The drip, drip, drip of water brought Marcus out of his restless sleep. Sylvia was still in his lap, curled up into a ball with his arms around her. He started to nudge her awake, he didn't know what time it was, but knew they had to assess their situation. Her eyelashes started to flutter, slowly opening her eyes, she looked up at Marcus.
"Thank you." She said in a soft voice, standing up and trying to straighten out her clothes.
Marcus smiled at her, standing up himself and checking out his ribs. They were a little tender, but the bruise was mostly gone. He poked at it, not feeling too much discomfort, he was nearly fully healed. He put his armor back on, just noticing the claw marks that were embedded into the steel. If he hadn't had such thick armor those attacks most likely would have been fatal.
"C'mon, we need to see what's out there." He said, holding out his hand.
Sylvia took it and they exited the cave to survey their surroundings. The small cave was at the bottom of a tall cliff, with the forest just outside the entrance. It was hard to see anything due to the thickness of the trees, so they decided to find a way up the cliff to get a view from up high. An hour later, they were standing on top of the cliff. They took in their surroundings, turning a full three-hundred sixty degrees. Marcus didn't recognize any landmark at all.
"Shit." Marcus said, putting his hands on top of his head.
"We're lost."
"We can't be that far from the city, can we?" Sylvia asked, peering out into the distance, trying to see the city walls.
"We ran all night, and I wasn't paying attention which direction we were going either." He let out a deep breath.
Marcus could run very fast, faster than an olympic sprinter, and he had run all night. If he had to guess, they could be as far as one-hundred and fifty miles from the city, maybe more. He could run all the way back, but he didn't know which direction to go, and there was always the possibility of running into those monsters again. They had to take it nice and slow if they wanted to get back safely.
"You have your storage amulet right?" Marcus asked her, pointing to the gem hanging around her neck.
"Yes, why?"
"What do you have in there? Anything we can use to find our way back?"
She took the amulet in her hand, then concentrated for a moment. After a little while, she shook her head, looking a little disappointed.
"No, sorry. Just some food, water, and one change of clothes." She listed off what was inside.
"It's alright, that's good that we have that much." Marcus reassured her. Then he had a look on his face like he just thought of something. "Do you have your sword? I don't see it."
Sylvia's eyes went wide, she felt around her waist, then let out a sigh. "I…. must have dropped it... I'm sorry."
Marcus walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "It's alright, I left my hammer behind as well." Giving her shoulders a reassuring squeeze, he continued. "Let's find out which way to go, then we'll get moving, we can't stay here forever."
Sylvia gave him a small smile, then nodded her head.
.........….
"Is this going to work?" Sylvia asked him, leaning over a small puddle of water.
"Of course, I hope." Marcus said, bringing a leaf over and placing it in the water.
Marcus then took a small piece of steel off his armor, the claws of the monster made that much easier. After using some rocks as a hammer, he shaped it into a small wire. He placed the steel wire on the middle of the leaf, building up a mound around the puddle to keep the wind from affecting the leaf.
"Oh, look! It's moving!" Sylvia pointed out, watching the leaf slowly start to spin.
The metal would react to the magnetic field of the planet, lining up with the magnetic lines. This was a primitive way to find out which way was north and south, but it worked just as Marcus had hoped. Now they knew a general direction to move in, which was south-east. He could have used the sun, but this was much more accurate.
"Now we know which way to go." Marcus said happily.
"How'd you know to do that?"
"Just something I picked up." He avoided the question, saying he saw it on T.V. would only cause her to ask more questions.
"C'mon, let's head back to the cave, we'll set out tomorrow."
.........…..
"Hold up." Marcus said, grabbing Sylvia by the shoulder, making her stop.
"Do you smell that?" He asked.
Sylvia took a moment to sniff the air, moving her head back and forth, then shaking it.
"Just smells like pine needles and dirt to me." She replied.
"There's a fire somewhere up ahead, probably a couple miles." He said, looking around.
They've been traveling for three days now, only during the day. They would stop frequently to check the direction they were heading. Marcus couldn't be one-hundred percent certain if they would find the city this way, but it was better than randomly picking a direction.
Sylvia had plenty of food stored away in her storage amulet, so that saved them loads of time. Water was no issue, there were plenty of small streams crisscrossing the forest, and they would come across a spring every once in a while. Wild beasts haven't been too much of an issue, though they did run into a crimson panther.
A crimson panther was a large cat, maybe three hundred pounds, that was a rusty red color. It lived in the mountainous area of this continent and was a rare sight to see. It was a solitary animal, keeping a wide territory that it would patrol, chasing out any competitors, much like a tiger.
They were making their way through the forest, when they noticed a small spring bubbling up out of the ground. Deciding that this was a good spot to take a break, they brought out some food, and enjoyed the crisp taste of the springwater. Marcus and Sylvia were enjoying a muffin of some sort when they both heard the leaves rustling from behind them.
They looked over to see a crimson panther, it stopped when it noticed them as well, it looked just as surprised as they were. Marcus and Sylvia didn't move a muscle, Marcus could definitely kill the big cat, but would rather not piss it off. The panther eyed them suspiciously, giving them a wide berth as it went to the spring. It drank its fill, never taking its eyes off them, before slowly walking back into the forest, disappearing without a sound.
Marcus thought back on the run in with the panther and shook his head, they were lucky that day, it only wanted a drink and wasn't hungry. Now that there was a fire up ahead, there were most likely people. If their luck continued, maybe they would be kind enough to lead them back to Rosevalley. If they weren't friendly, well, Marcus would deal with that if and when it happened.
"Let's see what's up there, be sneaky though, we'll scope them out first." Marcus said, picking out the direction that the smell was coming from.
"Alright, I can be sneaky." Sylvia said with confidence.
"Ha, good, let's go then."
............
The smell of smoke was getting stronger, Sylvia had been able to smell it for the last thirty minutes. Soon enough they could see a thin wisp of smoke coming from over a small hill. The hill was part of a clearing they'd come out into, Marcus assumed the people were just on the other side. Marcus and Sylvia got down on their hands and knees and started to climb to the top of the hill to get a better look.
On the other side was a small fire, over the fire was some game that was skewered with a stick. Around the fire were three individuals, talking and taking drinks from animal skins. Marcus couldn't hear what they were saying, not because of the distance, but because he couldn't understand it. Whatever language it was, he wasn't familiar with it.
"Should we go down there?" Sylvia asked.
"No, let's just watch them for a little bit. Can you hear what they're saying? Do you understand any of it?" Marcus asked her, hoping she would know more than he did.
"Not a word of it." She said, shaking her head.
Marcus could only nod, pursing his lips, he decided to wait a little while longer. There was no harm in observing them to maybe figure out who they were. All three looked very similar to each other. They wore animal skin clothing that was well made, they were tall and slim. Marcus squinted his eyes, trying to see more of their features, he had a weird feeling.
"Holrath ori elu duenzil hiri." A clear voice sounded out from behind them.
Marcus's eyes went wide, he turned his body to see a tall and slender man standing behind them with an arrow drawn. He didn't even hear the man come up behind them, even with his enhanced senses.
"Stondil yf sluwlawen, ur E well gell whiriwen elu stondill." The man said, his brows furrowing.
Marcus and Sylvia didn't understand what he was saying, they kept their hands up, but stayed on the ground. It wasn't until the man repeated himself and motioned upwards that what he wanted sunk in. Marcus slowly stood, towering over the slim man, then helped Sylvia up as well.
"Marcus! Look at his ears!" Sylvia couldn't help but shout out."
Her sudden outburst seemed to have angered the man. "Shyt yf! Dun't sfiogeth!"
Sylvia didn't need to understand him to get the meaning, she clamped her mouth shut. Marcus shook his head, then looked to the area she pointed out, this made him nearly shout out as well. Long ears, the tall, slim man had long and pointed ears, he couldn't believe it. Marcus had always wondered if there were elves or dwarves in this world, but hadn't heard a single mention of them this entire time.
"Holroth ded elu pend Corgithol?" A voice came from behind them once again.
The other three elves had heard the commotion at the top of the hill and came to assist their comrade. Marcus and Sylvia were now surrounded, Marcus wasn't worried about himself, but he couldn't guarantee nothing would happen to Sylvia, so he didn't move. Marcus looked around and noticed that all the elves were exceptionally good looking, but he could still tell the sexes apart. The one that spoke was a female, she was tall and slender with long golden hair.
"Twu hyconsil, elgil wiri sfaenzil un lethi." The one with the bow and arrow replied to the female elf.
The female elf pursed her lips, looking at Marcus, then at Sylvia. Marcus had a flat look on his face, just waiting for something to happen. Sylvia on the other hand actually looked very excited, she seemed to not notice, or care, about being surrounded. The female elf looked at Sylvia's wide eyes and expectant smile, she then returned her smile.
"Why are you humans here?" The female elf said.
Marcus let out a sigh of relief, he was worried about the language barrier, and if the elves decided to kill them. He was about to reply to her, but Sylvia beat her to it.
"Are you really elves?!" She blurted out, clasping her hands in front of her chest.
Luckily, the female elf didn't take offense to her outburst. "Yes child, we are, now, answer my question."
"We're lost, we saw the smoke from your fire. We were hoping to find some people to help us back." Marcus answered this time.
"Lost? You are very far from any human settlement, how did you come to be so far into the forest?" The elf asked with a questioning gaze.
"We were attacked by some sort of…. monsters, so we ran." Marcus told them honestly, shrugging his shoulders.
There was no reason to lie to her, and she seemed friendly enough. The fact that they were talking to them instead of attacking was a good sign, he didn't want to mess that up.
When he told her this, her smile dropped from her face. She turned to the two elves standing by her. "Olret dicunsil cezhtol bi noir, zu siormhol olret orio."
The two elves nodded, then took off into the forest in two opposite directions. The female elf then motioned for the other one to back down, releasing Marcus and Sylvia.
"Let's talk by the fire." The elf said, motioning for them to follow her.
Sylvia basically floated behind her, so many questions were swirling around her head, she couldn't wait to ask. Marcus was still a little wary, the male elf was still behind them. He might have lowered his bow, but he was still observing them closely. The female elf sat down, motioning for them to sit across from her, Marcus and Sylvia obliged.
"How long ago were you attacked?" She started the questioning.
"Three days ago, they came at night, it was awful. Do you know anything about them? What are they?" Marcus answered, then asked his own questions.
He'd seen those monsters before, but only in his dreams. Now that he'd actually ran into them, he had several questions. He was hoping that this elf would know what they were, or where they came from.
"And you managed to escape?" She asked furrowing her brows.
"You must be quite the warrior." She added before Marcus could reply.
"Not really, all I could do was run." Marcus said, dejectedly, looking at his feet.
He'd been thinking a lot about what happened that night, and he was ashamed. Those people were his responsibility, and he failed them. There was nothing he could do, even with his absurd strength. He might have been able to fight one, but with the responsibility of protecting everyone else, he just couldn't. The only silver lining was that he was able to save Sylvia in the end.
"That is more than most can do." The elf looked over the two of them. They were covered in mud, and looked as if they hadn't rested properly for quite awhile. She looked at Sylvia and smiled at her.
"You are very lucky to have escaped, those demons will kill anyone they come across. They also take the women and children, we do not know where to." The female elf started to explain.
"At first it was just a rumor spreading around the villages, no one paid any attention to it. But after several years, more and more sightings of the demons occurred, we could not deny it any longer. The strangeness is that they only ever attack humans, only attacking our kind when provoked."
"Why would that be?" Sylvia asked, looking up from the fire.
"We have our suspicions, but cannot say." The female said quickly.
"Why has nobody ever heard about elves living in the Frontier?" Marcus couldn't help but ask, it was nagging at him.
"We stay away from them, it is that simple. There are some of us who wish to make contact, others that want to push humans out of the forest. We are divided, so we do nothing." She said, emotionlessly.
Marcus nodded his head in understanding, he knew that if they made contact there was a good chance a war could break out, he could understand why they would be hesitant. This fact though didn't bode well for them, they knew about the elves now, so he had to question what would happen to them.
"What now?" Marcus asked, his tone grave.
Sylvia picked up on the tone of his voice, looking over at him, then back at the female elf.
The female elf started to laugh, her voice was sonorous and pleasant to the ear. After she calmed herself down, she looked at Marcus and said.
"Do not fear, we won't kill you. We are with the side that wishes to make contact with the humans, just not yet. We will escort you back to our village, there you will take binding vows to never betray what you found in the forest. After that, you will be free to go."