Faces

More men in green dragonhide armour converged on the dark elf. Each brandishing various weapons – morningstars, poleaxes, and wicked scimitars.

“Mercenaries,” Morohtar muttered with disgust.

“And we're collecting the bounty on your head!” on of the mercenary spat as they lunged towards Morohtar and Shierra.

The dark elf danced the Crimson Blade about and parried blow after blows with precise agility and speed. He would duck under a wide swing of the brute and while the mercenary was caught off-balanced, a swift kick sent him crashing into another brute lunging in.

Morohtar glanced at the bewildered half-elf girl, and saw fear in her eyes. At that instant he knew that she was not accustomed with melee combat, or even mild aggression at all. He grabbed another phial and smashed it to the ground. Another blinding flash and noxious smoke held the gang of mercenaries at bay, and Morohtar dashed towards Shierra pulling her away on quick feet.

“What's going on?” she shrieked.

“ I don't know your part in this, nor knows why there's a prize on your head. But what I know is, you have got to get to safety. Get out of this town!” Morohtar screamed, and shoved Shierra away.

Shierra ran as fast as her elven feet could carry her. All around her, more men in green dragonhide armour sat fire to the houses and shops of the town. Fieri will not be quiet tonight.

She took on last look and saw Morohtar swinging his sword and daggers furiously. Crazed. His Crimson Sabre almost glowed in eerie red in the night. Shierra took to the shadows and alleys, and looked for the exit, but found that some men stood watch over the city gate, standing over the broken bodies of the pair of gate guards.

“Where's the girl?” shouted a brute. “She was with that silver-haired freak just now. Find her!”

Shierra assessed the situation. Her exit was blocked, and it was only matters of time until the mercenaries caught up with her. From the far side, she saw the Rumbling Din inn still untouched. A renewed hope sparked some strength in her, and with another lungful of air, the half-elf dashed in the dark for the in.

A hand grabbed her in the dark, and pulled her into the stable. A woman's hands.

“Quiet. They're in the tavern,” the woman told her. Shierra took a look and recognized that it was the barmaid. Rianna, recalling what Dash called her.

“Dash!” Shierra suddenly remembered. “Rianna, where's my friend?” Shierra asked her.

“Uncle Dash? I never saw him since last night. Barkeep said he was off this morning,” Rianna told her. Fearful tears welled up at her eyes. “We're all caught unaware, and we're all simple townsfolk around here. I heard that they were looking for you. Why?” she continued.

Shierra shook her head, “I don't know. I never saw those men before in my life!”

Suddenly footsteps were heard outside of the stables – heavy footfalls from armoured greaves. Rianna pulled Shierra to a corner of the stables. She quickly brushed away the bed of hay to reveal a hatch hidden underneath. She pulled the hatch open and beckoned Shierra inside.

Shierra looked inside and saw that the hatch led to a very small space underneath it, with room for only a person. She shot a terrified look at Rianna.

“We can't fit inside!”

Rianna literally threw her into the space. She looked at the half-elf girl and drew a saddened smile.

“We can't, but you can. Listen. I'm going to close this hatch and cover it up. Just promise me that no matter what you heard, never open this hatch.”

Shierra suddenly felt a surge of emotion taking over her. She couldn't describe it – and she was overwhelmed at the act of kindness this simple woman offered. Her apparent sacrifice made Shierra lost at words, as if her tounge has failed her. Shierra only managed to nod.

Acknowledging, Rianna smiled on more time and shut the hatch. Shierra was plunged into the darkness, and could hear Rianna laying and kicking the hay back into place to conceal the hatch. Soon after, the stable doors was heard splintered open.

* * * *

Three mercenaries stormed into the room. One stood taller and bulkier than the rest. He saw Rianna cowering in the dark corner of the stable, and thundered to her.

He seized Rianna roughly with his gloved hands. Rianna cried at the pain as the thorny dragonhide bit into her soft skin. The brute dragged her to the middle of the stable, and examined her face under the single lit lantern overhead.

“She the one, boss?” one brute asks.

'Boss' grabbed Rianna's face and dug his fingers into her cheeks. He tilted her head to see her ears.

“Nah, tis' not an elf. Prolly' the whore of this decrepit place,” he said.

'Boss' lets go of Rianna face and shoved her to the floor. Rianna's face reddened with anger. She swiftly got back up. Jerking her head backwards, she then propelled a throaty spit that landed square on Boss' face.

“I'm not a whore! And you men better leave us alone!” Rianna yelled.

Wiping the sputum of his face, Boss hammered Rianna's face with his heavy gauntlet. He balled his left fist and smashed it into the girl's guts.

Rianna doubled over in intense pain and dropped to her knees, gasping for breath. A thundering kick landed on her chests, and Rianna landed on her back to the floor with a heavy thud. Rianna could not bear the pain and lay unmoving, save for the heaving of her chests under laboured breathing. She could taste the metallic tang of blood in her throat.

Boss look down on Rianna. He lifted one heavy boot and landed it on the girl's left bosom. Rianna gurgled in pain.

“Boys, I like the way this feels. Why don't we 'leave her alone'?” Boss said.

The two brutes cheered and hollered. With evil in their eyes, they set to work on the hapless girl.

Underneath them, hidden in a dark space Shierra clamped her mouth shut. She is quivering with tears and was unable to shut the horrendous sounds that she's hearing all night.

The hollering of the brutes ravaging Rianna.

Her cries of pain.

The sound of wood splintering, and the fires that crackled to consume them

The shouting of the mercenaries as the ripped the town apart looking for her.

The sounds of panicked men, women, and small children.

Haunting faces appeared in her mind, of Rianna's last smile on her last act of kindness. She saw the brazen face of Morohtar that fought for her safety. The sneering face of the goblin. She saw Dashiel, and hoped that he makes out alright. And last of all, she saw the face of her mother – and all she saw was a look of disappointment in her mother's face. Perhaps due to her weakness, her inability to save herself, let alone others. It was not her fault - she was too scared.

“Mother, what kind of test is this?” Shierra whispered, amidst her sobs.

The chaos around her continues.