Elenis (The Witch of Laverlock)

Chapter 16 The Mysterious young boy

Elenis gave a silent prayer of thanks upon seeing Wulfric but wondered at his sudden appearance. She had stayed his horse but it seemed the spell did not last. Thankfully it did not for she was clearly in danger. The ruffian behind her tightened his hold clamping her mouth with his hand as she tried to speak. Her voice was muffled preventing her from saying anything more. Defenseless she was left to watch the scene.
"Well, well, her comes the savior, too bad it could not have been sooner" the big man spoke as he walked toward Wulfric fearlessly. Unsheathing his sword he raised it toward the knight.
"Unhand the lady, she is the daughter of the overlord of Bricklow castle" Wulfric said facing his opening with grim determination.
"She was explaining herself until you came along, unfortunately we need her if we are to gain coin from the Lord" he turned slightly to Elenis "you however are dispensable!" He roared.
The men charged at Wulfric who engaged them fiercely. Elenis was overcome by such intense fear she was paralyzed for a moment until she felt her captor slacken his hold. Taking advantage of his distraction she stomped on his foot, elbowing him on the rib. Her assailant doubled up holding his side giving her time escape his clutches. She grabbed her dagger from her boot and aimed it at the dirty man who had held her.
She watched as he unsheathed his sword and pointed it at her, lunging for her she easily moved to the side, kicking him in the shin so he dropped his sword. Picking it up she had planned to join Wulfric in the foray but a man from nowhere hit her on the head knocking the breath from her body.
She slumped to the ground as blood trickled from a wound on her forehead. "Wulfric!" She yelled before the other man kicked her on her stomach. Feeling nauseous, she cocooned herself from the blows until she lost consciousness.
Wulfric heard Elenis scream his name and the rage that built within him made him charge at her assailants, but they were too many. He had managed to injur a couple of them but a blow to his shoulder knocked his sword from his hand. He hand moved to grab it but the men outnumbered him and started to beat at him. Soon he too was knocked unconscious , his last thought was for Elenis.
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The river was calm as Elenis sat with her family near the waterfall. It was a cool morning, the smell of wet earth assailed her nostril as she smiled at some antic Lucille had displayed when she heard her name. Turning to see who it was that called her she could only see the mist. Waving to her family she stood and followed the mist but the voice grew louder.
"Elenis......Elenis! WAKE UP ELENIS!" The voice screamed at her.
She blinked her eyes open with a start and then regretted her action as a burning pain sliced threw her head making it throb. Awareness took hold when she felt excruciating pain permeate through her body. She tried to pull her arms free from a heavy grip when she realized her arms were not mobile.
Blinking slowly she squinted as she struggled to open her eyes. Her head was resting against something hard and she realized her hands were aching from ropes digging into her flesh. It was too painful to move her head but she managed to see ahead realizing it was daylight.
She tried once more to turn her head but she winced in agony. Never in her entire life had she felt so helpless. Tears formed in her eyes feeling it sting as it cascaded down her cheeks.
"Good your awake!" The voice was once again present and as she blinked through the mist of her tears she found a boy standing in front of her. He looked no older than eight with a mop of golden hair and eyes a blue as the sky in summer. He smiled broadly at her "can you see me?"
Sighing tiredly, she nodded her head .
"Good!" He beamed "there is no time to feel sorry for yourself. You've tarried long enough you have to leave here."
She wondered why he was talking to her as if they were long lost friends. She had never seen the boy in her life but he seemed to know her however the it wasn't as important as trying to free herself from her current predicament.
"How can I leave when as you can see....." She winced as the pain assailed her head "Who are you?" She asked in an agonized whisper.
"You know who I am Elenis" the boy replied approaching her stealthily.
"I d..don't"she insisted her annoyance was growing but there was no time to dwell on it. She had to free herself "Make yourself useful little boy and untie me" she said heavily, her eyes threatened to shut as the world spun around her.
"They left you here to die but that will not happen" the boy said firmly, holding her head between the palms of his hands he blew a slow breath cooling her injury. Surprisingly as he continued to blow cool air on her head the pain started to lift, her eyes no longer felt heavy and her vision grew sharper.
The boy stood back as soon as she recovered and cocked his head to one side "you got lost when you went to the stream, you took the wrong turn to Laverlock. You will have to get back on the trail, follow the crow and she will lead you to him."
The boy turned left and started to walk away.
Panicking she called out to him" Wait! You still have not freed me from the ropes!"
But the boy continued to walk away making her pull forward, that's when her hands came free. Staring at her finger dumbly she turned behind her to find that the hard thing she was attached to was a tree. Feeling her head, she noticed the cut had disappeared , what remained was the cake of blood that trickled down her cheeks.
Ever since she had discovered her own energy she had been jaded, fazed by things that were incomprehensible, however the appearance of the boy, her sudden recovery and her freedom unnerved her. As she balled her fists she stared at her hands feeling the tingling sensation that her energy had finally returned but it was still weak, most likely an after effect of her ordeal with those men.
Looking around her she was satisfied that there were no other threats when a groan disturbed her thoughts. Turning to her right she saw the bloodied face of Wulfric. He was trussed up against a tree, his armour had been stripped from his body leaving him with his shirt , braies and hose.
She had to free him and check on his wounds, searching for her dagger she did not find it. Shaking her head in irritation, she walked behind him and touched the ropes that bound his limbs. They fell away instantly making his body slump to the ground with a thud. She searched for a piece of cloth from the ruined garments that were thrown about by the vermin and managed to strip away some fabric from a gown , she used it to wipe the blood from his face. She could see his nose was broken and his eyes were swollen from repeated blows. There were cuts on his cheeks on one on his head.
Although he was mumbling something he was still unconscious. Thinking about what to do she remembered her horse and summoned Ares, but the beast did not come. The men must have taken her horse! Drat! She only hoped Ares would find a way to escape and find her.
As she trampled around the debris of her belongings she found a skin which had been previously full of wine. Cursing herself for her stupidity at getting herself into this predicament she looked about once more and found a vial of salve. Smiling broadly she picked up her salve and went back to Wulfric. She dabbed the ointment on his cuts but could not do anything about his nose except to clean the blood that trickled down.
She needed to wake him if they were to move from their current position. She started waving the vial underneath Wulfric's nose satisfied that he started to gain consciousness. He blinked his eyes open cupping his nose as he felt the pain slice through him.
He rolled his head toward Elenis "where are we?"
"In the woods" she replied rising up as she secured the precious vial. "The men are gone and so is my horse. They knocked both of us but I managed to recover more quickly. You on the other hand......"she helped him up pushing him gently against the tree "Are pretty badly beaten."
"So much for coming to your rescue" he tried to see the irony of it feeling his body ache in places he did not know existed. He pushed his broken nose and gave a sharp cry of agony as it fell into place.
"Are you alright?" She asked a frown marring her brow as she surveyed the damage to his body.
"I'll live" he replied, straightening his body to its full height. He looked about him familiarizing himself with their surroundings. It looked familiar but he was still not quite sure where they were.
"How did you find me?" She asked while packing her things.
"As you recall, my horse became useless, I was able to find your donkey and left my horse for your companion while I chased after you. The woods are treacherous Elenis, I hope now you will welcome my presence."
She turned to look at him rolling her eyes heavenward "It seems your the one that needs baby sitting"
He tried to smile but it hurt too much. "Where exactly are you going?" He tried to flex his muscles and felt the blood start to circulate.
Standing up she walked to the edge of the area they were in "We have to find the stream, did you pass it?" She ignored his question while she looked about him.
"It's back there" he pointed to a narrow path hidden by a copse.
"That's where I have to go"
She started walking ahead not bothering to check if he would follow. She was still reeling from the encounter with the boy who seemed to have vanished into thin air! She had to admit he had provided comfort healing her injuries and releasing her from captivity. His presence had seemed to wake her energy, but, the mystery still remained...who was he?
After walking for an hour, she found the stream. Frowning she wondered how she could have done it on foot for such a short span of time where as riding seemed to take ages. She must have been riding in circles. Fishing the map from her pocket she spread it on a stump and started to trace the lines with her fingers.
Wulfric had kept pace with Elenis but he was in agony. He was clutching his chest feeling the pain on his rib, he must have cracked one. The sight of the stream was a blessing. He made for it stripping his soiled shirt, dipping it in the frigid water her dabbed his face wincing as he felt the sting of his wounds.
"Here let me" Elenis volunteered, stripping cloth from her under skirt she started dabbing his face gently. His eyes were shut as if relishing her touch, still he was injured she had to try and help him.
He blinked his eyes open, watching her familiar face noticing that she bit her lower lip as she dabbed on the wounds.
There was so much he wanted, needed to say but the time was not right. He realized if her pushed his weight she would just clam up and they would be back where they started.
"Where do we go from here?"
She stopped immediately giving him the damp cloth she walked back to her map "This journey is mine alone" she said tritely.
"Given our recent encounter I think not."
She had to admit the logic of his statement "I journey to Laverlock". She replied finally.
"Laverlock!" He repeated incredulously. She was attempting to journey to a place he had been trying to reach for years and yet failed to reach. What was she thinking?! He stood and walked to where she sat by the stump. Bending slightly he looked at her map not understanding a single mark.
"I take it you can read that" he pointed to her map.
"Yes" she sighed hiding her smile at his confusion "my great aunt drew this for me but it only shows the woods, it does not bear the stream. This is Laverlock" she pointed a a quickly drawn symbol " We were here" she circled around a series of lines that must be the forest he mused. "But as you can see there is no stream"
He remembered his own journey getting lost every time he thought he came close. He did not recall ever passing this side "I too have been looking for the place but the path I had been using is nothing compared to this."
"Why do you seek it?" She asked curiously.
"After what happened four years ago at Bricklow castle with Sarah's disappearance, we tried to search everywhere. We could find no trace of her. It took us awhile to realize she may have been abducted by Fitzhugh. That's when we went in search of his demense. But no matter how many times I tried to reach it there was always an abstruction"
"What kind of 0bstruction?"she asked curiously.
He sighed recalling what he had encountered "Mercenaries, robbers all sorts of vermin littering the roads. It was always the same every damn time!" He looked at her thoughtful expression feeling embarassed for the sudden burst of emotion. "It never occurred to me that there could be another way."
"Perhaps you were misled" she concluded turning back to her map when from out of nowhere the flutter of wings burst through the forest slapping her on the face before ascending to the sky. Rubbing her face where the wing had smacked it she looked up at her assailant and saw to her astonishment a black crow, it's wings glistening under the clear sky. At first it flew low circling around them but soon it started to fly higher.
"Are you alright?" Wulfric asked with concern.
Nodding her head she pointed to the crow "you see it don't you?"
"That wretch is lucky I don't have my bow!" He exclaimed looking at it.
"Good, let's follow the crow" she said, folding the map quickly she tucked it into her skirt and picked up her bag moving to follow the bird.
Wulfric was completely taken aback by her strange behavior but he did not have time to question her for she was starting to run after the bird. Having no choice he followed.