• Prologue: Ancients


    Night had fallen over the town of Dauthier in Spring Tempus. The war had been raging between the Elves and the Wolves for a hundred years now. Each race gained ground over the other and lost it again many times. Tired of fighting and losing more and more of their race, the Elves had retreated to the city in the hills for safety. Now the Wolves were upon them once again.
    Lord Eldun and his daughter Kyosky stood looking out at the hills from the house farthest away, red eyes bobbed up and down along them. The Wolves were tracing back and forth on the hills by the town.
    A voice rang out across the hills. “Surrender Eldun, You will never leave here alive! My brethren are hungry for your demise. Why not come out and fight!”
    Eldun whispered to Kyosky never taking his eyes off the land in front of him, “Kyosky if I should fall here you know how to get to Autumn Rose, yes?”
    Kyosky nodded, too scared to talk.
    She wasn’t more than a child in the standards of the Elves. When she had reached the age of twenty she had been shown how to reach the city of Autumn Rose. She was taught how to cross the jagged Carron mountain range and into the forest of Elsamar where the Nymph who had not yet fled to the water had promised them safety.
    Swallowing Kyosky looked up at her father. “You aren’t going to die father; they wouldn’t really kill you to gain a seat of power over our race, right?”
    He sighed. “I’m sorry but it’s true. Your mother was killed when she was out on a walk. That was the first major assault. Whatever you do you must take the Elves to the Nymphs and you must keep who join you safe. Those who stay behind will be safe enough. I just know it.
    A howl broke through the night. The assembled Elves below the pair stirred. The battle was to begin.
    “Stand ready my friends, tonight one of us emerges victorious. Let us hope that Ellun smiles upon us. Our first mother did not get us this far to let us be struck down so late into this war. Stand valiant and you shall prevail, falter and you will perish.”
    The Elves cheered. More of the howling broke through the night and the sound of their huge paws coming closer and closer through the town. The archers drew their bows. The Elves unsheathed their swords and a thousand gleaming ghosts shone as the bright stars reflected off the blades.
    Kyosky and Eldun readied themselves for the jump down to the ground.
    “I will not fail you father. You will not be disappointed.”
    Eldun smiled grimly at the promise.

    The first wave of Wolves hit, bows twanged, sword and claw clashed.
    The two jumped into the air and descended to the battle that awaited them. The pair rolled as they struck the ground and as they did so an arrow shot passed them and struck one on the elfin archers in the neck, which then collapsed spitting up blood.
    Eldun growled, “Who dares use a bow when claw and tooth should be used!”
    They shot off into the fray, striking down any wolf they passed. Kyosky watched her father from time to time, noting how he parried and returned attacks, how he caught one by surprise and quickly extinguished the life of an enemy.
    She received many wounds herself, and dealt twice as much. She followed Eldun, killing any that he left behind, and helped to kill. They broke though to where the wolf tribe members that could take shape of a round-eared looking Elf stood. There were five.
    “Glad you could join me Eldun; let us finish this once and for all.” the lady in the center spoke. Hers was the voice that had echoed across the land earlier.
    “Bellara you will pay for what you have done to my people this night. It ends here!”
    Bellara laughed. The sound chilled Kyosky to the soul.
    Eldun and Bellara leaped forward and locked in battle. Their skill amazed Kyosky.
    While they fought she took the chance to go after the other four that had joined in the fighting behind Kyosky. She annihilated two of them in a matter of seconds. The third she dueled with for a good portion of an hour even though the battle had been going on for some time.
    As she dealt the death blow to the round-eared elf wolf, she looked back at her father.
    Time seemed to slow as she watched Bellara leap into the air and stab Eldun through his back.
    He fell forward kneeling.
    Kyosky lashed out at the wolves in her way as she ran to her father. Severely wounding but not killing the beasts.
    Bellara had disappeared into the tangle of bodies.
    “Father, you can’t die! You were stronger than her. Please…” she cried over him for a time, when her father stirred and looked at her.
    “Kyosky my daughter, I am sorry, I have failed you.” his voice was faint and strained.
    She smiled down at him, “No, you accomplished much this night. I shall keep my promise to you. My dear father, I love you so.”
    She laid her father’s head on the ground as the last breath escaped his lungs, “And I you my darling.”
    “And with that ends the story of Eldun. You will not have died in vain.”

    Calling into the night at all the Elves around her, she signaled the retreat to Autumn Rose.
    From behind as they fled the town of Dauthier, she heard Bellara’s voice again. “You cannot run, daughter of Eldun. We will find you again. Arronis will make sure of that.”