DRIL: "issuing correction on a previous post of mine, regarding the terror group ISIL. you do not, under any circumstances, "gotta hand it to them" -- Deathshead419
[AN: Obviously not using those organisations for the purposes of FICTION because you just don't mess with that]
You'd think the Elves had learned from the first time they sparked hostility from nomadic people. They're slow to take in lessons from life, as they are slow to do many things. A cultural obsession with perfection will to that to a species. Unfortunately for the rest of Alfarell, the first lesson Elvenkind learned from the world was the arrogance of Dragons.
Having defeated Dragonkind enough to discourage them from attacking, they spread their influence as fast and as far as they could. Frequently disregarding the people who had been there first. With magic in their bones, the easily overpowered many, and began the Age of Elves.
Then they entered the Harukh'ai steppes.
The windswept tundra and grassy planes were not meant for the rich farming and thick forests that the Elves preferred. Not that that stopped them trying to bend the land to their will. In this place, it was like trying to bend granite in their bare hands.
So they spoke about their spread there in terms of battle and breaking. Hard won territory and the like. Until the Harukh'ai herdsfolk found them and the raids began. Like the land that made them, Harukh'ai were tough and resilient. Like everything native to the land, they were hardy and relentless.
Unlike the Elves, they didn't need to break the land to survive on it. They worked with the land and knew the hard things that grew there. They were the hard things that grew there. In the Harukh'ai steppes, you kept moving or you died.
Elves liked to settle in one place, and that was their mistake in this territory. They grew enormous trees that would not withstand the hard north wind, or big buildings of weak wood they forced to grow quickly. Either way, it burned, and Harukh'ai knew how to throw fire.
The Elves had destroyed the food crops that Harukh had planted some years prior, so the Harukh'ai took all the food that the Elves had made. They took all of the cattle and even some of the Elves. Not that that taught them a lesson.
The Elves adapted, of course. Learning the cycle of Harukh'ai herdsfolk. Predicting where they might strike next. Bolstering their defenses. Readying a counter-attack. They predicted everything... apart from the new tactics of the raiders. They didn't come on their horses. They did not come with their warhounds.
According to the survivors, they burst out of the untamed ground, already surrounding the settlement. Later investigation revealed that the Harukh raiders had woven mats to look like the wild ground cover, and crept up slowly over a long period. How long, the investigators couldn't say. Few survived the subsequent Harukh sortie with the horses and warhounds.
They were somehow a step ahead of the Elves, and the Elves did not know why.
Not until they finally forged peace with the Harukh, but that's another story for another time[1].
For some centuries during that phase of the Xenophobia Wars, the Elves had a saying. "You have to hand it to the Harukh... or they'll take your hands as well."
[1] I have an idea for a book. Not starting that one until sometime AFTER I finish working on A Devil's Tale.
[Photo by Einar H. Reynis on Unsplash]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends! Or visit my hub site to see what else I'm up to.
Send me a prompt [17 remaining prompts!]