The Elves of Loth

Chapter Fourteen

It had been decided that Aspenleaf would go south, to the mountain path where the supposed fire weapon was being hauled towards Loth, while her unit headed out to scorch the dark elven armies, led by Hiddenstream and Crowtalon. Aspenleaf suspected, as always, that the worst would come of those two working together, but there was nothing she could do. They represented the two main aspects of battle – strategy and force. Unfortunately, it was likely that Crowtalon would reject Hiddenstreams ideas and do something stupid. She had to have faith that the other members of her unit would think seriously about just how reasonable his orders were.

Despite his arrogant behavior, he was a great warrior and she understood why he had to lead them. Watching him repeatedly jab his sword into the air ahead of her, reading himself for battle, there was something about him that she wished she wasn’t jealous of. His arrogance, his eagerness to show off was his window into childhood, into the life he once had. In a way, he still held onto that life, by not totally immersing himself in his training, in his orders. Instead of this being serious for him, it was a way to show off. As stupid as it sounded, showing off made him a real person, not just some monotone soldier.

Looking around at her unit, she realised that they all had something to link them to their past. For Northpine it was the sister he took care of while his parents were away. Hiddenstream still hung out with a bunch of his childhood friends. Redrock and Blackrobin’s connections to their old lives were they both played Loth’s most popular sport, Tinandu with a group of kids their age and younger. Glacialstone kept to himself for the most part, but he had mentioned several times how he had family up north, and he often went to see them. He’d said something about having younger cousins there as well. As for Hawkwing, she’d found out only the day before how keen he was to draw, to sketch, to put his feelings onto those pages. They all had something, but for Aspenleaf, there was nothing left. Her parents were dead. Her brother was dead. Her sister was dead. Her friends were gone. She did nothing but train. She didn’t have a life.

The flash of lightning overhead was closely followed by roaring thunder, warning that the storm had worsened. The sunshine of the day before had merely been the eye of the storm. Through the drenching rain, she could just make out the limping figure of an elf hurrying towards her, through the stormy grey of morning.

“Frostraven,” Aspenleaf began, surprised to see the young elf after so much time apart. She opened her mouth to put words to the questions the filled her mind. Before she could do so, though, Frostraven stumbled, nearly falling into the mud, but she recovered quickly, putting a hand on Aspenleaf’s shoulder.

“Aspenleaf,” her voice was sad but at the same time she was clearly trying to speak quickly, knowing that they didn’t have much time before Aspenleaf and her unit had to go. “I might not see you after the war,” She hesitated, “but I want you to know,” she continued, “that I’ll always be with you.” In the short silence that followed, Aspenleaf had time to wonder if Frostraven was worried that Aspenleaf wouldn’t return from battle or that she’d succumb to whatever illness caused that limp. Aspenleaf tried to reassure Frostraven that they’d both be fine, like she had tried to comfort Hawkwing. Before she could speak, though Frostraven shook her head, backing away.

Sliding off of her dragon’s back, Aspenleaf stepped towards Frostraven. “We’ll be fine, you’ll see!” She forced a smile for Frostraven’s sake, but the young elf was still backing away from her.

To Aspenleaf’s surprise, a look of despair and sorrow settled onto Frostraven’s face, her lip quivering with the effort of holding back tears. “Keep telling yourself that if it helps mask the pain.” Turning away from a gaping Aspenleaf, Frostraven hurried out into the storm, her already soaking clothes rippling in the wind, almost hiding her thin frame, but not quite.

“We’re ready when you are, commander.” Northpine was standing by her with Glacialstone at his side. Northpine knew better than to question what she’d been doing with Frostraven, but Glacialstone cast her a glance that said “Are you okay?” Ignoring him, she told Northpine that they could go ahead. Mounting her dragon once more, she directed Fireflight to turn toward the mountains, but turned back one more time.

She waited until Hawkwing looked her way, the mouthed the words, “I forgive you.” She turned back to Fireflight, and the dragon took off, beating her powerful wings, gaining altitude. For a few seconds, she dared to wonder what he was thinking just then.

High in the air, these thoughts left her mind and her focus returned to the task at hand. It would be very simple if everything went according to plan. She would swoop in, Fireflight would light up the tower, and it would burn out before it got to the forest, but there were immense risks. If it didn’t burn out then the forest would be lit like a torch. If the guards had bows either Fireflight or Aspenleaf could be hit. It was too late to wonder how tough those scales were.

The wind stung Aspenleaf’s face, causing her cheeks to redden with the cold. The rain drizzled. The day was grim. Even the mountains seemed to glare at her with malice in the cold grey light of morning.

Below her, she spotted the guards pushing and hauling a huge wooden tower through the mountains with the help of severed nasty looking beasts. The creatures had horns either side of their heads which pointed forwards, tough looking skin which seemed to be stretched tightly over their frames, and a set of hideous teeth. Powerful legs ended in hooves which stamped the ground angrily with every step.

Leaning in close to Fireflight’s neck, she angled her body, indicating silently to Fireflight that they needed to turn. In this manner, she directed the dragon to circle above the weapon. They needed to act fast, before the tower got too close to the forest and there was no time for it to burn out before it got there.

Before the guards knew what had hit them, Fireflight swooped in gracefully, letting out a jet of fearsome jet of flame which easily lit the weapon – presumably it was soaked in flammable oil from the mines – and barbecued the guards.

One thing she hadn’t accounted for was the beasts that reared up on their kind legs and crashed back down again repeatedly in a frenzy of crazed panic. The tower began to rock back and forth with the power of their kicks as they thrashed back and forth, pulling on the ropes that tethered them to the giant flaming torch. A sinking feeling settled into Aspenleaf’s stomach as the tower began to sway from side to side, first slowly, then faster and faster. It rocked dangerously over the cliff and then back again, threatening to tumble down the side of the mountain.

Sharply, Fireflight banked away from the mountain as the flame weapon crashed over the edge of the mountain and down to the crippled forest below. Holding her breath, Aspenleaf hoped that the sick trees wouldn’t be very flammable. They hadn’t been when Aspenleaf and her team had burned the patrol, but this was a different area of the forest.

Luckily, the flames caught on only several of the trees, burning a clearing around the smouldering remains of the flame tower. Relieved that a fire wouldn’t spread to Loth, Aspenleaf headed back to the main battle where her friends were battling the dark elves.

It was a glorious feeling to soar through the air in victory. Even if the war wasn’t over yet, she felt like she could escape the dark feelings that accompanied the battle, if only for a moment. Her hair blown back in the wind, Aspenleaf almost laughed but before she had a chance a single arrow flew up into the air, piercing Fireflight’s wing. Panicking, Fireflight furiously beat her wings, thrashing in the sky as the two of them plummeted. In an effort to regain altitude, Fireflight twisted in the air, separating herself from Aspenleaf in the process. Fireflight and Aspenleaf grew apart the closer they became to the ground and without a pair of wings of her own, there was nothing Aspenleaf could do. She closed her eyes. This was the end and she wanted to be calm when she left this world.

She crashed through twigs as she neared the ground. She hit it. The air left her lungs.