The smoke from Ember fall had long since disappeared, the day that had started with hope and sunshine was ending very badly for Ash. He was more confused than ever, he was barely dragging his weight after the moonblade assassin.
More than once she would disappear through the trees to scout ahead and return to find him cold and lifeless. Ash had never ventured this deep into the forest. The trees here towered, ancient and gnarled, their roots choked with snow and the shadow of the thick leaves.
Snow still covered the world around him in a bed of white, Ash slowly came to a stop. Every time he exhaled puffs of mist left his lungs, he looked down at his feet then at his hands.
"I'm not going."
Those were the only words that left his mouth.
The moonblade paused where she stood a few feet away, her skin tight suit covered every inch of her body except her hands. The material like leather but softer and of eleven make, her long white hair carried twin braids, her silver eyes never flicked as she spoke.
"Not this again, listen I know you are going through a lot but I'm doing this for yer own good human." She said in a funny accent which she always spoke by.
Ash heaved out puffs of hot air, he raised his hand and pressed it down on his chest, feeling his beating heart. "No you don't. You don't know anything about me."
She groaned inwardly as she turned and faced him. "Listen here human, I don't want to be here anymore and you have to be but let's just keep moving at get to our destination before night hits."
She turned around and started to walk but Ash stayed behind, his sight at the trees ahead. They looked like a wall, a warning telling him not to cross.
"You are not following me, why are you not following me?" She said in disbelief as she came to a stop. She groaned again, this time louder. "Is this how stubborn you lot are or is it just you? I can't really leave you to die anyway."
She paused, taking her time to ponder on her options. Eventually she gave up and walked back up to him, "Alright, listen up. It's gonna get dark soon so we'll set camp here and get going by first light."
Ash said nothing, he simply stood there his mind still struggling to process what he had left behind. What he had lost, his friends, family, his future.
The assassin turned around and left him to himself. "I'll go gather some wood and supper, I don't want to see yer arse leaving this space." Again he kept quiet as she disappeared into the treetops.
She came back a few minutes later just as the sun was going down the horizon, finding him in the same spot only this time sitting on a nearby rock.
She dropped the fire wood and soon ignited a fire, she placed the rabbit she had killed next to the fire and knelt down to pray over it.
"By the goddess, mother of the moon and eternal calm Selunara. I thank you for the gift of flesh, the gift of the forest..."
Ash simply stared into the fire, it caused the events of the day to resurface in his head. He could hear Tomas' laughter and those of the villagers as they danced around the fire they built in the village square.
"It's my fault isn't it?" He thought to himself. "They all burned because of me."
But it also pulled him in, he could feel it's warmth reaching out to him. He extended his hand out to touch it, to make himself burn just as they did for his sake, just as he was about to make contact with it the assassin spoke.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, human." She said coldly as she carved the rabbit open with her dagger, the sound was sharp and blood gushed out and poured out on the snow. "Just because you have a bit of magic doesn't mean it'll never run out."
Ash snapped out of his trance and looked up at her for the first time in a long time. He watched her face shine in the flames light, her silver hair reflecting back at him. Her face, she looked young, maybe the same age as him.
But unlike him, she was a fighter. He had seen her kill those things that came after him.
To think just the day before he fantasised over dragons and now he was before a living breathing elf. But what was she doing in human territory, did she cross over the divide to find him? But why? Who was he to her?
"Excuse me, what happened to me back then?" He asked.
The assassin took out the guys of the rabbit and buried it in the snow, she then used the snow to drain all the blood from the rabbit before skewering it and handing it to him on a stick to cook over the fire.
She took out an even bigger rabbit and started to carve it out again. She started another prayer for the second rabbit, Ash simply watched her and when she was done he spoke.
"I never heard elves prayed before, I was told they were savages."
She looked up at him, her cold eyes reflected the flame in them. "And I was told your kind were barbarians."
Ash opened his mouth to speak but shut it right afterwards, he had no clear though in his head now. Everything was a mess to him and he wanted answers desperately, before him was the only one with the answers he needed and he would get them else he run mad.