Lithoniel

It was already dark when Rolim came back, the sky going from the sick gray of the day to pitch black. The atmosphere among the small group was tense as they scrambled on the last stretch of the Asp Ridge. Tense and quiet, because they were coming dangerously close to one of the most feared areas of the entire Embersea: the Great Chasm. It was the reminder of a past long gone, the legacy of a fallen civilization. Their civilization.

However, the problem they were facing now had nothing to do with the past. Placed between the insurmountable mountains of the New Peaks in the west and the boiling waters of the Coals river in the east, skimming along the eastern border of the Great Chasm was the shortest way to go north and reach their tribe.

The only alternative was to make a long detour, going south past the frozen lake, then west, bordering the southern edge of the Asp Ridge. Only then they could finally go north, taking the Ash Marshes until they reached the desolation of the Great Penumbra where their tribe was located. It was a two-hundred leagues journey across one of the most dangerous zones of the Embersea. They had neither the time nor the resources for that. Which was why they had to take the direct route. But if the direction was clear the course of action wasn't.

"I still think we should continue." Lithoniel said to Rolim, voice low so that the people in the back could not hear it, "Cross it now and set a camp once we are on the Great Penumbra."

The two of them were at the head of the group, a bit ahead of the rest of hunters.

"Lithoniel, it would take the entire night to do that." Rolim answered. From his voice, it was clear he was trying to sound reasonable, but the long discussion was eroding his patience. "Besides, you really think they are up for that? You saw them. They are about to fall apart. And you know what kind of place the Chasm is, what threat those hills can pose to us. One wrong step and you are dead."

She shivered hearing his deep and throaty voice. She knew what he was talking about.

The Hollows. They were the hills enveloping the Great Chasm like the iris of an eye. It wasn't a case if they picked that name. The hills were mostly empty inside, the rocky surface layer no more than a shell, a bait for the careless. In reality, the rocks were brittle and prone to crumble, while there were crevasses hidden everywhere, scattered randomly across the hills. The entire area was unstable, a huge death trap surrounding the deep abyss at its center; what the elves called the Great Chasm, what once had been their capital.

"The Hollows aren't a place to be taken lightly during the day, much less in a night like this." Rolim continued, his words chiding like he was scolding a child half of her age.

Lithoniel grimaced. His words stung, most of all because they bore the accent of truth. The rest of the hunters were walking in a single line with Kolvar in the rear, no more than fifty steps away from her. She could see the young elf, but barely, his features almost indiscernible in the darkness.

Rolim is right. We can't cross it now. She said that to him.

Rolim furrowed his brow. "Why did you change your mind in the first place?"

Lithoniel bit her lips, averting her gaze. That's what she was afraid of; having to answer his questions.

"I didn't."

Rolim frowned harder. She sighed, looking ahead, trying to find a way to say it. The landscape began to change as they started to climb down, leaving the mountains for a barren plain, some sort of divide between the Asp Ridge and the Great Chasm.

"It's not like I don't want to camp. It's the place that's the problem." She said at the end. "It's too close to the Chasm."

Rolim shook his head like he didn't understand.

"The plains are too exposed, and you know what lurks inside the Ridge. You have seen it." He said.

She nodded, repressing her shivers at the memory.

"But the Chasm is perfect, no animal or elf lives there." Rolim continued. "So, why?"

She looked down, staring at her nails.

"You know what they say about the Chasm, Rolim." Her voice was soft and low. "No man spent the night there and survived"

Something flickered in Rolim's eyes, realization dawning on his face. "You are not one of them, Lithoniel. You are one of us."

His voice wasn't high but harsh. It wasn't aimed at her. It was like a dare, a warning against whoever wanted to say otherwise. Lithoniel was grateful for that. She started to smile, comforted by his words until she looked down at her hand and that smile vanished for good. There were five fingers on that hand. Five, not six like all the others elves.

She looked away, hiding her face from Rolim. She didn't want to show the bitterness she was feeling to him. She thought about leaving, reaching Kolvar in the rear, but the relationship with the youngest brother had been strained since he discovered about her injury. Kolvar hadn't taken well the fact she was hiding things from him, stubbornly insisting on bandaging her arm even when she didn't want him to.

He couldn't understand the rest of the hunters were hanging on a thread and their faith in her - the woman who faced the Zaruk and defeated it - was the only thing which kept them going. But most of that faith - if not all of it - was based on a lie, the misplaced conviction she was invulnerable, a being beyond flesh and blood.

Otherwise, how could she have predicted the Zaruk attacks, beating it in its own turf?

Admitting she was injured would have meant to destroy the image they had of her, crushing the last hope they had left. She couldn't do that. After all, what was she without that veil of invulnerability? A young girl, just some years older than them, scared and lost like all the others. But Kolvar didn't want to hear any of this. He was focused solely on her. She was grateful for that, but that didn't change her decision.

Besides, going back meant to met Garluin, something she hated to do even in the best of circumstances. The man could smell fear. It was like a natural gift, or maybe a talent honed after a long practice. Fear, after all, was just one of the means he used to entice his victims, bending them to his will. Since she couldn't move, Lithoniel stayed where she was, trying to maintain a facade of calm. It was then the moon decided to look out from the blanket of clouds, its pale light like a glimmer in the darkness, lighting up their path.

Lithoniel felt like someone gripped her heart. She could see them, those deceptively soft hills standing out in the distance. The Hollows. They were close. Even worse, the moon disappeared just as fast as it came, leaving them once again in the dark. It seemed like a cruel twist of fate since that glimpse she took did nothing but increase her fears instead of reducing them.

"The cave is not far." Lithoniel almost jumped at Rolim's whisper, barely managing a nod as she stared at the path ahead. They reached the cave ten minutes later. Its entrance was no more than a narrow gorge - little different from a hole in the rock - but inside it was way more spacious, enough to accommodate all the elves. As the hunters started to enter and collapse on the hard ground, utterly spent, Lithoniel waited at the side of the entrance, making sure every one of them was accounted for. She sighed with relief when she saw Liara's coppery hair and frowned seeing who came right after.

Garluin.

But it was when she saw Kolvar, her gaze meeting his, that she knew she had to leave. She couldn't talk to him. Not yet.

"I'll explore the cave." She said to Rolim, her voice flat.

She went deeper inside, the cave narrowing once again into a tunnel so small it was barely big enough for her to get through. Some steps further the tunnel made a turn, ending with a solid wall of rock. A dead end. Lithoniel sighed, starting to lean with her back on the hard wall when she realized someone was behind her. Rolim. She was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed he had been following her all along. A bad sign.

"Are you all right?" He asked.

Another bad sign. She probably heard him say more words today than in a whole year. Lithoniel nodded, but Rolim frowned. He didn't believe her, what a surprise. She wouldn't believe herself either.

"I will be" She amended. "I have to..."

That's when they heard them. Screams. They came from the entrance. The two of them exchanged a glance. Then Rolim started to run, Lithoniel following right behind him. When she came back they saw the others elves standing in a circle, their faces scared but at the same time rapt, morbidly enthralled by what was taking place in the middle. It was a fight. It took some time for her to understand who was the man lying in the dirt. His face was almost unrecognizable, no more than a bloody mask which was rapidly losing his original features.

Kolvar?!

The one he was fighting with, or better, beating him to a pulp, was way easier to recognize. It was Garluin. He was over him, a cruel, bloody grin warping his mouth as he pounded on Kolvar's face with savage abandon.

"Stop!" Lithoniel shouted, but Garluin was in his own world.

He kept hitting him, his fist like a blacksmith's hammer beating on the metal. A pity that Kolvar's face wasn't made of steel. The young elf was already unconscious, his nose twisted beyond recognition. Lithoniel made a run for it, thinking of separating them by force if words didn't work, but Rolim was faster. He kicked Garluin across the face, throwing him off his brother. Garluin tumbled down, rolling on himself a couple of times before stopping, his face down in the dust. He didn't move anymore. It gave her some amount of satisfaction to see him that way, but she had other concerns at the moment.

"What happened?" She asked the hunters around her.

No one answered, most of them lowering their gaze as Lithoniel looked at them.

"You can talk. No one thinks it's your fault." Rolim said while he crouched down near his brother, checking how he fared. Lithoniel frowned. She never said it was. Rolim's words had an unexpected effect on them. Some of them looked up, sneaking a glance at Lithoniel like they were asking if what Rolim said was true.

They are ashamed. She realized. Afraid of what I might think of them.

This was one of the less savory side effects of her little lie, one she didn't like. At all.

"I won't blame you for what you did" Or didn't.

Since apparently none of them even tried to separate them. At her words, most of them sighed with relief like a burden had been lifted from their shoulders. After that, it didn't take much before someone started to talk.

"It was Kolvar." Said Baeris, an elf with hair so blonde that they looked white.

"A moment he was fine and right after he was attacking Garluin."

Lithoniel squinted her eyes. "He attacked him for no reason?"

Baeris nodded.

"It looked that wa..." He started to say, but Urilee - a hunter just a year or two younger than Lithoniel - interrupted him.

"That's not true and you know it!" Urilee said to him, and then to Lithoniel. "Don't listen to him. His brother Naeran is one of Garluin's thugs."

Lithoniel scowled at him. She knew his brother firsthand. He was one of the worst among Garluin's little gang. Baeris seemed to shrink, his back hunching when she glared at him.

"What happened?" She asked Urilee, but continued to stare at Baeris.

"Garluin approached Kolvar and said something to him."

"What did he say?"

Urilee shook her head. "I don't know, his voice was too low."

Of course it was. Garluin loved secrecy. That's why this whole thing seemed even more out of character for him.

"And right after he finished, Kolvar attacked him. Is that right?" Lithoniel asked, more a confirmation than a real question.

As expected, Urilee nodded.

He baited Kolvar, wound him up. Not a difficult task. Kolvar was well known for his short temper.

The question is, why? She looked at Garluin, but he was still out cold. The question had to wait.

"How is he?" She asked Rolim who had just finished cleaning his brother's wounds.

"A little battered" He shrugged. "But he'll live."

"That's good" Her reply a little hesitant. Rolim's face looked grim, his eyes like two slits.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Eleven."

"What?" Lithoniel shook her head. Maybe she was too tired, but she couldn't understand what he was saying.

"It's Eleven" He repeated. "Not twelve."

Lithoniel opened her eyes wide as the information started to set in.

"Who?" She whispered though she had the bad feeling she already knew the answer.

"Liara." He whispered back, his lips tight. "She.." He moistened his lips, hesitating.

Right then Lithoniel heard a long sigh, her eyes shifting to see who made it. It was Garluin. He was sitting on the floor, a thin line of blood flowing from a side of his mouth. Their gazes met, and at the same time, Rolim finished what he was trying to say.

"She disappeared."

It was just a moment, the blink of an eye, but she could have sworn seeing a smirk on Garluin's face.