The sunset hovered once more over the Dark Forest.
The restlessness in the village of the elves had merely increased. Little contributed to the calmness of the state of Libel, the strongest and bravest of them.
Without wasting any more time, accompanied by ten forest guard Erabel headed for the Kobold settlement to seek their help.
Unlike the other intelligent beasts that inhabited the Dark Forest, the kobold were peaceful creatures.
While the Elves' relationship with the Kobolds was not one of friendship, mostly due to the pride of the Elves, there was no conflict between them either. In fact, the exchange of stone sculptures for metal tools between the two races was common.
Erabel knew that forging an alliance with the Kobolds would not be easy at all, for in the past, the Elves had refused their requests for help with respect to the goblins.
Even so, all Erabel could do was pray to the five virtues that the Kobolds would be able to see the extent of danger to the entire forest.
After running in a hurry, the group of elves finally emerged from the dense forest into the rocky area where the Kobolds lived.
Strangely, the atmosphere in the place was different from the usual, although the Kobolds were skilled sculptors, this was something they only did occasionally, since for them, more than an art, sculpting the rock was a religious ceremony.
Therefore, on the rare occasions when Erabel had visited the quarry, she had barely managed to see some little kobolds learning to sculpt. However, on this occasion, all kobolds were chiseling the rocks with great fervor.
"Elves? I'm sorry to tell you that there will be no more exchange of sculptures, as you can see, we will never need your tools again."
While Erabel´s group gazed the kobolds with surprise, the leader of these, the oldest of the kobold, came up to them after noticing their presence.
After hearing the words of the old kobold, Erabel was amazed at how each of the kobold who chiseled the rock carried metal tools.
"No... we're not here to trade, old man, we want to talk."
Although it was surprising that the Kobolds had so many tools, it was a matter of little importance in the current circumstance, so Erabel decided to focus on her goal.
"Talk? That's a rare thing coming from elves. Although it's intriguing, I'm sorry to have to deny them that, but as you can see, we're too busy."
"This is much more important than your sculptures!" –Sernil, one of the forest guard accompanying Erabel, she could not help but show her despair at the calm attitude of the Kobolds.
"Nothing can be more important than serving the gods."
"Their gods will not be able to protect them from the current danger!"
Sernil was unable to contain himself against the attitude of the old kobold, the danger threatening them was so great that had even hurt to strongest of their warriors, someone she admired greatly.
In the occasional exchanges with the Kobolds, the Elves made use of their greater knowledge of metal, maliciously giving them tools of the worst quality, and also limited the number as much as possible.
"Keep calm Sernil, we won't get anywhere without first explaining what's going on."
"But Erabel-sama, we can't waste any more time..."
"There is nothing to fear for, elves, the gods have descended upon to give us their protection!"
Ignoring the discussion between Erabel and Sernil, the old kobold exclaimed with force those words and immediately, the kobolds who chiseled the rock stopped to begin to sing prayers.
Erabel and the rest of the elves were surprised not only by the statement of the old kobold, but by the behavior of the rest of the kobolds.
While the Kobolds were highly devoted to their only two gods, they could hardly be considered fervent fanatics. Therefore, such an attitude was completely unsettling.
"Erabel-sama!"
As Erabel tried to understand the attitude of the Kobolds, one of the forest guard called her with fear as he pointed westward, where a column of smoke rose towards the sky.
"The judgment of the implacable God of the Night has fallen upon the goblins!"
"Vanur ar sam gram ur! Vanur ar sam granur! Vanur ar sam gram ur!"
After contemplating that column of smoke, the old man kobold made a proclamation, and then the kobolds began to pray with great fervor.
Literally; "dark and implacable Vanur, have mercy on our souls'.
That prayer and the vision of that column of smoke, as well as the statement of the old kobold, caused a great chill in each of the elves.
"Elves, behold the greatness of the God of the Night! The implacable god Vanur-sama promised justice and fulfilled, in return, we pledged him total loyalty and we will build a temple for him and for the goddess Avor-sama!"
"Erabel-sama! Horses! Horses approach from the west!"
Before Erabel could question the words of the old Kobold, one of the forest guard, who had placed his ear on the ground, he made that statement with horror.
"Why have you chosen to follow humans?!"
Associating the humans with the metal tools possessed by the kobold, as well as the proclamations of the old man and the horses approaching from the west, presumably from the goblin camp, Erabel, unable to fully she understands what was happening and in panic, she asked to the old kobold that question.
"Naïve elven woman, the warriors wearing silver armors are not human, they are heralds of the god Vanur-sama and the goddess Avor-sama."
"Erabel-sama, we must leave!"
Caught in panic, surprise and uncertainty, the group of elves hastened into the forest. Without looking back once, Erabel's group returned to the village visibly affected.
The day had finally given way to night, what had happened in the kobolds settlement quickly spread throughout the elven village.
Fear and uncertainty strongly divided the opinions among the elves, there were those who clamored to leave Dark Forest, but no one was clear about the place to flee.
Others, pushed by pride, they wished to initiate the attack against the invaders, beginning with the traitors Kobolds, although this group did not provide a clear plan on how to deal with an army of more than a thousand soldiers either.
Under this atmosphere and without previous precedent, a third meeting of the sages was held in less than a week.
In the same way that in the morning, Erabel reported what had happened with the kobolds. In addition, thanks to the fact that lookouts had previously been sent to the site of the goblin settlement, the complete extermination of them could be confirmed.
"This means that these humans are not building ships, but a temple?"
"It seems that way, after all, they have built good relations with the kobold and they have exterminated the goblins, they plan to establish themselves."
Rarpol and Hacel, were the most focused on the subject, Jaal, as usual, seemed absent, Erabel for her part, after giving her detailed report, she remained lost in her thoughts.
"Without a chance at this problem, I think it's best to leave the Dark Forest."
"Where would we go?"
Although he couldn't imagine a different solution to Hacel's, Rarpol couldn't fully agree with him either.
"Once Black Forest offered us shelter."
Faced with Hacel's reply, Rarpol let go of a big "oh" full of surprise, he had completely forgotten that possibility.
"We can't leave our home without a fight!"
Suddenly entering the hall of virtues, Libel interrupted the dialogue between Hacel and Rarpol.
"Libel?!"
"Sorry for have worried you, Erabel, I feel better now."
"Your wound will look better as well as your pride, but you don't seem to have your head on your shoulders yet, Libel."
With some discomfort in the tone of his voice, Hacel iinterrupted any attempt at chatter between Libel and Erabel.
"If it's madness to try to defend my home, then yes, I think I've gone completely mad."
"I wouldn't call it madness, but stupidity, or tell me, how do you plan to face an army of a thousand soldiers equipped with superior weapons and armor? If you really have a plan, then I would have to bow to you, because as I remember, you could scarcely have about three hundred combatants counting children and the elderly.
Despite Libel's impetus, all present, including Erabel quietly agreed with Hacel's arguments.
"So, you say it's better to run away? To leave our home behind relying solely on an old offer of help from more than thousan years ago?"
Even though he didn't appear to be, Libel was actually quite focused, his answer sowed doubt about Hacel's earlier proposal.
Black Forest was to the west and to reach it, gray elves had it to cross at least one human kingdom and according to the route, even the territory of the lizard men and all that, without the security of being well received.
"Hohoho!"
Amid the silence caused by the contradictions in both alternatives, Jaal, the eldest of the elves began to laugh.
"Is something wrong, Jaal-sama?"
Faced with Jaal's attitude, most of those present frowned, so, trying to avoid that the frustration leading to internal conflict, Erabel intervened quickly.
"Simply seeing the impetus of the young reminded me of my days of youth."
"Jaal-sama, this is a serious issue, the whole future of our people depends on the decision we make" –by way of reproach, Rarpol visibly annoying exclaimed those words.
"Fear is never a good advisor, when we let it decide for us, it leads us to look for a false way out, or to head for a meaningless confrontation."
Ignoring Rarpol's words, Jaal began to speak coherently to everyone's surprise.
"Certainly, in the course of time, our encounters with humans have never turned out all right, but it has never been their total fault. We decided out of simple pride that we could not treat them as our equals. As a result of adhering to our pride, we are here today hidden in the forest, allowing ourselves to be carried away by the fear to some humans whom we have labelled as enemies from the beginning."
Far from his usual meaningless words and occasional lucid comments, Jaal spoke with great eloquence and wisdom.
"Jaal-sama, although I understand your words and agree with you, we cannot change the past and even if we decide to change ourselves, that does not mean that humans accept it and change too."
The only one who could keep up with Jaal's words was Erabel.
"It is not necessary for all humans to change, only these. Besides, everything seems to indicate that these humans are different."
"They?" -Erabel was extremely intrigued by Jaal's words.
"When throughout history have you heard of humans collaborating with beasts? In a way, humans are not very different from us, their eyes look down on to other creatures. However, these humans have managed to get the Kobold to collaborate with them without threatening them or putting iron shackles on them."
"Perhaps they haven't been enslaved, but they should have been deceived using their beliefs."
Remembering the old kobold talking about his two gods, and how everything seemed to indicate that the kobolds associated these humans with them, Erabel hastily concluded that humans had found a way to deceive the kobold.
"No doubt, of all the races of beasts that exist, the Kobolds are one of the most intelligent, insightful, and cunning enough to have survived to goblins, orcs, humans, us and other dangers. If it were so simple to deceive them, at this time, in our village there would be more rock sculptures than trees."
Nobody could get out of the astonishment, none of those present could remember having heard Jaal speak so much and with so much wisdom. Those arguments were not only hardly debatable, but they made one thing clear, Jaal had always been paying attention to the issues discussed in the meetings, he was not just a senile old man.
"I do not know the reasons that led the Kobolds to follow humans, perhaps in truth their gods are among them. What should really matter to us is the reason why these humans did not destroy the Kobolds, and whether they destroyed the Goblins."
Jaal's words caused great surprise in everyone, especially made Erabel open her eyes completely with astonishment.
Until now, Erabel had concentrated on trying to find a coherent response to the kobold's behavior, so she had completely overlooked the reasons why humans had not destroyed them.
"The Kobolds were probably not destroyed because they surrendered or allied with them, the goblins had to be eliminated to please the Kobolds."
With all the information at her disposal, Erabel came to that conclusion, although Jaal's face was not entirely pleased.
"Your reasoning is good Erabel, however, remember never to omit the simple; the kobolds are useful, the goblins are not."
Jaal's wisdom continued to leave the rest of those present speechless, whether humans were planning to build a temple or anything else, the kobolds would no doubt be of great use to them.
On the other hand, the goblins had no notorious skill and in fact, they were the most unpleasant creatures in the world both in appearance and behavior.
Thus, Jaal's previous assertion was understandable, these humans were different, they seemed to give more importance to their objective than to their principles or prejudices, if they had any of them.
"Everything you've said has been very instructive, Jaal-sama. Even so, I don't see where you want to go in our current situation."
Although Jaal's behavior was highly unusual, Hacel set aside his surprise to bring the important issue back to the table.
"Talking has always been the best way to understand each other, I don't see why it should be different in this matter."
"That is absurd Jaal-sama! Even if we manage to talk to them, we do not know that they can ask for our security, they will probably try to enslave us" –after hitting the table hard, Hacel showed his total disapproval of Jaal's words.
"That's true Jaal-sama! We cannot surrender so easily, for the pride of our ancestors, we must fight. We cannot renounce our freedom!" -The second to reject Jaal's words was Libel.
Both Hacel as Libel supported his proposals using the 'freedom'.
"No one in this world is completely free. All living beings without exception are slaves of something, pride, fear, hatred, ambition, madness and without doubt, every living being is a slave of hunger. When was the last time our freedom allowed us to set foot out of the forest? Not my young elves, we are not free, we are slaves to the fear of the outside world and to the absurd pride of our race."
Both Libel and Hacel understood that they had not the slightest possibility of contradicting Jaal's words. Even so, the faces of both elves showed no acceptance of Jaal's words.
In the end, Hacel and Libel remained steadfast in their respective plans.
"The only way to know what you don't know is to ask, and since it's been my idea, I'll go myself. After all, I am just a simple old man who has already lived too long and has nothing to lose, but I will have gained a lot by simply looking closely at such unique humans. You can continue to plan an unwinnable war, or a journey into uncertainty."
After those words, Jaal began to rub his long white beard as he laughed quietly. He felt once again like a young about to explore an unknown place.