NOVEL NEXT BECMI Chapter 153 – And there was Dancing
"Please inform the Ei his welcome home party was accepted in like measure and greatly enjoyed," Hanvol stepped forward to say politely, his own Staff springing to hand out of nowhere. "Now, off with you for disturbing our Lady in her moment of triumph."
Their leader was just starting to scream when the Fireball Hanvol had been handling shot out, accompanied by the twang of a half-score elven Bows.
The eruption was pretty hot and pretty loud as the arrows sank home, and then delivered their spells as Arcane Archery did what it did best.
In different circumstances, a bunch of debris would have been thrown around, bodies went flying as they were reduced to coal and char, but there was just too much damage on the stack there, and everything in the radius of the conjoined Fireballs was completely obliterated, including the stone upon which they stood.
Or not.
Hanvol lifted his free hand, hot blue-white fires swirling around it, and the annihilating flames and the heat they held vented skywards for hundreds of feet rather than expanding out and making things uncomfortable. Left behind was a clear and unmarked expanse of stone with scattered items sitting randomly upon it, courtesy of Of the Invulnerable World.
Couldn't be frying our goldweight, after all.
Hanvol had gained a LOT of experience handling fire over the past year. He only needed to return to Zanzyr to quickly reach Third or Fourth Circle in Fire Elementalism, were he to be admitted. His compatriots were going to be so upset at his rapid progress.
The scattered items, mostly magical Arms, Armor, and control Amulets making slaves of the agents of the Ei, zipped over and deposited themselves on a Disk floating next to Speaker Eryis.
Spears and Shields and Axes and Bows all lowered. I looked around perfunctorily, then sighed extravagantly. "Excellent pay for such little work," I noted to everyone blandly, and they all smiled hard. "Let's get set up for tonight, and you all are ordered to have a good time. Form up and back to base."
"SIR!" everyone shouted happily, flowing into lines and heading down the street in perfect order, drawing a lot of attention from people who'd heard the explosion and now heard boots hitting stone in lockstep order.
If some of those watching were not friends or allies, all the better, right? I watched Auras of not-Good flicker and darken in fear and withheld hate or anger, made note of them, but kept moving to the Thisbean Inn.
There was going to be a party there shortly.
--------
No Heroes Feast today. This was all made by hand and love, maybe some Alchemy involved, Weird Science cooking, but no spellcasting.
Musicians from all the races were there to perform, specifically to have a good time and make sure everyone else had a good time, too. Showing one another up was definitely not on the agenda, collaborating for further fun definitely was, and singalongs and dancing were very much a part of everything.
I didn't really need to eat or drink, and Rings of Sustenance had been making the rounds on my people, so neither did a lot of them. That comes in very handy when everyone wants to dance and sing with you over many hours.
I was doing Northern kick-dances, Federyn waltzes, Darkmoor strolls, hyn jigs, elven prances, and dwarven polkas for hours. I drank a whole lot of things which had not made it into the wine cellar of the Inn (but would in the future), and ate so many things with Binging active on my Ring just so I could fit it all down, from nibblies to main courses to appetizers to desserts and beyond.
Heck, there were six different salads I just had to try. I ate way too much to fit in my belly and enjoyed it all. We started at least six different famous dishes that would likely spread throughout the North, too.
Many of the dwarves found out what it meant when elves really started to party, and that was without all the feywine and really good stuff that could get involved.
We opened up the party, we closed down the Inn, and we went through supper, midnight snacks, after-midnight snacks, and broke the morning open, still going strong as pretty much everyone else was trying to stay awake and enjoy everything and was just falling asleep with broad smiles on their faces.
Kind of sang the Salute to Aru so they could have an incredible breakfast and then basically fall asleep where they were, even the disbelieving dwarves shocked we could outlast them.
Well, it was what it was.
--------
"So, are you ready to return to Zanzyr?" I asked Belle quietly. She and a certain elven Lord of the North had been absent for a period of time, but then, so had most of the elves, celebrations naturally being like that. She looked quite happy and relaxed, losing some of that queenly poise she had so naturally.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
My poise was somewhere between 'defiant/you looking at me?' and 'I'm not here, go look somewhere else'. It really confused a lot of people, which was most of the point.
Her violet eyes flashed with the memories of the past year of utter slaughter, a thing so alien to elves who enjoyed life so much. And yet, they'd seen me gather the spirits, send them on to fate or doom, as they wished, and knew it was all still part of the cycle of life, a thing perverted by Nifl, and they'd actually done a great and grand thing by breaking and destroying the race She had created.
The Glory Award there at the end had been ample proof of that. While not everyone had reached Rank M like me, owing to starting at much lower points, every single Elf with me was now at least Rank G, and a 15 Elven Wizard, too! Elder Equavus had also reached Rank M, and was a 15 in Wizard, too, meaning he was not only at the apex of traditional elven power, he had surpassed all his rivals in pure magical ability.
Slowly, Belle nodded. All of her Karma had gone into the Warrior's Path, and the hunting, fighting, and killing in physical combat had given her a steel and tolerance for combat that she simply had not possessed before.
There was no family to shelter here, no people to look after, no need to keep herself in reserve all the time in case of magical attack. She had been able to just let go, and address all the pain and anger she had buried deeply for all these years.
When she got home, the humanoids in the Bleaklands were going to be in for a tough time.
"Yes. Yes, I am ready to return home," she judged somberly, glancing in the direction of the Portal. "Yourself as well?"
"I have made a commitment to see what befalls Darkmoor in the future and help them survive past it," I answered. "But there is much that needs be done in our own time, and happily, spending years doing something there means only being gone ten minutes on this side, when I do return."
"The tactical and strategic benefits of being able to turn ten minutes of time into months of preparation are not lost on me, Edge," she nodded crisply. "This is an incredibly powerful resource you have here… and it is also not lost on me that you have given me and the other elves in your company a fantastic amount of experience fighting varieties of humanoids in subterranean settings." Her eyes twinkled with approval.
"Doubtless just an amusing coincidence before the eyes and machinations of the Immortals," I waved it off, and she smiled thinly.
"Nifl is behind the creation of the humanoid races. That… will doubtless be something Fierlunl and Corellin will find most interesting on their own." I could only nod slowly at that, not having a great deal of belief or knowledge of the two main Elven Immortals. There supposedly was a third one running around who was more a trickster-type who loved to cause trouble, but that was for another time. Corellin was the Immortal who empowered the Trees of Life, and Fierlunl was his lieutenant in such matters. "I… have no idea what they will do with such knowledge, however," Belle sighed. "The humanoid races back home have done what Nifl designed them to do, spreading over the world and making war on all other races for no other reason than to do so."
"I have the feeling He will send you elves from all over the place to learn the Favored Enemy benefits. You, in turn, will be attracting humans to the path of the Ranger and further expanding the scope and power of the war against the Nifl races.
"This is not something that will see success overnight, of course. But the conflict, and the access to more Healing magic, should help begin the process of improving your own people's Levels to the point of the Nifloids finding it very, very unprofitable to test your borders… which they will doubtless continue to do, regardless. You, in turn, must be willing to test theirs, and aggressively."
"Very aggressively," she agreed with a flash of her eyes. "And woe to those who think me doing so is a sign to raid and pillage…"
"More Sims as back-up is highly advisable," I agreed calmly. "But the elves of the Company are also a fine core foundation for aiding and teaching you can leverage."
She nodded slowly. "And the mountains around Zanzyr, not just the Bleaklands, are filled with dangerous foes, as or more dangerous than the hills and peaks of Darkmoor and the North." She took a sip of lemonade and considered the future. "Are you planning to bring people of Darkmoor into our future?" she asked calmly.
"Some, if I can. I just do not know where," I admitted. "I am considering further north, past the Jarldoms."
"The Eislas? Delpha and Siricil have been playing proxy games there for centuries," she pointed out. "I believe the current Siricilan Emperor even hails from the area, the city named Seacall?"
"The area is still largely unsettled, untamed, and there is a great deal of room. If the Empires care to butcher one another over it, that is not my concern, unless they think to command me and mine as well. I do not have enough experience with Delphan history to measure their goodwill, but they are another magocracy, much like Zanzyr, and elves will undoubtedly fare better there than they do in Siricil."
Belle had a thoughtful look upon her face. "Do you think you could bring some of the dwarves into the Bleaklands?" she asked carefully.
I tilted my head at her question. "Interesting. They will need a place to live, and we will need somebody to hold the ground if we clear it of nifloids. A ready-made cavern system would be almost ideal for them, and with their Artificing and geomancy, they could fortify it quickly and rapidly." I turned my head slightly. "Regent Karrackheim has already started to flounder. His great enemy is defeated, and the Thanes of the various Halls are beginning to question him and his adherence to law and order in a more settled North. Those he named Dwarf-friend have been approved by the Council of Thanes after the fact, but the simple fact he broke a treaty so readily has besmirched his reputation in a matter that gnaws at him and the Thanes alike.
"He needs a new challenge, and I think we could indeed give one to him."
"We will need to tell him of the future, and the fate of the dwarves," she noted calmly, and I nodded at that.
"I think… I think that will give him all the impetus he needs," I admitted. "Saving the legacy of the dwarves from the machinations of an Immortal who thinks he is 'saving' them should be all he needs to bestir himself, and is just the sort of challenge he would enjoy. Setting up a home that so many dwarves can immigrate to when disaster strikes should indeed tickle his fancy. He led one group of dwarves to new homes. I do not think he can resist the urge to build a place for ALL dwarves to retreat to, when it is needed."
She glanced slyly towards all the sleeping party-goers around. "When they wake up?" she inquired smoothly.
"Poor exhausted little boys that they are," I agreed, tinking glasses with the Princess of Erewan.