Free Scourge of the Dragons by Cody J. Sherer Page B

mother taught me the basics of herbs and
potions,” he replied.
    “We’ll get you started on that then.
Anything else?”
    “I hadn’t thought of it before, but when
Kade mentioned his mother I remembered. None of our families know
where we are. They probably think something happened to us,” Amber
said.
    “If the elves let us into their lands, we’ll
write up a letter for each of your parents. The elves may not
venture into humans lands often, but merchants travel anywhere they
can make a coin.”
    *
    Erlkan clenched his fist as he looked out at
the approaching squad of elves. He recognized the banner of the
Empress as soon as he spotted it. His hand drifted down to the hilt
of his sword. Wrotan stood next to him, waiting for the sun King to
make a decision. They had already agreed as a group that Erlkan
would make the final decision about how to confront any elves they
came across. The King weighed his options as he drew his sword.
Hadrin and Alandra unsheathed their weapons as well, but Wrotan
simply glanced over at Erlkan. He turned to the hunter and placed a
hand on his shoulder.
    “Make sure they arrive at the monastery
alive. I will handle this group,” he said.
    “You have my word,” the hunter said.
    “Absolutely not, we will stay and fight,”
Alandra said.
    “It is his decision, not yours,” Wrotan
said.
    Hadrin and Alandra continued to protest as
the hunter lead them both away from the King. Erlkan let out a sigh
as he started marching toward the oncoming squad. He went through
his options in his mind as he covered the distance to his
opponents. There was a small chance that they would be willing to
negotiate, but there was a greater likelihood that they would see
him as an obstacle between themselves and the other three. The
incoming elves slowed down when they recognized the King. Upon
seeing their reaction, Erlkan sheathed his sword and continued
forward.
    “Your majesty, we hadn’t expected to find
you here,” one of the soldiers said.
    “My wife sent you?” The King asked.
    “She asked us to fix any problems that you
were unable to handle. We were under the assumption that the night
elves had captured you.”
    “I was captured, but not by the night elves.
The Empress was incorrect about the source of the scourge. Neither
the night elves nor the night dragons are actually to blame.”
    “Surely, you understand that we can’t just
take your word for it. What would you have us do?”
    “Take me in to face the Empress. Give me a
chance to convince her. That is all I ask for.”
    *
    “You let us abandon him,” Alandra said.
    “I did what he asked. This business with the
scourge is larger than each of us,” Wrotan said.
    “What do we do now?” Hadrin asked.
    “Same as before, we consult the spirit
monks,” the hunter replied.
    “How do we find them?”
    “We head through the forest elf realms and
into the wilds. From there, we break north. I may not know the
exact position, but their monastery is somewhere near the edge of
the borderlands.”
    “The forest elves may not like us cutting
through their land,” Alandra said.
    “Our only other choice is to head into the
sea elf lands and then cut through the sun realms. I’d prefer not
to get too close to the sun realms,” Wrotan said.
    “That settles it then,” Hadrin said.
    Alandra nodded as she turned toward the
forest. She took one last look toward where they had left Erlkan
and let out a sigh. Her reverence for her aunt had her wanting to
be there when she met with her husband. In her mind, the situation
was a simple misunderstanding. She hoped that things would go well
in her absence. Hadrin placed a hand on her shoulder. The hunter
had already started off toward the forest. Alandra smiled at the
Prince and walked alongside him. There was something calming about
being in his presence. Despite knowing that Wrotan would get
impatient, neither of them felt the need to quicken their pace.
    “Erlkan will be fine. In fact,