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Chapter two
Merck promised Elensar that he would accompany Laura as far as the forests edge, erase her memory, and send her back down the road to Telemmaitë. Even so Elensar was still gravely concerned about letting a dark elf run around the forest, she ordered a search party out immediately after returning to Nessa village. Elensar had finished giving a description of Limerick to her first officer, when she heard a familiar voice talking. Elensar excused herself and followed the voice. She turned a corner and found herself looking upon a scene of her closest friend telling village children of the journey she had taken.
“Unalaska, when did you return?” Elensar surprised her friend by asking from the shadows.
Unalaska had left for a journey four years ago that was mandatory for all lunar elves such as herself. The journey is made to a temple in the mountains of Mesons. The temple was built buy ancient lunar elves who worshipped all in the nighttime sky. Unalaska lived in a large cave system about an hours walk out of the village. Elensar had taken care of the items in the cave until such time Unalaska returned to claim them. Unalaska looked different, thinner, but with renewed strength as well. The streaks of white, red, and black in her hair looked faded and dull against the rest of her hair that shimmered in the moonlight.
“Elensar, I had been hoping to see you before I returned home for the night, I’m utterly exhausted but I thought you should know that there was a dark elf wandering around lake.” Before Elensar could reply Merck walked behind and flicked her in the head with his hand.
“We already got him Una, thanks though.” Merck flicked her in the head again and laughed when she pursed her face in distain. Elensar left them and stalked towards King Alder’s large tree he called home, all prisoners were held there. Elensar was already considered by the King to be him daughter in law so Elensar stormed through the door without knocking and walked into the study where she found the King interrogating a very amused looking Limerick. The King was obviously perplexed at Limericks resistance to answer any of his questions. King Alder glared at Elensar when she entered the room, but quickly pulled it back when he realized who it was.
“Maybe he’ll answer you; I can’t get a thing out of him.” King Alder’s face was as red as a pentom root from restraining himself from yelling. Elensar shooed him out of the room, knowing he would never approve of the way that she handled prisoners. When she was certain King Alder wasn’t standing at the door Elensar turned to face Limerick, who was no longer smiling but looked a little lost.
“You’re not going to leave this forest until you explain it all too either them or me take your pick.” Elensar waited patiently while Limerick battled with himself. When Elensar saw that he wouldn’t budge she brought up a touchy subject to get him to talk. “So what was about the human?”
Elensar seemed oblivious to the daggers that he glared in her direction. Limerick sighed with defeat and stalked to the window, watching the trees shift with the wind from the retreating storm. Elensar kept quiet knowing that he would talk when he was ready. As if to confirm her thoughts Limerick turned around and looked Elensar in the face with curious eyes.
“As I said in the forest her name was Laura, she lived in village about ten miles north of Telemmaitë. I was in need of something to eat and drink and her family took me in ignoring the fact that they had no idea who I was. The first night I caught a fever and I was too weak to continue on. While the rest of her family slept she stayed by my bed side and kept my fever under control, and she made good company to talk to. I was bed stricken for days and couldn’t move, when I was finally able to move she didn’t want me to leave.
She cried as I walked away from their house, and ran after me. I didn’t understand why she was making a fuss about it until I turned back and saw her eyes. She loved me, in only a few days, and I was sick, I somehow managed to woo a woman who meant nothing to me. I think that’s when I let my guard slip and she saw the true me, the assassin that had killed dozens of people, who could kill her in only seconds. Laura didn’t run away from me she stayed and begged me to stay with her. She promised me everything within her meager powers that she could give me as long as I would stay. Heirs, money, she would help me kill people. I laughed at her when she said that, I would have never imagined someone to go to those lengths because they wanted me.” Limerick stopped abruptly knowing that he said more then what was wise.
“So then why leave her and come here to kill, or attempt to kill me?” Elensar remained calm through a story that would make anyone else cry. “What would you gain from killing me; you don’t strike me as the type to care a lot about money?”
“You’re right I don’t want money, I want something that was rightfully mine, and was stolen from me.” Elensar’s eyebrows arched in concern. “I wanted to regain my right to the power of Kalnar, or the supreme power of my parents. It was stolen from me when Dakar killed my parents and took it for himself, he said he would return it if I would kill his daughter, now I see that I was merely a fool.”
“A wise man is not born wise; he became wise from learning from his mistakes.” Elensar said in a quiet voice. “To the other elves we are young and ignorant, but we can prove to them how wise we really can be by displaying our strengths, and compensating for our weaknesses.”
“Even the youngest of all elves knows something that the elders don’t.” Unalaska stated wisely as she slipped through the door and shut it softly behind her. Limerick flushed at the sight of Unalaska, which only Elensar could see.
“I thought you would be returning home after your long journey my friend?” Elensar smirked in Unalaska’s direction. Unalaska blanched under the hawkish eyes of her closest friend.
“Yes, well I thought I should probably warn you…” Unalaska’s voice faltered when Elensar’s eyes narrowed into nothing but small slits.” Well let’s just say that we’re going to get a surprise.”
Elensar pinched the bridge of her nose, as a sign of her obvious loathing of surprises. Merck stomped through the door showing that his authority was to be worshipped in this house. Elensar rolled her eyes at his attempt as Unalaska choked back the temptation to laugh. Merck glowered at Limerick who generously glowered back. Merck had dragged something behind him into the room and held it up towards Unalaska.
“I’ll assume that this filth followed you back to the village, and here I thought you were the master tracker.” Merck was obviously smug at the fact.
“Nice bruise, and did you ever stop to think that I let the man follow me, pull back his hair.” Merck gasped and dropped the man to the floor as he pulled back the old mans hair to reveal the rounded pointed tips of his ears. “Allow me to introduce Tares half-dwarfin.”
“Well I’ll be damned, if it isn’t the old cod.” Merck chuckled in disbelieve, but stopped as Tares stood up from the ground. His anger was very apparent, do to the aura that surrounded his short stocky frame. Tares had lived in the forest long ago, and left for the dwarf kingdom of Balzain. He had always been very close to Elensar and Unalaska.
“Better watch what you do from now on boy just because you’re the prince of the forest doesn’t mean you don’t need a beating.” Tares turned on Unalaska. “And I thought you said we would be seeing Elensar while we were here…I didn’t come all this way just to look at pretty boy over there all the time, damn it.”
Unalaska looked from Tares to Elensar with confusion on her face. “Tares she’s right there, do you not see, nor has thy gone blind?”
Tares stared at the black cloaked figure that Unalaska had identified to be Elensar; she raised her eyebrows at his scrutiny. Elensar had grown after he’d left. Her 5’8 frame matched nicely with Merck 6’2 frame. Elensar’s coal black hair also dulled the otherwise intense green of her eyes.
The door busted open in its frame stood two guards. “The human female was attacked not far from the forest’s edge, she was decapitated.” The man shook with fright. “It looked like the work of a Nuckaleeve.”
Merck shuddered at the mention of the foal creature’s name. No one noticed Limerick’s murderous expression but Unalaska.
“We have to stop it before it comes into far and gets scent of the village, it’ll think this place is an all you can fit in your mouth feeding frenzy.” Everyone nodded and headed towards the door; Limerick headed them off and blocked their path.
“What about Laura’s body don’t you think that it should be returned to her family?” Elensar stared blankly at him.
“We’ll be lucky to find anything left of her body at all.” Unalaska answered instead. “A Nuckaleeve can’t eat the heads, that’s why they decapitate their victims first, and then they drag the body somewhere and eat it whole and spit out the bones and other things that they can’t digest.”
 icerain2345 · Sat Oct 20, 2007 @ 12:52pm · 0 Comments |
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