The Shadows Of The Vale

Two

The crowd was so much bigger than Eve could ever have imagined. The variety of races was fascinating to her, elves, dwarves, humans, gnomes, and so many more all in one place at the same time. Everyone was waiting for the moment that the new Queen Aela would walk out of the castle and address her subjects. The ceremony itself was a private affair inside the castle, with dignitaries and friends of the royal family from all over the globe, after everything official was done, the Queen would come outside to give her speech and her promise to protect the kingdom under her rule. Eve had managed to be almost at the front of the crowd, she was quite small so managed to slip through the gaps and be in one of the first rows of people, right up against the rope separating common folk from royalty.

The huge doors opened wide, and nobles poured out of the castle and lined the sides of the wide castle steps. Silence fell as a tall elven woman delicately descended the steps; she had a pale blue dress with long flowing sleeves and a train that all flowed a few feet behind her, blonde hair done up neatly in a braided bun and all accented nicely by her new platinum crown. The new queen stepped onto the dais that had been erected for the morning, and stood up straight, looking around the crowd of her new subjects.

"Welcome," she spoke softly but her voice carried through the space with unnatural volume, "I thank each and every one of you for attending this momentous occasion. It is my goal to follow in the footsteps of my father with grace and decorum. I will - " The Queen's eyes widened as her voice caught in her throat, her hands found their way to the arrow that had struck her chest. The guards took up arms and readied bows toward the sky as a shadow emerged through the clouds. The gasps of the public turned to panicked screams and chaos as a winged, black, reptilian giant flew closer, you could just about make out a person on its back, empty bow in hand, still pointing toward the Queen.

People started running to cover, under awnings and into nearby buildings, others running as far down the street as they could to their own homes or places of rest. Eve froze for a second, She was so far forward that she wouldn't be able to make it to a close building before they were full of other people, and she was far too small to fight her way there first.
"Get down!" Eve felt hands on her shoulder push her down as a giant ball of acid flew past her, striking the cobbles and rope barrier directly next to her, the rope began to sizzle and almost melt. She turned her head to see an elven man with leather armour and shoulder-length dark hair covering her from any impact. "The castle's the closest place, go!" And he ran toward a group of three people cowering on the floor. Eve looked up toward the castle and saw guards open the doors for everyone important to pile inside, she ran through the gap that was created by the rope melting and straight up the steps. She could hear footsteps behind her and assumed someone had followed her initiative but dared not to turn and look.

The ground shook and Eve fell to her knees as something large landed behind her, the was a high-pitched roar and more screams from the people that were still around. Eve felt a hand take hers and lift her up as a tall, dark-skinned, girl continued to run toward the castle, now pulling Eve with her. Both girls made it into the great hall but could hear bars drop on both of the doors at the other end of the room as the last of the nobles were ushered to safety.
"Get further in!" There was shouting behind them as the elven man that had protected Eve earlier was running toward the doors with two other civilians; behind them was a spray of acid as the reptilian beast charged toward the castle. The girls backed up into the middle of the room as the trio barrelled in and immediately made an attempt to close the castle doors. The doors were heavy and latched open, one side closed almost immediately but the other seemed more of a challenge, like it was caught on something. The beast got closer, it tucked its wings in to make itself small enough to fit through the door.

Eve started to count her last moments, taking in everything that was around her, the kind two people who had both helped her in this brief tragedy, and the two others who had tried so desperately to survive this attack - a dwarven man with long ginger hair and braided beard, and a young man, almost human looking, but with slightly pinker skin, pointed ears and small dark horns on his head.

"I've got it!" The horned man pulled something free from beneath the door and the three of them slammed the door closed and leant against it as there was a loud thud of impact and another roar of anger. "That was too close for comfort," he threw a large metal brooch down across the floor to the edge of the room. The five of them took a collective breath as they heard the roars and footsteps get further away back down the castle steps. The horned man and the dwarf wordlessly moved a large table in front of the doors while the elf downed a glass of wine that was left over on one of the great banquet tables.

He looked towards the girls who were sitting in the middle of the room in a pile of their dresses, "I'm Gerret," he slowly spun to include the other men, "You're all probably better off sticking with me."