Inferior

Chapter 1
         I walked through the forest, unseen by anyone. I looked around me, trees everywhere, hardly any light passed through the branches and leaves. This part of the forest was immensely dark. I listened, waiting to hear the footsteps of a follower. There they were; heavy, unsure footsteps. A snapping of a twig caught my attention. I crouched low behind the thistles nearby. I held my spear tight, waiting at any instant to attack.
         I saw a soldier; a tall, muscular Wilshirean soldier. I sensed a feeling of fear from the man. He was going to die. He did not belong here in the first place. I rolled the spear in my hand, getting ready to attack. The moment of waiting almost made me mad. He stepped closer to the thistles and I attacked.
         I leapt out of the bush and threw my spear. It went through his neck. Blood squirted everywhere, hitting me and the nearby trees. I wiped the blood off my face with my bare arm. I looked at the soldier. I wondered where he lived, if he had a family, a wife, maybe kids.
It doesn't matter. I went to the other side of the body and picked up my spear. I wiped the blood off the arrowhead with my skirt. I listened for any other signs of another soldier. There were none that I could hear. I left for camp.
         I am an elf. I live in the forest with my people. We are the only surviving group of native elves. The rest were killed, sold into slavery, or converted like some of the other elves into what they call, “living in a normal society.” I liked the way I lived, and believed I would never change.
         Our worst enemy is Shananraw, the evil ruler of Wilshire. He was the main cause for the decline in our population. He kidnapped our people and sold them into slavery. If they did not cooperate, like most did, they were sentenced to death.
         I am highly wanted in most countries except for Kervenreich Wasserhauf. Their ruler is Alex, my lover. Alex had put in place rights for all elves, including citizenship and voting rights. He also had installed a minimum wage for all workers of any species. Alex is Shananraw’s son. That was the weird thing about him. He is a wizard, like Shananraw, but had an opposite personality. Alex is a nice, kind, loving person while Shananraw was cruel, coldblooded and a liar.
         Tryon and Wilshire are allies, and human estates. They both have elven slaves do their work for them. My father is the king of Tryon, and human. I am half-elf, which I hate and I always forget about me being part human. Humans treat us as inferior beings, but when they go to Sumner Glen, which is the realm of the ‘civilized’ elves, they treat them as superior beings. I think it is our clothing and ways that made everything so different.
         Our clothing consists of barely anything. Males only covered their groin area, usually with deerskin. Females wore a short skirt made of deerskin and had naturally long, black hair which covered our breasts. Humans thought this as altogether strange, which I don’t understand why, when their clothing was no better, except it covered their whole body, yet it was made of the coarsest material on Zyack.
         Our ways are different in many ways. We believe in Owan, another name for mother nature. She is like a force that surrounds us, she can hear and see us all the time and she comforts us in time of sorrow. I believe this all to be true, and I follow the ways of my people. Every season change we made a sacrifice to Owan, usually something that could be given back to the earth. The elders of our tribe would get a silver light-weight shoe when they turned a certain age, and another one when they died so they could walk with Owan. Owan was usually symbolized by a tree, and when we needed her the most we usually touched a tree so we could be close. This is also the reason we slept in trees.
         My camp is located in tall willow trees. The first person to be born in the camp, my half-sister, was named Willow after the trees. My mother soon abandoned us and converted in Sumner Glen after Willow was born. I hoped I would never meet my mother or my father. I am very happy with my life as it is. I have lived on Zyack for 18 years, I am the leader of the tribe, the first female leader since Owan walked the earth, and I am in love and have bonded to Alex.
         I reached the camp.
“Another Wilshirean soldier killed!” I yelled. The tribe erupted in a triumphant roar. They wanted war, I could tell, but I did not think we had the forces to accomplish the rough task at hand. I would have to talk to Alex.





Chapter 2
         When the sun reached the middle of the sky, I saw Alex. Alex and I were not yet married. I really wanted to, but the marriage would interfere in my leadership. I left the camp to go see Alex. I walked to the edge of the forest, the border line between Fairview Forest, my land, and Kervenreich Wasserhauf, Alex's land. I could see the Boulder Ridge mountain range to my right. Beyond the range lied Wilshire. Fairview forest almost wrapped all the way around Zyack. Sumner Glen, Tryon, Wilshire and Kervenreich Wasserhauf all connected to it. All of the native elves lived in Fairview Forest.
                I saw Alex comming toward the forest. His brown hair was rustled by the wind and his red eyes were looking into my brown/blue ones. He beckoned me to come to him. I smiled, shook my head and beckoned him to come to me. He did.               
“Come on, Arwein.” He said annoyingly.
“What?” I laughed.
“I don’t want to come in this place because you’re afraid of the sun.”
“I’m not afraid of the sun, I just don’t like it.” I said as I wrapped my arms around him.
“I think you should learn to like it.” He said, embracing me.
“I’m not meant to like it.” I said, resting my head on his chest. He ran his hand over my back.
“Arwein,” I looked up at him, “I love you.”
“I love you too, Alex.” He kissed me.
I broke away first. “Alex, I need to talk to you.”
“About what?” He asked.
“A rather horrid subject.” I said.
“Let me guess……..war.”
“Yes, my people want war badly. I do not know what to do. If we go to war by ourselves all of us will die, probably.” I said all of this looking down at the ground.
“Kervenreich Wasserhauf will help you, no questions asked.” He said. He put his hand underneath my chin and lifted my face, “Is something else wrong?” His eyes were full of concern.
“Nothing else is wrong.” I said.
“You can tell me anything. You know that, right?”
“Yes, I do.” I smiled and kissed him.
         We stood for a while looking at each other. He held my long black hair in his hand. He took a tiny step closer to me and me to him. We kissed again.
“Arwein!” I heard a voice call behind me. Me and Alex took a step back from each other. I looked behind me. Shan was standing there, a frightful look on his face. Shan was Willow's soulmate and one of my best friends.
“What is it, Shan?” I asked.
"We need you at the camp right away." Was all he said. I could tell something was horribly wrong.
"Alright," I said. I turned to Alex, "Goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow."
We kissed again and I turned and left for the camp.