The Elven Tribes

 

Chapter 3

       I looked in the pool of water and debated. Was my hair getting too long? Should I cut it? I usually just cut it short when it got too long but it was at the point where you couldn't tell whether it was long or short. I shrugged, I might as well give it a trim. Taking out my knife I carefully trimmed my hair so that it was an inch shorter than before. Much better. I sheathed my knife and looked over at the sleeping bundle that was snoring slightly. I rolled my eyes at Greta thinking of the argument we had two days before.

"I'm not sick!" She protested.
I shook my head as I heard her cough a little.
"Look, diseases are to be taken care of right away when you are travelling."
Her eyes narrowed and then she stuck out her tounge.
I rolled my eyes as she stomped away in frustation. 

       I knew she only had a cold, but still If it got serious and there was no doctor around then it could become serious. She had given in to this and let herself rest a bit. Winter was coming anyway and so I had planned to head south but because of Greta's sudden cold we had to delay it for a while. Not that I minded it, I was just nervous about the Shadow Elves. The Shadow Elves lived in the shealter of the forest's leaves and only came out at night. When winter came they could roam around during the day in most cases because it was so cloudy. The Shadow Elves absolutely loathed the Sun. This was why they were the sworn enemies of the Light Elves. The Light Elves lived in mountaintops and only in mountains nearest the Equator. This was so that they could bask in sunlight all day. They were always careful not to go too far up the mountain where it was cloudy. I shook my head as I thought of their tribe. They were kind but a little too kind. Then there were the Shadow Elves. They weren't too kind to outside Elves but they were worse to humans. There were even rumors that they had started eating human flesh.
 

       I shivered at the thought. My clan was different though. We, the Moon Elves, respected all life. Although only some humans know this and can tell us apart we are all still hated. That is what war did to you. I instinctively put my hand on my sword. I thought of all the Elven tribes who had been completely wiped out and those who had barely survived. My heart ached when I thought of the Flame Elves. They were a pround race, although not the wisest, and you would probably never find a more loyal tribe. They believed strongly in their justice. When Humans and Elves lived in peace they never even noticed the difference between them. Now they were all gone, because a human king attacked their peaceful country unexpectedly.

      That is what started the war. All the other Elven tribes were outraged and plan a fullout attack on the human country. Then a false rumor came out to the other human countries that we were planning to attack ALL human countries, in which they started planning to attack too. Everyone forgot about the thousands of years of peace and harmony that we lived with them. The human countries decided that to get their children after them to hate us, was to burn every history book and make it seem like we were enemies since the beginning of time. I shooked my head and thought about how I was going to protect Greta if we ran into the Shadow Elves.

       I heard a stir in the forest. My ears and senses were on full alert. I glanced behind me to see a child in the forest. He was about Greta's age, maybe a year older. His hair was pitch black and his skin was so pale it looked like he hadn't been in the Sun at all in his life. My eyes widened a little as I realized he had pointed ears. A Shadow Elf. I swallowed nervously, he hadn't seemed to notice Greta sleeping ten feet away from me. I slowly got up and turned around to face the Elven child. His face was full of surprise as he realized I could see him. I placed my hand over my heart and said, "Naar, Laquasse, Helke, Anga, Kalya, Leo, Linque, Silmo." The names of all eight Elven tribes that had existed in harmony for so long. This was a peace-keeping that Elves exchanged to say that they mean no harm and the other Elf should not feel afraid or offended. The order you put them in didn't really matter, just so long as you say the name of your own tribe last. It was a sign of respect toward the other tribe.

      The young one did the same and then came out into the night air. "You are a Moon Elf." He said plainly, I nodded. "And you are a Shadow Elf." He nodded. He had an exhausted look on his face, but I couldn't tell if he was actually tired or not. Shadow Elves always look tired. He looked longingly at the fire. Strange as it was, Shadow Elves only hated the Sun. They were fine around fires but they were uncomfortable with them burning too long, afraid they might burn the trees.

       He was about to step forward when I stopped him. "Before you share fires with me you must promise to not have any ill-intent while you are there." He placed his hand over his heart and swore in our language that he would not do anything unless given permission to.

       I nodded, I know it was probably foolish to trust him, but I couldn't see him as anything else but a child. We walked over to the fire and I heard Greta rustle. Her eyes were peaking opening was stretching herself out of bed. She looked over at us and then scooted back when she saw the other Elf. The Elve's reaction wasn't much better. He hissed and drew a knife from his pocket and in a minute was behind Greta with the knife at her throat. As a reaction I drew my sword and had it pointed to his neck, whick was probably way he hadn't killed her yet. "You defend her?!" He spat. I looked at him with the scariest expression I could manage. "She risked her life to save mine and I will do the same for her." He did not lower his knife and I could tell that Greta was scared out of her mind although she was acting calm. Her heartbeat gave her away. I looked at the determind expression in his face and realized that we were going to be there for a long time.

Author's Note

Please ignore the grammer problem and spelling errors. I wrote this on the spot so I don't know how good it is going to be.

Reviews

[Lena M. P.]

The storyline is good and the characters are interesting. I feel that it needs some editing and glossing. More descriptions of what is around them, what they are doing, using wearing, what they look like. You have a lot to build off of here but I think it can be rounded to an interesting tale.

[[untitled]]

I would think after a few more edits, this can really shine!

As is, the narrative still carried me along nicely. You are concise with your language. My suggestion would be to "show, not tell" when it comes to the great war(s) that you described above. This can be done sparsely, through dialogue, pieced together bit-by-bit for the reader. I'm sure there's great marrow there to be had.

I haven't read the previous chapters; I'm looking forward to doing so!

Best--