27. Yvonne

27

YVONNE

Enslavement of humans, abuse of authority, an opportunity to escape, and running for my life. Where have I gone through this before? It’s an all too familiar scene for me as I sprint for the caverns with the dark elves hot on my trail.

Last time, I had nothing to fight for. I was only running for the sake of survival. But things are different now. Everything has changed, most importantly myself. I am not the same Yvonne the elves tried to enslave and dehumanize in the mines.

I have tasted freedom and peace. I am not alone anymore. I sprint alongside the love of my life. I will not go down as easily as the dark elves might think, not after the confessions shared between Oarus and I.

No, I will fight to my dying breath if I must regain my liberation. Our feet tread the ground beneath us at such high speed, it feels as though we’re soaring through the air.

“Don’t stop,” shouts Oarus. “Not even if your feet bleed!”

I grab a lit sconce hanging at the cavern entrance right before we disappear inside. The narrow pathways are still visible, but I cannot risk tripping and need as much light as I can get.

We run and turn tight corners guided by Oarus. He knows these caverns better than anyone in all of Protheka. I have faith he can throw the elves off of us.

“Over here, we’ll hide,” he says, pulling me behind a pillar. Flowing nearby is a stream of water, masking our heavy breathing. “Wait, I can hear them… They’re splitting up, probably to check all possible routes. We’d best keep moving. On the double!”

Just like that, he and I are off again. The narrow walkway we run on eventually opens up and descends into a small pit. I reach the slope on the opposite end, where a dark elf suddenly jumps out from the top of it.

“Afraid, little girl?” he snickers.

“Far from it.”

My cold tone wipes the smirk from his face. I sprint up and wave the sconce at him, driving him back. He rolls behind me, but I’m fast enough to keep up with him.

The dark elf doesn’t seem aware of the fact that Oarus is waiting for him as I push him further back into my love’s arms. Oarus snaps his neck with a singular twist. The cracking of his bones ripples and bounces off of the walls.

Oarus picks up the corpse and drives it onto a sharp peak of a rock. “That’ll hopefully warn them to back off.”

Three more appear from the tunnel that we came from. Their looks of anger deepen when they spot their deceased comrade. So much for a warning.

“Stay behind me,” commands Oarus. “I’ll deal with this.”

I clutch the sconce tight, ready to fight alongside my love if he needs me, but something tells me he won’t.

The elves charge. Oarus grabs the leading elf and hurls him against the wall. The bastard’s body bends in a way I’m sure it’s not supposed to. He slowly falls to the ground and doesn’t get back up.

The other two try attacking at the same time. Oarus ducks just in time, causing the elves to mistakenly strike each other with their swords.

My lover punches a hole through one of them and throws him against the remaining elf. Pools of blood accumulate below their corpses.

“Quickly!” I shout. “Before more of them show up.”

He takes my hand, taking us through the exit, only to find ourselves back in the caverns.

“Don’t worry, we’re heading the right way,” he says reassuringly. “Watch out!”

I look up just in time to see a dark elf bring his sword swinging down, ducking to narrowly avoid certain death. I stumble and fall, momentarily dazed as I hear fighting behind me.

I grab the still-lit torch and turn to Oarus. The dark elf lies dead beneath him, but blood streams steadily from Oarus’ shoulder.

“Are you alright?” I blurt out, disturbed by the sight.

“It stings like crazy, but I’ll be fine. Wait, Yvonne, look at that!”

I turn around, seeing the pathway open up again, this time into what appears to be another set of mines.

“Looks like they’ve been expanding their operations, the bastards.” I jog forward, spotting an exit at the top of a very steep incline. “Are you okay to move, Oarus?”

“Yes, but if another group attacks, I might not be able to fight them off.”

I think hard, my mind straining with effort as I try my best to devise a solution. I can’t fight them off by myself, and Oarus is hurt. They keep coming, though. We have to do something other than run…

That’s when I spot the large wheelbarrows of oil barrels tucked beside the cart of tools nearby. A fiery hot idea brews as I glance between the barrels and my sconce.

“Oarus, I need a hand.”

Two minutes later, Oarus and I wait at the top of the slope, waiting for the reinforcements to come. The barrels are empty. The slope glistens with puddles of iridescent colors.

“You’re a genius,” my lover says to me. “But we should run now, should we not?”

“I want to see their faces when I cut them off from us forever,” I tell him. “After this, it’s just going to be you and I for the rest of time.”

“I like the sound of that. I hear them coming, get ready.”

A large group of them hurry in from the opposite end, spotting us almost immediately.

“There they are! Bring the girl to me and skewer the monster!”

I let them scramble closer, laughing as they slip attempting to climb the slope. The looks of realization on their faces when they smell the oil will forever be ingrained in my memory.

I hold up the sconce and let it drop. It hits the ground, setting off a blazing trail of fire, licking the slope and lighting it in flames as it descends. Some of the elves ignite with it.

“We’ve got to move!” shouts Oarus.

We sprint through the exit. We don’t stop running after that, not for a long time. The screams behind us in the distance eventually cease.

Oarus omits a mighty laugh, though he winces from his wound. I take his hand and pull him along.

“We’re almost there.”

I almost collapse from how sore my body is. My muscles ache with agony, but I relish in the sweet feeling of victory.

“We did it, Yvonne.”

“And we did it together. How fitting it is that the final time I’ll ever see dark elves is them going up in flames.”

He guides us back toward his lair. I’m overcome with happiness as I step inside. The time to rest has come.

“Follow me, we’ll bathe in the spring pool,” my lover says.

“But your wound, we need to –”

“Shush.” He chuckles. “You can tend to me there.”

He takes us to the hot spring.

“Well, I can’t imagine a better time to take a bath than after narrowly escaping with our lives.” We both laugh as I slowly walk into his arms.

Even injured, his grip around my waist is strong. My clothes are peeled off layer by layer. He plants a kiss and guides me into the water.

It is pure bliss, so much so that I turn around and lay back. I float on the surface as light as air, closing my eyes and relaxing. That is, until I remember there’s a wound that needs cleaning.

I swim over to Oarus, pressing my body against his. I tend to his wound, doing so gently so as to not inflict further pain on him. He’s had enough of that for one day.

I think of him coming to rescue me when I was captured, imagining the turmoil he must have felt when he found out I’d been snatched from him. The mere fact that he’d put himself through so much risk for the slim chance of taking me back is enough to make me cry.

I try to stifle my sob, but a whimper betrays me. He turns to me with a look of concern.

“What is upsetting you, my dearest?

“I’m not upset, I’m just… I can’t believe you came back for me. I can’t believe you risked your life like that.”

He strokes my face, dashing away the tears. His tail wraps around my legs, sliding up between them.

“I can believe it,” he says. “Because you’re worth it, Yvonne.”

I cry into his shoulder. “All my life, I’ve been constantly dehumanized. I never saw myself as lovable, but you’ve changed that. You didn’t stop, even in the face of certain doom. You never stopped fighting. How can I ever repay you?”

“I will never stop fighting, Yvonne, for you and us. Don’t talk about repaying me. You can’t put a price on love.” He raises my chin, our eyes locking intensely. “Though there is one thing you can do.”

“Anything,” I tell him.

“Be my mate.”

I giggle, my skin flushing red as my cheeks become hotter than the water. “It’s always been yes.” I kiss him hard and passionately.