Chapter 102 (Patreon)

Chapter 102

Despite the minor uproar that’d occurred because of the system-wide announcement, the elves went back to singing solemn hymns somewhere outside the cabin he was staying shortly afterwards.  This was a to think about, and Riven sat there dwelling on it for a good amount of time before deciding to speak on this with Allie in detail later on.  No doubt she'd have a lot to say about the whole 'Chalgathi is an apocalypse beast' thing.

The main room of the large cabin was moderately sized, having a small circular table with an alchemy set atop it.  Chairs carved from oak were nestled up against the table and a basket of roots and fruit hanging from the ceiling.  Oddly enough a lot of supplies were hung from the ceiling in baskets, along with various herbs to give the cabin a thick smell of something akin to vanilla - but sweeter.  There was also a fur rug, a couple bows lined up against one wall, and one other half-open bedroom.  The windows were all very large and open to the air without any glass, though they all had shutters that you could latch closed to keep the elements out.

“Are you Riven?” a small, soft voice called up to him from the left.

He’d noticed the little figure watching him since he’d entered and could hear her heart beating from the room over, but he’d pretended not to know in order to see what she did upon his arrival.

It was a tiny blonde girl, a child, wearing a dress made of reeds.  She had two white flowers in her hair, which was braided back into pigtails, and she must have been somewhere between the ages of 6 and 9 years old.  She wore no shoes but hopped down off a stool where she was looking out one of the windows where other elves had gathered in the center of the village, circling a bonfire Riven couldn’t make out very well from here as they sang, and she headed over to look up at the vampire.

She squinted suspiciously, but nodded in affirmation only a second later.  “Yep, yep!  You’re Riven!  I’ve been watching you sleep today.  You snore.”

He looked down at her, snorted in amusement and got down to one knee, being eye level with the girl to kindly smile back.  “I am indeed.  Who might you be?”

“I’m Len.  I’m Ethel’s sister.”  The little girl held out a hand fearlessly to shake, expectantly glaring up at him with what he could only assume was a mischievous quirk to her lips.  “Nice to meet you!  I was told by Athela that this is how you greet people in your world?”

Raising an eyebrow at the fire in her eyes, Riven contained a laugh and took her hand in turn.  He was surprised his charisma didn’t seem to affect this little girl at all, though maybe being accustomed to his presence in her cabin for the day had done enough to let his presence go without concern.  “You’d be right.  It’s nice to meet you as well.  Ethel never told me she had a sister.”

“She didn’t!?  What!?”  Len threw up her hands in dismay and let out a very exaggerated sigh.  “It’s probably because I’m the favorite.  Can’t blame her.”

“Oh-ho!  Is that so!?”

“Yep!  Don’t tell her I said that though, she’ll eat all my cookies.”

“Where’d you get cookies?!”

“I made them with mother.”

“Genua, right?”

“Yep, that's my mother's name.”

“Can you tell me what’s going on out there?”  Riven hiked a thumb towards the crowds of adults that’d gathered around maybe fifteen yards off through the window in the center of the village.  Firelight from the bonfire flickered across their poorly concealed bodies, men and women alike.  Dirt and stone streets peeled off around bends between structures molded out of the trees themselves, many of the larger two story buildings being of medieval design but growing flowers or vines straight of the building.  Much of the village had been destroyed, including most of the tents, but over half of it still stood tall and it had a very nature-esq feel to it underneath the night sky.

Len’s face fell, and her shoulders slumped slightly.  “They’re singing the hymns for the dead while they burn the bodies of our fallen.”

Riven nodded, standing up straighter and staring out the window with the little girl.  Shoving his hands into his pockets, he continued to listen to the melodic songs of a flightless bird finding its way back to heaven.  It was definitely a sad series of songs, but they delivered a message of hope and triumph at the end of each set of verses.

Len pulled up her stool, and with all the strength she could muster - grunting all the while - she dragged one of the larger chairs over from the table and set it next to the window so that her stool and the chair were next to each other.

She got up on her stool, pigtails bobbing, and patted the chair while looking up expectantly at Riven.  “Whew!  I’m getting stronger!  Come sit.”

Jesus this kid was hilariously cute.  Snorting a laugh and being unable to keep it in this time, Riven shook his head.  “I’ve been laying down this entire time, I’ll stand but thank you so much for the thought.”

“Nope!  Mother says you’re still weak from fighting off the bad orcs.  You have to sit or I’ll get in trouble for not letting mother know you woke up.”

“You were supposed to tell her?”

“Yep!”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because I don’t want to go back out there.  It’s sad, and they’re making all the other kids sing.  I hate singing.”

“I bet you’re a great singer though.”

“I am but I hate it.”

Riven’s lips twisted with amusement, and then sadness before sitting down in the chair as Len had asked.  He put his hands on his knees and leaned back onto the wood with a plop, watching the firelight  flicker from the center of the gathering outside.  There were hundreds of elves out there, all of which on this near side had their backs turned to him - though he saw no trace of his minions or Dr. Brass.  Nevertheless the sound was soothing to his soul, even despite the sad undertones.

“My dad made that chair before Avan died.” Len abruptly stated out of nowhere, rubbing her hands together and staring out of the large window with a far-away gaze that told of visiting memories from long ago.  “I wish Avan was still here.”

Riven remained silent for a long time after that, not knowing what to say at first.  “Who is Avan?”

“He was my brother.”

Riven’s heart sank, and his fists tightened.  “Did he pass away recently during the battle?”

“Last year.” Len said with a frown, looking up to meet his gaze again with her hair blowing about when a strong breeze filtered through.  “Before the worlds merged.  He was killed protecting the village from raiders, that’s what mother says.  Father and Ethel didn’t take it well.  I didn’t either, but I'm better than they are.”

Riven’s gaze fell to the wooden floor beneath his feet.  “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok.  Father says he was a hero, and that there are far worse ways to be remembered.”

There was a long pause as Riven considered Len’s words.  He clasped his hands together in front of him, and nodded his agreement.  “I would certainly agree."

“I wish he was here now.  He’d beat up Elder Preen for us while father won’t.”

The surprised look Len got from Riven was more than enough to warrant further explanation from the little girl, and she pursued this topic rather aggressively without even being asked.  “Elder Preen comes to hit mother and Ethel when father is away.  He’s hit me too sometimes.”

The fuck?

“...I’m not sure I follow.  Could you explain what you mean?

The little elf girl with pigtails gave him a knowing look.  “Because he was a man and he wants mother and Ethel of course.”

Riven blinked.  “I don’t think I understand what you’re trying to tell me.  Who is Elder Preen and why would he hit you while your father is away?  Does your father know someone is hitting you?”

Len’s eyebrows rose, this time it was her turn to be surprised.  “He’s hitting us because our family owes him debts we can’t pay, he owns all this stuff, and Elder Preen ranks over father.  He sends father away on dangerous hunts on purpose, is what mother says.  Father can’t say no or we’ll be kicked out of the village for not paying our debts, and while he’s gone Elder Preen comes to visit us to spend time with Ethel and my mother Genua.  If they don't spend time with him while father is gone, he'll take everything we have for our debts or worse.”

The actual fuck?

“But does your father, Farrod, know this?”

Len shrugged.  “I think so.  But he doesn’t want to make it worse.  That is what mother says, but I’m not sure I believe her.”

Riven’s brows furrowed.  “Why are you telling me all of this?”

Ethel shot him a suspicious sideways glance, then shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Reasons.”

Riven glanced around, looking at all the belongings here and then back over to the little girl.  “Isn’t this house yours?  Doesn’t this chair belong to you, Ethel and your mother?”

Len shook her head.  “No, it belongs to the village elder Preen.  It used to be ours but our debts weren’t paid so he took it all and let us live here.  He’s trying to get father killed by monsters, to make mother and sister his next wives.  But we can’t leave, we wouldn’t have had anywhere to go.  It got worse since the worlds merged, because now we need the village for protection.  Father says we wouldn't be able to make it on our own.”

The involuntary facepalm hit Riven square in the center of his forehead, startling Len and causing her eyes to go wide as she simultaneously flinched.

Riven apologetically dropped his hands immediately after that when he realized he’d surprised the little girl.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

The brief moment of fear passed over Len and she adjusted herself in her seat once again to lecture him with a wagging finger like her mother no doubt did to her.  “Why’d you hit yourself?  Are you a masochist?  That’s not good, Riven.  Not good at all.  That’s how you get headaches.”

There were many things Riven wanted to say to that.  Amongst them were: How did she know what a masochist was?  Why are people such scumbags?  Why was he not surprised that some old guy would try to take advantage of their situation during a tumultuous time where Len’s father was indebted and a transition of worlds had occurred?  Was this ‘Elder Preen’ trying to force Genua into an affair and have her daughter Ethel do something similar while Farrod was out?  Farrod was a prick in the one interaction Riven had undertaken with the man, but if what Len was telling him was accurate he genuinely felt bad for the guy - if not angry that he hadn’t stood up to what was going on.

This kind of exploitation of the weak was becoming a trend now that the equivalent of an apocalypse had begun: with similar situations happening in his tutorial, the groups in Brightsville, and now here.

Utterly ridiculous.

So he took in a deep breath, still wondering why the little girl had brought this up to HIM of all people in the first place, and he asked Len a follow up question.  “Does this ‘Elder Preen’ live here with all of you when Farrod is gone?”

“No.  He visits a lot and spends the night sometimes with mother, but she doesn’t like it much and tries to make excuses so he’ll leave.  Sometimes they even argue in front of us, especially about Ethel or Father.  Or his wives try to make me do chores for them, or they say mean things to me.  I hate it when that happens.”

Len humphed loudly and crossed her arms with a sullen frown.

“Why would his other wives say mean things to you?  You’re just a kid.”

“I’m a BIG kid!”  Len glared over at him with a humph full of venom and animatedly re-crossed her arms in anger.  “I can do lots of things for them, that’s why!  Because I’m bigger now.  They think I’m not doing enough chores.  They always try to get me to do their work and I hate them.  I hate them lots.  Mother will tell them that I’m not their daughter and then they all yell at each other.”

Boy oh boy.  This all sounded like a Jerry Springer episode with a twist of fantasy.

The little girl raised a finger.  “You were really cool by the way.”

Huh?

Riven pointed to his chest in genuine surprise.  “Me?”

Len nodded eagerly and grinned, turned fully to face him as her stool rocked back and forth momentarily under the sudden movement.  “Yeah!  Mother says I shouldn’t like fighting but you and your minions were like, so fast!  And evil looking!  I thought orcs were scary, but you made them pee themselves!”

Riven gave a frown of concern, not wanting to give off bad vibes after having just gotten here.  “Surely I wasn’t that scary.”

“Yes you were!  You were even laughing!  I even saw the orc man pee himself right in front of me when I was chained up!”

“... Wait, I really made a guy piss his pants?”

“Yep!  A big green musclehead!  Then you beat him up and broke his teeth after that after you stopped firing magic.  Don’t you remember!?”

There was a long pause, the palpable excitement from the little girl somewhat bothering him but also giving him a sense of strange pride.  Should she really  be that excited about what he’d done?  Then again… why not?

“Alright, that's actually a milestone for me, so I’ll take it.”  Riven gave the little girl a playful wink and she loudly laughed, drawing the attention of some of the other elvish adults who were about to scold her - but that changed when they saw Riven sitting next to her in the window.

Their expressions varied between fear, relief, curiosity and surprise.  Thankfully the fear portion was far less than the other range of emotions shown, but their nearby comrades turned to see what they were looking at when they’d stopped singing.

It was like a wave-effect, with one person after another all stopping the hymns until all eyes were on him.

He stared back evenly in the awkward silence, meeting many of their gazes and finding Senna, Ethel and Genua in the crowd to his left waving his way- right before the crowd parted and two older elves stepped forward.  They were both ancient, each of them graying with wrinkles with one shorter hunchback and the other being rather tall.  They each had on ceremonial robes of vibrant greens and blues, distinguishing them from the rest of the scantily clad men and women in nature-esque attire on the periphery of the central bonfire that was now in full view since the crowd had parted.

One of the two old men stepped forward to greet Riven while leaning on a wooden staff, it was the hunchback and likely older man of the two elders.  He fumbled with his hands to put them together in front of his chest, and bowed low a lot like a buddhist monk would do.  “You’ve awakened.  I hope you’re feeling well, Riven Thane - The Hero of Greenstalk Village.  Do you mind stepping outside so that we can better see you?”

Riven blankly stared, then caught a jab in the side from the little girl Len who encouraged him into action with a whisper, and he stood up to step out of the window onto the grass outside.  A lake shimmered in the moonlight off to his left over a hundred yards away, silent ripples wavering back and forth where he could barely make out Azmoth lighting up the shoreline around one of the tree-built houses.  The majority of the village was still shaded from the night sky even here before the surrounding clearing in the near distance formed a village perimeter - and then continued on into forest again into the base of the mountains.

The hunchbacked elder extended a gnarled hand out in greeting, performing it uneasily as if it were the first time he’d ever done so - and Riven took his hand to shake.  “I hope I am performing the greeting right young man, forgive me if I am not.  We greet each other differently here.”

Riven’s red eyes traced the older man’s wrinkled face for any signs of emotion and only found sincerity there.  “You are doing just fine.  If you’d be so kind as to teach me how to greet another with your own customs, I could adapt.  I’d also like to thank you for your hospitality since I fell sick last night.”

“Oh.  So polite.” The other elder, a taller man with good posture and a slightly crooked nose said in a neutral expression.  He clasped his hands behind his back.  Long braided locks of white hair trailed past his shoulders on either side in the front and back.  “Not very common for… your kind.  In fact this is the first time I’ve ever talked to a vampire face to face without wishing him or her an immediate and savage death.”

“Indeed.” The hunchback agreed with a chuckle, letting go of Riven’s hand and taking in a deep breath.  “This is truly an odd situation.  Though let it be known that you will never again have to thank any of us.  We are in your debt forever for the things you did those few nights past, and we are all glad to see you have recovered.  My name is Elder Bren.  Ignore the jabs of Elder Preen, even though he does not like it - the village has spoken.  I have spoken.  You will forever be a friend and welcome here in our village.  Though many of us have died in the recent attack, none of us would be here in this village today without you.  As for our customs, we often greet each other by bowing with hands clasped in front of us.”

Elder Bren showed this by doing it himself, bowing low at the waist with clasped hands in front of his chest - and to Riven’s surprise many of the others in the crowd did the same as a sign of respect.  Riven evaluated the taller old man who stared back at him with a forced smile that didn’t even attempt to reach his ears.  Based on the body language as well as the words Elder Bren had just spoken, the hunchbacked elder was the more dominant power in the village.

Turning his gaze back to Elder Bren, Riven bowed slightly to repeat the gesture in turn.  “You have my deepest thanks.”

Elder Bren nodded once, then motioned back to the bonfire.  “We are finishing our hymns for the dead.  Afterwards though, now that you are up, I’d like to have words with you.  Have Ethel or Genua take you to my residence after the ceremony, and I will speak to you there.  Or Farrod, though I believe he was sent out on patrol.”

Riven raised an eyebrow at that last comment.

With the backstory the little girl Len had given him, Riven without a doubt noticed the mild sneer on Elder Preen’s countenance that shifted into a neutral stance just as fast as it’d come upon mention of Ethel and her mother.  Making a mental note to watch this one, Riven watched the elders take their leave and position themselves in front of the bonfire - with the crowd closing back around them soon after.

Though he did continue to get occasional stares while he waited inside.