Hey, look who's back from the dead! I'm back again, hopefully none of you gave up hope on me. I am deeply sorry I havnt had the time to write at all, but I had College final exams, essays, then of course the holidays, and blablabla. Anyways, I'm sure none of you care about these Author's notes, so let's get to the story!Thank you so much for your patience, I'm gonna try and get alot of writing done while I have the chance.

The full chapter 19 is up now, hope you enjoy it! As always, please leave a review, it's you guys that keep the story alive by showing that you are still interested :)

Chapter 19:

Breaking Camp

Fenrir opened his eyes and awoke from his Elven half-sleep. He sat up and stretched, not because he was sore or drowsy, but just out of habit, as he still refused to let go of his human sleep patterns.

Looking around, it seemed the rest of his party was still not up and moving yet. Valeria, Aerin, and Icerara sat in the usual cross-legged meditation-like pose that most Elves used while half-sleeping. Evalette on the other hand shared Fenrir's desire to remain somewhat human, and she lay down, giving the appearance of normal human sleep.

He walked softly through the tall grass, trying not to disturb the others, making his way to a tall tree at the edge of their camp that had become their lookout post. Scrambling up the tree, he sat on a thick branch near the top of the tree, leaning his back against the strong trunk. He scanned the distance, watching carefully for any suspicious movement. They all knew it was a risk to not have someone on lookout duty during the night, but they had seen no sign of White Fire pursuit since they arrived in this clearing, and they planned to move out today, hoping to arrive in Elesmera within a week or two.

Fenrir turned his head slightly as he heard very light footsteps behind him. Closing his eyes, he soon recognized the sound to be Valeria. His extended time of blindness had raised his senses, and while they were no longer quite as hightened now that he had his sight back, he had still retained a portion of his sensory prowess.

"Nothing out there, Valeria, no sign of White Fire pursuit at all," Fenrir assured her as she got closer, assuming she was here for a security report.

Valeria quietly cleared her throat.

"Good. Everyone appears to be well enough for us to continue on our way to Elesmera…" She paused, "Are you well, Fenrir? I-I mean for travel, are you well enough for travel?"

Fenrir turned, confused by the way she stuttered. Valeria had an uncertain look in her eye, but he couldn't tell why.

"Yes, I am… and you?" he replied.

"I am."

They sat in silence, listening to the sounds of the forest as the sun almost completely left the horizon. In a few moments, the rest of their party was up and moving about, gathering what little extra possessions they had with them and smoothing the grass out again where they had lay on it, making sure to leave no trace that they were ever there.

Icerera was the first to notice the two of them sitting by the lookout tree.

"Are you two coming or would you rahter sit in a tree till the White Fire finds us?" Icerara asked jokingly.

Valeria and Fenrir joined the group and they set forth again, using the rising sun as an indicator of which way was east, towards Elesmera.

They made good time as they hiked, and sometimes ran, through the thick forest. Their trip proceeded smoothly, and they were now on their second week of travel.

Evalette slowed to stop, and the rest of them followed.

"It has been almost three days since we last stopped to rest, can we not take a moment's break from our journey?" Evalette asked, exhausted (which was a big deal for an Elf).

Valeria was sitting on a mossy log, stretching her legs. Even she had to be sore.

"No, we should keep moving, we cannot allow the White Fire Dominion to gain on us at all," Valeria replied. Though she made an attempt to appear very much in control, Fenrir could clearly see she was out of breath as well.

Fenrir knew they could not keep going like this. If they were caught by the White Fire soldiers while they were this exhausted, they would stand no chance in a fight.

"Valeria, we need to stop. It is of no use trying to continue onwards if we can barely keep up a walking pace," Fenrir told her, trying to be considerate while he blatantly disagreed with her. Valeria was the closest they had to a leader, but Fenrir could stand by while she ran them all into the ground.

Valeria stood to argue with him, but before she could say a word, Fenrir held up his finger and told her to stay quiet.

Valeria looked stunned.

"Fenrir, how dare you-!"

"Quiet!" he silently shouted at her.

He could hear something else rustling through the forest. He turned around, trying to find the source of the sound. He saw nothing as he scanned the dense woodland.

Fenrir turned around.

"Must have been an animal of some sort, nothing to-"

He was cut off as an arrow stuck itself in his back, just below his right shoulder blade. He groaned in pain and turned around to find the shooter. He dove to the side as a second arrow flew towards Evalette. He was no fool to think could grab the arrow out of mid-air, so he did the next best thing.

He groaned again as the arrow meant for Evalette impaled his left hand. Not the safest way to stop an arrow but it worked. He could feel blood running down his back from the first arrow. His hand shaking, Fenrir grabbed the shaft of the arrow protruding from his hand and braced himself before snapping the arrow head off and pulling the rest of the arrow out of his flesh. Fresh blood dripped from the hole in his hand before he quickly healed it with a hastily-recited spell. Once that was taken care of, he looked up to see if the others were unharmed. Aerin was crouched on a nearby tree branch with a small throwing knife raised at the ready. Icerara was pulling an arrow out of his shoulder while Valeria tended to him. Evalette sat near Fenrir with a worried look on her face.

"Evalette, come yank this arrow out of my back," he asked, trying to mask the pain it was causing him.

She got up and nervously grasped the arrow's shaft, closing her eyes before pulling the arrow out of his back.

Fenrir bit his lip, trying not to cry out in pain, and cast a healing spell once the arrow was dislodged.

"Aerin, have you found the archer?" He asked the small Elf.

"No, he hasn't fired again since he hit Icerara, which was right after you stopped his second arrow"

Fenrir cursed under his breath,

"Valeria, how far are we from Elesmera?"

"I don't know, a few days, maybe a week? We are too far to call for help if that is what you were wondering" She replied.

He thought for a second, trying to form a strategy for taking down the enemy archer without anyone else getting hurt.

Surely we can stand up to a single archer.

"Valeria, I need you to place a barrier around me. It doenst have to be strong, just enough for one arrow," he asked.

Valeria nodded and began weaving the spell around him.

"Aerin, as soon as the archer fires at me, you memorize his location, you should be able to see where the arrow comes from"

Aerin nodded as well.

As soon as Valeria finished her spell, Fenrir stood up, a clear target for the enemy.

Soon another arrow raced toward him, but this time deflected off to the side as Valeria's barrier protected him.

Aerin pointed into the forest and told them all where the shooter was. After a minute of Aerin describing the location of the shooter, annoyed that no one could see where she was pointing, Fenrir finally found the spot she was motioning towards. It was a small cluster of bushes at the base of a large pine tree.

"Can you hit him with your throwing knife?" Fenrir asked her.

"Even if I could see him clearly, I couldn't do much at this distance" she replied.

Fenrir paused.

"Valeria, do you know a spell to put out fire?" he asked.

"Yes, why?" Valeria answered then paused with realization. "Fenrir, no-"

He carefully focused on the cluster of bushes and lit them ablaze with brisingr.

Valeria shouted at him, but soon Fenrir saw the target come running out of the burning bushes and pine tree, flailing his arms wildly until he collapsed on the ground, burned alive. As soon as the archer lay dead, Valeria began rushing through her fire extinguishing spell, causing the flames to flicker out and fade away, leaving behind a charred tree trunk and blackened grass.

Fenrir turned to her as she scolded him.

"It worked didn't it?"