Tales of Death´s Daughter

The from the mountains encircled area was completely filled with an incredible amount of water, forming a mini ocean, only blocked off by the dam I looked at earlier. Sure, in the distance, there were a few other wooden constructions, but none seemed to be so huge like the one beneath me, although it was hard to judge it over this large distance.

“Hey, can you set me down there?” I pointed to a swimming town underneath us, constructed entirely out of wood.

“Kay.” With a dizzying speed, she dove down, only to stop as close to the ground as possible. There may have been one or another yelp from my side, but I was sure it was unnoticed due to the speed. Swiftly afterwards, she dropped me down on the ground, but instead of landing next to me as I anticipated, she flew up again and circled above my head. The reason for this became apparent real fast as a bell rang on a watchtower, alerting every villager. They came rushing out of their houses on all fours towards the central plaza where I stood.

I was astonished. They were beavers, at least by how they looked. Their size was a bit larger than I anticipated with them being around my height when they stood up, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary either. They wore clothes made out of fish skin. Whatever book I read, such behaviour was atypical for beavers, no matter how I looked at it. Just by their massive construction, the dam I saw earlier, I already knew they were slightly different, but I didn’t expect this. Tom only warned me of their isolationist nature and left it at that.

What flabbergasted me the most was neither their clothing nor their coordinated behaviour as they encircled me and stood upright to draw the bows they bought with them.

“What´s a white bitch doing here?” What was I supposed to answer? A few seconds ago, I didn’t even think they were capable of speech, let alone racism. “What a moron, can´t even comprehend speech.” Said the only beaver who wore a hat.

“Uhm … I … you can speak?” I asked in elfish, still surprised by the development.

“Every beaver can speak you, stupid idiot.” He explained as I scratched my head. Well, their ability to speak solved one of my problems, although their way of speaking was worrisome.

“Alright, I came here with a request.” I said, hoping this would be over before my temperament flared up and I began a genocide.

“It´s always these pale white outsiders who come here and act like they own this place.” I wasn’t doing too well in my negotiations, but I still had to try.

“I am deeply sorry about my intrusion, but the matter cannot wait any longer. We ask you to d-“ I started, but the beaver didn’t let me speak out.

“The last elf who made a deal with us didn’t fulfil his side, so why do you think we will listen to you?”

“I´m not an elf.”

“We noticed already you dumb mutt. It doesn’t change anything.” He said while I wasn’t so sure if it really did. Humans weren’t in touch with the species here for generations, except for maybe a few lone travellers.

“If you don’t do exactly what I say, your species may be dead within a few years. This world is in great peril and you are currently one of the few fortunate enough to save it.”

“That’s what all lesser races say.” Explained the slightly racist beaver who didn’t see me as an equal at all. The limit of my patience was dangerously close to being reached. All the water around me made me quite nervous and if this wasn’t going to work out, I was forced to choose the more destructive method of reaching my goal.

In the last attempt, I carefully took the contact lens out of my right eye and let the friendly expression I still had vanish as if it was never there in the first place.

“Alright you racist piece of shit, do you think you can win with a mere 24 villagers against an apex predator like me? I am on the top of the food chain and you are nothing but intelligent cattle in my opinion. If you seriously believe any resistance you put up would help you, do it. Amuse me with your pitiful attempts while I drink the blood of your children and slaughter your useless race that only knows how to build a dam.” With a bored expression, I put the contact lens back onto my eye and stared at the village chief until he made his decision while the villagers gripped their bows tighter. The situation shifted dramatically now as they had something to fear.

No army, be it elven or human, would ever come to these villages to subdue them. The logistical expenditure was just too great for the benefits and as this area was isolated through nature, there was no reason for anyone to change the current system of mutually ignoring each other.

And then, there was something like me: A nightmare in the eyes of the villagers as I had the potential to do what an army couldn’t. The village chief closed his eyes, deep in thought about my threat.

“What do you desire?” For the first time, he spoke without any racial slurs or vulgar words in general. This shift alone was enough for me to calm down slightly.

“I need half the water you have stored.” I said and pointed to the large dam.

“That´s impossible! This water is our living. We drink it, we fish in it, w-”

“And if you snort drugs that grew in this water, I couldn’t care less. Open up the dam or live with the consequences.” I smiled happily as the village chief struggled to find the right words.

“We …” I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him in the air for everyone to see.

“You have this night to drain half the water out of this basin, otherwise I will burn it down in your stead and you will lose everything.” I said and gave them my ultimatum.

“It was the work of several generations!” He said, knowing full well that I didn’t care in the slightest.

“And you will be responsible for the end of these generations.”

“We would need to dismantle the dam for the most part. The ecological impact on the flooded area would be immense, hundreds and thousands of elves will drown …” I smiled cruelly as I heard that. The beavers validated my plan, although involuntarily.

“It´s either them or you.” I proclaimed and poked his belly with my sword.

“Lower your weapons…” Sometimes, it did have its advantages to belong to a hated but also feared race and this conversation certainly showed that perfectly. Satisfied, I looked upwards to the harpy who still circled above our heads, knowing full well that she just helped me to cause the racist beavers trouble.