Elements

A Trail and a Diary

“Find her Claqu!” the emperor commanded before disappearing from the shadow. The flat circular disk slowly shrunk into nothingness on the tree. Claqu turned, things had just gotten more complicated. He had known Sorsa since she was born, nearly raised her in swordsmanship and pressure points, and had been her best friend for years. Sorsa had been born in the capital to two of the emperor’s best strategists. He had been a friend of her father’s for many years before he married her mother, and had remained friends with them until they died.

            He stared down at the small leather bound book, the front was empty except for a bright golden S painted on it. Claqu remembered when he helped pick out the book for Sorsa’s seventh birthday. She had been so excited, she’d always wanted one before that day. Slowly, he flipped through the pages, seeing what had once been flowers and leaves and old writing getting neater and neater. He hoped that if he read Sorsa’s diary, that he would be able to find her easier.

            Sorsa had run away from the capital when she was nine, and had been able to avoid him for one year before the mission had been called off. This diary he held in his hand was one of the only possessions she had ever taken with her on her journey. If he could find out how she avoided him those many years ago, he could improve, and find her quickly and quietly.

            The lecture with the emperor had left Claqu angry. The lectures were becoming useless, and a nuisance. Looking around him, he examined the nature around him. This is where Sorsa and the elf last were, before he lost them. Foot prints, with deep holes around them; the elf’s dragon. Skid marks on top of the mud, Sorsa had fallen from his trap here. Quickly remembering the direction they had flown in last night, and that Sorsa was unconscious at the time, he gambled that they were near. They’d fly far away enough that I could not track them easily, Claqu thought, but they wouldn’t be able to go very far because of Sorsa. Claqu Motioned to his guards, “Travel east along the river, they can’t be far!”

            They sped off at full gallop, northeast towards the river. I’ll catch them this time, Claqu thought. This time Sorsa won’t get far, and I will be rewarded. Not punished. This time the elf will not shove me around, and he will be taken to the capital in humiliating defeat. He promised himself this as he neared the river, diary in hand, ready to reveal all of the girl’s secrets.