A Tale of Traitors

Unknown

          "Mama, tell me the story again!" The little girl leapt into her mother's arms excitedly.
"You really love that one, don't you?" The mother smiled lovingly at her daughter.
"Please?" The child begged. Her mother laughed. It was like a scene from a fairy-tale, their perfect relationship.
"Many years ago, there was a magician named Tormod. He desired unity among every realm, so he summoned the seven most powerful angels. They went and collected the seven realms for him. We are Elves, Darling, and we are safe as long as we stay here, within the blue fire shield. That's like the wall of a castle; nothing comes in, and nothing goes out. Nothing can hurt us in here; we protect our culture and keep it alive. Tormod rules us now and takes care of us. His angels make sure he is safe and taken care of. Everything is wonderful, see?"
"Yep." The child's beaming smile faded as a dark thought entered her mind. "Why does he hate my friend Calysia?"
"Why does who hate her?" Her mother asked in concern.
"Tormod."
"What makes you think he hates her?"
"She doesn't have the dresses I do."
"Some people can't afford those--"
"But, Mama, she's not allowed to!" The child protested sadly. "She saved up for a long time, and the store keeper told her she wasn't welcome in the store." Her mother was suddenly silent.
"Is there something you're trying to hide from me?" Her mother's tone was so serious, the child felt a shiver shoot down her spine.
"She has green skin, Mama."
"Well, of course she doesn't have nice things!" Her mother suddenly roared, pushing her daughter into a chair while she went to find her husband.
"But Mama, she's always nice to me!" The child began to sob, knowing what was in store for her.
"There are some people who aren't worth dealing with." Her mother called up the stairs, "Darian! Come listen to your daughter!"
"MAMA, NO--"
"This is the last time you get away with disobeying me, Willow!" She screeched. "I told you to stay away from them!"

They both heard his footsteps pounding down the stairs.
"Daddy, please don't!" The child burst into loud wails. He didn't say anything, deaf to the cries of the innocent girl before him. Her mother held her arms, so she couldn't go anywhere.
"You know we do this for your own good," her father said quietly as he readied his weapon. "We do this to protect you."

She braced herself.













          She hadn't thought about that beating in a long time. She was so little then, what did she know? It was eleven years ago, she was seventeen now. She could make her own choices, pick her battles. They couldn't discipline her anymore, and--most of the time--since that beating, she'd been careful to be perfect around them. At all times. Luckily, she had moved out and disgraced their family name, so she didn't have to see her parents again. Or endure their beatings. She had just come back from an early morning trip, and she was satisfied with the amount of children they had brought back safely. Those little blessings didn't have to fear anymore. She would be there for them. She laid her weapons out on one of the many tables in their cave, the one they had enchanted by Sirens. No one should be able to get inside but them. No traitors. But, still, she had a horrible feeling that she would be betrayed.
          She loved her sword the best, though she was equally as skilled with a bow and arrow and dozens of various weapons. She loved how fast her sword got the job done, how as soon as the enemy saw it, the terror shone in their eyes and reflected off the slick blade. She had all the power. She felt addicted to it. A strand of hair was almost cut by the blade, and she hastily shoved it aside. That was too close, she thought as she momentarily paused her cleaning to re-braid her hair. She started to pin it up, and she heard the lightest footsteps behind her. She pretended she didn't notice him walk in, as she always did. She would never give him the satisfaction of knowing that she listened for him.
          He came to the counter next to her, but didn't acknowledge her presence. This infuriated her, but she didn't let it show. He let two minutes go by in silence.
"Good morning, Aredhel."
"Hi," she responded with a smile that was friendly, but not too much. He was observant, and that made her cautious of her actions.
"It doesn't bother you that I don't use your real name?" He raised an eyebrow as he set to cleaning his own weapons.
"Nah." She started to clean her blade, and he turned to get water from the pool in the middle of the room. Her back was to him. She heard him turn around.
"Woah, what happened to you?" He asked, suddenly surprised.
"What's wrong?" She turned around, looking him in the eyes for the first time that day. Nearly blushing. CRAP.
"Your back... what did you do?" He asked again. He was normally cold to her, but real concern showed in his features. She didn't know how to respond.
"My back," she questioned, confused if he was joking or not. That's when she remembered. "Oh... it's old," she mumbled, returning to cleaning her weapon. "My dad really wanted to protect me."
"I love that his epic plan backfired," he chuckled nervously. "Look at you now." She thought about it, too. She almost hoped he'd ask more about the scars, but he didn't. She heard him step slowly out of the room, the footsteps echoing through the whole cave. She started to think about what it was her dad really wanted to protect her from. She thought she'd said that as an excuse for his reason to abuse her, but maybe she had been right. Maybe he loved her so much, he didn't want to get her tangled in the mess that she would inevitably fall into. She hadn't done anything wrong having friends who were green.

What she had chosen was absolutely right.

          She shook herself out of her thoughts and finished her cleaning. She had to be ready at anytime if she wanted to protect their queen. She would with her life, she would with all the strength left in her broken body. She believed in equality, justice, and love. She was distraught that there were few people like her left in their realm. She thought back to her old friend Calysia. She had loved to play with her, and for once in her world, she could breathe without being critiqued. The best part was, her and Calysia could be anything they wanted. They could both be princesses, or they could both be criminals. They would be friends forever, they planned, as little girls do. The ending of their story would be more complicated than your typical friendship, though; neither chose different circles of girls to hang out with, neither drama nor boys split them up. The sole difference was their skin. Willow was beautiful and had the shiniest silver skin, that glowed when the moonlight struck it. She was born into a family of nobles, all of whom wanted to raise her to be perfect. That meant severing her relationship with her little green friend, who would be a maid for the rest of her life, no matter how smart and talented she would grow to be. That is, if she even lived long enough to have opportunities to dream. Willow just didn't understand what was so different about them. Unfortunately, she didn't have a lot of time to think about how upset she was. Calysia moved away the next year, and Willow never knew where. Now that she was older, she knew perfectly well what had happened to Calysia. She would avenge her friend; this whole fight was started because of the horrible things inflicted on her.

Children shouldn't be taught to hate each other. Children shouldn't be separated because of their skin or their families.

Fire was in her heart, bravery seeped through her soul. She would fight for those kids, she would fight for equality. She thoroughly believed she was unstoppable. Better yet, she knew she was.

And the enemy saw this, too.