I do not own Star Wars or Supernatural. People much cooler than me have that privilege. Damn them.
Here is chapter two of "In their Element" where things really begin.
Please enjoy! (And remember- you are my editor!)
Axenn
I didn't need wind or the birds to tell me that there was danger coming. I could feel it.
There was a very presence in the air that stilled all sounds; even that of the river that flowed behind us. The presence put dark feelings in our stomachs as Tagan and I turned our heads to the trees.
Mom scrambled to her feet, stumbling toward us, confusion on her face, her hair a worried pink-brown colour. The air that had woken her swept around her, as if trying to rile her up for a fight.
Previously drowsy and grumpy and refusing to wake, my sister- Marjue- now stood beside me, her jaw ajar and frowning. We all stared, alert and tense into the darkness of the forest, waiting for the cause.
As the presence grew slowly closer, my mother edged toward us trying to put her frame between the danger in the trees and her children. Her fingers twitched as she anticipated an attack and our combined tension drew the elvish magic around us into a tight cloak of power.
Then it finally came.
The mage burst from the trees, invisible until she broke the forest's edge. She drew up sharp, stopping dead at the edge of our camp. She was breathing heavily, fear, anger and despair plastered across her face.
On her forehead was a partly finished tattoo. It was red raw and bleeding- newly done. Or more; not quite done. She showed signs of a struggle and appeared to have run before the tattoo could be completed.
My stomach tightened as I recognised what the tattoo was; it was the mark of exile, betrayal, loneliness and suffering; a mark that meant death to the bearer and anyone who spared her.
Whatever this girl had done, her clan believed she deserved the worst kind of punishment that elf-kind dished out.
Her eyes were panicky and unfocused as she sized us up. She gazed at each of us in turn, weighing up whether we would cross her or release her. Eventually they slipped from us to the river behind. She eyed the water with longing and lust. Searching her face, I found her clan tattoo, buried under dried blood.
She was from trout clan; the asymmetrical swirls dotted with marks reminiscent of scales.
If she could make it to the water, she would be able to phase into her clan animal and be lost forever, the unhealed tattoo would wash away and she would remain unpunished for her deed.
Seeing where her gaze fell, Tagan took one step towards the river, symbolically blocking her path; he knew what the exile tattoo meant; it would mean our own deaths to let her go.
Defiantly, he tilted his chin up at her and clenched his fists.
In response to this, the mage's mouth closed into a tight line of anger; she dipped her head and narrowed her eyes, her dirty blonde hair whipping up around her as she drew power to her hands.
She searched our small group for a weakness- like a predator surveying a pack for an ideal target.
That's when all of us noticed Ala, still asleep on the ground.
It was hard to believe that, given the tension and power in the air, anyone could sleep through this. Our elements had sensed the danger of the mage approaching and warned us- the sensation even waking Mom and Mari. But Ala- despite having elvish magic- was still only human. Her connection to her element was not strong enough to warn her of such danger. And so far, this whole event had been completely silent.
We all tensed, Mom leaning forward on her toes, waiting to see what the mage would do. Fear was leaking out of every pore as the mage weighed up whether Ala was a good target or not. It would be an evil, spiteful and pointless thing to do to attack Ala, but the mage was beyond all reasoning other than escape.
I saw it before anyone else; the tiniest lean, the smallest breath and I felt the concentration of power in the mage's body shift.
Quick as lightning I acted. My mind switched into autopilot and I was moving before anyone, even the mage, could process it.
I reached down to my boot, unsheathing a dagger from a hidden slot on the side and in one fluid, deadly movement I sent it spinning through the air where it buried itself square in the mage's chest.
The mage screamed in pain and collapsed to her knees. Ala woke with a start, scurrying backwards just as Nil was released from her tense hold and ran to envelop her in a hug.
Tagan switched his gaze from the dying woman to me, and gave me a very somber nod of approval. None of us liked to kill, but with the lives we led, it was something we were faced with all the time.
But as the adrenaline wore off, I was left with the sickening knowledge that this person's death was on my hands. Even the knowledge that she would have killed my aunt had I not acted was not enough to soothe my guilt at this point.
By this point the mage was lying on the ground, writhing as her blood pooled around her. Part of me wanted to end her suffering, but I couldn't.
I glanced back to my uncle and he rested a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"YOU!" A gurgling cry tore my attention back to the dying girl.
She flailed about, trying to flip onto her side so she could see us. She had removed my knife from her chest, but she wasn't lucid enough to heal herself.
She stretched out a blood covered hand to point. She pointed at nothing in particular at first, but after a moment her focus began to straighten up, until her outstretched bloody finger landed on me.
I stared back at her with a level expression, ready to take her words of hate.
I never expected what she cried net.
Drawing a deep breath that rattled it's way past blood into her lungs, she screamed her last words at our whole group, hurling the power she had collected to kill Ala at us at the same time. All elves knew the feelm of that power- it was her life force. She was commiting suicide for one last terrible act of evil.
"AMIN UMARTEMPLA LLE!" The mage screeched in elvish, releasing the magic over our family. Despair washed over me as I realised the mage was releasing a powerful curse on us- the greatest act of hate she could muster.
The force of the magic blast knocked her body backwards so she was face down. But the damage was done. I felt my element detach from my body. Mist switched from friend to foe, as my souls battled to stay together.
Pain and heat erupted in my head, swirling through my whole body; a high pitched whining filled my ears and was so shrill, that even the strong minded Tagan fell to his knees, clutching at his brown wolf ears.
Despite being human, I could see that Ala still bore the effects of the mage's curse, and she was entwined with Nil as they wailed in pain.
A white light blocked my vision as the mage's dark magic wrapped itself around my clan soul. I gave in to the urge to scream, powerless to stop the curse that was forming on our family. One by one we slowly blacked out an I was the last to fall, slumping over beside Marjue.
When the magic, noise and feverish pain cleared; the mage was dead.