Chapter 6

           David followed Molento and Eliena at a discreet distance. When they entered a room, he kept on going, heading to his own room now that he knew what room that they were in. It's going to be hard to get her without waking him, but I think I'll be able to do it, David thought once he got into his own room.

            Meanwhile, back in Molento and Eliena's room, Molento and Eliena were preparing to go to bed. "We better turn in," Molento said, "we have a long day ahead of us."

            "Ok, g'night," Eliena replied sleepily. She fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Molento, however, just sat down, deep in thought about what had happened since he woke up in the crater. Finally, he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. He was so deep under that he didn't hear the doorknob rattling as David picked the lock.

            "I'm glad I still remember how to do this, I used to be one of the best, but that was a long time ago," David muttered as the inserted the lockpicks and jimmied the lock open. He slowly opened the door with a long, slow creak of the old hinges. He peeked in and quickly assessed the situation: Eliena in the bed, sound asleep, and Molento propped up against the wall, seemingly asleep. David crept in, careful not to disturb Molento, and walked up to the bed. He puts his hand over Eliena's mouth so that she could not call out. Eliena woke up suddenly, eyes wide. When she saw her father, she tried to break his grip, but David just picked her up and carefully carried her out to the hallway. Once out in the hallway, he closed the door, still keeping a hand over Eliena's mouth, wrapping his arm around her neck so that she couldn’t break free. Once the door was closed, he carried Eliena out the front door and started to walk home, and, because he had been sleeping all day, he did not need rest and could carry her until morning, bringing them back to their village. That was too easy, David thought, they let me have the entire day to rest while they were shopping! At this rate we'll be home in no time.

            The next morning, back in the inn, Molento woke up and groggily looked around. He noticed that Eliena was missing, and he assumed that she went down to have breakfast. He opened the door and walked down to the main room of the inn. He looked around, and was surprised to see that Eliena was not in there. He noticed that the innkeeper was washing glasses from the night before, and he walked over to her.

            "Excuse me, but have you seen that girl that was with me last night," he asked the innkeeper.

            "No, I have not," the innkeeper replied, back still turned.

            "You didn't look to see who I was, I don't imagine that I'm the only one at this inn that came in with a girl last night," Molento replied, suspicious of the quick reply, "the only explanation is that you knew that I would be asking about her, how did you know?"

            The innkeeper still refused to turn around and just went on cleaning. “Where is she!? What happened?” Molento demanded.

            The innkeeper sighed and told him “she went home, that’s what happened.”

            Molento stormed up to the room and grabbed both packs, his and Eliena’s. He opened the window and jumped out, wings extending. She wouldn’t have gone back willingly, he thought, she wants to learn magic too much, so what hap- ‘Come back here with my daughter’- David, he must have caught up to us.

            Molento turned to face the direction of the town and, with speed brought on by some inexplicable anger, he flew off towards the town, not realizing that a flames were trailing in his wake, and his eyes were slowly turning black in the red parts and red in the black parts, slowly turning into the eyes of the insane dream Molento.

 

            Meanwhile, back in the town, Eliena woke up in her bed. She looked around, disappointed that she was in her own home.

            "It must have been a dream, a wonderful, slighly scary dream," she said. Suddenly, David came through the door.

            "Ah, you're awake, good, I need to talk to you," David ranted, "I know that that demon must have put some spell on you to make you believe that you were going on your own free will, but I know my daughter, and she would not do something like that."

            As her father spoke, Eliena was deep in thought. It wasn’t a dream, that was all real, then that means…

            “You kidnapped me!” Eliena interrupted, “leaving was my choice and mine alone and you had no right to bring me back!”

            “We’ve already been over this,” David said, exasperated, “you were under a spell and that was not you choice!”

            “It most certainly was MY choice,” Eliena yelled, temper rising, “It was my choice but you are not happy with it because it was not YOUR CHOICE!”

            “Young lady, you have gone too fa…” Suddenly they heard shouting outside.

            “The demon, it returns!”

            “Quick, ready the defenses!”

            “Stay inside, that is an order,” David said, turning to leave, “Once we kill the demon, the spell will be broken and you will see the error in your ways.”

            With that, David left. Eliena got up and started pacing, muttering to herself.

            “God damn it, why can’t I have any free choice.”

            Eliena heard a sound outside, behind the house, and at the same time, from the front she heard someone say “Where’d he go? He just disappeared!”

            Suddenly, the back wall of the hut was ripped open and Molento stepped through the gap.

            “Well that’s one way to get past the guards out front,” he said, smiling, “let’s leave, I’ve got your pack here.”

            Eliena reached for the pack, but suddenly stopped.

            “Something’s different about you, Molento,” she said searching for the problem. Noticing his eyes, she felt the cold grip of fear clench around her heart. “Molento, your eyes, they, they’re,” Eliena said, staring into the same eyes that the insane dream Molento had, black irises and red “whites.” She slowly backs up, but again stops, “Wait a moment, what’s happening?” Molento’s eyes were slowly fading back to normal, and Molento grew ever more puzzled.

            “What’s wrong with my eyes,” Molento inquired, “and are you coming or not?”

            “Yes, I’m coming,” Eliena said, as Molento’s eyes return fully to normal, “It was nothing.”

            The pair stepped out of the gap that Molento had previously created, only to be confronted by the entire village, with David at the front of the crowd.

            “So that’s why nobody seemed to notice that the back of the house was ripped apart and we were having a very loud conversation inside,” Molento said, not very surprised, “So why did you take Eliena back, David?”

            "I took her because you, demon, stole her from here," David accused, pointing a finger at Molento.

            "She came of her own free will."

            "We all know that you used your demon magic to make it seem that she was doing it of her own free will, but I know my daughter, and she would never have done something like that."

            "First thing, I am not a demon and-"

            "Pfffft! Why even try to deny it? The evidence is in your eyes, your wings, your ears! Tell me this, if you are not a demon, then what are you?"

            "I am half night elf."

            "Yeah, right, there hasn't been a night elf since the last one reined as king over Kvykyr, two hundred years ago," David laughed, "If you are half night elf, then tell me this, where are you from?"

            "You know full well that I don't know," Molento said, impatient, "And I grow tired of this, let us pass before I have to make you."

            Molento draws his sword slowly, captivating the crowd with the flame design etched into the blade, which appeared to be moving as he pulled on the sword.

            "Get ready to run," Molento whispered to Eliena, "I'll distract them for a second."

            Eliena tensed in anticipation of what was about to happen. As the tip of the blade exited the sheath, Molento swung it it a large arc, and a wave of fire blasted out of the blade, causing everybody to look away from the bright light. When everybody looked back, Molento and Eliena were gone.