Archives: Hunt for Kiran
Chapter 1: Leaving Home
Adriel stepped out of his family’s home, built in the hollow of a massive tree. The young dark elf took in the view of village he had spent his entire life in and he felt so eager to leave it. Nehen stepped out of the house behind him and examined his shoulder plate to make sure it was fitting properly. He only wore the shoulder plates, a pair of bracers on his forearms, and a pair of grieves on his shins for armor. He wasn’t too fond of wearing armor—despite how light elven armor was—but his mother insisted on it. If she had her way, he’d have been decked out in full plate.
“I wish you would just wait a little longer,” Nehen said as she began to straighten his sleeve. The dark elven woman would have passed for his sister to human eyes.
“Mother...” Adriel groaned, rolling his eyes.
“Fine, fine, you made up your mind and I can’t change it,” Nehen protested, sounding defeated. Her attempts at making him feel guilty were wasted, he was sick of guilt trips. “Now where are those guards?”
Though Adriel felt he could protect himself, his grandfather had asked the warriors and rangers of the clan to provide two individuals to protect Adriel. He didn’t know who they were, that was decided amongst the fighters, but they were to meet him outside his home.
A moment later a dark figure came out from the forest’s mist. It was a thin dark elven woman in a long black cape. She approached them silently and bowed to Nehen, showing her respect. “I see I’m just in time,” she said taking off her hood. “Yrsanne is at your service.”
Adriel pulled away from his mother’s attentions and stepped down the short stairs to the entrance of his house to meet Yrsanne. The young dark elf stood tall, trying to hold together what shards of pride he felt he still had left.
“Greetings, Yrsanne,” he said to his new guard. He recognized her as the elf who joined their clan after the war. She was very beautiful, but Adriel feared she would give a second thought to a sixty-nine year old, especially one who was being so terribly coddled by his mother.
“Greetings, Adriel,” Yrsanne replied. “I know you’ve been waiting for two companions but I’ve came here alone. I think we should start on our journey immediately. It’s useless to wait any longer,” she had a soft confident voice.
Yrsanne held herself upright so her military bearing could be noticed. She was much shorter than Adriel, but that didn’t make her look defenseless.
“You have a taste in amour,” she smiled glancing at Adriel’s shoulder plates. After a short pause, as she was collecting her thoughts, Yrsanne turned to Nehen, “I always keep my word, don’t worry. Will you wish us good luck in our journey?”
“Your second member will come,” Nehen said. “Just wait a little longer.”
Adriel frowned. If he were just a regular member of the community and not the elder’s grandson, he would probably be allowed to leave on his own. “Thank you,” he replied to Yrsanne about his armor. “But it was Nytal who designed it.” Nytal was the village’s smith, and Adriel’s armor was commissioned by his grandfather.
Yrsanne sighed with disappointment and remained standing near Adriel. She knew that she couldn’t change Nehen’s mind and it was no use arguing with her. “Waiting is a loose concept. Maybe we’ll have to wait twenty minutes but what if we will have to wait for years?” Yrsanne whispered to Adriel. “That person can catch up with us on the way after all. What do you think about it?”
Adriel like Yrsanne’s plan. He wanted to get out of here and away from his mother quickly, and Yrsanne was right, the other guard could catch up later. “Sounds like a good idea,” Adriel whispered back.
He turned to his mother and leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Goodbye, mother,” he said. “Tell the guard to catch up with us.”
Nehen grasped his arm. “Adriel, just wait a little longer,” she insisted.
Adriel pulled away, trying to casually wrench his arm from her grasp. “They can find us,” he assured her. Free from her, Adriel bowed, then turned away. “Let’s go, Yrsanne,” he said to his lovely guard and began to walk away toward the path leading into the forest.
Yrsanne was glad that Adriel listened to her and didn’t want to hesitate any longer. Her restless spirit called her to leave as quickly as possible. “Farewell,” she looked at Nehen for the last time and followed Adriel.
Yrsanne was walking behind him. She wasn’t closely acquainted with Adriel before. Maybe he is not that bad as I imagined him to be; despite of all the rumors I’ve heard about him. But on the other hand, how can I judge, if I never knew him personally? Yrsanne thought to herself.
She listened to the murmur of the forest, the path was safe. “Is it your first journey to the outside world?” Yrsanne asked Adriel with curiosity. He was handsome and young and Yrsanne was glad that Adriel didn’t know how old she was.
Adriel sighed deeply in relief as he left the village and his mother. “Yes,” he replied to Yrsanne. “I haven’t left the forest, especially not since those humans from Lodoss took over.”
He began to feel a little guilty for leaving his mother the way he did, she seemed very distraught. However, he silenced that little voice in the back of his mind. He needed to get away from her and that village. “I heard you fought with the Marmo army,” Adriel commented.
“That’s true,” Yrsanne replied to Adriel. “I see that rumors spread with the wind,” she smiled. “I really fought in Marmo army during the War of Heroes and Destroyer’s Resurrection. Perhaps I will tell you more about those days, if you are interested, of course.”
The village has passed out of sight. “So, where will we set out first in search of your father? I heard that he was banished. Though I believe that’s an idle gossip, spread by envious villagers,” Yrsanne said to Adriel.
Adriel barked a laugh. “Gossip? Hardly, my grandfather banished him when my mother was two months pregnant. I suppose people don’t like to talk about him much, I’ve heard that he had affairs with many women of our clan, but they don’t speak of it. My father is the shame of the clan,” Adriel explained.
“If he is an exile than I think we should look for him in Salbad,” Yrsanne supposed. “Some elves stayed there after the war, maybe we can learn something from them. Besides, it’s a main port of Marmo. If he left these lands, then he definitely passed thought Salbad harbors. His name is Kiran, right?”
“Kiran, yes. I thought Salbad would be a good place to start too,” Adriel replied. Tossing a glance over his shoulder, he checked to see if another elf had followed them. Their conversation hadn’t carried them too far from home, as Adriel had set a rather leisurely pace.
“There is no one there,” Yrsanne said without even looking back. “Use your senses, sometimes even eyes can lie. Who knows, maybe one day you will save my life. Anyway, your fates now depend on each other.”
Adriel frowned, her comment was a sting to his pride. Of course he used his senses, he was trained like any other elf. “Yes, they do,” Adriel replied distantly. However, he didn’t see much trouble on Marmo that he couldn’t easily overcome on his own.
“Sorry, for being late,” said a female voice. Sythenra appeared from behind a tree as she approached the two dark elves with a slight smile and bowed to them. “Forgive me, I had to collect a few things for the trip. I’ll try not to be late again,” she said to the two.
Adriel paused as Sythenra approached. He was familiar with her. She had spent her entire life in or around the village, and was about a century his senior. “Hello, Sythenra,” Adriel said, seeming slightly perturbed at her punctuality. “We’re going to the human city Salbad, to see if we can find Kiran or any information on him.”
Sythenra easily kept her emotions hidden when Adriel mentioned Kiran. “I understand,” she said to him with a normal expression and what seemed to be a friendly tone. She did wonder if Salbad would have any information for them. She prayed they did for she wanted to know Kiran’s reasons for what he had done. Still, she wouldn’t mind to explore outside now, being here for more then a century made her want to explore more outside Marmo. She stood there, politely waiting for the two other dark elves.
Yrsanne stayed silent, when Adriel and Sythenra were talking. She wasn’t very familiar with her. Bravo! I’m impressed; hardly anyone can follow a dark elf and stay unnoticed except for another dark elf. Perhaps she is older then me. Her lips seemed on the verge of a smile, thought her face and bearing were marked by a polite gravity.
Sythenra turned to Yrsanne. “I’m Sythenra,” she said, giving her greeting to the other dark elf.
“Greetings Sythenra. I’m Yrsanne,” she replied to their new companion.
Adriel stood by as the women introduced each other. The young dark elf briefly considered the potential of taking a trip with two single women, but then he realized he was probably thinking like his father.
“Shall we continue then?” he asked his guards.
“Of course,” Yrsanne nodded. “It’s been a long time since I visited Salbad… ” she said. Yrsanne came closer to Adriel and glanced at Sythenra: “Are you coming?”
Sythenra bowed her head and came with the two. “Of course,” she said with a smile. She stood to the other side of Adriel and gave a nod toward Yrsanne. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Yrsanne,” she replied. Now that they were introduced, it made her feel better. “I’m ready to move out when you are,” she said to them.
Adriel continued walking, flanked by the two lovely dark elven women. He felt somewhat more at easy with two women as bodyguards. Were he guarded by males, he would feel inferior to them; they would be his elders and far better trained, and the internal gender competition would automatically make them the “alpha male”. While Sythenra and Yrsanne were still his elders and more experienced, there wouldn’t be the masculine competition. Elves didn’t have the same reservations toward gender as humans did, males and females were equally respected for their skills. While humans would assume a man pathetic to be guarded by the “fairer” sex, elves had no issues with that. If anything, he felt a sense of equality with the two—not of skill or age, but simply a state of mind. Not to mention they were easy on the eyes.
