The Throne of Bones.

3. Something Precious.

After losing consciousness, Minto didn't wake for a full month, and in all this time he was tormented by the Vermilion Dragon's image, and then the moment he saw his two parents. It repeated over and over without pause or rest, continuously tearing at his sanity until his mind became numb. 

When his eyes finally opened, he arose with a scream that took his voice away instantly.  

Terrified of everything he saw, Minto immediately looked to the window beside him as a means of escape, but stopped moving when a cool hand came down on his own. 

"Don't strain yourself, you've been asleep for a while." 

True to the words of the gold-eyed girl who sat at his side, Minto felt nausea scrape at his insides and held his mouth, luckily, he was provided a small bucket in time. 

She gave him a cup of water and turned to the door leaving him in silence, in this time he looked around the small broken down room with a hole in the wall from an overgrown tree, his bed was made of Wolfberry fur and the wood was also Wolfberry, to his right, the window, and to his left stood a chair beneath a lone table with a basin of fresh water, a lantern, and a wet rag, that was all there was to the room he occupied.  

For several minutes the girl was gone before hastily returning with the old elf woman in tow, together they sat at his side and stared at him for several silent seconds before the old elf spoke up. 

"Son of Mithos, can I have your name?" She asked with a subtle smile.  

Minto opened his mouth to speak, but a sudden shock of pain went through his body and he closed his lips with a complicated frown before opening his mouth again. 

"Minto." He choked out before closing his eyes and holding his mouth again. 

The girl quickly brought the bucket to his lap and placed a soothing hand on his back as he brought up more of his stomach fluids. 

"Minto, I am Shaél, this is Miriá." She motioned to the halfling girl, to which she gave him a small nod. 

He was wearing a shirt with an exposed back, convenient for his wings, which popped out and folded as soon as her hands touched him causing her to gasp and shuffle backwards. 

Minto passed her an angry glare before his wings slowly retracted back into his body. 

"Don't touch my back." He hissed at her, to which she only huffed and looked to the side. 

"Do you remember what happened?" The old elf woman asked hesitantly causing him to look up from the bucket at her. 

"I do." He looked through the window at the rising blue star with a complicated expression. "All I've been seeing in my dreams is that moment." Slowly, silver tears trailed down his cheeks. "Why did this happen why did a dragon attack us?" He looked at her seeking a plausible answer.  

"I do not know any details, other than the dragon; Ashrótt, sought a treasure stolen from his king, something precious enough to invoke battle against all of us." Shaél dragged her wrinkled hand down her face.  

"I too lost my family; my husband, our children... all gone in a single night, aside from me, yourself, and Miriá here, I have found no more survivors." 

Minto looked at Miriá then back at Shaél then raised his knees to his chin and hugged them and went completely silent. 

"Minto, your father was-" 

"Dead." Minto gritted his teeth and looked at Miriá.  

"That is not what-" 

"It doesn't matter." He snapped again. "He was told to flee, and he stayed to fight, now he is dead, and because of him... because of his decision…" He dug his grown-out fingernails into his flesh and hid his face while his wings grew from his back and covered his entire body. "Ashrótt killed everyone who fought alongside him."  

"He tried to protect the forest, Minto, he died a warrior's death." Shaél tried to change his perspective. 

"A forest that was destroyed anyway." Minto said from beneath his wings. "Who is there to appreciate his sacrifice, who is left to smile in the wake of it all?" 

"Had your father not poured his last bit of magic into your body, you would have been among the corpses." Miriá's eyes went wide from anger at his words. "If you can't accept his decision to stay, then at least accept his choice to save your life you cursed ungrateful Demon." 

"Miriá!" Shaél gasped. 

Minto's wings unfolded violently, causing the lantern on the table to lose its flame as a sudden gust of wind blasted through the room. 

He turned and looked at Miriá with an expression so full of hate that his tears turned to blood making her expression change to that of fright.  

"The likes of you... who judged my mother and judged me, he died protecting scum like you… that is what makes me angry, instead of protecting his own family, he chose to die protecting you, it's unforgivable!" Minto shrilled before turning and jumping through the small window and vanishing in the trees. 

Shaél sighed and walked to the window. "I am still too weak to chase him down." She turned to Miriá. "Why would you call him that?" 

"He is the son of a Demon," Miriá turned her nose. "An Elf your age should understand more than anyone else why I would not like them." 

"Minto has nothing to do with that time, he is an innocent child." Shaél murmured as she walked pass the halfling girl. "You call him a Demon because your parents called him a Demon, because your friends and their friends called him a Demon, but what did Minto or Sitri ever do to deserve your hatred?"  

"They were born." Miriá huffed, causing Shaél to turn and look at her indifferently. 

"Miriá, go and find and bring Minto back here." 

"But-" 

"Go, and if you cannot bring him back, then do not return to this cottage either!" Shaél shouted before slamming the worn-down door and going downstairs. 

The halfling ground her teeth and pouted for several seconds before she climbed out the window, slid down the side, and began running through the woods. 

Minto in the meantime was looking to the clouds as the fatigue and the strain of inactivity took a toll on his muscles, slowly he glided down to the ground and landed with a stumble. 

His hair now rested on his shoulders, and his wings seemed a shade darker than before, and he had grown a bit as well. "Unforgivable." He muttered to himself. "If that damned Ashrótt killed everything then why did someone like her survive, she should have died alongside all of her other hater friends." 

As he continued to curse and mumble he paced and paced until he became too tired to walk and so he rested on the forest floor. 

Unaware of his surroundings, he eventually fell asleep again, bare face flat against the cool ground.  

Miriá desperately searched through the forest for hours before eventually finding a clearing where she saw Minto fast asleep with his wings spread out.  

For a split second, she thought of his appearance beneath the blue star's light as beautiful, but then an idea came to her. 

She searched around quietly until she found a sharp rock, she decided that the world really would be better off with one less Demon to worry about. 

She crept closer to him with the sharp rock in her hand and stopped just a foot from his head with her aim set on his exposed neck, but then suddenly tears were flowing down her eyes and her shoulders became heavy.  

'What am I doing?' she thought, seeing Minto's pained expression and the pool of dried silver tears around his head. "What am I doing?" She asked herself aloud letting go of the rock and falling to her hands and knees. 

His nightmare ended with the sudden thump of a rock right in front of his face, and Minto was quick to his feet, using his wings as stabilizers to stop himself from falling over.  

"What are you doing here?" He asked before looking around, and then on his hand, he was too caught up in the earlier events to notice.  

His mother had forced one of her possessions into his forearm just above his wrist, it was a broach with a red gem in the centre of what looked like a scale.  

The needle of the item was completely buried into his flesh, just looking at it made him wonder why he hadn't noticed something like that in the first place. 

"Minto, please come back to the cottage, I am sorry." Miriá sobbed, alerting him again. Raising her gaze and looking him dead in his eyes she wanted to say something else but collapsed a second time. "I judged you wrongly, I am sorry!" She cried out again. 

He stood there and watched her for a few breaths before spreading his wings and flying away wordlessly. 

Miriá walked back to the cottage with a bitter taste in her mouth, she could only beg Shaél for a day or so worth of food before leaving. 

Elves were very strict, so she knew she would no longer have refuge in the cottage now that she had angered her then failed to right her wrong. 

She also wasn't surprised when she reached the cottage and saw Shaél waiting at the door. 

"Lady-Shaél." Miriá sighed as she drew closer, I found him, but he fled." She said heavily. 

"I told you not to return without Minto." Shaél frowned, before her expression grew darker, not only did you not return with him, but you even made an attempt at his life, what would happen if you had not lost your nerve and broken down?" 

Miriá's eyes went wide, she couldn't help but wonder how the Elf had known that.  

"You, followed me?" She asked with a lump in her throat. 

"I told her." Came Minto's voice from above, and Miriá was shocked a second time to see him perched atop the roof of the cottage like a gargoyle.  

"Come, our meal will get cold." Shaél gestured that the halflings follow her inside. 

Minto glided down and retracted his wings, following the Elf without a word, but Miriá watched him with curiosity, this halfling they had called a Demon, all of a sudden, seemed more interesting. 

"Minto." Shaél called him right as he stood up with his finished dish. "I understand that you will need time to mourn, but I still need your cooperation, since we cannot stay here much longer, we will be traveling to another settlement, maybe a large diverse village."  

"I'm ready whenever you are." Minto replied, "I won't mourn."  

"Why not?" She asked back.  

"The dragon Ashrótt the Vermillion still breathes, I will not mourn until I have killed him, and taken their most precious treasure." Minto shook with anger as he turned and looked at the Elf. 

"What do you mean?" Shaél stood with her empty bowl, awaiting his answer. 

"After I destroy Ashrótt, I will defeat Mardálokás, the King of the land of Néthark, and seize the Throne of Bones." 

"Who told about the King's treasure?" Shaél gasped shocked, almost dropping her bowl. 

"It is the last tale my father preached, it is the most precious possession Mardálokás has, and he who possesses the crown has rule over all of Néthark, so I will take it." Minto looked at her through the veil of his hair. "They took my world, so I will take their freedom." 

"That's nothing more than a suicide wish." Miriá looked across the room at Minto. "You would die." 

Ignoring the halfling in his peripheral, Minto kept his gaze steady on Shaél. "I only have one request to ask of you." 

"That Being?" Shaél replied cautiously. 

"Accept me as your pupil, and teach me all you can about fighting." Minto placed the dish he had in his hand on the table beside himself and clasped both his hands.  

"No."