7th day of the 7th month 580th year of the 8th era

Vel led Akuchi down a street between some wide trees and roots. The moss glowed blue and violet, reflecting off the dark elves that walked the streets in their greens, whites, yellows and oranges, even flecks of green and blue. Inside was a tavern. Blue and red moss cast light over the mingling patrons. The patrons, painted in an assortment of colours, sat around tables that were hewn from rock or molded from tree roots. They drank from mugs of carved wood. Three musicians played music on a stage in the far left of the tavern. On the right, a bar the length of the tavern stood where a man and a woman served the patrons there and issued drinks to serving girls. The serving girls were painted black except for a pink line that ran down the centre of their chests and stopped at their navels.

Vel walked forward and took a seat near the musicians in a corner near a curtain door. Akuchi followed and sat next to Vel with his back to the wall. A few eyes watched them before returning to their drinks.

“Tomorrow at dinner you must give your answer to the king,” Vel instructed.

“I already made my decision, and I told the king,” replied Akuchi.

“It is customary that you have some time to contemplate the decision.”

“We don’t have such customs in Rolf, as far as I know.”

“You spoke to the princess. Did she inform you of the real choice you have to make?”

“Yes, she did,” answered Akuchi. “I must either choose to marry her and have the attacks on my farm stop, or to decline and have the attacks continue.” However, she suspected that even if I marry her there could still be an internal plot to kill me.”

“Sounds pretty simple, when you put it that way. You could abandon the farm and move to another spot to farm.”

“I could, but I want the farm to supply the fort.”

Vel nodded. “Have you seen the princess?”

“She was shrouded in darkness.”

“The reason that the king offered her to you could be because no dark elf would take her.”

“Why is that?” asked Akuchi.

“Even to us she is horribly disfigured.”

Akuchi went silent. Is that why she wouldn’t show herself to me?

A barmaid walked past and Vel took two drinks from her tray. He set one down in front of Akuchi. Akuchi picked up the drink without looking. The smell of the ale informed him of the contents. How bad could the disfigurement be?Akuchi looked more closely at some of the other patrons.

The next table over, two men sat with short swords were strapped to their hips. Underneath their black and yellow patterned body paint were large spots covering their backs. Opposite them sat a woman with the same patterns across her body as the two men. Her face was covered in several large warts that forced an eye shut.

Another table over a man with blue stars and green stripes grabbed a barmaid and pulled her to his lap. She squealed. His scar-covered hand held her on his lap; her nose had a large wart with several hairs coming from it. He roared with laughter as the barmaid slapped him and slipped out from his grasp, revealing that his chest was covered in an assortment of warts and scars visible even through his paint.

Akuchi turned his head and looked at the musicians on the stage. One had only three fingers as he played a harp. His hand looked like it had always been like this. A woman played a reed flute, her skin covered in warts, while another woman beat a drum with her hand. Her other hand was small and distorted, unable to be used for anything. She watched the other two musicians with an open-mouthed smile, panting like a dog; warts covered her tongue and lips.

“How bad is her disfigurement?” Akuchi asked, referring to the princess.

“Not many people have seen her for quite some time,” replied Vel. “Though the rumours indicate it is pretty bad, not many people are prepared to take that risk.”

“When I spoke to her, I saw her lower legs, unpainted,” commented Akuchi. “To me they seemed okay.”

“That is common for us,” replied Vel, “she most likely showed you her best feature, the one that looked normal.”

“Oh.”

“If you will excuse me, I need to find myself a wench,” Vel said, “it has been too long.”

Vel downed the contents of his cup and sauntered towards the bar.

A barmaid came and stood in front of Akuchi. Akuchi lifted his eyes and was gifted with a complete look of the barmaid. She was broad of hips and her legs were strong. She had interlacing scars that ran down the length of one of her legs. Her body paint was full black with a double line pink stripe that ran the length of her torso. The barmaid’s shoulders were slightly smaller, giving her a triangular shape.

As their eyes met she smiled, showing crooked and blackened teeth set in a mouth that was too small. Her eyes were too small, and she had several warts that formed a clump on the bridge of her nose. Faint hairs on her upper lip formed a mustache.

“Why aren’t you wearing your house colours?” she asked.

“I have no house colours,” Akuchi replied, lifting his drink to his mouth and draining it dry. His throat felt dry despite the warm liquid.

She squinted at him. “You’re not an elf. What are you doing here?”

“I am going to get married soon,” Akuchi said. “Can I get another?”

“Sure, sweetness.” She smiled and set down another drink before him.

The barmaid sat on the seat opposite him and placed her empty tray on the table.

The musicians struck a discordant note and began to sing a song. The whole tavern quieted and turned to listen.

Foreign blood bought our freedom,

Foreign blood caught us in chains,

Foreign blood to buy us out,

One man’s choice to make.

Cursed, cursed the dark elf is

Cursed by choices we made,

Cursed to suffer in silence and shame,

One man’s choice to make.

Bring us from grave to grave,

Bring us the freedom we crave,

Bring us the chosen one,

One man’s choice to make.

Sealed in wedding's vow,

Know not what he said,

Taken from his homestead,

One man’s choice to make.

Foreign blood caught us in chains,

Foreign blood bought our freedom,

Foreign blood to buy us out,

Man’s choice made for him.

As the last note faded, Akuchi turned and faced the barmaid that was watching him. A booing came from the dark elves in the tavern. Mugs, some empty and some full, flew towards the stage and the musicians ducked off stage with their instruments.

“You guys don’t like that song?” Akuchi asked the barmaid.

“Not really,” she replied through gritted teeth. “It reminds us of our shame and tells us that we can’t get ourselves out of it without the help of one of the younger races.”

“I haven’t heard much about it,” Akuchi said.

“Well.” The barmaid pointed to her nose, “these warts and other blemishes are not normal for us. Or so the song says.”

“According to the song, how is the curse to be lifted?” Akuchi asked leaning forward.

“Well it doesn’t say.” The barmaid hesitated. “It just says that foreign blood will break it.”

Am I the one that is meant to break them out of their curse? That can’t be right, I am not special enough to do that. Even if I knew how.

“All that we know is that he doesn’t know he is doing it,” said the barmaid. “I have to get back to work.” The barmaid arose and left Akuchi.

***

That night Akuchi slept, waking only to the sound of Vel in the next bed making quiet love to a tavern wench. Early in the morning, Akuchi got up and looked out the small window of their room. Vel and the woman slept curled in each other’s arms. Outside the moss continued to glow brightly in various shades and hues. A small patch of sun light broke through the canopy in the open field near the Mother Tree.

The woman stirred and crept out of bed. She slipped out of the room, smiling slightly to Akuchi as she closed the door behind her.

Today I wed the princess, and everyone is warning me against it. Why?

I see no reason not to marry the princess. It will stop the attacks.

The princess did mention that her life was in danger, would I be putting my life in danger by marrying her? Would the next king want us both dead to secure his claim to the throne?

That is what the princess mentioned. She said the choice was to marry me and risk an attack when he comes of age, but if I don’t marry her, then the peace I wanted will not happen.

I just want to live a quiet life and grow crops, like my dad did.

He didn’t have to go through this … he said that he inherited the farm from his father who got it from his father.

Could this be what the first owners of the farm went through when they set up the farm? Did they have to strike a bargain with a king?

Vel stirred and sat up. Blinking he looked around and his gaze settled on Akuchi in the window.

“She left already?” Vel grumbled.

“Yeah, she has.”

“Pity,” sighed Vel, “I was hoping for another before I start the day.”

“Sorry about that.”

“I saw you with that barmaid,” said Vel. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” replied Akuchi, “I have a lot to think about.”

“Have you considered your position?”

“I have,” confirmed Akuchi. “I just want to live a quiet life and grow crops. My family has always been in farming, and I want to follow in their footsteps. It’s all I know.”

“I very much doubt that you will be able to do that anymore,” sniggered Vel, “unless you abandon your farm altogether, and move to another place.”

“I can’t leave; I have already invested all my money into this farm. The only place I could go would be back to family and there are already too many mouths to feed. Why do you say that I can’t live a peaceful life?”

“Well,” began Vel, “if you turn down the king, you will most likely not live very long, as I am sure they will keep attacking.”

“That does present a problem.”

“I really can’t help you make the decision. I have a stake in the results.”

“What is your stake?”

“If you accept, I receive glory, if you turn it down, I receive extra shame.”

“So, you have placed your future in my hand?”

“Yes,” agreed Vel. “If you accept the offer, you will have a princess for a bride.”

“That last bit doesn’t sound so bad.”

Vel tossed the blanket aside and stood.

“You will most likely end up with an ugly wife by my standards.”

“True,” agreed Vel, “but you had the option of that light elf, and she did look fine.”

“It’s true we did have a thing going. But elves live a long time.”

“That is also true for dark elves,” said Vel, “but we don’t inhibit ourselves as much as they do.”

“She told me that they don’t have sex until they are over three hundred.”

“Wow,” exclaimed Vel. “I had sex when I was fifteen, and I was considered a late bloomer. The princess is over four hundred years old now. She could have had many prospects but when it came to marriage many turned down the offer.”

“Why?”

“Well from what I heard many of them thought she was ugly.”

“Being ugly seems to be a huge detractor.”

“For a race that is meant to be beautiful,” agreed Vel, “it is. Come. I must wash this war paint off and I think you could do with a wash.”

Akuchi followed Vel out of the tavern, down a hard-packed dirt road and into a small hollow dug out under a tree. The hollow was carved into stone; intricate patterns of elves bathing in hot springs covered the walls. A woman stood, without any paint. On the outside of a vine door was a rack of towels in neat little carved cubby holes. As they approached the vine door, the woman handed them each a towel, then she held the vine door open. They both stepped through the door and came to a small pool. The water was a little murky and seemed to be moving. To the left fresher water came in to replace the water that was leaving the pool.

“This is the unpainting pool,” informed Vel. “You don’t need to get into this one as you are not painted.”

Vel set his towel down on a small bench and stepped into the water. He joined two other women and a man that were already in the pool. Vel ducked his head down and when he surfaced again he began to scrub the paint off himself with scrubbing sand from a receptacle on the right.

An attendant came through the vine-covered door on the right. Unpainted, she stepped into the water and approached Vel and started to rub down Vel’s back.

After the black paint had all been washed off, Vel climbed out of the pool and beckoned Akuchi to follow.

Akuchi followed with the towels as they passed through the vine door opposite.

On the other side of the vine door, the room was steamy and hot. Steps tiered the room around a brazier in the middle with hot coals burning. Another vine door sat on the far side of the room.

Vel took a seat on the tiered steps in one corner. Akuchi sat next to him.

“This is the sweat room,” Vel continued to explain, “after here we go to the rinse room. In the rinse room, anything goes, because there is no paint, there is no rank. Have fun.”

“What normally happens?” Akuchi responded.

Vel just winked at Akuchi and leant back against the wall.

Akuchi nodded and stared at the brazier in the centre of the room.

A small elf with a limp entered from the unpainted room. He took a small bucket from the far corner and upended the contents onto the brazier. Smoke and steam billowed out over the room. Akuchi lost sight of the brazier in the steam and felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Come,” whispered Vel.

Akuchi arose and followed Vel out of the sweat room through the vine door into the rinse room. The rinse room was a large underground cavern. A set of stairs led to an underground lake. The moss and mushrooms on the walls and roof glowed a soft relaxing yellow and green. In the centre of the cavern was a clear pool with many people swimming or floating in the water. On the far-right attendants on beds massaged and copulated with patrons. On the far-left patrons sat and played cards with other patrons, while attendants served drinks. At the opposite side, a small stairwell led back out of the cavern.

“Remember you can do anything here,” reminded Vel. “What happens in the baths, stays in the baths.”

“Got it.”

Vel turned and strolled down the stairs, at the bottom he turned right and headed off.

Akuchi got to the bottom of the stairs and jumped into the clear water. He began confidently to stroke across the pool to the other side; at the middle he stopped. What am I doing here in a bath? I need to make a choice about the princess. Should I, or shouldn’t I? Both choices make sense, and both have advantages.

“You have a nice back, handsome,” a sultry voice greeted him.

Akuchi turned and saw an elf woman treading water. She smiled at him and he saw her teeth were crooked. A small wart sat on her nose and her eyes were different colours.

“You’re not an elf,” she accused.

“Indeed, I am not,” he replied.

She faded away and he was alone.

What is in this water? He turned and started swimming out to the edge of the pool. He climbed up, lay down on a bed, and closed his eyes.

A slender elf started to massage his back. His blood began to flow, and life resumed its normal course under her tender ministrations.

“Woooow,” Akuchi purred.