Arrival

September, 1101 A.D.

tThe day after the Founding Day Festival, I made my way to the courtyard in the middle ring of the city. I knew that Kelose would be graduating from the a.s.sa.s.sin unit today, and I at least wanted to see him achieve his goal.

tHe"d been working so hard for this moment, and I"d been there from the start of this. I wanted to see him finally reach it.

tFamilies were gathered for the few graduates, most of them having been in the unit much longer than Kelose had. I saw his family, and I was at least glad that he had been able to get back onto good terms with them, after we had ended our relationship.

tRekium stepped onto the stage, and I got comfortable on the tree branch that I was on, above the crowd. I could see everything from up here, and I didn"t want for Kelose to notice me in the crowd.

tRekium and the new King stood there, giving a speech, before calling up the graduates, and my heart raced when I heard Kelose"s name called, and saw him step up onto the stage.

tHe looked amazing.

tHe wore all black, a customary color choice for a.s.sa.s.sins. His hair wasn"t in its usual wolf tail, instead, falling over one side of his face, and he looked different but no less handsome than normal.

t.i.t was strange to see how much his hair had grown.... how much he had grown since we"d first met.

tHe took his certificate, and his new uniform, before my heart pounded and my body heat up when he stepped off of the stage, and went to his wife.... Lunariel.

tHe suddenly glanced up at my hiding place, and I realized that my heartbeat must have alerted him to my presence.

tHe could feel it, of course he could.

tOur Soul Bond didn"t hide me, no matter how well I was physically hidden.

tHe could feel where I was through that Bond. I cursed myself for not having thought of that before.

tHis golden eyes met mine, and there was an incredible sadness there before he returned his attention to his oblivious wife.

tShe truly was unattractive. Her hair was a dingy, dull brown. Her eyes were an odd burnt toast color. Her cheekbones were high. She wore very rich, high cla.s.s clothing. Her hair, though dingy and dirty looking, was pulled into an elaborate updo.

tShe certainly looked like a bored, dull, rich sn.o.b.

tKelose"s eyes were dull, as well, his face forcing a hard smile, and I could see just how unhappy he was with her.

tAnd somehow, that made it even worse. Because he wasn"t even happy.

tI stood on the branch of the tree that I had been sitting on, and turned to face toward home. I had seen him graduate; I had accomplished what I"d come here to do.

tAnd I took off for home.

tThe following morning, I went to the outer gates of the city, and sat in a branch of a tree over our clearing in the forest, where we"d always met.

tOur special place.

tThe tree overlooked that place, and overlooked the city gates. It was the same tree that Dragon had used to watch over me, both with Kelose and without, many times in the past.

tI could see Kelose"s family there, giving their goodbyes to the couple.

tAs Lunariel turned, heading toward the outer gate, ever oblivious to her surroundings, Kelose"s eyes looked up to meet mine.

tHe"d known I was there, of course he had. We had a bond. We would always sense one another. We would always feel each other.

tHe gave me a sad smile, and his golden eyes held much meaning, before he gave me a small nod and wave, before following his wife out of the city.

tHeart clenching, tears running down my face, I ran.

tI ran back home, and I locked myself in my home.

tAnd I didn"t come back out under any circ.u.mstances until I had tried to drown myself in the waterfalls, and Dragon had come to retrieve me.

*

October, 1101 A.D.

t.i.t was late October now, nearing the end of the month. I had returned to my missions after Dragon"s talk with me, and I was feeling a bit better. I was still in unimaginable agony, but I was surviving a bit easier day by day, with Dragon"s constant vigilance.

tI thought of Dragon. Truly, he was a peaceful man, who had the purest of intentions. But he was a fierce, frightening man in his own right.

tHe was powerful, and had a strength stored himself that no one could guess just by looking at him. I"d heard the stories, the stories of his family line that Dragon fought so hard to deny was a part of himself. He didn"t want the power. He had only ever wanted to heal.

tAnd he was not a liar, despite lying that he had no greater purpose than healing others.

tSo, it was on a nice, cool, breezy October evening when Drakul asked me a question that would change how I viewed things forever.

tI was on my way home, when Drakul stopped me. "So, la.s.sie, are you excited about the wedding?"

t"Wedding? What wedding?"

tHis eyes were confused, lavender and green swirling around together. "Well...the wedding, la.s.s. I was sure he had told you by now, it"s been nearly a month-"

t"What wedding, Drakul?"

tHe sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "My wife and I, along with your mother ages ago, have arranged with the King for you to marry Dragon. Now that you have come close to your deadline for the marriage age, my wife and I have rearranged it with the King for you and Dragon to marry in early December."

tI dropped my weapons, and they clanged at my feet loudly. "What?"

t"I was positive that he must have told you by now...wait! Wait, la.s.sie!" He shouted as I ran, leaving my things on the ground at his feet, bolting for home.

tHow could no one have told me about this?! How could Dragon not have told me?! I felt completely betrayed.

tNot paying attention to where I was going, I ran full force into someone.

t"Kysael? Kysael, what"s going-" Dragon began, but I silenced him with a hard look before I took off. He chased after me, grabbing my arm. "Kysael! What is the matter?"

t"You should go and ask your father!" I shouted, and he let go of my arm as I pulled away from him and bolted for home.

tWhen I got home, I shut and locked my door, breathing heavily.

tI was to marry Dragon?

tWhen had this been decided?

tWhy had they made this decision for us?

tI had to admit, I didn"t completely oppose the idea...I cared greatly for him.

tHe was an honorable, n.o.ble Woodelf lord who had spent my entire life watching over me, protecting me and helping me. He raised me.

tAnd I"d always had an infatuation with him, yes....

tBut marriage...?

tI had always loved him.

tBut did I want to belong to him, forever? I knew that he didn"t love me that way. Did I want to be arranged into a marriage with someone who would likely never love me the way that I wished to be loved?

tI didn"t know for sure how I felt for him. My mind was still too overwhelmed with my heartbreak from Kelose.

tDragon was like family...he had delivered me out of my mother"s womb with his own two hands.

tHe had raised me. He was like a father, almost.

tHow could I marry him? And I knew that even if I could love him that way, he could never return my feelings.

tAnd even if I could have feelings for him, they would never replace the feelings I had in my heart for Kelose.

t.i.t was sometime later before I heard the knock on my door. Deciding that I had calmed down enough to see him, I unlatched the lock and opened it to reveal him, wet from the rain, looking at the ground.

tLooking anywhere but at me.

t"Do you want to come in?" I asked softly.

tHe didn"t say anything, and I stepped aside.

tHe stepped by me, and took off his beautiful, elaborate, dark green cloak, setting it by my small kettle of burning wood.

t"I... apologize, from the bottom of my heart, Kysael. I should have told you as soon as my father told me. I truly didn"t mean to hurt your feelings. I just...I didn"t want to accept this as the reality. I knew that if I told you, it would become more real. And I wanted to have more time to just be your friend, before.... before we became engaged." He sighed, looking at me. "I also didn"t know how to approach you with this. What was I to do? Come up to you randomly, and tell you "oh, by the way, our parents have arranged it with the king for us to be married"? I don"t believe that conversation would have went over well."

t"I still deserved to know, Dragon. I deserved to know that my life was being decided without my knowledge, that every0ne was living my life for me. How much extra time have you had to get used to the idea? How long have you known?"

tHis shoulders slumped. "Since September."

t"September!" I threw up my hands. "You"ve known about this for a month, and couldn"t let me in on what was going to happen in my-our-futures? It"s not about only you, now, Dragon. This involves me, my future, my plans! You kept something so important a secret from me!"

t"I"m sorry!" He said, then in a calmer voice, continued. "You"re absolutely right. I was wrong to keep it hidden from you."

tI huffed. "I"m not angry at you. I am just bothered that you could keep something so important from me. We"re supposed to be honest with each other. We"re friends. We"re practically family."

t"I"m sorry. Can you forgive me?" He asked, his lavender eyes sincere.

tI sighed and nodded, and he pulled me into a hug. "I don"t think that I could ever not forgive you, my lord. So... how is this going to work?"

t"I suppose that we"ll have to start courting," he said softly. "I"m not sure. I"ve never been in an arranged marriage before. I"ll have to get the details from my father."

t"Your father was in an arranged marriage?" I asked, surprised.

t"Yes, he was. He was arranged to marry my mother, and after several years, they grew to deeply love one another. They had a child, as is the law, to continue the bloodline. But now, they are simply happy in being content with one another. It wasn"t love at first sight, or even something that they chose. But they wouldn"t choose differently if given the chance." He smiled. "She didn"t even refuse, even after he showed how brash he was."

t"Refuse?" I asked, finally pulling away from his embrace. "I don"t understand."

t"You are the only one capable of refusing this contract. But even if you did, we would simply be placed into other arranged marriages. I"m already past the required age of marriage, and...and, well, we were the only clan willing to openly accept you. If you declined, they would simply force a different clan to take you.

t"If you were arranged to someone else...the man to whom you were arranged may be very unkind, if not even abusive toward you. I am the best choice for you in this situation. And I would.... I would rather marry you, rather than a woman that I do not know or care for. And I would rather that I be tied to you, instead of seeing you be tied to a man who may harm you. When Kelose was set to marry you, we just left it alone. But since he has married himself, I am the best option for you..."

t"Oh, I see." I said, disheartened. "Just the best option."

tHe squeezed my shoulders, looking away nervously before meeting my eyes with determination. "I can"t promise to be sappy and romantic for you. I can"t promise to be in love with you. I can"t even promise to always be happy with you. But I can promise that I will take care of you, and provide for you. And I can promise to always be there for you, and to be loyal."

tMy eyes teared up, and I gave him a hug. "Thank you. But...what about the child law?"

tHe met my eyes. He knew what I meant.

t.i.t was the law that all members of the city must have at least one living child by the age of one hundred.

tThat would come sooner for us, since he was already past that age, and I was already nineteen.

tThe previous king was a fierce and uncompromising man, and his son wasn"t much more lenient than he.

tHe sighed, swallowed the lump in his throat, and met my eyes sadly. "We will abide by the law."

t"But...do you believe that you...that we are going to be able-?"

tHe pulled me against him again. "We will just cross that bridge when we come to it, Kysael. I would prefer not to think on that right now." He didn"t say anything else, and we just stood there, hugging.

*

tAs days went by, Dragon began spending all of his extra time with me.

tHe would take me on long walks in the forest, and we would go exploring caves and waterfalls.

tWe would talk and laugh and make jokes. Well...he would make jokes; I would try to understand them and laugh for him even if I didn"t get them. I wanted to show him how happy he made me. I wanted to show him that his efforts weren"t in vain.

tWe would ask each other questions that somehow, in our many years of being close and living together, had never been asked nor answered.

tQuestions like what our favorite colors were, Dragon"s favorite food, our hobbies in our spare alone time, other such minimal, every day questions.

tI asked him one day why he denied being a Dragon hunter, why he refused the gift of powers that he possessed, and he told me that it was a dangerous life and that it caused wars, even. He simply didn"t want to fight.

t.i.t must have made their ancestors want to turn over in their graves, and make his father very hurt and upset, when they discovered that he wanted to be a healer and not a hunter.

tI found the story quite interesting.

tI had been named Kysael because my mother, knowing that I was only half Wraith, could be out in the sunlight and wanted for me to look up at the sky, full of light, and bask in the sunshine, and to be a force for the light realm.

tBoth of our names were important to our parents, and well known throughout our nation...though, for very different reasons.

tHe tried to do things for me that someone in his position should; open doors for me when we entered or left places together, pull chairs out for me when I sat.

tHe would gently, lightly brush against me while we were walking because he knew that it made me blush.

tWhen we hugged, his arms would linger a little longer than usual because he knew that I craved to be held.

tHe tried to make more eye contact, because he knew that most people refused to look at me. I could feel the effort.

tAnd soon, it started to not feel quite so forced. It felt more natural, and it didn"t take as much effort anymore. It was odd, before we had known about the marriage coming up, we had always, always been completely open and honest and natural with one another. Somehow, the idea of getting married had made us awkward for quite some time, and things didn"t feel like they used to feel between us.

tI was thankful that now, even with the prospect of our fast approaching wedding, we were getting back into our natural selves with one another, as if nothing had really changed that much. It made my heart soar.

tHe would grasp my hand for a few seconds before letting go, as more time went by.

tHe knew that I loved to feel my small hand in his. I smiled often, now.

tHe told me jokes and riddles, and told me stories from before I was born and before my memory had started.

tHe told me what he could remember of my mother when she was a child, because he had actually been there and known her.

tI could feel the burdens on my heavy heart lifting more each day. I could feel Dragon healing me, and as things progressed, I could even start to feel my cheeks heat up with blushes at just being in his presence.

tAll of my childhood feelings for him were returning, amplifying...and the pain from Kelose began to dim further and further as my feelings for Dragon continued to be rekindled.

tDragon was making the pain go away.

tHe even asked me to keep my markings uncovered around him when we were alone, because he preferred to see my natural face.

tMy heart sped up with joy at the consideration...and the implications.

tI had told him, when I was thirteen, that I wanted a man who would let me leave my markings uncovered, let me be free to wear them proudly.

tAnd he had given me that courtesy.

tHis efforts were enough for me.

tAnd I began to feel flutters in my heart and my very soul when I heard his name, every time I pictured his face in my mind.

tI began to feel myself falling.

*

November, 1101 A.D.

tAs the month of November began, Dragon and I began going public about our "relationship".

tVicious whispers filled the air as we walked the streets in the city, hand in hand. He strove to make it look as though it weren"t forced, and honestly, by this point, it felt almost natural to hold hands.

t.i.t wasn"t forced whatsoever anymore. It felt natural to hover around each other, and to act closer. We had been working on this for a while.

tAnd while public affection was usually limited to holding hands, there were moments when I would giggle over something in town, or something would make me smile, and he"d wrap his arm around my shoulders for a moment, or even hug me.

tMy heart would always pick up the pace, and my cheeks would warm to an uncomfortable temperature, and he would smile at me as he took notice of and pointed out my blushes.

tHe would look over and glance at me often when he thought I wasn"t paying attention, and as time went by, his gaze felt warmer and warmer, more caring and softer than they had once been.

tHis eyes softened whenever he looked at me now, and his gaze became much more tender. He wasn"t as closed off from me anymore.

t"They must be in an arranged marriage," "That poor man," "An arranged marriage is the only explanation," among many other hurtful things, could be heard.

tMany women attempted to start drama and arguments toward me because I had been arranged to such a high-ranking n.o.ble gentleman. They always spat at me, but Dragon would glare at them and they would cry and pout as they went on their way. My shoulders would always droop a bit, and my eyes would sting.

tMy skin would get chill b.u.mps from the acidity of their comments. Dragon always squeezed my hand or shoulder, and smile at me in his normal way, with warmth tinged with sadness.

tHe would always hold me when we returned to my home, telling me not to pay any heed to them, telling me that they were wrong. Telling me that I was better than their words, and that he would be there for me.

tAs long as Dragon was with me, no shop keepers refused to provide service to me. And some people even tried to make the usual gawking and gossiping a little less obvious. It eased my spirits for him to be by my side this way. And as Dragon began spending his days with me, the guards began to stop following me around everywhere. It was a nice feeling, a taste of freedom I hadn"t had in many years.

tOne day, we had stopped at a fish and chips stand, and Dragon openly placed a small kiss on my cheek, because several people nearby grunted and whispered disapprovingly at our holding hands. And when he kissed my cheek, they all sputtered and whispered cruel words.

tBut Dragon just smiled. And his little mischievous act made me feel like a naughty child. It was different than the normal smile, because he had done it purposefully just to give a show. It made me smile, and start giggling at the silliness of it.

tWe left there laughing, and went out with our basket of hot fish and chips to the gardens by a beautiful frozen waterfall.

tHe started a fire, and we sat on a warm blanket on a snowless area of the ground and ate our food as we let the fire warm us. He sat close to me, and the fire wasn"t the only heat I felt.

t"Did you see the look on that one man"s face?" I laughed.

tHe shook his head, a big grin on his face. "Well, they obviously wanted something to look at, with how hard they were all staring at us. I don"t like for people to make it so noticeable. It"s very rude and disrespectful. You would think that elves would be above such nonsense. You deserve more respect than that."

t"You have been such a gentleman to me. It means a lot to me, how much effort you"ve been putting into all of this. I know that it"s not easy for you."

tHe glanced my direction. "And what about you? Is it easy for you?"

tMy cheeks heated; my heart sped up a notch. "Well, I... I"m not used to being with such a gentleman. It"s...nice."

t"He never treated you so gently, did he?" He asked, his tone turning serious.

tI shook my head. "No. Kelose...we were always on fire, pa.s.sionate...things moved very quickly. We were consumed by the intensity of our own flames. It was a harsh, burning love. Nothing about him was "gentle"."

tHe wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and my body began to heat up, my face hot. "Nothing, hm? Nothing at all?" He asked, his face approaching mine.

tI met his gaze, liquid lavender. Chills ran up my spine at the implications of his body language, and I mouthed the word "no", before his lips took mine as gently as they could. My eyes slid closed as tingles ran up my spine and my arms.

tHis lips were warm and soft. Our lips slowly slid over one another"s, before we pulled away.

tMy face was hot, and I felt as if I were going to begin sweating. I could feel the thirst burning in my eyes, and with an antic.i.p.ating look on his handsome face, he tilted his head back for me, exposing his throat in his ultimate sign of trust.

tMy eyes brimmed with tears at the gesture.

tThat alone had my heart pounding. I leaned over him as he lay on the blanket, and licked his skin before sinking in my teeth.

tHis hair was heavy and soft as my fingers unconsciously stroked the strands. I moaned as the sweetness of his warm blood filled my mouth.

tHis blood was different than Kelose"s blood, it was sweet instead of the salty, meaty taste of Kelose"s blood.

tDragon"s body relaxed as I fed from him, and his hand came to rest on the back of my head, seemingly pulling me closer to him.

tI could feel his body get warmer, and he moaned as the endorphins made the experience even more pleasurable for him. Blood drinking was supposed to be a very intimate experience.

tMy lips moved to kiss the pointed tip of his elven ear, and then I stood and smiled sweetly at him, the high of his blood and kiss, and his display of affection for me in town, leaving me feeling giddy.

tI giggled as I felt the higher hormones course through my body.

t"Let"s go skate on the ice, Dragon!" I said, pointing to the frozen waterfall.

t"I"m not so sure," his voice cracked, unsteady and trying to regain his composure.

tI slid around on the pond, around and around I went, and Dragon came to the edge.

t"Come on, its st.u.r.dy enough! Just watch!" And I jumped.

tAnd all of the fun and pa.s.sion and giddy feelings vanished as my foot collided with and crashed through the ice, and my body plummeted into the freezing water.

tI could hear his voice calling for me, but my aching limbs struggled to return me to the surface.

tFinally, after clawing for what seemed like forever, my head burst into the air, and I cried out, my lungs sucking in for the air.

tDragon came to the edge of the hole, and grabbed my numb arms.

tI cried out in pain as sharp, hard shards of ice around the hole sliced my skin, blood weeping from the gashes as he pulled me quickly to the land again and to the blanket by the fire.

tHe wrapped the blanket around my body, discarding the basket of food, and carried me with haste to his cabin as fast as he could. It was like we were flying; I couldn"t even feel his body taking steps, his pace was so smooth and fast.

tIn what seemed to be a long time, more than likely due to my being on the brink of unconsciousness, he kicked open the door, and set my freezing body by the fire before going back and shutting the door. He had his butler rush and get some dry clothing, and hurriedly dried my hair and took off my shoes and socks.

tThe butler returned, and Dragon turned as the butler helped me undress quickly, not really looking at my body, and helped me pull on the clean, fresh, dry clothes from Dragon"s wardrobe.

tOnce that was finished, Dragon turned back to face me, and had me sit again by the fire, taking me in his arms and wrapping a blanket around us, using his healing powers and bandages brought by the butler to quickly tend to the gashes.

t"What were you thinking? What if I hadn"t been there? You could have died!" His voice was still shaking, a scared, upset tone, a fearful fury making his voice sharper than I believe he intended it to be.

t"I...I... I"m sorry," I stuttered out.

tHe sighed, rolling his eyes. He couldn"t stand to see me upset. "Shh, don"t talk right now. You could bite off your tongue with the way your teeth are chattering. But you have no idea how badly you scared me, Kysael." He let the warm lavender glow of his healing powers continue to sweep over all of my bleeding lacerations.

tI sighed, and leaned against him, falling into slumber.

t"Please don"t scare me like that. Don"t be so reckless. You have people who would be devastated over your death," he whispered, and then I fell into unconsciousness.

*

tSeveral days after the incident at the frozen pond, I still felt cold. My childish behavior had nearly gotten me killed, and it had really upset Dragon. A cold splash of reality had been thrown in my face-literally. It was time for me to become an adult, and stop acting like a child.

tIn truth, I didn"t know where that childish behavior had come from.

tDragon always made me feel so young, as if he were giving me a chance to live my childhood over again, this time without restraints, without limitations. But I could see now that those restraints and limitations had been placed there for a reason to begin with, and that I could never truly be free to be myself, no matter who I was with.

tI had to grow up.

tI began studying hard with Dragon on the side, trying to speed up my progress and catch up from where I fell behind in Master Drakul"s orders.

tHe began tutoring me for the tests, and for the final mission to prove my sincerity of loyalty to the king, running me through hunting and arching drills and telling me what the test would consist of, trying to help prepare me.

tFirst there would be a written exam that all of the students would take, to prove their intelligence, and then each student going through the exam to become a full-fledged hunter, a very trusted position for Havengrove city, would have to survive on their own in the wilderness, outside of the city borders, for an entire week.

tMy mission, however, was a bit more tedious than that. And of course, it was. The king couldn"t simply let me graduate in the same manner that all of the others my age would be graduating from their units. No.

I was to go and to spy on three of our rival cities, discreetly, and return with information that could help our nation in the future. The nations that the king had a.s.signed for me to spy on were the Ork, Dwarven and Sprite nations.

tIf we could pa.s.s the written exam and the week of survival test, we would graduate.

tIf I pa.s.sed this test and got the right type of information and proof of the information, such as a scroll or doc.u.ment or notebook to give cause to my claims for my mission....I could remain in the city and would finally be an important member in the hold of the King"s court.

t.i.t was vitally important to my life from here on out that I get this incriminating information, or even better, find out what information that these nations had on Havengrove and the King.

tAfter a few more days of training and drilling, Drakul gave me and six other students the written test. We had to write an essay at the end of a list of questions, and I answered each one to the best of my capability and wrote my essay in record time.

tWhen we got our scores, I got an eight out of a possible ten. Better than any of the other students did, according to Drakul when I spoke to him afterward.

tAnd finally, the day came for us to set out.

t.i.t was two weeks into the month of November, now, when all of our clans gathered at the outer wall gates to bid well wishes and farewells to the students going through the exam.

tDragon, Drakul and his wife, and my brother gave me a hug. "Good luck, dear," my almost-mother-in-law said. "I hope you make it."

t"She"ll probably be fine," my brother said, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

tDragon gave me one last hug. "I know that you will be successful."

tDrakul stood on top of the great wall, and gathered everyone"s attention. "Now, everyone. We are gathered here today to witness these seven brave young students set out into the wild to survive for seven days, and then return on the morning of the eighth day victorious and graduate from the Hunting and arching programs! If they survive, they will earn medals of honor, their graduation certificates, and gear as members of the arching unit or hunting unit for the city! If they do not survive, it will be a great loss. Go, now, young warriors! We wish you well and safe travels as you go out of our walls of protection to become adults! Good luck!"

tFathers cheered and mothers wept as we set out into the forest. Sadly enough, many of these students left with quite a real possibility of not making it back alive.

Without looking back, I stepped out of the gates, taking in a deep breath of the outside world.

tNever once had I ever been outside of Havengrove city without Dragon. It was a relief, almost. And somehow, I smelled something in the air that smelled familiar to me. It smelled almost like home, but I couldn"t place it. It wasn"t something that I had ever smelled before, to my recollection.

tWhen the gates to the city shut behind me, I raised my sleeve up to my face and rubbed off the concealant covering my marks.

tMy markings could potentially offer me protection against possible attacks. Wraiths were widely feared creatures.

tThe first thing I did was find shelter. It was easy to locate due to the musty, dingy air coming from a nearby cave, not too far from the outer wall. It was hidden at the bottom of a cliffside.

tI looked inside, and indeed; the cave was uninhabited save for a few bats. I put my pack there, and memorized the location before going off into the forest to hunt.

tI followed tracks on the ground, using my keen sense of smell to guide me to the scent of meat.

tThe dirt underneath my feet had the shapes of hooves pressed into it, and it was all too easy to locate.

tLoosening my joints and allowing my Wraith self to come forward, I caught a deer with ease, rushing it back to the cave before going out to collect firewood quickly.

tThe sun was already beginning to go down, and I needed to get back to the cave and start a fire before it got dark. Before I got to the cave, I stopped by a small waterfall with a wooden bottle I had tied to my belt and filled it with water, and then I went to collect wood.

tGathering as much as my arms could carry, I hurried back to the cave and set up a fire, using flint rocks from my pack to create the sparks.

tDrakul had taught us well what to do in this trial.

tI enjoyed my first meal of freedom. I had never been able to be so free in all of my life. It was an incredible feeling, to be outside of the city.

tI set out a blanket, and covered myself with another, falling into slumber by the fire after a while. It was scary, at first, but the chirps of crickets and croaks of frogs helped to ease my weary mind and body into sleep.

t.i.t was the middle of the night when a noise awoke me from my slumber. I sat up quickly, baring my fangs and making a guttural hissing sound in the direction that I"d heard the noise.

t"Whoa!" One of my cla.s.smates cried, holding his hands up in surrender. "I was only looking for shelter, I didn"t realize that anyone was in here." He brushed his black hair out of the way, his auburn eyes wide. His grayish-blue aura sparked with his fear.

tI backed off. "Its fine."

t"Do you mind if I stay here for the night? I"ve already encountered a pack of wolves out there."

tI sat up further. "Wolves?"

t"Yes..."

t"Did you lead the beasts here?" I asked, in a slight panic.

t"I don"t believe so...I was just trying to find somewhere to hide."

tI sighed. "You would rather hide and stay in here with a blood sucking monster?"

tHe shrugged his shoulders. "You"re my cla.s.smate. I trust that you won"t hurt me."

tI realized suddenly that this was the same cla.s.smate who had been so genuinely interested in my Wraith heritage, and I relaxed a bit.

t"Alright then. What is your name?" I asked.

t"Grimoir, of the Ridgestone clan."

t"You"re Vintice"s son," I said, surprised. "Vintice"s family has always been friends with mine, and they have always been nice to me."

t"Yes, and you are Kysael of the Ash clan, your mother Darah was the nurse who delivered me when I was born. My parents have always respected your mother, and the rest of the Ash clan. Our views of you didn"t change drastically when your ident.i.ty was revealed. As long as you didn"t hurt anyone, what does it matter?"

tI smiled. "Well, thank you. And actually, I am of the Cedar clan. My mother"s husband, Garin of the Ash clan... is not my father. They did not allow me to take his house name. It"s a common mistake, though." I thought on it for a moment. "Maybe we can be friends," I said. And then I yawned, and laid back down. "I"m ready to get back to sleep now. First thing in the morning, we"ll go out and hunt."

tHe nodded, and got a bedroll laid out and got settled, stretching out onto it. "Dragon is a lucky man."

tI rolled over to look at him. "What do you mean?"

t"I"ve seen you two together...my father told me that you two are in an arrangement to be married, because no other clans were willing to take you. But you"re really not so bad. You"re just misunderstood. You are a very strong, dedicated woman. But...my clan wasn"t willing to accept Wraith blood." He sighed.

t"So, they wouldn"t accept an arrangement between the two of us," I finished for him.

tHe sighed. "That"s right."

tI smiled. "Thank you."

t"Dragon is lucky, and I believe that any clan would have been lucky to have you in their clan."

t"Thank you, Grimoir," I whispered, before falling back into slumber.

*

tThe next morning came, with me teaching him to hunt like a Wraith, and to skin the meat and use the skin for pouches, thread from our packs to st.i.tch the pouches together.

tI taught him to follow moss to water, and to use leaves to check which way the wind was blowing when hunting.

tI taught him to become one with the environment, blending, becoming in tune with the world around you.

tAnother morning came, and the next, and then the next after that.

tSoon, the week had pa.s.sed. Grimoir stayed with me in the cave throughout the entire week, and we hunted together and told each other stories.

tI had searched for the wolves, but I had no luck in my search for the beasts, though I could somehow sense that someday, I would cross one.

tNeither of us had been injured and we knew that we both would graduate.

tOn the eighth morning, we heard the grand horn of Havengrove sound, alerting all of us to return to the gate. I was disappointed that I couldn"t return yet, but the sounding of the horn only alerted me that it was time for me to complete my more important mission. Grimoir knew that I wasn"t returning, and promised to tell the others that I had pa.s.sed the week of survival with flying colors and was off for my next duty.

tThe closest nation to us was the nation FaeIsle, of the Sprites. Both Dolinmuul, of the Dwarves, and Lotar of the Orks, were much closer to Barrenwilds of the Darkelves....and I was in no hurry to go that direction.

tI packed my bag and pulled out my map, slowly making my way to the city of the Sprites.

tThey were secluded and peaceful, but they were very powerful. Most of them were mages and magicians, and so if they got caught up in part of the war, whoever"s side they joined would be most formidable. I needed to find out what side they were leaning more toward, and relay the information back to our king. It was also important for me to find out what type of war preparations they were making.

tI went North, going into the borders of Irasil to avoid going into the borders of Lykra. I didn"t want to have to deal with any Wraiths right now, and I didn"t know how they might respond to me. I had to have the utmost of caution. FaeIsle was just East of Lykra and the human city of Elusil. I could easily make my way around those cities to get to my destination.

tThe only trouble that I got into was with a rogue Ork that was hunting in the forests of Elusil, but I dispatched him and looted his body easily enough. He"d even had an elk, and that gave me a mode of transportation at least.

t.i.t was a trip that had taken a few days, but I finally reached my destination.t

tThe Sprites, fairy like creatures, were not small, tiny creatures like the ones that the humans concocted for their bedtime stories. These creatures were the size of a man, with small, vibrant but transparent wings that did not give them the ability to fly, no. Well...that"s not entirely true.

tThey could fly, that was true, but the purpose for their wings was that those very wings were the source of their magic power. The bigger the wings, the more reserves they had for magic, and the more dangerous that meant that they could be.

tTheir magic is what gave them the ability to fly.

tThey had a lot of scholars and mages at the town gates, and I looked for a way to get in without being detected.

tI was a huntress, after all. If I couldn"t get into a city in a forest without being noticed, I couldn"t say that I was of much use to my king, now was I?

tI was lucky in the fact that when I arrived, it was already dark. I didn"t have to be overly concerned about someone seeing me, more or less I just had to be as absolutely silent as I possibly could.

tMy Wraith and Woodelf vision let me see clearly in the dark, and so I could clearly make out the path to the Chieftain"s manor.

tI crouched and quietly made my way, like a thief in the night, to the manor with the nation"s insignia flags on either side of the large, fancy doors, and I looked sneakily into a window.

tThere were no lights, save for the roar of the fireplace going, and I could feel the energy of the manor. No one was awake at the moment.

tI silently opened the window, and I stole away inside, seemingly undetected.

tI looked around, looking for anything that could be official or important. To my luck, there was a desk in one of the rooms, and there were quills and ink wells on top of it, as well as a candle chandelier above the table. There were pretty, thick woven rugs dispersed in the room and a few deer heads that were mounted on the walls for decoration. There were magic staffs hanging on weapon-racks on display.

tThis was an office, it seemed.

tI snuck over to the desk, and began looking quietly through the paperwork. Shocked, underneath just a couple of papers, there were designs of a new war-machine. It was slim and long, and the functionality of it reminded me of a cross bow, only the weapon that came out of the barrel was a small, rock-like contraption. The blueprint was labeled "firearm". Going through further doc.u.ments underneath, it looked like these "firearms" were going to be gifted to the humans of Elrien.

tThe humans?

tBut why?

tWhat did this mean?

tSprites were supposed to be of the Light Realm, weren"t they? So why were they creating weapons of war for the humans?

tI needed to get more information, and I needed to do it quickly.

tI heard a shuffle, and I quickly and silently folded the blue print and the doc.u.ment stating their purposes, and quickly went to the window of the room, opening it.

t"Is someone there?" I heard a sharp male voice ask, sounding extremely disgruntled.

tI didn"t have time to sneak out the window before he would get to the door of the room, so I shut the window and quickly made my way to sit beneath the desk. I could only pray to the Creator that this man was groggy with sleep and wouldn"t hear or see me, or think to look beneath the desk"s surface.

tI heard another shuffle, and a small, wispy, husky female voice spoke. "Darling, you are being paranoid again." Her voice was heated when she called him by the endearment, and I could hear the slight pant to her tone.

tThey"d been mating, from what I could scent on the air around me.

t"I felt a presence, Ireena," he said harshly. "I am the Chief"s mate, its my duty to protect you."

tAh, I remembered. In the Sprite"s political world, only women were allowed to rule. Men were considered too brutish and harsh.... with good reason. The males of their species were not wise and weren"t the best choice to rule the nation.

t"Lady chief, mate," he whined. "You know how I feel protective of you," his tone was thick with l.u.s.t, and I could hear her groan. I chanced a peek under the desk, and from my spot, I could see him grind his hips into her rear, her back to his chest as his hands gripped her chest.

t"Come, darling, let us return to our chambers," she said thickly. He was all too quick to oblige, and I felt relief when their forms retreated away from the door.

tI waited until I heard the slight rustling of their bodies in the other room that I had not noticed before, and heard a bit of groaning.

tI knew that this was my chance, while they were back to their.... s.e.xual activities. I went silently to the window, and opened it, making my way out and into the brush beside of the manor.

tNo wonder there were no guards stationed around the manor. I smiled. From what we knew, Sprites had excellent hearing and senses, on par with those of their elf cousins, and I could clearly hear them now that I was actually listening. I tuned it back out quickly, not trying to pry.

tI snuck back over to the wall near the manor, and scaled it quickly, getting back on the other side and climbing the nearest tree, silently making my way to safety.

tOnce I was safely out of earshot, I went back to the elk that I had tied to the tree, and mounted up into the saddle, rushing with much haste to get back to Havengrove.

tI needed to drop off what I had found to Dragon and quickly, before I went to any other cities to spy. If I was discovered and they found the information, things could go bad quickly. I needed to get the information back to my homeland.

tSoon enough, the sun was rising, and I was growing weary, but I continued on. I did, however, slow down a bit. I looked around before I pulled out the doc.u.ments, looking over them.

t.i.t seemed as if the humans were plotting something with the Sprites, but what I wanted to know was what, exactly, was it?

t"Firearms," I whispered. "What could they possibly need such a thing for? And who are they planning to use it against? I simply don"t have enough information to go off of yet..."

tI heard some noise, and I put away my paperwork quickly and went to get off of the road, hiding in the brush.

tIn the distance, I could see some Mountain elves hara.s.sing a couple of humans. The man was tied up in ropes on the ground, face in the dirt, and the Mountain elves had the woman backed against a wall of rock and dirt on the side of the road, telling her that they would treat her nicely if she would just go along with it and cooperate.

tMy stomach turned, and I immediately knew what was happening. These elves were about to **** this woman with her husband right near them on the ground, right in the middle of the road.

tI knew that this road was not travelled much, but this was sick and morally wrong, as well as severely indecent.

tI jumped off my elk. "Hey!" I shouted.

tThe Mountain elves stood at attention, looking my direction. The rising sun caught my face.

t"A Wraith!" One cried.

t"Now hold on," the other said, clearly not impressed. "Look, she"s in the sunlight, you ignorant fool. She"s only a mix-bred mutt. Go back home where you belong, little mutt, or my friend here and I will put you in your miserable place."

tI unsheathed my sword. "Come on, then."

t"Oh, a tough girl, then? We"ll see how tough you really are." And then, they unsheathed their weapons and came at me.

tI parried underneath the frightened one"s blade, and put a hard and swift kick into his gut. He clutched his stomach before he went face first into the dirt, unconscious.

tI turned my attention to the woman. "Untie him and go!" I told her. "Get out of here."

tShe went to untie the man whom I a.s.sumed was her husband, and they rushed off into the woods.

tThe other Mountain elf scoffed, irritated. "Well now, you"re really going to get it. You ruined my fun!" He shouted, angry, and came at me ready to attack.

tBut I was ready for him.

tI jumped over the blade this time, as he swung lower so that I couldn"t duck underneath it, and I twirled in the air, delivering a well-earned round house kick to his increasingly shocked, no-longer-smug face.

tWhen he lay at my feet, I searched their unconscious bodies, finding some rather interesting doc.u.ments and taking their enchanted weapons over to my elk, fastening them to him and mounting back up.

t"Why did you help us?" The woman asked as they came out of the bushes.

tI raised my eyebrows at her, surprised. "Why wouldn"t I?" I asked, reaching into my coin purse and pulling out a few pieces of gold, handing it out to them.

tThe man slapped my hand away, and shouted. "Your d.a.m.ned kind are always ha.s.sling us humans!"

t"Brother! Stop that!" The girl shouted, smacking the back of his head.

tAhh, siblings then. That somehow made it even worse, I thought.

t"I don"t understand," I told them.

t"Those Mountain elves.... there is a group of them that goes back and forth between the human cities and even over in Elsael," the woman explained as her brother rubbed the back of his head. "They hara.s.s, ****, imprison, and even execute people from our cities. They feel superior to us, and dominate us in any way possible. The one who was so smug, well...he murdered our sister, after she gave birth to his b.a.s.t.a.r.d child. He took the child to Elsael and gave it to them to raise, since it was just a half-breed," she said sadly. "We were on our way to see about adopting the child as he"s the last thing that we have of our sister, but these elves found out and tracked us down on the road....and, well, you know the rest."

tI pulled out one of the doc.u.ments that the smug one had been carrying. "I think you"ll be interested to see this," I said, holding it out to her.

tShe read over it. "This! This is a letter of decree.... of execution....of the infant!" She cried. "By their very king."

t"That is sick," the man said, his face pale. "They were so desperate to keep the boy out of our hands that they went to the king to get a decree of execution for him. I wonder if their high and mighty leader was aware that he signed the death warrant of an infant...or if he even cared."

t"They must have been planning to go to Elsael and deliver it to them," I told them. "Go now, while they are unconscious. And I can promise you, go into hiding in the city of Havengrove. If you explain what happened to Lord Dragon and Lord Drakul of the Huntsmen clan, they will protect you and get you an order of stay from the King."

tThe man looked at me suspiciously. "Why would one of your people help us?"

t"I don"t like the Mountain elves much. They are the kind of people that have that "holier than thou" att.i.tude. They frown upon me, too. I am half Woodelf, half Wraith. And the King of the Woodelves has been good to me, considering what I am, seeing as I am technically an abomination to their people. He"s allowed me to live, given me a purpose. Despite all the troubles along the way. But we don"t have time for this! Please, listen to me. Trust me. Go there, and he will be sure that you are cared for, you both and the child."

t"We are just supposed to live in a city of elves?!" The man asked, offended.

t"Brother!" The girl said sharply. "Are we supposed to live with an infant in the woods? And what if they found us in the forest? Who would we go to for protection for our nephew?"

tThe man sighed, before he looked to me. "You have our grat.i.tude, uhm..."

t"Kysael."

tThe woman smiled. "I am Dresa, and this is my brother, Dawn."

tI smiled. "I wish you good luck on your travels." I looked to the elves on the ground. "They"ll be out for a few hours, I figure. Elsael is not far from here. Go, and hurry. And take a different path to Havengrove. Go the South road, down toward Lotar, and then take the North road, up through Riviv, and straight North into Havengrove."

tThe girl picked up the gold pieces. "Thank you," she said, looking up at me. "And Creator bless you."

t"Creator bless you," I repeated, before I rode off toward home.

tAs I continued on, I thought about the disturbing revelation.

tThe Mountain elves were severely hara.s.sing the humans and mixed-bred elven cities? But this was horrible to think about.

tTo think about the depraved means that these people were willing to go to, to hara.s.s and bully these people....t

tA decree of execution for an infant? Just because he was a product of forced **** and to be kept out of the hands of his aunt and uncle who happened to be humans?

tSomething was very, very wrong here. And I knew, now, that I needed to get to the bottom of the problem. Something told me that this was one of the main reasons that the Sprites were forging war-weapons for the humans that could fight against the "superior" races.

tA war was brewing, and the king needed to know about it, right away.

tDragon was waiting for me along the path to the gates, and he smiled at me when he saw me.

t"Welcome back," he said, patting my shoulder.

t"It"s good to be back," I said. "But we don"t have time for greetings right now, Dragon. I have to see the king, at once."

t"What"s happening?" He asked, immediately serious and concerned.

t"Not here. Just get me into the War Council room with the king, right away."

tHe noted the seriousness of my tone, and nothing further was said as he quickly led me through the gates and up the path to the next gate to the middle part of the city, and so on and so forth, rushing to get me to the innermost part of the city, and he made the guards stand aside when they tried to hold us up at the palace.

t"This is no place for that girl," they told us, eyeing me warily.

t"The King demands her information," Dragon told them. "Stand aside, or stand against our King."

tThey begrudgingly moved, and Dragon rushed to lead me to the throne room.

t"Dragon," the king said. "What is the meaning of this interruption?"

t"Your highness, Kysael has some very important information to relay to you that simply could not wait."

tHe eyed Dragon. "And she shared this information with you already? Do you also deem it invaluably important?"

t"She has not told me, my Lord."

tThe king"s eyes narrowed, but he sat forward, his elbows resting on his knees as he held his chin on the top of his hands.

t"Tell me then, weapon. What is this news that you bring to me, hm?"t

tI pulled out the scroll of the blue print, as well as the doc.u.ments for their purpose. I also took out the order for execution and the details of the infant from the Mountain elves.

tThe King looked over the blue print, and his eyes went wide with shock. His bright green aura flickered.

t"This is from FaeIsle! So, my source was correct. They were building something. But now, we have the blueprints as to what, as well as the doc.u.ments to who these weapons are for. How did you acquire these?"

tI kneeled before the king. "I snuck into the chief"s manor and took them, my king."

tHe hmmd, and nodded, stroking his chin. "We will need to prepare for the backlash. Even if no one saw you, it is safe to a.s.sume that with their many magics and sources, it"ll only be a matter of time before they suspect us. And, also, what to do with this information...?"

t"There is.... another matter that needs to be discussed in detail, your highness...." I said, not so sure.

t"Out with it, then."

tI handed him the decree that I"d taken from the Mountain elves.

tHe read over it before his face paled a bit, and I could see his eyes skimming over the doc.u.ment multiple times, re-reading it in full detail.

t"And how, Kysael, did you come by this doc.u.ment?" His tone was serious and dark, and his gaze locked with mine. I had his complete attention.

t"On my way back from FaeIsle, I was coming along one of the less frequently used paths by Elusil, close to Elsael. There, I came across a couple of Mountain elves....they had a human man tied up, lying on the road, and were in the process of....of taking a human female against her will.....right in the middle of the road."

tThe other people in the room seemed to immediately tune in to our conversation, and there was a collection of gasps around the room.

t"You came upon this, personally?" The king asked me.

t"Yes, your kingliness." I told him. "I fought them, and rendered them unconscious. The humans went on to explain that the Mountain elves have been dispatching scout groups that have been terrorizing and hara.s.sing the human cities and Elsael, as well, your majesty. The order of execution is for the scout-leader"s son, the man and woman"s nephew. The scout-leader had raped their sister and murdered her after the infant was born, and had the infant sent to Elsael. But upon finding out that the woman"s siblings were headed to Elsael to adopt the child, he went to Irasil to get a decree of execution for the infant."

tThe young king placed his sorrow-stricken face in his hands. "How tragic," he said softly. "That our Mountain elf brethren have fallen so far, stooped so low. This is depraved, and certainly against the codes and laws of the elven people. This could cause serious repercussions. You are, one hundred percent, being completely honest and truthful and fully detailed about what you saw and experienced?"

t"Yes, your highness." I answered, keeping my gaze locked with his. He nodded.

t"Then it is worse than we had feared," he said.

t"What are we to do?" Asked the King"s new bride, Herin.

t"I will allow these humans and the half-breed nephew to come into our city, and take up residence here. We will protect them from the depravity of our falling cousins. I will also send out the decree that, as well as our River elf cousins, the Mountain elves have fallen to become of the Dark Realm. They are no longer in the Light Realm." His face was solemn, his eyes grave and sad. I knew I had just brought him very distressing news. All of the elves were supposed to be of the Light Realm, but more and more elves were falling into Darkness because of the state of the world and because of the Darkelves.

tI turned my attention to Dragon for a moment before I looked back to the king. After a moment, he looked to me. "You have done quite a lot of work in service to me, Kysael, and I won"t forget it. But this raises other questions, as well. It said in the doc.u.ment of intent from FaeIsle that the war-machines, these "firearms", are intended for the human cities. Does that mean that all elves are being targeted?" He met my eyes. "How did these humans respond to you?"

t"They were surprised that I was helping them, and didn"t want to be near me or talk with me at first. They didn"t know what kind of elf I was."

t"That"s even more worrisome," Dragon said. "If the humans cannot tell what race of elves we hail from, then that means that they would simply target any elves they come across, not only the Mountain elves."

t"But it is even more worrisome that there is the possibility of war against any race of elves!" One of the council members shouted. "How dare they think that they have the authority-"

t"Calm yourself," The king commanded. "If your people were being hara.s.sed and terrorized by a group of elf-kind, you would be ready for retribution as well. I hold nothing against these humans for wanting to wage war when our cousins have sunk to such low ground. But that they don"t see the differences in appearance between us and our kin is a bit disturbing, to say the least. There is a significant difference in appearance. It"s almost like saying all humans look the same." He turned his attention to me. "Go now, go on to Dolinmuul and Lotar. We need to know if they are in on this information, or if it is simply the humans and the Sprites."

tI bowed. "Yes, your highness." And I gave Dragon"s hand a quick squeeze before I rushed back out of the palace, running with my Wraith speed to get back to the gates and out of the city.

tIf war was coming, we would need to be prepared.

tOnce I reached the gates, I jumped up on my elk and began to head Southwest, toward Dolinmuul. The Ork city of Lotar was the closest city to Barrenwilds, and I wanted to stay away from the Darkelf border as much as possible. Their kind were frightening enough. I wasn"t confident taking any on without back up.t

t.i.t was a six-day trip to Dolinmuul, and when I came upon their borders, I tried to stick to the high ground as much as possible. Dwarves were mountain folk, and were notorious for being non-climbers. There weren"t many trees in these mountains, but there were enough, thankfully, to be sufficient cover.

tDwarves were hardy, thick, shorter people. They were tough.

tThey were not holy creatures, not like the elven kind. But they were special in their own right. They were created to be miners and builders, and to work with elven kind to help the humans.

tBut, being that their city was so close to both the Ork city and the Darkelf city, and their greed.... they became corrupted. We had a treaty for peace, but it was fragile. If they caught a Woodelf spying on them, it could ruin everything that was fought so hard for in the wars over the last couple hundred years.

tI managed to get down closer to the magnificent cave castle that was built deep into the mountain, and I focused my keen hearing when I heard voices, and I heard the pounding of mallets against steel.

t"Come on, lads!" I heard in a thick accent. "We have to get this order finished! We"ve got two-hundred thousand bullets finished, only one hundred thousand more to go! The Sprites were clear in their orders. They need them when they specified!"

tBullets...?

tI shifted my position a bit. I was lucky, very lucky, in the fact that Dwarves" senses were not nearly as keen as the elven kind.

tI focused my sight, once I could actually see what they were crafting in their forges, and I was startled.

tThese "bullets" were the same small, rock like things that had been on the blueprints for the firearms. It seemed that the firearms were some magical mechanism that could spit out these "bullets" and they pierced the flesh like arrows.

tAnd if these bullets were like arrows, the fact that they were so tiny and could embed themselves in the flesh was a terrifying discovery. This was a dangerous war machine.

tI waited until dark, until they sat at their stone tables feasting and drinking, before I finally moved, leaving in the cover of darkness to go over to their forges, and shifting through the design papers, and I folded them and shoved them into my carrier pouch, as well as one of these "bullets". I only hoped that they wouldn"t miss a single bullet too badly. Maybe they would think that it simply got lost.

tI left to go on to Lotar, and it was another three-day journey to reach their borders.

tTheir towers were intimidating, and harder to infiltrate. Trees weren"t tall enough for me to be able to look into a window, and this was also a mission where I was supposed to get proof of each thing. So, I had no choice. I had to go into one of these towers.

tI waited until dark, and I came out, sneaking to the doorways of each tower, listening and listening to their thick, guttural voices, waiting to see if I could figure out which tower I needed to infiltrate.

t.i.t was almost dawn before I finally heard something useful.

t"How many more of these metal barrels we gotta make, eh?" I heard a lighter-toned Ork ask.

tI heard a woman speak, a thick, hardy and husky tone that was full of authority. "Too d.a.m.n many for you to be complaining about it now. Those d.a.m.n Sprites, making such a large order of us. We have enough to do with those Darkelves as it is, we didn"t need an order like this."

t"What are these things for, anyway, boss?"tThe first asked.

tI heard a loud smack, and the male voice let a "yikes" slip out before uttering several obscenities.

t"The war, you idiot!" She shouted. She scoffed. "I need something to eat. Come on, its quitting time for now anyway. Quail the fires, and come on to the bunker. We can pick this back up tonight. The sun is coming up."

t"Right!" The man said, sounding excited. "I could use a good cow leg," he said.

t"Men," she scoffed, and I scurried off to the side as she came out, thick and tall, buffed up muscles, stalking her way out of view.

tI heard the hiss of water hitting fire, and I heard the man "whew!" before he came out, rushing in the same direction as his boss.

tI pulled my hood up over my head, and my cowl over my face, before I peeked into the doorway and, looking around, snuck inside and started looking hastily through the schematics.

tI began to panic a bit when I couldn"t find anything useful. Orks certainly weren"t known for being well organized, and by the papers lying haphazardly scattered all over the place, I could see that it would have been an extreme stretch of the imagination to say that they had any organizational skills at all.

tI heard footsteps approaching, and I held my breath. Finally, I found the paper that I was looking for, and silently folded it up and put it into my bag before I rushed to hide behind the forge.

tI peeked around, and I saw the large, muscular Ork boss lady, sniffing the room.

tI felt like a fool. I knew that they had an excellent sense of smell, and that I should have rubbed myself down in ash and soot before I had come here. They are used to those smells, and it would have covered my Woodelf scent.

t"Bor, get back in here!" She shouted, and my heart rate kicked up to a sickening speed.

t"What is it, boss?"

t"I smell Wraith smell, but something else.... it"s not natural. It smells disgusting. Take a look around!"

t"Smells like Woodelf to me," he commented, but he shuffled around. He picked up one of the papers I had touched, lifting it to his nose and sniffing deeply. "Oh yeah, I smell the Wraith now, it must"ve eaten a Woodelf. They will eat anything after all!" He guffawed out some laughter. "Those d.a.m.n Wraiths! They must"ve sent a spy."t

t"Be careful, Wraiths can give us a hard time. They"re not puny weaklings!" The boss cautioned.

tAs their bodies came around the other side of the forge, I shifted to be on the opposite side, keeping my body low to the ground.

tOrks weren"t overly intelligent creatures. They were commonly used as slaves to the Darkelves, because they weren"t smart enough to understand that they outnumbered the Darkelf race twenty to one, and could have put up a good fight. They were notorious for only being knowledgeable in war and smithing. There were a few that had studied and became very intelligent...but not many.

t"They must"ve gone back out already. Come on, let"s hunt it down!" Bor said.

t"It is a woman," the boss Ork said. "I can smell the undertones of feminine musk," she said.

t"Then let"s go get her!" Bor shouted, and ran out. The boss Ork got dangerously close to the forge, but when Bor called out that he had found a track around one of the other towers, she rushed out and I used that instant to escape. The windows to the tower were far too high off of the ground for me to escape alive. My only option was back out the way that I had come in.

tI shifted lightly to go back out the door that I had come in, and my stomach dropped and my heartbeat raced when I was trapped and saw them standing outside.

tThey were waiting for me.

t"Got you!" Bor shouted, springing to grab me.

tI leaped and as he looked up at my body above his in the air, I planted a foot down in his face and used him as a pole-vault, spearing my body onward and back into the forest.

t"After her!" I heard the boss Ork"s voice shout angrily in the distance.

tI groaned, but kept on running when an arrow grazed my right shoulder. I finally reached my elk and leaped up to mount him, running full speed toward the borders of Lykra. If I went to Riviv, they would have been able to tell that I was coming from the Woodelf city and it would have caused significant issues with the King.

tI would let the Wraiths deal with them, I thought.

tI figured it was good payback for my father never having anything to do with me. He could clean up my mess for me. Though, I did feel guilty and bad for the selfish thoughts in my mind.

tAfter a few hours, I slowed down a little, and jumped off of my elk, quickly rubbing some mud into my flesh and clothes, making sure that I didn"t leave any scent. I looked around, and it seemed that I was no longer being pursued. I pulled the elk into the woods off the road, looking around just to be positive.t

tI surprisingly didn"t have to wait long. An Ork a.s.sa.s.sin, dressed all in black, came out of the forest and looked around, confused. He had not seen where I had gone, then. He was alone. He looked young, probably only a teenager, like myself.

tI stayed absolutely silent. I made sure that I used my finger to stroke in the code into the elk"s fur, knowing that elks were often trained to know codes. This elk, thankfully, was aware of code and his body tensed, his breathing going shallow.

tI watched the Ork run on down the road toward Lykra, and I felt relief flood into me. Good, I had been able to mislead him and he was headed the wrong direction. Once he was out of sight and out of earshot, I crossed the road into the forest on the other side, continuing on my way.

tI began heading northwest, toward Havengrove. The rest of my journey home was uneventful.

tIn just a few more days, I had finally reached my homeland, and I was thankful to be back.

t"Weapon, the king is expecting you to report straight to him," the guard at the gate told me. "Go on to the palace."

tI smiled at him. "Thank you," I told him. He didn"t respond and didn"t return the smile, but he didn"t roll his eyes or try kill me with a glare, so I was thankful.

tI made my way through the miles worth of city, and rushed through to the king.

t"Ahh, Kysael," Dragon came up to me, hugging me tightly. "You"ve returned. Were you successful?"

tI nodded. "I was. I need to get this to the king," I said.

tHe stepped to the side, and followed me into the throne room.

tI immediately had the king"s attention, and Emron had everyone else leave the room. "What have you brought for me?"

tI held him the design schematics, and he studied over them.

t"Bullets and barrels for the firearms. So, they are having the Dwarves craft the bullets, and the Orks, the barrels?" He held his chin for a moment with one hand, holding the papers with the other as he continued looking over them. "Over all, the design work on these war machines is vastly impressive, far superior to what we have seen or used in the past. We need to find out how these weapons work, the logistics, and we need to make counter firearms...just in case." He looked to me. "Are you ready to set out again?"

t"My Lord," Dragon protested. "She has done as you asked, and has been away from home for almost two weeks. Surely, she needs time to rest and recuperate before she is sent back out, or else she may not be effective."

tMy face heated, and I agreed with him. "I was.... discovered, at the Ork city. I had to lead an a.s.sa.s.sin off of my trail," I told him softly.

tDragon took notice of my shoulder. "You"re wounded!" He said, shocked. He turned his attention back to King Emron. "Your highness.... Emron, please. Let her get some rest first."

tEmron sighed heavily. His attention turned to me. "You have twenty-four hours. You are the weapon of this city, Wraithling. And while I grew up with Dragon and respect him, I was raised to treat you as what you are. A weapon. You are here for one purpose. You are here to be the weapon of the king, and to share your bloodlines with future generations of n.o.ble Woodelves, to strengthen our people to make more weapons for the king."

tAngry fear speared my heart, and I suddenly realized that this was the real purpose behind allowing me to marry. The phrase repeated itself in my mind to when King Eranton had said something akin to that same thing when my ident.i.ty had been discovered. I had not understood it then...but I did, now.

t It was not just to strengthen our people, but to create more servants for the king, and I could feel my blood heating in my veins.

tDragon shared a very meaningful, soulful stare with me for a moment, and I sighed, bowed, and said, "Yes, your highness." And then I straightened my body and turned, leaving as quickly as my aching, exhausted body could get me out of there.

tI got back home soon enough, and I was finally able to get relaxed. There was a knock on the door, and I opened the door to find Dragon standing there, looking tired.

tI moved out of his way and he stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. He came to me and pulled my body into a hug. "I"ve missed you, Kysael."

tI felt myself melt in his embrace, letting the comfort wash over my tired limbs. "I"ve missed you," I told him sincerely.

t"Let me get you healed up," he offered, and I gratefully pulled my tunic to where my shoulders were bare.

t"Ohhh," I moaned as his healing powers set in. "That always feel so nice. I am so tired."

t"I can imagine," he smiled. "There is to be a ceremony tonight for all of the graduates, in the main courtyard."

tI groaned. "Really? Is that something that I have to go to? Is it mandatory?"

t"It was put off for a week just for your return," Dragon said, and I sighed.

t"Fine, fine."

tOnce I was healed up, I stood and Dragon turned around so that I could get changed. He approved of my choice to stay in hunting gear.

tHe escorted me to the courtyard, and there were cheers from the fellow graduates.

tGrimoir came up to us then, and held out his hand to Dragon. "I would just personally like to tell you congratulations, Lord Dragon. You are a lucky man," he said, smiling at me.

tDragon looked surprised, but shook his hand and returned the smile. "Thank you," he said softly. "Luck has nothing to do with it."

tGrimoir laughed, and waved at us before going to the gate and meeting his family.

tDragon grinned at me. "It seems that your new friend wanted to be more than a friend," he chuckled. "I"m glad that you had a good week that week."

t"Yes, so am I. We worked together a lot, and stayed in the same shelter. We are friends, certainly. He really is a nice boy." I sighed. "I can"t explain it, but this cave that I stayed in felt....so much like home. It was really strange."

t"Cave?" He asked.

t"Yes," I said, and I gave him the cave"s location. I was offended when he started laughing at me. "What is so funny?" I asked.

t"Kysael...that is where your mother gave birth to you."

tI startled, and I suddenly felt like crying. That was where Dragon had delivered me out of my mother"s womb. That is where she had stayed while she was pregnant with me.

t"I think it is destiny that you were able to find that cave and find peace there," Dragon told me softly. "Your mother"s spirit must be smiling down upon you. That must be why you felt connected."

tWe walked quietly to the gate, my family greeting me.

t"I"m so happy that you"re safe!" Dragon"s mother cried, hugging me as tightly as her arms could.

t"I told you she"d do fine," my brother said, ruffling up my hair.

t"I appreciate the greeting, but I"m just ready to get this over with and get home. I am so tired," I said softly.

tThey all seemed understanding, and got out of my way. Dragon pulled me to the side when I swayed on my feet.

t"Kysael," he admonished lightly. "You haven"t been able to feed in almost two weeks," he said. He pulled me off to the hunting unit building, and had all of the trainees standing there conversing to leave, before he shut and locked the door. We heard Drakul joke to the others outside about how we just wanted a moment of alone time, but in reality, Dragon offered me his arm and I latched into him with no hesitation.