Disclaimer: EverQuest and all its bits and bobs belong to Sony Online Entertainments. The characters whose tales I tell are either mine, or used with the permission of their creators. Don't sue me!

Part 1

Laughter ran out among the trees. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, making patterns of light and shade on Eala's face. She observed the green and yellow dapples on her hands for a moment, then, with a giggle, she chased after her sister.

"Come on Eala!" cried Sierradu, "Keep up with me!"

Eala caught up with her, and together they ran through the Faydark, as only elves can, flitting from tree to tree with infinite grace. Deer raised their heads to watch the young elves run by, and occasionally a startled rabbit would dart out from under their feet.
They ran on, two High Elves, young and carefree, with none of the burdens carried by the elders of their race.

Slowing, the pair came to the edge of the Greater Faydark, and they stopped at the entrance to the passage leading to the Lesser Faydark.

"I wonder what it's like through there." mused Ealandariel.

Sierradu grinned at her mischieviously.

"Why don't we go and find out?"

Eala gaped at her older sister.

"We're not allowed Sierra. If we were found out, we'd get into so much trouble! Besides," she gulped, "It's meant to be dangerous in there. I heard Mama talking about it, she said the Dark Elves were making camps."

"You're not frightened of them, are you?" replied Sierradu.

Flushing, Eala replied, "Of… of course not! It's just…"

Sierra broke in, "It's not like we'd be going far enough to get into trouble, sister. We'd just… look. See what there is to see. We wouldn't go far from the path back, I promise."

Eala glanced again at the entrance to Lesser Faydark. It seemed somehow threatening, the sunlight couldn't penetrate the leaves here – the trees were clustered too closely. The younger elf shivered.

"I don't like it Sierra. If evil races can go there… perhaps Tunare herself has forsaken the place."

Sierra secretly agreed with her younger sister, but there was no way she could back down now without losing face. Besides, she had already started her cleric's training, and knew several spells. Surely she could protect them from anything in there… Thinking this, she squared her shoulders and started marching into the Lesser Faydark.

"If you're too scared to come with me, then I'll go alone!" she called back towards Eala. Her bravado sounded hollow in her own ears, but to Ealandariel, she simply sounded supremely confident. With a sigh and a brief prayer to Tunare to protect them, Eala ran after her sister.

The two young elves huddled together as they wandered the paths of the dark forest. No birds sang here, and the only animals they had seen had been giant wasps and bats. Eala plucked at her sister's sleeve.

"Sis… I don't like this at all, please can we go back? Surely we've come far enough in now."

Sierra was inwardly quaking as well, but she turned and gave her sister a comforting hug, saying;

"It's ok, if you're too scared, we can go. Wait till the others in my class find out that I've been here though! And as for you – why, you might be the youngest from the city to ever have come here Sis!"

Eala considered this for a moment, then smiled. Sierra did have a point… The other young elves would be so impressed when they heard – if they made it back alive, of course. The thought entered Eala's mind unbidden, and she shivered.

"Yeah… of course. Let's just go now though… come on!"

Hand in hand, they turned to go back the way they had come. After they had been walking for maybe ten minutes, Sierra stopped.

"Wh…what is it?" asked Eala nervously.

Sierradu was looking around carefully. With a feeling of mounting horror, she realised that she didn't recognise this place, and had no idea where they were! Resisting the urge to panic, for her sister's sake, she took a deep breath.

"I think we took a wrong turn a couple of minutes ago Eala. We're just going to backtrack till we come to a fork, and go the other way."

Eala's eyes widened in fear, but she just nodded, and followed her sister.

Before long, it became apparent to both of them that they were completely and utterly lost. At some point, they had moved off the path, and now they couldn't find it again. They wandered aimlessly for a minute or two, then Sierradu stopped them both.

"I wonder… I have a spell that points to True North… perhaps if we keep going straight in one direction, we'll get out of the forest, and be able to find our way back."

Eala nodded, and Sierra began to cast her spell. Golden sparks of light swirled around the young cleric, and turned her to face North. Ealandariel grasped her hand again, and they set off, stopping occasionally to recast the spell and make sure they were still going straight. The forest didn't seem to be thinning, but resolutely, they marched on.

The progress of the two young Koada'Dal had not gone unnoticed. The sparkles of light from the spell had attracted attention from more than wasps and bats. As Eala and Sierra walked on, violet and red eyes followed them. Leather clad figures slipped silently from tree to tree, dark feet making no noise on the mossy ground. Swift and as unseen as shadows, the Teir'Dal watched and waited.

Eventually the sisters stopped, exhausted. Eala was nearly crying by this time, and Sierra stamped her foot in frustration. Surely the forest couldn't be this big! Sierra toyed with the idea of hiding her sister, then gating back to Felwithe and getting help. When she suggested this though, Eala really did start crying, and clung so hard to her sister that Sierra abandoned the idea at once.

"All right, all right." She said. "I won't leave you, I promise. Look. Let's just sit and rest for a while, then we'll decide what to do."

Tiredly, the pair sank to the ground. Eala curled up beside Sierra, who sat hugging her knees and pondering the dilemma.

Suddenly there was a slight noise from behind them. Sierra bolted to her feet, pulling Eala up behind her.

"What was that!" squeaked the younger elf.

"I don't know… hush! There it is again!"

That was all the warning they had. With a yell, a dark-clad figure sprang out in front of them, wielding a glowing staff and shouting in a strange language. Eala and Sierra turned to flee, only to find themselves surrounded.

"Dark elves!" gasped Sierradu.

Eala started to cry again. Both the young High Elves knew that they would be shown no mercy. Koada'Dal teachings were full of stories on the brutality and cruelness of their dark cousins. Struggle was futile. Within seconds the pair were bound hand and foot.

The leader of the band of Teir'Dal steppd forward. He tilted Sierradu's chin back, admiring her face. Sierra snapped forward and tried to bite him. With a curse, he yanked his hand back, and then casually backhanded her. Sierra took the blow silently, determined to be strong for her sister's sake.

"This one has spirit!" remarked the leader to his comrades. "In just a few years, she'll make an excellent dancer at the Maiden's Fancy. I'm sure they'll be interested."

"What about the younger one?" asked another of the Dark Elves.

The captain considered Eala for a moment, then grinned.

"We haven't had any proper sport for a time… let's set her loose and see how long she can outrun us for!"

Walking over to the captured pair, he undid Eala's bonds. She stood, staring at him.

"You will run now." He told her, forcing his mouth to spit out the words in the hated Elvish tongue. His accent was thick and nearly unintelligble, but Eala understood.

"I… I won't leave without my sister!" she said, voice quavering.

The captain shrugged.

"You die here, you die later on. Makes no difference. But we want sport first. You WILL run."

"Eala, go!" insisted Sierra. "Run, try and find help!"

The Dark Elves laughed at this.

"Help? There is no help in here. But perhaps this belief will make her run fast! More fun for us." He gave Eala a push that nearly sent her sprawling. "Go, now!"

With one last, agonised look at her sister, Ealandariel took off into the forest. Sierra watched her go, and prayed to Tunare that her sister would survive.

After a few minutes, the Dark Elf captain barked a command, and several of his companions ran off the way that Eala had gone.

"Eala, they're coming! RUN!" cried Sierra, hoping her sister would hear.

"Silence!" snapped the captain, and struck her again. This time the blow sent her spinning towards unconsciousness, and with a final plea to the Great Mother for mercy, Sierradu slipped down into darkness.

Ealandariel ran on, and on. She had heard Sierradu's cry, and knew now that she was being followed.

"Sierra…" she sobbed as she ran. Would she ever see her sister again?

She could hear the sounds of her pursuers now. They were older, fitter and faster than her. The only advantage she had was being used to running in forests. Concentrating hard, she ran as she had never run before.

Bursting into a clearing, she stumbled in exhaustion, and fell flat on her face. Gasping for breath, she pulled herself to her feet and started to stagger on. Just then she heard the "twang" of a bowstring behind her, and an instant later, agony seared through her leg as an arrow embedded itself in her thigh. Falling to the ground, she turned to look behind her, and saw three of the Dark Elves closing in.

In desperation, she cried out to her Goddess for help, then, not expecting any reply, she let her head drop to the ground, waiting quietly for death to take her. Idly, she wondered whether being dead would hurt. Things were getting very bright in the clearing, and Eala mused that perhaps Tunare was going take her to Her own plane before she had a chance to feel any pain. Thunder drummed in the young elf's ears, and the light continued to grow brighter.

The Dark Elves had stopped advancing, and were covering their eyes in pain. Suddenly a bright white creature erupted into the clearing, and with cries of terror, the Teir'Dal turned and fled. As Eala sat up, crying at the pain in her leg, she realised that the thunder had been hoofbeats. Through the mist of her tears, she looked upon Equestrielle, the famous Unicorn servant of Tunare.

Equestrielle came towards her, and then spoke gently:

"You remember this, Ealandariel. You remember this day."

The young elf looked at her in confusion.

"The Great Mother has another task for you. Yet you cannot complete it alone. Your sister survived this ordeal, and even now lives on Antonica. You will need her help in the years to come. The help of your old family. And so you will come to find your new family. Go now, and find her!"

The light grew so bright that Eala couldn't keep her eyes open. Turning her head away, she screwed her eyes shut…

…and years later, and a continent away, she woke up in her bed in Firiona Vie. Gasping, she sat up. Her sheets were soaked in sweat, and, touching her face, she found it wet with tears. She moved to swing her legs out of bed, and cried out as pain shot through her right thigh. Pulling the sheets aside, she found that the old scar had reopened, and was bleeding again. Composing her thoughts, she cast a light healing spell on the wound, and watched as it closed. The ache remained though, and she limped across the room to her dressing table.

Seated on the small stool, she gazed into the mirror. Why had Tunare sent her such an intense dream? And why that day, of all days. Eala's eyes filled with tears again as she thought of the day her sister was taken from her. The Unicorn had taken her back to Felwithe, and though her parents and their friends had searched for weeks, no trace of Sierradu had ever been found. All had given her up as dead or enslaved, and the city of Felwithe had mourned. Gradually, life had returned to normal, though Eala was never quite the same. She too took up the calling of a cleric, determined to honour her sister's memory.

And now it seemed that Sierra was still alive, somewhere. And no matter what, Eala promised herself, she would find her.