Prologue

It seemed like the forest was getting darker the deeper they went in.  The two men were running through the forest floor at full speed, like something was chasing them.  They were dressed in basic leather armor, with dark green tunics and black pants. The smaller one had a short sword strapped to his waist and two bags thrown over his shoulders.  The bigger man had a two handed broadsword strapped across his back, and was carrying a small sky blue bundle of blankets cradled in his arms.

            “Captain, I think we lost them for the moment!”  The smaller man exclaimed.  It seemed like he was completely out of breath.  Doing a quick look behind, the Captain nodded his head.

            “They will probably be stopping for the night as well.  But we can only take a short rest then be off again.”  He said sternly.  He slowed his pace slightly, and his solider matched it.  Looking around, the solider found a large ancient tree where its roots were large enough that they could easily hide beneath them.  The solider threw the bags into their hiding place, then ushered the Captain to go in before him, keeping an eye on the dark forest.

            “Is she alright?”  The solider asked, slipping down between the roots himself.  The Captain nodded his head.

            “Yeah she’s fine for now, still asleep, but I don’t think the spell will last much longer.”  The captain sounded a lot more tired than he looked.  He pulled back the top layer of the blankets and revealed a babies face.  It was sound asleep at that moment, but as the Captain looked down upon it, his face softens and he seemed more relaxed.  He gently pushes some of the dark black hair out of the babies face

            “Fire is probably not an option, but I think we still have some dried meat and fruit left.”  The soldier dug through one of the bags that he had been carrying.  The captain was too focused on the baby to care too much.  The solider just smiled when he saw his captain’s face, and it made him relax a little as well.  He handed the captain a piece of jerky, then sat down next to him.

            “Is she alright for now?”  The solider asked.  The captain nodded his head, biting off a piece of jerky.

            “I’ll take first watch if you want to get some sleep.”  The Captain exclaimed.  The solider nodded his head and curled up in a corner for a quick nap, determined to make sure that the captain got a bit of sleep as well before they got on their way again.

            The captain looked at his subordinate sleeping, and then listened to the silence of the forest around them.  There weren't even any night time animals making noise at this point, which worried him.  All he could hear was the gentle breathing of the baby and his partner. 

A little time passed, and the baby started to squirm in the blanket, breaking the Captain out of his serene trance.  It slowly opened its sky blue eyes and made a small cooing noise when it saw the captain.  He quickly reached into the closest bag and brought out a small bottle with some semi-clear green liquid.  He smiled and offered it to the baby.  The baby scrunched up its face in disgust and let out a small cry.  The captain put the bottle away quickly and started to hum a quiet lullaby.  The baby stopped for a bit, listening to the tune.  Its eyes darted back and forth in a panic after a few second, then its face scrunched up and it let out a loud cry.  The soldier who was sound asleep bolted straight up and reached for his sword.

“Oh no!  Quick, grab our stuff we need to move!”  The captain ordered.  The soldier jumped up and grabbed the bags lying on the ground.  The captain gripped the baby firmly, and they both jumped out from between the roots.  The captain pulled a small compass out of his pocket and signal his solider to make a small light.  The solider put one of the bags on the ground, and drew a torch and some flint out of the bag.  He lit the torch, and the forest gained an eerie reddish glow from the fire.  Studying the compass quickly, the Captain stowed it back into his pocket then pointed north.

"This way.  The village should be right on the north eastern end of this forest!"  The captain exclaimed.  The solider nodded his head.  They heard some yelling and a few more lights became visible in the distance.

"They were closer than I thought!"  The soldier panicked.  The captain studied the situation, then pointed north again.

"Lets get going!  We have to reach the village and then lead those elves astray.  Put the torch out for now."  With that he left the visibility range of the torch and melded into the darkness.  The baby was now screaming its head off at this point.  The solider quickly capped the torch, threw it back in its bag, then threw it over his shoulders and dissapeared into the dark forest.  The baby's screaming was the only thing that could be heard through the forest.

"She can't feel her mother anymore, that's why I can't get her to stop crying and put her back to sleep!"  The captain yelled.  The soldier nodded his head.  They both threw caution and silence into the wind and ran through the forest as fast as possible.  They could hear their pursuers tromping through the forest just as quickly.  They baby's cries easily gave them away and made them easy to follow.

They reached the edge of the forest and the sun was barely peaking over the horizon in the east.  Because it was just two of them, they were able to put a little distance between them and their pursuers.  The baby had quieted down within the past half hour, she had tired herself out crying, and was now down to a soft whimpering and seemed on the verge of falling asleep again.  The captain and soldier were both as completely out of breath as the baby.

"Is that the village we've been looking for?"  The soldier asked between breaths.

"I hope it is.  If we stayed on track that should be my old village Tramsron.  The humans here are trying to remain completely neutral during this war, but I made sure they were protected from the Elves.  They have stayed away from this village as far as I know.  There should be one of my units stationed just on the western boarder of the village, more towards the forest lands."  The captain explain.  The soldier just nodded his head.

"Should we join up with them then, and hold off the elves that are following us?"  The soldier asked.  The captain shook his head.

"No, our mission is suppose to be a secret, if they find out that I was here, the whole point will be for naught."  The captain gritted his teeth as he heard their pursuers getting closer.  "She's quiet now so they are probably only following us by tracks and the direction we were going based on when she was crying.  I need to get her to the village, but I don't want them finding me there!"  

"Then I'll distract them.  I'll lead them towards the army unit and try to throw them off that way."  The soldier pulled out his torch again and lit it up before the captain replied to his idea.  He dropped one of the bags on the ground and smiled at his captain.

"For peace and unity between all races, I will do this for you."  He bowed to his commanding officer and ran off in a south western direction holding the torch in an obvious manner hoping to catch their attention.  He had left the safety of the forest though, so had drawn his sword in defense as well.  The captain sent a silent prayer to the Guardian Wolf that would hopefully protect them, and headed a little further north through the woods, keeping an eye on the forest edge.

After waiting only a few minutes, he spotted a few Elven scouts, dressed in their black leather armor and carrying bows, coming forth from the forest where he last been.  One of them had a fire ball conjured to help them look at the ground.  The sun was slowly coming up, so it was still hard for the captain to see their faces from his distance.  Since they were searching for tracks around on the ground outside the forest, they were trying to track his soldier and did not notice his tracks back tracking through the forest.  The captain held his breath a little longer, waiting as they elves pointed south and followed the soldiers tracks.

Taking this as an opportunity, he dashed out of the hiding place and headed towards the village.  It was a good distance between the two, but he risked the chance of being seen hoping that  no one was looking towards the north, and only following his soldiers footprints to the south.  The baby had passed out at this point from pure exhaustion.

He reached the edge of the village just as the sun rose completely and morning was upon him.  Creeping through the back field of a yard, he could hear the village waking up and going about their daily morning routines.  The captain came up to a road through the village, and tried to calm himself to act normal and not arouse suspicion.  The village looked almost like he remembered.  He took off down the road, almost knowing where he was going.  He wanted to get there before everyone in the village woke up.

He made his way through the village, though not big population wise, it was spread out due to the large fields behind a lot of peoples houses.  This village was primarily a ranching village, with lots of hay fields to feed all the animals, as well as the room animals such as horses and cows need to roam around.  Looking around, he saw the house he was looking for.  Now people were starting to come out of their homes to attend their animals or fields.  He made it to the house he wanted just as a man came out the side door.  The man looked up and saw the Captain, extremely startled.

"Derek, is that you?"  The man asked.  The captain nodded his head.  The man waved him over to his house.  The captain ran over, checking over his shoulder to make sure no one saw him or was following him.

"I didn't know you were stopping by?  Whats the occasion, off duty for a while?"  The man seemed cheerful.  Then his face got a confused look on his face when he saw Captain Derek's stressed face and the bundle he was holding.  The Captain just looked at him seriously, then looked towards the door.  The other man just sighed.  "Yup, still on duty.  Lets get inside."  He headed back to the door and signaled the Captain to go inside.

Once inside Derek quickly took a seat in the closest chair that he could find.  He pulled the blanket back from the baby's face.  She was sound asleep again, which made the captain relax finally.  He looked up at the other man, who was watching him expectantly.

"Okay Derek, whats going on that's got you so on edge in your own home town?  The war never comes here, and we pray to the Wolf that it never does."  As he got closer he saw the blue bundle had a face and then looked up at Derek with more concern.  Derek looked back up at the man.

"I need your help.  I'm sorry to drop in completely unannounced, and me being here has to be a complete secret, but you guys are the only one I trust with this!"  Derek stood up.  Just then a woman came down the stairs into the room.

"Lance, who is it.  Were we expecting visitors this early?"  She asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"It's just your brother, Derek.  Come sit over here, I think we both need an explanation."  Lance waved the woman over.  Just then the baby started squirming and whimpering again.  The woman's eyes perked open when she heard, and rushed over to the Captain.

"Derek, how old is she?"  The woman gasped as she saw the baby's face.  Her eyes opened wide, looking up at Derek expectantly.

"A year barely, and she is the reason I'm here."  The woman held out her hands, and Derek passed the baby over.  The woman became instantly motherly like and cooed over the baby.  Lance walked over and looked at the baby as well.

"Is she yours?  She has a few of your features but not many."  He asked.  Derek nodded his head.

"She looks a lot more like her mother, which is why she is in danger.  I need the biggest favor ever."  He looked from Lance, to the woman, then down to the baby.  

"I need you guys to take care of her, please!  She is no longer safe with her mother or me, and though it breaks both of our hearts, its better if the Rouge Elves no longer know her location."  Derek got on his knees and was practically begging.  Lance and the woman looked at each other with complete shock.

"Who is the baby's mother?"  They both asked  at the same time.  Derek looked away from both of them.  "You never told me you were intimate with anyone."  The woman added.

"It's to dangerous to let you know that information.  I would love to tell you one day though."  Derek seemed extremely sad about it.  Lance contemplated what he said, then got down on one knee to look his brother-in-law in the face.

"I know its through your efforts that the war never comes to this village, though the rest of the villagers have all but forgotten you at this point.  From your letters you send Shari, I know you are a great man, and I trust your words.  If we do this, you have to swear to keep protecting this village with all your strength.  We don't want to get involved in the stupid war, and simple lives are much better for us."  Lance clapped his hand on Derek's shoulder.  Derek pounded one of his fists against his chest over his heart.

"I swear to you, as long as I live I will protect this village with all my might!  My daughter will reside here, why would I let anything happen to it!"  Derek looked up at the baby again.  Lance looked up at Shari, who nodded her head.  The baby was no longer crying and actually making cute gurgling noises.

"Then we will look after her like she is our own.  What is her name?"  Shari asked.  Derek got back up and opened the bag that the solider had left him.  He pulled out a smaller green shaded bag and handed it to Lance.

"Here, this contains a few things that should belong to her, as well as a letter I wrote to her for when shes older and hopefully the war has ended, this way she can find her mother after everything settles down.  There should be a good amount of money as well, to help support her upbringing."  He picked up the rest of the bag, walked over and kissed the baby on the forehead, which made her giggle.  He looked up and kissed his sister on the cheek as well.

"I thank you both, from the bottom of my heart.  I am going back now to rejoin my troops to hold off the elves that were following me, and continue to protect this village."  Derek headed for the door.

"Be good, Emily, my precious daughter.  Be safe and try to be a normal girl, though you are destined for many great things."  And with that he ran out the door and back towards the woods.

Author's Note

ignore grammar, still a rough draft.