13. Pipa
The lord lived more like a King; he has a castle for home just outside of Landan. Its also housed his column of guards and his adviser; the sorceress named Pipa. The lord moved with at least twenty personal guards when they are within the castle. Cedi had the castle watched for a few days from the nearby forest; concealed well from any inquisitive eyes. He have setup traps around the place so he would not be disturbed by anybody. It was not anybody who stepped into his hideout but a sorceress named Pipa. She stood in front of him as he was looking at the castle.
"Hello, Elf. My name is Pipa. I come to see you." She waved her hand and Cedi find himself fading into blacked out images.
Cedi woke up to the sight and sound of a tavern; sitting on a long table with a goblet of wine in front of me. He looked across the table and find the sorceress sitting there. She is dressed like an Elven warrior with a quiver of arrows at her back. Her bow is leaning next to the table while her sword is on the table.
"Elf, the place is filled with enemies. There are four factions here totaling twelve persons, and we are one of the four. In a short while, there would be a person walking in here. He would be wanted by all of them. You may question the need to do the needed here, but bear this in mind. That person is responsible for your people's demise. He led the attack on the place. You decide to be in or not."
Cedi did not have much time to think. The man walked in with his five personal guards.
"I am General Darren of Lord Netsu Guards. Those who seek me speak out or be silenced forever." Ten persons in the tavern stood up and drew their weapons. The five personal guards of the General spread out to face the ten who challenge their leader. The fight start between them just as quick with the announcement. It also end just as it happened. The ten persons are all dead on the flooring and the General did not even move at all. He soon left with his guards from the tavern.
"I wanted you to see this as the Man responsible for your people's murder is well protected. More to it, he is more powerful than you. So beware of him." Pipa then sweep him off to another place.
This new place is the main hall of a castle. Its not any castle but of Lord Netsu. The man sits there at the high back seat at the end of the Hall with part of his personal entourage of personal guards. Lord Netsu is a tall man dressed in his armor and wearing his sword despite the fact that he inside his castle. He does not believe in anyone and he keeps in himself always ready for any combat. There was General Darren with his personal guards standing before the Lord and he is complaining of having removed three factions looking to killed him.
"There is a traitor in this castle. I have my own sources. You have a traitor among those who walked with you." The General was ranting away as he points to the personal guards of the Lord.
The Lord raised his hand to silence the General. The Lord then motioned to the General to come forth. The man stepped forth and they speak in low tones. The General nodded and then the unexpected happened. The ten personal guards standing beside the Lord was shot by arrows from the hidden locations.
"General Darren, I have removed the potential threat. Now you would do your part." Lord Netsu motioned to his General. The General stepped back to face his guards. He took out his sword and then gave it to one of the guards. The guard took the sword and stabbed himself with it.
No objection; just plain obedience.
Cedi looked at Pipa who is now asking him to followed her.
Soon he is back at the forest again.
"I showed you your foes. You are no match for them. I am here to warn you. Beware on your next step, Cedi of Canaan." The sorceress dissipate into the air.
Cedi shook his head to clear if he is still awake or still asleep. She is real and yet they are not to the people they just met. If she warning him not to kill her Lord but he would as he killed his people.
The Sorceress may be right; the person Cedi going to against may be too strong.
He need to find another way to get at the Lord.
The tavern offers a quiet corner for him to think and most of all, its a place for information. He needed more of the later to think and it cost golds most time to get them. But sometimes, events can played into your hands.
"A toast to Dean. He was always a fool."
The three men wearing the dressing of the Lord's guards took up their drink to toast. They then put down their goblet and one lament on the fate of Dean.
"Bastard could had at least check the truth before he kills them. I wondered why we served as his guards when he does not act like our master. He listens to the Commander and he abides by the words. Ten good men killed for some unproven accusation. Damned the Lord!" One of them spoke up in defiant of his Lord.
"Hush, Cliff. The tavern may carry our names to the Lord. You and me could be next." His associate cautions him but he did not stop his discontentment..
"Hush I would not. Dean was like my brother. He died for nothing and that pains my heart." But his two companions had it with him, so they left him to his drunken stupor.
Cedi took the opportunity to buy him more drinks and more information was given to me. In the end Cedi had a plan working in his mind.
Every foe may have a weakness and once you find it, you would work on it.
Cedi followed Pipa to her home in the forest. He sidestepped the traps she had set in around the place and soon he find myself inside.
"Come in, Dark Elf. You done your work well. How did you find me?" She is dressed for her home while Cedi is still garbed in his armor. "Since you can find me, you probably know my real identity. Its rare for even an elf to find me but you did so that make you very unique."
"There are some of us among the elves who are better in identifying another one even though they hide themselves well with magic. I am a Guardian and we are trained to scent one like you. But in you, I find something more interesting. Why does a Genoe served Man? I thought you dislike them as they killed your people. So did your Father who also betray his own kind." When she heard his last words, she reacted fast with a slap across his face.
"I did not betray the people. They did this to us. They betray us to Man. The Councilors of the House sent us here to serve them. Their last words to us was served them as our new master. We did as we were told, even to the extent of exterminating my own House. We did not want to do it, but we are binded by the oath to the Council." She walked away from him to a large chest. She opened the chest and remove a small pouch. She took from inside it and pulled out a scroll.
"This was our orders from the Council. Keep it." She handed it to me but I could not accept it. "You came here to find me and now you did. I am offering you proof of my betrayal. Why do you refuse? Is that not what you want? So you can expose me to Lord Netsu."
"Yes, I did. I learned of your behaviour and I followed you. I learned enough to know about you. I came here to kill you to get at your father. I was to leave some proof of your death to Lord Netsu so that your father would avenge your death. But you trapped me and tell me something which I did not know. Now I am confused." He is really confused. Her confession threw him off his plan.
She laughed at him.
"Do not deceive me, Dark Elf. The only reason you can come so near to me is because I allowed you. I wanted you to be here. I took you on that trip to see the real Lord Netsu, and my father. The former is weak and paranoia while my father has pain for the death of his people. He uses his influence to kill the best around the Lord. I sent the guard to the tavern and baited you. All this is planned by me for you. I knew you would come here eventually. Why you might asked. I want you to kill me, so that my father would do as you planned. But I needed you to know why we did what we had to do. So that explains it all." She stood up and walked away from him. She chant some incantations and then he find her body bloodied as if she has been stabbed. She fell down on the flooring just before he could grab her.
"Why, Pipa?" He tried to hold back the bleeding but the wounds are too deep. Whatever she conjured up in magic, it seems to be doing the task.
"I could not continue in the tasks anymore. I need to have it stopped. Set the traps and leave."
Cedi is back in the forest.
He saw General Darren rode in with his personal guards. He waited for sometime and then he saw the alarm was raised. He can see guards running around and then the fire started to spread. The sight he waited to see was the General riding out with guards chasing him. He is riding towards the forest and that would be in his path.
Cedi raised the bow and pulled the string to hold the arrow firm on the rider. He released the arrow and hit the commander in the throat. The rider fell off the horse and soon the guards are over his body. They did not picked up the body but pulled their sword to slashed at the dead commander.
"I hoped you are happy now, Dark Elf."
He looked to the back and see the guard who was drunk some days ago in a tavern. Now the drunken guard is sober and he is holding the sword firm in both hands.
"You?"
"I am Dury, previous lover of Pipa. You have done as what she had planned. I tried to stopped her but she tricked me with a poison that immobilized my body for a day. It was in the wine that she served me before she died. I could not stopped her but your kind are difficult to predict. I stalked you since then, and when I saw the General riding into the castle, I know its what Pipa wanted. Now her wishes are done, I am carrying out mine. I am here now to fight you for the death of my love, my Lord and above all, I hate you for bringing out the real self in Pipa." The Guard is upset at now knowing that he was in love with an Elf. He is here to kill Cedi because only he knows now.
Dury charged at him with his sword and swing it from the head towards Cedi.
Cedi side stepped on the cut and moved my left leg to the back to avoid the charging warrior. He landed his wrist on the inside of his right elbow to force Dury to drop the sword but Cedi missed the mark and hit the forearm instead. Dury crouched down and knock Cedi with the right elbow into the arms.
Cedi hastily stepped back to avoid the blow, and Dury was quick to swing his sword hand to the right. Cedi had then drawn the sword to block Dury' cut and Cedi moved more steps back to give himself space.
That did not stopped Dury as he moved forward towards Cedi again with more force to the swings. Cedi blocked off the oncoming thrusts and then jumped aside to avoid more of it.
"Stand and fight, Dark Elf. I want to complete this." Dury is agitated and Cedi move in this time with his own swings. Dury blocked two of the swings but the third one he could not anticipate in time when Cedi cut into his left forearm.
This time Dury staggered back to check his wound. He looked at it and then back at Cedi. Cedi know the look and he shook his head.
"Why do you mock me?" Dury shouted back.
"I don't need Man like you to seduce our females. I disliked that very much." Cedi charged at him this time.
Cedi pushed his attack and did a short cut into Dury' left ribs. Cedi did not stop at there as his sword cut up into the heart on the upward cut.
Dury dropped down when Cedi pulled the sword out. Cedi swipe the sword at his armor before he placed it back at the scabbard. He felt remorse then as he just killed a Man because a White Elf loved him.
The one he loved rejected him for a Wolf.
Medi joined him soon without her pet, and she looked very much better. He inquired on the wolf and she just replied he is doing fine. She told him that she heard of Lord Netsu and reckon Cedi had a hand in it. She also told him something more, Lord Netsu survived the attack by the commander. So did the General; he escaped while his guard wore his cloak to draw the Lord's guards.
The General is now a fugitive on the run.
More to it, Lord Netsu has also issued out a warrant for the capture of an Elf with a large wolf.
"He hunts me. Silver is best left hidden for now. I have some information for you from my sources. There is one other leader identified by the surviving elves; he is named Elder Kane. He coordinated the murder of the House of Genoe. I want you in to get this Man. But the final kill would be mine alone."
Cedi nodded.
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