Elena sighed loudly in relief and slumped forward on her table. She slowly began to recuperate from the drain she had just experienced. Sweat drenched her, and her breath sounded ragged.
The boy put his hand on her shoulder.
"Are you going to be alright?" he asked worriedly.
Elena could not answer. She lost consciousness.
Just then, the boy noticed that the hairy man had not turned to continue his fight with Mikaya. Instead, he charged at the boy. The man broke through the tables and shoved the chairs out of the way.
Mikaya sheathed her sword and jumped onto a table. She ran, jumping from table to table alongside the man. As she ran, she quickly chanted a spell she had mastered as a young girl. She landed on the corner table and grabbed the boy's arm with her right hand. With her left hand she grabbed Elena's left hand. The three of them disappeared. The man stopped one table away from where the corner table stood. He straightened and froze in place, staring at the empty table.
"Stay very still and quiet," Mikaya whispered as quietly as she could to the boy.
The boy nodded, but of course Mikaya couldn't see him. Her spell had worked, and they were concealed from the sight of others. Unfortunately, this meant that, if they didn't want the man to know that they hadn't actually vanished, they would have to remain perfectly still and quiet. Their only hope was that the man would give up and go looking for the boy somewhere else.
However, the man had no intention of going anywhere. He had come here to destroy the boy, and now that the boy was no longer here, he had to wait for his next command. The mist that had come out of his eyes receded back into them, and he closed his eyes and tried to contact his master.
James groaned and worked his way out from underneath the dead weight of the man who'd fallen on him earlier. It was Edward. James immediately checked for his pulse, but found none.
Screaming in anguish, James pulled his dagger from its small sheath on his boot and ran at the man who'd killed his friend. James stabbed the man through the back of the neck. The man let out an unholy scream, and the black mist started flowing from his mouth.
"Stand back!" Mikaya yelled to James.
James pulled back, taking the knife with him, and stumbled to the floor.
The man began swaying from side to side as he screamed. He had become disoriented.
Mikaya released the boy and Elena, and they all "reappeared." She spun around, grabbed her sword, pulled it free from its sheath and decapitated the man before the mist had spread over his neck. The body fell to one side, and the head rolled off toward some broken tables. The body and head disintegrated.
Mikaya sheathed her sword and slumped to the floor. She wiped the sweat from her brow with a shaky hand. Letting out a long sigh, she turned to look at Elena.
Elena could use magic better than Mikaya could, but whoever had crafted the spell to make these creatures had a lot more power than either of them did.
James picked himself up off of the floor and walked toward Mikaya. There were tear streaks on his face.
"Who were those men?" he said with a deadly edge to his voice.
"I don't know," Mikaya responded.
James turned toward the boy and gave him an angry glare. "You know. They were here for you weren't they? Who were they!" he said as he lunged to grab the boy.
The boy hid behind Elena, and James stopped short.
"Uh . . . . My head . . ." Elena said as she came to.
The boy helped her to sit up.
"Hey, boy," Mikaya said. "Why were those . . . things after you?"
"Uh. First, I am not a boy. I'm almost fourteen. And second . . . uh I dunno," he said in an unconvincing voice.
Mikaya glared at the boy, but he didn't relent.
"Anyways, thanks for saving me," he said with a sweet, innocent smile.
James fumed. "What do you mean with this act! My friend is dead because of you!" he yelled, gripping his dagger tightly.
Mikaya reached for her sword again, but an armored man had drawn his sword and put it at James's neck.
"Good to see you're keeping a low profile," he said to Mikaya and Elena.
Mikaya still held the hilt of her sword.
"Back off," he said to Mikaya. "We don't have time to waste here anymore. Those monsters you just faced are the least of our worries right now."
A crowd of people had gathered around them, including people that had come into the inn to investigate the strange sounds that had been coming from within it.
"Who are you?" James said bitterly, the sword still at his throat.
"That is not for you to know," said the man. Then he removed his helmet and hit James at the base of the scull with it. James fell unconscious to the floor for the second time that day.
Both Elena and Mikaya looked at the man. He wore dark blue armor, and he was very disheveled, especially with the helmet off.
"Onamu rep?" Elena asked.
The man nodded. "Name's Yevad," he said and smiled.
The boy looked at Elena and Mikaya and noticed that something was different about them, but he couldn't pinpoint what.
"You know," Elena said as she stood. "We should go."
"I agree," Yevad said and walked toward the door. "We should go before anyone here comes to their senses and blame you guys for this mess."
Elena put her hand on the boy's shoulder and began making her way toward the door of the inn as well.
"Boy. Thank you for h . . ." Elena said.
"Danny," the boy interrupted.
"Thank you for helping me, Danny," Elena said.
"Why were those things after you?" Mikaya asked as she trailed behind the rest of the group.
Danny acted like he didn't hear the question.
Mikaya looked suspiciously at him, but didn't pursue the issue.
"Hey! Wait a minute? Just what are you people? And what the hell were those things?" yelled the woman who'd apologized to Mikaya and Elena earlier.
"Who's going to pay for this damage!" the innkeeper shouted.
"OH MY GOD! THE HARVEST LANDS ARE DEAD!" yelled a woman in the street.
Everyone in the inn was shocked silent.
"What!" Elena and Mikaya asked in unison as they ran into the street along with Yevad and Danny.
The people from the inn followed after them, but were only concerned with what the yelling lady was saying.
She continued to run and yell all the way down the street. "OH MY GOD! THE HARVEST LANDS ARE DEAD!"
Danny's jaw dropped in disbelief, and Yevad looked at the woman like she was a nut.
"THEY'VE GONE AND TURNED TO SWAMPLANDS!" the woman screamed.
"It can't be . . ." Elena said in a stunned voice.
"No way it's true," Mikaya agreed with a bit more resolve than Elena did.
"Of course not," Yevad added. "The woman's a nut. She's probably drunk and had a bad dream."
"I called on the power of the Harvest Lands to help protect us. They . . . can't be gone," Elena said.