Trek For Survival

"Please," gasped Gia, holding onto Vonn with all the strength she had left. "Help me pull him away from the edge."

"Alright, child," said the woman, grabbed Vonn"s arms and pulling him close to the wall. "Did the two of you fall off the ledge?"

"We were pushed," said Gia softly as she kneeled next to him, touching the edges of his wound softly.

Tears that had threatened to fall, trickled down her face as she tried to think what to do.
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"What happened?" asked the elven woman, kneeling next to Gia and looking over Vonn herself, brushing her long wild hair out of her face.

Gia glanced over at her, and saw the tiny baby open a beautiful turquoise eye for only a moment before drifting off, back to sleep.

"We had just left the alchemist shop with Luan, when these elves appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her. They pushed us off the ledge before they dragged her away. Vonn was hurt when he landed against the vine, but he didn"t tell me… Oh, Vonn! Why didn"t you tell me?" she whispered, leaning her head down on his chest and sobbing. "We were going to have a family. You were going to build a house where my parents and little brother lived with us. It was going to be perfect…"

His uneven breathing faltered for a moment, and a bright green glow flashed beside her head. Shielding her eyes, Gia gasped when she saw the elven woman place glowing hands on the gaping wound on his side and healed him. Vonn"s eyes snapped open in surprise and shock, not seeing anything for a moment, while he sucked in a large breath of air.

"My people have done this, and they will pay me back for the energy I have expended," explained the woman as Vonn turned his head to look at Gia.

She thought her head would split from grinning so hard. Throwing her arms around his neck, she held him and cried.

"Thank you, very much," said Vonn to the elven woman.

"If the two of you are well enough, I would ask you to come with me to save Luan. The child has no one to speak for her. If you would be willing, we can stop what is about to happen."

"What do you mean?" asked Gia as she sat up and wiped away her tears. The salt stung her hands, and she looked at them to see they were b.l.o.o.d.y and raw where she had pulled Vonn up with the vine rope.

Taking her hands, the woman smiled softly at her. Healing them, she said, "Sylven has wanted to marry her for a long time, and her father does not wish to have to deal with her any longer. The elders fear her growing power and thought to contain her as long as possible. It was decided to sacrifice her to the elven G.o.ds before she came into her full powers and realized what everyone has been doing to control her. They fear her, as they should. She is the one with the most power ever born to this forest."

"They"re going to kill her?!" cried Gia, as Vonn carefully sat up.

Letting go of her hands, the woman nodded. "If you would speak for her, you can stop it. I would speak for her, but I have a child to care for already."

"What does it mean to speak for her?" asked Vonn before Gia could jump in.

Gia sat back, realizing that was a good point, but anxious to go save her friend.

"It means you adopt her as your child, and you will decide her fate. By calling the mystics, her parents have forfeited their right to her. But it also means that should you have another child, she will once again be up for grabs, unless…" trailed of the woman, patting her child"s back gently as she stood up.

"Unless what?" asked Gia, jumping to her feet in her impatience,

"Unless you leave the forest. No elf would follow you to know that you have not had a child. Since you are human, your life span is expected to be no more than a hundred years, so they would have to wait until they believed you dead to be able to go after her again. Luan will have plenty of time to grow and learn to control herself in that time."

"Why are you helping us and Luan so much?" asked Vonn, climbing to his feet and leaning against the stone wall.

Gia glanced at him, partially annoyed, but her annoyance faded away as she saw him rubbing his side as if it still hurt. He was right to be asking these questions. They were going to claim Luan as their own, which meant, they would be recognized by the elven people as a married couple! Her breath caught in the back of her throat as she realized what that meant.

"I intended to claim Luan as my own, because I knew this day was coming, but things happened and I was blessed by the forest. With my child, I am no longer eligible to claim her. If you are willing to claim her, then I will help you in any way I can," said the woman.

"May I know your name?" asked Gia. "I am Giavanna, or Gia for short, and this is Vonn."

"It is a pleasure to know your names. I am known by the name of Elisen," said the woman, touching her chest, beside her sleeping baby.

"You were the one who was supposed to escort us to the edge of the forest!" exclaimed Gia, recognizing the name.

"That is the only reason why I returned to this cursed village. I was summoned by the mayor. Soliana can be very persuasive."

"Let us go save Luan," said Vonn, looking between two of the buildings where the elves had dragged her away.

"Yes, it isn"t far from here where the ceremony is to be held," said Elisen, "We will need to be careful not to be discovered too soon. The two of you need to get into the center of their circle, in order to claim the child before it is too late."

Gia and Vonn nodded, following as the elf raced off through the trees. They fought to keep up with her, their bodies complaining of fatigue from the ordeals they had already gone through. Knowing they were tired, the elf slowed a bit and allowed them to rest occasionally as she scouted the area.

"Follow me," she whispered. "We will be going between the guards. Once you break free from the bushes, you must run as hard as you can to get to Luan. Ignore anything anyone says, and evade them as best you can. I will try to create a distraction, but I cannot go with you into the circle. You both must get into the circle for this to work!"

They glanced at each other, and Vonn took Gia"s hand. She smiled at him as her heart beat in antic.i.p.ation. When Elisen darted away, they followed as fast as they could, ducking to not be seen by the guards, but they were going for speed more than they were going for stealth, and the guards heard them.

As shouts rang out, Gia and Vonn broke through the brush and spied Luan tied to a pillar in the middle of a ma.s.sive stone diagram. It was sunk into the ground with no clear path to the middle. Stone pillars placed all around the main one that held Luan were glowing and shining lights at the scared girl.

Without missing a beat, Vonn pulled Gia along as they darted towards Luan. Behind them they could hear shouts and screams, along with the loud roar of some beast, but their eyes were glued to the tear streaked face of their friend. The elves wearing long black robes at each pillar ignored them, too focused on chanting their words.

Jumping into the middle of the circle interrupted one of the lights, and everything went still. The chants stopped, and all of the lights stopped.

"We claim this elven child as our own!" cried Vonn in the sudden silence.

"We claim Luan as our child!" cried Gia, grasping Vonn"s hand tightly.

Luan looked at them in surprise and shock.

"What? You can"t do that!" cried one of the elves at a pillar.

"Yes, they can," said Elisen, stepping forward triumphantly. "As per elven law, and child that has been declared unfit to be parented and sacrificed to the G.o.ds, may be claimed by a married couple who have no children."

"But they"re human!" cried another elf.

"It doesn"t matter! The law doesn"t specify!" cried Elisen with a wide grin.

"You said you would save me!" laughed Luan when she saw the elven woman.

"They will have to stay in the forest, to ensure they do not have any children," said another elf, stepping out from behind some bushes and approaching them.

"No," said Luan, untangling herself from the ropes that held her as the pillar she was tied to lowered back into the ground. "The law states they are free to live a normal life. And there is a law that states non-elves cannot live in our forest."

"Then what? They leave and get to have children if they want? That doesn"t seem right!" growled the elven man.

"Malthren, it doesn"t matter what seems right to you," said Elisen with a smirk. "The law is what it is. They have claimed her as their child. And per our laws, they must leave our forest. Since she cannot leave the forest for being underage, then she will be free to go about her days as she wishes. Do you wish to send an elf to watch over them and make sure they don"t have children? Humans have such short lives; it would seem more plausible to merely wait until they should be dead before we consider Luan again. Of course, by that time, she will be an adult herself…"