Shyria (14th)

We got back to camp and everything was already packed up including mine and Faeron’s stuff. Jarret came up and handed him the bag with all our stuff in it and then he just walked away which was very strange. He always said good morning, but he seemed upset for some reason. Faeron chased after him like he always did.

We all headed out and Faeron and Jarret stayed behind the rest of us so I just had the hunters that were traveling with us surrounding me. I know the elder only sent them with us so we would have some body guards because that is exactly what they acted like there was one on each side of me and one in front of me and one behind me. It started to get irritating though. I finally got to where I could not take it anymore.

“Do you guys have to surround me all the time?” I asked, almost screaming it at them.

“The elder asked that we keep you safe.” The one in front of me stated.

“I do not need someone to protect me.” I said as they all scattered and started walking behind me.

“Wow,” Denyse started as she walked up to me. “You really hate people thinking you need to be watched out for.”

“It bothers me I am not some little girl that needs a babysitter to watch over her all the time.” I stated stubbornly. “I was doing this by myself before this I can take care of myself.”

“Yeah but if something happens to you everything that we are doing will be pointless.” She stated.

“I guess that is true. “What is going on with Jarret?” I asked so we did not stay on the subject anymore.

“I do not know every time I ask he says he cannot tell me.” She said looking back at Faeron and Jarret. “Since he is the elder’s son he cannot tell me much.”

“I did not know he was the elder’s son.” I stated.

“He does not tell many people, I think the only one he actually told was Faeron, I just over heard them talking.” She said almost sounding saddened about it.

“Why? Is he ashamed of it?” I asked.

“Everyone treats him different when they know.” She stated. “It is almost like he’s royalty or something.”

“Yeah I know what that is like.” I said with a smile.

We started making camp then. Jarret was avoiding me and Faeron was just staying away. I put my sleeping bag in the tent and I just set out for a walk in the woods. I knew the hunters were following me but at least they were giving me my space. I did not understand why Jarret was avoiding me and why after Faeron talked to him he was just staying away from me. I wondered if they knew anything about who I was supposed to marry and did not want to say anything to me.

I headed back to camp and climbed into the tent and fell asleep. Faeron never came into the tent, but Denyse did and that really bothered me. Tears filled my eyes but I just covered my face with my sleeping bag. I did not do anything wrong so why was he mad at me. After laying there for over an hour I finally fell asleep though.

We packed up in silence and left. We made it to the Dwarven city before nightfall. There was a big solid brass door blocking the entrance though. The city was burrowed into a mountain. I did not believe that they could have a whole city burrowed into a mountain but somehow they did. The city was big too; it had like four layers of just houses and shops. We walked in and worked our way to the tavern they had there to see if we could figure out how to see the king. When we walked in a blonde dwarven guy came running up to me and hugged me.

“Lyali, you’re alive.” He exclaimed.

“I am not Lyali.” I answered as the elven hunters pulled their weapons.

“Oh, I am sorry.” He said as he turned away with a look like I had just ripped his heart out of his chest and shoved it down his throat.

“I am her daughter.” I stated.

“What?” He asked as he turned to face me again this time with a glimpse of hope in his eyes.

“Lyali was my mother. My name is Shyria.” I answered smiling.

“I thought everyone died in the massacre if anyone would have gotten out I thought it would have been Lyali.” He stated shocked at my answer.

“No it was Marrialli and me. My mother gave her life for me.” I answered.

“So it is true then. There is going to be a war.” He said. “Everything I was told was true. Marrialli did not lie.”

“Yep I am going to take my kingdom back.” I answered. “Who are you?”

“I am Temkin.” He stated. “I was very close friends with your mother and grandfather. Please let me buy you a drink?” He asked as he showed us to a table in the back of the tavern.

He left to get the drinks and then came back quickly. The elven hunters sat at the table right next to us with Faeron, Denyse, and Jarret. I was really irritated that they wouldn’t even sit with me and I was sick of being watched like a dog. Temkin sat back down and handed me the drink he bought me and then the elven hunters just watched while Faeron tried to act like nothing was happening.

“What are you doing down here?” He asked.

“I need to speak to your king.” I answered. “We are trying to recruit an army.”

“I can get an audience with him for tomorrow morning if you need?” He questioned.

“That would be wonderful.” I stated relieved.

“Why are all these people watching you?” He asked noticing the hunters and Faeron.

“The elder from one of the elven camps wants me to have basically body guards so that nothing will happen and three of them are my friends.” I answered.

“Well why are your friends not over here with you right now?” He asked a little louder than we had been talking. “And if Lyali is your mother you shouldn’t need to be protected.”

“I do not know.” I answered as they all got up and came and sat by us. “And for the record I don’t need to be protected.”

“This is almost exactly how I met your grandmother.” He stated looking at the table.

“What?” I asked with a smile.

“She came in with your grandfather who was a really good friend of mine and your cousins. She was sitting right where you are and your grandfather was next to her.” He stated. “I also got them an audience with the king and your grandfather proposed to her in this very city. It was a lot smaller then.”

“How can you remember that?” I asked.

“I do not know.” He answered with a smile. “But I assume the guy with the dark hair is your boyfriend.”

“Yeah let’s not get into that right now.” I said as I chugged the rest of the drink he bought me.

“They have rooms here at the tavern if you guys would like to have some place to sleep.” He stated.

Shortly after that we said goodnight and we made our way to get rooms for all of us in the inn there and then headed up to them. The guys sent Denyse to sleep in the room with me. I had it by then. I stormed over to their room and knocked awfully loud on their door. I was even Angrier when Jarret barely cracked the door to see who it was.

I pushed the door open and made my way into the room “What the hell is going on?” I asked looking at both of them.

Jarret looked at the floor. “We are not supposed to tell you.” He said not looking up at me at all.

I got angry with that answer and refused to leave it at that. “When you are not supposed to tell someone something you are not supposed to let them know that something is going on either now you have already failed so tell me.” I demanded.

He continued to stare at the floor. “We are supposed to get married.” Jarret answered.

“What?” I asked, completely shocked at his answer.

“I am the man you are supposed to marry.” He reluctantly repeated.

“I cannot… How… Why did you guys not just tell me?” I stuttered as I dropped to my knees out of shock.

“Because you are not supposed to know until your… Well our wedding day.” He answered.

“Not to be a mood killer but that means I had relations with your wife.” Faeron stated, with a smirk on his face. “And well killing him is also out of the question now.”

“It is not funny.” I said as I hit him in the knee.

“I know it is not. Shyria you are going to be marrying my best friend.” He stated. “It is not funny at all to me. I am joking about it so that the fact alone does not eat me alive.”

“You cannot tell anyone.” Jarret said. “If you do my mother will be pissed at me.”

“There has to be a way around it.” I answered. “There has to be something we can do to stop this.”

“We do not know, all we know is we got the news from the southern elves, they could not find the rest of the paperwork. We think it is still in the castle.” He stated.

“Why do things have to change though?” I started. “Denyse does not know why can we not just go back to the way things were before we found this out?”

He looked at me for the first time since we started talking. “You would not mind?” He asked with hope in his voice. “It wouldn’t bother you at all?”

“No not at all, well it will still bother me that we are supposed to get married but I am going through the exact same thing right now and I just want to be with Faeron as along as possible.” I stated as Jarret helped me off of the ground. “I mean it does not have to be all bad either. We can find a way out of this.”

“I am going to get Denyse.” Jarret said as he left the room with a grin from ear to ear.

Faeron and I walked back to the room and we saw Jarret carrying Denyse out with a huge smile on his and her face. We walked into the room and we lied down on the bed together. Faeron started running his fingertips up and down the scar on my back. I fell asleep almost right after that.

Would this make a Good cover?

Painting that I did for one of my books

Shyria (13th)

I woke up when Faeron and Jarret came back. I overheard them talking about the celebration and that I was supposed to speak to everyone. I was so tired that I just fell back asleep though. I felt Faeron come in and lie down on the bed with me but that was it. He woke me up a few hours later.

“Come on my love we have got to go. You are going to sleep through the celebration.” He said running his hand up and down my side.

“How did you wake up before me?” I asked rolling over to face him.

“I’d rather not sleep than miss any time I could be spending with you.” He answered kissing my neck a couple of times.

“Can we just stay here?” I asked jokingly even though I knew we couldn’t.

“I wish, the elder said we only had to stay for the first half since we have to leave in the morning though.” He answered smiling and gently kissing my jaw bone right underneath my ear.

“I just want to stay here with you.” I stated rolling over to face him. I kissed him with his lips overlapping mine slowly pulling away from him. “I do not want to go.”

“We are going to be late as much as I would love to stay here we have to go.” He said kissing me, then getting out of the bed and helping me up.

Jarret and Denyse were waiting by the door when we came out of the room.  We walked to the platform in the middle of the town and the elder was thanking everyone for their help with the preparations for the war. Then there was a feast but I was not really hungry so I just drank the drinks that were being handed out.

“My dear,” The elder said as she came up by me and Faeron. “You look exhausted.”

“I am.” I replied with a smile.

“Well they all recognized you from your mother and grandmother.” She said with a smile. “How does it feel to bring hope to many people at the same time?”

“It feels great but I am really tired I just want to get more sleep.” I answered smiling back.

“Faeron you should escort her back to the house and help her get into bed. We need to discuss some stuff though so you need to come straight back.” She said with a huge smile.

“Yes ma’am.” He answered standing up and helping me up after wards.

We walked back to the house. He had his arm around my waist the entire time. I could not help but wonder what the elder wanted to talk to him about though. He walked me into the bedroom said good night and kissed me. I watched him leave and then I fell right back to sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night while Faeron and everyone was passed out. I grabbed the swords that Faeron combined for me and snuck out of the house and into the woods. It was a lot lighter than I had expected though. I swung it at the trees and it seemed as if it was sharper and easier to move. It felt awkward though but the handle was fit perfectly for my hand and there was room for both hands if I need.

I practiced with it for hours. It was easy to move it and it performed perfectly with my tactics. It swung with more power than I ever swung my swords before. I could get into trees easier and quicker. I loved the freedom I had with my extra hand and it was better because I could catch myself.

I cut down two trees at the same time, one from in front of me and one behind me. I could not believe how powerful it made me feel, it was the same two swords I had been using all along they were just one now. I jumped into a tree to see how far in it I could get without trouble and then I heard footsteps coming toward me so I jumped back out of the tree. Then Faeron walked up.

“You are amazing with that.” He said.

“How long have you been watching me?” I asked startled.

“Not that long I just came to tell you that we have got to get ready to go.” He started. “Have you looked at it yet?”

“Yeah but it was dark.” I answered. “Why?”

“Look at it again.” He requested.

I looked at again like he wanted me to and the emeralds that were at the end of the handles were going around the middle of the handle in two rows. In between the emeralds engraved in the black steel was Shyria I will always love you. Tears filled my eyes as I dropped it. I ran to him and embraced him as the tears started flowing. He wrapped his arms around me and started playing with my hair.

“We better get going.” He said after he kissed me on the forehead and pulled away.

“Yeah we probably should.” I answered as I wiped my tears and ran over and grabbed my weapon.

“How did you think of combining your swords anyways?” He asked as we started walking back.

“Umm well I have been coming out here and practicing a lot and I figured to try it out so I used some leather and attached them like that for a while.” I answered. “It just worked better with my tactics.”

“Are you worried about the war?” He asked looking at me and barely missing the tree in front of him.

“No not at all.” I answered shocked at his question.

“Then why are you practicing so much?” He asked glancing over at me momentarily.

“Well I practice when I need to think about stuff.” I answered blushing slightly.

“What are you thinking about so much then?” He asked.

“Just everything that is going on now or what has recently happened.” I answered as we walked in the door to his father’s house. “Like how I am going to lose you no matter what happens.”

I walked into the room Faeron and I had been sharing and put on the sheaths for my weapons. I put one of the sheaths for my swords on and put the double ended sword in it. Faeron came in while I was strapping on the sheaths for my dagger that was on my inner thighs. He grabbed the bag full of our supplies and we left.

The elder had the group that was coming with us waiting for us at the end of the town so we got Jarret and Denyse ready to go and we left. The group moved faster than I expected for having eight people total. I was extremely tired and I knew it was because I was up so early in the morning. The day was over really fast though. Before I knew it we were making camp. I headed to bed as soon as the tents were set up. I did not even bother taking the sheaths to my weapons off I just took the weapons out.

I awoke to the sounds of a pack of wolves getting closer to the camp. I grabbed my weapons and put them in the sheaths except for the double ended sword I just carried that. I snuck out of the tent without waking Faeron and followed the sounds of the wolves. They were not far from the camp at all.

They had seen me and came after me. One of the wolves jumped at me so I hit it with my sword and it fell to the ground. Three more lunged at me so I ran towards them and then slid underneath them but then I was surrounded. Then one of the wolves that I just slid under fell to the ground.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as Faeron came into view.

“I came to save you.” He said with a smirk on his face as he took down two more of the wolves and ran closer to me.

“I can save myself.” I said as I kicked him in the back of the knee which made him fall, and then I swung my double ended sword completely around which killed six of the wolves. “I do not need a hero.”

“What about when you need to be saved from yourself?” He asked as he took down the last three wolves and grabbed me and kissed me in a way that made me want him so bad.

“What are you talking about?” I asked as he pulled away and I put the double ended sword away.

“Shyria this was suicide coming out here by yourself. I understand by the elven camp because they constantly have some hunters watching out.” He started. “You do not even know where we are or if there are fugitives out here. You know if you need to think about stuff you can come and talk to me.”

“Ok.” I said as I started walking back towards the camp.

“Where are you going?” He asked sounding angry and concerned at the same time.

“I am going back to sleep.” I answered.

“Draw your sword; you are not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on.” He said as he grabbed his.

“I am not going to fight you.” I answered laughing.

“We are not fighting we are practicing.” He stated grinning like he was being clever.

I drew my sword and I ran towards a rock. He was chasing me so when I hit the rock I did a backflip over his head. He turned to swing his sword at me and I kicked him in the chest. He stumbled backwards for a second but then he got his footing and came running after me with a huge grin. I jumped into a tree but he grabbed me by my leg and caught me before I could fall to the ground. He set me down and I ran again.

I could not help but smile when I looked back at him, but he was smiling too. He swung his blade at me and I jumped over it. I kicked the sword out of his hands and then tripped him. He fell on his back and I dropped my blade. I lied down next to him in the grass. He kissed me on the cheek and then we stared into the sky.

“What are you thinking about?” He asked glancing over at me finally.

“You,” I answered as I glanced over at him.

“I want to know everything.” He stated pulling himself onto his elbow and resting his head on his fist.

“I have finally found the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with and he gets ripped away from me like everything else.” I stated with a huge sigh of disappointment. “It is not fair. No one else has to go through this.”

“Shyria I know how hard it is I am going through the exact same thing, other than you are a woman.” He stated. “But I know that is not the only thing you come out here to think about.”

“Yeah, that is true.” I started. “I also wonder if my betrothed will be anything like you, or if he is going to be an asshole. What if he will not ever let me see you, Faeron I have dreamt of ending up with guys exactly like you; I did not think I would ever meet someone like that let alone have him ripped away from me.”

“You know I never told anyone this but about a week before I found you I had a dream about meeting someone in the woods where I found you.” He started. “So for about a week I walked down there every day. My mom knows why I returned there all the time but no one else does.”

“I hate this, I try making the world better for the elven and the dwarves and I cannot be with the person I want to be with.” I answered.

“Yeah, the only reason I was doing this was for you and now I cannot even have you.” He said as he rolled over to face me. “I’d rather not live through this war than have to watch you marry someone else.”

“Me too, let’s make a deal, if we win this war and they find out who I am supposed to marry you kill me and then I will kill you.” I joked.

“Yeah but if I kill you first then how will you kill me?” He asked with a smile on his face.

“I do not know but if I am dead you will not have to watch me marry someone else.” I stated with a smile.

He laughed for a few minutes then looked back over at me. “I love you.” He said out of nowhere.

“And I love you.” I answered smiling.

I rolled over to face him then and we started kissing. He ran his hand up and down my side and then just rested his hand on my hip. We stopped kissing and then just stared into each other’s eyes for a while. Then the sun started coming up. Faeron stood up and then helped me up. We started walking back towards our camp. While we were walking Faeron grabbed my hand. I started blushing really bad.

Woot Woot!!!

Arriani Is up for sale now on my website that is listed on here if anyone wants to read the finished version and will be released on amazon kindle in 12 hours and in other countries in 48, I am so excited.

Shyria (12th)

We walked around quietly, looking for animals. We walked for maybe twenty minutes before we came across a mountain lion. I stood there with the arrow drawn back but my hands kept shaking. Faeron came up behind me though and steadied my aim. He pulled the arrow further back while holding my hand on it and then told me to release it.

“You have never used a bow before, have you?” He asked as we walked up to see if the mountain lion was dead.

“I have not; my grandpa was an expert with them though from what I was told.” I answered. “I have always just stuck to my throwing knives and my swords.”

“Well,” He started as he walked up to the mountain lion and cut its throat, picking it up and throwing it over his shoulders afterwards. “It is actually not all that hard to learn.”

“So teach me then.” I answered glancing over at him.

“I guess I will.” He answered with a huge sigh and then a big smile.

“That is what I thought.” I said jokingly  as we started walking again.

About forty minutes later we came across a bear. It was a pretty big bear though so he pulled out his bow with me. He looked at me and laughed as I did the same stance he did.

“Well you have got the stance right, pull the arrow as far back as possible and straighten your index finger out and use it to aim.” He stated. “Release the arrow when you have it all the way back and aimed. Try hitting it where my arrow hits.” He added as he released his arrow.

“Ok.” I said as I aimed the arrow and then released it.

It hit right next to where his arrow hit. I could not help but smile. He walked up to the bear and cut its throat just like he did with the mountain lion. He threw it over his shoulder on top of the mountain lion.

“This is getting heavy, I will run it back down to the leather worker and then I will be back up.” He said and then ran down the hill.

I kept walking around the mountain and then I found a little spring so I climbed into a tree and waited for animals to come by. It took a little over an hour and a half for Faeron to come back and find me. By then I had killed two wolves a deer and another mountain lion. I had another deer in my sight and I believe that was how he found me because he had no clue where I was until the deer fell to the ground.

“Well, you are good at hunting.” He said as he leant against the tree I was in.

“That is not a bad thing, is it?” I asked as I jumped out of the tree.

“No it is not, but now you are going to have to help me carry everything down.” He said with a smile as he walked up to me and kissed me quickly.

We walked and picked up all the animals I had killed. Faeron only let me carry the two wolves down the mountain.  We got back and the rest of the hunting group was skinning the animals they had killed. Faeron ran and grabbed two chairs and two skinning knives and then came back.

We sat down and started skinning them. They had a bag for each group to put their skins in.  We did not get done with it until it was night. They had used the meat from the animals to make dinner for everyone. It was kind of nice even though it was pretty gross. Our bag of skins was overflowing when we gave it to the leather worker. He thanked us and we headed back to the house. We sat outside and just stared at the moon.

“So that was really your first time hunting?” He asked out of nowhere.

“I never said that.” I answered. “It was my first time using a bow.”

“Well you were amazing.” He said as I leant against him.

“Thank you.” I said, smiling and blushing.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you look in the light of the full moon?” He asked.

“No why?” I asked.

“Because you are absolutely gorgeous.” He answered kissing my forehead.

“Thank you.” I said, turning away so that he could not see how bad I was blushing.

“I need to get some rest I am supposed to help the blacksmith tomorrow.” He said as he stood up and helped me stand up.

We walked into the house and into the room. We both just lied down on the bed. He put one of his arms under my neck and the other one just rested on my hips. He started running his fingertips up and down my thigh. He kissed me on the cheek shortly after that but I was already half asleep.

Four days later we all got woken up before the sun even came up. The southern elves had arrived so we were getting to work as early as possible. They did not let us pick what we were going to do they assigned us to jobs. Denyse and I got assigned to finding herbs in the forest.

“So anyways…” She started after a few hours of picking the herbs. “You and Faeron seem to be dealing with everything.”

“Yeah, we are just making the best of it.” I answered.

“Where have you been sneaking off to the last few nights?” She asked.

“Well I train when I have got stuff on my mind so I have been just in the woods practicing with my swords.” I answered almost amazed that she knew I was leaving.

“Well did it help you any?” She asked.

“Sort of I figured out that if my swords were combined into one two ended sword I would actually be able to maneuver better.” I stated.

“Faeron and Jarret are working with the blacksmith today so why not ask them to do it for you so that it will stay together for the battle?” She asked. “It is almost lunch time anyways and all we have to do today is fill our bags and that is already done.”

“That is a good idea.” I answered as we starting walking back to the city.

“So what do you think about when you are out there by yourself?” She asked.

“Just my future and my kingdoms future, I wonder about what would happen if things do not go right and I do die in the war, or if I lose Faeron in the war.” I started.

“You know I feel bad for you.” She stated sounding hesitant and sympathetic.

“Why?” I asked, laughing a little.

“Well you find someone that you love more than anything else in this world and you cannot even be with him.” She started. “It is cruel no one should have to go through that. And poor Faeron, he has been so broken up about it. When he wakes up in the morning and you are not there his whole world comes crashing down because he knows that he is going to have to get used to it eventually. I have never seen him like this with a girl before.”

“I try my hardest not to think about that but honestly I spend most my time hoping that the guy I am supposed to marry is dead or that they cannot find out who it is.” I said with tears welling up in my eyes. “I would rather fall off the face of the earth than have to live the rest of my life without him. I love him more than life itself. It is hard to breathe when he is not with me. My chest feels like someone is holding me down and digging their knees into my lungs every time I think about it. ”

I heard something rustling in the bushes behind us and drew my swords. I turned around quickly and waited for something to attack but nothing came out. I walked up to the bushes and started kicking them hard just in case there was someone in them. Jarret came rolling out of the last bush I kicked and Denyse and I started laughing.

“Did you have to kick so hard?” He asked rubbing his chest with a pain filled smile.

“I am sorry.” I said still laughing as I helped him to his feet. “Why were you hiding in the bushes anyways?”

“We were going to surprise you two with lunch in the forest.” He answered still rubbing his chest where I kicked him.

“Yeah we thought it would be romantic and camp is overflowing right now anyways.” Faeron said as he jumped out of the tree right next to us.

“Hey I am the only one that gets to jump out of trees to scare people, that is my move.” I said playfully pushing him.

He grabbed me by my arm and pulled me to him with a grin on his face. He kissed me and then he led me to the place in the forest that we were going to eat at with Denyse and Jarret right behind us. We all sat down and the guys laid out a sheet and pulled bowls with food in them out of the backpack that Faeron had on his back.

“So how long were you guys listening to us?” Denyse asked as they set the food out.

“Not that long.” Jarret answered with the look that a child would have when they got in trouble.

“Long enough.” Faeron whispered in my ear.

I blushed because that meant he knew what I had said about us. I do not know why I was so embarrassed of it when it was the truth. I knew he cared about me too and I had no reason to be blushing. We just sat there and ate until Jarret said something that irritated Denyse. Then we just sat there and watched her tackle him to the ground and pin him there for a while.

“We have got to get back to work.” Faeron said to Jarret when Denyse had finally let him back up.

“Yeah, you two are probably going to be late.” Jarret agreed.

“We are done we finished our work for the day.” Denyse said mockingly towards Jarret.

“Oh Faeron,” I started. “I need to ask you a favor?”

“Anything for you.” He answered holding my hand as we walked back towards the town.

“Can you combine my two swords so that there is a blade on each end?” I asked. “I move better with it like that and leather straps will not hold in a battle.”

“I can do that, especially for you.” He said with a smile.

We got back to camp shortly after that and I handed him my swords. We kissed and Denyse and I walked off to drop of the bags of herbs with the elder. We gave them to her and she just sent us back to the house to relax because we would be leaving in the morning to go talk to the dwarven king. It did not help that they were having a celebration later that night to welcome the southern elves. We both retreated into our rooms and fell asleep we were so exhausted.

Oral surgery

Just so everyone is aware I have been gone due to a horrible tooth abscess that caused my entire left side of my face to swell. Yesterday I went in for them to pull the tooth after taking antibiotics. They had to cut my gums open to get the infection out. This is why my blog has gone so long without a new post (sorry for that) The dentist said it will take a few more days for me to recover and my face to go back to normal (Thank god its not going to stay this way forever) The procedure they did is considered an oral surgery and I’m not supposed to do much for a few days. This is why I am writing this to let you know I have not given up on my blog I’ve just been really sick.  On top of this post I will be releasing the next teaser for Shyria, I am back now and feel alot better.

Shyria (11th)

Three days after I locked myself in the bedroom Denyse came in. She closed the door behind her and climbed on the bed with me. She sat on the bed for a while without saying anything at first. She cut all of the stitches out of my back since they were long overdue by now. When she finished she let out a big sigh.

“I came in here to try and make you feel better but I know that is impossible right now.” She started. “But maybe we can do something that will make you feel better?”

“What do you have in mind?” I asked as I wiped the tears from my cheeks.”

“We can do each other’s hair or we can go to the pub and get drunk.” She stated.” Or we can do both.”

“Yeah let’s do both.” I answered, attempting at a smile. I knew I would never feel any better if I locked myself up and constantly thought about him.

We did each other’s hair which started to help me feel better. I made her hair curly because she never wore it down and she looked beautiful with it down and curly made it even better. She put my hair into a ponytail which I never had all of my hair out of my face before. My hair was wavy anyways so she did not have to do much to make it look curly.

I put the necklace that Faeron bought me back on and we walked out of the room. Faeron was sitting on the chair by the couch. He had his face in his hands until the bedroom door shut. He looked up at me for a second until our eyes met then his head quickly dropped back into his hands.

It really bothered me that he did not say anything to me but we walked out of the house in silence and Jarret followed. We got to the pub and we sat down at the only table that was empty. Of course as soon as I walked in there was a bunch of whispering. It did not really bother me though, my mind was on Faeron and Faeron only at that point. Denyse and Jarret were talking and then Denyse headed up to the bar keep to get us some drinks.

“Why did he not come?” I asked quietly staring down at the table, trying my hardest not to sound like I was ready to cry again, even though I was about to.

“He is having a hard time right now; he cannot stand the thought of having to live his life without you.” He answered sounding really sympathetic. “He was planning on it though until he saw how bad you were hurting and decided it would be better if he stayed there.”

“Oh,” I answered, trying even harder not to cry.

Denyse came back and handed us our drinks. I sat there and drank it awfully quickly. A couple of drinks later Faeron walked in, but he did not come and sit by us at all. He made his way straight to the bar and sat down.  I watched as a woman walked up and sat down next to him. They started talking but after a few minutes she got up and walked away.

“Are you ok?” Denyse asked putting her hand on top of mine.

“I miss him so bad.” I answered with almost no control of my words.

I drank the rest of what was in my cup and then laid my head down on the table.  After a few minutes I just headed back to the house. I did not go to the room though; I did not even go inside the house I leant up against the wall outside. Eventually I slid down the wall until I was sitting and pulled my knees in close and cried some more. I hated how the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. I hated how he was not there for me. I hated how I could not be with him. I hated all the pity I was getting.

I was there for at least an hour crying. Denyse and Jarret came to find me but I told them that I just wanted to be alone. Truth was though I did not want to be alone; I wanted to be with Faeron. That was all I wanted. Faeron came up to me shortly after Denyse and Jarret left. I stood up and wiped my tears. We just looked at each other for a minute.

“I cannot stand to be without you anymore.” He said as he walked towards me and pushed a strand of hair that fell out of my ponytail back behind my ear.

“Faeron, I…” I started. “I… you are everything to me.”

He pulled me to him and passionately kissed me. He grabbed me by my hips and picked me up and pushed me against the wall being careful not to hurt me. He kept pushing his body against mine. He stopped kissing me just long enough to smile at me and then he started kissing me more aggressively. We were out there kissing each other until it got cold then he carried me inside the house. He set me down on the bed and took his shirt off. He then climbed on top of me.

“Faeron,” I started kissing him on the neck and chest breathing really heavily. “You are not just doing this because you have been drinking are you?”

“No, I did not even finish a drink.” He answered brushing hair out of my face again. “We can stop though if you want.”

I barely even let him finish that sentence before I started kissing him again. My body seemed to ache and tremble from the longing I had for him. I pulled his body down to mine as close as possible. He unlaced the top of my armor while kissing my chest and neck then he unlaced the bottom of my armor while he was kissing my chest.

He ran his hands up and down the sides of my naked body. I practically ripped his pants off and pulled his body back to mine. He kept one of his hands over my mouth in an attempt to keep everyone from hearing us, only lifting his hand to kiss me a few times. The passion of the moment seemed to have all the control over me and I didn’t really care if any one heard us. I never wanted to be without him again.

We woke up to a knock at the door again. Faeron put his pants on and answered it, once again not opening it enough for them to see me. It was Jarret this time and he seemed upset.

“What are you doing, you know you two cannot be together?” He questioned as he pushed the door open just enough to see the clothes all over the floor.

“We cannot be together in the end,” He started. “I will take her as long as I can have her.” He added as he looked back at me with a smile.

I could not help but blush after that.  He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him so I grabbed all my armor and put it back on, lacing it all up quickly. I walked out of the room and sure enough everyone watched me as I sat on the couch next to Faeron. Denyse smiled at me but Jarret looked pissed. Sohn and Neinna were not even there and we had no clue where they were.

“Are you crazy Faeron?” Jarret asked.  “Do you two not realize that you are just going to hurt yourselves more?”

“It is going to hurt no matter we do, I want to spend as much time with her as possible; wouldn’t you want to do the same if it was happening with you and Denyse?” He asked angrily.

“He is right Jarret,” Denyse started. “It is like as if he or she was dying, they would want to spend as much time with them as possible just for the memories.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He replied and then just left the house.

“Where are Sohn and Neinna?” I asked.

“My dad took off to take my mother back up the mountain to the house. She is doing a lot better now.” Faeron answered. “Why is he so pissed about this?”

“Because he is your best friend and the last thing he wants is to see you get hurt again.” Denyse stated.

“I guess I can understand that.” He said with an irritated tone in his voice.

“It should be easy to understand, what would you do if he was in this situation?” I asked hoping I didn’t say anything to bother him more than he already was.

“Probably the same as he does.” He answered.

“No matter how much we love each other Faeron in the end I have to marry some guy that I do not even know… unless he dies.” I added.

“Wait…” Faeron started.

“You cannot just kill him, although it was a good idea.” I interrupted, smiling at him.

“Well that was pretty much my only idea.” He said laughing a little as he stood up. “I better go talk to Jarret.”

“I should go find the elder.” I said as I got up and walked to the door. “Do you want to come with?” I asked Denyse.

“Sure.” She answered getting up and following me out.

We searched the entire camp to find her but we could not find her anywhere so we headed down to her house. She answered the door and invited us in. We sat down at the kitchen table and she offered us tea.

“So what brings you two here?” She asked.

“Well I came to see what the battle strategy is.” I stated.

“Yes we still need to decide on one of those, but we will wait for the response of the others.” She said. “And my dear I am sorry about having to tell you about you and Faeron and I know you two are trying to make the best of it.”

“Yes, we are managing.” I answered still upset but not as bad as I was.

“I understand you guys have decided to stay together until you have to split up.” She stated.

“Yes, we have, and I am happy we did, but how did you know?” I asked curious.

“I told him that you two could be together right now.” She answered with a smile. “You two make each other happy; you are the fire in each other’s hearts.”

“Thank you.” I said, blushing.

“Well we need a group of people to go to the dwarves and another group to go to the eastern camp.” She said.

“Well we can go.” I offered.

“We need the time to prepare but if you want to go when the other groups get back that would be fine.” She said. “Now we can use everyone’s help gathering leather and wood. The blacksmith can probably use some help also.”

“Why not ask some of the other elven camps to help us prepare? That would be the fastest and best way to get everything done.” I asked.

“We are, I have requested that the southern camp come help because they are great at making armor.” She stated with a smile.

“Sorry to get off subject but how am I supposed to know who I am supposed to wed?” I asked, with my heart practically breaking again.

“They usually keep paperwork on it in the castle, if it did not get thrown out or ruined.” She stated.

“And what if it did get ruined?” I asked.

“Then I do not know.” She stated. “But there is a lot of work to do, I have to get the healers ready and the new elder trained, Denyse are you ready for your training?”

“You are the next elder?” I asked in shock.

“Yes, I am.” She answered.

“How do you know who is supposed to be the next elder?” I asked. “She is my age.”

“Magical capabilities, she is very powerful, she can heal and also protect and defend, most elven only get the ability to heal but she has everything that the human mages do.” The elder answered. “It is the same with all elders.”

“Oh well I will go help the hunters gather the skins for the leather I need to practice my ranged weapons anyways.” I said as I got up and left.

I walked around until I finally found the group of hunters that were going out to hunt for the leather. They handed me a bow and a quiver full of arrows which I had never used before. Faeron came up right before we left I guess but I did not see him until we got up the mountain. They had us split up in to groups of two. They paired me and Faeron up and that was the only way that I knew he was there.