I let loose a sigh as the herbal bath I was currently soaking in seeped into my pores speeding up my heeling rate and increasing the rate at which my magical wells replenished themselves.

As I had predicted, it had taken me till evening to reach the main city of the Van Flotina territory, unlike what I had predicted, Hauser had been unable to reach Glander in time not because the spoilt brat had out sped them but because the forces of house Linterg had rode out to meet him.

Unable to complete their mission, Hauser and his squad had set up camp outside the capital city of the Van Flotina territory, where I had run into them an hour ago.

But all was not lost, while preparing the medical bath I was currently soaking in I had sent five of my soldiers into the city to procure various things, among them was information on all the generals dead or alive ever acknowledged by the crown, and standing arrogantly on page a hundred and forty seven was the arrogant blue armored Vaklein.

Apparently the crown acknowledges generals every one thousand years and this procedure was usually overseen exclusively by the first minister, aka the minister of war, with slight supervision from the crown, but a scandalous event had occurred at the last acknowledgment ceremony.

The scroll on which the names of the individuals been acknowledged by the crown was displayed to the nation not bearing the minister of war’s seal on it but that of the second minister and the crown’s. The second shock wave came when it was seen that instead of the usual four or five names the list contained twelve.

As the elfin nation was screaming in outrage and whatever passed for a public relations department here were running about with their heads on fire the third shock wave hit, of the twelve names listed three of them were not up to five hundred years old, the circularly approved age at which an elf was considered old enough and wise enough to be a military leader, my grandfather Rumil Tuwele was one of the four names.

The lotus generals, the name given to the group of generals acknowledged by the crown from that generation were looked down upon from the go. Even though they were given the sigil of a general and technically outranked many superior officers they were neither respected nor obeyed outside their own personal armies, it didn’t help that the minister of war had all but ignored the existence of the lotus generals since their inauguration.

What did all this mean? All acknowledged generals are issued a set of armor and a weapon of their choice from the personal armory of the crown and this served as an identification of sort for each and every general and balanced on a table in front of the bath tub I was currently soaking in was the blue helmet of Vaklein.

The elfish societies justice system was based heavily on evidence, and me been in the possession of Vaklein’s helmet was conclusively damming evidence if I ever appeared before the high council to sue for justice against the three generals that attacked me.

“My lord are you sure it’s not too hot?” a young voice fearfully broke my internal gloating and I cast a glance at my new squire, it had not been a voluntary acquisition.

The male elf youth that stood before me had short brown hair and eyes and average looks by elfish standards, he spoke simply and was painfully shy, not daring to meet the eye of anyone who was speaking to him, his aunt on the other hand was an entirely different tale.

Brown eyes and hair was where the similarity between the aunt and nephew started and ended, where the nephew was shy the aunt was shrewd and where he was simple she was extraordinarily complex.

Due to the sudden nature of my departure I had not carried any extra clothing with me not to speak of clothing suitable enough to crash the engagement ceremony of the ruling family of this territory, the job of one of the five soldiers was to get a highly reputable clothes shop to send a selection of clothes and a seamstress to dress me for tomorrows events, the seamstress had taken one look at the situation and like a shark smelt blood in the water.

In exchange for the best robes in the shop, which by even my pampered eye was of superior quality, and the promise that no other noble would get anything remotely resembling it the seamstress had secured a place in town Rost and firmly embedded her nephew, who was eleven and meant to be learning the tailoring trade, in the position as my serf or what I understood to be a squire.

I gestured for the towel in the young elf’s hands and exited to tub while simultaneously casting my thoughts to the next day. With one of my house emblems in the hands of a family whose daughter I had publicly insulted almost a year ago, I didn’t have to be present to know that my house emblem would be desecrated, the up side was that they would not be able to resist displaying the slap in the face to their enemies to all the guest that would be present tomorrow, so it was all but guaranteed that my house emblem would be there tomorrow. My current dilemma was how badly I should make them pay for this insult.

In wartime periods noble houses were not allowed to go to war against each other, that being the case I couldn’t provoke them to the point that they would be forced to sue for justice with the high council but I most retaliate sufficiently enough for it to spread shock waves across the new continent, if not all the way to the capital territory, that all been said, heads had to roll.

“Has your aunt made preparations?” I asked the kid in my tent, as the massacre I was going to enact the next morning would leave everyone even slightly related to me in the Van Flotina naughty least.

“Father and mother had already started packing when I left and aunt Tolin had already closed down her shop before

we met them” he replied.

“What is your name?” I finally asked, tired of calling the individual before me boy and child. “I am Erthor, son of Elthin and huntress Arndiss” Erthor responded sharply, instantly switching to the tone commoners used to address nobles. I frowned; imagining the amount of effort it was going to take me to drum that out of him.

I waived for him to follow me as I headed deeper into the tent, if it could even be called that, the monstrosity stretched across twenty meters of land and was segmented into three portions one of which contained a massive bed, one of these days I will find out what the elves are compensating for with the ridiculous sizes of their beds.

“What can you do Erthor?” I asked the boy as I sat in front of a spread of food so massive that even cultivators would be shocked but seeing I hadn’t eaten anything descent over the last five days I could be forgiven. as I was about to dig into the meal, a deep and sonorous rumbled echoed through the interior of the silent tent, if Raijin had been present I would have suspected the mana beast but as there were only two people within the tent my eyes came to rest on Erthor who looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him.

“Sit and eat with me” I ordered the mortified elf-ling in front of me, but even as he opened his mouth to reject the proposal, his stomach let loose another silence shattering rumble.

“So what can you do?” I asked the kid once again who was now sitting with me in front of the spread of food.

“Ma said my needle work is okay but aunt Tolin said its rubbish, I once swallowed a rice cake whole and I’m really good with animals” the boy said clutching unto the leg of venison I had given him not sure what to do with it even though he had unconsciously begun salivating.

“How do you know you are good with animals?” of the three abilities he mentioned while the first two would seem equally impressive to a child the last one was the only thing that was worth notice.

“well last year the stable of the inn down the road was filled and they asked aunt Tolin if they could house a nobles manticore in her stable, but they didn’t notice that it had a barb between its claws so I removed it” Erthor said finally deciding that me giving him food wasn’t some kind of test and began to dig in while I on the other hand froze with my hand half way to my face and a cold sweat running down my back.

A manticore while only a three star war mount were widely known for their cruelty, it was extremely hard to tame one and even when tamed where among the few beast who often turned on their handlers in critical moments, so even though they could fly and where highly intelligent most people did not use them as mounts.

Now the child in front of me was claiming to have gotten close to one and removed a barb from between its toes, how he was still alive was a wonder in itself.

“I imagined that didn’t go over to well with your family” I cautiously stated trying to probe if this was a Child's flight of fantasy or a true story.

Erthor’s head snapped up his eyes opened wide in amazement with a look on his face that plainly asked how I knew he had gotten into so much trouble.

“Ma wouldn’t stop crying for weeks anytime she saw me and father and aunt Tolin took turns tanning my hide that night, they still won’t tell me what I did wrong” the boy said a note of offence entering his voice in the last part of his statement. Either this kid was lucky or he had a talent.

In the elfin community the line between those who could bend magical energies to their will and those who could not was extremely complicated, while all elves had a bit of magical talent, those who could control the elements and summon the arcane where extremely rare, for this to happen a certain amount of magical energy must be innately produced naturally by the body.

So what happened to those who produced enough magical energy to be abnormal but not enough to be a mage? Well they evolved a talent. It was usually a low level skill that a mage would develop early in their training, but the talent holder would acquire it without much effort and without training. The talent would grow over time with age but the person no matter how strong the talent became would never be able to wield any other kind of magic. Till this point in my elf life I had met only one other talent holder, my mother and her terrifying control over lightning.

As the kid and I ripped through the pile of food ahead of us the guards stationed in front of my tent announced that I had visitors.

Hauser and two other soldiers walked in carrying various robes and items, they were the last three of the five soldiers I had sent into the city to scout the situation and acquire various things I felt I would need tomorrow.

It is as you predicted my lord, our house sigil flies among the guest flags” Hauser said as he and the three other soldiers sand to their knees.

I waved a hand dismissing the salute and indicated for them to display their purchases on the rug of my tent.

During important elf ceremonies the amount of witnesses one had at the ceremony was very important for the prestige of the individual hosting the occasion, the real icing on the cake however was the level of nobility that one could get to attend, and this did not just add prestige but validity as well.

So any momentous occasion held by a noble house, would have the sigil of the entire noble houses in attendance, drawn on a white flag, hung from their central masts to show that this particular noble house was in attendance.

“even though they plan to humiliate us tomorrow morning they still used our house emblem to lend strength to their daughters engagement, truly a shameless house, I approve of their methods” I said out loud chuckling to myself, after all I would have done the same thing in their shoes, in for a penny in for a pound.

This slight however would grant us access into the ceremony, what remained was reacquiring the house sigil and if I had a chance reluctantly saving Glander, the last part I would not put too much effort into.

“We have procured enough war horses for the entire squad to ride into the Van Flotina city and we intend to send the tents and other implements with the seamstress and a few hired swords back to town Rost” Hauser said concluding the report.

I nodded my head in approval on how he carried out my order and continued inspecting everything in front of me. There would be no room for holding back tomorrow, I would have to be pompous arrogant and generally an all round douche bag, but if I play my cards right I would exit the scuffle with minimal damage to house Van Rost’s reputation.

The sun rose splendidly into the sky the next day and we could hear the music from the celebration all the way in the clearing which the hundred soldiers and I currently stood, I gazed at my men and couldn’t help but frown as I was reminded for the millionth time just how flamboyant elves were.

The war horses had all been scrubbed and saddled, each one decorated with silk sashes and ribbons in their tails and manes, the leather on their bridles, saddles and stirrups were glistening in the sun and each of them had the emblem of the house of Van Rost proudly displayed on their chest.

The soldiers even though not donned in full armor, as most noble armies preferred, wore high quality leather cuirasses, gauntlets, breeches and boots then covered themselves in an open white silk robes like the samurai lords of feudal Japan, the house emblem boldly printed on their left chest.

“please ensure I am nowhere in the vicinity when you give adviser Galfin the bill for all this” I said to Hauser as I mentally performed the calculation of the cost of this little show of force, a ghost of a smile graced Hauser’s before he led me to my war horse whose reigns were in the hands of a nervous Erthor.

“we march into enemy territory today” I began my speech as soon I had settled into the saddle of the black war horse, “be prepared to have to slaughter your way out, do not be deceived by the silk curtains or the ivory tables this is a battle field, obey all others and prepare for the worst”.

My words quickly sobered up the soldiers who seemed to not put enough weigh behind the actions we were about to carry out, for all purpose and intents we were a foreign force marching into enemy territory, our lives were very much at risk.

I marshaled my horse in the right direction before leaning down and scooping Erthor into the saddle, even thought the eleven year old elf was only five years younger than me, at least in this body, I had been raised on the finest meats and wine while he had sometimes had to go hungry when his family could not make ends meet, my six foot four inch frame dwarfed the child making the physical exertion a simple one.

As I spurred my horse forward the squad of a hundred fell into rows of five behind me with Hauser on my right side riding slightly behind me and carrying a flag bearing the Van Rost emblem.

While the white robes of the soldiers glistened in the sun my robes did the opposite, they were black in color made of fine silk and having gold lines that looped and swirled in mysterious shapes and patterns that were profound and yet did not distract from the beauty that was the simplicity of the robes themselves.

The wide sleeves, collar and hem of the robes were lined with crimson fur and on the back of the robe was a massive emblem of the house of Van Rost, I wore the leather armor I had used to fight Vaklein and his two friends along with the gauntlets, which had cost me a lot of magical energy to enchant to less than ten percent of its previous power, along with the boots.

As the eyes of the surrounding locals were drawn in by the brilliant whiteness of the robes of my guards they would eventually fall on me who stood out as a single dot of blackness in the sea of white. I inwardly applauded the ingenuity of Erthor’s aunt while keeping a blank face with a slight smirk.

We rode into the Van Flotina city entrance under the careful watch of the city guard but undisturbed and headed straight for the Villa of the head of the house. As we approached the gates of villa our first obstacle strode towards us with determined steps.

“HOLD! This is the villa of Lord Twarwen Van Flotina, head of the house of Van Flotina, who goes there?” an elf in full armor bearing the emblem of Van Flotina announced as we approached the opened gate.

“This is Lord Tal Van Rost, Lord of the Van Rost territory” Hauser replied, this simple statement caused a ripple of slight confusion to go through the guards stationed at the wall and gates of the Van Flotina villa, they had been aware that a squad of a hundred Van Rost soldiers were stationed outside the border of the Van Flotina city but they did not know that the head of the house was with them.

“Which one of you is the head of the house of Van Rost?” the instant the statement left the guard captains lips all hundred of my house guards unleashed their killing aura. It was a statement with a hidden barb but to overreact to it here was to give an excuse for the guards of the Van Flotina household to bar our way at the gates.

I urged my horse forward to forestall any hostilities and raise the ring on my hand so that anyone could see.

I first lifted my gaze to the rampart of the villa where one white flag among many bore the emblem of the house of Van Rost before lowering my gaze back to the guard captain, “I am the head of the House of Van Rost, seeing my house emblem flying above your house I never thought I would not be invited to this joyous occasion”.

slightly surprised that the trading of insults had already begun from the gates of the Van Flotina household I however gamely returned a hidden barb implying the flags flying above the ramparts were a false representation on the guest present, even though frowned upon this was sometimes done among the lower houses.

The face of the guard captain turned red in fury but with visible effort he reigned in his fury, “forgive this one for any perceived offence Lord Tal Van Rost I will immediately inform Lord Twarwen of your presence”.

I internally applauded the guard captain for his adaptability, since he could not find a reason to block us at the gate he sought to delay us giving his lord more time to prepare for the coming confrontation, but I was not so nice to let such things happen under my nose.

“That will not be necessary good guard captain, I will simply join the rest of the masses and wish the happy young couple a happy union” I said urging my horse forward.

The guard captain had no choice but to stand aside as me and my hundred house guards rode in and headed towards the sound of music.

“my lord” Hauser’s voice drifted into my ear from my right side as multiple auras locked unto us from various hidden places, “I am aware” was my only reply.

Of all the auras currently examining me the most powerful was at the level of an elfin great Knight, even though the lone individual was not a threat to me I was still surprised by the fact that the house of Van Flotina had managed to obtain a great knight without the capital swooping in to steal them.

“Hauser”, I called lightly over my shoulder at the elf riding beside me, “there are twelve elves at the level of centurions, six at the level of a knight and one great knight at the gathering ahead of us, inform the others and prepare accordingly”.

“Yes Lord Tal” Hauser replied immediately and slowly our ranks tightened together as the information made its way to the back of the ranks.

We came round a curve and the front of the house villa lay before us, it was a chaotic scene as guest were led into the garden were the joyous occasion was being held.

“Five will stay with the horses, we won’t be staying long” I ordered to the soldiers behind me as we all dismounted.

“Good day esteemed guests, the house of Van Flotina extends its sincerest gratitude in your attending this joyous …..” an attendant who had stepped forward at the sight of my group began to greet us when his view landed on the emblem of Van Rost.

His nostrils flared and pupils shrunk as beads of sweat immediately broke out on his forehead. My heart sunk as I observed all this, for the reaction to my presence to be this profound I knew the desecration of the house sigil wasn’t going to be a lightly brushed aside matter, all thoughts of tempering my actions were flung out the window.

As one we brushed past the stuttering attendant and headed down the winding garden path until we came upon the clearing filled with flamboyantly dressed elves.

A gasp escaped from one of the house guards behind me as our eyes came to rest on a bloody Glander, he knelt in a defeated posture in the middle of a clearing in front of the table of honor that seem to have every member of the Van Flotina main branch seated behind it. His left hand was firmly pressed against a vicious wound on his right forearm in an effort to stop the bleeding and his right eye was swollen shut.

But my eyes had barely glanced over Glander before coming to rest on the firth emblem of the house of Van Rost, the particular sigil was a banner meant to be carried into war by the forces of the house to declare it was the army of house Van Rost were currently marching.

The rolled up banner was currently lying on the ground in front of the table of honor, on its white cloth visible for all to see where foot prints where the supporters of Van Flotina would have trampled on it while declaring their support for this union.

I let the smirk on my face become more pronounce as magical energy roared out of my mana wells and flooded the area. The music instantly cut of as the magicians gasped for breath while every soldier reached for their sword and every mage their staffs.

I could feel every eye in the gathering land on me, some in mockery some in fear, most in anticipation of the juicy events that was about to take place, no doubt no matter the course of the day a titillating tale would be told tomorrow.

“Greetings honorable head of the Van Flotina territory Lord Tuwele Van Flotina, I am Lord Tal Van Rost current head of the once great house of Van Rost. I must ask for forgiveness for my late arrival to this momentous occasion as I received word of it extremely late” I said.

My opening speech had the entire gathering, including my house guards, reeling in shock. From the way I entered the event to the vast amount of magical energy I was releasing into my surrounding and my very body posture screamed fury and yet the words falling from my lips were that of someone who seemed oblivious to his surroundings.

When suddenly thrust into a situation where you don’t have all the facts the best thing to do is stall for time, in the time you buy for yourself you could gather more information that might impact your decision going forward.

I was currently in the middle of the Van Flotina villa, my house emblem had been desecrated and Glander had been publicly humiliated with a public trashing. There were at least two other great houses present apart from Van Flotina and a multitude of lower noble houses all ready and eager to garner favor with the house of Van Flotina so it would be safe to assume every person here was my enemy.

“I would like to apologies for any offence that my clans man has done in this prestigious event, if you would point out the person that he directly offended on behalf of the clan of Van Rost I would like to bow my head in apology” I continued my diversion as I began the long winding journey to bait all present into my trap.

“Ah young Tal, there is no need for such formality among friends. I am Lord Tuwele Van Flotina, the head of the house of Van Flotina” an elf, that was tall even by our races standards, with long green hair that was tied back in a warriors knot, wearing a vibrant red robe with silver engraved platelets on the front, rose to his feet and greeted me.

“it is merely a case of a youth who had forgotten his place, young Glander blinded by passion came in expressing his love for my daughter but even when we tried to explain that she had been promised to another he would not listen” he continued lifting his hands in helplessness with a small smile.

The little snippet about a ‘youth who did not know his place, his refusal to call me a lord and his pretended helplessness, each one a barb aimed to tear down any face I might build up with the guest present, but I had gotten my battle scars by wading through the ferocious juggernauts of wall street I would not be humbled by fucking elves.

“the injuries that you see on Young Glander is because when he refused to leave when he was asked to, the young master of the crimson merchant house grew tired of having his brothers engagement being disturbed so he stepped in and suggested a duel where the loser and his family would leave” Tuwele finished stepping slightly to the side indicating another group of people who currently shared the table of honor.

Suddenly it all became clear, the Tur clan was one of the few success stories in the entirety of the elfish kingdom, their nine hundred year old patriarch had started as a foot soldier in the royal elfin army and worked his way up to a thousand man commander after three hundred years of service when he suddenly retired and after uprooting his entire clan from the capital territory, he resettled in the new lands and established the crimson lotus merchant house. After that he simply disappeared.

For three hundred years, as the crimson lotus merchant house slowly grew and prospered no one outside the Tur clan set eyes on Fadneth Tur and to many he was already assumed dead that was until an up and coming mercenary clan in an attempt to solidify their reputation tried to forcefully take over the crimson lotus an Fadneth Tur revealed himself.

The cultivation of battle essence, unlike that of magical energy, dealt with quality and not quantity. As any living thing moved through life it generated energy, either through eating or breathing or any number of situations that energy came into been.

Early martial artist discovered that certain activities such as the tempering of body with rigorous training, certain mental states of beings and/or breathing exercises increased the rate at which the body produced these energies. This was the point at which the cultivation of magical energy and battle essence separated.

The more an individual cultivated the more energy their body would produce until it builds up fusing through the entirety of their being and is finally guided to form a pathway through the entire body, more commonly known as a meridian. Every race had a name or title for each stage of the process but most of Arethama followed the elfish method of cultivation.

The initiate stage, this was the point at which the body is fully tempered from exercise, meditation or soul wielding and the flesh, bone, muscle and blood has been thoroughly saturated in energy or battle essence.

The path building stage is the point at which the cultivators compresses all the energy in their body and begins forging their meridians or battle essence pathways. This was to some experts the most important part of the cultivation process as it influenced every other aspect of it, this was also why noble elves started training so young because the meridians not only gathered energy made by the body, they also purify it and convert it to battle essence hence their name.

The core formation stage was the point where it all started getting tricky. The individual is expected to use the battle essence pathways, or meridians, and generate vast amount of energy, purify it and convert it to battle essence then compress it into a core which could be used as a pump to double the rate at which the individual generates battle essence.

This was also the lowest requirement for an individual to posses before they were allowed to join the elfish royal army as an elfish foot soldier, the lowest rank in the militia.

This stage could last anywhere between a hundred and fifty to six hundred years all depending on the amount of cores an individual intended to compress and their inherent talent. The norm was anywhere between six to eleven cores compressed, but the moment a cultivator gathers all the compressed cores and fused them into one they make the leap from the core formation stage to the pillar formation stage.

The pillar formation stage apart from instantly granting an individual in the royal elfin military the rank of elf guard who depending on the amount of the pillars condensed could rang e from anywhere between a hundred man commander to a thousand man commander, was also the point at which battle techniques could be employed, however the grade of the battle technique relied on the quality of the pillar condensed.

Like the core formation stage, the pillar formation stage varied from individual to individual depending on their talent and the rate at which they produced energy, an individual could normally condense anywhere from five to nine pillars, but it was at this point that once again, like the cores, the pillars would be fused entering the foundation establishment stage.

The foundation establishment stage was where the elite of the cultivation world began to emerge. The pillars been fused they would serve as the platform on which a cultivator would rise to greatness. Depending on the quantity and the quality of the battle essence condensed till this point one could go on to form a battle space, or what to me looked like their versions of a dantian.

On emerging from his seclusion revealed himself to be at the pillar formation stage with three pillars, to put that in perspective the most powerful person in my house was Mablung who was just about to break into the ranks of the great knight by forming his first pillar.

Fadneth Tur had gone on to decimate the mercenary clan establishing his crimson lotus as an independent power in the new lands but it seemed now his ambitions had grown and he desired to become royalty.

At the front of the individuals from the Tur clan sat an imposing elf with hair cut close to his scalp in military fashion and simple garments, but his eyes were fierce and him just sitting there doing nothing still managed to emit a certain sense of danger into his surroundings.

Beside him on each side were two young elves, on his left closer to the house of Van Flotina side was a young elf around the age of ten and on his right and slightly behind him was an older elf around the age of thirty three in his hand was shatter thorn, Glander’s named sword.

“my sincerest apologies young master of the Tur clan for any inconvenience my cousin might have caused you, I wish your brother and lady Lamlen a happy life” I bowed towards the younger of the two deliberately ignoring the obvious visual cues that indicated it was the older brother who had engaged Glander in a duel at the same time sending a barb to the house of Van Flotina for marrying their daughter who was two years older than me to a ten year old.

Light snickers rippled across the elves observing the entire incident at my apparent mistake, but the more experienced individuals had narrowed their eyes in apprehension as they saw the path my hidden attack would take and knew there was nothing they could do about it, if the older brother did not confess that it was him that fought Glander it would seem they were afraid of the house of Van Rost but if he did it would be a senior admitting to bullying his junior.

“It was not my younger brother who fought your cousin Lord Tal, it was me. I am Clorphan Tur second child of Fadneth Tur” the older elf youth after a pause spoke up stepping forward, in his mind he had nothing to fear doing the honorable things after all this wasn’t the capital where pillar forming stage cultivators were like stones that littered the street, here a person at that stage of cultivation was a power unto themselves. In his mind as long as his father was besides him he had nothing to fear.

I smirked internally as the naive bastard stepped into my trap, he would become the honey that would bait their entire merchant house into its destruction.

“Ooh, greetings young master Clorphan Tur, but correct me if I am not mistaken have you not passed your third decade?” I asked the seemingly innocent question but I could see Twarwen, the head of the house of Van Flotina, and Fadneth, the head of the crimson lotus merchant house simultaneously wince.

“yes I have” Clorphan replied his face showing he had begun to suspect the trap he had walked into, but it was far too late for him.

“Where there no other youths of the same generation to force my young cousin to submit that you deemed it fit for you to intervene” my first attack of the day was not aimed at the house of Van Flotina but at the crimson lotus house. The simple statement ridiculed all the youths in the same generation as Glander and I and at the same time condemned Clorphan for the duel against an individual half his age.

“it was not a matter of capable individuals but the fact that the Lord Glander would not leave my brothers engagement ceremony when he was no longer welcome” he hastily defended himself but only succeeded in sinking deeper into my trap even giving me more ammunition to use against him.

“Not welcomed here?” I asked in pretend confusion shifting my gaze to the ramparts once again where the symbol of house Van Rost among many of the other guest symbols fluttered in the wind. “I am confused, if he was no longer welcome here why is our flag of welcome still been flown, or did you not receive him as a guest of the main house?”

The follow up combo wiped the complacent smile that had been on lord Twarwen’s face the entire time and caused Fadneth Tur to almost leap to his feet.

Having a flag of welcome out for any guest was a double edged sword, while it would boost the reputation of the individuals hosting the event it also meant that the guest been invited would find safe refuge as long as they were beneath the roof of the host.

If Glander had been assaulted while he had been an officially recognized guest of the house of Van Flotina it meant that they had breached their promise of a safe haven to their guest, however if they denied him and said he was not a guest, why was the symbol of the house of Van Rost flying over the villa of Van Flotina.

Lord Twarwen stepped forward as Clorphan was about to respond and took over the situation smoothly, “young Tal it is not that he was not recognized as an official representative from the house of Van Rost it is that even guest should know the extent that they can stretch the good graces of their hosts”.

This time it was an excuse and a threat, on one hand stating that Glander had been so rambunctious that it had taken a formally offered duel to calm him down and on the other hinting that I was a guest within his territory and I should thread carefully.

“Lord Twarwen is right indeed, the fault lies with Glander” I said amicably and once again the entire audience reeled in shock. Up to this point even the most clueless of the elves present had realized that there was a hidden battle going on among the three leaders before them, what they were shocked about was when it seemed I had both the house of Van Flotina and the crimson lotus merchant house in a disadvantageous position I let up.

While the spectators let loose a sigh of relief lord Twarwen and Fadneth Tur narrowed their eyes in suspicion, in their experience there was no such thing as a lucky break in situations like this and they were right.

“Come Glander let us go and get you treated we have outstayed our welcome” I said in a gentle voice and tossed my wide sleeve as I turned to leave.

As I walked away from the table of honor my heart began to sink as I realized that I had played my part to well. Hauser and his fellow house guards had a blank look on their faces as I approached them, this was the part where they were meant to bring up the house emblem and I would ask for it, then seeing its tarnished state I would fly into a fury and kill the one who committed the atrocity, but my house guards in their infinite wisdom felt that since I had sued for peace they didn’t want to disrupt it.

As I calmly walked back with a benevolent smile on my face, I wept internally as my well laid plans seemed to collapse around me. Then I heard an angel speak the words that would allow me resume my evil schemes while wearing the mantle of a righteous individuals.

“where is the emblem thingy?” a sweet young voice which in normal situation would have gone unheard but in the silence that resulted from the conclusion of the verbal sparring of the three heads of the most powerful groups in the gathering, it rung out like a bell at midnight.

The evening before Erthor had overheard some guards speaking about the importance of the emblem and had gone on to ask what it was, the guards who were busy breaking down the camp for the next day had told the elf child that he would see it tomorrow in order to avoid answering the barrage of questions that would surely follow. It was true this coincidence that salvation had arrived for me.

Erthor’s face had a look of pure undiluted fear on his face with his two hands clasped firmly over his mouth, the question that was directed at the guard beside him was meant to be a conversation between two people had been heard by everyone present. Adding to the comedic scene was the fact that every elf in his vicinity had their horror filled eyes strained on the child who had given two of the great noble houses a reason to go to war.

“Where is the house emblem Glander, if I recall you left Rost town with it?” I asked quickly before lord Twarwen could step in and spin the situation and Glander rose spectacularly to the occasion.

“after Clorphan Tur accused me of being here to disrupt his brothers ceremony he demanded a duel where the looser would leave Lamlen alone, when I lost he ceased my sword and the house emblem” Glander replied, making sure to paint the situation in such a way that depicted him as a concerned friend of Lamlen Van Flotina and not a spurned lover, and pointed a finger at the emblem of the house of Van Rost which currently lay on the floor in front of the table of honor.

I let a furious frown cross my face and turned back to face the lord of the Van Flotina house hold, “am I to believe that under your care a representative of the house of Van Rost was assaulted by an elf more than twice his age had my house emblem seized from his care and then desecrated while he was under your roof?” I asked the lord whose face was beginning to twitch in suppressed anger.

The very question was a loaded gun; any one of the three accusations in front of the elder council was grounds for a civil war. The fact that they let an ambassador of a house suffer an assault while in their care, the fact that the house emblem a representation of a house had been forcibly seized from said ambassador, or the desecration of said emblem were all grounds for war.

Normally the house of Van Flotina would not fear going to war against the house of Van Rost after all we had fallen from the once lofty position we once held and were part of the great noble houses in name only but we were at war currently and any war between the noble houses during periods of war was forbidden by the crown and the instigator would be punished severely, in this case that would be Van Flotina.

Perhaps if the lord of the Van Flotina household knew that I had just gotten into a scuffle with three of the generals that the queen had personally acknowledged he would less worried but since he didn’t have that piece information the lord of the Van Flotina house hold was left with an impending war that would see him facing royal sanctions in the best case scenario.

“Young Tal, be reasonable, young Clorphan did not intentionally set out to harm Glander he was left little choice” Lord Twarwen began in an appeasing tone as he began to step towards me, but at this point in time I had everything I needed.

Everything had not worked out exactly like I had planned, but I had enough to get the results I desired. Instead of the father Fadneth Tur I had gotten a son but I doubt he would continue to remain passive when his son life is in danger.

I raised a hand causing Lord Twarwen to halt mid step and began releasing a sliver of my killing aura along with my magical energy. I have been told repeatedly that I had a particularly ferocious killing aura, that wasn’t really a surprise as I had tried to model it after the killing auras of the monsters that dropped my soul into this body.

As soon as I unleashed my killing aura, the left hands of my ninety five house guards landed on the hilt of their swords while simultaneously releasing their auras besides mine and suddenly there was a hostile force within the house Van Flotina villa.

“What is the meaning of this Lord Tal!?” lord Twarwen spluttered as the scene turned hostile. Behind him Fadneth Tur rose to his feet and the guards at the perimeter of the gathering stepped forward unsheathing their swords.

I sighed internally as I gazed at the scene before me, they had expected a young lord who didn’t have the backings of the elders of his house to come to the event and blunder through the proceedings while shouting demands and being generally inept. This was probably the last time I would be underestimated, soon the news of my fight with the three generals even though suppressed would be begin to circulate among the upper echelon of the elfish nobility.

“You tell me Twarwen?” I asked calmly finally bearing my hostility for all the world to see, “my ambassador lies bleeding in your presence and my house emblem lays trampled below your feet, it is I who should ask what this all means”.

“I beseech you to be calm Lord Tal let us not put into play plans that cannot be undone” Clorphan called out from besides his father and I pounced.

“the elf who is responsible for the seizing of my emblem and injuring of my dearest cousin is the one pleading for peace, ha-ha, where was this wisdom when you challenged him in a duel, or is this the method of the crimson lotus merchant house, they rob their customers then plead for understanding when caught” I asked in a mocking voice, dragging the until then silent head of the merchant house into the fray.

“Caution Lord Tal, none take slander lightly” the former military veteran issued coldly from the spot he stood, refusing to rise to my bait. But it didn’t matter the bait I would use to drag him down from his lofty perch would soon be in my grasp.

“You may feign ignorance at the events that have occurred former thousand elf commander but your son cannot” I spat at him letting ice enter my voice. “I Tal Van Rost formally challenge Clorphan Tur to martial combat for the insults against the house of Van Rost”.

If this crowd were shocked anymore today I think they would just keel over and die, I thought to myself as the spectators were sent reeling in shock for the third time today. I had just given a means of escape to the house of Van Flotina and the crimson lotus merchant.

There were two common ways for justice to be pursued in the elfin kingdom, the first way which was more popular among the nobility was to sue for justice from the high council, here the status of both parties were weighed along with the evidence gathered and the witnesses present.

The second method which was more popular among the mercenary houses was a duel. The confronting parties decide on a time and place and they each put forth a representative to fight each other, usually to the death.

Why everyone was shocked was because in a duel the victor is absolved of all wrong doing, it was a literally manifestation of might is right. If I was defeated or died the Van Flotina clan would have eaten their cake and had it.

I could almost hear Lord Twarwen’s thought process as I am sure he smelt the trap but the temptation of humiliating the elf who publicly embarrassed his daughter and at the same time absolve himself of any wrong doing was just too strong. As for Fadneth Tur he would not move against a higher noble house unless he had the backing of the house of Van Flotina.

I watched as Lord Twarwen contemplated the pros and con’s and finally, with a slight nod, gave Fadneth his blessing.

With a gesture from his father, Clorphan leapt over the table of honor landing in the clearing in front of it, all traces of cordiality gone from his face as he sneered at me, “since the mighty lord Tal has deemed it fit to honor me with a duel who am I to say no” he mockingly said as he drew shatter thorn, Glander’s named sword, from its sheath.

The moment he spoke, given his consent for the duel a great pressure was lifted from my shoulders. Now it was an official duel if anyone was to interfere, say Fadneth Tur to save the life of his son, it would be a direct violation of the agreement leaving the offended party, aka me, the right to kill him.