Chapter 6:
[Starlyn POV]
Swirls of black and white clouding the mind made it hard for Starlyn to rest. Finally the black abyss transformed into a forest quickly passing by her. She didn’t feel exhausted as if she were running, but rather like the forest was coming towards her. Everything became a blur until it all stopped and she stood facing a stream of running water with lilies growing all around it. She slowly walked up to the stream picking a four leaf clover from a collection of three leaves. Holding it up to her mouth she gently kissed it before placing it in her sash.
She had no idea where she was at but had an instinct to follow the flow of the stream. Strangely even though she was alone she did not feel uneasy. It felt as if she were meant to be there, perhaps she was meant to find something there. As she walked she stared in awe at the black and yellow butterflies fluttering about the air in front of her. A smile pushed at her lips as she held out her finger for a green dragonfly to land on. Its curious eyes stared back at her and she laughed. Suddenly frightened the dragonfly took off into the air.
Blue jays and robins soared through the air singing perfectly in tune melodies with each other. They didn’t seem to care of the differences of one another but relinquished in the beauty of song. It reminded Starlyn of home where all the animals were loving and caring for another. That was something she hadn’t done in a long while, she needed to just relax and enjoy nature. It was something all elves did, all elves except Starlyn. Her world seemed twisted ever since the moment her sister turned. She never took the time anymore to enjoy the beauty of nature.
Her mind wandered as she listened to the relaxing trickling of the steady stream against rocks. She realized that even though she had forgotten about all the beauties of nature being caught up in a world of fighting, the peacefulness of nature was what she was fighting for. It wasn’t just for her, not anymore, but for every one of the land. At first, it was all about her mother, and then it was soon all about her sister, but now it was about each person of Calthoria. If evil conquered the land, nobody would enjoy the simplicity of nature anymore. There would no longer be relaxing outside listening to the birds and streams. It would all be gone in a shattered memory.
Finally her mind came back to reality as she saw the stream forking into a large calm pond. Near the back was a small waterfall from another stream above. There were large water lilies all across the water and frogs that hopped across them. The dragonflies found rest here as well as many scattered atop of lilies or dancing with each other in the air. Starlyn smiled and felt at home here. Somehow it felt better than home, almost magical.
A large ripple formed near the edge of the pond by the waterfall as Starlyn stared intently at it. She felt like she should be afraid but the fear never came, and instead she took a step forward. Out of the ripple appeared a woman with dark sapphire hair. She rinsed her hair in the waterfall and stood up all the way exposing her bare chest. She turned and looked at Starlyn and smiled.
#
Starlyn awoke as her head rolled into Snowflake’s paw. She shivered and realized she felt cold and cuddled up closer to the tiger. Her mind was still bewildered with the occurrences of the dream she had. Somehow it felt right, like it was the place she should be. She tried to stand up but quickly fell back to the ground in pain. Her head felt dizzy and a searing pain flowed through it. She also had a sharp pain in her lower stomach as she tried to remember what she had eaten. It was the first time she felt queasy and she didn’t care for it. Her symphony went to humans for being able to tolerate such endeavors.
She knew something was happening and she had to leave. Her mind thought back to Searon and how he was doing leading the army by himself, but quickly shook her head knowing he would be fine. Fear enveloped her as she remembered how her mother had gotten sick. She could only hope that it wasn’t the same strange disease that was now claiming her.
Another attempt to get to her feet was met unsuccessful. This time she made noise which awoke her tiger and the little girl sleeping against snowflake’s stomach. Snowflake got to her feet and stretched out her front legs while yawning before casually walking over to Starlyn. The tiger’s face rubbed up against Starlyn’s as she purred.
“Are you okay?” Charlotte asked walking up to her now.
“I am feeling slightly under the weather, would you mind helping me up?” Starlyn asked rather ashamed.
Charlotte held out her hand which Starlyn took gratefully and raised to her feet. Starlyn whispered her thanks to the young girl while pulling something from her back. She took a step closer to Charlotte who looked intrigued.
“I made this for you. I hope you won’t have to use it on our journey, but it will keep you safe.” Starlyn said reaching out her hand.
Charlotte took the short bow in her hand and looked at it in awe. It was such a beautiful craftsmanship, even with its quick design. Starlyn only spent a few hours on it after the young girl had gone to sleep. Still if there was one thing elves were good at, it would be crafting weapons.
“Th- thank you.” Charlotte smiled.
Starlyn took a step but faltered as she felt weak again. Her head was spinning and her stomach unsettling in various pains. She almost fell to the ground had Charlotte not came to catch her. For being such a young girl Charlotte was strong and Starlyn was grateful for it.
“I thought elves don’t get sick.” Charlotte stated.
“We’re not supposed to, but there are some things that cause us ill… some things that even we are not sure of.” Starlyn admitted.
Snowflake walked closer to Starlyn and leaned down on its front legs offering a ride. Starlyn smiled at her friend and gracefully took it. She felt better holding onto the tiger. Soon she felt Charlotte’s arms around her stomach and she began to feel queasy again. Snowflake began sprinting east again.
“Snowflake… stop.” Starlyn whispered.
The tiger stopped in its tracks and tilted its head back to look at Starlyn now. Starlyn was sure her friend could sense the pain she was in and only wanted to comfort her. She petted behind Snowflake’s ear reassuring her.
“Take us north. There’s a place up there we must visit first.” Starlyn announced.
Snowflake declined her head and turned forward again changing direction to north. She quickly sprinted off trusting Starlyn’s direction. Starlyn smiled as she pictured the woman with blue hair. Perhaps she had answers that Starlyn needed.
The gentle breeze across Starlyn’s soft face turned fowl as she caught a scent. Strangely it was stronger than any she had smelt before yet the scent was familiar. She knew what it was instantly as she whispered to Snowflake to slow to a gentle pace. Luckily she told Snowflake just in time as two daerions jumped out of the forest shadows.
Starlyn turned to Charlotte, “Hide, now!”
Snowflake came to a sudden stop and Charlotte instantly did what she was told as she held onto her short bow tight and jumped off running into the bushes. Starlyn gently got off and pulled her large war hammer from her belt. The weight was heavy for her and she felt weak, the sickness not wanting to go away even in a time of need. She felt the spike on the back end of her hammer as she gently walked forward.
The daerions snarled war cries and came at her with maces equipped. She was able to quickly dodge the first few strikes and block a few more but it was already wearing her down. Normally she could block the attacks with ease, but it was really a struggle for her to keep her guard up. She continually had to keep backing up as her head felt dizzy and her stomach queasy.
Snowflake noticed Starlyn’s ill attempt to defend herself and came running in tackling down one of the daerion’s. Surprised by the sudden rush from the animal, the daerion dropped its mace, and struggled to get back to its feet. The tiger was relentless clawing and biting through its rough blue skin to let it up. The daerion grasped enough strength to finally throw the tiger off and she landed back first into a tree. The daerion smiled now its crooked teeth stretched out to its two horns as it picked up its mace and crushed it into Snowflake’s shoulder. The tiger yelped and limped away quickly.
Starlyn was barely holding her own against even one daerion and only got a few strikes in that were easily blocked. She fought more like a human than an elf now with her weakened state. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the next daerion rushing at her and she took a step back avoiding the bashing of a mace as she withdrew a dagger from her belt and launched it at the incoming creature. The dagger penetrated its shoulder blade which only slowed it momentarily.
She rushed back for cover giving up on hope to overcome the two creatures fighting her sash looking for her throwing stars. Finally coming across them she launched them towards the daerions only to be deflected or imbedded in their horns. Even her aim was lacking during the battle and she sighed heavily pondering what she was going to do. She looked around for Snowflake who was nowhere in sight and silently cursed her luck. She couldn’t even run away now, and soon she realized that’s what she should have done in the first place.
Her back held sturdy against an oak tree as the daerions found her and she ducked letting their maces penetrate into the bark letting it shatter over her head. She dashed out of the way brushing bark off of her armor as she found another tree to hide behind. They quickly found her and she knew she couldn’t duck this time instead she spun around the tree letting them aim low. She turned back around it as they both impacted and bashed one to the ground with her hammer. The next she spun her hammer around letting the spike imbed into the second daerion’s shoulder-blade. It cried out in pain and jumped back ripping Starlyn’s hammer with it.
Without a weapon now she backed off feeling her belt for anything to use. Surprisingly she found her dagger back in its scabbard and looked back to the daerion that she imbedded with it. The dagger was no longer there. She smiled and mentally thanked Searon for his gift to her as she pulled it out and threw it again at the same daerion. It snarled in response and hit her across the chest with its mace. She tumbled to the ground rolling all the while until finally coming to a stop on her stomach. Reluctantly and in the most pain she’d ever been in she rolled over staring at her attacker closing in on her.
With barely more than a sound an arrow whistled through the air and imbedded the daerion’s chest followed by a second one that struck its leg. Finding the opportunity she jumped up pulling the dagger from its scabbard where it was already back resting and shoved it into the throat of the daerion. She fell to her knee as her bruised chest pounded in pain.
The last daerion rushed at her enraged at its comrade’s failure only to be taken aback by an arrow to its stomach and a second into its eye. It cried out in pain dropping its mace clattering to the roots beneath it. Starlyn quickly jumped up seizing the opportunity and lifted its own mace to crush its skull in. She looked to the two dead daerions and collapsed to the ground on her back. Everything became a blur as she looked up seeing Charlotte running and looking down at her holding her short bow. Starlyn smiled as blackness overtook her.
Starlyn recognized the dusk air as she came to. As quickly as she saw the starry night did she see a young child’s face blocking them. Charlotte. She smiled up at her only to be returned with worry. She suddenly realized she was exposed and her armor wasn’t to be seen. If she had the energy she’d try to cover herself, but with her weakened state she could only stare up in wonder. She felt the cool night air brush against her chest and realized how much pain it caused from the swelling bruise. Her attempt to get up was met with her collapsing back onto the ground. Charlotte quickly steadied her and helped her to her feet.
She noticed that her leather undergarments were the only thing she was wearing and she inspected her body. There were bruises of black and blue all down her body, but the worst was atop her left breast. It looked like it had swollen to twice its normal size and was the deepest shade of violet. She exhaled heavily and sat down on a log noticing her armor and leather bra lying in wait for her. She removed some herbs from her sash and quickly mashed them up with her water skin’s water making a healing past which she applied heavily on her breast.
After she was satisfied she placed her clothes and armor back on and sat looking up at the stars. A single tear dropped from her right eye and she prayed to whatever gods stared down at her. She felt weak and helpless, almost like she was human. She always thought she’d enjoy being human, but now she realized she didn’t enjoy being fragile.
“Please guide me.” Starlyn whispered looking up to the stars with watery blue eyes.
“Will you be okay?” Charlotte asked sitting down next to her.
She looked at the young girl and knew that even if she didn’t make it through this that she wanted the human girl to survive. She had to be brave and strong for her if nothing else. Even with her being weak she had to find the strength to find this little girl a better life. She deserved it.
“Yes, I will be fine. Come, let us go. There is some place we need to find.” Starlyn said and smiled.
After mixing some healing herbs for Snowflakes shoulder they both climbed on her and headed out into the night. She could feel that they were close now and she could smell it. The smell of fresh running water filled her nostrils and it brought hope to her mind.
After another few hours of traveling they finally reached a stream and Starlyn smiled hope finally restoring in her mind. She directed Snowflake to follow the flow of the stream at a slow pace as she enjoyed the scenery and flow of nature. The same as her dream had pictured, she saw birds and bugs fluttering about, as well as small animals of chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, and more scurrying around the ground. She smiled as she watched all of them carry on with their lives.
When reaching the pond she saw the half-naked woman sitting on a rock formation under the small waterfall and was smiling at her. As she got closer she saw that the woman had a skirt made out of water lilies and lilies in her hair, but wore nothing else. Her blue hair glowed in the night and she nodded towards Starlyn who was taken aback.
“Starlyn, you have arrived.” The woman’s voiced seemed to echo.
“What are you?” Starlyn asked.
“I am a Naiad, and I have been expecting you.” Her soft voice spoke still echoing.
“What is your name?” Starlyn questioned.
“Our names do not carry importance as your species’ do.” The naiad’s voice echoed.
“You know why I’m here.” Starlyn stated.
“I do.” The echoing voice announced.
“Am I sick like mother?” She asked.
“In a way… yes… but it is not as you think. You know what it is that is weakening you. Your mother wasn’t strong enough to handle it, but you are. You have seen what it can do, and you are facing the same choice. You are strong Starlyn… very strong. You can overcome it… safely… if you have the courage. Do you?” The naiad wondered.
“Yes.” Starlyn confirmed.
The naiad jumped off her rock and dove into the water threading underneath it until reaching the shallow edge of the pond. She arose and walked towards Starlyn, her beauty putting even Starlyn in awe. She came completely out of the water and walked up to Starlyn.
“Then I give you strength to continue your journey.” The naiad announced.
Before Starlyn could open her mouth a swirl of blue magic released from the naiad’s hand and enveloped Starlyn sending chills down her body. The air suddenly became cold and her body shook, but she wasn’t afraid. Instead Starlyn welcomed it and opened her defenses letting the magic settle inside of her.
She felt stronger, she wasn’t to her normal state, but already several times better than how she felt only moments ago. She clenched her hand and stared down at it and looked up to the naiad who was smiling at her now. She opened her mouth but was soon cut off by the naiad.
“Yes Starlyn… the path you travel is the correct one. I suggest you make haste, the strength I gave you won’t last and when you reach your designation you can seek more help and I suspect you know exactly where to start.” The naiad confirmed.
“Thank you.” Starlyn gasped.
“Now go, make haste, as there is no time to waste.” The naiad smiled reassuringly.