Destiny of Sapphire - Book One: The Baron and His Elf

Chapter 3 - Unknown Lands

Unknown Land

Blake woke up feeling sore. His right hand felt wrong when he tried to lift it, from the looks of it, he had dislocated his arm, pain was now registering into his muddled brain. Gritting his teeth, he used his left arm to lift himself up to a sitting position. Beads of perspiration started forming across his forehead as he crawled towards the nearest tree, placing his palm on it, he loosened his belt to tie it to the tree. Once in position, he placed his left hand on the upper arm. Grimacing, he pushed his right arm into the socket. He swore.

Breathing heavily, he removed the belt and replaced it on his waist again. With his right arm still throbbing, he looked for some sturdy branches to act as support for his sling. Satisfied that one was enough, he was about to take off his belt when he heard the sound of a horse snorting Turning towards the sound, he drank in the sight of the most beautiful elf woman who sat atop a white horse looking at him curiously.

Wait, elf? He blinked a few times thinking that he must have hit his head and was in a dream. She walked gracefully towards him, her warm touch was enough to tell him that he was very much awake. Dumbfounded he followed her and climbed up the horse behind her, hissing in pain as his right arm strained. She merely held his left arm to hug her waist and nudged her horse. Each step that the horse took made him wince in pain; he wished that the ordeal would be over soon.

To his surprise, the horse seemed to stop after a few minutes. “We are here.” her soft melodious voice drifted to him, he slid down and gave a small cry as he had forgotten his injury, she took his elbow and led him towards a small hut.

“Open.” The door creaked open to reveal a pair of violet eyes that would have made Blake step back if the elf was not holding on to him. He followed her in when the violet-eyed woman beckoned them in after checking that there were just the two of them.

He sat down, feeling like a giant in the small room. The violet-eyed woman took his right arm and started angling it and stopped when he started to grimace in pain. Nodding to nobody in particular, she mumbled something incoherent to his ears, as he strained to catch what she was mumbling about, he realised that she was casting incantations in a language that he had never heard before.

His right arm tingled and felt like there was fire in it. In a few moments, he felt the fire leave and a cooling sensation spread through. With the incantations completed, she gestured that he should try out his arm which he did. He felt better than before and was about to thank her when she waved them out. The elf suddenly appeared at the door and he followed her lead. Blake didn’t like to leave without giving something back when he received any form of help but the elf woman was already astride her horse waiting for him. He sighed and climbed up easily.

The landscape was unfamiliar to Blake who didn’t know that Parsville had such a huge forest beyond the school. Any attempts to ask questions were stolen by the wind as the elf woman rode faster this time. He held on to her for dear life as it was his second time on a horse.

His first horse riding experience left him with a broken leg at the tender age of eight. His parents forbade him to ride again despite his protests. He would never see them again, the restaurant did not compensate him for food poisoning; leaving him with his drunkard of an uncle who beat him senseless whenever Blake questioned his bringing home of random women who were obviously of questionable character. In time, he learned to avoid his uncle whenever he was home and did his homework as fast as he could. Using his free time, he would often sneak out to seek his new-found friends who welcomed him more than anyone else. They admired his fighting skills and soon, he was the best fighter among them.

Along the way, he learned how to use his legs to his advantage and the street fights were often quick to avoid being caught by the police. As he turned sixteen, his so-called friends tried to entice him into drugs and alcohol. By that time, he dated Kate who was the only one who was kind to him. She would worry when he was involved in the fights but never uttered anything against that. He only learned about her worries when one of best friends confronted him for making Kate cry.