CHAPTER 23

As the three boys left the town square, they quickly made their way over towards the Tyrrith family’s home. It didn’t take very long, as the house was quite close to the village centre.

The house was more of an add-on to the dojo, as it was clearly dwarfed by the large structure standing on the ground. The access to the house was hidden behind the dojo, making it clear which building had been there first, and which was an afterthought.

The dojo, or training ground, was quite large, as it had an outside training area equipped with dummies and different kinds of training weapons, and an inside area, equipped with all sorts of training and real weaponry, which was mainly used for lessons, and sparring. There was also some private training rooms, but the boys had never seen those.

The building was built mostly out of wood, with stone at its foundation. The doors and windows were made out of thick paper, interlaced with smaller wooden support beams to keep everything in place. While it wasn’t as common to come across this kind of building style, and so it was quite a nice change from the usual wooden structures. The panels were very easily moved, and the inside had the floor covered with mats made out of interwoven straws. It was quite a simple dojo, as it held no great artefacts of power, and there were no hidden compartments anywhere.

The boys had checked thoroughly for such hidden compartments.

The three made their way towards the door of the house that was hidden behind the dojo, and knocked on it gently. Only moments later was it opened by Minos, whose expression changed from cautious and apprehensive to joyous as soon as he saw them.

“Hey guys, how have you been?” He said with a cheerful tone.

Two of the three boys formed a large grin on their face, and they quickly responded: “Good!”

They entered the house, and were once again amazed by the Tyrrith’s wealth.

The walls were adorned with paintings here and there, the hallways clean as there was no dust to be seen, and most of the furniture in the room seemed like it was still brand new.

“Come on in, my mother is out getting groceries, so it’s only us and my father.”

As Minos said that, they spotted his father sitting on the couch, and they quickly went over to greet him.

“Good day mister.” They said with an obedient an respectful tone.

Eldrin looked up from his book, and acknowledged the three boys with a nod, before returning his attention to his book.

As the three boys turned back to Minos, they were met with a happy and proud smile.

“So, as I already said. It’s only going to be us, Cyrus is away, and mother is getting groceries.”

One of the three boys was surprised by this, and said: “What do you mean, Cyrus is away? We saw him with your mother earlier in the day.”

Minos turned towards the youngest member of the group, who had voiced his curiosity.

His expression turned cold, and he said with a tone as sharp as a knife: “What do you mean by that?”

The youngest member flinched from his expression, before answering his question with a weak and soft voice: “W-well, we saw him earlier in the day standing at the fountain. Fern had a conversation with him, and then your mother took him away. I think she said something about ‘going home quickly’? Do you know what she meant by that?”

The other two members of the group shook their heads, but Minos’ expression turned sour. As the boys were surprised by this, they were also intrigued by the sudden change of expression. Minos’ father stood up from the sofa, turning their attention towards him. Their interest in his change of expression was quickly cast out.

He had a cold expression that oozed bloodlust, he turned away from them, walked over towards one of the servants standing nearby, and gave him some quick and clear instructions. The servant nodded and sped off.

Eldrin turned his expression back towards the boys, walked over to them, and showed a genuine smile, before saying with a soft and calm tone: “Thank you boys for the information, here is one silver, make good use of it. Also, could you two give my regards to Ellith when you go home?”

The boys had swallowed at first, and then had quickly accepted the money. A whole silver! That was enough to buy at least 20 cookies at the bakery!

They turned towards Minos, hoping that he would share in their joy and excitement at this amount of money, but instead, they found a cold and indifferent expression. They felt the mood, and hurried off, disappearing through the door, and hurrying towards the village.

As the boys went to make the most out of their reward, Eldrin was more concerned with current matters. He had not expected his wife to choose Cyrus over the rest of the family, but he did not fret long over it. He must act quickly, so that the family isn’t disgraced in the eyes of the public.

He exited the room, and he went to the dojo, where four of his strongest and most loyal warriors were waiting for him. He would take them, and hunt her down.

He gave some short and clear instructions, and then they set off. He did not know where she would go, but there were only a few passages that led out of the village, into the wilderness. He sent three of his disciples to these paths, and had one follow him towards the one he suspected the most.

The pathway he was going towards lead to a town that was close by. He could not let them go there, since finding them there would prove a challenge. He did not have the manpower, nor the influence at the moment to stage a large scale search to apprehend them. He only hoped that he could intercept her before she was gone.

While banishing a child isn’t that big of a deal, having the mother join the child willingly is. If both the child and the mother leave, that implies that they have been treated poorly, and that would rather live a life of poverty or have a lower status than original enjoyed, just so they could get away from their original family.

Eldrin would not let his name be smeared in the dirt, even if he had to apprehend his own wife because of this. He would not let his own family smear the name they carried.

While he was outraged at his wife’s choice, he was equally baffled by it. He did not understand why she would chose that weak and small child over the rest of the family. Why would she chose that failure of a warrior over her husband, and over her other children? He simply could not uncover the reason why she would do such a thing. Why would she give up the riches, influence, and status the family name gave her? Why would she choose Cyrus over them, over everything he had, and everything he stood for? Why?! Why did someone once again betray him? Why?! Why am I always betrayed?!

These thoughts raged through his mind as it became more and more clouded by the red mist that seeped from those thoughts. His whole mind was enshrouded in a red mist as he came closer and closer to the pathway, until he heard something.

He heard Avary, he heard her beg for someone’s help. He grinded to a halt as his expression betrayed his astonishment, and he quickly turned towards the origin of the noise.

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He heard the voice of Lyvia question her, he heard her plead for the life of that damned brat! She put that child’s happiness over her own, she wanted that child to grow more than anything else. He was amazed by this, and infuriated. How dare she beg someone to save that banished, human defending piece of scum!

He sped off towards her voice as the red mist enshrouded his mind more and more. It had taken over his mind, and his rationality was severely altered because of it. He would only be able to see anything through anger at this moment in time, as he was unable to see anything but the red mist now. It enshrouded his vision, his sense of touch, his hearing, it enshrouded every sense he had, it enshrouded his very being. He was furious.

As he swept aside the foliage with his cane, he saw his wife looking at him from several dozens of metres away. She would not escape him. He saw her desperately try to find a way out, and find it. He saw her gaze fixate on the edge of the platform, before quickly walking over to it with Cyrus in her arms.

He would not let them escape now, and threw his cane towards her. It may only be a training weapon, but he threw it with enough force to throw her back.

He was quickly on her, trying to separate her from that damned child, and bring her home, willingly or not. However, he was obstructed by Lyvia who tried to help her, by pushing him out of the way.

A struggle ensued, and he won in the end. He swept that damned child off of the plateau and picked up his wife, placed her promptly on his shoulder, and left.

Strangely enough, she did not resist him, she didn’t even make a sound. He didn’t fret over it, and quickly made his way home. He would give her a firm lecture on her behaviour.

As Eldrin left the scene, Lyvia was baffled by his indifference towards his child, and quickly jumped down, to make sure that Cyrus was okay.

As she landed on the ground, she quickly rolled to disperse the force. It wouldn’t be good if she let it impact her body too much, and cause some kind of injury.

As she stood up from her roll, she surveyed her surroundings, but could not spot Cyrus anywhere.

Just as she was about to start searching the area, she heard something from above her. She looked up, and saw Daelyn trying to get her attention by signalling with his hands, and shouting.

“Mom! Mom!”

Lyvia recognised his cry for attention with a wave of her hand, and a smile on her face. However, her son started pointing towards a nearby bush as soon as he got her attention, she was a bit surprised at this, but quickly realized what he meant. She quickly made her way over to where he was pointing, and found Cyrus laying atop the bushes, completely unharmed from the fall. She double checked him as she picked him up, but he was completely unharmed.

No broken bones, no open wounds, not even a single scratch, nothing. He was completely unharmed from falling from at least four stories high. Lyvia was amazed by this, but she was relieved at the same time.

She had seen Avary beg for her son’s life, she had seen herself in it, and would not let that girl stand there and cry, she would pick her up, console her, and take her in. That is what she did with Daelyn, and that is what she was going to with Cyrus.

She picked him up, held him close to her, and made her way up the tree, to her home. She walked through the door as she rocked him in her arms, the first step into his new home, was not made by himself, but by the woman that had accepted him into his new family.

While Cyrus made the first step into his new home, Avary was retracing her steps back to the place she wanted to escape from.

She was being carried on the shoulder of the man she tried to escape from, and came closer to her home with every passing moment. However, despite all of this, she didn’t resist, she couldn’t resist, she couldn’t even remember any of her son’s torment, or her desperation from the loss of her children.

Her mind was jumbled, her surroundings were completely quiet, and she only saw darkness. She felt the touch of her husband’s arms, she felt the light breeze on her face, and she felt the occasional brush with the foliage, but she could not hear it, nor could she see it.

The sensation that hadn’t left her, weren’t being processed. Her mind was scattered, and only the occasional brush with foliage was registered, but there wasn’t any reaction to it.

They had finally arrived at their home, and as Eldrin opened the door, and sat his wife down, he was astonished. His normally observant and intelligent wife, was sitting on the sofa, with drool coming from her mouth, and an expression that betrayed her obliviousness towards her surroundings, and her obliviousness towards her own saliva dripping down her chin.

Eldrin was deeply shocked by this behaviour, and he voiced his worries.

“Avary! What are you doing?! Behave yourself!” He said with a loud and commanding voice.

Avary didn’t turn her head, she didn’t respond to any of his commands, only as he grabbed her arm, did she meet his gaze. Well, she tried to.

The moment Eldrin looked into her eyes, he saw that her normally purple irises clouded, as if her vision was enshrouded in a thick mist, blocking all sight. Her eyes looked at him, before she returned her gaze towards the original direction, not even acknowledging his presence in the room.

He was infuriated by this, as his own wife first disobeyed his orders by trying to run away with that banished child, and then did not even acknowledge his existence as he tried to address her faults.

His emotions flared up, as he felt betrayed by his wife. He felt great anger from her disobedience, from her attempt at running away, from choosing that damned child over her family. He felt anger, and hatred.

He raised his voice and his hand, and said with an agitated tone: “How dare you disobey me?! Why did you choose that damned child instead of us?! Answer me!”

He held his hand threateningly high in the air, as he grabbed her by the top of her dress, lifted her up and screamed in her face: “Answer me! Do, not, disobey me!”

As his voice became more and more desperate, so did his actions. Avary continued to remain silent, until she felt the impact from her husband’s hand. He had slapped her with a solid back hand, he had brought his hand down upon his own wife, and he continued doing it as his screams became more and more desperate.

“Why?! Why did you betray us?! Answer me!”

Avary did not take the impact of her husband’s hand lightly, and screamed. She screamed at the top of her lungs, to try and call upon the help of others, to make clear that she was in pain, but it was only met with more violence. She held her hands up in defence, not knowing where the next impact would come from. She protected her face with her arms, and felt the impact of a clenched fist bear down on them.

The impact caused her to lose balance, and she fell to the ground. She continued to protect her face by holding her arms in place, but instead of screaming, she notified others of her pain in a different manner. She started sobbing, you could hear the sounds of crying coming from behind those arms, and you could see the tear drops fall to the ground as they fell from her cheeks.

As Eldrin grabbed her arms, and pulled her up, he saw her expression. He saw an expression of fear, and pain. Her eyes were filled with tears, her brows were twitching as she was crying, she was rapidly inhaling through her nose, and as she was raised from her lying position, she released a yelp of surprise, and fear.

Eldrin’s eyes widened at the display in front of him. He realized that he was once again hurting one of his own kind, he was hurting a dark elf to release his pent up anger. He felt the red mist subside, as he finally became aware of the situation, and his thoughts became more and more scattered as he looked upon his fearful and sobbing wife.

He tried to scramble his thoughts together, but the memories of torturing his fellow kin flashed before him, the memories of killing that soul mage and his comrades in cold blood, and finally, the memories of him and his wife flashed before him. The pleasant memories of the two of them training, perfecting their techniques, advancing their skills, overcoming challenges together, and the loyalty she had displayed towards him. He was eternally grateful for these memories, and yet, he did this. He shattered the meaning behind those memories by shattering the relation between them, with only one hit. One hit was enough to shatter everything that had been built up through the years, and he was the one to instigate it.

He took a few unsure steps back, finding support on the sofa standing next to him. As he stood there with shivering legs, he felt a numbness spread throughout his body, he felt his limbs becoming weaker by the second, and as a servant approached to help him, he muttered something.

“Sorry, sir. Could you please repeat that?”

Eldrin said with an unsure, soft, and nervous voice: “Get her to Elrieden, and find out if she has any kind of curse. Those are the eyes of a blind person, and I know for sure that she could see this morning.”

He walked away after he had given his instructions. He needed to get thoughts in a row, otherwise he felt he would go insane.

As the servant approached madam Tyrrith, he was amazed to see that she had fallen asleep. Her glazy eyes were closed, her breathing was regular, and she had curled herself up into a foetal position, like she was some kind of child.

The servant made haste towards the Elrieden household with Avary in her arms. The servant felt Avary shiver from the breeze blowing past them, she felt her cradle against her chest, and enjoy the warmth it provided. It reminded the servant greatly of the eldest daughter of the family when she was but a toddler.

As she was charmed by the madam’s behaviour, she was equally concerned, as she did not know what had caused this behaviour.

As she was almost at the house of the Elrieden’s, she was about to find out what the choice of Avary Tyrrith had been. A choice that would dictate Cyrus’ life for multiple years, and Avary’s life for decades to come.

While her own choice would dictate her life for the coming decades, the choice of her husband would dictate for how long that life would continue.