The First Elven Queen

Affinity

Entering the forest had been scarier than anything else she had done in her entire life. It gave her a sense of foreboding.

Her father sat across from her, his own guards suggested he take cover, just in case. He argued against it at first, claiming he was a strong king and he didn’t need to hide, but the guards had mentioned Ayla’s own well being and he finally gave in to them. 

Currently, his head was leaning against the side of the carriage, his eyes closed, seemingly relaxed.

Peaking through the curtain, it looked almost dusk despite it actually being dawn, due to the thickness of the trees. The pine smell was actually pleasing with the natural earthy musk it mixed with in the forest.

She imagined that the forest was actually rather beautiful, but the possible inhabitants are what sent a shiver down her spine.

The whistling roar from deep in the throat of the elk sounded haunting as it echoed through the trees and it seemed to draw the attention of her father, his eyes slowly opening, “Keep the curtain closed, Ayla.”

Right as he said that, there was a high pitched whistle, this time not from the animal, and the carriage came to a hard stop, nearly causing them to topple out of their seats. Just as they were gaining their bearings, the side of the carriage was slammed into from the side, causing Ayla to burst through the door and tumble into the small path.

Landing hard on her hip and shoulder, she let out a sharp gasp as she came to a stop, her body throbbing.

“Ayla!” Her father yelled right as a darker shadow fell over her form.

Looking up she saw the form of a pale, light haired female, her irises blood red. What little clothing she was wearing was torn and worn, showing so much skin that even the women in the tavern would’ve been scrambling to cover themselves better. 

She instantly knew that the woman was a vampire just from her appearance alone.

The blood dripping messily from her lower face was a good indicator too.

The female lifted a clawed hand and right as she went to strike, another beast with long dark fur tackled the female from over her head. Ayla screamed this time, but she almost couldn’t hear it over the snarls of the second creature.

Scrambling away from the fighting forms, recognizing the that second creature was a werewolf, she felt herself be gathered into taunt arms, “Are you hurt, Ayla?”

“N-no.” She had done worse to injure herself, “What’s going on?”

“It could be a number of things.” He turned her in his arms, looking her over to see with his own eyes that she wasn’t injured.

The guards started yelling to move and just as they moved away from the toppled carriage, a pine came crashing down on top of it. The combination of the tree hitting the ground and sound of guards and horses caused her ears to ring.

“Damn it!” Her father was looking around frantically before nearly dragging her over to where his elk paced, “Calm, calm.”

He let her go so he could grab the reins of the panicking beast and while he did so, she looked back to see what kind of progress had been made with the vampire and werewolf.

When she did, she made eye contact with the green eyed, black furred wolf that was being held up by its neck by the vampire and it was like a spark went through her head and she could hear him within her mind, ‘I’m sorry.’

He sounded so helpless, as if he was the one who attacked her, not the vampire, “No!”

It took Ayla a moment to realize she had been the one screaming, but when roots shot out of the ground and pierced through the vampire in several directions, she wasn’t sure what was happening anymore. The werewolf fell limply out of the, either dead or paralyzed, vampire female’s grasp, landing with a heavy thud that felt as if it shook the ground.

Looking around, her hand was raised in the direction the roots had sprouted and when she lowered them, the roots disintegrated back into the earth.

A couple of the guards with swords drawn started running over to the two creatures and Ayla did too, though her goal was the now humanoid form of a man. Thankfully, he was wearing some faded black trousers, though she had always read that werewolves destroyed their clothing in shift. He had shaggy curly black hair and while she couldn’t see his eyes, they were framed by thick lashes. His body was naturally tan, though she was sure it was darker with exposure to the sun, with broad shoulders. As strong as he looked, she could see his ribs and his face looked sunken in.

“Princess, I wouldn’t…” A guard came closer to stop her.

“No, I need to see him.” She didn’t bother stopping as she bypassed the guard and knelt by his body, “You can deal with the vampire, though.”

She looked over the multiple gashes and marks where the vampire had used her teeth and claws on him. She looked down at his torso where he had a particularly bad gash that was bleeding heavily.

Tearing her sash from her body, she pressed it against the wound, “He malnourished… He isn’t healing properly.”

“Princess, he is a rogue,” One guard shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “More than likely he was a runt and was cast out of his pack.”

“For such a reason?” Ayla spat, “Pathetic.”

“W-well, it is possible,” The guard looked nervous by her frustration, “Though, it might not be the case.”

She shook her head, a pang of guilt from her own tone, “Sorry, I just hate seeing someone hurt.”

He looked a little relieved, but her father came over, “Ayla, I will run you the rest of the way with myself.” He was leading the elk behind him and while he still looked easy to scare, he followed loyally, “Come on.”

“He needs help.” She looked back down at the broken male, “He… connected to me.”

Her father’s eyes glowed briefly, making her wonder what that meant exactly when he did that, “Connected to you? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know how to explain it…” She wanted to whimper when she began to feel the warm sticky blood seep through the fabric of her sash, “It was like it was in my mind… He told me he was sorry.”

“He mind linked you?” She looked back up at him when she heard his surprise.

“I guess so, but can we talk about that later when he isn’t bleeding to death?” She looked around, “Maybe there are some herbs here we can gather to help with the bleeding or-or…”

“Move.” He pulled a long pointed elven blade from his boot, “While they do not need it, blood helps their healing process… Especially elven blood since we have magical properties.” He knelt down on one knee next to the werewolf’s head and brought the blade up to his palm and sliced through, then clenched his hand into a fist, “Open his mouth.”

Prying open the clammy male’s jaws, she watched as blood pooled into his mouth, some overflowing from the corner of his lips. Using her other hand, she rubbed his throat to coax him into swallowing it, which he did with a couple of gulps.

Seeing some of his smaller cuts starting to heal, she lifted the bloodied sash and she was satisfied to see his skin slowly stitching itself back together. It was still a little slow to her liking, but then again, werewolves were one of only a couple of species that could actually heal this way.

With the damage he sustained, he is very lucky he can too.

Her father pulled the sleeve of his tunic, tearing it off, and wrapped his hand, then motioned for a guard, “Gather this man and cart him back to the castle under lockdown until I can deal with him.”

“Yes, your Majesty!” The guard saluted and with the help of a couple of others, they started to maneuver the man, a little rough for Ayla’s liking, but she couldn’t complain too much.

“We must get to the castle. We still have a ways to go and this has become increasingly dangerous.” He hoisted her up by the waist and put her on the elk before climbing on as well, calling out, “I’ll take two!”

The spark and flame of one of the guards setting fire to the remains of the vampire sent heat spiraling their way, smelling almost rotten. Looking back to where the carriage had been knocked over, she was sad to see that the driver hadn’t gotten off in time, but the horses had somehow detached before they were injured.

Two guards came up and started to follow after her father as he began a decent pace down the road. Once they got a little further down the road, their pace turned into a full gallop.

“I wish to speak with him when you do.” It was hard to speak clearly with how much she was getting jostled.

“Ayla,” He grunted, then sighed, “We’ll talk about it more when we get somewhere safe.”

“I don’t think there is anything to discuss.” She shook her head, “He connected with me, not you.”

“And I used my own blood to heal him, Ayla.” He ground out, “I will not have done it in vane, but I still need to know his intentions...”

She started to argue, but she clicked her jaw shut after thinking about what he said. Why would he save him just to kill him?

She will trust him to make the right decision.

“I will say, I do believe you have received your Affinity.” His voice had a hint of pride, “Nature Affinity is very powerful and very practical,” He let out a breath, “I am glad the goddess has blessed you with such strength.”

“Nature Affinity?” She had heard that elves had powers, but human books knew little about them in detail, “Is that what the roots were?”

“Yes,” He answered from over her head, “It isn’t a common Affinity despite our natural connection to the earth.” He glanced down at her before looking forward again, “I’ll need to find a teacher for you to learn how to control it better.”

She nodded and leaned back against him, suddenly feeling as if her body was heavy like stone, “I think that would be a good idea…”

His face became concerned again, “Ayla…?”

Her eyes drooped as her vision darkened, “I’m tired.”

“Rest. I’ll wake you when we arrive.” He wrapped an arm around her stomach, “I won’t let you fall.”

Even if he had told her to stay awake, she was sure she wouldn’t have been able to as her eyes closed once more.