. “Yesterday we caught up with the orc tribe. There were no survivors on their end.”
“That will surely irritate Merglan,” Nadir said with a brief smile.
“If he doesn’t already know of this, he will soon. And with that knowledge, he will send more orcs out to meet us,” Ivan said. “We must move south, across the Eastland Mountains. Merglan’s fortress is at a place called Black Water Bay.”
“I will notify the others,” Jorgen said. “We will leave posthaste.” He and the other leaders went off to tell the captains of their plan.
Nadir turned to Ivan, “We’ll have to be on our toes; we’ve had reports of mountain trolls and goblins in the Eastland Mountains, not to mention Merglan’s orc and kurr armies.”
“Sounds like a dangerous path we’ll be taking,” Max said.
“It’s the only way to get to Merglan before he assembles his army and sends them at us,” Ivan said.
“We are going to need help from my people sooner than we anticipated,” Nadir said.
Ivan nodded, “Send word to them at once. We need to get a move-on if we are going to have a chance at this.” Ivan reached into his pack and gave Nadir the mirror he’d used to communicate with the elves.
Over the next hour, Anders helped the warriors gear up for their departure through the Eastland Mountains. He was worried about the next part of their journey, but also determined to rescue his family. He just hoped Merglan hadn’t killed them yet.
Chapter 15
Through the Mountain Pass
Ivan and Nadir led the way, guiding the Rollo forces through the Eastland Mountains. Red and several other captains, including Anders and Max’s friend Britt, were sent to get the ships that hadn’t burned during the battle with the orcs at Glacial Melt Bay. Several of the warriors had kept the ships at least one day behind the rest of their forces while they pursued the orcs, with the idea that if the orcs had launched another attack, the ships would be safely hidden. The Islanders needed their vessels to carry them home after the campaign. Red was the first to volunteer for the mission to sail the ships around the mountains. Anders knew the reason Red was eager to volunteer for the ship retrieval mission stemmed from his frustration that his father had allowed an elf to join their ranks.
Wondering when the rest of the elves would be joining the march, Anders asked Nadir, “How long will we have to wait for the elf army to join our forces?”
Nadir chuckled at the question, “Elves are much faster than humans,” he said. “We can travel great distances much more quickly than you humans can. Our speed is similar to your horses, and we can sustain ourselves at that pace for days without getting tired. If we need to keep pace with a dragon, however, we expend our energy more quickly.”
Anders had his doubts about an entire army being able to move with such speed, but he hoped Nadir was right.
Before Red and the other captains left, Ivan showed them a roughly drawn map and where to anchor the ships on the other side of the mountain range. It went without saying that the ships would make better time than those on foot. It would take them several days to journey through the mountain range on foot; with as many people as they had, Red and those who sailed with him would have to wait for them, out of sight from Merglan’s fortress.
Leaving Red, Britt and the other captains behind, Ivan and Nadir led the Rollo forces into the mountains. Anders found Nadir and said, “I’ve been trying to imagine what it would be like if dragons were still hunting trolls in the area.”
Nadir turned to look at Anders and smirked, “Dragons will sometimes discover a mountain troll in these mountains and devour them on sight. They’re a delicacy of sorts to a wild dragon of Nagano.” He paused, trying to recall where he’d left off telling Anders about the history of Eastland.
Anders tapped the hilt of his sword, watching the wave of recollection wash over Nadir’s face as he picked up where he’d left off, “Dwarves and goblins had been living underground for centuries by the time the trolls sought refuge in the Eastland Mountains. The dwarves of Eastland are notoriously unforgiving of those who attempt to invade their homes. Being masters of mining and precious ores, the dwarves had been protecting their underground cities from the goblins for almost as long as the dragons had hunted trolls.”
“Goblins will do anything to get their hands on a precious ore like gold,” Max chimed in. He’d been walking behind the two and listening in on their conversation.
“Yes, they will,” Nadir said, looking over his shoulder at Max. “The constant battle between the dwarves and goblins didn’t help the trolls’ efforts to make a home of their own under the mountains. Between being hunted by the dragons and killed by goblins and dwarves, their species faced extinction. We know of several groups that still live in abandoned goblin villages within these mountains.”
Amazed at how much the young elf knew about the world, Anders asked him, “How do you know all of this at such a young age?”
Nadir laughed and said, “I may be young to my people and look it to you, but I am almost one hundred years old. I have seen much in my years and read much in the great library in Cedarbridge, but I am not as experienced as many in my culture.”
“You’re a geezer!” Max exclaimed. “You’re older than the oldest man I know, Solomon the wise.”
Nadir smiled, “Looks can be deceiving.”
“Are you filling these boys’ heads with nonsense?” Ivan asked upon his return from scouting out a campsite for their large group.
“Just giving them a little oral history of the Eastland Mountains,” Nadir said.
Ivan raised his eyebrows and nodded his head slightly, “Trying to take their minds off prophecies of old and the fight to come?”
