“GO”, Ryker yelled. Sarah was confused, beforehand Ryker had just told them that she had to help him protect everyone, and now he was urging them to leave him behind? She stumbled for her words, something to convince her son that they weren't just gonna leave him but her racing mind did not budge and neither did her legs. Sarah stood ridgeley at Ryker’s back as he held out the sword-staff in front of him like an unyielding statue, anxious to protect his family. . 

Sarah looked out from behind her son, their pursuers were fast approaching their distinct armor clanks echoing louder and louder through the woods; birds and other small animals darting from their path. Their weapons unsheathed as they unambiguously sliced their way through the many shrubs and grasses that had impeded Sarah’s family before. And there she continued to stand, her confusion and fear mixing together into an evil concoction of anxiety and desperation.

“We’re not just gonna leave you here,” Melissa finally shouted, standing and breaking the tension with a single line. “I’m not gonna leave you or anyone else behind,” she said more quietly then the last. Tears were welling up in her wife’s eyes as she clutched their son, Aaron, in her arms, his blood staining the chestnut hair upon his head; the pleading and desperate begging for her son to leave with them evident to them all. Ryker looked at his mother, the same tears filled his eyes as well.

The clanking stopped as their pursuers finally arrived, their shining silver armor making the sunlight glare in all directions. The one cloaked in silver runes approached the four of them slowly; Ryker took a step forward to intercept them.

“I’m going to hold them off for as long as I can, take Aaron and get as far away from here as you can. I’ll join you once Ii’m finished.”

Sarah found her words as she reached for her son, his dark hair swaying in the wind as he stood over them. She took a step forward, the sword in her hand grew heavy as she made her way to the frontlines. She took a deep breath and raised the sword at their attackers, it trembled in her hand but Sarah forced herself into a stance, ready to defend her family. She took another breath.

“Ryker, we’re not just-,”

“GO,” he yelled, interrupting her.

Sarah simply stared at her son, she knew what he was doing. The tears overflowed from her eyes, as she gave one last look at her eldest son and stopped her tears, urging herself to be brave. Sarah turned towards her wife, who had a bewildered look on her face.

“Lets go,” she said softly

“But, Sarah,” Melissa whispered back. She didn’t want to leave Ryker either, but they both knew there was no arguing with him now. They just had to use the precious time he had given him and get as far away as possible. To survive another day. With one last look at Ryker, Melissa hoisted Aaron up and they bolted away into the woods as fast as they could run.

They both ran for what seemed like forever, the screams of pain from behind them reverberated in their ears, was it Ryker’s or someone else's? They could not know. But they didn’t falter, they believed in Ryker and were not about to waste this chance he gave them. They ran and ran and ran and ran; past ancient trees and over fallen logs. Around boulders and past many strange fauna that dashed away nearly as quickly as they did. They did their best to leave no trail, running in circles, intentionally retracing their steps to insure no one would follow them. And finally, after hours of terrifying travel, the three of them came upon a small cave below a jagged cliff face reaching high above the treeline. The violet trees darkened the cave entrance, making it into a pit of darkness. 

Melissa and Sarah saw this as an opportunity to rest and catch their breath. They entered into the cool embrace of the cave, some water was dripping down into a small pool that made a regular splashing sound every few seconds, a gentle wind blew from deep within the cavern as it carried the chittering sounds of tiny mouse-like creatures. They scattered as the three of them gathered behind a large boulder by the pool, its violet moss seemingly shrinking at their touch.

“Well this is as good of a place as any to hide for a few hours,” Melissa said, breaking the silent icy atmosphere.

“Yeah,” Sarah replied back in a hushed tone of voice.

Melissa saw her wife's distraughtness plastered on her face, she couldn’t blame her, she was sure she had the same glazed over look in her eyes as well. She gently placed Aaron down against the cavern wall and removed his bandage from his head, the bleeding was slower now but did not stop. She walked over to the clear pool of water and cupped her hands to drink some of the refreshing liquid before beginning to clean his bandages.

“If I were you, I'd drink some water before this pool gets all bloodied. We need to keep our strength up; we can’t protect Aaron if we’re dying of thirst.”

“We couldn’t protect Ryker either…”

Melissa stopped in her tracks at her wife’s comment, the bandages soaking inside the shallow pool. She picked herself off the floor, moving Aaron closer to the pool so that she may clean his wounds. She poured water over her son’s head, reestablishing the silence between them. Sarah sat across from Melissa, and started replying the now clean bandages to his head, the ones Ryker had hastily applied did little to stop his bleeding. She stared harshing as she finished tying them around Aaron’s head, making sure that this time they actually stopped the bleeding. 

“This was Ryker’s shirt you know,” Sarah stated.

“Yes I am aware of that,” Melissa stated back, her voice not betraying a hint of emotion.

“He didn’t do a very good job actually stopping the bleeding.”

“In his defense, we were kinda in a hurry. Don’t blame him for that mistake.”

“It's not the first one he’s made today,” Sarah spat.

“Oh? And what was the other one he made then,” Melissa’s voice went cold as she stared into Sarah’s eyes. Sarah stared right on back, matching her chilling glare. She moved Aaron back towards the boulder and laid him on his back careful to make sure his head was elevated. 

“Letting himself get killed for one thing,” she finally said, the coldness of the air was nothing compared to Sarah right now. Melissa was at a loss for words, her wife was right after all. She took her time searching for the right words, before taking a heavy sigh and shuffled over to Sarah before suddenly embracing her, placing their head in her shoulder.

“You’re right you know. Ryker did just throw his life away,” she responded, “However, saying he let himself get killed is disingenuous to what he did for us.”

“And what exactly did he do for us besides getting himself killed and lying to us?”

“Well for one thing if he didn’t force us to run back there I doubt you and I would be discussing whether or not our son is a hero or a coward. We would all be dead or bound and gagged in another wagon destined for god knows where.”

“And you think that's better for us then to fight them all together and escape together like he said we would?”

“It's better for him you stubborn dumbass.”

“For Ryker,” Sarah questioned as she shouted, springing from her sitting position.

“For Aaron you fucking buffon! Ryker was thinking about Aaron!”

Sarah opened her mouth to protest but fell silent, she looked down at Aaron, still unconscious; slumping to her knees she placed a hand onto his face. Tears began welling in her eyes again as she heard the truth that Melissa told her.

“Think about it for a second,” Melissa started, “how the hell is Ryker and you supposed to protect everyone when I have a lump of dead weight on my back and you’re scared to your core about fighting. He saw your apprehension; he can’t protect both you and his brother while staring down three fully armored men. So he did what he had to do in order to protect all of us, he bought us enough time to get away,” her words echoed through the cave and Sarah’s mind and rang true. She continued, “He knew you were scared and yet he still trusted you enough to fight back in his place for when he was gone. I don’t think he could’ve done what he did if he didn’t know we would still be here to protect his little brother now.”

Sarah sat in silence, listening to MelissaSarah’s speech. The tears finally fell from her face as she dove back into her wifes warm embrace. She silently sobbed into her chest, and pounded the floor next to them, the ground seemed to shake with every strike.

“I- you're right Melissa,” Sarah quietly said in between the last of her sobs, “I shouldn’t doubt Ryker like that.”

“That's right, hell knowing him he might even be on his way towards us right now! I bet he beat those sons of a bitches up and is just wandering around looking for us.”

Sarah laughed, and kissed her wife, it was a warm kiss and lasted for what seemed like forever. They enjoyed their intimate moment before finally pulling apart. Sarah replaced her head upon her wife's chest.

“You taste like sweat,” she remarked. The two of them burst into laughter, their hope regained and smiles returned. They embraced each other and readied themselves for the future; when the two of them heard footsteps from the cave entrance.

“I think I heard something deep in the cave,” a deep, masculine voice said. 

“I’m telling your Reyes, you’re hearing things again,” another higher pitched yet still distinctly male voice echoed through the cave, “Our orders were to find the conglomeration soldiers we routed, and I highly doubt there's a hundred soldiers hiding in this dank cave.”

The distinct sound of armor shuffling and clucking that the married couple was all too familiar with today crept closer to their hiding spot. Sarah scanned the cave floor for the sword that Ryker had given her, and spotted it easily. It was halfway across the cave, lying on the floor from where she first sat down, right in front of the elves. She glanced over the boulder to look at the ones who had nearly discovered them, there were only two of them. They wore simple chain mail and had each had a spear in hand and a sword by their side. Sarah hid back down by Melissa, who had scooped up Aaron in her arms. They exchanged a glance before Sarah gestured over to her discarded sword on the ground across from them. 

“Right, and if there were some injured or straggling soldiers hiding out in here, don’t you think it would be a good idea to capture them like we’re supposed to,” the deep voiced elf said.

“Tch, always thorough aren’t you?”

“Excuse me for wanting to do my job.”

“And excuse me for not wanting to catch blackfoot again.”

“Not my fault you have the immune system of a newborn Grita.”

Sarah listened as the two of them got closer to their boulder, hoping that their argument distracted them long enough for her to grab her sword and defend her family. She reached further towards the sword, nearly brushing against, she was almost there.

“Hey!”

Sarah pulled her arm back as quick as an Eel, holding it tight against her mouth as she tried desperately not to scream. She glanced back towards the elves, trying to determine if they saw her or not. Sarah sighed in relief, their argument was simply continuing.

“That's a low blow Reyes, I don’t make fun of your shortcomings.”

“My shortcomings are just annoying positive traits. You barely passed your military aptitude test and-Ow,” Reyes was suddenly cut short as he banged his foot on a nearby rock.

“Damn caves, can’t see a finger for my hand in here,” he cursed under his breath. He reached down to pick up the offending rock before stopping in bewilderment. He picked up the sword from the ground and inspected it in the sunlight.

“Hey Tos?”

“Yes,” Tos replied.

“Isn’t this Captain Treya’s sword?”

Tos moved closer to his companion and took the sword for himself, he held it aloft in front of the cave entrance, “Well by Zanzar’s scales I think it is,” he exclaimed, “What do you think it's doing here?” 

The two of them exchanged a look before facing deeper into the cave and brandishing their spears. They took quicker steps deep into the cave and arrived right in front of Sarah and Melissa’s boulder. Tos cautiously inched closer to the other side of it, Sarah’s sword still in his hand he raised his spear up defensively. 

“Well, no point hiding now,” Sarah simply stated. She lifted herself off the ground and jumped on top of Tos, flinging Melissa’s sword out of his hands; it clattered to the ground with a metallic clank and spun towards Melissa’s feet. She quickly scooped up the weapon into her hands and rushed the other elf. Reyes quickly lifted his spear to his chest as Melissa crashed into him as well, bringing them both down to the floor.

Tos quickly regained his balance and sprung to his feet, backing away from Sarah as he did in an attempt to put some distance between himself and the mad woman in front of him. Sarah leapt backwards and pulled a loose stone from the ground and in a puff of earth she threw the rock at him. It knocked against the side of his helmet, bringing out a loud and deep ringing sound as it turned into a makeshift bell. Reyes once again lost his balance and dropped to his knees, his spear clattering from his hands as he held his hands up to his ears in pain.

“Madness woman,” he half yelled half mumbled out, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Avoiding capture,” Sarah replied back, picking up another rock and chucking it at Reyes, this one striking him in his chest. Sarah rushed towards him, and scooped up the spear for herself. Reyes rose back to his feet, one hand nursing his growing concussion as he drew his side sword with his free hand.

“Little bit of help here Tos,” he asked, raising his sword defensively.

“A little preoccupied here,” he said as he furiously tried to block the vicious untrained swipes coming from Melissa as she drew ever nearer. Melissa did not fight fair, at every opportunity she kicked and pulled whatever unfortunate limb was within her reach, the sword swinging madly in her hands. Tos was rapidly losing ground and his back was almost against the cave wall. With his partner preoccupied with the other woman he had to act fast or else Melissa was going to kill him.

He dodged another of her wild strikes as it tore into the cavern wall with red sparks; he dug into the floor with the sharpened point of his spear and used it like a shovel, flinging dirt and sand at Melissa. She yelped as the soil flew directly into her face and stopped her assault to wipe her eyes free from the obstruction. Tos seized the moment, and tackled Melissa to the ground; he rested his knee upon her chest as she punched vainly at his armor, making disruptive clangs as she did so, as well as a sizable dent. Tos turned towards his partner just in time for him to scream out in pain as his spear dug deep into his leg.

Melissa seized her chance while the elf on top of her was distracted. She shoved him off of herself and reacquired her weapon, jumping back at the confused Tos she sank he blade deep into the ground next to his shoulder. Befuddled, she pulled up on the blade but was stopped as her target grabbed onto it with a gloved hand. Melissa pulled with all her might, trying to dislodge the sword from her captor, but she was exhausted now and had no strength to free her only weapon. She let go of it and backed away from the elf, who stood up and cracked his neck, popping the joints with his free arm.

Behind him,s Sarah screamed out in pain, Reyes had finally received from her assault, catching his spear underneath his arm pit and broke the wooden shaft of it in two. Splinters flew everywhere as Sarah held the useless stick in her hands. She looked, dumbfounded at what had happened, and threw the stick at her attacker. He swatted it away like an annoying bee and calmly walked up to Sarah. He towered over her as she gave a defiant look at him, he hated that look and punched her squarely in her jaw causing her to yelp. She fell to the floor in a heap, clutching her jaw in pain.

Reyes grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to where Tos was, who had already subdued Melissa; she sat by his feet, a sword pointing squarely at the back of her head. He threw Sarah to her wife who quickly latched onto each other.

“You were saying about how no one could be hiding here,” Reyes said in annoyance.

“Har har har, how's your head huh,” Tos retorted back.

“Keep it up and i’ll let the one you were dealing with have a sword again.”

“Speaking of, I don’t think these are conglomerate soldiers.” 

“Well now that its mentioned, they don’t look or even fight like soldiers,” Reyes observed. He crouched down to their level and grabbed Melissa’s face, holding her in his hands like a cat.

“By Zanzar’s scales, I don’t even think they’re Anuri. They don’t have ears and their eyes, they aren’t Gemsti or Chuillruian.”

“Fuck, are these who I think they are?”

“But how did Reylour’s project get out here in the sticks,” Reyes asked, releasing Melissa from his grasp. The two humans at his feet looked up in terror; they were going back to that hell they just escaped from? The two embraced each other and brought their heads low to the ground. The two elves above them pondering as to what to do with their new prisoners.

“Sarah,” Melissa whispered, “What are they gonna do to us?”

“It doesn’t matter what they do to us,” Sarah whispered back , “What's important is that Aaron still hasn’t been discovered.”

The realization dawned on Melissa, in the commotion the two elves they had been fighting had completely missed their son, who was still unconscious behind the boulder they were first taking shelter behind. All they had to do now was prevent them from doing anymore searching of the cave. Her eyes darted back and forth between the elves above them and her son behind them, she wanted desperately to reach out and grab him so they could run but stifled herself. That would only lead to them getting killed.

“Well whatever they are,” Reyes continued, snapping the couple back to reality, “They need to be brought in. Reylour is requesting any strange creatures to be reported directly to him.”

“Right, let's bring these two in and see if we can collect a reward huh,” Tos commented, greed filling his eyes.

“I swear, that laziness and greed of yours is gonna get you killed someday.”

“How about today,” a femienine voice asked from behind them all. The elves turned towards the source, and found a dark silhouette blocking the sunlight from the entrance of the cave. Her armor shone like a fiery star as the light glared off in all directions. At her side was a long cylindrical device, she held it one hand and slowly approached the group in front of her.

“You,” Sarah uttered out, “You’re that person who was chasing us before!”

The woman in front of her nodded slowly, confirming Sarah's suspicions,  “The sounds of your fight led me straight here,” she said, “and I gotta say you two fight loud.” She lifted her helmet from her head, allowing her braided hazel hair to flow freely again. Her elongated ears adorned with varying rings only added to the shining glare she emitted. 

“Sorry fellows, these two are under the jurisdiction of the conglomeration now. Leave them be and I swear on Kl’i I won’t kill you.”

“Right, with that blunt spear you got there,” Tos quizaciously asked, “How about we just kill you and-” He was cut short as a short ripped through the air like a wipe. The bullet broke cleanly through his chest, leaving a golf ball sized hole where his heart oughta be. He collapsed onto the ground in an instant, the smell of blood replaced the musty stench of the cave while Reyes watched in horror as his comrade was killed instantly. From below them, Sarah screamed and bore deep into Melissa.. 

“You,” he started, gripping his sword with an unimaginable rage, “You bastard!” He rushed at the one who killed Tos, his sword primed and ready to slide deep into her throat; the female elf blocked the attack with her gun and pushed Reyes to the ground. She reached for her belt and grabbed a dagger before kicking the one at her feet in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.

He coughed and spurted, vomiting up his lunch as he stared back at the elf, “What are you waiting for,” he asked. He lunged at her again, but was met with another swift kick in the diaphragm. Reyes rolled backward onto his back and held his chest tight, he couldn’t breath and struggled to pick himself up as his attacker approached him with her dagger in hand, holding it to her wrist in preparation. 

“Oh merciful Thantos, please allow this lost one into your ranks for the day of Yhiy, allow him to redeem himself on Aramoks forge and be cleansed in Kl’i’s water,” she started kneeling on the floor, she grabbed his hair and pulled Reyes to his knees. She brought the knife to his exposed throat, and quickly ran its length across it. Warmed blood dripped down its blade and onto her hands. She dropped the now dying soldier onto the floor, and bowed to both him and Tos; he spat at her feet, blood and bile spatterting onto her boots as he stared upwards in pure hatred, the shine of his eyes finally dying out. She sheathed the dagger onto her belt and approached Melissa and Sarah, who were speechless at the sight before them.

“Well that's one problem down, now onto my actual objective,” she said. Melissa And Sarah reddied themselves for a fight but the elf before them calmly walked right on by and onto the boulder they were trying to protect; peeking over the back of it. 

“Ah, there he is,” she said, picking up Aaron from the ground. Sarah ran to grab her son, still thinking him unconscious but found a surprising sight. Aaron stood on his own, clutching his head as he looked worriedly at his mother.

“Aaron,” the two of them yelled in unison, embracing their son in a deep and warm embrace, “How long have you been awake?”

“Around the time those two guys finally caught you,” he answered, “I wanted to help, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t help, I'm sorry.” Aaron started to weep, his mother's tears also began to flow again as they embraced their son. The three of them were just happy to be alive as their love was evident for all to see. 

“Ahem, Where's my thank you,” the female elf asked sarcastically. Sarah shot her a cold glare. The elf held her hands up in surrender, worried that she might have offended them. Sarah sighed, and walked up to their rescuer and held out an open hand, inviting her to shake it. The elf was confused, but gingerly took up Sarah's hand before it was violently shook up and down.

“Thank you,” Melissa said, walking over with Aaron at her side, “Thank you for saving us. What is your name?”

“I am known as Anjali Therosduaghter, but you may just call me Anjali.”

“Pleased to meet you Anjali,” Sarah continued, “How did you even find us here?”

“Oh you were pretty easy to track for a while, but then you got smart. It took some wandering, but I overheard the sounds of a fight from this area and followed it right to you two putting up a solid fight.”

 “I’m assuming you didn’t come here just to save us then, you had an ulterior motive here for rescuing us. You were with the others who captured my son, Ryker, correct?”

“Yes that is right. My orders were to bring you under the custody of my Military company and I do intend to carry them out.”

“Why? So you can just imprison us again?”

“What? No no no! Our orders were simply to secure whatever package was being transported here and made sure it arrived safely into our care.”

“So you aren’t planning on killing us like you did to these two here?”

Anjali pulled out her sword and fell to one knee, resting the sword point in the dirt. She placed both hands on the pommel as if she was praying.

“I swear, no harm will come to you or your family for as long as I can allow it.”

“And what about Ryker, where is he?”

“I swear I will protect him as well, he might even be the most protected right now, as the ones who captured him should currently be back in our campgrounds being treated by one of our medics.”

Melissa and Sarah exchanged a look, a look of worry and of questioning. They gazed down at Aaron, whose head continued to bleed down his face as he swayed back and forth ready to pass out again; he started to shiver. Exhaling deeply they turned towards Anjali and allowed her to lift herself above them again.

“Fine,” Melissa said calmly, “We’ll trust you for now, but Aaron is gonna need medical treatment soon. We all are.”

“Of course of course, follow me, it's not a far hike from here,” Anjali said as she led the humans out of the cave and into the sunlight once again.