"Kuran'tor nash ma nor" Prince Aurelius' lips danced in a well-practiced manner as the mythical language of the world flowed through the air in a brilliant sing-sung tone. The elven teenager, exhausted from hours of combat, extended out his sword in front of him and held the weapon towards the backs of a small pack of goblins. All of which were oblivious as to what was about to occur.
As the final passage of the otherworldly song passed through Aurelius' lips, the prince's weapon shimmered with brilliant golden energy. Acting without hesitation towards the pulsating, magical power, the young prince quickly placed two of his fingers over the flat of the blade before sliding it across the weapons' shimmering length. Mystical energy shot out from the tip of the glowing blade as the elven teenager lifted the pair of fingers off of the blade's edge.
The sound of shattering glass filled the sky above the pack of miserable beasts as the mesmerizing shards of golden energy pierced the backs of a handful of the hideous creatures. Within the blink of an eye, a powerful explosion quickly followed. Bodies were tossed aside as they were mere dolls, while clumps of charred flesh had been thrown into the air. For those that had survived the explosion of golden arcane energy, they were pelted by the charred remains of their brethren that had been less fortunate than they.
In an attempt to catch his breath, the exhausted elven prince paused his advance and knelt to the ground as beads of sweat poured down his face. Aurelius raised an open hand in the air as thanks for the many words of encouragement that erupted from his human compatriots as they rushed past the kneeling elven teenager.
Or that's what Aurelius had hoped that his human allies had said to him as he watched his newfound companions finish off the last of the survivors. The language barrier was still a very real obstacle between the two races, and both sides of the ramshackle band of survivors relied upon their ability to understand one another through body language and commonsense.
Aurelius shook his head with a heavy sigh to clear away the sweat that threatened to drip down into his eyes. At first, he had hoped that the original band of humans that he had first linked up with would make their way to friendly lines. Yet as time wore on, that initial idea had quickly gone to the wayside as both parties of the ragtag group of survivors found themselves leading the charge to rescue the various scattered remnants of the human expedition that had somehow survived the penultimate battle's bloody route.
The young prince closed his eyes as he lowered his head, pillars of fiery smoke, and the hurried sounds of battle filled the air around his tired body. Rain pelted the back of his head while Aurelius slapped a weary hand over the nape of his neck. The exhausted teenager let out another heavy sigh.
Throughout the day's events, both he and the humans that slowly gathered around him had run themselves ragged. They had fought tooth and nail to save all of those that they could within the burning remains of Ruined Home. Often times, they had lost more men than they had saved or failed entirely in their objective, but no one seemed to mind. For many amongst the weary band of survivors, there was an unspoken pride amongst themselves that the sacrifices they've made to save those that they could was well worth the deathly fate that had been laid out to bare before their very eyes.
The dying light of the misty sun lingered over the burning horizon as the group of survivors stood within a short, yet teasingly long distance from their treasured destination.
The valiant, yet wholeheartedly vicious remnants of the Ranislavian expedition.
Yet despite being able to see the grimacing and grime-covered faces of those who fought to protect the last holdout of the Ranislavian expedition, Prince Aurelius, whose hair was soaked in the sweat, blood, and fury of the day's events, held within his sights the gangly and hideous forms of the grey-skinned horde that had so easily broken the humans' initial battle lines. The young prince, and the boys-turned-men with whom he had fought side by side in a running battle amongst the burning remains of the human encampment, would have to forge a path through the many bodies that made up the deadly grey tide that threatened everyone within the mapping expedition's very walls.
The battle that was now being waged before his very eyes was a fierce and dreadful sight as the noble-born elf witnessed the injured being pulled to safety and the dead falling to the ground and disappearing out of sight, becoming trampled by those that had replaced the newly created corpse.
Aurelius's ears popped in anticipation as he drew up the last reserves of the droplets of spit that dared to remain in his hoarse throat. The young prince heard himself swallow the last remnants of his spit as he readied himself for what was to come.
A freshly scarred hand came from behind the elven teenager and placed itself over the blonde-haired prince's shoulder with a harsh grip, causing the exhausted elven prince to glance towards the blood-soaked hand before looking up towards the face of its owner.
Much like the young elf, the human teenager that stood behind him showed signs of total exhaustion. Sweat caked the dirt-covered face that looked down at the kneeling prince. The eyes that had at one point been so full of life could only muster to look at the world around them with a minuscule amount of hope as they once had done before.
Blood oozed from the human's split lips as the teenaged warrior began to speak.
Without needing to wait for his companion to finish what he had to say, Aurelius nodded his head in agreement.
As he stood to make ready, the young prince was thankful for the fact that no one within the orc-led army was at all aware of the group's presence. To the prince, it seemed that their sole focus was crushing the last remaining force of resistance to their conquest over the humans.
"Good luck," The young prince said to the boy that stood behind him as he rolled his head over his shoulders. "I'll see you somewhere in that circle of theirs.”
The two teenagers gave one another a weak, yet hopeful smile as they brought their weapons to bear.
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As the wall of armored bodies closed ranks behind him, Prince Aurelius let out an animalistic grunt and collapsed onto the ground with a heavy thud. The immense fatigue and sheer weight of his exhaustion had proven to be too much for the blonde-haired prince to go any further, and he had to be dragged further inside by those unwilling to see the young elven prince trampled to his death.
Prince Aurelius turned his head to catch the last visages of the human conscript that he had gone back to save during the group’s final charge towards friendly lines. Exhausted beyond belief, the elven teenager could only manage to watch the mud-caked soles of those that had lifted the murmuring human conscript deeper into the encircled position.
As the pair of boots disappeared from his sight, Prince Aurelius finally realized just how close he had come to being embraced by the cold hands of death. Despite having born witness to many of those that had fallen as they had battled their way through the burning remnants of Ruined Home, the ragged band of rallied survivors had saved all of those that they could. Those that had survived the ordeal now had a better chance of surviving just a little bit longer.
With mud seeping into his buried ear, the young prince let out a deep sigh as he realized that the feelings that now warmed his heart and filled his mind with an unrepentant sense of glee were something that he wouldn’t have had if he hadn’t done what he did. His lips split apart with a tired smile as he realized that he would have done it all over again if he could.
As the echoes of war clashed all around his prone body, Prince Aurelius knew that the immense pain that throbbed violently throughout his body would never receive the much needed rest that it so desperately craved.
'He didn't look much older than me,' Thoughts of the injured conscript came to his mind as Prince Aurelius' ears flickered at the sound of his own heart pounding against his chest. 'He kept saying something over and over again. It sounded like it might have been a name, but I couldn't tell. I should've asked Velicion to cast a spell on me so that I can understand everyone.'
Despite his curiosity over what the other boy had been saying, Aurelius was perfectly content to remain face down in the thick slush of upturned mud that had the courtesy of catching his ungallant fall. His black and silver eyes moved to look down at the pebble-sized pool of water that sat just out of the reach of his parched lips. Yet despite the immense thirst that burned in his throat, the blonde-haired elf couldn't even muster the strength to tilt his face forward and drown his cracked lips in the dirty water that dared to tease his coarse throat.
It wasn't long before heavy boots, covered entirely in blood-soaked mud, landed near the elven prince's head. Just as he had begun to wonder who the pair of boots might have belonged to, Aurelius' head was lifted into the air with a firm, yet gentle hand.
Almost instantly his dreary eyes recognized the familiar sight of the wizened face of the Ranislavian expeditions’ leader. Captain Boris.
Aurelius' eyes were slow to react as he tried to get a good look at the older human. His mouth opened partway before immediately closing itself as he failed to find the energy to speak. With heavy eyes, Prince Aurelius let out a grateful grunt as he watched the older man slowly move his body into a more comfortable position so that the human could get a better look at any injuries that the young prince might have suffered.
As he was laid across the flat of his back, the young elven prince was able to see that Captain Boris now sported a bloody bandage over his left shoulder. Aurelius let out a sympathetic grunt as he realized that the older man's arm had been cleaved off of his shoulder.
Unaware of the teenager's ogling, Captain Boris turned his head to speak to someone out of sight from the elven prince's gaze. The meaning of the older man's words became apparent to the prince the moment a flask had nearly smashed into the front of the teenagers' face. The human commander uttered a few more words to the unseen attendant, and the grey-haired officer let go of the elven prince's jaw as his subordinate placed the flask over the prince's lips and slowly tilted it so that he may drink its contents.
A shudder ran through the length of Aurelius' back as the lukewarm water poured down his throat and splashed into his belly. It wasn't what the young prince would have liked to have had in this particular moment, but the grit and dirt that now began to cake his teeth was a welcome relief to what he had been experiencing just a scant few seconds prior. Aurelius even realized that he had recovered enough energy in his arms to grasp at the man's hands and tilt the flask even further, drowning his mouth and throat in the muddied water.
Tears streamed down the sides of his face as Aurelius began to choke on the thirst-quenching liquid. Yet despite his body telling him to slow down, the young prince continued to drink at a rapid pace.
It wasn't until the voice of Captain Boris reached his ears did Aurelius realize that the flask had been pulled from his water-soaked lips.
The elven teenager turned towards the human with a sorrowful glance as the older man shook his head in a definitive no. Aurelius opened his mouth to speak, but a violent cough interrupted his thoughts before he even had a chance to think of what to say.
The one-armed man stared down at the elven prince who had reached out with his hands to catch his fall as he spoke the language of his king.
With a heavy breath, Aurelius lifted his head and stared daggers at the one-armed human as the matted locks of his blonde hair draped over his silver eyes. The young prince wanted to scream at the man and force him to give him more of the water so that he may continue to sate the immense thirst that remained within the walls of his throat. Yet, Aurelius stayed quiet as he watched the expeditionary leader use his body to explain his reasoning as to why he had pulled back the flask of water.
'I don't really get it,' The young prince continued to stare at the man with hatred in his eyes as he watched the human continue to explain the reasoning for his actions. At first it was hard to make out just what the man was trying to say, but as time wore on Aurelius had begun to grasp the meaning behind the human's gestures. 'But he's making it out to seem that I'll get sick if I drink too much.'
Aurelius wasn't sure what to make of the human's apparent reasoning for his actions, and despite his anger, the young prince was aware of the man's experience. With a heartfelt sigh, he closed his eyes and nodded to the human that he had understood what had been explained to him. Despite his desires, the young prince was well aware that he had to respect the man's experience and take him at his unspoken word.
Such things had been taught to him by his mother, the Arch-Mistress of the Dark Elves. His powerful sorcerous mother had raised him into accepting her words and the teachings that she had passed onto him as an unwritten law that remained ironclad in their separate truths. Most importantly, however, he didn't want to break her heart had he decided to forego the man's caution and do as he so desperately pleased.
An imaginary image of his powerful mother, broken-hearted over his selfish actions towards the older human, tore through the back of his mind, and Aurelius took in a deep breath as her voice called out to him. 'Never break a woman's heart,' His mother had always reminded him of this, and seeing her in agony over his selfish desires was always too much to bear for the young prince.
The sense of irony that he now felt towards what he had done to find himself in his current situation was not lost on Aurelius. Yet feelings of remorse over his unforgivable actions would have to wait for another time as the young prince's thoughts turned towards his misdeeds.
So long as he returned in a time that would deceive his mother and allow her to remain unaware of his selfish actions, Prince Aurelius would be able to escape the agony of seeing her in misery. To do that, the young prince would need to survive the siege and return home before his mother had managed to wrap up her expedition in the far reaches of the hellish wastelands of the frozen north.
'If she were to return before I'm able to come back,' The now worried prince thought to himself as strands of nervous sweat began to drip down his face. 'Then I don't even know what she would do upon my actual return.'
Before Aurelius was able to imagine the various punishments that his mother would find necessary in disciplining her wayward son, the young prince's thoughts were once again interrupted by Captain Boris as he called out the elven teenager's name.
"Aurelius," The older man said in his thick Ranislavian accent as he continued to speak on a matter that the young prince had no idea as to what the human wanted to say.
Captain Boris looked towards the elven prince as he finished speaking the last of his words and waited for Aurelius to slowly catch on to what he had wished for him to do.
A moment of time passed between the two as they continued to stare at one another. The gears within the back of Aurelius' mind slowly began to turn as the realization as to what the wounded human commander wanted out of him finally revealed itself in its entirety.
Aurelius swallowed back the words that he desperately wished to say to the older man but knew that there was no point in refusing what was needed to be done. As the man's words danced in the back of his mind, the elven prince slowly began to chant the orders that he had received.
'Recover what energy I can. Get back out there.'
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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Searing hot earth pelted Aurelius' left side as the elven prince narrowly managed to avoid one of the fiery boulders that the besieging horde of orcs and goblins continued to hurl into the human encampment. Hot shards of solidified mud and sharp bits of rock slammed into the elven teenagers' chainmail, sending him tumbling to the ground as the piercing bits of shrapnel exploded upon impact with the well-crafted piece of gear.
With a grimaced face, Aurelius held the hilt of his sword tightly in his hands as he bounced off of the ground before slamming back down to the earth with an audio thud. A terrible ringing deafened his ears as the blonde-haired teenager remained motionless for several minutes as his eyes blinked in rapid succession in an attempt to clear away his blurred vision. The desired effects of his efforts to recuperate remained elusive as the world spun around him, turning his sense of balance into disarray.
Eventually, the young prince's hearing returned to him, and his sight cleared up. With a shaky hand over his stomach, Aurelius dragged himself off of the ground and rose to his feet, stumbling backwards by several steps as he attempted to regain his balance.
Aurelius shook his head as he inspected his body for any injuries that would prove themselves to be a detriment to his cause.
As he looked down at his sides, the elven prince could easily see that the short-sleeved tunic had been ripped to shreds and was nothing more than a pile of rags that were barely able to hang on to his body. Aurelius wanted to rip off what remained of the fabric but decided against the idea as his fingers inspected the chainmail that he had managed to pilfer from the royal armory in secrecy. For the most part, the enchanted armor had done its job and done it well, but there were a few loops that appeared to have been broken by the sheer weight of impact by what could have only been some impressively large pieces of shrapnel.
Bits of dirt and rocks were stuck in a various amount of the metallic links, but Aurelius was satisfied with the idea that there was no need for him to remove the armor or attempt to pluck the minuscule pieces of earthly shrapnel. The elven prince winced in pain as his fingers continued to prod around the area where most of the shrapnel had slammed into him, and he quietly wished to himself that the armor had done a better job at minimizing the effects of their impacts.
The prince's attention then turned towards his face, and he brought a hand up towards his left cheek. With an open palm, Aurelius rubbed the side of his face with the muddied hand as the teenaged elf inspected himself for any injuries. The young prince could feel a trace amount of blood running along the side of his face, but felt no signs of anything having embedded itself into his skin. Aurelius then brought the hand towards the front of his face and looked down to stare at his own blood.
Aurelius remained quiet as he wiggled his fingers and watched as the blood coalesced into a small pool before dripping down onto the ground below. Satisfied that he had suffered no permanent injuries that required his immediate attention, the elven prince clenched his fist and took a deep breath as he lifted his head.
What he saw next gave him quite the shock.
In front of him was a trail of brutalized, grey-skinned corpses that forced the young prince to crane his neck to see where the road of death would eventually lead him towards. With his curiosity proving the better of him, a cautious Aurelius readied his sword and took the first step alongside the trail of bloodied doom.
Aurelius didn't have to walk very far before the trail of corpses had uneventfully led him to a sizable pile of bodies comprised of countless goblins, various orcs, and an assortment of wargs. Much to the young elf's disappointed delight, which surprised the elven prince quite a bit, as he felt that he was in no shape to fight such a large group on his own.
'I probably would have needed several others with me if I were to have faced them when they were last alive.' Aurelius thought to himself as his eyes began to roam towards the top of the small mound of the dead.
The elven prince continued to be surprised once his eyes caught sight of a charred and brutalized corpse of a massive troll lying atop of the pile of the dead.
What was least surprising, however, was that the elven prince instantly recognized the sight of the midnight black armor of Argonok. The heavily armored Fire Guard stood menacingly atop the troll's smoldering corpse as the red and blue checkered helmet turned towards the elven prince. Without saying a word, the Fire Guard knelt down and grabbed ahold of the dead trolls' battered skull.
With a sickening pop, the massive head exploded. Charred bits of flesh and fried brain matter went flying through the air as the dwarf's metallic fingers oozed with the gooey remnants of the once-mighty troll's skull. Bits of the creature's liquidated brain landed upon the young prince's face, who had managed to close his eyes in time before the fried chunks of the troll splattered across his face.
Aurelius shivered in terror as the cursed suit of armor let out a booming fit of laughter. The dwarf's voice echoed in an otherworldly fashion that forced the teenaged elf to take a step back. He had asked Velicion about Argonok, but the sorceress only served to frustrate his innocent inquiry when she had offered up a cryptic response that left him far more curious than he had been before.
He wished that he could ask the Fire Guard himself, but the elven prince now realized that he no longer yearned to sate his onetime curiosity over what Velicion had called the dwarf's "rebirth into the world."
The frightening sound of Argonoks' distant voice echoed through the elf's mind, forcing the teenager to return his attention towards the dwarf that stood atop the pile of corpses. The elven prince could only give the blood-soaked Fire Guard a curious glance as he watched the heavy suit of armor stomp its way back down to the ground, forcing Aurelius to cover his ears and wince in pain at the sound of breaking bones and rupturing organs.
Upon reaching the base of the pile of death, the dwarf spoke out towards the young prince for a second time. The two of them now stood toe to toe with one another, with the blonde-haired elf easily towering over the seemingly nigh-impenetrable suit of armor.
"Argonok," The elven prince began to say as he looked down at the dwarf with a shake of his head. "You know I can't understand you."
The fact that Aurelius was only able to understand the overtly loud dwarf through a series of hand gestures had annoyed the teenaged prince during the time they had spent together outside of Ruined Home's walls. The dwarf's strange mix of hand gestures had been a peculiar batch, and those that had no idea of what he was saying could only look at him with bewilderment on their faces.
Aurelius' ears twitched in pain as the dwarf snapped his fingers together before proceeding to poke the side of his dual-colored helmet. As if to show the teenaged elf that he had an idea as to how he could vanquish their inability to communicate in an effective manner.
Following the Fire Guard's movements, Aurelius turned his gaze towards the northwestern portion of Ruined Home. With his inability to be able to see beyond the burning pillars of smoke that were scattered across the horizon, the elven prince looked towards the dwarf with a confused look upon his face.
"Um-," Aurelius let out as he raised a hand over his eyes after failing to see what was beyond the dark clouds of smoke. It became clear to both of them that the young prince had no idea what the demon-infused dwarven suit of armor wished for him to accomplish. "What's over there?"
Muttering to himself, Argonok slowly shook his head as his frustration over the elven prince's failings proved to be too much for him.
Feeling that he needed to be as blunt as he could possibly get with the elven teenager, Argonok did the only thing that he knew would grab the young boy's attention.
With both hands, the Fire Guard formed the shape of a curvaceous woman before forcing a hand towards the direction where he had previously pointed.
"Oh! Uh-Hmm." Aurelius blurted out, embarrassed upon his immediate recognition of the dwarf's gesturing. "You're talking about Iskra. You think she's over there, right?"
Argonok gave a thumb's up upon hearing the girl's name before returning to point towards the previous location.
"Right." Aurelius nodded his head to confirm that he was beginning to understand what the dwarf wanted out of him. "What about you then?"
Argonok crossed his arms together in front of him, indicating to the elven prince that the two of them no longer need to speak with each other until a later time.
"Well. Alright then." Seeing as he had no choice, Aurelius turned to leave his stout companion. "I'll see you elsewhere then."
With that, an embarrassed Aurelius began to sing one of the many Songs of Creation. Ancient slithers of arcane energy draped themselves over the young prince's body as they violently pulled him into the unseen world that lay between the various realities of existence.
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Ever since Iskra had become separated from Velicion, the elven sorceress who at times had acted more like an actual mother and not a stranger with sorcerous powers. She had somehow managed to find herself in the presence of many of the expedition's camp followers as they forced their way within a large structure that served as the encampment's storage house for many of its supplies. The frightened group of unwashed peasantry had then barricaded themselves inside of Ruined Home's largest structure in a strange sense of hope that the monstrous beasts that had easily routed the human's first lines of battle wouldn't be able to find them.
Packing themselves inside of the cramped structure had done the pack of frightened men and women no good, however.
Iskra wasn't sure when it had happened, but a thunderous crash had erupted over their heads, and pieces of the wooden structure rained down on their heads, collapsing the entirety of the warehouse along with their crushed bodies.
Ever since then, Iskra had remained perfectly still, forcing her reddened eyes to remain closed as an endless river of tears stained her ghostly pale cheeks.
After having gone deathly pale and passing out at the sight of several of those in front of her turn into fleshy paste, Iskra had woken up after a time and discovered that she had been fortunate enough to have been sheltered by a large pile of nearby supplies. The frightened girl had forced a relieved breath of air to escape her lips as she forced her voice to turn hoarse as she praised the countless gods of the world that dealt with all matters of life and death. She only knew of the Ranislavian god of the dead, Razoniya, but Iskra felt that it wouldn't hurt to thank the other gods as well.
Eventually, enough time had passed where Iskra had managed to calm herself down, and her fractured mind slowly began to work out how to escape the frightening situation she was now in.
The first thing that she needed to do was to free herself from the pile of rubble had managed to fail in killing her. The fractured planks of lumber moaned and creaked in displeasure as the sound of something burning reached the young girl's ears.
Yet despite knowing that she needed to escape, Iskra had become frozen with fear due to the close proximity of the crushed bodies that had been thrown out in front of her. Realizing that she had no other options until her sanity returned to her, Iskra was forced to come to the realization that she had no other choice except to lay there motionless and remain white as the freshly fallen snow of a cold winter's night.
'Stupid peasants,' Iskra thought to herself as she attempted to stifle a miserable sounding cry that was accompanied by a croaking hiccup. Filled with countless emotions, the raven-haired teenager had forced her eyes to lock themselves shut in an attempt to block out the sounds of chaos that had begun to envelop the former noble's daughter. The crackling flames of destruction and the harsh moans of the weakened pillars sang out in unison as the frightened girl continued to remain motionless.
She didn't know what to do and that infuriated her.
'Stupid, stupid peasants. Couldn't I have been sent anywhere else but here?' Out of rage, Iskra opened her eyes but quickly closed them at the sight of the human paste that remained just a hair length away from her nose. The smell of death forced the young girl to gag and cough out a dry heave.
Iskra continued to curse at the corpses around her as her body continued to rise and fall alongside the heavy breaths of air. The occasional frightened hiccup would interrupt the young girl's thoughts as her mind slowly turned towards the past.
'I bet that spoiled sow conspired alongside the man who had claimed to be my father. The two of them were always against whatever it was that I had taken an interest in!' The girl's thoughts turned to her former family as her mind slowly returned to the darkened state it had once morphed into during her stay within the royal family's crypt-like dungeon. The list of names that she had sworn to somehow take her revenge upon was a long one, but it was something that had always managed to brighten her bleak stay within the icy cold prison.
Iskra had always known that her former mother had always made her feelings of misgivings towards her daughter's actions well known to her husband. Her choice in friends, the type of clothing she wore, and the disdain-filled attitude that the raven-haired Iskra had radiated around her immediate surroundings was always a hot topic of discussion for the two of them.
While the cowardly woman had never dared to bring such feelings to the forefront during the countless days that they had spent together in both public and private settings, Iskra had always managed to learn of her former mother's ire through the multitude of mentioning's passed on to her by her many siblings after having learned it through various other methods in their own right.
'She had grown heinously fat over the years. Her fashion sense was as dull as a freshly killed ox, and she refused to show off what she had been blessed with. Her circle of friends was trash and only served to show off her ill-made decisions throughout her life.' An internal list slowly formed in the back of Iskra's mind as to why her mother had decided to pick one of her younger children as the target of her jealousy. Eventually, the growing list turned into reasons as to why the daughter was superior to her own flesh and blood that had given birth to her.
'I had gathered friends who were picked to do one thing and one thing only: To mirror my beauty. I wore clothes that illuminated the world with my beauty, and most importantly I-' Iskra's eyes shot open when she heard an alien sound explode in the world beyond her wooden prison. Upon recognizing the sound of footsteps, the young girl shrunk back in fright as she darted her eyes back and forth between the various gaps within the ceiling of her newfound prison turned position of safety.
At first, she wished to speak out towards the mysterious owner of the footsteps, but the young girl decided against such an action when she heard the sounds of someone, or something, moving the various bits and pieces of lumber around. Iskra instantly recognized that it was as if they were looking for something.
For all that she knew, it could have been a scavenging party made up of the hideous creatures that had been the cause all of the mayhem that had erupted around her.
As the sound of the footsteps drew closer towards her, Iskra dragged both of her arms in front of her and quietly wrapped her hands around her mouth. As she did this, chunks of blood-soaked mud had been dumped inside of her mouth and Iskra watched with utter terror as her arms turned ghostly pale while her body reacted in a way that only came naturally to her.
Feeling the need to vomit, Iskra stared in horror as loud, frog-like coughs broke her silence.
Iskra let out an agonizingly loud gasp as the footsteps stopped somewhere above her.
Her ears began to burn red hot as they struggled to hear even the slightest of sounds as the minute passing of time had begun to feel like the drawn-out hours of a miserable day. The only sound that she could hear, or that she was willing to hear for that matter, was the sound of her own heart violently beating against her chest.
And with how violently it was beating against its boney cage, Iskra very likely thought that it would explode out of her at any moment.
"Iskra?" Came a ragged, yet strangely familiar voice. Its accent was strange and one that wasn't accustomed to saying names that belonged to those born in Ranislava. So, for the time being, the girl in question remained quiet as she struggled to think of who it could be.
The voice called out her name for a second time. Then a third. Eventually, a fifth.
Each time that the voice called out to her, Iskra remained quiet. She feared that it was a trick employed by the encampment's enemies to lure her out for reasons unknown to her.
Yet when the owner of the voice moved a piece of wood that allowed a small ray of light to shine through to where she could see, Iskra saw something that gave her hope.
Hair.
Golden blonde hair.
Iskra took a deep breath as she gathered up what strength she could before calling out the name of her savior.
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With hands locked in unison, the pair of teenagers looked at one another with youthful expressions. Iskra stared deeply into the elven prince's silver eyes, while Aurelius had found it extremely to turn his head and look away. The young elf's metallic silver eyes clashed with the human's emerald green eyes as the two of them were locked away in their own separate worlds.
For Aurelius, it had proven to be extremely difficult for him to be the first to break from the mesmerizing moment once he had recognized that the clothes that the girl now wore were in a state of disrepair. The elven prince had the pleasure of witnessing an ample amount of the girl's cleavage as he had helped to pull her from the rubble.
To him, Iskra appeared to be oblivious of this fact, and the prince's perverted thoughts were accompanied by a twang of guilt as an imaginary visage of his mother began to scream at him to look away and offer the young girl something to cover herself with.
The young prince knew that the proper thing for him to do would be to look away and give the ghostly pale girl that stood before him something to cover herself with. Despite him wanting to provide the girl with something to cover herself with, Prince Aurelius couldn't help but watch in hellish agony as his eyes slowly drag themselves back towards the ample bosom that bounced in the air with each movement that came from the teenaged girl as she struggled to stand on her own two feet.
If it weren't for the fact that Aurelius feared the wrath of his sorceress mother over his perverted staring, the young prince would've had gladly allowed the girl to continue in her struggle. Aurelius was well aware of the idea that if she were to be made aware of his unbecoming behavior than his mother would have put the fear of the gods into him.
"Um-" Aurelius stuttered as he continued to watch the human girl fail to lift her knees off of the remains of the ruined structure. The elven teenager, who was at a loss as to what he should do to help, watched as Iskra shakily rose to her feet only to stumble and crash onto the rubble beneath them.
Iskra, for her part, continued in her attempts to rise to her feet but eventually gave up after having failed for what must have been the dozenth time.
"Do you want me to help?" The prince asked, well aware of the fact that she wouldn't have been able to understand him. He just hoped that she was able to recognize the intent behind his speech and take him up on his offer.
Aurelius watched on in silence as the young girl looked around her immediate surroundings as she silently mouthed a few words to herself.
To the elven prince, it almost looked like Iskra had been able to understand some of what he had said, but such thoughts were quickly cast aside as he felt that such an idea was a ridiculous one. How would she have been able to learn the Dar'Nari tongue anyway?' He wondered to himself as the young girl looked into his eyes and nodded her head.
Letting go of her arms, Aurelius turned around and crouched down. Offering his body as her personal flesh-and-blood carriage.
The young prince didn't have much time to think over his actions as the young girl had thrown herself onto his body and wrapped her arms over his shoulders without a second thought.
'They're really, really soft.' Aurelius referred towards Iskra's womanly features as her body continued to spread itself across the elven prince's back.
Wanting to clear away his thoughts on the matter of Iskra's ample bosom, the elven prince rose to his feet and reached back with his hands to grip onto her thighs. Only to pause in his actions as he realized that they were just as equally as soft of the pair of breasts that now sandwiched themselves between their two bodies.
Aurelius looked down at the ground as his cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. While he had grown accustomed to seeing the breasts of his siblings and mothers, the young prince had yet to enjoy the private company of a girl that wasn't his own flesh and blood.
His biological mother had gone out of her way to force the servant girls to disperse upon her noticing their presence.
He realized that it was a nice feeling, the warm sensation of having such bountiful flesh spread itself across his back, and Aurelius wondered just how far he could take things before the girl on his back was able to realize his true intentions.
"Hang on," Aurelius twisted his neck to face the girl behind him as he steadied himself for what he was about to do. "I need to adjust my grip" His excuse was a poor one, but Aurelius felt as if it made the most sense in their current situation.
Not ready for what was to come, Iskra let out a startled cry as she was jostled into the air.
As the young girl's bountiful bosom dragged itself across the length of the elven prince's back, Aurelius shifted his body to make the most of their current situation and pressed his back even further against the startled girl's body.
Fearing that she would fall to the ground, Iskra reached out to cling onto her perverted savior, unaware of the fact that she was giving the young prince more of what he wanted.
Any feelings of exhaustion that Aurelius may have once felt were now erased as he jostled the human girl into the air for a second time. Taking his greed into another direction, the elven prince dug his fingers deeply into the flesh of her meaty thighs and flexed his tired hands into the girl's soft and ample features.
To Aurelius, Iskra was so light in weight that he felt as if he could repeat the perverted process over and over again without growing tired of the fleshy sensations he now felt.
'Mother isn't here, and there's no way that she'll be able to find out. So there's no reason as to why I shouldn't be able to break a few of her rules.' A simple minded Aurelius thought to himself as he paused in his actions to dwell on the subject of his mother.
The young prince was well aware of the fact that his mother wouldn't be able to return to their family's fortress-citadel for a time until after she had accomplished her many goals in the far north, so Aurelius was willing to take the risk in breaking free from her control. Even if it meant that he would feel an immense amount of guilt at a later point in time.
Thinking that the elven prince had finished with what he wanted to do, Iskra tapped at his shoulders and kicked out her legs in front of them to signal that the two of them should get a move on.
Iskra grew frustrated with her savior when he failed to take the first step towards safety and slapped an open palm against the flat of his back.
Having been caught off guard by the girl's actions, Aurelius jumped in fright and stumbled to the ground, nearly taking the both of them with him. Yet he was able to recover in time and regain enough of his composure to take the first step off of the pile of shattered lumber.
“Sorry,” The young prince coughed out as Iskra tightened her grip around his waist and chest so that she wouldn’t fall to the ground without taking the blonde-haired elf with her. He wasn’t sure if it was the fact that the girl was visibly frightened or if she was stronger than she looked, but Aurelius was surprised at just how strong of a grip that the young girl was able to muster.
In either case, the two of them needed to find somewhere where they would be able to scan their immediate surroundings and find a more secure area to return to. Or, if need be, escape from the chaotic battlefield and find the closest settlement that would be able to offer them some form of relative safety.
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