Dusk Over Arcath

Chapter 18

The elves' camp fell swiftly. The tent Aster had woken under dropped at the hands of Narenhior's moonwalkers. Horses were fed with handfuls of grain, the elves chewed on strips of dark meat or thick dark stems Aster did not recognize, and a few struck flint with their swords to set torches.

In the midst of the din Aster struggled to find his place. Most of the pale, stoic fighters ignored his hesitant offers to help. Others sneered him off or, on occasion, offered sympathetic glances while finishing their duties. None spoke to him.

Even Sarah disappeared in the camp that lay interspersed in the trees. For moments he would catch a glance of her until she disappeared again, saddling horses or drawing water from the stream.

It was not until the riders around him were mounting that he became desperate.

"Sir," Aster mumbled to a tall elf with chestnut hair. The elf's glassy brown eyes flickered to him. "I - well, do you know where I should be?"

"Dead, from what I hear." The voice was as thin and unsympathetic.

Aster laughed nervously. "So I am told. But now -"

"You look lost, human," the chestnut-haired rider interrupted.

Braving only a quick gaze at him, Aster stared at his feet. "It feels so."

Another rider on a white horse came up across from the first. The two proceeded to circle him slowly, horses stomping and biting at their bits nervously while he continued to examine his feet.

"Aren't we all, Tarlon?"

Narenhior's voice startled Aster. The boy looked up, wringing his hands as the two elves continued to circle.

"Do we make you uncomfortable, boy?" Narenhior's eyes inquisitioned him intently.

"Yes," he finally answered.

"Then you are wiser than the fool that was here previous."

"He is braver than I," Aster argued before he could stop himself. "I.... Never mind."

"And do you consider bravery a boon or a flaw?" Tarlon asked.

"A boon."

Narenhior smiled under darkened eyes. "A long life may teach you differently. Though," he look Aster directly in the eye, "few suffering the curse of bravery live long enough to learn its pitfalls."

Searching or words, Aster found he had nothing to respond. "Am I to ride with you?"

"Do you wish to?"

The question had not occurred to him. "I mean no offense, but it doesn't seem your men take to me."

"Why should they?" Tarlon challenged. "You're a scrawny pup lost in a bush."

"Your own company has little love for you either," Narenhior added, twisting the reins tighter around his armored fist. "A whisper tells me you were sent on this ride to die, isn't that right?"

"Yes."

He heard Tarlon draw a sword from atop his circling horse. "Why not just put an end to you now? We won't have to decide who's company you will burden."

Burden. He felt oddly lightheaded at the thought. They're right, I only weigh them down. Endel did not even take me with him back to the Watchmen.

"Well?" Tarlon asked. "What will it be? Us, them, or the whatever that lies beyond?" His words sounded like a humorless joke, but their seriousness was unmistakable.