Her head dipped slightly as Elemmire pulled her hood further around her face. The letter felt heavy in her pocket as though it carried weightier repercussions that she knew nothing about. For the love of her life, she could fathom why Eiron would want such an artefact. The question burned in her mind as her horse confidently weaved through the forest unburdened by the obstacles. It was only the piercing scream of agony that rang through the woods, which woke her from her thoughts.
Elemmire’s hands instinctively tightened around the reins ash she pulled hard abruptly, halting her horse from moving on. The moonlight cast a sharp shadow over her features as she looked up to get her bearings and try to shake of the ominous sense of death that came with the resultant silence. Leaning forward slightly, she placed her hand on her horse’s neck, whispering quietly elvish words as she searched their surroundings. All it took with the slightest disruption of night air by arrows that garnered her attention. The grey elf hesitated for a moment – who would be this brazen to stage an ambush this far north and on such a clear night?
She guided her horse based on her instincts and stopped the moment her nose picked up the metallic smell of spilt blood in the air. The grey elf had no interest in the fight whatsoever and pulled back as she heard the sounds of clashing blades erupt with new ferocity.
Fools…. Elemmire thought grimly as she watched the two groups – one in white, the other in dark clothing clash. The white uniform clad humans seemed to be doing worse off as the invisible archers slowly picked them off one by one as they were illuminated by the moonlight. Prudently, she weaved slowly around battleground only stopping when her horse pulled to a halt, nearly trampling on a corpse. Gripping onto the sides of her horse tightly as it flailed nervously in the empty air, Elemmire found herself looking down at the corpse but it wasn’t the corpse that caught her attention but a small insignia that was sewn to the edge of the dark green cloak. An insignia that hadn’t been seen in ages – one that filled her with cold realization as she found herself reaching down to grab the cloak.
The moonlight lit up the silvery grey threads that outline the motif of a tower as her fingers clenched tightly around it before casting it away with urgency. All she remembered was her breathing speeding up as she urged her horse to burst through the cover of the trees. Who were they? How would they have know..
”Elemmire…”Cael had told her before she departed, “I didn’t know..”
She had taken Cael’s words with certain coolness, “It’s alright.”