Chapter 171 Gnomish Turtle Riders

Walking along the path that lead out of the forest, Aella couldn't help but sigh in relief. She was tired of all of the drama of the elves. It would be interesting to see if the princess got a hold of herself and married the dwarven king. She was obviously struggling with issues that Aella wanted nothing more to do with. Patting the magical bag that hung on her chest, the tiny lion cub inside ignored her and continued to sleep. She wasn't sure if it was the magic of the bag, but the kitten was growing faster than it should. Soon it would be too big to fit in the bag, and she would have to start carrying it around and feeding it. She just hoped it would be weaned and able to eat meat by then. Milk would be hard to come by.

Ahead of them, through the last of the trees, they could see a hilly land where two races of very short people supposedly lived. One of which she was supposed to be related to. Judging from the pictures on the last carving, these people would stand lower than her waist, so it would be very interesting when they finally encountered them.

"What do you think they will be like?" asked Alfred as they walked down the overgrown road leading south.

"I'm not sure. From what Elalar said, they should be militaristic in a way, protecting the land from all of the monsters that made their way from the mountains, but I find it difficult to see anything making it past the forest. We didn't get very far before the elves stopped us. I doubt orcs or trolls would make it," said Aella.

"Could there be other monsters that bother them, like we had the second portal that monsters came out of?" asked Frederik.

"Probably not, since the humans controlled all of them, and it took a hero to activate them," said Aella.

"I'm still curious to know how Brian and Rupert are related," mused Alfred with his hands held over his head in contemplation.

"I believe Brian is either the grandson, or great-grandson of Rupert," said Aella. "They would never have met each other, and with the way the church bred the heroes, it wouldn't surprise me for there to be such a large gap. Though, I wonder at how Brian's dad formed the tunnels, unless Rupert did it, and Brian just thought his dad did it. The boy's father died when he was pretty young, and Brian isn't all there in the head."

"I think he was dropped as a child," muttered Frederik.

"I think he said he got sick or something, when he was little," said Aella, nodding.

"Wonder if it has anything to do with his father's death," said Alfred.

"Is there supposed to be a wall surrounding the gnome kingdom?" asked Frederik, as they came over a hill.

"Why?" asked Aella. He was just a little taller than her, and could see farther, but she thought she could see what he was talking about. A smudge that ran along the length of the horizon grew more apparent at the top of each hill.

"Wonder if that's the extent of their defense?" said Alfred.

"Probably not," said Aella, pointing over at a figure approaching them.

What looked like a cute little girl with pink hair, was riding on the back of a large turtle wearing goggles. As they drew closer to her and her pet, a large tube protruded from the shell of the turtle and shot something at them. It hit the ground in front of them, spraying up dirt in their faces.

"Hey!" growled Aella, throwing a hand up to block the debris.

"I got this," said Alfred with a grin, disappearing from beside her and appearing next to the girl. She quickly went flying, landing with a bounce on the ground, and Alfred cut the tube with his sword. The turtle calmly took a bite of some grass and proceeded to chew it, watching Alfred.

Aella and Frederik reached them before the girl could climb to her feet. Aella could tell she wasn't a little girl as she scowled at them.

"You may kill me, but my sister will kill you all!" she cried, glancing back at the wall, where other faces could be seen peeking over the ramparts. Aella couldn't help but feel like she was getting ready to face a bunch of kids. This wasn't going to be good.

"I'm sorry for my companion's actions," started Aella, trying to be diplomatic, like the few lessons she had taken had taught her, but a loud boom from the wall interrupted her.

A large net was flying towards them, and Aella reacted before she thought about it, shoving a gust of wind at it, and causing it to miss them completely. As cussing could be heard from the wall, several small metal balls came flying at them next, and Aella sighed.

"I'm not an enemy!" she roared, cutting at the balls with her sword.

They exploded upon contact, throwing black dust in her face and making her even more angry.

"My sister is going to kill you monsters!" howled the girl on the ground.

"But we're not monsters!" cried Alfred, trying to keep the little midget from getting away as she started crawling towards the turtle. She kept slipping between his legs.

"That's what the last ones said!" she snapped, biting his leg as he tried to pin her and he jumped back in surprise. "And they didn't have wings!"

Gritting her teeth, Aella grabbed Alfred before he could do anything else and flew into the air, away from their traps and attacks. Frederik quickly joined her.

"Aella," swallowed Alfred, clutching her arms tightly.

"I know," she said, looking down at the gnomes as they watched them carefully, holding long tubes aimed up at them. "We're going to land on the top of the last hill and try this again."

When she set him down, Aella couldn't help but notice how green Alfred's face had gotten.

"Why do they think we're monsters?" asked Frederik, landing next to her. "We haven't attacked them or anything!"

"They must not know what we are, and think we came from the mountains," said Alfred breathlessly.

"Well, we did come from that way," conceded Aella. "If something flies at us, I will block it, otherwise stay by my side and remain unconcerned at anything they do."

The two nodded their understanding and they started walking back towards the wall again. The pink haired gnome coaxed her turtle to turn towards them, and fired another projectile at them. Because the tube had been cut, it went way off course and Aella didn't have to do anything to knock it aside. Trying to move the turtle to make up for the deviation, the gnome tried again, but when the projectile headed for them, Aella knocked it aside, making sure to move her arm in wide sweeping motions so those watching on the wall knew she had caused the bullet to miss.

The gnome girl frowned in anger, shooting again and again, until she ran out of ammunition. Aella knocked each one aside and continued walking, ignoring the girl completely. The gnomes on the wall were whispering amongst themselves when she reached a suitable distance to call out to them.

"I am King Aella, King of the demons and gargoyles. I request permission to travel through your lands."

"Why do you want to travel here?" called another gnome girl, this one with purple hair. Could she be the turtle rider's sister?

"I am seeking large stone carvings that were sent south several thousand years ago to each of the kingdoms for safe keeping. I have already retrieved one from the dwarves and one from the elves. My next spot is your gnomish kingdom."

They debated quietly whether she was telling the truth. They recognized that she had some kind of mastery of the air that impressed them greatly, but they weren't sure if she could be trusted. The last people who came south from the mountains looked kind of like them and created all sorts of trouble.

"Perhaps, if you don't trust me, you could send someone who won't continue to shoot at me and my companions, so I might talk to him or her?" asked Aella, growing tired of their debate.

"She did ask nicely," said the purple haired gnome. "Let's get old Manyur out here. He likes to talk."

Aella waited, trying to be patient, while they fetched an old gnome and lowered him over the wall with a rope. He seemed flustered, as if he wasn't given a choice in the matter, and took a moment to straiten his clothing. In addition to the important fancy clothes he seemed to be wearing, he also wore a leather jacket and several pouches hung from his belt.

"My name is Manyur, and I've been told you wish to speak to me?" he finally asked, smoothing the white hair on his chin back into a point.