Elves of Wood and Storm (Book one of The Guardians series)

Facing Responsibilities

Vaguely Lucas could hear shouting behind him, "After him!" and "Don't let him escape!" He ignored those cries, pulling up his hood to try and escape attention. But in the pushing crowds of fleeing elves Lucas needn't have worried. The volunteers pursuing him were untrained and unorganized. X wasn't there to direct them so they provided no challenge to avoid. Lucas smiled serenely as he blended in the panic, feeling the heat around him as the village burned.

He stopped at the edge of the trees as others fled into the forest. Turning back to look at the village Lucas watched leaping orange and red flames. Screams echoed around him as Lucas's mind numbed. He stood and absorbed the scene, the fleeing men, women, and children seemed to part around him. Some natural instinct warning them to avoid the solitary figure.

On his chest Lucas felt The Devil's Heart throb and beat. The burning traced through his skin, warming it until it was nearly unbearable. A pale hand rose to his chest and Lucas applied pressure hoping the alleviate the pain, it made no difference. A stick broke behind Lucas, pulling his attention from his chest. Whirling as swiftly as a striking serpent Lucas found himself facing a nervous man wielding a cleaving knife. Caught the man froze, meeting Lucas's cold eyes he licked his lips.

Lucas stared at him steadily, he didn't recognize the man, and had no idea how accomplished he man was with a blade. He soon found out however as the man turned and tried to run, Lucas didn't give him the chance. He bounded after the fleeing back pulling his knife out as he ran. He drove the blade between the elf's shoulders, barely avoiding the spine.

Impassive he watched the writhing elf on the earth, the man coughed leaving sticky red blood an the earth. Shivering the man's skin started to fade to a sickly shade of blue as more red blood fled the twitching body towards the forest floor. After several moments Lucas bent and ripped the knife from the man's back, the sudden trauma made him scream and jerk once more before laying still.

Lucas walked away, leaving the still warm body to drain onto the pine mat covering the forest floor.
*~*~*~*
X breathed a sigh of relief as he examined the forest around him, his overwhelming anger faded to a grim determination chasing the trail through the woods. Though often blurred by water and hidden by darkness X had no extreme difficulty in sighting each new piece of a puzzle showing where Lucas and Heidi travled. Then there was a pair of deeper prints, and a closer examination revealed that Heidi had used an old technique to drop a tail, and Lucas had been stymied by it. Nearly laughing at the simplicity at the trick X backtracked slightly and saw where Heidi had walked backwards then pulled herself into a tree.

Double checking the prints X confirmed that Lucas returned to his origin allowing Heidi to deliver his message. Guilty fears slowly faded as X turned home, satisfied Heidi was not dead because of him. He glanced off to the right, wondering if he should follow Lucas's prints or just head home. But before he could really decide a sharp feeling of danger filled his soul, wide eyed he turned towards home, the most direct route, and ran.

Breath ragged he knew exactly what the feeling was. Every gaurdian, of large towns and small villages alike, was linked to his village. And if the feeling was that sharp, that distinct, there was an immediate threat and it was life threatening. Adrenaline rushed to his limbs and X pumped his legs faster, driving himself towards home. The forest blurred around him, and X's vision constricted until it only included the trail ahead. Jumping, leaping, and twisting X weaved through branches and bushes moving forward as quickly as possible.
~~~
When he arrived at the village X stopped horror struck. What had once been a small peaceful village was now piles of dust and ash, wailing elves were emerging from the trees. Shaking their fists as they saw the destruction, X watched the ghostly figures in horror. Several had burns on some part of their arms and legs, but one little boy stood out to him. The boy was slow, and moved as if in great pain. Sadness filled X as he walked over to the young boy, he was covered in burns.

"What happened?" X found his voice was tight, and with difficulty he swallowed. The boy looked up to him, "An elf made a fire in my house, then he made it big. And it spread." The boy trailed of coughing, X reached down to his belt and removed the water skin. After confirming it still held liquid he offered it to the boy, who drank greedily. "What's your name boy?" Still licking drops of water from his parched lips the boy answered, "Kyler." X was about to continue the conversation but he was interrupted.

"X! I thought you were dead! Where have you been?" X looked up in surprise as a rushing figure approached him, it was Megan. Gathering himself together X faced her and started to explain, "Never mind that, let's go." She turned and began to bustled off, X hurried after her ignoring his tired limbs. She led him to the council house, which had luckily escaped the flames. He followed the tall woman into the council chambers and stood as she joined the other two members of the council. "Explain yourself." Her tone, though not cold, was layered with emotions the most obvious being fatigue.

X told his story, his fear for Heidi's safety and the necessity of the letter. But he could tell that his report was doing no good. He had not quite finished when Megan interrupted him, "I've heard enough X, what would you have done if Heidi was dead? What was the point you couldn't have stopped it. All you did was leave our home unguarded. You failed your primary task because of an emotional compromise." X tried to defend myself but the powerful woman held up a single hand, "Stop X, I sent a messenger requesting a new guardian. You will be relived upon his or her arrival."

X felt like his heart was breaking. He devoted himself to becoming a guardian, he had sacrificed so many rings just to get to this point. Had he been in a large city a replacement would not have been too bad. But to be replaced in a tiny outlying village, it's likely his career was over. He looked up pleadingly and tried to say something, but he simply couldn't. So, without waiting for dismissal, he turned and left.