SS - Chapter 5 - Refugee Status

I slowly took in the refugees as they cowered in the little canyon alcove. Most of them had light colored hair, some even had pure white locks, green-blue eyes, and slightly pointed ears. “Half-Elves?” I mumbled under my breath. 

“What do you want? Why are you here?” the young woman with the makeshift spear demanded. My eyes wandered to her own, mismatched pair, one eye was a warm orange and the other a cool blue. We locked eyes for just a second before I let my vision drop to the weapon in her hands. It was obvious that she had some training, and skill, with a polearm, but she wasn’t going to be able to do much with that half rotten branch.

“I don’t want anything from you people, you’ve already done enough,” I sneered. “I don’t know what you did to make the Skylians follow you all the way out to the frontier, but due to your blind blundering the Skylians almost wandered into my village, and put my people at risk. My friend and I had to come out and take care of them before they came looking for us, or reported back.”

“You’re really not going to hurt us?” a tiny voice asked. I turned to find a young girl, who couldn’t be much older than five, peeking out from the huddled group. One of the elders quickly grabbed her and gently ushered her back behind the group.

“No,” I snapped, irritatedly. “What possible reason would I have to attack a bunch of unarmed refugees?”

“Maybe to eliminate the foul taint of our elvish blood,” the armed woman replied coolly. 

“That’s stupid,” I grumbled. “Who in their right mind cares about racial purity these days, it’s been nearly five hundred years since the last elvish war.”

“The Skylian Royal Family,” the woman spat. “When the old king died his son immediately called for a purge. They severed our connection to the stone, drove us from our homes, and after we left the kingdom’s borders they sent those thugs to kill us.”

“Well… I’m not as cruel, and stupid, as they are,” I huffed. “I left Iskel to get away from the constant blame passing, and incompetence, that are rife in the kingdoms.”

I glanced at the huddled group. Despite my best efforts to remain detached, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. “How did you even make it this far? Do you have supplies, tools?”

“We had to drop most of our supplies when the Skylians caught up with us, and our most experienced fighters took the tools, to use as makeshift weapons, in order to give the rest of us more time to escape,” one of the older women explained with a shaky voice.

 I let out a long sigh and brought one hand up to rub my forehead right above my scar. 

“I really need to go back out, and check on the situation outside. If you want to run, I’m not going to try and stop you, or chase you down,” I said. “But… if your connection really was severed, and you’re willing to take a chance, I might be able to get you a handful of supplies. At least enough to get you through the next few days. The choice is yours.”

A chorus of whispers broke out as I turned and jogged back towards the entrance to the entrance of the short canyon. “I’m too soft,” I muttered softly to myself.

Pausing at the edge of the rocky wall I cautiously peeked around the corner. It seemed like the fighting had ended, I could only hope that Camille came out ahead. As I pulled my head back I caught a flicker of movement in my peripheral vision. I instinctively stepped back, putting my back against the cold stone wall and my sword hand on the hilt of my sword before I recognized the person behind me.

“What are you doing?” I hissed at my new heterochromic friend. I had to give credit where credit was due, she managed to sneak right up next to me without me noticing. It had been quite awhile since someone had managed that. It didn’t mean I appreciated the surprise.

“Following you,” she growled back. “I don’t trust you, but I recognize you’re probably the best chance my people have to shake off these Skylian bastards, so I’m going to do whatever I can to help.”

“Well, I do admire your courage, but your assistance is unnecessary,” I whispered. “Your first priority should be staying alive, and not being a hero, miss…”

“Selena,” she grunted. “And I don’t need your protection.”

“Your funeral,” I muttered, before taking a deep breath in and screaming around the corner. “Camille!”

Selena stumbled back in surprise, but I couldn’t afford to pay attention to her right now.

“The bloody mage is still alive somehow! I have him pinned down at the bottom of the hill but I haven’t been able to tag him yet!” Camille’s voice echoed from the top of the steep ridge. “He’s been throwing fireballs at me blindly. The whole forest is going to catch at this rate!”

I stuck my head back out, quickly scanning the bottom of the ridge. I caught sight of the officer, sitting between two small stone outcroppings, just as he raised a hand to throw a hand full of fire in my direction. I jerked back just before the fireball exploded on the rock, only inches from my head. The heat of the explosion flowed over me, irritating my scar and singeing my hair.

“What happened to the other soldiers,” Selena asked quietly.

I turned back towards her, a look of frustration on my face. “They were on the receiving end of some very long and pointy enchanted arrows.”

“So the mage is the only one left?” she pushed, a spark of excitement in her eyes.

“That’s what it looks like,” I hissed. “Now stop distracting me. I don’t have any magical protection and I’m trying to avoid getting cooked.”

Selena smirked, stood up straight, and strode towards the canyon’s entrance. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I followed you.”

I stared at her for a moment, confused, before the elven girl boldly stepped out of the canyon and into the open. Darting forward I tried to grab her arm, so I could pull her back into cover, but Selena was too quick, sprinting across the open ground towards the downed soldier.

I watched in horror as the officer raised his hand, preparing to bath the elven woman in flame, but Selena didn’t hesitate. In fact she just put her head down and sprinted faster. 

When she was halfway across the ravine the soldier raised his hand once again, a ball of flame swirling between his fingertips. With a flick of the wrist he sent the mote shooting across the open space, expanding until it was nearly as large as Selena was. 

“Crazy fool,” I growled, sprinting out after her. I didn’t like her sacrificing her life like that, but if she was going to draw the man’s attention, I would take full advantage of it.

Darting towards the side of the ravine, out of the sight of the mage I watched Selena and tried not to flinch as the fireball smashed into her. 

Or, at least, should have smashed into her. When it was only a few paces from the girl there was a burst of power and the fireball just… dissipated. 

I nearly stumbled in surprise, gawking at Selene as she continued her mad dash forward.

Eyes wide the officer gathered the magic again, letting it roil between his fingertips growing larger, brighter.

This time when he released the power it expanded to twice the previous size before bearing down upon the half-elf. Selena glanced up, and the fire once again died, this time without making it more than half a dozen paces from the downed mage.

That’s when the Skylian officer panicked, pushing himself off the valley floor in a desperate attempt to stand. Blood flowed from his now revealed wound as he grasped at the ceremonial sword at his belt. 

Selena was on him before he could pull it, bringing her long staff across the man’s head. It shattered, but the force still caused him to fall, smashing his head against the outcropping. In a single smooth motion Selena flipped the shattered stick around, grabbing the sharp splintered remains like a knife before driving it deep into the man’s neck.

The soldier thrashed about for a moment, his sky blue tunic quickly becoming completely coated in blood from the two gaping wounds. 

“You have no idea how satisfying it felt to do that,” Selena hummed, dropping the remains of her weapon down on the man with casual indifference.

When she turned towards me, a content smile on her face, one of my hands shot to the sword at my belt, while I raised the other gesturing for her to stop.

“Just stop right there,” I snarled. “I don’t quite know what happened here, but to the best of my knowledge you shouldn’t have been able to survive that without magic of your own, so you’re going to have to explain yourself before you take a single step closer.”