The Elven brothers, Part II

     The warm morning sun washed over the valley like the all encompassing tide of the ocean's blue waters. A sweet melancholy breeze swept over everything and with it a million white fluffs of cottonwood swam in and out of the tree's dew ladened leaves. It seemed so peaceful that if it had not been for the fire the night before the Aster boys would have had no care in the world. Unfortunately this day was not a solace to the young elves, everything was not as peaceful as it seemed.
     Nearby a patch of fetid water held an ominous threat, one that would test the mettle of the two young elves. Sythssys, a lizard man warrior, stalked the foul smelling swamp in search of his next meal. He knew well what had gone on in the night and was hungry to see what the human raiders had left him to snack on, his mouth watered with the thought of blackened elf flesh. With one eye hollow and whitened from an encounter will Ariad Aster many years before he searched the rubble that was left after the fire with thick anticipation.
     From behind the mass of brush that surrounded their burnt out home, Aluim and Veldren watched the evil lizard as he rummaged through their lost belongings. As Sythssys toppled the one lone wall that still stood they could see his pointed snout gush with the drool of a starving animal. Veldren nearly rushed to attack the vile monster but Aluim stopped him with a quick word. "Ro will kill vys!", Aluim whispered in a harsh tone, "Amin needs vys!".
     Veldren's blood raced though his veins. He could feel his pulse behind his eyes pushing him on to battle but knew well that his brother would never make it in the wild alone. Slowly his body stopped shaking with rage and his ragged breathing steadied. He wasn't, however, going to let this horrid plundering continue. "Vys stay sinome...", he said quietly, "Amin will na right back." And so Veldren stalked off into the deep woods leaving his smaller brother to keep an eye on the brutish Sythssys.

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     Now that Aluim was alone he began to become nervous about being so close to the very same monster that had murdered his father all those years ago. Before, when Veldren was there he could focus his energy on not allowing him to do something foolish and in effect talk himself out of doing the same, but as things were there was no one to talk to and his words sounded less convincing in his own head. Anger rose from his nervousness like nothing he had ever felt before and as the lizard man continued his perusal of the burnt out Aster home.
     A sudden flash of light like an assaulting ray of the sun focused in your eyes raced into the lizard man's field of view and then seemed to hit him square on the jaw. Aluim pulled a second piece of shattered glass from the ground and winged it towards the monster and this too connected with his head. Sythssys let out a massive roar as he felt the stinging pain of the sharp glass shards pressing themselves into his flesh. Another piece came and another, each accompanied by a resounding roar. Aluim was unaware of the wicked grin that grew on his youthful face as he witnessed the blood spill over Sythssys body.

*     *     *

     Veldren 's heart skipped a beat. "Mani naa happening back a' i' house?", he spoke aloud to himself as he strained his eyes to see through the thick trees back to his home. Thoughts of horrid things swam in his head and fear began to grip his heart. He refused to let his brother die so soon after he had escaped it. Faster than a skittering dear the young elf ran to his brother nearly dropping the very thing he had left him to retrieve.

*     *     *

     Horrible crushing pain attacked him as the evil lizard gripped Aluim's small body with incredible strength. He could see the ugly whitened eye and thought again of his father and how maybe he would see him again after this was all through and he felt no fear of death. Aluim slammed his tiny fist into his face crushing the glass further into his flesh. "Die! Die! Fyln thing!", he cried at the top of his lungs, not knowing that he was much closer to death than Sythssys.
     Feathers, wood, and a sharp edge would call Sythssys's soul to the beyond. Veldren had pulled his father's hunting bow from the hollowed out tree he had hid it in and with a single well-placed arrow had fell the evil beast that was Sythssys. Aluim fell to the ground and was surrounded by the ashes of his home. Never had he been so happy and so sad at the same time. He was alive but now that he was sitting in the rubble he knew for a fact that his mother didn't.