Elarayne - What Am I?

Chapter 4

Screams. Death. Slaughter. I watched from above. My wings were long and my eyes sharp. I was an eagle. An other eagle was by my side. One second I looked into its green eyes. Do eagles have green eyes? I don't know. Suddenly I heard an explosion. The walls of Javtaia didn't hold. The soldiers of Savedian marched into the capital. They didn't just want land but more: the defeat of Javtaia. An other explosion. More screams.

It woke me up.

"The explosions broke the city walls. They're coming in.", Alexander said.

"How do you know?", I asked surprised.

After a slight moment of silence he said:

"I heard it."

"Wait. Where am I?", I asked.

"Don't you remember? As the battle begun you fell unconscious. We're still in the library."

"Yes. The young man here was very worried about you.", the old man said.

I looked out of the little window.
The soldiers of Savedian stormed the streets killing everyone in the way. They wanted to kill the king. Let them have him. But killing innocents wasn't right.

"I have to do something!", I thought to myself.

"Don't. We won't fight.", Alexander whispered to me as he was holding my arm.

I was shocked by his answer. I didn't expect it. It was like Alexander knew what I thought. Strange...

"The library has a passage which leads outside the city. It's door is hidden. We should be safe there.", the old man explained.

He pressed one of the books in the shelves. Suddenly the bookshelf turned itself. A dark passage could be seen.

"Go in.", the old man said to us.

Alexander and I stood already in the dark passage as the old man said:

"Go already! I still have to fetch a book."

"No! Don't go!", Alexander shouted.

As Alexander said those words a sword sliced the old man from behind.

"No!", I screamed.

The door closed itself and we stood in the dark. Tears came to my eyes. How could they kill an old man? We heard another explosion.

"We have to go.", Alexander said to me with a sad voice.

I nodded and we walked in the dark. The passage was long. It felt like forever.

"Why did you close the door? We could've helped him!", I said while looking at Alexander. It was dark but I could still see him.

"It was already too late! Didn't you see how the sword sliced him? It was too late. We couldn't have helped him. And besides, the soldier didn't see us. We still have a chance.", he said while escaping my look.

He was right. If the soldier had seen us he would've followed us. Sure before he found the passage we would have time but we would be followed. It had to be this way. Again tears came to my eyes.

Alexander stopped and hugged me.

"It's alright to cry."

"I even didn't know his name. He surely had family. He wasn't that old...", I said while still crying into Alexanders shirt.

After a while I got myself together. I looked at Alexander and noticed his emerald green eyes. They weren't this green before... It would be as if they would be shining.

"Your eyes are different.", I said.

"What?", Alexander said with a very unsure voice,"You must be imagining things. Let us continue. We still have a long way ahead of us."

"No! I'm sure of it!", I said with a loud voice.

As I said those words Alexander turned around and then back. He looked at me. His eyes were normal.

"You must be imagining things.", he repeated with a threatening voice.

"But...", I started the sentence.

I didn't say it. Something is different about him. Maybe it's just the situation.

We reached the end of the passage. The light was blending my eyes. It must've been already morning. We left while it was still night.

We stood outside in the morning sun. Suddenly we heard the church bells. They killed the king. Javtaia was defeated. Now there were only 3 empires and Savedian had the north for itself.

They could've spared the innocents. It wasn't necessary.

But how things were like now it is better that the old man ... departed from us. Who knows what they would've done to him.

"What now?", Alexander asked me.

"I don't know."

My stomach made strange noises.

"Seems like you're hungry. I'm hungry too.", Alexander said.

He looked at me and said:

"Go to that cave over there. Start a fire. I'll go hunting."

Then he left. I went to the cave. It was cold and dark but it would be a good place to hide. Soldiers from Savedian could be everywhere. I fetched some wood for fire. When I returned Alexander stood in the cave with a bird in his hands.

"That was fast.", I said.

Alexander didn't say anything. He started to prepare the bird. The whole time we said nothing. Alexander cooked the bird and as it was ready he handed a piece of meat over to me.

While we were eating I asked:

"What will we do now?"

"For today we stay here. Who knows when we will find shelter next."

We didn't speak much. It was weird. Maybe it was just the situation. The war was over. But our side lost. Well their side. We never were on a side. But we lived here for many years. Now we don't have a home to where we could return.

"We have a home. It's just very far away. You know before you had your accident.", Alexander said out of the sudden.

He did it again. I don't know exactly what he's doing but it's creeping me out.

"Tell me more of before.", I said.

"Our home is never at the same place. Our family is our home. We were like nomads traveling through the lands.", he explained.

"Our family?"

"Yes. Everybody was very close to each other. There was..."

Suddenly my vision faded. Everything became black and I couldn't hear anything. I had to close my eyes.

I fainted.