Chapter 48: Amber

The elf looked down at her hands.

She turned them over slowly. Someone had cleaned the dirt from her fingers, and the sleeve of her arm was wrapped in fresh bandage. She was awake because someone had treated the poison. She knew who had done it.

She looked up and saw the old man’s bandaged shoulder, the blood on the floor, and the broken room around them. Everyone in it had put their lives on the line. The old man had been hurt, and the others had fought, and all of it had been to keep her safe.

’They deserve to know.’

"I’ll tell you," she said quietly.

Nobody spoke.

"I am from the royal family of the elf kingdom," she said. "My name is Amber."

Tez looked at her, it made sense that she would be of some importance if she was from royal blood, what he needed to know how was why exactly they wanted her.

"The elves have been split for a long time, every since I was a kid. There had been two different sides," Amber went on. "Some of us believe that humans and elves should come together and be unified, we feel that we could foster better growth for our individual races. Others do not want it at all, they believe humans to be inferior and a weak race that should be below the elves no matter what.. I was sent along with a few others as delegates, to carry that message to the human kingdom, to the king of Draconis"

She stopped and pressed her lips together, her eyes told that she was not pleased with what she had to say now.

"We were attacked on the way. It separated us. I don’t know where the others are now." Her voice dropped. "I don’t know if they are alive or dead. we don’t even know who attacked us, they just did."

The room stayed quiet. Tez watched her as she spoke as if he was scared ti miss even a little detail.

"After that, I stumbled onto this city ," Amber said. "I have been living low since then, like a normal elf, so no one would look at me twice. I even got into the Sky Palace a few times, just to see." She shook her head. "Until I gather enough resources to move, I don’t want to leave, I know that whoever had tried to kill us is still out there and tonight reinforced my belief."

The old man leaned his head back against the wall and thought for a moment.

"Then it fits," he said slowly. "I think I know why they came for you."

"Why?" Tez asked.

"If you were killed, the plans of the other side would go forward. And if you lived and reached the right people, those plans would fail." He lifted his good hand. "That is the only reason I can think of why they would send inquisitors after one elf, they wand to kill uou so the nobles can do whatever they want"

Tez had been listening with his arms crossed.

Something was falling into place in his head. He could see where the old man’s words were going, and he could see the next part before anyone said it.

"I think I understand the full picture now ," he said.

They turned to him.

"If they get her, if she dies, what happens with the elves?" He looked at Amber. "They would attack, right?"

Amber’s face went pale.

"Yes," she said softly. "They would. The royal family would not stay quiet. My people would go to war."

Tez nodded slowly.

"That’s the final part of the plan," he said. "They don’t want her just to stop the delegates. They want the elves to attack."

"Why would that help them?" Leah asked.

"Because once the elves attack, everything blows up." Tez began pacing a few steps. "The war would give the nobles what they need. They could stand up and say, look, this is why we don’t mix with other races. Look what they do when we let them in, it would be the perfect propaganda that they set up with their own two hands."

He stopped.

"And then they push it further. The other races get pushed out of the kingdom. Or they get enslaved. Or they get killed."

The words hung in the air.

Lia and Mira said nothing. Both of them were not human, and Tez noticed how still they had gone. Lia was looking at the floor. Mira’s arms were tight across her chest.

"Is he right?" he asked Amber.

"He is," the old man said. "It makes sense. It is exactly what they would want."

The old man went quiet again. His face had gone grey again, and Tez could see it was not only from the wound. His wife’s hand tightened on his shoulder.

"This is worse than I thought," he muttered. "Much worse."

He lifted his head.

"I know someone," he said. "There is an old merchant in the city. He has his hands in the government, and he is an old friend of mine. He might know more about what is happening, or know how to stop it."

He turned his eyes to Tez.

"I don’t know you that well," he said. "But you are strong, and you saved my life tonight. I’m asking you to help."

Tez raised his eyebrows.

"We could go to see the merchant together," the old man continued, his voice low. "Talk about what is happening. Decide what to do." He paused. "I am pleading with you, boy, you’ve got some good strength that is needed and you seek to be very smart.

You do not have to worry though, you will be compensated for anyway that you help."

Tez said nothing for a while. He looked at Mira, then at Lia, then at Leah standing next to Amber. He thought about the elf, and the scroll, and the two masked figures walking away down the street. He thought about the gains that he could make if he did this and the connections that he could build.

He thought it over for a long moment.

"Alright," he said. "I’ll help."

The old man closed his eyes and breathed out. "Thank you."

His wife stepped forward and put her arm around his back. "That’s enough talking for tonight," she said. "You need rest."

"I’m fine."

"You are not." She helped him to his feet, slowly, taking most of his weight, and he did not argue this time. She looked at the group. "We can speak again when he is better."

They watched her guide him through the door at the back and into the next room. His footsteps faded, and the door closed.

Tez turned to Amber.

She was standing with Leah beside her, her arms close to her body. She looked tired, and he saw that she had not stopped watching him since he first spoke.

"Thank you," he said. "For helping Leah. I know you were not in good shape yourself."

Amber blinked. She shook her head quickly, a little nervous.

"No, you don’t need to thank me," she said. "I was only doing what I could. You have saved me twice now. You risked yourself for me, and I don’t even know how to repay that."

She bowed her head to him.

Tez did not bow back. It was her choice to do it, and he left it that way.

"It was no issue at all," he said. "It’s fine."

She straightened and gave a small, uncertain smile.

Tez looked around at all of them.

"For now, it would be best if we don’t head to the Sky Palace," he said. "We keep a low profile. It’s safest if we stay here and make sure the inquisitors are gone."

"That makes sense," Lia said quietly.

Mira had been silent for a while, leaning against a post with her arms crossed. Now she spoke.

"There’s something about the female inquisitor," she said.

They turned to her.

"We clashed hard. It was a bad fight." She looked at her burned sleeve. "We both ended up bleeding. We damaged each other a lot. I thought one of us was not going to walk away."

"And?" Tez asked.

"Then she just stopped." Mira frowned. "She turned around in the middle of it and left. She went back toward the other one without saying a word. I didn’t understand it."

Nobody answered.

Tez’s face went serious.

"That’s worrisome," he said

"It’s suspicious." He glanced at the hole in the wall, at the dark street beyond it. "Those two are the strongest people I have met here. Especially the big one. He’s a real piece of work. I don’t want to clash with them casually."

He lowered his voice.

"And if they left, they didn’t leave because they gave up. They might come back more prepared next time." He had a feeling he would be seeing them very soon.