Rebuilding The Homes
They finally reached the village just after lunch. Blake was stunned by the conditions of the houses. Most of them were in ruins and only a few were standing; even the ones that looked strong crumbled into dust when Blake touched the walls lightly. The whole village was in desperate need of repairs.
“An elf!” a young child cried out in delight and ran to Alfhild in awe. “May I?” Alfhild crouched down to her eye level and let her small hands roam her face lightly. “Your ears are really pointed!” The shine in Alfhild’s eyes made Blake smile. She had not smiled since their unintended kiss. He winced at the thought. He never wanted to make her unhappy.
The villagers came out to help, the strong men took to the task of hauling the boulders to each home while the women swept away unwanted debris. The children were given the task of helping out with moving the lighter rocks away. In fact, Blake was surprised by the unity of the village. They simply worked together and it made their jobs in rebuilding easier. Some of the homes had to be leveled as they were too damaged to be repaired.
By evening, half of the village had homes rebuilt while the rest had to find other places to rest for the night. Blake was happy that the progress was going well; it was faster than anticipated. Even Alfhild was looking more cheerful.
For the next six days, Alfhild was often paired with Blake to help with curing the villagers while the rest rebuilt the homes. Some of the villagers and children were ill with the lack of proper housing and they had to be cured. Thus, Alfhild had volunteered as she had the potions that were given by Adaya. By the seventh day, the potions had run out but there were still quite a number of villagers to be cured. Blake offered to look for the herbs but Alfhild rejected his offer. “The herbs are in the woods, it is too dangerous to go out there.”
“What about the villagers?” Blake asked incredulously.
“I will go.”
“No.”
“Sir Blake, I have magic to protect myself. I will not be forgiven if you come to harm,” her green eyes bored into his dark ones. They were so convincing that Blake had to agree. However, he made her promise to return before sunset even without the herbs. She nodded and was on her way.
That was when he frowned. He had not wanted to agree and cursed when he felt something lift shift in his mind. She had hypnotised him so that he would stay. “Alfhild, I will not forgive myself if you come to harm,” he muttered to himself as he started packing his bag to prepare for the journey. However, he found himself unable to leave the village no matter what he tried.
“Sir, you won’t be able to leave,” he heard the voice of a boy stating calmly.
Turning around to face him, he asked, “Why?”
“There is a spell in place. A spell that makes you stay here unless you are allowed by the one who casted the spell,” he replied.
“Do you have magic?” Blake was now curious, weren’t anyone who had magic schooled somewhere?
“Yes but I am not allowed to use it,” he said moodily.
“Why?”
“Mother does not like it. She said that the Dark Lord would take me away.”
Blake thought of something, “We do this in secret. If you can let me through this spell, I won’t tell your mother.”
The little boy frowned in concentration, “This is a good spell. The person will know that it has been touched. She put it for safety.”
Blake sighed, “Yes, but I am worried about her, please, let me through so that I can be sure that she is safe,” Blake added in his most pitiful looking eyes for added effect. It only made the boy grinned.
“You like her.”
Blake smiled at him ruefully, “I don’t know but I just want to make sure. This is our secret,” giving him a wink to the boy’s amusement. Apparently, he was a lot smarter than Blake had thought at first. However, it was to his benefit as his wit would serve his current purpose. “Thanks, so, what’s your name?”
“Zeki.”
“Take care, Zeki,” Blake gave him a smile before stepping through the hole that Zeki had created for him.
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Destiny of Sapphire - Book One: The Baron and His Elf
FantasyOrphaned at the age of ten, Blake found himself fighting in the streets and learning to fend for himself. His new life at the university was going well with his excellent grades until his ex-girlfriend took revenge on him for spurning her. Kicked ou...
