Old Grudges

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"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."

"She is a vain creature." Abalas replied evasively. "How many elves do you see with short hair?"

Dahlia caught Saul's wrist in her slender fingers when he threw his hand up to dismiss her. "You wont even look at the woman you once wished to marry, without even knowing?"

"Very few of your men." Iris said, glad when the king sat them both down on a tree stump. He settled her in his lap, his fingers disappearing into her own curls. "But there was more to it than that. Your face...it was like you had cut away chains..."

Saul turned his head at this, revealing to her that he hadn't shaved since he'd last seen her. "You tricked me. Your father sent you to kill me. Is that why you are here now? Do you plan to try and finish me off?" He jetted his wrist back toward himself, sending her tumbling all but into his lap. "Go ahead. Hes taken my family. There is nothing left."

"You read too much into things, little one." Abalas whispered, burying his nose in her own golden hair and breathing her in.

Dahlia caught her balance only by resting her hands on the arms on either side of Saul's chair. "You believed their lies about me... Then just let them drag me away." She whispered, her violet eyes betraying how much his lack of action had hurt her.

Iris would get no more time to argue. Rothain had returned, several packs slung over his shoulders. "We can't stay on the grounds, sire. The djinni is controlling them. I'm going to take you both to my family and return. I will kill it before the tournament. If I dont, you will have no chance of winning, my king."

"I was held still by a spell. There was nothing I could do. For a while I believed it had been you but the more thought I put into it, it made sense that it was Abalas. It was almost a day before anyone from the palace could so much as push me over." Saul muttered. "I fucking hate elves."

"Ro, I can't let you do this." Abalas insisted, rising to his feet as he set Iris on her own. "You can't face them all alone."

Dahlia stood up straight again, and took a step away from the human king. "And humans are nothing but goodness incarnate." She hissed. What hurt the most, was that Saul believed she would put a spell on him.

Rothain acted as if he hadn't even heard him. "I brought your armor. I will teach Iris how to put it on correctly." He said, pausino to give a magical whistle for the horses. "Though employing my little brother to lift it might be wise..."

"Why are you here?" Saul asked her. "You wouldn't have come here if you didn't want something from me." He went on, fixing her with a gaze that no longer held warmth to it.

Abalas shook his head and laid a hand on Rothain's shoulder. "If you won't come with us, will you at least find Dahlia? I know her... She will come back here and try to take them all on herself."

Dahlia felt the coldness of that stare take her breath away, and not in the wonderful way his kiss had. "I-I... Made a mistake." The young elf breathed as she continued to back away.

"I will not,  your majesty." Rothain said softly. "She is safe with the human king. He will keep her busy until it is over. She will return with him just in time for the tournament." Once again the wood elf turned away, his head bent low as he worked. 

"What did you want?" Saul asked again, running his large hand over his scraggly beard. "I will give you anything you ask. You already know that."

"Ro..." Abalas called after his only friend. "I stand by my decision, you are the man Dahlia deserves."

Dahlia shook her head and took another step toward the balcony. "I needed the help of a king, not whatever this creature is that you've become." She breathed.

"I am not the man she wants or needs. Deserves is another matter." Rothain whispered. "You are king. I do not argue your decision. But...she has made her choice. You know that you are pleased she thinks for herself. It is so much like her mother..." 

"I am still king. It is not my fault that I have lost everything." Saul muttered, staring hard at the glass in front of him. "You want my army? What for? Is your father's not big enough? Are you trying to fight his?"

"And look what it got her mother." Abalas breathed. "I wanted to keep her safe, but that damn Fae blood gives her wanderlust like you wouldn't know!" He exclaimed without thinking.

Dahlia was beginning to realise she truly had no one to turn to. Angrily the young woman picked u the glass in front of Saul and threw it at the wall where the pieces fell in a shattered heap on the floor. "Enjoy your precious pity. I will let Iris know what has become of her brother, if I can return before war breaks out and she is the first casualty."

"Which is another reason the djinni must die before it finds her, sire!" Rothain shouted, turning back to his king at last. "It will try to feed off her and I will not have it! I will die for the only two people I have ever loved! Now get on your horse. I am taking you to my family's home."

"Your father plans to kill my sister? Is that what you are telling me?" Saul demanded, getting to his feet. Though his steps were faltering he was heading toward his armor. " I won't allow it!"

Abalas sighed heavily and finally lifted himself up onto his horse, then pulled Iris up as though she weighed no more than air.

"My father loves her, and that is why I need to stop my brother killing them both and taking control of the kingdom!" Dahlia hissed. "But I can not afford to ride back there with some drunken fool!"

Iris didn't know what to say about any of this. She spent the entire ride braiding the horse's mane with shaking fingers. She couldn't let the elf die. There had to be another way.

"I refuse to let him love my sister!" Saul snarled, still shoving himself into the armor. "I am coming with you. I don't need a damp army!"

"We will figure this out." Abalas breathed into the back of Iris' hair before pulling it aside and kissing her neck lightly.

Dahlia shook her head and gave Saul a sudden shove that set him off balance and tumbling onto his unmade bed. "You would pray for her misery, rather than have her be Queen?"

Iris gave a soft sigh, her body fighting the delicious shiver that slid through her. "You still won't tell me what a djinni is..." she finally whispered back. 

"Have you met my sister?" Saul grunted, feeling a little disoriented. He searched the darkness for the slender elf, barely able to even find her scent.

"You saw it, didn't you?" Abalas asked. "They are darkness. Fools think they can be controlled, but it's all part of the illusion."

"I have, and she's more man than you are right now!" Dahlia spat as she paced by the foot of the bed.

"So they were no better off than you and Rothain?" Iris asked, leaning back against him. She was still braiding the horse's hair, her fingers shaking.

"I am drunk. That means nothing." Saul snorted. "Leave me be. You have never seen the bubble headed woman, have you?"

"That all depends on who actually summoned the Djinni in the first place." Abalas breathed. "They have a habit of killing the one who summons them."

"I have seen her bring back the man my father once was." Dahlia replied firmly. "I think you are too soft to be king, Saul. You don't realise how easy your life is here."

"Your wife would know this, right?" Iris asked. "If she wanted your son to be king she would have summoned it. Poor Eirwen..."

"I don't care. And your father is a son of a bitch. I don't see that changing." Saul snapped. "If you want my army I will let you have it. Just...don't tease me anymore."

"After everything she has done, you would still pity her?" Abalas asked, though he was watching their silent companion as they rode now. He was worried about Rothain, about the man returning to the palace alone and getting himself killed.

"Tease you?" Dahlia asked with a frown. "How in the world am I doing that? You were the one who filled my head with notions of love, then left me a prisoner of my own people!"

Rothain rode ahead of them, his head held high. It was clear he was resigning himself to his fate. He knew what the djinni had planned and he had no intention of dragging his king or Dahlia into it. It would be a fitting death. Probably the best way he'd ever contributed to anything. Maybe then someone would see him for something more than just the guardsman. 

"Your father told me the truth about you. Don't try to act innocent now." Saul snorted. "Where is your precious fiancee?" He snapped, finally managing to sit up.

Abalas didn't like the silence that they were getting from Rothain. He knew his guard was a man of few words, but this was different. This silence betrayed the dark thoughts and the idea of heroism they younger elf was having in that moment.

"And from one king to another, why wouldn't you take his word over mine?" Dahlia asked softly, making it clear how much Saul's words had just hurt her. "Ro was right... coming here was a mistake. How could I have been stupid enough to trust a human in the first place?"

"If Rothain manages to kill the dijinni will it keep the creature from killing Eirwen?" Iris asked, her head now resting against the king's chest. She'd finally relaxed. The gentle rhythm of the horse of was again lulling her to sleep. 

"You tricked me, woman!" Saul shouted. "You came here and pretended you wanted me and then that you were going to help my niece and you did neither! You're flighty and cruel! No better than a fae!"

Abalas hesitated for a moment, like he considered lying to Iris. "Possibly. Their dark magics are unpredictable. For all we know, even after the djinni dies, its curse could rest over the entire palace."

Dahlia was across the room in a heartbeat and had punched Saul square in the nose. "You selfish, pathetic excuse for a man!" She didn't even know that the Fae statement should have offended her most of all.

"Which is why I plan to burn down the castle with me." Rothain said. "I don't have much magick, sire. But what little I learned will help me in this. The destruction will be enough to get rid of it's darkness. You will have to rebuild, but your people are good at that. Maybe...it will help Dahlia move on from her mother." He added, still looking ahead. 

"You keep saying that." Saul grunted, his hand now on his bleeding nose. "But you're still here. Which means you still want my help." He wiped at it, wondering why the reference to the fae bothered her so much. "You're defensive. What happened to you when you returned to your father's place?"

"The child saw someone kill her mother." Abalas breathed. "No amount of magic can make her forget it completely. The least I could do was help her believe she is simply an elf. If she ever realises she is the last of the Fae, that I had her beautiful wings cut from her body... The djinni will seem trivial."

"I waited for you." Dahlia whispered. "I was such an idiot... thinking you meant all the pretty words you said to me, that you would save me from that gilded cage."

"I cannot protect you from what she will do to you. Perhaps the man she loves will distract her." Rothain whispered, refusing to look back at the king. "I will help you to the djinni, sire. The rest is your concern." 

"I couldn't even save my sister from your father's sticky fingers or my niece from death. What makes you think I have anything for you?" Saul muttered. "Come on. I'll do something useful. Though I doubt it will be much."

"You think I haven't been watching the two of you these past few weeks?" Abalas asked softly. "I see the way you look at her, and she at you. Something changed, in both of you."

Dahlia shook her head, her fingers wanting to clutch her blades and tell Saul to back away. "I have no use for a drunken coward!" She hissed.

"One of us perhaps." Rothain breathed, revealed to see his home ahead of them. "She is in love with that king. I do no exist. A warning, my king, my mother will be all over you. She will not allow for Iris or myself to get near you. She has longed to get a chance to get an audience with you for years." 

"You have changed." Saul pointed out. "There is something in your eyes." He swayed on his feet as he watched her. "It wasn't there before last time. You want to go back to your father. But...there's a reason..."