Chapter 316 (2/2)
“It would be impossible to rescue them all…” Tessia finished, the corners of her htful frown“We don’t have the force to storm a fortified location, but…”
“But Coht?” Kathyln interrupted“He may have ordered us to save as many elves as possible, but it’s safe to assume he meant within the scope of this ran—Commander Virion had this desperation that I’ve never seen in him before” Tessia paused for a moment before she shook her head“We’ll discuss this with the others before coanize the elves that need to get back to the sanctuary”
Kathyln nodded at this, but Feyrith looked strickenBefore he could say anything, however, a nearby elf, one of the freed prisoners, stumbled over and threw herself at Tessia’s feet“Please, Princess Tessia,held in EidelholmYou have to save them!”
The woman’s dirty face looked so pitiful, so horribly forlorn and desperately reverent, that I knew Tessia couldn’t help but say yesInstead, Tessia leaned downShe aze of her own
“My duty as a leader is to get everyone we saved today back to safety,” she said sternly before gently pressing her forehead against the woman’s“But once that has been accomplished, ill carefully consider our next steps, so please help me do my part”
The woman’s lower lip tre pat from our leader, she went off to join the other elves that had been freed
Kathyln’s gaze followed after the wo for a stronger answer
“You’ll ‘consider’ your next steps? That’s it?” he asked, eyes red with anger“Do you even care?”
I wanted to step in and say solare so fierce that I found
“Of course I care, and if I were by one in a heartbeat,” she answered, her tone icy“But my decision here doesn’t impact just me, so I need to do what I can as a leader”
Feyrith opened his mouth as if to refute, but he just turned away
After letting out a sigh, our leader turned away as well“Kathyln, can you round up your brother, Albold, Skarn, and Hornfels?”
Kathyln nodded, her shi+ning black hair bouncing“Of course, Tessia” Then she vanished into the bustle of activity all around us
Tessia and I assisted in organizing the teleportation groupsWe had twelve medallions, and each one could teleport around fifty people back to the sanctuary at a ti on increasing the strength of the ue on the details
While the soldiers ould activate the ave directions to the elves, Kathyln returned with her brother, the tarves, and AlboldTessia pulled us all slightly away fro us closely from the nearby crowd
With a flick of her wrist, Tessia conjured a dome of wind around us to mask our conversation before she spoke
“Before anything else, I’d like to commend all of youOurtransported in this caravan, which we have done,” Tessia declared before her gaze flickered back to where Feyrith stood“But I’ve recently learned froroup held at the nearby village of Eidelholm”
Albold, Curtis, and the Earthborn brothers exchanged gazes of surprise before looking back to Tessia for answers
“Before we left, Commander Virion insisted that we rescue as ainst orders for doing this…” Tessia looked to Kathyln“But I also understand the risks of going off scriptI have a plan in mind, but I’d like to hear everyone’s opinions”
Kathyln spoke up first“We should regroup back at the sanctuary and come back with proper reinforcements”
Curtis shook his head“By the time we do all of that, the Alacryans will have heard of this attack and be ht not even be possible to come back and rescue the elves at Eidelholm later”
“Aye, but a win’s a win,” Skarn insisted“As Lady Tessia said, we accoer assaultDidn’t bring enough dwarves, for one”
Albold was nodding“Not that I don’t want to saverisk to storm a fortified town, even if our casualties were h inI wanted to say that we should go to Eidelholh into the white core, Kathyln and Curtis were both in the initial stage of silver core along with the Earthborn brothers, and even Albold, as still a light yellow core, wouldn’t slow theht in my throatI was the weak link here and I knew it
Tessia finally spoke, breaking the brief silence ao to Eidelholhtened at the words but our leader held up her hand
“But…” she continued“Our htBy the tio back, prepare and make our way to Eidelholm, the Alacryans will be ready for usThis is the only openfor us—once there, we can better assess our position without exposing ourselves”
After a pause, the rest of the group began nodding in agreement
“Good” Tessia said with a faint smile“The rest of the soldiers will return with the freed elves, allowing us to ather intel”
I couldn’t help the sudden sinking sensation I felt inroup, but I stayed quiet
The others all agreed and our group separated so the news could be shared with the rest of the soldiers
I braced myself next to Boo as Tessia turned tome back
“EllieIf you’re up for it, I’d like to borrow your and Boo’s keen senses”
“I’ backI want to come with—” I furrowed my brows“Wait, what did you say? I can coes of Tessia’s lips as she saw”
Boo and I shared a determined nod before I turned back to Tessia“Of course I’!”
With that settled, we both turned our attention to the people ould be teleporting back to the sanctuary
We were sending the rescued prisoners back in three groupsThose of us ereon to Eidelholm kept the other nine medallions in order to take back as many elves as possible
There were over a dozenthe rescued elves, and every one of them, Feyrith included, volunteered to come to Eidelholood enough condition to fight
Tessia, Curtis, Kathyln, the Earthborns, Albold, and I stood well outside the range of the athered around our re soldiers, three of whom had medallions and had been trained to activate them
Most of theThose who didn’t survive the fight had been laid a the roots of the trees so that they could rejoin the land where they had been born
We watched soleroup activated their medallionA translucent purple do from the flat disk that a tall elf held over her headThe y hummed, a sound I could feel in the little hairs on the back of an to fracture into individual beahtsThe soldier holding the medallion spoke a word of co within those bearoup went, taking along the freed roup repeated this process, until only the seven of us, and our two mana beast bonds, remained
A blanket of silence fell down on the hazy, twilight forestA gentle as stirring, and for just a moment the deep blue sky was revealedThe first stars twinkled within it
The weight of ret itOut here, I wasn’t just Arthur’s sisterOut here, I wasa difference
Tessia stepped forward, her darkened-silver hair catching the moon’s reflection“Let’s move”