Darkness, it was all too perfect. The grass rustling—the wind a calming whisper— the pitch black sky dotted with stars as the only light source in between the trees. My cloak swaying in the breeze on my perch on top of a large rock, overlooking a deep valley plain, my bow and quiver tethered to my back, the feathers from the arrows tickling my neck as the breeze pushes them towards me. I sigh and pull away the hood from my face. My brown curls bouncing gently in excitement. The dull light makes my elegant—beautiful— features almost none existent. My eyes shift their color from a black to a soothing violet tone. Darkness was my friend; I welcome it with open arms. This night—as calming as it was— has to come to an end though, something touches my shoulder and makes me jump. I swing around, pulling my bow from my back and notching an arrow in a single motion. I aim it at the figure before me. I can only see the outline of the thing—or rather person—before me.
“Gwenyth, you can’t sneak up on me like that, I could have let go!” She giggles at my statement, my face burns with frustration.
“Oh come on sis, you know you wouldn’t do that. You ask questions before you shoot” She giggles again. This was a game to her that I knew from experience. She would sneak up behind someone and test them to see what they would do. I—for one— did not like this game.
“Yea well when we go into towns you better not try that, some people don’t care about your little game” my voice is harsh and stern, I’m not letting her get away with this foolishness. I hear her let out a sigh and I stand up.
“Come on, the others have caught our supper.” With that she took off towards camp. I shake my head and put my bow and the arrow away; walking in the direction she had gone. As I near our camp, the trees start to light up from the flames of the fire. Smells of cooking meat and wild vegetables fill my nose; the temptation was too great, I took a deep breath in, trying to get every last smell into my lungs before letting it out with a huff. The laughter then surrounds my ears as I walk into the clearing. Everyone is sitting on logs around the fire. Hunter—a black haired, masculine and rather tall elf— is stirring the food in a pot over the flickering flames. I join Gwenyth who is sitting on a log closest to Hunter—of course— Lyra hands out plates we bought from our previous payment then she quickly sits beside Lydia with her own. Instinctively I count everyone by the fire. Gwenyth, Lyra, Lydia, Hunter… we are missing two.
“Where’s Selena and Aurora, have they not come back from Freymill?” Lydia shakes her head.
“They won’t be back for a while. The client has sent a letter saying that he will be a bit late, and that they should stay in town until he arrives.” I nod, strange; they’ve never been late before. He must be travelling from a far distance to Freymill. I shrug off the questions I want to ask and hold my plate up to Hunter. He dishes out a piece of meat and a few carrots and hands it back. When we all finished eating, it was sparring time. Lydia was a very skilled warrior elf; it is hard to defeat her with only my hands. She always wants to fight with me, just to say she could do it. She never goes easy on me like she does with Lyra and Gwenyth they could actually pin her down sometimes.
“Hey, Vana, come spar me.” Hunter’s low voice booms playfully, he was laughing at the thought of me trying to beat him. I pretend to look worried as I step up to face him. He smiles at me as we get into our battle stances.
“I’ll go easy on you.” He chuckles. It only makes my blood boil and I scowl at him.
“No need Hunter, do your worst!” I spit playfully. His smile fades and is replaced with a serious expression. We stand still for a while, waiting for the other to take the first strike. From behind me I hear Gwenyth yell
“Come on! Fight already!” Hunter shakes his head and charges at me. I turn quickly, dodging the impact and send him tumbling towards a tree. He recovers himself before he hits it and races back at me. Judging by the way he is coming at me, the double step and the pace of his charge, I know he’s going to kick me. When his foot lifts in the air I roll away and punch him in the side. He stays standing but is breathing heavily. I know that soon he would be ready to collapse.
YOU ARE READING
Secrets Uncovered
FantasyVanadesse and her young sister Gwenyth have been thrown out of their home along with other rogue elves from their city. Over the years they created their own society the Rogue Assassins. But one mission takes an unexpected turn and Vanadesse has to...
