It was strange for Annlynn to be out on her own. She’d been hunting with Tarvos many times, and in other circumstances, she would have been excited to be on an adventure again. At least she knew which constellations were which, and at least she knew how to find the river. Better still, if she made her way north alongside the river, she would find Atheros–a small trading post between the elven and human world.
Pain lingered. Tears slipped down her cheeks as the crescent moon set. The woman who had helped her work through her trauma was gone, and she was alone. Worse still, she was certain the king would hunt her down and catch her, making her attempt to flee worthless.
When morning came, an ache surged in her stomach. They would find out that she was gone. Perhaps they would interrogate her stepmother, torturing her until she gave an answer. Annlynn grimaced as the imagined screams tormented her.
A harsh breeze swept through the landscape. The sloping grasslands offered little protection against the bitter drafts. As dark clouds veiled the sky, Annlynn feared what they would bring. Her spring cloak offered only a meager defense against the cold.
Snow drifted in the wind, the tiny flakes carried by the gusts. Annlynn hated seeing the little white flakes, reminding her that her own mortality would be close if the weather turned for the worse for much longer. She knew how to build a fire, but in the winds, her efforts wouldn’t amount to much. She kept travelling, but as she made her way across the landscape, the weather worsened.
When she found the river, the snowstorm turned into a blizzard, and she began to feel hopeless. Perhaps she wouldn’t make it out of the snowstorm, her body to be discovered alongside the bank. Fear gripped her as she imagined the scenario, cursing herself for the decision to leave her village.
Voices echoed in the wind, though their words were meaningless to her. She should have been terrified. But a strange sense of relief came to her. Desperation made it hard for her to reason, especially as fear began to grip her. She followed the voices, hoping she hadn’t made a mistake.
Three elves sat around a fire. Somehow, the wind and snow danced around their campsite, leaving the fire untouched. Magic. Annlynn froze, wondering if she should say something to the elves or if she should just run away.
“Hello?” She said, speaking an ancient language. She learned how to speak Gundethar when she was seven, but she feared that her time in the countryside had worsened her grasp on the language. She held her hands up as the elves turned toward her. “I mean no harm. I am just wondering if I can make a deal?”
“You speak decent Gundethar,” a redheaded elf said. When she stood, she towered over Annlynn. “That’s a trait of royalty, is it not?”
Annlynn stepped back, but soon, plants grappled her foot. All three elves turned toward her, each one of them towering over her. The tallest elf was this pale white elf whose eyes looked as if they could tell a thousand stories. Her appearance and mannerisms matched that of a queen. Meanwhile, the other elf had bronzed skin and black, curly hair and had mannerisms of a noblewoman.
“Who are you?” the first elf asked. “And how old are you?”
“My name is Annlynn,” Annlynn said. “I’m thirteen. I’m just looking to help.”
The white elf glared at Annlynn. “You don’t know who we are, and yet you ask for help.”
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” Annlynn said.
“Are you who we think you are?” the third elf asked. “Between the language you speak and your age, it is far too easy to tell that you are not just a peasant.”
Annlynn squirmed, trying to escape the vines. But they just crawled up her body. The first elf flicked her wrist, and they hardened into small tree trunks. Annlynn squeaked and nodded. “Yes.”
“We need to see more from you if we are going to want your help,” the elf said. “And we need you to cooperate with us, too. We need to know more about why you are out here if we are going to help you out, Annlynn.”
Annlynn hesitated. Would it be better to ask the elves to kill her instead? She explained her story as best she could, giving them details about how and why she fled her village. “The king is going to kill me. But I was only looking for a place to stay when I found you.”
“We need to get you to the elven world, then,” the first elf said. “How much do you know about your destiny?”
“Not much,” Annlynn said. “Other than the fact that it’s broken because they tortured it out of me.”
“We will make a deal with the king on your behalf, but you must agree to come to the elven world with us,” the third elf said.
“What if I can’t make it?” Annlynn asked.
“It’s still your best chance at life,” the second elf said.
Comments (0)
See all