Of Magic And Men
Chapter Eight

After eating a silent meal they went their separate ways and went to their respective tents. Peter was exhilarated from his win, he was nearly buzzing. He wanted to go back to the caves and take on every creature he came a cross and why couldn’t he? He had his father’s sword, he could take on the world. He paced around the room considering going to the caves without Alaya. The sword gleamed in the candle lit tent almost encouraging him to do it. That was it he would go and prove himself the hero, grabbing his bag, sword and bow, he left the tent. Noticing how dark it was now he thought better to just sneak off quietly rather than drawing attention to himself. Peter made the journey through the forest behind Merlins tent once again to the cave entrance, and once again felt someone watching him, this time he didn’t let it bother him. Just as he arrived he heard a familiar voice behind him. “What do you think you are doing, farm boy, do you really think you can take on monsters you know nothing about?” Peter spun around to face her. “Alaya I’m sorry, I couldn’t just sit around..” Alaya held up her hand to shush Peter mid-sentence. “Without me.” Smiling she walked up to Peter, patted him on the shoulder, and continued past him to the cave entrance. She cast the light spell on the cave walls again so they glowed a speckled blue. Removing his sword from his belt, peter advanced, this time he wouldn’t back down. Entering the cave he found it chilly and still quite dark despite the light emanating from the walls. He watched the light as it followed them deeper into the caves. Focus, Peter, he didn’t want to be taken by surprise, so he stopped watching the walls and started watching ahead of them. When they had made it a decent way into the cave, exactly how far peter did not know, he thought he saw movement in the shadows. A bat flew past his head and out the cave into the night, he sighed in relief. Without realizing it he had tensed up, Alaya stopped dead in her tracks. “Somethings not right, these caves are usually teeming with goblins and pseudodogs, where could they be?” It looked like a light bulb went off in her head, without saying a word she sheathed her blade and started to run out of the cave. Peter followed her, not knowing where she was going but knowing it must be important. “Where are we going?” Peter being slow to clue in. “The camp, they’re attacking the camp!” Oh dear goddesses, peter ran as fast as he could manage. Other than himself and Alaya, he hadn’t seen many people carrying around weapons, who was left to defend the camp, and Merlin? By the time they had made it back to the tree line it was already too late, everywhere they looked they saw burning tents and charred bodies, Peter wanted to be sick, the smell was sickly and grotesque. They ran to Merlins tent but it too was burned to the ground with no trace of Merlin around, until peter saw a small trail of blood leading to the center of the camp and heel marks in the grass. He pointed at the trail showing Alaya, both drawing their weapons they followed the blood. Arriving at the camp center they saw a lone drow holding a torch with their back turned towards them. They quietly approached the drow and Alaya pointed her bladed into the drows back. The drow went stiff realizing he had been discovered and one wrong move could prove fatal. Peter pointed his weapon at the drow as well circling him to face the dark elf. “Where is Merlin?” Peter questioned the drow. The drow suddenly jumped backwards onto Alayas blade thrusting it deep into his back and through his gut. “You’ll never find, he’s long gone.” He smirked, blood oozing out of his mouth, he slumped to the ground at Alayas feet. Alaya looked like she was going to lose control of her emotions, she dropped her weapon and started pacing. Running her hand over her face onto the top of her head, she started to freak out. Peter recognized that look on her face, she was panicking. Peter didn’t know how to help, but he would try anyway, he walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder, which she immediately brushed off. “Where is my father, peter? He needed me and I wasn’t there for him, peter this is your fault too, if I hadn’t followed you, I would have been here to protect him. He’s probably dead and you’re responsible!” she was mad, but peter already knew this was all his fault, his impulsiveness just got this whole camp killed. She was right and he would never forgive himself. Now wasn’t the time to be self-pitying though he knew that now they needed to salvage what they could, leave the rest behind, and figure out what to do next. “Alaya, I’m sorry about your father, but we need to get moving, there was one drow here, there maybe more and we might not be so lucky to catch them by surprise, we have to go.” “But where do we go, my father had all the information we needed, he had a plan, and we have nothing.” she was crying, and rightfully so. “I know you’re upset, I promise we’ll get you’re father back but please you need to think, was there anything Merlin ever told you, any ally that could help?” Alaya stopped crying for a second trying to think. “I remember him once telling me about a friend of his, named Elathor she lives south of here in a giant crystal cave, she should be able to help us figure out what to do next, maybe even help us find my father.” at the thought of finding her father it looked like she cheered up a bit. “Good, now let’s try and find some supplies for the trip.” Peter was trying to stay positive, he didn’t want to upset her anymore than she already was. Alaya and peter searched the whole camp finding not much other than charred scraps, however they did manage to find two bedrolls and a few loaves of bread that hadn’t been touched by fire. That bread combined with the food already in Peters sack would have to see them through until they found somewhere to restock, they would have to ration their food. Peter was concerned about Merlin too, he promised to get him back but should he really have said that? And did Alaya resent him for his rash actions?

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