The Twilight Elf

Chapter 6: Saved by a Prince

The lock turned slowly as Enya's lungs seized up.

“It's Jeremy," she thought.

Well, it would seem she would have to find a way to explain what happened to her sooner than she thought. The door swung open, but instead of being met face to face with her fiancé, she was instead greeted by a hooded figure. One carrying a blade of bone.

Enya screamed as the assailant jumped toward her. Thankfully, she'd been standing some distance away from the door, giving her just enough time to jump over the couch.

The blade swung through the air, cutting the wind with a sickening sound.

She scrambled to her feet and desperately fought the fear that threatened to take over her mind. She needed to think, to find a way out.

The hood and she squared off from opposite sides of the couch. The apartment only had one door and they stood directly in front of it. She could run to the bedroom but that was a farther sprint, and if this hooded figure was an elf as she suspected, then she wouldn't beat it in an equal distance race.

That left the living room window. She was much closer to it than her attacker. She could try that. The only problem was it wasn't open. In the time it took her to pull the window up, she'd already be dead.

“I can't run…so I have to fight," Enya told herself.

It was a useless attempt, she knew that, but that wasn't what mattered to her right now. If she was going to die, she was going to leave this b***h something to remember her by. She backed up to the standing lamp behind her and grabbed it with both hands.

“Heh," laughed the hood.

That laugh was the exact motivation that Enya needed.

“Oh see, before that I would have probably died fighting you but now? I'm pissed," Enya said and pulled the lamp free wall.

The hood shook its head. Even without seeing their face, she could feel their condescension.

Enya silently prayed she'd at least be able to give them a lasting scar.

As she prepared to strike, she saw a figure appear behind the hood. Valor walked into the room without a sound and slowly raised a finger to his lips. Enya turned her gaze back to the hood.

“Come on then. Let's get started, shall we?" She taunted.

Another chuckle came from inside the hood, and they lifted their head for the first time so that Enya could see inside. A male elf with long blond hair, eyes blue like crystals, and a long slender nose stared back at her.

“Yes. Let's finish this halfling," said the elf.

Valor was close now, almost directly behind them. Their watery blade conjured in their right hand.

“Wonder if your king would feel the same way," Enya said and tilted her head past the elf to where Valor stood.

The shock that came over the bastard's face was more than satisfying. Their eyes swelled as they realized the meaning of her words. They pulled the hood down and turned as Valor sent their blade in a swift arc aimed for their midsection.

Suddenly, the elf's body began to glow, there was a crackling sound almost like the end of a taser, and then the attacker vanished in a burst of orange light. Another pop of orange light pulled Enya's gaze from where they were to where they had teleported. They had cleared twelve feet in an instant and appeared at the window where Enya had considered escaping.

“Why?" Valor yelled, “On whose orders are you here?"

The hood did not answer. Instead, they disappeared in another orange burst of light and teleported outside to a neighboring rooftop.

Valor lunged at the window, ready to pursue. But by the time they got to the window, the elf had already teleported two more sprints away. There would be no catching them.

“No!" Valor cried.

He took a wild swing with this sword cutting a clean and thin line through her wall.

“Hey! I live here can we not?" Enya snapped.

The words surprised even her, coming out of her mouth without any sort of permission from her mind. Almost being killed probably took precedence over anything the landlord might say about a three-foot slit in the wall, but still, she found herself outraged that he would destroy something of hers so quickly. Without a second thought.

Valor closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

“My apologies," he said, “I…"

He growled quietly in frustration. The sword dissipated in his hands, but his fist kept opening and closing as if it felt out of place without being able to grasp the weapon.

“I had a lapse in judgement. I can procure you money for the damages."

“I don't need money. It's not even that important honestly, I just wanted you to calm down. I'm tempted to freak out myself and if you do well then, we're both not thinking straight and that's not helpful."

He gave her that same look he'd given her on their walk to the veil. That impressed and slightly surprised look.

“You are absolutely right. Are you hurt? That's the first thing I should have asked."

“No, you got here just in time. Which kinda leads me to asking how and why you got here. Timing was suspiciously perfect."

Enya crossed to the other side of the room as she said this. With the day she'd had, she wasn't trusting anyone until she got some clear answers.

Valor dropped his head for a moment and then picked it up and set his shoulders.

“I must admit, I followed you out the veil a short while after you left. I wanted to see if my intuition was wrong, and you had somehow tricked me. I know that must seem rather distrusting of me, but I assure you it is more about not trusting my own ability to discern others' intentions than anything about you."

Enya crossed her arms and shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, you do have an entire realm or kingdom's worth of responsibility on your hands. Being careful and not going trusting is probably the responsible move."

“Yes," Valor said.

His thoughts seemed to drift away as he turned to look back out the window.

Enya felt for him. Growing up without her mother, she thought that heaviness would crush her.

Here he was, dealing with the grief of a lost parent as well as the hardships of being king all at the same time.

“It's okay to lose it though. Took me a while to convince myself of that, because my mom died when I was so young, but it is. You can't be put together all the time. Sometimes you have to break."

“I have no time to break. I break and my kingdom breaks along with me."

Enya didn't know what to say so she let a silence fall between them. To her surprise, however, Valor only let the silence last for a second before he snapped out of his trance.

“That was a teleporter. They are great assassins. Most of them work for my father…for me…but there are a few working in Shadowfell."

“Shadowfell?" Enya asked.

“A region of my kingdom where those who wish to live outside the law reside."

“So even magical elves have a bad side of town?"

Valor gave her a quizzical look and then smirked.

“You really do enjoy joking in times of stress."

Enya rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet and decided to answer the floor rather than him.

“Sometimes it's involuntary."

He nodded, “I need you to come with me."

“Come with you? Where?"

He finally turned from the window and came close to her. Her back straightened and for some reason she could not fathom she attempted to make herself taller as she approached.

What was it about him that made her behave so oddly?

Other than yes, he was gorgeous and magical, and she was almost murdered, twice, but apart from all that?

“Regrettably, I must take you to wrong side of town," Valor said.