The Legend of the Hunter

“Before I lay out my plan, I need to ask Krauwyk something,” Marethlin began and smiled at the byrgreme. She nodded her head in encouragement, and the Elf went straight to the tip of the arrow.

“I want to use you as bait,” he bluntly informed the byrgreme and waited for her response. The creature surprised no one though when she said, “Krauwyk already like idea.” She seemed to live for confrontations and battle, in spite of being a new mother. Marethlin grinned mischievously and explained his plot.

“I will approach Ragar’s compound with a seemingly bound Krauwyk. We know the Brute is famous for his fondness of collecting things and ‘exotic’ creatures. Well, how much more bizarre can you get than an adult byrgreme?” the Elf asked rhetorically, gesturing at the towering Krauwyk. She was flattered and extremely delighted by Marethlin’s reference to her as “exotic”.

“All right, continue,” Kloneithlin said, his interest piqued.

“I will claim that I wish to sell Krauwyk to Ragar at a reasonable price, and hint that I have another byrgreme locked up close by. Once I am admitted into the complex, Krauwyk and I will overpower the gate guards and let the rest of you in. Then we deal with Ragar before any of his other guards can raise the alarm. It should be as easy as nocking an arrow to one’s bow,” Marethlin claimed. He looked expectantly at the Elves to see if they would approve of his scheme.

“I like the plan. It is creative, bold and practical,” Rusthlin opined, “but I have one concern,” he added.

“And that is?” Marethlin asked.

“Ragar already knows we are here, and he might very well know that the byrgreme is no prisoner of ours. Did any of you see the spy that has been keeping an eye on us since we entered this tavern?” the Battle Elf asked and indicated with a very slight tilt of his head the Thug sitting far back in a corner just to the right of their table.

Marethlin suddenly snickered, surprising nearly all of those at his table.

“He is literally keeping an eye on us,” the Elf snorted and laughed outright. Hojuthlin groaned, Kloneithlin sighed, Rusthlin raised an eyebrow, and Kunkuna looked confused. Krauwyk explained.

“Look, man only has one eye, see?” she said and pointed very surreptitiously with her chin to the one-eyed spy skulking at the back table. Kunkuna’s face broke out in a huge grin and the byrgreme gave a deep “huh, huh, huh” chuckle. The Thug was wearing a rather bright red eye-patch over his left eye socket.

“Yes, I knew of his presence as soon as we entered,” Kloneithlin said, “but there were two of them. The other one left about five minutes after we got here, probably to report our arrival to Ragar,” the Commander explained. “And yes, Rusth, you make a most valid point,” he added. “However, I actually think Mareth’s plan is a good one in spite of Ragar most probably knowing we are here. I do not think the Brute will anticipate that we would try to infiltrate his complex through deception. He will think we would simply storm it, as we had initially planned to do,” Kloneithlin said, indirectly apologising for his earlier foolhardy plan. The Elves made sounds of protest and dismissed the Commander’s attempt at an apology.

“Krauwyk like Elf plan, too. Krauwyk very good at pretending. Thugs not realise till too late that Krauwyk not prisoner, but killer!” the byrgreme said enthusiastically, making Kunkuna grunt and hoot in agreement.

“So are we decided then?” Hojuthlin asked once the two byrgreme had settled down. “Mareth will take Krauwyk to the compound gates while we stay hidden until they open the gates for us?”

“Agreed,” the Elves all confirmed.

“Once we are inside, Krauwyk and I will make short work of however many gate guards there are,” Marethlin said, “then let you in so that we can storm Ragar’s Throne or Audience Room, whatever he calls it, and confront the Brute about his capture of Lathlin.”

“Confront being the operative word,” Kloneithlin emphasised. “And no twisting of words or their interpretation, Marethlin. I do not want you claiming afterwards that you had ‘assumed’ confront meant gutting Ragar. We do not want to start a war with the Thugs just yet, not while we have a larger threat to face,” the Commander cautioned the Elf.

“Krauwyk get to kill Silent Ones?” the byrgreme asked in glee.

“Kunkuna also. Want stick-chop-slice Stutterers,” the slightly smaller byrgreme stated, miming the actions to suit his words.

“Krauwyk, you promised not to kill any Silent Ones, remember?” Marethlin reminded the byrgreme.

“Elf no fun,” Krauwyk sulked and playfully shoved Marethlin. He nearly went flying across the room and had to grab hold of the table edge to remain seated and keep his dignity intact. Kunkuna gave his deep chuckle, which made Marethlin laugh, too.

“What about one-eye though?” Hojuthlin asked without looking again at the spy.

“What about him?” Rusthlin asked with an innocent-looking expression. Everyone glanced at the spy’s corner as stealthily as possible, only to see the man sprawled out across his table, dead to the world.

“I hit him with a sleep spell. He should be unconscious for hours, even if the tavern keeper throws him out into the street,” the Battle Elf said very modestly.

“Right! Then that is it and we can start bending our bows to get them in shape,” Marethlin said, using another Elf saying.

“The success of this plan hinges on the two of you being convincing in your roles, so be careful not to bend your bow too much and snap it unintentionally,” Hojuthlin told the younger Marethlin, who simply shrugged off the Lieutenant’s concern with a comradely slap to his back.

Then they clasped arms with each other, or slapped backs in the case of the two byrgreme, and left the tavern. They ran without warning into Dreferd, returning from having made his report to Ragar, but before he could react, Rusthlin knocked the man senseless with a club of compressed air, and Kloneithlin expertly caught Dreferd as he fell. The Commander leaned the unconscious man up against a wall of the tavern, making it seem as if he were in a drunken stupor. The company moved swiftly away from the inn to an alley running parallel to it. Marethlin tied Krauwyk’s hands very lightly with some rope while the rest of the party dropped further back. They had agreed to watch Marethlin and Krauwyk from a vantage point where they wouldn’t be seen by any guards in the vicinity of the compound.