The dragon watched the elf burn for a moment, still unsure of what exactly had happened. Although he was somewhat confused, Boro didn’t waste too much time pondering. His enemies were dead. What mattered right now was seeing how his companions were doing. Thus, he left the corpse to burn and hurried back.

“Liza! Are you okay?”

“As well as I could be at the moment, I think,” said the half-elf weakly.

“Damn those bastards! You got them, right, Boro?” asked Eliot.

“Of course! Like I’d let them go after what they’ve done!”

“Good!” the young man nodded firmly.

“Oh? So, you guys did finish things on your side. I’m done too and I brought you a present,” said Fang Chu as she walked towards them and dumped the tied up and unconscious elf on the floor. “Wait, Liza, you’re still not up? Was it that bad of a wound?”

“The arrow was poisoned, it isn’t going to be as simple as taking it out and then using a healing potion,” she said with a sigh.

“Damn, they sure were vicious. Did you use an antidote? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yeah, I’ll need your help in a bit. I took an all-purpose antidote for now, but I feel it’s only slowing down the poison instead of treating it. I’ll need to prepare a new antidote to counteract the effects of the toxin, but self-diagnosis is the worst. I can’t see the wound nor notice any external symptoms, though it’s easier to tell the internal ones, since I know how I’m feeling down to a T… and the answer is – like shit.”

As they were talking, Ben arrived in a hurry. He was about to tell them about the fire and their need to leave post-haste when he spotted Fang Chu. The redhead also looked at him and they both pointed their fingers to one another and exclaimed.

“Fanu!”

“Ben!”

“Don’t you know how dangerous it is to use fire in a forest?” they asked at the same time.

“Uh?” they gaped at each other and stared in confusion.

“Uhm, that was me, guys. Eliot helped me with it,” said Liza feebly.

“You? Are you crazy, Liza? That fire is even catching on green wood! The elves were so surprised that they retreated. We need to leave this place before it turns into a huge forest fire. How are you doing? Can you move?” asked Ben.

“Relax, we don’t need to rush. Like you said, this forest is mostly green and moist due to the mist. A normal fire would spread at a snail’s pace and be easy to control. That’s why I used a special fire from the alchemists’ guild. It will still spread slowly, but it’s a pain to put out. It’s just enough to keep the elves busy for a while,” said Liza.

“That explains why the fire spread when they tried to dowse it with water,” said Fang Chu.

“They did something like that? Definitely a mistake,” grinned Liza.

“Oh, so that’s why of one my opponents suddenly burst in flames and, no matter what he did, they wouldn’t go out! For a moment I thought I’d done something to him without realizing.”

“Wait, the bottle struck him and he was incinerated?” asked Fang Chu.

“No matter what he did, he couldn’t put the flames out?” Ben followed up.

The two of them looked at each other again, their mouths slightly twitching in a nervous grin. That could’ve been us! As that thought reverberated in their minds, they turned their judgmental gaze towards Liza.

“Uh, it never crossed my mind that someone could be hit with this sea of trees all around us,” said Liza defensively. “Let’s just say he was unlucky… and all is well that ends well. Never mind that though. I need to prepare my antidote, but we shouldn’t stay here any longer. Eliot, can you carry me?”

“Of course!”

“Then let’s move.”

Eliot gently put his arms around Liza and lifted her up in a princess carry, while Fang Chu tossed the unconscious elf across her shoulder unceremoniously. They chose a random direction and departed. After walking for a while, they found a position that was decently hidden due to the elevated terrain and the large roots of a tree.

“This place will do. Fanu, help me take my gambeson off.”

The redhead broke the part of the arrow sticking out and began to carefully undress Liza. Feeling like it was improper, Ben turned his back to them and gazed at the trees, a gentlemanly action that made Fang Chu smile. Eliot, on the other hand, kept on looking brazenly.

“I’m going to take the arrow out, get ready.”

“Go for– ugh!”

“Done. Good, it came out intact.”

“How deep is the wound? What color is the skin around it? Are there any noticeable patterns?” asked Liza after panting for a bit.

“The wound is not that deep. Looking at your gambeson, it seems it did a nice job protecting you and rubbing off a good part of the poison on the arrowhead. The skin around the wound has turned a mixture of black with purple, with wriggling patterns radiating from the center.”

“Collect some blood for me and then clean the wound with the herbs I’m going to tell you.”

Fang Chu kept doing as Liza instructed and, after fifteen minutes, the half-elf had her wound bandaged and was resting against the tree trunk. She felt really weak, but she was confident in her treatment.

“Are you ok now, Liza? Don’t you need to take the panacea?”

“I’m fine, Eliot. Now I just need some time for the toxins to be expelled from my body, then I can take a healing potion and be good as new.”

“That’s good to hear,” said Ben.

“Yeah! If that wasn’t the case, me and Eliot would’ve destroyed this forest and those elves in revenge!” exclaimed Boro. Eliot nodded with a serious face, confirming the bold statement.

“Speaking of them, isn’t it time we wake our guest up and have a talk with him?” asked Fang Chu.

“Is he going to talk to us, though? Maybe if it’s Boro… they did seem reverent of him, saying he was from the divine clan and all that,” said Ben.

“Right, we need to formulate a plan first, then wake him up. Before that though, spread this herb on his clothes and parts of his body,” said Liza.

“Ugh, Liza! You’re using that smelly herb again!” complained Boro.

“Really? I don’t smell anything at all,” said the redhead.

“It’s bad, it makes my nose stings!”

“Precisely! Then, whether he answers our questions or not, we can let him go and follow him back to their place through Boro.”

“What? You want to use me like a mere dog?” asked the dragon with indignation.

“Of course not! How could a dog’s snout compare to your mighty nose? A dog could barely smell this herb, much less track it from a distance! Your sense of smell is ten times, nay, a thousand times greater than a lousy dog! This is a job only you, a powerful dragon, could pull off!” exclaimed Liza in a speech filled with righteousness.

“Humph, of course,” said Boro with a smug face.

[Though he grows more pompous by the day, at heart he’s still a child,] thought Liza with affection.

“Then let’s plan this thoroughly before we wake him up. Here’s what I think we should do–”

-

While Liza and company were dealing with her wounds, the group of elves that tried to ambush them had arrived back at the elven settlement. The four of them were all standing respectfully around an old elf with white hair, green eyes and a faintly wrinkled face.

“So not only you’ve failed, but you had one of ours captured and two others killed. Despite those grievous losses, you only managed to kill one of the intruders. This is a grave blunder.”

“Our ambush failed because one of them reacted unnaturally fast and warned the others. It was almost like she spotted us through the mist.”

“Was she an elf?” asked the elder.

“No, her physique and appearance are that of a human and, if she was an elf, she would have spotted us way sooner and we wouldn’t have been able to encircle them to begin with.”

“Then maybe one of you made a mistake and got too close. The mist made by the heart of the forest protects and helps our elven tribe, but it doesn’t completely blind the other races. You know this too well, Drannor.”

Drannor, the elf who led the ambush, wanted to protest and say there was no way one of them could’ve made such mistake, but what other answer was there? He knew for a fact that members of the other races could only see a couple meters ahead in the mist, so one of his companions must have stepped over that boundary.

“Why you’ve failed is no longer important. To think a member of the divine clan would be hidden amongst the intruders, truly a headache. I wish we could invite him over and show our hospitality, but the other invaders can’t be forgiven! To think human pests would dare to enter our forest and even set fire to it! Sometimes I wonder why they must be part of the natural cycle… they only take, plunder and destroy! If only they were outsiders or aberrations, then we would be able to purge them off without consequences!”

The remaining elves looked at one another with exasperated faces. Whenever the elder started his rant about humans and some of the other races, he could go on for hours without end.

“That’s right, elder, how should we deal with the fire?”

“By your descriptions, it seems to be a special fire. Another means of destruction the humans concocted, I’m sure. You were separated at the time, yet both your groups saw a bottle exploding… this means they probably spread it around haphazardly. I’ll take the others and search the area. We’ll focus on preventing it from spreading first, then we shall attempt to put it out.”

“What about us?”

“You four stay back to guard the elderly and the children. Take this time and reflect on your mistakes. Also, Drannor, take responsibility as this group leader and use your owls to search for Lazul. Once you find him, monitor the situation and think of ways to get him back to us in one piece.”