En and the Hunchback
“How am I supposed to defeat even one giant let alone an entire empire?” En fretted.
“You must out-think them,” Kobanongar the hunchback, told him.
“Even If I had the heads of the six smartest people, in my father’s kingdom, a single giant would be smarter.”
“If you had the heads of the six smartest people, you’d be considered a tyrant and have even bigger problems.” The Hunchback said, wryly.
“Are you going to help me or not?” En snapped. “You’re a wizard. Can’t you do something?”
“I am but as you see me, Highness” the hunchback bowed low. “I can do much, but I cannot lead your father’s armies against this foe.”
En snorted.
“Highness, you are a powerful wizard in your own right. Can you not defeat this enemy with your own magic?”
“Of course not. The giants have a counter spell for every enchant.”
“So, you must out-think them.”
“And we’re back to becoming a tyrant again.”
En paced across the room, back and forward. He mumbled to himself as he grappled with this damnable quandary.
Kobanongar watched him, almost as though he expected something wonderous to happen before his eyes. Gradually, a smile formed on the hunchback’s twisted face.
“We need allies,” En said, stopping. “The legends tell of a beings that dwell in the north-west. Their name translates as beasts of light.”
“Elfs,” Kobanongar said.
“Do you know of them?”
“I know a little.”
“Would they join our cause?”
“No.”
“Eventually even they will be threatened by the giants.”
“No, it will take something much greater than the giants to rouse them to action.”
“What is greater than a giant?”
“Chaos manifested. Demons and other fiends. They forced the elfs to flee their home an age ago.”
“You know a lot for someone that knows so little about elfs.”
The hunchback bowed his head. “Highness, I have an idea,” he said. “It will take years, and it feels unlikely that we will survive it but-”
“That is ever a risk. What must we do?”
“What I must do, I will reveal to you at a later time. However, what you must do is learn the language of the elfs.”
“And you will teach me?”
“I will. It was my folk that talk them how to speak. Just as they taught your folk to speak.”
En scoffed, “You are mistaken, my friend. A messenger from the gods, Choalú, taught Men to speak. It says so in the Sacred Scrolls.”
Kobanongar smiled, “Highness, Choalú was an elf.”
