Ok, it took me soooo long to write this much of the chapter, that I am just going to leave it like this. It is only 4 1/2 pages, which is about half of what I normally write, but I have had such bad writer's block lately, that I will take what I can get at this point. Also, I have made some BIG changes in the Prologue, I have finally decided to put the entire first part of the Prophecy in the Prologue along with some other additions, so go check that out.

---

Anae’as crouched behind the rocks just above Salix and her companions’ makeshift encampment, watching the elveness that they had waited so long to rescue. Though from the display of power she gave in Råj’s slave camp, she hardly seemed to need any rescuing. The warriors had arrived ahead of schedule, but apparently too late as well. The Drowess glanced over at Aiva, whose eyes were enraptured by her charge. The surrounding Drow warriors also seemed some what interested, but kept their thoughts on their mission as they remained as silent as the still air they were breathing. She had to admit, the scene before her was fascinating. To finally see the elveness and the Sun elf they had all heard so much about was more captivating than she thought it would be.

“Where is Shey?” the Sun elf snapped at Salix.

The Drowess knew of the golden elf’s favor with Shey and also her hot temper from the information passed on to her by her operative. Though, to hear about a person, then to see them exactly as she had picture them were completely different. Salix on the other hand was nothing like what she had imagined.

“Get your hand off me!” Adara commanded. Aiva jumped when the Sun elf shouted, but the other Drow remained skillfully tranquil and motionless.

“Adara, Shey can fend for himself. We should concentrate on keeping Halu safe from him. If Shey overcomes his beast, he can find us, but there is no point in trying to find him in his existing condition.”

The wayward elveness that everyone had heard about sounded more thoughtful, rational, and level-headed than Anae’as had originally thought. Judging from her operative’s letters and what she had heard from Kirik and Aiva, she suspected Salix would be more impulsive and naïve as a woman of her age and in her situation would be.

“This is all your fault. If you had not dragged that mortal along, none of this would be happening.”

It seemed that Adara was the impulsive and naïve one, not Salix. There is no way Salix could have known Shey would want to hunt a human instead of one of the two elvenesses, Anae’as thought. It was an unfair judgment on the Sun elf’s part.

“Hey!” the human, Halu barked, catching both the feuding elvenesses and all of the Drow in the rocks’ attention. They had all forgotten her presence amidst Adara and Salix’s argument. “It is useless to sit here and argue about something that has already come to pass…”

All of the warriors in the rocks listened to the simple wisdom and rational words coming from this young woman. They had not heard much of Halu other than she was probably the closest of all of them to Salix and Anae’as could understand why. Salix doubtless needed someone around to keep her temper at bay with the Sun elf constantly yelling at her and blaming her for all of their misfortunes. What was said next surprised Anae’as and she could tell by the multiple grasps around her, that it was a surprise to the others as well.

“What about the people of the mountains?” the golden elveness asked. “We do not know what sort of threat they pose.”

The Drowess was stunned that a simple slave knew of their existence. But how? They had been so careful to conceal their civilization. If this slave knew of them, who else did? And would they be a threat to their people? This startling revelation would have to be taken back to Nae’dic and another Council would have to be called to discuss this news. Anae’as glanced over at her lover whose unseeing eyes gazed in the direction of Adara and ears were perked up to listen carefully at what was being said.

“Why did you wait until now to tell us this?” Salix questioned angrily.

Adara had not told the others about the Kem’irre and the Drow? Anae’as found this group of escapees to be very curious, but they were no ordinary slaves to begin with. The Drowess secretly worried more and more about where Shey could be. From what she had heard, he was on the hunt for Halu’s blood, which was strange since there were two elves for the taking. Most of all, she worried that he might find their little band of warriors in the rocks and give away their position too soon, and scaring the elvenesses, especially Salix into doing something irrational. The sound of the now-angered elveness’ voice caught Anae’as’ attention.

“What else do you and Shey hide from me because you think it would better serve my interests?” Salix retorted almost too quickly to hear. “Every time Shey withholds information from me, it proves fruitless and it always ends in more trouble than it would have if he had told me in the first place!”

So, Shey and Adara had been keeping secrets from Salix? What secrets? Anae’as wondered. The drama had reached its peak and it seemed there was nothing left to argue about as the golden elveness went back to tending her wounds while Salix sat next to her human counterpart.

“You should get some sleep, Halu, you will need to recover your strength.”

“And Shey?”

“Let me worry about him.”

Even though her reply did not seem to settle the mortal woman’s fears as she lay down on her blanket, Halu soon closed her eyes and her breathing slowed. The two elvenesses did not speak to each other and remained that way for some time. The waiting was unbearable to the Drowess. She slid down from the rock she hidden behind and saw Kirik quickly glance in her direction.

“I am going to check on the guards,” she whispered as softly as she could while making sure her words carried.

Her lover nodded and turned back to Salix and the others, waiting for the opportune moment to reveal himself to the estranged elveness. Anae’as strolled past the other warriors, watching the camp below and walked a few paces out before she saw the guards standing watch to make sure there were no surprises, like Shey leaping out from the shadows to attack. She had each of the guards check in with her to report anything they had seen, but there was nothing. With a sigh of aggravation, the Drowess sat down on a flat rock and decided to stay there awhile to rest her eyes a bit and try to sort through all of the new questions buzzing about in her mind about Salix and her companions.

She sat for a long time and worried about Shey. He had been quiet too long. If he was hunting for Halu, why had he not returned to camp? Surely his enhanced sense of smell would have led him back to the camp by now. That is when the realization struck Anae’as. Jumping up from where she had sat, she hurried as quietly as possible back to her spot beside Kirik behind the rocks.

Her blind lover almost jumped and stared at her, but she ignored him. She was looking for something. She peered around at the rock surrounding the camp, watching for something out of place. As the fire flickered, Adara added broken piece of wood from a pack to the fire. The small blaze was brought back to life and that is when the Drowess saw him. A pair of animalistic eyes shined from behind the rocks on the opposite side of the small camp. He was waiting, waiting for Salix to sleep because he must have known Adara would probably do nothing to hurt him, but Salix would defend Halu to the death. The elveness sat vigilantly beside her human companion, but her eyes drooped, not quite asleep, but tired. If she fell asleep, Shey would attack.

Anae’as grabbed her lover and pulled him away from the rocks. She explained the situation to him, all the while, the rest of the warriors looked at them, waiting to see what it was Anae’as found so urgent. When she was finished, Kirik sat a moment as he contemplated her words.

“Are you sure you know where Shey is? He could be off in the mountains battling with his inner beast or on a different side of the camp. If we are wrong, then he may ambush us.”

“Extend your aura and see if you cannot sense him, my love.”

Kirik closed his eyes and she could feel his aura stretch forth, feeling all of the auras of those around him, then moving out towards the opposite end of the camp. She watched his eyes for signs. His eyebrows creased in confusion, then his eyes shot open and he stumbled back with a gasp. He must have felt the Shadows, if that was the case, then they knew the warriors were there and they would have to act fast.

“He knows we are here, we have to go now.”

“What can we do? Salix and Adara are no doubt in a delicate state of mind knowing Shey is on the loose.”

“Schez’ka, we will have to put them out with the darts and try to bring the dhampir out, though it may take more than one dart to put him out.”

“Wait, what darts?” Aiva whispered urgently.

“They have a special herbal mixture that will put them in a deep sleep for a day. It is harmless and it will allow us to bring them back the caverns with little fuss. I know you do not like the idea, but it is easier than risking the lives of those Drow here and your Charge,” the Kem’irran explained.

“Fine, but do not underestimate her, my friend. She is much more powerful than Adara and Shey. If she does not go down on the first dart, she may unleash her powers. I do not know how long it will take those darts to affect her, but if she does not go down when she should, shoot her again or we will know her wrath,” the Xylacus warned.

Schez’ka nodded and took out three wooden pipes carved from a dark wood. She loaded each with a slender dart with black-feathered ends. After all three pipes were loaded, she held up one to her lips and took aim. Aiva’s nervousness was palpable as Anae’as noted her biting the inside of her cheeks.

“Thhooomp.”

They all watched as a small black blur flew through the air and struck Adara. Salix and Halu did not seem to hear anything, nor notice as the Sun elf fell to the ground.

“Thhooomp.”

Another black blur hit Halu and this time, Salix saw it. The elveness was on her feet and gazed around the camp.

“Thhooomp.”

A black feathered dart was suddenly sticking out of her right bicep. Unlike the first two, Salix swayed a bit. Schez’ka reloaded as fast as she could.

“Thhooomp, Thhooomp, Thhooomp.”

More black darts appeared on her neck, her left shoulder, and her chest. Salix’s eye drooped and she fell to her knees, but she had not gone down. Schez’ka prepared to fire another dart when Shey leapt from the shadows and landed in the camp.

“Quick, do not let him near any of them,” Florian commanded as he too leapt off of the small cliff they were perched upon.

The soldiers followed, and Anae’as assisted Kirik on the steep plunge down to the camp. All of the soldiers, in suit, pulled out their daggers and scimitars. Shey paused, as if to consider those before him. There was a moment of utter stillness as the soldiers waited for the dhampir to make his move. Before anyone could react, a black dart struck the half vampyr in the shoulder. He blinked, as if he were some curious animal that had never seen a dart before. Shey reached up and yanked out the dart. Suddenly, another hit his chest and he let out a feral roar. One of the soldiers pulled out his poison-tipped, six-sided throwing blades and threw three of them, each one struck the half vampyr in the abdomen.

“Hold! Do not use your throwing blades,” Florian shouted. “We want him alive!”

The dhampir swiveled and fell to his knees, but he would not go down. Anae’as glanced over at Salix and realized that the elveness was still conscious. The look of distress on her face was enough to tell the Drowess that it would be difficult to convince her that they were here to help. Anae’as peered up at Schez’ka and motioned to get her attention. The Kem’irran held her hand up, telling her to wait. She took aim with her pipe and fired another dart at Shey.

The dhampir seemed unaffected at first, but slowly fell backwards. Schez’ka fired one more dart for good measure and glanced back at Anae’as. The Drow warriors quickly began to tie him up; one tended to the wounds inflicted by the throwing blades.

“Send Aiva down. Do not fire any more darts at Salix.”

The Kem’irran nodded and the Drowess ran over towards Salix and knelt just shy of an arm’s length away from the devastated elveness.

“Please, do not panic. I want you to understand that we mean you no harm.”

Salix clumsily tried to crawl back with little success.

“Then why did you attack us?” she demanded as she pulled out Schez’ka’s darts and cast them on the ground before the Drowess.

“It was for our own protection. We wanted to capture the dhampir first and we thought that you might attack us in response.”

“The dom-pfear?” she asked as if the word was unfamiliar to her tongue.

“Yes, your half vampyr companion. Heard you and Adara talking about Shey when we arrived, and we were worried he would hurt you and the others.”

“How d-do you know about him? How do you kno-know about a-a-ny of us?” she questioned suspiciously, stumbling over some of her words.

“We have been trying to rescue you from Råj’s slave camp. We feared he would kill you as he had killed others before you. My spy was in your camp and told us about you and your companions.”

Salix seemed to consider her, but did not look pleased.

“Why should I believe that? You have spied on me and my friends. You attacked us! Why should I believe that you wanted to rescue me and mean us no harm?”

“Your Kai guardian, Aiva, should be able to answer this.”

“My what?”

Anae’as turned around and saw Aiva climbing down the rocks. Once she was down, the Drowess signaled her over towards Salix. The Xylacus approached the elveness as if she were in awe. She walked slowly and never took her eyes from her Charge. Anae’as glanced back at Salix, who was staring at her guardian as if she recognized her, but could not place her face. The Shadow elf knelt before the elveness without fear. This was the Charge she had worked so hard to reach. She smiled wide.

“Salix, I have been looking for you and it is nice to finally meet you.”

---

Who was this enchanting girl? Salix wondered as her body was fighting the foreign poisons that had infiltrated her blood. Her head felt like it had doubled in weight and she felt so dizzy, but she could still think somewhat rationally. This guardian obviously knew the half-conscious elveness, but she did not know her, and yet…Salix felt a connection to this strange being. Her queer ebonesque eyes were filled with wonder and sympathy. The elveness did not know how to react to the younger elveness. The Dark elveness called her a Kai guardian but what was that? And why did she need this guardian? She was capable of taking care of herself.

“Forgive me is I am not sure how to respond,” she said with a slight slur as she peered around at the warriors who were tying up her companions.

“I understand you confusion, more than you could possibly know. Please, let me explain. I am a Xylacus, or Shadow, elf. I am part of an elite group known as Kai guardians. We are assigned by the gods to protect other elves. While I was called years earlier than more, I have been assigned to you, Salix. You must feel our connection and know my words are true.”

“I feel a connection, but this means nothing. It could be a trick of magick and you could be with those mountain people that have attacked my companions and I. And if there were such things as gods, I doubt they would be eager to sacrifice another elf to protect me.”

“You do not believe in the gods?” Aiva questioned as if it were incomprehensible for her to even consider the gods’ non-existence.

“They have never offered me proof of their existence, only their absence, so why should I offer my unquestioning faith and loyalty like a slave.”

Aiva cringed at the way Salix spat the word slave.

“Well,” the Shadow elf offered as a change of subject, “even if I meant to have you and yours captured, then the Kem’irran on the ledge would have shot you again until you were unconscious. Why would I sit here and try to convince you that I am a friend if I simply wanted to seize you.”

The lightheaded elveness was just barely able to stem the constant spinning in her head long enough to contemplate the possibilities of what the younger elveness was saying.

“Why would your gods want to send me a guardian? I do not need one and I have given them nothing to deserve your services.”

“It is not about giving, Salix. You are part of an ancient Prophecy that threatens to destroy our world. We both have our roles in the Prophecy. Mine is to protect you from danger and your enemies.”

“You do realize how ridiculous that sounds?” she inquired with a quirked eyebrow.

Aiva sighed. “Please, just come with me. I will take you and your companions into the mountains with the Drow. They live in secret caves that lead into hidden caverns where you will have food and shelter, and we can talk. I cannot force you to comply, but please, hear me out.”

Salix glanced around. The Dark elf warriors had gathered Adara, Halu, and Shey, wrapped them in blankets, and were carrying them away. A small group of elves were waiting with a fourth blanket and the drowsy elveness ventured a guess as to whom it was meant for. There was no possible way for her to fight these warriors and survive to escape. She would have to wait until her companions were awake to consider escape.

“Very well, how far do we have to travel?”

---

Far away, south of the Darrows and Äraq’is, in a desolate wasteland, uninhabited by any plants or animals, there rose a magnificent castle made from the dark, volcanic rock commonly found in the southern Kamarian deserts. Inside the throne room, shrouded in darkness upon a throne of dark gold, sat a great shadow. Before him knelt a cloaked figure.

“You have failed me, Sihbrant,” a mighty and powerful voice rang from the shadows of the throne. The sound of that voice was enough to choke any normal living creature with its dark magick.

“Please, I did not realize that her Kai guardian had enlisted the help of the Drow. I thought that if the Shadows forced Shey to kill Halu, then Salix would be ours. I swear she is the one, the Child of the Dawn that we have been searching for. I beg of you, my lord, let me take Salix to the ruins, I will prove that she is a Daimon of the Prophecy. If she receives the marks, then her companions will fear her for the mark of the Deceiver will be scarred upon her body. I can seduce her and awaken the others who lay dormant.”

“You have until the first Hunter’s Moon. If she does not have the marks on her body by then, you will join the others in dormancy for your incompetence.”

“Yes, my lord, I will not fail you again.”

The cloaked figure stood and with a swift movement of his hand, disappeared.