The Elf and her Demon

Chapter 1

Grabbing my cloak I slipped it on tying it off in the front, my mother had made it for me when I was younger. There was elven tongue inscribed on the inside with white ink, words of a protector and warrior. The older I got the cloak was made to grow with me so I could wear it for years to come. My father insisted I'd have it, anywhere I went that was not elven territory I was made to wear the hood to cover my face. To this day I still wasn't sure why I needed to do so but I continued to honor my parents wishes of protecting myself.

Waving to the people in the village I smiled politely carrying a bucket in my arms. Walking across the field, I was headed down to the river to gather some fresh water.

"Ameena! Ameena!"

"Oh, hello Ziri and children," I said chuckling a bit.

"Can we touch the bow, please Meena. We won't break it we promise," all the kids asked, somewhat in unison.

"Yes, yes you may touch the bow." Reaching behind my back I brought the bow down to the children so they could admire it as they did every day. My father had made the bow for me years ago, it was ivory white with silver detailing and the kids just loved to look at it thinking it was the coolest thing ever.

"Ameena?"

"Yes Ziri."

"Why is your hair white, and your eyes?"

"Well I'm not entirely sure why Ziri but I was always told it was because I was special," I said. Ziri always asked me this question and I always gave her the same response. I really had no idea why my hair and eyes were white but I never saw the big deal in it, elves tend to have unique features so I never saw myself to be too different from others.

"Alright I have to get down to the river for some fresh water but I'll be back and you guys can look at her more." Placing my bow back around me I grabbed my bucket and turned from the kids carrying on with my task. Before I could get far I felt a tug at my skirt, looking down I made eye contact with Ziri who had a strange look on her face.

"What is it Ziri?" I questioned.

"I'm scared Ameena," she replied quietly.

"What are you talking about, why are you scared?"

"I feel something, something bad, I don't like it."

"Oh Ziri there is nothing to be scared of, nothing bad is going to happen. Look when I get back you and I can go to the forest and work on your earth skills, does that sound good hmm?"

"Really?" Ziri asked.

"Yes but remember you can't tell anyone, it's a secret."

"Ok I promise I won't," Ziri zipped her lips shut and pretended to throw away a key.

"Now run along, I'll be back before you know it," I said shooing her towards the other children. She had ran off trying to catch up to them while glancing back at me every few seconds, waving at her I turned around and continued my journey. Ziri was like a little sister to me, most elf children started learning what ability they possessed at a young age. Children as young as four begin working on harnessing their ability, all the other children had begun but for some reason Ziri wasn't allowed. No one knew why but her parents were strict about it so no one dared, besides me, whenever I could I'd take Ziri somewhere quiet and work on discovering and mastering her abilities. She was a fast learner but we had only been able to escape a few times so she hadn't had much time to discover what else she was capable of, but I could sense it was more, much more.

Humming to myself a random tune as I walked, I followed the path that lead you deep into the forest. I could hear the birds chirping and the sound of rushing water close by. Walking into a clearing surrounded by trees I knew the river wasn't too far ahead just beyond the small hill above. Once I had reached the bottom of the hill I knelt down by the river, resting my hand on a rock for support I dipped the bucket into the water holding it by the handle. As soon as it was filled I heaved it back out, using both hands I carried it up the hill. Back in the clearing I switched to holding the bucket with one hand, this was the part I didn't like about the walk back, the bucket always seemed to get heavier and the trip always felt longer. I didn't get very far before I heard a noise behind one of the trees up ahead, setting the bucket down at my feet I slowly grabbed my bow getting ready for anything. Elves didn't have many enemies as we were harmless creatures but over the last few centuries demons had been a problem.

"Whoever's there I can sense you, come out slowly," I said. Using my eyes I could only see body heat and not the actual person, it was a unique ability my parents had made me promise to keep quiet. Making out a large silhouette I could tell it was a demon due to them not having any cool tones, a demon I didn't want to mess with either. I'd have to think strategically to get away from this one. Cursing myself I knew I should have put my hood on to hide that I was an elf but I'd figured I'd made this walk so many times and never encountered anything that I would be fine, how wrong I was. "I know you are a demon, come out now before I shoot!," I yelled, hoping it would prompt him to show his face and put my plan into motion.

"Ameena I wouldn't do that, I'm not here to hurt you," the demon said, stepping from behind the tree.

"How do you know my name?" I questioned still holding the bow ready to release my arrow at any moment.

"I'll explain everything later but we need to go, now."

"I'm not going anywhere with you demon, now how do you know my name?" I questioned again, my voice growing louder.

"Ameena if we do not leave now the others will come searching for you and kill you, if given the chance."

"Others? What others are you talking about?" Following my question I heard screams off in the distance.

"The demon king has sent demons into your village to find you, they are to slaughter everyone, if you go back there they will kill you. We need to leave now Ameena."

"No," I said, a look of shock on my face. "My people... how? Why?" I couldn't move, I couldn't begin to understand why this was happening and just stood there in shock unable to do anything else. The demon took a step forward towards me and I quickly brought my bow back up in defense. "Stay back."

"Ameena we don't have much time left, you have to trust me if I had been sent here to kill you I would've done it already."

"I will never trust you demon," I said, anger laced in my tone. Off in the distance I could still hear the screams of the people from my village, I felt tears come to the surface but I refused to let them fall in the presence of a demon. The screams kept ringing in my ear and then they stopped and all that was left was silence.

"Ameena! Ameena!"

I heard a young voice call out to me and I broke recognizing the voice from one of the kids. "No, the children," I whispered, taking off into a sprint. The demon had grabbed me stopping me from going any further. "No please, ZIRI!"