A Twist of the Tale by P R Glazier

  Chapter 10. On Reaching Ter’Hadsnefel

  The road had been climbing steadily upwards all morning. Not a steep climb but just a long and steady incline. Thor still marveled at the stamina that Solin seemed to possess, he realised that all her grumbling about age, all her cries of aching bones and tired muscles, all those complaints he had heard her utter through the years, were all an act. All a design intended to fool, or the very least to match an expectation, a ruse to make her seem to be something that others expected, rather than something she actually was. She acted the part well, but he now knew for sure it was just that, an act.

  He asked her about it. “Lady Solin. Can I ask you a presumptuous question?”

  She looked at him with a broad grin on her face, “presumptuous eh? How exciting!”

  He gave a resigned expression, the sort where he strongly suspected that his next move was quite possibly going to get him into very hot water, or the very least make him regret the question the moment he asked it. “Yes, well. Forgive me my lady but you don’t seem as you make out. I just wondered.”

  “What you want to know young man is how old I am?”

  Thor was taken aback, he had hoped to voice the question perhaps a little more subtly, but yes, that was what he wanted to know, had she read his mind? 

  “No Thor I haven’t read your mind.” She smirked at Thor’s uncomfortable look. “Be at peace my friend. It’s a habit of mine, possibly a rather rude one I concede, I apologise, but when you have lived for as long as I, well I suppose you can predict behavior. I have been in this world for quite a lengthy time and I have grown accustomed to the way people react, over and over, repeated habits I suppose, perhaps even old instinctive patterns that go unnoticed because they are the norm. Basically Thor, however successive generations feel about themselves, how they think they may be different, more enlightened perhaps, in possession of greater things, familiar with new inventions, more knowledgable than those that have gone before. Well basically all generations they are the same. I have noticed this in all the races, but it is much more apparent in the race of men. It is an interesting concept Thor, the concept of change, for change, true change that is, rarely actually comes about in my experience. It just cycles to and fro, a pendulum swinging to the left and to the right, the only sure thing is that societies such as these are in constant flux yet in the end unchanging.” She seemed to go into a deep thought for a while before she continued. “Where I lived, in Amentura, well the town is now predominantly human. There was a time when T’Iea and more commonly Pnook lived in the town. The houses within the town quarter in which I had my home, high on the hill overlooking the rest of the town, all those houses were once owned by T’Iea merchant families. It was why I chose that house. I felt more at home in the company of my own people.”

  Thor was a little relieved in a way that Solin had managed to change the subject away from the original question, he decided that to pursue Solin’s true age was a mistake so he decided to play along with the current flow of conversation. “So the pendulum will swing the other way again and the T’Iea and Pnook will return?”

  Solin replied. “As I previously pointed out, many years ago the population of Amentura was very mixed. That was still very much the case when I brought the house and moved in with Serinae at least. The Pnook however were always more transient, they had a number of large guest houses in which the pilots and crews of their flying ships once stayed whilst they were in Amentura. Also, quite a large area beyond the docks was taken up with Pnook designed hangers in which they kept their flying ships. Ah, Amentura prospered in those days, the population was varied and culturally mixed. It was safe to walk the streets whoever you were. But the T’Iea and Pnook have now gone, except for my house that is, for all the neighboring houses have became owned by human families. But humans they come and go, they are born and then they die. I have seen the houses next to mine change ownership many times. I have seen the families that lived in them change over successive generations. Even seen my own staff come and go like leaves blown upon the wind. Yet through all these changes I remained the same, unchanged, untouched it seemed by time. I am T’Iea by race. My body like yours rejuvenates itself, it is able to reproduce, copy what is there, even if outside influences alter the way that it outwardly appears. Our bodies are in a constant state of regeneration. In time my outward aged appearance would change back if I allowed it, all I would have to do is keep away from arcane influences.”

  They walked further in silence, Thor thinking on what Solin had just said. A thought suddenly came to him. “A bit like that old quiver that Nar’Allia has, the one given to her that originally belonged to the lady Serinae?”

  She eyed Thor with a slight look of confusion.

  “I, I mean rejuvenation, you know, it replicates, rejuvenates arrows placed within it?”

  Solin’s features brightened. “Well young man that is very perceptive of you. You may be correct, more correct than you think!” She nodded, she seemed to view Thor with a new understanding.

  Thor found himself slightly embarrassed under the scrutiny of those blue, blue eyes.

  Then she spoke once more. “This rejuvenating ability of our race is an alien concept to humans. They cannot begin to understand it, so their thoughts naturally fall towards suspicion. Such is the way of men, anything they do not understand, they become increasingly mistrustful of. True to form they think that some devilish process, some evil intent keeps us young whilst they grow old. They call this sorcery; accuse us of dealing in the dark arts. Once the seeds of mistrust have been sawn in the human mind and doubt and fear have been established it is a difficult task to erase them. I have found increasingly that if any misfortune occurs in the community, any unexplained problem happens, then they increasingly find it convenient to suspect, even blame me. This in turn fuels further mistrust and the situation escalates. I was fortunate enough to have Jonas and others of his race to provide my defense in the eyes of the human population, but as successive generations come and go suspicion seems to deepen. It is unfortunate that when something good happens, some unexpected benefit, then of course I am not held responsible, they prefer to believe their good fortune to be the results of their own doing. Or to some unexplained mystical thing they call luck!”

  Thor felt a pang of guilt, his goading Solvienne as a wicked witch seemed a little closer to truth than he expected. If he had known this before he may not have been so quick to joke.

  Solin remained quiet for a few moments before she continued in a subdued tone. “You suggest Thor that the pendulum may swing back once more and we will find that Amentura once again enjoys a cross cultural heritage. Well maybe you are right, Solvienne has certainly the skill of words and deeds to change the attitudes of humans, or at least hold it at bay, she has already embarked upon that course. But I can’t help feeling that the T’Iea and the elder races are almost spent on this world. We have our strongholds where we feel safe, but safety breeds contentment which in turn can become complacency. Our history says that when we first populated the western side of the continent of Dahl’Ambronis we did so when the human population was confined to the east, across the other side of the mountains Tolle’Fornosse’Veetri . It was easy for us to find a home away from the humans, away from their attitudes. This was for a reason; we did not want to overly influence their development. We have never been many in number. Oh, perhaps before the ognod wars we prospered, to that I concede, perhaps all of the T’Iea cities and towns dotted throughout Gel’Te’Ertenya are testament to that.”

  Thor asked excitedly, “but how my lady do you know all of this, you speak as if you were there? Do you know then where we came from originally?”

  If Solin heard his questions she did not show it she just kept speaking. “But the elder races are in decline now, even the ognod’s are on the brink of extinction, they have many troubles, an inner illness a sickness ails them, it affects their young and their unborn, problems that they did not suffer long ago.
But they are not alone in their suffering. The Pnook struggle for survival in the Rust Desert, the only thing that keeps them alive in an alien environment is their technology. They rely upon it more and more; I feel no good will come of this in the end. Even the Grûndén hide away from the world in their city beneath the mountains, they do not concern themselves with others. But they too are in decline, once they had towns and villages spread throughtout the mountains of the Tolle’ Ambrunista, now they only live within their great city. The world sees less and less of them. Then there are our people. The T’Iea are stable but not increasing in numbers, our race is split down the middle, half of us are T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran now, intent on causing havoc, even the total destruction of this world. It is little wonder that the race of men mistrust the elder races more and more, as the human race increases and their society becomes more complex, we are increasingly seen as outsiders, in their eyes we pose a great threat to the development of humanity and to their world Thor. After all, it is their world.”

  The two traveling companions remained quiet for a few moments, each perhaps mulling over their own thoughts.

  Eventually Solin sighed, “here in the west humans now reproduce in great numbers, they have to if their race is to survive. Their rate of reproduction increases exponentially, the more of them there are, the more are born. As the population grows, they encroach more and more on our traditional homes; quite rightly we welcome them as friends, yet I wonder in the end what the effect shall be. There will come a time Thor I suspect, where men will view us as taking up too much valuable space, see us as surplus to requirement, a minority race, a thorn in their side hindering their progress. They will push us out; seek to confine us to some area of land they can spare, at least for a few generations anyway. Or perhaps send us to a wasteland somewhere out of the way, a place that is useless to them, they may even seek to slowly eradicate us from the world. When that day comes Thor I dread to think what will happen.” She sighed and looked down at the ground along where she walked. “All T’Iea Thor, dark elf or otherwise can fight, it may be that if it comes to war we will lose to sheer numbers, but at what cost to mankind? T’Iea fight well Thor; too well perhaps, we fear we will not go down without accounting for ourselves.”

  Thor wondered at what she had said, in his heart perhaps he knew it to be the truth, but he remained quiet.

  Then Solin started to speak once again. “We do not belong here Thor, this is not our world, we are all of us visitors here. However well we think we can survive, our races hereditary adaptations and evolutionary history is not rooted in this place, in this environment. This is not where we were designed to live, we are alien to it. Our race, like all the elder races, originates from somewhere else and we carry that biological legacy with us wherever we go. I remind you of what I said before, our race does not age physically in the same way as humans do, if we reproduced in as great numbers as our human friends we would soon overrun the available space in a fraction of the time it would take them. However, men’s bodies do not rejuvenated in the same way, well they do, but to a far lesser extent. When they are younger they can repair themselves, but the ability fades as the years go by. Perhaps their physical look is prone to a similar effect as the arcane can have upon the T’Iea yet our internal system remains unchanged whatever we look like on the outside, theirs it seems does not. Thus men actually do grow old and eventually their bodies malfunction in any number of ways and they perish. Thus they need to reproduce in far greater numbers than we do. 

  But as to your original question. How old am I? Well perhaps the question has no relevance; age is not something the T’Iea concern themselves with. Perhaps a better question would be, how old do I look? My aged façade is just that, a veneer, it’s the way I look because of the influences and demands I have placed upon it and the choices I have made. But it belies the T’Iea makeup within. For inwardly I am still the same as the day of my R’Golea’Foed, my coming of age.” She shook her head and said, “try explaining that repeatedly to human generations Thor, believe me it is easier to play the part of an old woman whose body aches and experiences pains of age similar to that which affects the likes of men. This they understand, for it is what they experience.” As if to make the point she doubled over clinging onto her staff and shuffled along holding the small of her back with one hand.

  Thor immediately took her arm a deep concern etched across his face.

  Then she stood back and knocking his hand away jumped high into the air and clicked her heels together. She laughed loudly. She strode off down the road. She called back over her shoulder. “Humans are a wonderful race Thor; they can be the most ingenious of people, full of love, full of imagination, the most adaptive of people within their own environment. But also the most suspicious, mistrusting, the most envious of beings. You will do well to remember that, or you may find yourself face down in an alley somewhere especially if you are to travel through the human townships that now lay in increasing numbers along the lands on the western side of the Tolle’Fornosse’Veetri.

  Thor laughed somewhat nervously and shook his head. Solin continued to stride off down the road. Thor had to jog to catch up with her. He had a question to ask. My lady. You said we do not come from here, you said that the world belongs to human kind? If this is the case, then where did we come from? Where are we supposed to call our world, our home?”

  Solin lifted her head and pursed her lips, she did not look at Thor as she replied, “where indeed. Where indeed young man.”

  They walked in silence for the best part of an hour until they reached the highest point of a hill. They stopped to take a brief rest and found they looked out over a valley. Not a deep rend in the landscape but a gently sloping land of fields and woodland coppices. The valley itself had gently sloping sides heavily forested in broad-leaved trees, Oak and Beech predominantly. The river wound its leisurely way through the valley in a series of great loops, meandering slowly and leisurely, thus the river was quite wide, its surface reflected the sun and it shone like a silver ribbon. In a number of places the river tumbled over a ledge in a thundering waterfall. None of these cascades looked to be that high, but that may have been due to the eye being fooled, for each of the falls was very wide. A watery mist hung in the air, sunlight shone through the spray creating a rainbow arching across the falls like a colourful bridge, an unmistakable, multi-coloured flag for each of the falls. They reminded Thor of curtains across a stage. He turned slowly taking in the vista, as he looked down the valley his eyes reached the end of the tree line and his gaze met with fields of corn and other cultivated vegetation. Some fields required regular irrigation for thin shining ribbons of silver reflection could be seen criss-crossing them. But then as he looked beyond these fields, through the hazy warmth of the air, he could see tall spires and domes, all shone a bright, brilliant white. So there it was, resplendent in the sun, the fair city of Ter’Hadsnefel, the oldest and greatest T’Iea municipality in the world of men.

  Thor had never been there, he had joined the military closer to home and his service had always been in the smaller garrisons much further south than where they were now. But he knew from his lessons as a child that the city was built long ago in the first age of this world. In an age before the likes of mankind had come across the mountains of the Tolle’Fornosse’Veetri from the eastern lands, in an age when the great forests of Gel’Te’Ertenya was only populated by the T’Iea peoples.

  The great city spanned the great river Efel, in fact across four of the rivers largest meandering loops. Thor knew that the Efel flowed south from here until it joined the greatest watercourse in all of Dahl’Ambronis, the vast river Ealle. The combined waters of the two great rivers flowed forth into the vastness of the Trad Ocean via the many thousands of square kilometres of reed wetlands, canals and fens that made up the Ealle river delta far to the southwest. He pondered on those geography lessons, the Ealle and all the rivers flowing into it gathered their waters from ice and snow melt from the
great glaciers that flowed slowly down the western side of the Tolle’Fornosse’Veetri far to the east, the great mountain range of the great spine that divided Dahl’Ambronis down the centre.

  The great range of the Tolle’Fornosse’Veetri, had kept the east and the west of the continent separate from the day of creation until quite recent times, recent in comparison to the true age of the world that is. For the Tolle’Fornosse’Veetri had slowly been eroded by severe weather and movement of the continental plates, these natural forces had contributed to the reduced height of the mountains range until eventually the high mountain passes had become free from snow and ice for a few weeks each year allowing precarious passage across them. Even so, these paths were not for the faint of heart. The weather was unpredictable as were natural dangers like hidden crevasses and avalanches and many wild things sought refuge in the highest places, many things that do not welcome the presence of T’Iea, or of men, or any other race for that matter.

  Thor gazed towards the great city. From this height the high white stone walls completely surrounding the city could be seen in a staggered pattern. Each of the four city districts named Tu’D’Ferlen’Efel, Tu’D’Wend’ty’Efel, Tu’D’Sour’Efel and Tu’D’Ghokil’Efel were joined to the neighbouring district or districts in the case of the two central ones, by two bridges that spanned across the loop in the Efel river. Also because each district was at a different height than its neighbour, each of the bridges also comprised a series of enormously wide stairs leading to the next district level of the city. It gave the impression that the city was like four enormous ball rooms with ornate curving stair cases encompassing each dance floor and leading up to the next. Each level also had one of many wide waterfalls cascading into it from the level above, these flowed in-between the wide stairs, the overall effect was stunningly beautiful. Each of the two bridges joined above the waterfall in a wide promenade, a large open area where no buildings could be seen. This in part formed the name of the districts and the city itself for the T’Iea word Efel translated into the common speech as plaza and because the river formed part of the plazas within the city the name stuck. But each of these open areas exhibited many colourful tent-like structures in all sorts of shades. Some were solid colours; others had patterns on them, diamond shapes, octagons and stripes in complimentary colours. Solin explained these were the gazebos of the merchants. In the first district these tended to be purveyors of food stuffs and of fine wines, the second housed the those selling hardware goods, anything from cooking pots to weaponry, swords and spears and the like. The third specialised in household goods, furniture and linens and more expensive fabrics, clothing and footwear. The final and highest level was set aside for specialist goods. Here merchants sold jewellery, fine goods, musical instruments of varying kinds, clocks and watches she gave as another example. Also the various professional guilds had shops there selling various things, anything from reference books to arcane items of varying sorts, items that for whatever reason were imbued with special properties. Solin explained that as a young girl she would spend many happy hours here, for the range of objects on sale was vast and most interesting.

  Solin stopped and sighed as she surveyed the vista before them. Thorandill was surprised to see a tear like a small, bright pearl run down her cheek. He was going to offer some sympathetic words when she spoke once more with a slight tremble in her voice. “It’s been too long, I have left it far too long. Many have been the years since my departure from this place. Life has gotten in the way of my returning. Too much to do, little time enough to do it all.”

  “I’m sorry milady, I didn’t realise you had been away for so long?”

  Solin turned to Thorandill, she looked at him absent-minded, as if she had only just remembered he was there beside her. “I’m sorry Thor, I was deep in thought. “Yes, long ago this was the city of my home, of my birth. I lived here with my parents, although it seems many lifetimes in the past now. I have many memories rooted in this place. Perhaps too many it seems. Now that I stand before the city once again after all this time it all comes back to me, like a museum of dreams.” She stood quietly obviously deep in thought, remembering perhaps that of which she spoke. “No one Thor, should have to remember so much, it becomes a burden.”

  Thorandill did not know what to say, he wondered at what Solin had said, his curiosity wanted to know more, but he thought it inappropriate to ask. So he turned toward the road once more and started to walk down the gently sloping hillside. He didn’t hear any following footsteps, so he stopped and turned. Surprised that Solin had not followed him, she just stood there as before looking down upon the city of the T’Iea. She seemed to start, a little jump went through her body and she looked at him and smiled. She started to walk after him. When she had caught up her voice carried a brighter tone as she said, “it is the curse we bare perhaps, living as long as we do. But wishing for second chances is not good eh? We carve out our long lives the best we can Thor, even the T’Iea cannot turn back the march of time, so we must look to that which we can change, the future is where we must set our gaze.” Then she took in a long breath, gathered herself and walked forward. 

  A little while later Thorandill plucked up the courage to speak. “But milady, you have achieved so much in your life, surely there is little room for regrets?”

  Solin smiled, “regrets? No. I have accomplished almost everything I set out to do. It is up to others now to finish the work I had begun. I have done my best to prepare the way, make the path as easy as possible, yet others will test the nature of my work, others will get the glory for success,” she seemed to think for a while before she said, “or perhaps suffer the consequences of failure.”

  Thor was shocked at her words, he wanted to ask what it was she meant but before he could do so she giggled, shook her head and continued, “When you are young and short on years Thor, your will is strong and your ambition insatiable. You don’t let anything come between you and your desires. You feel indestructible, able to do anything, achieve anything. So it should be. But as the years go by, over all the many years of a long T’Iea life, well, suddenly you realise that so much has been missed. What you thought of as an important priority fails to even interest. What was once thought important pails into insignificance.” She gathered his arm and put hers around his, their shoulders bumped together as she squeezed his hand. “I had a dream once Thor, but a life lived in service to a dream, what is that really? I am a slave Thor, a slave to a dream that is all.” She then shook her head and waived her other hand in front of her as if to ward of some unseen insect. “Bah, take no heed, listen to me. How can the thoughts of returning to a city cause within me such a melancholy mood eh? Take no notice, I rant like a banker with no funds.” She chuckled.

  Her infectious melodic laughter made Thorandill smile. He shook his head and releasing himself from her hold, he shrugged his shoulders. “You never cease to amaze me my lady.” He offered her his arm once more, she stared at it for a moment before she took it and gathering up her skirts in her other hand, bowed towards him with a smile and made to skip, light footed on down the road.

  A further hour’s walk saw them almost at the great entrance portico of the city. The last kilometre or so had seen them passing between high white stone walls. They passed many travelers coming to and from the city, walking singularly and in groups. Many small birds, swifts mainly, made their clay nests in the nooks and crannies of the white stone walls that rose high to either side. It was like the little birds had their own little mud city clinging to the walls. The birds flew around in great numbers and at great speed ducking and diving with great agility to catch insects that flew in the air, even sweeping speedily between Solin and Thor as they walked. The walls seemed to get closer and closer as they progressed, to funnel them towards the great city gates. Thor knew this to be a defensive feature. Any army intent on storming the gate would not notice the walls at first, but would soon find themselves channeled into an ever-decreasing space wh
ere eventually they would become helplessly trapped by their own soldiers pressing in from behind. Numerous pairs of guard towers lined the roadway interrupting the wall at regular intervals. Sloping walls hung over the roadway in tiers, like an upside-down wedding cake. The top tier had a steep sloping tiled roof. Thor could imagine that from these high points any hapless enemy could be picked off in the punishing crossfire between the towers for they would have nowhere to maneuver or take shelter. But now no T’Iea army manned these towers, Thor noticed that many tiles where missing and the wooden rafters could be clearly seen showing through. The only remaining reminder of a past military use, where the guards in legion livery stationed at the base of each tower.

  Thor himself was wearing his military uniform so he saluted each of the sentries he passed. But each stood rock solid and still. Some had pikes the long handles of which were planted between the sentry’s feet. Others wielded a broad sword similar to Thor’s own, each sentry held his, or her blade upright in front of their face, both hands held the swords hilt almost at arm’s length, Thorandill marvelled at the muscle power and determined discipline necessary to support the weight of the weapon for such a lengthy period of time.

  On a few of occasions hooded figures stood with arms crossed. These all held ornate staffs of many forms, the only similar feature being the black heavy wood from which each staff had been fashioned. The hooded faces could not be seen, but a strange presence could be felt as they passed them by, this feeling made the hairs on the back of Thor’s neck crawl. Especially on one occasion where every hair on his body seemed to stand on end as he passed by the lone figure. Thor looked towards the figure, he felt sure that the figures unseen eyes followed him as he walked past, but the hood, or any other visible feature of the figure did not move. Thor shivered.

  Solin leaned closer to Thor and whispered, “mages.”

  Thor jumped at her words. But he continued to salute as he passed by the more conventional soldiers, but he was becoming a little self-conscious. He had always thought his uniform and armour very smart. But it looked more functional, more ‘provisional’ against the exquisitely adorned plate armour that these sentries wore. Breastplates shone in the sun a slight metallic blue hue that seemed to flow across the surface of the metal as they walked passed. In the case of the rangers, chain mail of exquisite design, all neat and well maintained, unlike the much repaired and somewhat tatty-edged mail that he was used to seeing in his regiment.

  Thor caught Solin’s eye, she smiled and nudged him in the ribs gesturing towards the finely adorned soldiers. “They are Legion of the Wind,” she said quietly under her breath. “Probably the oldest and most respected regiment in T’Iea history. Their story goes back many tens of thousands of years of man, back to the first age, a time when the T’Iea through force of others, found it necessary to bear arms and engage in battle. A time when we first found that we had to fight to survive, a time when we found we could fight. A time when our innocence was wrenched from us, most cruelly taken away. Things like that Thor once lost can never be regained. It was also a time when our artisans and smiths learnt another use of their trade, the designing and making of weapons and armour and other tools of war.” She nodded towards the two sentries that they currently passed. She sighed and shook her head.  “You know Thor, the saddest thing about all this, the real terrible realisation?”

  Thorandill looked at her aghast, he couldn’t think of anything sad about the fine military history of his people. But never the less he found himself desperately trying to think of an answer to her question, he slowly shook his head, he could not.

  Solin responded. “The saddest thing Thor was that we found we were exceptionally good at it. We excelled in warfare. In the same way that our art was revered, second to none. Well our armies, our soldiers, our ways of war also became like that, like our art. Another art form to be revered.” Solin shivered.

  Thorandill looked away from her staring eyes, he was a little embarrassed at her point of view. He knew some of that history, it was taught to him when he had first joined the military, it was part of the initial induction training they all underwent. But then suddenly they stopped, here they were. In front of them stood the great arch and the city gates beneath that led into the first district of the city Tu’D’Ferlen’Efel. The road here was now relatively narrow; a great crush of people stood here, some trying to enter the city, some trying to exit. They were forced to stop and join the back of the line. Thor took the opportunity to look up at the great stone portico high above. There carved into the great stone arch was the depiction of two great trees. Two thick trunks rose up each side of the arch and the leaves, strangely circular golden leaves spread across the archway and joined over the heads high above. In times gone by Thorandill imagined the queues of visitors, throngs of people lining up to pass beneath the great portico. Even on this day many passed beneath. He saw many T’Iea, but also the surly bearded faces of human men and occasionally the heavily armoured stout figures of Grûndén, always in groups of four or more. Then he saw two figures towering above all those that stood around. He gasped for there were two towering Ognod’s standing by the side of the roadway one bent down and seemed to be talking with two T’Iea guards. He had never seen an Ognod before, these war-like people kept themselves apart, hidden in their northern lands. They had ravaged these lands once, waged war upon all the elder races. Driven many almost to the brink of extinction. To see them here was a great surprise, a sign of the times perhaps, of the passing of ages. The Ognod’s wore long cloaks, neither appeared to be armed or to wear any kind of armour. He noticed that all the humans that went past looked upon the Ognod’s with negativity, hatred, fear, mistrust, he could see all of these things in their eyes. One man even started to shout and rant obscenities at the Ognod’s. The two big men just turned slowly and stared at him, their faces remaining expressionless. The two T’Iea guards that had been conversing with the Ognod’s were forced to move the human along, gently but insistently. The Ognod’s watched him go until he was a distance away and he eventually turned and walked briskly down the road away from the city gates.

  Solin was looking at the big Ognod men. How times had changed, how the world had changed. Old adversaries now chatted with each other, passed the time of day. Solin for one, thought this a good thing. But she also wondered if everywhere these Ognod’s travelled the peoples they met also offered them an obviously welcome reception as they seemed to enjoy within this T’Iea city. When the Ognod’s had rampaged across these lands many ages in the past, Ter’Hadsnefel had been partially sacked by them, the two lower districts of the city, the one in which stood just beyond the gates and the next had both been destroyed by the ognod’s during the Sedral’coronis’et’na’tyuosd, the Ognod wars that had devastated the known world and decimated the elder races. How well she knew this, many she knew had perished in the siege of the city, including her parents. She perhaps had good cause to hate the ognod’s, but she found she was unable to do so. But she was not alone, so many had suffered in similar ways, all the races had been effected. The T’Iea remembered this time, but they did not harbour hatred, or feelings for revenge. In a long-life time was a good healer, and the T’Iea had plenty of time, time to think, time to forget, time to learn that which was to be avoided in the future, something to steer clear of, never to repeat.

  She looked at the many humans that stood around. It was different for them. Men only had their short time upon the world, individually their lives were too short to forgive and forget. Men passed their hatreds and dislikes onto their children; successive generations grew up with their parent’s hatreds seared into their minds. So old prejudices and bad feeling went on for many successive generations, unchanged and unchallenged. Many times such thoughts became passed on like a family heirloom, for hundreds of years old hatreds became a habit, almost a way of life. Something to be revered, even proud of, even if the original hurt and reason for such hatred had long since been forgotten.

 
She shook her head and she sighed. But that was then, memories belonging to another time, an age long past, but alas not entirely forgotten. But they were through the portico now, they had entered the city. The other side hosted a paved, cobbled roadway. The cobbles worn flat by the passage of so many feet over so many years. Wide boulevards passed by, lined with typically high T’Iea mansions and villas. It all looked so familiar as if she had never left all those ages ago. It gladdened her heart to see the T’Iea race still had such a cultural centre, that the T’Iea still had a place of great learning and art within the world. All she loved and had upheld in her long life still existed here it seemed, timeless in its endurance. Although she also knew with some regret that much had been forgotten now. But this fair city still stood sentinel to her race, their achievements and greatest moments.

  The two companions continued on through the wide thoroughfares and streets of the city. T’Iea men and women stood chatting or walking through the many thoroughfares, all were elegantly dressed in sumptuous cloths and a multi hue of colours. They found themselves walking slowly uphill along the wide tree-lined boulevards and through flower laden side streets until eventually they came out quite suddenly upon a wide-open space. They stopped, standing in a park with a fountain at its centre, along either side of the park the river ran like a silver necklace. They strolled through the green grassy area and coming upon a white paved road they walked up a slope and alighted upon the lower flights of one of the great stepped bridges. Many T’Iea stood about chatting and passing the time of day, standing around in small groups or leaning upon the wide stone parapet of the bridge itself. Thor stopped and looked down to the waters of the Efel below. The fine mist he had seen from a distance rose from the cascade of water. The river flowed beneath his feet over the edge and down to re-join the leisurely flow as it continued its way through the city. A pleasant fresh aroma of cool water reached his nostrils. Whilst he looked at the spectacle before him a T’Iea man stopped and gapped in front of them. Thor looked at his surprised expression.

  He seemed to make up his mind and came forward, then kneeling upon one leg he placed his hand to his forehead in a gesture of respect and said, “My lady De’Teinde, I did not believe my eyes at first, but it is you, such a pleasure to see you once more here in Ter’Hadsnefel.”

  Solin looked down upon him, he remained in the kneeling posture, obviously waiting her response. She seemed to be concentrating hard.

  Thor couldn’t help thinking with an amused smile upon his face that she couldn’t remember who this was.

  But then a broad smile came upon her lips and she said, “master R’He’Ghoud. Thank you for your kind words.”

  At this the elderly man stood his face seemed alight with joy as he said, “It must be an age since you left the city my lady,” he gestured with one hand across the other side of the wide bridge. “Forgive me my lady, I stood over there, I saw you coming through the crowd, but at first I thought I must be mistaken. I did not expect to see you, I mean after you left, when …….. ,“ here his voiced seemed to trail off as some thought entered his mind. He looked a little embarrassed. But he asked, “are you here to …. I mean is it your pleasure to meet with my master?”

  Solin looked at the old man, she said with a slight quivering to her voice, “how is he? How is he after all these years master R’He’Ghoud? I hope the years have been kind to him?”

  R’He’Ghoud seemed to search Solin’s features for a few seconds before he replied. “Indeed my lady, he is much the same as the day you left. He turned slightly and gestured with a wave of his hand towards the next district of the city. “I can escort you with much pleasure, accompany you to the house if it pleases my lady De’Teinde? Do you wish me to be of service?”

  Solin had nodded at the old elf’s suggestion and they followed Master R’He’Ghoud up the hill out of the park and into a more residential looking part of this city district. Soon large houses and sumptuous villas stood to either side, these palatial buildings languished amongst manicured gardens and all had the unmistakable air of nobility. Thor was reminded of the area in Amentura where Solin had her house only that was a much smaller area, what he saw here was on a much grander scale. Here the large T’Iea houses and mansions seemed to go on forever. Finally, they stopped, Thorandill found himself outside the grand gates of one of these mansions.

  Master R’He’Ghoud opened the gates and after instructing a page in house livery to accompany them through the gates he excused himself saying that he needed to run some errands for the master. He looked at Solin once more in deep thought, “it really is most pleasant to see you once again my lady.”

  Solin nodded at him and said, “you are most kind master R’He’Ghoud, it is a great pleasure to be back.” Her gaze transferred to the house and gardens. Thor thought she looked rather sad as she said under her breath, “back once again in this fair city.”