Chapter 6

Shanna hoped she wasn't getting them killed.

The Elven soldier led them further into the city, down winding streets between stone buildings. There was little chance that he was trying to confuse them as to their destination, or trying to get them lost. All one need do was look up at the mountain side looming up behind the city to locate North, and yourself. Put that to your back, and you could just keep running until you hit the harbor. Or a cliff.

Shanna tried to remember what she knew about Elves. Not much. The Poles themselves did not seem to know much, at least so it had seemed to her and James. That was, so they surmised, due to the two only recently coming to share a border. Plague, apparently, had devastated a race west of the humans, forcing all to migrate. The Poles had moved into some of the land, although they themselves were still recovering from a plague: the city of Nowy Kiev, at the time of the Elven war, had half the pre-plague population, with some of those having moved out into the farms and villages to avoid death. As for the rest of the newly empty land, the Elven Kingdom had quickly filled it.

An uncertain border, new neighbors ... tensions had just built. Then...

Shanna wondered how much the King's stupidity had caused the war. The diary of the late young Prince, their only source of information, was sketchy in the extreme. How much was even true was in doubt. How could a secret affair with the Elven Queen be confirmed, when the King and all in the Royal Chambers were dead? Certainly, Shanna did not think she'd be asking these Elves. That would be a sure way to insure non-peaceful interaction.

The Elf led them around another corner. It was a dead end. To be more exact, the Poles found themselves in a courtyard, a three story stone structure wrapping around the end of the road. It looked ... disused. The stone did not exude life the way buildings had closer to the harbor. Did this city, too, only have a fraction of the population it once did? Well, if it had changed hands many times before coming under the sway of the Frogs, that would not be surprising. And, coming herself from a city which had lost half its population over a half century, she knew there need not be anything mysterious about such things.

The Elf did not go to the main entrance. He moved to a stairway cut into the ground before an eastern wall. Shanna held her people at the top as the green skinned soldier knocked on a dark wooden door. She motioned Bogdi close, the others leaning in to hear.

"Stay sharp," she said softly. "Do not draw first, or assume the worst of an action, but be ready if we are betrayed."

"Yes, Lady." Bogdi looked over at the unarmed Kikker woman with them. Without a word, he took a dagger from his belt, offering it. Adanya took the hilt, examining the weapon. Nodding to him, she slipped it into the rope netting which made up her skirt, the blade slipping between and around the ropes. The point, Shanna was glad to see, ended up on the outside.

The cellar door opened, faint light spilling out around a second Elf. He, too, wore armor, of similar design. He was also just as ugly. Shanna would have picked "goblin", perhaps, to name the race. Elves of high fantasy these were not. Piotr, with his amazing hair and oh so fuckable body, was closer to Legolas than these creatures.

Unintelligible words were exchanged. The door guard moved back into the building, their guide turning to Shanna. He motioned for them to follow.

Taking, then releasing, a deep breath, Shanna started down the stairs.

An Elven woman.

The creature stood at the far end of a candle lit stone room, yellow flickers doing nothing to change the unreality of what Shanna saw. She understood. Understood why a King had strayed, had thought nothing of risking his kingdom for the lust for a woman.

This was a goddess.

The Elf was young. Not a girl, but not long a teen, if indeed they aged on a human scale. Her features were human, soft, yet perfect like a doll. While the male soldiers she had seen, and now saw standing on either side of this girl, had skin the green of pines, hers was the light green of new grass on a spring day. A white dress did not so much cover, as reveal, baring shoulders, throat, falling loosely not even to her knees. Hair, as red as a sunrise, fell down her back. The eyes ... Shanna could not help but stare into those eyes. Black. On the soldiers, Shanna had felt they reflected the blackness of their souls. On this one, though...

Shanna, more unsure than ever, moved farther into the room. The others filed in from the hall, taking their place behind her. The door to the room closed.

Several emotions seemed to cross the Elven stranger. Disgust. Resignation. Surprise. The last still on her face, she leaned forward a bit, eyes fully on Shanna.

"You are not a Polock."

Shanna heard Anelie growl. The others, too, let their anger at this insult flow through them. She sensed the shift in their stances, hands closer to their weapons. The four Elven guards in the room reacted as well, she saw. They moved forward a step.

This was going well. Shanna took a deep breath. She smiled, a smile friends and foes had learned to fear over the years. Her voice was calm, friendly as she spoke.

"Oh, I'm a fucking Polock. Who the hell are you?"

The Elf blinked, straightened. Uncertainty flowed over her young face. Royalty, Shanna thought. This one is Royalty. Or at least a noble. The same vibe she had gotten from the better class of Pole flowed from her. Not the Queen, no. Probably not. A Princess, then. Maybe the one mentioned in the diary. She looked young enough to be mentioned as a future mate to a ten year old...

"I am Catty."

No title. No further description. So, it was to be like that. Shanna renewed her smile, taking a step forward, bowing her head oh so slightly.

"I am Shanna, Dark Hussar, leader of the 1st Cavalry. How may we be of assistance?"

"I wish to travel to the large island east of here."

"Ha!" Bogdi's bark of laughter seemed to break the tension in the room. The Elves glanced at each other uncertainly as the humans relaxed, chuckling. Shanna gave her friend a half rebuking glance. He shrugged, axe loose in his hands. Shaking her head, she looked back at the mystery Elf.

"I apologize, Lady Catty. As you can tell, that may be a problem. The island is currently occupied by Humans, and friendly and noble Kikker." Shanna turned to give a larger bow to Adanya. She returned it, amphibian eyes amused. "And, as you may have heard, Elves and Humans are not on the best of terms at the moment."

"Which is why we have waited here, instead of simply booking passage. We require an escort. I must get to the island."

"Why?"

The Elf glanced at her guards, then to a door to her left.

"It is important."

Shanna let out a disgusted snort.

"So is my time. Your men disturbed me in the middle of a good fuck with my man. I don't take kindly to that. So, you will tell me why the hell you want to go to the heart of the new Polish Kingdom, or we go back to our hotel so I can see if I can get one more fuck out of Piotr."

"I'm good for it," her lover said, voice amused. A disgusted snort seemed to come from the direction of Anelie. Shanna ignored it.

"So. I'll ask again. Why should I bring you, and I assume your armed escort, to Nowy Warsaw, and risk the people rising up to demand the King publicly hang you for what happened to their homeland?"

"Sneak us in," Catty told her, eyes looking for the first time like those of a young teen. "Please. I ... I know it will be hard. I know what I'm asking. But we must go there. I must meet the King..." She frowned. "Although, Spirits know, I do not want to meet..."

Uncertainty passed over her face. Catty glanced at one of her men, but spoke to Shanna.

"You have a NEW King, right? One of the Princes? Or is it still King Lawenza? There are so many rumors..."

Shanna's eyes widened.

The Elf didn't know.

That could be good, or bad. Probably bad, knowing the way the universe worked.

"Why do you wish to meet King James the 1st?"

"King James..." The Elf swung her full attention back to her, black eyes wide. Shanna could clearly see the small white circles in the middle of those dark orbs. "Not the young Prince? Or the elder?"

"Dead," Shanna said. "King. Queen. Princes. Dead, on the eve of the war."

The teen seemed to shake. Her eyes went to the ground, but they stared at nothing.

"Oh. So, that ... Mother, how could..."

"We blame the Elves, naturally," Shanna went on. "You understand why. So, again..."

The loud crack of wood being smashed jolted her. She whirled. The door to the basement hallway stood closed, intact. Another crack came, her mind, now focused, placing it somewhere beyond the door. She heard yelling. Fighting. Shanna drew her sword, the sound of her friends and companions doing likewise filling the room.

The door burst open.

It was the uniforms which saved the Elf woman's life. The armor. Elven soldiers poured into the room, red chain mail cladding their chests. On the hallway floor behind them, Shanna could make out a dead elf, clad in leather armor identical to that worn by the four guards around Catty. So, the humans had not been betrayed. This had nothing to do with them. The soldiers wanted the woman.