Chapter 96 Return
"Get ready, we're taking off"
They all heard as the blades on the machine suddenly began to spin at an incredible rapid pace and after a few seconds, they felt the machine slowly lift off from the ground. Garth seeing as the ground got further and further away immediately realized something… this nation was even more powerful than they thought.
"It can fly?" a knight muttered in shock
They all sat in confusion as they all wondered how such a machine could fly, it didn't make sense that such large piece of metal would be able to fly. They watched as they continued to climb into the sky until the massive buildings such as the castle began to look more like a toy than an actual castle.
"What are those?" a knight asked drawing the attention of the entire team towards the windows
Garth looked outside the window to see hundreds of machines similar to the one he was in but they were much bigger and were clearly not empty. As an Elf, he had pretty good eyesight so he could see the soldiers within the machines even though not clearly, he could still make them out. The Machines rose into the air and as a group they began to fly behind them.
"Where are they going?" the knight asked
"Are they going to attack Euroa?" the scout asked
He had been silent so far since his input was needed but this was an army moving to attack their territory. Garth wanted to remain quiet because there was no guarantee that they even knew where the Queendom was after all, they were the ones asked to direct them towards the place. Besides he felt that if they truly wanted to attack Euroa then the King would have had the arrested and simply forced the location of the nation out of them rather than this.
"Be quiet and watch" Garth ordered the knight since he felt as though something else was at play here
The territory didn't even know the location of the Queendom so it would be unwise to send troops towards it however he didn't rule out the possibility of the territory attacking the Queendom so he planned to buy enough time to figure out what was happening.
"They're… they're headed towards the dead lands?" a knight called out in confusion as one of the larger flying machines pass by theirs and began heading towards the south
"What?" all of them asked in confusion.
They couldn't understand what was going on, did the king plan to attack the Dead lands. If it was so then the king was wasting his time… the knowledge that the Undead could not be killed unless by a priest or a nun made him smile. If his armies were reduced to nothing then the king would wholeheartedly accept the alliance proposal.
Seeing that the machines were heading somewhere else, the entire group returned back to normal and the soldiers accompanying them remained indifferent as usual. The flight continued for hours despite the speed of the machine but Garth understood why it would take such time after all by horse or carriage it would take on a week just to cross the lands between the two territories so even at such speed, it should take some time.
"Do you think, our armies would have survived such an invasion" the scout asked moving closer to Garth
"I don't know… thankfully we have the Queen" Garth replied in a weird manner
"Yeah, thankfully" the scout replied
The flight proceeded in complete silence with the occasional directing that was done through the various landmarks on the way. After several hours and nearly night time, they finally arrived.
Euroa was a massive forest queendom that existed alongside the forest. It held a massive tree at its center that formed a massive canopy over the massive nation. This was their home and seeing the familiar sight, relief washed over them.
"Riders of the Unknown beast, you are advised to move away, you are within Euroan air space" a loud voice called and looking out the window
Garth and the others could see an elf sitting on top a massive creature, the creature had the body of the lion, the head of an eagle and finally it possessed some wings, it was a Gryphon. They all smiled when they saw the machine surrounded by the gryphon riders, who all had their bows pointed towards it.
"Are they friends of yours?" one of the soldiers asked while looking at him
"Yes, please land over there… we can take over from here" Garth replied in a hurry to come out from the floating machine
Obeying his words, the soldiers began their descent down into the required area. Within a few minutes, they were on the floor again but this time, they were on Euroan soil. As it landed, the soldiers stepped down and stood aside for them as they all stepped out of the machine.
"General Webfeather!!" one of the gryphon riders called out as soon as they saw him
This prompted the entire team to salute him to which he replied with an equal salute of his own as a sign of respect. The knights helped each other down from the machine and also helped their horses down since they had made it home. After a few minutes of struggle, the horses and all accompanying materials were finally forced out of the machine.
As soon as they all came down, the soldiers immediately got back on the machine without even a single word. they assumed their positions again as the blades began spinning and the machine slowly began to rise into the air. Garth, watching it saw the machine rise and within a few minutes, it began to look like a pebble in the sky and soon it flew out of view at speeds unbeknownst to them.
"Mount your horses, we are returning to the city" Garth assumed command immediately as all the knights and diplomats mounted their horses or entered back into the carriage provided
With a single command, they began riding for the massive city before them. They crossed the gates easily as they all headed straight for the castle. Though they had seen the army leave for the Dead Lands, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't change directions after all they had the massive machines that could transport them over vast distances in just a day. They just needed to warn the queen about what was to come.
The group raced through the relatively peaceful streets of the capital as they headed straight for the giant tree in the middle of the entire city. Ignoring everyone they met, the Knights charged straight towards the palace and after a few minutes of riding, they could see the entrance to the palace,
"General" The palace guards greeted as they dismounted from their horses
"Gather all forces and tell them to prepare for war" Garth said without missing a beat as he entered through the gates
The territory of the king may be more advanced than Euroa but Euroa was definitely more beautiful, the castle was integrated into the massive tree and to enter it, you would need to enter a massive tunnel or hallway that seemed to be carved into the tree itself. Garth ignored all others he met on the way as he made his way directly to the throne room where the Queen would most likely be.
"Halt, her highness is in a meeting now" a palace guard said as the guard put her hand on her sword ready for battle since it was her duty
"Let them in" a calming and incredibly soothing voice was heard coming from within the throne room
"As you wish" The guard said and immediately stood aside
As soon as the guard stepped aside, Garth entered the throne room. The throne room had a royal feeling to it not too unlike that in which he had felt back in the new territory though just a bit lesser. At the fore front of the room, a large wooden throne could be seen and on it was a woman.
The woman looked nearly identical to every other Elf in the Queendom but she was also dramatically different from the others. Just the mere sight of her, re-energized him as the breath of the forest filled the air… anyone with even a little bit of spirituality would look at her and would only think of her as nature in its truest form… She was a Fae.
A little further down, you could see a few more thrones that were placed before her and on them were three other people from three different races, one was large, pale green and had tusks growing out of their mouths, the second one was short and brown and unlike the rest had no pointed ears and finally the last person who was also short but he was green in colour and had pointed ears. There were a High Orc, A Dwarf and A Gnome respectively.