The forest people actually came from the merger of two races of humanoid creatures, namely from humans and elves, who more than five thousand years ago, acting together and founded a settlement called the Secret Garden.
Both peoples at one time fled from the terrible persecutions that were declared on them by "dark humanity", a huge empire of people that came from the southern continent.
These people had a dark complexion, and their huge armies were completely armed with magical weapons.
And although the dark peoples had a numerical advantage, in pure individual strength the elves were much more powerful, and the inhabitants of the country of sorcerers possessed secret knowledge about spirits, thanks to which they were head and shoulders above the dark spellcasters.
Therefore, the invaders were afraid that at one point the elves, who were inferior to them only because there were too few of them, and people from the country of sorcerers, who simply simply never fought, losing out of inexperience, unite and, combining the power of the elves and the knowledge of sorcerers, will give a hard rebuff to the aggressor.
This fear of a potential enemy in the future led to the most brutal atrocities and endless bloodshed. Elves and sorcerers were killed without trial or investigation, regardless of gender and age. Hatred and fanaticism, coupled with fear, drove people to madness. Newborns were boiled in oil, molten lead was poured into intimate places for women, and it's better not to even talk about what they did with men.
These atrocities rallied the sorcerers and elves like brothers, they acted as a united front against the dark ones and, breaking through to the eastern edge of the continent with the help of their magical powers, went through the entire desert of death, already teeming with carnivorous worms. The dark people, in an attempt to finish off the remnants of elves and sorcerers, sent countless invasion armies, which were like a free buffet for thousands of worms that immediately gathered from all over the desert for a feast.
It was not possible to cross the desert along the coast, which had hard ground and hilly terrain, due to the fact that there were quite large desert areas on it, sometimes reaching several hundred miles. Naturally, it was impossible to lead an army there without losing most of it in the jaws of worms.
An attempt to transport troops on ships also failed due to sharp rocks and multiple whirlpools along the entire perimeter of the coast, preventing them from approaching land, not only by ship, but even by boat.
And of course, the transfer of small but powerful detachments did not give anything, the elves and sorcerers tore any intruders to shreds, taking revenge on them for all the suffering that their peoples experienced.
Over time, many families of people and elves became related not only ideologically, but also blood, after a couple of thousand years, the same forest people were born, so named because they grew entire forests on the hilly coast of the desert of death.
* * *
Sitting in ambush with a bow, Lucas carefully watched a large lizard that sat on a stone ledge in the middle of a reservoir and basked in the rays of the sun, penetrating from above into a natural cave-well, which was one of the few local sources of fresh water.
"What is this lizard? I have never seen such. Yes, she still has a saddle! Has anyone come here? Brad, finding the Secret Garden is difficult, and passing through the barriers unnoticed is impossible at all. Although if the rider died, and the lizard just ran in here to drink, then the barrier might not work, mistaking it for a wild animal. Still, the barrier is controlled by spirits and is reasonable in itself, so I decided, probably, not to tell us about a simple lizard.
But what to do? She's so cool! I'm sure she moves great in the desert and hilly terrain. Maybe try to tame her?
Yes! I'll do that, but first I need to get closer."
Lukos began slowly, bending over, on tiptoe to approach the unknown lizard, which, happy as an elephant, basked in the sun, not noticing anything at all.
But as soon as he got close enough, the lizard, like a chameleon, literally merged with the area, as if it had never existed, and a voice was heard from behind Lucas, in a language unknown to him.
"Kneel, half-blood, kings speak to you!"
Turning around sharply and aiming his bow in the direction of the speaker, the forest dweller Lucas was literally dumbfounded.
Before him stood the elves of legend, purebred creatures about whom his mother had read books to him and whose statues had been built before the merger of the two peoples.
In fact, the very elves who fled with the sorcerers were considered the lowest of their kind and possessed only a fraction of the true power of their distant ancestors.
But on the other hand, they were one of the few who managed to preserve the legend of their great fathers, true elves, powerful ancient creatures that fought dragons and giants.
Lucas fell stupefied at the feet of the man who had spoken to him.
"Oh, great one, please have mercy on me, I didn't mean to shoot you.
Tears welled up in Lucas' eyes as he kissed Sen's feet and wept.
The fact was that he knew perfectly well that according to the laws of the elves, one who points a weapon at a superior must either be forgiven or killed. And pointing weapons at immortal ancestors, who were revered above kings, was suicide for his entire family.
Looking at this whole picture, neither Sen, nor Leiko, not the least bit surprised, they considered such behavior of half-breeds to be natural when they saw kings. Although normally they would have killed for kissing their feet so unceremoniously without permission, but seeing Lucas's tears, which were perceived as tears of joy at the sight of their faces, they found it excusable.
- It seems that this slave does not understand us, but he behaves appropriately, what shall we do, forgive him or kill him for ignorance?
- Let's forgive, look how he polishes your right shoe, he is so glad to see us, I feel sorry for him.
- Okay, let him live, but the problem of the language barrier remains and we need to solve it somehow. We have not been able to drag the shadows, which can read thought-impulses, through this damn mental-energy barrier... If we fail this mission too, the Lord will definitely get angry with us.
From the memory of the horror that she experienced only slightly upsetting her Sovereign, Leiko shuddered at the thought of what would happen to them if they truly pissed him off.
"Let's wait, maybe we will find another victim in order to try the memory eater that the Lord gave us, and learn about everything that this people knows. Besides, we were ordered not to attack those forest freaks, weren't we?
— What are you talking about? It's just a slave, who will be upset if he dies? Sen was surprised that the death of such garbage could be considered an attack.