Chapter 2

Freed and Lucy followed the elf into a small cave. There was another elf sitting on the ground. He was cradling a broken arm whilst also standing guard over a person that was lying down on the cold hard floor.

Lucy could sense the magic coming from the other person. She felt herself tingle with excitement; she quickly dashed to his side and froze. She looked towards the 1st elf, "what happened?" she asked with tears starting to appear in the corner of her eyes.

"We were attacked. I'll tell you everything but firstly it's not safe out here. Also they need some healing as soon as possible," gestured the elf towards the two injured persons.

"OK, we need to get them to Wendy; she'll know what to do. But how...?" wondered Lucy

Freed was feeling worried about helping them, since he didn't know who they were and what trouble they were in. "I think you owe us an explanation first. We can't help you without unwittingly placing ourselves in danger. We need to know the facts," he said

Lucy looked up at him in astonishment. She couldn't figure out why Freed had just said that to the Head Elf, unless he didn't believe.

Lucy walked up to Freed and took his hand in hers. He gulped when he saw the intense gaze she gave him. She pulled him to sit on the other side of the person in red. "Look at him, do you know who this is?" she asked him, all the while still holding on to his hand. Freed shook his head.

"This is a friend of mine. I've haven't seen him for years but when a friend is in trouble we must do all we can to help. This is Santa, Freed. We must help him," she said.

All poor Freed could do was nod his head at Lucy while his brain processed the information he was given. "Santa's real?" he whispered. Lucy nodded her head. "Santa's your friend?" he asked

"Yes he is and he needs our help. Trust me Freed, we must help him" she pleaded with him. The look in her eyes broke the stupor he was currently in.

"We can take him to my house and then call Wendy from there. I can carry the elf but Santa might be a bit too heavy..." trailed off Freed.

"I can summon Taurus" Lucy suggested with a determined look in her eyes.

They walked through the woods towards the house. Freed took the lead, while carrying Bernard, followed closely by Lucy. Behind her walked Sidhel and after him was Taurus who also carried Santa.

Once they arrived at Freed's house, he altered the wards to allow the others to pass through. Santa was placed on the sofa in the living room. Lucy sent Virgo to fetch Wendy quickly. Freed fetched a blanket for Santa and then started a fire in the fireplace. It didn't take long for Wendy to arrive.

She was shocked to see the Elves and Santa. Even more so to see Santa unconscious, bruised form lying on the sofa. She ran a scan over his body and healed any bruises he had. She then turned to the elf named Bernard and healed his arm. Bernard thanked Wendy for her kindness, which made her blush.

Freed had made a cup of warm tea for everyone, which he passed around before sitting down on the sofa. He was hoping to get an explanation soon as he couldn't contain his curiosity any longer.

Sidhel, the head elf, was sitting on the arm of one of the sofas, when he noticed everyone looking at him expectantly. Clearing his throat he begins, "it all started a few days ago, one of the elves that was on patrol along the border of our city disappeared. He didn't return with the rest of his patrol. Thinking that perhaps an accident had befallen him, a group of elves made up of a healer and guards was dispatched to find him. They found no sign of him, nor any sign of struggle. We doubled the patrols along the edges of our city but still 2 more elves disappeared.

Then we heard tell of one of the missing elves having been sighted near the frozen lake. So Santa, I and some guards left the Elven city to investigate. But it was a trap. We didn't know. Some of the guards approached the missing elf and then all of a sudden the necromancer appeared. The ice and snow on the ground gave way and the guards fell. The necromancer than attacked Santa, it had a glow sphere which it activated. The three of us were teleported to a new location.

I believe it was to a different plane, there were ruins of old buildings floating around us. These ruins looked ancient. There was no ground, just small islands floating here and there.

The necromancer attacked again, Santa said to distract him, so we did. He performed a spell to open a portal to this location. Once through, Santa collapsed and Bernard broke his arm fending off the necromancer. I managed to get Santa to the cave but it came back again and lucky for me you showed up Freed. It sensed your magic and it was frightened enough to exit back through the portal before it closed."

Everyone sat in silence thinking about what Sidhel had said. Freed asked the question that had been on his mind a lot, "You haven't explained, what any of this has to do with Miss Lucy?"

"I'm afraid, only Santa can better explain the whole situation to you." Sidhel replied

"We will have to wait until he wakes up," said Wendy. "I was able to heal all of his wounds but he used up a lot of his magical power. He just needs some rest."

The room fell silent; there was no noise until Lucy yawned. Everyone stared at her causing her to blush and mutter an apology. Poor Lucy it wasn't even her fault, it was after all 3 O'clock in the morning, and all that wandering around in the woods had tired her out.

"It is very late; we should get some rest while we can. There are plenty of rooms for everyone and the wards around the property will keep us save," offered Freed. Lucy was too tired to argue so just nodded her head. Her day had been busy and all that wandering around in the woods had tired her out more. They followed Freed upstairs where he showed them to a room. Santa and the elves shared a room, Sidhel wanting to keep watch over him. Lucy and Wendy opted to also share, not wishing to cause any further trouble for Freed.

Any thoughts of what the next day would bring had to wait as Lucy fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

Sorry for the poorly written chapter. I'd forgotten how busy Christmas can be when I started this story. I'll do a rewrite of the chapter whenever it is convenient to do so.