“Allies?”, croaked the ancient, creaky being in an ancient, creaky voice.
“Nay, I’ll no’ call ye Allies. No’ yet at least, I reckon.”
The gnarled creature halted in mid-step, eyes ablaze with distrust. “Why you be callin on us, anyway? We captivate you.”
Dash also halted, keeping in time with the elder’s pace. “We are alike, and both captives. Let’s us help each other.”
The other made a guttural grunting noise in the back of his leathery throat. “Help. Well that’s a word I’ve not heard in a LONG time.” The sarcasm dripped fiercely as he grinned a painfull grin. “All y’alls be asking for HELP ev’rry day and it ain’t a comin. Not from me anyways.”
Dash started walking, testing the creature, to see if he would walk with him. He knew the ways of negotiation. The creature cocked his head slightly, then walked along with the Unicorn.
“You ain’t like t’ others.” The words came out like an accusation.
Dash nodded. “I can remember.”
The other whistled. “How fer back, then?”
Dash looked off in the distance. “As far as time goes.”
Another whistle from the aged one. Then again the throat-grunt, and a narrowing of his eyes. “I know you’se testing me. I heard you testing me. You here working for Him?” His voice raised a little in mini-panic. “You checkin on ol’ Aeshma are ye, now?”
Dash shook his head, “No. Well, yes I was testing you, but not for Him. For us. For all of us, your kind included.” He knew better than to lie to the elven prince. They could hear the echoes of thoughts, which is why He always knew when you were sleeping, when you were awake, when you were bad or good…
Aeshma snarled, interrupting Dash’s private thoughts. “Nay, youngun, what makes Him dangerous of all is not that. Any fool elf can know ‘when you do stuff’.” He scratched his side, the side where an old wound ached when he was frustrated. “Only He knows WHY. How else can he bribe them humanfolk with things only they knew they wanted?” He spat as if speaking of Him made his throat clench.
“That’s why, youngun, why He will always be a step ahead o’ ye.”
Dash was weary. He’d spent the day with that ancient elven powerhouse. The effort he spent keeping his wards up wore him down to the core.
But he was hopeful.
He’d not received affirmation that he’d get help when it was needed, but he also wasn’t turned in. Also it seemed he wasn’t followed as he made his way back to the shelter where his kind stayed. Just in time too, as the energy vibration of the gates started to re-assemble themselves into the impenetrable barrier that normally kept them all in a cage of pain. He knew how important pain was in keeping hope away from captives.
He’d learned of the ancients who normally remained invisible to his kind and others of mortal spirit. The Authorities. The ones who controlled entire cities with an invisible hand. They were masters in the art of politics and war. To tell the truth, these concepts were one and the same from the point of view of the Authorities. Destruction need not come down with the swipe of a club or double-headed axe. A word in the right ear is all that is needed sometimes.
These are those that Dash would be seeking out, and soon.