The Elven Files

Ch. 2: A Cleaver and Burning Blood

  "Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, blood and revenge are hammering in my head."

- William Shakespeare  

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Please. Please.. Venera help me..

Nei whispered to her Goddess against Revic's bloody, entrapped fur.

"Hold still, dammit!" Angered by the effort it takes to unravel the spiked cords from Revics body, Nei releases her grip and kneels back, whipping her head in all directions to take in the surroundings and search for any possible way to get her kumpani out of this.

"Nei.." His thoughts filtered into her head. "If anything happens to me, please continue on. Be strong. Find our family and become the warrior you were brought up to be."

"I'm never leaving you, Rev. We have and always will be together, until the bittersweet end."

To her immediate surprise, Nei spots a horned Mostiv lumbering atop a wide oak tree.

Pulling herself to her feet, she briskly carries herself over to the tree where she slings her muddied day pack off her back and gently releases it to the carpeted forest floor. Easily enough, she clambers up the solid oak, her boots catching in the shallow contours of the fine wood. Hulling herself up once more, she is level with the mostiv.

"Aye, c'mere my sweet boy.." she whispers gently so as not to frighten his delicate self. Finding his way across the branch, the mostiv is mere inches from Nei's outstretched hand. In it, she holds a handful of the blackest berries, enriched in savory medicines. Gingerly, he eats from the palm of her hand and moments later falls to the soft forest floor, unharmed, but irrevocably unconscious.

Nei jumped down from the oak in one fell swoop, crushing a shrub beneath with her weight. With hands as gentle as a fair princess's, Nei unsheathed her knife from her thigh strap and uprooted the sharp horn from the mostivs scalp. Though the animal is unconscious, he will feel no pain upon awakening. He won't even miss it.

Sprinting once again over to Revic, she made quick swipes of the horn on the iron bindings that encompass her friend. It took hours of labored work. Time she did not have to spare, had he been more careful during his hunt for boar.

Hours later, the sun began to visualize through the cracks in the trees and both Nei and Revic sighed in relief as the last bound was undone.

"I am going to annihilate the son of a bitch that did this." Nei swore loudly and glared over to Revic. He was panting, laying sprawled over top the blood that seeped him through. His lush white fur now a dull brown and red. Being within a quarter mile from the ocean, Nei hurled herself up and attempted to pull Revic to his feet. He stood up, shaking, with the help of her strong arms.

"We need to go down to the ocean and get you cleaned up." She murmured to Revic.

"The salt will burn my wounds." He retorted.

"Only for a couple seconds, you know. And you smell, Rev. The ocean water will be refreshing to your nasty coat." She chuckled. He didn't seem to think it was funny as he let out a low, throat growl.

They trudged together, slowly, through the thick forest brush and to the water's edge. The sun shone brighter over the horizon and for the first time since entering the forest to look for Revic that night, Nei felt relieved and her sight heightened. She had very little issues seeing in the dark. But everything in the daylight was brought with such clarity. It felt right.