Delver Magic III: Balance of Fate, Jeff Inlo [most popular ebook readers .txt] 📗

“Actually, without an elder leader,” the Loftber stated almost apologetically.

Lief narrowed his eyes at the camp elder, wondering why Loftber would make such a gesture. It seemed as if the older elf was almost apologizing directly to him for making a simple statement of fact. Their camp had no leader now that Petiole was gone. That much had become painfully obvious in the past few days.

Petiole had been the senior camp elder, the oldest elf on the council of elders with proper lineage in elflore, and thus the leader of the camp. Petiole, however, was a weak and foolish elf, an elf that committed the heinous crime of dropping shadow tree seeds on the underground dwarf town of Dunop. He did this not out of necessity, but out of resentment, out of ignorance, and out of weakness. Petiole acted out of selfish desires to prove what was obviously not true, that he was a powerful leader that should be feared or respected. Now, instead of being revered as he hoped, Petiole was languishing in the vast underground cave dungeons of the dwarves.

As to the camp being without a leader, that was almost bewildering to Lief Woodson. Elves lived by tradition, by the guidance of elflore. Such guidance made it clear as to what should happen next. It was now up to the council of camp elders to rally around Standish Loftber, the current eldest of elders, and allow him to lead. Something, however, had prevented this.

While the elders met over the past few days, no indication was given that Loftber would take the reigns of leadership. Instead, there had been late discussions—not heated arguments, nor debates of power—just simple deliberations without any clear direction given to the rest of the camp.

In fact, it appeared as if the council was almost as directionless as it had been when Petiole had been in charge, and that was something Lief would not allow again. He had almost said something himself when Loftber called for this private meeting.

It was now Loftber that spoke inquisitively to Lief.

“You look at me with a question on your lips,” the elder elf noted with an expectant expression.

“The question is not mine to ask,” Lief deferred. “The council must address the issue, as I’m sure it will.”

“Address it we have, but at the moment we are in a dilemma. This camp needs a leader. At present, it has none. Well, not a proper leader.”

Lief again offered a puzzled expression to the elder elf and Loftber offered a quick explanation

“You wonder why I say we have no leader and then correct myself? This camp does have a leader of sorts, and that leader is you. Please forgive any lack of respect. None was intended.”

Lief could not remain quiet. His expression revealed surprise, but his tone betrayed more than a hint of annoyance.

“Lack of respect?” Lief questioned with a near harsh tone. “What are you talking about? I do not lead this camp. I am not an elder. I am not even on the council…”

Loftber cut him off.

“You are right on the last, but no on the first. You are not an elder, thus you are not on the council, but you do lead. The elves of this camp now look to you. You are the one that gives them direction.”

Lief would have stepped back in denial had it not meant him falling out of the tree. Instead, he had to hold his ground, but he vehemently shook his head in denial. “No, I do not…”

Again Loftber quickly interrupted. “Please Lief, I am not accusing you of anything other then perhaps denying the truth you do not wish to see. Hold for a moment and let me speak what you eventually will know as the truth.”

Lief took a deep breath but acquiesced to the elder and remained silent.

Loftber looked down upon the elves below and nodded to them as he began his explanation.

“No one, not a single elf believes for a moment that you forced yourself into power, that you purposefully and deliberately grabbed the role of leadership from the proper elders. No, you are a victim of circumstance just as this camp is a victim of circumstance. You are the elf that stood on Sanctum and helped destroy the Sphere of Ingar. Thus, you are a hero and more. You stood against Yave and helped to stop her. And you were with Ryson Acumen when he saved Dunop from the shadow trees.”

The elder elf turned his attention back to the forest and looked once more to the trees in the distance and beyond.

“And it was you that stood up to Petiole and his crimes, stopped another elf-dwarf war, and sent that criminal to justice. Petiole was an elf elder and the leader of this camp. His word was final on all matters. When he committed his crimes, you put an end to his lead. You faced the elf guard, you faced the traditions, and you did what was right and necessary.

“In less than a full cycle of the seasons you acted more heroically than most of the legendary elves in elflore. You have a place now with Shayed as one of the most respected elves in all our history. Yes, you did all these things and not out of a sense of adventure, or out of ambition. You did all of this because you had to, because circumstances dictated you do it.”

At this pause, Lief finally spoke.

“I do not deny anything you say, however, I’m not sure of my place in history, but I’m sure of my place in this camp. Whatever I did, it does not make me its leader. It was Mappel that directed me during each moment of our trials with Ingar and his sphere. When Mappel died on Sanctum and Petiole took over, I looked to Petiole to make decisions to spare this camp. I never placed myself above him. I pleaded with him to do what needed to be done and still he did not listen to me, thus I never led at any point.”

“You led when it mattered,” countered Loftber. “You led at the end. When Petiole committed his crime, it was you that stood up against him.”

“I did so, but not as a leader!” Lief stated harshly as he became visibly frustrated. “I waited for the council of elders to act. I waited for you to act! It was the responsibility of the elders to stop Petiole. When you failed, I had to…”

“We failed in many of our responsibilities,” Loftber admitted. “I do not flee from that charge for one single instant. Still, to understand elder leadership is to understand what keeps us together, what allows us to survive. Certainly there have been poor leaders in the past, but never one so poor as Petiole that followed one so great as Mappel. We could not have asked for a worse situation. Mappel was exactly what we needed at the very time we needed it. Petiole was exactly what we did not need at a point we surely couldn’t afford to have him. As I said, the circumstances dictated what you had to do, and there is not a moment I don’t thank all of elflore for what you have done. That is why what I must do is so much more painful.”

Lief could not hold his tongue and it lashed out with further disbelief in its tone.

“So now you believe me to be the true leader of this camp and you wish to throw that burden upon me?”

Loftber mumbled barely loud enough for Lief to hear him.

“If only it were that simple,” Loftber sighed.

The elder elf steadied himself once more and again looked into the face of an elf for which he had the greatest respect and admiration.

“No, I will not ask you to take the role of leader. I had considered it, but it would not solve the problem. The problem is actually very simple; there can not be two leaders, two different spokes of authority. An elf camp has to have one clear direction, one clear voice when the good of the camp is involved. The council of elders serves as advisors, allows for greater communication, ensures stability during times of upheaval, but it is the camp elder that leads. Age, health, commitment and elflore have always been the determining factors in selecting the new camp elder. When a camp elder has passed or becomes too weak to lead, it is a simple process for the camp to select its new leader. The eldest elf serving on the council with proper lineage outlined in elflore becomes the new camp elder as long as he or she is healthy enough to take on the responsibility. Thus, it is always clear to the camp which elf must lead.”

Lief jumped on this point.

“It is clear now. You are that elf! The entire camp knows that. It is now your responsibility.” Lief softened his tone. “I know you Standish. You are not Petiole. I have no fears of your leadership. I know you will serve us all well.”

“And you think that is that?” Loftber shot back quickly. “You will simply retreat into the shadows and allow me to lead?”

The sharp retort took Lief by surprise.

“You think I would stand in your way?”

“You really don’t understand do you?” questioned the elf elder. “Leadership is not simply dependent on the leader. It is also very much dependent on the ones that must follow. There must be little doubt in their minds about who has the authority and the responsibility to lead them. How will you make the people of the camp forget you? Will you simply go out and tell them they should ignore you? Go ahead, for all the good it will do. In their hearts and in their minds, you have already taken on a position of power in this camp. If you tell them you will not lead, they will accept that at face value. They will look to me and follow my direction.”

“Then what is the problem?” Lief demanded.

“The problem is that they will follow my lead for only as long as they agree with my decisions or as long as we don’t face difficult times. The moment and I mean the very instant I make a decision which with some might disagree, they will look for an alternative. They will look to you. That is something we can not have, even you would agree to that. The magic has returned fully to the land, we are using it to our best advantage, but we also face so many dangers that we have never faced before. We have an opportunity for a truly wonderful time or a truly desperate time. We can use the magic to help our camp prosper, but we also face dark creatures returning in force to our home. That means we face difficult decisions at every turn. This camp must act with one voice, one direction, or else we will not survive.”

Loftber’s expression turned more sympathetic as he tried to explain his own understanding of the dilemma he believed the elf camp faced.

“Again, understand I know it’s not your desire and I don’t believe you would interfere even if you disagreed with every decision I make, but it’s simply not just up to you. The elves of this camp now view you as a legend, as part of elflore. The very mention of your name is now done in the highest regard. You simply can’t brush that away, and in truth, I wouldn’t want you to. It does, however, mean that you hold an important standing in this camp. You are regarded not just with respect, but as holding authority.”

Lief took long