Chapter 9
Things were spiraling out of control for General James Allison. He did not trust their guide at all. There was something about the Woodsman that James just knew was wrong. He was not a man to be trusted. When their guide led them into the land of these unnatural creatures, it just proved that the man's motives were subject to question. If James in charge of this mission, he would have had the man drawn and quartered until he confessed his motives. At first, he was happy the night of the betrayal. It just proved how stupid Queen Bellfourth had been. She deserved to be a prisoner of these people. If she had only listened to him, she never would have been in this situation. He wanted to laugh out loud and tell her 'I told you so,' but he figured that the rest of her people would not be as happy, so he did his best to subdue his jubilation. The idea of her torture at the hands of that creature warmed his heart and made him happy.
That, however, all ended when General Lateaf pointed out that as the first general of Delland, James too would be tortured for information about Delland. He was so caught up in the Queen’s downfall that this had not occurred to him before. In fact, once they found out the real power was with the Delland Army, he would be more important to these creatures than the stupid queen. This changed everything for James. Now the most important thing was for his escape and survival. Everyone else in the squad were expendable, and he would have no problem sacrificing them to save himself.
He was glad that these horrible creatures were stupid as they did not search his pack. Hidden in his pack was a dagger and arrows from the Emos army. They were there because he was going to use them to kill the queen but now they were going to be his means of escape. Of course, if the rest of the squad found out about the weapons, they would kill him before the dwarves could lay a hand on him. As such, he grabbed his pack and never let it leave his grasp. When the squad started to make their late night trips to explore the city, James paid close attention. He was especially interested in the map they were making, and once they had found a way out of the city, he planned on stealing the map and making his escape. He was not a coward like the rest of this squad.
Today, however, the stupid queen came back from a meeting with the dwarf king and tried to tell them that they were not prisoners, that it had all been some miss understanding. James was not buying it, however. These creatures could not be trusted, and he knew about prisons as he had sent enough people there. It was clear that Queen Bellfourth had been brainwashed. He could believe that she would easily succumb to brainwashing; she was a very weak minded person. And he had to give credit to the dwarves as they had put a very convincing show during the day as they walked the streets of Tec’l, but he could tell that the dwarves they met were forced to act that way. He was so uncomfortable with how the dwarves looked there was no way they could act that comfortable around humans. These dwarves had other plans they were not sharing. James was sure they were evil plans. What other plans could there be from creatures that looked like they came straight out of a nightmare?
What had been the most disturbing though was the tournament. The way that the dwarves had fought was unnatural. They moved too quickly for their builds, and the leap attack was impossible. If dwarves fought like that, then they were the most dangerous threat to Delland or even mankind for that matter. Their fighting skills were too good, and it was clear they had to be destroyed before they attacked humans. He was feeling a little despair until he saw the two humans fight them and win. At least, he knew they could be defeated. It might take the sacrifice of a lot of men, but James knew that the dwarves could be defeated.
James came back from the tournament determined and with a purpose. Since starting this mission, he knew what he had to do, and he was determined to do it. Their guide was taking the squad to a party or something that some dwarf was throwing on the beach while the stupid queen was going to meet with the dwarf king and queen again. They were probably all going to be brainwashed and become puppets for the dwarves, but that did not matter. General Lateaf and the queen had both been very persuasive in trying to convince him to go to the party, but James held to his conviction. He was going to stay in their prison cell that night. He could tell that they were not comfortable with him staying there alone, but finally, they all left, and he was alone. He half expected them to leave someone behind to watch him but was thrilled that they did not. If they had, then he would have been forced to make his escape tonight, after killing whoever they left behind, but since they did not, he would be able to gather what he needed tonight and make his move the next night. The extra night would give him a chance to fulfill the mission his king had given him. He was going to enjoy killing that stupid queen and her insolent general. He would do it while they slept and then he would escape their prison and this Elf-Forsaken land with these horrible creatures.
Tonight, however, he had supplies to gather. First order of business was to find that map as he would need to know how to get out of the city.
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