The following morning, Varre decided to check in on the wounded. The entire corridor of the Ashbourne manor was buzzing with activity, as all of the healers worked hard changing everyone’s bandages and helping those in need. Many of the elves struggled to walk and some required assistance just to feed themselves.

  The king walked through the corridor, as everyone stepped aside and greeted him with a short, but respectful bow. He could see activity in each of the rooms, as most of the doors were open. Many of the refugees decided to visit their friends and huddled beside their beds, entertaining them with conversation and trying to keep their mood up.

  Varre walked all the way to Elvira’s former room, which by now has pretty much completely transformed into a full time laboratory. The three beds were shoved to the side and additional tables brought in. Most were overflowing with vials of medicine and bowls with unknown powders inside, as both twins and some of the healers continued working inside, grinding down herbs into fresh poultices that would help the wounded recover.

  Sofia was there too, chatting away with the Court Mage. “Then you take this flower, and mix it together with the paste. It helps prevent… how did you call it? Infection, yes!” the elf said, as she held a bowl closer, showing it to the other girl.

  “The elderflower? Interesting,” Elvira replied, studying the plant with a magnifying glass, “we normally use blue cheese. We grate it down and add it to the poultice.”

  The elf picked up a piece of the unfamiliar cheese and smelled it, grimacing. “Ugh. It’s even stronger than what I tried at dinner. I see why your medicine gives off such strong scents now.”

  The Court Mage laughed as she picked up a piece of blue cheese and ostentatiously put it in her mouth. “Try it. It’s good!”

  Sofia gave her a shifty look. It was obvious she wasn’t looking forward to that experience. “I… don’t think we should waste valuable medicine, yes!” she exclaimed, happy to have come up with a decent enough excuse on the spot.

  “Don’t worry, we’ve got more,” Varre said, grabbing a piece for himself with a wink, “I promise you, it’s better than you think.”

  The elf remained unconvinced, but decided she didn’t want to insult her host. She nodded slowly and reached for the smallest morsel she could find, before Elvira pointed out one of the largest ones. With a sigh, the woman took it and carefully placed it on her tongue.

  “Chew it slowly,” the Court Mage suggested.

  Sofia closed her eyes, frowning, but her expression cleared up after a moment. “It’s not bad,” she finally said, “maybe even good. Yes. I’ve never had anything like it before.”

  “See? Nothing to worry about!” Varre chuckled and grabbed another piece for himself, “now tell me, how are the wounded doing?”

  “They’re improving,” Elvira replied, “a few still have high fevers, but luckily the healers think they’ll pull through. We just need to make sure they’re kept warm and we give them plenty of water.”

  “Thank you for your help,” Sofia added, with a deep bow, “we didn’t have enough herbs to help everyone. I fear many of them would have died if we had to keep traveling like this.”

  “Don’t worry about it, stay and rest as long as you need,” the king assured her.

  “Yes, at least stay until your people recover. You know just as well as I do how dangerous infections can be. And those with broken limbs shouldn’t walk for long hours either,” the Court Mage added.

  “Thank you for the offer, but it could take weeks, or months, until they’re fully healed,” the elf said, “we can’t stay that long.”

  “Why not?” Varre asked, “it’s no problem at all. Besides, many of your compatriots are fleeing from the threat of goblins. Not all will make it all the way to your cousins North of Langogne. Some, just like you, will get lost on the way and end up close to our borders instead. Someone will need to help them too.”

  “Maybe you’re right…” Sofia replied, while playing with her hair, “but I don’t know if I can decide that on my own.”

  “Take your time. The longer you do, the more I can pester you about those herbs you use!” Elvira giggled.

  “Speaking of pestering, I am still curious about that hypnosis magic you used,” Varre said, “have you girls talked about it yet?”

  The Court Mage covered her mouth in shock. “Your majesty, I’ve been so preoccupied with treating the wounded that it completely slipped my mind! You’ve gotta tell me! How did you do that?”

  Sofia looked slightly embarrassed. “That? Oh… that’s just a standard soothing technique of my people. Using song and music, we can put others into a trance-like state, where they will be unable to act by themselves. It makes things safer.”

  “That’s incredible!” Elvira exclaimed, as she leaned on top of the table, “is it an ability? Some kind of magic? Do you need to expend aura to get it to work?”

  “Umm…” the elf flustered, “it’s… complicated. I guess it is magic. It does take my aura to keep it going, so the time I can use it is limited. It’s also harder to affect more people at once.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  In the corner of his eye, Varre noticed the twins inching closer. They must have realized that the conversation is moving to magical subjects and decided to listen in. He couldn’t blame them. As students of some of the most renowned experts in the entire kingdom, they must have been naturally curious and eager to expand their skills further. With both Sofia and Elvira occupied with their conversation, he decided to pretend he didn’t notice Zarkon’s assistants either.

  Instead the king recalled how the elven woman acted when she first hypnotized the hunters in the forest. She remained hidden as she sang and only revealed herself once she believed that everyone was affected. It took longer for the powerful Court Mage. Perhaps she would have succeeded and left undiscovered, had her spell truly worked on everyone.

  “Does your charm get stronger the longer it lasts?” Varre finally asked.

  “It takes more time to kick in for exceptionally strong beings,” Sofia admitted, then slowly looked him up and down, “like you. I have to say, I am impressed. Before, only my strongest teachers were able to resist, and they knew what was happening. They could focus their minds and prepare. You did not.”

  “How much stronger do elven archmages get?!” Elvira asked, full of excitement upon hearing about those teachers.

  “Very. My teachers have centuries of experience more than me. I was only able to affect them when I managed to ambush them during training. And that wasn’t easy either,” the elf recalled, “the fact that you managed to do it…”

  The Court Mage finally broke out of her excitement and she too carefully examined her monarch. She was one of his coaches, and she knew his stats by heart. While he was certainly strong, he wasn’t extraordinary in the magical arts. Certainly not compared to a senior mage, like her. Something else was obviously at work.

  Finally, her eyes sparkled. A sign of a new theory. Could it be that mysterious ability of his? she thought to herself.

  “Are there any people, or monsters perhaps, that are immune to your hypnosis?” Elvira decided to ask.

  “I haven’t tried it on every creature in the forest, so I don’t know. Perhaps given enough time, it could even work on dragons!” the elf laughed, “but there is a weakness. The music calms down emotions and stops conflicts before they turn violent, but if the person is already hostile, it won’t work,” she looked at Varre again, then shook her head, as if dismissing the idea, “but in your case, it must have been raw power. You’re far too friendly. It wasn’t bloodlust that protected you.”

  The king smiled back. “Have you tried using it on the goblins?”

  “They’re the problem,” Sofia admitted, “they come to the forest with the intent to kill and destroy. Calming them down does nothing,” she paused, “well, not always. Some were able to succeed in ambushes. If we can find a small group of goblins and start softly singing before being spotted, we have charmed goblins before. Unless the group had a shaman of their own.”

  “A shaman?!” Elvira pushed off of the table, nearly colliding with Perry. By now, the twins had inched so close that they were almost a part of the conversation too. Luckily, the girl managed to dodge.

  “Yes, they bring mages of their own,” the elf said, “especially larger groups. Their mental defenses are stronger, more resilient. As soon as they notice they are being charmed, they raise the alarm and wake everyone up. We lost many brave singers this way.”

  “I’ve heard of them before,” the Court Mage said, bringing a finger to her chin, “they were a serious problem during the Goblin Wars, but I thought they were rare. There were only a few travelling with each horde. They’re too valuable to travel with random scouts.”

  “There are many,” Sofia replied, slowly shaking her head, “I don’t know how many, but they are often in charge. They’re dangerous, and hard to kill.”

  “That could be a problem,” Elvira said, mostly to herself, as if consumed in thought.

  “Do you think they could attack us too?” Varre asked, noticing the reaction.

  The Court Mage broke out of her contemplation. “What? No. No, I don’t think so. They can’t get through the Grey Mountains. They’d need to either break through all of the kingdoms to our East, or march all the way through Gomera forest.”

  “None of those things sound very impossible,” the king replied, with a grimace, “maybe difficult.”

  “They’ve never been done before,” Elvira noted.

  “That’s less reassuring than you might think,” Varre said with a disappointed smile, “I’d like you to start thinking about countermeasures.”

  The Court Mage scoffed, then caught herself. “Sorry, your majesty. I suppose I best start working on countering a gods damned Second Goblin War, then,” she replied with a sigh.

  “Cheer up,” the king slapped her shoulder, “it’s better to do it and not need it, than need it and not have it.”

  “The war is hard on us, but the goblins will never win,” Sofia interjected, “they may have forced us from our homes, but the forest is strong and our people know it well. We will return some day and destroy them!”

  “I know you will,” Varre replied, with a reassuring smile, “after all, you’ve still got your charm magic. It may not work on goblins right now, but if it can even affect Gomeran beasts, who knows what else it can do!”

  “Thank you,” the elf said, “if a ruler as great as you believes we can win, then they have no chance.”

  “Was it you who enchanted those deer in the woods?” the king asked.

  “Oh yes,” Sofia nodded, “we were using them to scout. I charmed them and called them to me, I cast a spell to see through their eyes, and then I was going to read through their memories before we moved from the area.”

  “Really?” Elvira perked up again, “all at once?”

  “Oh yes, it’s easier than it looks. You need a proper mixture of herbs to push yourself into a trance. I recommend…”

  With the conversation moving to more technical topics, Varre decided to excuse himself. He took a step back and looked Perry right into the eyes. She turned red, ashamed at having been caught listening in, but he only gave a conspiratorial wink.

  Outside the manor, he spotted Rodger and a couple of his men eagerly discussing their weapons together with Carlos and his warriors. Both sides were pretty excited and examined the others’ tools with interest. The king decided to check in on them.

  “The spear is very solid,” the elven archer said, weighing it in his hands, “but I think the balance is a little off.”

  “You’re not meant to use it in both hands,” the lord replied, “you hold it like this, with one. Try it.”

  “I see,” Carlos noted, “but wouldn’t you have more force if you held it in both?”

  “It’s not meant to be used on foot,” Rodger smiled, “you use it from a saddle. When you’re facing a desperate stag, you can charge straight at it. Then, you can apply a lot of force with just a single hand and deliver a killing blow,” he mimicked the action.

  “Interesting. And your animals can keep up with nimble deer? They’re a lot smaller, you know?” the archer said, watching the mounts carefully. Even though the hunting courses were more compact than the destriers intended for battle, they were still massive.

  “Would you care to try it?” Varre offered, announcing his presence.

  “Now that is an excellent idea! Why are we sitting here, discussing theory, when we could see it all first hand? Come, my friend, let’s talk it over during an actual hunt! I’ve heard that my trackers spotted a great target in the woods this morning!”