The Gold of the Elves 1

This story happened about 24 years after the Horiathon Battle, in the city of Tyron, the former capital and still main town of Kondo. This country also includes the Shamal Humak and Arunal Humak mountains, where in ancient times lived the Sylvan Elves. Kondo has a long tradition of being permissive for the Elves, despite bragging by some far right parties wanting to «unite Kondo against Elf migrants». These things were told in The story of Iraën, and how Amaleen and him were led to counsel the community of the new Elves in Kondo. At the time of this story, this community is faring well, with most of the false Elves and false conceptions expelled. Although they still have to keep a low profile, due to the pressure of some politicians and the hostility of the media.

The modern Tyron is a large town with numerous advanced industries and an important university, well known in the whole Shartan. But it also has a rich historical heritage, especially the ancient district, the old city of Tyron, which stands around the Aymar square, blocks of old cob houses with narrow and shadowy streets. It was one of the rare ancient towns in the Shartan which survived the Revolution intact. Indeed, the roofs were single-sloped! Each city block had roofs sloping inward, forming light wells in the middle, also used to funnel rainwater. This is why this unique architecture escaped the wrath of the people's phalanx, who considered double slope roofs an «ostentatious religious sign». But the outskirts had to be rebuilt entirely, making them look much modern, with large streets and trees. Some consider the old city as a wonderful remain of a romantic past, with its intricate wood carving and terraces, while others denounce the huge hygiene scandal: lack of proper sanitation! (Actually, there is an antique system of culverts covered with flagstones, in the middle of each street. And it is very efficient: since those streets all are north-south or east-west, and the slope of the terrain is to the south-east, all the streets have a significant down slope.)

As a matter of facts, only poor people are living in there: petty workers, elders, strange blokes, apprentices, students, and even some young Elves attracted by the cheap rentals and ease to make bonds.

Besides rentals, are inns, colorful shops for tourists, groceries, and many pubs. To be frank, at night there also are some shady traffics and crooks, mostly about drug and porn.

The central square was named after King Aymar IV, who was the organizer of the Kondo country, after his mother Valeva III stabilized its boundaries against the invasive Bubacar Dukes. His egalitarian constitution remained in force until the Revolution, and the parliamentary monarchy of the modern Kondo is still drawing a lot from it.

Today the Aymar square is a long rectangle free of builds, slightly sloped, neatly tiled, with wrought iron lamp posts and flower pots. On the high end to the north, several market stands sell post cards, travel souvenirs, trinkets and dingelings, fake Elven sculptures, and we are to see why many lucky charms of all styles and colors. The four sides are lined with pubs and shops under merrily colored folding canvas awnings. All day long the streets are busy, with many people, shoppers, tourists and no cars save some municipal services. At night, another fauna awakes, less recommendable. Although police cars slowly patrol to deter any really dangerous act, picking up the braggers and the drunkards.

In the past, though, the square was entirely different. It was fully occupied by one of the largest temple of Marna, the goddess of luck, travelers and lovers. It had tall walls without windows, save the great portal to the south. As of many Shartan temples it was a zug (pronounce «tzueg»), this meaning a rectangular build, similar to a Greek temple, with a monumental entrance to the south, and inside a series of chambers, more and more sacred until the final naos. It was not gracious, but high and massive, like a big factory hall. And with a two sloped roof...

The basic practice of Marna was to make her significant charity offerings into the temple, in order to attract her protection, «luck» in a way. Which of course excluded to invoke her for any violent or venal purpose. The role of the priests of Marna was to perform intercession rituals in favor of the persons making offerings. What they were doing sincerely, but we expect that luck and luck charms are more akin to astrology, fortune-tellers, spell casters and all sorts of charlatans, than to any kind of serious spirituality or even honest religion. So the whole town was the place of an industry of trinkets, fake mediums, fake protectors, etc. Various workshop were casting bronze, turning wood, weaving «Shamal Elves wool» (Very rare indeed, given that they never had sheeps). And, for the most fortunate, goldsmiths provided with the rarest jewel stones, hopefully genuine. Once they had bought something, the adepts deposited these cheap or expensive offerings in the first hall. The idea was that, the more expensive the gift, the more altruism they showed, and thus the more luck they got. (Well, this is spiritual materialism, do not bother to understand.)(As to the widow's mite, well useless to think about it). The priests quickly secured the valuable offerings in the second hall, still ostentatious toward the visitors. Useless to say, the temple looked like anything but a temple: an Ali Baba cave, a flea market, with hairy thingamajigs hanging everywhere in thick layers and profound heaps. When the first hall was full, nor the walls neither the ceiling were visible anymore, and barely some patches of floor to walk. We were swimming in bildolios, doing speleology in dark red layers of gizmos, with rainbows of woolly stalactites glittering with fake or real gold. Sure, the Marna temple in Tyron was very special, unique in the whole Shartan, and a sought after pilgrimage.

When a hall was too full, the priests moved its content to the next one. After, when the Revolution happened, the phalanx left no survivors to tell what happened exactly in the last hall, where tons of stuff landed. The religion says that the offering were magically taken by Marna, literally. Strangely enough, there is indeed not a single historical mention of anything exiting the Marna temple. The fine spirits say that it went out under the ample clothes of the potbellied priests. More romantic ones say that there must be some sort of tunnel, leading to the accommodation of the priests just nearby. Whatever, all the gifts had to be discreetly evacuated in a way or in another, the worthless ones burned, the real art sold in far away harbors, or the precious materials cast and sold back to the artisans. In theory the product of the sales was redistributed to Marna charities. In practice, those charities were poor, and the priests or Marna rich, inducing people into thinking that the priests took most of the benefit for themselves. They felt right to do so, since they were the one doing all the intercession work. But they finally... ran out of luck: none of them survived the Revolution.

Of course during the Revolution, the People's Phalanx destroyed the temple, pillaging all the offerings, and looting up to the last of the solid stones of the walls. Testimonies say that they left a large hole in the place of the temple. Here start rumors and uncertainties: was it just because they wanted to recover the foundation stones, did they unveiled a secret basement, or was it the start of some tunnel network? Only sure thing, the hole was quickly filled, with carts of dirt moving in day and night. Some even say that there was a real spiritual thing with the Marna cult, and Her statue would still be here in a preserved underground chamber. Another story is that there still is a huge quantity of gold and jewels. But not either any Phalanx member survived the final battle which ended the Revolution, leaving only second hand stories. And today there is no way to dig under the fragile cultural heritage cob houses around the square, even not for a much needed sewerage system. Officially it is to avoid the houses to cave in. But many say that the government is afraid of whatever they would find under the merry colors of today Aymar square.

All this lore explains that the whole district already had an aura of mystery, lost spirituality and hidden treasures.

And the town services have to manage... offerings to Marna, that some people are still bringing. For this purpose, they installed an unmarked container near the south end, so that petty crooks would not steal the offerings. So if ever you pass by there, don't throw your trash in this container, it is not here for that.

After the Horiathon Battle, the especially liberal Kondo allowed for a large Elven community to grow, under the direct control of several High Priests from the Dauriath! Rumors are saying that their main purpose is to recover their former lands in the nearby Shamal Humak and Arounal Humak mountains. But for that, they need to expel the many cow farms installed up there since. So these meat farmers had set up a Shamal «Defense» Committee, to fight the supposed increasing encroachment by the Elves. These farmers are strongly supported by politicians of all sides, who want to preserve the meat industry.

But the Elves are backed by the scientists of the University of Tyron, who want to make biodiversity reservations of the Humaks, while exploring and preserving the numerous elven caves remaining here. They were successful in barring access to most of the caves, with steel bars and gates. Although it is said that some are still accessible, because they are situated deep into hostile private lands.

The Elves are also supposed to have large financial resources, to be able to buy back the Shamal farms one per one. This is how the rumor had started: it is well known that, before the Exodus, the Elves had huge gold reserves. But after, this fantastic treasure disappeared without leaving any trace. Could it be that this gold is still laying in some uncharted underground cache in the Shamal Humak?

Gold?

All around the Nyidiath, ears stood up, like hairs around a powerful Tesla electric generator:

The Gold of the Elves!

Perhaps at hand, just besides a parking lot, in a forgotten tunnel behind some bushes! It soon was a race of all sorts of adventurers, petty delinquents, Internet geeks, against the Elves, the scientists and the archaeologists, to be the first to find the gold caches! Of course as usual with simple minded people, wild suppositions become hard certainties, fleeting hints become solid proofs, and denial becomes censorship.

Most of these blokes gathered in Tyron, in the cheap inns and rentals of the historical district, around the Aymar Square, already rich in stories of hidden treasures. Willing it or not, they were forced to meet each others in the local pubs, exchanging hints and theories. None of them seemed to gather that the gold could be in many other places in the whole Shartan. Neither they were aware that it was very officially spent to build the thousands Freedom Ships for the Exodus. So that there actually was no gold at all. But they swept away this unpleasant idea off their mind, without even thinking at it.

Some already did expeditions in the Shamal Humak. But making plans in a map is one thing, finding caves hidden in kilometers of bushes is another. In more, most of the caves were fenced with steel bars, or in private properties guarded by cow farmers wielding shot guns. Indeed the farmers were quickly angry at these conspirationists, who entered in gardens and in cow pastures, often leaving the gates open. This caused several accidents with cars running into cows. Going around the properties showed very difficult, with the dense vegetation and treacherous rocky slopes. As to enter the first Elven property, they may encounter much worse than grapeshot.

They also have a map of the oolongs, these treacherous abysses, which, as the story tells, could appear anywhere right under their feet. The map, a hilarious fake discretely leaked by the Elves themselves, showed a thousand of them (while there were no more than thirty), with the (supposed) date of their (very recent) appearance, and in red the zones where they can appear. Of course the map was (purposely) not accurate, making the danger zone look very large.

But the worse disincentive certainly is the silent guardians of the Shamal: the snakes, invisible under the foliage, actively chasing intruders, to deliver them an extremely painful agony. Two adventurers already «tested» them. Only one survived, thanks to a new serum, to tell a story of extreme terror, horrible hallucinations and agonizing pain. He was quickly repatriated in his country.

This whole situation makes that the evening in the inns were full of stories of the dreadful ancient Elven magic: stones launched from nowhere, strangling liana, abysses opening under the feet… Others, more «rational», were denying any magic, evoking instead sophisticated electronic protections around the Elven mansion, which very operation is beyond their understanding. The automatic Elven fighter planes of the Horiathon Battle had made a lasting impression, of a magical technical superiority of the Elves, crediting them with all sorts of impossible things.

But whatever the real or supposed dangers, the imperious fever of gold was keeping their illusions alive!

Gold!

GOLD!

GOOOOOLD!!!

One dark night late, a small group has gathered in the Harvey's pub in a secondary street near the Aymar square. The room is entirely wainscoted in dark brown wood with copper implements. The ceiling is of rough black beams, and the ground of square reddish bricks. The tables are separated with privacy screens, painted with real art figures of high value, sadly fading with nicotine. The place is sparsely lighted, especially between the screens. Everything, including the lamps, posters and beer taps, is yellow-brown from nicotine, with a permanent haze of tobacco smoke. Some months ago, the government wanted to proscribe smoking in public places. Many pub owners reacted angrily, coming to smoke ostentatiously in their establishments. A compromise was found: pub owners had to choose between smoker and non-smoker. So did Harvey's which kept smoking heavily, as a majority of the other taverns.

We guess that this dark ambient and heavy smoking especially attracts the conspirationists. In the shadows between the screens, they feel more confident, to share their imaginary secrets.

So, like conspirationists use to do, they are delirious against the government who, they think, wants to force them to work, forbid alcohol, or what other horror. More the scientists, of course, wanting to implant them electronic chips, modify their genes and so on.

Then enters the Shamal affair, with the plot of the scientists to secure all the Elven tunnels and find the gold before them. Just two days ago there was an incident with a gold hunter, spotted trying to saw a steel gate! Unknown to him, there was a farm just 20metres away, hidden by thick bushes. This is what happens when we do not make proper reconnaissance of the place of our exploits. His story is now to be heard everywhere.

Of course, the servers of Harvey's do not care about these delirium. As long as they get excited about the migrant Elves invading the mountain, it is not really dangerous they think. Well, still it is, as they are to learn.

It is late now, and the group is the only remaining table. The servers are fed up, and they would like to leave. So that they spy on the conversation. We never know.

The delirium goes to the gold, of course.

And these darn scientists again rummaging on the plateau. Are there still unknown caves? If course the question becomes at once a statement.

The gold!

The GOLD!

THE GOOOLD!!

Enters a sinister looking guy, called Mavik, who sits down at the table. After some presentation, the whole team gets into low voice conspiracy mode. But they look quite excited. One of the servers hears a last sentence «Friday evening», before they all together get up and move to the room that one of them is renting to the pub, upstairs. The servants concert at low voice: Mavik is a known delinquent, and a real jerk. So one of them phones to the police. Then they close the pub, because it is quite late, and they do not want to bear three other hours of that.

Let us follow the gang in the bedroom. Mavik explains he got a tip-off. This Friday night, there will be scientists. And Elves. Some farmers will be away for this night. Hence the date. They are to recover «something» in caves behind the farm. Since such operations are highly contentious, they do that in a way to avoid contacts with the farmers, who are quick to unhook their blunderbusses. More the dogs barking, awakening all their mates in the whole Shamal. Not ideal to be discreet.

Of course our gang is at once certain it is to recover the gold. Why to hide, if it was only for archaeological artifacts and cultural archives? Of course, in reality, the scientists have very mundane reasons to proceed in secret: they have very little real legal power on the plateau, and especially they are unable to get all the caches at once. What they want to avoid, if they reveal that they got one cache, is that all sorts of people would engage in a race to find the others, destroying invaluable cultural material. Hence the very legit need to proceed discretely. But explain that to conspirationists: they immediately see the most evil motivations.

So that, quickly, the whole team imagines gold caches, hundreds of tons they persuade themselves. Only a backpack load would make the fortune of any of them.

If there was no gold, why to take so much caution, they consider.

Fencing the entrance of the caves.

To operate at night, in secret.

To do that while the farmers are absent. This is very rare for them, as they have to attend the cows every morning and evening.

In more, the affair looks quite easy: hide in the dark in some bushes, and when their car is loaded, jump on the driver's seat and go.

Still they are not convinced. The scientists may never leave the car alone, they may keep the key in their pocket, etc. So they reluctantly make some «yes, but...»

It is one thing to have delirium together, it is another thing to take physical risks, like getting in jail, or even having a fight. Conspirationists are not courageous.

Mavik, sensing their weakness, evaluates them with a circular look.

«Until where are you able to go?»

There are some hesitating murmurs.

«I have revolvers. Are you able to use them?

This time it is a heavy silence.

One of the cops spying the room with a bug lets off a whistle. (The servers had warned them of a hot conversation, and the bug is here since immemorial times, by default in a way)

There already were violence on the plateau, but without deadly weapons.

So the whole team is cautious. Well, frightened is more accurate. This Mavik is scary. Yet he has the charisma of an efficient leader. The idea of an easy gain slowly percolates in their brains, removing objections and defenses. They have the feeling that if they trust Mavik, they enter in a serious world, the world of the adults. Otherwise they would feel being cowards for the remainder of their lives.

And poor, of course. Only the ones taking risks would get a share of the loot.

Still they are afraid. What if the Elves too have weapons? Or if they are caught by the farmers? Or if the scientists had brought some security agents?

So you will not be astonished if, the said Friday evening, only three show up to Mavik's point of rendezvous. For a second, he looks disappointed, saying the others are chickens. But soon he shows again the reassuring self-confidence of a seasoned soldier.

He gets out his revolver. He has others for them, in the trunk of his car. He would provide them «when needed», a detail which did not caught their attention at this moment. They are instead relieved of not having to deal with these terrible things. Indeed, the simple fact of wandering with them is... dangerous. So they are relieved to have Mavik handling the «serious stuff» for them.

It is night already. The car ride toward the Shamal is tense and silent. Not sure how a guy like Mavik could get a car, but everybody knows that no insurance covers a stolen car.

Once on the plateau, the plan is clear:

1) Hide the car in a nearby tourist rest place, under trees.

2) Approach the rendezvous point by foot.

3) Hide in a nearby wood.

4) At the right moment, jump in the scientist's car and flee with the gold.

5) If they resist, get the revolvers out.

5 3/4) At this point all three have their brains stuck. What an adventure!

This is much easier to say than to do. It is very difficult to hide on the Plateau. The roads are straight and exposed between meadows, without hedges and too few isolated bushes. Anybody with an infra-red sight would spot them immediately. And there is only one road leading to the indicated spot.

As to pass in the meadows, there are the cows, and sometimes bulls. So that it would soon be the corrida. With them being chased!

Closer to the farms they would get a concert of dogs barking, followed by a blunderbusses chord by ill-awakened owners. No.

In theory it would be much safer for them to pass around the plateau, on the trekking path (former Elf circomnambulation path). But this is beyond their understanding.

They end up joining the spot of their attack, in a wood just besides the road. Only 30meters further, behind a turn, there is a tourist spot, with caves nearby. This is the places where they expect the scientists and their team.

They soon realize that it will not be easy. On the Shamal, if there are trees, it is that there is a strong slope.

So a very uncomfortable hideout.

In more it is very dark, under the foliage.

Still worse, there are noises in the shrub.

frrrt

Sssssnake!

Well, something

They do not want to know what.

The inconvenience of darkness is that we see nothing. We can scamper off screaming for a simple garden hose. Try to go at night, alone in a wood, with the jitters! We sense presences behind us, we feel things touching us... Hands? Tentacles? Whatever we are scared to death.

Happily they are four. We finally understand why Mavik needed three people with him: alone, he would not dare to enter the dark woods!

Even smells are scary: they sense something odd, they never felt before. Without knowing it, they were just besides a recently injured meilo tree, leaking this delicious sweet sap which once was a food of the Sylvan Elves, when they lived here. There are other perfumes of night flowers, mushrooms, more millions of grass blades and leaves slowly leaking their herbal essences through their so thin skin. This is what makes night so lively and revigorating, once we let go with fear.

They wait until past two in the morning, uncomfortable, fearful, to what add cramps and cold: they do not dare to move, by fear of falling along the slope, or worse in an oolong!! After the (bogus) map there are several very recent ones in the vicinity. Perhaps even one could open right under their feet!

What they do not realize, is the fantastic soothing silence of the night on the plateau. Just under the scorched surface of the cow meadows, one kilometer of rock is still vibrating to the magic of the ancient Shamal Elves, calling for their return. From the new Elven farm a bit further, comes a faint song of frogs in the source they salvaged. Far from being frightening, the owls are reassuring: if they hoot, it is that all is calm, there is no danger. A late cricket chirps, and the frrt noises are night moths, sometimes brushing their skin. The slowly moving creeping sound is a throng of the big Shamal ants, they always are busy, even at night. They do not make ant nests, but instead live in wandering tribes exploring food opportunities. Thanks to them the plateau is always clean of any rotting matter. The occasional rustle is climbing plants nearby, slowly rotating their leading burgeons in hope of catching something to grasp at. Of course this does not make noise, but at times an unsecured grasp slips, shaking the plant.

Yes, for an Elf, some meters of forest tell a whole adventure… but they are not Elves, they are just scared kids playing at a game too big for them, torn between the gold fever and their basic fears.

Then suddenly a van appears!

It passes just on the road besides them, toward the tourist parking lot. A very ordinary van, not even painted in all the colors as the Elves often do.

It makes a turn in the parking lot, to be in a position to depart easily. Then it stops its engine.

There are lights, and voices, that they get through the foliage. They are the scientists, of course. But there also are several Elves. How did they arrived there? Well, they do not need vans to move through the Shamal: they know the hidden paths under the trees, they walk fast, they are silent and they see in the dark.

For a moment, they hear speaking, rummaging, walking. They risk a peek from closer, and they get the open portal of a cave, illuminated from inside! There probably are twelve persons here, speaking at low voice, entering and exiting the tunnel. For a moment, thud sounds are heard inside. They they start moving heavy boxes out, and to load them in the van, swiftly, silently. Our buddies recede in the wood, but what they saw is enough:

The gold!

They are taking the gold!

Wow, hearing the number of loads, there must be tons of it (Actually not, the van would be crushed on the road like a bug). It will be enough to steal the van, once it is loaded, and they are rich! After all, the magic of the Elves can do nothing against a revolver. And if they are scientists, they don't do magic at all.

Our buddies must get out of the wood, and approach on the road, to see what is happening.

Happily Mavic did some reconnaissance by day, so that he knows where are trees and bushes, to approach further. But the others must trust him.

They are now at ten meters from the van. But if the keys are not on it? They must wait for the driver. Now they see well the open gate of the cave, with light inside.

Happily somebody comes, and starts the engine. But the back door is still open, waiting for a last heavy box.

Mavik makes a sign to his three accomplices, to keep quiet for now. Those three conspirationists are scared to death: if ever they fail, they risk many years in jail. Probably the revolver was a very bad idea, strongly aggravating their foolishness. But what they are actually afraid of, is a possible fight: the Elves are certainly armed. Gold carriers always are. What if they get caught in a shoot out?

What happens then is curious: the driver just... leaves, allowing the motor to idle, with nobody at the wheel. So the keys are on the van, and there is no driver? This was unexpected. And it makes things even simpler: they just have to run, jump on the wheel, and go! No need to use the revolver.

A last load, and somebody closes the back door. Then they just seem to discuss, away from the van.

This is now or never!

Suddenly, several confusing things happen simultaneously, in some seconds.

Without warning, Mavik dashes toward the van, and gets on the driver seat! The three others, flabbergasted, get out of their hide to follow, but Mavik closes the doors, not waiting for them! He makes the motor roar, but nothing happens... The three bang on the doors, realizing that Mavik just used them, planning from the beginning to flee alone with the gold, without sharing!!

Second, the van does not move. Mavik just found out why: the gear lever is missing. Garglacouic! Total shame. He was made like a noob!

Third, dogs barking. As soon as one of them notices something, he barks, awakening the others, who start barking in their turn, so that the barking propagates. By clear nights, the barking front can even come back from where it started, and rotate for hours around the whole plateau.

Fourth, another van approaches, following the road and blocking the way out. It does not need to flash its lights for them to understand that it is a police van!

And last, illuminated by the headlights of the police, Mavik just looking like dozing at the wheel... one of the Elves jumps at him and seize the revolver. How did he knew he had one? He kept it hidden all along.

Stern voice of the cops: «let go your weapons, you will get two years instead of twenty»

They are on Mavik, that they knew very well. The three others hear him screaming, protesting he was just admiring the mechanics. But soon he is tackled, immobilized, handcuffed, brought in the police van, where he keeps silent.

The officers do not handcuff the three, just making a body search for weapons. But soon the three have to bear the lesson, with a team of Elves and scientists inviting them to the back of the van.

They show them what is in the boxes. Black metallic objects?

«Look, dudes, the Gold of the Elves»

This Elf has a stern voice, showing them... iron tools, or iron parts. Ugly dark gray manually wrought iron: hoes, chisels, shovels, saw blades, and others.

«Do you understand, dude, that when we lived here, before the Exodus, we had no supermarket. We had no iron of our own, it was imported from the Bubacarian Duchy, an hostile place, through several intermediaries, who all served themselves first. So iron tools like these ones were more expensive than gold actually. Look at this half-sized scythe, decorated with notches, the only iron we could do ourselves. It would be the price of a car, but we even not had money by the time.

-The mainstream Elves had had gold reserves, long ago. But a lot was spent for the ships of the Exodus, and the remainder was sent into the Dauriath. With the very small elven presence remaining in the Nyidiath, we could never replenished this reserve. You should know this, it is in all the History books. But you do not read history books, or you think they are fake.»

Another box shows a collection of bronze objects. A beautiful but as much angry Elve continues:

«These were our lamps, the only light we had. Today you have electricity, and you just flip a switch to have daylight in whatever room you want. By the time, we had to rely on a complex system: each of these cylinders was a mini-charcoal oven, its output providing a clear flame. Still we had to use them only for our Darshams, due to the rarity of bronze, even more costly than iron.»

Still another box shows... papers. Grey, rough, spotty papers, as in a wasp nest. All written with large hand writing, hardly decipherable to their modern eyes. This time it is a scientists who speaks:

«These are invaluable historical documents, a common patrimony of Humans and Elves. Look at this folder: it contains an exact copy of Iraen's historical records, by his own hand. He told us that it was here, and it was our last chance to put our hands on it. One cache had been destroyed long ago by looters, who probably used the paper to make fire, or worse. Another, water seeped in, making the documents unreadable. This one seems in good shape, and still perfectly readable. It will settle so many enigma and controversies, on the early Elves, the History of Kondo and of the Shkerxes. Its value is worth thousands tons of gold, yet you could not use it for any purpose.»

Then it is the angry Elve again:

«You seem not to realize at all that this place was my village, my home. These rough papers were love letters, stories, all our culture and life in our Shamal world. Yes I lived here for many centuries, and I loved this place. When I found what remained, the tunnels all tagged, and what the animal exploiters did in our caves, I cried for days. Happily it is now fenced, and you will not be able to destroy it any further.

«The last series of letters are chronicles of the Exodus. You know it took many years, and this place was one of the last evacuated. These letters show our sadness and incomprehension of this unfair act, which totally destroyed our life and culture here. Many of us hoped to return after some tens of years when the foolishness of the Human kings would stop. Hence the caches, to save as much as we could. But we did not imagined how long it would take, and how life would have changed in the meanwhile.

«Also, Kondo and Queen Valeva III were often accused of wanting the Exodus, and many still criticize them for that. Our letters should show that, if they were indeed agents, in fact they were forced to do so, from threats of invasion. So that in real they helped us a lot, to go in dignity and in good conditions. We still owe them a good start in the Dauriath, with a lot of material they provided in secret, like books, tools, science instruments, seeds.»

Then the first Elf again:

«You are lucky that no injuries or death occurred. This could have happened, and you knew it. Everybody is fed up with your stunts, including the farmers - that we respect, whatever you heard or imagined about this. There already were violence here. Brawls between petty bullies, we said nothing. But revolvers on the plateau, this is a big no. We are to take measures.

«We managed to calm down our defensive egregore, but it is not sure this will go as well next time. So a good advice: never come back.

«You understand, the Gold of the Elves, it exists. But it is not metal, it is our wonderful life together. And this it is much more precious than gold. But you cannot steal it.

-I feel the presence of a snake» made one Elve, and her friends giggled.

«There are a dozen regularly in the surroundings». Other laughing.

«Ok, I think the police is longing for your presence. They offer you the way down from here.

-And even the way out of Kondo, since you are not nationals. That part will be easy, after an armed attack we don't even need to ask the authorities.

-Indeed, says one policeman. You risk expulsion as dangerous individuals. We are cool in Kondo, but this is not a reason to walk on our faces.

-But you will still get a free sojourn in our jails before, laughs another cop.»

In the meanwhile, there is still some work going on in the cave. Several persons bring bags in and out, walking on carpets in order not to leave traces.

Then there is a long discussion between the police, the scientists and the Elves. They speak at low voice, but very excitedly, as of arguing or something. At times, one of the officers go to the police van, and calls by radio. The three are not handcuffed, but they are left dangling on the side of the road, and they feel stupid like that. And, probably, trying to flee now would not work. The Elves perfectly see them in the dark, while them are nearby blind.

This lasts for about one hour, when another police car arrives. All the issues seem resolved. The police car leaves with Mavik. The police van takes the three, and then it starts descending the Shamal, using its siren to clear the way in road junctions, for the van of the scientists which follows. All three depart for unknown locations.

Two days later, the whole Aymar district is abuzz with the disappearance of several conspirationists. The newspaper and television first said nothing. Then after three days, they published a short notice: several persons had been arrested for an armed car robbery in the Shamal, without any mention of who or what was targetted. These persons were in jail since. That was all the official information. Nobody could locate or see the prisoners, even not their families.

Their whereabouts remained unknown, until their prosecution, three months later (In Kondo, a procedure must not last more than three months, or it is invalid). Then suddenly as by miracle the whole story was unveiled. And it was worth waiting!

The four appeared in the court, for the first time in public. Of course, the accusation revolved about the armed robbery. But the said accusation clearly pleaded that a tipping point had been reached with the use of weapons, beyond which the justice and the government of the peaceful Kondo could not remain inactive.

But it was impossible to hide the background of the remaining Elven artifacts, which were spoken about publicly for the first time: it was confirmed that there still were skillfully hidden caches, not found yet despite all the tunnels had been explored and mapped many times.

A spokesperson of the University explained that they had to ask for permission to forcibly enter private properties, to recover the last caches in time for the prosecution to take place in the three months legal delay. So that the problem was finally solved: the content of the last caches had been entirely recovered. None remained now, even in private properties. Three months were not too much for that. But this operation had to remain secret, until the last cache was safe. It was to avoid the secret to spill that the four were kept in isolation.

The government was keen to give the authorizations to enter in private properties, since the documents found that night debunked some conspiracy accusations against Kondo during the Exodus. The authorizations bore the seal of the King of Kondo himself. In this parliamentary monarchy, the King had little real powers, more acting as a guardian of the spirit of the nation. But he was still able to override legal complications, in exceptional situations like this, where fast action was needed.

There was not any official representation of the Elves in the court. But some were allowed to speak as witnesses, of what the documents and artifacts were representing to them, as memories of a beautiful and painful past. It was a sight to behold, in this room of dark wood, gray suits and black robes, to see the Elves wonderfully clothed with long pastel hued gowns, speaking so gently without hate. Even the television admired them.

A difficult decision was pending, about who owned the documents, and who would keep them under their custody. The Elves were saying that, since their owners are still alive, the documents cannot be considered as archaeological artifacts. Most letters were private anyway, about love stories of still living persons. The university of Tyron argued that the documents needed to be conserved in a proper way, in dry nitrogen, in order not to deteriorate any further. The government was saying that it was Kondo History and patrimony, so that they belonged to them. They still all agreed that the documents of historical importance should be published and accessible for all, on the Internet.

The four scoundrels were feeling quite crushed by these debates flying so high above them. Their conspirationist theories were evoked, as ridiculous and childish rambling. Above all, they had been a huge hindrance against safely and publicly recovering the documents with all the respect and publicity they deserved. For the three petty offenders, the defense pleaded that they were idiots manipulated by Mavik, just because the later was afraid to go alone in the dark. Indeed, his behavior clearly indicated that from the very start his intent was to drop them without any gold. He felt ridiculed with the attendance laughing, but that was better than revealing his real idea: to use them as human shields in case the Elves were armed.

The whole room screamed with laughter when they heard the trick of the gear lever. But this did not made the court more lenient: Mavik was a known violent, and in more he escalated the already unstable situation on the Shamal. He got an exemplary sentence, which added to several years of suspended sentences he already had. That is to say, he was provided with free bed and breakfast for a good share of his remaining life time. Sure nobody would miss the presence in town of such a jerk as Mavik. One of the Elves explained that they had brought Shamal snakes in the moat of the jail. This was of course not true, but it spiced his stay.

For the three petty conspirationists, they got six months each. That is, they went out free, since they already served three months of preventive jail.

Two of them, who were not nationals, were expelled from Kondo. A dozen prominent conspirationnists too, after this demonstration of the danger of their attitude. Kondo was peaceful and tolerant, but there were limits. The Government explained that conspirationism always is caused and fueled by enemies of the country it takes place in. This was a serious warning, equivalent to an accusation of espionage. Entailing much more than six months, the next time they play at this.

The rumors of elven gold are not quenched, though. So the Elves organized another «leak»: that, the «real» purpose of secretly recovering the content of the caches, was to take all the gold to the cellars under the Black Palace of the Bubacarian republic. Given the political regime, it is very dangerous to rummage there: trespassers could be arrested as spies, and spend twenty years in the terrifying jails of black serpentinite. There are many less candidates, now.

As with many other ancient religions, there were attempts to restart the cult of Marna. Officially, not in the hide. These claims were met with warnings about spiritual materialism from the Elf Council, advising the Elves and candidate Elves not to meddle in.

Curiously, the Government of Kondo was helping, despite the still strong taboo on religion. But it was easy to understand why: left to its own devices, such an attempt was a godsend for all the crooks and sects. So better to frame the thing, and especially to control the money, rather than having it flowing underground. This is why the town council offered a better container, safe from attempts to break in. Indeed, the offerings were the private property of the Marna Charity, after all. The official motive for the container was to avoid littering and theft, but in any case it was situated right in the place of the ancient temple entrance where people used to deposit offerings. The adepts are often seen in front of the container, which they had repainted of the Marna carmine red, with golden friezes and volutes. Kondo law is tightly controlling charities, to avoid related scams. The newly constituted Marna Charity is no exception. This compliance earned them some aura of seriousness, finally.

The Elven caves are now all empty of any ancient or hidden content. But they are still locked, to avoid further destruction and depredation, like tags or littering. The Kondo law could not avoid the farmers to use them for their purposes, if they are on their private properties. But the same law also allows the Elves of the first Elven farm on the Shamal to officially re-install in there. Only Elves and candidates, not casual visitors.

The caves in the public domain were all fenced, finally, despite the objections of the Shamal Tourism Syndicate, who wanted to make guided visits. Some of them had to be cleaned of tags and dirt, and even of trash and dejection!! The fences were indeed much needed.

The Elves donated many of the found objects to museums, or to temples in the Dauriath. Indeed, they did not needed manually wrought tools anymore, and most music instruments were moldy or too fragile to be used again. Some went to laboratories wanting to reconstitute the sounds of the ancient Shamal.

The personal letters were finally sent to their owners in the Dauriath, in airtight transparent sleeves under nitrogen.

The government of Kondo kept the documents of historical interest in bunkers of the Army, in nitrogen containers. The Elves felt frustrated certainly, because it was their History too. But the Human world and the Elf world were getting more and more entangled anyway, as this is the plan for building the future Great Marvel in nine centuries. So that it was much less mattering who was in charge of these papers, as soon as they were scanned and their meaning made available to all. Still the Elves insisted to certify their copies themselves. So that, both Elves and Humans operated each their own scanners in the bunker, in order to each certify their own electronic copies, and each put them on their own Internet sites.

And yes, as mentioned earlier, the Elves had bought one of the farms of the Shamal! It is situated in the north east corner, near the former gathering point where the Exodus took place. The cave where the present story happened is just one kilometer south. This allows the Elves for a permanent presence on the plateau, useful for many reasons.

One of the main reasons is to regain control of their defensive egregore, which uncontrolled activity already killed a lot of people, and was still killing several a year. Bad people certainly, but if you want to phase out war and violence, you need to start by changing your own ways first.

The public reason for the farm is to start repairing the ecosystems of the Shamal, from the terrible wounds inflicted by the farmers: crystal clear brooks where you could drink directly, transformed into poisonous sewers, massive loss of insect population, and so on. This farm is only a minute fraction of the total, but already insects, birds and butterflies are coming back!

Even part of the biodiversity losses were reverted: several Shamal caves contained tens of thousands of plant seeds, dried insects and butterflies! More soils samples, which bacteria and fungi are crucial parts of the ecosystems. These collections had been made on advice of the Shelenaë priestesses, that nobody understood by the time. All this went to a secret repository belonging to the Tyron Institute of Genetics. Many years would be needed to read the DNA and reconstitute the genomes. But this work started immediately, and as soon as the next years, long disappeared blue Shamal butterflies started to fly again in the Elf farm, around the salvaged spring...

Scenario, graphics, sounds, colours, realization: Richard Trigaux (Unless indicated otherwise).

The Elves of the Dauriath

The Gold of the Elves 1

The generation of this story

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