22 At odds

We had a little over 5 minutes until their arrival, so we hid in various trees around. The elves and I climbed them, while the dwarves waited behind. The rest of the gnolls were not in a position to fight, and they began to panic and run forward in disarray, clearly in a state of panic.

Soon, the enemies came into our view, 15 large men mounted on the same creatures that had ravaged the caravan. They appeared to have some kind of bony exoskeleton, and their skin color was a bruised purple.

One of the elves tried to say something to me, but I couldn't understand a word. He soon realized his mistake and, with embarrassment on his face, gestured for me to strike behind the neck. I suppose that's the weakness of this race.

Our enemies began to slow down just beneath our position and started looking around. They spotted the fleeing gnolls, and just as they were about to resume the pursuit, I emitted a soft whistle, and we all jumped into the attack.

Personally, I leaped onto the leader of the enemies, who looked slightly larger than the others and gave off the impression of being in charge. I threw myself at him, trying to strike behind his neck, but his reflexes were quick, and he covered it with his forearm. The impact sent me tumbling off his mount, and we both rolled on the ground.

I quickly noticed that our initial ambush had had moderate success. They had only managed to kill 5 of the pursuers, and they were now facing the others two to one.

The enemy leader didn't give me much more time and immediately launched into a series of powerful blows with a weapon similar to mine. He struck from left to right with tremendous force, causing the wind to whistle. His power was such that I was sure if he hit me, that part of my body would turn into mush instantly.

Suddenly, he kicked some dirt toward my face. I managed to shield my eyes, but the disruption in rhythm meant I couldn't avoid the next blow. With little time, I brought my own weapon into a vertical position to block his strike, and the impact immediately dislocated my shoulder.

The young elf suddenly appeared and cast a spell, "Adanad a ndínen," and a lightning bolt began to concentrate in her fingers before jumping toward my opponent. A smell of burning flesh filled the air, and at the same time, he began to convulse due to the magic's potency. I had to wait a bit for its effects to wear off before moving in to finish off my opponent.

With their leader fallen, the rest began to panic and lose their coordination. With my help, we quickly began to reduce their numbers.

In the aftermath of the battle, a dispute arose about the spoils of war. Our pursuers seemed to have items of interest to both the dwarves and the elves, and a heated argument erupted between the two groups.

It was clear they didn't hold me in high regard, as even the spoils obtained from the captain were claimed by the elves. While I didn't really need anything at the moment, I felt that if I allowed this attitude to continue, it would be a big problem later on. So, I had to assert my will by claiming the captain's bag and weapon, as well as three horses.

The dwarves stepped back upon my claim, but it was more because they wanted to test the waters for the elves' reaction than out of fear or respect for me.

The elves, on the other hand, didn't disappoint. As soon as I took a horse from their side, they moved to stop me. The youngest of them threw a punch in my direction.

Although this young elf was not weak, his punch and posture lacked the technique to pose a threat. I took his punch by the wrist and deflected it upwards, projecting him over my shoulder. Although I would normally let him hit the ground to reflect on his mistake, I chose to catch his arm to make the fall less painful.

My martial display cleared up some doubts between both groups, and although there were still a couple of elves who wanted to run forward to confront me and take their companion out of my hands, the elders held them back.

With the young elf still held by the wrist, I looked firmly at the other group. But before anyone could say anything, the young elf girl stepped forward and began to speak in rather broken English.

"Could you please release young An?" I looked at the young girl, who could almost be considered a child by human standards, and felt no malice in her or her tone, so I finally let go of the wrist.

"My name is Anya, my status is complicated, but you could say I was exiled from my kingdom," Anya spoke with a reconciliatory tone.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Anya. My name is Alex. Due to certain misunderstandings, I ended up here, and I'm currently cooperating with the gnolls."

Anya had a dubious look, and then she spoke a few words in secret with one of the older warriors. It was clear that this warrior was the most trusted of Anya's group.

"Sir Alex, to be honest, you should know that the gnolls are a race abandoned by the rest. It might be better for everyone if you forget about them and join our group. We would be more than happy to have you at our table."

"I'm flattered by your offer, and know that I would sit with you whenever you welcomed me, but I'm not in the habit of betraying my allies."

My immediate response seemed to surprise the young girl, but she quickly moved on to the next topic with a gesture of understanding.

"Very well, Sir Alex, then let's move on to the next issue: how we will divide the spoils of war."

"There's no need for anything complicated. I'll take what my opponent had," I paused to look at the dwarves and then turned back to Anya, "You should take the rewards of those you faced, which in this case is basically splitting it half and half. As for the horses, I suggest 3 for me and 4 for you and 3 for them," I finished, pointing to the dwarves.

Surprisingly, one of the dwarves stepped forward and spoke in a language I could understand. Apparently, this language was some kind of universal human tongue since it was very similar to how Anya spoke, and both were easily understandable.

"May I ask why they have 4 horses, and we only have 3?"

There was a hint of hostility in his voice, so I turned to face them and looked directly at the leader to explain.

"Although each of your groups faced the same number, don't be deceived into thinking you made the greatest contribution. The enemy leader was much stronger than us, and I was the one who faced that danger head-on. Although I could finish him quickly thanks to Anya's spell, that's why the three groups are on equal footing, and that's why I'm giving the majority to them."

When the dwarf who asked translated to his group, the leader quickly nodded in my direction, and they started to collect their belongings. I turned my gaze to the elven leader, who did the same.