Thank you everyone for the lovely feedback on the first chapter. Also thanks for the constructive criticism. It is always good to hear what people truly think. Hope you enjoy xx
***
"Piper."
A loud commanding voice rang through the still air. She froze. How did he know her name? She turned slowly to find the clan standing just beyond the tree line. A small body clutched in the leader's grasp.
"Patrick!" She screamed and rushed towards the towering creatures. Piper had never felt such fear. Not when they were chasing her. Not when she was shot by a forest elf. Not even as a child when she got lost in the woods. Her fear rose from her stomach and consumed her chest. Her lungs felt as if they were going to collapse and breathing became increasingly difficult.
The creature's wrist flexed as Piper drew closer cutting off Patrick's air supply. His hand appeared to fully encase the young boy's throat and Piper felt her breathing cease simultaneously. She stopped. She stopped breathing. She stopped running. If Piper still had her bow she would have released it that instant. Instead she herself dropped to the ground, words escaping her.
"Wise choice, Piper," growled the man towering only a few feet before her. His grip loosened around her little brother's neck and Patrick took a giant, spluttering breath. Piper released her own breath, one she wasn't aware she had been holding. She stared at the trembling boy in the giant's grasp and struggled to reassure her brother with a small smile. His eyes were wide with fear and his bottom lip quivered as the poised man bent over to his level. Piper watched as his index finger gently wiped beneath the young child's eye destroying the evidence of his tears. Her stomach churned at the sight.
"Pipe?" the small sound escaped from the terrified boy in the form of a squeak. Piper's own fear bubbled under the surface threatening to escape as the Gulder returned his attention to her.
"Patrick, everything will be okay. Just stay there for now," Piper spoke the words with all the confidence she could muster. She hoped that he would believe her. She wished she could believe herself. She raised her gaze to the man who seemed to be controlling her every movement. He had returned to a standing position, his hand pressed to the back of Patrick's neck and his eyes fixed upon hers. The handsome creature raised one eyebrow yet again as if urging her to make the next move.
As scared as she was anger boiled and Piper snapped. "Get the fuck away from him! I swear to the gods if you hurt my little brother I'll..." A raw cry passed her lips as the bewildered girl received a sharp jolt throughout her entire body as a result of her empty threat. The corners of the giant's lips curved and Piper's eyes narrowed. Never had she felt such hatred. Piper shifted to pounce at the leader of the clan. Her arms stretched out to wrap around his own throat as her powerful legs attempted to push off the dirt. A sudden heaviness came over her and moved through her, as if lead had replaced limbs. Her muscles relaxed enough to return her to the ground and the heaviness dissipated.
"You would do well to remember your place, human."
"And where would that be, Ezven? At the feet of an elf lord not fit for the title?" The giant raised his gaze to the man standing behind Piper and a grin slowly formed. Unwittingly his grip tightened somewhat around Patrick's delicate neck, a reaction to the sudden change of atmosphere.
"So I see you decided to join us, Harrison. I thought you would never show, old friend." The leader of the clan, Ezven, spoke as he took two calculating steps past the line of trees towards the human male wielding a well-crafted sword. Four younger males created a V formation behind their father, all brandishing different weapons, none of which phased the dark elf. Patrick struggled to remain at his side. It was as if the elf had forgotten the small life clutched in his grasp. Either that or he didn't care.
Piper noticed her father tense at Ezven's words. "Leave," her father spat the word at the dark elf as if it pained him to continue being in his presence. His eyes burned with rage but Piper couldn't help but notice the way his left eyelid twitched, a sign of her father's growing anxiety.
The elf released Patrick as he took another step closer to Harrison. The forgotten young boy ran straight for Piper and crouched behind her trembling and holding the back of her shirt tightly in his grasp. "Leave? Why would we do that, Harrison? We have a fair bit of catching up to do I would think." The elf's voice was light as if talking to a friend, as he had claimed, but his body language spoke of his hostility. The strange encounter intrigued Piper nearly as much as it terrified her. Her father had only spoken of Gulders a few times and he had never mentioned personally knowing one. In fact, everything she had learnt about Gulders had come directly from her father. He had portrayed them as a fierce race of creatures that you were never to come in contact with unless you had a death wish.
"Get. Out. I swear if you take one more step onto my property then I'll..."
"This was never your forest, human," Ezven bellowed across the closing space between the two men, "we merely allowed you to inhabit what is ours. Don't mistake our generosity for a lack of intelligence." The elf appeared to be irritated by the delay and the five armed men were only seen as an annoyance as they charged for him. The eight Gulders standing in the shadows at the tree line made no move to assist their leader but instead seemed disinterested in the whole affair.
Years ago her father had been right. As soon as he raised his sword above his head and took a leap towards the elf leader his legs collapsed and Piper witnessed her father plummet to the hard ground. Just as quickly Piper's brothers were stopped in their tracks as black magic forced their eyes to glaze over faintly. The elf named Ezven wore a smirk that could silence a thunder storm. His bright green irises glowed with amusement as his gaze lingered over the frozen men before stopping on Piper's form. Piper felt her flesh prickle with tiny bumps as a shiver ran down her spine. She didn't have long to contemplate the emotions that had forced this reaction before the giant took a step closer to her.
Fear. Definitely fear.
Piper squeezed her little brother's hand and willed him to run. She wished she had never been so foolish to think that her family could fight these monsters. Instead she had put everyone she loved at risk. Piper gave Patrick a small nudge and this time he let go of her. Pausing briefly to look to his only sister the little boy sprinted to the wooden house nestled amongst hundreds of trees.
Ezven's eyes grew darker as they shifted to Piper's father still kneeing on the ground only feet away from the dark elf. "I believe it would be wise of you to give in willingly," growled the monster towering over Harrison, "we need the female. Either she comes peacefully or we will take her. It doesn't matter to us." The startled look on Piper's father's face matched her own. It had never occurred to Piper that the elves had been targeting her when they raided the forest. Her mind had only entered survival mood as the creatures had pursued their prey. A victim that she had believed to be random.
"Screw you, asshole!" Piper gritted her teeth as the words barely escaped her lips. She wasn't entirely sure if she had imagined the elf's ears twitch as she spoke but his eyes slowly focused on hers removing any doubt that he hadn't heard her. He didn't touch her but she could feel him. His presence consumed her as she felt a wave of nausea wash over her.
This time she didn't awake from her dreamless stupor.
***
The aroma of roasted meat greeted the girl when she finally regained consciousness. Her head hurt and she felt as if she had developed bruises on her stomach. Piper's legs felt stiff and her jaw was tender. The haze gradually cleared from her mind as the cold whipped against her bare legs. Without opening her eyes Piper began to assess her situation. She could hear voices right in front of her. It felt as if they were only meters away from where she sat but she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. The hushed tone of the men intrigued and worried Piper as she strained to hear her enemy's conversation. She was seated against a familiar solid mass. Piper couldn't comprehend why the Gulders had tied her to a tree if they could incarcerate her body in mere seconds.
"Good evening," a deep, sensual voice disturbed Piper's thoughts. Her eyelids flashed open at the alarming proximity of the man. Ezven. It was dark which meant that they must have travelled a long way or she had been unconscious against the tree for some time. A marked hand appeared in front of her face, a flask clutched tightly. "Drink," muttered the dark elf. Piper clamped her lips shut determined to fight this man every step of the way. That damn eyebrow again. "Please yourself, human. Once again it doesn't make any difference to me but I would think if you were planning to attempt escape again," his bright green eyes skimmed over her bound form with a smirk, "you might want to be hydrated at least." Piper started loathingly at the back of the man as he walked back to his company by the warm fire.
He infuriated her. So smug, so commanding, so fucking hot and so dead. He was right of course, she was planning her next escape already but this time she wasn't just going to run. She was going to take him down. How dare he uproot her from her family? Her life, everything she had ever known, had come crashing down around her in less than 24 hours. Piper furled her brow as she stared daggers into the Gulder's back. His clan was sitting around a large camp fire with Ezven sitting directly in front of her. Only a few meters away. If she wasn't tied to this damn tree she could probably sneak up behind him and wrap her fingers around his throat as he had done to her little brother. Squeeze and squeeze and squeeze.
