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."

Abalas was about to purr something in reply, until he heard the dark tone to Mirth's voice. "Sir, I ask one more favour of you..." The elven king breathed. "Do not let your son return to the palace. He must stay away from that cursed placed."

"And you do not know me!" Dahlia roared in reply. "You thought me some silly little elf that needed protecting, and now you know better you simply wish to destroy me in the worst way possible!"

"Rothain has already left, sire. He went on his way when I brought you back to the rooms. I thought he was acting under your orders." The wood elf said, shaking his head. 

"You wanted me too. Or at least I was led to believe you did." Saul snorted. "How is that destroying you?"

"Damn that boy!" Abalas growled. "He is riding to his death, and he knows it!"

"You believed the lies that were told you... instead of trusting me." Dahlia breathed sadly. "I did want you... Until you bargained with my body like it was a piece of meat!"

Mirth blinked, not seeming to carry the same emotion that the king did. "One may hope the spirits honor his sacrifice. Goodnight, your majesty." He said, closing the door behind him. 
"What a terrible thing to say about your child." Iris said as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "No wonder Ro feels that no one cares if he lives or dies." 

"You bargained yourself. The first time to your father in exchange for something you knew couldn't be saved and now for something you know probably isn't any better off." Saul muttered as he continued to lead them to the stables. He shook his head as they came across the unconscious guards. "By the way, you will owe me. Even if your father dies."

Abalas wasn't accustomed to such small rooms, and seemed like he didn't know where to place himself as Iris sat down. "I care." He breathed. "It always pained me to see that boy carrying on with Gwen. He deserved better than a creature of such vanity."

"It's a weeks journey to my father's palace. Plenty of time for you to realise I am not a worthy prize." Dahlia breathed as she stepped over one of the unconscious bodies. "And when we get there, you may wish to claim my sister instead. She is much more beautiful, and experienced, than I am."

Iris sighed deeply. "He was just looking for love and Gwen was perhaps using him to get closer to you. I don't really know. But we know her methods weren't kind." She scooted up on the bed, recognizing the way the king seemed to be frantically searching for a space of his own. "I don't bite, Abalas." She added gently. "And I certainly don't expect you to." 

"I don't really want an elf at all. I am punishing your father. The last thing I want is another of you." Saul snapped. "Get your horse and I'll get mine. There are provisions in that shed over there. Take what you think we will need. Nothing more."

Abalas offered Iris a thankful smile and sat down beside her. "I think you may be right about Gwen... She and I never had the best of relationships, especially not since Dahlia was born." He sighed and smoothed his fingers over his ice blond hair. "I deserved her hatred, I betrayed her mother. It was never fair for Dahlia to be blamed, simply for being born though."

Dahlia was left feeling very much like Rothain in that moment; like she was unwanted by everyone. This human wanted to take something extremely precious from her, and he could not even stand what she was. "I have no need for anything human." she spat, swinging her lithe frame up onto her moonlight coloured horse. "Try to keep up, and to not die on the way."

"Indeed. But that is the way of it. We all need someone to blame for our problems. And no little girl ever wants to blame her father." Iris smiled ever so slightly. "Fathers are like gods in the eyes of a daughter. No matter what they do. It is somehow never their fault." 

"As if I have never been in the woods." Saul snorted, conveniently forgetting that he'd first met Dahlia there. And he'd been dying. "If I do, it will be your problem. Aren't I supposed to be helping you save your father after all?" He asked, pulling himself onto an enormous sun colored stallion. "You're not going to slow me down are you?"

"Some are more accountable than others." Abalas breathed, looking pointedly at Iris. "There is no excuse for what he put you through. I was blinded by love."

Dahlia cast one fleeting glance at Saul over her shoulder before her own mare burst into the darkness toward the forest.

"My father was just trying to help our kingdoms unite. He didn't know what Bartrand would do." Iris said softly. "He was being a king. You of all people should understand that....At any rate, we are not discussing me. It occurs to me that Rothain left without teaching me how to put on your armor." 

"Bitch." Saul smiled, digging his heels into his horse to pursue her. He'd left behind missives for his soldiers. Once he'd helped save the elves, his people would sweep in and destroy them. It was no less that what Abalas had once tried to do to the humans. It was called fair play.

Abalas smiled and slid an arm around Iris once again. "I never like wearing that stuff anyway." He breathed before kissing the top of her head.

The forest was no place for humans. Stray even a little, and well... Saul had suffered that fate last time. Dahlia loved the forest more than anything. This was her true home, despite the nymphs and beasts that brought fear out in everyone else.

"If you're going to win the tournament, you don't have a choice." Iris said sternly, thumping him on the chest. "Don't make me stuff you into it and then put flowers in your hair." She teased.

Saul ignored the darkness that surrounded them. He was on a mission now. His mind was set and nothing was going to change his mind. It was all there. He was going to wipe out the elves and it was going to be beautiful.

"I almost wish Dahlia were at the tournament." Abalas mused. "She would put them all to shame. Well, perhaps not Rothain, but certainly her brother."

Dahlia had allowed her horse a brief respite after pushing it hard, and had left it by a cool lake to take a drink. She didn't need to tie it up, the young elf's horse trusted her completely.

"You never know, your grace. Your spirits may still smile on you." Iris said softly. "She will come back. Don't lose hope." She rested a hand on the side of his face, her vibrant green eyes locked on his ice colored ones. "You are so lucky to be loved, Abalas." She breathed. 

"So tell me more about what we are heading into." Saul said as he caught up, still holding the reigns to his horse. Unlike her, he didn't trust anything at all. "If this is just a family squabble, why call in a human army? What about your father's right hand man? Why isn't he squashing this before it gets out of hand?"

"You think I'm loved?" Abalas asked with a sad and weary smile. "My children all hate me, I have betrayed my wife, Dahlia's mother is dead..." He sighed heavily and turned his head slightly to kiss Iris' slender palm lightly. "I would never dare to dream a creature like you would feel for me..."

"You don't understand they way things work, human." Dahlia breathed from where she was starting a fire. "There is magic involved. I don't expect you to understand that, I just expect you to know how to use a sword when it comes down to it."

Iris used this hand to turn Abalas' face toward hers. Before he could say anything she pressed her lips to his. Gently she threaded her fingers through his hair, hoping that maybe for just a moment he could once again forget the giant weight that seemed to be killing him from the inside. 

"Whatever." Saul muttered, shaking his head. "I hate magick anyway. I suppose the less I know the better. For all I know this is another one of your traps. Another chance for you to try and kill me."

Before he could question what kind of gentleman he actually was, Abalas had pressed Iris down into the soft mattress of the modest bed, the taste of those mortal lips almost his undoing.

"As I keep telling you, if I wished you dead, you would never see it coming." Dahlia replied, again not looking up. "Don't stray from the camp fire, unless you wish the be the plaything of the nymphs... again."

Iris was waiting for something to stop them as it always did. The kids was heating up and she too was losing control. It wasn't until she felt his bare hands beneath her dress that she came back to herself. "Stop!" She gasped out. "We...you shouldnt..."

"It wasn't the nymphs and you know it." Saul growled. "You and that dwarf were trying to kill me. When you failed, you called for daddy. Sod on the nypmhs."

Abalas pulled back and held up his hands so Iris could see he wasn't touching her any longer. There was a look of disappointment in his eyes, and he knew he had no right to feel it. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have used you like that." He breathed as he pulled himself away from Iris completely and got to his feet.

Saul would blink nd suddenly Dahlia wasn't by the fire any longer. The young princess was behind him, one of her highly polished elven blades pressed to his throat. "You think yourself far more important than what you are." She breathed against his ear. "No one would care if I killed you, king or no. Who would really miss a drunken coward?"

"It's not you..." Iris pulled her dress down and closed her eyes. "It's me. I am...not good enough...I am...flawed..."

"Shut up." Saul snarled. "You know nothing. You stole everything from me. Don't dare try to show off now."

"The people who made you believe that are the ones with the flaws, your highness." Abalas breathed. "You are royalty, despite the way those you trusted treated you."

Dahlia grabbed a handful of Saul's golden hair an jerked his head back so should look into his face. "I stole nothing. If you had loved me... You would never have let them take me."

"No one made me feel that way, Abalas. It's the truth. It has nothing to do with my status." Iris whispered. "You have not seen what I mean."

"Your father put a spell on me!" Saul shouted. "There was nothing I could do! Then he took your location from my8nd! I had no chance!"

"I don't believe that." Abalas shrugged simply. "I think someone told you you should feel this way."

"And thats why you think you should punish him by hating me, and telling me my father will die unless I let you bed me?!" Dahlia hissed, still holding Saul's hair.

"You don't understand." Iris said softly, shaking her head. "I'm sorry." She hated herself for stopping it but she knew if he saw it...if he even felt it... "We should try to rest. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." 

"You lied to me. I know the truth now. If you cared for me, you'd have come back. But you didn't. Instead you stayed and played nice with them. Don't play games with me!" Saul hissed, his hands balling at his sides.

Abalas nodded. "Rest. I need to speak with our host." He breathed, knowing that he was far too hot under the collar to sleep in the room with Iris right then.

"Oh yes, it's so easy to be nice to a palace full of people who wish you had never been born!" Dahlia hissed.

"As you wish." Iris wasn't sure why she was so broken-hearted but she was. She could only manage to nod slowly at him, blinking back several fat tears to clung to her lashes. "Goodnight then." She finally whispered as his fingers rested on the door. 

"And yet you stayed." Saul pointed out. "Did you play house with your father's pet? Is that what kept you busy?"

Alabas hesitated slightly, then nodded. "Goodnight, i'll try not to disturb you when I return." He hated that he had pushed Iris farther than she had wanted to go.

"My step mother wanted war. She threatened me with your death if I didn't play my part." Dahlia breathed, finally releasing Saul.

Iris turned her back on him, nodding ever so slightly. She never should have let things get this far. She should have stayed home and taken care of her brother. She'd never belong to one so beautiful as Abalas. He'd never care for something like her. 

"And your father's pet?" Saul asked, running his fingers through his hair. "What happened with him?"

"Excuse me, sir?" Abalas had found the other man, hoping that time would cool the hunger he had for the human princess.

"What does it matter?" Dahlia replied evasively. Despite this, the young woman smiled slightly, recalling the way Rothain had tossed her down in the roses. Had he hated her even then, or was it all an act?

"Back so soon?" Mirlath asked, lifting his head from the wood statue he was working on. "Did the female already satiate your hunger? Not much of a concubine then..." He chuckled softly. 

"I wouldn't ask if it did not matter." Saul said as he sat down by the fire. He rubbed at his neck, looking wearily into the flames.