Awoken (Ilea, Book I) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 30

I  ran through the night. I concentrated on the beat of my feet on the floor, letting the rhythm block any other thoughts. Left, right, left, right, I was running at a monotonous pace than sped me over the land at three times the speed of a human, yet I had barely had to alter my breathing. I was not human. I kept repeating it to myself over and over again. Not human. That’s why Orion wanted me. I was not human, I am elven. I am powerful.

I stopped for a while trying to conserve my energy slightly; I knew that had the energy to run flat out to the top of Mount Cadavain but that if I did I would be completely exhausted, I was in no huge rush, so had decided to stop every once in a while to try and pace myself. I couldn’t help but think about Orion. I knew he wanted me to help him, I had known that since I had met him, what worried me is why he wanted me. I hadn’t really worried until I found out about his and Rowan’s plan, what did he want me to do that needed such strong loyalty to someone? Also how could someone as manipulative as that, be a good leader? I worried about what he would want me to do. He had said he wanted my ‘protection’ when we had first met but as far as I knew we were fighting no wars, and I didn’t understand what he wanted the city to be protected from.

I thought carefully about the training I had been given, everything had been about fighting. I’d learnt nothing about strategy and the correct ways to handle volatile situations. Nor had I been taught anything about my heritage, about other elves or where I had come from. I thought about it all and realised that Senkrad was probably only teaching me the things Orion wanted me to learn, that Senkrad was being just as manipulated as I was. I scowled to myself, but pushed my anger down.

It was annoying that I had only just realised how much of a pawn I had unknowingly become in a game that I did not understand. It dawned on me that I was simply being moulded into a weapon for Orion to use at will. It was more difficult to push down the anger after that realisation so I began to run again.

I watched as the ground seemed to merge into one rolling treadmill. Even though I knew of my own capabilities, I rarely had the opportunity to simply run, and it surprised me to a certain extent how fast I was able to go without having to put in a lot of effort. Senkrad had told me that as I aged, my physical and magical abilities would grow and mature, but I had not expected them to expand this quickly. I wondered if what had happened the night before had anything to do with my sudden increase in energy.

The landscape began to change, it became more angled, and the vegetation became greener. I looked up into the sky and saw the sun dancing along the horizon making the shadows long and distorted on the ground. I had been running all day and was now thirsty and hungry, my energy was alright, slightly drained but I knew that food and a nights rest would have me back to normal.

I wandered into a small village at the base of Mount Cadavain, there was a man sitting outside the door of her hut and I walked over to him. “Do you have any food or water to spare for a tired traveller?” I asked him almost hopelessly. I knew I didn’t have any money to offer.

“What can you give me in return?”

“I don’t know. I have no money, what do you need?”

“I need to see my daughter live for years beyond her next birthday.” He looked at me with serious eyes filled with sadness.

“What is wrong with her?”

“The healers do not know; all they can tell me is that she’s going to die.” Tears filled his eyes and I realised I must have interrupted him whilst he was thinking about what he had been told.

“How old is your daughter?”

“Seven.”

“May I see her?”

The man nodded and motioned for me to follow him into his home. On a bed in the corner of the hut was a small child, her face was like parchment; dry and pale and her eyes didn’t open as I entered her home. I thought back to the human anatomy books I had read from Senkrad’s house and tried to visualise the pages in my mind. When I thought I had remembered them well enough I turned to the girl’s father.

“Where does she feel pain?”

“In her head.”

I frowned and placed my palm onto the girl’s forehead, it was worryingly hot, as if she had an intense fever. I connected my consciousness to hers as gently as I could and suddenly felt the piercing agony that was pulsing through her mind. She twitched on the bed and her breathing relaxed a little as the pain seeped out of her and into me. I felt my jaw tighten in concentration and pushed through her mind as softly as I could, trying to decipher where her illness was coming from, but I could find nothing that was damaged.

I probed through her mind for quite a while and was about to give up when I noticed an area where she seemed to be creating dark ideas that were tormenting her further. I tried to replace them with gentle thoughts but the dark images turned and tried to attack me. I comprehended that the dark thoughts were being created by a third consciousness, that was neither my own or the girls, and recognised that it was releasing a steady flow of anguish into the child.

My temper flared and I wrapped my own, larger consciousness around the dark one and crushed it with my mind so that it disintegrated into a puff of smoke. Suddenly the girl relaxed under my palm and I opened my eyes to see her own pale green ones looking up at me. I took my palm away from her head and to my surprise she wrapped her arms around my waist in a bear hug. I awkwardly reciprocated, looping my arms gently around her tiny frame.

After a moment her bright eyes dated around the room and she slipped from my arms and ran to the ones of her father. “Daddy, she killed the demon.” Her father just looked at me speechlessly.

“I do not want to ruin this moment for you, but I am extremely thirsty, may I have some water?” The man made a move to get some water, but the little girl got him sit down and poured it herself. The man couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her as she gave it to me.

“How did you make the demon go away?” I looked at her, trying to work out what to say.

“I told him it was time for him to leave and he did what I asked.”

“But he always told me he was never going to leave.” She replied with a sad smile on her face.

“I managed to, convince him otherwise.” I said with finality in my tone, but a smile on my face. I needed the little girl to stop her questioning.as her father had taken his eyes away from her to watch me.

“I’ll get you some bread now.” He went to a small container and ripped me off a hunk of bread from a loaf. I bite into it ravenously; the last thing I had eaten was bread and cheese on my way to get ready for the ball. I occasionally gulped down some of the water to keep my mouth moist and then ate more. When I had finished I looked at the father who had his daughter on his lap and was still watching me carefully.

“How did you heel my daughter?”

I stood up “Thank you for the food and water. I hope you both live healthily.” With that I left their home and started to walk away from the village. It worried me. The illness that the girl had was magical; another consciousness had been left in her own and had been slowly spreading throughout her mind. I did not know what would have happened to her if I had not chanced upon her father. I guessed that she would have either died, or become a husk controlled by the parasite in her mind. It made me glad that I had been able to help her and had saved her from those fates.

A shiver spread down my spine as piercing scream rang out into the onyx night. I sprinted back in the direction of the little girl.