'No, there was no way he could tell her.' Lucas' thoughts raced. How could he offer up his cloak to a human girl? And she just accepted it immediately!
He peeked at her huddled by the fire. She was beautiful, even by elf standards.
'I have not even come of age yet.' Lucas thought. 'I must clear my mind of any misleading thoughts.' He took a moment to calm himself and faced the fire once more.
Eva did not know what to say to this elf who saved her life. The clothes he had given her were warm and she appreciated his help.
'How do you thank an elf?' she wondered.
She pulled the cloak up higher to keep herself warm. The smell of mint and honey wafted off the cloak. Without thinking she took a deep breath to take in more of the soothing scent.
'Is she smelling the cloak?' Lucas was staring at her intently. 'She really did accept it then.' His heart beat loudly. "I will get more firewood." Lucas quickly got to his feet and left Eva by the fire.
She did not notice the nervous tension in the air and rested by the fire. Exhaustion was pulling at her thoughts.
'I pushed myself too hard yesterday,' she thought. 'I will just lay down for a few minutes.'
The blanket that Lucas had grabbed for her still laid on the ground, so Eva curled up into a ball and fell fast asleep.
Lucas returned some time later and realized she had fallen asleep again. He felt her forehead and shook his head. Despite the medicine, her fever had returned.
Picking up the blanket he had used, he laid it across her gently. There was no way he could allow her to die now.
'A soup would probably help her more than anything,' he thought.
He had remembered to bring a pot big enough to feed two people. Picking up his bow and arrows he resolved himself to hunt a small prey. He would pick some more herbs on the way back.
The arrow flew from his bow as he took down a rabbit in one hit. Crunching leaves in the distance alerted him to someone else's presence. Human men did not typically walk through this part of the woods.
Lucas grew suspicious and quickly drained the blood of the rabbit and collected his arrow. The men were getting closer. He placed the now drained rabbit into his game bag and covered the blood with dirt and leaves.
It was easy for him to climb a nearby tree and watch for the humans as they unknowingly tread into his hunting ground.
"This is ridiculous! Do you really think she would even come this way?" a short male threw up his arms and yelled.
'Are they talking about Eva?' Lucas wondered.
"You know the boss is not going to give up on this girl. Did you see how beautiful she was? We'd best look at least this far if we are going to go back empty handed. It is more likely she died from the cold in that dress," the bigger man said.
Lucas' eyes narrowed at their conversation. 'So she was in danger. Human men hunt down their women like prey? How despicable!' Lucas had no intention of allowing the men to get any closer to their campsite.
They were still out of the patrol area for the village, so he would have to take the men out here. He pulled out two arrows meant for piercing armor and in rapid succession loosed them on the two men.
Two thuds later and both men lay dead under the tree Lucas was hiding in. He jumped to the ground and retrieved the arrows he shot. His eyes were almost dead as he looked at the human men. He then searched their bodies for anything useful he found pouches of metal. It was etched with some kind of design he had not seen before.
'This must be human money,' he thought.
The elves usually traded different goods rather than use metal money. He pocketed the metal coins and wondered if Eva could use another weapon besides that bow he found with her.
He decided that it wouldn't hurt to ask her directly. The men had a sword and an ax on them respectively. He placed them in the sack he had on his back and went to collect the herbs before returning to the camp.
Eva woke up to a nice smell. "Nnng." Her joints felt sore from sleeping on the hard ground.
'At least it's warm. Huh?'
She realized another blanket had been placed on her. The elf, Lucas, was stirring a small pot she didn't remember seeing before.
The pot was a lot thinner than the pots she had seen in their kitchen at home.
'Some kind of elf metal perhaps?' she thought. 'What is that smell?'
Lucas was alerted to her waking state by the groan that escaped her lips. He smiled and filled a small wooden bowl with the soup he had made for her. It was filled with herbs to assist with her fever.
"I discovered some human men not far from here," Lucas mentioned as he passed her the bowl of soup.
She took the bowl from him and a look of fear crossed her face.
"I took care of them. Why are you running from them?" he asked.
Knowing what kind of danger she was in would help him protect her from the danger. He looked over to her expecting an answer. His hands stopped what they were doing as he realized how frightened she was.
The memories of her wedding day and her parents came rushing back to her. She set the bowl of soup down and held her chest.
'He was never going to let me go,' she thought.
It was only by some miracle the horse had taken her so far. That she lasted long enough to get as far as she did. Hans had even sent his men this far in order to capture her again.
'Why? Why does he wish to torture me so?' She wanted to cry.
'I frightened her,' Lucas thought.
He was clueless of what he should do now. Her lips started to quiver and he moved next to her. His arm was placed awkwardly around her shoulders.
He had seen Alva do this for his little sisters when they fell or were scared. One did not see much affection outside of families in the elven race.
'She took my cloak, this is the least I could do,' he thought.
The closeness of the elf didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. He was clearly trying to comfort her. She at least owed him some kind of explanation. He had saved her after all.
"Those men were after me." She closed her eyes. "A man took advantage of my family. H-he.. He murdered my parents."
She gulped down the air caught in the back of her throat. He froze unnaturally next to her as she spoke.
"I was supposed to choose between becoming his second wife or…" She couldn't say it.
Originally he said she could flee in the woods, but he actually meant she could be hunted down in them.
Humans were a lot crueler than he thought. She didn't have to finish the sentence for him to know it was something far worse.
"How did you escape?" he asked gently.
Eva bit her lip and looked back into the fire. "By chance, a guard was able to free a horse and distract them….I still feel their hands holding me."
It was like she was reliving the experience over again. Lucas felt pity for her. He could only imagine what would have happened if she didn't escape.
Her confession only reinforced his resolve to keep her safe. To have survived such a misfortune just to die in the woods would have been terrible.
'I am so glad I found her in the woods,' he thought.
"Lucas, I am thankful for your help and kindness. I don't know how I could ever repay you. I can't possibly rely on you more than this," she said.
Lucas felt like she had slapped him across his face. His arm fell from her side. 'Why does she want to leave all of a sudden?' The color drained from his face. A sinking realization hit him. 'What if human traditions are different from elf ones?'
"At least let me get you to your destination safely," he almost begged.
"Why would you go this far for a simple human girl like me?" she asked.
He had saved her, taken care of her, and even took out the men that wished to harm her. She didn't know elf customs, but even she knew the elves did not help humans. Their two races were almost always at odds. Her question made him feel sad. Did he need a reason to help her?
His basic instinct was to protect this small, fragile, girl in front of him. He did not know why he did the things he did. Now he had no home to return to. He had done it all without thinking.
Was this how his father felt when he helped the human man? He remembered his face as he walked out of the village. There was no regret and he looked almost happy. Lucas had been mad for years that his father would just abandon him.
"I will not be able to sleep unless I know you got out of the forest safely."
He rose to his feet and walked over to the other side of the fire. The silence around the campfire was heavy.
******
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