The wind rustled through the leaves as Silvea strode back through the forest, wiping her scythe on her cloak. It had been a long night; there had been more of them than usual-they had taken a long time to haul to the river. Pushing back her hood, she shook out her navy hair as she reached the tree. Puling out her knife, she drew the intricate symbol upon the bark, and splashed some blood on it, waiting for the way to open. With a great creak, the wood drew back to reveal the inside.

Silvea dumped her cloak in the corner, never having been one for tidiness, and dragged herself downstairs, lights coming on as she went deeper into her underground home. As she reached the bottom, she only just managed to stagger into her armchair before she collapsed from the lack of magic. She had been stupid, wanted to show off to nobody, and decided to channel it into her weapons, but that had drained her to the point of exhaustion.

“Idiot, idiot.” She muttered to herself, head nodding as she sat there. She didn’t want to sleep, she had more important things to do, but as the waves of drowsiness overtook her, her mind began to slip back to her past…


Silvea Thrayew had never had the life she should have had. As long as she could remember she had been shunned from every society, all because of one simple fact- she had been born with blood red eyes. The Graesta had made a prophecy, before any who lived remembered, that the child born with the eyes filled with blood would bring down all Hieltari. As soon as her mother saw her, she had ran from the hospital screaming, leaving Silvea's father to raise her alone. He had always said that he never had any regrets, but Silvea had caught him crying over an old photo album before.

She had never had any such thing as friends-she had never had the opportunity. Her father had kept her in their house, high up in the mountain and away from prying eyes and abusive voices. When she was young she had hated her father for it, and went to the length of running away to the villages below. But as soon as she got there, people had started screaming and running away from her, and men had come towards her holding weapons shining with Hielik, their faces twisted with anger. Terrified, she had turned and ran, all the way back up the mountain, bursting into the cave and falling into her fathers arms sobbing. It was only then that he told her what she was-what she was meant to do.

She had grown older, and when she came of age at 13 years her father had taken her through the portal, to the human world into one of their forests. He had left her a knife and his scythe, the spellbook she had so detested as a child and a basket of seeds.
“My child,” he had said, kneeling down in front of her “There are people out there who want to hurt you. They will happily kill you if they get the chance. If you stay here for a while, you can train yourself, defend yourself for now. As long as you stay out of sight and keep up your training, you will be alright. But I can no longer stay by your side, Silvea- Its too dangerous, for both of us.”
“Papa” she had cried, “How am I meant to train without you? Where will I find my motivation? You know I will never train my Hielik…”
He had taken her shoulders firmly then, looking straight at her. “Silvea, listen to me. I don’t care if you make yourself train day and night, to the point where you collapse from exhaustion- you must carry on. You are unique, my child-many will want you to do horrific things to you, thing you could not even imagine. But for some, you are the last hope out corrupt world has, so for me-keep on living.”

With that, he had disappeared into the trees. Silvea hadn’t tried to follow him- he was the one who taught her the art of stealth, she would never find him. She had set about making her home in the largest tree she could find, carving deep into the inside with Hielik, planting seeds around to make her own food. She had trained hard, as her father had told her, learning the art of controlling the wind- she wasn’t very good at it, but time improved on her. But there was one instruction she had not stuck to, which had lead to what she had become today.

Memories blurred together, creating a pattern dancing across her eyes as she slept through the night…


Light streamed in through the hole in the ceiling, straight onto Silvea's sleeping face.
“Aaaaargh…” she groaned, rolling out of the way. She was still feeling the strain of yesterday, and was in no mood to be getting up. Even so, she was hungry, so, dragging herself out of the moss-covered armchair and half crawling to the stairs. She looked up them with disgust.
“Stupid stairs…set on making my life miserable…”
Pulling herself upright, she stretched out her aching limbs, sending white sparks flying from her fingers, threatening to set her home alight. Quickly withdrawing them, she took her knife from her pocket and headed up.

Three years had passed since she had been left to fend for herself, and they had certainly not been wasted. She was undeniably more skilled with her scythe than before, having a passion for combat. Her Hielik improvement was not so obvious, but there.

Shoving open the door of her tree, Silvea almost fell back down the stairs with the full force of the sunshine hitting her. Cursing loudly, she picked up the bucket from the low hanging branch above her and made her way to the river. She had always much preferred the winter, when she could evade the blinding sunlight and rejoice in the fact that she never felt the cold. The summer never turned out well for her.

As she arrived at the river, she recoiled- it had appeared that in her exhaustion, she had forgotten to cut the raft with all the bodies on it loose last night. They remained piled on the river, the smell getting worse as she approached. Yanking out her knife, she sliced through it in one smooth movement, sending the corpses floating down the river. Gathering in her power, she clumsily rushed the air across the water, speeding the raft slightly- she wouldn’t want the humans to miss them for too long. She had been doing this for years-they would come to kill her, she killed them, she piled them onto the river and sent them back down to the village. She had originally done it as a warning for them to leave her alone, but as they continued to came for her she had begun to do it out of pity-even if they were prepared to murder her, their families deserved to have them to mourn before they burned them, or whatever humans did as a funeral ritual. She really should feel guilty, but to be honest, she had stopped caring long ago-even if it was her fault in the first place…

She had been a curious child, and wanting to avoid training had run to the edge of the forest, searching eagerly for a human. She had never seen one before, and wanted to compare them to her father’s description.
A human had run by, laughing at the bird it pursued. She had watched it intently, staying in the shadows. It was very simple, hair a boring shade of brown, eyes a plain greyish colour. Its ears were stubby, not long like hers, and all its teeth seemed to be the same size. This intrigued her-how on earth was it supposed to defend itself without its incisors even slightly sharpened? It also seemed somewhat pointless in its antics- it wasn’t going to catch the bird with no kind of weapon, so there was hardly any point in trying…

Suddenly, the child had swerved in its pursuit of its prey, right into her path. It froze, letting the bird fly free into the sky. They had both stayed like that for a while, gaze locked on each other. Then Silvea had smiled, and had stepped forward into the light. Her pointed teeth glinted, and her pupils contracted to slits in her crimson irises. The child had run screaming, and she had retreated back to the shadows, frustrated-she had thought that the humans may be a little more open minded than her kind, but no-it seemed that they disliked those who were different as well.

That night, men with torches and blades had come for her, yelling into the pitch black. She had seen them coming from the top of her tree, and all the memories of her first time out of her home came flooding back to her. Terrified, she jumped from the tree and ran-there was no chance of surviving in the tree, they had already seen her. Scythe in hand, she had streaked through the forest, the hot breath of the men close on her heels, she was just gaining on them, when she cam to a sudden stop. Why should she fear them? She was and elf, they ere mere humans. She was meant to bring down a world. She was her father’s daughter. She was Silvea.

She turned on them as they approached her, and they stopped in their tracks in astonishment and terror. The being before them was of human form, but was clearly anything but. The red in her eyes blazed, her teeth were bared in a feral snarl, and as she burned with a white light, she rose above the ground, an angel of death with a scythe in her hand.

She could never remember exactly what had happened after that, but all she knew was that after a few minutes she was left with corpses piled at her feet. She had collapsed, and awoken next morning confused and distraught, but with a new flame in her heart. She had made her choice.

Flicking back her messy tangle of hair as if to brush away her nostalgic mood, she scooped up some water into the bucket and dumped it beside the river, walking back to the fringe of trees to yank up some dry reeds. Putting them in the circle of stones, she grabbed the two pieces of flint by them and struck them together, starting a small fire. Placing the pot on the precariously balanced stand above the flames, she left the water to clean while she made a new raft. Winding some reeds together, she lined up the logs she had cut down to make herself this clearing-she was always careful never to make them larger than necessary. Rolling the logs into place, she hesitated. She had read something about levitation in her spellbook- it was just a matter of concentration. Now was as good a time as any to try it out-she may be supposed to start on lighter objects, but what the hell?

Closing her eyes, Silvea tried to block out all of the surrounding noises, focusing on the log before her. Hand extended, she tightened her focus, and, channelling all of her Hielik towards it…

There was a splash, and Silvea snapped open her eyes to see the log had simply rolled into the river and was in imminent danger of disappearing. Cursing loudly, she rushed to retrieve it- wasting was idiotic and disrespectful, and she had learnt early in life that it can cost you dearly. Pulling the reeds extra tight, she left it to get her water, which was now fully boiled. Wandering back, she mused on what she would do after this. She was in no mood to go and make more rafts or stay inside studying, and her exertions from last night had left her too weak to attempt practising magic or training, even through she didn’t feel tired enough to sleep. Silvea always seemed to have something to do, but for now she was at a loss.

Dumping the water just inside of her tree, she sealed it and hesitated. She then began to scale the outside of her tree- it wasn’t simple, but she had been doing it for two years, she knew all the hidden footholds and which branches would support her weight. Reaching the top, she perched of the swaying branches and looked out, far down to the village below. She couldn’t see the raft on the river, so she was assuming the bodies had reached the humans…she scanned the landscape briefly, in case there were any more coming for her-unlikely, as she would have heard them, but just in case. As she thought, there was no one there. Left with nothing to do, Silvea considered exercising her tree hopping skill. She had tried at a few weeks ago, and had found that it was thrilling and fun. It was basically jumping from tree to tree, easy where she lived where the trees were denser, but further out you would really have to leap to avoid a nasty fall. Even so, Silvea had always been on bit on the reckless side- a necessity when any day could be your last, and you needed ingenuity to escape a bad situation. Anyway, what did she have to lose? She healed fast, and even if worst came to worst and she did die, she would not be missed-hell, the event would be rejoiced upon by all of Hieltaria.

Bending her legs, she imagined the springs coiling in her legs, visualising her flight from one tree to the next, nimble and smooth. She broke into a smile, snapping out of her trance like state- she was becoming vain of her own abilities. It didn’t matter what it looked like, it mattered whether it was effective or not. On that note, she released the coils in her legs and sprung to the next tree, landing deftly with only a slight wobble. She continued, going further than she ever had before, finding herself laughing as the wind whipped through her hair and she almost fell off the treetops. As stupid as it was, it felt unbelievably good to let go and do something insignificant for a change.

As she approached the outskirts, the trees became more widely spread, and Silvea found herself breaking a sweat with the effort of her newfound game. She soon found herself in a tree, with nowhere to go but back or down. Looking forward, Silvea swore- she was right at the edge of the village, closer than she had ever been. She felt distinctly uneasy, and began to turn away to jump back., but faintly she heard a noise coming from the house closest to her, and ducking down, she watched and listened intently.

“…selfish, don’t you ever think of other people?”
“Of course I do, I do it all the time by letting all the things you’ve said to me slide, you’re the ones being insensitive!”
“How dare you! After all we’ve done for you…look, you’ve made your mother cry! Come here!”
There was a loud slapping sound, and the sound of sobbing intensified
“You bastard! That’s child abuse! You don’t even care about you own daughter, just because I didn’t turn out how you wanted!”
“You do nothing but try to upset everyone you meet, and complicate everyone else’s life to make yours more convenient! You are a little bitch, nothing but a burden!”
“Fine! If you hate me so much, then I’ll leave! I can’t stand any of you, not you, not mum, not grandma, not anyone in this whole godforsaken village, the whole lot of you can go straight to hell!”

After this speech, a door burst open and a human girl ran out, swinging on a large backpack as she went. An older woman, presumably her mother, staggered after her, screaming nonsense hysterically before she collapsed to her knees. Silvea watched with amusement- humans could be so overly dramatic sometimes. Then she realised that the human girl was running towards the forest, and she quickly doubled back. As she jumped, she had to take extra care to be as silent as possible-humans were partially deaf, but they could hear leaves rustling well enough, and the wind had dropped to less than a whisper. This slower her down, and kept her in line with the human, who was uncommonly fast for her kind.

She kept on running, not slowing although her gasping breaths were loud enough for even a human to hear from far away. Silvea continued on her path above her, and found herself deliberately keeping step with this child. As much as she hated it, she was curious of this child- she was more rebellious than any she had ever seen before, and instead of decapitating the man who had thrown the cruel words at her, she had simply retorted with something better, which had actually seemed to hurt him more- but how could that be? Her mind confused, she failed to notice the being below her collapsing against the base of a tree. Doubling back, she considered going down and killing her- that’s what everyone who came into this forest wanted to do to her, anyway. But she posed no threat- she appeared to be crying, but almost silently. Silvea remained where she was, observing her. Now that she had stopped, she had a better view of the girl, and what she saw surprised her. Although the top of her hair was a dark brown, the uneven tips of it were a bright green, slowly receding in colour as the hair crept back to its roots. She wore a long deep purple top that appeared to be ripped short at the bottom, exposing black material clinging to her leg above halfway down her thigh. After that, black shoes hung from her feet, muddy from the run. As the child looked up and wiped her eyes, Silvea saw that they were a startling shade of green, hard and deep set. She was unlike other humans that she had come across-not angry, but determined, vulnerable, but confident. It was fascinating to Silvea, so fascinating that she stayed to watch her pace up and down in the small space between two trees, muttering to herself. Various profanities were interspersed in what seemed to be ranting about her family- apparently they didn’t treat her well, acted like she wasn’t a person, an individual with feelings…some girl called Suki could do something to herself which sounded very undignified, and all her teachers were idiots…she was going to be fine, this was a good thing, she would never go back, never go back to that living hell…

Silvea watched and listened as the girl sank down at the tree stump, still muttering to herself as her eyes closed once again, although Silvea could tell that she wasn’t asleep. The sun had well and truly disappeared now, and the moon was high in the sky. A thought stirred in the back of her mind that she should get home, she had had a rough day before and needed her sleep, but her curiosity of the strange girl below her compelled her to stay. Settling on the branch and loosening her knife from its pouch on her belt, she trained her eyes on the human and began her self-imposed night’s watch.


The sun shined down on her skin…why was it being so cruel to her? Groaning, Silvea rolled to the side out of its rays.
Except that there was nothing to roll onto.

“Ah!” she cried as she fell out of her tree, landing on the leaves at the base. As a mountain elf, she had exceptionally strong bones, so all she gained was a few bruises. But she had caused something much, much worse.

The human girl, who had apparently been sleeping, had jerked upright and was staring straight at the strange girl who had just fallen out of the tree in front of her. They both stayed like that, paralysed by surprise and fright, before Silvea jumped up, pulling out her knife.

“You idiot! Why couldn’t you just stay sleeping?” she snarled. “Now I’ll have to kill you!”

The human had scrambled up, and was backed against the tree she had been sleeping against. “Wait! What have I even done to you? There’s no reason for you to kill me!”

Silvea’s face usually broke into a smile when people began to beg for her to spare them, as the humour that they had come to kill her and expected her to spare them in return was always too much for her. But this girl…she was making a point, she hadn’t done anything…but no! No she couldn’t think like that! The village humans could have sent her to spy, and Silvea couldn’t risk that. She moved forward, eyes locked on her victim’s throat. And then she made the fatal mistake.

She looked up into the girl’s eyes.

And what she saw wasn’t fear. It wasn’t even acceptance of death.

It was determination. A determination to keep living, and to fight to the end. To never give up.

This girl was a fighter. And Silvea respected that. It was also the barrier from bringing herself to end the girls life.

“Dammit!” yelled Silvea as she tossed the knife to the side. The girl relaxed- just as Silvea ran forward and whacked her over the head with the edge of her hand, knocking the girl out and effectively giving Silvea some thinking time.

She could drag her back to her home, and hope that no one would believe what she said. Or better yet, that she wouldn’t remember any of this at all. But the chances of that were slim now that the village was periodically hunting her, and thinking of the home Silvea had seen the girl flee…she wouldn’t wish it on anyone to be taken back to that. She had already made the decision not to kill her, so that left her with one option that she could see…and that was keeping the girl with here. Even in her head the idea seemed ludicrous, but as she thought over it, it may be helpful to get things done, and although she would never admit it, the company would be nice.

Sighing, Silvea picked the girl up and swung her over her shoulder, keeping a firm grip on her back in case the girl woke and began to struggle. She bent down to pick up the girls bag, but as it almost threw her off balance she decided to come back for them- if she ran she could do it in a few minutes. However, with a human on her back, she was forced to walk, if briskly. Although the girl had come a fair distance, they were still nowhere near the centre of the forest where her tree was, so the walk was a long one, leaving Silvea to consider her decision to keep the human. The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. She had taken very little time studying humans, and therefore her knowledge was lacking; she didn’t know how they aged, what they ate, their abilities, she didn’t even know if they could survive alone, as they had always been in packs when she saw them, or at least with their family. Even so, there was no other way to ensure Silvea’s safety without spilling the girls blood, and that was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment.

Finally she reached her tree, towering above her majestically. Silvea paused, listening for any wild animals that may take a fancy to the girl. She sensed a wolf a few miles away eaters. Satisfied, Silvea dumped the girl at the base of the tree-she wasn’t just going to let the girl in without her being present-and took off at a sprint, still not happy about leaving a stranger at her tree.

She reached the girls possessions in less than a minute, and spent half that time dumping it back in the black backpack the girl had brought. She then sprinted back to the tree, slightly slower now, but still got there before the girl woke up.

Panting, she searched in her pocket, but was dismayed to find that she had forgotten to bring a bottle of blood with her for her entry. Silvea sighed-she hated it when she had to do this. Pulling out her dagger, she made a quick slice across her forearm, releasing a heavy flow of blood. Dabbing at it, she drew the symbol and the way opened. Ripping off some fabric from the bottom of her top, wrapped it around the wound to staunch the flow for the time being. Now irritated, she yanked the girl onto her shoulder, bashing her shoulder of the top of the doorway. Stamping down the stairs, the way closed behind her as she fumed. This really was the worst day possible.

Her anger brought her down the stairs into her home, and she put the girl none too gently one the bed and the girls bag at her feet. Plopping down on her armchair, Silvea pulled off the now sodden bandages to reveal the ugly wound beneath it. Muttering a few words, she passed her hand over it, emitting a dim green light before the cut closed up, leaving nothing but an harsh red line to show that it was ever there.

Silvea leaned back, exhaling deeply. Feeling sorry for herself wasn’t going to get her anywhere-she needed to calm down. Getting up, she went to the fire to cook the rabbit she had skinned earlier. The girl would no doubt need something to eat when she woke, and Silvea, having not eaten the day before except for a few herbs she had brought with her, was beginning to get hungry anyway. The task filled her mind as she concentrated on not burning the meal, distracting her from her current situation.

As she was bringing the animal off the spit, she heard movement behind her. Placing the meal to the side, Silvea approached the bed, checking that she still had her dagger hidden up her sleeve. If worst came to worst she could use magic to destroy the girl, but she didn’t like the risk of blowing her house up.

As the girl’s eyes opened, she was confused. She had ran away from home, hadn’t she? And then been confronted with a weird girl with red eyes, who had been threatening to kill her…but then why was she in a bed?

As her vision stopped blurring, she looked up to a smooth wooden roof, and the smell of cooked meat filled her nose. Where on earth was she? And then she looked to the side, and saw the weird girl from before, staring at her with distrust. She noticed that her pupils were slit and her nose was quite flat, giving her a somewhat catlike appearance. Her ears were also pointy, just visible under a mass of black hair. The girl recoiled-what kind of person was this.

Silvea opened her mouth, displaying her sharp incisors. “Who are you?”

The girl didn’t answer for a moment, and then replied “Marnie.”

Silvea cocked her head, not understanding. “Is that a sub-species of your race, a clan name or a personal name?”

“Where the hell do you come from? Its my name, that’s all.”

“Then what’s your second name?” asked Silvea, ignoring the human’s question.

The girl called Marnie’s eyes hardened. “I don’t have one.”

Silvea sighed. This human didn’t seem to be a cooperative one, but didn’t seem to be violent-just stubborn. This could get intensely annoying if it continued. An explanation may help things a bit.

“Look, you came into my forest uninvited, and decided to stay there. I won’t kill you because you don’t seem to be a threat to me, but I can’t let you go back to tell the villagers about me, therefore I’m going to keep you here in my forest to do things for me, run errands and whatnot.”

The girl seemed to calm down a bit, but still had a steely look in her eye. “I would never go back to that hellhole of a village. Can’t you just let me stay in the forest on my own terms?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“What’s to stop you from running back when I’m not looking, or sending a message that I won’t notice? I need to keep an eye on you from now on. I’m not happy about it either, but there’s no other choice.”

The girl slumped against the wall, looking resigned but still determined. “Then what’s your name?”

She considered, the resolved that there was no harm in telling her. “Silvea.”

Marnie smirked. “Second name?”

Silvea couldn’t help cracking a smile. “I have one, but I’m not going to tell you that. Are you hungry?”

Marnie perked up ay that. “I am, actually…haven’t eaten since yesterday.” Silvea got up and went to the fire, picking up the rabbits and putting them on the table in the centre of the large room. Marnie hesitantly got up and made her way to the table, not taking her eyes off the stranger before her. Sniffing the meal suspiciously, she waited for Silvea to take a bite before eating herself. They ate in silence, both still unsure of the other.

The human broke the silence. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but…what exactly are you? Have you had some weird plastic surgery, or are you…something else?”

Silvea contemplated, and then answered in a monotone. “I am a Hieltarian in my heart, but have never been considered so. For my appearance, I am cast from my people, and am now a nomad. In other words, I am from nowhere.” She paused. “I believe humans would call me an elf.”

Marnie stared at her, digesting what she had just heard. She had a look of doubt mixed with awe. “So then…there are more of you? As in, elves…or what you just called yourself.”

Silvea stiffened. “Please do not refer to me as part of my kind. As I said, I am a nomad. But to answer your question, yes, there are more.”

“But then, where are they? No offence, but I think that I would notice if someone looking like you walked through the street. Are you all hidden somewhere? Or do you disguise yourself when you’re with us?”

Silvea wrinkled her nose. This girl asked too many questions for her liking. Although she had thought before that she would like the company, she had become so accustomed to solitude that she generally talked little. She wondered if all humans were like this.

“A Hieltarian would consider a human far beneath them, and would never enter your cities or mingle with you. We live in another place, but I shall not tell you where that is. It’s not going to contribute to my already instable safety.”

“Instable safety? Are you a runaway, then?”

The elf stood up, tired of these questions. Grabbing a rag from the side and dipping it in water, she said “You should sleep. You have had a long day, and you need to sleep off your injury.”

“What? Oh, yeah, my head.” Marnie winced as she touched the tender flesh. “Why’d you hit me in the first place? I would have come with you without you having to beat me up!”

Without turning, Silvea answered “I needed time to think without you jabbering on, and I am more comfortable with you not knowing exactly where you are. Sleep.”

Marnie opened her mouth to retaliate, and then thought better of it-she was feeling a bit drowsy, anyway. Going to the bed in the corner, she now saw that the duvet was a patchwork quilt that appeared to be made of different grasses. She was far from finished with her questions, but sensed the elf’s growing angst. Lying down, her eyes were just shutting when she saw some sparks com out of Silvea’s fingers, and the table was wiped clean before her.

“What…?” she murmured, but sleep overtook her before she could say another word.

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Publication Date: 06-20-2011

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