Saga of a New World - (Audiobook Available)

23. A Mage's Mind: Bandits

"You look like fine elven warriors. But not that fine. One silver piece for each of you. And a few days of food and drink."

Anselma looks at her three friends. Tili nods, but Novi turns to the man. "We'll take the silver and a few provisions and then we're leaving. We're not your personal—"

Anselma cuts her off. "Relax, Novi. I know your mum is one of those 'bah, no contact with humans, bah,' but it's just a bit of carefree fun." She turns back to the man. "Seems like you got yourselves three more muscles to intimidate with. Oh, and I'm looking forward to the food. We may look thin as saplings, but we can probably eat more than you."

Tili snickers. "Probably weigh more too."

The man turns away from them. "Perhaps. I gotta say, I really have a thing for women who can pull their weight." He grabs one of the kobolds and throws the small creature over his shoulder. "Now let's get these fleabags back to that settlement. Hopefully their families are worried sick."

They place the three captives on their horses.

While the man carrying the woman mounts, Anselma walks up to her. The dark-skinned human screams into her gag as the elf grabs her chin and inspects her with her yellow eyes. "Hmm! This human. I've never seen such dark skin. Is she from the south?"

The man shrugs. "I guess. There's been a lot of foreigners coming here in recent months to settle in the wilderness. I mean, I don't look a gift horse in the mouth, but I don't understand why. From what I've heard, the great desert cities are literal paradises on earth. You know, they don't even need to build walls because there are no monsters in the desert."

"Hmm. That sounds made up. Maybe she can tell us."

The man scoffs. "Don't bother. This one can only scream in their weird language and spit at you."

The three elves jog along next to the humans on their horses.

Novi looks up at the man who seems to be leading the group. "So. What are you people?"

"Humans."

"Obviously. I mean, what do you do? What are you doing here? Why did those settlers take your people prisoner?"

"We live here. Well, about a day's ride west of here. Just simple farmers and hunters who rob and plunder for a hobby. As for why they're holding our people, your guess is as good as mine. We found one of our boys, my cousin, dead, and after a bit of scouting found out it was them who did it. Jeremiah and Hosea are both idiots, but they're family. So we can't really leave them to their fate."

Novi frowns. "If someone killed my mother or one of my sisters, I would murder everyone they know."

"Yes and we thought about that, but you know. Why create a bloodbath if you don't need to? I mean, it makes sense for you – you can just eat the corpses and then you don't need to hunt, but most of us don't feel comfortable eating sentient creatures."

"We don't like eating kobolds or humans either. We only do it if there's really nothing else. I heard kobolds taste like chewing on wood and you humans... you look too similar to us. It just feels wrong."

"Wow. I never thought I'd hear a wild elf say they're uncomfortable with eating anything. Granted, I've never talked to a wild elf before, but still."

"How did you know we're not from one of the Confederate cities or a nearby settlement?"

The man smiles. "It's the way you carry yourselves. Your posture, your figures, your expressions. You look like those people from the Association of Mages, or us, as a matter of fact. Walking through the forest like you own the place. Peasants don't do that and anyone with a keen eye can tell a thrall apart from a free man. Or in your case, a wild she-elf. Anyway, I heard your people are really into magic. Do you know any spells?"