Fallacies of Vision

Book 1: Mesmerize Me

By:Furia

Chapter 3: The Mist

So I run fast I can

Die tomorrow half a man

Finish the story she said to me

I can't sit here and watch you bleed

-Edwin McCain, Punish Me

Damn…

Acid yellow eyes peeking through the bushes. Erdaliel's breath caught in her throat. She gripped her knife tightly, seeing the metal glint slightly from the reflection of the moon behind her.

The creature seemed to be even more delighted at the sight of her blade. Erdaliel could almost see it licking its lips in anticipation of the challenge that she represented to it. How could anything get any worse?

Just then…

More footsteps. Trudging on the ground, snapping fallen twigs and crunching dead leaves as more and more of the distant sounds grew closer and closer to her. The risk was self-evident. She could undoubtedly take on a few of those monsters, but a whole army of them…

Erdaliel ran.

As fast as her elfin feet would bring her. She heard the creature snarl at her as she managed to escape, but she knew she had to run faster. It would be only seconds before the rest would catch on to what was happening.

She did not have time to think about it.

Leaping over bushes and roots, her feet barely skimming the ground. Still she heard the grunts and hisses of her attackers not far behind. There were far too many of them. If several of them attacked her from the side she would be dead in no time.

Erdaliel stopped at the roots of a tall tree, breathing heavily. She hastily tucked the strands of her short wavy hair from her face. Looking around once, then looking up at her only hope. She grabbed a low branch and climbed the boughs.

Once up the branches Erdaliel felt herself relax. But she wasn't out yet. Just a stretch more to the town… and she had to make sure that those demons didn't follow her out. She needed to lose their trail.

She leapt from branch to branch, tree to tree like a panther, using her legs to push and her arms to pull on the next. The branches scratched her face and the sheer velocity of her movements was fast enough to easily lose control in her elevation circumstances. But below her she heard the sounds getting louder again, and vaguely the Black Speech being snarled out a few times. Stopping now would be suicide.

It went on for minutes, springing from branch to branch. Too prolonged for her point of view. Somewhere she heard the waters of the Forest River, but that all passed within seconds. There were times when it seemed she had lost them, but then only to hear the grunting and snarling get closer and more frantic. The orcs had found their prey, and they were not going to let her out alive. Erdaliel let out a burst of speed.

The end was in sight. It seemed to Erdaliel that the voices and footsteps faded back there, were they gone? She didn't know for sure.

The young elf reached the last tree, leapt up its branches and let herself fall down to the ground, knees bent and back crouched low to the ground. She turned around, hand on the hilt of her knife just in case something else jumped her from the darkness. Silence….not even the sound of her breathing. Seeing nothing to cause her trouble, she sighed and turned herself to the safety of the open lands. 

If only she knew there was more danger out there in the open.

Avarion was still a mile or two away, there was no way she was going to be able to run that far anymore. She shuddered, gathering what power and energy and strength she had inside her. Gods, she had better get it right this time, they would surround her anytime soon.

She was right. Sooner than later, the pounding footsteps reached her ears. The orcs could be anywhere within half a mile…

It took a second for the building heat inside her to grow from her center, and it would have been painful if it weren't for the strain in her head. It was a power her Master had just recently taught her, and it was useful, oh but extremely hard to do. Erdaliel let the power build, and burned it her inside like a fire in her heart.

*Thud*

And Erdaliel set it free.

~To Avarion…~ She whispered, just before her body turned into mist, and she let the wind read her thoughts to guide her back to home.

Her home village was but a dark shadow in the gloom, but Erdaliel could see the lights of the houses, and she knew she had to get into its safe walls soon. Gliding along with the winds she flew through the fields, and her home, Avarion, got closer with each passing second.

Orcs. They were in the forests now, but why? Ever since the elves of Thranduil set sail for the West, the orcs never set foot in the forests. Even more unusual, it seemed that they had once again formed their armies. But that must mean…

This was bad news. Of course, nothing was ever sure but her master would want to be informed about…this.

Her master's hut was located the closest to the outside lands. It was a place wherein the bustle was not as busy, and the peace was kept. Seeing the small cottage with a light inside, Erdaliel breathed deeply and focused her thoughts, slowly feeling her body taking shape again.

"Master!" She called, climbing up the steps to the door, pounding lightly with her fists. "Master! Master Legolas! There is something a—"

The door creaked open, and Erdaliel was stunned into silence.

A stranger stood at the doorway, head bent low. Dressed in tattered rags, her light brown hair hung in rattails down her shoulders. She looked up to face Erdaliel, her soft lips quivering. Peculiar…her eyes were not blue, brown nor green. Some shade Erdaliel could only place as…

Erdaliel gasped.

"Who are you?"

***

A/N: review!