Hours earlier

Ispan-Viscount Indirniri, having been ordered by that advisor the queen had sent from the seventh committee, flew lazily eastward through the trees back in the direction of the village to which he had been assigned.

All of this was humiliating. First, the nymph had argued endlessly with him about how he was the reason some children had to leave. Then, he finds out the village was attacked by dark elves because they were harboring grey elves. Those grey elves turned out to be the same ones the nymph was crying about.

It was obvious the nymph would not cooperate. That meant the only option was to show the dark elves the village had capitulated. The villagers were terrified of the nymph who was close to a dryad, so obviously only an outside force from the nobility could do this task.

He had no choice but to admit, those grey elves were incredibly powerful. They had value far beyond the mixed bloodlines they possessed. But to think! They thought him so lacking for thought that he would continue on to snuff out that value just to obtain some spiritually strong humans. Yes, the humans certainly were intriguing, but he would not have overlooked someone of that much value!

It must have been the fault of that outworlder. And if that was the case, maybe the skills of this child are not as keen as it seems if she could not see through the ill-bred nature of that man. It was so obvious. He seemed so contemptuous in every interaction he had. Was he even telling the truth about those girls being outworlders?

No, he told the truth. He had said it with the courtly speech. Perhaps that was the one good thing about that man. The fact that he could not speak the tongue of the elves meant that he had no choice but to use the voice of the spirit. As such, it would be impossible for him to ever lie. However, he could have lied to those children. He had said himself that they were also outworlders, so he should be able to communicate with them in the tongue of the outworlders. If not a lie, then some twisting of words.

To think though! These outworlders born as lowly creatures like humans and elves were so much more useful than those born as great fairies. Perhaps if one had been born a dragon they would do nothing but lay about all day. There was something incredibly wrong about these outworlders.

Indirniri had a lot to grumble about, but when it all came down to it he had to admit one thing. That changeling had warned him that he was being too hasty in going after these grey elves. If he had only listened to him and pursued this with more caution, he would not have lost face to such an extent. Now he had damaged relations with this child to such a degree, he had to do something to recover in the eyes of the fey court.

The first mission he had been given to mend the damage he had done was to begin recovering relations with the nymph those children had lived with. Perhaps he could tell that insufferable nymph he had planned this from the beginning. That he had to act in the way he did but in the end he saw the grey elves safely into the human lands. If he could still gain the cooperation of the nymph even after all of this, surely that could place him back in the good graces of the court.

Just as he’d settled on that plan, he caught sight of something red standing on the forest floor. It was looking straight up at him as though it was expecting him.

Indirniri stopped and regarded the figure from above. He immediately recognized what it was, this humanoid figure cloaked in red from head to toe, even having red cloth covering the nose and mouth and leaving only the eyes to peek through. There was only one race that dressed like this, and this much of the blood linen was an honor reserved only for the very highest of the race.

“Red cap lord.” The dragon said as both fury and terror caused all the scales of the dragon to frill at once. “What is a vial tainted half-gnome like you doing here!” He growled.

“Oh? What indeed.” An amused female voice came from the bundle of red clothing. “The high priest of lord Iuutel has delivered a prophecy. It seems that there is a pair of very powerful mongrels who were living in the village near here, but now they have fled. You are the one who was pursuing them, correct? We believe they can be very useful to us. Why don’t you tell me, did you perhaps encounter them?”

Almost as soon as the woman finished talking, Indirniri felt gravity try to re-assert it’s pull on him. She was increasing the earth element in the area, trying to directly overpower the draconic wind element he was putting out.

The sky was the domain of dragons, but the ground was the domain of the gnomes. Idirniri knew that the moment he touched the ground, everything would be over. He had to stay out of the area this vile creature had power.

Immediately, he breathed out a cloud of poison gas. Unlike the fire of the red dragons, this gas was only harmful to creatures and would not damage the plants around it. It was the perfect weapon for those who were in harmony with the forest. However, it quickly proved to be a completely ineffective weapon against this creature of earth.

The red-cloaked creature immediately fell onto the ground and then sank into it the same as though she had fell into a pond of water. The earth simply swallowed her up, protecting her from the poisoned fumes.

Indirniri still felt himself slowly sinking down. He gave several mighty beats of the feathered wings he had in order to fight against the pull of the increased earth element, meanwhile he also flooded the area with the wind element in order to attempt to overpower the effect.

She had spoken the name of the heretical dark god. One who had the power of prophecy. What did they want with those grey elves? He knew that they were powerful, but so far as he knew the only thing the grey elves were used for was to cultivate the blood flowers that empowered the red caps. It is true they were powerful, but what use could the demons have for them over any other grey elf?

One of the two had a degree of tactical brilliance, but the demons relied more on strategies given to them by that evil god than on the accomplishments of mortal leaders. But, the woman said herself that this capture was ordered by one of those dark gods. Anything is possible. Did they perhaps plan to deify those children?

No, not both of them, just the one. The other had that blood magic.

Suddenly, Indirniri could see exactly how the demons might utilize those children. There are several ways he could imagine, but likely there were even more he could never guess. For all he knew, they might simply want those girls for the blood. It could have value to them for all he knew.

Soon, Indirniri ran upon a problem. He could not make it past the canopy with wing power alone. He would have a wing collide with the tree cover every time he tried to ascend, and that would cause him to loose altitude. He tried to sunder the trees to get passed them, but for some reason they were able to resist the buffeting of dragon wings.

Something was wrong with these trees. How were they so strong? The only way they could be… oh no!

This was bad. This was not just a random meeting at all. This area was prepared ahead of time!

Several vines dropped down from the trees. He looked around and saw shadows all around. He knew exactly what they were. Adult grey elves, working for the demons. It was the plant magic of these mongrels that had caused this.

In a rage, he breathed several thick clouds of poisonous gas throughout the area. The cloud of deadly vapor became so thick that he could not see if he had managed to catch any of them before they could escape underground.

He felt the gravity increase again. He fought back, but he was beginning to run out of mana. How could just one dark gnome fight him so much? It may have been a red-cap lord, but she should still not be strong enough for this.

There were more than one down there. That was the only explanation.

He continued to breath poison while flapping as hard as he could. If only he did not have to put so much effort into fighting against gravity he could use the green word to warp these trees and make them clear a path. But right now, he could not afford to spare that much power. And yet, if he didn’t then he would simply be stuck here until he exhausted himself.

In a last desperate attempt, he flung the tail that was now dangling below him against a nearby tree. As soon as it made contact, he wrapped it around the trunk.

He felt a sharp pain everywhere he was in contact with the tree.

“Graaaaaaa!” He let out a pained roar as he looked back to realize he was skewered by wooden spikes that had risen from the tree trunks.

Cursed grey elves. This is exactly the reason it is better to cull them than to allow them into enemy hands.

He tried to pull away from the tree, but the spikes curled and held him in place, making it impossible for him to escape as he continued to desperately flap to keep the upper portion of him above the ground.

Finally, he was too exhausted both in mana and in the physical sense to continue, and the heavy upper portion of the dragon crashed to the ground. A moment later, the air was filled with a cackling laughter. Immediately, Indirniri spat another cloud of poison. The next moment, he the ground become soft and had he wound up with a muzzle sinking into the earth. As soon as he had nothing but nostrils to breath with above the ground, the soil hardened into stone that held him harder and proved more impossible to break than any normal earth would ever be.

He struggled and fought for several minutes in silence as the poison he had filled the air with cleared. As soon as the air became clear, four short figures clad in red from head to toe rose up from the earth. The same one who had approached him from the beginning stepped forward into the lead position, cackling at him in triumph.

“So, feel more like talking dragon? You pursued those children. Where are they now?”

He snorted out the nostrils that were still above the ground and glared at the red clad gnome woman.

“Oh now don’t pretend you need a mouth to talk. You are a dragon, and a fey no less.” She said.

He grumbled. For certain, the demons cannot have those children. That means there is only one thing he can say.

‘What else? They were eliminated. They were unusually powerful, so the bodies were burned to prevent you demons from using the blood for some dark purpose.’

“Oh? Is that so?” She said and looked back to the three companions behind her who seemed very amused by what he said. “And tell me, exactly when did you think we might be in pursuit of them as well?”

He glared at the woman once again. He was not like those members of the seventh committee who could freely lie in the courtly speech with no sign of the deceit, but he was certain he had regulated the spirit he was projecting well enough to keep it free of the signs of falsehood. But, by the tone this woman was using, it was clear she did not believe him.

“Well, no matter. You have given us an answer," the woman said, sounding genuinely happy for reasons Indirniri could not even begin to comprehend. "Well, now I suppose it is just a matter of waiting for…”

AAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Before the woman could complete that sentence, a horrible heart-wrenching scream echoed through the woods from the direction of the nearby village. At the same time, the dark gnome in front of him put up a finger as though she was very pleased and had just gotten exactly what she was waiting for.

“Well, there it is.” She said. “Sever the head cleanly, it just became a very valuable gift to start on our new diplomatic relations. You might as well have the mongrels bring up the blood flowers as well, best not to waste even a drop of blood. Dragon blood is quite valuable I am told.”

What!? Indirniri had been prepared for death the moment he had fallen to the ground, but to see them acting as though everything was going according to plan! So, the real target was the nymph the entire time? It was a trap, and he had just fallen right into it. How could this have happened.

The last thoughts he had were of how much of a disgrace he was even in death.

Jemini

Indirniri's title in this chapter, Ispan-Viscount, was put there as a nod to historically accurate titles. The actual title 'Viscount,' is a rank that came about later by merging together the noble roles that were in service to a count, and immediately under them. Ispan is one of these ranks, and would be assigned the task of overseeing a fortress, which is exactly what Indirniri was supposed to be doing.

'Ispan-Viscount' is actually incorrect. It should just be 'Ispan.' But, I decided to hyphenate them together because 'viscount' is a better understood title even if it's use is somewhat less accurate.