Spellbound

Chapter 12

"You haven't fed in a while," Elion pointed out while he kicked a pebble down the worn road they were traveling.

"Relevance?"

"Will you get sick or- I don't know." Elion shrugged. "I hardly know anything about you."

"I told you about the chocolate thing," Stavros said pointedly.

"Yea... you did." Elion smirked. "Can I ask you something?"

"If I say no, will you drop it?"

"Probably not."

"Of course not," Stavros sighed. "What is it?"

"Who's Victor?"

Stavros stopped walking. His eyes flickered something that was unreadable and made Elion's chest ache. He instantly regretted asking, but desperately wanted to know at the same time. Stavros quickly collected himself and quickened his steps.

"He was my old partner."

"He was also your lover," Elion stated. Stavros cleared his throat awkwardly and gave him a bare nod. When Stavros came to another sudden stop Elion was prepared to apologize for prying. A warm hand covered his mouth and Stavros' free hand went to the hilt of the sword that was sheathed across his back. Elion let his ears focus on the sounds surrounding them, trying to pick out anything unusual.

Within a day of leaving the inn they had moved into a warmer landscape. The fields were lush and the sun warm despite the lingering brisk bite in the air. Elk were a common scene, even a few bears and wolves had come into sight though none had presented a problem. He was almost beginning to forget that the land, though beautiful, was dangerous and still reeling in the aftermaths of the war that had ended almost a century prior.

"What is it?" Elion whispered when Stavros' hand finally fell away. Stavros' brow furrowed tightly and he gave a slight shake of his head before he continued walking. "What was that?"

"Thought I heard something."

"We should get horses," Elion wearily muttered.

"Horses die too easily."

"Oh Gods, do I even want to know why you came to that conclusion?"

Stavros glanced over with a pearly grin that was too devious for his own good. "Probably not."

Stavros watched Elion's expressions change as the day moved on. The elf would slow his pace to stare at the ruins in the distance, biting his lip as if he were debating whether to ask permission to go closer, and Stavros may have even humored the idea if Elion did, despite the unnecessary danger it would bring. He would squint towards the sky in an attempt to catch a sight of an exotic bird through the harsh sunlight and, occasionally, he would hum softly under his breath; songs that Stavros could almost picture being played in Elion's homeland during a celebration.

"Have you ever thought about going back?" Stavros asked before he even really had time to think about it. Elion visibly cringed, but was quick to cover it with a smile.

"The last I heard, there wasn't much to go back to. Too much anger and blood soiled the land."

"It's dying?"

Elion nodded sadly.

"Do you miss it badly?"

"Sometimes. It was my home." Elion smiled softly. "We had a huge rain forest to the west. My father and I would go hunting there. Well, we told my mother that's what we were doing. We mostly swam and ate fruit until our stomachs hurt." Elion went silent and when his sad smile faded then, Stavros didn't ask anything further.