“For your crimes against the Swift Arrow Clan, I sentence you to death!” Screamed Shinead.

Prof managed to tackle her before she could engage Guillermo’s band of ten on her own. He recognised Guillermo from the description, a fellow in good gear. He had a long dagger and an axe in his belt and a bow on his back.

The rest of his band consisted of four other Grey Elves and five Humans. At least Prof assumed that they were Grey Elves and Humans, he wasn’t exactly sure how to differentiate between pure blooded Elves and Grey ones. Or at what point a person stopped being a Grey Elf and became a Human.

From the four other Grey Elves two were clearly female, one clearly a male, but he would have given even chances for the last one. One of the females was a hunter, ranger or something in that direction, sporting clothes in brown and green and a very nice looking bow. The other was probably a close combat specialist, or possibly a duellist. She was dressed in colourful, body-hugging pants and a flaring shirt, with a richly decorated rapier and a dagger hanging from her ornate belt.

The male, on the other hand, was dressed much more poorly, Prof would have thought him as some hobo, were it not for some rings on his fingers and his basically clean skin. Prof could not find any weapon on him.

The last person wore mismatched clothing, male and female ones both, like she went through a collection for some charity and picked the first things she found, disregarding size, gender and colour. Most particular was the skin colour: a very deep brown, almost black. Prof hadn’t seen – or even heard of – such colouration on Arkadia yet. Maybe a Black Elf? The person had a huge collection of different weapons on itself, from small throwing daggers to a used-looking zweihänder.

The Humans (one female and four males) were in contrast almost uniform in their gear. They wore chainmail shirts, studded leather greaves, sturdy boots and simple kettle hat helmets. Three of the males had spears, swords and mid-sized shields, the fourth, largest male a two-handed axe and the female only a sword and a small shield.

The two groups were standing apart from each other, but still in easy supporting distance.

“Swift Arrow Clan?” Guillermo asked “Oh, that would be those morons in the East. Sorry, they just suffered an accident, see? Are you some remnant or such?”

“An accident?!?! Red Elves never suffer accidents! They are the accidents that happen to monkeys, you cur!” Shinead screamed from below Prof. She was trying hard to get free, but Prof’s greater weight (and probably his higher [Hand-to-Hand Combat] was enough to keep her pinned. Barely. While still being naked. That would lead to some serious problems down the line, for now Shinead was too angry to realise the close contact.

“Ah, are we calling others names? No matter, I’m on official business, so stand down, little bitch.” Answered the Grey Elf, this time in Bergian. That was probably for all the non-Elves’ benefit. Maybe to drive a wedge between Shinead, Foxy and the three others. The problem with the idea was, that Prof was inclined to stand at Shinead’s side (and or follow Foxy’s lead) whatever happened, and the other two simply didn’t care, who was an official. Or claimed to be.

“NEVER! You attacked my Clan, and that proves, you are not on official business! No Elf can harm another! You are dead, nonetheless!”

Guillermo did not answer, just flashed a badge.

“Shinead, stand down!” Foxy got involved in the shouting match “That’s an order!”

“Sleep with a monkey, Little Sister! You can not order me around!”

That was interesting. Why would Foxy try to order a Red Elf around and expect the order to be followed? In all the time they travelled together, Foxy mostly just observed, or tried to pry information out of Prof. She never tried to order anyone around.

“You know that I can. Stand down or face the consequences!”

Prof was really confused now. Being an adept at the High King’s Academy gave you extra rights? So much, that you could try to order Red Elves around? Why was Foxy suddenly on the side of Guillermo?

“You don’t have jurisdiction over Red Elves, and you know it! You have no jurisdiction outside of the Domain! The Clan Laws are clear: everyone that attacks a Clan will die. Slowly! Revenge is our right! Got out of my way! Prof, get off of me!”

Foxy gesticulated a bit, threw a bit of powder into the air – Prof haven’t seen this spell for all the time he spent with her. Mostly she just used plants. Oh Wait! That was Floramancy, now she was probably using Dream Magic, her primary school. His suspicion was proven right, when Shniead fell asleep in short order. Even Prof was caught in the spell’s wake, he had to yawn and work very hard not to fall asleep too.

“So, the hothead out of the way, it’s your turn, Guillermo. Even if you were on official business, attacking the Swift Arrow Clan, was a crime and for that, you will be judged, filth.”

And now Foxy acted like she was a travelling Sheriff or Marshall or something in that line. Prof got off Shinead and retreated to Mini and Sharpclaw. He covertly signed to them to be ready when the situation got out of hand. Not that it was necessary, Mini already had her crossbow in her hand, and the Kobold was hiding behind their last mule. Probably getting ready to stealth away and assassinate someone.

“Actually, no, Little Sister.” Guillermo grinned “First, I myself did not harm anyone in that Clan, that was all done by the Humans. In fact, the Clan broke the law by harming one of my subordinates when he tried to deliver a missive and ask for an artefact. That was a refusal of an official order and an attack on another Elf.”

“But… The Law…”

“Look, actually I have 311% in [Law: Elven], you can trust me.”

Fantastic, they had to pursue a lawyer. Just for that, Prof considered to help Shinead; lawyers were evil after all. If he were allowed to talk, Prof was sure he would be able to wiggle out of the situation.

“Even IF we assume, you were within your rights, that leaves us with the need for you to prove, you are under official orders. That badge is a good start, but I need to investigate further. What are you doing here to begin with?”

“We are, of course, working for the Greater Good of all Elvenkind, as it is proper!” said Guillermo, grinning. “You see, we are boxed in by the Monkeys, the Greenskins and the Lizards. Fighting on three fronts can’t be sustained in the long run! We need to act!”

Prof was not sure, if the Grey Elf thought he and Mini couldn’t hear them or if he just didn’t care. Prof started to have a very bad feeling about the whole situation.

Just as the dialogue was getting interesting, Guillermo took Foxy to the side and they started to whisper. Prof couldn’t hear them anymore, but judging by Mini’s attentive stance, she probably employed a bit of her blood reserves to enhance her hearing. A few minutes later, she swore quietly, and started to dress quickly.

In the meanwhile, Prof observed the other party closely. The Grey Elves were obviously confident and were talking between each other in hushed voices. The Humans on the other hand, were clearly nervous, Prof could have sworn they were more vary of their Elven bosses, as of Prof’s friends. They huddled together, weapons in hand and at the ready.

What was going on?

When Mini got back from dressing she actually managed to accidentally get practical clothes on, consisting of purple leather trousers and a stitched blouse with flower motifs. If Prof remembered correctly, that blouse was one of Mini’s better pieces with quite a few enchantments. As Mini dressed, the enemy Elves also started to get ready, discarding the few packs they had on their person and putting their hands on their weapons.

“Prof, get ready. This will go to shit, fast” Prof haven’t seen Mini so serious all their time together “Sharpclaw, you too. Get the black one.”

“Yesssss, Missssusss. Elf will bleed!” With that, the Kobold faded into the background. Prof was a little bit nervous: they were only three of them (five, counting Binky and Foxy) against ten probably much higher Level enemies. One of them almost killed Shinead not too long ago!

Thinking about it, the whole chase was a colossally bad idea from the very beginning. A party of five low-Level individuals chasing a band of a hundred or so into one of the most dangerous territories of Arkadia?! What was he thinking?

Too late to run away…

“KILL THE ELVES! FOR HUMANITY!!!” Mini shouted, took aim and fired both bolts.