[i]They're only humans. They live for a few decades, rape, murder, and pillage everything in sight, then die. They breed like rabbits; kill one, and ten more spring up. What's one human for the life of an elf? Their lives are meaningless. Besides, if you help them, they'll just turn around and bite you like the snakes they are.

Let them go.[/i]

And let them go she did. Erudessa raced for the Gap and didn't look back. Somehow, the woods seemed darker than they used to. Dead leaves shattered underfoot, and their decomposing smell rose to assault her nostrils. Half-eaten bugs, fly-infested corpses, and trees beset by termites filled her vision. Cries rang out from all corners of the forest, the sounds of lives suddenly and horribly extinguished. Rotted roots sprang up to bury her, and branches reached out like skeletal hands to slap her in the face. Erudessa plodded on, wiping moisture from her eyes and then clawing at them when the dirt invariably corrupted them.

[i]Let them go.[/i] Those words seemed like curse to her now. Whenever she uttered those words, whether in her mind or aloud, she always turned into a sobbing mess afterward. Even now, when so many lives depended on her, she could not regain sufficient composure to hear the Imperial army approaching until it was almost on top of her. It was only their war cries that awakened her senses. Realizing she'd lost precious time, she gathered her strength and raced harder for the Gap. Her squad wouldn't last long without her telekinetic magic and potent traps to back them up. "Yanduin, Bethdul, retreat!" Erudessa commanded into the bracelet. No response. She tried again. "Yanduin, Bethdul, acknowledge!" No response. [i]They're dead, and it's all my fault,[/i] she thought to herself.

The gray mountains of the Gap sprang into view. Erudessa charged into the clearing and cupped her hands to her mouth. "The enemy is upon us! The enemy is upon us!" she wailed. Frandur, who'd been standing watch with the requested pile of scraps, turned and blew his horn. Erudessa stopped at the scrap pile, stretched out her hands at her sides, and raised them. The scraps floated in mid-air. [i]Time to put my practice to work.[/i] She crossed her arms, and the scraps swirled together into an assortment of explosive mines, which she maneuvered underground. Then, she excavated a trench and loaded it with razor-sharp spears before covering it up again. [i]That should hold them.[/i] Suddenly, a barrage of arrows shot out of the forest. Erudessa raised her arm. All arrows that flew at her stopped inches from her body. "Henindal!" she called out, adrenaline beginning to replace her grief. The elf stood on the edge of the wall, his palms planted together.

"Make it rain!"

As the Imperial soldiers charged out of the forest, thousands of ice shards rained down on them. Many perished before they had the sense to raise their shields. With their bodies now exposed, Erudessa lifted her hand and summoned the wind. She flipped her palm, and all the soldiers in the front rows lost their shields to the powerful updraft. Seeing this new enemy for the first time, the soldiers leveled their weapons at her and charged. The earth exploded in showers of dirt and dead bodies as they stumbled headlong into her minefield, and those who survived dropped dead into the concealed trench ahead. Undeterred, those behind them used their fallen brethren as bridges to cross over.

Erudessa clicked her tongue. "Mongrels." She snapped her fingers, and great pillars of earth sprang up from the ground to punch the approaching soldiers. Henindal shot off fireballs into the enemy ranks, which Erudessa augmented with sawdust and metal into raging meteors. Hundreds of hapless men died on the spot in the first few minutes of battle.

Commander Cassius Cornell stood back, watching the battle unfold through his spyglass. "Well I'll be dammed..." he murmured to himself as he watched the silver-haired elf decimate his army. He turned to a tall hooded hunter standing behind him. "Watch her. If you get an opportunity, subdue her and bring her to me. I want her alive."

Meanwhile, Frandur raced to her side to bat away a few arrows she'd missed. "Milady! We'll be overwhelmed in a few minutes. We have to leave."
Erudessa glanced around the battlefield. Indeed, more and more Imperial soldiers appeared around the edges of the clearing, and some were already trickling through the Gap into the waiting Aetheri army. "Yes," she concluded at last. "I think the army can handle things here. Where are Yanduin and Bethdul? Any sign of them?"
Frandur's expression darkened. "They were captured, milady."
Her heart stopped cold. "They...what?"
"I'm not sure what happened exactly, but they conveyed to me that they'd been subdued before I lost contact with them."

Erudessa lifted her gaze to the sky. "I'm going after them. Stay here with Henindal and manage our defenses."
"But...milady, I can't let you go alone!" Frandur objected.
She reached out and touched his cheek. The elf closed his eyes.

When he opened them, she was gone.
__________

She ran back into the forest, its uncomfortable stench returning to her. The working theory was that the Wintergate Rangers defeated her boys and captured them. Even the best trackers needed to follow known paths through a forest like this one, so these Rangers would most likely retrace their steps with the captives in tow. Based on this working assumption, Erudessa found the path to the Gap and followed it backwards. She didn't get far before she heard a despairing wail pierce the silence. [i]Could it be them?[/i] Erudessa moved in the direction it came from. It sounded a little like Yanduin. "Yanduin? Is that you?" she called out.

It was not. Two humans appeared before her, one slumped against a tree, the other watching over him. It took her a moment to realize that these were the same two humans she'd seen earlier below the cliff side. Both were Wintergate Rangers. She pulled one foot back and assumed a battle stance. [i]Wait, they're in no shape to fight.[/i] The one slumped against the tree was wounded in both legs and writhing in agony. The one watching over him looked utterly spent. Once again, her heart melted at the sight of a human in pain. This time, she could not bring herself to run away. The guilt would destroy her. She dropped her stance and made to approach them, hands outstretched in a gesture of peace.

"May I help?" she pleaded in the Common language.

Erudessa could hear more Imperial soldiers moving through the forest. If she was to help the injured human, she would have to be quick about it.