Blood Memories [Last of Elves book 1] (NaNoWriMo 2014)

Twenty-Three: Panthera

Panthera

She stayed where she was, staring at him. “No.”

He glared at her, unconsciously shifting his weight on his feet. “Then what do you want?”

“Are you coming?” she demanded, exasperated. “It was a simple enough question!”

“And yet you’ve made a discussion and an argument out of it.”

She gaped at him, and then made to hit him. He caught her wrist, jerking her closer.

“I warned you, priestess,” he said softly, dangerously. “Yet you still test my patience.”

She tried to break free, but he tightened his grip, until the winced from pain. “What are you doing?”

He studied her, silent, reading her eyes. “You say you want to learn.”

She went still, surprise showing in those dark eyes. It wasn’t what she had expected at all. “What?”

“You heard what I said,” he said, irritated, and let her go. “You want to learn.”

Slowly, she nodded, rubbing her wrist. “Yes.”

“You have one question.”

He turned his back on her, returning to his customary spot at the balcony railing.

She followed him. Again.

“Why just one?’

He glanced at her, a twinkle hidden in his eyes. “That question?”

She went red with anger. “No, you fool!”

He grinned. “Then what do you ask?’

She was silent for a long time, clearly fuming, but he said nothing else. He wanted to know what she would say without prompting, what she truly wanted to know.

“Who are you?”

It didn’t surprise him as much as it once would have.

“Are you sure?”

She didn’t answer for a long moment, and he glanced at her, waiting silently. Finally, she nodded.

“Yes.”

He tilted his head, studying her closely. She met his gaze, her anger still visible, but he took no notice. “You ask dangerous questions,” he murmured. “Don’t be angry at the dangerous answers.”

She lifted her chin slightly. “Who are you?”

He sighed, and leant on the railing, the cold breeze playing with the tiny braids in his shoulder length hair. “I am an elf,” he responded quietly, almost wistfully. “Once we were many, now we are few. The Famine was natural, priestess. We didn’t cause it. Instead, we helped the land survive through it. But you refused to listen to us. You broke your tie with the land when you slaughtered us.”

He heard her take a sharp breath. “Then…what are you?”

“We have long lives, priestess,” he said softly, staring over the dark and sleeping town below them.  “We are born from the earth, and have a link that you cannot even try to understand. Our role is more ancient than you can even imagine, and yet you destroyed us in the space of ten years. Ten. And we have lived here for thousands.”

“Panthera, I …”

“Quiet. You ask who I am, I’m telling you.” He finally faced her. “I am the last elf. The last link to the earth, and to the elven creatures that were once so numerous and proud to be alive. The last link to the beastkins, and to the place that we once called home.”

Her eyes were wide, filled with horror and sadness. She licked her lips, and took a tiny step closer, reaching out to him. “Panthera, I … I’m …”

“I am an elf, priestess,” he told her, capturing her hand, and tugging her closer. “I was a guardian of the earth. I can no longer be that, for I am no longer with the earth.”

She blinked, but he allowed no more than that. Dipping his head to meet hers, he kissed her.

Gently, softly, barely touching her.

Couldn’t scare her away.

So different to the last time, a move he now regretted, but could not take back.

She drew away from him, shaking in his hold, and he let her. He didn’t want to scare her more. She had enough on her mind as it was.

She looked away from him, out over the town as he had done. “Why did you do that?”

“I’ve already answered your question, priestess.”

The sigh escaped her slowly.  “Please.”

He moved so that he was right beside her, and ran his fingers down her cheek and neck. “No.”

She shivered, spinning to stare at him. Her eyes were full of fear and uncertainty, and she suddenly pushed past him, fleeing the room.

He made no move to follow her.