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“Harmon?” The gentle voiced swept across
the breeze with such grace it was scarcely heard. But it was enough.
Harmon was enveloped in worry,
so much so in fact he could hear his stomach turning somersaults; a sound
that had so often been mistaken for hunger, and had so often been
discovered to be something else. A gloomy thought troubled him as his
large, innocent brown eyes glanced around his small cabin that lay alone
at the edge of the Elven woods. Shadows danced outside his window,
engulfing the cabin with night fall.
“Who’s there?” Harmon
pulled the sheets around his neck tighter. Twigs were tapping on the
windows with infrequent beats, almost matching those of his heart.
“Is that you Brethren?”
He felt safer in his bed. Carved
by the hands of his Father, the bed had been made by magical pine from the
neighbouring forests to his cabin. In fact, the cabin was constructed of
the very same. Once the wood was cut, the person whom used the wood was
protected from all evil. Or so legend told it.
“Brethren? If that’s you out
there, you’d better get inside… It’s not safe out there” Harmon
took a light, shallow breath. “Not any more”.
The rapping of the twigs on the
window turned into a distinctive pounding on the door. Harmon gasped, and
clutched the bed sheets so tightly his knuckles turned a profound shade of
pink and white.
“W-Who is it?”
“Harmon it is just me,
Brethren! Why in Rangor’s name have you got the door locked?” Harmon
could not hide the smile. Brethren had one too many times gone for
midnight walks in the woods, and in spite of the strong legend regarding
the protecting magic of the trees, Harmon still feared for his friends
life.
“Come on, you shouldn’t be out there!” Harmon scolded Brethren who immediately dived in Harmon’s bed. Within seconds he was in a peaceful sleep, wrapped like a baby underneath the blankets. Harmon sighed. It looked like he would have to sleep on the floor again that night. Doesn’t he have a home of his own? Harmon thought, before curling up infront of the fire with a cup of herbal tea.
Harmon sipped the hot tea
gently. He sniffed as steam got up his nose. He couldn’t sleep not
without his bed. Glancing
toward his bedroom he could hear Brethren purring like a kitten, sleeping
soundly. Nothing could have disturbed him, elves were heavy sleepers,
always had been.
__________________________________
They hadn’t always been friends; Harmon and
Brethren. Ever since the
great and powerful, but deeply tormented Elf, Ragnor, was made ruler of the Elven land,
humans had been banished to a nether world, one where humans would live in
eternal pain, slavery torment amongst the Irks.
Harmon had been the only one
left after this had happened, all because he had been hiding in the woods
under some fallen trees. His Father, who had hidden alongside him, had day
by day constructed the cabin with his own bare hands, always telling the
tale of the power the wood possessed.
‘Will save your skin one day,
this here wood will, my lad” he had said, a pipe always in his mouth,
but not always alight. Harmon had come to the conclusion it was there for
mere comfort in the now cruel days.
Now, however, Harmon was alone,
Brethren was one of his only friends. His only family. His Father had ventured into
the woods one night and had never returned. To that very day Harmon dared
not walk through the woods alone at night.
Brethren had come across Harmon one night who was out searching for his lost Father. Tears streaming down his face, his feet sore and blistered, Harmon had been screaming his father’s name for hours. Eventually, he could go on no longer, and had collapsed in a pile of dried leaves and twigs.
“Good Ragnor! What’s
this?” Brethren dragged him by his feet to a tree stump and had sat
there until Harmon awoke.
“Who are you?” Harmon
uttered weakly. His vision was blurred and he could not make out who the
short, skinny silhouette was before him. “Father?”
“No, I’m no Father of yours.
Do I look like a human to you?” Brethren chuckled, holding his hand over
his mouth to control himself. “You need to get yourself home, lad. If
you’re found here, they’ll send you away”. Harmon sat up abruptly.
“No! I have to find my
Father!”
“You’ll not find him around
here, lad” replied Brethren, regretfully. “Where are you living in
these parts? I’ll take you back”
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Harmon curled his hands tightly around the cup as he recalled the day that they had met. He knew that his mere exsistence could cause Brethren a world of trouble, but, Brethren was a simple Elf; he knew nothing of trouble and walked away from any who attempted to explain it to him.
Morning had been around for a while when Brethren eventually surfaced. Harmon let out an incoherent grunt as he awoke to realise he had drifted off infront of the fire.
"Morning, Harm! Did you have a good sleep?" Brethren came bounding cheerfully into the main room, sitting himself down next to his companion. He calmed when he noticed the sullen expression on Harmon's face. "Something wrong?"
"No, of course not, what could be wrong?" Harmon grumbled, sarcastically. He had given up hiding anything from the unusually short elf that sat cross legged beside him.
Elves were good at reading people, Brethren especially. "You'll get your Pop's back one day, Harm." Harmon lifted his head to object and lie. That's not what I'm thinking, he wanted to say. But he knew there would be no point.
"I'm not so sure any more, Brethren. It just seems that since he disappeared, everything else got lost with it." Harmon blinked forcefully to push back the tears of pain and loss for his Father that were ready to surface. "I know he's alive, he can't be dead!"
"Maybe he ran away to escape Ragnor." commented Brethren. "I doubt any human would want to go where Ragnor was sending them." A tear trickled down Harmon's cheek, and Harmon did not attempt to hide it.
"Why would he leave me here? No! It doesn't make sense, he's in the Elven woods somewhere, and he's alive!" Harmon stood up and marched to the other side of the room by the window. He took a deep breath to calm himself.
His little elf friend stood up and cautiously walked over to him. This wasn't the first time that Harmon had had an episode like this over his missing Father. Once, Harmon had been so angry that he had locked himself in his room for three solid days without food or water, sobbing for his Father's return.
"I'm sorry, lad." whispered Brethren. "D'you want me to leave you be now?" Harmon turned to face him.
"No... I'm sorry, Brethren. I just wish he was here. I get scared without him." Harmon sniffed loudly and wiped his tear stained face dry with his sleeve.
"I understand" Brethren replied. Then, perking up he included "He'll come back, don't you worry."
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The air around the caves of Molthru hung low and heavy. The remembrance of dead and tortured souls writhed around every inch of the caves, leaving an unsettling stench of death behind.
Darius hated being on patrol at sun-rise. He paced up and down slowly - Irks were incapable of fast movement and so were only used for guarding and simple patrolling. Daemon's were used for the battles, should one ever commence. Darius stopped to eat a bug flying about his helmet.
"Darius!" a deep, eerie voiced bellowed through the caves, yet no one could be seen. Darius quivered. He knew who was calling to him. Immediately he came to full attention holding his tall mace by his spiny, rough shoulders; they way Irk soldiers are meant to.
"Yes, Ragnor?" Darius swallowed hard and dared not move. There were once two Irks patrolling these parts of the Caves of Molthru, but his partner had made the mistake of bending down to tie his shoelaces in the presence of Ragnor and was never heard of again. Darius was smarter than this.
"Have you done as I had asked?"
"Yes, Ragnor" the last remaining human city has been burned to the ground... There are none left on this world" the Irk said boldly, but with a slight hint of regret.
It was only Ragnor who had any kind of grudge against humans. He saw them as a disease, over crowding and over populating the world; causing wars where a war need not be necessary.
"LIES!" bellowed Ragnor. The stench of death in the air strengthened, Darius had to try with all his might not to pass out. He's gonna kill me for sure! He thought, fearfully. "I sense humans... Humans still remain in Elven. I can smell their fear!"
"Ragnor, I am sure that there..."
"SILENCE!"
The Irk silenced at once. He knew better than to answer back to Ragnor, and he was lucky to be still on his feet after speaking at that point. The Irk held his breath, waiting for Ragnor to pull out his still beating heart.
"Find them, and I shall spare your life, Darius" breathed Ragnor. The presence of Ragnor slowly faded along with the overwhelming smell of death. Darius gulped.
"Now you've gone and done it, Darius" he scolded himself"
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The day was calmer now. The morning wind had died down and settled to a refreshing breeze which blew Harmon's brown hair away from his face as he sat calmly on the tall cliffs of Elven by the shore. He was in a better mood now, having managed to push the bad feelings aside.
"A sad man makes for a vulnerable one, lad" Brethren always told him. Harmon chuckled. Brethren sounded like an old, wise man, yet Brethren was younger than Harmon by at least two Human years.
He watched the tides crash against the rocky shores below. They pulled him into a trance. It was like watching Unicorns diving at the rocks, sacrificing themselves under the control of the Moon. His Father had once told him that the foamy shores were Unicorns. He had never believed it, but now in his trance, he could see them, staring up at him with bright, dazzling eyes.
Nothing could disturb him now. He was at peace with himself for the first time in a long while so he continued to gaze at the Unicorns galloping in and out of the shore beneath him.
"What you doing Harm?" a familiar voice shrilled out behind him. For a split second, all the fears and troubles Harmon had ever experienced, disappeared, leaving him with a temporary feeling of bliss. He spun around to see his old friend, Riana, standing before him, arms open ready for a hug.
"Riana!" shouted Harmon who ran over to give her a long hug. "When did you get back?"
"Just now, you barely gave me time to get off my horse!" she giggled, pointing over to her white Arabian who was tucking into Harmon's flower garden.
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Riana was of a strange breed. Her mother being Elf and her Father being human, she was beautiful, yet bizarre. Her hair almost reached the floor in incandescent, flowing locks of golden blonde hair. Riana was an old friend of Brethren's and had met Harmon not long after Brethren had carried him home from the woods.
Riana had left when the humans had been banished. She had left Harmon and Brethren a note tearfully explaining to them she was too full of pure fear and resent to remain in Elven. Brethren had understood, but Harmon had gotten upset.
"How can she just leave like that, without saying goodbye?" Harmon paced up and down the cabin, clutching the letter in his hand so tightly, it was heavily creased by the time Brethren got to read it.
"She did, lad. It's right here, see?" he replied pointing at the letter. Harmon shot him a sharp look.
"That's not saying goodbye" he said in a low, harsh tone. "That's leaving nothing but a note to say she's going! Who knows where she really is? Anything could have happened..."
Brethren look pitiful for his friend. "It won't bring her back, lad".
Harmon had spent a full twenty-four hours in the Elven forest that night searching for Riana on horseback. His journey was cut short when it finally hit him that she was gone. Slowly, he rode back to the cabin, with sadness and a sense of loss in his heart.
__________________________________
Harmon shook away the memories of her departure. "Come inside, I'll make you something to eat, you must be starving." he beamed, only just realizing that he hadn't had a bite to eat himself all day. Whilst Harmon began walking back towards the cabin, Riana halted abruptly. "What's wrong?"
"Something's coming" she whispered.
Harmon felt his heart sink and unwelcome remembrance of his Father return. "Let's get inside, and you can tell me what's wrong" Harmon muttered.
"All right" the elf-human forced a smile. Brushing her long fringe out of her face, she took Harmon by the hand and the two walked inside.
__________________________________
Like a plague of terror, the Black Dragons of Molthru hailed from the sky, each carrying on its back one Irk and at least two Daemon's depending on the size of the dragon.
"Ragnor is coming!" anyone who had use of their eyes could see them; swarms of Black Dragons in the air, herds of Daemon's on the ground. One dared not imagine what was emerging from the shores.
Ragnor was coming to find the humans! The only two humans left known to anyone; Harmon and Riana. The only two people who seemed to have no idea that Black Dragon's were heading towards them.
"Ragnor, Master... Your Daemon's are searching Elven as we speak, the humans should be sniffed out in no time" he said, reluctantly, fearing his ruler's reaction. Ragnor glared down at him with fire-red eyes.
"You have done me well, Darius. For this I shall spare you the knowledge that you will be the one to destroy them - tear out their insides and grip them as if they were your own life!" Ragnor echoed throughout the caves. He had no use to be in Elven. He knew exactly what was happening. "I want the human boy brought to me. Tell him I have something of his that he wants"
"Something... of his, Ragnor?" The evil Elf gestured into a dark alcove where the muffled cries of a terrified man emerged. "Oh" the Irk went on "I see."
__________________________________
"Tell me what you're afraid of" begged Harmon, searching for the fear that dwelled in Riana's soft hazel eyes; once filled with a shimmer that not death himself could take away, now gone, filled with nothing more than dismay.
"Something's coming for... you. I don't know what, or who... But I can sense it, so strongly!" Harmon frowned, his fists clenched. "You're in danger Harmon"
"Nonsense!" he replied, laughing off her warning. "If someone were after me, they'd be here by now." She had to admit, he had a point. But something deep down was telling her to trust her instincts - something was very wrong.
There was a pause. They both jumped when they heard a pounding on the doors and the terrified cries of Brethren begging and pleading for them to open the door.
"Brethren?"
Harmon opened the door, slowly at first, and then quickly as he saw a Black Dragon heading for Brethren. Just millimeters away from him, Harmon grabbed his elf friend by the collar and jerked him inside the cabin, locking the door behind him.
"What was that?" quivered Harmon. He searched his friends for answers.
"Black Dragons..." said Riana. "They've come for you, Harmon!"
[ To Be Continued ]