Heirot

Vlad's relaxed senses punched to life as he felt Tenele go slack next to him. He teleported to the ground under her, catching her weight while the horse stumbled and spooked. He pulled Tenele in close to his chest and stared warily into the trees around them. It wasn't until he spotted a feathered tip protruding from his forearm that he realized he'd been shot too. He stood up only to be quilled with more darts. When he attempted to teleport, nothing happened.

Elves and their weird magics.

He rolled his eyes and sat down next to Tenele. "Oh no. Help. I can't move," he declared lazily.

The elves crept up to them slowly, emerging from large mounds of snow, descending from the trees, or coming out from behind the trunks. They circled around them, covered in furs and leathers. One proceeded to poke Vlad repeatedly. Another stooped and grabbed Tenele, throwing her over his shoulder. One elf pulled manacles from his belt and knelt next to Vlad, grabbing his wrists to chain them together. The manacles had a magic seal scribed in the metal.

Vlad closed his eyes while the slender hands fastened manacles over his arms. He was definitely feeling something from the darts, but it was closer to giddiness than exhaustion. Great, he was high off elfen magic. He creaked an eye open as the lithe figures attempted to get him lifted up. He was a bit heavier in comparison to their size.

One of the others caught him peeking. "Athraka!" he whispered harshly. Vlad was swiftly dropped back to the ground.

"Athraka," murmured the others. The elf who had been trying to lift him up pulled a spear from the harness on his back and lifted it up to strike him through the heart.

Vlad caught on to their decision just in time to roll sideways. The spear dove deep into the earth where he'd just been lying. "Hey now! GOOD Athraka!"

"Ith saekha ha nor lante Athraka," one of them commanded. The elf reached into his pouch for another dart, this one with a different color feather, and loaded it into a straw shooter. Vlad felt a prick at the base of his neck, and then all was dark.

* * * *

Hours later, Ilthe stepped out of the hut. She went to the edge of the wooden platform the structure was built upon and held her long, slender arms out over the edge as she wrung out the wet cloth she was carrying. The water fell down and down and down, to the dense understory far below the platform.

"Ilthe! Is the leyap awake yet?"

"The spell-fever has broken. She will wake soon," the silver-haired elf smiled as the younger male ran across the thin rope bridge as gracefully as if he were running on air. He jumped the last few feet to the platform and bounded up to Ilthe. "Can I see her?" He edged toward the hut.

"She is not a toy, Erom. She could be dangerous when she wakes."

"Is it true she was traveling with an Athraka?"

"It is. All the more reason for us to be wary."

"Where is he now?"

Ilthe ignored the boy's curiosity. At 14, he had a little bit too much curiosity for his own good. "Go to your studies, Erom. I need to fetch some more water."

"Yes Ilthe," he pined. With a swoosh of her arm, she levitated just off the ground and stepped over the edge of the platform, floating like a leaf toward the stream far below in the distance.

He leaned over the edge and watched her depart. When she was gone, he turned and snuck into the hut. It was dim and smelled of medicine as he entered. he waved a hand, and the sconces at the edges of the room lit with a soft golden glow. In the center of the room was a huge tree - the foundation of the entire platform around him. He walked slowly around it to see the figure on the opposite side of the room. The leyap was lying on a strawmat against the back wall. He hesitated, staring at her alien features. He'd come in casually, but seeing her made him realize how real and dangerous this was. He backtracked toward the door, dread building in his stomach. He was so intent on his retreat that he didn't notice the medicine pot sitting out on the floor. He tripped over it noisily and fell backwards in a tangle of long limbs.

Tenele shot up-right with a gasp, scurrying until her back touched the wall. She blinked her eyes, but her vision was blurry and warped at best. She made out the orange glow of fire, and brown wood, and a figure. Tenele clenched her eyes and opened them again, trying to get her vision to clear, but it was like seeing through the bottom of a bottle.

"Whose there?" she asked, waving her hands in front of her to judge distance. "Where am I?"

Tenele felt her side for her boot for her dagger, but it was missing, along with her pack and her mother's sword. She huffed, feeling along the straw cot for anything she could use as a weapon.

Erom scurried backward, shocked by the sudden movement. He yelped as his back came up against a barrier at the open gate of the hut. Ilthe must have placed a bind enchantment on the room. Which meant neither he nor the leyap were going anywhere until she returned. He held his breath and huddled back into the shadow of the edge of the room. A swipe of his hand put out both sconces, leaving them in relative darkness. He'd heard leyaps weren't good at darksight. Perhaps she wouldn't be able to find him in the dim light that tricked in from the forest outside.

The lights went out. Fear coursed through Tenele. She tried to scoot even further back, but couldn't go any farther than she already head. She worked to calm her breathing, to think rationally. The only problem with that was she had no idea where she was, or who was with her.

A terrible thought came to her, a frightening thought that made her want to run screaming from the room if she could. Tenele clamored to her feet, feeling around her to try and find a door. She tripped over a pot, sprawling across the floor.

"Shit," she cursed, gathering herself to stand again. "If that's you Verin you can stop playing these stupid games! I don't know what you want from me, but leave me the hell alone!" She spun around. "Where's Vlad? Where's my husband?" Tenele hated the dark. "When I get my hands on you..."

Erom swallowed hard and crushed himself into the wall as the leyap started shouting. She didn't seem very coordinated, but from what he'd heard, all leyaps were like that. They were still dangerous. And while he couldn't understand a word she was saying, he'd distinctly heard the word "Verin". This name was known, even in their tongue.

He froze, shivering as she came very close to him. Could she see him? He held as still as he could until she came within inches of him. Then he bolted for the opposite side of the hut, his light footsteps thumping across the wood floor. He jumped up onto the cot where she'd been sleeping and did much the same thing she had, fumbling through the drawer next to the cot for some kind of weapon. Boys were not permitted to have their own weapons until they were 16, and he hadn't come of age yet. "Stay back, leyap!" he tried to roar at the woman. The tone came out shakier than desired, but he hoped it would serve its purpose.

Tenele tried to follow the sounds of his feet. That voice didn't sound like Verin... definitely didn't sound like him. That language. She didn't understand a word. He sounded very young.

"Who are you?" she asked him, retracing her steps. She felt her foot along the floor, her toes nudging the pot. "Please, turn on a light for Thar's sake."

Tenele thought it was useless to wander around a dark room, so she felt her away over to the cot and plopped down on the edge, unaware of the boys presence on it. She wrapped her arms about herself, leaning forward to rest against her legs. "If you're there could you at least tell me where I am?"

More importantly, where was Vlad? Was he okay? If she was with elves... would they hurt him? For that matter, would they hurt her?

The boy crept back against the wall as she sat down in front of him, holding very still. He listened hard to her words, but the only word he recognized was "Thar." He tilted his head at her, trying to imagine which of the leyap gods she worshiped. Both seemed to make her angry. Then again, she didn't seem so dangerous, now that she'd stopped thrashing about. He cleared his throat. "Peerikh", he attempted quietly. "Il sek theene?"

Tenele stiffened, the voice coming from behind her. "I'm sorry, I don't understand," she replied softly. She felt the hairs on the back her neck stand up. She didn't like not know what was behind her, whether it was demon or a boy. She remembered the child from the Outerlands that transformed into a terrible beast during the battle for the captial...

Now that she thought back to it, she remembered what the beast had said, "Keep the pretty safe for master." Had Verin been stalking her even then? It churned her stomach. If what her father said was true... Tenele shook her head. "Please turn on the light," she asked, not sure if he would understand her, since she wasn't having much luck understanding him.

She glanced over her shoulder to where the voice had come from, still unable to see him. "I don't like the dark."

The boy watched her curiously, observing the way she seemed to be speaking to someone just off to his right. She couldn't see. The realization gave him a bit more confidence. Feeling a bit bolder, he scurried off the cot and went to stand next to the tree trunk in the center of the circular room. He reached out and the lights rose again. He studied her bright green eyes with fascination, staring rather rudely from the center of the room.

Tenele watched the boy curiously. "Hello," she greeted him, tilting her head. Now that she could see, she felt much more rational. Her vision had cleared as well. It only appeared blurry around the edges. She tapped her chest. "I'm Tenele. Tenele," she told him with a pretty smile.

Tenele glanced behind him, noticing the door.

She sighed, putting her head in her hands. "I'd ask you where I was, where Vlad was, but you wouldn't understand a word I was saying... Is there anyone who speaks basic? Can you fetch someone who speaks basic? My language? Do you even understand that? Probably not. I'm rambling."

The boy grinned a little, apparently fascinated by her language but understanding none of it. "Tenele," he confirmed. "Tenele."

He was interrupted by a sharp, yet silvery woman's voice from the doorway. "Erom! Get out of there, you foolish boy!" Ilthe commanded. Her words weren't in Common, but Tenele still understood them for some reason.

A flicker of magic surround the door. Ilthe entered the hut and scooped the boy up by the back of his shirt, like he was some kind of wayward kitten. She shoved him outside and ordered him away. He pressed back in. "Please, I've never talked to a leyap!" Now his words were beginning to make sense too.

"And you never want to. Go fetch Tirius."

"You fetch Tirius," he said, crossing his arms.

Now that Tenele could understand what was being said, she jumped up from her seat on the cot. Who was Tirius? She was growing increasingly frustrated with not know what the hell was going on. "Tirius?" Tenele asked. "What is a leyap? Look, I don't know if we gave you the wrong impression, but my husband and I simply came here for guidance on a matter involving family history... If we all just sit down and talk about it, I'm sure you can see that I mean you absolutely no harm. I just want to know how to save me brother, that's all."

Tenele crept around the trunk of the tree towards the woman at the door. She gave a heavy sigh. "Will you please tell me where my husband is? Did he escape?" Tenele felt at her neck where the dart had pricked her skin. Could those have had the same affect on him? If it had, what would these elves have done to a vampire if they were already so frightened of her? Tenele swallowed, feeling her heart flutter with a nervousness that made her head swoon. "Is he alive?"

Ilthe took a step back toward the doorway as Tenele approached her. "You name that Athraka as your husband?" she murmured in horror.