A Monster Life Ch. 57-60

Ulric nodded and Elzbieta looked back at him and Iphigenia for a moment, then rode off with her escort. The remaining elf warriors withdrew and Susi pressed herself against Ulric's side. 'Why is mommy Elz going away?'

Ulric nuzzled her ear. 'The say she did something bad, and now she's going to find out why. But don't worry, if she's in trouble we'll come for her.' He looked up at Iphigenia. 'We're going to find the next piece fast.'

Iphigenia nodded and they stepped back into Cat, where the others stood by to fight if they had to.

***

Ulric, Iphigenia, Valdys, and Conchim looked down the length of the wide canyon before it bent away. The high stone walls with their ragged bands of lighter and darker sediment layers went up straight, although not as high as at Conchim's homeland. Few plants grew among the layers, and only marginally more grew at the edges on the bottom. We've arrived at the mountain range, sweetheart.' said Ulric over the familiar link to Elzbieta.

She smiled, unnoticed by the stoic guards surrounding her. 'Good, darling. We'll arrive at the elf citadel where the elders reside in a short time. Be careful there.'

'We will.' said Ulric, and his chest tightened at his current helplessness. 'I love you, my beautiful elf.'

Elzbieta held back her would be bright smile with all her might. 'I love you, my sweet darling.'

One of the guards looked casually at her, but all he saw was her steady gaze fixed forward.

Valdys and Conchim stroked Ulric's neck on both sides. 'She'll be fine, my love.' said his undead lover, and his black harpy nodded in agreement. 'I don't know her as well as all of you, but I trust her strength, and our ability to take action if she needs help.'

Ulric let out a deep breath. 'I know, but I'll never stop worrying about her, nor any of you, my beloved ones.' He looked back at Cat, and Kaui, Isazea, and Susi inside behind the controls, then at Iphigenia in front of him. 'For now, let's focus on finding the next piece quickly, as she said.'

The four of them walked in front of Cat through the canyon, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, until Ulric pricked up his ears. 'I hear wind whistling up ahead.'

'Then maybe we're coming up to the supposed strong gale blowing through this place.' said Iphigenia. She looked up at the relatively clear sky. 'It does feel a bit more windy than I'd expect here.'

'I have no experience out here, but I thought it always felt windy between the high rise buildings in my old city.'

Ulric sniffed the air after a while. 'I think we're closer to that gale, because the wind has picked up and the noise is louder.'

'Indeed.' said Valdys. 'The wind noise is steady and not erratic like regular wind.'

Iphigenia pointed at the end of the way up ahead. 'There! It looks like a split in the canyon.'

Gusts of wind blew hard against them as they approached what looked like a left and right passage and a fast wind howling through it. Only a few small patches of grass grew in cracks, the blades nearly flattened from the force of the wind. A pebble rolled across the ground along the direction of the wind. Ulric braced himself as he walked forward and squinted into the passages. 'It's too strong to walk through this! We'll have to stay inside Cat.'

Ulric sensed Cat swaying when Isazea steered it onto the intersection, but also that the train she created had a firm grip on the ground with its many legs. 'Which way shall we take?'

Valdys checked the direction with the partial ring. 'I can't really tell.'

Ulric hummed as he looked left and right. 'I have a hunch we should go left, against the wind.'

Iphigenia peered into the canyon. 'Any particular reason, Wolfie?'

He tilted his head. 'Animal instinct?'

She giggled. 'All right then, let's go with that.'

Cat didn't slow down much from the force of the wind, and they kept a lookout on their surroundings while Isazea focussed on driving. 'Master, what's that up ahead?' asked Kaui after a while.

Ulric peered at a couple of moving dots growing in size at the far end of the canyon. 'I can't tell yet. Something's either growing or coming this way.' he said, and Isazea steered Cat towards the side as a precaution.

'It's something coming this way.' said Valdys. 'Maybe debris picked up by the wind.'

'Can Cat handle a hit at this speed?' Ulric asked without taking his eyes off of the upside down triangular shaped things.

Valdys looked at Isazea, who nodded. 'Isa's construction skill and the spells I placed on Cat should protect us very well.'

'Then we'll wait here until whatever it is passed us.'

Everyone gazed when the objects came near, and Ulric leaned forward. 'What is that?'

Valdys checked her library for mention of what looked like slim, flat boats with a triangular sail flying through the air. 'I have no record of these things.'

Three of those flying boats rushed past, each manned by one person in the front and one in the back as far as they could see.

'Did you see that?' asked Iphigenia. 'They're sailing on this storm wind.'

Ulric sat back. 'I wonder how long it took to develop that kind of transportation.' he said, then realised another thing. 'That would probably mean there are actually people living here. Not only flying around as rumoured.'

'And there's a good chance they have the next ring piece, like we did.' said Conchim.

Kaui pointed up ahead. 'They're coming this way again, Master.'

Ulric stood up and moved to the door. 'I'll wave at them to show we're not hostile.'

'Be careful you're not swept away by the wind, Wolfie.'

'Don't worry, I'll hold on tight.' he said, and firmly held onto the edge of the door frame as he released the door. The sudden gust pulled hard on him but he kept his grip on Cat, and squinted at the approaching crafts.

When they were near again, he waved at them with one arm, and the crafts descended quickly to half the height of the canyon and lined up.

Ulric froze. Instead of three, it was a dozen of them and each person on the bow aimed a large, mounted crossbow at him. He armoured himself barely in time before the first stone bullet hit him hard on the shoulder.

Iphigenia rushed over to him while Valdys conjured shields to protect him from the bullets of the other crafts passing by at high speed. 'Wolfie! Are you all right!?'

Ulric caught her in his arms. 'I'm all right.' he said and examined the scratch on the scale that was hit. 'It wasn't soft, but no real damage done.'

Valdys approached with the others. 'I think they made clear they're the hostile ones.'

The wind dropped suddenly, then picked up fast in the other direction. 'What's this?' said Iphigenia.

Conchim shielded her eyes and peered into the new direction the wind came from. 'Those things are returning. They must have turned the wind around somehow.'

Ulric looked at Valdys. 'Is that possible with magic?'

She checked her library for a moment. 'Theoretically, yes, but one would need a huge amount of mana to pull that off. At least tens of times of what Conchi possesses.'

Ulric picked up a nearby stone bullet quickly. It was a smooth stone ball he guessed four to five centimetres in diameter, and seemed heavier than regular stone. 'Then they might have some mechanical way to control it.'

The crafts fired their crossbows again at the side of Cat, but Valdys blocked with her shields. Ulric took aim at one craft, and threw the bullet with a snarl at the last craft. It hit the bow but bounced away with little damage. Iphigenia put her hand on his shoulder as he grumbled. 'Even if you could throw hard enough, the wind slows it down. Arrows will be useless as well.'

He turned his head to her. 'So we need an attack that's not affected by wind, eh?'

Caylais's upper body tensed at his look at her.

The wind dropped and picked up again, and the craft sped back towards the intruders in the canyon. They lined up again in attack formation, the men at the bow ready with their loaded crossbows. The strange wagon train used by the intruders seemed protected by magic, but they were confident they could keep up their attack longer than the defence of anyone who came into their territory. The large black canine stood at the opening of one of the wagons again, this time with a feline behind him who stretched out her hands. The pilot of the first craft whistled orders to target the feline, expecting her to be the one putting up the defences.

The bowman of the first craft barely fired his weapon when it hit a maze of lightning sparked from side to side across the canyon.

The craft went down with the stunned men at once, and crashed and skidded on the ground. The other crafts swayed left and right without shooting as they passed Cat and evaded the trap, and the moment the wind died down, Ulric rushed towards the crashed craft, and pulled a woman and a man with slim features away from the wreckage. They were still breathing, and Ulric grabbed the backs of their clothes and pulled them back to Cat while the wind picked up speed again.

With effort he brought them to Cat's entrance, where the girls pulled them in as he held onto the door frame to avoid being dragged away by the force of the wind, while the broken craft slid past along the ground.

The attackers had slender bodies with sharp features in their faces and short hair, and wore tight uniforms of smooth leather. Valdys placed her hand on their chests for a moment. 'No injuries that won't heal in a few days.'

The two groaned and blinked their eyes before gazing in shock at their captors. They crawled back fast against the wall at their backs with open mouth and their eyes flicking left and right.

Iphigenia held up her hand. 'Relax, we're not going to hurt you. What are your names?'

The woman looked at the man, then back at Iphigenia. She gestured at the man. 'Ghund. I'm Tascia.'

Iphigenia introduced the party. 'Now, why were you shooting at us?'

Tascia frowned. 'You're invading our territory.'

Iphigenia raised an eyebrow. 'We don't mean to invade. We were merely travelling through here.'

Tascia folded her arms. 'No one risks going through these canyons unless they have plans to enter our territory.'

Iphigenia glanced at Ulric. 'We have no plans to invade anything. We're only trying to find a certain object that might be around here.'

The woman eyed the bloodwolf, then the others. 'We don't trust the words of demons.'

Valdys leaned closer. 'We might look like demons, but we're not the kind to run amok and kill everyone. We're an adventurer group.'

Ghund let out an indignant chuckle. 'Yeah, we know you're trying to deceive us by pretending to be friendly. don't bother.'

Ulric rolled his eyes. 'I don't think we'll convince them any time soon. We'll have to go to where they came from.'

Iphigenia nodded. 'We'll have to prove it then. We'll take you to your home.'

Tascia sat up at once. 'We're not telling you where it is!'

Iphigenia gave her a small, knowing smile. 'No need. We'll find it.'

Ulric stuck his head outside and sniffed the air for a moment. 'As I thought, the scent was stronger when it came from the other side. We head into the direction we were going.'

Cat had moved up the canyon for a while when the flying crafts returned. Ulric turned to Caylais. 'Can you discharge one more time?' She nodded, and moved behind Ulric while he hung partially outside the door, shielding her from the blast of the wind. 'Just a warning shot in front of the first craft.'

She reached out towards the approaching crafts with her arms around his thick neck. 'All right. I'll take it easy.'

The bowman in front fired at them, and Caylais shot several lightning strikes across the bow. The crafts evaded with a quick ascend while firing again, but without penetrating Valdys's shields. The wind reversed again after the attack, but the attackers didn't return.

***

After a few intersections where Ulric used his nose to determine the direction, a huge wooden wall blocked the way through the canyon. Storm force winds came from two narrower passes between the wall and the canyon walls to the left and right. Ulric and the girls looked up at the wall, almost as high as the canyon, with two banners adorned with swirling symbols flapping lazily at the top. 'I guess we found the place they came from.'

'Darling?'

'Elz? Are you all right?' asked Ulric.

Elzbieta smiled softly at the concern in his voice. 'I'm fine. I just arrived at the forest capital and the tower room they locked me up in.'

'Did you learn anything new?'

Elzbieta looked out the narrow window to the forest floor far below. 'Not yet. I expect someone will visit soon to tell me more.'

Ulric sighed. 'Hang in there, my beloved. We arrived at some sort of fortress, so we might know something more about our target in a while.'

'Good luck, all of you.' said Elzbieta, and sat down on one of two chairs at a small table to use the time while waiting to clear her mind.

'Let's see if we can make contact with whoever rules this place.' said Ulric and turned to Tascia and Ghund.

He lifted both up by their arms while Iphigenia opened the door. 'We'll let them know we have you in our custody now.' she said.

Tascia scoffed at her. 'That will do you no good.'

'We'll see.'

Ulric stepped outside, holding tight onto both captives and bracing himself against the wind which was less strong at that point, but still enough to topple someone over.

Several hatches spread out on the upper half of the wall opened, and a hail of bullets struck the shields Valdys had put up while Ulric hurried back inside with Tascia and Ghund. 'Do they want to kill their own people as well!?' he growled.

'I told you it's no use.' said Tascia. 'Any one of us caught is considered dead.'

60 - Ultimatums

The lock on the door rattled, and Elzbieta took a deep breath when it ended her meditation. "Maybe now they'll tell me what's going on." she thought.

Two guards led her to the elder court, a large chamber hollowed out in a thick, petrified tree, where a council of five chosen elves ruled over all the elves in the world. She walked up to the low, slightly curved podium where three women and two men, clad in the dark green robes symbolising the background of elf society, sat in chairs looking as if made from roots rising from the ground.

Only very observant elves would have noticed the brief ice cold stare in her eyes when she saw one of the men was Dolk, the one supposed to become her fiancé, and who discarded her after she lost her arm and leg. A gut feeling told her something was foul about her trial.

Her guard led her to her place in front of the podium, and an official stepped forward from the side, laid down a book on a wooden pedestal, opened it, and cleared his throat. 'Elzbieta, you stand before the elder council on accusations of unprovoked assault in orc territory, conspiring to and overthrowing the peaceful government of lord Malovick, robbery of a noble family, aiding pirates in preventing their capture, and associating with several demonic races, notably pig orc, undead, harpy, and their trained predators.'

Henlet, the eldest woman sitting in the middle, looked at Elzbieta with her cool and sharp light grey eyes. 'Do you wish to say anything?'

Elzbieta put her hands together at her back as she looked over the elders. 'First off, our party saved prisoners in the orc territory, and freed the people from the suppression of Malovick's cruel rule. Second, had we not interfered and supported the pirate lord, she would have been assassinated and replaced with one who'd undo her efforts to pacify the pirates and turn them away from piracy. And third, those demons, as well as the human and what you call predators, are my dearest friends who accepted me without prejudice.'

'Just because they were prisoners, doesn't mean they were innocent, and if the people under Malovick's rule wanted out, they could have done so themselves or asked for help, neither of which happened. As for the pirates, they are criminals regardless of their future intentions, just like demons are demons. It changes nothing.' The elder gestured for Elzbieta's dismissal. 'We will deliberate your punishment.'

***

Ulric growled and leaned closer to the captives. 'You mean you people will just let someone die without any form of negotiation or attempt to rescue!?'

Tascia and Ghund pressed themselves against the wall at their backs, and Tascia swallowed. 'That is the Dal way. Giving in to the enemy shows weakness, and weakness will kill us all.'

Ulric squatted in front of her. 'I understand that it might, but trying to save someone doesn't mean giving in, or is a weakness.' He shook his head. 'You're taking it too far.' He stepped to the front and looked at the top of the wall where a few people moved around. 'I think I'll make a house call.'

Iphigenia looked up the wall. 'Thinking of climbing up there, Wolfie?'

He looked at his paws while extending his claws. 'I should be able to.'

She kissed his muzzle. 'Be careful.'

He smiled softly at her. 'I think it's they who will have to be when I show up.'

She giggled, and Valdys kissed him and caressed his cheek. 'I'll cover you from above with my shields, lover.'

'Thank you, my love.'

Kaui kissed him as well, and blushed. 'For good luck, Master.'

Before he could reply, Conchim wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a hard kiss. 'For added strength.'

He chuckled. 'Thank you all. I think I can take on an entire army now.' he said and noticed the dubious looks of the two Dal. He grinned slightly deviously. 'Yes, we are lovers, and yes, I will defeat an army for them if I have to.'

Susi jumped up at him and gave him a lick as well. 'Daddy be safe.'

He stroked her head. 'I will, don't worry, my little one.'

The barrage of bullets hadn't ceased and he looked up at the wall again as he stepped outside, watching bullets bounce off the vaguely visible shields conjured up by Valdys. He took a few deep breaths, flexed his legs and arms, then bolted at the wall and jumped up.

Zorech jerked back at the sight of the menacing black demon rushing up the wall. 'Shoot! Shoot all you have at that demon!' shouted the commander of the Dal forces.

'We can't hit him!' shouted one of his men. 'Something is protecting him!'

The commander drew his broad bladed sword. 'Draw your swords and kill him the moment he's here!'

Ulric jumped up as soon as he reached the top, and surveyed the broad area of the thick wall quickly. The group of Dal charged at him at once. 'Surprise party?' he growled, and armoured himself.

The warriors stood no chance against the nimble bloodwolf. Men received a hard smack at the backs of their heads and women one against their behinds. Within a short time, Ulric stood in front of the commander, who stared with open mouth at his adversary. 'What kind of demon are you?'

Ulric put his fists in his sides. 'My own.'

'Commander!' shouted a woman from stairs leading down behind Zorech. 'We're under attack!'

The commander groaned. 'No shit.'

She froze next to the commander when she noticed Ulric. Ulric gestured casually at her. 'Please, continue.'

Zorech pulled the message she held from her hand and read it quickly, then glared at Ulric. 'So you're here to distract us while your friends attack our weakened defence at the other side, eh?'

Ulric blinked. 'Girls, any of you doing some attack or something somewhere else?'

Iphigenia raised her eyebrow at the others. 'We're all still here inside Cat, Wolfie.'

'Right. Looks like I'll need to be heroic once more.' Ulric said and stepped closer to Zorech. 'Which direction to the other side?'