Chapter 7. A Memory of the Past

"My sister was the one who concocted these potions...so that's why she never wanted me to see the contents..."

"Teru. Is there any reason as to why she would do this ?" I asked her calmly.

"Why she would spread a plague ?" She repeated sarcastically, but then her face turned serious, frowning. "If she really IS the cause of all this suffering and death...then I might know why.

...

Tuarwen's POV:

I forced my eyes open, every bone, every muscle, every inch of my body aching. The poison was doing it's job. I had a fever too. I didn't have much time before succumbing to the poison. Once I fell into a coma, like the others, it would be too late to do anything. If only I managed to leave this place, I could be the living proof of Nerewin's traitorous act against her people.

Nerewin had used demon blood on all these people. Demon blood mixed with dark magic. That's what Lucinda was sensing. Aysa needed to hurry, before she got poisoned too. I looked at my bindings. Cords circling my wrists, attached to the wood. In my normal state, I probably would've been able to unbind myself, but right now, I was too weak to use my strength. I had to keep it. I looked at the elf. He looked like a corpse, if not for his shallow breathing, I would've thought him dead.

"Hey ! Can you hear me ?" I shouted across the room.

He flinched. He actually heard me ?

"Hey ! You need to wake up ! I know you're not feeling well, but I need you to fight, fight to the light and come back to me !"

His face contorted in pain, his body twitching. He was coming back to consciousness. He opened his eyes, looking exhausted beyond comprehension. He started violently coughing.

My eyes widened in shock and hope. "Hey...hey there, it's okay." I said, my voice gentle.

He looked at me. "What happened...?"

"You survived." I said as if it was the most miraculous thing in the world. Right now, it was.

"Whe- Where are we...?" He asked as he sat up with difficulty, eyeing the room confusedly.

I frowned angrily as I remembered Nerewin. "We have been betrayed by Nerewin. She was feeding your kind with demon blood. That's what the plague is all about. It's a traitorous act from a member of your kind that has started this madness."

"Demon blood ?" He repeated shocked, though his face contorted in pain again, his hand immediately reaching for his chest.

"It is a miracle you are even alive. Perhaps...perhaps your body has made some sort of immunity against the poison...that would explain why you are still alive after all this time. And I'm sure Nerewin made you drink more, making sure you wouldn't come back."

Though I could see he was still very weak, barely living if I might say so myself. But he made it. That was one step further to victory. If I managed to protect him until we were out of Nerewin's grasp, we could survive, and so could many more. Plus, knowing that the cause of this sickness is demon blood, warlocks might just be the remedy against it.

Suddenly, a sharp pain struck me in my stomach, knocking me out of my breath. I gritted my teeth to resist the pain. I was starting to feel dizzy, and the stone walls around me started moving. This was not good.

Then I realized something. His cage was unlocked. Nerewin must have though he was dead, so she didn't bother closing the cage.

"My name's Tuarwen...what is your name ?"

"Silvanus."

"Silvanus...your cage is unlocked...if you unbind me, we might be able to get out of here."

He hadn't realized. He did as he was told and crawled out of his cage. He stood up slowly, but lost his balance, and almost fell to the ground, if not for the cage he leaned on. He slowly staggered to me, and started unbinding my wrists. He fundled with the cords a little, unable to see clearly, but once he finished, we both collapsed onto the ground together, panting. The poison was taking it's effect on me, and I was getting weaker by the mimute. But that was enough time for me to get him to safety.

"Come on," I said, grabbing his wrist as I stood up, "we need to leave before she comes back."

He looked up to me. "Your hand is burning...you have the poison too, do you not ?"

I nodded. "She forced the blood down my throat."

He smiled kindly, as he put his hand on mine. "I cannot walk, I will only slow you down. Please leave me here."

"What ?" I asked, incredulous. "No way in a million years am I doing that !" I said, kneeling in front of him, frowning. And I meant that. I tightened my grasp on his wrist, and yanked his arm, pulling him onto my back. "Don't worry, you're light as a feather." I said, crookedly smiling. "You just came out of a coma that should've led you to death. I am not going to let you die."

I took one of the torches, and walked up the tunnel that went up to- I assumed, the exit. I hoped so.

...

Aysa's POV:

"A hundred years ago, before our race lost it's immortality, we were only children, eleven years old...when humankind executed our parents." Said Teru, her eyes lowered to the ground.

My eyes popped open in shock.

"Our parents had gone behind the backs of our chiefs because they were unhappy with the blind trust they had for the humans. But our parents had not liked the humans. So behind our backs they went, and started making plans on their own..." Her voice trailed off.

"Plans...?" I prompted.

"They were planning to assassinate the King of the humans." She said with a grave look. "They started off with the small chiefs, then higher to the council members, and last with the king. They had been hiring assassin's and spies of the horde."

I gasped in shock. "But why would the Horde even comsider working for Alliance members ?"

"In exchange for the murders, my parents had promised to get them a safe passage to our woods."

"But I thought they had a problem with the humans ?"

She sighed. Clearly, this was hard for her to share. "To my parents, the moment our leaders gave their complete faith to the humans, it was as though they had betrayed them. They were insane." She whispered the last sentance to herself. "Of course, they were caught before they could assassinate the king, and were thrown into prison, no longer able to plot behind our people's back. Naturally, our leaders wanted to take care of the prisoners themsleve, but as to apologize for all the murders and the attempt on the king's life, they handed them to the humans. And their king beheaded them...Nerewin and I were there." She murmured the two last sentances, her eyes full of unspoken sorrow.

I walked to her, and placed my hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"They were monsters, Aysa." She whispered.

"They were still your parents."

She looked up to me, her eyes full of hope, and yet regret, and sadness.

She lowered her gaze back to the ground. "After that...Nerewin was filled with rage and hate. A darkness lurked in the depths of her heart...I thought she had forgiven the humans. I thought her grudge against them had faded." She grabbed my hand. "Please Aysa, tell me this is a mistake."

"I want to believe that, Teru, I really do, but the story of your past was just a confirmation to my worst fear."

"What fear ?" She asked wanting to know, but afraid of my answer.

"That your sister is behind all this. And that something has happened to Tuarwen. We need to go, and find both of them now."

To be continued...