After travelling for the next day or so, they eventually make it to the nearby town of Xythyr, looking over the town from the forest as they exit it. "The citizens of the town may not welcome your little friend as much as we do, Duvainion. Since it's a shadow wolf, even if it is still only just a puppy, it should be able to hide within your shadow. Try to keep it there, while we're out in the streets, okay, Duvainion?"
He just nods, then tries to get the puppy to go into his shadow. Though the puppy doesn't seem to understand at first.
"By the way, if he's going to be with us, did you come up with a name, for him?" She inquires to Duvainion.
"Oh, yeah. I, uh..." He just thinks for a moment. "I'm just going to keep calling him Buddy. That's what I've been calling him anyways, and I think he likes it." The puppy does seem to respond fairly positively at the mention of the name. "See?"
"If that's what you want. Now, try to get him inside your shadow, then we can head into the town."
"Okay." Duvainion then tries again to get the shadow wolf puppy, now known as Buddy, to go and hide into his shadow. He eventually gets the idea, and jumps into Duvainions shadow. "We're ready, now."
"Good, we can't stay out here for long, lets go." She takes his hand again, then starts to head into the nearby town of Xythyr. "We need to get a room, then I need to actually figure out where we're going, and what we need to do. I never really had much of a goal when leaving, other then getting you to safety." The town is surprisingly untouched by the orcs, but that most likely means that they just never took a path that lead nearby it.
"Okay." He replies as he looks around the town. It being nearer to the capital, it is a fairly large size, and a bit more luxurious looking then some more rural types of towns, but it's still not as large or luxurious as Duvainion is used to.
Noticing him looking about like that, Caleldes informs him "I'm sorry, but, you'll have to get used to it, the majority of the places that we'll be going through won't be as good as this place is. We'll need to hide our identities, from now on, too, okay?"
Duvainion just nods in response to what Caleldes had said.
They head down the side of the street, along with the rest of the crowd, the occasional carriage riding past casually, most people just ignoring them and going on about their own business, though they do get a few stares every now and then, but she just ignores them as she searches for the inn.
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Now within the room that she had rented for the day within the inn, she sits at a table, with a map of the continent laid out on the table, she studies the map carefully as she attempts to plan out a route for them; while Duvainion just sits on the floor, playing with Buddy, who is now out of Duvainions shadow, now that they're within the privacy of their room within the inn.
"Alright. I believe I have a route for us, that will keep us away from most towns, until we get to the borders. We should be safe once out of Faelion, and into Adororia, the country that's mostly inhabited by humans. Though it may take us a while just to get out of the country, especially with having to be careful as we travel. Rest up for tonight, because we'll be leaving tomorrow. I want to get going as early as possible. Alright?"
"Okay."
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Some time during the early night, a fair sized troop from the Orc army arrives within the town. Being dark out, only a few elves are out and about during the night life of the town, but once they notice the small army of orcs, they quickly take off. A few of the orcs chase after them to try and silence them, though one of the fleeing elves does manage to get away.
Soon afterwards, a large group of elven guards hurry towards the small army of orcs. They two sides are soon clashing, though the guards of this town aren't nearly as trained and experienced as the guards and soldiers from the capital; and it's painfully obvious, even to the mostly simple minded orcish soldiers, who soon easily eradicate the elven guards.
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Caleldes soon wakes up to the sounds of fighting, and the occasional screaming. She quickly heads over to the window, and discreetly peeks out, noticing the orcish soldiers outside. "F*uck..." She heads over to where Duvainion and Buddy are sleeping, quickly shaking them awake, and hastily whispers to him. "We need to get going, now."
"You said early, but this early...?" He just questions.
"I never meant this early, but the bad people are outside, hurting people. We need to leave, now." Caleldes quickly gathers their things together as Duvainion sleepily gets up, carrying Buddy. She hastily puts Duvainions cloak on him, then sticks hers on, hoping to be able to slip away as uneventfully as possible. "Stick here for a moment, I'm going to check downstairs real quick." She heads out the door, closing it behind her, then carefully creeps to the stairs, attempting to check the lobby, though does spot a couple orcs, one harassing the night clerk, the other seemingly checking behind the bar, and basically trashing it at the same time.
"This place ain't got anythin' good!" The orc plundering behind the bar complains.
The orc harassing the night clerk then looks over to the other one. "Get to your d*mn job, you drunkard!"
"I ain't drunk! Not yet, at least." Looking at the bottles some more. "This is all just cr*p."
"Then stop complaining, and go check the rooms!" The orc that's obviously in charge between the two orders him; the night clerk cowering the entire time, afraid for their life.
"Fine." The orc behind the bar then starts grumbling to himself some, just grabbing a random bottle as he starts to head for the stairs.
Caleldes notices this, and quietly rushes back to the room, closing the door and locking it. "There's a couple in the lobby, and one is coming to check the rooms. Hold onto Buddy real good, okay?" She goes over and unlocks the window, looking out and up to the roof. "Should be doable..."
They can now hear the heavy footsteps of the orc walking down the hallway, opening the rooms and checking them. She quickly grabs Duvainion, holding him tightly in one of her arms they're now on the windowsill. The orc then gets to their room, but since the door is locked, he then starts pounding on the door. She quickly jumps up and onto the roof, though with a bit of trouble due to only being able to use one arm since she's holding Duvainion with the other.
The orc then manages to knock the door down, and notices the open window, going over to it and looking out at the streets below. "D*mn it, if one got away, I'm gonna get in so much trouble..." He then heads back after dealing with any other residents of the inn.
"So?"
"Yep. I got 'em all." Though he does seem slightly nervous as he says this.
"Is that so?" He doesn't entirely believe him, though also doesn't want to confirm it either, it being more effort for him, so he just leaves it at that. "Fine then, lets get going." The two orcs leave the inn, the night clerk now no where to be seen.
Caleldes looks about the town as she swiftly jumps between the roofs, though has to take a few detours every now and then, some of the buildings even on fire.
"..." Duvainion looks out at the town as well. "They're not doing this because of us, are they...?"
"...They may be, or they may just be here at the same time. I can't really say for sure, I'm sorry..."
"..." He just hugs Buddy close as they attempt to escape the now chaotic town.
Though as they're almost out of the town, she ends up accidentally crashing through one of the roofs, it having been weakened due to a nearby fire. She makes sure to keep Duvainion on top of herself, so that she's the one taking most of the damage. "Sh*t... I should've suspected... But I was too desperate to get you out, that I didn't think..."
Soon enough, a few orc soldiers that had been nearby come to check the crashing noise out, basically just ripping the door off its very hinges. They notice Caleldes and Duvainion as they stand. "Well well, what do we have here?"
"Stay back." She instructs Duvainion, but also and order to the orcs. Duvainion does stay behind her, now even more scared, especially after having gotten a good look at the orcs, now knowing what the people after him looks like.
"Like we'd take orders from some stupid elven b*tch." They just laugh as they come closer to them, getting ready to strike.
Caleldes creates her dual light energy swords, getting ready to block, though something that none of them would have expected. Buddy, still in Duvainions arms, having been furiously barking at the orcs previously, now wriggles out of his grasp, despite his efforts to try and catch him again. Buddy then runs over to the orc up front, a dark energy now coating his mouth, and he actually manages to bite the orc on the leg, everyone just sort of too shocked at it to even react, digging his fangs in fairly deep, too, despite his size.
"Argh! D*mn mutt!" The orc then kicks Buddy away as Buddy yelps from the kick. "Now, where were we?"
Though this just seems to anger Duvainion, his emotional state already having been unstable recently, as it is, and a dark energy now radiates from him.
The orc notices this. "What's wrong with the brat?" Though before he can say much more, the darkness that had originated from Buddys bite almost immediately explodes throughout the rest of the orcs body, instead of taking its time like it usually would, and the orc in the front then just drops, now dead, from the hyper accelerated shadow poisoning from the bite.
Though Duvainion also drops, not too long after. The other orcs that had also entered don't seem to know what to think, but soon come to their senses, but not quick enough, as Caleldes kills most of them, not even seeming to care about the blood splattering all over the place. Although one of the ones towards the back had taken off, with the excuse to report what had happened.
"Sh*t..." She desummons her swords, then quickly picks Buddy up and places him on top of Duvainion, then picks Duvainion up, and rushes out, heading back out for the forest. "This is not good..."
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The orc that had run away soon finds the orc commander that had been leading them. "S-sir...!"
"What is it? What here could possibly have you so spooked? You're an orc, act like it, soldier!"
"Yes, sir, but... I think they're here..."
"They?"
"Yes, there was an elven woman with light magic, and a young elven boy, who seems to have control over darkness..."
"Ah, that they. Well?"
"The boy killed one of the soldiers, then collapsed, then the woman killed everyone else. I just barely managed to escape, so that I could tell you..."
"Good man, soldier. But..."
"But...?"
The commander then stabs the orc through the stomach. "Orcs don't run."
The orc that had fled before now spits up a mouthful of blood as it slides off of the commanders sword, and hits the ground with a soft wet thud sound.
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** No real animals were harmed during the inspiration for this chapter, thank you.