Hidden Magic

Chapter 1

"Meer, snap out of it."

The young wood elf glanced down from her vantage point in the lowest branch of a mulberry tree to see her scouting partner giving her an exasperated look, an expression she was all too used to seeing on his weatherworn face. He stood with his hands on his hips... flank... whatever it was called. Even after years of being his constant companion, she was still not sure which terms to use regarding her brother. She had learned, however, that he very much disliked the nickname "horsebutt," so of course she used it whenever possible. He wasn't her sibling by blood, which would be even stranger than her actual heritage, but sometimes life hands you family you wouldn't predict. A decade ago she certainly hadn't expected to find a colt asleep inside her tribe's storage tent with a half-empty bag of grain near his hooves.

Meren made a face at the centaur. "We're on guard. I'm keeping watch. What's the problem?"

"The problem is that you have been on that branch most of the morning and you have traps to check, which I am fairly certain you cannot do from a tree."

Meren briefly wondered if this would in fact be possible to do by traveling from branch to branch and tree to tree, but he unfortunately did have a point, irritating though it was.

"Okay. I'll go." She paused, then admitted sheepishly, nodding towards the north, "I'm wondering about the town out there."

Kryro tilted his head to the side. "Why? What about an abandoned human village draws the attention of an elf away from what she should be doing?"

"Oh, come on, 'Ro. You know we were sent to this border because nothing ever happens here." When she saw that he was about to speak again, she added, "And I don't know, okay? It just has me curious."

She swung down from the branch and joined her much taller companion on the ground, hardly making a sound as she landed in last season's debris. While she was crouched, she reached out to touch a tiny sprout with a vine-patterned hand. She loved early spring with the plants beginning to bud with the promise of new life. There was so much potential everywhere she looked and she couldn't help wishing that her own life and career had as much possibility.

"If you're so keen on checking them, let's-" An abrupt "snap" to the east, followed by a muffled shout of some kind, interrupted her words.

"Sounds like snare number three may have caught something interesting," he said with an "I told you so" look. Spirits, did she hate it when he did that! He was so annoyingly right all the time that just once she wished something would happen that she predicted.

Meren shrugged, not wanting to admit that he could be right yet again. Besides, their patrols were always boring. She was under no delusion that this one would be any different. "We'll see about 'interesting'. Likely it's a squirrel or a goblin or something."

It was perfectly normal in their line of work to list small woodland animals and humanoid monsters in the same category of nuisance. Both regularly got tangled in the traps, although the animals were generally easier to take care of. Those she could simply set free. With this assumption of what they would find firmly planted in her mind, the two sneaked towards the trap as quietly as someone with hooves was able. Meren, far more light on her feet, continued ahead.

Well, that's certainly not a goblin, she thought as she eyed their visitor.

Dangling upside down from the rope snare was what appeared to be a human, specifically a young human who would probably have been rather attractive if not inverted with his warm brown face flushing to a deeper red. The human flailed at his embroidered black robe that entangled him better than the simple rope caught around his ankles. To Meren's surprise he was able to wiggle like a fish. Within moments he'd writhed out of the robe, dropped it to the ground below his trailing dark hair, and produced a dagger from somewhere. Seemingly with little effort, he swung himself up and reached for the rope caught around his legs.