"From that direction it came," (Patreon)

Sam muttered, nodding his head toward a muffled cackle and a rustling of underbrush.

We both stared intently in the direction of the sound, but it went silent.

"Sure an' what is it yer lookin' at so intently, lads?" a scoundrelly voice asked right behind us.

I jumped, but Sam merely turned and said, "Estvan Silverbrush."  Was there a hint of nervousness in his voice?  "A long time it has been."

"Sam O'Yamm," Estvan replied.  "Sure an' it's the Adoyret ye are now, is it?  So ye returned to the monastery an' continued yer studies in spoite of all me sage advoice."

"Where have you been?" I asked, with no slight degree of perturbation.

"Begorrah, me boyo, sure an that's an interestin' question," Estvan replied with a smirk.  "One which oi could just as easily be askin' yerself - except it's knowin' oi am, with a fair degree o' certainty, that it's roight here ye've been fer almost the whole toime.  And not easy fer me to get here either, at all at all.  Sure an it seemed loike the forest itself was tryin' to prevent access."

"You won't tell anybody, will you?" the trees rustled plaintively.  "We're supposed to be keeping Adler isolated, but both of you foxes were too sneaky."

"Oho, so it's sneaky oi am, is it?" Estvan chuckled.  "Loike a Vulpitanian, ye moight say?"

Suddenly he whirled around and clocked me upside the head with his shillelagh.  I fell down, both hurt and surprised in equal amounts.

"Ye asked where oi was, ye blatherskyte," Estvan snarled.  "Well it's the devil knows how long oi was trapped in a tree BY ME OWN DAUGHTER, and who is it moight've put her up to that, oi wonder?"

He gave me fierce kick in the ribs and kept talking.

"Well, blessin's o' Fuma, fer darlin' Sofie's trap to work, she had to be in there with me.  Oi bored the poor lass out o' her skull with daft stories til foinally she could take no more, an' in order to escape she had to release the both of us.  Pooked roight off, she did, without even a by-the-bye.  Sure an it's worried oi was about the course o' the battle, consarned oi was fer me friend an' protege .."

He kicked me again.

"Oh how oi fretted, me boyo!  'Oi do hope Adler's all roight,' oi said to meself as oi hurried on to Albric Tor, only to foind it poisoned in a green fog o' death .. two armies and a city full o' innocent elves, killed in the most Unseelie manner imaginable .. King Estmere murthered on his throne .. all Faerie in a shambles .. Gaps everywhere .. elves adrift, cut off from home an' from one another .. the Duchess loose .. me lovely woife an' son lost Fuma knows where, maybe aloive an maybe not .. an' all o' this the work o' ONE WHITE FURRED MONSTER!  Sure an oi've always trusted the Lady, but sure an she made a mistake with you!  A mistake oi'll quickly correct!"

He raised his shillelagh for a crushing blow, and as it came whistling toward me, I wriggled aside.  I grabbed the end of the stick as it struck the ground.  Before Estvan could react, I yanked his shillelagh away from him, spun around, and whacked him hard right in the knee.  He went down with a yelp, and I sprang to my feet.

I grabbed the Mephitist amulet on his chest and lifted him up by it.

"YOU LEFT WHEN I NEEDED YOU!" I bellowed, thumping him awkwardly in the ribs with the shilleleagh.  "THE BATTLE BEGAN SOONER THAN EXPECTED, AND MY TRUSTED ADVISER WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!"  (thump thwack)  "I DIDN'T KILL ESTMERE!  HE WAS ALREADY DEAD!  EDESSA KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED, BUT SHE TRAPPED ME HERE AND SPREAD A FALSE RUMOR!"  (whack smack)  "THE PLAGUE OF BATTLES WAS AN ACCIDENT!  I DIDN'T MEAN TO USE IT, BUT THE DUCHESS AND THE VULPITANIANS SET ME UP!  AND YOU WEREN'T THERE TO PREVENT IT!"  (whump thud)  "NOW I'M TRAPPED HERE WITH NO FOOD AND NO CONTACT BUT SAM AND A COUPLE OF LOWFOLK I KEEP LOSING DUE TO TIME SKIPS, AND NO WAY TO CLEAR MY NAME!"

"STOP LAD, STOP!" Estvan shrieked in what seemed to be genuine terror.  "Sure an ye've broken me kneecap an' cracked me ribs, an it's ENOUGH!  Oi yield!  OI YIELD!!  Ye'll not beat an old elf to death with his own shillelagh, not if ye claim to be Seelie at all, at all!  Please, Adler, have mercy!"

Suddenly I was appalled by the fear in the old tod's eyes, and I dropped him with a shudder.

"Boi the Lady," Estvan groaned as he lay in the grass and clutched his knee.  "What is it ye've been teachin' the lad, Sam, ye spalpeen?"

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