Dragon Guardian: Fire

"Run Marin! Run and don't look back! Try to make it to Silvistri!" Ronar wasted no more words as he forcibly pushed his youngest daughter out the back door of the family cottage and locked the door. Turning, he pressed his back against the wooden surface and closed his eyes in attempts to steel himself against the despaired and desperate cries of his daughter as she beat against the other side of the door. "What I do now, I do so that you may live and save us all my precious child," he whispered as silent tears streamed down his face.

"Ronar, my love...will she be alright?"

Ronar opened his eyes to find the lovely face of his beloved, elven wife, Niamh, gazing imploringly at him. "Creator willing, she will be," he looked to his eldest daughter Lhena who stood with her arms crossed over her chest and her gaze fixed upon the wooden floor of the cottage. "Lhena, this is your last chance to leave with your sister." He became aware that Marin's protestations had ceased and as he looked to the windows at the front of the cottage, his blood ran ever colder when he saw the dark elves drawing closer en masse through the mist of the early dawn. "You may still be able to sneak out into the forest."

"No, father," Lhena said after a moment with a shake of her head as she slowly raised her gaze to her father's. "Marin stands a better chance at escaping an army of dark elves if she doesn't have to worry about the safety of another."

Niamh took in the sight of her eldest child. At twenty-five she was still so young—too young to meet her end like this. By rights, she should have her entire life ahead of her, and the fact that she was so willingly giving it up so that her younger sister might live showed a great wisdom and selflessness well beyond her years that filled Niamh with an incredible sense of both pride and sorrow. "It isn't fair," she said with a sob as she drew her daughter close.

"But it's the way it has to be, mother," Lhena said softly as she clung to her mother. "Marin is the one...not I."

Ronar wrapped his arms tightly around his wife and daughter and held them close before pushing them behind himself when the front door suddenly flew off its hinges and the first dark elf stepped over the threshold. "Get out," Ronar growled as he narrowed his eyes.

The dark elf drew back the black, hooded cowl she wore to hide her face from the light of dawn and smiled coldly. "It is not my decision to make, human," she spat before tossing her snowy-white hair over her shoulders. She was the only female in what was otherwise an all-male army, and she needed no mark or insignia of rank. The fact that she was a female was enough. "That is for our queen alone to decide." She beckoned and a dozen dark elves entered behind her and moved towards the cornered family. "Seize them."

The dark elves darted forward as ordered, and while Ronar put up quite a struggle, in the end he was overpowered and forced to his knees by five of the assailants. Niamh and Lhena both dropped to their knees without question—their eyes wide with terror as they clasped each other's hands.

"Commander Drwyna, they have been subdued," one of the dark elves said with a low bow of his head.

Drwyna cast her yellow gaze about the cottage and drew her brows together in a frown. "There is one missing. There should be one more daughter," she barked. "Find her! Check under the beds and any other place large enough to hide a female half-breed," she spat.

"You won't find her here," Ronar snarled.

"We'll see about that, won't we?" Drwyna asked with a cold smile as she watched two dark elves begin searching the cottage in its entirety before realization dawned upon her face. She then turned so she was looking out the door. "You twelve search the woods. Use the shadow hounds to help you track her more quickly, but remember...the queen wants her alive."

Ronar's eyes widened and his blood ran cold. "She's dead," he said hurriedly with an underlying desperation. "She died last winter from a horrible illness!"

Drwyna turned back towards Ronar, and her cold smile grew. "If she's already dead, Ronar...then why are you so adamant that we do not search the woods?" Laughing darkly she dismissed the party to their assignment before slowly closing the distance between the terrified trio and herself.

"What should we do with them, Commander?"

"Keep them right where they are," Drwyna said with her cold smile still in place. "The queen is on her way, and she has special plans for them."

~*~*~

"Run Marin! Run and don't look back!"

Those had been her father's last words to her that morning at dawn, and that was what Marin was doing.

She was running for her life!

At the first sight of the army of dark, hooded figures approaching the woodland cottage in the grey light of early morning, Marin's father had all but dragged his youngest daughter from her bed and vociferously ordered her to leave—barely giving her time to dress. Marin had of course protested vehemently, but her cries and protestations had fallen upon deaf ears as her mother, father, and older sister each embraced and kissed her farewell before pushing her out of the cottage's back door and locking it before Marin could force her way back inside.

Through all her protestations, Ronar had slipped his medallion around Marin's neck and continued saying that she had to be the one to survive because of her destiny, and that she would have a better chance of surviving on her own instead of having to worry about others. However, Marin could not bring herself to knowingly leave her family in the path of danger, and even once she had been locked out of the cottage, she had continued beating against the wooden surface until her knuckles bled.

However, once she saw the army of dark, hooded figures charging the cottage from the front, Marin began to fully realize the helplessness of the situation and she hurriedly retreated into the woods. Tears of anguish streamed down her face and as the distant, tortured screams of her family reached her ears, Marin answered them with a choked, tormented sob as she pushed through the woods. Adrenaline fueled her tired body and pushed her onward in her mad escape. Though her mother had taught both her and her sister how to pace themselves while running great distances, Marin's panic and despair drove her to push herself harder than she ever had before. She continued running blindly through the woods before finally tripping over a raised root and falling flat on the forest floor.

Pushing herself up onto her hands and knees, Marin fought to catch her breath all the while wincing from the stinging pain of her skinned knees. Tears rolled down her cheeks and fell onto the backs of her hands and mingled with the blood oozing from the small cuts and scratches she had obtained from running through countless bushes and brambles.

Emotionally raw, the half-elf fell backwards into a seated position and drew her knees to her chest before resting her forehead on top of them. She drew her cloak tightly around herself and drew her hood down low over her head to stave off the cold of the early morning. Though the warmth of her cloak did nothing to ease the shivering of her sobbing frame as the heaviness of her fear, anguish and utter loneliness weighed down upon her.

What was she to do now?

What was to become of her?

Where was she to go?

"Try to make it to Silvistri!"

Silvistri? The Ever Kingdom? Her father wanted her to go to the Ever Kingdom where the ruler of all elves dwelled? Why? Even if Marin could manage to find her way there, would she be granted sanctuary? What reason would the Ever King have to take her into the protective borders of his kingdom? After all, she was only half-elven—part of both worlds yet not fully belonging to either. In fact, in all her twenty years of life, her mother had been the only full-blooded elf Marin had ever seen—the Briar Woods where they had lived proving an undesirable place for forest-dwelling elves to call home.

All of these thoughts and questions were dashed from Marin's mind however when she heard the distinctively chilling sound of beastly howling followed by whispers.

"They've picked up the girl's scent."

"She couldn't have gone far. Lucky thing since the sun is rising higher."

"Stay close on their tails. Remember...Queen Nahga wants the half-breed brat alive."

Marin's blood ran cold and she was filled with a renewed burst of adrenaline as she leapt to her feet and rushed deeper into the woods at a full sprint. Yet, for all her fear and adrenaline, Marin could not deny the fact that she was growing weary any more than she could ignore the burning of her lungs or the sharp aches in her sides. However, she dared not stop. The howling of the large beasts chasing her coupled with the mental image of them sinking their teeth into her flesh provided more than an incentive to continue on her mad race for survival.

She did not know where she was going, and at that moment she did not care. She had to live—if only to ensure that the sacrifices made by her family had not been in vain.

She had to live!

It felt as though she had been running for hours, but in reality, Marin had no idea how much time had passed since her escape. While the grey of dawn had been chased away, she was in no position to see where the sun hung in the sky. Even when she finally burst out of the woods, she paid the sun's position no heed, choosing rather to find a place to hide. Happening to glance over her shoulder as she ran up a hill with the intention of crossing the river which awaited her on the other side, she did not see the adolescent, auburn-haired girl kneeling in her path.

Kneeling just past the top of the hill, the young woman—no doubt a resident of the nearby village of Metallum—had been in the process of gathering berries for her family's morning meal, and she let out a surprised squeak upon seeing the sprinting girl barreling towards her. Turning her gaze back at the surprised sound, Marin saw the girl too late and collided with her head on—causing the both of them to fall to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs. Marin's cloak fell from her shoulders as she struggled to her feet but she paid it no heed.

"What the blazes?" the girl demanded in an annoyed tone as she glared up at the wild-eyed girl before gathering up her basket of berries.

"Run!" Marin screamed breathlessly.

"From what?" the girl asked in confusion.

Marin did not take the time to answer. Rather, she sprinted down the hill until she came to the Flumen River into which she then jumped and allowed the rough, swift-flowing water to sweep her downstream.

"What was all that about?" the young girl muttered to herself while shaking her head before her gaze fell upon the fallen cloak. Deciding it best not to allow the perfectly good article of clothing to go to waste, the girl simply shrugged and picked up the cloak before tying it around her own shoulders. Then, with her freshly picked berries in hand, she turned...

Just as a large, black, seemingly incorporeal wolf attacked her.

The massive animal of living shadow leapt into the air—throwing all of its great weight against the girl's slender frame and knocking her to the ground. The girl screamed, but to no avail. Fueled by the young woman's terror and relishing in its potency, the beast ripped out her throat. The other shadow hounds closed in upon their dying victim and mauled her face and arms as the young woman made a last, futile effort to protect herself--the grass running red with her blood.

It was then that the dark elves burst through the tree line and sprinted up the hill towards the hounds.

"Stop! Get off!" The elf pulled a bottle from his small satchel and uncorked it--allowing a blinding flash of light to escape and make the hounds vanish without a trace.

"It's too late," another elf said. "She's dead."

"No... we're dead when Nahga discovers this!" another snapped. "She wanted us to bring the girl back alive not as a half-mangled corpse!"

"Just bring the body and blame it on the hounds. It is their fault."

"He's right. It's better than coming back empty handed."

"I hope you're right...for all our sakes."

The dark elves took the girl's mangled body, wrapped it in a large piece of cloth, and began dragging it back to where they knew Nahga would be waiting.

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