Chapter 22
Under Siege (Pt. Two)
The infirmary was nearly full, and the basement and upper floors of the building were being cleared out to make room for more wounded. Never in the history of Mirrindale had there been so many casualties of war.
Among the victims were Elf soldiers who had served the King up to the very moment the Goblin hordes had invaded Valerian. Not realising they had been betrayed, they had fought on frantically, thinking to retake the city. It wasn’t until their scouts had reported that the Goblins were being led by the King’s own son that they finally realised the truth.
The presence of these soldiers in Mirrindale caused the Merchants much anxiety, and the Merchants had petitioned the Thane to abandon them to their fate. The Thane ignored their pleas, knowing full well the source of their unease. In a sense, the Merchants were just as responsible as the King and Prince Cir for what had torn the Elf Kingdom apart. With their accumulated wealth had come power, and with power came influence. That influence had been used to generate more wealth, and with it came more power, with the final consequence, that, what began as an effort to organize commerce had turned into a desire to control people. In the space of three generations, the people of Mirrindale had gone from being willing participants in an informed democracy, to becoming the faceless subjects of a state that had become totally self-involved with its own doings.