Writing Practice

writing practice 1: Elves are really cool

Green. For as far around as the eye could see there was only green. Leafy branches, extending out into a massive canopy. Gleaming grass and thick bushes, fed by seemingly impossible dapples of sunlight filtering down from above. The plants shifted slightly in the wind, rustling. The colour of leaves changed as drops of water trailed down them from the recent rain rolled down them. The shapes and texture of different plants and the interplay of light and shadow as the sun, the wind and the tiny movements of forest creatures shifted the woods minutely. There were many shades and flavours in the forest, a palette which the crude tongue of humans could not well describe.

Minori did not blame the humans for their lack of words however. They after all did not know the forest as its inhabitants did, and so would never have had time to fully describe it. They would never have time in their mayfly lives to sit as she did, watching the forest through senses which were far sharper than theirs even without the enchanted blindfold that covered her eyes.

Besides, there were plenty of other things that you could blame them for.

The forest echoed to the tramp of feet and Minori looked down from her high perch, her shifting cloak fitting her seamlessly into the canopy's background. Feet clad only in a thin layer of enchanted silk shifted slightly on the rough wood of the branch as she gazed down at the column passing beneath her.

There were several score humans, each dressed in a faded red surcoat over rusty and ill repaired chainmail armour. Most were on foot, a few on horseback. It was not the humans that held her attention though, but rather the vastly taller figure stomping along in the centre of the formation. The golem looked to have been built from a cage of wood around a giant's skeleton. Some effort had gone into fitting large iron plates to the frame. A massive and rather ungainly looking helmet, far too big to be properly sculpted sat atop its head.

The golem looked back and forth, eyes glowing with the flame of the lanterns behind them. Minori frowned. That was certainly new. These were fighters of a local bandit lord by the looks of it, but the golem was a new edition. Shifting slowly, the young elf let out a cry, too high for human ears, her magic carrying it through the forest in every direction. A sound of warning.

The last human passed out of view and Minori rose, ran and jumped, the enchantments on her stockings lifting her in a superhuman bound. She dropped, falling below her last position, and flung out an arm, enchanted rope coiling from her hand. The rope snaked around a tree, changing Minori's course and letting her land easily then spring off again as the hook untangled. Her pattern zigzagged, keeping always behind the column of humans.

A few minutes later she caught sight of another cloaked form moving through the trees, again all but invisible, but highlighted by the enchanted blindfold she wore. The other stopped about a hundred meters away, easy range for Minori's eyes - especially with the blindfold, and raised both hands to talk.

<<Minori>> The other elf's hand moved in a complicated pattern. <<Should we attack yet?>>

<<Lirna.>> Minori's hands rose in reply. The first sign was greeting, the rest instruction <<When they reach the Blue Tor, then we'll take them>> she looked down at the humans below <<We'll attack the golem. Hopefully when it falls the rest will flee.>> She grinned under her hood. <<Let's give them a scare they won't forget!>>

<<You're so merciful Minori.>> Lirna signed <<Hey wait!>> Minori was already well ahead of her, jumping from tree to tree, her bow pulled from its leg holster and in her hands. The elf warrior shook the weapon once, snapping it out to full length, the string coiling around the end, ready for use.

Minori didn't need to look back to know her partner was following. She could hear the slight noises the other elf was making as she bounded after her. Drawing an arrow from the holster by her bow she quickly notched it, leaving the bow's silken string slack. The human column was slovenly as it moved, without even any observers looking backwards, not even an lookout platform on the back of the golem. That was good though, because any observer would be killed by the effect of the arrow.

Ahead a tall slab of unusual volcanic rock reared from the ground: the Blue Tor. It marked the boarder of the area where humans were permitted and as Minori approached, the back of the column just passing it. Beyond the tor there was a large area in which the lower canopy was absent. Most humans would not notice the difference, but to an elf it was obvious. Then again, the trees were crafted that way for a reason: to give people like Minori a clean shot. She leapt, cloak billowing around her and hanging for a perfect moment then drew and fired twice. Without even waiting to see if her arrows struck, the young elf spun in the air, a line snaking around the upper branch of a distant oak, yanking her into a new flight path to avoid any retribution the humans might launch. She heard the arrows though, two satisfying thunks as they struck the golem's wooden frame. The humans didn't know it yet but the battle was already over.

On the ground below, Gemmes the Baker Son, sworn man of the Duke of Foltenmer and just over eighteen summers old, scratched at his beard. He had heard rumours about the forest, they all had. Some told of the place as cursed. Others that there were great riches inside. Gemmes knew which ones the Duke believed, that after all was why he'd sent them. There was something about the woods he found off-putting though, a feeling that he was being watched.

He looked up and for a brief moment saw something flash by overhead, so fast he thought he'd imagined it. Then the golem began to howl, putting it's great hands to it's head. Its wooden frame distorting, as metal nails exploded free, iron plates hurtling off into the trees. The wood rippled, then green shoots exploded out and rammed into the ground. Men were running as the golem flailed, giant's bones crushed to powder as its limbs reached out, more green bursting forth from them.

Gemmes ran too, not knowing which way he was going as the mighty war machine turned into a vast tree behind him. Bushes tore at him as he crashed through them. Shouts, screams crashes still sounding from behind him. He kept going, then stumbled and tripped over a log, slamming into the ground hard enough to knock the breath out of him. Even this didn't bring him to a halt though as the soft earth of the bank he was on the edge of gave way, and gravity gave his armoured body a rough yank. Gemmes rolled and slid forward, wheezing, finally coming to rest with a painful bump at the bottom of the slope. Whimpering he rolled to his knees and tried to push himself up on a fallen log. Slowly he managed to rise enough to perch on the tree, wincing slightly and taking deep breaths, then slowly getting to his feet again and looking around.

The forest around him seemed uninhabited. He could hear birds, the rustling of leaves, his own breathing. Nothing from others who might have escaped the ambush... had it even been an ambush? Maybe it was just some enchantment of this place? He looked back up at the sheer bank. Foolishly he hadn't checked way he'd was running. He hadn't seen the bank when he'd entered the woods so he must have run deeper, or otherwise gone off the path.

Pulling the water skin from off the side of his knapsack, he took a long drink. Running at such a frantic pace in full armour and heavily loaded had been foolish. He looked back up at the slope but didn't fancy the climb. Instead he began to work his way along it, looking in both directions. To one side there was a clearing, and Gemmes saw something shining inside it. Carefully of his footing, he walked that way. Perhaps it was a spring where he could refill his skin.

When he saw what actually lay in the clearing though, Gemmes stopped, goggling.

Silver towers rose out of the woods, connected by gleaming streets of white marble. Trees and flowering plants grew in profuse gardens around the great buildings, stretching far over head. Between them graceful figures, clad in fine silks went about their business, chatting to one another in lyrical cadence.

Gemmes opened his mouth, then heard a slight sound behind him. He was still turning when blackness took him.