Anniya 19



* author's note*

**** Hey everyone. To make up for the *pathetically short* chapter I wrote last time, I went ahead and posted the rest of the chapter, even though I wasn't going to post it till Friday. Next installment( I've started working on it already) will probably be up by Friday or Saturday. Depends. Thanks for reviewing.

****I'd just like to say that I reread the chapter and did some research where Ella meets the elves and Slannen, and Gail Carson Levine really doesn't describe their village all that much. All the information she gave I stuck with, and added a bit of my own, as I did to Anniya.

***** I'm really sorry about the cliff hanger. This is the last time, hopefully.

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" Is she dead,"

" No, she's still breathing. Sleeping more likely, my genius friend."

" Looks like nobility, and noble girls do not sleep under trees on the side of the road."

" Nobility or not, I say we search her pockets before she wakes up. The necklace is probably worth a great deal, I'd say. Let's hurry."

Anniya's eyelids fluttered. Slowly, two blurry objects came into focus.

" Who are you! What are you doing!," she sputtered, sitting up quickly. The two men jumped back immediately. Anniya looked around confused. What was she even doing alive? She should of been dead hours ago. Why would the man lie about the Kadai powder? It made no sense.

" Dead, eh, Yalf," the taller man said angrily, glaring at the smaller man.

That was when Anniya took her thoughts off the Kadai powder and noticed that they weren't men. Men didn't have green skin tinged with green or mossy hair or bright green eyes. They were elves.

It was odd, not having seen one of her Father's people in such a long time. Anniya studied them, trying to pick out features she shared with them. She had always looked more human then Elf. The only physical characteristics that Anniya shared with them, in fact, was the mossy, curly hair, the slightly pointed ears, and the unbelievably bright emerald green eyes.

The two elves continued talking to each other quickly in Elfin, unaware that it was Anniya's first language. They still thought she was human, apparently.

" We have our staffs. She the size of a pixie. The Wind will probably knock her over before we do. I say we scare her off. Who knows, maybe she's one of the relatives of that Noble whose been causing so much trouble. Serve the spoiled little Kyzyl right," the smaller one called Yalf muttered, keep his eye on Anniya.

Anniya glared at him right back. Kyzyl was the crude word for humans, like some called the elves greenies. A name she wasn't going to stand to be called.

" Sir, I am not the one was about to go searching through a sleeping traveler's pockets, especially a women's. If merely sleeping under a tree earns me the name Kyzyl, then you must been a wattill akki," Anniya cut in sweetly in perfect Elfin.

Again the two elves jumped. She didn't care. At the worse, what would they do? Hit her with their overgrown sticks?

" You speak Elfin," the taller elf said suspiciously, gripping his staff. Anniya nodded. Standing up, she brushed the assorted leaves that had collected on her skirt off. Diobla stood nearby, and neighed impatiently. Anniya sent the horse a dirty look.

" You protect me from figments of your imagination, but as soon as a real threat comes, you ignore it. Great guarding you've been doing, Diobla," she complained to the horse.

She took a step toward it, and instantly the two elves had their hands on their staffs in striking position.

" Get that out of my face before you poke my eye out," Anniya told them, pushing them out of her way. " I mean you no harm. If anything, I would think that of you."

But at this point, she wasn't really afraid. They weren't a threat; she could see that now. The autumn wind blew again, sending a chill up her spine. She wasn't dressed for the cold weather.

The elves seemed to finally realize she wasn't a threat either. They both put down their staffs and let Anniya over to Diobla.

" Girl, if you don't mind us telling, it isn't safe for you to be on the roads without a man, frankly. You're rather lucky you ran into Ravek and myself," the smaller elf told her.

Anniya drew her arms around her, trying to keep warm.

" Why? Bandits?," she asked, a smile playing around her lips. She wouldn't mind if she ran into some, in fact.

The two elves exchanged glances.

" True, but not so much as Ogre bands. That's why we were out scouting. A band was sighted here late last night. We thought we'd check it out. If their planning on raiding our village, then we'd best start preparing."

Anniya's heart froze.

" Ogres?"

The elf called Ravek nodded.

" Late last night. They've been raiding like mad, lately. With that Count's troops as well........"

He fell silent with a dirty look and a nudge from his partner. They think I'm still all human. A noble human, Anniya thought. Of all the cursed luck! He had mentioned the Count. What would the Count want to do with Ogres?

" I'm not what you think I am," she told them. The two elves exchanged glances again, something that the small blonde was beginning to find annoying.

" Oh, I think we have a pretty good idea," the one called Yalf began.

" I'm not all human. I'm part Elfin," Anniya told them, with a touch of pride in her voice.

The two elves burst into laughter.

" And I'm the King of Kyrria," Ravek exclaimed, the laugh obvious. " You'd best be on your way, lass. ' I'm part of Elfin'," he repeated, and the two began laughing again.

Anniya's eyes darkened.

" You don't believe me?"

The two elves found this even more amusing. It took several moments before they could regain their composure.

" Lass, we weren't born yesterday. I'd know in a heartbeat if you were elfin, and it's obvious to anyone that you're simply not."

That comment stung a bit. To think that she would never be welcome or recognized by the people whose language and culture she had grown up with, it saddened Anniya to think that she would never be accepted. She tried one last time.

" Look at me! My father was one of you! Elfin was my first tongue! Look at my eyes!"

The two men quit laughing for a moment to study her. They did more then study, Anniya felt for sure. It seemed as if they were analyzing her soul. She was sure that they knew every fault and crime she had ever committed.

Ravek was the first one to break into a smile.

" You have Elfin eyes."

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A thunderstorm had slowly been sneaking up behind them, Anniya had noticed. The three had walked in silence, on the look out for Ogres. That had explained why Diobla had refused to go in the woods at least, she thought, looking at the dark beast. He wasn't completely worthless after all.

But that wasn't all that was on Anniya's mind. What she wanted to know was why she was still here. She had been told she had less then a day to live. That day was long past, so obviously the man had been lying. But why would he lie with his life on the line? If it was deadly, he would of been more inclined to tell her the poison was perfectly curable, and all that she had to do was go to the local healer and she'd be fine.

" We are almost at the village, er.....," Yalf said, suddenly realizing he had never asked for Anniya's name. She grinned.

" Anniya. Just Anniya."

Ravek smiled as well. " ' emerald queen', it means in our language. Quite unusual to find that name in this time. It is a good name. One of our legends had a similar name"

He paused for a minute, looking behind him. There was nothing but the wind from the coming storm rustling the trees. Then he turned back to Anniya.

" Perhaps you will grow into your name. Our people have a tendency of doing that," Ravek told her, and began walking again.

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Anniya had grown up on her own. She had lived with an Elfin family until she was old enough to survive on her own. She scarcely remembered what a settlement looked like.

When it came into view though, Anniya remembered. Elfin settlements tended to stay permanent for centuries. Oaks that were hundreds of years old encircled the entire village. Dense, thick, overgrowth hid anything that might be beyond the trees.

At first, everyone had been a bit suspicious of her. But gradually, they had opened up and accepted her. But Anniya couldn't help but wonder what this settlement had against humans so much. She hadn't forgotten the comment that had slipped out of Ravek's mouth earlier about the Count.

Shortly after she had arrived, dinner was served. Anniya was seated with Ravek and Yalf, as they were the only ones she knew well. But to her relief, most had accepted the fact that she was one of them, and therefore an honored guest.

The dinner topic particularly sparked her interest.

" Have you always had this efficient system with dealing with Ogres," she asked Yalf curiously.

He shook his head.

" They've become more frequent lately, more violent. We can't afford to take chances. It almost seems as if their looking for something. And it doesn't help with the Count combing the forest either. If he sees Ogres, he lets them go on their way. Probably directs them to our settlements to get them off his trail," the Elf grumbled, slurping up his chopped raw green vegetables.

" Why is the Count combing the forests," Anniya asked again. It made no sense.

" That's what we'd like to find out. And even more, what are the Ogre's looking for?," Yalf replied. Both he and Anniya fell silent when an old woman stood up and came to the center of the circle they sat in. She looked a century old, with deep wrinkles that had wrinkles and a shriveled up face that resembled a prune. She was short, shorter then Anniya, with pale green eyes that reflected the trees, a direct contrast's to Anniya's. Her skin was such a pale green, it could of been mistaken for a human's.

" On the first half moon of each night, Shenna recites one of tales for us. We all look forward to this. I will ask her to recite a tale that would probably be likable to a girl of your attitude. It is one of the village's favorites as well, and we have not heard it in a time. Shenna. Tell the tale of Ayinna," he called out.

The old woman nodded, her eyes twinkling. She waited patiently while all the children quieted down.

" Once, long, long, ago, before my grandfather's grandfather was born, there was a time fairies, Elves, Gnomes, humans, giants, all peoples lived together. Then the Ogre Wars came, when the Ogres began a quest to destroy the fairies and take control of their land, as the Ogres have no true land of their land, being the heartless scavengers and vagabonds that they are. At the this time, there were three dominant races. The fairies, the humans, and our people. As the three are all kinsman, our people immediately gave support to the fairies. But to everyone's surprise, the humans did not take part in the wars. All were shocked; even those on the Ogre's side. The humans, fairies, and our people had given each other support for as long as they could remember, especially the fairies and the humans. Human children had fairy god mothers, and most people were friends of the fairies. Half a century ago, the fairies had helped save the humans for a horrible plague that had ravaged all of their countries. When the human folk refused to give help, the fairy folk cut off contact with them. Most fairy godmothers ceased to be fairy godmother's. The friends of the fairies died out; to this day, at most there is one friend of the fairies in Kyrria.

Several years after the wars began, our great ancestor, King Desals had died. His human wife soon died after in an Ogre attack. As a result, their daughter Ayinna,"

" With hair like the moon, of two worlds she was," the children chorused along with the woman, giggling. The woman smiled at them, and then continued.

"...... took the throne, more girl than woman. The Ogre's forces had advanced and captured the fairy capital. The giants had nearly been wiped out. All the major capital's on the fairies side had been captured. Our ancient capital, Aslavenna, was the only one that remained free. Ayinna, young as she was, was not a fool. She knew that soon the Ogre's forces would wipe out her city as well. So, one day, she set off to find the only other intelligent creature that had not participated in the wars: the Dragon........"

The story went on to tell about the quest Queen Ayinna went on to find the dragon. Anniya found herself wrapped up in the story.

"........and when she came to the King of the dragons, it was an Emerald green, a green so bright and so magnificent that it's reflection in Ayinna's blue eyes turned Emerald green permanently, and she because of it, she became gifted in magic. The dragon listened to her cause, and under a strong pact that the Elves would never harm the dragon race, the dragons joined the battle, particularly the King.

The two became friends, the half-human, half-elf Elven Queen and the mighty dragon king. The dragon king possessed the power to execute the battle strategies that Ayinna came up with.

As soon as Ayinna had power of the dragons, she was unbeatable. The fairy capital was regained, and so were the other cities, one by one. At last, the Ogres were beaten, and they retreated at last. But in the last battle, an arrow was shot into Ayinna. As she was dying, she sensed that it would not be the last time Ogres would attack. So before she died, Ayinna poured all of her magic into a single necklace, a necklace that would keep the pact with the King of the dragons with her future daughters, a necklace that would choose someone who would control the power of the necklace. It was much valued by the fairies allies, for the necklace was the only thing that held the Ogres at bay. If they were to receive it, they would be unstoppable, for it's power would choose one of their kind, and horror would be released upon the people again. The legend also states that the necklace would sing if it were close enough and the words correct."

The children launched into the song immediately.

" Of green emeralds, of green skies,

Of Emperor Dragons, of Ogre's lies,

Release your power,

Necklace high,"



And at that moment, Anniya's Emerald necklace exploded with Emerald green light.

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