Abandoned (Born From Shadows #2)

Riley slowed Ida, jumping off the horse just before entering Sylfin. “Stay here,” Vivian said and then ran ahead into the town. Riley stretched out his muscles that were sore from the days ride. No one had spotted them, but still his eyes glanced around through the large circling trees.

A groan caused him to turn back towards Ida. Freya had slept through the entire trip and only now had waken up from her deep slumber. “What?” she murmured. “When did I get on Ida?”

“Freya, you are never taking anything again from Vivian,” he immediately warned her.

“What do you mean?” she asked groggily.

“Gods, you don’t remember anything do you?” he wondered, looking at his sister who looked like she was about to fall off the black horse.

“Um…no,” she replied. Freya looked around. “Where are we?”

“Outside Sylfin,” he answered.

“What are we doing-Vivian?” she cut herself off, looking at the approaching Elf.

Vivian stood there beaming confidence despite being the shortest in the group. Her brown wavy hair was cut to her shoulders, her skin darker than most, but her eyes were the part that stood out the most, a shocking purple colour. “News hasn’t reached here yet so you don’t have to sneak in,” she announced.

“News about what?” Freya asked.

“Queen’s dead, the King wants all humans to die,” Riley briefly explained.

“Wait…the Queen, what about Tatianna?” Freya was confused, and Riley did not want to deal with it. She should have never taken the herbs.

“Sunshine, I’ll explain everything later,” Vivian said and Freya blushed.

Riley on the other hand rolled his eyes. “Let’s go,” he said and grabbed onto Ida’s reins, leaning the horse into the town.

“Your brother is so grumpy,” Vivian told Freya.

“I can hear you,” he commented.

“Duh,” replied Vivian. “Kayter’s place is over there. I don’t think he is home though so we have to break in. Although no one locks doors here so that should be easy.”

“Why don’t people lock doors?” Freya asked with a yawn.

“Stealing just isn’t a thing, also most Elf’s know how to use magic to unlock the doors so no point,” explained Vivian with a shrug.

Riley tied up Ida outside the familiar home. He hadn’t been here since they first came to Lyracris. This was where he discovered that he would be permanently crippled for life. Not the best of memories for him.

“I am so tired, I might go to bed,” Freya said as he opened the door revealing the small home that was overrun with vines, walls made mostly out of tree trunks. Elven architecture was so foreign to him even still after living with them for months.

“Can I join you Sunshine?” Vivian asked.

“No,” he answered for his sister.

“I asked Freya,” Vivian countered. Riley glared at his sister as if daring her to say yes.

“I really need to sleep, next time Vivian,” Freya said and walked into the next room where there was a bed.

“I’m going to the markets,” he said deciding it was best to get supplies now before he couldn’t even show his face.

“Ooh can I come, I love shopping,” Vivian exclaimed.

“No, watch Freya,” he said, he really just wanted to be left alone for a while. Being social was never a strong quality of his.

“If you insist, although I…” her voice drifted off, catching his attention. “I can hear something…”

“What?” he asked.

Birds began to chirp in a synchronised pattern. Sirens to blare a warning across the entire kingdom, echoing from one city to the next. It was so loud the Riley wanted to cover his ears, Freya stumbled into the main room unable to sleep with the whistle.

Riley looked towards Vivian for answers but the Elf had gone pale. “We are under attack,” Vivian whispered.

“By who?” Freya questioned, as equally confused as he was.

“It sound’s like…humans,” she said and walked towards the window, Riley followed her and saw a bunch of people moving through the forest holding a variety of weapons, all of Kaddeian steel.

Riley grabbed his sword and Vivian pulled out two small knives from her boots. They all watched the human run with a war cry into the town. Then they watched as they fell one by one. Most dying with a single blade touching them, magic.

However a few managed to get close to the Elf’s, their weapon skills no match to the Elf’s that have decades more training. But there were so many humans.

One cheered as they managed to decapitate the head of an Elf, and instead of continuing the fight that human ran back into the woods, holding up the head like it was a trophy.

“Bitch,” Vivian swore than opened the house door, wanting to go out and fight.

“Wait,” Riley said but she was already gone defending her kind. This caught the attention of a couple of passing humans, they ran towards Kayter’s home. Riley readied his sword and then metal struck metal leaving a ringing through the air.

Immediately Riley could tell they weren’t trained in combat, but they were fighting with ferocity that caught him off-guard. Riley parried the attacks, eventually disarming the human. He didn’t go for the killing strike and just looked at the person, they looked no older than himself.

“Your human,” the human said in shock as if only just noticing.

“What are you doing here?” Riley demanded. However before he got an answer the human fell to the ground. Riley looked and saw a knife in their back. Looking up Riley saw a random Elf standing there, looking at the kill he just made.

Riley then scanned the village, eyes stuck upon a young boy carrying a sword that was bigger than himself trying his best to kill an Elf. What had the world come to? Riley questioned, closing his eyes just before the boy’s stomach was sliced.

The battle didn’t last long and Riley stared at the bodies scattered through the roads. If they weren’t at war before. They were now. Riley stepped back into Kayter’s home, turning to his terrified sister. “This was it, wasn’t it?” she asked.

Riley nodded. “There’s no going back now.”

Vivian burst into the house gaining both of their attention. “We need to leave, now,” she demanded.

Riley walked out, helping his sister onto Ida before joining her on top of the horse. With a kick of his feet the horse ran back into Lyracris’s forest.