Chapter 90. Missing
In the elf nation of Vael’Thalas, closed land, the capital’s palace wrapped around the giant Aravel Tree, Nyssavel. Its huge branches formed a living hall.
A scholar elf, his face hard with worry, hurried through the shining halls, his robes flapping. He knocked on Queen Aeryn Vaelaris’s office door and stepped in, his eyes dark with bad news.
Aeryn sat at a desk made from Nyssavel’s living wood. Her blonde hair flowed like gold, but her hazel eyes flashed with anger and fear. "The reports," she said, her voice sharp and urgent.
The scholar bowed and set a stack of papers in front of her, each page full of names. "My Queen," he said, voice tight, "2,340 of our people are gone in the last four months. No clues, no tracks, it’s like they disappeared into nothing."
Aeryn shut her eyes, her breath quick and sharp. The number hit like a punch, a crisis tearing at her kingdom. Her people were scared, whispering about betrayal and danger. She was their strength, but even she felt unsteady. "What’s happening?" she muttered, almost to herself.
The scholar’s hands balled into fists, his voice shaking with anger. "Maybe humans were raiding us, selling our people as slaves."
Aeryn’s eyes snapped to him. "No. We have a pact with humans. Even their secret markets couldn’t take 2,300 elves without a sound. Someone inside is helping. A traitor. But why so many?"
Across the land, in the golden Council room of Zarethune’s royal palace, it was Chaos. Nobles, red-faced and scared, packed the room, their shouts echoing off marble walls. One lord, furious, threw a report across the table, papers scattering like leaves.
"Five thousand people?" he yelled. "Gone without a trace? This is no mistake, it’s a plot!"
The noise grew, accusations flying, until King Malgareth Vhalkor stood, his big frame and thick beard like a storm.
He slammed his fist on the table, the sound stopping everyone cold. "Enough!" he roared, voice rough with worry and anger. The room went quiet, the nobles’ faces pale, their anger turning to fear.