Morph

Chapter 3 : I Kill An Elf

Two years had passed since the whole giant ordeal, and I was now fourteen. They had decided that I was to be an archer after that, since most apprentices didn't take out a humongous fog giant on their first day of training. After that, I was looked up to as if I was some kind of saint. I had easily passed most of the tests in strength and aim, so I rarely had to practice those. So I spent most of my time trying to get better at agility. It was a little hard to dodge things like puddles of water and, oh, say, a giant swinging spike ball. Stupid gnomes! After that incident, Father had put round the clock security around the palace, and had doubled the guards.

The elves were getting mad because more and more mortals, and other creatures, for that matter, were searching for their waterfall. They had allied with the gnomes and giants to hunt down anyone who got within a mile of their territory. Overprotective much? Anyways, we were just on their border of the Land of the Elves, and our allies were on the other border, so messengers from both kingdoms had to sprint through the Land of the Elves to deliver their messages, and most of their fates, well, let's just say they weren't very pretty...

One time a pixie had appeared on the border, his left foot twisted at an odd angle, bone poking through the skin, and two elves in quick pursuit. He, too, had a bad fate. I don't even want to describe the others. Elves were bad creatures, killers, and yet they were the ones blessed with the Waterfall of Immortality. They were nearly impossible to kill, so I guess I had done the impossible once.

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I was out at training one day with Amber when it had happened. I was being tested with agility once again, and I was supposed to take out five fake birds while dodging spears. Real spears. Thank goodness for the armor. I was doing exceptionally good that day because I hadn't stayed up the night before to study elves, which I usually did. The spears were regular, with wooden shafts, and metal tips glinting in the sunlight. I had taken out three of the birds when an unusual spear came whizzing past my face, tipped with slimy green poison, flying faster than the ones Gladeride used, almost as if it was flying. But that was impossible. Only elves could throw spears that good. Almost in reply to my suspicion, I heard someone curse in a voice that sounded suspiciously close to an elf's. Then a conch horn blew, higher pitched than the one Gladeride used, and the warriors in the trees throwing spears at me stopped and looked in the direction the conch horn had blown, and there, and the crest of a hill, stood the very ugly, pimple covered, slimy skinned, elven leader.

Now, elves were not very pretty. They were tinted green with giant black eyes with a little green fire in the very center. Their clothes were tattered and broken from so many years of use, and their hair was almost always green, with the occasional black. They had several nose, ear, and other piercings. Their faces were a paler-than-pale green, as was their whole body. They usually had multiple tattoos, but only the leader was allowed the mark of the elves inked into his skin. They were only about three feet tall, but were very vicious and ready to kill. Their teeth were very sharp, and they had vampire like fangs that were stained crimson red from eating their victims. They were always barefoot, and their nails were much like the claws on a dog or a cat. They were covered in pimples, cysts, cold sores, and a bunch of other irritations and fungi. Their mouths were always foaming with poison and bile, and they had a wicked ability to break or twist anything with a snap of their fingers, including human bones. But they usually preferred a chase, breaking their victims ankles and biting them, tearing their bodies to shreds, and letting them die a slow and painful death. So the sight of elves on the Gladeride border was not a very good thing.

Anyways, he had the conch horn in one hand, and a giant, too-big-for-his-body sword with sickly green poison bubbles covering it. In response to the conch horn, a whole army of elven warriors appeared at the crest of the hill, right behind their ugly, pimple ridden, leader. The leader stood out from the others because of the mark of an elf was inked onto his forehead. All the elven leaders had that same mark tattooed on their forehead. It was a triangle with waves at the bottom and flame filling the rest of the triangle. He yelled something that I supposed was charge, even though it sounded more like flarshhge. His little minions responded immediately, running down the hill with immense speed.

I ran to get to higher ground, the top of the palace, where I could easily pick off enemies like a hawk, but that plan failed me. The elves just expanded their wings and continued their chase. I was getting close to the edge of the roof, and my mind was racing, trying to come up with a plan on how to get down to ground level without killing myself. The elves were gaining, so I picked up speed and ran to the edge. I couldn't spare even one moment of hesitation, so as soon as I reached the edge, I jumped.

I was plummeting in a hundred foot drop towards the Jasmine Lake below. I turned in mid air, back to the lake. I figured I probably wouldn't survive the fall, so I would at least try to kill some elves. I grabbed an arrow from my sheath and shot it at one of the elves blindly. The arrow hit straight between the elf's beady black eyes and penetrated the skin. The elf's wings stopped flapping and he was soon plummeting towards the Jasmin Lake in a lifeless heap. I stared in disbelief at what I had done while the wind flapped my hair in my face and the air stung my eyes. Then everything seemed to turn to slow motion. The elves were in shock, no longer in pursuit, the fisherman who were now standing on the riverbank were hardly moving, a cluster of warriors were staring from where they stood perched behind the turrets of palace, crossbows aimed and ready.

Then I felt cold water on my back, soaking through my armor, making its way up to my neck, splashing my face with an icy chill, and I let the lake engulf me in a sea of swirling black.