The Ephean

Chapter 2

"RAELIA!!!" My mother screamed as the guards of Northwald dragged me away from my house. All eyes were set on me as I was walked to the prisoners carriage. The trip from Freyden to Northwald wasn't that long, well most of the trip I was thinking of my mother and how she would be feeling right now.

"Out Ephean scum." The guard spat. I slowly stepped out of the carriage and onto the dirt ground. A guard was walking at each side of me making sure that I wasn't able to get away. They took me to the back of the town to be excecuted. One guard kicked my back and I instantly fell to my knees. Another pushed against my back so that I bent over a plank of wood. The one who had previously kicked me was holding an axe and held it in a position ready to knock my head off. He swung down and at an instant, I was ripped away from my life.

*THUD*
I slowly opened my eyes. I wasn't at Northwald. And my head was still intact. I did sweat like crazy though. I stood up off the floor and decided to head down for breakfast.

"Hi Peachy how was your sleep?" Mum asked.

I sat at the dinner table and put my head in my hands. "Well I woke up on the floor, does that answer your question?"

"What happened?" She asked turning to me.

"I had a dream that I died." I replied.

"Everyone has dreams like that." She smiled.

"But this dream was different."

"How so?"

"Because I was killed the way you kill an Ephean." The room went silent.

"I'll get your breakfast." Mum headed into the kitchen.

"Naah I'm not hungry. I think I'll just go spend the day with Priraseth." I said heading outside. She normally plays with her little sister in the marketplace. I nervously looked around to see if that Man is anywhere to be seen.

"Hey Rae." Priraseth said running up to me.

"Hey Pri." I smiled.

I waved a hand to Priraseth's little sister. "Hello there Treia."

"I Raelia." She waved back. Treia is literally the cutest little girl ever.

"How old is Treia now?" I asked.

"About 6." Priraseth replied.

"We need to get back to the game." Treia whined pulling her arm in the other direction.

"What game are you playing?" I asked.

"The game we usually play." Priraseth replied with a grin. I rolled my eyes. The game they normally play is not really a game. They steal things from the market and sometimes pull pranks on other people. Priraseth just calls it a game because Treia is too young to understand that is actually illegal.
"Do you wanna play?" She asked.

I have nothing else to do. "Sure." I replied. We walked around till we found a shop that was free of people.

"Amaril's Goods Is occupied by a customer." Priraseth said. We snuck up to that shop and looked at all the food they had.
"What should we take first I wonder?" Priraseth waited till the shopkeeper wasn't looking, and hovered her hand over an apple. She picked it up and took a bite.

"How does it taste?" I asked.

"Fresh like always. Watch this." Priraseth snuck up behind someone and took a bite of the apple. She chewed it up a bit before spitting it right in their face and bolting. Silly girl. Treia and I followed behind her.
"That was so fun." She laughed. I laughed with her but stopped at the view behind her. The man that had been staring at me yesterday, was staring at a distance before bolting.

"Do you see that man?" I quickly asked pointing at him.

"Yeah?"

"He was staring at me yesterday."

"Everyone stares at everyone."

"This was different." I told her. "It was like he was staring into me. As if he knows some deep dark secret."

"He's a creep. You find creeps around here." She covered Treia's ears. "A man tried to feel me up sometime last week. I kicked him in the nuts though and he left."

"Can we keep playing that game?" Treia asked.

"Yes of course." Priraseth replied. We decided to pull a prank this time. We went into The Loving Pepper Potions since potion making was a lot of fun.

"Hello lovely ladies and welcome to The Loving Pepper Potions, would you like to see our latest potion?" The man at the counter asked.

"Sure." I smiled.

He held up and interesting shaped bottle. "And here it is. This is the ...."

"What are those ones behind you?" Priraseth asked.

"Oh those ones? Well here you have.." When the man wasn't looking, she swapped the ... for a different potion.

"I'm actually quite interested in this one you showed us. Could you demonstrate what it does?" She asked with a grin on her face.

"Why of course, anything for the lovely ladies." He popped the lid open and began to drink it.
"After you drink it yo-" the man at the counter started to go invisible.

"Quick lets run!" Priraseth shouted. We bolted out the door, still dying with laughter.

"That one was the best prank you have ever done." I said holding my stomache. It was in a lot of pain after all that laughing.

"I'm glad you think so." She smiled. My laughter died down as I saw the man in the cloak at a distance for the third time. This time though I snapped. Who is he? What does he want? He bolted and I started chasing after him.

Priraseth followed behind allng with Treia. "Raelia where are you going?" I followed the man outside of the town. He was much faster than me at running and I eventually lost sight of him.

"Where are you going we aren't supposed to be out here!" Priraseth yelled.

"That man, did you see where he went? He knows something and I want to know what." I looked around the field trying to find some sort of movement.

She grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards the front gate."Lets go back otherwise we will be in trouble."

I noticed a little bit of movement between the trees in Greenlea forest. "He's there!!" I shouted. I ripped my hand away from Priraseth and ran for the forest. My heart was beating faster as I neared the entrance. We aren't supposed to be around here. I stopped as soon as I entered inside. No one was there. I slowly walked forward in case he was hiding further down. Nothing. Maybe it was just my imagination. I decided to use one of my Strymmith abilities. Since they are forest elves they have excellent hearing. I closed my eyes and listened to the quiet sound of the birds chirping and wind in the trees. I also heard a little rustling behind me. I opened my eyes and went to turn around when I felt a sharp pain on the side of my head and fell to the ground unconscious...