A/N: Another update! I've got the time for it, so why not haha these chapters are all unedited, and will be edited later. So enjoy the mess for now.
"Ellana," Faelyn called out from the creek's edge where she was crouched over the water, rubbing soap into a white dress. She sighed loudly when the younger girl continued playing, jumping from rock to rock across the water. She screeched as she teetered precariously on her toes, flapping her arms about like a bird until she caught herself and went on with her little game. "You promised to help me, today, yet you are bouncing around like a fox, playing in the creek. Come here and give me a hand."
Amaryllis had offered to help as well, eyeing the water warily, but the older woman had turned her down with a smile and a pat to her shaven head. She joined the two anyway, sitting a few feet away beneath a tree with long, low-hanging branches like vines, watching from a distance. The sound of flowing water still raised goosebumps along her arms, made her heart pound and her breathing difficult, but without TV or internet, she was finding that the days went by so slowly. She would take any distractions she could find. Thankfully her new friend proved to be great at causing them
"I never get to play," Ellana huffed, twisting around to hop back towards Faelyn, who was now using a rock to scrub away at a spot on the cloth. "I'm always having lessons or doing chores. It's not fair."
"You need to learn these things, Ellana, so you can do them yourself later and contribute like the rest of us. Just because you are still young doesn't mean you can't help."
Ellana looked properly chastised, looking down at her feet as she kicked at the water once, then crouched down beside the woman who pulled the basket of dirty clothing closer. Ellana grabbed what looked like leggings and dipped them into the water, swirling them around. "If that's the case, then why isn't Lis helping, too?"
Faelyn looked at her sharply but then pursed her lips, seemingly unsure of how to answer. "Well, Lis is learning now. She is watching how we do it first."
"Lis has it easy," Ellana said, picking up the soap and using both of her little hands to scrub. It slipped out from under her slick fingers and she squawked, scrambling for it quickly before it was lost in the current. "She gets to just sit and watch." She turned her head to yell back towards her friend. "Just you wait! Once you learn, I'll make you do all of my laundry!"
Amaryllis grinned and pulled up fistfulls of grass, throwing them in the other girl's direction. The blades landed halfway across the distance between them. Faelyn laughed and worked her hands into the cloth to squeeze out as much water as she could.
"Ellana!" A voice called out from the trees. Amaryllis heard footsteps to her right so she stood, still a bit wary of the others, and made her way closer to Faelyn and Ellana, standing off to the side and out of the way. "Ellana!" It was her father, Mihris. He scowled when he saw her but bowed slightly towards Faelyn who titled her head in greeting. "I told you to stay away from the human."
"Babae, you went to patrol, and I promised Faelyn I would help her with the wash today. Amaryllis came along to learn." Ellana defended. "She has to learn how to help, too, since she will be staying here."
He shook his head angrily and ripped leggings from Ellana's hands. Mihris stormed over to Amaryllis where she was attempting to hide and threw them down beside her. She flinched. Water sprayed across her face, but she tried to act unaffected, leaving her hands balled at her sides instead of wiping the droplets away. "She has watched enough. Now come, you have lessons to finish."
"Babae, I promised to help, I must finish here first—"
"Now."
She sighed and stood, wiping her hands on her legs, and stormed off towards her father, who took her hand and led her back through the trees.
Amaryllis felt a light tug on her wrist. Faelyn smiled apologetically and motioned for Amaryllis to sit beside her. "It's alright. Mihris will come around."
She squatted in the same spot Ellana had been, spreading her feet further apart to keep her balance, and picked up where the other girl had left off. Faelyn bumped her lightly with her shoulder and they continued washing in silence.
A week later Amaryllis finds herself at the creek again, laid out upon the grass in the bright afternoon sunlight, dozing as Ellana splashed around in the water. Apparently her friend had been lying when she'd said she didn't like swimming. Ellana was like a fish and seemed to rarely need to come up for water.
Mihris was off with the other hunters setting traps which would take a few hours, so the girls finally had some time to themselves. He had been overwhelmingly protective of his daughter since Amaryllis had arrived. Mihris had gone to the Keeper multiple times and demanded they drop the human off on the outskirts of the nearest village, but she refused. She had kept her cool for the most part until that morning, when she had yelled at Mihris for doubting her decision again and again. He had stormed off angrily after, but not without stopping to glare towards Amaryllis and telling her to stay away from Ellana.
She had tried, but the other girl had dragged her out towards the stream when he'd left and refused to take no for an answer.
Ellana pulled herself up onto a rock and sat, closing her eyes and leaning back to soak up the sun's rays. Amaryllis dug her hands into the dirt, taking fistfulls of soil and letting them fall from between her loose fingers. She could almost hear her mother yelling at her for getting dirt beneath her nails, again. The thought made her push them even deeper.
Eventually Ellana made her way out of the water and squeezed the excess liquid from her hair. She grinned and flopped down in the grass beside Amaryllis, crossed her arms back behind her head, and closed her eyes. Amaryllis did the same, scooching closer until their hips bumped together.
They fell asleep like that, in the warm summer sun, enjoying each other's company.
Amaryllis woke abruptly a few moments later to the sound of footsteps and Mihris's voice, yelling out for his daughter. The girls scrambled to their feet in a daze, panicked, but it was too late for them to run. Mihris had found them.
"You." He growled and stepped forward to grasp Ellana's arm, pulling her to his side. She stumbled across the grass. "I told you to stay away from my daughter."
"Babae we were only sleeping. I asked her to come swim with me, she didn't do—"
"No." He snapped and pushed Ellana behind him, turning to Amaryllis who shrunk back, afraid. "I told you to stay away, shem. You will have nothing to do with my daughter. I will not have her associating with the likes of you. You cannot be trusted."
Anger boiled up inside Amaryllis and she snapped, stomping her foot indignantly. "I didn't do anything to you!"
"You will one day," he spat, taking a step towards her with a fist raised. Ellana reached for him but he shook her off. "And when you do, I will be there to take you down, shem."
Amaryllis did not cower, then. She took a step forward as well, fists balled at her sides. Her nails dug into her palm sharply, but the pain did not ground her. She bit her lip and shook her head, stomped her foot again, but frustration got the better of her, in the end.
She closed her eyes and screamed, falling to her knees, digging her fingers into the loosely packed soil.
The sound echoed throughout the valley, sending violent shockwaves through the treetops that sent birds flying. Everything went silent as she heaved, trying to reign herself back in and when she finally opened her eyes, she saw white.
Surrounding her on all sides like a snow globe was ice. It chilled the air inside quickly and she began to shake, pushing her hands frantically against the walls as if they would just move but they didn't.
"Help," the words fell from her chattering lips, softly at first but then louder the more she panicked. "Help! Please, help! I can't get out! Please!"
There was no answer, no sound to indicate that Mihris or Ellana had heard her. Her chin quivered and tears ran freely down her sunburnt cheeks, stinging.
Amaryllis fell to the ground and pulled her knees in towards her chest, squeezing her arms around her legs as she buried her face between her legs.
Her breaths came fast and heavy. She tried to breathe in through her nose and out her mouth, like they'd done after running laps for soccer practice, but they came faster and shorter. She clenched her eyes shut and tried to count down from ten, tried to focus on the flex of her fingers against her calves, tried to think of anything but the fact that she was stuck inside a cage of ice, abandoned, when everything went eerily still.
Amaryllis awoke abruptly to the sound of breaking glass. She sat up quickly, gasping for breath, and was met by the sight of Keeper Deshanna. She was holding a long stick that curled at the top. Her hair had fallen out of its usual bun in messy strings that stuck to her sweaty skin. When she reached down through the hole she had created for Amaryllis she grasped her tightly in her arms, as if she loved her. As if she were afraid. As if she were sorry.
It was when she was safely out of the icy prison that she realized the Keeper's eyes are no longer a light blue but a dark grey, like a stormy sky. They're filled with unshed tears.
"Oh, da'len," she says, running a hand over Amaryllis's short hair in a comforting manner. "Ir abelas. I did not know. I am so sorry."
The child hid her face in the elf's sweat-stained shirt, wrapped her arms around the woman's slight shoulders, and cried.
Her newly found magical powers were not so much confusing as they were impossible. Magic is something she always knew to be fake, like card tricks or levitation or pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Magic was not barriers or fire and ice, or an electrical current coursing through her fingers. But somehow, it was.
She had spent the last weeks of August following either Faelyn or Keeper Deshanna closely, learning to control her magic and flow of mana from the Keeper, and other things from Faelyn such as sewing, tending to wounds, plants that could be used to heal, and those that were better left untouched. It had been awhile since she and Ellana had more than watched each other from across the camp, the latter with a downcast, sorrowful gaze.
At the moment she was sitting in Faelyn's aravel (the strange boat-like carriage), surrounded by boxes and boxes of dried herbs, trying to name them as she'd been taught.
"And this?" Faelyn pointed towards a long green plant with many leaves. "What is this?"
"Elfroot, because it's tall and curved like a vine, and the leaves have three parts."
"What is it used for?"
"To accelerate healing."
"Very good," Faelyn praised with a smile. "You learn quickly."
Amaryllis shrugged her shoulders but grinned back, assisting Faelyn as she began to stack the boxes back into their respective corners but the woman shooed her away, batting lightly at her arm. "Go take a break, I've got this. Next we can practice our meditation and try not to fall asleep." She chided with a laugh.
Amaryllis rolled her eyes a bit but nodded and jumped from the aravel, heading towards the trees to the right side of camp where the "toilets" were located. They weren't actual seats but holes in the ground that you had to squat over and cover with dirt when you were finished, to keep away the flies. It had disgusted her at first, but she had quickly gotten used to it and found that she honestly didn't mind it so much.
She had just finished going and was pulling her "smallclothes" back up when a small hand grabbed her and she stumbled sideways into a tree, yelping until another hand slapped over her mouth to silence her. Her heart thumped against her ribcage, quickening like a rabbit's.
"Shhh," Ellana whispered, tugging again at Amaryllis's hand until she followed her through the forest.
"Where is Mihris? You shouldn't be here." She said with a frown. She took a deep breath to steady herself, in through her nose, out through her mouth. It worked. Her heart beat began to slow back to its normal pace, though she was still nervous.
"Don't worry, Lis, he's out on patrol again and I'm going to take us to a different part of the forest where we shouldn't run into him. Mamae used to take me here sometimes when she and the others would gather mushrooms. It'll be fine."
"I don't know, Ellana." She disagreed, but still followed along. "He seems to find you no matter where you go."
Ellana laughed. "That's true, but he hasn't come to this place in a long time, and I don't think he'll look for us here. It'll be fine. Trust me."
"Alright…"
They walked for a little while until Ellana suggested a game of tag and then they were running, in and out of the trees, laughing and playing like nothing had ever come between them.
"You're it!" Ellana yelled, breathless as she pushed Amaryllis a little too hard. She stumbled out of the trees, giggling, and suddenly found herself out of the forest. Before them was a path, like a road, something Amaryllis had not seen in a while.
"It's a road," She stated, obviously, taking a step closer to it. There were deep wheel tracks engraved in the dirt. It was clear that it was used often. "I wonder where it leads to."
"Don't," Ellana pulled her back towards the trees, shaking her head fiercely. Her face had paled and she stepped back into the shadows, as if to hide. "Don't. This isn't the place. We should go back."
"Why? There's no one here—"
"What do we have here?" A deep voice spoke from behind her and both girls jumped suddenly, swivelling to see who had come. "A little girl and a knife-ear! You must be her servant." The man said to Ellana with a sneer that raised the hairs on Amaryllis's arms. She took a giant step back and took hold of Ellana's hand. She was trembling.
The stranger was wearing bright silver armor that glinted in the sun. In the middle of the breastplate was the shape of a red sword pointing down. Amaryllis had never seen this kind of outfit outside of movies, or that game Akasha had always played, but she was sure that he was dangerous. He had a sword at his side and his eyes were dark and purple underneath, as if he hadn't slept in weeks.
"We shouldn't talk to strangers." Amaryllis whispered, and the girls took another step back together. Amaryllis's ankle slammed into a root she hadn't noticed, and she tried not to wince. She could feel her pulse behind the flutter of her eyelids. Electricity coursed through her veins.
"No, don't go." He said, suddenly before them, reaching out to grab Ellana's arm. The girls screamed and Amaryllis kicked out on instinct but then she was on her back, gasping to take back the breath that had been knocked out of her. "I just want to talk!"
"No!" Ellana screamed and beat against his chest with a tiny fist, tears streaming down ruddy cheeks. "No, let me go!" She fought against his grip, but he was so much stronger than her, and Amaryllis was still struggling to breath.
Ellana screamed again, opening up her hands to push him away and he let her go in an instant. She stumbled back and landed on her bottom, blinking at the suddenness of it.
When they both looked up the man was seething, lips pulled back in a tight grimace, baring his teeth, and his dirty blonde hair was gone. Smoke rose from his blackened scalp.
"A knife-ear and a mage," he laughed, fisting a hand into the front of Ellana's dress to pull her up. "It's my duty to deliver you, apostate, to the circle. If you come peacefully, I will promise you that you might arrive there in one piece."
"No," Amaryllis yelled and stood, coughing. There was a stinging sensation at her throat. Her back ached from where it had made contact with the hard ground. "You can't take her!"
"I can," he said. Ellana fought against him, punching left and right, and he lifted a hand as if to slap her. Instead he did nothing and she suddenly went limp, eyes rolled back in her head, limbs twitching. Amaryllis shrieked.
"What did you do?!" She cried and threw a hand out, sending a very weak bolt of electricity flying towards him. It seemed to bounce off of his chest and into the air. He laughed again.
"Another mage? My my, this day just keeps getting better. You'll be coming with me too."
He lifted his hand the same as before and Amaryllis lost the feeling in her knees, buckling forward as her eyes rolled back until all she saw was black. For a moment, she thought she was dead again, but she could feel his big fingers on her arm and her feet dragging through the dirt. She had to do something.
Miraculously, she fought through the feeling of weightlessness until she found control over her toes, then her fingertips, believing with all of her heart that they would move if she willed them to.
And they did.
She opened her eyes and threw herself down. He hadn't been expecting that. The man grabbed for her, but he was too late.
Amaryllis rolled to her back and pushed her palms out straight towards him, watching with satisfaction as his eyes grew wide in surprise and he lifted his hand with the same gesture as before, the one that had brought her to her knees, but she was faster.
The armored man was encased in a block of ice, save for the hand that had taken hold of her friend. His fingers relaxed minutely, enough for Ellana to fall to the ground, still unconscious.
Amaryllis didn't need to look twice to know that she had killed the man. So she dove for her friend, and with newfound strength, lifted her into her arms, and ran.
A/N: leave a review if you enjoyed it!