Aide Me

Prologue

A few days after our story begins...

The sun was slowly rising, welcoming a new day.

He had been up for hours. Hell, he hadn't even gone to bed yet. After seeing her yesterday, he hadn't been able to let go of her. She wandered in his thoughts like a song that couldn't escape his mind. She had been special.

For hours, he had watched people enter and exit The Quilted Cow, hoping each time a person came out, it would be her. But it never was.

Not until the sun had been up for 3 hours did he finally see her coming out. Her red hair reflected in the morning light, giving it a flaming, fierce color. It was beautiful.

Of course it didn't come as a surprise that she exited the Inn with a group of men he had come to know as The Rebellion. He, as many others around town, had caught word of their goals for the kingdom's future and it had indeed caught his interest, too. This could be exactly what he needed—what he had been waiting for, for God knows how long. Someone else besides him had finally had enough of the system and wanted to rebel against it. And it would appear the red-headed female had so, too.

"Uhh, Emaia? I think you might want to take a look at this."

His sharp ears caught every word of their conversation, and he observed as she was about to discover what he had been witness to that very night.

Horror consumed the female's eyes as she read. Her name had been printed across an endless stream of flyers, along with a bounty to bring her home safely. They were posted all over town, perhaps even the next one as well. She read the whole thing and gasped.

He couldn't help but feel a smile tug onto his lips as he watched her. Even as she read the flyer over and over again, he never saw the look of determination leave her face. She really did have fire in her soul. So much fire. He wouldn't want to be the victim of that sort of passion.

And yet...

He watched them come to an agreement to leave town, which was probably for the best. If they stayed any longer, someone might recognize her and that could create a bump on their road, and with what they were planning to do, they didn't need anymore unnecessary bumps.

They now started walking towards the gate, keeping a steady pace. He kept a distance, but followed them.

Suddenly their leader Hanke made a disgusted sound. He stopped for a second to observe a beggar, a beggar that, not like many others, actually had something to beg for; Her life.

Hanke spat at the ground next to the beggar and muttered two words that made his fists clench; "Fucking elves."

He ignored it. It was best not to let the anger get to him, he knew that. Besides, by now he was used to seeing people turn the blind eye to the begging elves. They were considered the scum of the city. No one wanted to help an elf, much less lend them a coin.

The rest of the group moved on unbothered, but the female had stopped. She lingered by the elven woman, who in her begging hand held her cup out and her head down. He watched as she red-headed female crouched down, pulled something out of her satchel and put it in the elven woman's cup. The elf looked up with big eyes and blessed her with one of the most sacred elven prayers. Of course the female didn't understand her Elven tongue, but instead simply smiled and then quickly rose to her feet. She caught up with the group who hadn't even noticed her small, but marvelously significant gesture.

He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. The woman's action had been beyond him, beyond anything he had seen in years.

Curious as to what she had given the begging female, he walked up to the elf. He crouched down to her like she had done and laid a hand on her shoulder. There was a tiny emerald in her cup.

"My cousin," He spoke to her in the Elven tongue. His thick northern accent made the elven woman drop her cup and look up at him with wide eyes. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Times are about to change," He said, "The world is heading towards new times, a time where we will come back. All of us."

The elven woman's bottom lip quivered as she stared up to what was hiding behind his dark hood.

"Spread the word on the streets. Quietly. Tell your sisters and your brothers that your cousins from the North will return."

The elven woman's emotion got a hold of her and she started sobbing and threw her skinny arms around him.

He allowed her to embrace him for a moment before he soothingly stroked her back. "We will meet again, cousin."

"Who are you?" She whispered after pulling back. She looked into his eyes, her own pooling with tears. "Why have you come?"

"I have come here to aid."