Not sure on the name yet and I think the ending needs a tweak. Enjoy!
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Darmanix wiped the Dermorian blood from his twisted blade, grinning wickedly. \"They almost die too easily,\" he said to himself, \"almost.\"
When his weapon was sufficiently clean, but not too clean, he released the torn tunic, dropping the elven body back to the ground with a light thud.
His grin dulled somewhat as he looked up and saw by the Crystal\'s light that night-time was approaching; he was due on the second grade soon, and that was quite a walk from where he was. Maybe he would cross the path of an unlucky Dermorian riding a Pterosaur, that would speed the journey up some. The thought of it restored his grin in full.
Darmanix shealthed his sword and adjusted the scabard to suit his comfort. Then, in the same casual way, he hefted the broken body of his latest play thing far into the lake, watching with pide as it sunk--pulled down by the powerful currents in a small swirl of bubbles and water.
Satisfied, he continued along the lake\'s shore, toward the Labyrinth. To save time, he decided to cut through the forest. It would also give him the chance to hunt something, something elven, he hoped.
He had only travelled for a short time through the trees, when his choice had been rewarded: kneeling and crying in the center of a clearing, was an elven child. The child was a short slender female, with long thick hair. Being color-blind, Darmanix could never really tell the difference between Nolthrir and Dermorian children as they dressed so similarly. But as she was alone on the surface, he guessed Dermorian. Not that it mattered with childern, either race\'s offspring screamed delightfully.
He was nearly overcome with excitement before he was even upon her. With a deep breath, he calmed himself; he had to stay calm. With childern the hunt was even sweeter.
As he contiuned out into the clearing, he kneeled and called to her in a common language, \"Little girl, are you alright?\" He spoke in the most innocent and sincere voice he could muster. It was most likely the feline in him that made him thrill so at playing with his prey.
With a start, the little girl turned, catching her breath as she did. Her faced was flushed and her tears had made small wet tracks down her cheeks. This one he would kill with his claws.
As he watched her, she crawled to her feet and slowly shuffled backward to the treeline.
\"Wait,\" he said, holding up a paw and trying not to sound to urgent. \"I saw you crying and came to offer help. What is wrong?\"
Still a little unsure, she took another step back. She then snuffed back against her running nose and wiped it on her sleeve. Slowly, she said, \"I was with my parents when I saw a taigen playing in the trees. I followed it but it ran faster than I could and then I lost it and I got lost and I don\'t know how to get back...\" The little girl looked like she wanted to say more but couldn\'t, she started to sob and then to cry.
By that time, Darmanix had already crossed the clearing between them and was kneeling in front of her. He reached out to her and she shuffled into his arms. \"It is alright. I will keep you safe little one,\" he cooed.
\"Javide,\" he heard her say.
\"Javide?\" he echoed, looking down at her.
\"That\'s my name,\" she answered looking back up at him with wide, wet eyes. \"I live in Yliakum.\"
\"Of course you do, Javide,\" he said to her warmly. \"My name is Darmanix and that is exactly where I\'m going as well,\" he lied.
\"Really, and I can go with you?\" her eyes were wide with need.
\"Of course you can, Javide. I could never live with myself if I left you out here alone. It is night soon and anything at all could happen to you,\" Darmanix said. He hoped his smiled looked more sincere than it felt. Not that many other races could even tell when his kind smiled.
She gave him a hard hug, reaching around his broad body as far as her young arms would allow, \"I love you, uncle Darmanix.\"
Startled, Darmanix stroked her hair and said, \"I... I love you too, Javide.\" This may be the easiest yet, he thought to himself. \"Come now, it\'s getting late and there are things here that even I do not wish to face at night.\"
Turning her forward, Darmanix began to lead them out into the forest, away from the clearing. Javide ran forward and took his paw in her hand without looking up for permission. Darmanix liked the idea of her being comfortable with him and made no effort to stop her.
The two travelled for quite some time, until the Crystal had reached its darkest point, without incident and Darmanix began to get anxious. His breaths came a little harder and he began to wonder when he should take her. He could almost feel the warmth of her blood on his fur, on his face, in his mouth!
It was in that moment that two large masses sprung from the thick trees. The first one hit Javide, pinning her to the forest ground. \"Javide!\" Darmanix cried out, reaching, just as the second struck him hard in the side.
As he tumbled with it, he could not seem to get on top of it so he made sure he was on his back when they stopped and not on his chest. His nose already told him what his eyes soon would. He had let himself be taken by the one thing he hated more than Dermorians: dogs! Avoiding great snapping jaws, he braced his assailent at the shoulders. When he opened his eyes, he saw the snapping, sensless maw of a dire wolf.
He cursed himself for not noticing that the mangy beasts had been tracking them. With a snarl, Darmanix positioned his left claw at the beast\'s throat, lifting it off of him further so that he could reach his sword. He would slice this dog open and let it suffer!
That was when he heard the squeal and something inside of him snapped. Javide! he thought in a panic.
In a flash, he squeezed out the claws of right paw fully, killing the wolf almost painlessly. With no effort, Darmanix tossed the beast aside and jumped up on all fours. Only a few strides away, he watched as Javide stopped struggling under the weight of the wolf. In the same instant that the wolf lowered its fangs to her tender throat for the kill, Darmanix lunged forward and drew his twisted blade from its sheath in a long fluid arc.
Without so much as a yelp, the beast\'s head rolled away from its body and along the forest floor, its features frozen in a gaping snarl. Darmanix kicked the body of the beast from the child, hoping to limit the amount of blood spilled on her. He could see that she had been beat around pretty badly, bruises were already showing, and her arms and face were scratched enough to bleed.
Now , Darmanix thought. I\'ll have to kill her now!
But even as steeled himself to kill her, he found himself cleaning his blade on his tunic and putting it back to rest in its scabard. He screamed into the air, furious with himself for what he let happen. Furisous at himself for what he was going to do.
Gingerly, he collected her from the ground and sat with her in his lap. He then began cleaning all of the wounds on her arms, face and neck. Hating himself more and more with each lick.
When he was satisfied that her wounds were sufficiently cleaned and the bleeding had stopped, he wrapped the deepest of them with a strip from her dress, lifted her as he stood, and began to walk. And this time he was indeed walking toward Yliakum.
But Darmanix\'s night would not end so easily and as the two neared the edge of the forest outside Yliakum, he found his way blocked. But this time bloced by half a dozen elven hunters--Nolthrir by the look of their clothes. And all of them with bows aimed at him.
Darmanix couldn\'t help but grin. He knew exactly how it would have look to him: a small child in the arms of a known preditor, arms and face beaten and cut, clothes torn and bloodied. He quickly made to address the female who appeared to lead the hunting party, \"I did not harm this child, nor do I intend to...\"
But the female elf cut him off, \"We have not followed you because of the child.\"
The Dermorian at the lake, he thought to himself. \"That elf back there attacked me! He fought back and lost,\" he said defiantly.
The same female answered him with malice, \"We could care less how many Dermorians you have murdered.\"
That\'s reassuring, he thought.
\"Our only concern is what you did with the last one\'s body,\" she continued coldly. \"It is against the laws of this land to place anything of waste within the waters of the Azure Lake; punishable by death.\" And with that, all arrows were levelled at his chest, where Javide lay motionless.
Never in his imagination had Darmanix dreamed that this would be the scene of his death.
As he stood there silent, in an eternal moment, a small voice spoke from his arms, \"Uncle Darmanix, am I alive?\"
With a new calm he looked down at her and said, \"Yes Javide, you are and you are very nearly home.\"
With a smile she squirmed from his arms and looked around her. It was obvious that these were familiar woods for her. Then she saw the Nolthrir. \"What are they doing here, Uncle Darmanix?\"
\"Nothing, Javide. They and I have business together. You run home and I\'ll come visit you,\" he lied to her again, but this time it actually bothered him.
Javide smiled up at him and nodded, full of youthful trust. And as she left his sight into the trees, toward Yliakum, she greeting the elven hunters with the coldest glare Darmanix had ever seen from anyone, thankful it had not been meant for him.
When he was certain Javide was out of ear\'s reach he turned back to the elfs and said calmly, \"Now what was our business again?\" Perhaps now he would hunt Nolthrir exclusively!
