Elemental Witch: Child of the Earth (Part I)

Out of the Wild

Eighty three years from the time she had been born, Veranandein had been brought before the council and given her life's Test. It was simple, she had reached maturity and now she must pass the test put forth before her, in order to serve her people. She had trained as a warrior and seen her friends move off into their own tests and them Path's beyond.

Go find the Sword Keeper. Remind the Humans of their promises to protect the island. She was the Keeper of the Feyshan Peace swords. It was her duty and Path, to protect the Island from the darkness that would seek them out.

This is her story. 

*****

It had been a very, very long time since any child of the forest had left it in the unyielding light of day, walked plainly across the open, cultivated fields that the humans considered theirs and allowed themselves to be seen. Hundreds of years, at least. It's not that the two species were at war. 

But the secretive, long lived sprites that populated the centre of the island, where the trees grew thick and unforgiving, did not venture into the open lands around the outer perimeter. And they only retaliated to human encroachment if it had damaged the wild itself. Leaving their existence to be more of legend than that of true fact. Humans  were raised to fear the Feysha and the woods, weaning their children on stories of evil creatures that stole wayward children and turned them into animals... or supper. . . 

 Verana knew all this but the time had come to make contact with the holder of the promise that founded the human nation on the island. The descendant of the human who had bartered a deal, a truce of sorts, with the wild. Land and sanctuary in return for an exchange of technology and assistance with protecting the Island. When the time came, the humans promised that they would form an alliance that would keep the land and the people on it safe. 

Both species would need to fight together to prevent the invasion of something worse, something far darker, they would fight. Or so the Elders had told Verana, when she received her Path's test. They told her it was her job to act as the ambassador, as messenger, as herald to war. The threat was coming and they needed to renew their truces, promises needed to be remembered.

The large, walled city caused her heart to jump in her chest, her lungs feeling compressed just from the sight of it in the distance. It sprawled out over the land, seething with smoke and filth and grating sounds that wafted towards her. Like all other human strong holds, it menaced the landscape in a jarring and unnatural manner. 

 The ground would be covered with stone or trampled to hard packed oblivion, the walls would halt the breeze across her skin and there were very few places where a person could brush their hands against trees. 

For a moment, Verana stopped, she couldn't make her feet move any closer as she realized she was getting close enough that there was no turning down. Paused near the main roadway, she crouched down to run her fingers through the grass, taking comfort in the life force she felt coming from the greenery. 

She watched as the flow of traffic in and out of the distant gates stopped, people jumping to the side as a column of six riders that burst through the large hungry maw of the city. They were led by another rider who was garbed in brilliantly shining metal, with a large shield, emblazoned with an animal, cloak flapping in the wind as they barrelled towards her.

For a moment, she was unsure if they were going to ride past her, crouched as she was on the side of the road. She was wearing soft brown clothing, with the camouflage of the forest still painting her pale skin and braided into her long blonde hair. She was virtually invisible, if she hadn't been spotted before they had left. 

Compared to their brilliant fan fare, she looked like the least important creature in the world, the least worthy of their time and effort. But stop they did, the horses fanning out to circle her as the air rang loudly with the unsheathing of swords. 

Verana thought briefly of drawing her own weapons as the shiny metal man yelled at her in his own language. She shook her head and raised her hands to show that they were empty, frowning as he jumped from his horse and pulled off his helmet in agitation. She could smell the fear and confusion on him and knew that was what was fuelling the roughness of anger in his actions. He barked a couple commands at his own men and Verana heard two more dismount behind her, their movements slow and clumsy as they strode forward. She let them, however, knowing that humans spooked easily. 

There were a couple more words spoken, something she could almost understand and then there was the sound of a sword being re-sheathed before she was grabbed roughly by the wrists, her arms pulled back behind her and tied tightly together.

"Answer me. Why are you here?" The language clicked in her mind, and she forced herself not to glare at the shiny man who had taken a few steps closer once she was restrained.

He accepted her sword belt and weapons from the man restraining her and frowned down at them with a look of recognition as he took in the workmanship of the hilt and pommel. "Of all days, why are you here? Did you know my brother is returning tomorrow with the King?"

She blinked at him, tilting her head to the side and feigning a lack of understanding. This was not the man she needed to speak to, he seemed ill equipped to do more than shine his metal suit. It glared mercilessly every time the sun glinted off of it when he moved, and must have weighed far more than it was worth in battle.

"My Lord, she probably does not understand our language. She has done nothing wrong and I'm not sure if your brother would agree that arresting her is the right course of action." One of the men behind her spoke up, his voice calm, as if trying to soothe an angry child. She smelled fear in him too, but not the debilitating terror that came from the others in the group.

"My brother isn't here until tomorrow. We don't know what these creatures have done, or are capable of. We will find out why she chose to approach the city on the eve of the royal visit, or my brother can do whatever he wants once he's back. I won't have a dangerous individual walking around the city while the King is there." Shiny metal man was glaring at her as he said this, not the man he was speaking to. 

"Maybe she's not quite right. Like maybe she doesn't know she wandered off, maybe they get village idiots just like we do." The man holding the ties to her wrist piped in, giving her a little jerk, as if to catch her attention or illustrate his point.

Verana blinked, glancing over her shoulder at the man and doing her best to leave her expression blank. It was hard, her anger rising in her chest,  her fury echoed by the rolling clouds on the horizon. 

She was beginning to wonder why Humans were tolerated on the island and why her people needed their help with anything. Verana had studied them from a far before, had read stolen books about their culture. None of it prepared her for the level of idiocy brought on by ignorance that she was currently facing. 

 But she forced herself to breathe, to find her inner peace. She had a mission, a Path. Her anger was nearly under control when she was jerked again. Before she could growl, she found herself unceremoniously led back to the one man's horse where she was tied to a longer rope. 

It took her only a moment to realized that she was to follow along behind the horse as the humans turned back to the city. Verana suppressed a growl as she fell into a quick jog to match the trot of the mounts.

 The older man kept glancing back at her from where he was riding, a look of apology and embarrassment on his face when he caught her gaze. She understood that less than when he turned to look at the man in metal. His expression would then cloud over into something like disgust. 

So many differing messages here. Perhaps they weren't all hopeless.