The next morning smoke, and fog blanketed the area. Through the course of the night we had only two groups approach us, one of which the adults sent the children to us. They stayed outside of the trapped area, and just knelt and prayed. They look Amish or Mennonite, but I know, that I am not the one to be judging them.

John walks up, and hands me a cup of tea. One of the few luxuries that we discovered here. Granted the tea bags were old, but the tea in the end was still good. I’ve been up all night, just watching. I know that this is my responsibility. I’m the one that freed the elves, and I’m proud of that. I know I didn’t invite the centaurs to attack the town.

But I also know that if we hadn’t been here, if I hadn’t scared that first woman, a lot more people might have lived through this night. I don’t like how that makes me feel, where one decision made in anger is probably what killed a lot of people. Even if those people were scum, they didn’t have a trial, to determine their guilt.

I pull myself back to the present, and see what’s going on. I see John looking at me with a strange look on his face.

“You okay Daniel,” he asks.

“Yeah,” I reply, “Just a long night. And I feel responsible.”

He nods, “Give it a few days before you try to think about all of this. I had to the first time I killed something,” he holds up his hands, “I know it isn’t your first time killing. But sitting here watching a battle happen all night? Just by the fact you didn’t sleep, I know you haven’t seen that before.”

I nod. It’s true, I’ve never seen a battle happen right in front of me like this before. Even if this was just a small battle, I’ve still never seen anything like it.

He pats me on the shoulder before saying, “Let’s go get the elders. I imagine that this Chirios will be coming here soon as the fog, and smoke clears a bit. Better to be ready for what comes next.”

*****

The elders had stayed inside all night with the youngest of the elves. When John and I walked up to the area they had been resting in, they smiled at us and stood.

“Thank you,” one of the elders says, “If you hadn’t come we all would have been killed.”

We both nod and John speaks up, “Elders, we need to talk about how the negotiations are going to occur. Chirios should be coming over to us, later this morning. We expect by the time the fog lifts the centaurs will be coming here, and looking for you.”

The elder nods. “I am Astarrion. Chirios is my friend, and it was because of me that we had come to this region. We are the vanguard for a larger group of families looking to colonize the forests of the region you call Michigan.”

Suddenly things click into place for me. I had run into elves previously, a smaller group that said they were scouting the area. They never told me why they were scouting the area, but clearly this is the reason.

“You came over to far west then,” I say, “Your scouts wouldn’t have missed this community on their original trek north if they were creating the path for you to follow.”

Astarrion nods, “Indeed. You must have met with one of the scout groups. However, there was a change. The scout groups went north and passed close to the city you call Indianapolis. We were unable to, as the Undead have taken the city. According to what I could discover through using my magic, as well as Elder Cestrion using his, a Lich was born in the city. He had started by preying on the weaker members of the community as a Necromancer, and once he fully turned he made his move to take over the city.”

John and I glanced at each other. I had shared my thoughts on Indianapolis with the others, but this is the first confirmation that we had on the state of the city. Needless to say, it wasn’t good.

“Thank you Astarrion,” John says, filling in for my silence as I think, “Our adventuring group is actually on its way to deal with Indianapolis, and once we have finished we’ll be informing the adventurer’s guild of what happened. On that note, would you be willing to come with us to Wheatfield? It’s a human settlement about a day’s journey from here. I’ll be asking the centaur leader the same thing, but as you are planning on being neighbors to Chicago, at least meeting with the adventurer’s guild there won’t hurt.”

He considers it for a minute, before nodding his head. “We’ll of course need to talk about it between ourselves, however I don’t see any problems with that. You and your group has conducted itself with honor. At the very least we will want to see about working with your Adventurer’s Guild.”

With that taken care of, John and Astarrion start discussing what to say to Chirios. I mostly tune out of that conversation, as I’m caught up in thinking about how we are going to shut down an entire city of undead.

*****

The five of us gather at the entrance to the church’s parking lot. The other elves have emerged from the foxholes, and the Mennonite families came forward to us first.

The other group that had come to the church last night had tried to force their way in. The elves, Erin, and Alyssa had made them pay severely before they even got to the parking lot. Granted the group was only about fifteen people, with seven kids, but the seven kids, had ended up staying as the only remaining members of the fifteen were reduced to six rather quickly between arrows, shurikens, and the ferocity of the previously tortured elves.

The Mennonite families, of which there were three as far as I could tell, had come to the church about an hour after that. Everyone else was avoiding us by that point, choosing to go other directions. With the Mennonite’s kneeling or sitting next to the entrance to the parking lot, and the previous display of violence, those who were still escaping from the town all chose to avoid us, as it wasn’t worth it.

One of the older Mennonite men walked forward and stayed about ten feet away from us. “First, I would like to apologize for our families. I am Elder Simon, and our three families are the Mennonites that lived in this area before the Apocalypse came.”

I look at Astarrion, and say, “Astarrion, why don’t you take care of this? This community brought the most harm to you and your kin.” He looks at me and then nods.

He steps forward and asks, “Why did you not stop these people from capturing us? Or any others.”

The other elder sighs. “You are the second group that the mayor had managed to capture, the other group being a group of goblins. We weren’t in the town that day he captured the goblins, but when we heard of what the mayor did we were horrified. We are by nature pacifists and farmers. So the only choice we had was to start packing up and getting ready to leave this town. We have been packed for a week just waiting for a good chance to run.”

“Unfortunately, Mayor Drew has been having some of the other men who support him watching us, making sure we didn’t have a chance to run. Our families control most of the livestock in the town, as well as produced most of the crops that he would take to trade for supplies from Wheatfield. If we left, he would have lost most of his economic advantage in the town. And then they caught you.”

“We weren’t entirely sure what to do, but when the horse-men attacked the town, we thought to come this way and see about freeing you and taking you to Wheatfield if we could manage that.”

Astarrion looks at Elder Simon and then nods. “I don’t remember seeing anyone dressed like you when my children, and grandchildren were burned. I see no reason to hold a grudge against your people for the actions of others, especially when you were willing to risk the wrath of others to free us. I’m a little confused as to how you believe you can remain pacifists with the world how it is, but I do not fault you for that.”

Elder Simon smiles, “We can be pacifists as we don’t war or try to harm other people. We still slaughter animals for meat, and we’ll defend ourselves against beasts. But that is much different to what the mayor was doing, and because we weren’t able to do anything for you like the Christians we are, especially since this all occurred in a church or on church property, we all feel even more guilty.”

As he finished, one of the adult elves that was in a foxhole all night points towards the town. Sure enough, a group of about twenty centaurs is trotting out toward us now.

Looks like more important negotiations are about to take place. I nod to Elder Simon, “Have your families move over to the parking lot. The elves will show you where to walk so that you don’t set off any traps. We haven’t deactivated those yet.”

*****

The centaur in front is simply huge. He must be at least twice as big as the next largest one, and considering that one looks to be about as big as a Clydesdale? Whoa.

“My name is Chirios of the Redmane Herd!” He shouts while still twenty or thirty feet away. His entire group stops behind him as he takes a few more steps forward.

“I am seeking Astarrion of the Elves. He is a personal friend and ally of the Centaur Race. Release him so he may speak!”

John and I look at Astarrion and he nods to us. “Centaurs have a bit of a weird idea about negotiations, give me a minute and they’ll calm down.”

“Chirios!” Astarrion shouts back, “I am free as are my kin!” he steps forward while continuing, “I hope that you at least chose to bathe before this, as your people never smell good to begin with, but it gets worse if there is blood in your hair!”

Both John and I look at Astarrion again, waiting to see if he’s joking or not. Neither of us can tell, as Astarrion has a very serious look on his face, as he shouted.

“Hahaha,” Chirios shouts back, “I would ask if you needed any help, but after the fight we had I’m curious of who had to come save you! I know you didn’t fight your own way out, as you and your people have arms like twigs. I think it comes from spending too much time in trees!”

Clearly, this is some kind of ritual for the centaurs, and if we had tried to step forward to speak something bad probably would have happened. As Astarrion meets Chirios in the middle of our two groups, they exchange more personal greetings, and Chirios’ face turns slightly grim. He motions to his people, and they all come over to our group.

As Chirios and Astarrion get back to us, Chirios says, “Thank you all for saving my friend and his family. We only discovered what had happened a few days ago when our scout returned with the news. We hurried over, and were worried that we would not be able to save our friends.”

I look at John and he sighs but nods, “It was no trouble. We are an adventuring party out of Chicago on our way to Wheatfield and then to Indianapolis. When we discovered what was going on we made the plan to save the elves. Once we saw what was going on though, we made the decision to hole up and wait for the morning here. The only people who lived in the town that are here are all children. We plan to take them to either Wheatfield or possibly leave them here with Elder Simon of the Mennonite faith.”

John has a bit of a talent for dealing with people I’ve noticed. He’s pretty good at getting them willing to talk at least. Probably why I’ve started just letting him talk to everyone instead of trying to do it myself. I can do lectures on what I know, but talking to people? Not me.

Chirios seems pretty pleased with that though. “This Elder Simon,” he says, “Astarrion says that this man is a pacifist? Interesting. I’ve met other Mennonites of this world before, and found them to be honest hard working folk. Maybe out of this tragedy, more good may happen.”