Page 21 of Blackwood Milk Farm #7

Elven Honor

Asher’s hand clutched at his sheathed dagger.

Sontar lifted his palm out and fingers up.

“Calm yourself, Lord Blackwood. You will make the people of this town nervous,” the elf said with a sly smirk.

Asher glanced around at the people going about their late afternoon. A few looked over with questioning stares, but their glances relaxed when Asher relaxed.

“There. We live in civilized times and we should act accordingly,” Sontar said with a haughty tone.

Asher kept his hand to the dagger with a relaxed stance.

If I attack him, the town will be our battleground.

“Civilized? You kidnapped Elara. You used your own students to help guard her thinking they were protecting her, when they should have been protecting her from you,” the last word coming out with a dark edge.

Sontar kept his sly smirk.

“Doesn’t love make us do crazy things in the moment?”

“Crazy moments don’t lead to snatching a person away,” Asher growled.

Sontar’s gaze narrowed. “Elara was in my employ. I have the right to investigate her disappearance and get some answers. Please see it from my side; to think she found a farm that connected her to the Mother, and fall in love with some human is preposterous. I could hardly believe it myself if I wasn’t standing in this beautiful valley town.”

The elf turned and looked around with intrigued eyes.

“Mist Valley is marvelous. I have been here a few times and the locals have been quite helpful, especially after I told them I am a friend of your beloved,” the elf said as he faced Asher once again.

Asher’s glare was sharp enough to cut stone. “You do not belong here, or anywhere near Elara.”

Sontar put a gloved hand to his chest. “You wound me, Lord Blackwood. Shouldn’t that be her choice?”

Asher’s kept his glare, knowing she didn’t want him there either.

Sontar lifted his chin and he looked down on the former guild ranger. “Let’s face facts, you and your beloved don’t wish me here, but you don’t own the town. I can come and go as I please and there is no reason to stop me. I may buy a villa, or have a large dwelling built here. A simple teleport spell can bring me here and back to the academy with just a few arcane words and a gesture.”

Sontar’s gaze took in a knowing gleam.

“Lord Blackwood, I am patient. I am powerful. I can outlive you. You are a pet to her. She will love and adore you until your strength fades. When you become feeble, you will become a burden. She will ask herself if what she felt was ever true. And when you perish, she will mourn you for a few years. After that, she will return to my waiting arms. I will soothe away her pain and she will realize I was always there for her.

“My power is clever patience. There is nothing you can do. Time is not on your side, but it is on mine.”

Asher’s fist tightened. Never in his life did he want to punch such a smug elven face.

“Do…it,” Sontar said with a wicked tone. “Punch me. Slap me. Show your beloved town the animal you are. Perceptions will change and they will keep their distance. Be the primal animal you are and make your attempt, Lord Blackwood.”

Asher’s fist vibrated for a moment before it relaxed. He opened his hand and looked the smug elf in the eyes. A thought filled his mind and it was Asher’s turn to smile.

“What could bring a smile to your face?” Sontar said with guarded eyes.

Inside The Wine Library, Elara was pouring wine into a glass for a patron when she glanced to the side. She gasped as she saw Asher and Sontar, nearly nose to nose on the street.

Without a word, she put the wine bottle down and rushed out of her shop. She emerged onto the street, her heart in her throat. She hurried over until she halted about ten feet from the pair.

“Tell me,” Sontar said with a harder tone.

“Stop this nonsense!” Elara shouted.

Asher and Sontar turned to the beautiful elf.

Elara looked at both and immediately moved to Asher’s side.

Sontar’s gaze took on a hard edge as he stared at them both.

“Sontar, you are not wanted here!” Elara said with conviction.

The elf rolled his eyes and smiled.

“Yes yes, your paramour has said as much, but as I told him, I’m in love with this town and thinking of buying property here.”

Elara’s eyes turned into a hard glare. She glanced around, seeing some of the townsfolk looking over at the three of them.

“Sontar, the three of us can speak, but at the edge of town,” Elara said.

The elf looked at Elara, then to Asher, and then back to Elara.

“I suppose we can discuss beyond the earshot of the town. I don’t want to bother my future neighbors.”

Elara looked at Asher and he nodded. She took his hand and they walked in the direction of home. Sontar followed.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the edge of town where there were little to no people.

Sontar looked at his gloved hand as he spoke, “Now that we are on the edge of town, what nonsense do you wish to say?”

“Leave and never come back,” Elara said with emotion.

“You keep saying that like it will come true. Oh no dear Elara, I am here to investigate for the empire and write my report. There is something afoul going on with these black books and wild gates. I will discover their nature as I sit in my new home within Mist Valley.”

Sontar stood at attention, his hands now behind him and his regal magus robes.

“Unless you come back with me and leave this all behind? I will terminate the investigation and all will be as it once was.”

Elara looked at the elf with incredulous eyes. Fear gripped her as the mage was not backing down. She looked over to Asher. His gaze spoke more than words could say. She let out a soft exhale and stepped back.

Asher stepped closer to Sontar and stared into his bored oval eyes.

“Are you an elf of honor?” Asher asked.

Sontar looked at the human man with annoyed eyes. “Honor is my life. Only the honorable may serve the empire.”

Asher nodded. “If we are at an impasse, how about a wager?”

Elara let out a stark laugh.

Sontar’s gaze took an interested gleam. “A wager?”

Asher nodded.

“A contest to win the affections of Lady Moonwhisper. Clearly, the stronger and most clever of us is what she desires. Let’s put our strengths and knowledge to the test.”

“I’m listening.”

Asher continued, “A simple wager. We both must collect a gem from a location and bring it back to my estate. We will both be handicapped to make it fair. The first one to bring the gem back to Elara is the winner.

“We will have to further work out the rules, but I see no other way of making a decision without killing each other first,” Asher said, matching Sontar’s regal tone.

The elf looked at Asher with suspicious eyes. “When?”

“Three days from now,” Asher smiled.

Sontar tapped his cheek, deep in thought.

Elara looked over with disgusted eyes.

Asher kept his gaze even.

Sontar held out his arm to Asher. The lord grasped the elf’s forearm and gave it a hearty shake.

“We have a wager,” Sontar looked at Asher like he already won.

“Return on the morning of the third day. We will discuss the rules and have our contest.”

Sontar smirked as he turned his attention to Elara.

“Do not fret, beautiful Elara. After I win this bet, we will visit the valley as a couple.”

Elara sneered as she looked away.

Sontar looked at Asher before he whispered an arcane word and vanished before their eyes.

Asher turned to a very angry elf marching toward him.

“A wager. A wager!” Elara shouted as she reached him.

Asher embraced her with love in his eyes. She struggled in his embrace, her eyes filled with rage.

“I’m not some cattle to be bargained over. We should have told him I will be having your child.”

Asher let go enough to gently take hold of the sides of her head and leaned his forehead against hers.

“My beautiful Elara. If we told him, he would have made things worse. I had to use his honor against him. Now we have time to plan.”

Elara looked into Asher’s handsome features, her anger subsiding.

“He is too powerful. Even if he is handicapped, he has many spells to aid him to victory.”

“He is a stranger to our valley. I know the woods like the back of my hand. I could make my way to the wild gate and back blindfolded in the deepest point of night. With a few more tricks, and clever planning, it will be me returning with the gem and ending this obsession of his once and for all.”

Elara pulled away and looked in the direction of the setting sun to the west. Light bathed her features as tears filled her eyes.

“A contest will not stop him from desiring me. If he knows we will have a half-elf child, it will destroy him. He will leave us and never return, disgusted at my decision.”

Asher came up from behind, his arms wrapping around and holding her close to him.

“Do I hear a hint of regret?”

Elara shook her head. “No, no regret. This play of ours has been a delight, but I am eager to be finished with it. I want you to know what to expect for our future.”

“I don’t need any stones to know who wills a child from our unions,” Asher chuckled. “We cannot hide each other from each other.”

“And they know who you want a child with,” Elara said as she leaned her head back a little to his embrace.

“Unlikely,” Asher chuckled.

Elara giggled in his embrace before a solemn gaze filled her eyes.

“One way or another, Sontar will leave us alone. Leave me alone. If we must bury his body behind the barn, I will gladly pick up a shovel.”

“There’s the elf I love,” Asher whispered and then kissed her neck.

Elara let out a soft, sultry gasp.

“Soon all our troubles will end and new adventures will await us.” Elara said with a loving whisper.

“Thank the Mother,” Asher muttered as he kissed Elara’s neck in the magical light of another magnificent sunset.