Chp.34: The fairy city

It was a fact known to any intelligent creature that lived in the vicinity of the Karbraland Great Forest that this territory was divided between two races. In the western part were the ogres, divided into multiple tribes and rarely uniting. In the eastern part, however, stood the Kingdom of Tai-Chinn, where the fairies lived. In reality it wasn't a real kingdom, but more a city-state: a single large agglomeration of houses built among the tallest trees of the forest, and some of them even above their crowns. Apart of that, the kingdom consisted of just little villages scattered throughout the forest.

Fairies were much smaller creatures than ogres: they stood about one and a half meter tall, so even humans would have considered them short. Physically they weren't too different from their human counterparts: they were basically the same if you didn't count the less pronounced cheekbones and slightly pointed ears, similar to those of elves but smaller. However, fairies had a very particular feature that differentiated them from humans: on their backs, where humans would have had only bare skin, there were four wings similar to those of a dragonfly which allowed them to fly, and their small and light body guaranteed them absolute mobility in the air. Indeed, the great fairy city-state was made up entirely of houses: there were no roads, bridges or other infrastructure, since they didn't need them. Who would have chosen to walk when they could fly, after all?

The fairies seemed to be the exact opposite of the ogres: while the ogres built rough and square cities, cutting down all the surrounding trees and leveling the ground, the fairies had a very orderly architecture that almost blended into the forest. The trees on which their houses were located were at least fifty meters high and had already naturally very strong trunks; moreover, the fairies reinforced them with magic for safety. Thus, the fairy town was completely suspended and supported by the mighty tree fronds. This was an advantage, as it avoided having to build walls to keep out dangerous animals, but it could also be a disadvantage: an enemy could infiltrate and set fire to the trees, creating a fire and distracting the fairies enough for them to attack while they were helpless. Therefore all over the city were scattered runes and magic stones which created a gigantic area where it was impossible to use fire magic. As far as non-magical fire was concerned, however, they were safe because the magic that strengthened the trees also prevented them from being scratched by ordinary fire.

Even in culture they seemed to be opposed to the ogres: while they had a patriarchal society, the fairies had a matriarchal one. However, unlike ogres, it wasn't exactly their choice: it was due to their nature. In fact, males were rarely born among the fairies; the offspring were much more often female. Statistically out of ten newborn fairies only one of them was a boy, all the others were girls. This had given rise to the myth in many peoples outside the forest that the fairies were a race made up only of women. This clearly affected their birth rate, and indeed over several centuries their population had grown very slowly. In total, the current population of their capital didn't exceed 80,000 individuals; if all the fairies present in the various villages were counted, they barely reached 90,000. A smaller number than the ogres, which if you count all the tribes could reach a population of 120,000 or even more.

Since the faeries were physically weaker and fewer in number than their warlike neighbors, it could have been easy to imagine that the ogres would have had easy conquest over them. In reality, however, history taught that fairies were by no means an easy prey.

Being able to fly, it was easy for the fairies to ambush, attack from above and then retreat, and perform a host of other strategies that would cost the enemy dearly. Furthermore, the senses of the fairies were decidedly more developed than those of the ogres, allowing them to hit them with arrows even at enormous distances. But the true advantage of the fairies were their magical knowledge, far superior to the one of the ogres and even to the one of many other races; humans, for example, had tried for decades to decipher fairy spells, never succeeding. All of these characteristics made the fairies a difficult target for the ogres, even though they were more physically frail and far fewer in number.

The ogres were aware of this, and it had ensured that for a long time there was peace in the Karbraland Great Forest. However, the ogres had grown bolder in recent years. The new generations had forgotten the danger represented by the fairies and therefore the thefts and robberies had become much more widespread. However the fairies had always avoided reacting, since they lived much longer than the ogres (their average lifespan was about 300 years) and therefore many of the old soldiers who had seen the last war were still alive and had resisted seeking a conflict, since moment they still remembered how terrible a conflict with their neighbors could be.

But there was still a limit to how quiet the fairies could be. The news that the ogres were preparing for a conflict soon reached the fairies, who, however, kept the tribes under control in anticipation of just such events. This alone was enough to frighten many of them, but news soon came that the ogres had begun raiding border villages and abducting their population to enslave them.

As soon as she heard of what had happened, the fairy queen Tytania immediately ordered to clear all the villages and bring the population to safety in the city; whereupon she immediately summoned her advisers to the throne room. Tytania was a rather young fairy, at least by their standards (she was less than 100 years old), but she understood very well what an open war with the entire ogre people meant: the previous queen, her mother, had done everything to let her comprehend that during her education. And she in turn had tried hard to avoid a conflict, but for some reason it seemed that the ogres had chosen to take the lead. "Why?" was the simple question she asked her advisers.

Unfortunately, however, no one seemed to know how to respond. The ogre mobilization had been so sudden that no one had been able to explain it. It seemed that overnight, for no reason, all the chieftains had forgotten their differences and had chosen to unite against the fairies.

Even in anticipation of a future war it would have taken a long time to convince everyone: the fairies knew that the tribes were in fact divided and therefore it would have taken years for everyone to agree. The fairies would surely have noticed a great coming and going of messengers from one tribe to another. Instead, in less than a month the ogres had reached an agreement, as if none of them thought of anything else than invading the Kingdom of Tai-Chinn.

Suddenly a voice rose from the middle of the hall: "I think at the moment their reason is irrelevant. What matters is that those brutes are clearly about to attack us! We must respond in the most appropriate way!"

Tytania looked towards where the voice had come from. It was Fridya, the commander of the fairy army, who had spoken. She was a fairy with very long wings and hawk-like eyes.

"What you say is right" Tytania admitted. "What do you suggest we do, anyway, in anticipation of what is about to come?"

"My advice, my queen, is to react decisively" Fridya answered. "Let's attack them and kill a large number of them, then threaten to assault them again if they don't stand down!"

This time the councilors didn't remain silent. "In that way we'd look like we wanted to fight!" someone protested. "It would be impossible to avoid a war!"

"It's already impossible! The ogres are preparing to attack us. If we don't act, we will be crushed!" was Fridya's curt reply. "My queen, if you will allow me, I will lead my troops against the enemy. I have enough forces to drive the ogres away from the border. Even if they refuse to give up, that will give us time to fortify our territory!"

Tytania sighed mentally. She knew Fridya would have requested such a thing, since she was known for her radical anti-ogre thinking. And unfortunately she wasn't the only one: many other councilors, even if they were a minority, thought exactly like her.

For thousands of years, the fairies had lived in peace in the Karbraland Great Forest. Then, however, the ogres had arrived from the south and without any reason they had attacked and tried to conquer them. The fairies had withstood two attacks by the ogre army, but nearly capitulated in the third. Only the closure of the road that allowed access to the south, where the main ogre territory probably was, had prevented this. The fairies didn't know what was the mysterious monster that had lurked halfway between the Karbraland Great Forest and the vast plains to the south, but it had saved them from destruction. However, they were too weak to reconquer their old territory, so they chose to make a peace deal with the ogres. However, not everyone was in favor of such peace.

Over the years, as the faeries had recovered, a faction had begun to form, a faction that demanded the total extermination of the ogres, seen as nothing more than invaders. If then to this was added the bad behavior of their neighbors, who often robbed the fairies and who sometimes gathered to attack them, this faction had acquired more and more strength over time. Although most people still preferred peace, radicals like Fridya had managed to work their way up to the top echelons of the royal palace.

Luckily, many common-sense fairies still existed as well. "No! My queen, I propose that we send a messenger to the ogres. Let them explain their motives! Perhaps we can resolve the situation without bloodshed" another councilor exclaimed. Her name was Elenah and she was known for her calm and calculating demeanor.

"The ogres are already going to declare war on us! What's the point of hoping for a reconciliation?" Fridya snapped annoyed.

But the other councilor wasn't intimidated by her penetrating gaze: "Hoping is exactly what we must do if we are to have at least a chance of avoiding a war!"

Those words caused an uproar. Very soon the throne room was divided in two factions: on one side there were those who wanted to prepare for war immediately, on the other the reluctant ones who preferred to implement a more diplomatic approach first.

However the final decision rested with the queen. Tytania clapped her hands and in an instant calm returned. "You are both right. We cannot act rashly, but in the same time we should prepare for the worst". Her magnetic gaze rested on Fridya. "Army commander Fridya, you will have to gather our troops and study a possible defense plan. In the meantime, I will send a messenger to the ogres and we will try to resolve the matter peacefully. If restoring peace won't be possible, we will be ready for war"

Fridya knelt down. She didn't appreciate the queen's cautious strategy much, but she would never disobey her. Moreover, she could be satisfied: she had still been allowed to prepare the army, which from her point of view was a good omen. "I will act immediately, Your Majesty" she said, spreading her wings and flying out of the large windows of the palace.

The queen's gaze rested on the other fairy. "Minister Elenah, I entrust to you the choice of the messenger and the preparation of his escort"

"As you wish, your majesty" the fairy replied with a bow.

Tytania leaned her neck back against the throne's backrest and her eyes were lost in the void. "Now only the gods can decide our fate" she murmured to herself, no one could hear.

In the following days, the capital of the Kingdom of Tai-Chinn was in great turmoil. Several soldiers could be seen flying in multiple directions, and blacksmiths and enchanters worked at full speed to create a huge number of weapons. And then, one day, a tiny group of fairies left the city for ogre territory. Unbeknownst to them, however, something was watching them.

The creature bolted as soon as it saw them, scurrying through the forest faster than any animal ever could. In less than half an hour it reached the mountains and in a few minutes it reached the lake, where several little dragons were arguing animatedly. "Haku, it's happening. I saw a group of fairies leaving their city just now" it said as soon as it reached them.

Haku looked up. The one who had brought this news back to him was his sister Tikka. Today was her watch shift, and apparently she hadn't been negligent.

Haku had already foreseen that the fairies might try to keep the peace by negotiating with the ogres. If the two factions had met, they would have understood everything and it would have been impossible to start a war. Therefore he had established watch shifts for his siblings to keep an eye on the fairy city from afar and report any suspicious movement.

"So here we are. Those fools want to stop the war… exactly as I imagined" Haku let out a chuckle, then he turned to Darbi. "Go and contact our dear infiltrator. We will need his services today!"