Chapters 11-15

11: Cynthia

As Christopher opened the main door to the tavern a strange smell of blood and alcohol made me cringe. I wasn't as worried about the smell though as I was Christopher, he looked pale and tense as though he had seen the ghost of an old friend come back to haunt him. As for the cut on my leg, it was basically nothing, it was barely a scratch I'd say, more like a paper cut, but with a knife and not paper.
"Well, you look downright cheerful," I said to Christopher's unnaturally pale and sunken face.

He looked at me and for a second he smiled and the sunken expression in his face vanished for a small second. "I'm sorry, just, uh, fighting, guards and stuff. Nothing unusual you know."

Both Darkeen and I raised an eyebrow at Christopher, but decided not to press the matter as he looked almost frightened and conflicted. My, my, though, what was that sentence, 'Nothing unusual.' Something was definitely up, it's like the suspect who screams 'I didn't do it' before the guard asks any questions. There's no reason to pry though, not now anyway, he looks pretty shaken up.

"Well," I began, breaking the silence, "We should get far away from here."

"I couldn't agree more." Darkeen said as we mounted our horses that had been fortunately left unharmed outside the tavern. We galloped through the woods that had brought us here until we arrived at the road that would lead us to Drakkrif and eventually our destination at the dagger mountains.

"What do you think all those machines were for?" I asked, breaking the silence that loomed over our small party.

"I'm not sure I want to know honestly." Christopher sighed as he looked back at the cursed tavern. "Whatever it is, I'm glad we stopped it."

Darkeen nodded but kept a grim expression on his face, "Whatever it is, it seems oddly connected to the return of the dragons."

Being back on the road felt like heaven after a day inside that... place. The knowledge that so easily I had been deceived and possibly killed was also hard to accept. Deep down I know we've relatively just left on this journey that's turning my world upside down, and I have a feeling that the tavern won't be the only evil we encounter as we push forward.

. . .

"Well it just feels unfriendly you know," Christopher said as he halted several yards from where the official border between the dwarven and orcish kingdoms lay in the sparkling snow.

"Actually, I don't know," Darkeen said flatly to Christopher, "Maybe because it's a fake line made by politicians and not a person who can physically be unfriendly."

"Christopher," I said teasingly, "It's not going to eat you."

"Well, I know that." Christopher replied with the hint of a smile. "It's just that-"

"Christopher," I began again as I walked forward along the road, "I'm crossing the line, oh no." I made a big deal of dramatically walking across the should be border to Drakkif. "Oh my goodness, I'm still alive. How about you also come over here?"

"Oh stop," Christopher said as he quickly rode across the border and pulled up next to me. "I'm not afraid of the border. It's just orcs aren't particularly fond of humans."

I touched his shoulder, "Don't worry, they can't all dislike you."

"Well 100 percent of the orcs in this conversation do!" Darkeen cut in.

I sighed, "Thanks Darkeen. Really helping my case here." I looked back into Christopher's dazzling green eyes. "If they try to kill you. We'll just kill them. It's a simple way to survive in this world, if someone tries to kill you kill them before they succeed. Now let's go!"

We had only been in Drakkrif for a few hours when I came across something quite interesting. I veered off the trail towards an opening on the side of a snow-covered rock face. "My, my, what's this? A cave? Inviting me to go explore? Well if you're offering..."

"Cynthia, we don't have time for this," Darkeen began but I had already dismounted and ran towards the cave. Behind me I quickly heard Christopher's footsteps following in my tracks, then a groan followed by a series of curses as Darkeen bounded after him.

I've gotta admit, this wasn't my best thought out plan. Believe it or not, natural caves don't grow lanterns on the ceiling, so it was quite dark inside.

Wait, is this a natural cave? I could see a dim light growing from around the corner, and... stairs! There are stairs. That means people! As I slowly turned the corner to the light my left hand tightened on one of the daggers at my side, ready for a fight. However, as I turned the corner I found something else entirely. A room full of coffins. All lined up against the walls surrounding the room, the stairwell I had come from was the only entrance to the room. The room had something eerie about it from the stone in the walls to the lit torches although no one appeared to be inside. Perhaps most striking was the beautifully crafted black large black case in the center. It seemed to glow a beautiful purple color and I could swear it whispered to me, but when I looked at it, it was silent.

I first quickly combed the room, making sure no one would try to kill me or something. I then approached the intricately crafted case in the center of the coffin filled room.

At this point Christopher had caught up to me, he whistled, "Wow, who knew this was down here?"

I snapped out of my focus on the case and turned to Christopher, "Yeah, crazy, right? How long do you think this has been here?"

"Judging by how worn down these coffins are, I'd say whoever's inside has been dead for a while."

"Yeah," I replied slowly, my attention once again on the case in the room. I approached it again and it seemed to glow even brighter. I reached towards it, "What do you think is in here?"

Christopher's face looked terrified for a second as he tried to shout for me to stop. Unfortunately for me this meant that as I touched the case the purple glow expanded, formed a sort of portal in the ground and I fell through. Thanks Christopher, couldn't have warned me about the mysterious glowing box in the middle of an abandoned cave earlier? Joking aside, I was kind of in an odd place. I was in a room that looked identical to the room I had been in except for a few major differences. One, I couldn't see an exit anywhere, and the case wasn't glowing. Secondly, I was alone, which sucks, because of the most important reason... Remember the coffins in the other room I was in. Well the people in these coffins are very much not dead. I know it sounds crazy, but there's a bunch of carcasses brandishing weapons who don't look like they invited me to a cool Halloween party.

I pulled out my bow, determined to strike down as many of the corpses as I could before they would be on my position. Quickly firing arrows, I take down three of the bodies before they were on me. As I pull out my daggers I roll forward under a swinging axe. I stand up and plunge one of my knives into the dead man's chest. He falls back, knocking over another one with him. I turn around to find a wonderful surprise, a sword coming towards my face. I countered by stabbing my right dagger into the bearer's arm. He pushes against me but I spin my dagger, shattering the fragile bone extruding from his body. The man remained scarily silent and bit my arm with a half-decomposed face. I clenched my teeth and shrieked as I plunged my other dagger into his head, releasing his mouth's grip on my arm. On my sleeve, I can feel the warm blood slowly oozing out of the bite on my forearm, I wanted to wrap it right then, but the fight wasn't over. Another body charged me with a mace, but I sidestepped at the last second and swept her feet out from under her. I prepared to finish the body off, when I heard another one from behind me. I turn around and ducked the axe being swung at my neck. I grabbed his arms and threw him into the other body attempting to stand back up. I rush over and pierce both of the body's throats, leaving them still. Now that all the bodies had died, for the second time, the case glowed an enchanting purple color. I'm not going to wait around and see if the bodies decide to have a rematch, so I grab the case and am teleported again.

There was good news and bad news. The good news was that I was no longer in a room full of bodies who want me dead. The bad news is that it looked like there's someone else here who wants me dead. The man in front of me was brandishing a large war axe and stood steadily, as if he were waiting for me. There was something supernatural about him. He appeared to be slightly transparent, but when you blink he returned to a normal state.

"Um, hi," I said to the man, "Are you here to kill me?"

Instantly, but unmoving the man replied, "You are to challenge me for the step."

"Wait, what step-" I began but the man was already rushing towards me, axe raised. He jumped up and brought the axe towards me with such force I could barely stumble out of the way. "Oh come on, can't we talk about this?" The warrior didn't seem all too eager to end the situation peacefully, so I unsheathed my daggers, prepared to fight back.

The man rushed forward again, the sharp tip of his axe poised to put a hole in my throat. I stepped just out of the way before he and his axe go flying past me at incredible speed. Now that his back is too me, I lunged forward in an attempt to bury a dagger in his side, but the man quickly turned out of the way of my dagger and quickly hit me in the sternum with the handle of the axe. The force lifted me from my feet and I grunted in pain as I hit the wall behind me. I struggled to my feet as the warrior approached me once again. He raised the massive axe above his head, ready to deliver the killing blow. The axe began to sail down towards me but I quickly flick one of my daggers up, sending it flying cleanly through his hand. He shrieked in pain and turned his focus to his hand as he loosens his grip on the axe. That was all I needed as I pushed myself upward as quickly as I could and ripped the axe from the man's translucent hands before he could fully bring his attention back to me. He tried to snatch back his axe but I whirled around and thrust the back end into his chest pushing him back several feet. He didn't fall off his feet though and pulled my dagger from his hand. The man charged with my dagger but this time I gracefully swept to the side and let him sail passed me. I spun with the war axe in hand as he turned but it was far too late for my opponent. With all my force, I crashed the blade of the axe into the man's neck, nearly taking the whole damn thing off!

I tried to catch my breath as he collapsed to the ground and then burst into a pile of ashes. Wow. It wasn't every day you see someone burst into ash, so I'll check that off my bucket list. I spied a piece of seemingly ancient parchment on top of the pile of ash. I guessed the note must have been important because it magically appeared on top of the ashes of a ghostly man who almost killed me. So, let's see what we have here, the note said, "Enter the darkness of what has passed." Well if that wasn't the happiest thing I've heard all day. How did this guy know how much I love darkness and riddles? There's nothing I enjoy more than almost dying, finding a note that is telling me to enter darkness. Well, what darkness? I just fought a bunch of dead people in a cave; If that isn't the darkness this note is telling me I'm not sure how enjoyable the rest of this trip will be.

I pocketed the note and found the portal glowing at the end of the hallway, not seeing another exit I went straight to it and was teleported back to the first room I had entered.

12: Christopher

I was a little speechless after Cynthia had disappeared into that... thing, that kind of like swallowed her. I ran towards her but the case rose up taking Cynthia with her before crashing back to the ground and sat there as if some crazy evil sorcery just happened in this room.

Darkeen entered the room, took one look around and asked, "Where's Cynthia?"

"She was sort of, taken, by that thing." I replied pointing to the now unmoving case at the center of the room.

Darkeen didn't respond and just strode over to the case in the center of the room. "Hmm, there's something not quite right about it."

"Yeah, well it took Cynthia!" I shouted again and Darkeen raised an eyebrow at me.

"Took her? Where?" He demanded.

"Hey look I don't know," I said quickly, "It was glowing purple and Cynthia touched it and then it like absorbed her."

"Ah so that's what it is," Darkeen said a little too calmly for my liking. But I was put at peace again with his shouting, "Hell! If she's in there we're just gonna have to wait and hope she comes back. I didn't think these tombs could be found so easily."

"What do you mean?" I asked calmly, "Is there something special about them?"

"I, actually don't know much about them. Just that they rely on the magic of an ancient organization." He answered quickly," They're supposed to guide you to something very powerful if you have all three steps."

"Are they dangerous?" I asked, worried for Cynthia.

"I have heard that they can be incredibly dangerous, but if there's something that perhaps might help us defeat a dragon in there, it would be worth it." Darkeen responded, a distinct lack of worry in his tone. "Let's just hope Cynthia can handle herself." So that's how it went. Darkeen and I just waited around awkwardly hoping Cynthia would return.

After what seemed like an eternity a swirling purple circle appeared on the wall. I leapt to my feet and unsheathed my sword, prepared for whatever came through. Adrenaline started to pump through me as I stared into the purplish black vortex. My imagination started running wild as I grasped by sword tightly, only to have Cynthia leap through like an arrow from a bow.

"Well you sure look tense," Cynthia said to me with a smile.

I rushed forward and gingerly patted her on the shoulder, "Cynthia! You're still alive! I was afraid you weren't coming back!"

"Come, now Christopher. I can take care of myself." She said sweetly with that beautiful voice of hers. Then she looked up at me and smiled, "You're not gonna start crying on me, are you?"

I smiled back at her awkwardly and removed my hand from her shoulder, "No, I won't start crying. I was just worried, that's all"

"Well if I knew you were going to miss me this much I wouldn't have left!" Cynthia laughed and walked away from me, moving towards the entrance. "My trip wasn't exactly... voluntary." She reached into her pocket and extracted a piece of paper. "I found this super upbeat positive message though! So, that was fun."

I took the piece of paper from her hands and focused it in front of my eyes, "Enter the darkness of what has passed? That doesn't sound very upbeat."

"Give me that," Darkeen said as he snatched the paper from my hands and looked it over. "This must be one of the steps, I'll hold on to it for now."

Cynthia pointed to the stairwell, "Let's go people, I've had enough fun in this cave for a day. I'll tell you all about my fun little adventure later." She bounded up the stairwell, giving Darkeen and I no choice but to go after her.

At the top, I found Cynthia staring upward, "Umm, are you okay?" I asked her.

"Well it's dark now." She stated, she almost sounded surprised.

"Yeah, well it usually gets dark at night." I said with a smirk and I got a short laugh out of Cynthia.

Cynthia spun around and walked towards me, "Thanks for the words of wisdom, captain." She smiled and ran her hand down my arm, giving me goosebumps.

Darkeen, standing behind me, cleared his throat, "Well our horses are still here, thank god, let's go set up camp." He motioned me. "I'll start to set the tents up, you go get some firewood." He pointed to the trees across the trail.

"Sure thing," I said and jogged across the trail into the woods. As I trudged through the woods, collecting sticks and wood for a fire, I came across a large rock. Only it was a little too square to be a rock. I walked around the rock to find beautiful ornate carvings of elves and battles. I'd have to show this to Cynthia later.

I returned to camp and the three of us ate more or less in silence. Darkeen complained about how he had to deal with us in that cave all day and went to bed early. I stood up, "Come on," I said to Cynthia.

"Where are we going?" Cynthia asked and stood up, "You should know that when I go alone with a guy in the woods they usually never leave."

I laughed nervously, "I'll keep that in mind. I just found something I think you might like." I walked next to her into the woods, "So tell me about your day inside of that case."

"Well it certainly wasn't normal," She smiled at me, "I had to fight a bunch of like skeleton sort of people. Then this man tried to kill me with a massive war axe, but don't worry I killed him, then his body burst into flames and left that note."

I whistled softly, "That's intense. I'm glad you're okay though." I looked at her hand quickly, should I go for it? I guess, what could the harm be right? I held my breath and reached for her hand with mine, I interlaced my fingers with hers and felt the muscles tense in her arm and shoulder. I started to loosen my grip... then decided against it and held fast.

"Just don't get emotional on me," She said to me with a straight face. She must have seen the confusion in my face because she quickly added, "I've been through a lot in my life Christopher, everyone who's ever been close to me has been killed. Besides, shouldn't you be trying to arrest me or something?"

I tightened my grip on her hand as we arrived at the 'rock' I had found earlier. My head was spinning slightly. I'd heard stories of elves who'd witnessed the fall of Evanuan. I wanted to ask Cynthia for her story, to comfort her. Yet she seemed cold and emotionless, not someone who needs comforting. We walked around the rock hand in hand and admired the carvings.

"Christopher this is amazing," she said softly and I turned to see her tracing her fingers along the elven carvings in the rock.

I turned to face her and put my other hand on her shoulder, "Are you alright, Cynthia?"

She looked up at me with a confused expression, "What? I'm fine. I wonder how long this has been here. Do you think it's connected to the cave? Maybe it's just a fun little landmark." She laughed lightly and put her other hand on my shoulder in a flirtatious manner. We stayed like that for a moment, close to each other the heat of her breath fell on my skin, "You're funny and clever and lethal with a weapon. I don't understand why I can be attracted to you though. I've spent so much time hunting for you. I'm supposed to keep the streets clean!" I chuckled softly

Cynthia leaned in close, our lips inches apart, I leaned forward, and she turned her head to the side, "You guards always act like you're the descendants of god. But do you ever think about how many petty criminals you lock away, even kill, for just trying to provide for their families." Her voice had lost its flirtatious tone and was replaced with a much more cynical tone. "You carry out the will of the nobles, oppressing the everyday man in Cyphol, you guards are so blind to the hardships suffered by us in the street, you're so out of touch you ruin people's lives and are given a pat on the back and told you're bringing happiness and justice to the streets.

I took a step back from her, my body tensing at her words, "You really believe that?" She nodded and I sighed, "Even if what you say is true, what am I supposed to do? Tell the duke that it's better to just let crime run through the streets."

Cynthia looked me dead in the eyes and said, "When you think about it, our lines of work are very similar we remove people from the streets, people we think the city would benefit from not having." She gritted her teeth, "I'm not generally proud of my work, Christopher. You shouldn't be proud of what you do either."

Cynthia looked up at the sky, "We should probably get back and get some rest." I nodded silently and we walked back a short distance from each other

I lay in my bed, thinking of what Cynthia had told me. I refused to believe, didn't want to believe that the king's guards could be so out of touch. Someone had to bring justice to the streets, even if not everyone agreed. We needed rules to have society. Sure, Cyphol wasn't the image of a utopian society, but it worked, and for now, that was good enough for me.

...

I found myself back at the war camp on the north-western front or the war of the eighths. I found myself here often in my dreams. The 52nd King's sword company was gathered around our commanding officer. He described to us our battleplan, explaining we would be storming a small hamlet that the orcs were using for a supply route to aid their war effort to the north.

The company's morale was running low. While I was relatively fresh from training at the academy outside of Cyphol, some of these men had been fighting for years without gaining any ground. Neither had the orc armies, which was good, but it was still a long time to fight and too little had been gained for the number of lives lost. We heard rumors of talks of peace between the kings, however until that happened we would keep fighting, trying to gain the upper hand in a seemingly endless conflict.

We gathered on a hill above the hamlet, trumpets sounded and we charged down the hill, the orc forces donned black armor and met us at the base of the hill. It was the first time I had seen true conflict. To my left I saw men cut to shreds by different fashions of blades. From beneath my heavy armor I felt short of breath, I found myself facing a trio of orcs and my skin seemed to burn against the plates and chains of steel. I raised my shield above my head to block against a mace baring down on me. Despite the shield the mace still hit with a jarring force. I shouted and shoved the orc backwards with my shield. A second one advanced and I deflected the axe with the side of my shield and thrust forth with my sword, impaling the orc's neck.

I began to hyperventilate as dark blood splattered across my face and armor. I was then hit in the side with overwhelming force from the third orc bashing me with his shield. He stood over my dazed body, axe in hand. I thought it would be the end when another young soldier who I had trained at the academy charged the orc with his mace. The orc parried and the soldier clashed steel with the young soldier. I slowly pushed myself back up. I watched in horror as the man I had trained with, little older than a child, made one wrong step, and caught an axe to the side of the head. I shouted as the soldier collapsed to the ground, dead for sure. I hit the orc from behind with the hilt of my sword, knocking him to the ground before swinging my sword through his neck.

Finally, I faced the final of the three orcs. We circled around each other, each one of us lunging back and forth trying to gain the upper hand. I parried an overhead blow and used my shield to throw the orc to the ground, impaling him without a thought. I looked down in horror, exposed to the light I could see the terrified look on the orc's face. He looked just as young as I was, perhaps even younger.

13: Cynthia

I knew I was hard on Christopher, telling him he worked a corrupt job, but I had to break the flirtatious tension. I couldn't lead him on, yes, he was very handsome, but it wasn't worth getting involved with anyone. God damn it, I have to make sure that situation doesn't arise again! I can't become attached to anyone, especially not him. Everyone I've ever grown close to has ended up dead, whether it's my family and friends by the Chammelons, or by my own hands, the hands of an assassin, a murderer. I can't let Christopher die! He's still so full of hope, so naive, so innocent and ignorant of many of the horrors on this planet. Naive and innocent, like a child, and even most of the hardened criminals wouldn't kill a child. What happened last night is a one-time thing, I don't want to be responsible for Christopher's death.

This isn't to say I didn't enjoy what almost happened yesterday. Christopher's sweet, and strong, and he's far from ugly. I began to think about his lips pressed against mine... But I have to forget, no reason to do that again. Anyways, we were going to kill a dragon, the first dragon to appear on the continent in a long time. Now I'm no archaeologist, but I think that might be a little more important than my relationship status with Christopher.

After I woke, up, got ready for the day, and stepped outside I found both Darkeen and Christopher already up and moving.

"Come on Cynthia, it'll be a long ride into the city." Darkeen shouted to me as he shoved his tent into a bag.

"Okay," I replied even though it was not okay. Do these people even understand how waking up is? It's a lengthy process, not something you just do. I guess we had to go though so I quickly threw my stuff together and put my hair up into a lazy bun before mounting my horse and following the other two down the road.

As the hours past the landscape changed suddenly and dramatically. No longer did I gaze upon snow covered forests. I know looked from my horse upon the large bare black and gray plateau covered in dully colored boulders. Now I know I complain a lot, but this sucked. I was kind of getting tired of riding horses all day every day. But before I even knew it, we were upon our destination.

Darkeen told Christopher and I to keep a low profile as we rode into the large orc city. Fortunately, it was early enough that the main gate was open and we were able to enter without any suspicion. Darkeen led us straight to an inn where he quickly rented two rooms which we took our stuff to. Darkeen told us he had to run a few errands, but he would be back soon. He added to stay here and not draw any attention to ourselves. That left Christopher and I alone, sitting across from each other on the stale brown cots on either side of the room.

I sat still but the tension in the room was awkward to say the least. I wondered if Christopher was going to try anything or mention last night. But he looked deep in thought, almost oblivious to the world around him. I stayed silent, not looking directly at him.

Christopher looked directly at me, "I thought about what you said, yesterday. I thought that in some aspects, you might be right."

I looked into his eyes and sighed, "You? I don't think you do understand." There was no way a long timer with a history of family service just realized everything that was wrong overnight.

"Cynthia," Christopher pleaded, his full green eyes looking desperately towards me. "I never really wanted to be part of the guard, or Werdyn's military for that matter."

His eyes told me he was being honest, and I was curious enough to bite at his story, "Then why are you a part of it?"

His expression changed to a look of longing, a look of sorrow and confusion. "As a kid I looked up to my dad, I didn't want to go to the academy, but he told me I had to, had to follow in his footsteps, and who was I to disobey him."

"You should've stood up for yourself." I said with a dismissive tone. "What about now? You're all grown up. Leave the guard, do something good with your life?"

Christopher shrugged and spoke in a frustrated tone, "I don't know! I'm a good leader, it's what I'm good at. How could I betray my family anyway?"

"So what?" I asked. Christopher should be able to walk away if he didn't want to be captain of the guard. "If you hate it, walk away. If you don't it makes you a hypocrite."

"It's not the simple!" He replied, his voice raised, "At least I don't kill innocent people for money!" I opened my mouth but he continued, "I would've thought that someone like you, who'd seen so much death and destruction, you'd at least try to make an honest living!"

Calling me out because of my heritage was over the line for me, "Christopher, f**k you okay!" I wasn't going to deal with this, I was going to put him in his place, "It's my life, and the 'innocent' people I kill? Noblemen who've waged war and killed people for their own personal gain, then you come along and lock up anyone who struggles to make a living because of what they do."

Christopher seemed to have realized he'd crossed the line, "Cynthia," he reached for my arm but I threw it off.

"Christopher I'm sorry," I said more calmly, "But I can't deal with you, or this, or anything right now." I stormed outside of the room and started to walk through the streets. I had left my cloak in the inn and my pointy ears stuck out of my hair like beacons. People on the streets looked at me strangely, but I didn't care. My head was racing with thoughts of Christopher and what I said. I paid no attention to the unknown roads I walked down or the group of orcs who began to tailing me.

I reached a dead end and turned around to find a group of ten or so orcs facing me. One stepped forward, "You're coming with us."

"Like hell I am!" I shouted and the orc charged me. I extracted a small black throwing knife from the belt at my waist and hurled it at the orc, dropping him to the ground. I heard a hammer coming for my head and ducked. I turned to find another orc and reached for my daggers but was hit in the back my something metal. My back screamed in pain as I dropped to my knees. My vision was blurred and I hardly noticed another orc press a cloth of some sort of liquid to my face. I struggled against him but I was being held tight and slowly blacked out.

. . .

I woke up tied to a cold stone wall. My hands were bound together above my head and my ankles below. There was a single wooden door at the opposite end of the room from me. I couldn't see out into the hallway but the flickering shadows on the wall told me it was dimly lit by candle light. I had been stripped of all my weapons and they were nowhere to be found in the room. I clenched my fists and fought to be free of my bonds but all I did was rub the skin on my wrists raw.

I leaned against the wall, panting slightly from pulling against my restraints when I saw a shadow move across the wooden floor of the hallway, then another. A few seconds later two orcs entered the room. I made eye contact with one of them and shouted, "What the f**k do you want?"

This seemed to amuse the orcs, "Don't tire yourself out," one of them said with a smile, "You need to be awake when you're shipped out."

"I'm sorry" I said with a smirk, "I think I left my boarding pass at home. Oops."

The other orc snapped his attention to me, "So we've got ourselves a smart a*s, huh. We'll see who's laughing when you're in Chammelon hands."

Okay, now I was a little worried. In case you haven't gotten the message, the Chammelons are kind of trying to capture and murder every elf still alive, so it's in my best interests to not get shipped off to them. I made eye contact with the orc who had just spoken, "Umm, what? You can't ship me off to them!" I'd heard of organizations like this who sought out elves and sold them to the Chammelons for a large profit, but I hadn't actually encountered any of them until now.

The first orc spoke again, with a devilish grin on his face, "That's exactly what we're doing honey. For a nice profit, as well." He walked up to me traced my cheek with the back of his hand, "But you'll serve us quite nicely until then."

Ha! That's hysterical! If this guy thinks I'm going to conform to his will that easily he's got another thing coming. His hand will still on my cheek and I quickly turned my head and chomped down on them. The orc yelled in pain as I felt my teeth dig into his palm and forefinger. I tasted a salty metallic taste as his blood poured out onto my tongue.

I whipped my head backwards, causing the orc to collapse to the ground in front of me. I released my jaws grip on his hand and he tried to pull himself away but I quickly swung myself forward and swung my legs forward, strangling the orc with the rope around my ankles. The other orc had unsheathed a massive war axe from a scabbard on his back and moved towards me.

"No, no, no." I taunted as the orc at my feet squirmed for air. "Drop the axe unless you want this fella here to die." The orc dropped the axe and glanced worriedly at the orc I was strangling. "Now that that's settled release me thank you." Without muttering a word, the orc quickly cut me from the rope and the other orc passed out. I dashed from the wall and grabbed the battle axe on the floor and held it in front of me. I motioned to the door, "Take me to wherever my stuff is."

I followed the orc down a bland, uneventful hallway until we arrived at a door. "Your stuff is in here." he said quietly and fearfully.

"Thanks," I said happily as I swung the axe around my head and buried the edge into the orc's chest, leaving him dead on the floor. I turned towards the old white door I had been taken to. I casually pushed it open to find my weapons, as well as two more orcs who looked towards me as I opened the door. "Well hey there guys."

I quickly backed out of the door and the two orcs followed, swords drawn. I ran by the orc I had just killed and ripped the axe from his chest before spinning around to face my opponents. We were in a fairly thin hallway and they might have trouble fighting me side by side, I lunged forward with the axe on the left side but was pushed back with a quick parry. I did the same on the right bringing the two orcs nearly on top of each other. I swung the axe above my head bringing it down and both orcs went to parry, blocking my attack, but tangling themselves in each other. The orcs were now turned towards each other and I swung the axe with full force and planted a deadly blow into the orc on the right's back. The other orc snarled and lunged towards me but I easily deflected the attack with the base of the axe and dazed the orc by swinging the handle up into his head. The orc stumbled back and I raised the axe above my head one last time and swung downward, planting it into the front of his head.

I let out a sigh of relief as I entered the room and strapped on my belt and daggers before putting my bow and quiver on my back. I then crept up a stairwell to find a guard with his back turned. I covered his mouth as I slid one of my daggers into his neck. I climbed stairwell after stairwell until I found an opening. I climbed through to find myself on top of a large tower. It was still dark outside so no one could see me. I was in a sort of walled complex. I saw a railing on a porch just outside the walls, so I tied a rope to the handle of the door I had climbed out of, then tied it to a barbed arrow. I took a deep breath as I aimed my bow to the porch and let my arrow fly. It caught the porch and a quick tug let me know it was secure. I put my arms together and began to slide down the rope towards the porch. Luckily, I was wearing my normal leather gear so I didn't get rope burns and slid easily. As I slid I looked backwards to find an orc on top of the building I had tied my rope to. He grinned at me as he took out a small knife and approached my rope. If I fell from here I was as good as dead. In a swift motion, I swung my legs up, crossing my ankles around the rope so I was now sliding upside down by my crossed black boots. As I slid I pulled my bow out and knocked an arrow. The orc had begun to saw at the rope and I could feel strands snapping. I willed myself to fire the arrow straight as I aimed upside down at the orc and let the arrow fly. I held my breath as the arrow flew through the air, and hit its mark. I let out a sigh of relief as the orc stopped sawing and fell backwards. I quickly put my bow back onto my back and flipped around so I was sliding right side up. A few seconds later I touched the ground and saw a figure in the distance running towards me.

"Cynthia!" The figure shouted at me. It was Christopher. He ran towards me and I forgot all about what I had said earlier, I ran towards him as well and we embraced. He looked into my eyes, "Are you okay? I was coming to save you."

I chuckled softly, "If you were coming to save me I'd say you showed up a little late." I thought back to the tavern we'd fallen victim to, "You've actually been a little late twice now."

"Well it's the thought that counts, right?" Christopher smiled that smile of his and it made me melt inside.

We laughed and I pushed his shoulder, "Come on you. Let's go back." I paused for a second and noticed freshly dried blood on the tip of his sword. I opened my mouth, wanting to question the sword, but I thought better to ignore it for now. "Darkeen is probably writing a speech to criticize us for when we get back." We both laughed again and slowly walked back through the city to the inn.

I decided I could forget about our conversation at the inn. I didn't need any bad blood with someone I might have to spend a lot of time with over the next several days or weeks or however long it we would be out here. I still stood by my opinion, but I'd put any differences or poorly spoken words behind us for now.

14: Christopher

I was devastated after Cynthia had stormed out. I knew I had crossed the line, but I had hoped I could fix what I'd said before it escalated so far. I looked out the window and saw the sun had just dipped below the horizon. I stepped into the hallway to see Cynthia's room vacant with the door open. My heart started to beat a little faster and I worried that something might have happened to her. I quickly grabbed my sword and rushed out the door.

I walked into the street, looking all around for Cynthia. I walked down street after street searching for her, it seemed the search was hopeless. The city was too big and she could be anywhere. It had only been about fifteen minutes but my spirit was beginning to damper. I returned to the inn for a brief moment to find Cynthia still missing and went out again.

I walked into a pub and scanned the area. The pub looked old by the poor state of the chairs and dust covering paintings of orcs on the wall. Despite the condition of the place it was still packed with people and it would be difficult to find anyone here. I looked across the room at a table of four orcs, armed to the teeth. Something shined off the belt of an orc turned slightly away from me. I squinted my eyes and gasped silently as I saw what it was. One of Cynthia's throwing knives was hanging from his belt. I began to shove my way through the crowd, pushing various orcs out of the way, most of which turned to give me dirty looks.

Eventually I reached the table and all four orcs turned towards me glared. "Get lost human." One of them said dryly.

I ignored the comment and pointed to the orc on my left's belt. "Where did you find that knife." I demanded.

"It's none of your business," the orc replied and began to turn away.

I grabbed his shoulder spinning him back towards me, "I think it is."

The orc tensed up as the others put their hands on the handles of their axes. The orc I grabbed glared at me and slowly opened his mouth, "Was that a threat?"

I looked at all four of them, they were all prepared to kill me. My heart was nearly thumping out of my chest and I tried my best to stay calm. "It doesn't have to be. Just tell me where you got that dagger."

All was calm for a moment as I waited for a response. The orc squinted his eyes at me, "I think that was a threat, so deal with this." The orc pulled the knife from his belt and thrust it towards my stomach. I quickly pushed his arm sideways causing the knife to barely miss my abdomen. The orc pulled back his other hand and punched me square in the chest. I stumbled backwards and fell, knocking a table down with me. Nearly the entire bar went silent and turned to see what had caused the commotion.

The four orcs stood up and moved towards me, it reminded me of the battle at the hamlet. I crawled back and attempted to stand up. One of the orcs leaned forward to throw a punch but I grabbed his arm and pulled myself up while simultaneously sending him crashing to the ground. I grabbed one of the pub's old wooden chairs and looked to see the orc attempting to stand up. I leapt up and brought the chair crashing down on the orc, leaving him motionless on the ground.

I spun around to face the other three orcs and was greeted with a hard punch to the left side of my face, sending me stumbling to the right. At this point, everyone in the pub was going crazy. Half of the people rushed out the door, and the other half stayed, drunkenly cheering us on. I steadied myself and rushed forward, swinging a punch aimed at the jaw of the orc with Cynthia's knife. The orc grabbed my wrist and began to twist it. I shouted in pain and kicked him hard in the shin. He dropped me and I hit him twice in the face, sending him backwards before another orc hit me in the side with a chair. I flew a few feet across the room before hitting a support column in the middle of the room with a thud. Stars danced across my eyes but I quickly stood up, ready to defend myself.

An orc ran at me, this time with a knife rather than just his fists. He raised the knife up and thrust it down towards me with incredible force. I quickly brought my hands up and grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm downwards. He struggled against me, trying to lift the knife, but I had twisted his arm around and thrust the knife deep into his stomach.

I pushed the orc's bleeding body away from me and drew my sword. The orc with Cynthia's dagger pushed himself into a sitting position as the other remaining orc approached me with a dagger. The majority of the people left in the bar quickly fled as they realized this was more than just throwing punches in a bar. The orc thrust with the axe and I parried by swinging my sword upwards. He raised the axe above his head and swung downwards. I quickly stepped to the side and he stumbled forward. I quickly rushed behind him and thrust my sword through his back, dropping him dead. The orc with Cynthia's knife attempted to stand as I strode over to him but I quickly thrust him back down to the ground and squat down next to him and took the knife. "Now tell me where you got this dagger, or you die."

The orc was breathing heavily, "Some b***h elf stabbed me with it." My mind started racing.

"And where is she now?" I demanded.

"She was taken to a compound directly east of here." He looked at me pleadingly.

I looked around the room and felt sick about what I had done to the place as well as the two orcs I had killed. At least the one I hit with a chair will wake up and I can leave this one alive. "Thank you," I said to the orc and I quickly left before the watch arrived. I should stay and help clean the place up and explain what happened to the authorities, but orcs don't usually smile favorably upon humans. I had to go rescue Cynthia anyways. Hopefully I'm not too late.

It was very dark out and it was difficult to see much of anything as I approached the compound. I squinted my eyes and saw a shadow flying down towards me. The figure dropped to the ground and moved towards me. I called to the figure, "Cynthia!" Hoping maybe it was her.

The figure stopped for a second, then began to run towards me, I began to make out Cynthia's sweet face and ran towards her. We embraced and talked for a second before walking back to the compound.

I didn't know what to make of the hug, it probably meant nothing, but she didn't seem so distant or hostile now. I handed her throwing knife to her. "I believe you lost this."

She gave me a half smile and reached for it, "Thanks."

Eventually we returned to the inn where we found Darkeen. "Where the hell have you two been?" He demanded and Cynthia and I explained everything to him.

Darkeen's face turned furious, "Cynthia! What were you thinking? You're an elf! You can't just go wandering the streets like that. And Christopher, you can't go around destroying building and killing people for any reason! We'll have to leave tomorrow before any of your new enemies find either of you! I'm very disappointed in you both! Now get some sleep, tomorrow we're going to the dagger mountains."

I walked outside furiously. I went to save Cynthia! How could he be upset with me for that? I noticed the street was unusually empty and across the street I saw a sign that froze me where I stood. Above the door, glowing a mesmerizing blue, was a drawing of a hovering mage's robe with a skull for the head, just like the one I met in that cursed tavern. My first instinct was to run back into the inn, but the symbol seemed to pull me towards it. I shuffled my feet to the building and slowly opened the door. On the far wall the same symbol burned bright blue. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling and the room was made entirely of sleek gray stone. I closed the door behind me and I heard a click as it locked itself. I looked around the room before laying eyes upon the skull and mage robe from the tavern dungeon we had escaped from.

Frightened, I backed up until I was against the wall, "What is this place? How did you bring me here?"

The skull floated over to me, "This is where you will train tonight. And you let yourself in Christopher."

I glared at the skull, "I'm not magic okay? Leave me alone."

The skull was silent for a moment, "Then why were you led here? I told you that we'd find you when you're ready. It's time to utilize the gift you have been blessed with Christopher."

"What if I refuse to?" I asked nervously.

"A lot of apprentices of mine refuse to believe at first to, that's why you were led here. Like it or not, you will learn to control your power." The skull's eyes glowed blue and a large stone creature was formed in front of it.

"What the hell is that thing?" I shouted and reached for my sword.

"This is your opponent for today." The skull stated calmly, "You will defeat it with magic." My sword glowed blue and then floated to the skull who placed it inside the robe. The creature formed a rock in his hand and hurled it at me.

I barely dove out of the way as it crashed to the wall behind me, "How am I supposed to defeat this?" I shouted as I pulled myself to my feet.

"Use your mind," the skull said, "Magic is all about connecting your thoughts with your environment. Magic is strength in the mind, not strength in the body."

I dove out of the way as another rock was hurled at me. I had to think, had to connect my thoughts to the environment. I analyzed the cold, sleek stone, the large brass chandelier high up on the ceiling, the large brown stone creature in front of me, and the skull and mage robes who was putting me through it. I tried to concentrate on it all but all I got was another rock thrown at me.

"You're not concentrating hard enough!" The skull shouted at me. "You cannot just focus on the physical world around you! Everything in the world is surrounded by life like energy that people like you and me can harness and use. You have to connect to the object's energy."

I thought about what he said and tried to concentrate again. I thought about not just the stone walls, but the energy of the stone, every small individual piece of the stone, adding to its mass, making the great hulking wall I was surrounded by. I looked at the chandelier and focused on the energy of the heat and light being emitted from the candles. I focused on the rock monster hurling rocks at me and focused on the energy causing it to stand, the energy needed to throw such large rocks with such force. Finally, I looked at the skull and robes and the energy allowing the skull to live and float around.

I felt something in my mind click and as the creature threw another rock at me. I focused on the rock and thrust my hand towards it. I felt an intense pressure on my mind as I opened my eyes to see I had stopped the rock in midair and suspended it there. I willed my mind to harness the energy of my environment and thrust the rock back towards the stone creature. The rock hit the creature and it stumbled back and collapsed. I felt a stinging surge of pain through my head and collapsed to my knees, breathing hard.

"Very good!" The skull's voice boomed through the room, echoing off the tall stone walls.

"You almost killed me!" I shouted back through heavy breaths.

"That may be so," the skull said calmly, "But I have set you on the path to unlocking your potential." The skull became more serious, "You must be careful Christopher. That pain in your head is very real. If you do not take necessary precautions, you won't be the first person who dies from pressing their minds too far. I also warn you to be careful as magic is not the most accepted practice in today's world if you catch my meaning. Until we meet again Christopher, this will be our little secret."

White smoke flashed in front of me and when it cleared I was back in front of the inn. I looked across the road but the building was gone, replaced with a small shallow alleyway. I ran to the alley but it quickly ended at a stone wall. I looked around but found nothing but dim shadows and small bits of rubble. I quickly returned to the inn and stumbled into my cot, my head spinning with the events that had just occurred

Chapter 15: Cynthia

I sat in the center of a living room decorated in many wooden carvings containing the words of a language I didn't recognize. I spun some kind of top on the sealed wooden floor and it sent up streams of fire and sparks, nearly setting fire to my simple blue dress that stretched down to my ankles. I heard a noise behind me and turned around to see my mother's eyes, my eyes, smiling back at me. My father walked over to her and put his arm around her, he smiled at me as well, his face soft and warm. Everything was so peaceful, so calm, so warm, so... strange and different. I felt whole and complete but at the same time there were lines of worry on both my mother and father's faces.

Boom! Sooner than I could believe the peace was ripped away. The ceiling shook and the air turned colder. The warmth and color that once was here seemed to fade away. I must have shouted something subconsciously because my father rushed towards me and lifted me in his arms. I looked out the window and saw eleven soldiers all dawning a shiny gold colored armor. They kicked up small clouds of dust as they ran in orderly lines through the streets towards the city walls of Evanuan. They bore all kinds of weapons from long swords to bows and even strange staffs for those blessed with the gift of magic.

A knock on the door drew my attention away from the soldiers. My mother opened the door to a low-ranking recruit armed for battle. The soldier couldn't have been more than eighteen. He still looked like a boy rather than a man. "I'm to let you know. It's recommended that non-combatants leave the city." His hands shook nervously at his side but the determination in his eyes told me he would fight to the end for these people, for us.

"Where would you have us go?" My mother asked, her voice was calm but I could detect a hint of worry too. "There's nowhere left to go! Evanuan was the last resort, the last stand!"

The recruit eyes us nervously, "I'm sorry ma'am I don't know what to tell you, but I suggest you leave the city." Another boom echoed through the area and smoke began to rise in the distance, the recruit looked at the smoke and ran towards it half as a stone-cold soldier, and half as the young boy he was, terrified of the potential fate that lay on the battlefield.

My parents looked at each other, eyebrows raised as they both gave each other a look that said we should leave. My father set me on the ground next to my mother who wrapped her arms around me.

I was scared, terrified of what was happening. "I don't want to leave mummy," I said with the timid squeak of a small child, "I'm scared."

"I know, darling." My mother said to me and kissed me on the cheek. My father returned with his old hunting bow and a quiver fully stocked with arrows.

I held tightly to my mother's hand as she and my father led me out of the house and down the road. A strong wind hit my face as we walked through the door. I squinted to see through it as a few tears streamed across my face. The sky was black and gray, lighting rippled brightly through the clouds swirling above the city, centered around the emerald castle in the city center. From the porch of our house that seemed to stretch over Evanuan's skyline, I could easily see to the city walls where Chameleon soldiers clothed in black robes and armor fought with their demonic creatures toe to toe against the elvish forces. Even from this distance I could tell the elven army wouldn't be able to hold their position for long. Enemy forces were pouring through the broken wall and there seemed to be an infinite number of enemy troops stretching beyond to the horizon.

I walked quickly with my parents towards the area of the wall closest to us where we could exit the city. As we approached the gate the wall to the left of it shook and then exploded inward flattening a house and launching dust into the air. My parents and I froze for a second and watched as through the dust walked, no not walked, floated a human looking woman wearing a long purple cloak, the hood covered her face. Her head spin in our direction and what I saw was definitely not human, not quite anyway. Her hair was a beautiful brown that flowed into her robe, her skin was pale as the moon and hey eyes... Her eyes were black as the night and rimmed with a blood red, they seemed to glow with an infinite hatred, a hatred for everything around her. I gasped in horror as the woman growled and bared her teeth revealing a set of large wine-red fangs that shines against her pearly white teeth. A small battalion of about six soldiers ran towards her, elven swords raised. She turned towards them and released a terrifying scream as she pointed a finger at the lead soldier. A bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, killing the soldier so fast he didn't even have time to scream as his body collapsed to the ground dead. The other five soldiers froze in shock of what they had just witnessed but then charged again, seeking revenge for their fallen comrade. The woman snarled and swept her arm in front of her in an arc, an invisible force knocked the soldiers into their backs and before they had a chance to rise she fired a bolt of lightning from her hand to one soldier, then the next, and the next, until they were reduced to ashes.

My parents had regained the sense to move and dragged me along to the wall behind them, we couldn't risk going through the gate. My mother focused on the wall and managed to break a small hole in it with her magic but then nearly collapsed. It was a miracle she had broken it at all, the walls were built to resist magic, not that it seemed to impede the invading army. My father wrapped an arm around her to support her. We slipped through the crack my mother had made in the wall and ran across the field towards the cover of the woods on the other side. We hobbled across the field slowly, my father supporting my mother and dragging me along.

I looked back and gasped, my parents turned and did the same. The cloaked woman glided across the field towards us, a smirk on her face, she was fast approaching and sparks of lightning rained down around her. I heard whispers between my parents, my father was shouting as my mother pushed herself from my father into the field. I began to cry as my mother began to glow, letting magic consume her life. My mother then collapsed as she used all the magic she could muster to blow back the woman. The woman flew, crashing hard through the city wall and didn't move. My mother had saved us, but it had cost her, her own life. I was screaming, I had just watched my mother die and my dad picked me up and ran as he carried me through the forest undetected. My screams echoed through my mind, but they couldn't be heard over the sound of the fall of Evanuan and the genocide of the elven people.

...

I awoke drenched in sweat. I slowly pushed myself out of bed and washed my face in the water bowl nearby. I had relived that memory all too often through all these years since that horrifying night where our enemies finished the job, finished us. I looked in the mirror and saw my abdomen rapidly expand and contract. No. They had not yet finished us off. I am still here. I am still fighting, fighting for my people, fighting to make the world right once again. If anything, the recurring nightmare should serve as a reminder, a reminder of what once was and what can be. A reminder that I had to avenge my parents, my people, and save the lands themselves. After cleaning myself quickly I slipped back into bed with a new determination to face and emerge victorious against the events of the future.

...

Darkeen pounded his fist on my door so hard I thought it was going to collapse. "Get up right now!" He shouted through the door and stormed away.

I groaned loudly as I rolled off the bed pulling all the sheets and blankets down on top of me. I might have stayed there if it weren't for the splintering wood floors stabbing me in the back like daggers forcing me up. I swiftly changed out of my nightgown and into my black leather armor. I strapped my belt around my waist and slipped my daggers into their sheathes. My hair was a mess but I was too tired to put it up so I just tucked it into the back of my cloak and pulled the hood over my head. I pulled my bow and quiver over my shoulder and smiled at myself, the heavily armed assassin, master of stealth, in the mirror. Outside of my room Darkeen smiled at me faintly beneath the brown hood he pulled over his dark green armor. His intimidatingly large battle axe was strapped to his back. A few seconds later Christopher burst through the door and smiled at us, he was the only one not wearing a robe and his emerald eyes shined bright. He was wearing his silver armor with the navy blue Weldyn dragon large and centered on his breastplate. The golden eagle at the end of his sword sparkled in the light.

"Well it seems we all finally got up." Darkeen smiled and then lowered his voice to just above a whisper "Now let's kill ourselves a dragon!"

We quickly walked out the entrance and boarded our mounts in the early morning sun that just peaked over the dagger mountains. I followed behind Christopher and Darkeen to the city's eastern gate.

It was before eight o'clock so we had to be admitted out by a guard who quickly looked us over before asking with a raised eyebrow, "Are you all headed to the mountains?" Darkeen grunted in affirmation and the guard added, "There's s'posed to be a dragon out there you know."

"Why hasn't anyone tried to deal with it already?" Christopher blurted out much to Darkeen's dismay.

"A small legion was sent over a few days ago," the soldier said as he eyed the dragon on Christopher's armor. "Said there was some kind of old magic surrounding the top of the mountain. Some of the older veterans in the legion said it could've been elven maybe." Darkeen rolled his eyes at the soldier like this was nothing new, but the soldier's words now had all my attention. The soldier continued to ramble on "One of the men tried to get through the barrier but was struck by lightning the moment he got through. Most of the men thought it wasn't a coincidence and returned to the city as fast as they could. So, I don't care who you are," he eyed us all critically, "don't try 'n mess with it."

Darkeen kept a neutral expression as he nodded at the guard who opened the gate and waved us through. We rode in silence for at least ten minutes before I inquired, "Are we really going to face this dragon alone? There are only three of us."

Darkeen remained silent for a moment before replying, "It will certainly not be easy... But I'm sure we're more than capable, three of Werdyn's most capable fighters.

I smiled, "With me being number one of course,"

Darkeen scoffed, "You may be quick with your daggers, but in the end your type hides in the shadows while I continue to fight with grace."

"How graceful can you be with a cumbersome blade like that?"

"Anduin serves its purpose well," Darkeen jabbed a thumb at the axe on his back, "and packs a lot more power than your silly knives."

I opened my mouth to say something but Christopher spoke first, "And then there's Christopher who's automatically the best because he doesn't argue about who's better."

Darkeen threw a small stone at Christopher who had to duck, pressing himself flat against his horse to avoid. He lifted himself up and smiled sheepishly and I laughed. I thought the whole incident was quite funny but soon enough Darkeen calmed down and we continued our journey to the mountains.

"Why are we doing this really?" I asked aloud as I looked up at the sky. "Were we destined to do this?"

"I don't believe anyone is necessarily destined to do anything." Darkeen said in a low tone. "I think we all just came along at the right time. That's all."

I looked critically at him, "But my mother in my dreams, that can't just be the right place at the right time, can it?"

"I think it very well could be." Darkeen looked at my confused expression and continued. "You're one of the last of your kind as far as we know. Elven magic is ancient and powerful. I think that the dreams are the magical work of someone. Perhaps your mother, perhaps someone else. I just think it's rather foolish to get caught up in godly powers and destiny when there are problems right here we can solve. For instance, god or no god, there is still a dragon on the mountain."

"But there must be!" Christopher cut in," There must be a reason things happen. A reason for the return of dragons and Cynthia's dreams and us being here."

"I'm not here to try to convince you otherwise." Darkeen said to Christopher, "I was just answering what Cynthia said. If that is what you believe then you are free to believe it."

"I just don't know." I said aloud, not directly to anyone. "I want to believe there is a reason we are here but it all seems strange and confusing. I guess it doesn't matter. Let's focus on the task at hand."

Soon enough we arrived at the base of the largest mountain and the ground abruptly turned steeper and we had to dismount our horses before trekking along a thin worn path way through the dagger mountains. I was breathing hard as we climbed, Darkeen leading the way followed by Christopher with myself taking up the rear. Soon the trees became sparse and eventually couldn't be seen. Small patches of snow could be seen all around us covering patches of rocks.

After a couple hours of climbing Christopher yelled, "Stop!"

Both Darkeen and I halted and turned towards him, "Well what is it?" Darkeen asked with a hint of anger in his voice. I was just glad for a chance to catch my breath.

"Shhh," Christopher put a finger against his lips. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I asked but Christopher shushed me again so I strained my ear desperately trying to hear something other than the wind.

"That buzzing sound..." Christopher trailed off and slowly crept forward and began to extend his hand out in front of him. I could easily hear the buzzing noise at this point and then a crack as a spark from a seemingly invisible wall leapt to Christopher's hand causing him to shout in a mixture of pain and astonishment.

"Well here's our magical barrier." Darkeen stated in a matter of fact way.

"How are we supposed to get through?" asked Christopher having recovered from the barrier's shock.

Darkeen took out some sort of lense and held it near the barrier, causing the wall to ripple. "It's elven all right."

I sighed, "But how do we get through without frying our brains out, huh?"

"You're an elf," Darkeen said with a smirk, "You should be able to walk straight through."

"The 'should' doesn't give me all that much faith."

Darkeen moved towards me, "I guess we'll see then." He turned me around and I gasped as he pushed me through the barrier where I miraculously stumbled to the ground but did not electrocute myself.

"What the actual hell, Darkeen, you could've killed me!" I shouted as I picked myself up from the dirt.

"Oh, calm down you," Darkeen said with a smirk, "You're still alive aren't you."

I rolled my eyes and glared angrily at Darkeen as Christopher asked him, "Well, even if Cynthia can get across, how do we get across?"

"Hold on a second," Darkeen said as he ruffled through his bag, "I assure you can speak Elven, Cynthia?"

"I can, but poorly." I said, "It has been years since I've had a need to speak it." It was nearly a miracle I remembered the language at all because I had spent half my life in the company of humans and speaking my native tongue would just reveal what I was.

"Just read this," Darkeen said as he held a crumpled piece of paper out in front of him, it was the paper that said step one. The lines had changed into Elvish writing which I read over before slowly muttering the words. There was a loud snapping sound then a shimmering as the barrier disappeared.

"Where do you come across all these Elven things?" I asked Darkeen with an eyebrow raised.

"I was contacted just before the news of your people's demise had reached me." Darkeen said in a serious tone. "I knew the Elves were counting on me and your mother, and other powerful Elves, had left me messages, maps, and elven artifacts. I spent the next several years learning all I could about the elven and their magic, culture, and, technology. And now that you are here, a surviving elf, I'm sure we are all grateful for what I learned and collected."

Christopher looked at him critically, "You committed a decade of your life to the Elves on the hope that you would somehow find a survivor?"

Darkeen looked at us hesitantly, "It's not quite that simple, but we should move on before it gets late."

Christopher and I looked at Darkeen suspiciously as he moved passed us up the mountain.

We followed behind Darkeen and climbed upward and onward until we came around a bend near the summit that opened up onto a seemingly unnatural, flat clearing. The ground was covered in pebbles and a few large boulders. On the far side of the clearing was a steep slope that went farther uphill.

As soon as we entered the opening I heard the crack of lightning and a large cloud started swirling above us, just like the one above Evanuan all those years ago. I froze as memories rushed back through my head, "No, no, no," I muttered under my breath as I took a step back.

Christopher stepped in front of me and put his hand on my shoulders, "Cynthia!" he shouted and I looked blankly into his eyes, he shook me lightly, "I need you to focus," I didn't move, memories still racing through my mind, "Cynthia can you hear me?" I snapped into focus and stepped forward passed Christopher and next to Darkeen.

I could hear a faint flapping sound above and then the outline of a winged creature started growing larger and darker through the clouds before emerging.

"Holy s**t that's a dragon!" Christopher shouted as he drew his eagle-hilted blade from its sheathe. The dragon was a colossal beast, its wings beat powerfully, each flap like the eruption of a volcano. Its body was red and its tail had large spikes. Its face had a devilish look on its face and let out an ear-shattering roar before landing in the center of the clearing.

Darkeen grabbed his axe from off his back and I gasped as he ran towards the dragon. He prepared to strike at the beast but the dragon released a blast of fire from its mouth at Darkeen forcing him to dive behind a rock. I removed my bow from my back and stood in a wide stance as I nocked an arrow. I took a deep breath and drew the string back and let the arrow fly. The head of the arrow sunk into the dragon skin but it seemed uninjured. It just snarled and turned towards me. I swore under my breath as I ran behind a nearby boulder and knocked another arrow.

I saw the gleam of Christopher's sword as he charged the dragon from an angle, flanking it. He slid under the dragon's wing and lunged upward cutting into the dragon's wing and left side. The beast roared and swatted Christopher aside like a bug and he grunted as he hit the ground hard.

The dragon glanced at his small wound and then reared back and roared. Its stomach was exposed and I stood up from behind the boulder and quickly let three arrows fly, piercing the dragon' stomach. The creature started charging towards me and I froze in shock, just in time Darkeen dashed forward and with two powerful swings cut far into the dragon's leg and side. It let loose a stream of flame at Darkeen and I let another arrow fly before running to another boulder's cover.

The dragon leapt over to Christopher who had pulled himself up from the ground and was standing out in the open. The beast seemed to smile as a large stream of flames left its mouth ready to fry Christopher. I gasped at what seemed to be his demise, but Christopher plunged his sword into the flames and the fire ceased at the tip of the sword. It was like at Copper City, there was something special about that sword, or maybe about Christopher. The dragon changed his stance and increased the amount of flame and Christopher seemed to be struggling to hold the sword up against it. A bright light grew at the sword's tip to the point I had to look away. Eventually there was the sound of an explosion and Christopher was blown back and hit the ground with a thud. The dragon also flew backwards and hit the steep rocks behind it with an earth-shattering thud.

The dragon was down, this would be our chance. My daggers were quickly in my hands and I sprinted towards the dragon who was struggling to pull itself up. I was a little over halfway towards it when the dragon swept up several large rocks from behind itself and launched them towards me in a barrage. I swore and then heard Christopher shouting at me to go. He had the palms of his hands facing the rocks suspending them in air and he was in a full sweat. I had no idea how this was possible or maybe it was magic or some sort of illusion, but questions would have to wait.

The rocks were launched back at the dragon knocking it down again. It had pulled itself up just as I started running up its tail and spine. The dragon lunged at me with its hands trying to knock me up but I ducked under them and kept moving up its spine. It turned its head and let loose fire at me so I jumped to the left and plunged my dagger into its wing and slid across its wing on my dagger slicing it open. The dragon roared and the fire stopped. I swung myself onto its neck and the great beast made one final desperate attempt to grab me before I leapt up and plunged both my daggers to the hilt into the dragon's eyes severing its brain. The creature released a final roar and I leapt off as it collapsed to the ground dead. I, however, hit the ground alive. Which would be great if I didn't sprain my ankle on the landing. I yelled in pain and lowered myself to the ground.

With the dragon dead, the swirling clouds departed and the sun shone through. Christopher and Darkeen rushed over to me, "Are you okay?" They asked but I remained silent, focused on a figure atop the slopes behind the dragon's dead body. Darkeen and Christopher focused their eyes where I was looking and gasped in surprise. That brown hair, the dark purple cloak, I had seen it before. She turned toward us and hissed and I yelped as I saw the hellish red outline of her black eyes and the wine-red fangs. I couldn't make a sound. In front of me stood the person responsible for the genocide of my people, the murder of my parents. I couldn't move.

The woman pulled her head over her head and turned swiftly revealing a glowing blue skull like figure on the back of the cloak. The woman began to move away over the horizon and before anyone could say anything Christopher had sheathed his sword and was bolting up the steep slope towards the woman and disappeared over the horizon. Darkeen seemed prepared to follow him but then looked back at me. He must have noticed how I was sitting with all the pressure away from my right foot because he sat back down next to me and removed a medical kit from his bag.

"What about Christopher?" I said softly, still shocked from what had just happened.

Darkeen must have seen that things were not all right, maybe he knew about that woman too. He shushed me softly, "Quiet, everything will be alright." He removed my right boot and lifted my foot up and looked it over before putting a gauze on it and wrapping it with a bandage. "Everything will be alright." He said again, this time it seemed more to himself than to me.

Reviews

[Alexander Dillon]

Well done. Excellent use of adjectives, similes, and other devices to create clear and detailed illustrations.

[Declan Gleason]

Thanks! Anything wrong you saw with it?

[Alexander Dillon]

Towards the end of this section, during the fight with the dragon, you write: "The creature started charging towards me and I froze in shock, just in time Darkeen forward and with two powerful swings cut far into the dragon's leg and side." Should you add a verb between Darkeen and forward? Like, Darkeen darted forward, rushed forward, or ran forward?