Alex stood in front of the two elven soldiers giving of an air of a drill sergeant as the caravan moved slowly past as the last wagon slowly trundled past with no hiccups Alex slowly saluted the two soldiers.
"Good job men, I trust you both not to speak of this incident to any one I assume you both understand"
Radiating authority he spun on his heel and boosted off using windstep to land on the back of the last wagon. The two soldiers just stood there as the caravan vanished into the woodland, they turned to each other and seemed to snap out of their daze.
"Do not speak of this to anyone", the commander snapped at the trooper, "and get this damn gate closed".
The commander hurried off, no way he was mentioning this to anyone or he was finished, the order to close of the border didn't strictly come from the Queen from what he had learned and he didn't want to get involved in a dispute between the Queen and the highlords that seemed to be brewing.
Once past the border the caravan proceeded without any further problems. Alex headed over to Quintus to get an idea how much longer it would take to reach their former home.
"About 4 days or so the forest is far more expansive than most give it credit for and takes at least a whole week on a fast horse to traverse."
Alex thanked Quintus for the update and returned to the girls. As he set down on the wagon he noticed them all staring at the scenery around them. Taking the time now the caravan was smoothly rolling he allowed himself to relax and look around with the girls.
His eyes roamed over the trees that stood tall and straight much taller than the trees in the Dragonsmount forest, the forest here felt ordered and welcoming a feeling of peace washed over him as if returning to the place where he belonged, but irritation was also building in him as something inside him fought against that feeling of home coming he had never had before. While he considered Dragonmount home he had never felt this feeling there and it was disturbing him. Lily and Anna noticed his seeming distress and stepped over to hug him from either side, at this movement Vale and Kayla both noticed the distressed look on their lover's face as he stared around the forest. Vale saw longing and rejection swirling around in his eyes. Kayla asked him what was wrong, worry apparent on her face as she couldn't understand is apparent distress. Alex realizing that he couldn't afford to keep this to himself as the situation they were heading into demanded he be clear headed.
He explained what he was feeling a strange feeling of homecoming and the feeling rejecting it. Anna and Lily frowned and seemed to go into deep thought, while Vale spoke up.
"The feeling of homecoming is your elven blood, I feel the same as you, a feeling like I have finally come home after a long time away, it feels comfortable"
Lily and Anna looked up at Alex and in serious voices stated in unison
"We might know what's going on"
Anna continued speaking, "It has to do with your dragon tamer blood".
He looked at them curiously, "What do you mean?".
"Grandpa probably didn't remember to tell you, but one of the reasons dragon tamers generally stayed in the village is that dragon tamer blood calls out to each other they tend to feel more at home with other dragon tamers, even those that lived outside the village would often come to visit. Dragon tamers with the blood of elves had it worse as the mix of elven blood and dragon tamer blood caused conflicts, the elven blood rejected the feeling granted by other dragon tamers, and visa versa. This only became an issue should the dragon tamer blood be awakened by interaction with a dragon".
Alex sighed and muttered, "Oh this is going to be annoying, looks like I'm going to rely on you girls to help me keep a lid on my emotions".
They all hugged him at once and chorused out, "Of course".
He smiled, pushing the feeling of acceptance and rejection of to the back of his mind and softly said, "I'm happy to have you all here with me".
He felt the wagon slow and come to a stop, wondering what was going on as an elf ran up panting to their caravan, "Alex you're needed at the head of the caravan." the elf called out.
Alex hopped out and with the girls trailing along behind him and moved up to the fore of the caravan, As he approached he saw a group of elven cavalry blocking the route, Quintus seemed to be speaking with their leader. Alex approached his face shadowed by his hood hiding his unique features.
"What's going on here Quintus?" he queried.
"Nothing problematic young master" Quintus responded, "this is the person I wanted you to meet Levindal".
The tall elf glanced over at the hooded man the four ladies following along behind him and snorted, "looks like another young master traveling with his group of sluts to me" a sneer appearing on his face.
Before anyone could blink, Alex had vanished from where he stood and Levindal felt something cold at his throat and a very menacing voice resounded in his ear.
"You will apologise for your words or your head will be separated from your shoulders".
The elven troops grasped their weapons, but they were disciplined well and did not draw in case they caused harm to their captain.
Levindal twisted his head slightly to look at the shadowed face under the hood he could see the golden staring at him and knew that should he refuse, this man would keep his promise, this was no debauched young master relying on his name to have his way this was a trained warrior who was battle tested and powerful if his speed was anything to go by. Levindal nodded his head slightly and the sword was removed from his throat but not put away.
Levindal bowed to the ladies and apologised for his harsh words, the girls just nodded to show acceptance, as he raised out of his bow he turned back to the young warrior. Out of nowhere a sharp wind blew catching Alex's hood which was promptly blown down revealing his face for all to see. Levindal stared in shock at the face that was revealed, he turned to Quintus anger evident in his voice.
"What sort of sick joke is this Quintus you just told me the lord and lady were dead.
"Calm yourself Levindal, this person is Alex the son of the lord and lady who we stumbled into in Valent barely over a couple of months ago", he explained
Levindal turned to face Alex once more, "The likeness is uncanny", he muttered.
"I get that a lot" joked Alex. "Let's discuss things as we travel, could I ask your troop to escort us to prevent any incidents occurring?".
Levindal signalled his agreement and his troop arranged itself into an escort formation around the caravan as Quintus headed back to Alex's wagon to wait on Levindal's arrival. While they waited Quintus informed Alex that Levindal was the former guard captain of Brightwood, he had wanted to come with the lord into exile but the lord had forbidden it telling him to remain and look after the people while he was gone, he hadn't been happy but his loyalty to Alex father was unquestionable so he remained.
Shortly Levindal arrived and climbed aboard the wagon taking a seat. Quintus began introductions. Levindals shock got worse as the girls were introduced the daughter and next in line of a powerful trading company, the daughter of the reaper of the battlefield, and the granddaughters of the golden dragon king himself, he looked across at Quintus and muttering, "Your enjoying this aren't you".
Quintus smirked, "Immensely old friend".
Then he performed the formal introduction for Alex.
"As you already know this is Alex also known as the Spellblade and the Bladedancer, son of Lord Landrem and Lady Rinka, adopted grandson of the golden dragon king Zakath, disciple of Lady Melliandra and the Omni Magus and undefeated champion of the Valent arena".
"If you don't mind me saying young lord but your group is a walking disaster area", Levindal bluntly stated.
Alex smirked while the girls giggled.
"On a more serious note, why have you come back to the elven forest?", enquired Levindal
"I only recently learnt about my birth parents and what happened to them, while I have no memories of them I feel the need to set things right for the people who brought me into this world and died to protect me".
Levindal pondered something, "Normally I would be happy that you came back but now may not be the best time to get involved".
"I assume that something major is happening given the issue we had at the border, care to explain?", asked Alex.
Levindal sighed and began explaining, "When Alex's parents had been banished on trumped up charges, tensions between the Queen and highlords had risen. The Queen was not happy with being forced to exile someone she knew was perfectly innocent but couldn't disprove the evidence."
"What made it worse is the person appointed to take over Brightwood by the highlords wasn't the official inheritor and also turned out to be incompetent and behaving disgracefully now he felt he had a tiny bit of power, sadly that person was Kaldreth your uncle." Levindal sighed again.
"Things came to a head when the Queen found out Kaldreth had been using his power to force women into his bed", he spat out a look of utter distaste on his face, "the Queen announced his punishment would be death and publicly scolded Highlord Rasslen for not having dealt with such a thing himself and even accused him of turning a blind eye threatening to strip him of his title for his negligence".
"Highlords Melraith, Lilliana and Zorovan all stood with Rasslen while Debronth and Helexia stood with the Queen, there is a real fear of conflict breaking out between the groups".
Alex grinned, "Well this makes things much simpler than I thought it would be".
Looking confused Levindal asked, "What do you mean?".
"I already had problems with Rasslen as there is a good chance he was ultimately behind the plot to exile my parents, I'm doubly sure about this after just listening to how much of an idiot my uncle is. Due to the tensions the conspirators have stepped out of the shadows for the most part making it much easier to take care of them, I will just align myself with the Queen and should things come to the worst I will annihilate The four highlords".
Levindal looked at him disbelievingly.
Alex waved his hand dismissively at the look on Levindals face, its fine if you don't believe me you will see when the time comes".
"I should visit my uncle and aunt while I'm here, gramps said they would be happy to see me and it would be rude not to visit". Alex mused going off on a tangent.
Lily and Anna spoke up in agreement, "Un, grandpa said we should make sure to pay our respects should we come through this way".
"You have relatives in the forest", asked Levindal.
"Not blood related per say but still family none the less, I'm referring to the two guardian dragons of the elven forest".
Levindal shot up from his seat, "You're a dragon tamer", he exclaimed in excitement.
How the fuck does everyone I meet know about dragon tamers these days Alex thought to himself.