"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Orion pulled his bag tighter around his shoulders with a shiver. Water ran in rivulets down his face, blurring his vision and numbing his skin, as the rain continued to fall relentlessly. His injured eye itched beneath the ratty coverings he'd be offered. Countless foul smelling elixirs had been poured over his face to reduce the swelling, and while Orion was tempted to believe that it would somewhat heal, the queen's mocking warbles suggested otherwise. All they had wanted to do was expedite his mission.
A loud sneeze rang out from behind him, and soon after that, a tiny cloud of flies scattered from above them. Orion hated being wet. But most of all, he detested the tiny flies that would descend from the skies at any hint of rain. Desperate for shelter, and worse still, a warm place to lay their eggs, lightening midges didn't make for good hiking companions.
Orion glanced behind him, and smiled. It seemed that neither of his babysitters were enjoying the fresh spring weather. Romril's sullen pout lent a little skip to his heart. The man had kidnapped him, perhaps it was time for him to experience a little misery.
Suddenly his feet gave away beneath him, and finding himself hurtling towards a broken stump, he yelped. The slick forest ground did nothing to stop his journey. If anything, the mixture of half rotted leaves and wet stones made for the perfect slide to send him flying through the air.
"Careful now!" Laurel quickly darted forwards to haul him back onto his feet. Her eyes flashed with mischief and she giggled as he clumsily wobbled to regain his balance.
"You might not have realised this, but we usually keep our eyes trained on the paths we venture on, not behind us."
"I am well aware of that." Orion huffed and peered through the trees ahead of them. It hard to make out a path in the lashing rain, but with a little squinting, he could just make out the tiny piles of stones used to mark out a route.
"Are you? Because you still look confused."
"That's because-" Orion sighed and swerved to avoid a hold in the ground. "Why am I leading this group?"
"It's your task, that's why." Laurel's fingers prodded his back painfully as she halfheartedly steered him in the right direction. "By the way, I believe the way to the citadel is over there?" She pointed off into the distance where a set of mountains reached for the sky.
Orion flushed. After some struggling, he had thought that he'd read the maps correctly. "You're right. And thank you for guiding me."
"Well what would you do without me?" Laurel chuckled. "I think back to the day I was assigned to watch over you. I have never seen a boy as young as you with such a jittery composition."
Orion ducked to avoid a half fallen tree. He pitied the once proud giant, now reduced to nothing but a rotting husk held up by its companions. "That's a fair point. But why were you ordered to accompany me? Thanks to the queen and her bracelet, I could not have possibly disobeyed her."
When Laurel didn't answer, Romril sighed and pushed to get ahead of the two of them. "The only reason the queen wanted the healer to come along was because she needed to make sure that her prize will stay alive."
"Prize?"
"Yes, prize." Romril gave him a curt nod as the rain began to pick up. It lashed towards the ground with a vengeance like no other. A low rumble sounded through the grey sky whipping up a cold wind that began to poke holes in Orion's already crumbling resolve. His foot slipped out from beneath him once again, and in his rush to steady himself, Orion rammed his entire hand into the ground.
He winced.
Water dribbled down his back in a steady stream before pooling in his shoes or dripping off the end of his nose. Orion sniffled before letting out a loud sneeze.
Romril's face darkened, he sighed and grabbed Orion's arm to pull him to one side. "Sit."
They had stopped beneath a large overhanging rock to let the worst of the weather blow away. Orion perched on a rock, delighted that was finally giving his feet some time to recoup before they continued on their endless journey towards Alstras.
"You're the prize she's been searching for." He leaned in, his voice a low hiss within the splattering of falling raindrops. "And you might not believe this, but you got away easy when she crushed your eye."
Orion snorted. "Why would I believe that?"
"She could have easily killed you right there and then. The fact that you're here —" Romril waved a hand over Orion's festering eye patch. "Is a testament to the threads of goodwill that run through our queen."
"Oh really?" Orion leaned back onto his heels and glared. "Your queen ripped my eye out. What type of goodwill are you thinking of?"
"Are you forgetting that you're alive?"
Laurel shifted awkwardly behind them. She had taken to hovering just where the rain failed to touch. Her eyes glossed over, deep in thought, and her fingers fiddled with the embroidery on her jacket.
"I'd rather be alive with both of my eyes intact." Orion ignored Laurel's growing discomfort and rounded on Romril with a snarl. But the Dilid's serene visage didn't crack. Instead, the elf smirked and clicked his tongue.
"And now we arrive at the root of the problem." Romril crossed his arms and gestured at Orion flippantly. Laurel ignored him and turned to look out into the thick trees. "The boy child is ungrateful for what he has. That in itself is the reason why you humans are incapable of advancing past the primitive measures you call a society."
"That's not true!" Orion stood and advanced towards the man with a scowl. His heart thrummed with a beat he'd long forgotten about, and while his hands trembled, he relished in the clarity that his anger brought forth. "I've heard stories about the Dilid's refusal to leave their birthplace. If anything, you're exactly like me, clueless and untrained for what the world has to offer."
Romril laughed, then bared his teeth and snarled. There was a crack, and a sharp splintering pain raced up Orion's leg. The boy retched and doubled over in shock.
"How dare you sprout such drivel. The Dilid are leaps and bounds ahead of the festering fools you call you kin." Romril yanked Orion back onto his feet. And his eyes gleamed with a special cruelty when he sensed the fear coursing through Orion's body. "Our queen is gracious, not only are you alive, but she has given you a golden opportunity to contribute to our glory. You better take it."
"Romril, back off. You know we're not supposed to hurt him." Laurel's hand appeared from behind them and pulled the two young men apart. She hissed something in the Dilid tongue, chasing away the residual throbbing left by Romril's temper.
Orion watched as Romril's features sharpened and rippled beneath the dim light. Then he straightened up and dusted off his jacket. "Mind your own business healer."
Laurel stumbled as the man shoved past her with a snarl. She stood dejected, then took a deep breath. Orion was surprised to see that all signs of her previously sunny temperament had vanished. "Bad tempers make for deadly situations. And, I'm a healer, not a necromancer. So for the glory of Vulmar try to get along."
Vulmar? That was a name that failed to stir any memories within Orion's head.
The tiny healer glared at Romril, and Orion smiled to see the once ill mannered man shrank away from her gaze. Then it was his turn to cower when she turned and gently prodded him with her foot. "Romril has a point. Our queen has been strangely lenient with you. Your room might have protected you from curious prodding, but I can assure you that rumours were flying. Especially about your eyes."
Orion brushed his fingers against the edges of his face. "What's wrong with my eyes?" He rocked on his toes and turned out to look out at the forest. The rain had settled down to and given way to the sweet heavy scent of fresh leaves and overturned soil. "There's nothing wrong with them. Everyone has their quirks."
"Your eyes," Romril growled from behind him and a phantom shiver ran down Orion's back. "They're reminiscent of something none of us have seen for years. Quite frankly, it's unsettling."
"Unsettling?"
Romril glanced at Laurel for some help. She only shrugged and pulled a worn leather bound book from her bag. Orion stared at her scribbling into it, her little blue pen waving in the air. He inwardly groaned. Of course, he'd forgotten that the queen had demanded a written record of the entire journey.
"What do you mean by unsettling?"
Romril paused. Then softly cleared his throat. "Have you ever met another human with eyes like yours?"
"I would say no but, believe it or not, I've never really had the chance to speak to many people." Orion decided to ignore the heavy thud of his heart. Kymil didn't need to know about his monthly trips to the village by the Mulgar river. Information held power, that was one thing he'd never ignored about his aunts. The tickle in his throat only egged on the suspicion bubbling in his stomach, revealing his aunt's spell would be a bad move.
Romril rested lazily against the back of the rock and an ugly smile graced his face."Oh? Well that does wonders. I suppose that's just a reflection on how you humans raise your children these days. There's no sense of community or curiosity."
Before Orion could respond, something crunched. They all startled, then breathed a sigh of relief as a small hunched badger ambled past them. Orion pushed his wet hair away from his face before toeing the wet ground around him. A few good shoves with his shoe revealed a tiny cluster of pinkish mushrooms. Each one was no bigger than his thumb, but given Laurel's excited squeal, it was probably a good thing.
"It seems there is a silver lining to your bickering." She knelt and pulled them from the ground with a flourish. "Stagwort is perfect for staving off the early signs of hunger." At Romril's narrowed eyes, she only shrugged and pointed at Orion. "Even you said that this child has had little exposure to the outside world, at least I can be bothered to teach him."
With the worst of the weather having wandered off in another direction, they decided to continue on their journey. This time Romril took the lead, insisting that the quickest way to the king's castle was to make their way to the nearest human village and hitch a ride on someone's cart. To Orion his methods simply sounded like intimidation and harassment.
The warm sweet smell of damp ground hit Orion like a blanket and he found his thoughts racing. The weather didn't feel right, and it should have been much too cold to feel the warmth rising from the ground. He swivelled his head slowly, trying his best to not catch Romril's attention. Even now, Orion still expected to hear the soft pad of paws trailing after them.
His aunt Niamh had never been exactly subtle when irritated. And all those long awkward dinners, punctured by the occasional crack of ice on glass were more than enough to prove it. Then there was the night he'd decided to push about his mother, a few misheard words was all it took to spend the night staring at Niamh ripping through a deer in her wolf form. Reuna had been disgusted and sent her out with shriek.
Orion shuddered and tried to bat his thoughts away. For all their arguments, he would give anything to be back home with his aunts. He let his breath dragged as they walked silently through the winding trees, no longer knowing nor caring about where they were headed. With every step his feet sunk deep into the mulchy ground with a squelch. And as if magic, countless worms and snails squirmed to inch their way away from his footsteps. Some failed and he cringed upon hearing the little pops.
He soon got bored of listening to his own breathing, so he turned to Laurel trudging next to him with a grim smile on his face.
"You did say you wanted to teach me something." At her raised eyebrows, he decided to push on. "You could start by telling me who Vulmar was?"
That prompted a massive groan from Romril, who only shook his head and quickened his pace. With a temper like that, Orion pitied anyone who had to work closely with that lemon of a man. He briefly complemented tripping the man with a stick, but then one small hiss from Laurel put a stop to his scheming.
"Vulmar was our first true king. He gave us a place in this world and tamed the Kei for battles."
"He was the elf king that tamed the Kei?" Orion scratched his head. Given their secrecy, perhaps it made sense that his aunts knew nothing about them. "How? Did he just walk up to them with a slab of meat?"
Laurel chuckled. "Not exactly. Our stories claimed that he rescued a female from the clutches of the gods, your gods. And in her gratitude, she gifted Vulmar her newborn children."
"That sounds believable." Orion paused to catch his breath before racing to catch up with his two new companions. "But since you Dilid are leaps and bounds ahead of us humans, surely your king would have known that it's not possible for siblings to mate. At least not with good results."
It was Romril's turn to laugh. "The Kei are wild and untameable, that much is true. But Vulmar was smart enough to realise that by breeding them with normal deer, he could achieve controllable ferocity."
Controllable ferocity? Those words sent a chill running down Orion's spine and he found his feet dragging in the dirt. Weren't the eleven races supposed to be the ones who stood against the manipulation of nature? Romril must have taken his silence as another sign of ignorance as a smug smile blossomed across his face.
Orion stepped over a fallen log, then grimaced as a scent caught his nose. The smell was hardly there, no more than a light stench in the humid air. But as they continued to trample along the concealed path, it got worse. Orion cringed as the pungent smell rolled towards him once again. Laurel squeaked and moved to cover her nose with her sleeve.
"That's new." Orion coughed and couldn't help but wonder if it was the sort of smell that would stick to you long after leaving the area. If that wasn't bad enough, Orion was unsettled by the heaviness in the air. It clung to his skin and with each breath, he felt it push crawl deeper into his lungs. Worst of all was the prickling building beneath his skin. His breath leapt against his throat, desperately pushing against the rising tide of terror within him.
It felt exactly like what he had experienced in the forest before Romril kidnapped him. But this time Romril was supposed to be working with him. Orion faltered and slowly spun to look the man in the eye. The elf was petrified.