�More blood spilt today. Why must there always be death in Condalwood these days?�

Gorith looked at him sharply, and used baby Mourn to cover her mouth and hide her laughter. She then replied light-heartily to her stern-looking husband.

�Don�t ye be so mendacious, Uriong Trueflight! Both of us know that ye thrive on the battling� ye are a fighter by blood, as am I a ranger. And ye take more pleasure in the slaying of the dwarfs of the Underdark than you do in the rearing of our own son, Uriong.�

�Aye, I�ll agree with ye there�� Uriong replied, �But ye know the Duergar cannot be allowed to keep visiting Chondalwood. In the long run warriors like ourselves are protecting the futures of Mourn and all the young Elflings of his generation. Surely ye cannot disapprove of that!�

Gorith looked down at the sleeping Elf child in her arms, and she could not disagree with Uriong. She tapped the longbow at her side, knowing in her heart that it had and would be the cause of many Dwarfish deaths. Gorith, though a talented ranger and marksman, was a very beautiful Elf lady. Now she wore a long flowing robe of brown and green, which was actually an Elven cloak designed with the purpose of hiding and stealth. Gorith had flowing blonde hair, and deep brown, almost irresistible, eyes. With these eyes, Gorith looked into her husband�s eyes� his eyes were filled with blood lust simply at the thought of what he had just been saying. It had been three red sunsets since their hunting patrol had met with the Duergar dwarfs of The Underdark, and he was becoming more and more eager for the Duergar to meet his trusted rapier�s blade once more. Gorith replied:

�Yes, that is so. But it hath been three nights since the Duergar last attacked� perhaps this means they have fled Chondalwood?�

Uriong was a strong and tall Elven fighter. He had long, white hair down to his shoulders, as was Elvish tradition. He now wore a long coat of Mithril chain to protect his body from any oncoming attack. Uriong did not wear his chain mail beneath any clothing though. He was proud of his Mithril coat, it was an heirloom passed down through the Trueflight family, and had saved the lives of his forefathers in many battles gone by. At Uriong�s side as always was his well-decorated Elven rapier, another prized possession of Uriong�s, which would one day be passed onto his first son, Mourn. But right now, Uriong was not convinced with his wife�s suggestion and he told her so.

�Nay� Chondalwood is not rid of the likes of the Duergar yet, m�lady. Ye hath seen the red suns� it seems more and more each day that it is rising redder than it went down. There is still bloodshed in Chondath, I�d wager my blade on it. And if I�m not mistaken, my love, this is but the calm before the storm.�

Gorith could not argue with her soulmate�s words. She knew deep down he was right, but she her motherly instincts over-powered her ranger ones in this instance� she hoped more than anything that Chondalwood had seen the last of the Duergar.

-

Young Mourn Trueflight did not sleep well that night. He awoke more than once to disturb his mother. But Gorith was not sleeping. She was a ranger, and her instincts now were alerted more than ever. Her pointed ears, the only indication of her race, twitched nervously. She knew inside that there were not alone in Chondalwood. Uriong had fallen to slumber hours ago, his rapier in his hand. Perhaps baby Mourn could sense it also, or perhaps he was just hungry. But nevertheless, he cried now louder than all night. Gorith could not, as she would usually, silence her baby son. And now she was growing uneasy with the noise his wailing could attract. Gorith rocked Mourn backwards and forwards in her arm, and instinctively raised her longbow across her arm. She plucked at the bowstring anxiously.

Perhaps she was imagining it, but she would have sworn on her forefather�s names that she had heard a sound like footsteps just east of their campfire� the campfire! Gorith put out the flames with a swift handful of mud. The fire went out with a hiss, and the camp was at once filled with darkness. This was no worry for Gorith though� she could see as well with her ears and senses as she could with her eyes. Gorith knelt down beside her sleeping husband, and whispered to him.

�Uri! Uriong! Wake up!�

But her whispered cries were unheeded. Gorith knew of only one-way her husband might be awakened. She swiftly yanked the rapier from Uriong�s limp hand, and instantly the warrior Elf was conscious, and he had his wife�s arm locked in a hold and his rapier at her throat. But upon realising just whom he had pinned to the mud, Uriong released his grip and removed his blade point from Gorith�s throat. He spoke in a whisper:

�What is going on? Are they here?�

�I know not, but there is someone� something� here. I heard it,� Gorith replied.

Uriong trusted his wife, and said no more. She had not been wrong thus far. Uriong clutched his rapier tightly� he did not appreciate combat in almost complete darkness, but it was too late to stop that now. And perhaps there was a chance that the �intruders� would pass them by in the darkness anyway. Uriong fell.

Pierced in the leg by a rough bolt form a crossbow, Uriong Trueflight found himself sprawled on the floor. He had not seen anything approaching them, and the shot took him by surprise. Gorith heard the bolt shoot past her head, and she instinctively ducked and rolled, taking care not to crush baby Mourn beneath her as she did so. She placed her son in some leaves beneath a tree, and kissed him gently on the forehead. At least his crying had ceased, and he blinked unsurely as his mother fitted an arrow to her longbow. Her first shot took a Duergar dwarf through the head as he lunged toward Uriong. The dwarf fell, slain. Gorith fitted a second arrow, and a second dwarf fell down dead. Uriong had got back to his feet, leaving the bolt sticking form his leg to prevent blood loss. Uriong�s rapier sliced the air, and a Duergar�s neck in the process. The next swing took an axe-wielding arm from yet another Duergar dwarf. The dwarf took what may have been a death throw at Uriong, butting him in the gut with his helmet, and so driving the wind from Uriong�s gut.

Gorith had already slain three dwarfs as they made attempts on her life. She realised that dying was not an option� she had a young Elfling that needed her. Mourn could not survive the world without her, she knew this. Particularly not in the depths of Chondalwood with the Duergar all around him. But this distraction took Gorith Trueflight�s mind off her slaying for just a split second, and she immediately found herself with two Duergar on her back. Her quiver of arrows had already been spilt on the floor, and she had only one arrow in her hand. That arrow found itself in an unlucky dwarf�s eye.

Uriong had taken the blow from the helmet well, and that helmet was now rolling on the floor, with a dwarf head still lodged inside. Two swishes of a rapier met two unlucky Duergar, and the death count was increased by two. Uriong looked over in time to see his wife dragged to the floor by two Duergar dwarves, and then his vision was clouded� a bolt had struck him in the eye! Uriong staggered backwards� and two bolts struck his chest. His vision was fading, and his rapier dropped from his fist� he looked towards Gorith and shouted to her his final word.

�Survive!�

And Uriong Trueflight was gone from this world and to another where all his thoughts would mean nothing. Gorith was fighting with more than one Duergar dwarf now. She heard her husband�s shout, and she only wished she could grant his final wish. But the odds seemed against it, and when she felt the point of a spiked axe pierce her gut, she knew she was going to meet her husband soon. She shot a last glance at her son, young Mourn Trueflight. That was a mistake that Gorith would rarely make. A mistake that would cost her.

The Duergar dwarfs had maliciously killed the Trueflights� but one. And they had also seen Gorith�s final glance at her baby son, sat helplessly in the leaves. He had witnessed it all, and although he was too young to understand death, he felt sorrow� he saw his parents laid out on the floor� an arrow stuck from his father�s eye� a blood stain had ruined his mother�s Elven cloak. Mourn was lifted roughly from the pile of leaves, and held just inches from a mouldy smelling Duergar dwarf. The dwarf looked over the small, squirming Elfling. It spoke:

�A �orrible Elfling� take it to the caves, it can do some labour in Underdark!�

The Duergar laughed� the thought of an Elf working for them amused them greatly. And before Mourn Trueflight knew what was happening to him, he was locked in chains and carried off through Chondath to be sent way below ground level to The Underdark.

--

The scene is different. In fact, it is quite a comparable difference. A lush green hill overlooks a reasonably sized town, headed by a tall, wooden gate and surrounded by a lush green forest. On this hill, longbow at his side, sits a middle-aged Elfling, with long white hair and very pale skin. He is topless and, curiously, tattooed distinctly on his chest in black and red is a symbol of the Duergar. The elf sits� remembering all.