Chapter 20: The running

The shouting came from outside the hut, inside the village. Elendar shot up, yet tripped over his own bound feet.

“Run, they are here!! You have to run!!” Elendar yelled in fear. They had found him.

Only a second later, a loud horn was blown which Elendar recognized as being Drow. In a matter of seconds, the entire village was in chaos. The dark area was lit with fires and the sound of bow strings that were released and arrows that reflected on armor filled the air. 

“You!” Fa’Hadir started, but he was unable to finish his words as the hut was suddenly filled with a globe of darkness. None of those inside were able to see. Yet everyone knew that their enemy was near. The sound of a sword that ripped through the hide of the hut reached their ears. 

“No!”

Ly was not planning to wait to meet the sword that was cutting in. With a gesture of her hand and her lips murmuring some words, she called upon some lights to clear away the darkness. But once her eyes caught the area around her, the first thing she saw was a pair of dark red eyes, combined with a grinning face. Eyes that almost looked familiar. The young Drow male was swift and agile enough to overpower her with a few moves, holding one of her arms behind her back and his scimitar carefully placed on her throat, caressing her skin. 

“Let me go!” Ly spat back, trying to fight for freedom, but his grasp on her only became more firm.

“Easy now …” the male whispered in her ears, placing more pressure on his sword to remind her of the position she was in. He was not planning to go softly on her. He would never be soft on a dirty surface Elf!

“Who are you? Why do you attack us? What did my Tribe ever do to yours?” Ly asked firmly, hiding her fear. Her people were in danger. There was no time to think only about herself.

“Quiet! You are the reason that I am who I am.” 

Ly could hear the accusation in his voice. The anger, the hate, the poison that lingered around his words.

“You are the reason for my suffering!” Breghen hissed dangerously, making clear that he was not joking. He raised the pressure on her arm, bending it a bit more behind her back. He could hear her yelp softly when he did.

Breghen whispered a few words and the globe of darkness suddenly vanished. When Elendar looked up, he gasped for air at the sight of the male, his own son, who had captured the woman he loved. 

On the other side, Fa’Hadir had grabbed his spear, ready to charge. He growled when he saw the Drow male standing, threatening his wife. He wanted to move, but the moment he wanted to charge, Breghen turned himself toward him, keeping the Priestess between himself and the Akthan.

“Uh, uh, not so fast.” The boy warned, pressing his scimitar against the woman’s skin, drawing a drop of blood. 

“Drop it!” And he nodded with his head towards the spear Fa’Hadir was holding. 

Fa’Hadir hissed slightly, seeing no way out other than to surrender. Reluctantly, he let go of his spear, that fell on the ground. 

“Stop this! Let them go! It is me you want!” 

Elendar pleaded, suddenly sounding more desperate than you would expect from a Drow. Outside the shouting intensified, commands were yelled, women cried, the scent of fear filled the air.

“Those screams, that is your doing!” The invader spat towards Elendar.

“This is your punishment!” A grin formed on his face when his eyes locked with those of Elendar, staring straight at him. Breghen revolved in the desperation he saw in the male’s eyes. The fear of losing his beloved which he so cared for. A fact that Breghen still didn’t understand.

“You are only just a boy …” Ly whispered. The youth of her attacker had not gone unnoticed by her. How could it be? The boy that held her captive, with his weapon at her throat, could not be older than sixteen years. Too young to be a full fledged soldier. But it was not that that surprised her, but the hate in the boy’s voice. The fire of anger in his eyes and his grip. 

“They had nothing to do with it, Breghen, my son.” Elendar’s voice was filled with compassion and desperation. A late attempt in trying to convince his son that this was wrong.

Breghen gasped shortly, his attention fading for a split second. He wasn’t used to the fact that Elendar spoke so directly to him, but more than all, it was the tone that surprised him. He had heard prisoners beg for their lives before, but that was to save their own lives. The tone that Elendar used wasn’t to save himself … but that of the woman he held captive. The feeling over caring, something that Breghen didn’t understand, had brought him out of his concentration. 

Ly softly gasped for air when she learned that her capture was the son of Elendar. But the question of who was the mother did not jump to her mind. In their nights alone, Ly had learned about the way of life in the Underdark, the standing of the males and the demands of their women. It was the question of  what had happened to that child to be so fueled with hate? What kind of life did he have to become angered at his own father like this?

While Ly her mind tried to comprehend what the boy was going through, Fa’Hadir saw his chance to charge. With a quick movement he picked up his spear from the ground and charged forward with a growl. But the gap was short lived, as the boy in front of him quickly parried his attack, breaking the spear during the process. 

“Don’t you dare!” He hissed dangerously, his scimitar pointing towards the blue haired male, who could do nothing more then growl in anger.

“Why are you doing this?” Ly tried to wiggle a bit, trying to grasp that tiny inch of more freedom.

“If he truly is your father, why do you hate him so much? Who planted this seed of anger in your heart, that is creating this anger fueled flame?”

Fighting was futile. The only thing she could do was try to understand, trying to find that small gap of reason.

“I was born out of his treachery. I exist to be his punishment. My pain is his fault!”

He said with a poisonous voice, before planting his foot in the woman’s back to bring her down on her knees. Ly groaned by his force, but she wasn’t planning to give up.

“Did you decide to be his punishment … or someone else?” She knew her words would probably not reach him. He looked so locked in his own mind, the path that was laying before his eyes. But she could not know for sure if she didn’t try. 

“If you are somebody's tool, then why don’t you try to break free and decide for yourself what you want to be?”

“ENOUGH!” Breghen’s voice thundered through the hut. And when he fell silent, Ly could also hear that outside the silence had returned. A deadly silence. For there were no cries that could be heard, no footsteps that betrayed that someone was running away. Only the flickering light of the fires … and the foul stench of blood and death.

“You are not like them, my son.” Elendar tried again. 

“You never were. You are not a spider!”

Breghen huffed. How dare this man tell him what he was! For eight year long, he was nothing more than a target practice for his sisters, a tool to make this man talk. An act he refused to do, even when he was crying and bleeding before his very eyes. And in his last eight years, he had been shaped, training by Doh’Arn. A House that actually saw his value, saw his worth! How dare he tell him who he was when he had never been there!?

Instead of calming the boy, Elendar’s words only fueled his anger even more. With a growl he pushed Ly’Kalyn in front of him. His scimitar flicked through the air, scraping her shoulder. Ly screeched when she could feel the blade touch her shoulder, drawing blood.

“Stop them, you are not like them!” Elendar screamed, a futile attempt to protect the one he loved. At the same moment, Fa’Hadir pulled out a dagger, a last try to fight the invader. But the flying scimitar quickly drove him back.

“I am not like you! I never was like you!!” the boy spat out, his eyes shining with a bloodlust that Elendar had never seen.

“You betrayed us! You NEVER accepted me!” His words, his rage was meant for the still captured male Drow, but his eyes flared towards the Night Elf’s Akthan. Fear had filled his eyes by seeing the rage of the young Drow before him, but he could not allow himself to become afraid of it. Even as he realized that anything he would do was futile, he could not stand back.

With a growl, Fa’Hadir slashed with his dagger, only to see the invader’s scimitar fly faster through the air.

“Weak and foul!” Breghen continued.

Fa’Hadir had trouble with evading the flying metal. Ly, who had crawled towards Elendar, could only watch in horror to see her mate struggle in a fight he could never win.

“You dirty surface walkers!” The boy hissed.

Another swing of his blade, another rip in the hide of the hut. Another cut on the male elf’s skin, more blood drawn by each hit he took. They were thin cuts, shallow, .... he was hitting to hurt and not to kill, prolonging the torture he wanted to inflict.

“Backstabbers!” The boy yelled and another swing of his blade made the blue haired elf stumble over his own feet, falling to the ground. He raised his scimitar, ready to strike, ready to finish it!

“No!” Ly yelled, reaching out to the boy. Her hand touched his, a small glow coming from her hands when she touched him. The boy hissed, not in pain, more in annoyance, but was quick enough to let his hand fly through the air and slap her right at her face before he pushed her back to the ground, giving a warning growl.

“Don’t hurt her!” Elendar yelled, a mixture of anger and desperation.

“Have you never learned?! Don’t you know what this is!!??” 

Ly tried to crawl back to Elendar, while looking to see how badly her mate was bleeding at the corner. And she could do nothing. Only watch. Watch and wait until all this is over.

“Learned what!?” The boy said when he took some steps closer, the tip of his scimitar pointed at the elven female. 

“Of your betrayal? Of how you betrayed the Spider Queen?!”

“No, about love …” Elendar’s voice cracked. A sign that he was no longer able to hold it together. His attempts were leading to nothing. Instead they only angered his son even more. 

“LOVE!?” The boy spot. “You call this love?!”

With a rushed move, he removed a piece of his leather armor, revealing his with scars littered skin. Ly gasped when she saw the skin of the boy, revealing the torture he had to endure.

“This is YOUR doing!!” Breghen’s eyes pierced themselves into Elendar’s, his red eyes burning with an anger that had years of time to mature. For years he wanted to bring down the source of his suffering and today would be his chance!

“No! This is hers!” Elendar yelled back, tears rolling from his eyes.

“Being jealous of something your mother will never know!”

“This is the punishment I received! For YOUR betrayal!”

Ly’Kalyn noticed how Elendar sighed in defeat, dropping his eyes to the ground. No matter what he said or did, it seemed the boy was so locked in his own mindset, in the lies he was forced to believe. Ly gently placed her hand on Elendar’s leg, giving him a soft reassuring smile before she moved her silver eyes towards the boy, looking at him like a mother would look towards her child.

“Are you that blind to see what is before you? Are you so deaf for the words your father speaks to you?” Ly swallowed. Her eyes flicked for a second to her fallen mate in the corner, only to see him crawl up, as stealthily as he could. The boy was focused on her and Elendar. And Ly tried to keep it that way.

“I pity you, child. For what they have done to you, for what they make you do. You are a child, a young boy and look at where you stand?! In the middle of a battlefield, killing people you don’t even know! Is this what your kin made you? A ruthless killer? A murderer of women and children? No child should pay for the sins of its parents!”

She saw his muscles tense around his face, his eyes flicked from her to Elendar and back. 

Her words were rolling in his mind, trying to make shape. He was not a normal Drow male. He was The Chosen. By his age, most males were only starting his training, he had already completed it for the major part. But for what? For revenge? For his mother’s sick obsession with what Elendar’s had been doing on the surface? For the fact that he had sneaked away from her gaze and she had missed it? And then there was Nazira, who used him as her personal guard, her pet. She had treated him more kindly than his mother, but the warnings were more deadly. He had received power … but at what cost?

For a split second, he wanted to believe what she said. But it was the small rustling sound of the entrance that broke his stare, only to see Fa’Hadir ran out of the hut. The boy snarled, intensifying his grip on his scimitar.

“Deceit!” Breghen spat.

“Lies, treacherous lies! You are nothing better than that traitor!”

A low chuckle interrupted the scene and the rustling sound of a hide that was pushed aside, betrayed the arrival of someone new on the scene. Ly looked up, only to see a Drow female entering, a sleek grin on her face, her eyes glittering of joy. The blood on her armor betrayed her participation in the slaughter.  

“Priestess Irae’Lin.” Breghen said in a serious cold tone, without taking his eyes from the pair sitting before him. 

“Well done, brother.” Irae’Lin grinned. Ly frowned, surprised at how the female addressed the boy. 

“The leading cleric and our traitor.” She dropped a hand on the boy’s shoulder, who didn’t even flinch by her touch.

“Well done indeed.”

“She’s foul, vicious and full of lies.” The boy pointed, raising the point of his scimitar towards Ly’Kalyn. She could only look straight at him. While fear was rushing through her veins, she was not planning to cower. She knew her fate. She knew how this was going to end for her. She better looked death straight in the eyes.

And in some way, that sparked an interest in Breghen. He had expected for the surface woman to be full of fear, to cower at his feet. But here she stood, still defending what was dear to her, even when she knew her faith was sealed. There was no escape from a Drow weapon.

“What did you expect?” Breghen’s sister whispered in a sleek tone.

“She’s a fairy. A foul elf.”

“Surface walkers.” the boy spat out the words, meant as an insult. But Ly didn’t flinch. 

“Don’t forget brother. Never forget.” The Drowess caressed the boy in his neck, like another would caress their pet. Ly didn’t need to know that this female was one of them that only fed lies to the boy. And the way she did it revolted her.

“Did they tell you anything new?”

“Nothing but lies, Priestess.” The boy said.

“Pick her up and drag her outside!” Irae’Lin commanded in mental speech. Breghen could feel the thrill in her voice, even when it was only in his head. Suddenly walking forward, he picked Ly up, from the ground, his nails digging into her skin. Ly yelped and tried to fight it, but she was no warrior and no match for a fully trained one. 

“Let them show our masterpiece.” Irae’Lin chuckled before she grabbed Elendar at his neck. Both Ly and Elendar were dragged outside the hut. The Night Elf priestess could only gasp when her eyes caught vision of what had happened outside. Her entire Tribe was scattered with dead bodies. Blood had stained their architecture and seeped into the ground. Fire was burning down several of the huts. No one was spared. Not even the elders and children. Drow fighters were piling up the bodies. This was not a battlefield. This was a massacre.

When Breghen came out of the hut, several of the fighters started to cheer, blood still on their faces. While he basked in their adoration, Ly could only wail in horror at the sight of her Tribe.

“Like what you see?” the boy hissed in her ear. Ly could only swallow, several tears rolling down her cheeks, the fires shimmering in her eyes. The smoke irritates them.

“This is your doing.” The boy accused her. “Yours and his!”

With a rough push and a flash of the boy’s scimitar in the corner of her eye, Ly was pushed forward and rough handed led down the stairs that led back to the ground.

Her doing? She could not deny that he was wrong. This was her doing, her punishment. This was the fate she had chosen. And when her feet touched the blood soaked ground, the only thing she could think of was her daughter. At least she was spared of this vision, of this horror. And by the moon herself, she could only pray that they would not be able to track her.

“Mom!” 

The voice shot Ly back from her thoughts, only to see her son sitting on his knees before a group of soldiers, fairly unharmed.

“Fa’Ni’en?!”

Ly’Kalyn tried to run to her remaining child, but Breghen quickly stopped her with a rough movement, bending her arm behind her back. Ly yelped, losing her balance for a second and she fell to the ground. When she was able to look up again, she could also see Fa’Hadir sitting next to her son, more wounded and bruised than when he had left the hut. 

“This is your son, no?” The Irae’Lin said with a grin on her face when she passed by Ly, pleased by her handywork. She walked over to the young child, softly caressing his skin. 

“Fearless lad, he tried to attack one of our soldiers all by himself. He should be dead … if it wasn’t for his daddy who came to save him … in vain.”

“Don’t touch him!” Ly yipped, trying to get up, but she was quickly forced back when a scimitar came into her view. With one hand wielding his scimitar, he held Ly at her neck with his other, forcing her to watch the scene before her.

“Don’t hurt him!” Elendar pleased. “Please, why are you punishing them when this is all my fault!”

The Drow female turned around, her eyes focused on Elendar that pleaded for the lives of another race. Ly could see it revolted her. And at the same time, she seemed to enjoy it. Again the Drowess crossed the space between the two groups.

“This is your payment ...” She started, circling around her prisoner like a hawk over its prey.

“For crossing the Spider Queen.” 

“Penance.” Breghen hissed. “Cleansing.”

“How can you even live like this? Why punish someone for finding love?” Ly tried on her side, but it only resulted in the tip of the scimitar that guarded her to be raised to her throat.

“This is your doing as well. You seduced him with your vicious spell!” The boy accused.

“I went to her!!” Elendar barked in defense. “I choose to fall in love with her. No spell forced me!”

The boy could only huff, baring his fangs in anger.

‘Lier.” He said in a whispered tone.

“Hear them, my brother …” Irae’Lin whispered in the boy’s ear, circling around him. Ly wished she could stand up, slap that bitch right in the face and shake that boy back to the surface of the earth. She saw how the Drowess enjoyed her power, how she reveled in the fact that she was able to control the boy and make him do and believe everything she wanted.  

“Don’t listen to her …” Ly whispered, but she knew her words would not reach him. If his father couldn’t even reach him, then her words, coming from a stranger, would fly right past him.

“Treachery.” Breghen whispered. 

“These foul surface walkers.” The female replied, a grin adorning her face.

“Look at them, true love … betraying his own kind for something as … spurious as this.”

“Love is an illusion … a weakness.” The boy replied, forming a harmonic conversation with the drowess. 

“Betraying your own kind, leads to …” the female guided.

“Pain and suffering.” The boy filled in. 

“Maybe we should show them … what pain love can bring?” Irae’Lin grinned, her red eyes suddenly moving from the boy to Ly. The look in her eyes was malicious, yearning for blood and suffering.

“Let me show you, brother, what a wonderful thing love is.”

With an evil chuckle, the Drow Priestess walked up to Fa’Ni’en.

“No, leave him alone!” Ly cried. Again she tried to break free from her binds, but again, the cold metal of the scimitar was placed at her throat.

“Eyes wide open.” He warned her.

“This is what love brings you, dear brother! Pain and suffering! It’s a weakness, it’s a disease! A weak shackle that only leads to your death!”

The female picked up a shortsword, picking up the boy to drop him before her feet. Ly cried, pleading for her son's life. But her words fell in deaf ears. 

Ni’en hisses when he tried to crawl on his feet, but every time he was able to stand up, the drowess kicked him back to the ground, staining his clothing with the blood that had soaked the earth. In a futile attempt, he picked up one of the daggers of the ground and tried to strike, but the weapon was kicked out of his hands as fast as he had been able to pick it up.

“STOP THIS!!” Ly cried, tears rolling freely over her cheek, seeing her son struggle.

“PLEASE!!”

Enough of playing a cat and mouse game, Irae’Lin rose the sword in the air, ready to strike. 

“NO!” A loud voice filled the air and when Ly looked aside, she saw how Fa’Hadir got up from his place, abusing the moment of where his guards were looking at the spectacle and were not fully focused on him. With a growl, he ran up towards the Drowess. Ly could only watch in horror and see how her mate placed himself between the female and her son, being a shield that captured the sword. But his attempt was in vain, for the sword not only pierced his own body, but also that of his son he tried to protect. Ly could only witness how the light left their eyes, never to return.

“NOOO!” Ly’Kalyn cried, feeling her entire body falling weak. She would have fallen to the ground, if the Drow boy was not keeping her hoisted up.

“My, what a tragedy.” The Drow female laughed.

“See this, brother!! This is what love makes you do. To sacrifice your own life for that of a pathetic weak boy! Look at that female sitting before your feet, broken like a mirror, weeping her tears to the earth. This is what love makes you, WEAK!”

“WHY!!” Elendar roared, his sadness making room for anger. He tried to stand up, but he was quickly kicked back to the ground.

“Did you not listen!?” Breghen hissed dangerously.

“This is your fault. They die because of you! For your pathetic idea of love! For your betrayal of your own kind!”

“And you kill because your Mother commands you! You are nothing more than her vessel! By the Moon and the Stars, can’t you lift that veil from your eyes and see for what our world really is! A chaotic place, led by that damned bitch of the underground. To the Nine Hells with the Spider Queen!”

“No one insults our Matriarch!” Irae’Lin yelled out, her with a dagger filled hand lashing out across the male’s face, leaving a bleeding red mark.

“The Spider Queen demands blood for your betrayal, for you deceit!” She suddenly turned herself towards her brother.

“Remember, dear brother. Only blood can cleanse this stain from your name. Only her death can relieve you from your torture, your suffering. Sacrifice this female to our Queen and she will be pleased.”

The Drowess looked at the boy, her stare intensifying. 

“Do what the Matron has ordered you. Kill her in front of him. Make him suffer!”

No word was said, not out loud. It was a silent conversation between the two of them while the boy’s eyes burned themselves into those of his father. And before he turned himself to the female that was still crying before his feet, he gave his father a vicious smile. 

With that grin still on his face, his scimitar slid over his own hand and when his own blood dripped over the metal shaft, a blue electricity crackled over the blade.

“BREGHEN!” Elendar yelled, knowing what the boy was planning to do. But it was his sister that held him back, a chuckle leaving her lips while her eyes enjoyed the spectacle. Ly yelped when she fell how the Drow boy dragged by her hair, away from her love, towards the lifeless corpse of her son and mate. She could only weep at the sight of her son, blood dripping from his mouth while his dead eyes stared towards the sky. Yet the stars no longer reflected in his silvery eyes. 

“Don’t … Don’t do this!?” Elendar pleaded again, a last futile attempt. But the boy stood firmly, the eyes of his comrades and his sister focussed on him. Elendar knew that he would not break. In his last attempt, he let his eyes rest on the female that sat kneeled before his son. Tears rolled from her face, Ly could only look back, knowing that this was the end. Her end. 

“Elendar!” Breghen raised his voice, his eyes locked with his father.

“Remember that this …” while swinging his sword over the field, over the dead.

“Is all your doing. This … is your punishment.”

And with a growl the boy planted his sword right under the female's ribs. Ly could only scream when the electrified blade entered her body, feeling how the pain shot through her body like thunder had struck her.

“NOOOOO!!!” Elendar’s shout filled the forest. Birds flew away at his scream, only to leave silence behind.

“Excellent …” Irae’Lin grinned. “Pick him up.” And on her command, Elendar was lifted up from the ground, who could only stare at the barely breathing body of the woman he loved. Knowing that she would die at the hands of his own son.

Breghen looked down on the female, seeing how she desperately pressed her hand at the wound at her side. A futile attempt, he thought, for she would bleed to her death at a slow rate. He learned where to strike to extend someone's death fight.

“She will suffer.” Ly could hear the boy say towards his sister, who had joined him to watch over her.

“As it should be …” Irea’Lin smiled, placing her hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“You did well, brother. Mother will be pleased. You have earned your keep and your right. Now, let her die, alone, surrounded by her dead family.”

Ly could only gasp for air, but each time she tried, it was like that sword was placed through her body again. She could feel her limbs turning colder, while she saw the Drow female turn around. Breghen hesitated for a second, his red eyes straying towards the dying female. He had expected to see hate in her eyes, but instead, he saw something else. The same look as his father had given him several times, a look he couldn’t place. And for a moment, guilt fell over his shoulders. 

“I’m sorry …” Ly whispered, coughing some blood in the process. “For your suffering.”

She tried to reach out to him, raising her hand. Breghen wanted to grab it, hold her, but when his eyes flickered towards his sister, who was looking at him with wary eyes, he snarled, flicking of the blood from his blade and placed it back into its shaft. 

“Deceit.” He whispered before he broke his stare to the dying female and walked away from her.

“Come brother, we must hurry, for the great ball of fire will rise soon.”

Ly could hear them walk away, their steps fading into the last of the night. Minute by minute, she could feel her body fade, turning colder. She had no idea how long she had laid there until the sound of footsteps reached her ears again. With her last force, she opened her eyes, to see that the sun had started to rise above the horizon. And within its first light, she saw a figure walking between the corpses. A figure that filled her heart with joy for the very last time.

“Fae …”