Below the Peak (Sola)

by Juliet Lili

  “Yes, I am, and my loyalties lie to my kingdom” she replied. The king brushed off her disguised insult although a muscle on his temple ticked angrily to burst a blood vessel.

  “Therefore, your sworn to protect its people regardless of the circumstances, yes?”

  Nara nodded stiffly, knowing where his words were heading.

  “Then you understand this is a grave responsibility that I am entrusting you with” he gave her that sleazy look again.

  Nara glowered at him in reply.

  “If you care for your family and wish them no harm, you will go now and do as I command.” He threatened. Nara’s face fell, pure disdain and hatred etched on her features. Her muscles became taut with anger, she dug her heels into the floor to quench the inferno rage. “If you hurt them I swear I will kill you!” Nara envisioned a hundred ways to kill him slowly and fast as she watched him. She let him know she meant what she said by looking at him squarely in the eye briefly before shifting hers at the space between his brows.

  ---

  “Of course, not. I wouldn’t think of harming them when their daughter is sacrificing herself for the safety of whole of us” the king said innocently. The king patted himself, his eyes gleaming. He had chosen the perfect victim to his plan. The girl’s patriotism made him relax a little from the anxiety that had wrapped itself around him the last several days. He had never known a loyal soldier like her. He had heard of his niece enlistment to the military and her climbing of ranks and becoming a member of the Elite. His gossiping daughters couldn’t shut up about the girl. Lorenz never thought he would have a use of the strange girl until now. He smirked, glad he remembered such details about her. He knew the girl would do anything for her family, for she already risked her life countless times for people she barely knows by being an Elite.

  The girl turned and gazed at her family with a resolute look.

  “No, Nara you can’t go.” her mother cried pulling her to her. The girl had already made up her mind. Her family came first, would always come first above all else. She snatched her hand away, and averted her gaze to the younger sister and kissed her forehead who in turn clung to her and sobbed in her dress and begged her not to go. Pulling and stepping back the girl looked his way, looking at him in that freaky way she looked at everybody by having shy eye contact. “Your word is my command,” she said softly.

  King Lorenz grinned.

  “Then we leave tonight” the prince declared.

  He hadn’t forgotten of the prince, Lorenz just pretended his looming presence was nonexistent when he’d been speaking to his cousin’s family. “When will your men come. Abasi might be marching upon us as we speak?” the king asked sounding impatient already.

  “These three men would deliver my message to Abasi,” the prince said, cocking his head to the three youngest elves on his side and spoke in elvish. The three elves nodded sharply in unison. “What did you say to them?” Lorenz asked, his gaze moving between the prince and the elves.

  “Halt lest ye want the army elves upon you” Calemir stated.

  Lorenz swallowed, and grinned widely, looking very pleased. He wanted more, but the elf’s words had to do for now and resisted milking his luck. He had another hand to move if trouble arose. He would just threaten the girl, and she would do anything to bring the army of elves to his side. After all, she had her family as leverage, one word sent to her, she would do her best to convince the prince. A boisterous laugh itched his throat. Not just Abasi, but the rest of his lesser foes and kings who were once allies were going to feel his wrath for standing against him.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Nara worried ceaselessly about her family, desperately hoping they were safe and unharmed by the wretched king. Tears pricked her eyes, blurring her sight as she rode the steed to its maximum strength and speed, heading north with dust and grass visible in their trail under the afternoon sun. Grass hills stretched endlessly ahead and behind them. She and the elves had taken to the road soon after the elves had acquired what had brought them to Vessener in the first place. They rode through the night and day straight, only stopping less than twenty minutes to replenish the horses with water. Three days to be exact has she been without proper sleep. Her face paled from lack of sleep. It didn’t seem to be the same for her three companions, their faces were alive with color and vitality, nothing to indicate they haven’t slept either. Like their riders, the strange horses showed no sign of slowing down. The elves rode furiously, tearing the grasslands and hills, eager to put a great distance between them and Murisa. Home, the word echoed in her mind without rest as the faces of her mother, father and Ingrid flashed in her eyes. Their lives depend on you a voice inside her reminded her. What about mine? She thought bitterly. Wasn’t her own life significant too? Enough with the sentiment! She reprimanded, feeling ashamed of herself to entertain such selfish thoughts in the first place. She cared for her family. She would do anything for them.

  Fatigue had her trailing behind the three strangers who she had not exchanged a word with since leaving the capital. Murmuring words of encouragement, Nara consoled Lucky and her distressed conscious. She was so far from home. Ahead, the land erected to a dense forest, the trees swallowing the elves to be seen. Behind the forest border lay the elven lands.

  When Nara reached the edge of the forest, she dislodged. A sharp pain spread through her thighs, her muscles sore from riding. She stared at the woods. No one dared to come so far to the immortal’s borders of Forod. Stories from villagers who lived at the edges of the kingdoms and near distant border warned and scared them with just enough tales of all humans who risked coming this far never came back. In a rare occasion, only the wandering human's remains were found, but most of the time the bodies were never recovered. Just because elves did not slaughter them openly, that didn’t mean they had stopped.

  What are they up to? Planning to kill her in there? The thoughts skittered through her mind, spiking the sense of dread in her a hundred folds. Nara shoved the thoughts away. She drew the dagger up and gripped it tight and close. The forest was eerily quiet despite chirping sound of birds, and the faint breeze whispering through the leaves.

  Her senses fully alert, Nara cautiously waded through the trees, her stiff limbs protesting. The trees and grass were green against her dirty shoes and clothes, it did not crunch under her steps, the grass was fresh as if well fed by constant rain. It contrasted to the long hairy pale grass she left Lucky eating hungrily outside the parameters of the forest. The late afternoon sunlight slithered through the branches and cast a warmness over the wildflowers and area around. Fresh air filled and purified her lungs and cooled her skin.

  Still, her stomach clenched, trepidation skittering down her spine. Her heart drummed to a perilous beat as the hair on the back of her neck erected to the invisible blanket rubbing softly on her and seemed to grow stronger and powerful with each step she took further into the forest. It was like a gentle, firm hand pulling at her. Magic

  She exhaled slowly as she treaded much further, her ears and eyes keen on her surroundings, trying to catch any off sound apart from the insects’ and the leaves’ soft rustle. Nara grew still and paused as a faint sound of water caught her attention. She thought she heard flowing sound of a creek. She cautiously crept farther not wanting to trip over the jutted thick roots. Fear pounded through her blood with the growing echo of the sound. She scurried and hid quickly behind a large tall tree, its coarse bark pressing roughly on her back and head. She inclined her head slowly to the side and looked. There in the opening of branches, the elves were watering their steeds. The small opening didn’t allow her to see them clearly. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of Lucky who she’d clearly left grazing outside the skirts of the forest.

  Calemir

  Pulsing energy slithered over his skin and glide into his body. Distress hit him, intoxicating his senses. Calemir slipped silently through the trees and halted when he saw her shadow. He stood a couple of strides away from her and
watched her. She was engrossed with his comrades that she was unaware of his presence. With her guard, down, was she seeking death?

  Day’s sweat and dirt coated her skin and clothes, fatigue heavy on her face, far from their first encounter. Still… it was the unsuppressed distress, fear and rage that rolled off her and churned the blood in his veins and made him want to relish in it. She was a living chaos of emotions. Emotions taunted a part of him he fought control over every day. A nauseating chill broke through him. He felt like a bum who cut off drinking and was now tormented from the absence of alcohol and was tempted to have a single drop to end the agony.

  What is she? Calemir eyes darkened, darkness long asleep from his past stirred, taunting him. Giving him a glimpse of how sweet it would be like to own her, have her at his mercy.

  Keep her the two words slithered in his mind like a snake dancing from the cave to the tune of its charmer.

  He wouldn’t stop until she was just an empty shell and even then, he would still want her. His features hardened, teeth gritted and abated the thoughts away. “You are slowing us down.” She drew a dagger he hadn’t seen on her as she twirled to face him. His steely gaze caused her throat to close.

  “I’m sorry” Nara apologized. Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her eyes to him for a brief second before moving them to another spot on his face.

  Mmmh…

  Calemir took in her steady grip on the long dagger she held, she held it like she did the knife the other night, very confident to use it to the fullest.

  “Once your horse is refreshed, head back to Vessener,” he told her curtly. Her brows knitted together, puzzled. “Do you not want to go back to your family?”

  “I want to go back” her reply was said in pure honesty as if there was no other place she wanted to be.

  “Then go as soon as possible” was his own response. When the dark ones got a whiff of her, she might not have a chance. He turned and started walking.

  “What about the alliance, you agreed you will provide us with an army,” she asked.

  “You promised us” her voice began to rise when he only stared at her as he also felt her anger did the same.

  “The army would be provided” he finally answered, halting to look at her.

  She really needed to leave.

  Go now before it starts to rain.” He ordered her.

  Chapter Twenty

  Rain?

  Nara glanced up, it was hard to see the sky with the thick bush of branches blocking the view. She got a glimpse of the dark clouds. Nara looked at the prince who started to stride over to his kind. Her brows creased, her bottom lip trembled, she sucked it in between her teeth. Her control was slipping away.

  “I cannot go back” she whispered in a barely hearable voice. Calemir stopped and glanced back at her. Her expression became hard. “If I go empty handed the king promised harm to my family.”

  “That is not my problem. I promised you an army, but I did not say when I’ll send my men.”

  The king should’ve known better, elves where bound by their words but it didn’t mean they couldn’t go around them. They were masters of finding loopholes in words.

  “I beg you. I will do anything you want me to do” Nara pleaded. She would kneel if she had to, anything for her family was worth it.

  “I said no” Calemir growled, irritated at her stubbornness. He didn’t care if her family were held hostage or on the brink of death. He held no sympathy.

  Nara let the dagger fall to the ground and then dropped to her knees even though it hurt to be in a demeaning position especially in front of an elf. “Have mercy on me. Please help me. Even twenty of your men will be more than enough. The king will let my family go. I am willing to be your slave. I will become anything you want me to be just, please help me.”

  Desperation painted itself on her features, her eyes told him she was willing to grovel beneath his feet if he just says the word.

  Then it dawned on Calemir why Lorenz had sent her in the first place. He chuckled without humor and spoke. “He sent you to seduce me?”

  Nara flinched at his words.

  “Get up” Calemir snapped as he yanked her by the arm, pulling her to her feet. Goosebumps broke over her skin. She trembled when their eyes locked. “Listen. There is no glory in war, there are no victors, but its victims and murderers” Pain deep within him carved his features when he said the next words in a strained voice. “It offers agony and takes everything you hold dear then it haunts you, day and night. The battles follow you wherever you go until your mind becomes nothing but a battlefield itself.”

  He let go of her arm and stepped back from her. Nara froze as she stared at him.

  Calemir took a steady breath and calmed his voice. “If you actually care for your family then find another way to save them. Run with them to a faraway kingdom as soon as you can. That’s is the only way you can protect yourself and them.”

  Dejected, Nara watched his back as he strode toward the creek. She had followed them, and she failed. Her quick mind now overwhelmed, failed to come up with a brilliant plan to save her family. Resentment toward king Lorenz grew more within her. Should she follow the prince’s advice? Recalling his words and the anguish behind them and on his face.

  Was that what he went through?

  If so, it terrified her if she was to experience what he had, what the war would bring upon them. Exhaustion and bleakness weighed on her. She closed her eyes briefly. She had to leave this place. Unbelieving as it was, he was letting her go. He didn’t want her as his wife as she didn’t want him as her husband. She scoffed. They were the least in that sense. They hadn’t exchanged vows as traditional marriages were typically conducted. They didn’t have a wedding period! Although, how marriage is supposed to be performed and such was something she found no interest in or concerned herself with, she still wouldn’t call themselves married.

  Finding the matter dreary to think of, Nara focused on another issue. I must find a way to save Ingrid, father and mother.

  “My horse” Nara explained when she caught up with the prince who stood at the edge just a few paces away from the creek.

  The prince kept silent. Nara moved past him and walked to the other side where the horses were grazing all the while feeling the watchful eyes of the two other elves. She was carefully not to lose her footing on the eroded and smoothed boulders across the shallow clear waters. When Nara reached Luckily, she patted him. She looked at lord Finn who was leaning on a bunk of a tree chewing a stem of a leaf, his eyes tentatively watching beyond the trees. There was that eerie calmness in the air again. She breathed and exhaled slowly. Thirsty, and thick skinned to care, she squatted near the bank of the creek and stretched her hand letting the water glide over her fingers and cupped her hands bringing water to her dry lips and drank. The cold water wets her dry throat. She drank more until her thirst was quenched. Her stomach rumbled in hunger, causing a burning sensation to travel up into her sternum. Either elves are total creepers, or she was suddenly becoming deaf because she did not hear nor see lord Finn walk toward her. “Here, have a bite.” Nara eyed the fruit in his stretched-out palm.

  “It’s not poisoned” Finn added.

  Her stomach rumbled again, embarrassingly loud. Finn’s lips curled, giving her a glimpse of his perfect smile. “You sure you don’t want it?”

  Reluctantly she grabbed the ripe fruit and bit into it greedily. “What? Have you never been hungry before?” Nara lifted her chin, her voice challenging when Finn kept staring at her.

  “You are an interesting person” he replied casually, cocking his head. His features turned cryptic. Nara followed his gaze to whom he was looking at intently and found it was the prince and the lady elf together speaking in quiet tones. The lady had a sad look as she spoke softly unlike the man beside him who his features remained hard even as he was talking back quietly. The lady hung her head as a soldier would when acknowledging a mistake and asking for forgiveness. The prince jaw eas
ed. The woman lifted her head muttered words confidently.

  ***

  “Fog!” Finn shouted after going very still and so did everyone upon hearing his words.

  What fog? Nara was confused as she glanced around, she didn’t see any.

  “Everyone stay clear from the fog and follow me” Calemir ordered as he swung on top of the stallion carrying water bags made of some tough animal hide.

  What’s going on? Nara watched the elves move with urgency. Panic strung her. She picked up her dagger and stood in a defense position.

  “What are you waiting for, do you want to die?” Finn’s snarl had her spinning on her feet. He was seated on his horse. Something wet splattered on her forehead, and then it began to pour nonstop. Thick fat raindrops fell, drenching her.

  “Get on now!” He needed not to tell her twice, his tense features were enough to prompt her and obey. “Stay close.” Finn was already moving, maneuvering through the compact pathway with precision like the others. Nara tried to keep up although it was getting harder with the rain and trying not to be hit by a branch. She glanced back. There, Nara saw it, spreading quickly behind them, and in all directions. Her eyes widened when she saw the dark shadow amidst the grey blanket that seemed to trail them. The shadow resembled some sort of creature she had never seen before. With a form of a human but with wings instead of hands.

  Nara focused forward, and spurred, everything moving past her in an almost complete blur. In the middle of crossing a creek, the horse abruptly reared up with a loud shrill of agony, and she almost fell. Nara turned and slashed at the shadow hovering over and clawing at Lucky’s back. The dark shadow dissipated back into the fog. The horse was wounded although not too seriously, blood trickled from its thighs were, it had been clawed. Another dark shadow caught her eyes as she kept on forward. It charged on the sidelines and looked like it was readying itself to launch. And it did. Nara ducked as the creature leaped, it’s winged claws missing her head an inch. The creature landed on the ground in a noiseless tumble. She pulled the reins and galloped the opposite direction. Her sixth sense fired, she knew the shadow was unto her. She took a turn and dashed, forcing her to break from the formation entirely. Her heart pumped with both energy and fear as she stayed clear from the fog, knowing there were more of them lurking inside the greyness.