Chapter 11:

This wasn’t Supposed to Happen

The horse hooves clattered heavily against the dirt path as the elves hurried back into the forest under the cover of the trees. One of the elven informants had prepared the horses for them to escape. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the raid, and everyone was able to get onto their horse and leave quickly, dodging their pursuers with the complicated back trails through the woods.

Silas’s heart was beginning to beat out of his chest, and his hands tightened on the reins of the horse. His eyes narrowed as he felt the disappointment of the elves around him heighten more and more. Even though they were distracted by the escape, they would lose their pursuers shortly. The distraction would only last a moment, before they would criticize him for failing to complete his mission yet again.

The leader of the group flashed his hand up and directed the men to scatter. They had taken this rocky path numerous times, and often the humans were too afraid to enter this part of the woods, as the ground was not steady. It was very easy to slip off your horse and fall into the river if you were not familiar with the terrain.

Silas veered off to the right and tapped the sides of his horse to move faster, towards the thin outer edge of the woods. The humans behind them had slowed down once they reached the rocky, undefined trail through the woods. Many of the humans yelled at them, shooting off arrows into the woods to slow them down, but the experienced elves nimbly dodged them and disappeared into the shadows of the trees.

After ducking towards the shallow edge of the woods, Silas could no longer hear his comrades. His heart continued to pound as he emptied his mind, focusing on escaping the humans behind them. The last time he had underestimated the humans, he had almost found himself killed. This time, he would not do the same.

Mom… Emmeline… I’m sorry. Silas apologized to his family in his heart. He knew, just as Emmeline knew, he could not kill the child. Just as Maeir wanted, he was coming back alive and safe, but would they be safe once they returned to the village? Silas could not bring himself to think about any more.

Closing his eyes, Silas allowed his horse to lead him out of the woods and towards the village. The group had already agreed previously that they would split off into groups once they were pursued, and regroup once they lost them. Hopefully the humans would drop off fast, and he would be able to find the rest of his group, no matter how disappointed they were in him.

Silas shook his head and opened his eyes again as he threw the mask that had sat on his face from the festival onto the ground. The performer’s outfit still hung on his body, too big for the young man’s small, elfish frame as the magic finally ran out and his appearance turned back into an elf’s. As the horse’s hooves passed by, the mask clacked as it fell to the ground, cracking in half once it came into contact with the sharp-edged rocks on the side of the woods.

Silas’s figure quickly disappeared into the large clearing. The area around the mask fell silent.

…

The journey to the village was lonesome, and Silas was unfortunately unable to regroup with the soldiers at the established meeting point. A sinking feeling overtook Silas’s gut as the urge to vomit came back to him from earlier. He slowed down the horse as he thought of the young boy he had almost killed. His young, large blue eyes were full of fear as his eyes and cheeks lost their color. His mouth was agape, and tears fell down his face in disorder. Even his short, dark blue hair scattered around him as the sword in Silas’s hand threatened to swing down and tear him in half.

Seeing such an innocent child, Silas could not bring himself to kill him. He could not imagine returning home to his loved ones after doing such a heinous act. He would take all the punishment of letting the prince go twice, and if they banished him from the village, so be it. As long as his family was safe, Silas was not concerned about anything else.

Steadying his breath, Silas swallowed down the vomit that had climbed up his throat. Silas sighed to himself and tapped the sides of his horse again, to pick up the pace. He was beginning to near the village, and it would be only a short time before he would pass the magic barrier set up by the village chief. It was only a matter of time before he saw his family again, before he saw his comrades.

It was then that Silas looked up through the dark orange sky. The sun was beginning to set, and the low grey clouds hung close to the edge of the sky. The more Silas looked, the darker the clouds appeared to get. It seemed the more he traveled towards the village, the darker the skies became until there was a distinct smell of gunpowder and burning wood. When the scent hit his nose, Silas dragged the reins of the horse back and he looked towards the forest with an expression of horror.

Oh gods, no! There was only one thing that possibly could burn here, and it would be the forest, where they had been hiding for the past few years. And if the forest burned, their homes and livelihoods would go with it. They would have nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide.

Please. Silas pleaded, flicking the reins and pushing the horse forward, Please let it be something else. Please let me be wrong.

Frantic, Silas pushed his horse forward, tapping the sides of his feet onto the horse as he leaned forward with a face full of anxiety. The color drained from his face as he approached the village entrance and watched the column of black smoke dance in the sky, thick with ash and hot red sparks.

Indentations of horse hooves littered the ground, and the gates and buildings were smashed down or burned. Many of them were still burning, some were only standing by the base, still covered with white hot ashes from the fires. Tree branches fell into the path, and dirt and flowers were burnt and scattered around the ground, leaving a feeling of desolation around the village.

There was only one thing that could have done this much damage.

The humans.

Silas raced into the village and threw himself off his horse. He surveyed the area around the woods, looking for any signs of life. Even when he looked for villagers, there were none to be seen, not even a dead body. The only traces of a struggle were random splashes of blood, still warm.

“Mom!” Silas screamed, racing towards his home, letting hope build in his chest as he saw his home untouched, “Cirdan! Aurelia!” He frantically tried the door, but it was locked. He began throwing his body into the door, screaming and pleading for his family to say something. With one final slam, the door busted on the hinges, and Silas fell onto the floor. He glanced around before jumping to his feet, running through each room in the house, begging his family to show themselves, to let him know they were alive.

But he found no one.

The house was eerily empty. It was as if no one had lived there. The home was completely vacated, and there was no sign of anyone having taken anything. There were bowls of food still sitting untouched on the table, cold and inedible. The pot was over the smothered fire, and the toys from the twins still laid flatly on the ground in the sitting room, where they were left untouched the day before. His heart sank at the sight.

Silas, refusing to give up, ran back outside and looked around again, scanning the surrounding area for any signs of movement, but all he saw were the embers from the growing fires dancing in his face. The nearby trees were burned, cut, and torn down, making it difficult to see through the burning smoke. It made Silas’s eyes redden and water. He coughed, covering his nose and mouth with the handkerchief in his pocket.

With nowhere else to go, he ran to Emmeline’s house, praying his family had gone there, or he would at least be able to find Emmeline. As he approached the once cozy home, now quickly falling apart from the fire consuming the building, Silas fell to his knees. He let out an inhuman scream as the small building fell in on itself, guaranteeing if anyone were left in that building, they were no longer alive. He repeatedly slammed his fists into the ground and cried as he screamed. It was only when he felt a firm hand tightly wrap itself on his shoulder did he look up.

It was Jacob.

“Silas?! Thank the gods you’re alright!” Jacob said, letting his sword drop to his side as he fell to his knees and hugging Silas tightly, “We thought for sure you were dead! C’mon, we’ve got a small group hiding out in the forest. You can join us!”

Jacob released Silas and stood up, but stopped when Silas tightly gripped Jacob’s arm, “My family- Is my family there?” Silas gasped out, pleadingly looking at Jacob. Silas’s heart dropped when Jacob looked away and cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry, Silas,” Jacob said, pulling Silas up, “I don’t know where your mom and siblings are, but someone else in the group might know.” Jacob glanced around, then ran towards the forest, dragging Silas with him, “Gods, I still can’t believe this happened. They came out of nowhere. Those Yursear monsters. And there were so many of them. Barely anyone had any time to run or hide.”

“How did this happen? How did they find us?” Silas asked weakly, stumbling as Jacob dragged him through the uneven ground of the forest, embers from the burning fires dancing around them like little pellets of snow.

“Gods, I have no clue. I don’t even know how they got through the magic barrier.” Jacob began to slow to a stop, “All I know is that the forest isn’t going to hold. We have to get the group and get out of here.” Jacob let go of Silas’s arm and pushed a large, fallen branch out of their way, revealing a small path, “This way. We’re almost there.”

“What did they do to the people who didn’t get away?” Silas asked, determination and anger building in his eyes and clenching his heart as he followed Jacob on the trail.

Jacob took a moment to answer, but when he did he turned around to face Silas, “You mean your family? I’m sorry. I really have no idea. But since there’s no one in the village, I’m assuming they enslaved them.” Silas’s eyes dropped to the ground, trying to calm the panic and anger filling his heart, “Listen Silas, I’m sure they’re alive. There is no way the infamous Bloody Maeir would allow herself or your siblings to be killed.”

The two finally emerged from the forest path and entered a small clearing. Silas gave Jacob a look as he glanced around, seeing no one. Jacob signaled to him and whistled three short blasts. After a moment, a small group of terrified, bloody elves emerged from the surrounding forest, crying and shaking. Silas fruitlessly scanned the crowd, desperately looking for his family or Emmeline, but to his dismay, he did not see them. He dropped his head, trying to control his emotions, until he heard a gentle, distressed voice call out to him,

“Silas?!” She screamed, breaking free from the back of the crowd and running into his arms. As Silas looked down to see a familiar head of curly brown hair, he burst out into tears, wrapping his arms around the shaking, small figure.

“Emmeline! Emmeline, Emmeline, Emmeline!” Silas cried, his mouth refusing to stop saying her name. He held her tightly, scared he would lose her any second if he let go. She wrapped her arms around him and laughed, hearing him constantly say her name. He held her head into his chest as they laughed and cried happily.

“I thought you were dead!” Emmeline cried, clinging to Silas’s shirt.

“I thought you were dead too.” Silas said, squeezing Emmeline tighter. After a minute, they slowly let each other go, staring at each other and smiling, tears running down their faces as relief washed over them. They wiped their tears away with smiles on their faces.

“Is your mom here?” Silas asked, looking over the crowd. Emmeline looked away before she whispered,

“No, we got separated when the front gate was destroyed.”

“Emmeline,” Silas said, frowning deeply, “I’m so sorry.”

“Did you find your family?” Emmeline asked, holding Silas’s face with her hand. He pulled his hand up to his face and covered his hand with hers. He then solemnly shook his head.

“I’m sorry.” Emmeline said, letting go of his face. Silas looked down at the ground, but looked back up quickly.

“Are you alright? Are you bleeding?!” Silas asked, startled by the sight of Emmeline’s bloody dress and hands.

“Oh, this isn’t my blood,” Emmeline said, slightly embarrassed, “I tripped and fell in some blood while I was running away.”

Silas stared at Emmeline with a blank expression for a moment, before bursting out in laughter, which startled Emmeline at first, but quickly caused her to start laughing. They tried to stifle their laughter as everyone else stared at them with bewilderment. As they finally began to control their laughter, they looked at each other one again, which made them laugh even harder, doubling them over as they tried to suck breathes in. Everyone continued on to stare at them in bewilderment, but now some began to smile, and even little chuckles began to slip out of people’s mouths. Soon, everyone was laughing heartily, letting the pain and the anger from losing their homes and loved ones just melt away for a minute.

After a few minutes, everyone collected themselves and grabbed the minimal belongings they were able to hide away during the invasion, and prepared to set out.

“Where will we go?” One of the young, elven men asked, slinging a small pack over his back.

“We’ll head to one of the nearby elven villages. Hopefully we can get some help.” Jacob said, looking down at his sword. Everyone nodded solemnly, the silence in the air filling the lost group of survivors’ minds with assumptions and painful memories. Even Silas looked down, thinking of his mom and siblings. He knew they were alive, but the fear of never seeing them again was shaking Silas to his core.

Emmeline, seeing Silas’s shaking body, reached over and grabbed his hand. She gave it a gentle squeeze as she smiled up at him. Silas forced himself to smile back, gripping Emmeline’s hand tightly. They both looked forward, then set off into the forest, making their way to the nearest elven village, praying they would find refuge.