Old Grudges

"You, elf." A gruff sounding human man was seated in a tavern in the human village of Earlestown. It had once been a bustling market place, a meeting place for merchants and scholars. But now... It was lucky if a handful of hunters passed through on their way elsewhere. The people here lived close to the neighbouring kingdom that boasted that is was the seat of all civilisation, Elven, of course. The exact border was somewhat of a foggy issue, meaning battles often broke out over ownership of land. Elves passed through, most of them simply wishing to look down upon what they considered the uncivilised and rather boring humans, before returning to their own cities of silver.
"Elf?" The dark haired female asked, spitting that one word back at the man who had called it to her as she walked past his table. "You do not address the other women here as 'human', so not call me by my race either." She added rather haughtily.
"Well la-di-da! Ain't you just lady of the manor!" The man sneered, banging his glass down on the creaking wooden table. "Your kind aren't welcome here! You never will be! Get your knife ears back to your own side of the border!" 
The elven woman sighed heavily and with silent and sudden movements, she was in front of the human, her ornate elven dagger slammed into the chair all too close to his privates. "Do not test me, human. I have no humour for your kind this evening."

A dwarven woman sat nearby shaking her head at the whole thing and trying to keep a rather low profile herself. She hated when humans called them by their race. It was as if they weren't even living breathing beings. They might as well be tables and chairs for all the care that was given to them. More often than not she was referred to as a 'duster' or 'squat bitch'. Both were names she hated. 
It was this reason she sat in the dark and kept herself hidden from the hunters. It had very little to do with the fact that half of the hunters in there wanted to kill her simply because she wasn't human. Killing a dwarf earned them a prize lately since they were so rare.

The elven woman could feel all the other hunters reaching for their weapons and she reached down ands pulled her dagger back. "The problem with humans... Is killing one doesn't even get a good enough bounty anymore. You're like vermin, too many in number to effectively exterminate." She sneered. 
The man she had just threatened wasn't as drunk as he had been acting. The second she pulled away his own blade was drawn and the slender elf was pressed to the wall with the blade to her throat. "But you, knife ear... Your bounty is handsome indeed. I know who you are, Dahlia Quicksilver."

The dwaven woman began to scowl even deeper. She'd been watching that human male for some time. She'd noted that his actions were far too calculated for him to be inebriated. But she had believed that it was because he was considering attempting a tumble with the elf. Elves were the most beautiful creatures in their world, after all. Why wouldn't he? But since this hunter now showed that he wasn't planning on taking advantage of that beauty, that changed things.
She got to her feet and slid under the table. It wasn't that she had to do more than bend really. Lucky for her no one seemed to notice. While the hunter continued to threaten the elf she was able to make her way to them and casually kick the back of his knees. Having the element of surprise the man went down like a stone and he would find himself now on the other end of a blade. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" The dwarven woman sat on the hunter's chest, looking down at him with green eyes so bright they all but glowed. Once she was sure she had his full attention she took something from a pack at her side and blew it into his face and in another moment he was snoring loudly. 
This drew attention and she knew that the other humans wouldn't approve of her actions or the fact that she was a dwarf. It was time to go. She turned toward the elven woman and smiled, nodding her head. "That's probably our cue to find another tavern." She laughed softly, grabbing the hunter's blade and running for the door as the bar exploded with angry shouts and men who were scrambling out of their chairs to drunkenly follow the two inhuman creatures.

Dahlia grabbed slid her own weapon back into her boot and followed the drawn female who had just saved her neck. "Not that I don't appreciate the help, but why did you do that?" She asked when they were outside in the cool night air. "You just invited a whole world of trouble into your life."

"They'll never remember me. Everyone says all dwarves look alike." The female said cheerfully, motioning for the elf to follow her into the bushes ahead. "Besides, most of them were so drunk they will all remember it as you having accosted the human and I'm willing to bet that will suit you fine." She added with a laugh.

Dahlia glanced back over her shoulder before following the other woman. "In all fairness, I imagine all elves look the same to them too." She assured the other woman. "Do you have a name? Or is it something a dwarf would never tell an elf?"

"Isla Badgold and techicall we're never supposed to tell anyone our names." She explained. "The offense is worse the higher up the royal chain you are."

"And how high up would you be?" Dahlia asked, arching her slender brow slightly. "You obviously heard him, but I am Dahlia. The shame of my father, for what it's worth." She added with a rather dignified snort.

"Second tier. Not too special." Isla shrugged her shoulders, trying to play it off. "So why does your father have issues with you? Did you do something to upset him? Get into the elderberry wine as a child or something?"

Dahlia snorted again and shook her head. "The daughter of a king should not be running around hunting bounties, so he tells me." She mused. "I say it is the only way to keep the land he calls his own safe."

"I agree. The old ways just aren't cutting it anymore." Isla said with a nod, glancing behind her. "The humans are multiplying and beginning to act as if they own everything. They are moving in on everything. Killing all creatures. Just the other day I found the body of a unicorn. It was missing it's horn and tail.
"My father too thinks that we will survive this by simply hiding under the earth and locking our gates. It didn't help the demons and trolls. I doubt seriously it will help us." She went on. "Can I ask you something, Dahlia? Why did you let that human get so close? That didn't seem like something you would do. Were you baiting him? Did I mess things up for you?"

"That human was a hunter too, he would have taken me back to the one who hired him. As you said, my kind are inexplicably irresistible to those fools." Dahlia told Isla as she lead them deeper into the forest. "I would have killed their king and left them scurrying like headless birds! You know the pathetic creatures cannot function without someone to tell them exactly what to do."

"You think their king hired him?" Isla asked pausing to look back once again. "I would think their king had something better to do than go after our kind. Isn't that a task better suited for the hunters? My father told our men if they catch a human to dispense them where they find them. It makes no sense that they wouldn't do the same. Unless...he is hunting your race for your magiks." She continued to walk, her hair hiding the lines of worry that had taken over her forehead. "Their kind will be in a world of hurt if they keep this up. They don't realize what we are protecting them from do they?" She asked softly.

"Why would they? They're primitive barbarians." Dahlia snorted, readjusting the bow that was hooked over her torso. "They think magic is something they can steal, the unicorn you found... Is that not proof enough?"

The dwarf was quick to shake her head. "No. I'm not sure that it wasn't done for a protection reason. What if they are worried about a coming war? About being attacked by something that they fear worse than us? Not that I can imagine what that would be." She laughed softly. After a moment she paused again, this time sure she had heard the snap of a branch behind them. She glanced at Dahlia to see if she'd heard it too.

"If war comes, they will be the ones to start it." Dahlia warned before she scaled a tree with surprising ease. The elf had her bow drawn as indigo coloured eyes scanned the forest beyond for signs they were indeed being followed.

"Hello?" A man's voice broke the sudden silence of the forest. Even Isla had mysteriously disappeared. "I heard you...don't play games...." His speech was somewhat slurred as he stumbled into the clearing where the two women had been standing. He was a tall broad shouldered human, well built and covered in blood. "Stupid nymphs..." He grunted, falling to his knees. 
Long blond hair fell into his face, dripping even more blood onto the dead foliage on the forest floor. He didn't seem to notice a male elf now creeping behind him with a dagger in his fingers.

Dahlia saw the elf however and was watching both men with her bow drawn. The dark haired elf's aim was usually exceptional, but for some reason she was curious what this man had done to end up in the company of nymphs. A second later her arrow had pierced the quiet air of the forest and pinned the elven male's sleeve to a tree, his dagger now level with his own thigh. The leaves barely crunched as Dahlia dropped back to the ground in front of the human. "You... you're far from home." She commented, using the tip of her bow to tilt his chin up.

"An elf. What a surprise." The man grunted, fixing her with defiant icy blue eyes. "Get on with it then." His large hands were gripping leaves on either side of her and by the grit of his teeth it was clear he wasn't going to make himself an easy kill. 
"Dahlia, wait." Isla hissed, her vivid green eyes appearing from the tree where the elven male was pinned. "That crest on his back...He's part of the king's army. A general maybe?"

"That means little here." Dahlia sniffed. "He is over the border, he is trespassing on the kings land." She added, violet eyes narrowing slightly at this human who seemed to think he was rather brave. "Look at him, filthy and fleeing like the coward all his kind are."

"I dragged him here." The male elf snarled. "I wanted our people to see what we are capable of." He was fighting the arrow that seemed to be holding him tightly to the tree. "I am going to cut off his head and display it on our border then go back for more of them." 
"You can try, knife ear." The man snorted, never taking his eyes off Dahlia. He was still holding tightly to the leaves, his teeth barred. 
Isla was shaking her head. "That crest means everything. We piss off the king, we'll have more than just the royal human guard patrolling our lands. We'll have all humans kicking down our doors and killing our creatures. Let him go. All that blood...he'll die on his own..."

Dahlia watched the human for a moment longer, then turned her attention to her fellow elf. "You want our people to turn savage, to lower ourselves to the level of humans?" She asked once she was nose to nose with him. "We are not savages, we are better than they are and that is why they hate us." Dahlia could still feel the human's eyes on here and practically taste the hatred that radiated off him. "Isla, if he dies on elven land, it makes little difference how it happened."

"So we'll follow him until he does and drag him to their land after dark." Isla shrugged, her own fingers tapping the dagger she'd stolen from the hunter in the tavern. 
The blonde man grunted, unable to hold himself up any longer. He tumbled into the blood soaked leaves, not attempting to get back up. The male elf smiled at this. "I made sure we won't have to wait long. My dagger was covered in Wyvern poison."

"You idiot!" Dahlia hissed, punching the other elf hard. "Hunting them when they give cause to is one thing, but seeking them out for petty notoriety..." she hit the male again. "If word of this gets back to my father... He will send you to the necromancers, you do realise that, don't you?" She pulled her arrow free from the tree and returned to the human. "Isla, I understand this is no real concern of yours, but I need your assistance in keeping him alive long enough to get him over the border."

Isla frowned. "I thought we wanted the humans dead." She asked, kneeling on the other side of the man she believed to be a general. She opened her coat and began to pull out rock salves, shaking her head as she did so. 
"Don't...need help..." The man made a last attempt to stand, unsettling the dwarven woman and sending her into the leaves behind her. "I can make it home...damned nymphs...negotiating for a healing potion...I knew better..."

"Dead, yes. Just not dead here." Dahlia confirmed. "Apparently you did not know better. Any child knows not to trust a nymph. Yet more proof what idiots you people are." She huffed, pushing the injured man onto his back as she sought the entry point of the wyvern blood.

"Don't you touch me, elf." The man hissed, trying to shove her hands away. His own fingers were shaking as he fought with her. "I have no use for your kind..." Isla had opened a jar and was applying the ointment to a place on his forehead, muttering to herself. "No rock powder either...You are trying to...poison me...I won't have it." He grunted, using his free hand to try and swat at the smaller woman. "I will shout murder and then I will haunt you....I know what you are doing..."

Delilah seated herself across the man's stomach, using her knees to pin down his arms at the same time. "Be quiet, imbecile!" She hissed, slapping his harshly. 
Delilah wouldn't really get to say much more. An arrow shot through the darkness, piercing the elf woman's shoulder and causing her to slump forward on her captive human.

"What the..." Isla's eyes went wide, her grip on the jar she was holding tightening. With her free hand she grabbed for the dagger she'd stolen and got to her feet, though she didn't stray from where she'd been. 
She looked toward the tree where Dahlia had trapped the male elf, only to find him gone. It was then that she assumed she'd found the source of their trouble. "You're not getting away with this, fool!" She shouted. "Get lost! You've done enough!"