The Lost Artifact of Sira

Chapter 18 - Quiet

     Emphoria lowered her sword. Both Eden and Emphoria turned to Lyra.

   "Lyra?" Eden quietly questioned her response to this all. Lyra didn't shed a tear.

Emphoria's guard was down as soon as a small quick boy flung himself at her. The body had been the boy from before. He sprang upon Emphoria like a monkey, his vegetation cloak following him. Emphoria fell on impact. The boy holds his dagger to her throat.
   "Round Two!" The boy yelled.

Emphoria kicked upward upon his torso, winding him and coming off of her. Emphoria grabbed her blade once more.
  "No more." Eden spoke as her moon lit up, an essence grabbing the wild boy and lifting him in the air.
  The boy became confused and then turned his attention to Eden. The boy's eyes and markings slightly glowed for a split second as he tried to fight the essence.
  "Witch!" The boy groaned as the essence tightened.
  "Who are you?" Eden questioned. 

"Wardistal." The boy gave in, telling them his name.
  "I've told you about him last night, Eden. He's the trouble maker after your head." Emphoria dusted herself off and came back to Eden's side.
   "Ward." Eden called him for short.

  The boy didn't respond.

  "Wardistal." Eden continued. The boy looked up.
  He suddenly started to speak a tongue unknown to the elves. He sounded angry as he kept kicking around.
  Eden responded in this tongue. The boy froze, including Lyra and Emphoria.
  The boy started to respond to her.
  "What is he saying, Eden?" Emphoria questioned. Lyra hadn't said much, observing it all.
   "He wants me for the honor of his family." Eden furrowed her brow.
  "No." She dropped Ward.

The boys scrambles to his feet but doesn't make any quick moves to attack. Instead, he raises his hands in defeat. He speaks his tongue once more.
  Lyra gained an idea as it seemed that Eden and Ward started to argue.
  "Tell him about the Artifact of Sira. He can gain honor through that, once we find it." Lyra offered. Emphoria disagreed but didn't say anything, to focused on the boy making any fast moves.
   Eden nodded her head with the idea. She spoke to Ward. Ward cocked his head.
  "Sira?" Ward spoke elven once more.

"Yes. It will bring anything you wish." Lyra continued, she knew she can't speak much about her mind. There's too much circling around as she just lost a close friend.

The boy shook his head. "Foolish. Freedom brings peace. Nothing material." The boy managed out a few words into sentences. He turned away from them all and headed back into the forest, stopping and looking back as soon as he did so, thinking about it.
Instead, he left, returning to a village.

As he jumps through vegetation, he hits a building and enters it.

"Mother!" He speaks in his tongue.

"Mother, Mother! A witch! I found the wit-" Ward stammered as he came across an empty house and yelling persons outside.
  He looks outside the front door of his family'a grass hut. The village he had grown in wasn't in the best condition. Elves slash his people's throats as they are all lined up before them. The leader of the village had been pleading.
   Elves with fine leather armor stand before a shiny knight. Ward stayed low as he watched the elves yell in irritation.
  "Give me my witch! I demand!"

   It was no knight, Ward noticed. Nothing like within the books he read from elven kingdoms. This boy was small and demanding, slightly taller than Ward though.
  A real knight stands by him. This knight wears the true armor with the symbol of EverGlade upon his armor.
  Another knight stands next to him, the symbol of SouthernNörd upon his.
  "Prince Luka and Knight Hallow stand before you! Bow!" The smaller armored boy yelled.
  Ward glanced around his lined up village people, doing his best to spot his mother. She stands on her knees in front of them all.
   "This witch has the redheaded pyro with her! Find her!" The boy kept screaming. Ward grew tired of him, even the knights beside him grew annoyed.
   "That's enough, squire of EverGlade." The blonde knight of SouthernNörd stepped up.
"The death of this woman shall be what you will receive if you don't tell us of these witches. They are within your forest." Prince Luka demanded and stepped upon Ward's mother.
"Mama!" Ward yelled with anger in his eyes.
His mother was sobbing before turning to her son in the distance, underneath Luka's boot.
The elves took Ward by the arms and legs, catching him off guard as he doesn't leave his mother's gaze.
"It's okay baby. It's okay." His mother sobbed as she watched her son be taken next to her.
"It'll be okay." She kept mumbling as soon as he was placed beside her, his hands tied together like her.
"Nothing?" The squire of Hallow seethed.
"Would you know anything, rat?" The squire squatted in front of Ward. Ward glared with his eyes slightly glowing. The squire stumbled back.
"M-magic! He uses magic!" The squire falls on his butt and points, yelling in fear. His heart rate increases as Ward manages to get out of his bindings, fighting off the guards by slicing their torsos with his small dagger.
The knights unsheathed their swords as they watched Ward's movements. Prince Luka called off the rest of the guards from attacking the boy.
Ward stood his ground on protecting his mother, undoing her own bindings.
He doesn't dare to glance at the rest of his people, he can't save them. He wishes to save at least his mother so he helps her up on her feet.
His eyes don't stop glowing, trying to make elves scared of him as he looks around for an escape.
Hallow is frozen with fear. He urges himself to stop Ward but never moves as he runs off with his mother.

Prince Luka moves his hand upward, in the sky and towards the archers that stand around them all.

"Archers!"

Ward heard the elves yell, unaware of what they say. His eyes come back to their original ways as they meet the edge of the forest.
Suddenly, his mother staggers.
"Mother?!" Ward yells.

She falls to the ground l, revealing a couple of arrows upon her back and neck. Ward's mother starts to suffocate within her own blood.
Ward moves to her side, pleading her to get back up.
"Mama! Mama, please!" Ward turns her over gently, revealing all of the blood exiting her body.

Tears and blood mixed together made everything more painful as his mother drifts into Limbo within his arms.
"Mama!" He shrieks. His eyes dispel luminous tears down his frail cheeks.
She goes limp.
Another arrow wiz's past his ears. He turns back towards those awful elves.

They took her life away, Ward yells within his little head. More arrows fly past.
His ears fall as he notices the smug grin upon the blonde elves face. Ward gives one last glance towards his lost mother. Her body now pale with death.
Ward is covered in blood.

He sprints away the forest, his feet light upon the earth.

The forest was quiet that day.