#dhearas

[bnpsquidsquad]

Betrayal?

Sometimes choices are made in a short moment... (623 words)

He couldn’t believe his eyes. They ran into an ambush from other elves and he really didn’t know how it happened. Two other elves came out of the forest, hooded like the others and when they stopped one of them started to talk, sounding a bit surprised. “Now that is an odd group we’ve got here. And then there’s a… dalish too.” The men looked at Athras now and the second one hold the first back as he wanted to step forward. “Let me talk to him. Please.” Athras watched them but after that they went on with talking quietly and it was hard to understand anything. It didn’t take long until the second man stepped forward, in the line of the other elves that pointed their weapons at them and took down his hood. When Athras realized who was standing in front of him he was shook. “I don’t know what you’re thinking right now but it probably isn’t anything good,” Dhearas started, looking over the other elves before his gaze turned back to Athras. “I would love to talk to you.” Athras swallowed hard, trying to ignore the looks the others were giving him now that it was clear that he knew at least one of those elves. “Here? In front of everyone? Or after you finished robbing us?” he asked after he found his voice again. “You are one of us. We are not here to attack you.” Dhea took another step forward, gaze steady on Athras while he pointed to the others. “You don’t have to get into any fight.” “But you’re attacking the others.” “Not if they give us their stuff without making a fuss.” As soon as Dhea finished there was a groaning going through the other elves. They probably wanted a fight. Athras took one step forward too which caused Partha to reach for him. He felt her hand lightly brushing against his skin before she pulled her hand back. He was thankful that no one of them had said anything till now. “You want to talk afterwards?” he asked and Dhea nodded. “But I have one question. How is Leena doing?” “She is doing well. At least before I left. I didn’t see her afterwards,” Dhea answered after a moment. He had probably been too surprised that Athras was bringing up his sister. Athras went over to the elves but stopped halfway when he heard Partha whispering. “But… we are friends.” He took a deep breath. She had no clue how much that sentence hurt and he tried to look composed when he turned to his companions. “We are, Partha,” he said, forcing himself to smile, “but Dhea was my friend first.” When he saw their expressions he had hold himself back from going back to them. He was standing in the middle and the idea he just had after Dhea told him about Leena was stupid. If not suicidal since he wasn’t a good fighter anyways. But if he went back now the surprise moment wasn’t there anymore. So he took his staff, facing his companions and raised it in the air. “At least run towards me,” he thought as he started to cast the spell. But they just stood there watching him. He was fast. From one second to the other he turned around and threw an arcane lance at Dhea who hadn’t seen this coming at all. The other elves didn’t as well so he had time to cast another one before one of them was at his side, burying a dagger in Athras arm. He didn’t care about it. Dhea had promised to take care of Leena and he didn’t. And after that he didn’t believe a word Dhea just said.

[bnpsquidsquad]

50 words stories

-6 stories / Athras memories

“Your hair is getting long,” Dhea stated, running his hand through Athras hair. The younger one just pushed the hand away and tried to concentrate on the bow again. “I told you when I'll let mum cut it.” “You’re not even seven. They won’t let you search for that flower.”

“What is up with the elven kid here?” he heard someone ask behind him and froze. “Hey, little girl what are you doing here?” He felt a hand on his shoulder when Dhea pulled him to the side and ran with him. “I told you to cut your hair short!”

A toy arrow hit Athras arm. He shouted while the other was laughing. “I hit you. You have to fall on the ground!” Athras turned to his friend. “You shot me in the arm. That wouldn’t get me down.” At that moment he was tackled and hit the ground hard.

“I’m not sleepy. Why can’t I walk around outside for a little longer?”, Athras asked. His mother stood in front of him, her arms crossed. “Because you are going to play with the Halla and get dirty again,”  she said. Sometimes he felt like his mother could read his thoughts.

Athras felt a sting in his chest when Dhea told him about the afternoon he spent with the others. He’d already heard them talk, sitting behind a tree. While Dhea was talking how much fun the trip was he tried to repress the feeling of loneliness, to stop the ache.

Athras listened as they exchanged their vows. He didn’t know why he didn’t see it coming. It must have been obvious to the others that there was something between his sister and his best friend. “Isn’t there someone you laid your eyes on? the keeper asked Athras after the ceremony.

[bnpsquidsquad]

childhood - the cliff

Having a somewhat reckless friend comes with certain accidents. (467 words)

They walked on the edge of the cliff, trying to find a way down. Both hadn’t paid attention to where they were running when they played catch while picking berries. “If there’s no way down we just have to climb,” Dhearas said, looking over the edge. Athras got onto the ground and crawled towards the edge too. He was a little bit afraid to look how far down it was. “There’s the river down there”, he said after he could take a look. And it was very high, at least from what Athras saw. Before he could say that it’s better to look for the way they used to come up here Dhea was already climbing down. “It’s not that hard. The rock has a lot of edges you can hold onto”, he told the younger boy. “Wait, we really shouldn’t…,” Athras started but he knew that his friend wouldn’t listen to him. He sighed. Let’s hope Dhea was right and it was as easy as he had said.

It was easier than he had expected. He heard the splash when Dhea landed in the water and tried to get down a little faster. That’s when he slipped. He heard Dhea curse and felt a sharp pain in his knee as he lost his grip and fell. Dhea reacted fast enough and managed to get under Athras so that the younger one didn’t fall in the water and on the little rocks there. When Athras realised he didn’t hit the hard ground he opened his eyes to find Dhea lying under him. He sat up and felt pain in his left leg. “You’re bleeding,” Dhea said, following Athras gaze when he looked down. “It’s not that bad. I can still walk,” the younger one replied, while standing up with shaking legs. Dhea also stood up and put a hand on Athras shoulder before he looked him in the eyes. “Are you really ok? I can carry you if it hurts too much.” Athras blushed and shook his head. “It’s alright!” he almost shouted, before starting to walk back to where he thought the camp was.

It took them some time to finally get back, Athras refusing Dheas help the whole time. But at the camp Dhea pulled Athras to the keeper so that he could make sure that the wound was taken care off. When the keeper got bandages Dhea asked: “Why don’t you just heal him?” The keeper stopped and looked to the kid. “We shouldn’t use magic to do everything when nature and time heal as good as magic does. There may be a scar but that’s how life works.” Then he turned to Athras. “You should keep those words in mind. Don’t waste magic if there’s a way nature can give you the same.”

[bnpsquidsquad]

childhood - Hallas

Athras learned that just accusing each other isn’t something he should do... and Hallas are faster than he thought. (240 words)

They spent almost all day catching the young Hallas they chased away by accident. Dhearas said it had been Athras fault for trying a spell that didn’t work while Athras told the keeper it had been Dheas, shooting his arrows into them. The keeper told both of them to get the Hallas back unless they wanted to skip their meal. Athras was the faster one of them but even he had been sitting in the grass, panting heavily, while Dhea lay there not able to move another muscle. “Have they always been that fast?”, Dhea said while gasping for breath. “I don’t think so. No.” Athras would have loved to lie down too. Not standing up again but he didn’t. “Come on, Dhea. It’s just one of the young ones that’s left.” He stood up, brushing off the dirt on his pants. Dhea was grumbling but slowly stood up too. They both thought the young Halla would be easier to lead back to the camp but they didn’t think about the Halla wanting to play with them. When they finally sat down with their food in the evening both were utterly exhausted.

When Silea was looking for her son she found him and Dhea sleeping soundly in Dheas bed, cuddling against each other because it was getting cold already. She took the blanket and draped it over them before leaving and telling Dheas mother that the children were sleeping already.