The prisoner's words lingered in my mind long after I left him.
Obviously, I hadn't given the human the chance to finish his story. To poison my mind any further. To imply there was any we at all between him and me. The only one in trouble here was the human, any human, really, who dared to trespass in our woods. For his insolence, I'd immediately thrown the human back into his prison, locked the door, and left.
Yet, it appeared he had managed to poison my mind all the same because I was still thinking about him.
How did he have the audacity to accuse us of these blood crimes in the first place? All he'd said was nonsense, of course, but... I still wanted to know what made him say it. I wasn't going back to ask, however. I could already imagine the smugness on the human's face when I came crawling back for answers. No way.
One thing was for certain, however: the prisoner had thoroughly ruined my nightly rest. He could look forward to me being even less patient with him in the morning.
Night had fallen hours ago, and I was still lying on my back, staring a the ceiling of my room with a racing heart. Eventually, I gave up on trying to sleep and got up from my bed. I tiptoed into the hallway, carefully avoiding all the wooden planks underfoot that I knew squeaked.
It seemed I wasn't the only one with the idea of sneaking out tonight, however. Walking past my sister's room, I noticed the door was open a crack. Moonlight shone into the hallway through the opening.
With a frown, I slinked to her room and pushed the door open further to peek inside. There was a bump in her bed, but it clearly wasn't Lysira. I didn't hear any breathing coming from under the sheets.
Still, to make sure, I went into the room and pulled the covers away. A bunch of pillows piled up meticulously to make it look like her. The oldest trick in the book.
Where could she have gone? She wouldn't be so bold as sneak to the human prisoner in the middle of the night, would she? ... Shit, I actually wouldn't put that past her. She'd been so eager to see him for some reason.
I resumed my way outside, biting my tongue to stop myself from cursing under my breath. For a moment, I considered waking my parents, or even our village's Elder to let them know Lysira was gone. But I wouldn't yet. It looked like my sister had left her room herself voluntarily. And contrary to what my dear sister always seemed to think, I wasn't out to spoil her fun. On the contrary, she had a way of making me do things I didn't want to do. Seemed like I was going back to the barn and the human after all.
Great. Couldn't wait.
I slipped out of the house and stepped into the dark. The forest during the night sounded very different than during the day. Instead of birds singing, there were crickets chirping. When I closed my eyes and concentrated, I heard the soft humming of fireflies near the lake.
I wished I could sit by the lake, listen to nature's symphony, and watch the little lights dance on the water. That never failed to calm me and lull me to sleep. Unfortunately, I had to go to an unsightly mistake of nature and snatch my sister out of his claws instead.
I walked on the meandering dirt path leading to the barn. But then I picked up footsteps in the distance in the Verithal passage. My heart drummed in my chest. More humans, here to free their wicked prince after all? I had believed the prince had spoken the truth when he said nobody would come for him, if only because he was so obnoxious. I could never take his words at face value. I knew I couldn't damn it, yet I foolishly had.
As I closed my eyes to focus, however, I realised the footsteps were leading away from the village. There was also only one person taking careful, light steps. An elf sneaking out, not a human sneaking in.
And I only knew one person missing from the village right now.
Lysira didn't seem to be going to the human in the barn like I thought she would. She snuck right past it and stayed in the overgrown passage. I frowned, hesitating for a moment. I was inclined to let my sister have her secrets as we all had them. In this time of war, however?
Letting out a small sigh, I snuck after her.
I could only guess at Lysira's motives or destination. She went down a path I had always thought led nowhere except to thick, poisonous vines. We never went there. But Lysira did now. She looked around—but not behind her where I was hidden, which I would scold her for later—and then shifted a large rock aside, revealing another tunnel.
Nimbly hopping inside, she disappeared from sight. I waited a few moments, then followed as she shifted the stone back in place from the other side.
I had never known there was a tunnel there, and I was pretty sure many others from the village didn't either. I was usually the one finding new areas in the woods by listening to the wind. But the rock blocking this tunnel would've prevented me from ever hearing it.
It made me wonder if it was placed there on purpose. I briefly hesitated but ultimately decided to keep following Lysira. She wasn't stupid, but she was reckless. Who knew what she was hiding in there?
Steeling myself for whatever I would find, I muttered a prayer at the night sky and then shifted aside the boulder to follow.
The tunnel was much larger than I expected. It wasn't entirely dark, either. Cracks overhead allowed moonlight to shine in, and there were fireflies here, too. I heard the river running nearby outside.
Our woods continued to astound me. I'd lived here all my life, yet I had never known this was here. I wanted to take a moment to appreciate this new part of nature and drink in the new sounds and smells. But I didn't have the time, as I heard my sister's voice up ahead.
"Hello," she said softly.
"Lysira," a male voice I didn't know replied. He breathed a sigh of relief. "I wasn't sure if you could make it tonight."
I tensed, immediately wishing I'd brought a weapon. This wasn't someone from the village. Not our village. He spoke elven, but his accent was strange. Like he was not originally from here.
"Of course," Lysira said. "I just had to wait until I was sure everyone was asleep. It took longer tonight because my brother came back home late. I know he has trouble sleeping sometimes when he's upset."
The smacking noise of a kiss made me grimace.
Pressing my ears shut, I silently debated leaving anyway. I definitely didn't want to unwillingly listen in if this encounter went any further. It didn't sound like Lysira was endangering herself. She was with a lover, evidently. And while I hoped she would be sensible about it, a lover was hardly something that was of concern to me.
The only thing that worried me was that I didn't recognise the voice. There weren't many villages close enough so one could easily visit at night. And if this man was from one of those villages, I should have known his voice. He wasn't a part of our community.
He could be one of the lone wanderers—wild-hearted elves who decided to live in the woods alone, away from everyone else. They often had the talent to become one with the trees, making their home in them, and preferred the company of animals. But were welcome in the villages if they chose to visit. Now that the humans were invading, many had chosen to join the hunters to help fight the intruders off. The few that hadn't joined the hunt sought refuge in the villages and helped with whatever work they could do there.
I still should've known his voice.
Despite me holding my ears closed, muffled voices penetrated. It sounded like a conversation. I did not ever want to hear my sister with a lover, and I cursed my own choice to follow her as I retreated back into the tunnel. If I wanted to climb back out the way I came, however, I'd need both hands to move the rock.
I reluctantly uncovered my ears, but as I carefully reached for the rock, I caught a snippet of the conversation that made me freeze.
"When are you going to leave the village, Lysira?" the unknown male voice asked. "You know you will start to show soon, and I'm worried about you. Especially now that the prince has been captured... I fear tensions will rise even further."
Lysira sighed. "I know. But it's difficult to leave. The hunters put my brother in charge of the human prince," she said. "He wants to become one of them, but I'm afraid he's being tricked. Why would they give an important prisoner like that to a villager who is not even a part of them? It doesn't make sense. The hunters don't even seem worried the prince has reached so far into the woods that he reached our village. I don't know. I just fear my brother is being set up. If I leave him to that fate alone, I would never forgive myself. I tried to go to the prince. To see if I could understand what was going on, but my brother won't let me near."
I should be upset at Lysira sharing my mission with a complete stranger. An outsider. But only one sentence stuck in my head. Showing? Was she with child?
I had heard enough. I had to see who Lysira was spilling all our secrets to. "What is the meaning of this?" I called out as I marched back into the tunnel and revealed myself.
Both Lysira and her mystery lover whipped around to face me with wide eyes. I looked at the man and didn't recognise him. But I most certainly recognised his uniform—a human soldier. Then, I saw his rounded ears.
"You are with a human?" I demanded in elven. I took a step forward, my heart pounding in my ears with rage.
"Farun, no!" Lysira cried as she stepped between me and the human, pressing a hand to my chest. "Why are you here?"
"Seeing where you were going before you would bring yourself in danger. Which I am clearly too late for," I snapped. I glared daggers at the man, who had his hands raised in defence. "You carry this monster's child?"
"Farun, please," Lysira pleaded, grabbing my shoulders. "I can explain."
I grabbed Lysira's arms and yanked her hands off of me. "By all the nature spirits, no! Do not explain! I don't want to hear it. We are going home. Now."
"Lysira—" the human man started but Lysira cut him off.
"Don't, Edwin. Please. Not now," she said, though she glared at me like I had offended her. Straightening out her skirt, she marched ahead of me into the tunnel. Away from both me and the human man without looking back.