A letter concerning the Fire Giant raid on Trustor
General Summary
My Lord Wesloke,
I write to you to give you a fuller account of the events of my mission to the elves of Trustor than could be given in the limited scope of the Sendings that I used during the mission. I write in haste, since I shall entrust this letter to an elven scout who will ride south to hand it to Aquilla, who I understand from Griff will be journeying to meet you at Shadowglen. You may rest assured though, that there will be an epic poetic version to come, which I am sure you will sleep through as normal when I recount it for the prince.
I shall not bore you with the details of my journey from Sanctuary to Trustor, once I had re-equipped myself in Sanctuary, save to note that I saw much confusion and panic amongst the general population at the rumours of pestilence from Ranke. I made swift progress thanks to Florence, my new pegasus companion. Flying mounts are awesome, as I am sure you will agree.
Florence also enabled me to avoid the outer snares and patrols of Trustor, which can be so tedious to avoid even if you can persuade the border patrols that you should be permitted entry, and so dangerous if not. I am sure my passage above the forest was also noted and followed, but the presence of a pegasus helped reassure any guardians that I had no evil intent, I am sure. Even pegasi cannot fly forever though, and I therefore was forced to land far short of my initial destination - the lands where my clan - clan Ayarvundii - dwelt. My landing was obviously not unobserved, but there are few guardians in the deep forest. The first elves that came upon me was a small party of goblins that attempted to steal from my saddlebags while I was watering Florence, but I spotted them before they could get the bags open. I bought them off with some minor trinkets and a bawdy song that I picked up in the Vulgar Unicorn many summers ago, and they seemed well satisfied with that.
A few hours later, I noticed that I was being observed as I prepared some dinner. I called out a greeting in elven and showed that I was unarmed, and two scouts appeared. There were at least four others that I could feel still watching me from cover. I invited them to share my meal, and told them my name, clan and mission. They revealed that they were from clan Temanarii - a new clan that I was not aware of. I questioned this, and they recounted their generations to me, and I realised that when I left Trustor, only seven years ago, they had still be part of clan Eludinii, which I did remember. They told me that they had been sent to either kill me or bring me before their matriarch Temanara - it was up to me which option I preferred to take.
Choosing the easy path, I put out my fire and made good the ground, then followed them on foot with Florence. Despite their best efforts, I could tell that they were in awe of the pegasus, and tried to get as close as possible to her. We arrived at their clan ring within a couple of hours - a beautiful grove of holmbeams, fresh with sap and spring growth as befits a young clan. I faced much questioning over my clan and generations, and I could tell that their elders were not satisfied with the answers that I gave. Suddenly I remembered all the pain of rejection from my childhood, and my resentment came flooding back. Knowing that acceptance would not be forthcoming here, I changed tack, and demanded the right of pradath-golema - the audience of peril. I might not be an elf, in their eyes at least, but I knew the customs and traditions of Trustor as well as any of them.
Temanara accepted the plea, and I delivered the intelligence that we received in the letter that we found in the Jarl’s possessions, warning them that there was a threat of a fire giant attack upon the elven realms. They did not regard the warning as something that was relevant to them, as there were no fire giants that they knew of within a month’s march of Trustor, but they accepted that I was acting in good faith in bringing them this news, and granted me a token of aadith - safe passage through elven realms. I took the token and pinned it to my breast, despite the shame that I felt that I, who had been born amongst them, should need the token of a stranger to protect me in the forest that was my home once. They invited me to dine and rest with them, and promised the next day to direct me by the shortest route to clan Ayarvundii. I sang for them after we dined, and gave them songs of the warfare and troubles that we have seen in the last few years. I could tell that they were not pleased by news of such troubles beyond their lands, yet ever closer to them; but in my anger pleasing them was the last thing on my mind. They should know more of the outer world, before it comes crashing over them.
The next day, I proceeded to my own clan, or rather the clan that I had once counted as my own. My reception here was as cold as I had feared it would be. My mother was, at least, pleased to see me, and relieved that I was still alive, but my brother and sisters made it plain that my absence was not regretted by then, and did not hide their pleasure when I told them my visit was but transitory. Ayarvunda was as stiff-necked and closed-minded as she has ever been, and dismissed my warning out of hand. A threat to an elven realm by fire giants almost certainly referred to the High Kingdom in her opinion, and they were well able to look after themselves. I saw that completing the second part of my mission would not be possible here, given the animosity against me, and so left after a single night, and decided to continue to Gilrath, and see what the circle of elders would say to me.
Reaching Gilrath took another two days - I won’t bore you with further tales of passive hostility and grudging hospitality. At Gilrath, I once again pleaded pradath-golema, and was admitted. It was two days before the nine were all present though, but they then heard my warning, and also your plea for support, my lord. With the warning, they were more concerned than either Ayarvunda or Temanara had been, although they concurred that the High Kingdom was a more likely target and they resolved to send a warning to the High Kingdom of the intelligence received, without disclosing the source of the intelligence, lest the high elves disregard it on that basis. With regard to providing aid though, they were unwilling to do so. They had little appetite for involving themselves in the affairs of the lands outside Trustor, and while they remembered you and the prince, they had not met the new emperor and therefore were unable to enter into any sort of pact or agreement with him. As you suggested, I therefore proposed a pact of mutual regard between them and the prince, as he was someone that they had met, albeit that he was not able to present this petition in person, but had indeed sent a personal representative. This was not dismissed out of hand, and discussion of it proceeded into the next day, when we were interrupted by sudden news from the northern borders that, as I had warned, a force of fire giants had fallen upon the forest in a sudden attack. Swathes of the north were already ablaze, for it seemed that they were accompanied by a fire drake as well, but the northern clans, despite the suddenness of the onslaught, were rallying and ambushing the invaders wherever possible. Although my warning had not been heeded in time, it had at least brought the nine together, and so the forest could be awakened more quickly than the attackers might have hoped for or expected. The clans of the south and west were rapidly informed, and sent their war-bands north within hours, and we quickly heard reports that with the forest awakened, ents were now harrying the giants alongside elves. Goblins were dispatched to find where the fire giants had arrived from, and if possible, cut off their lines of retreat. By the afternoon, High Elven knights were arriving from the High Kingdom, and although this provided a potent reinforcement for our forces, it also meant that my presence was no longer welcome in the war-council.
No longer having a purpose or even being welcome at Gilrath, I decided to fly north to join in the fighting there, alongside my clan. They might seek to disown me, but I would show them my worth. When I reached the fighting area though, I discovered that my clan ring, so full of beauty and vitality just a few days earlier, was just a blackened circle of stumps, and my clan not just scattered but sundered. Ayarvunda herself had died fighting with her daughters to defend the circle, and I wondered at the power of a group of giants that could defeat a wizard as powerful as Ayarvunda, supported by the power of a clan circle, although I heard that the fire drake itself had also come upon them. The next few days were a confused series of raids, ambushes and counter fights amongst burning glades or the smouldering ashes of once beautiful friends. But gradually we pushed the invaders back, and split them into several groups, until suddenly one night they all withdrew as rapidly as they could. Some vanished as completely as they had arrived, for the goblins had found no trace of their arrival path. Another group retreated over the mountains into Lammu, leaving a path that could be easily traced, but was hard for those on foot and of less stature to follow, and the ents were reluctant to leave Trustor. We discovered that this group had taken many captives with them, and so we resolved to follow them and attempt to rescue our kinsfolk.
Before I left though, and while the high elves were busy reorganising their forces, I attended a hastily arranged meeting of the war-council. I bear their thanks to you and the prince for the warning that you endeavoured to give them, and their regret that they chose not to act upon it, although to be honest, any increased watch on the borders would have been little use against a force that appeared as suddenly as this had. The council were also more curious as to who this Eclavdra might be - the name has Elvish roots but is not an elvish name. It is the sort of name that one finds in fairy stories or ancient songs sung around the camp fire on fell nights of evil omen. The good news is that the council has resolved that there should be a mutual pact between the clans of Trustor as represented by the council and the prince, for he has shown that he will aid them, and therefore they will aid him in return. They see now that events in the outside world will affect Trustor even if Trustor does not wish to be affected, and isolation is not a policy that will win friends. Once the fire giants have been dealt with, they will place a force of five hundred rangers at his disposal. It is not an alliance with the emperor, but under the circumstances I hope you will agree that it is as good an arrangement as we could have hoped for. They promise to dispatch elders to you, my lord, to seal the pact and its terms.
Now I must hasten, for we are splitting our ways. The fire giants have taken two paths, and my elven kin, including some of what I must think of as my new clan, Temulliii, are following the group that have the elven captives. I will lead the rest of the Silent Strike Force to follow the other group - I have tried to persuade some of the wood-elves to join us, but rescuing kin is their priority, and the high elves have told them that they should not be joining a group that is led by non-elves. At least I will now be with people that will talk to me other than giving me orders, or expecting me to wait on them. And the token I now bear is that of an elf-friend, rather than just a protected stranger. Fighting alongside them has raised me in their estimation, and while my new clan might still reject my inheritance, other clans are more open to accepting me for who I am, rather than rejecting me for what I am not.
Your ever loyal servant
Seedra
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