Chapter 708: A Bruised Heart Hath No Mercy
Ever since he’d learned about the deal between the monarchs of the city and the hero of afar, Elowen’s mind has been anxious. He’d tried to distract himself with mapmaking and completing the job that had been provided to him by the same hero that plagued his mind. But no matter what he tried, his quivering fingers wouldn’t let him finish anything. Thus, tired of wasting time, he brought his daughter to the front of the shop and with her sitting on his lap, he guided her fingers to practice mapmaking with him.
Her strokes were whimsical, almost as if she was intentionally messing them up. But in reality it was her inner child guiding her, turning the parchment into a playground for the pencil. Her father did not mind, she didn’t have to perfect, as long as she was willing to learn. For one day he would be gone and although an elf lives a thousand years and maybe more, he had doubts that he would live that long.
"That’s it, that should be good enough." Patting her arms from the side, he lifted her from his lap and began guiding her towards the door that connected their shop and their house. The young girl resisted going away just yet, but knowing that the hero would come today, he didn’t give her a choice and forced her to retreat behind that wooden door. "Be a good girl and read, will you? I brought you that book that you wanted so don’t let it rot on the shelf."
The mention of the book put a pep in the little girl’s steps. She didn’t waste another second before disappearing into their home. Locking the door, Elowen sat back down on his workbench and turned his chair towards his desk. Picking up the pencil with his eyes bored into the map made by his daughter, he decided to curb some kinks and bring it a little closer to perfect.
’Maybe we should leave this place.’ However, even as he worked, his mind wouldn’t let up. ’If that hero fails against the general then this place is doomed and that fucking god is already of no use. We should escape while we have the chance, I can probably get one of the informants to shortlist a few routes to those island cities, Lantherem and the other ones.’
To escape into the hell’s ocean was a tempting prospect compared to what waits for them if the hero and his army fails to kill the demon general. In any other circumstance, the mere thought of making another trip through the desert after losing his wife to it would’ve sounded insane to Elowen, but right now it felt like the most sensible thing to do.
Distracted by his thought, Elowen leaned onto the map engrossing himself in it. His mind was distracted by his fingers now working comparatively better than before. Correcting the lines drawn by his daughter, he carved each stroke with vivid memories of where each sand dune rose and fell. Even knowing the height of each and everyone, he was so long in memory that he never noticed a shadow being cast over the parchment.
"Hey..." Faking a cough, Dandelion–the owner of a shop not far from there, tried to get the elf’s attention. "I...Uhmm, I need your help with something."
Her voice instantly rang an alarm in Elowen’s head, and before even looking up he reached under the desk and with a swift jolting movement he brought that knife right under Dandy’s chin. When he got across the desk and how he even managed to catch her so off guard, the dark elf had no clue, but one thing was for sure, any sudden movement was bound to separate her head from the rest of herself.
"Heyheyhey! I-I know you hate my kind but please just listen!" Her faint Adam’s apple bobbed as she tried gulping her angst. Yet the knife didn’t leave her throat, and Elowen leaned closer to her ears and whispered.