The Masked Elves

A Trial

The harpies were coming to Trelis again. The sky was covered in an ominous grey and the drumming of thunder echoed in Phadia's pointed ears. Those monsters made the sky even darker with their wings and when the elf looked up, she saw black stains in the sky. She didn't mind the thunder, in fact she appreciated the warning, but every so often the sound of a screeching harpy would make her shudder. Before a harpy dived down to Trelis, their beaks would break out into a deafening screech and as they proceeded to snatch any small animals they could find climbing on a branch. And if a light enough dryad happened to be sitting on that branch instead, she would be lifted into the air and taken away forever. Phadia – who was on the ground – wasn't worried about being snatched but she didn't want to be in the harpies' sight when they were hunting, since she knew that they often attacked elves for fun.

A cluster of treehomes were around Phadia, and the dryads she was speaking to that day, leapt inside for safety. The doors that were a part of the tree magically sealed shut when they got inside leaving Phadia entirely alone. "You could at least say goodbye." Phadia smirked, then looked up once more at the mass of flying monsters. Shaking her head, she said, "why now?" and trudged off to her own treehome that was a little further off. She grumbled as her brown boots filled up with muddy water with every step.

There were many treehomes in Trelis that were huge and sturdy but Phadia could see the elder and ash trees bending in the savage wind that was blowing water in her face like a wet sandstorm. Her nose wrinkled as she tried to wipe it off. Knowing the pathway by heart, she made tracks pretty quickly. There were no roads in the forest of Trelis but every elf always remembered the way to their own tree. The forest smelt different when it was raining. It was a lovely smell of earth and moisture but you could hardly enjoy it when the harpies were circling above you. The harpies were responsible for the lightning and the thunder that she hated. But whenever it was simply raining, Phadia could be found sitting on top of a tree, drinking the rain and sniffing the air.

The wind became stronger while the dark stain in the sky got bigger and Phadia could hear the harpies arguing amongst themselves chaotically like the storm itself. A flash of lighting struck an ash tree that she was just about to pass. She got a whiff of smoke and then a red light swallowed the tree leaves and kept growing bigger. The tree was on fire and it shook Phadia so much she jumped backwards and screamed.

Phadia weren't sure how exactly the harpies made lightning. A friend of hers once proposed that they breathed it out like how a dragon breathed fire. She wasn't satisfied with that answer and although she never got a better explanation for their powers that night, she heard something just as exciting: the sound of a harpy speaking.

"Oh, vile beast!" She heard the words come down with the rain. It was a female voice and she sounded aggressive and huge like a giant's booming voice shouting in the hills Phadia heard dryads talking about. This was the first time Phadia had ever heard a harpy talk and when she caught the sound, her ears stretched upward in curiosity and she even stopped blinking until the speech was over. "From this day forward, you are banished from Noctos forever. And I swear that the penalty for returning will be a slow and painful death."

Phadia swerved around the burning tree as the sound of beating wings started getting closer to her ear, as if they were coming for her. The words from that law enforcer were followed by a pitiful squeal and rushed wing beats that didn't lift anyone higher. Phadia looked up into the shadowy sky for a moment where a harpy with black feathers was forcefully carried to the ground by the neck. The quick movements felt like they were blinding her and when the harpy finally landed, she halted in the monster's view. From a long distance away, Phadia saw that the female still had the banished harpy by the neck as she tackled him roughly to keep him still. Her feathers were silver and his were black and she struck him with a swipe of her claws and yelled, "this is the last time we fight, traitor." Once she was sure her rival wasn't going to move again, she rose into the sky and blended with the darkness.