The Raid

With a sigh Elenwein turned away from the limp form lying on the ground. The kid had definitely turned out to be much more interesting than that military wench, but all in all her mission had been accomplished, and she could head on back with her two new toys. She leant heavily against the frame of the window overlooking the burning fields and buildings beyond her. Hundreds of her kin swarmed over the panicking humans, and a slight smile touched her lips for a moment. She knew it was wrong to take pleasure in the suffering of others, as the goddess taught them, but she couldn't help the feeling of satisfaction at seeing the same people who had hunted her peoples, driven them from their lands and into the forest and hidden places of the world, being hunted in turn. Not that she was much for theological introspection anyway. It had been many years since she'd last prayed, let alone visited the altars.

Her gaze wandered from the field into the sky above, at the lone figure floating above it all. She made her almost want to pray again. Ainaril of the Deepwoods. She had brought them a bit of hope once again, that they could take it back, that it wasn't all for nothing, and that elves weren't going to fade into history, snuffed out by a single stupid human. Anger bubbled up inside of her, but she let it fizzle out with an exhale. She was too old now, for that to bring her to wroth so easily, and it had been so many years since it had happened. She had raged for many years after that day, but you could only have so much anger inside you for so long before either it left you, or you broke. She refused to break, and so with a sigh, she let her gaze drift down from the figure in the sky and settle back down on the fields that cast the landscape in an eerie orange glow.

Looking back out at the fields, she was still unsure how they'd managed to get this opportunity in the first place. Harick Halmonsonn had been a fixture of the Frontiers for at least the past 18 years, and before that there had been someone else set up to deter any action being taken, but now, out of the blue, he was called away to some ruin out in the southern Wilds, and the replacement they brought for him was some mediocre level military trained mage, that she could have taken out in her sleep. It seemed too easy. She kept her gaze trained on the fields, making sure that nothing nasty was going to surprise them when they made their retreat. They had an hour or two tops before any relief **** made it to them, as far as their information told them about the high level people in the area surrounding them. They had time, and their people set up in a perimeter around the area should give them more warning regarding anything that turns up. And still, she was nervous. Something was going to go wrong, every fiber of her being was telling her that something was going to go wrong.

She just wasn't sure what.

A lone figure floated above the flames engulfing the farmlands, held aloft by the magics that swirled around her. A flick of her wrist sent a ball of fire shooting down and with a whoosh of air another building burst into flames. This is what Ainaril had been born for, what she had been raised to do. She felt joy she like she hadn't felt in years flow through her as she watched her people slaughter the human vermin that had taken her peoples kingdom and driven them out. She had been raised on stories of the great empire that was elevated by magic, and how it had been taken from them by the Thief Queen, and the vermin humans she ruled over. The [Herald of Elves] gazed down at the people that had driven out her people from their kingdom, and she laughed.

Her mother had been nervous about sending her on this mission, and if she was being honest the woman had seemed to have trepidations about the entire mission in the first place, but Elen had insisted, saying it was the first chance they had in decades to actually make some progress. She had been mollified by Elen's promise to watch over her and make sure she wasn't hurt. Her gaze briefly flickered down to the window that she sensed Elen standing in. Now there stood someone with enough power to turn the tide of any battle. She couldn't imagine the humans having anyone that strong, the only reason they had been able to **** them out was that like the vermin they were, they bred and bred until there was so many of them they had overran them. That and because of that Wench of a woman. Anger flared up inside of her and alongside it the flames consuming the outpost flared up to new heights. With renewed vigor she returned to burning the outpost.

Eyes peeled, she started into the woods. Grendel could hear the flames roaring in the distance, and knew if she turned she'd be able to see the night sky lit up with the flames of an entire outpost, but she kept her gaze trained on the woods. Her job was to make sure that it all went smoothly, and if she found someone she couldn't deal with to give a forewarning to those that could. She knew her level, she knew not to overestimate herself. It was why the Shadow herself had handpicked her for this post, along with 3 others. Elenwein was known for her prudent take on all matters, and this was clearly no exception. Word around the village was that now that they were on the move the Shadow might be recruiting again after all these years, and fucking this mission up would see her lose her shot at joining the prestigious group.

A sudden chill up her spine tore her from her musings, and she sharpened her gaze and did a quick scan of her surroundings. After a few seconds of searching and the activation of any skills she had that might help, she gave up on finding anyone. Instead of going back to her thoughts she quickly and smoothly took out the flare set for this very situation. She set it on the ground, and after lighting the fuse she started sprinting for the flames she had been ignoring before. She was fairly confident that she would be able to outrun anything or anyone even ten levels above her, so she wasn't panicking too much. Whatever was out there could avoid her detection, so it was up to the Shadow to deal with now.

It took her half a second to feel the cut, and another second before she hit the ground. A figure sped past her crumpled and lifeless body where it lay on the forest floor in two seperate pieces.

Elen's head snapped up suddenly, as she felt one of the life tracers she had placed on the spotters wink out. Nothing below level 40 should have been able to take out any of them easily without one of the flares being activated, and as she scanned the direction she sensed the issue, she didn't see any flares. 'Well,' she thought to herself, _'at least you weren't wrong about something being off'. _With a renewed confidence in her gut feelings, she set off towards the last place she felt the scout, senses sharpened by skills as she scanned the forest she was running through.

"Ah, I see..." her enhanced senses saw him half a mile off, but she didn't change from her trajectory. Harick Halmonsonn was back. She snapped an apraisal gem into her hand from her pocket, and as soon as she pointed it towards him it fizzled and a loud pop gave away her position. A low curse escaped her lips as she watched his path curve towards her. The gem hadn't given her an exact level, but the fact that it had broken was enough to know she probably couldn't match him for long, at least not on the open field. She let out a sigh, before slowing to a stop in preparation. Popping her neck she got ready for the toughest fight she'd had in a few decades.

"Aina, we're leaving" Ainaril head swung around to gaze down at the figure standing on the top of the disgusting farmhouse.

"Elen? What do you mean we're leaving, we're burning the virmin for their crimes" A smile slowly crept onto her face as she considered what she had just said and turned back to look at her handiwork.

"I said, we're leaving" Elen repeated, this time more firmly, which caused Ainaril to actually pay her a bit more attention. The first thing she noticed was that the figure below her seemed off somehow. Not physically, she looked and sounded exactly like Elenwein normally did, but magically. She lacked a magical prescence, it was impossible for Aina to sense her. Not hard, but totally impossible, almost like there was a void in the aether where the figure was stood.

"I'm half a mile out, fighting Harick Halmonsonn, and I don't think I can win, not in a straight fight anyway. We need to get out of here." The fake Elen elaborated. The idea that Elenwein couldn't simply kill this man sent a chill of uncertainty through her in that moment, and after a slight hesitaion she shouted back "Okay, I'll send the signal." As soon as she got this confirmation the fake Elen dispersed, and faded away from site. With a new sense of urgency, Alain turned to the sky, and after a moment spent gathering the nescessary energy, painted the sky with a streak of green that was the signal of retreat to the rest of the elves. With a sigh she began to fly back to the village, taking a moment to make sure to cast an invisibilty charm on herself. They'd done what they came to do anyway, sent a message to the other opressed species.

The Raid was over, and the Elves were back.

Sorry for the 9 month break, I'm back hopefully for a bit, gonna try spend my time writing this and maybe another non smut entry somewhere else on the internet. This chapter was mostly to give a little filler and to introduce that one very lovely character who was flying around and burning shit. (hint: she'll be back) Back to Imrek next chapter, and soon after that onto the beginnings of mind control.