Re: Aquae Grannis
Cirrus is one of those people who simply cannot avoid being “creeped out” by Edgar’s unnatural appearance. The flapping thing that accompanies Scolo is just… wrong. Not evil, not monstrous, just, something that does not belong here, and it makes Cirrus shiver.
Despite Edgar’s politeness, she hurries off without a word.
Scolo passes by the “Aquae Grannis Camp”. Orreg is not bound. Just watched. Keeping him tied up, the others thought, would be too much of a burden on everyone. They can handle one teenager, even if he is a strong boy, closer to manhood than Haldred. He sits there, watching Cirrus hurry away, appreciating. And ignoring Scolo, who talks to.. Haldred. Of course. Haldred and Orreg are “on the outs” and Orreg views everything through that lens. Scolo is on Haldred’s side.
Haldred keeps away from where Orreg can see him closely, definitely out of hearing distance.
Haldred recapitulates the brief, failed escape attempt at Juliacum. The Elf who made fire appear. The Elf who changed into a giant eagle… and then, how the Huns undid it. The Human who drove the wagon that carried the slaves, Korvig, undid the Elf’s magic and turned the eagle back into an Elf. And the big red horned troll thing made the earth itself attack, hurling dirt and stones at the Elves, and rippling under their feet, knocking them off balance.
But that wasn’t the end of the magic he saw. From his cell in the dungeon beneath the fort, he saw the Huns- Orcs, mostly, along with their Human friends, and that big toad-like Demon, take Elves and things like Elves but fishy (he describes the water sprites) and then return them later. But later, even if it was just an hour, they looked pale and starved and shaking.
”One of the Elves said to me, they take our magic, and our souls,” Haldred says. “That must be real magic, to take magic from another. Do you think it's how they get their power? Steal it?”