Mira's Hope (9 page)

They quickly finished their meal and cleaned
up their campsite. Twoit returned, her belly looking much rounder
and headed straight back to Galena’s pack. She had just put her
belt on and was swinging her pack onto her back, when she
stopped.

“How much longer...” Tark started to ask
before Galena held up a hand to silence him.

She heard something a little ways away. It
sounded like a child crying and calling out. The voice that
responded back filled Galena’s veins with ice. It was the gravelly
voice of a torlic. Galena didn’t waste time, but sprinted in the
direction of the crying child. She didn’t care if Elenio and Tark
were following her; she had to stop the torlics from hurting that
child.

She raced around trees and leaped over
underbrush and fallen logs, her sword banging her leg and her pack
thumping dully on her back as she ran. She dodged under limbs and
threw vines from her path with the winds she sent ahead, all the
while she kept the sound of the crying child ahead of her. She
vaguely realized Tark and Elenio were following her by the sound of
them running over twigs and branches that snapped under their
feet.

They were getting closer now, she could hear
the child begging for her mother and the torlics laughing in
response.

“Don’t worry little one, we promise to be
quick,” one of the torlics told the screaming child. Galena dropped
her pack from her back, pulled her sword from its scabbard, and
leaped into the clearing where the torlics stood in a circle around
a small elf girl, no older than five or six, laughing mercilessly
at the crying figure. One of the great ugly brutes bent down to
pick the child up by her neck. Anger swelled in Galena as it had
never before and leaping over a dead tree, she went charging toward
the group of torlics, letting loose a battle cry that startled even
the trees around her.

Surprised, the torlics turned to face their
attacker to which the nearest one was met with Galena’s blade.
Instantly, the torlic erupted with fire, howling as he fell to the
ground. By now, the torlics had gotten over their surprise when
Elenio and Tark burst into the clearing as well, swords ready.
Galena engaged two more torlics into battle. The first one met her
blade with his own, trying to use brute strength to force Galena to
the ground. She avoided this by sliding her blade down the length
of his and spinning around and out of his reach. She plunged her
sword deep into the belly of the other who was trying to come up
behind her as she fought against the first. Pulling her sword from
his gut, she turned her attention back to the first one as he
charged her. With a sweep of her hand, she sent him flying twenty
feet into a giant tree, breaking his back when he collided. He fell
to the ground, dead. She turned to see that Elenio and Tark had
finished theirs off as well.

Wiping her blade on the ground, she turned
toward the small child that had captured her attention in the first
place. The little girl elf had golden hair that hung to her waist.
Her piercing blue eyes reminded Galena of Elenio’s. She had on a
simple dress in various shades of green. She regarded Galena with
awe as she sat with her mouth agape.

“Peace. What’s your name?” Galena bent down
so she was at eye level with the crouching figure. She spoke softly
to her, so as not to frighten her further.

“Quona.”

Galena had to lean closer to hear her. It was
amazing that just moments before, she’d heard this tiny elf not
quite half a mile away.

“Where’s your mother?”

“I ran away.”

So, her mother had to be in the woods
somewhere. Galena scanned the trees, but didn’t have to look very
long before, what appeared to be her mother, was running toward
them at that moment. She had long, golden hair as well and the same
bright, blue eyes. Her own face was tear streaked too. She rushed
to the little girl, sweeping her off her feet, and hugging her
fiercely.

“Don’t you ever run away like that again,”
her mother scolded her as she continued to hold her close. The
woman seemed to take in her surroundings for the first time since
entering the clearing and noticed Galena, Tark, and Elenio. Her
eyes widened in surprise when she saw the weapons they carried and
the torlics around them.

“You did this?” she asked indicating the
fallen bodies.

“I heard your daughter’s cries and couldn’t
let them take her.”

“There are more in the village, that’s why I
ran. They were going through our home,” the little elf piped
in.

“Sshhh, hold your tongue,” her mother scolded
once more.

“How many?” Tark asked, stepping up beside
Galena.

“At least twenty, maybe more. They’re going
in and out of the homes, so it’s hard to say for sure. They’re
looking for someone and I’m guessing that someone is you.” She
placed her daughter back on the ground and taking a firm grip of
her hand, stood straight to face them once more. “There have been
rumors of torlic bodies found all throughout Tomiro, but the
stories were that they were fighting among themselves. We’d never
seen that before, but stranger things have happened. It seems that
the stories were wrong though.”

Galena nodded gravely, seeing no point in
denying the truth.

“Well, this is an interesting twist
indeed.”

“Were the torlics still searching your
village when you left?” Elenio asked. He too had come up to stand
on the other side of Galena.

“Yes. They’ve been there the last couple of
days. I do believe they enjoy torturing us.”

Galena glanced first at Elenio and then Tark;
both nodded in an unspoken agreement.

“Lead the way my good elf, it seems you have
a pest problem that we could be of assistance with,” Tark said,
sweeping his hand in the direction that the elf woman had come.

Chapter
Twelve

The elf introduced herself as Amrick before
she led them toward the village. As they approached the outer
houses, Amrick held a finger to her lips, indicating they needed
stealth to get any further.

Galena nodded, showing she understood.

Amrick pointed to them and then the village.
She then pointed to herself and Quona and pointed to a little home
that was within sight. She would take her daughter home to safety
while the other three went into the village to see if any torlics
were interested in a fight.

This time, Tark nodded in understanding. They
stood their ground as they watched Amrick scoop up the little elf
and race back to her home, shutting the door behind her. Galena
looked first to Tark and then Elenio. They set their packs down
where they were and noisily headed toward the village. She had no
intention of sneaking into it though. She wanted as many torlics to
notice her as soon as possible, so they would all come out to
play.

Getting her sword out and ready, she waited
as the others did the same and then strode toward the village,
making as much noise as she could. She hoped everyone would pop
their heads out to see who was making all the commotion.

“How long do you think we should stay here?”
she said, not bothering to keep her voice down in the least.

Grinning, Elenio reached over and grabbed her
hand, kissing the top of it while they continued to make their way
through the woods. “Are you trying to start a fight?” he said,
still grinning at her.

“Was it that obvious?” she said, trying to
look innocent.

“I’m glad. I’m getting tired of hiding and
running away,” Tark said, keeping his eyes trained in front of
him.

They continued on that way, not bothering to
make the least attempt to keep their voices down. However, even
with the noise, Galena heard footsteps approaching behind, but they
were staying behind.
Probably getting ready for an ambush,
Galena thought with grim satisfaction.
Good let them think that
they have the upper hand.
Galena gave Elenio’s hand a brief
squeeze before catching his eyes with her own. Silently, she
conveyed to him what she heard and he nodded wordlessly.

They passed several more houses that had been
built closer together when they neared the center of the village.
She knew it was the center by the lack of buildings, the packed
dirt that indicated several elves passed this way, and the vendor
stalls lining the area all around. She marched right to the middle
and called as loudly as she could without screaming.

“Come out, come out, we want to play. I am
the one your master has sent you out to find. Come and see what
your master thought he destroyed.”

Elenio and Tark stood with their backs to
Galena and each other so they formed a sort of triangle. They all
stood and watched as the Torlics in clumps approached the trio.
They wore wicked smiles on their faces and laughed humorlessly.
Galena smiled in return, wiping the grins off some the torlics’
faces who were approaching her. Anger coursed through her as she
thought of all the elves these monsters had tortured over the
years. No more, she would see to that.

The torlics removed their own blades, maces,
and axes as the approached, seemingly in no hurry, but excited
nonetheless. Galena began to see the faces of the other elves,
poking their heads out doors and looking through windows. She hoped
that they had enough common sense to stay out of the way.

The torlics gathered completely around them.
If they wanted to escape, there would be no way out now.

“Well, what do you think? In the mood for a
little exercise, or should I do away with all of them in one blow?”
Galena called loudly to the other two.

At this, the torlics began to laugh at her,
missing what Elenio and Tark said in response.

“I wouldn’t mind making short work of a
couple,” Elenio said, eyeing the giant beasts in front of him.

“We’ll call out when we’ve had enough fun,”
Tark said, grinning viciously at another group.

“Fair enough,” Galena said, and then she
charged. She swung her blade in a downward arch, the torlic raised
his blade up to deflect it just as Galena switched the course of
her blade’s path and cut the beast in half. Another one meant to
attack her from behind, but raising her sword up over her head, she
blocked his blow and kicked out with her leg. Her foot caught him
in the groin, causing him to double over in pain. Taking advantage
of his position, she removed his head in one swipe, using the
momentum from the swing to block her next attacker. This time, she
thought of a gale of wind as she swung out at the oncoming torlics,
sending them flying high into the air and landing with a horrible
crunching sound as their legs broke with the fall.

Two more approached from either side. One
swung his ax at Galena’s neck, to which she dropped down to a
crouch, spun and swung out her leg, swiping the giant beast’s legs
out from under him. He fell back, his huge ax imbedding itself deep
within his chest. She stood quickly, blocking another blow that was
aimed at her head. She swept her blade out and thought of fire as
she swung the sword toward his belly. The moment her blade met his
skin, he caught fire. The torlic screamed out in pain, his entire
body burning brightly. He stumbled around for a moment, catching
several other torlics on fire when he bumped into them.

She was striking down two more in a single
swipe, when she heard Tark calling out. She stopped and looked
around at a dozen more charging toward them, ready to have their
turn in battle. She grinned at a charging monster as he approached
her and waving a hand in front of her, he caught fire instantly. He
howled out in pain before he too fell to the ground. She stood
then, looking around. Elenio was still fighting, as was Tark. She
sent a large rock flying into the back of one’s head as he was
charging Tark from behind. He fell instantly where he was.

Enough,
she thought. With that, every
last torlic was sent flying miles into the air in every direction,
landing several hundred feet away from the village. Galena
seriously doubted they had a chance of surviving that kind of
fall.

The ones they killed with swords or by other
means, she set ablaze. She found it so much easier to do this than
try to gather them up and burn them all in a large pile. They
didn’t deserve the extra attention. Once she saw that nothing
remained of the creatures, but their ashes, she caused a heavy rain
to fall, washing away the remains of the foul smelling piles.

When the mud mixed with the ashes until
nothing was left, Galena stopped the rain. The three of them still
stood in the center of the village, soaked through, but otherwise
unharmed.

“I don’t know about you two, but I think I’m
going to skip training tonight,” Elenio said, replacing his sword
in his scabbard.

“Here, here,” Tark replied, doing the
same.

Galena just shook her head, amused with the
other two. She was glad they could make jokes in light of the
situation. “I don’t know why you two are so tired. I’m the one that
did most of the work.”

To this, Elenio grabbed her arm and hauled
her to him. He wrapped his arm around her neck and rubbed her head
so hard she was sure she would have to shave her head in order to
get all the tangles out. She had not had time to braid her hair
before they had sped off to save Quona and now, she was sorely
regretting it. Her hair hung well below her waist when she didn’t
put it up.

She thought about blowing Elenio off his feet
and into the nearest tree, but realized that with him still hanging
onto her, she would be blown into a tree as well. She settled for
biting the side of his chest until he let go, howling with pain.
Once free, she grinned. It was then that she noticed other elves
coming out from their homes in groups. All of them wore the same
amazed expression. It was a look of awe and unbelief, mixed with a
trace of fear. She didn’t blame them. No one in history, since the
first war, had dared take on a torlic and win. Moreover, it had
been equally as long since anyone had used magic without dying.