Book 9: Chapter 28
“I understand what you mean now, Your Majesty.”
We finally returned to the guest hall. Karana sat to one side and looked at me. She leaned her body forward and said, “You want to know about the North, correct…? To be frank, I myself do not know it well, since the routes leading to the North are primarily treks between the snowy mountains. There are few people who manage to reach the North, let alone those who can draw a map of it and return. However, I promise that I shall do my utmost to assist you. Although my palace is not grandeur, I do have confidence in our library, for it is where my husband’s lifetime of blood, sweat and tears is.”
“I’ll leave it with you, then, Karana. Even if you don’t have a map, I still want all the information you have on the North. Anything will do.”
We both stood up. Karana looked at me as if she was smiling, yet not. She said, “I do not quite understand why you want information on the North, as it is neither rich nor have there been any legends on it. Other than the anthropoids that attack us every year, virtually nothing is made there.”
“Anthropoids”
“Yes. During winter every year… well, perhaps it is winter all year round at Socina City from your perspective. During the few months when it is coldest in the year, anthropoids from the mountains will attack us from all sorts of unimaginable places for food. Sometimes, they even kidnap human women. Consequently, Socina City is under martial law during that time.”
I’ll be honest. I had no idea about that. I only knew that trolls attacked the elves. The elves had an army stationed in the North, though; therefore, it wasn’t a huge issue during the annual attacks. Socina City is just a small city. I doubt that their army is large enough to seal all of the routes. Since their army in the vicinity is managed by the Empress, Karana has no authority to command them.
‘Wait. Doesn’t that imply that I can’t head North from here, either? The mountain paths here lead to the North. Doesn’t that mean that the elves that were exiled to the North could actually have come here to Socina, and then returned to the south?’
‘Did those elves flee back here, or did they die in the North? Or did they not discover this route?’