Below the Peak (Sola)(78)
They jutted their chests and tried to stare him down, except their eyes betrayed their fear and anger. They had been caught and were now terrified what would happen to them.
“Why don’t you drop everything you stole and run back to the mountains” he commanded.
“You are in forbidden on these grounds” Leena warned them.
They jutted their chins and stared at them with defiance. Calemir bristled. His irritation grew when the red haired drew a sword and ran toward them and causing the others to follow suit. He was on the ground in less than a second, not bothering to withdraw his own sword. In one strike, Calemir had the sword from the red hands into his. He looked at Leena from the corner of his eye, seeing the two boys ganging upon her. Fools! He pitied them from undermining her. Too terrified of him, they’d decided to attack someone they thought less threatening. His attention was caught back to the red head when the red head growled and attacked him with a kick. He dodged the kick and delivered a punch into the man’s stomach, knowing it was going to hurt badly. His attacker folded forward into his stomach, knees buckling to the ground as he groaned.
“Scram” Leena hissed at the two boys sprawled on the ground. Stumbling and tripping on their feet, the two dark head boys scurried once when their knees stop buckling, leaving the gunnysacks behind.
Anger surged in Calemir’s blood when the red head stumbled to his feet and reached behind him only to withdraw a dagger. “Do you want to die?” Calemir asked.
“I do not fear death.” And it was the truth, Calemir couldn’t sense any fear in the boy.
The boy’s lips curled and approached him again with new purpose, his jaw set and eyes narrowed.
Calemir spared no punches this third time, no longer feeling merciful toward him. He struck at the boy. The boy hit back, and they went at it for a minute or two until when the boy struck the blade toward his head, managing to nip his ear as he dodged it, he butted headed the boy hard. The boy stumbled back, his back hitting the tree and slid down to the ground. Calemir strode toward him and crouched to his level. “Had enough?” his tone harsh.
Body depleted of strength and bruised, feeling dizzy and eyes seeing stars, red head dragged his bleeding head up and looked at Calemir straight into his eyes, his face twisting in disgust as he did so. “Does it make you feel good to know the impoverish lives people live in the mountains? Hiding in caves like hunted animals?”
A vein popped on Calemir’s temple as a sickly sensation crawled over the span of his skin and massive guilt knotted his stomach. Malice infused his voice when he said with a low voice. “I am not the one who decided to start a war, your fathers and mothers did and they have to pay the consequences.”
Mouth twisting, the boy, spat at him. “Keep telling your conscience, it’s only thing helps you justify your killing of us,” and lifted another dagger he had been hiding behind him toward Calemir’s chest. Calemir blocked it with ease, catching the boys hand. Yet, the boy ground his teeth and using the last of his strength pushed back the dagger toward him. The distance between the two elves was just a few inches from one another.
“You’ve lost, give up and run back to your friends” Calemir hissed as he kept the red head’s hand pinned in the space between them.
“No” was the boy’s reply and like he was suddenly filled with new energy, he pushed up with his chest and hand back hard, managing to move the dagger near Calemir’s chest. Calemir grabbed him by the wrist and twisted the weapon back to him, and pressed it into his chest. The boy slumped back unto the tree, hand holding the tilt of the dagger as blood started to spread over his grey tunic. Calemir watched with hard eyes as the boy coughed and choked on his blood.
“You should know, my father was there…” the boy gurgled. “When your brother died…he saw it all…” the boy gasped, struggling to breathe.
“What of Tarron? what did your father see?” Leena questioned. The crunching of leaves told him she was drawing closer. Panic entered Calemir’s eyes, his skin growing cold “you-” he thrust the dagger all in and snapped the boy’s neck before he could finish what he wanted to say.
“Why did you do that for?” Leena asked, annoyance evident in her tone. “He could’ve told us who killed him, perhaps the boy’s father knows who did it.”
The hair on his nape stood, Calemir’s face paled with fear. Heartbeat pounding in his throat, he clenched his fist until his knuckles whitened with strain. He slowly rose from the crouch, keeping his back toward her so she wouldn’t see the guilt convicting him. He forced his face into a stoic expression as he struggled to maintain a grip on what he was feeling.
“I ended his misery, spared him the slow suffering” Calemir spoke once he found his voice, marching toward the gunnysacks.
“He clearly knew something, if you could’ve just let him finish what he wanted to say-” Leena retorted. Calemir frowned, hating her persistence at this moment. She never quit once she set her mind on something. A good trait of hers and one he despised at times such as how she was still in search of his brother’s killer. If only she knew the man responsible is the man she was currently talking with. However, the horrific reality was one day maybe not today, tomorrow or next day or hundreds of years from now, he knows the truth would be revealed. If he weren't going to do the honor after shame, pain, anger and guilt consumed him, then another person would. Might be his father, might be a stranger. Who darn know? There were hundreds of soldiers that day.