Chapter 22 – Allies? Ugh!

Desperate, the elf sat on the ground, staring straight at the beast’s clamps that were viciously choking his feet for a moment.

By all rights, he should be able to break the beast clamps with his strength, but he didn’t even try.

A lousy fight, coupled with the humiliation of being caught in the beast’s clutches had short-circuited his brain.

It was the middle of summer now, and even if the Twilight Forest was cooler than the rest, ice wouldn’t hold up long on hot dwarven skin.

Soon Grid broke free of his magic, slung his sword, pulled out his short blade that was stuck in the ground, picked up his small shield and strapped it to his arm, and strutted over to the elf.

The elf looked up at the dwarf dully and said, “Cut off my head for a decoration on your ridiculous earthen mantel, maybe it will give you some prestige in the dwarven caves of Rockmordan.”

“I’m a Brute Hammer Dwarf, white boy.” Grid couldn’t hold back two more laughs at his appearance and began to crouch down to cut the grass.

As he cut, he muttered, “However, your diction in describing the copper whiskers is deeply commendable.”

“Whatever, copper whiskers, brute hammers, who cares, I’m afraid you’re the only ones who count so well, eh?” The elf finished his growl and lowered his head and said darkly, “That really hurt.”

“Give me your sword.” Grid said as he gripped the bundle of royal blood grass he had finished cutting.

“It’s already in your hands.”

“The other one.”

The elf helplessly handed out his long knife, and the dwarf took it in his hand, weighed it, and said, “It will fetch a dozen silvers.”

Jace picked up the travel bag the elf had thrown on the ground a short distance away and was a little surprised when he flipped it open.

It contained a small amount of herbs, but they were all quite valuable, some royal blood grass, heather grass, a bit of graveyard moss held in a small pouch, and even a completely unseen vine-like herb that might have been a geoduck, Jace couldn’t tell, and would have to compare it to his own scroll to see.

There were also four glass bottles holding potions of different colors in here, and after he took them out, he wanted to open them and smell them, but thought that with his knowledge of alchemy, he probably wouldn’t be able to smell them, so he simply didn’t open the bottles, or else there might be problems with volatilization and such.

There was also a small cloth bag in the travel bag, which contained some crackers and cheese, Jace couldn’t help but break a piece of cracker and taste it, slightly salty with a strong spice flavor, after eating it his spirit was refreshed, and he felt that the energy that he had drained just now was restored all of a sudden.

The cheese was raspberry flavored, and he’d never had anything so close to an ice cream flavor since he’d crossed over.

Is this what the elves make for snacks? This caught his stomach right away.

Not bothering to eat it all at once, he lifted the bag up and walked over to Grid, saying, “I guess we can sell it for quite a bit of money, we’ll likely get forty or fifty silver coins on this trip.”

Grid shook the two knives in his hand and said, “These can be sold for some money as well.”

“Were you originally bandits? The humans have recaptured Stormwind, so you can go north and find serious work.” The elf said with a squint.

“It’s not banditry, it’s self-defense, and let’s not forget that you were the one who started the trouble.” Jace said, “Taking your stuff was also to compensate for the injuries we sustained, and taking your weapons was to prevent you from coming after us.”

When he finished, he glanced at the bow on the elf’s back and said, “Grid, shouldn’t that one be taken as well?”

“I can’t believe I forgot.” Grid said, “But how is he going to deal with the coyotes with this taken away?”

“Leave him two arrows.” Jace says, “Elven arrows are made so strong, they should make do as daggers.”

Gridd hemmed and hawed twice while taking the bow off the elf.

The elf stared at the dwarf without saying a word, just silently bucking.

Jace continued to rummage through the bag and suddenly found a box inside that was encased in a fine little brocade bag.

After he pulled out the box, the elf blinked involuntarily, as if desperately restraining himself from looking at it.

Opening the box, it held a necklace that held a beautiful gemstone that was hard to tell if it was gold or green.

“What is it?” He asked the elf.

“Cat’s eye stone.” The elf says, “I can see that neither of you are rich and are willing to fight to earn some money, take it and go.”

Jace asked again, “Do you own this necklace, or did you rob it?”

“Why would I rob someone’s necklace?” The genie said, “Do I look like I’m short of money to you?”

Grid gave Jace a look and said, “That boy is a real pain in the ass.”

“This thing is an amulet given to me by a lady.” The elf said, “Take it away, and leave me alive, and the amulet will have served its purpose, and I will have failed her.”

Upon hearing this, Jace instantly felt the interest in snatching it go out the window.

“This ……” He hesitated for a moment.

“Let’s leave this to him.” Grid tsked, “Let him have something to think about in this darkness, and he won’t be so miserable when he dies alone.”

Jace dropped the necklace at the elf’s feet and said, “We’ll take the box, you keep the necklace.”

The elf picked up the necklace and clutched it in his hand, paused for a moment, looked to Jace and asked, “Human, you’re a warlock, aren’t you?”

“Uh?” Jess asked, “Why do you say that.”

The elf said, “You just planned to cast a spell to attack me, like a warlock. Don’t worry, we’re not that resistant to Shadow practitioners. I just wanted to tell you that yesterday I found an orc warlock in hiding in an abandoned human farm to the south, and I didn’t touch his things after I killed him. That farm has a very tall mill with a windmill with only one blade left, you can see it from far away, it’s very special, if you have time you can go over there and look for anything you need. This necklace is very important to me, and this message will serve as a thank you for leaving it behind.”

“It’s about three o’clock in the afternoon, so if you start moving now and arrive at the farm faster you’ll probably still be able to get back to Raven Ridge before nightfall. That is if you came here from Raven Ridge.”

Grid says quietly, “That warlock might have herbs like Graveyard Moss Royal Blood Herb, those are related to Shadow Magic, it’s worth checking out.”

Jace nodded, his mind was already full of demon books, dark magic and such, if that warlock was carrying some secret treasure of spells, wouldn’t he be progressing by leaps and bounds?

The elf said, “Go away, and when I have rested a while to regain my strength, I will be able to break open this beastly trap myself.”

“Better leave you a weapon for defense.” Grid looked at the two elven knives in his hand, ready to put one down for him, but to his surprise the elf pulled three daggers and short swords of varying sizes from his belt in quick succession and said, “That won’t be necessary.”

“Alright then.” Grid slipped his weapon to his belt, his pouch of arrows behind his back, his bow slung over his shoulder, and said, “Let’s go.”

“Right.” The elf said, “There’s a pink potion in the bag, leave me that one.”

“Pink?” Grid watched as Jace held the vial out and asked, “Is this a revival potion?”

The elf said, “That’s right, you wouldn’t want your Quel’thalas allies limping around being chased down by wolves and then split up, would you?”

“Allies? Bah!” Grid spat, and the elf laughed.