Secrets of a Hybrid

Talan was his name. That much I remember. Yesterday, I got a lead on the dumbass elf while I was finishing an escort job for the guild. It seems a rich dark elf has been hiring mercenaries to terrorize the port town of Atlas. Atlas is a special port town because it’s the port where the giants will travel and trade their goods with the other kingdoms of Gleaca. Although most of the giants who do business in Atlas are halflings, any presence of giants outside of Jontunuvar, which borders the Northern Mountains, was rare. A giant halfling named Novu was at the tavern where I escorted a carpet merchant, Borgus Rug after we made it through Old River Woods. Novu, in his drunken stupor, told of the giants’ plight against one of the lords living around Atlas. This dark elf lord decided to raise the toll to use the main road coming into Atlas. The lord even went so far as to hire a mercenary army to enforce the toll upon the giants. Novu witnessed this dark elf using elemental magic to convince travelers to accept the tolls. Few dark elves can use more than one type of elemental magic, so a dark elf lord utilizing more than one type of elemental magic was easily noticed by many. All I needed to do was confirm my lead before I made plans to eliminate the threat to Rory and Emalynn, which will happen after I rest.

My old brown paws carried me through the thicket. Heavy rains pelted the forest last night, leaving the forest a swampy mess. Mudd squished between the pads of my paws and the sun's heat was weighing on my shoulders, slowing me down on my way to my little cottage. It was a long run from the town of Dover just outside Old River Woods to my cottage in the forest around White Rapids. When I have time between jobs for a reset, I leave my room at the guild for my quiet sanctuary. The older I get, the more I enjoy my time in the cottage away from my persona as Elias, the Spear of the White Rapids, the strongest combat elf in the White Rapids guild. The more time I spend as the elf from the guild, the less I feel like a member of the wolf folk who secretly live in the Savage Valley. I have no mate to go home to in the valley, and my sister, my only family, lives in Pine Row undercover.

As I enter the small clearing of my little worn down, green cottage, I see Cliff, my messenger hawk, waiting for me. Instantly, I change from my fuzzy brown four-legged self into my dark-complected, brown-furred, wolf folk form. My aged body from constant use of my polymorphic ring. My joints ache after each shift. Facing my mortality hasn’t been as frightening as annoying when my younger companions outperformed me on a job for the guild. It’s been nearly two weeks since I saw Leah. I can only imagine what message was waiting for me as I sat down on the steps of my cottage.

Holding out my arm, I whistled for my hawk to fly down to me. Cliff flapped his wings broadly as he landed on my bare arm. His talons dug into my bare arm causing blood to run down my arm, but I didn’t flinch. I pulled the message off Cliff’s leg and gently pet his ash-colored feathers. Over fifty years, I have had three hawks be my messengers, and each one has been a friend to me. Cliff flutters off my arm onto the step next to me where his water bowl sits overflowing from the heavy rains last night. “Good job, Cliff,” I mutter to the bird beside me. Unfolding the crumbled note, I recognize the writing as my sister, Kaya’s.

Eli,

So much has happened in just a week, but I will start with everyone’s still alive. That damn dragon had a temper tantrum and attacked Katar. He lost an arm, but he will be fine. Part of the town was damaged, but everyone has been helping with the repairs. The dragon killed several adventures before clashing with a “wolf creature” in the Evergreen Forest. Myrra was able to catch the dragon yesterday. I will meet her in White Rapids where the dragon will face judgment from Gleace Council in one week. Please meet me there. I need support, so I don’t throw my tantrum.

-K

“The dragon attacked Katar? Myrra told me the girl was reasonable… although Myrra mentioned the girl was young.” I looked over to Cliff while talking through my thoughts. The dragon faced a ‘wolf creature’ according to Kaya. Knowing Rory, she would only take on a dragon if she was forced. Kaya said everyone lived through the dragon rampage, so I have to believe Rory and Ema are alive and hopefully safe somewhere. Still, Rory took on a nearly full-size dragon. What kind of power does Rory have? I know hybrids are more powerful than their parent species, however, Rory should be able to face a dragon on her own…right?

In only one week, a dragon rampaged through my family’s lives while I was out there gathering intel on the dark elf. My whole life has been spent as a spy gathering intel, fighting to keep secrets, or training others to do what I do, rushing around to prevent some major disaster and save another person’s life. I can’t protect those I truly care about when it matters most. Rory rescued me several times recently. I wasn’t there for Katar when a dragon attacked. Rory and Emalynn faced a damn dragon without me. Leah has been quelling the villages’ concerns about a hybrid loose in Gleaca. Myrra captured a damn dragon without me. I have never been in the place to help anyone lately, not since Rory’s frenzy on the Old River Woods mission. Even now, I will have to wait to follow the lead I got at the tavern because Kaya needs me in White Rapids. Getting older doesn’t make anything easier.

Instead of wallowing in a pity party, I ran inside the cottage to write Kaya a reply. Walking to my desk, I silently scold myself for tracking in mud on my white carpet. Why the hell did I buy a white carpet anyway? A brief memory flashed through my mind of Myrra picking out the white carpet for me years ago at the central markets in Solis. We had gone there on a mission to investigate an illegal child trafficking ring. It was a three-month mission to sniff out all of the traffickers and rescue the kids. The mission was overwhelming for Myrra because of the horrors we saw, but it was the closest we had ever gotten to each other… Then we got separated because I had to return to Savage Valley. I remember coming back from the valley over two months later to find Myrra had been captured by some slavers. What happened to her during that time was unforgivable… Myrra didn’t let that incident steal her life, but it ruined any possibility of romance for her. “Myrra…”

Cliff flew into my cottage, snapping me out of my daydreams. I grabbed a pen and paper to write to Kaya. For a moment, I felt at a loss for words. No apology is needed here, but the guilt of what happened to my annoying but lovable nephew remained with me. I had no way to change anything, which had been a hard lesson to learn in my youth. All I could do was accept that chaotic events happened to my loved ones this week.

K,

Got your message. See ya in White Rapids in a few days. I did get a lead on the dark elf, and I will tell ya about it when you get here.

-Eli

Short, that’s my style of writing. Keeping things simple made life easier in my opinion. I tied my message to Cliff’s ankle and took him back outside. Cliff waited for me to signal him to return to the valley. All hawks fly from the valley as their home base. Their trusted messenger sends off the messages to the right recipient’s hawk. Then, the hawk tracks down their target anywhere in Gleaca. Although the messengers once told me the hawk could track a person across the seas as well, I find their ability to track me all over Gleaca amazing.

“Ugh.” My shoulders slumped down once I stood back in the doorway of my little cottage. I had tracked mud everywhere in the cottage. Great. “Guess I need to clean up before heading to the guild,” I mutter. Myrra won’t be back until the day after tomorrow anyway, then I will meet this tantrum-throwing dragon who ran a muck all over eastern Gleaca.