Tale as Old as Love

Chapter 5- The Dark Elves

Catalina gasped at where she had landed. Light streamed through strange trees, and water ran peacefully down hidden rocks. She sat on a round slab of stone in the middle of the trees, and only she was lit up in the sun. Silhouettes circled her in the shadows. 

"Where am I?" She squinted to see through the trees. "Arvid?" She stood up and gripped her scythe. A whisper of gasps could have been mistaken for the rustling of the trees as Catalina brandished the scythe. "Show yourselves or I'll attack." 

"You are surrounded Princess," A voice warned somewhere in the shadows. "You cannot leave unless released." 

"I think not," spat the princess as she spread her wings.

Another rustling of the trees revealed a heavily armored man- or elf for that matter. His hair was of the darkest black and his skin was whiter than milk. His ears were longer and pointier than Middle Earth Elves, and his eyes shone like the galaxies at night. He stepped toward her with a grace that made Catalina believe that he was floating. It was then that she began to hear the individual whispers of each being behind him. 

She's the Princess. She's quite plain isn't she? She's so tall. She will be of much use to us. 

Catalina began to fidget. The elf had not taken his eyes off of her, and she had begun to be extremely uncomfortable. 

"Do not be afraid Princess. I am Maldor, King of the Moon Elves and Fae Folk of the Dark Forests." 

Catalina grabbed hold of her scythe again. Dark Elves were never good company, and if the king was trying to sugar coat the title, he wanted something. The princess held the scythe in his direction. 

"What do you want from me?" 

"Not from you Dear; we want you," he replied with too relaxed a tone. The black holes he had for eyes suddenly became bright, and pulled her toward him with an invisible pull. Catalina locked her knees and planted herself to the ground as she tried to keep herself away from him, but her power was inferior to his, and he pulled her to him. The only thing separating them was her scythe. 

They were nearly toe to toe, and Catalina looked up at the king. He wasn't much taller than she, but he had a way about him that made her feel dwarfed in front of him. 

"Dear Girl," said he, "you are something that I want. You have abilities that I am much attracted to." He reached out to touch her wings, but Catalina shifted her scythe to block him. "You have a power with the will to destroy galaxies. I will give you whatever you want if you will be my queen."

Catalina took a step back. She put away her wings. "Any other goddess  has that power if she had the wish." She ran her hand up and down the handle of her scythe. "Besides, my heart is sworn to another." 

The king smiled and shook his head. "My Dear, you don't know the offer you are passing by."

"Oh but I do," Catalina replied and continued her slow steps back. 

"No you don't." The king suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her scythe's handle and flipped Catalina onto the ground with lightning speed. 

Catalina retaliated with a swing of her arm to his knees. She let the scythe disappear then appear again in her hands. She opened her wings again and shot onto the air toward the sky. 

"I should not have stayed for one minute in that place," she grumbled as she reached the top of a mountain. She suddenly hit something, and fell a few feet down. As she regained her balance again, she rubbed her nose and looked up. "What in Odin's name-?" She put up her hand and felt a hard surface, though she couldn't see it. She flew sideways and ran her hand along the surface, trying to find an opening. After a minute of trying, she became frustrated and swung her scythe at it. It hit nothing but thin air. She tried going through, but again, hit an invisible barrier.