by Toni Cox
The couple exchanged a few words with the man before taking the money he held out with a gnarled hand, and then they took his horses.
The man turned to leave, but as he shifted, his gaze crossed mine, and our eyes locked for a brief moment. Ice ran down my spine, and my scalp crawled, making me shrink into myself. I’d never seen a dark elf before.
His dark lips pulled in a thin line across his pale face as he gave me what I thought must have been a smile. I thought I saw the glint of black teeth between his lips.
I quickly looked away and pulled my hood deeper over my face. The elf wouldn’t know who I was, surely, but I couldn’t be too careful. The way he had looked at me; as if I was dinner.
The man left, and although my heart hammered like a herd of galloping horses, I breathed a sigh of relief. I hoped never to see him again. I’d have to leave here before he came back for his horses in the morning.
After the couple had seen to the horses, they called to their children that it was time to retire. They bade me good night, and suddenly, I was alone. The stable felt colder without them.
One central lantern remained lit near the main entrance of the stable, and they had given me a small lamp to take to my stall, which was as comfortable as the woman had promised and as a stable could be.
The cats decided to settle in next to me and, although I had an affinity with animals, their behaviour did seem odd. It was as if they couldn’t take their eyes off me.
Although a little creepy, their small furry bodies pressed to mine comforted me and eased me into sleep after I had turned off the lantern. It wasn’t until I felt their rough tongues lick across my face that I startled awake again.
Blinking in the dark, I tried to figure what was going on when I heard a noise. Not the kind of sound you expected to hear in a stable, but something so out of place that I was immediately alert.
Shouldering my backpack, I crept to the edge of the stall and peeked over the wall. One of the strange man’s horses stood out in the passage with Thomas, bound and gagged, thrown over its back.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. How had this happened? Was he alive? Blood had shot to Thomas’ face from hanging with his head down, and his hair hung matted with smeared blood where he must have sustained an injury.
With a swirl of his dark cloak, the stranger led his other horse out of its stall and saddled it. When he checked Thomas’ bounds, Thomas made a strangled sound, and I knew then it was that which had alerted me.
My blood burned along my veins, and I wished I knew what to do. A tingling in my palm brought my attention to the fact that I still had my magic, and I looked down at the soft blue glow, smirking.
When I looked up again, the dark man patted his horse and then left the stable, leaving the horses, and Thomas, behind. It was an unexpected development, and I was unsure of what to do for a moment.
When Thomas moaned again, I hesitated no longer. I sprinted into the open and straight to him. I took his head in my hands, trying to remove the gag, and he opened his eyes.
Thomas looked at me with pleading eyes, moaning through the gag. I wondered what he was trying to tell me when rough hands grabbed me from behind.
“Two for the price of one, eh.” The man’s foul breath hit me as he whispered in my ear.
I gave a startled scream, and my hand glowed dully. The man laughed.
Kicking and struggling, I tried to break free, but his hands were like iron bounds on my arms. When I turned my palm, it made contact with his skin, and he cursed but did not let go.
Instead, he dragged me to his horse. The animal snorted and shook its head at my wild antics, but he ordered it to stand still, while he stuffed something in my mouth, and then he took a rope to tie me up.
I glared at him and concentrated on my hand. The glow wavered. If only I had more control of this strange magic of mine. It had worked well enough when I needed it to save my father.
With noises coming from above the stables, the man hurried and dragged me to the other horse. The couple must have awoken at the commotion below.
I struggled within his grip, scratched him with my fingernails. My feet kicked out at him, and my teeth bit ineffectively into his sleeve. Tears of frustration rolled down my face.
The evil stranger handled me as if I weighed nothing when he picked me up. He threw me over his other horse to lie across its back alongside Thomas, who looked at me with pity in his eyes.
Chapter 7
A heavy blanket settled over us, and all I could see was the ground. Once the horse moved and we left the stable for the predawn darkness outside, even the ground became near invisible.
Immediately, the awkward position made itself felt. My legs cramped, my stomach hurt, and I thought my head might explode from the amount of blood that rushed to it.
As the sun rose into the sky, the temperature beneath the blanket became unbearable. We sweat, with moisture dripping off our foreheads and running into our eyes.
With pain and thirst vying for my attention, anger at the dark-cloaked elf built within me. How dare he abduct us like this? What did he want with us, anyway? Another bounty hunter?
I also cursed myself, for so far, my quest to save my father and the kingdom had not gone as planned. It was apparent that I was useless beyond the walls of the palace.
The horse plodded on unmercifully, unaware of our discomfort on its back. The pain was becoming unbearable, and tears threatened my eyes again. I never cried this much.
Sweat kept dripping from my face, and I soon struggled to breathe through my nose. I tried to dislodge the gag from my mouth but to no avail.
As my breath rasped in and out of me, my thoughts became foggy. It must have been the pain that kept me from passing out, for I still felt every one of the horse’s movements as ten thousand daggers through my body.
And then we stopped.
The change happened so unexpectedly, both Thomas and I moaned at the different kind of pain it brought. We cried again when the man yanked the blanket off and bright sunlight stabbed at our eyes.
“The horses need to rest,” the elf said brusquely.
He grabbed me unceremoniously and dumped me beneath a tree. My body screamed; first from the pain of being lifted off the horse, then from the pain of being thrown on the ground.
Not even the cool breeze from the river to our right could dull the burning flush of anger that crept up my neck and into my cheeks.
I tried to struggle to my feet while the man went back to the horses to fetch Thomas. The rope cut into my legs, making me topple over. Lying on my side, the man kicked me in the ribs as he walked past.
He laughed again.
I moaned as the man hauled me up and dragged me to the tree. There he bound me to it and did the same with Thomas, before going to take care of the horses.
Once unsaddled, he led them to the river, where they drank their fill, and then they grazed peacefully along its lush, green bank. The man, too, slaked his thirst from the river and then filled his water bottles.
Then, he went to sit under a tree opposite us and took from his bag a variety of foods, which he proceeded to eat with relish.
My anger simmered dangerously beneath the surface. Never in my life had I been treated this way. The bounds holding my hands to the tree were so tight, I was losing feeling in my fingers.
Thomas and I had been given no water all day but had to endure the extreme heat underneath that blanket. My head pounded from exhaustion and dehydration.
I glared at the man. He raised his water bottle to me, grinning.
A vein in my neck throbbed. Little pinpricks of pain tingled up and down my arms as I wriggled my shoulders, straining against the rope. Heat rose within me, threatening to burn me from the inside out.
My right hand balled into a fist, the rope cutting deep into my wrist, sending searing pain up my arm. It only fuelled my anger.
The rope snapped as the blue magic sizzled through it. My shoulders protested as I flun
g my arms forward to free my legs, but I ignored the pain, my eyes fixed on the elf, who had risen to his feet.
Waves of heat and anger pulsed through me as I walked towards him. I could now see the fear in his eyes. Good.
I raised my right hand and aimed it at him. Pulsating waves of blue magic shot out, knocking him off his feet.
The man called out and scrambled to his feet. He had drawn a weapon, but it was too late for him. Unrelenting, the magic flew from my hand, hitting him again, and again, and again.
He stumbled, got knocked down, scrambled to his knees, and got knocked down again. He bled in several places. I didn’t care. I drove him on. Only when he splashed into the river and his head sunk beneath the surface did I drop my arm and let the magic fade.
With flaring nostrils, and trying hard to control my racing heart, I returned to the tree to free Thomas. He looked at me with wide eyes, but I just shook my head, hoping he wouldn’t ask any questions.
“Thanks,” his voice sounded hoarse. Mine probably did, too, but I was afraid to speak. “Let’s get out of here.”
Quickly, we grabbed our things from amongst the elf’s supplies, as well as some of his food and water.
Then, we took the bridles and caught the horses. They were huge, the Gypsy kind, and Thomas had to help me up. Sitting astride its broad back was way better than being draped across it like a sack of potatoes.
We lingered no longer, for I didn’t think I killed the elf. He might even now be climbing out of the river. We asked the horses for a canter and had soon left the river’s edge behind.
Thomas glanced behind us several times, but I kept my gaze fixed ahead, determined to get as fast and as far away as possible.
The horses’ big strides carried us swiftly, but after a while, Thomas called to me to rein my horse in.
“We need to give them a break. They cannot keep to this pace forever.”
We slowed the horses to a walk, although I would have loved to carry on putting distance between us and that river at speed.
“There is a town up ahead.” Thomas guided his brown and white gelding alongside my black and white one. “It’s smaller than Clover Hill and friendlier. I know people there.”
I wrinkled my nose. I didn’t think I was ready for another town. “Do we have to?”
“We don’t have to,” Thomas looked at me fully for the first time since we escaped, “if you’re not up for it. Come, I know another way.”
We turned the horses off the road and rode across fields, through shallow rivers, and across more fields, before entering a forest via a narrow trail.
“This trail skirts the town and comes out several miles to the west of it. The forest is safe enough for us to spend the night in. There is also a little stream if you would like to wash.”
“Thank you, Thomas,” I mumbled, suddenly very tired.
We rode in silence for a while, Thomas in the lead on the narrow trail, with me watching the swaying of his horse’s tail in front of me.
I couldn’t stop thinking about our misfortune, though. Was it just coincidence that Thomas and I got captured together? Was it a conspiracy? What if the man had known who I was?
“Thomas, why did that man take you?”
He shrugged. “He was a bounty hunter. Probably hoped to skin the wolf hide off me.”
“That’s what I thought,” I said, patting my horse on his neck for my own comfort.
“There are more of them around now than there have ever been. This is the first time I’ve encountered a dark elf. They use the talismans they cut off us, like your red hair, for their dark magic. I definitely know to be more careful in future with his kind.”
“Be more careful in future? Is that all you have to say about it?” I was shocked. “We nearly died.”
“What else can we do? Ever since the White Law was put into place, things have been tougher for us. Surely, you must know this.”
“The White Law?” I studied all laws passed by my father, but this one I had never heard of.
“You know, the one where harvesting certain magical elements of folks is allowed?” Thomas turned, looking back at me with his eyebrows raised.
“Harvesting?” Bile rose to my throat at the suggestion in that word.
“Yes, it is what you think it is.”
“My father would never pass such a law.” Hot blood shot into my cheeks. It couldn’t be possible.
“No, silly,” no-one had ever called me silly, “not your father. It’s the dark elves who passed the law. It’s them who are after the magic. They pay well.”
My head whirled. Dark elves, bounty hunters, magical body parts, and dark magic. Why did we at the castle not know about this? Or, maybe they did, and I was just excluded from this knowledge.
My stomach roiled with this new information, but something had set the gears in my brain into overdrive.
“You must think I am a total snob, not knowing anything of the outside world. I can’t believe it’s so different from what I have been told. How serious is the hatred between the races?”
“Do the fae care?” Thomas sneered. “Your kind hasn’t been involved in the goings-on within Wiltera for years.”
I stared at him blankly. He continued.
“It wasn’t so bad until about two years ago. That’s when the dark elves decided to expand their territory and put the White Law into place.”
“I thought they ruled Raven Hall. Isn’t that around here, somewhere?”
Thomas spread his arms wide, then up, then let them drop to his side again. “They could be everywhere, really. They remain as hidden as Draeguard.”
“It seems there is a lot I need to learn about your world.” Now, I literally felt sick to my stomach.
“Have you never been outside your city?”
“Sure, I’ve been riding within the forest around Draeguard, but always under guard. I once visited a city with my father, but I was a lot younger, then.”
Thomas then left me to my own thoughts for a long while, until he pulled his horse off the trail and dismounted several feet into the trees.
“We can stay here for the night,” he said gruffly.
I jumped off my horse, and Thomas took it from me, saying he would take the horses to the river to water them.
I watched him walk off, aware of Thomas’ change in demeanour. He had been friendly enough this whole time; the sudden dark look on his face worried me.
The area Thomas had chosen was a natural alcove of bushes along a shallow river. I busied myself with clearing some space for us underneath the branches while I waited for him to return.
The horses looked content when Thomas tied them off on a tree not far from us, and he then came to sit by me next to our bags.
“Dana, there is something I need to speak to you about.”
There it was. I nodded.
“I didn’t want to bring it up. You looked so upset about…you know. But I want to thank you for what you did. For saving me. You were extraordinary.”
I blinked. Of course, I saved him. What else could I have done? Why would thanking me upset me more? “You’re welcome. I wasn’t going to leave you there.”
Thomas looked down and drew with his finger in the dirt. “What was it you did to that elf, Dana?”
My cheeks prickled as blood rushed to them. I cursed myself for blushing so easily. “It’s nothing. Fae magic.”
Thomas looked up, his amber eyes piercing mine. “No, it’s not.”
I swallowed, my lie exposed so easily. Dropping my head, I admitted the truth. “I don’t know, Thomas. It started a few weeks ago. I don’t really have any control over it.”
“Hey,” Thomas shifted forward and briefly touched my leg, “it’s going to be alright. I’ve seen similar magic before, and I don’t think it’s bad.”
“You have? Where?”
“Um,” his eyes shifted, and he looked down, “You say this started a few weeks ago. How? Tell me about it.”
Was he tryi
ng to distract me? Was he lying? Every time I was on the verge of trusting him, something happened that made me doubt him. He was a shifter, after all.
“Yes, a few weeks ago. Just a pale glow, nothing special.” I purposefully omitted that I nearly destroyed my room in the process.
“Does this happen to fae often?”
Oh, Goddess, why did he have to ask these questions? Just thinking of lying made me blush.
“No, fae don’t have this kind of magic.” I blushed anyway.
Thomas had the decency to look confused. “Is that why you ran away?”
“I didn’t run away.” Again, the high-pitched voice. Urgh. I tried to calm myself. “The kingdom was under attack. Again. They arrested my father and accused him of treason. Falsely, I might add. I left to find answers.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I could have smacked myself as I realised that I had just blurted out everything, even after I concluded I couldn’t trust him. I was such an idiot.
“Who attacked the castle?”
“We don’t know. I think it was dark magic, but don’t know who wielded it.”
“Dana, why didn’t you tell me all of this sooner? I thought you were just some spoiled, runaway princess who had enough of the fancy life. I am sorry if I misjudged you.”
The honest concern in his eyes touched me, and I graced him with a rare smile. “I didn’t know if I could trust you.”
He laughed; a pure, whole-hearted sound. His cheeks dimpled as his lips pulled back. “Touché, I didn’t trust you, either.”
I laughed with him, now completely thrown off track.
“So, these dark magic attacks,” Thomas mused, “who would do that to your people?”
“Trust me; we’ve been over this a thousand times. We have had no threats; we’ve not been at war with anyone in a century, nothing.”
Thomas narrowed his eyes and leaned forward to touch my hair. I looked at him, shocked.
“The bounty hunter was after your hair and my fur. The dark elves use these as ingredients for their magic, their dark magic. I wonder if there is a connection.”