Skyfire's legs shoved her up of the ground. As she came back down, crashing through the ferns and leaves, with her sword pionted down between her legs, a screech of terror and agony filled the trees, sending the birds scattering.
She laughed harshley. "I TOLD you you weren't gonna get away."
Skyfire knelt by her kill, and ripped her sword of out the carcass. she wiped it clean on the grass, and slid it back into her scabbard. Nothing raised her blood like a good hunt. She heaved the red broket, which was half her size, onto her back, and started her way towards her home.
She came to the riverbank with a sudden surprise. So wide! How had she lept across it the first place? Then she chuckled. The wind was always on her side during a hunt. She had the magic to shape the very weather, even without thinking about it. She must have stirred up enough wind to carry herself across. But now, she was far too tierd to try it again. She sighed.
It would take twice as long to get home, now. Then she got an idea. Taking out her small dagger, Skyfire set the brocket down. With a swing that took almost all the strength she had left, she burried the blade into a thin nearby tree. After another swift chop, the small tree fell down to the forest floor. Skyfire seccured one end on her side of the river, while trying to get the other end to the other side. With much pushing and pulling, she was able to throw the other end of the tree across the river.
Small, she knew. But Skyfire was sure that even this tree would hold her feather-like weight. She picked the deer back up, and, gingerly, set one foot on the bridge. The tree bent under her wieght, but did not snap. Carefully, she placed another foot. And slowly, she began walking across the wood, mindfull of the water crashing underneath her.
Finally, Skyfire reached the other side. She breathed a sigh of relief, and continued on her way home, brushing her honey-brown hair out her face.
"Mommy!" Sun rushed up and threw his arms around Skyfire's waist as she stepped into the clearing that was their home.
Skyfire chuckled, ruffling his red-brown hair. "Sorry I was gone so long, cubling," she said, letting the bloody deer drop onto the grass.
"Oooooo!" he said, looking at the animal. "So big! Where'd you catch it?"
"Far away. Past the bigger stream."
"Wow! That is far."
"Sit down cub. I'll cut it up for you."
The little human obeyed, sitting down comfortably on the soft floor.
Skyfire peeled away a chunk of red meat from the fur, and handed it to her adopted son. Every time she looked into those big blue eyes of his, she remembered the day she'd found him. He, like her, was lost, trying to find others of his kind. Niether of them remembered who their parents were, but as long as Sun was concerned, Skyfire was his mother. She sat down next to him with a slice of meat, thinking that there was nothing more she could want.
The leaves on the trees stirred as a soft breeze blew by, and the first glitters of sunlight seeped through the canopy. Birds took to their first flights of the morning, and mice scurried down into their burrows to sleep. Skyfire had been up for ours, brushing the soft pelt of her wolf, Star, while Sun slept beside her.
Suddenly, Star's ears pricked up. **What is it?** Skyfire asked.
**I... Something's out there! Something familiar!**
**What? Can you get the scent?**
Star was silent for a long while while Skyfire tested the air for starnge smells as well. Then, **Elves! Skyfire, I smell elves!**
Skyfire shot up from her seat. **Impossible!** She picked up Sun off the ground, careful not to disturb his sleep, and mounted her white wolf. **Where are they?** she sent, cradling the human with one arm, and sinking the other into Star's fur, holding on tight. **Yes!!! I smell them now, too! Take me to them!**
Star obeyed, bounding off into the trees without another word. Skyfire's heart was beating so fast, is was almost a hum. Other elves! She had never dreamed...! Why now?
Skyfire gasped as Star came to a halt. Before her, stood one, brown-haired elf. He was dressed in green leathers, and seemed just as surprised. She set Sun down on Star's back as she dismounted her wolf. Her hand came up over her mouth as the surprise sunk into her mind. On the end of his spear lay a dead bristle-boar.
Skyfire couldn't speak. She could never have guessed that she would someday find other elves. Why now? Finally, it was the brown-haired hunter who spoke. "I didn't know there were other elves this far from the holt."
"Holt?"
"My holt. The Wanderers' Holt..."
Skyfire shook her head. "No others. Just me. W-Who are you?"
"Dreambrook," he said, pulling his spear out of his kill. "I decided to hunt further from the holt than I usually do. I'm glad I did."
"Me too!" Skyfire smiled, placing a hand on her wolf's head to steady herself. "I... I had no idea...!"
"What's you're name?"
"Skyfire. And this is my human, Sun."
"'Your' human?"
Just then, Sun stirred from his sleep, and, wiping his big eyes, looked up at his mother, and then at the other elf. "moomy? Who's...?"
"He's a friend, I think. He can show us where there are other elves are."
Dreambrook held out a hand, and Skyfire slowly placed hers in it. She smiled inwardly. He was... pleasant... to look on. She had never seen a male elf before. "Come, on," he said. "I'll take you to the holt."