Elironda

[Akirapryde]

Flashes
 
Eli set there tending her to her bow as things started to settle down. She watched Gar move about the battlefield like a peacock showing off its colors. As Eli followed Gar with her eyes, she shook her head. Eli recalled Gar’s words as they amused her. “She speaks as if we are a band of brothers and sister, woven together by destiny,” Eli said softly in Celestial. It wasn’t that she was concerned about being overheard. She just didn’t care to have a heavy conversation with anyone at this moment. ‘Still,’ Eli thought then added, ‘Gar is a strange one. She throws her weight around like she is in charge, yet demands that the entire party pretends to have a voice.’
 
Eli concluded that the fact that they are even here, before this frozen temple, is only proof of that. Despite being sick for much of the time and not spending any time really taking in the human city, Gar wanted to leave and so the party decided to leave. Eli continued to watch Gar, half expecting the monstrous woman to chest bump a pillar or something. It wasn’t that Eli had any care about staying or leaving. Yet, to the rest of the party is was pretty much, unless you have a reason to stay, we are leaving. Eli thought of the signs that the Kingdom was in trouble and was in desperate need of help. Or the nice warm bed and protection of a powerful member of the city council.
 
Or it could have just been something as simple as watching Arwen improve on her thieving skills. A task that is badly need of improvement. Eli looked at her bow and continued to treat the string. She thought of the disappointment that some of party members must feel about being forced to depart the city. “No more warm, soft beds,” she said softly still speaking in Celestial.
 
Still, for all her arrogance and brash actions, and, well, stench, she was the best leader that Eli could select from this group. Gar would have Eli’s loyalty, even if Gar didn’t trust her. Loyalty appeared to be very important to Gar. Her loyalty to her friends was a welcomed trait that the rest of the group could easily depend on. Eli’s lips frowned as she added, “it would be her worst weakness,” she said speaking in a disheartened voice and of Gar’s loyalty.
 
Eli’s eyes moved over to the blue skinned woman, ‘what was her name again,’ she thought then nodded, ‘Farrali she thought with a bit of confusion and frustration. ‘I think,’ she finally conceded the mental contest. Of the entire group, Farrali was a very large mystery. A woman of strange actions, loyal to the core one day, and unexpectedly absent of mind the next. It was hard to get a reading off her. Like Gar, Eli would consider it foolish to discount Farrali’s loyalty to her friends. It wasn’t hard for Eli to realize that Farrali was a Fire Elementalist. Which bothered Eli very much.
 
Eli drew in her breath and felt greatly relieved that Farrali had not unleashed wide spread fire during this combat. A very uncomfortable shutter ran down her back as she thought of the last major combat they were all in together. It was back at the mage guild, and ‘these fools, let by Ms. Too Blue decided to set everything on fire,’ Eli thought as she continued to watch the scene around her.
 
“The entire building was on fire,” she said in Celestial with a low toned distress coating her voice. Eli continued to recall that nightmare of a battle. “Yet, these fools continued to fight.” She let out a slight laugh as the concept amused her. “Only a fool, fights in a burning house,” the Celestial words slipping off her tongue. “Yes, I am bound to fools.”
 
She watched Arwen scurry about the battlefield searching the dead like a half-starved Stoat. Translated, the word Stoat meant, naughty rodent in her native language. The unimpressive want-be thief reminded Eli of the small scavenging rodent. She leaned back holding her bow and watched Arwen continue to loot the bodies as Eli’s mind drifted back to childhood. She remembered watching the little white creates run across the ground under her window. True to their name, they would often get in to trouble as they scavenged for food.
 
Eli saw the coin purse hanging from the large monster next her. She had planned on keeping it for herself, however, her amusement got the better of her. She reached over and pulled the purse free from the body. Eli patiently waited till Arwen had moved to the next body to loot. Then, Eli tossed the purse at Arwen, but made sure it landed short. True to her rodent nature, the little Arwen moved cautiously toward the unsuspecting gift. Eli couldn’t contain the smile as after a short moment Arwen took the prize and moved back to her scavenging. “That’s my little Stoat,” Eli whispered in Celestial.
 
Her attention then fell on the Bard. ‘What was his name?’ she thought then added, ‘who cares….’ She has never ceased to be amazed by his cleverness. Since the day she met the man, she had been so impressed with that wondrous whip. There was something about him that always seemed to inspire the best in her. Or at least the lust in her. She smiled as she watched him coiling up his whip. He was always so very careful to make sure that it looked prefect in its place. Then again, everything on him always seemed to look perfect. She had to force herself not to fall in to those damn eyes again.
 
Those eyes, which were deep and true, seemed to call out to her every time she gazed his way. He was everything that she wasn’t, and in that she was envious. It was more than that. She was envious of the women that found their way in to his bed. Those ungrateful women that never truthy realized what a prize they had found.
 
“Maybe” she said softly in Celestial once more as if she was speaking to the Bard himself. “I should save this realm a lot of heart breaks and cut your eyes out.” There was no anger or intention in her voice. Merely a hint of amusement. Amusement in the vision of his eyes floating in a large bottle. Hers alone to gaze upon. As quickly as the thought entered her mind, it was gone, as she knew she could never bare those eyes to cry. It would break what was left of her own heart.
 
“Speaking of heartbreak” she whispered in Celestial and her eyes fell upon Dimple. She watched him tending to his mount. There was something about his recent behavior that really troubled her. He was the only one in the party that actually tried to befriend her. Now, something was going on with him and she wanted to know about it. “What has gripped your heart, my little friend,” Eli whispered. She wanted to reach out and touch him. To tell him that whatever it was, that she would help him face it. But the time simply didn’t feel right.
 
She recalled back at the city, near one of the towers. The rest of the party had gone inside, and yet she remained behind. She had made an effort to let him know that she was there, if he wanted to talk. Yet, he just seemed to be in own world. She let out a painful sigh. She wanted to help him, but simply didn’t know how. “Maybe later,” she added.
 
“Eli” a child’s voice called out from deeper within the large structure. Elironda turned her head as she heard the child calling out to her. She blinked as the vision slowly took hold of her attention.
 
“Come on, Eli” the young male Artic Flyer said as the two children half flew, half skipped down the cave.
 
“Terje,” a very young Elironda cried out, “slow down!” Her small wings tried to move faster to keep up with her older brother. But they were just too small, too weak. The two flew down the large cave, “We are not supposed to be here,” she said then asked, “Where are you taking me.”
 
Terje finally stopped a top of a large stone, “Eli, can you hear that?” The massive cave was made from frozen rock. Light from the midday sun shined through thick ice sheets above casting a spectacular wave of colors across the entire cave. Across the cave, where frozen mounds that reached up to the light. The ice mounds allowed the viewers to see the lifeless body that had been laid to eternal rest.
 
The younger flyer landed next to him, “hear what,” she said moving closer to him.
 
Terje moved a bit from her but then back to her as if to shield her from some unseen threat, “the Great Disappearing Monster….”
 
“Nat ah….” The young Eli said…. “You’re lying…. !”
 
Terji moved slowly around her looking to the shadows, “Eli, I am telling you the truth. That is why its forbidden for us to even be here.”
 
Eli glanced around, “no….it’s because this is a burial site.”
 
He turned to her with dread on his face, “Eli, do you see the graves?” Eli started to look around as panic crossed her face. “The Great Disappearing Monster sneaks up on its pray as they are honoring their loved ones.” He said in a cold deep voice. “The living don’t have a chance against him. They just disappear!” He moved his hand in such a way that it cast a shadow over her face. “He reaches out with its webbed hands and captures foolish flyers that dared to enter his lair. With its fifty-foot teeth, it grinds them up.” He turned to the terrified little flyer and leaned closer to her, “sometimes when they are small enough, it swallows them whole!”
 
“Te…..Terji,” she said softly taking hold of his wing, “I want to go home….let….lets…go home….”
 
He looked around, “don’t worry, Stig taught me how to detect it. We are safe” he said then turned to her, “for now.” Stig was their older brother. “Once we find him, we will go home.” He turned then turned back to her, “don’t worry. Nothing will happen to you. I am going to go look for Stig. Stay right here.”
 
Before she could stop him, he took flight and vanished in to the shadows. The wind blew her small wings as her older brother disappeared. She moved along the large rock trying not to attract any attention. She heard his wings cutting through the frozen air as she searched the darkness for him. “Terji” she said softly trying not to speak too loudly. It was only the wind that answered her back. She heard rocks moving in the distance. Somewhere within the shadows she heard wings cutting through the air. It was if something was moving in the shadows. This time, she got louder, “Terji!”
 
Still, there was no reply. Eli moved around the rock trying very hard not to attract any attention. It was in that moment that she saw a glimmer of light reflecting off something in the shadows. Drawn to it, like a moth to the flame, Eli cautiously moved towards the glimmering reflection. As she drew closer to the reflection, she saw something in the frozen ground. Eli knew that the metal thing was a helmet. But it was the skull under it that drew her curiosity. The strange creature looked like a fliyer but without wings. As she moved closer to get a better look of this strange creature, a shadow appeared overhead.
 
Before Eli realized it, a large webbed thing fell upon her. She let out a bloodcurdling as she flailed around in the netting. “Help me” she screamed as loud as she could, “PLEASE!” However, just under her terrifying screams, she heard laughter. It was from Terji and Stig. From above her, she saw her two brothers laughing their heads off. It was then that Eli realized that she was tangled in a large net. “You two are jerks!”
 
The two brothers were laughing so hard that they didn’t even realize that Eli and her net were starting to glow. Then without warning the Eli was lifted off the ground. “Please, stop this!”
 
Both Stig and Terji shook their heads as their laughter came to a stop, “that’s not us!” Within seconds the glowing netting vanished and Eli was carefully lowered to the ground.
 
Eli and the two brothers were consumed by wind as a large white flyer landed before them. She was radiant in appearance. True to the legend of Artic Flyers. Her white hair flowed just inches below her shoulders. Her large full wings matched the snow. She wore a two-piece outfit. Her upper torso and arms were covered by what would appear to be the upper part of an elegant golden/silver gown. Just over her hips, started the rest of her gown, as it flowed to her bare feet. The entire outfit left her mid-section bare, but for a crystal band that seemed to grow across her waist. In her hand, she carried a staff with what appeared to be made of a living crystal at the tip of it. She was Maja Glathita, Crown Princess of the Northern Highlands and chosen Protector of the Artic. She was also older Sister to Stig, Terji and Elironda.
 
“MAJA!” Eli said as she rushed over to her sister. “I was so scarred, then I saw it was just two jerks!”
 
Maja kneeled to make sure that her younger sister wasn’t hurt. “Don’t worry my little snowflake” Maja said softly. “You will never be alone. Even among the vast reaches of snow, I will always find you.” Maja slowly rose and glared at the two boys. “You could have broken her wings with your stupid stunt.”
 
Before anyone could say anything, Eli pulled at Maja’s sleeve. “Maja, what is that!”
 
Maja walked with her sister over to the strange skeleton. She moved the metal armor around with her staff to get a better look at it. The two boys move to get a look at the strange discovery. “That, my little snowflake is a human….” She said softly.
 
Stig, the older of the two brothers looked at Maja, “what’s a human?”
 
Maje sighed then lowered her head, “A long time ago, humans like this one invade our lands. They hunted our people and drove up further north to where the lights met the ice.” She turned to the skeleton of the human creature, “but they don’t like the cold. Most of them froze when the winters came. Those that didn’t freeze, fled back south.” She looked up to the boys, “This is the why we patrol the mountains and the great frozen sea. No humans will ever come this far north again, and threaten our homes.” She smiled, “or my little snowflake.”
 
Before she realized it, her vision had ended suddenly. Eli blinked a moment trying to get her bearings before moving. Her head was spinning, and it was in that moment that she realized that it was Arwen’s touch that had ended the vision. She turned to see her little Stoat looking a bit confused. “I am sorry,” Elironda said softly trying to recall if Arwen had actually said something or not.