I Scored Myself A Mate

"It's not as bad as I thought." Allias whispered to his general as he got out of the carriage. After greeting everyone they left the estate of the new lady they had a long journey through the thick forests, entering troll territory until they reached their destination. He hadn't visited the troll swamps in years but as it seemed they had evolved a bit. In front of him there was a huge swamp, greenish water everywhere while above his head, attached to the trees and in the air, connected through wooden bridges made with rope, hanged many small houses. Allias stared at them one by one and the people who walked from building to building. All of them had that greenish hue on their skin, their hair black, the same color as their eyes while they had fangs protruding from their mouths on the bottom. 

"Weren't they supposed to live in caves?" Theseus whispered back at Allias and the king shrugged his shoulders. 

"Maybe the remodeled the place, I've been dead you know, how am I supposed to know?" he told the general and the white haired man grinned. "Asmodeus is with Mark's body in their own carriage hidden in the woods. Once we are done with our visit we will go and get them to continue our journey."

"Okay." Allias said, nodding his head. He would lie if he said that he trusted completely Asmodeus but he had to step back on this one. Theseus had told him many times what should be done, they needed his help and Allias might not trust the demon he did trust Theseus, with his life. Soon the carriage Ea and Ares were on caught up to them and stopped, the two younger elves getting out. They were standing a bit further from the entrance of the huge swamp, waiting for all of them to gather before they met the new Troll leader. 

"Shall we go?" Theseus asked them. The younger ones nodded, while holding hands and Allias simply began walking, before everyone else. This was one of the parts that Allias had come to hate about being a king. Officially no one had the right to walk next to him, not even Theseus and in all important events he had to be on the front, alone while wondering if anyone was still standing behind him. He had to walk with his head high, his eyes cold and his expression unreadable as he met possible friends or enemies. 

Soon signaled by their appearance a crowd began to gather at the entrance. The swamp was surrounded with a very old stubble wall while on the sides of the entrance stood two observatories. The people were peeking glances from behind the wall while others who were on the ground were looking down on them. Everyone curious to see the elf king that had returned. The leaves of the trees were thick, offering a wide shade and the climate was humid making Allias and the rest of the elves feel slightly uncomfortable in their heavy clothing. 

They didn't have that much time to think about the commodities though because the new Troll leader and his companions, generals, attendants and councilors had come to great them. Allias and the rest of the elves bowed, the trolls mimicking respectfully their actions and for a second they awkwardly stared at each other. The new troll leader was young, barely in his late twenties and was definitely a lot more handsome than that slimy Hara. He had long black hair that reached his back and big black eyes. His fangs were not that big and wild looking and he was smiling faintly while a young troll girl stood at his side. She seemed to be pregnant. 

"Hello, welcome. Thank you for honoring us with your presence." He told them. "I am Skof, the new troll leader and this Aya. She is my wife." He introduced themselves and Allias smiled. 

"Thank you accepting us, we have heard that you were appointed a while back. We are very sorry about your previous leader and for not visiting you earlier. This is Theseus, he is my general and these two are Ares the Disee prince and Ea his husband." Allias did the same introduction. "I hope that you will accept the presents that we brought you." He said and one of the few attendants Allias had taken with him moved, going to the carriage and bringing out a big wooden box. He walked forward with his head facing the ground and stood in front of the troll leader, opening it and revealing many jewels and gems. "I do believe some of the jewelry will fit perfectly you lovely wife." He told him and the troll lady smiled. 

"Thank you and do not worry, we appreciate your visit, many of the other leaders seemed to not want to visit our swamp." He told them with a bittersweet smile. "Please come, we have prepared quite the feast for you." He told them and the elves followed. The entered through the big entrance and the troll leader took them to a huge tree on the beck. Its trunk had been opened and inside Allias noticed a narrow staircase. So this is how they went up to the trees, he realized and followed the man. The steps creaked underneath their feet and soon they faced the sun. Standing on the top and getting a full view of their land showed Allias that this place was actually quite pretty. The small houses were well taken care of and he could hear the laughter of children as they ran through the wooden bridges. 

"No running on the bridges." Skof scolded a few children that were running on the bridge next to them and they looked at them, frozen as they saw elves for the first time. A little girl between them pointed at Allias with a big smile, her dark eyes shinning. 

"He is pretty" he exclaimed and the King smiled, greeting her. How long had it been since he had seen any elf children? Walked through the streets of his own land? His home, he had overlooked it. Seeing how the trolls acted, how they lived reminded him of his own people, the ones that needed him. 

"Excuse us, the kids are quite rowdy here. It hasn't been long since we changed our ways of living so they are not used to it yet." Aya explained. She had a soft and low voice, soothing as she spoke and Allias nodded. 

"It's alright. I like children." He said. "After our lunch I hope that we will be able to pay our respects to Hara's tomb. To think that his visit would be our last meeting." The king said pretending that he was sad. They had gone through a few bridges by now, finally arriving one of the biggest tree houses, probably the one belonging to the leader. 

"We would love to take you but sadly we hadn't had the chance to bury our leader. Achlys took his body." Skof said, his calm expression changing as his eyes darkened. 

"Achlys has his body?" Allias asked surprised.