Chapter 6

“Look out!” My shout was barely in time. One of the two crossbowmen was hit in the neck by a small knife, the other narrowly deflecting the second projectile. Isayah looked as surprised as I was. Astrid and Devin crowded the doorway behind me and everyone paused to take in the menacing cloaked man just inside the trees.

“Why you little!” Isayah started towards me but the remaining guardsman blocked the path. Isayah unleashed a relentless chain of attacks on him. To his credit, he held most of them off, only most though. I could spot several small slashes where Isayah managed to slip through.

The guard said without looking away from his opponent, “Hey kid, I saw how you tried to dodge that arrow earlier. Can I trust you to take care of the young miss?” The man didn’t wait for an answer as Isayah launched at him again, “Get out of here! I’ll hold him off.” Of course, I knew that it was futile, teenagers like them would never be able to escape Isayah.

“Please stop fighting!” I rushed forward but a blade nipped the air in front of my face and I couldn’t get close.

Isayah glanced my way before sending me flying with a wind spell to the chest, knocking the air out of me. “Shut up, I will deal with you later.”

“Kuh…” I could taste blood from that blow alone.

Astrid pulled me to my feet and tugged me in the opposite direction of the fight, “Come on! We need to run away.” I let her guide me, thinking that it was better to not let them out of my sight for now.

The three of us left the fight and half ran, half slid down the icy slope. The forest was dense on this side of the ridge, so plenty of the actual snow remained caught between the sturdy pine branches. This left the ground clear but the runoff from the trees made the dirt into a giant sheet of frost and ice.

Small lower branches whipped in my face as we ran. “W-wait. Where are we going?”

Devin was close behind and called forward, “Hell if I know. But if we stay we are going to die.”

“Who the hell was that?” Astrid’s voice sounded hoarse. I decided to let that be a rhetorical question. It was pretty dark so it was all we could do to keep from stumbling around.

We ran for several more minutes, not once looking back. The trees finally receded and the almost night sky revealed itself. We stopped at the edge of the woods. In front of us was a large, snowy alpine meadow, at least a mile wide in the shape of a basin.

Devin spoke first, “We should stay in the forest, we’d be easily spotted out in the field.”

Astrid said, “I second that.” I was more hesitant. While it was true they would have better cover in the forest, I knew that Isayah would still be able to find us quite easily. On the other hand, I thought that the best chance Devin and Astrid had at survival would be getting down the mountain as fast as possible, hence going through the meadow.

A nighttime breeze blew across the field and made the loose show swirl in the air. “Guys,” I said, finally having caught my breath from when I got gut punched by the air. “I think we should go through the field, it could take a whole hour to go around this. That guy back there was able to find you at the ruins, so he will probably come after us as soon as your guard is defeated.”

They both looked at me and Astrid said, “I think we should listen to him, he lives on this mountain after all.”

“Alright, well we can’t sit around mulling it over, let’s go already.” Devin pushed us forward into the meadow and we started making our way through the 2-foot deep snow. Each minute that passed brought the moon higher in the sky, turning the meadow into a stark, shining white.

~~~~

Isayah’s thin blade slid out of the guard’s unmoving body. Whoever this human was, he was very well trained. While the human had no chance of beating Isayah, he was able to keep the elven warrior at bay for a good 20 minutes. Isayah growled to himself. He was already pissed about being unable to find the humans for most of the day, especially since they were barely a mile from the cave he’d killed the mage in. The ruin here seems to have some sort of enchantment that makes it near impossible to find if you don’t know where it is when you are searching for it.

He guessed that Elias told the humans about it, but he wasn’t sure how Elias had known about it in the first place. He started down the hillside, deftly hopping to dry spots under the trees. He frowned at the ground, they left surprisingly few tracks for how dark it was. Isayah picked up the faint scent of Elias’s mana, and he could roughly figure out the reason. He never imagined that all the techniques he’d taught Elias for covering one’s tracks would be used against him.

Isayah shook his head and continued down the slope, Elias still has a lot to learn if he thinks that I can’t track him with just this. As soon as this shit is all over, Elias will be thoroughly re-educated, and not just about magic. Thinking of it made Isayah grit his teeth again, why would he go so far to protect some humans he barely met, it doesn’t make any sense. Did he fall in love with that girl or something?

Damn. Maybe depriving him of social interaction since he was born was a bad call. Isayah sighed to himself, he can’t really be angry at the boy. “Whatever, let’s mop this mess up and we’ll have a discussion about his future.”

~~~~

My lungs burned from the cold as we marched through the woods. “Hey Elias, how much further?”

I glanced behind at Astrid and Devin who were struggling to keep up, which was not surprising, I have done hikes much longer and harder than this before. I was bringing them to the river where we usually fish and swim in the summer. There was a canoe there that should be able to get them down the mountain pretty quickly.

“Don’t worry, we're already here.” I rounded the bend in the trail and gestured to the dark river, ice covering its edges.

“Woah, it really is here!” Devin slapped me lightly on the back. “You know this mountain super well, you got a map on ur hand or something?” I get why he is impressed, the environment looks way different at night, I actually got lost a couple of times, but they don’t know that.

“Anyway, this boat is a bit small for three people.” Astrid was ignoring us and had already gone to inspect the canoe.

I replied, “Well, there are only two of you though.”

They both looked surprised, “What are you talking about, there is a mad man on this mountain and you want to stay here!?

“It’s like you said, I know my way around this place, he won’t be able to catch me if I try to avoid him. But I can’t do that with the two of you as well.”

They both looked a bit embarrassed, but couldn’t exactly argue.

I broke the awkward silence, “Anyway, you guys better get going, who knows when he’ll catch up to us.”

Astrid came up to me and grabbed my hands. Her hands were warm compared to the freezing air all around them. “Thank you, Elias. I feel like we’ve only been getting saved by you since I first met you.”

Once again, the gratitude in her words made me a bit uncomfortable, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. “It's alright, maybe we’ll meet again someday?”

“I hope so, until next time Elias.” She leaned in and hugged me before turning away and jogged back to the riverside to help Devin with the canoe.

Devin looked back before getting in the boat and waved goodbye. I waved back and he grinned. But his grin quickly turned into shock, “Elias!! Behind you!”

I swiveled on my heels and Isayah’s fist connected with my stomach. It felt like a battering ram and my wind instantly left me. My knees buckled and sparks flew across my vision. I collapsed like a deflated balloon, feeling my consciousness fade out. As it grew darker, I saw Isayah shake his head and step around me. My face slammed into the hard ice as I fell forward.