Thayla's Story

• Thayla - Tall with gold skin, bronze hair and black eyes with no visible pupil. She can walk through solid objects and lift objects with a single thought.
• Taylee - Short with blue skin, short bronze hair and blue eyes. She has control over water.
• Dovid - Short with red-orange skin, long, blond hair and blue eyes. He can teleport himself and others long, and short distances in the blink of an eye.

      Thayla huddled under a pile of laundry and hugged her little cousin, Taylee, close to her. The blue skinned infant whimpered softly as the shouting came nearer. Thayla whispered reassuring words in the child’s ear and tried to believe them herself.
      They were the only children born to the small town in the past ten years, and they were unnatural. Half the community thought them gifts from the gods, the other half believed that they had been cursed and only demons, which was what they thought of Thayla and Taylee as, would ever be born there again. The fact that a drought was ravishing the land helped to substantiate the curse theory; the rivers were bare trickles and the wells nothing but muddy holes in the ground. Even worse, a neighboring town-larger then their own and under the same situation- had decided to raid Cenevex and steal what was left of their water and food. When the parents of the two children realized what was happening they hid the cousins under a pile of clothing, knowing that, in the confusion, someone might take the moment to murder them and blame it on the raiders. Though it seemed no one would survive this raid at all.
      Now Thayla listened as the raiders got ever closer. She could hear the screams of adult and child alike as family and friends died on the blades of the invaders. Apparently they wanted everything they could lay their hands on, not just food and water. They intended to kill everyone, for they did not want to take the chance that a sole survivor might pursue revenge.
      Suddenly fear, far more intense then anything Thayla had ever felt, consumed her. She stood up and didn’t even notice the clothes fall to the ground around her, or the weight of her cousin in her arms. Thayla ran to the exit, nearly stumbling on the hard-packed dirt steps of the nearly subterranean hut. The majority of the adults had gone to the outskirts of Cenevex to try and prevent the raiders from entering their beloved city, but had obviously failed. So there was no one to stop Thayla from leaving, except for the raiders, since none of Thayla’s family had any idea about her actions.
      “Goddess of hidden places, help us to safety!” Thayla whispered as she came to her senses at the sight of the invaders only five huts distance away. The darkness hid Thayla and her cousin from the raider's sight. She could have gone back inside without being seen and remain hidden, but somehow she knew that it would be better for her to flee. Thayla had run by only four homes when she realized that the raiders were in front of her and then she realized, from the sounds of conflict, that the raiders had surrounded Cenevex. Thayla jumped into an ally between two huts as a torch-bearing stranger came near enough to see her.
      She didn't see the stool until it was too late and wound up tripping over it. She twisted at the last second and managed to land on her side instead of on top of Taylee. Thayla gasped as the wind was knocked out of her; Taylee began to cry. Before Thayla recovered from the fall, she had her hand covering Taylee's mouth and tried to hush her but to no avail. Then, much to Thayla's horror, she could see light from men bearing torches coming close to both exits of the alley and only then did Taylee's sobs quiet. Screaming no longer pierced the air; instead silvery smoke replaced those sounds. They heard the heavy footfalls and the deep voices of men. Thayla could only pray that she and Taylee would not be seen.
      Two booted feet suddenly appeared in front of Thayla’s face, causing her to jerk back and nearly scream in surprise and fear. “Shhhh!” The voice of a boy hissed at her. He squatted down beside her and whispered, “I’m Dovid. You have to came with me.” Dovid looked up and to the left and right and saw large men appear at both ends of the alley. “NOW!” he added and grabbed Thayla’s arm.
      Then Thayla did scream, for suddenly they were no longer in the dark of near dawn but in the light of early morning. Grass, instead of packed dirt, cushioned Thayla and Taylee. The cold of late fall was replaced by the warmth of late spring and flowers filled the small clearing in a forest of tall pine trees.
      Dovid collapsed onto the grass, an arms length way from Thayla and Taylee. Thayla was shocked and afraid that something bad had happened to their rescuer. She let go of Taylee and crawled to Dovid’s side. Then Thayla got her first good look at Dovid, a look that caused her to gasp and pull back a bit. Dovid's hands and face, the only part of his skin showing, were bright red and contrasted dramatically with his long, braided, black hair and deep blue eyes. Thayla had seen reddish skin before, but nothing so bright as this. As Thayla looked closer, she realized that his skin really had more of a red-orange color to it. Dovid wore concealing black clothing, the hood of which had fallen back from his face and revealed not only his eye and hair color, but also his ears. Dovid was not human, he was an elve, and the first Thayla had ever seen. Curiosity over came manners as Thayla reached out and gently touched the pointed end of Dovid’s ear. A slight noise that Thayla couldn’t distinguish escaped from Dovid's mouth. She leaned forward and asked, "Are you alright?" Dovid took a deep, unsteady breath and sighed.
      "I will be in a few minuets. I just did something I have never done before." His voice was barely above a whisper, but Thayla could hear him. As Dovid opened his eyes Thayla realized that her hand had moved to his shoulder.