Chapter 3

Emily woke finding herself inside a small rocky alcove.  Jake's arm was wrapped around her shoulder, but he was fast asleep at this point.  It was fairly dark still in the alcove, with only a little dim light filtering through the small cracks in the ceiling and in through the entrance.  Emily carefully removed Jake's arm and crawled out of the alcove.

She now remembered she was in the Silverden Forest.  The forest was still eerily quiet, and the light rain made it hard to tell what time of the day it was.  She walked a good distance away from the alcove, trying to get her bearings of how far into the forest she was.  First thing she noticed was the severely torn up ground heading south  through the forest.  Kneeling down, she could tell there were a few hoof tracks and many boot tracks that had churned up the earth and broken a lot of tree roots.  Seeing that brought back the memories of what happened, with her aunt sending her and Jake out of the village and the massive panic that ensued afterwards.  Shivers went down her body, just remembering the atmosphere of the village.

"Emily!  Emily where are you!?"  Emily heard from behind her.  Jake came running her direction with her bag in his hand.  Emily looked at him with a confused look.

"Don't run off on me like that.  You don't have much to protect you!  I'm the one with the sword and skills remember."  He sneered.  He noticed her glance at the tracks on the ground.  He knelt down next to her and studied them as well.  A worried look crossed his face.

"These are fresh.  I wouldn't say more than two, maybe three hours ago."  He got all serious.  He jumped back to his feet and put a hand on the hilt of his sword and took a good look around.  The forest was still silent, but the rain was slowly letting up.  All he could hear were the droplets hitting the leaves.

"We should go back now and see what happened."  He said.  Emily nodded her head and got up herself.  She took her bag from him, and the two of them headed back north towards the village.

"I wonder if Aunt Shari and Uncle Lance are okay."  Emily said softly.  Jake just grunted.

"They will be fine.  Lance is the best swordsman I know.  It would take a lot to get through him and the people he's trained."  Jake said.  Emily could hear some pride behind his words.  It made her feel a little better, but there was this nagging feeling that something was wrong, especially with the way everything was still so quiet.  

Jake stopped suddenly, grabbing on to Emily's shoulder.  He pulled her behind a large tree and peered around it.  Emily leaned around the other side of the tree to see what he was looking at.

Coming through the forest were several men in black armor.  One of them was holding what looked like a glowing ball of fire, which lit up the surrounding area.  Only two of them had metal armor, while the other three seemed to be wearing dyed leather armor.  Each had a sword strapped to their belts, basic short swords.  The pointed ears and pale complexion gave them away as elves.  The one in front holding the fire pointed in several directions, and another started to disagree with him.

They passed by, seemingly still arguing with each other.  Jake waited till they were completely out of sight before he stood up again.  He looked back at Emily, who looked back at him confused.

"They are clearly searching for something or someone.  Maybe more people escaped when we did."  He looked around quickly then motioned Emily to follow him.  Running through the forest now, the two of them only had one destination in mind; seeing what happened to their village.  As they got closer to the edge of the forest, a strong smell of death and smoke started to reach them.

They stayed behind the tree line as they reached the edge of the forest.  Emily gasped as she saw the sight, and Jake punched the nearest tree and said some words under his breath.  There were dead livestock spread out everywhere between the edge of the village and the forest line.  The smell was so bad Emily fell to her knees and gagged.  The village itself was burnt to the ground, and a few of the barns were still burning despite all the rain that had occurred.  A few elves in black armor were pacing around the ruined village, sorting through the rubble and wreckage that were all their neighbors homes.  

Emily slowly got back to her feet, leaning on the tree for support.  Jake was intensely watching the elves in the village and didn't notice her get up.  Looking around, she had this feeling that they were being watched.  Then she noticed it; a few elves were up in the trees on the edge of the forest.  She saw the glint of metal arrowheads aimed towards them.  Emily panicked, then grabbed the back of Jake's tunic and dragged him backwards.

"We need to go back into the forest, NOW!"  Emily yelled at him, pulling harder.  Jake didn't know what to do, till an arrow flew right past his face, embedding itself deep into the tree trunk.  They both heard curse words come from the trees.  Convincing enough for Jake, he grabbed Emily's arm and took the lead, running back into the forest with her.  

After a while Emily's legs started hurting from running so much, and she tripped over a root and sent both of them tumbling to the ground.  They remained motionless for several seconds, till they didn't fear they were in danger.  Emily had fallen on top of Jake, and he shoved her off at that point.

"Okay, what is going on!?"  He yelled at her.  Emily rolled over into a sitting position and brushed herself off.

"I don't know.  I don't know, I don't know!"  Emily started to panic.  Jake didn't like hearing that answer.  He got up, grabbed Emily's tunic and pulled her to her feet.

"I think you DO know whats going on.  Why else would your Aunt send you away at the first sign of danger and ask me to protect you?  What are you not telling me!?"  He threw her against the closest tree, where she then fell to the ground in shock.  "Those elves shot at us not to kill, but to wound and possibly capture!  They are probably looking for something in our village, that's why saw them picking through the rubble.  Also if all they wanted was supplies, why would they kill the livestock as well?"  There was a lot of anger and confusion in his voice.

"I swear, if I knew what was going on I would definitely tell you!  I have no clue what those elves could be searching for and my Aunt probably sent me away probably cause she knew they wouldn't be able to hold the elves..." She trailed off as she couldn't hold the tears back anymore, thinking about what could have possibly happened to her aunt, uncle, and friends.  Jake's face soften a little as he thought about what he was saying.  He just turned and punched a tree instead, ripping a good chunk of bark off the trunk.  He calmed down enough to crouch down and put an arm around Emily's shoulder, letting her cry into his chest instead.  Instinctively though he kept glancing around because of the noise they were making.

"I know its hard, but I do not want to be captured any time soon, so let try to keep moving for the time being."  He got up and held out his hand.  Emily didn't take it, but got up on her own and wiped her face off.  After him throwing her into the tree, she wasn't quite certain she could trust his temper, since he was known for not being able to control it.

"What should we do next then?"  Emily asked him.  Jake looked around, trying to get his bearings quickly.

"I think we should head south.  Maybe we can convince someone in Liosbrigs Castle to help us rescue the village?"  He pointed towards the deeper part of the forest.  Emily just nodded her head and quietly followed him as he lead the way deeper into the forest.

They both kept their ears open for any sign of followers.  It was too quiet in the forest at this point.  Barely any animals were stirring, probably knowing the danger that was around them.  Jake kept one hand on the hilt of his sword at all times, making sure to watch his foot and not cause any sudden loud noise.  Emily tried to follow in suit, but she wasn't trained as hunter like he was.

They spent the rest of the day travelling south, with barely a stop to rest.  They ate as they walked, and didn't speak to each other.  Emily was still wary that Jake's temper could flare up at any time.  She kept checking over her shoulder though, having a feeling they were always being watched.  Jake had figured they were maybe half way through the forest at this point, though he wasn't exactly sure.  It was beginning to get dark at that point.

"Don't you think that maybe going South isn't the best choice?  Maybe we could find a group of Royal Elves just North of the forest and they can help intercept the Rebel Elves that attacked the village?"  Emily broke the silence.  Jake stopped dead in his tracks and spun around to face her.  Emily could see the anger in his face, and completely regretted opening her mouth.

"You think, that after what those Elves did to our village, that I would even THINK about going to MORE Elves for help?!  There is NO way that I am going North for help."  He growled at her.  Emily quickly looked around to make sure they weren't attracting any attention, but surprisingly the forest was silent again.  She started to get one of her bad feelings again, but she assumed it was because of Jake.

"I was only suggesting an idea.  You don't have to take it out on me!"  She choked, trying not to cry again.  Just then, they heard a branch snap from the way they came and both of them shut up instantly.  Jake waved at her to get closer to him, and pulled his sword from his sheath.  Emily instinctively put her hand on the handle of her dagger.  They ducked into the thickest part of trees they could fined, and watched the area where they came from.  A little time passed, but neither of them moved.  

About half an hour passed, and darkness had started to fall, when they finally noticed some movement.  It was a small group of soldiers, one holding a ball of fire again.  Jake signaled them to crouch down behind the trees now and to not move at all till they passed.  The soldiers seemed to stop in the clearing that was close by to look around.

"They went this way, but its getting too dark to track them now even with the fire.  We'll camp in that clearing till it gets light enough."  One of the elves with green hair commanded.  The others didn't say much just followed orders and set up camp.  Jake swore under his breath, not knowing how they were going to get out of this situation.  Emily shrunk down as much as she could to make herself as unnoticeable as possible.  They had completely forgotten about trying to cover up their tracks.  They set up camp quickly, and the aroma of the food they began cooking over a fire made both Emily and Jake's mouth water, as they only had dried meat and fruit all day.  Two of them went out on patrol while the other four sat around the fire and chatted.  Emily listened closely, hoping to hear something useful.

"Maybe the General was wrong about the location.  There was definitely no one in that village that matched the description given."  A red haired Elf started the conversation.  

"Yeah but there were a lot of people who fled to the forest.  Maybe they were one of those."  The green elf said.  "The two we spotted can't be the only ones in here somewhere."

"I mean really, who believes in a half-breed anyways.  Who would want to get with a human in sense.  That's disgusting!  They are such an inferior species I hate that we even have them near us as slaves."  A blue hair'd Elf made a motion of disgust.  Emily heard Jake growl a little and elbowed him to stop.  He looked down and glared at her, and she quietly backed away from him.

"We captured most of those villagers, to be brought back to base and whipped into new slaves.  Most of the men will make good Colosseum fighters since they are already skilled dealing with animals."  Red laughed.  "I may have to take some time off to see some of those fights."  The other two laughed with him.  

Emily bit her lower lip, holding off any emotions to not get herself caught.  The thought of her aunt and uncle being used as slaves just tore her apart inside.  There was some rustling in the woods, and the sound of someone running towards them.  She knew it was a solider because Emily could hear the clanging of armor.

"Hey guys look at this!"  An elf with white hair, one Emily had seen leave on patrol, came running back into the camp.  In his hand was a clear glass milk bottle that was glowing with a faint yellow light.

"Is that...?"  Red trailed off.

"Yeah!  I found it about two miles north of here, sleeping in a small flower patch."  He sounded so proud of himself.  The bottle was to far away to see inside, but Emily could feel something radiating from the glow coming from it.  She thought she could hear a faint voice coming from it as well, calling out for help.

"That is a real fairy for sure.  We can use its magic to amplify our own!"  Green clapped his hands.  They cheered and all seemed to take a drink from their skins in celebration.  When they all settled down after the celebration Emily could really hear the voice now, calling out from the bottle.  It seemed like the elves couldn't hear it themselves though.  The soldiers changed shifts, and the ones who remained in camp settled down to sleep for the night.

Emily slowly rose from her crouched position, and without thinking things through drew her dagger from its sheath.  The cry for help seemed so faint and weak, and something was pulling her towards it.  Jake tried to grab her tunic to stop her, but she was already out of his reach by the time he noticed her moving.

She ran into the camp and swiped the bottle from the pile of supplies quickly then took off into the woods.  Jake came tearing after her as fast as he could.  He stumbled upon some of the soldiers things though, waking them up.  The shouting snapped Emily out of whatever trance she had fallen into that made her do this.  She heard the sound of metal on metal as they drew their weapons.  Then, she felt a searing heat.  Looking behind her she saw blue fire flowing from tree to tree towards her.  Her eyes grew wide in fear and panic.  She heard Jake but could no longer see him through the flames.  Clutching the bottle in one hand and her dagger in the other, she ran with all the strength left in her body.

Author's Note

ignore grammar please, still in rough draft stages