The Last Light of Ellium

Chapter 3

Unfortunately, as with all good things, this too had to end sometime. Enir gave one last glance to the beautiful view before him, before hauling himself to his feet. He looked down at a satisfied and happy Kataia. He hated, more than anything, to break her from this moment, but if they didn't return soon, he knew guards would be coming to find them if they weren't already. 

He wordlessly outstretched his hand to her, hoping that if he didn't speak, maybe they wouldn't lose the magic of the moment. Kat grabbed onto his arm with one hand, the other wrapped securely around the remnants of the pie. She grabbed, once more, onto Enir's coat and they began walking back through the raucous marketplace. 

It seemed that while they were gone, several fights had broken out and there were now a handful of guards throughout the marketplace questioning people. Enir cursed himself, for the second time that morning, for not thinking to bring some sort of disguise. He put his hand over Kataia's on the back of his coat and began briskly walking, trying to avoid the clusters of guards. The last thing they needed was to be hauled back to the palace like troublesome school children. 

Just as they were about to round the corner of the end of the market, some large and angry bull of a man ahead of them took a swing at what Enir could only imagine was another angry man. All hell broke loose in the aftermath. People began shoving and running, some towards the fight, and some, away. 

Regardless, the result was that both Enir and Kataia were jostled mercilessly, and in the fray, one plump woman carrying a large basket of various vegetables shoved through Enir and Kat, effectively breaking his hold on her. Enir cursed, whipping around instantly to grab his sister, intent on just scooping her up and carrying her back at this point, but, to his utter horror, she was no longer behind him. 

He looked frantically in every direction for the streak of her white hair, and for a split second, he thought he caught a glimpse of it, but as soon as he took off in that direction, it was gone. "Help!" He shouted, no longer concerned with drawing attention. "Gods, someone help me!" It wasn't doing any good, if anyone could hear him over the commotion of the fighting, they weren't helping him. 

Enir could feel his pulse getting faster and faster as he pushed through the crowds of people. All he could think about was his little sister being hurt somewhere. He tried to steady himself, rationalizing that panicking would only make things worse, but it wasn't helping. 

He made it out of the fray of people, still whipping around in every direction hoping to spot her. He almost dove back into the fray when he couldn't see her on the outskirts of it, but he noticed a quick flash of white. "Oh Gods," he began to breathe a sigh of relief as he ducked into the dim alleyway. However, his relief was cut off in his throat as he noticed that Kat was not alone in this alley. 

No, there were four other boys here, all surrounding a small seven-year-old girl. Rage tasted white-hot in Enir's mouth as he took in the scene, and he didn't even pause to think before he hauled one boy up by the back of the neck and slammed him onto the ground. 

Unfortunately for Enir, most of his combat training was with a sword, which was not going to help him here. His eyes shot towards his sister as the boys rounded their attention onto him. She was unharmed, but she still didn't look afraid. "Gods," he thought to himself, "she doesn't even have the good sense to be scared." The boy that Enir had thrown to the ground, by this point, had stood up again. 

Enir shifted, as best he could manage, to stand in front of Kataia. The problem was that this position put all four boys firmly between the siblings and the only exit. Well, the only viable exit, as he did not fancy the idea of a many foot drop off the hillside behind them. Enir sized up the group, as his weapons instructor had taught him.