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I kept my hood drawn over my head and brought my rifle to firing position. The crystal gave me a clear view of the individuals on the wall. The shadow she-elves were spread far thinner than they should and appeared bored. Their light armor was worn with various degrees of vigilance. Some wore metal helmets, while others wore leather, or carried their helmets in their arms to escape the heat. I watched for about twenty minutes, learning how they patrolled and the standard practices. The information would be less useful now, because I was planning on causing havoc, but should I need to infiltrate later, it would be good information to have.
Desiring to cause fear and invoke chaos, I waited until two of the sentries were about to cross each other, where the shot couldn’t be missed, and took aim. I timed my shot, calming myself, and using every trick I knew to steady myself. The rifle jerked as the bullet was silently sent, and I immediately chambered another round. In the silence of the field, the whistle of bullet cutting through the air at supersonic speeds was clear to me, though the initial crack of the round being fired was nullified.
Normally, I would aim for the chest. A large enough caliber bullet hitting you anywhere in your upper chest was almost guaranteed to be deadly, but with the crenellations of the battlement made that less ideal. I’d had to aim for the head.
In a red splash, my target dropped. I watched carefully for the other sentry’s reaction. She immediately took something like a horn crafted from an ox horn or something similar, and brought it to her mouth, and even at my distance, I could hear the horn sound. The sentry had done what I wanted, and I sent another round to silence her. The round hit, cutting off the sounding of the horn.
I took a deep, calming breath. The hornet’s nest had been kicked. Now to see what came swarming out.
I could see sentries, now crouching to avoid view, in flashes among the crenellations as their hair or helmets peaked through the lower sections. Horns sounded again. Dust rose from the inside of the wall as shadow elves scrambled.
If nothing else, I’d shown them that they weren’t invincible and untouchable behind their black stone walls.
My skin prickled as though a searchlight passed over me, the strange feeling causing goosebumps, then it came again. I shivered as I wondered if I was instinctually detecting the passing scrying sensors. Motion caught my attention as wings flapped and wyverns began to take to the sky.
I waited for a moment when my skin wasn’t prickling, and I turned my rifle on one of the rising wyverns. The higher they got the steadier their flight paths were, so the first wyvern that had taken to the sky, shadow elf rider on its back, was my first target. I had to lead the shot, but as the wyvern rider was circling to gain height it was easy to predict their paths. My shoulder took another thump as I sent the round.
The wyvern’s screech of death barely reached me. Its wings failed and it dropped back down into the city. There were two very different reactions among the other wyverns. Some circled round trying to figure out what happened to their fallen ally. The other’s screeched in terror and dove back to the safety they had risen from.
THUMP! Rack. THUMP! Rack. THUMP! Rack.
Three more wyverns dropped from the sky as I picked my targets and popped the spent casing from the chamber and brought a new one in. The remaining wyverns followed suit of those who had fled earlier and dove back to the same sector they had risen from. Returning to their home, I’d guess.
The gate creaked open. A formation behind wooden shields with metal banding as tall as the elves carrying them began a slow march out of the gate, using something very reminiscent of a roman testudo. I was guessing those shields couldn’t be thick enough to really block my rounds, unless the magic on their shields could beat the magic on my bullets and have enough strength remaining to stop my round.
A second then third formation emerged from the gates, the formations spreading out clearly searching for what was attacking. I wanted to give them a moment to be fully outside the gate and committed, then I’d see if I couldn’t prove my rifle superior to their shields.
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A breathless soldier burst into the throne room of the shadow elf queen.
“The city is under attack!” The soldier declared, her breasts heaving.
Kathra finished drinking the cup of dark sweet liquid her soldiers had recovered in a raid against the mountain elves. “And this is a problem, why? Have the high houses not deployed their soldiers? No force is a threat to us anywhere, let alone here in our stronghold.”
“But… Great Kathra, our forces seem to die without warning! The wyverns of house Mor’Vakth fall from the sky dead!” The soldier declared in panic.
Gla’dri stared straight forward, trying to keep his face impartial.
Kathra’s face clouded over. “These deaths…. Are they followed by a loud cracking sound?”
“No! Great Queen, though some have heard a strange whistle….” The soldier trailed off.
“IT LIVES!” Kathra screamed, smashing the cup in her hand on the arm of her throne, shattering it and raining shards down on her enslaved daughter. “HOW DOES IT LIVE!?”
The soldier quietly slipped from the throne room in fear.
“Rally all the houses! Deploy the shadow claws! Deploy the mages! I want every house to bring their all to bear! The house that brings me the head of the Wood Elves’ Summon shall receive triple rations for three years!” Kathra screamed, her knuckles white as she gripped the throne.
Multiple messengers ran from the room.
“Gla’dri!” Kathra snarled.
“I am here.” The advisor stated trying to keep his nervousness from affecting his voice.
“You believed the summon still lived. Why?” Kathra demanded. “Did you know this was coming?”
“No, my queen.” Gla’dri admitted, “This is far bolder than I would ever have believed. I merely was cautious of celebrating victories before confirming the death of the summon.”
“You are a male. How does this male think? Why would he move on us now?” Kathra snapped.
Gla’dri swallowed, “Not all males think the-”
“TELL ME WHY A SINGLE MALE IS ATTACKING MY STRONGHOLD!!!” Kathra screamed.
Gla’dri’s eyes raced around the room. “He can slay any of our forces at great distance, with impunity. We do not know what he is capable of. We do not know his range. We know too little about him to counter him effectively. I would presume he is attempting to press his advantage as far as possible while we are yet unprepared to face him.”
Kathra seethed.
Gla’dri continued to think.
The possibility that their actions, enslaving a poor young wood elf and forcing her to walk into Ealphamir to be detonated as a living bomb, had enraged their foe didn’t even occur to them in their twisted minds. That was politics as normal. Murder, enslavement, betrayal, these were simply tools in their mind.
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The formations had moved far enough from the gates.
I took aim at the center of one of the formations, not the closest to give away my position, but the second, and fired.
Splinters of shields flew everywhere and a line of the tightly packed elves fell to the ground. I’d seen estimates that a normal. 50 caliber rifle could shoot through five people lined up. My rifle just took out at least ten of these elves. The magic on my bullets must be potent indeed.
The formation closed, but began to retreat back toward the gate.
I almost fired at the retreating elves, but I realized that was exactly what they would do with the power I held and in the position I was in. I wanted to be better than them.
If the shadow elves were paying attention, the line of downed elves was pointing straight to me. There wasn’t anything I could do to fix that. One line wouldn’t be enough to pin down my location, but a second would. It wasn’t avoidable though.
There was only one thing that I could do to reduce the effect of a second line.
I took an aim at the nearest formation and I took a breath to prepare.
My first shot cut through the right side of the formation. I racked the level, chambering a new round and shifted it a touch, and blew a second line taking out the next adjacent line of elven soldiers. Without waiting, I kept blowing through the formation, blasting through line after line of the formation, until they broke and began to run.
By the time I swung my rifle to the final formation, but they were already breaking and running, so I let them flee.
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“The formations of House Hromnor have been broken! Casualties are high! At least thirty dead.” Another messenger proclaimed in fear before the raging Queen.
Kathra’s teeth were clenched so hard her teeth hurt.
“Has the summon been seen yet?” Kathra demanded angrily.Belonging to NôvelDrama.Org.
“No! The soldiers fall as if felled with destruction magic, but the magics of the shields of House Hromnor should block such magic!” The shadow elf, of House Hromnor herself, declared in confusion. “All we know is the deaths are all happening to the south east of the city.”
“Begone!” Kathra commanded.
Gla’dri was terrified. Kathra was volatile on the best of days. The teachings of Ya’av weren’t exactly aimed at stability. All shadow elves knew this, and it caused the strongest elves to rise to positions of power. But it did mean no one ever felt safe and secure in their power.
Gla’dri had an idea. He wasn’t sure if he dared to voice it. He had serious doubts that Kathra would accept the idea, let alone allow him to live for voicing it.