Alfýkin: The Last of the Elves

One Question

"Eldest one," Illeandir rasped, nearly choking on his breath. The man turned to him.

"Nay, that title belongs to my mother. But she's to deaf to hear anything below a bellow and as senile as an old pussycat. Call me Jaxon." The crowd chuckled softly. Illeandir blinked and spoke again.

"You cannot stay," he said. Everyone fell silent. "The orcs are hunting me. They will track me and find you and they will kill you. All of you." Illeandir paused. "You must leave," he said quietly.

"You brought them here! You brought them here so that they would kill us!" Owen shouted pointing his sword at Illeandir again. Illeandir swayed back to keep the thing from cutting his neck open. He looked Owen in the eyes. He was a stocky man, with little in the way of neck, his shoulders were broad and heavily muscled from years of hard farming. His stance was wide, though not balanced. Everything about him screamed aggression.

"Leave now, stranger, before you leave this earth forever," Owen threatened.

"Owen!" Matilda said. The child still slept in her arms. "He saved our lives! Is that not reason enough to trust him?"

"We don't know where he hails from, his name, or why he saved Everild. All we know is that he showed up with a band of orcs that laid our homes to waste. Either he leaves now or he dies." Illeandir wasn't listening. He had seen something move just beyond the premise of where a small group of children stood throwing a small ball to each other. Owen continued to threaten but his threats fell on deaf ears. The shadowy shape moved closer, its silhouette was that of a large man's and in its hands it held a raised scrimitar. Illeandir snatched his bow from Jaxon's hands, he drew and shot just as the orc brought its sword down upon the children. It roared when the arrow pierced its neck and fell dead. The children screamed and ran away.

"Great dragons!" Jaxon exclaimed dropping the sword he held in his hand, Owen dropped his as well. Illeandir gasped and his bow slipped from his throbbing arm. The arrow wound had opened further until it was longer than his thumb and showed bone beneath the layers of muscle. He pressed his hand over to stop the bleeding bit to no avail. Jaxon, Owen, and Matilda turned back to him. Jaxon looked at him in awe, Owen seemed less doubtful, and Matilda looked at him with motherly concern.

"Please, Owen. Let him stay. He's badly injured," she said. Owen seemed to contemplate this for a while until Jaxon nudged him and winked.

"Very well. But only until he is well enough to leave," Owen said. Matilda nodded and gently gave him Everild.

"Jaxon, order a search party to find anyone who is missing." Jaxon saluted her and called out five men to follow him. "Gabe, take three strong men and pile the orcs outside of town and burn them. Frida, gather all the women and children and have them prepare a meal for everyone and set up a tent for the injured. And find Jax's mother. She's wandered off again." Matilda returned to Illeandir, who was kneeling on the ground tying a strip of cloth above the wound to staunch the bleeding. She nodded.

"Can you stand?" she asked. Illeandir rose slowly to his feet. Matilda, by no means a small woman, suddenly felt very small. The man before her, she still did not know his name, was not big like her husband but neither was he small, he was, by far, taller than every man in the village. "What was your name again?" she said craftily.

"I never told you," Illeandir said picking up his weapons. Matilda huffed and strode ahead of him. Then she seemed to have an idea and slowed down.

"Will you tell me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"There are those that would kill for that information. I have no wish to bring further suffering to your people."