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The dark elf is tall, with long, dark hair tightly braided away from his face. Silver rings hang through his hair, and he wears dark clothes made of fine materials.
I can’t see much of his face because he is wearing a hood that covers his eyes. But then he looks up at me and smiles.
“Don’t worry,” he croons the words. I am suddenly reminded of Luocre. “Don’t worry about a thing.”
“Who are you?”
Keep him talking. Maybe help will arrive.
The dark elf cocks his head to the side and smiles again.
“My name is Aricen,” he announces. “I don’t expect you to know me. But I know you, Neveah.”
Fear skitters across my skin at the sound of my name falling from his lips. The sound of my name in his mouth feels almost unnatural.
And then the dark elf, Aricen, must decide that he has waited long enough.
Because he lunges at me.
I scream with horror as he grabs me by the waist and lifts me into the air. My natural instinct is to kick, scream, and struggle, and I do all of that, although I know it won’t do any good.
I hear the yapping, rasping bark that I know belongs only to Echo, and I wriggle in Aricen’s arms to see my pet speeding through the flames.
The little iypinnit barks furiously at Aricen, nipping and biting at his ankles.
Aricen doesn’t do anything at first except throw his head back and laugh.
Then the dark elf lifts his leg as Echo continues to attack him. And with one kick, he knocks my pet to the ground.
Echo goes down with a yelp and does not get back up again.
“No!” I have never screamed more shrilly in my life, and Aricen laughs again.
“You are a brave girl. With such a brave little iypinnit. You know,” he keeps talking as he tightens his grip around my body until I stop struggling. “I had an iypinnit as a pet once. It was a good, loyal animal. But then I lost it like I lost everything else.”
“Rhiucra!” I scream at Rhiucra, who has gone back to simply standing there. His jaw works, and his fists clench and relax at his sides as though he may actually do something, but he doesn’t move. The fire climbs higher, quickly becoming more deadly than before.
“Please!” I sob the word. “Please! Help me! Rhiucra, you can help me!”
I don’t know if I am afraid or furious. Rhiucra has proven himself to be a practiced swordsman over and over again.
There are weapons lying right there, but he has discarded them in favor of simply watching our attacker. What is going on? Is he trying to stay unnoticed, to save himself from our attacker?
From Aricen.
Aricen, who knows my name. Aricen, who knows who I am.
How is this happening?I think as I struggle against Aricen’s embrace, as he walks away from the garden.
“Rhiucra!” I continue screaming and struggling as Aricen carries me through a gap in the flames, away from the gardens which have almost completely succumbed to the fire.
“Please! Someone! Help me!”
I cough as I swallow a plume of hot smoke, and I go still as my throat becomes dry and hoarse right away.
Now I can’t even scream.
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