Ash was in heaven, surrounded by all the naked amazons, he felt like a god in one of the old tales. The water was warm and full of mana, which his body soaked in, his muscles relaxed and he was a complete bliss. Sasha was near him enjoying the water just like him, she looked like a goddess too, all wet and shining. Some of the younger amazons approached him their stairs reminded him of a pack of boys looking at a beautiful girl.
"Be careful of those young girls, they are not like the girls you are used to, I'll advise you to stay away from them until you can handle yourself a little better," said Sasha.
"How do you feel?" asked Sasha.
"Much better," replied Ash.
"You do seem to be absorbing a lot of manna, maybe we'll make this a regular occurrence," said Sasha.
"Now let's get out of here, the time limit is almost over, you better get back to where you were," said Sasha and they got out and dressed and headed back.
"Wouldn't it be weird if I just appeared all clean and my injuries healed?" he asked.
"yes, you look too different, the elves will notice they have sharp eyes, I'll do something about it," said Blade, and Ash fell into the pit again and reappeared back where he was, with Sarah standing with her back to him looking at the canyon. Sasha had done a quick spell on him to make him look more similar to before.
Sarah turned and looked at Ash after the battle her senses were very sensitive, she had felt some sudden movement behind her from Ash but when she turned he was standing calmly still, maybe even too still. He was much calmer suddenly like he hadn't just fought a battle. He must have been more experienced in this than she had thought earlier.
They waited for the others to come for half an hour when they spotted them coming back fast and with grim expressions on their faces.
"Did anybody find anything?" she asked.
"There was no need for us to separate, they are everywhere, down in the caves and cracks, we don't know their exact number but they are there probably in thousands," said Ben.
"They are not too hard to find but they have made the caves smartly, with lots of twists and turns and they are all interconnected, if we try to attack them there we will lose pretty easily," said Farin.
"We need to inform the council at once," said Ben. Farin and Aria looked troubled by that statement.
"What is it?" asked Sarah.
"This is the worst time this could have happened, the council is having difficulties agreeing on some things," said Aria.
"But this a matter of our people's safety, they fight all the time but they will agree on things like these," said Hailey.
"They used to but I am afraid things have gotten too far, why do you think they asked all of us to be his bodyguard inside the elven kingdom," said Farin.
"What are they fighting about?" asked Ben.
"It doesn't matter what they are fighting about, but what they are fighting for power," said Farin.
"But we will have to do something about this, if they attack, the city will be lost, there are thousands of people here," said Sarah.
"Different parts of the kingdoms come under different houses' protection, the soldiers are distributed similarly, and they will use this attack to their benefit and take over the weaker house's territory," said Farin.
"So what should we do now?" asked Ben.
"Barricade the city and wait for reinforcements, meanwhile we'll have to try to reduce their numbers," said Farin.
"Reinforcements, if the other houses won't help then where will we get reinforcements from?" asked Aria.
"Humans," said Farin.
"What?" Aria asked.
"Yes, that's why Roren went to the human king, your father asked him to negotiate a treaty," said Farin.
"Why didn't you tell me this before? We should have talked to Derek first, and I bet he doesn't know anything about it, he is gone south, we have no idea what the humans will do," said Aria.
"We'll see that later, we have a direct contact channel now, Roren there and Ash here, we can negotiate faster even under a siege," said Farin.
They should have told Derek though Ash, he would have never sent me otherwise, how was he supposed to negotiate on the human's behalf?
"I sense Maya coming with others, we'll not talk about the council in front of them, no need to cause unnecessary panic," said Farin.
They soon heard footsteps and Maya came out of the forest followed by other elves, at the head was the same guy that had come to meet Ash, Silv.
"What's this about a Goblin attack, Farin?" asked Silv.
They told him everything, the elves' faces got more and more troubled and scared when they heard the whole news. They were all looking panicked now, with a huge army of goblins below their feet.
"We need to go back, gather our forces, and launch an early attack," said Silv.
"No we need to take the stealth approach, we are much fewer in numbers, and it will take too much time to get enough help, from the kingdom, we need to barricade the city, set traps in the forest, and fight with our wits," said Farin.
They got back on their rides and rode back to the city. Silv left his men here and there in the forest as scouts to warn them of any development. It would take them an hour even at full speed to reach the city.
Ron didn't have to pack his bags because they were already packed. He stayed around Fiona making sure she was fine with going south. Her mother had had a long talk with her in private and she had been much better since then, she had a new fire and determination in her eyes and she seemed to suddenly respect his mother a lot. Vanessa came in the evening to talk to his mother, they'll be leaving at night together, it had been a while since he had seen her, he had admired her for a long time, she was the girl of his dreams, she wasn't much older than him and always talked to him fine and with respect unlike other subordinated of his mother who made fun of him behind her back. She never gave him any special treatment and he always had the pressure to live up to her name, but everyone just thought he had never had to work for anything and was his mother's little boy. He wanted to become an independent man and a great warrior and prove everyone wrong. He dreamt of becoming a great magical swordsman with a harem of beautiful girls around him, he had two faces on the girls, one of Vanessa and another of Fiona, and an elf too but with no face and a half-breed.
"Wake up, Ron!" Tina shouted and he jumped out of his bed breaking his dreams, he looked out the sky was dark, it was time to leave.