Chapter 13
The Resolution
Princess Alahara stood at the edge of the stage for several moments, her eyes scanning the assembled crowd before her. She had never spoken to such a large group of people before, but she pushed her worries aside as she decided how to rouse support for the coming war.
“I am honored to address you today,” Princess Alahara began. “While I cannot be sure of all of the reasons that I have been chosen to speak, I would like to think it is because of my special knowledge about the human world and the Island of Darkness. I have been to the Island of Darkness two times. The first time, my sister and I managed to rescue two village elves from Etta. It was a very harrowing experience for all of us. It is sad for me to report that many elves have been enslaved on the Island of Darkness. There are generations living there that have never seen Elvangar, and they probably never will. When an elven slave no longer performs adequately, Vand’s creatures have sport with them. They tear the elves apart, or eat them while they are still alive. I want each of you to dwell on that image for a moment.”
Alahara paused for a long time to give her sister time to reach the throne room. The citizens murmured among themselves while they waited.
“Can any of you imagine being eaten alive by a creature that resembles an enormous ape?” she continued. “Can you imagine your loved ones suffering such a fate? I have been asked to tell you my views of this coming war. Well here are my views. If Vand suddenly decided not to attack the humans, I would urge the king to gather the elven armies to attack the Island of Darkness. It would probably result in an enormous defeat for the elven people, but what kind of people are we when we can sit home safely knowing that these vicious barbarians are torturing our kin? How can we think highly of our civilization when elven families are slaves on a nearby island?”
Some of the elves started to shout in agreement with the princess.
“A few moments ago,” Alahara continued, “I watch thousands of elves march into this city, proudly bearing the banners of family names. I would be willing to wager that each and every one of those families has some kin on the Island of Darkness right now, kin who are being beaten, tortured, and murdered. Is this something that we should allow to continue?” she asked, her voice rising to a shout.
Thousands of people shouted no, and Alahara nodded appreciatively, her face a grim hardened mask.
“I don’t think we should abandon our kin to such a fate,” declared Princess Alahara. “King Avalar wants to join the humans to defeat Vand. I say we should go one better. Not only should we help the humans to defeat that despicable elf-killer, but we should invade the Island of Darkness and free our family members from bondage.”
Again the princess paused, but this time she wanted her words to sink in. She looked at the faces of the protesters in particular. She wanted to know if she was affecting even some of them. She could not tell.
“What about these humans that want our help?” asked the princess. “You know very little about them except for the ancient stories of deceit, but I need to remind you that that deceit was foisted on us by Vand, not the other humans. I am not saying that the humans cannot be deceitful, because they can be. In fact, they can be as deceitful as elves.”
More than one person in the audience chuckled, although Alahara had not meant it in a humorous way.
“I have spent most of my life among the humans,” Alahara continued. “There are good humans and bad ones, just like us. I was fortunate to know all three of the human rulers personally during my stay in the human world. They are of a character that any decent elf would appreciate. They are people of the caliber of our king, and words alone are not adequate to express how I feel about King Avalar. The elves are fortunate to have such a fine leader, but you already know that. Let me get back to the humans. A short time ago, the humans were fractured and fought among themselves. Three prophesized leaders have arisen to unite the humans so that they can defend themselves against Vand. Some of you may see this as a threat. You may fear that the humans will learn the location of Elvangar and seek to destroy us. Your fears are ungrounded.”
Loud murmurs showed that the people did not believe her words. Alahara frowned and continued.
“The humans already know where Elvangar is,” declared Alahara. “They have known since the time of Kieran. It was humans who told my sister and me the way to the Gates of Elvangar. So why haven’t they invaded us? Do you want to know why?”
The crowd roared in the affirmative, and Alahara felt that she was back in control of the crowd. She smiled at the audience.
“They didn’t attack us,” continued the princess, “because they have always considered us their friends. They made a pact with Kieran two thousand years ago to break off relations between the elves and the humans until the time was right. They have kept that pact. Now they face certain ruin without our help. Are we going to refuse them? Are we going to say thank you for being our friends and respecting our pact, and oh, good luck with the destruction that is about to befall you? We’d like to help, but you frighten us.”
“That is not the point,” shouted a citizen. “It is not our war. Let the humans destroy each other. You would not expect them to come and save Elvangar if we were threatened. Why should they expect us to do so?”
“A valid question,” nodded Princess Alahara. “Let me answer it. If Vand suddenly changed his plans and decided to attack Elvangar first, should we expect the humans to come to our aid? I certainly would, and I will tell you that I would not be wrong in my expectation. The humans would come without a whole lot of discussion about it. They understand the evil that Vand represents. They know that Vand will never be happy with conquering only a portion of the world. Vand wants it all.”
The questioner did not appear to be convinced and Alahara shook her head.
“You who asked the question,” Alahara pointed to the man, “if I asked you to come with me to the Island of Darkness this afternoon, would you come?”
“What for?” asked the man.
“To rescue a man held in the dungeons of Vand’s temple,” answered Alahara. “You don’t know the man personally. In fact, you have never heard of him, but he is very dear to me. I think I could get two others to join us. Will you come?”
“Are you crazy?” shouted the man as others around him laughed. “No one is going to go to that island with only three others. Your speech did make me ashamed that we have let our elven brothers languish on the Island of Darkness, but you can’t expect anyone to throw their lives away for your friend.”
“You answer is understandable,” Alahara smiled tautly, “and I do not fault you for lack of courage. It would be a suicidal venture. But how then can you explain my sister’s call for help when we set out to rescue King Avalar? There were only three of us in that ancient elven ship, yet Alastasia and I were determined to rescue our father. Brave Tamar went with us, but we knew that three was not enough to get the job done. We needed at least four people to make our plan work. Alastasia asked one of her human friends to join us on that suicide mission. He was told that he would probably die trying to rescue the King of the Elves. Yet he volunteered to come.”
The crowd murmured loudly. Many people knew that the princesses had rescued the king from the Island of Darkness, but not many of them had ever heard the story of it. They had not known that a human had been involved.
“Even better,” Alahara continued, “when our human friend joined us in Angragar, the human leaders offered to send a human army instead of us risking our lives. They were willing to risk their own lives to save the King of the Elves. We refused the offer because we thought that four us was the perfect number for the task, but we ran into trouble after rescuing Avalar. Vand’s army was on our heels as we raced to the beach where we had hidden our boat. Do you know what saved our lives?”