Private Tales Behind enemy lines..

[Sorai]

"Oh.." she answered, and figured that was a good enough reason to 'drink' the rest of it. She grimaced and tried her best to keep it down until the cup was drained. She wasn't entirely sure what was real and what wasn't right now, but his skin appeared to be glowing and shimmering and she deliriously reached to touch at his face with intrigue.

"Pretty." she whispered, and her lips twitched in a tired smile. Whether it was the fever or whatever he'd given to her, it didn't take long for her to be drifting off again. The dreams and visions kept coming, causing her to mumble and mutter in her sleep, but after some hours the fever broke and she slept with more ease and comfort.

 

[Katyr]

Katyr shook his head as she spoke. "Fragile."

Was the only answered that the Elf offered Sorai before she slowly slipped into sleep. In truth he was still not entirely sure that she would survive the night, nor that the medicine he had given her would take proper effect. He knew little of healing humans, but he had made his best guess.

Oddly enough, he hoped that it worked.

As Sorai slept, Katyr continued to explore. Though this time sticking closer to the windmill. He foraged for food, firewood, things that would be of use.

It took another day before he finally felt Sorai's feather break, for that constant tossing and turning to finally ceased. He continued to feed her small sips of water, waking her in small dazes and starts. All the while building up his own strength once more.

 

[Sorai]

Sorai slept, and slept, and slept... After the fever broke there were no more dreams or hallucinations, and her healing body fell into oblivion that took her a long time to drag herself out of. When she finally woke clear-headed, he wasn't here. Her brow knit and she looked around her surroundings, disorientated.

"Katyr?.." she croaked, her voice gritty with disuse. She sat up slowly, and her heart kicked up. Had he left her here?

"Katyr!?" she called out in panic.

 

[Katyr]

Her voice resounded loud enough that Katyr could hear it ring out in the meadow around the windmill. The Elf quickly burst into a run, not wanting her shouts to alert anyone else in the area.

The door to the windmill flew open. "I'm here!"

He called out to her.

"It's alright." His voice was not soothing, but not harsh or cutting. The former was still difficult for him to find, that...calm that any man...any elf in particular should have still eluding him. A century of pain having carved it away.

The Elf quickly closed the doors of the mill behind him, sealing it shut as he trotted over to Sorai. "You're awake."

He said, stating the obvious with a slight hint of a smile. Perhaps the first he'd worn in front of her.

 

[Sorai]

Her eyes were wide and tear-filled as they settled on him, seeming to assess whether he was real or not. She let out a shuddered breath, watching him as he approached her and she reached to touch his arm to make sure he really was there.

Relief washed over her and she drew her hand back with a shaky sigh. "I thought you'd left me here." she said quietly. Why on Arethil she felt safer in his company, she didn't know. He'd taken her from her home against her will, he'd near strangled the life out of her. He hated her.. But he'd also saved her life.

"You helped me." she stated plainly with a lilt of surprise in her tone. "Again." her head tilted. "Thank you."

 

[Katyr]

"No." He said with a slow shake of his head. "Just gathering supplies."

A task he had found to be much easier than he'd first assumed it would be. "Your people are...wasteful."

He did not mean it as an insult this time, but this land had held so much left behind. Rope, blades, fishing lures, and other things that he had all been able to collect. He had found two knives, a length of fishing wire, the lures, plus the satchel to carry them all in.

"And yes." Katyr said finally, putting down the satchel besides her.

Slowly he squatted down besides her.

"I did." The Elf said, slowly looking her over. "How are you feeling?"

 

[Sorai]

Sorai allowed a long breath to tumble free as she settled herself with the fact that she wasn't alone, and that she wasn't imagining things anymore. Her lips twitched as he crouched down beside her.

"Like i'll be alright." she answered him, her smile warming. He could have just let her die, and she'd have understood if he had. He was close enough to the Falwood now that he no longer really needed her, and yet he'd clearly gone to a lot of trouble to keep her alive.

"You'd have been almost home by now if you'd left me here.." she pointed out with a quiet sigh.

 

[Katyr]

Katyr stared down at her for a moment, frowning. "I suppose I would."

That thought had not escaped him over this last few days. He was not entirely sure why he hadn't gone. Perhaps it had been simple pity. It was an odd thing, he had slaughtered a dozen men on his way out, half that number of women.

Yet he hadn't been willing to let Sorai die.

"But I didn't." Katyr said, as though he didn't quite believe that fact himself. He frowned for a moment, and shook his head. The reason did matter, he had done it, and that was that.

His jaw set for a moment, and then he decided not to dwell.

"You'll need a bit more rest before you can travel again." He told her. "Tomorrow I'll try my luck at catching some fish."

Both of them needed actual food to fill their stomachs.

 

[Sorai]

She realised how hungry she was the moment he mentioned catching fish. Her eyes closed and she pulled in a deep breath which tumbled back out with a long 'Hmmm'.. "River trout with fried potatoes and garden peas..." she smirked weakly.. "And chocolate tart for after.." she added with a quiet chuckle.

Her eyes opened on his face and she blinked heavily. She was still so tired, and she was glad he said she'd have to rest a little longer before she could travel. She also noted that once again, even though it seemed that she would live, that he wasn't leaving her here alone. She smiled sleepily and murmured a quiet thank you as sleep claimed her once more.

She was in and out of sleep for most of the day and night, but for the most part she slept soundly enough to recuperate. By the time morning arrived hunger burned in her stomach and it was this that woke her from sleep.

 

[Katyr]

"Good." Katyr said softly as he stepped up towards her, the scent of food cooking over the fire hanging within the mill. "You're awake."

A plate of food awaited her, clutched within the elves' hands.

Not River trout, and most certainly not fried potatoes or garden peas, but a meal hearty enough to hold her over. Some sort of fish colored with rainbow scales and vegetables he had managed to gather within the forest. Hardly a feast, but enough.

"Here." He said before Sorai could even say a single word, the wooden plate placed within her barely woken hands. "Eat this."

There was a curtness to his words, short, terse.

Yet a touch of care hinted at the back of his tone. Unusual for the Elf, and yet it was there nevertheless. He had been at her bedside for days now, making sure that she would survive all this. Making sure that she would pull through the fever that plagued her.

 

[Sorai]

Her fever had broken, but Sorai felt frail and weak, and so she hoped another night's rest would be permitted before travelling again. She flinched as the plate of food was thrust into her hands, but she didn't complain as her stomach clenched with pained hunger.

"Thank you." she said quietly as she pushed herself up feebly , her voice barely a rasp.. She said nothing else before she started eating with little care for table manners. She would live, she was sure, assuming nothing would maul or murder her, or that she wouldn't find herself once again in an icy river.

He may have been the cause of her being here in the first place, but he hadn't allowed her to die, though she wasn't sure why. He could have been home by now, he no longer had need of her.

"Did you eat?" she asked, pausing whilst she still had a little less than half of her meal left.

 

[Katyr]

Why had he kept her alive?

The question plagued him. It had sat over him like a dark cloud, haunting, looming, threatening a storm that he did not quiet understand. He could have abandoned her, simply let her die out here within the the wilds and been done with it.

Home was close now, so very close. He could feel the life of the Falwood, the call of his people. Without the burden of Sorai he would have made it there today, all he'd needed to do was simply leave her behind.

Yet he hadn't.

Why?

"Yes." He said calmly, his voice still curt, quick. "Finish."

Katyr told her. "You will need your strength."

For what? What was he going to do with her? She was an Anirian. Worse, she was a noble. He should have slit her throat and left her for dead. Instead he'd nursed her back to health, like a baby doe who had been separated from its mother.

His fingers clenched into a fist.

Why?

 

[Sorai]

For what indeed...

Sorai didn't ask. He didn't appear to be in the mood for her questions, and so she kept her head down and ate the rest of what was on her plate in silence..

"Thank you..." she whispered after a while, when not a morsel remained on her plate and her stomach had stopped its growling. She cleared her throat as she set the empty dish aside, her gaze rising hesitantly..

"How far now?" she asked, wondering if he still planned on leaving her at the border, or whether his plan had changed. She assumed he hadn't planned on killing her, since he'd made so much effort to keep her alive, but leaving her in the middle of nowhere on her own wouldn't bode well either.

"I.. don't think anyone is coming for me anyway.." Not now.. "I think you're safe." she shrugged..

 

[Katyr]

"A day, maybe less." It would depend on how fast they could move, on how fast he could move.

There really was no reason to bring her along anymore. He could leave her here, tell her which way to work, and within the next week she would find herself at the walls of an Anirian Town. A frown touched his face for a brief moment.

"Four days have passed." He told her. "Since you first grew sick."

His fingers unfurled from fists. "You are likely right, the Dreadlord has lost our trail."

Katyr had no doubt otherwise they would already be sitting among a pile of ash. From his own experiences, the pestilence which were the mages of Vel Anir were hardly prone to giving up, which made it all the more likely they had lost him.

There was a long pause. "Perhaps it is time to part ways."

 

[Sorai]

Four days..

He'd been less than a day from home and he'd remained here for four whilst she suffered with fever. He was enigmatic to say the least. There had been times when she hadn't been certain that he planned to let her go at all, that he'd take her with him back to his people and let them do to her as hers had did to him, but now as he spoke of parting ways, it was difficult to ignore the spike of fear she felt.

She had almost died out here, and certainly would have if not for him helping her. Her chances of making it home on her own were not promising, and so she looked troubled at his words, and slowly nodded. They each had to get to safety, and she had stalled his for long enough..

"If.. There is a town or village nearby, I'm sure I could find my way home from there?.." she arched a brow.

 

[Katyr]

There was a long pause, and then slowly Katyr nodded. "There is a village."

For a moment he frowned.

"This close to the Falwood I cannot take you there directly." In her current condition she likely couldn't manage the walk, and carrying her into the village was out of the question. He was an escaped prisoner, and any town this close to his home would have Anirian Guard members. "But I can get you close."

Another moment passed as a small realization dawned on him. "Tomorrow."

His whole life, his purpose for being had been to protect his people. The innocents among them. He had fought in the War to ensure that those who could not protect themselves would have a Guardian. His methods had been brutal, the war had been bloody, but the purpose behind it had been sacrosanct.

The more he spent time around Sorai, the more he came to understand her, the more he realized that she was one of those innocents.

Even if her people had slaughtered his. Even if they still did.

So long he had wanted to watch Vel Anir burn. Had wanted to see their villages razed and their people scorned. Yet in truth, they were no different than those innocents he had wanted to protect so long ago.

That realization disturbed him. Made his skin crawl.

 

[Sorai]

The small smile she wore at his answer was one of mixed emotion. Gratitude that he'd ensured her survival and relief that he was letting her go at all, the fear and uncertainty of her road ahead or what she'd be returning home to. And solemnity for him, for what he'd had to endure, and for what she'd been made to believe about him and his kind when it was clear in him that none of it was true. Had he been as heartless and driven by violence as she'd been told, she wouldn't be alive.

"Tomorrow.." she repeated quietly with a light nod. "Thank you, Katyr.. I owe you my life, I won't forget it." she frowned. She'd ensure everyone still alive to hear about it would listen, too. Never again would she hear a word said against his kind and stay silent.

Her head tilted at him. "Have you slept at all?"

 

[Katyr]

Her words hung in the air for a few seconds, and then slowly the Elf stood. Even standing he towered over her, now with her laying on the small stack of hay he seemed little less than an utter giant.

"No." He told her, his voice quiet. Apparently choosing to ignore the statement she had made prior.

They had struck some unease in him he could not quite understand. "But my people do not need much. At least not when-"

Katyr explained, thought cut himself off as he briefly wondered about just how little humanity knew of his kind. They had been at war for nearly four hundred years, or within a breath of it. Sorai's kind knew how to fight and kill them, but so little of their actual lives.

Whose fault was that? Theirs.

He thought, but he continued. "When we are well."

Katyr finished as he slowly walked over towards another pile of straw, sitting himself down there.

"And sleep in your lands does not come easily." He offered quietly.

 

[Sorai]

"Oh.." she answered quietly, her dark eyes following him across the room. She sat herself up a little more as he went on, straw peeking out here and there through her dark waves of hair. Her brow furrowed to think of her people as creatures to be feared, for she'd only ever thought on their soldiers as protection from all else. From creatures like him, when perhaps all he'd wanted to do was live peacefully, and sleep.

"I can keep watch.." she told him, squaring her shoulders.. "I won't go anywhere, and I'll wake you if I hear anything.. You're safe... To sleep." her head tilted.

 

[Katyr]

There was a lull once more as he considered, and then slowly Katyr shook his head.

"No." The word came quickly, perhaps a touch more harshly than he had meant it to. "I mean, no, that's alright."

Even if he had wanted to, Katyr doubted that he would have been able to sleep. Tension still caught the whole of him, and he doubted that would change until he left these lands. "I'll sleep when I return to the Falwood."

A small smile touched his lips, an expression that Sorai had not often seen. "When I am among the trees, and can lay within the roots."

Home.

It was so close now he could almost feel it.

"Rest." Katyr encouraged. "Tomorrow you will have to walk some on your own."

He could not carry her into town, and after what she had been through even the short journey would be taxing.

 

[Sorai]

Sorai shrank just a little, her teeth latching onto her lower lip to chew gently as she nodded at his answer. "I understand.." she said quietly. Whilst she took comfort in a soft, warm bed and a roof over her head, he took it from the forest around him. They were from different worlds, but she couldn't help but find his so intriguing. It was certainly far more beautiful than her own.

Sorai nodded at his instruction without protest, and settled down into the hay, fighting the impulse to talk to him more.. Sleep came quickly and other than the cold it was comfortable enough, though when she woke, it was with a sense of dread and anxiety.

 

[Katyr]

Katyr sat quietly, not sleeping, but entering a quiet meditation.

As the hours passed he thought of home. Not of the people that he might see again, not of his mother or father, no. He thought them all dead. The hope of ever seeing them again having long since been buried. A way to protect himself if such a thing were true.

Instead he thought about the Falwood. The trees, the sound of the birds, the feeling of right that he knew would wash over him the moment he was home once again. That longing within his heart finally met with a proper answer.

By the time dawn came, the Elf found himself almost excited.

A feeling he had not felt for centuries, one that he should have felt earlier. Would have felt when he'd freed himself were it not for all the anger and rage which had instead consumed him.

"It's time to go." The elf said softly, gently nudging Sorai's side as he urged her awake. "The villagers will be out working the fiels."

He said quietly. "It will be easier for someone to find you."

 

[Sorai]

Sorai let out a soft sigh as she was gently shaken, her brow furrowing as she struggled to open her eyes. The dread that sleep had left behind instantly settled heavily on her mind as she woke and considered the days ahead, but she nodded and pulled herself up to rub the sleep from her face.

She was thankful that he wasn't simply dumping her and running for home, that he had stayed all this time rather than leaving her here alone. She'd felt safe with him, and it was likely that she shouldn't have, but he'd cared for her rather than letting her die, which was more than she could likely say for the majority of humans.

Sorai stood, picking straw from her clothes and hair. Her legs felt strong enough today, at least to walk for some time, but she prayed that whomever she found to escort her back to the city had a horse and wagon. She offered a small smile to him as she nodded, and waited for him to lead the way.

 

[Katyr]

Katyr turned on his heel, slowly turning his head to peer at the small windmill that had been their home for the last few days. He gently pressed his hand to the doorway, lowering his head before he whispered something quietly.

Then without any further hesitation he opened the door.

As he had predicted, their walk took them nearly half the day. Moving through the forest and cutting across fields the two of them made slow progress. Every now and again Katyr would carry Sorai, or the two would simply sit and wait for her to rest.

Well into the afternoon, Katyr finally came to a stop.

They stood at the edge of a long field that curbed down a hill into a small valley. Smoke rose from chimney's up ahead of them, and he could make out the sight of thatched roofs. "This is as far as I should go."

He told her.

"The village is that way." Katyr gestured on the path they were on now. "You'll see farmers soon, I think."

 

[Sorai]

Her mood was a sombre one, and she was quiet for most of their journey. She wanted to ask him more questions about the elves, about the Falwood and his home there, to hear his stories, but it felt intrusive now that they'd be parting ways. They were supposed to be strangers, but he didn't feel like an enemy..

She felt something that wasn't quite relief as she cast her gaze over the thatched rooftops and chimney smoke. Worry for her family, worry for him, and a sorrow that she couldn't quite understand.

Sorai nodded and looked up at him, a strained smile on her lips. "Thank you, Katyr.. I'll never forget what you did for me.." she frowned. "I very much doubt we'll cross paths again, but I hope everything is well on your return home.." she nodded.

She hadn't realised what she'd been about to do before she was already doing it, her arms flung around his neck in a hug, squeezing with the gratitude she felt.