Fading Light

A New Road

Moonlight spills onto the open dining area and decorates the tablecloths in extravagant silver beauty. Indrumara allows me to sit next to her as the whole clan gathers for supper. Fagin also joins me on my left as we eat the richly cooked moose our hunters caught for the day. He instinctively knew something was bothering me, but through the new realization of my elven abilities, Indrumara gave him the message of our previous conversation. I felt his hand rest on mine and I squeeze it. I'm so thankful he is in my life. I can't imagine what it would be like without him.

During the middle of the meal, someone suddenly walks up to Indrumara with a concerned look. "Indrumara, there is something I must speak with you. I was waiting to tell you earlier, but I cannot hold it in any longer."

"We can discuss it after supper," she responds.

"Actually, I think it is important for Larissa to hear this as well," he says, looking at me. I grip my fork and freeze up again. How many more serious conversations must I hear today?

"You see, I've been wanting to tell you this the day it happened, but when I saw how delighted you were when we brought her into our home, I thought it would've been best to wait. Now that Larissa has reached this mature age, I think she should know the truth."

She holds up her hand. "I've already had the conversation with her. She has heard enough for today."

"It's not about her specifically. It's about Fagin Gylon."

My heart stops beating and I grip my fork even more.

"What about him?" she says.

The elf hesitates. "When Fagin ordered us to save Larissa and her sister from Maxel, I tried pulling him back because I felt Maxel was trying to rescue Larissa, not attack her. After he shot Frank and his wife, he put his gun away. If he intended to hurt her, he still would've had his weapon out. I read in his body language he tried to get her out of there. I explained that to Fagin, but he refused to listen. The more she screamed, the more he fought against me to save her. I couldn't hold him back any longer. He stormed out of the woods and brought Maxel down savagely. We had no other choice but to follow him. We helped pull the car back on its wheels and I saw he planted the sword in Maxel's chest. It was as if Fagin's eyes were the real daggers that pierced Maxel, though. I never saw them full of monstrous hostility in all my years I've known him. He hadn't attacked an enemy with that much aggression before."

Hearing the truth about my entire family may have splintered my soul, but now listening to this mahogany about the only person I trusted my whole life felt like I was shot by an arrow, deepening the wound until my soul splits into a million pieces, exactly how the air shattered when my parents were killed. My hand couldn't decide whether to keep gripping onto my fork or throw it onto the ground at the elf's feet. I stand up and face the weakling. "How dare you accuse Fagin in such a way? Have you forgotten the light that always shone in him? Not one trace of it has ever faded in my fourteen years of living with any of you." I look at him dead in the eyes. "You are wrong. Fagin Gylon would never have murdered my grandfather in a gruesome way."

"But you saw him take Maxel's life as well, Larissa. You watched him with a look of horror."

"Because I was a three-year old seeing a stranger stab my grandfather! What child wouldn't be petrified of that? Fagin had the opportunity to take my life as well, but he didn't. Instead, he approached me with the softest love not even my own parents gave me. That alone shows he's not the person you claim him to be."

Fagin rises, too. "Caplin, you've known me for five centuries. I only kill on how we were trained. Not with malice, but with justice."

Another elf stands and speaks up. "No, Fagin, Caplin's right. We all sensed Maxel's behavior towards Larissa. He didn't have any intend to harm her at all. He only came to rescue her from her parents."