Millraven Finn Izzle: Elf for Hire! Chapter Three

The story thus far:

 After dealing with some administrative difficulties Millraven Finn Izzle was allowed into the city of Commodore’s Crossing. She had originally been hired by the city’s council of ministry to retrieve an artifact called the Blue Streak of Commodore Cramden.  However, as soon as she set foot into the city the bag that contained all her important documents and coin was pickpocketed. After a wild chase around the city and the eventual capture of the thief the young elf who is also an Elf is suddenly asked to hear out the story of a group opposed to the council of ministry getting their hands on what they claim is a powerful artifact that holds sway over language itself…

“Explain this to me and be quick about it.” Millraven Finn Izzle said with a smirk etched into her beautiful, exotic elven features, “I don’t find your methods of persuasion to be quite to my tastes and it isn’t too late to have the lot of you arrested for conspiring against the city.”

There were 5 people standing in front of her in the ramshackle building she’d been lead to and each made her nervous in a different way.  The first, standing in the middle and taking an obvious role as the mouthpiece of the group was an elven wizard. He stood tall, and projected an aura of calm, natural superiority. His flowing, waist length hair resembled a water-fall of gold and his piercing dusk blue eyes surveyed everything as if it were a possession of his own.  Despite his wizardly robes it was obvious that some of his time was spent maintaining his physique and though Millraven could tell that their personalities would clash, some small part of her would not have minded a painting of him wearing naught but a loin-cloth and reclining on a mound of ice-cream.

Next to the spokesperson was a woman of equal gorgeousness. Tall, leggy and buxom she shined with a different look from the cultured elf. Hers was the strength and beauty of sun-drenched fields and a body thoughtlessly and effortlessly maintained by wrestling the bounty from the earth rather than by the careful planning and sculpture of her fellow. She wore a suit of farmer’s clothes, designed for comfort and ease of movement rather than for style, though the material used to make them was obviously not one the average farmer could afford. She had a thick spill of hair the color of rich, fertile soil and eyes green as new hay.  She stood on the spokesperson’s right and smiled at Millraven over her freckles.

To the spokesperson’s left stood Brand Anlace, the Halfling thief they’d sent to distract Millraven as they gathered and prepared to make their pitch to her. It was a big risk to gather them all like this, but the Halfling was a born risk taker. He leaned casually against the wall to the left of the spokesperson and smiled cheekily at Millraven and though she’d never felt desire for any creature other than a fellow elf she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. For someone literally half her height he too was handsome in his own way. The hair on his head was thick, lustrous and fluffy and his hazel eyes twinkled with amusement. He was dressed from head to toe in black, brown, and grey, alternating patterns of cloth that would be much more effective for stealth than just solid black.   He looked like he could steal the world and the world would never notice.  There were two others in the room, but outside of being older and wearing the fashions preferred by petite nobility they stayed to the back of the room in the shadows. They were obviously the financial backers of the group and none too eager to let their identities be known just in case this gambit failed and Millraven did go to the guard.  This put Millraven just the slightest bit more on edge. Silent money tended to go to revolutionaries, and Millraven was no revolutionary. She was a mercenary, which meant her motivation was coin, not causes.  

“I suppose introductions are in order”, the handsome elf began, “My name is Silas Vann Grigg, to my right is Merrybelle Cornflower, and to my left, Brand Anlace whom I believe you’ve already met.” He followed this with a dry chuckle and then continued on, “We’ll call the others Lord and Lady Anonymous. We represent a group of persons who wish to keep the Blue Streak out of the Ministry’s hands “.  Millraven nodded, “So I’ve been told, but no-one had told me why, yet.” Silas nodded and answered with, “I’m sure you saw the signs posted all through the town on your walk here.” Millraven had and nodded her agreement. There were signs hanging all through the town reminding citizens to basically, keep a civil tongue in their head and to not openly criticize the count that ruled this portion of the land. “I did, they seemed kind of foolish and nearly impossible to enforce to me.” 

The woman next to the Silas, Merrybelle nodded and spoke now “and they are, for now. What if I told you that ‘twas possible to stop people from sayin’ stuff ya’ll don’t agree with?” Millraven considered this for a second, “First off I’d call Bullshit. Secondly I’d hate it. Disagreement and conflict is how I make my bread and butter after all.” Merrybelle nodded, “True. True.” She then held up a small sapphire chip, looking Millraven in the eye, “This here is a piece of th’ Blue Streak. “ She whispered a word that Millraven did not recognize and yet was obviously of the language of magic. The sapphire chip lit up with some inner fire, scintillating stars of blue light filling the room they were hiding in. “Now..Say somethin’ hurtful! Make it about me and as personal as you can.”  Millraven was taken aback and it showed on her face, 

“Okaay.” She said  then took a deep breath, “You inbeep ! Honk! Your Mother was bleep, honk, crash and your father Bleeded the Honkity honk, with bleepity honk honk!” Millraven took a step back, a look of horror on her face, “What the Honk? I-I didn’t mean to say all those Bleeping sound effects!” Silas took over again, giving a winning smile to our heroine. “This is the effect of just one of the hundred thousand chips spread throughout the blue streak. For each one that stands near another they get exponentially more powerful.  Can you imagine the power of one hundred thousand of these? No-one would say a single word you disagree with. Deprived of discourse as a way to deal with our issues the world would see an epic rise in violence and war, there would be no hope for any of the intelligent races. “

 He deactivated the spell after saying this and Millraven shook her head, “Holy Shit.”, she said with a measure of relief.  “You’re saying the council of ministers wants to use the Blue Streak to magically enforce their will over what you can and cannot say?” Brand nodded this time, “That’s exactly what we are saying. If they aren’t stopped the city will become rife with miscommunication and violence. “  Millraven absorbed that fact before she spoke, “So you guys ganked it, right?”, She asked, “And want me to help keep it safe in case they show up?”

“Sorry No.”, Merrybelle spoke up now, “ We don’t got it and we don’t need a guard. “ Millraven felt her spirit sink, “Somebody else got to it before we could…Somebody even worse. Like the council of Ministry, we also ask that you retrieve it for us though the road may be long and dangerous.”  “Of course…”, Millraven thought gloomily.

Which mysterious group now has control over the blue streak? Will Millraven accept the request to retrieve it? How is this new group worse than the Council of Ministry? Find out next week on Millraven Finn Izzle Elf for Hire!