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Chapter 3

Elena woke up when she heard someone softly calling,

"Auntie, Auntie, wake up." She blinked and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark, only to see Oren.

"What's wrong Oren?" She asked, sitting up and pulling Oren onto the bed next to her.

"I had bad dreams about papa." He sniffed. Elena hugged him close.

"Nothing bad will happen to your papa, I promise. Why didn't you go to your mama?" She asked. Oren scrubbed his nose and pouted,

"I'm trying to be a big boy, and mama say's big boys don't sleep with their parents. But you won't tell mama I came to you, will you?" he asked.

Elena smiled, "of course sweetheart." She was about to offer him to crawl into bed with her when she realized he was still fully clothed. "Why do you still have you're cloths on?" she asked. Oren looked at her sheepishly

"I was cold in my nightwear."

Elena just shook her head and tucked him into her bed before laying back down again.

"Well, you should be nice and warm with me." She mumbled and started to drift back to sleep, only for her and Oren to jump up in surprise when Whisper started barking viciously at the door. Elena frowned, reminded of the incident from the rats and grabbed her sword and turned to Oren,

"Oren, I want you to hide on the floor next to the bed until I tell you to come out. And don't make a sound." She warned. Oren nodded, his eye's wide and fearful as he slipped out of the bed and crouched out of sight.

Elena crept over to the door, crouching down before she swung it open. Immediately an arrow flew where her head should have been had she been standing.

"Fetch Whisper!" Whisper shot out of the room, snarling as he bowled the archer over, tearing into him. Elena also raced out the room, her twin daggers twirling, spinning, and flying through the other men in the room.

When the four men laid dead she raced over to her mothers room.

"Mother! Are you alright?" She called. The door opened to show Elenor in full armor.

"Elena, what's going on? Are you alright dear? Who's attacking?" She asked frantically, looking at the men Elena had taken down. "These are Howe's men, why are they attacking?"

Elena scowled, "He's betrayed us. His army was obviously delayed on purpose." She said, running back to her room.

"You can come out now Oren." She called as she quickly started to put on her own armor.

"What's happening Auntie?" He asked as he slowly crawled out from under the bed where he must have crawled when the fighting started.

"We're under attack, you need to come with me." She said, leading him out into the main room.

"Oren! Oh thank the Maker you're safe." Elenor cried, hugging him. Elena gasped as she saw Oriana's bedroom door open.

"Keep him there mother!" she called as she ran to check on her sister in law. She came to a halt when she saw Oriana with her throat slit. Elena whimpered and went back to her Mother and nephew. Elenor took one look at her face before stifling a cry.

"No! Poor Fergus." She cried. Elena just shook her head.

"We need to find Father and get out of here. I would go looking through the castle, but with Oren with us and the castle under attack, I would suggest just waiting for him at the servants exit in the larder."

"What about mama?" Oren asked, looking towards their rooms.

"I'm sorry Oren, but your mama had gone to stay with the Maker." Elena explained awkwardly. Oren frowned but didn't say anything as Elena started to lead the trio slowly out of the family wing and to the Servants larder.

The group could hear screaming and fighting all through the castle.

"I can't believe it, they've taken the castle." Elenor stated before turning to Elena. "They can't get our family sword. It should be used to cut that treacherous Howe's head off." She held out a key for Elena to take. "I'll take Oren to the Servants exit, would you go and get the sword and family amulet out of the treasury."

Elena nodded and gave them both kisses on the cheek before sprinting quietly to the treasury. She used all her stealth skills to sneak as quietly as she could, killing any of Howe's men she came across.

Just as she turned into the hallway that was perpendicular to the one leading to the treasury, she ran into Sir Gilmore who was hurrying the opposite way.

"Woah!" They both cried, just barely dodging each other.

"Elena!"

"Rory!" They both cried, forgetting titles in their hurry.

"I'm glad to see you're alright, Howe's men are everywhere! We're trying to keep the bulk of them out, but we're fighting a losing battle." Sir Gilmore rushed out. "I was just on my way to find you and your family and warn you."

Elena shook her head, "You're too late, and they already reached the family wing. I took care of them, and everyone from there to here. Mother and Oren went to the servants exit to hopefully find Father, Oriana was killed, and I'm heading to the treasury to grab a few things so Howe doesn't get his slimy hands on them." Sir Gilmore nodded as the two took off for the treasury again.

"I'll come with you as an extra sword hand. I'll see you to the exit, but then I'm going to come back and kill as many of Howe's men as I can."

Elena nodded her understanding, admiration for his bravery and loyalty blooming in her chest. "You're a good man, Rory. And if this is the last night we see each other, I'm glad I got to know you." She said seriously. Sir Gilmore was unable to answer because there were five men standing around the treasury door, standing over the treasury guard's bodies.

Elena and Sir Gilmore immediately jumped into the fray, easily fighting around each other, defending the others back in a way only people who had a lot of experience and practice could achieve, quickly cutting down their opponents. Elena quickly opened the door to the treasury and went to the family's chest and used her mother's key to open it. She grabbed the family sword, shield, amulet and a large pouch of gold, before standing and turning to her friend.

"Will you not come with me?" she asked, desperately wishing he would. He had been her closest companion growing up, despite being several years older, and she didn't want him to die here. Sir Gilmore shook his head solemnly.

"No, I pledged my services to you're family when I became a knight. I will go down defending your family and this castle." Elena sniffed and tried to blink back her tears and failed. She threw her arms around him in a tight hug as she cried.

"Oh I'll miss you. Please, please, please try and make it out alive." Sir Gilmore hugged her back just as tightly.

"I'll miss you to. Be safe and get out alive, I won't say goodbye, just see you later." He told her. Elena nodded and stepped back, wiping her eyes.

"I'll see you later." She said back before running back to the Larder room, not looking back.

When she did get to the Larder, it was only to see Bryce laying in a puddle of his own blood, speaking softly to a sobbing Oren and a distressed Eleanor. Whisper was standing vigil just inside the door, protecting the three.

"Father!" She cried in dismay, running and falling to her knees at his side. She assumed he was trying to smile at her because he made a sort of pained grimace smile.

"There you are pup. I'm glad you're okay." Elena choked out another sob at his greeting, the tears running freely once more down her face. "i-I don't think I'll survive standing pup." He groaned.

"You'll be okay, I'll get us out of here." Elena promised, praying he would be okay, but knowing that he wouldn't.

"No. Pup, Elena, you must get your Mother and Oren out, get them somewhere safe. Go to Ostegar and tell-tell your brothers what happened." He ordered. Elena nodded her agreement, but her mother protested.

"No Bryce, I won't leave you. Elena and Oren will go, I'll stay here and take out anyone who comes through that door." She swore.

"But Mother…" Elena trailed off at the fierce look her mother gave her.

"No Elena! I will stay, but you and Oren need to live. Please, protect Oren, find your brothers, and get revenge on Howe!"

Elena looked at her mother before nodding slowly and turning to Oren who looked frightened, confused, tired, and a whole number of emotions she couldn't name at the moment.

"Okay Oren. You heard Grandmama and Grandpapa, you're going to come with Auntie and we're going to go find you're Papa and Uncle Aedan alright?" She said as calmly as she could. Oren nodded and scrambled over to take her hand.

"I love you both." She said, turning one last time to her parents.

"Love you." Oren cried, hugging and kissing them both.

"And we love you. Now go!" Bryce ordered.

Elena picked up Oren and carefully maneuvered herself through the servants exit as quietly as she could, motioning for Whisper to follow.

"I need you to be as quiet as you can until I tell you okay Oren?" Elena asked softly. Oren nodded frantically, his eyes wide. "Good boy. Now hop onto my back. I'm going to run as long as I can." She explained, adjusting her weapons so that they wouldn't get in the way. She turned to Whisper,

"Lead the way Whisper, quickly and quietly." Whisper spun around and sprinted off, leading them out of the exits and into the open area around the castle.

Whisper and Elena both ran as fast as they could while trying to make it hard to see them until they could get into the forest, where they then just tried to get as far as they could.

In the end, Elena was only able to run with Oren on her back for several leagues before she had to stop. Oren had somehow managed to fall asleep on her back some time ago, the trauma and excitement being too much for him.

"Halt, Whisper." She puffed, coming to a stop far enough from the road that she was hidden, but close enough that she and Whisper would be able to tell if someone came by.

"Oren, hey Oren." She jostled Oren till he woke up.

"Did we find Papa?" he asked tiredly.

"No, not yet sweetie. I need to rest for a while though." She explained. She wished she had a water canister with her, she was so thirsty, but she knew that the closest stream was still a ways away.

She sat down against a tree, sighing in exhaustion. All she wanted to do was curl up and cry, scream, sleep, something. But she knew she needed to keep calm and stay awake, if only for her nephew.

"Are you okay Auntie?" Oren asked timidly. Elena tried to smile at him to reassure him, but she wasn't sure if she managed.

"I will be." She soothed, opening her arms to him. Oren didn't even hesitated to curl up with her.

"I want Mama." He whimpered. Elena hushed him, smoothing back his hair.

"I know sweetie, I do too. But your Mama and Grandpapa and Grandmama are all with the maker now. I'm sure they're watching us, and protecting us from where they are." She said. Oren nodded slowly, clearly ready to go back to sleep. "Sleep now Oren, Whisper and I will protect you." She said, watching as his eyes closed again. She turned to look at Whisper who was sprawled out on the ground, also clearly tired.

"Sleep Whisper, I trust you'll let me know when someone is coming." She said softly. Whisper just sniffed and fell asleep. Elena gave up trying to stay awake after that and also fell asleep.

She didn't wake up until some time later when she felt Whisper nudging her awake. She yawned and looked around blearily.

"Wha-? Is someone coming?" She asked. Whisper gave a quite bark and turned towards the road. Elena once again shook Oren awake.

"Wake up Oren, someone is coming." Hearing that, Oren shot awake and looked at her in fear.

"Is it the bad men?" he asked.

"I don't know. Be quiet and stay here until I call for you. Whisper will stay with you okay?" Elena instructed. Oren nodded and stood next to Whisper.

Elena took a deep breath before walking out to the road and nearly sighed in relief when she saw that it looked like two dwarven merchants riding in their wagon.

"Ho there!" She called, waving them down.

"Hello miss, can we help you?" asked the older dwarf. He looked kind, with light blue eyes and smile wrinkles starting to form, showing her that he liked to laugh. His son next to him looked happy, if not a little dim.

"Yes please. My nephew and I ran into some trouble and need to get to Ostegar, or Lothering. If you're headed that way, I would pay you for a ride down." She said.

The dwarf studied her for a moment, taking in her ragged and bloodied armor and nodded slowly, looking around for her nephew. She turned and called out.

"Oren, Whisper, you can come out now." the dwarf tensed for a moment, before relaxing when he saw Oren and Whisper step into sight.

"Well now, I think we can do that. We're headed past Lothering anyways and we'd be happy to have you." The dwarf said, waving them all over. "I think introductions are needed, I am Bodhan Feddic and this is mi boy Sandal. Say hello to the pretty lady Sandal."

"Hello." Sandal said, happily waving. Elena smiled at them and put a comforting hand on Oren's shoulder.

"I am Elena, that's my Mabari Whisper, and this is my nephew Oren." She introduced she looked down to see Oren staring at them wide mouthed.

"Are you a dwarf?" he asked in awe.

"Oren!" She scolded, but Bodhan just laughed.

"That I am mi boy that I am." He hopped down off the carriage and led them to the back. "Now, I don't have a lot of room, but this should do for now. Is there anything you need?" He asked.

Elena bit her lip but finally gave in and answered, "Water would be nice, and maybe something to eat too."

Bodhan smiled and after a bit of rummaging, pulled out a bag of apples and two water skins.

"Here you go. This should last you until dinner." He said.

Elena beamed at him, "thank you so much. You really don't know how much this means to me and I'll pay you when we get to Lothering."

Bodhan just waved her off. "Don't worry about it. I have a good feeling about you and I always trust my feelings."

Elena smiled as she took a drink of the water and gave Oren and Whisper an apple to munch on. She also had a feeling that Bodhan and his son would turn into very good friends.