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 had been smiling, until he realised Iris wouldn't look at him. He was still holding her tightly when he realised he may have been an utter monster. "I... I am sorry." Was all he manager to stammer.

Dahlia slammed the length of her bow against the back of Saul's knees hard enough to drop him to the ground. "I need you alive, Saul." She breathed against his ear. "Humans are loud and messy, you will only end up angering him. We are the trespassers here anyway."

"I'm the one who's sorry." Iris whispered. "I'm sorry you had to touch me...I know I'm not like the elf woman...or Darla...I'm sorry, Abalas....I know you're disappointed...." 

"Don't you ever kick me!" Saul roared, though his voice was drowned out by the sound of the troll's even angrier roar. It was too late for either of them to escape, the massive creature was felling trees to get to them. Even their horses had taken off for a safer place.

Abalas gently took hold of Iris' shoulders and pushed her back a little so she was forced to look up at him. "Is that why you've been pushing me away? Because you think I compare you to them?"

"I'll kick you as many times as it takes to stop you doing stupid things!" Dahlia hissed before she draw her bow again and shot three arrows in quick succession into the tress.

"Not really..." Iris said, discreetly trying to reach for her dress now. His fingers were still sliding over her skin and it was making her insides begin to burn all over again. "You...haven't really looked at me have you?" She asked him, truly wishing he wouldn't. 

"I did nothing wrong!" Saul snarled, grabbing for his sword again and pushing her as an enormous tree branch sailed over their heads. "This is totally your fault!"

There was a look of obvious sadness in Abalas' eyes when he heard that. "Of course I have, you think me an animal?"

"How is this my fault?! I was sleeping until you woke me!" Dahlia snapped as she tried to pick herself back up.

"I didn't mean that." Iris said, her fingers brushing the edge of her dress. She was almost able to reach it and would have managed if a wayward goat hadn't begun eating the hem. "Sod it!" She hissed. "I meant...my skin...it's disgusting. How can you even touch me?" She muttered, leaning over his leg as she played tug of war with the goat. 

"You picked the site! I thought elves had good sense of smell!" Saul snapped. The troll was shouting at them to stand still so he could eat them, but the king couldn't understand a word of it. "You shut up, you hairy bastard!" He shouted back.

Abalas was trying his best to remain rathe offended, but it was rather impossible with Iris leaning over his lap, her bare behind on display. "It's disgusting to you, but I don't find it so." He replied, stroking the bare skin gently.

"Well..." Dahlia clearly didn't have a comeback for that. She had often been mocked as a child by her siblings for her poor sense of smell, in comparison to theirs.

"The doctor's told me no man would...Abalas...help me..." Iris grunted, trying to pull the dress free. The goat was well into the skirt now, eating away at the material as if it were a delightful dinner. 

"Dahlia, you've got to be kidding me!" Saul grunted as his arm slid around her waist. He barely caught her before she'd stepped back into a pile of the dung. "For Maker's sake, woman. What are you thinking?"

"No no, I rather like the view I have right here." Abalas chuckled, even winking playfully at the offending goat.

Dahlia stumbled slightly when Saul slid his arm around her, and hated that she had to lean on him to watch her balance. "You distracted me!" She huffed, though her violet eyes were looking past Saul for the troll.

"You are not funny!" Iris wailed. She lost her grip on the dress and the goat trotted away. "That was the only dress I had you...you...elf!" She groaned.

"How did I do that? Saul asked her, ignoring the troll as he glared at her. It was because of this that he missed the first punch from the troll and went foying.

"Then I shall simply have to fling you over my hose and carry you like a slave." Abalas teased lightly. "Don't fret, little one. I can have you a dress in no time."

Dahlia jumped back a few feet and fired an arrow into the troll's large foot before running after Saul.

"what am I to wear until then?" Iris asked him, still self concious about him looking closely at her skin. 

Saul slammed into a tree and the troll laughed. At least he did until Dahlia shot an arrow in his foot.

Abalas stood up with Iris in his arms, then gently set her on her own feet. "Here..." He breathed, dropping his own shirt over her head.

"Now who's careless?" The young woman breathed as she crouched beside Saul.

Iris was surprised to find several scars across Abalas' Chest. They were rather deep and looked little better than hers. Gingerly she reached out, tracing them with her fingers.

"I'm ok..." Saul grunted. "We should get going...we don't have time to be fighting with a dammed troll right now. Much as I'd like to..."

Abalas made no effort to stop Iris touching the scars. He wasn't shamed of them, they were proof of where he had been, what he had been too strong to succumb to.

Dahlia was pulling Saul's hair free of its binding and running her fingers through the golden lengths, checking there was no head wound from where he had smacked into the tree.

Iris rested her hand on the last of the scars. "You are such an amazing man, Abalas. It's no wonder so many women find you irresistible."

"I'm fine." Saul grunted, trying to swat her hands away so he could get to his feet. "We can worry about a scratch or two later." He added, yanking her into his lap as another tree flew over their heads."

Abalas laughed softly and laid his hand gently over iris'. "Most women see the crown, nothing more."

Dahlia ducked her head down as the tree sailed over them, leaving her face pressed against Sail's shoulder.

"I've never seen you wear one." Iris said with a soft laugh. "But never mind all that. We need to get you into bed so that you can rest. I doubt we'll be getting much of that when we return to your kingdom." She turned her fingers so that they slid around his own and began pulling him out of the barn and back toward the house. 

"You shouldn't tease me." Saul breathed in her ear. "I'll forget that we have an agreement. Maybe I'll forget the troll too." He purred, his hands resting on her hips. That threat of winter was assaulting his senses all over again. "I could take you right here."

Abalas was only too happy for Iris to pull him along, glad she was seeming much lighter and less troubled than she had been before.

Dahlia lifted her head to look at Saul, leaving them more or less nose to nose. The dark haired elf remembered those stolen kisses of his, and she felt her heart flutter slightly. "You assume you would get away with it." She finally breathed with a wry smile.

It didn't take Iris long to fall asleep. Once she was clean and warm there was nothing stopping her. For once she felt at peace, even if she knew it wasn't to last.

Sauk pressed his lips to hers before she could say anything at all. It turned out to be another mistake as the troll lifted him up by his hair. "Like golden humans." It said loudly. "Meat cooks faster."

Abalas didn't sleep right away. He lay there for some time, simply savouring the feel of the small woman in his arms. He and his wife hadn't been this close in sometime, not in the sense that they simply lay there in bed.

Dahlia was sent rolling across the ground, coming to a halt with her face mere inches from the pile of troll dung. She let out a sigh of relief and picked herself up to again assault the troll with a hail of arrows. Of course, that would have been true were her bow not lying on the ground by the troll's large foot.

"Your highness," mirlath gently shook the king awake a few hours later. "It's dawn. If you are going to save my son...you should go..." he said softly.

"Your fault, elf!" Saul shouted, trying to use his sword to stab the troll in the hand. "All because you wanted to swim naked with nymphs!"

Abalas seemed much like his youngest daughter when woken, and grumbled rather loudly. "It's can't be dawn... I only just fell asleep..."

"You're the one who snored and kept me awake most of the night!" Dahlia hissed as she ran at the troll with both her blades drawn.

"I am sorry, sire. But that is the case. I have put a spell over your lover to keep her sleeping but you must leave now. It will only last until the sun rises." Mirlath said a little bit louder this time. 

"So you admit it!" Saul shouted, seeing stars when the troll used him to bat away Dahlia and her swords. "Maker's ass, you beast! Put me down!"

"I can't leave her." Abalas confessed now that he was fully awake. "I promised her the moon... And now I should leave her hear to follow me when she wakes?"

"I admit swimming naked, yes! How else am I supposed to swim?!" Dahlia growled, quickly to realise one of her own blades had just sliced against her thigh.

"I will keep her busy as I promised." The wood elf said, his lips set in a thin line. "She's human, sire. You know she'll only get in the way once you return. More than likely she'll get herself killed and you'll be useless to your kingdom or anyone else..." 

"I don't know!" Saul muttered, using the foot that was free to kick at the troll's curled fingers. "Damn it all! The ale was warm and so was my bed! Neither of them smelled as bad as this troll or his dung!"

Abalas was gently stroking Iris's face as she slept, moving golden curls aside very carefully. "She will hate me for this." He breathed. 

"You have gotten soft, your majesty!" Dahlia growled through her teeth as she again launched an offensive, this time getting a foot on the trolls leg and launching herself up onto its back.

"It must be done and you know it." The other man said. "Your gear is waiting in the courtyard along with your horse. You should go while you can." 
Iris sighed softly, a smile on her full lips. She breathed the elven king's name, not yet aware that she was all but saying goodbye to him. 

"Off elf!" The troll roared. "You go away!" For a moment the great ugly beast forgot about the human and dropped him into the dirt as he swatted at the woman on his back. "Go away! Stop that!"

Abalas leaned over Iris and kissed her one last time, then gestured for Mirlath to hand him his pants. "I have your word she will not be mistreated while she is here?"

Though she didn't have her bow, Dahlia still had several arrows, and jabbed one of them into the side go the troll's thick neck.

Mirth stood at the window, watching the elven king disappear into the morning mist. At his side he held the black dagger that Dahlia would have instantly recognized. The wood elf's hand shook as he finally turned back to the human sleeping in the bed. "Forgive me." He whispered in his native tongue. "But your blood is the only way they will give me my wife back..."

The troll went down like a felled tree. He struck the ground hard enough to cause a small earthquake. 
Saul lay where he was and groaned, wondering just how much worse things were going to get from here. "I fucking hate trolls." He ground out.