"Koga. KOGA!" Ana yelled, snapping me back to the woods. I shook my head and cleared the last of my musings. "Where did you go?"
I saw that Yrak and Az had walked past me and were a bit farther away. Ana was next to me; when I looked at her, she smiled.
"Back to the villa; his journals are still there, ya know? I burned a lot of things before I left that place. Something about letting the past die, kill it if I had to."
"Have you been back since?" Ana asked softly, smiling.
"Only once, Amelia wanted to see the place I grew up. A few of his old students had stopped in and had things to 'honor' him." I said. There was a bottle of his favorite wine, a bouquet of my grandmother's favorite flowers, and a couple of books. Just accounts of their life after they had left his tutelage. We left when the wine was gone."
"It sounds like you weren't there for long."
"Just the night. I felt like a guide to the history I tried to move on from. But seeing her walk those halls felt right," I said.
"I don't understand," Ana started. "Ah, I get it now," she chuckled, looking at me. I felt my face turn into a frown.
"Anyway, why did you disturb my thoughts?" I grumbled. This elf matter actually made me angry at my grandfather.
"Crap, I forgot," Ana said, laughing. I sighed and shook my head.
"Well, it couldn't have been too important-"
"I remember!" Ana exclaimed and started laughing even harder. "I was lonely and wanted to talk to someone. Az and Yrak are talking in elven, so I decided to bother you," She said.
I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. I chuckled and shook my head as I looked toward the pair in front of us. I cracked a smile and turned to Lise. "Want me to eavesdrop and give you a rough translation?"
"Yes!" She said, barely containing her excitement. I was rusty and didn't pay attention, but I knew I could do it. I quickened my pace slightly and started to gain on them. As I approached, my mind went, 'You're sneaking up and then translating two people who could hear you on any given day? Good Luck.'
"-Ola ry'iks id g'tak U ged vid'c hujak lo kela. C'tec ged ly'qa c'tek ru'r'co guk'c'aq'd e'hy," Az said. As I heard the words leave their mouths, whatever knowledge began to come back. '-Ola found us when I was just given my name. That was more than fifty winters ago.'
"Thyme never talked about C'ta May'M'Za," Yrak said.
"We asked him not to. C'ta Az'Saq'D thought it was best that C'Ta May'M'Za revealed ourselves to C'Tola," Az replied.
"Why do you call him C'tola and not Thyme?"
"C'Tola proved he was one of C'Ta May'M'Za. You, however, are a true mix of C'Ta May'M'Za and human."
"Thank you, Az'Jo'Qe. However-" Yrak started. I shook my head. Elven was not something I thought I would need to remember. I figured this was a suitable spot to fall back and let Lise catch up.
"Man, I forgot how rusty I was," I chuckled and smiled after a long moment of silence.
"Wow, you're kidding me? So, you got shot with nothing?" Lise shot me a glance, and I laughed even harder.
"You crack back there?" I heard Yrak yell.
"U'l ruka," I yelled back, turning to Lise with a smile.
"Hy'ys, we're a few hours ahead of those bandits, according to Az'Jo'Qe," he said, stopping with Az.
"Well, that'll save time. The route I had in mind still had us out by six hours," I said as we caught up to them.
"You had us at six hours? We've been walking all day. We wouldn't reach them until the next day because I refuse to walk into darkness. Even three hours puts us there just as it's getting dark," Lise said, giving me a disapproving look.
"Et, I forgot Tileks can't see through the Shadow of Se'qn'kadd," Az said.
"Hey, I inherited my grandfather's eyesight," I said.
"I was talking about her, U'su'yc," Yrak said.
"Saquencad?" Lise looked at Yrak with curiosity.
He chuckled at how close she was to pronouncing "Se-" Yrak said.
"Se-"
"-Quen-"
"-Quen-"
"Cad,"
"Cad"
"Seq'n'Kadd"
"Seq'n'Kadd," Lise repeated.
"Ja'Qo Hy'ys, it means," Az said, pausing, trying to remember the word.
"Darkness," Yrak said.
"What about Jako Hi-is?" Lise said. Az could barely contain their laugh this time.
"Jah-Ko," Yrak cracked a smile. I knew I was enjoying this moment. A grin started to creep across my face.
"Ja'Qo means Very, and Hy'ys means Good," Yrak explained
"You're a descendant of C'ta May M'za, aren't you?" Az said, looking at her.
"Sata May'mah'Za?" Lise repeated.
"C'Ta or The and May'M'za, People." "Elves don't have a word for elf?"
"'Elf' and 'Elves' are Tilek words, W'tuzs. We do not need the translation. We call ourselves C'ta May'M'za because it is short for C'Ta May'M'za G'ty Gez'n C'ta R'zyg Yr Keciqa."
"What?" Lise said. I stopped dead in my tracks. She reminded me so much of our grandfather in his later journals. Lise was so curious, and she was gaining Az's trust.
"Whoa... Our last words are c'ta Gyazs. Sorry, Lise. It's short for 'people who walk with the flow of Nature.' My world is 'the flow of The World." Yrak said,
"No more learning how to talk like C'Ta May'M'za. My head hurts from what we've covered so far, Lise said.
"Well, you're a natural, and your accent is quite Hy'ys for a Tilek." Az smiled at Lise. I slowed down in my laughter and took a deep breath. I looked at Lise and felt my grin on my face.
"Are you ok, Koga? You've burst into laughter twice now." Lise poked,
"Yes, I'm quite alright. I'm laughing at how easy it was for you to learn."
"And why is that funny?"
"Because it means you got Grandfather's knack for picking up languages. I got his dark vision; granted, there's no color in the dark, just different shades of gray."
"Anyway, Koga, we need information about those former employees of yours." Yraks' smile faded as we turned to the situation at hand.
"Ah, of course. What was it you liked to know?"
"Numbers, fortifications, Hardware, Ed'D'Tyza," Yrak said. Lise chuckled at what was said, and I shot her a look.
"Last, I knew there were about 20 of them. None of them can cast magic, and the best around one is only in scale mail, clubs, swords, and a half dozen bows. They were building a wooden wall." I trailed off, "Ah, well, that explains the problem with the elves."
"Log wooden wall surrounding the camp?" Yrak said.
"O'ad, they've cut more trees down than is sustainable and are threatening to cut into our territory," Az said.
"So, what are our options then?" Lise said. I felt another smile cross my face in pride.
"Well, I could try to reason with them as their former boss, but I doubt that will work," I shrugged.
"You suggest the peaceful route? What? This plan coming from the guy whose plan it is to confront Forrest Brimbleton with threats of violence?" Lise said in disbelief.
"I think I said civil conversation first, then threats of violence. Thank you very much." I replied.
"Anyway, we should send Koga in through the front door. No matter what happens with the negotiations, it'll serve as a good distraction while Az Jo'Qe and I sneak into a vantage point." Yrak said.
"What about me?"
"Lise, you'll be in the way as of right now," Yrak said.
"Fine, send me in with Koga then," she replied.
"What? Way to tell me you're crazy without saying you're crazy, Lise," I joked. "I have faith she'll be fine. She's his granddaughter."
"Alright, Lise, you'll go with Koga." He turned to me, "You make sure nothing happens to her."
"Question: How far out from the edge of the magical aura is the camp?" I said
"G'To?" Az asked.
"Kajaq'Luk's. It doesn't matter," I said. I cursed inwardly; if I couldn't use my magic, it was going to make this a whole lot more interesting.
"Ruka, so we travel till dusk and attack in the morning?" they asked.
"I think that's the best course of action. We should stop far enough out so if the bandits have patrols, they don't find us in the middle of the night."
"So, we should stop now, then. We're still fairly deep in the Ry'Qad'c, and our scouts have said they only just entered our Gy'ys'd, so we should be safe from them."
"Good, we should still set up watches, 2-hour shifts. Lise, you're not gonna have your own watch. I need to teach you more helpful things if we're going to be in more and more deadly situations." I said, crossing my arms.
"Thank you," Lise said, smiling at me. I felt Yrak's disapproval. I looked at him and shook my head.
"Lise... Show Yrak that you inherited the old man's magic." She nodded and raised her pointer finger at a boulder a good bit away from us. After a second or two, a flash of fire left her fingertip and landed square on it.