Chapter 1
It was a warm summer evening and the sounds of the crickets had already begun to permeate the air. The bats began to circle the trees in hunt of their daily meal, and a small creek gently splashed over the rocks. The woods here flowed with life but felt abandoned by it, as if trying to say it was empty, that there was nothing here. There was a small overgrown cabin that lay in an equally overgrown meadow, definitely no suitable place to live, yet the stark cry of a newborn infant pierced the forest. The wind blew across the treetops as they yielded their leaves to its power.
The breeze carried the child’s story of life all throughout the woods and countless animals turned their heads in curiosity. Soft voices were heard from the cabin and as the sun fell behind the mountains, candlelight shone between the cracks of the walls. Inside there were three souls, hiding from the night and the unknown dangers it may hold.
A tall elven man, his face cloaked by a dappled green hood, stood watch over a flimsy wicker bed. Another elf lay in front of him, cradling between her arms a baby no more than minutes old, yet eyes as clear blue as sapphire. The woman looked weary after her ordeal and the guard could tell that her health was failing.
“Your highness,” the guard said softly. “He seems to have been born healthy, congratulations.”
The woman smiled bleakly, “Thank you Isayah… I suppose I should give him a name as soon as I can, hmm?” Isayah saw the hidden meaning behind those words. He had been protecting his lady ever since their hidden settlement was found by the Empire. Her highness and I were the only ones able to flee. But despite escaping, her highness was not a warrior like he was, and so she has been ill the past couple weeks. What’s worse, the Empire’s legionnaires have been right on their trail the entire time.
Swallowing back his sadness, he decided to ignore the weight behind her question. “Did his majesty ever say anything?”
“About the name? No... Tauriel had always hoped to have a little girl.” Her highness’s eyes were wet with unshed tears. Isayah couldn’t blame her, but crying would only weaken her body further. His queen laid back into the dirty pillow he had found in the corner of the room. “I guess my time is up.”
“May I give a suggestion?” Isayah was anxious to ease her highness’s passing. He knew it wasn’t right of him to think of naming a royal, let alone another man’s son and possibly the last of their bloodline.
The queen didn’t seem upset though, “I’d really appreciate that,” She halfheartedly chuckled. “I probably should have thought it through before tonight.”
He hesitated, unsure if it was really his place to name the boy. Isayah glanced toward the infant and caught it staring back up at him, suddenly it let out a squeal of laughter. It almost made him jump in surprise, stricken with a sense of deja vu. It was a memory from long ago, several hundred years at least, he once had a son of his own. He had decided, “What about Elias? It was my first born's name, although he never got the chance to use it.”
The queen had a strange look on her face for a moment and mused, “Elias…” Testing out the word, “Elias… Yes, that is a good name.” She looked down at the newly marked Elias, “Your name is Elias!” The high pitched playful voice she used caught the escort off guard. As long as he had served under them, he had never heard such a voice. But nonetheless, he was relieved she didn’t take offense at his suggestion.
“My Queen, you should get some rest, I’ll prepare a meal for you.” He dimmed the candle light and took a step outside. The night had finally fallen. It was a good thing this forest was as dense as it was, it meant their pursuers couldn’t travel at night. He made quick work of checking the snares he’d set earlier in the day, scoring two plump hares. He butchered them on the spot, as he didn’t want any wild animals to come to the cabin looking for food.
It was difficult, but he made his way back to the cabin in the dark, he wasn’t using a torch in fear of attracting unwanted guests. The cabin was completely dark by the time he got back, the candle must have burnt out which was unfortunate, as it was their last.
The door to the cabin was not sturdy and was made of little more than treebark, as was the rest of the building. The mud used to seal it from the outside had long since been washed away and what remained was barely a skeleton of the original. But there was a roof, and it kept the fiends out, so it was home.
The old leather hinges creaked as Isayah opened it and crept in, hoping not to startle her highness. She lay in bed , the infant silently snoozing in her arms. He quietly uttered a spell used for cooking, an open fire could spread too quickly if it got out of hand. He wordlessly chewed on the less appetizing parts and tried his best to make the rest as presentable as small game could be.
He scooted his stool over to the bedside and nudged her highness, “I’ve brought some food, you need to eat some to keep your strength up.” She did not stir. Isayah’s breath caught, he had been expecting it, but he didn’t think it would be so quickly. His heart fell when he caught a glimpse of her face. She had died with a smile.
~~~~
The morning light crested the ridge of mountains to the east, time moving ever forward without a care for those left in its wake. A freshly dug mound of dirt lay behind a dilapidated cabin deep inside of a vast forest in the foothills of vaster mountains. There stood an elven man, one of the last of his kind, mourning the last queen of his people. Isayah held a bundle of cloth, stained with dry blood from the night before.
He had sensed intruders to the woods an hour ago, but they had since masked their presence. It was time to leave. He intended to head up to the eastern mountain range and hide there for a while. He knew at some point he would have to fake his death, otherwise the Empire would never stop hunting him. But for now, he just had to make it to the mountains.
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A morbid realization hit him. Now that the queen was dead, he would be able to take ground at a much faster pace despite his fragile package. He hated himself for the thought and tried his best to brush it off. He held to the baby gently, but firmly enough to hike at a decent pace. It was only an hour before Elias started crying. He knew the baby would be hungry and was relieved that her highness had filled her canteen with enough milk for a few days. He’ll have to find some cattle or perhaps a goat. Between that and Isayah supplementing him with his mana, Elias should be able to avoid any permanent effects of malnutrition.
He pricked a small hole near the top of the leather canteen and had Elias suckle the milk out. It was not perfect, or even good for that matter, but it should work for now.
~~~~
Another week passed by hopping from ruin to ruin, there were plenty of them due to society falling apart when the Archmage appeared. Isayah had to fight off wild animals and monsters more than once because of the noise his ward made. He managed to harvest the postmortem milk from a few of the larger monsters he’d preyed upon, though it wasn’t much. He could tell Elias was hungry, yet he didn’t seem to complain all that often.
Isayah tried hard to banish the thoughts that dwelled in the furthest reaches of his mind saying he should abandon the boy and save himself. It wouldn’t be hard, he could easily evade the legion if he was by himself, perhaps for years. But he swore to protect Elias, his last liege, with his life.
~~~~
Nearly a month after his queen passed, Isayah came across a cottage that seemed to be in better shape than the ones before. He had a bad feeling though, he could see a garden that was kept clean and weeded, and there were also tools leaning up against a fence. The primitive backpack he’d stuffed Elias into shifted. The baby didn’t move much these days. Isayah had been prolonging its life using a spell he learned around the time his own son was born.
It was a simple spell that created a tether of mana which could connect the lifeforce of two people. Unlike how it sounds, the spell has little use in combat. It could emulate nutrition and boost the recipient’s immune system, but that was it. It couldn’t really stop someone from dying and if the recipient were to die while tethered, then the caster would also perish. But that was a risk Isayah was perfectly fine with.
The cottage drew his attention once again when its door opened wide. What came out surprised him, a half-elf. Isayah knew it was a halfblood instinctively, though he wasn’t quite sure how.
An idea dawned on him as soon as he saw the young man’s face, it was a bit similar to his own. He had to survive for Elias. He made up his mind, put his hood over his ears, and stepped out from his hiding spot.
As soon as he revealed himself, the young half-elf whipped his head around and reached for his dagger. His hands stopped when he realized Isayah had his hands high in the air. “I am looking for a place to spend the night, I’m an adventurer, I got separated from my party and was making my way down the mountains when I spotted the smoke from your house.” He spoke clearly but promptly, not wanting to provoke the halfblood.
The man looked at Isayah warily, “What is that?” He gestured toward Elias.
Isayah emphasized his empty hands again, “He’s not mine” It wasn’t a lie, “I found his mother killed by wraith wolves.” They were an uncommon monster that rarely ate their prey, it's more believable than saying that Elias was simply spared.
The half-elf eyed him suspiciously, “I’ve got some cow’s milk, you can have it, but I’m sorry, you can’t stay the night.”
“Even that would be a great help,” Isayah didn’t blame him, he wouldn’t trust himself in a similar situation. “Should I wait here then?”
“Yes, I’ll be right back.” He shook his head and then went back inside, the door he’d held open swinging shut again.
Isayah sighed and began his execution. He slipped the baby off his shoulders and laid him in a drift of leaves. He then lightly ran over the cottage to climb the roof and cast a wind spell to mask his presence. He drew his tauriel blade, forged by his very own king and waited for an opportunity.
It came when the young man opened his door with a pitcher of presumably milk. Isayah dropped down behind him silently and unceremoniously shoved his sword straight through his neck, severing both his spine and jugular in one go. Blood spurted and then poured from the poor boy’s throat. He struggled to turn around for a moment before his strength completely left him and Isayah let his body slump to the floor while dexterously catching the jug of milk.
Before continuing his dark task, he picked up Elias and put him to sleep for a nap in the dead man’s house. With that settled, he hefted the corpse onto his shoulders and hiked back into the forest. It wasn’t long before he found what he was looking for.
The twin horned earth drake was still young, but he could make it work. He first laid the body down in a clearing nearby and just for good measure, sent a small wind spell to carry the scent of fresh blood to the monster’s position.
Just as planned, the drake showed itself in search of a meal. Isayah had to make it look believable so he let the drake chew on the body for a few minutes. As soon as the cadaver was satisfactorily mangled, he crawled down from the tree he’d hidden himself in and launched himself at the unexpecting monster who was just enjoying its meal.
Isayah first sent several wind blade spells toward it, originating from different points to make it harder to dodge. Only two of his seven spells were able to draw blood, but he wasn’t done yet. Before the young drake could process it was being attacked, Isayah barreled into it. It was easily six hundred pounds, but with wind propelling him and magic strengthening his body, Isayah sent them both tumbling into a small wash on one side of the clearing.
He’d fought earth drakes far older than this one before and knew that if you were able to get them on their back, you’d have the advantage. Isayah straddled the beast’s midsection and yanked his sword from his back to plunge it into the drakes’ reverse scale, a tell-tale weakness of any monster of the dragon species. He succeeded in his attack but the drake was stubborn, it flipped its body out from under him and he was thrown a couple meters away.
Isayah quickly regained his feet and prepared to defend himself, but he didn’t need to. The damage had already been done. The young monster roared at the pain, but it came out gargled. He could see the drake’s thick legs shaking before giving out entirely, it was bleeding out rapidly. He twisted his ankle when he was thrown but he applied a magical splint and limped over to the dying monster.
He pulled his knife from his belt, as his sword was hilt deep in the drake, and began to sporadically slash the flesh to imitate a hard fought battle. He then faked evidence of said battle around the clearing. He then made it look like the half-blood had dragged himself to a nearby tree where he had then died from his injuries. When he left the scene he left his tauriel blade behind as proof of the corpse’s identity.
He took a final look at his handiwork and nodded to himself. This would have to do. He stopped by the cottage to retrieve Elias and took care not to wake him from his nap. Taking the supplies from the cottage would be too suspicious, so he only took the bare necessities and set out on the final leg of this two person exodus. Only when he was several miles away did Isayah shed tears for his half-elf brethren.