New story. Please review, I always appreciate it. Thanks.

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Fae peeked out the window next to the door of her small thatched roof house and what she saw made her glad she'd sent her grandmother away to stay with friends only a few hours before. It was the dead of night but by the mob's torches she could see their faces. They were men mostly, with a few women mixed in as well. Their faces were fierce, angry. She could hear the things they were yelling through the thin walls. These were her neighbors, her friends. All turned on her in an instant and gave her no chance to explain. Yes, she could hear the things they were yelling.

"Send him out or we'll burn you both out!"

"The devil hath seduced you Fae Mire, do not give into his charms!" Was that the priest? A friend of her grandmother's? Had even he turned against her? Fae cringed. Things were worse than she'd thought. It wasn't just the town drunks knocking at her door, it was the whole town, lost to madness. Who knew what they were capable of.

"Burn them both at the stake!"

"Hang them!" Fae closed the shutters against the angry shouts, fear rising up inside her. It was time to look for a way to defend herself. Things were obviously getting out of control. She took a deep breath, trying not to panic. She knew these people, they could be reasonable still couldn't they? But as she looked upon the man she was protecting sitting in a chair by the fireplace, light flickering over his dark features and allowing her to see the grim but determined look on his face she knew she was only fooling herself. They wanted this man, they wanted him dead. She'd always heard horror stories, but her dear sweet grandmother had taken him in anyway, in spite of the danger if anyone found out. They had known this might happen. He was however a true warrior. Even with his severe injuries not yet healed he was prepared to fight them all should they break past the clothes chests and bed frame she'd helped him bar the door with. She couldn't help but think that his armor was beautiful. As strong and elegant as he was. So too were his bow and sword. He was poised, ready for battle. She was not.

Fae immediately ran to the kitchen and found her grandmother's two sharpest butchering knives and returned to stand in wait near the door, her back to him, one wooden handle in each hand. Her palms were sweating, and somehow she could not keep down her fear any longer. She was afraid, and was even more afraid that she would panic and only make the situation worse. She had to help him fight, he couldn't do it alone. He wasn't well enough yet, not even to fight off a bunch of farmers and smiths. As the banging on the door grew louder she back towards him, her eyes wide and breathing ragged. And then suddenly the banging stopped, and an eerie silence ensued. What had happened? Had someone come and made them stop? Had they realized their foolishness? Unable to resist her curiosity Fae slipped over to the window once again and unlatched the sturdy shutter, opening it just a crack so she could look out. They were milling about now, their focus concentrated on the middle of their midst her house temporarily forgotten. And then a rope was thrown over a limb of the tall oak outside her home and the mob cheered as an already dead body was hoisted high on the end of a noose. And they began to sing an old drinking song Fae had known all her life but had never thought any harm would ever come from, just like the stories she'd always been told. They were only supposed to scare little children to keep them from wondering into the woods alone. Harmless.

"The demon's witch we hung in the square, the square. The demon's witch we hung in the square, the square! We hung her up by the neck and all was well because the demon's witch would nar' bring terror to our town no more, no more!" There were more lyrics they sang, but Fae heard none of them as she saw by the torch light that the dead woman was her grandmother and a sob suddenly escaped from her.

"No!" she screamed, knives falling from her hands as her knees refused to hold her weight and she began to fall to the floor. And she would've fallen upon her own weapons had he not caught her in his arms and held her tightly to his chest. She turned to face him, clinging to him as though he were the only thing she had left. He was the only thing she had left Fae realized as it dawned on her that she was now totally alone. Alone and about to die. She sobbed, her tears lost in the armor of the man her grandmother had died for. A man she didn't know. She didn't even know his name. He was always silent, cold seeming, yet he was holding her gently, with warmth she'd never imagined he possessed.

"You have sacrificed too much for me. I swear to you no more will be lost on my account," he whispered, his voice smooth and soothing. It had a calming effect on her, like everything else about him did. And his embrace didn't falter as she feared it might. She hadn't known he had the strength to hold her up like this, to keep her from falling to the floor.

"Fae, there will be time for tears later. Take your pain and let it be your strength. We will survive, now I can assure you of that," he whispered in her ear in the same tone, but firmer this time. One of his arms was around her waist while his other hand held her head close to his heart as he stroked her hair.

"We have no escape. They have surrounded my house. Soon they will burn us out. How can you think we will ever escape?" she asked, voice choked and rough. He held her in silence for a long minute as she sobbed almost silently against his shoulder. His next words nearly made her jump in surprise as he hadn't made a sound in what seemed like an hour.

"He's here," he said calmly, speaking over the top of her head. Fae looked up and around, seeing nothing. She wiped her tear filled eyes, feeling how red and puffy they were. Her throat was almost too sore to allow her to speak.

"Who is? There's no one here." And then, just as she'd spoken a voice came from the dark shadows of the kitchen.

"You're lucky I found you Cavalen. You were careless to have been discovered. I assume the women they hung outside gave you aid? One of their own. Imagine what they would do to you. Death by torture is my guess."

"Death comes to all beings," he replied. Fae looked up at him, realizing that he now had a name. Cavalen. It was strange, but then again she knew nothing of his kind. He was a man, and yet, he was not. She hadn't realized that the strange voice in the shadows had materialized into the form of a man standing only feet from her, but she did notice when Cavalen released her, allowing her to fall to the wayside as though forgotten. Neither of them truly looked like demons, but surely they were the creatures that the elders had always warned her against. Cavalen's black as night and strangely short hair gave him a look of darkness and forboding. Yet this new man, another like him had hair as golden as the sun. It was short as well, yes, but the deathly seriousness of this new stranger came from a source within him. They were both tall, handsome. High cheekbones and piercing blue eyes, as well as their strange ears were all things they had in common. Besides the color of their hair the two of them were similar in many ways, even in the texture of their spiky locks. Cavalen stood tall before the man, showing no fear or anxiety. He'd placed himself between the stranger and herself.

"We have no time to waste Apollo, there will be no battle today."

"Indeed. You aren't well, and I can't see the human girl helping us. There are hundreds of them and this is no place to make a stand. For now we run so we may fight again tomorrow. Can you ride brother?" The golden haired man asked, almost mockingly. Fae couldn't see the look on Cavalen's face, but she imagined he was glaring at this man, Apollo. His brother.

"I can ride. There is a stable, you saw it?"

"It's to the north of the house a hundred yards, yes I saw it."

"There is a horse there for you to ride."

"Rion can carry us both, unless you've been putting on weight while being pampered these last three weeks," Apollo replied, again almost mockingly. Cavalen again was calm.

"The girl will ride with me on Titan. You will follow us on her horse. Agreed?" It was then that Apollo turned his piercing blue eyes on her and Fae was suddenly grateful to have Cavalen between her and him. The look he gave her wasn't a pleasant one, but it only lasted a moment before his gaze returned to his brother, dismissing her as though she were unworthy to take too much notice of.

"Why should we save her? She'll only slow us down. Besides, she's human. One of them who are pounding at the door demanding your life be handed to them on a platter."

"She saved my life at risk to her own and would not turn me over to the mob to save herself. I owe her more than a life debt, and I cannot repay it. She's coming with us." Again that cold stare was turned on her, and Fae couldn't tear her eyes away from it no matter how much she wanted to.

"Fine. But I will not suffer Lesha's wrath. You alone will carry that burden," Apollo said, relenting. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned somewhat away from his brother as a sign of dismissal of the subject. The dark haired man nodded almost to himself.

"Agreed," he said, also relenting to his brother's terms. Finally Cavalen turned to her, seeing that she'd stopped crying in her shock and was staring wide eyed, but was not so lost in grief to be paralyzed. "Come," he said gently. "We have an escape to make." Fae took a step towards him.

"How will we get out?" she asked, confused. There was no way she knew of to get out without being seen and captured. Apollo passed her, looking out the window momentarily at the townspeople outside.

"Simple," he said absently as he observed their violent attempts to get in. "We go out the same way I came in."