literature

Silverwing - Chapter 2

Deviation Actions

nesilverwing's avatar
By
Published:
311 Views

Literature Text

It was a sunny day, three weeks earlier. In the dream, she knew this, as everything was exactly as it had been. She was sitting on one of the highest branches of the tree that was her home, staring out over the trees and dreaming of escape.

“Lora? Leyielora Nadia Rosepetal, you get down here this instant!”
She hated her name, her last name, specifically. It tied her to her family, a family she wished she had never had to know. Scowling darkly, she stood up, brushed herself off, then looked down. The branches below her arranged themselves, knowing her plan. Without a moment’s hesitation, she jumped off the branch and into nothingness.

The air whooshed by her as she fell, but she did not panic; she had done this before. About a third of the way down the tree, a branch was sticking out below her; she hit it with her feet and pushed off sideways, falling again. Another third of the way, another branch, another leap. The last third was between her and the ground. She heard someone scream as she plummeted the last length… only to land safe and sound at the bottom, the grass having grown longer to cushion her fall.

“Leyielora! Are you trying to kill yourself?!” screamed her mother. Her mother was the one who had screamed as she fell.

“Honestly, mother, why would I do that? It’s not as if everybody hates me. Oh, wait…” Her mother slapped her across the face.

“Silence! I will not hear any more of this talk, do you hear me? And you are forbidden to take such a fall again.”

“I didn’t fall, mother. I jumped.”

“No more jumping, then! Or so help me, I will have your father barricade you in your room until we have found someone suitable enough to marry you.”

“Like that will ever happen.”

The new voice was Lora’s oldest sister, Yoraia. She was the spitting image of their mother, from the length of her fawn colored hair to the style of dress she wore. She was staring haughtily down on Lora.

“Mother, you know that you will never find someone to marry Lora. She’s too wild and coarse. People would think she had no upbringing at all the way she throws herself out of trees like that.”

“What’s the matter, Ria?” said Lora in mock concern. “ Afraid your chances with Josit will be ruined because of my reputation? Maybe I should just tell him about
what you like to do on summer nights, and then we’ll see whose fault it is if he doesn’t want to marry you! I know you just love sleeping around… ”

Lora’s mother and Yoraia stood there in shock. Yoraia’s face turned an interesting shade of crimson, but Lora’s mother was too outraged at Lora for making such a bold-faced accusation that she did not notice, much to Yoraia’s benefit.

“How… How dare you!” she said, her voice shaking with rage. “How dare you say such a thing about your sister!”

“Well, it’s true! Look at her!”

Of course, by that time, Yoraia had composed herself. Her face was almost back to normal and bore the appropriate expression of shock for the situation.

“She’s shocked, as she should be. What kind of game are you playing at, Lora?”

“Yeah, Lora, what are you trying to do?”

This was Lora’s next older sister, Miora, the middle child. She looked more like their father than their mother, and Lora looked like neither. Lora always thought that she’d been switched at birth because she shared nothing in common with these people besides their name. Miora was standing next to Yoraia now, patting her arm comfortingly and looking smugly at Lora.

“Lora, apologize to your sister,” said her mother, forcefully.

Lora stared at the three of them together and said, “No.”

Suddenly she felt a vine wrap around her middle and lift her into the air. The vine was hanging over the branch above her, so she now resembled a hare in a trap.
Kicking and snarling, she struggled to get lose, the vine apologizing sadly. It was just doing what it was being made to do. A shadow moved across the sun, and Lora looked up to find her father standing in front of her, his hands on his hips and a satisfied smile on his face.

“Lora, I believe you owe your sister an apology. And your mother as well.” The words were spoken softly, but the threat behind them was clear. In reply, Lora spat in her father’s face. The vine suddenly dropped her, and she hit the ground face first. Her father picked her up by the scruff of her shirt so that she was eye to eye with him.

“Let’s try that again. Or I’ll stick you back up there in that humiliating position until you do.”

Lora kicked her father in the groin, and as he doubled up in pain, he let go of her shirt, stumbling backwards, her sisters caught hold of her, one on each side. She threw them off and backed up a few steps, facing them all. It was four to one. Lora’s mother stepped forward, her eyes dangerous and dark.

“Leyielora, do you have anything to say for yourself? Is there anything else you would like to add before we shut you up for life?”

“Yes, I do.”

In one motion, she pulled off her special cloak, which she wore all the time, and reveled in the gasps this action brought. Miora actually fainted.

“Lora, how could you do that to yourself? They’re hideous!” Her wings had grown since she had shown them to Jaylia. They were now longer than her full armspan and the same color as her hair. Except for the streak of silvery-gray feathers on the bottom edge of each wing.

“I like them, and I grew them because I know you don’t like them. And you wanna’ know what else I did?”

Lora knew this would seal her fate forever, but she did not care. All elves have something growing in their hair. The males typically had some kind of leaf, and the females had some kind of flower. A family had the same leaves or flowers, depending on the gender of the child. It was the utmost sign of severance from ones family to change the type of leaf or flower in ones hair, signifying that one no longer wished to be associated with their family. And this is what Leyielora had done.

Her flowers had been hidden under the surface of her hair, but she let them show now. Utter stillness and silence truly filled the clearing this time. Her mother, and sisters, looked so alike with their pink, rose-looking flowers, and Lora used to as well, but she had changed hers to simple, blue, five-petal flowers. The hostility was so tangible it practically choked Lora where she stood. Her father climbed back to his feet and fixed her with a glare of hatred that equaled her own.

“Get out,” he growled. “Get out! Get off this land! If we ever see your face again, you’ll wish you had never been born!”

“I already wish that!” she yelled back before turning around and running with all her speed away from that home, that place of hatred, that family that wished she had never existed, the abuse, the lies…



Leyielora woke with a start. She had dreamed of her past again, and she wished she did not have to relive those moments. It had gotten to the point where she only slept it because it was necessary; she did not want to have those dreams. They were nightmares.

Stretching, she looked about her. It was morning, which meant she had slept through a whole day and night in that oak. Patting the tree, she was about to climb down and continue on her way when she saw a deer standing in the clearing below her. A buck. It was just standing there, as though it were waiting for something. Lora looked at it as her stomach rumbled. Maybe it knew where some berries were, but she did not possess the power to speak to it nor did she think she had enough energy to find the berries herself. So, she continued to watch the buck for a couple of minutes when she heard the sound of something crashing through the underbrush.

Whatever it was, it was so loud that Lora was surprised the buck had not bolted yet, but it remained where it stood, merely twisting an ear in the direction of the noise. A moment later, the creature was revealed: a human boy.

With a small gasp, Leyielora scrambled backwards, deeper among the leaves. She had not realized that she had crawled so far out on that branch nor how visible she was if the boy decided to look up. Thankful for the cover that the tree provided, she peeked out through the branches to see what was happening.

The boy looked young for a human, maybe about 18, her age. He had semi-long black hair that was tied back with a piece of twine. As she watched him though, she decided his hair was really brown, just so dark a brown that it looked black.
He seemed rather tall to her, but so did most humans, so she figured he must be about at about an average human height, maybe a little taller. The boy was also rather lanky and thin, and he had a satchel hanging from his left shoulder. His dark blue breeches and brown boots were mud-spattered, and his white shirt had more than a couple rips and tears.

Leyielora watched in fascination as he walked right up to the deer and put a hand on its back. The buck showed no fear; in fact, it seemed happy to see the boy, and it turned its head to look him in the eye.

“Is this the place?” the boy asked the deer, and the deer nodded. The boy’s voice had a soothing quality to it that calmed the nerves. “Thanks,” he continued, heading for the foot of the tree Leyielora was hiding in. Heart racing, she watched fearfully as he got closer and closer, and was relieved when he turned a little to the side to a bush on the other side of the tree. “Are you sure this is the last bush in the area?” he called softly to the deer, who came nearer at his call. The boy seemed to listen to the deer for a moment, although what the animal said, Lora had no idea. Then he shook his head sadly as he started picking something off the bush.

Lora felt like screaming in frustration. She had been looking for food, and there was a berry bush right below her. Cursing quietly to herself, she watched the boy some more. He seemed to have picked the last of the berries already and was looking in his satchel at the meager find.

“No, no, every little bit helps.” He seemed to be trying to assure the buck that everything was all right, but the buck was stepping fretfully back and forth. “Really, everything will be fine. I think this is the last of what I’m going to need anyway. You can go back to your herd now.” The boy stood up and made to go back the way he came, but the deer tugged at his sleeve. “No, really. I know the way back. I think I left a trail wide enough that anyone could have followed me here anyway.” The buck nosed his arm one more time before turning and bounding off into the woods.

Leyielora waited several minutes after the boy had left before climbing down from the tree. The sun had risen fully, making dappled patterns on the forest floor where it broke through the leaves. Shouldering her satchel, she crept after him, keeping to the shadows. She had decided to catch him unawares and steal the berries and whatever other food was in that satchel. Lora did not believe that a human like him could find his way home in the woods no matter what time of day it was, but as she followed the path and did not encounter him, she had to admit that he had some skill as a woodsman.

After following him for most of the morning, she suddenly found herself at the edge of the wood, staring at the back of a two-story log cabin. It looked solidly built, sturdy, and newer than the buildings in the background. It was late enough in the morning that the streets were already busy with humans going about their business. Luckily for her, this cabin was on the outskirts of the village. Her hunger being stronger than her fear of humans at this point, she crept into the shadow of the cabin and peered through one of the windows. The boy was sitting behind a counter of sorts, looking intently at something in his hands, although she could not tell what it was from her viewpoint. He must have arrived some time ahead of her, as he had had time to change into an undamaged shirt.

Creeping back into the cover of the woods, she came up with a plan. Reaching into her satchel, she pulled out a battered looking skirt. Hurriedly, she put them on over her dark blue leggings she had been wearing. They had been cut short so that they ended above the knee, another tactic to annoy her family, and were very practical for running around in the woods. The skirt on, she made sure her hair covered the flowers in her hair and her pointy ears. Her disguise in place, she stepped out from under the trees and made her way to the front door of the building, looking like a small, lost girl. Clinging to the strap of her satchel, she looked at the sign above the door. From what she knew of the Lorelian language, this was a carpentry shop. Head held high, she pushed the door open and walked inside.

The boy took no notice of her at first but continued to study what he had in his hand. As she neared the counter, walking past various chairs and tables in varying states of progress, she saw that he was actually carving a block of wood into the shape of a fox. Once she realized this, she stopped. Something about that block of wood felt alive, like the wood itself was still living. Outraged that anyone would cut down a living tree for the sake of decoration, she stormed up to the counter, fists clenched.

The boy looked up when she was about five steps from the counter, and said “Uh, hello. How may I help you-” BAM!

Lora punched the boy in the face, knocking him backward in his chair. The wall was fairly close behind him, so he did not fall far, but his head hit the wall pretty hard. Hands covering his head, he slid off the chair and onto the floor, up against the wall.

“What’s the matter with you?!” he yelled at her in indignation.

“You monster!” she screeched back, continuing to rain blows down on his head, or whatever she could reach from over the counter. “How could you cut down live trees just to carve them to look like foxes or birds or whatever?!”

“It’s all deadwood, I swear!”

“Like I believe you. I thought that since you are so close with animals that you’d be more respectful for their homes, but apparently I was wrong.”

“I swear to you, it’s all deadwood! I would never chop down a live tree!”

“Lies! That wood feels alive, you can’t deny it. Stop lying to me!”

“I’m not!”

The boy braced himself for another punch, but it never came. Opening his eyes, he dared to raise his head above the counter to see what happened. Lora, a bit more rested because of her long sleep but still woefully underfed, was starting to sway dizzily on her feet, the morning’s exertions sapping the last of her strength. Before the boy could do anything, she passed out cold.
Here's part two. Mostly flashback. Poor little elf-girl...

And poor boy she just randomly attacks.



First: [link]
Next: [link]
© 2008 - 2024 nesilverwing
Comments15
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Shy-and-waiting's avatar
43rd stanza or paragraph thing down you spelt steel wrong *steal*