The Fireborn Chronicles: The Lost Maiden

Chapter 27: The Elf and the Rock Man

Ocean waves roared violently beneath a massive warship, signifying a great battle that was to come. 

As the day moved along, Markus could feel in his gut that it might be his last. He had already failed once before, and it was because of his ignorance that Silva was kidnapped by a group of people that were working with the king. He never thought that Silva would become such a notable target that even the royal family of King Czésta would grow interested in her.

It was still only by chance that Markus had found the conspirators. When he was taking another one of his walks through the city streets, Markus discovered a ship with boar markings on it, and it was a colossal ship at that. He saw a group of people in black outfits and strange masks carrying someone onto the ship, and of course, Silva was the one being carried.

Silva was unconscious at the time, and Markus assumed she was knocked out at the house. It was late at night, and Markus knew that he had a chance to seize one of these conspirators and get information out of them. He needed to recouperate all of his mana before he could chase after the boat with the boar markings and rescue Silva.

Once he had pursued one of the conspirators and chased him down, Markus discovered that this person had been paid by the Czésta royal family. These people were tasked with capturing Silva Dreida and bringing her to the location on the poster. But how did they get into the house without waking up Emilie or Guren? Markus and Emilie had talked about being more cautious after they had almost allowed two bounty hunters to seize Silva. 

As he rushed to his house, Markus wondered why the royal family had done something like this. What could be their intent? Of course, he did not care in the slightest about it now. All Markus was concerned about was taking Silva back from her kidnappers.

When he arrived at the house, Markus saw Emilie lying on the ground, her knife sitting still on the floor. There sat a pool of blood, emerging from Emilie's mouth. 

Dazed and mortified, Markus quickly ran to Emilie. He tried and tried to wake her up, hoping that she wasn't dead. Every second felt like an hour, and Markus could feel his blood boiling as well. The anger inside was about to explode any minute, as Markus had experienced this feeling before. But the exposure of his anger came at the cost of lives lost.

No, don't bring that memory back.

Some time passed, and Markus had calmed down a bit. Suddenly, Emilie had regained consciousness, and she was coughing up blood in the process.  It was a miracle that arrived at the right time for Markus.

"Emilie! Emilie! Stay with me!" Markus had cried out to her. Emilie's eyes darted towards him, and she had a very sad look on her face. 

"Are Abigail and Judith alright? Where is Guren? Em, please talk to me!" Markus continued.

"They took Silva...." Emilie tried to say. "I tried to...defend her...but the mage.... was so powerful..."

Pondering on her words, Markus had never thought that the king would hire a mage to do his dirty work. The king would not demand outside help such as mages for any of his efforts, even though they were not known for their magical prowess. The king was a greedy man, and wasting money for outside help without a major benefit was something he would just not do. Markus knew at least that of his character. 

There had to be some insanely large reward that would come as a result of capturing Silva Dreida, and it wasn't just the five hundred gold being offered. Markus recognized that it wasn't enough to satisfy the king.

However, it was possible.

"Tell me, Em. Is everyone alright?" Markus repeated, and Emilie nodded.