Man From The Shadows

Man From The Shadows

Olive cracked open the door of the rundown shack where she and Beth, her younger sister, were hiding. The air that rushed in was cold and crisp, carrying with it the subtle warning of doom. An eerie fog hung thick and low over the cobblestone road that ran past the rickety old dwelling. Weeds forced their way through the cracks, but showed no sign that the Dark Elves of Evrade had been pursuing them. She knew differently, though. For the better part of six months, they had been running. There was something in the air, though; the energy of the night was more electric somehow. She could still feel the threat that pressed in on them, but there was something different as well. She narrowed her eyes to try to see beyond the shadows.

“Olive, it’s time…” Beth panted, contractions shooting through her, causing her muscles to quiver and tighten in pain. “Oh gods….” She gritted her teeth.

Olive only took a moment longer, then shut the door and secured it. Hoping that it would keep what lurked in the shadows of the fog out. The soft glow of the firelight danced along the walls of the small one-room shack. The flames crackled, causing the wood to hiss in protest at being burned. She rushed over to the large black pot hanging over the flames.

Carefully, she pulled the rotating bar out of the fire. Picking up an old clay bowl. She used it to dip out the steaming water. She swiftly collected a clean cloth that she washed earlier in the day, dipping it into the water.

“I can’t believe you went and got yourself knocked up by a Moon Elf. With our lives, you should have known that this baby would be a kill-on-sight target for both Humans and Dark Elves.” Olive quietly scolded for the umpteenth time.

“Ma and Pa raised us not to be prejudiced, Olive. You disappoint me.” Beth clenched her teeth, trying to be humorous as the contractions grew closer together.

“It’s not prejudice, Beth, it’s weighing out the danger and facing reality.” Olive quietly argued, pulling out a stick of tightly rolled leather, shoving it into Beth’s mouth to bite on. She might not have seen signs of the Dark Elves, but she was fairly sure they were still pursuing them. The fog masked the abandoned village they were in at the moment, but once their pursuers got close enough, there was no telling how long they would be able to remain hidden. "Now we're going to have a baby to worry about, too."

“We were in love, and they killed him for it,” Beth mumbled against the leather as warm tears ran down her cheeks. Olive understood her pain and gently dabbed away her tears.

"I know Beth." Olive sighed; she could feel her sister's pain as if it were her own. “When we get home, Ma and Pa will protect us, but right now we need to focus on delivering this baby alive.” Olive softly assured, although her fear, she felt, was real. The fear of being caught before they made it home couldn't be ignored. She must have hidden it well, though, because Beth nodded and instinctively started pushing.

“Stop pushing, Beth, there is too much blood…” Olive frantically warned when blood pooled around her sister.

“Don’t worry about the blood, it’s normal,” Beth assured, struggling to catch her breath. It wasn’t normal, but Olive was already anxious, and it wouldn’t help if she started freaking out. “Just make sure the baby is okay.”

“Right.” Olive exhaled as she nodded her head, trying to push her worries aside. It was easier said than done at the moment. Beth was the medical practitioner. And she really couldn’t justify doubting her words. However, Beth wasn't the one at the helm at the moment. Not to mention, Olive's talents were more in literature. She knew nothing about medicine.

Olive glanced toward the boarded-up windows when she heard something moving near the porch. Trying to stay calm, she lifted the warm, wet rag to wipe her sister’s sweat away. She refocused on helping her sister, hoping that if there was something or someone outside. They would keep going once they realized the door was locked.

“I got to push, and you got to watch for the head of the baby,” Beth instructed, spitting the leather out of her mouth. She was going to have to try her best not to scream with the pain. The leather strap was making it hard for her to instruct her untrained sister in the birthing process.

“Okay.” Olive nodded. Then shifted to where she could clearly see the baby as it crowned. With a deep calming breath, the faint taste of smoke tickled the back of her throat.

Beth pushed, and the baby crowned.

“I see a head.” Olive gasped, almost forgetting her fears. Her sister pushed again, and the baby slid into Olive’s waiting hands. To her surprise, there was a hand holding onto the heel of the first baby; a second infant soon followed. She verily managed to catch both, so that they wouldn’t be hurt. “They're boys…” Olive laughed, ignoring the blood and fluids that caked her hands. She cut them free of their mother. She did her best to clean up the children that she had just helped bring into the world.

“Clean out their throats, so that they can cry.” Beth breathed as she weakly lay back, too exhausted to hold her head up anymore. Olive, done as she was told, and soon, both babies were wailing at the unforgiving climate change and sudden relocations. One minute, they were happy and warm snuggled inside their mother's womb, and the next, they were cold.

“Beth…” Olive softly called, wrapping the new arrivals tightly in swaddling cloth. Her sister didn’t respond, and she gently laid the children in the old straw pile she had prepared for them. “Beth…” She called a little more loudly, thinking that she might have just passed out from the exertion of childbirth.

Beth still didn’t respond; the birthing process had gone bad, and there was no other explanation. “Oh gods, Beth…” Her voice cracked as she checked for vitals-(nothing!)-

Time seemed to stop, and she dropped to the floor, feeling hopeless. The crying faded into fussing, and the reality of her situation sank in. She rocked back and forth on her knees, pressing her forehead to her sister's cold, lifeless hand. Pushing aside her grief for later, she began trying to figure out how she was going to take care of two newborns. They would need milk, and she had to get them home to Ma and Pa alive. Their mother was gone, and she didn't know how she was going to do this on her own.

Raleek stumbled against a tree, holding a deep gash that ran the length of his ribs. He had been on the run from the Shadow Assassins for months now, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep going with his wounds. He would have to find a way to stop the bleeding completely if he hoped to survive long enough to get away or finish them off. He didn’t really want to kill his one-time brothers, but they weren't really giving him much of a choice.

“Brother, we don’t want to kill you. Please, turn yourself over to us. We’ll take you home, and you can take your punishments for disobeying the master's direct orders. Eventually, you will be let back into the fold.” One of the three men who had been chasing him called out.

“Sorry, not happening, brother,” Raleek whispered.

He knew how they worked all too well. They were trying to get him to respond so that they could locate him in the thick fog that currently provided him with cover. Ignoring the stinging pain shooting through him, he pushed off the tree, silently stumbling deeper into the fog.

Raleek softly grunted when his shin hit the edge of a sinking porch. With his footing lost, he was forced to catch himself before he made too much noise. The fog had been hiding the old abandoned buildings of a long-forgotten village. Visibility was limited even for his keen sight. Nailing his shin on the old, broken boards forced him to focus his senses more. He hadn't even realized that he had left the forest until the throbbing in his shin pointed it out.

Narrowing his eyes, he froze in place and scanned the area. He could faintly make out the outlines of a couple more buildings with walls and roofs that had collapsed in on themselves from the years of wood rot. Other than that, he couldn’t make out much else. Still, with limited visibility, he couldn't be sure there weren't any people, animals, or other obstacles that he needed to be alerted to. This really wasn’t a good place to get caught unprepared.

He slowly moved along the building he was currently near, placing his hand on the wall for support and guidance. He slowly began moving along the wall, making sure that he stepped up onto the porch entirely to avoid tripping once again.

Raleek came to a doorway and silently leaned against it to catch his breath. He was losing more blood than he thought and needed to rest for a minute. He needed to do something to slow the bleeding down before he lost consciousness.

Breathing through his nose to make as little noise as possible, Raleek carefully peeled off his shirt and started wrapping it tightly over his wounds, hoping the pressure of the binding would slow the bleeding, so he could continue on his way. Closing his eyes, he rested his head back against the wall. How had he gotten himself into this predicament?

He was the most skilled of all his brothers, yet his morals were too high to complete the mission. He had been sent to kill a Moon Elf who had supposedly committed a great evil with the aid of a human sorceress. He had made sure that the Moon Elf’s death was as swift and as painless as possible. But when he had gone after the woman, he was forced to realize that the only evil the man had done was fall in love with a human girl and had begun, starting a family with her. Needless to say, he couldn’t kill someone innocent, so he let the girl live.

The evidence of his orders' betrayal was overwhelming. It wasn’t the Elf or the woman that they were trying to eliminate. It was the unborn child that grew in the young woman’s womb. Their own prejudice had them putting a hit on an innocent child who hadn't even had a chance to live yet. And that was something he couldn’t follow through on. People should be able to love who they want, regardless of race, and they shouldn’t be put to death because of it.

He hadn't anticipated that they would find out he had spared the woman and child so soon. They knew that his skills were unmatched by his brothers of the order, so they had sent a group of five to finish what he would not and kill him in the process if they could manage it. So not only was the woman and her child being hunted, but he was too. Not that he would do anything differently. In fact, the only thing that stood between them and her was him.

Now, there was another female. Her presence was adding to the already strained situation. When the woman’s sister arrived, she became a target too. His brothers wouldn’t hesitate to kill her, her sister, and the baby that would be born at any time. He had been doing his best to follow them from the shadows, making sure that they made it to wherever they were going alive. They had no idea that he was there or that he had already killed two of his order, who had gotten too close to completing the assassination.

Fighting them left him in his current condition, and he wasn’t sure he could eliminate the other three. Not before they found a way to get to them. At least, not in the condition he was in now. He was going to have to be strategic and cunning to stop them. Raleek definitely couldn’t take all three of them at once. He was going to have to separate them and somehow kill them one by one. His thoughts were interrupted by the soft cries coming from inside the building. He snapped his head up in alarm. He had been sure that he led his brothers away from the girls earlier, so how had they ended up in the same place as him once again?

“This isn’t good.” He breathed and pushed himself up. The cries could lead the threat right to them. He had to make sure that they weren’t heard.

He placed his hand on the door handle and noticed that it was locked. Knowing that a locked door wasn’t going to keep the assassins out, he leaned on his shoulder as he reached into the belt pouch on his waist and pulled out some lock-picking tools he always had on him. With a somewhat weak yet skilled move, he was able to pop the lock and open the door. He silently slipped inside and relocked it.

Once inside, he realized that he hadn’t noticed the soft fire glow when he was outside, but it became clear as to why when he saw that all the windows were covered with boards. From the looks of the work, it was hurried and recent, which told him the girls had been the ones to take that precaution. He was slightly impressed that they would know to do such things, and it bought him some time. He went straight to the fire and quietly placed some wood into the flames. There wasn't much to getting it going strong again. Pulling his knife out of his belt, he placed the blade into the fire. He waited for it to heat up to a red.

The new female who had joined seemed vaguely aware of his presence as she tried to quiet the crying babies. Sighing over the fact that there were two babies, he removed the shirt that he had tied around his wounds and set it aside. He bent over and reached for the dagger, pulling it out by the handle. Taking a deep breath, he laid it flat against his wounds, and the scent of burning flesh rose around him. He clenched his jaw tight and grunted as he suffered through the amount of time it took to burn his wounds shut. He didn’t know how he managed to remain silent through it or how he kept from passing out. His breathing was fast and irregular, yet he kept quiet.

Darkness sparked on the edge of his sight when he heard the soft sniffling of the woman in the room. He shifted his gaze to her, noticing the pool of blood around the mother of the infants. There was no doubt the woman had hemorrhaged and then passed. Although that was a common risk of childbirth, it didn’t make it any less difficult for those left behind. He used the semi-clean portions of his shirt to wipe the sweat of pain off himself. He hesitantly stood up to approach the grieving girl as she fidgeted with the whimpering babes.

“You can’t stay here.” He told her, his voice hoarse from everything he was enduring at the moment.

She jumped and snapped her eyes toward him as if she hadn't thought he was real at first, but now had to accept that he was. He hadn’t meant to startle her. He had thought she was aware of him. It had seemed that she looked right at him. He realized that perhaps he should have been more cautious in his approach, especially since she took a well-trained swing at his face, forcing him to lean back to avoid it.

“Whoa, I’m not here to harm you.” He quickly tried to smooth out the situation.

It took her a minute to believe him, and she finally stopped trying to attack him. She could fight; he wouldn’t deny that, but her skills were not on the same level as his own, so her movements seemed sluggish and clumsy.

“Why can’t I?” She finally asked, lowering her arms in defeat, and he exhaled in relief. She was a wild, unpredictable one to say the least.

“There is a bigger threat to the children's lives in the woods, and once this fog lifts, it will take nothing at all for that threat to find you. You need to get them," Raleek motioned in the direction of the babies, "and make a run for it to wherever you were going. I'll do my best to hold them up to buy you time, but I can’t guarantee how long that time will be.” He softly explained and headed towards the door.

It was now or never; he would have to face his brothers to keep them alive, whether he was ready or not. When he reached the door, she leaped forward and grabbed hold of his arm, the fear in her eyes giving him pause. He didn’t like seeing the fear there, in her eyes, and how eager he was to remove it was an unexpected sensation he wasn't used to. He had seen that fear in so many people's eyes, yet the fear in hers was his undoing.

“You can’t leave. I need you to help me save the children.” She softly pleaded, motioning toward the somewhat fussy infants. At least they weren’t crying anymore, and that was a plus. He looked at the two infants, and they seemed to look straight back at him, clear down to his soul. What was it about this fog that seemed to give power to the most simple of things?

“If I don’t leave, we will all die.” He finally spoke, turning his gaze back to hers.

“We can all run together. Our destination is only a few days away, and if we leave now, surely we can outrun the threat.” She rapidly stated with a hint of hope.

He couldn’t be sure whether her fear was speaking or if she actually believed what she was saying. She had no idea what she was asking or who they were up against. Still, he couldn’t come out and deny her hope over the situation. He just had to find a way to make it work somehow. It was the least he could do, since it was he who had slain the two babies' father.

“It’s cold, use her cloak to wrap them.” He softly relented and quickly pulled away from her to head towards the fire. They couldn’t give the dead woman a proper burial, but he could give her a burial nonetheless. The girl didn’t waste time tearing the cloak in two, so she could securely wrap each child up individually. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to send up a prayer for the dead woman and ask for aid to the powers that be. They were not going to get through this on their own, and divine protection was needed to get the children to safety.

“Okay.” The girl said just loud enough for him to hear.

He looked over his shoulder at her expectant gaze and reached into the fire, pulling out a burning piece of wood. Standing up straight, he headed back towards her. She picked up one of the infants and pushed it into his free arm, and then turned to get the other. He instinctively cradled it against him, afraid that he wasn’t holding it right. He looked at her, surprise still lingered in his gaze. She didn’t notice his expression, though, as she cradled the other one against her chest and pulled her cloak around it for added warmth.

“I wrapped that one in a thicker portion of his mother’s cloak to aid in keeping him warm while you hold him.” She shrugged, thinking that his uncomfortable expression was because he didn’t have a cloak to wrap around the baby in his arms.

“Right…” He swallowed and tossed the burning wood in the pile of old straw. “Let's go then. Stay close.” He tried to sound confident and calm as he laid his hand on her back to guide her out the door after making sure that precious time hadn’t already been lost. “Which way?” He whispered.

She took hold of his wrist to lead him towards the other end of the abandoned village.

Raleek’s worry started to increase as the fog disappeared. They hadn’t stopped since the night they slipped out of the abandoned village, and they had been traveling for at least seventy-two hours. Eating on the run and finding nutrients for the infants on the fly. He couldn’t believe that he went from being an assassin of the highest skill to a thief of goat’s milk in two short days. He looked at his female companion, who was finishing cleaning up the babies. He scoffed at how often people, so small, needed to be cleaned up. “How much further?” He asked her. He was healing up pretty well, considering, and fortunately, he hadn’t contracted an infection, but his wounds were still far from healed at this time.

“We should be there by this evening.” She tiredly answered. They had been moving steadily and without sleep, stopping only when they had to. She looked dead on her feet, and her tone was exhausted. He, on the other hand, was conditioned for this sort of thing, so he wasn’t as affected by the continuous movement. However, he was far more tired than he would normally be. That was most likely due to his wounds, though.

“We should get moving then.” He said and took both children, so she didn’t have to carry them. By the evening, they were heading into a clearing where a cabin was. It stood strong and silent against the darkening forest that surrounded them. He figured out pretty quickly that this was their destination, but they couldn’t get into it fast enough. Twenty feet out, his brothers stepped out of the trees. They had caught up to them, and he was forced to hand the children over to the woman. So she could run toward the porch. He took up his stance, becoming the force they would have to defeat before they could get to those infants.

Silencing his mind, he allowed his body to move on its own as they moved to attack with precision. Raleek palmed two of his assassination knives and twirled them in his palm, as he shifted on his feet, preparing for the worst.

His movements weren't as smooth and quick as they normally would have been, but he was able to parry several of their attacks. The iron of their blades clanked loudly against the darkening skies. He stumbled a couple of times, and they pressed down on him. He somehow managed to shimmy out of the way and put some distance between them. He knew he would last much longer; he did the one thing they didn't expect him to do. He turned and attacked them with as much skill as he mustered.

“Pa!” Ma called out, ushering her daughter and grandchildren into the house. Her eyes shot back to the young man who fought like a devil against three other men of the same level of skill. He looked like he had checked out, and his body was doing all the work.

“I got you, Ma.” Pa casually said, pulling his crossbow out of the container on the porch, knocking a bolt into place.

“What is that young feller doing?” Ma pointed out.

“Seems like he’s kicking those other fellers' asses.” Pa shrugged, raising the crossbow to aim.

“Well, what kind of fool would fight in that condition?” Ma asked, noticing the wounds busting open and beginning to bleed, along with fresh ones, being added to the collection on the young man that seemed to be nearly dead already.

“Well, that fool, Ma,” Pa answered, taking the shot at one of the other three men. Unfortunately, the man he was aiming at sensed its rapid approach and reached up, catching the bolt in mid-air to toss it aside as if it was nothing to be concerned about.

“How could you miss that shot, Pa? You getting too old or something?” Ma scolded her husband.

“No, I ain’t getting too old, that feller caught it.” Pa defended lowering the crossbow.

“Quit wasting time and release the hounds on those demons.” Ma raised her voice.

“What if they attack that young feller?” Pa asked, scratching his head, only to have Ma give a dismissive wave. Grumbling, he hit a hidden button, and the piercing howls of hellhounds echoed through the air, causing the group that was fighting to pause and look around in confusion.

“Hey, you, Young Feller! Come on in, and I’ll make you a spot of tea while we clean up those wounds!” Ma called out the invitation, and the young man she was talking to looked at her as if coming out of a trance.

Knowing that he couldn’t win this battle, Raleek stumbled towards the woman as quickly as he could, thankful for the help. She guided him inside as three-headed dogs made of fire appeared out of nowhere, attacking his opponents before they even knew what was hitting them. He rapidly blinked his eyes in disbelief, and he was grateful that he wasn’t the one they were eating.

“Pa…” The woman called out as she walked through the door behind him.

“Yeah, Ma?” The man answered bored.

“Make sure you put the hounds to bed after they are done eating,” Ma stated, shutting the door and leaving Pa on the porch to patiently wait for the beast to stop feasting.

“Yup, I’ll do that.” Pa sighed.

“Olive, get me some fresh bandages and some warm water!” Ma called into the kitchen, where the girl seemed to be making bottles for the babies.

“The least we can do is tend to your man’s wounds.” Raleek was lost for words as a blush stained his cheeks. He wasn’t sure how to respond to a comment like that. He wasn't sure about being called the girl’s ‘man’ by the girl’s mother.

“Mom!” Olive gasped, entering the room with a bowl of steaming water and some fresh cloths. Her face was a deep pink as her gaze captured the intense gaze of the ‘Man From The Shadows’. Could he be her destiny, or was he just a shadow that would be passing through her life? She knew nothing about him, not even his name, yet he had risked his life to save them all.

“Well, don’t waste time, girl, come on. He has already bled enough for you, don’t you think?” Ma urged her forward. Coming out of her thoughts, she quickly took the stuff to her mother.

“Of course,” Olive stated, handing the stuff over. Raleek held her gaze as her mother worked until darkness finally claimed him. he was no longer able to keep unconsciousness at bay. He didn't even know how he had managed it this long.