The Elven Slayer Princess

The Consequence of Family

As Olivia took her dagger out of the first agent, she breathed her first sigh of relief because she didn't wait and psych herself out. Then came the next agent, she jumped like she was practicing at an athletic competition. Liv somersaulted over the agent and landed feet first and then turned to meet him with a swift kick. But in that move, she left herself wide open to a punch from the side. She tumbled back against some furniture. "You shot a living breathing intelligent creature! It had a family; a home and you destroyed it. And I'm here to see you pay!" She quickly punched the agent in the face hard. "Oof!" The agent grabbed his nose tightly and stumbled back into the wall.

The next agent, Kalian, in an opportunity to contain the situation ran towards Liv quickly with his feet scurrying across the floor. She jumped on him before he could react and slapped him several times. And hit him several times to knock him unconscious. She heard the scuffled feet of the rogue agent edge toward her and could hear the wind push toward her. She shifted her body away from the point of impact with her elven quick senses. "The creature after breaking into homes in Denbrook, and in the Wildbourne plains attempted to ransack homes in New Manteau and take food that wasn't theirs in Ashview. It also broke several security measures in tracking it. We had to track it through several cities and streets. It took my team several nights to track it!" shouted Kalian.

Liv realized it was going to take a significant argument to get him to back off. "Did you ever think the Uruk had a family? She was feeding her child!" Savorin listened to this. "She had no right to be on the royal grounds!" And proved she was threat to their ranks. "All I've seen is a wholehearted effort to destroy and I'm naut letting you do that to naut 'nother creature!" She rubbed her face and wiped the sweat off it. "Come on. I've got all day." She wrapped the finger less cloth around her hands tightly as she could. The agent gritted his teeth and then charged at her. He then threw several mini throwing stars hidden in his black suited uniform. She heard the stars whistle past her as she turned to face her enemies.

The agent Kalian appeared to grin in contest as they approached their target. But the deft teen spun really quick and tumbled to the floor. Two stars stuck to the wall opposite her. The other veered around to another agent. "Unnck!" And hit him in the back. Down he went. Liv ran toward the agent. The agent stood his ground. He met her fist for fist. The quickness of the agent was little surprising to Liv, but she was prepared because she trained in the week prior. Impactful breathing and stretches, weight counters and running jaunts were her norm sitting in that house of the Elf.

Liv knew looking for her family would not be easy, but she realized this was larger in scope than what she thought. These were soldiers that were disengaged with the King's Royal Court. Her father during one of his long nights seemed to talk about them at least with her. But they were not widely known about. And Savorin thought he could tell his enforcers that they could separate and destroy families in this Kingdom. This had to stop. And she saw this.

As the emboldened agent fought fist for fist with her, Liv watched his hand go for her face, her shoulder, her chest, any place he could knock her down. She was able to stay away from him long enough to jump up and kick him with all her strength to create some space. But she needed to take it on the offensive with him. Kalian then got back up on his feet and swung for her face quick and hard. He missed but he was able to grab his throwing star at her, and it hit her left shoulder. She stumbled back.

He punched her several times in the chest and face. Liv was able to feel the power of his punches. But she couldn't give up. One. Two. Three. Four. The weight of his punches gravitated to her. So did she the only thing she could, she pulled him towards her. She flipped him over into a wall. "Unnngh..." And before he could react, she kicked him in the face, hard. "Never again!!" He slumped over.

Another black suited agent came from another room charging at her, with two sharp swords. He swung; she dodged out of the way. Another swing. Another dodge. She leaped. She saw a star in one of the doors that agents had left and ripped it from the door. And threw it at him. The agent's sword cut through it and continued. One. Two. Three. She counted. She grabbed her sword from her back cache on the fourth swing. And connected. Liv knew at that moment she had to win. Not just for her, but for her family.

 So, she closed all interfering thoughts. She thought about her father. The strong, resilient man he was. Her stepmother Violet. And her brother Devon and sister Janet that she yet got to know. How much she loved them and wanted to protect them. Olivia felt they were standing right in that house. With a swift look she knew what she had to do. Her sword cut through the agent's defenses. She pushed back his advances and began to pressure him enough to make him lose his focus. His other sword was knocked away in a side swipe. It landed several feet from him.

"Stop this. Now. Or I may have to stop you." The agent realized this was a losing battle. He could sense her confidence and skill. He backed away wanting to take it to another room. He looked at his boss. "You have some skill, with the sword. May I reckon you got it, from training in the most elite school?" Liv heard what he said but chose to ignore it. "I will say again stop these separations and destruction of homes or..." Savorin chimed in, "Be careful, elf. Be very careful..." Through the shadows she could see the chief agent holding a sword in his hands. "No...! I will stop you. Your agents won't stop me."

The chief agent nodded. And with a finger wave he pushed his agent to finish the job. He charged in a final act, with intensity, swung his sword and the quickness she reacted with. And in a calm act of certainty, she evaded the attack and stuck his sword in his back. The agent, Kalian screamed. The sword was radiating with a keen energy that had not been seen before. He slumped over dead in the chair. She quickly took the sword out of his back. Savorin, watched this and laughed. "Wonderful." He clapped. "Exactly, what I pictured."

She slowly approached the chief agent. Thinking she had to come up with a strategy to defeat him. But his eyes revealed that all of that would not be happening this day. "You've shown me much, child. A willingness to bend and not break and a dedicated focus your mission." He chuckled. "You will need that if you hope to catch me." He kept laughing. She ran up to what she thought was his face. Where the light shone in the room. "No! You will not escape me! I will hunt you down! There will be no where you can hide!!" But he was gone.

Sitting on the floor amidst the broken and bloodied bodies was the rookie that was brought into their clique. He looked weary and tired. Liv after picking up debris she placed her sword back in the cache in her back and observed Trevor's state. "Are... you, okay?" He rubbed his head and body hoping all of it would still be there. "I guess." She touched his face. He had several cuts, but he would survive. "I'm fine. But my pride...not. I tried to think they were doing us good. But..." Liv interrupted. "It's alright. I thought groups like this wouldn't do much harm, but I was wrong. I looked the other way, me and my family."

Trevor nodded and looked back at the window outside. The air was cold, and the leaves were blowing furiously in the wind. "My mother has been looking for me for a while...I should be getting over to her." he replied. "You live in..." "The Capitol City. I left it, to get money for my sister but because it's not easy living there. My sister saw our rogue crew separating our families and using their bullies to take what they wanted. And I didn't see that..." He sighed. "Go to them. From what I have understood, they are not listening to us. Believe me when I say, family is everything. No one should be forgotten, Trevor." She smiled at him. He got his bags from upstairs and bowed his head to her. She shook his hand, rubbed his shoulder.

He attempted to say something else but didn't. "The nearest rentable horse is several yards from here. I know. I'll handle it. Do you have enough myats to..." "Hell no." She grabbed two Capitol coins from her bag and flipped them to Trevor. "Thanks! Good luck, Livi." He opened the door and turned back to her and walked out. She felt changed somehow. But tired. Family is the foremost thing in her mind. She thought of her mother. "You've taught me nothing else matters. I didn't listen. But I'm listening now."

She touched her necklace. Colors were circling around the green gem in it, from pinkish red to eventually green. It was telling her she could move forward. Outside she noticed three elven teens clad in warrior gear sitting out there in the cold. They smirked at her. She realized they knew what she had done. And they were waiting.