I know I haven't posted this in a while...
Can I make it up by posting a super-long entry? Pleeeeaaaasssseee???



Kaya heard many sounds as the cart was pulled along. She assumed they had been brought to a market of some sort; there were peddlers trying to sell their wares, people haggling over prices, the occasional bray of a donkey used to pull purchased items, and many other such sounds. That could mean on thing. Their captors had taken them to a town.

But they were taken away from the market; away from all of the noises of civilization. The noise of wheels being pulled over rocks was all that could be heard for a long time. Kaya grew all the more fearful as the time passed.

Soon, the cart stopped, and both Kaya and Vlad were thrown to the ground. Without any time to recover, strong hands pulled both elves to their feet and dragged them along. Kaya struggled, but it was the same as in the clearing; the hands were too strong and held their grip too well. She could not escape.

Underneath her bare feet, Kaya could feel the change to flooring. First there was the dirt and gravel of outside, which soon turned to what seemed like wood planking, which became cold stone floor. The air around them seemed to grow more damp and musty, as though they were being led underground.

After a few minutes of being pulled along, Kaya and Vlad were thrown to the floor once more. The bonds that tied their hands behind their backs were cut, and the closing of two gates could be heard. Kaya removed the blindfold and turned to look at their surroundings.

Kaya sat on the stone floor of a cell. Vlad was in the cell next to her. What separated these two cells were not iron bars as would have been seen in the Dwarven or Human dungeons, but thin strips of wood, almost branch-like, separated the two elves. The gates that Kaya had heard closing were also made of wood.

"So," said one of their captors. "Two trespassers on Elven territory? Oh, how the king will reward us tonight!" Kaya looked at the strong hands that had forcefully brought her to the dungeons.

Five elves stood before them. Each one had muscles bulging from their arms, stretching the material of their tunics. "I cannot imagine how a Dark Elf was able to convince a Wood Elf to travel with him-" another elf turned to look at Vlad- "but you shall explain that to the king soon enough." Vlad backed away as the elf spat through the wooden bars at him.

Kaya blinked in confusion as she watched the Elven men walk out of the dungeons. "Wood Elf?" she muttered.

Vlad just smiled. "Your hair," he said. "It's grown longer since we met. You can't see the color variation unless you take off your cloak." Kaya looked at her shoulders. Dark brown hair flowed down underneath the folds of her cloak, the blond parts weren't visible. "It's a good thing. If nobody notices, then we stand a better chance of getting the word out of the war."

Vlad turned around, looking at the dungeon. He got up and pushed against the wooden bars. He kicked at them, and one of the bars broke.

Vines came from the ceiling and grabbed Vlad by the ankles and wrists, throwing him away from the bar he broke. He shook his head and got up again. "That was unexpected." Vlad heard Kaya gasp, and his head snap up to see what had happened.

The wooden bar was growing before their eyes. Slowly at first, but faster as the two ends came closer. In less than a minute, the bar was unbroken. It was as though nothing had ever happened. "The Wood Elves must have enchanted this room," he said.

Kaya looked around. The wooden bars surrounded them, all of them a rich dark brown color; some even were growing leaves. Except....

At the corner of the cell, there were a few bars that seemed to be rotting. The color was different than the rest of the wooden bars. Kaya got up and pushed against them. The rotting bars seemed to be stronger than the rest of them. She kicked. No vines reached down from the ceiling and grabbed her, but the bars didn't break either. Vlad tried kicking at them to no avail.

The sound of a door being opened in the distance reached their ears, and both Elves looked up. A few guards walked into the corridor between the cells and glared at Vlad and Kaya. "The king requests your presence," said one of them.



The hall of the Elven king was nowhere near as grand as that of the Dwarven king, though none-the-less beautiful. The walls of the hall were made of wood, but no seams could be seen from where it had been constructed. In some places, branches stuck out of the walls, growing leaves and flowers of multiple colors. It was almost as though they walked inside of a very large, hollowed-out tree...

Birds of every shape, size, and color flew from branch to branch, filling the hall with song. If they were not being dragged by armed guards towards a man that would decide their fate, Kaya might have enjoyed being inside this hall.

The king himself was dressed in plain clothing. Earthen colors adorned his tunic and trousers, along with leaves from almost every kind of tree. A crown made of wood adorned the top of his head. The crown, like many other things, had small branches with leaves growing from it. His face seemed hardened with years of severity.

"So, these are the two that dare to set foot on the land of my kingdom?" The king's voice boomed throughout the hall, hushing the many birds that had been singing a moment before. Kaya wished that the small animals would resume their joyful song. It reminded her of the forest she grew up in. "Well?" the king asked. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Please, sir-" Vlad began. One of the soldiers hit him in the small of the back with the butt of his spear. Vlad fell to his knees, the air knocked out of his lungs. "You," said the guard, "are not to speak Dark Elf." The guard spoke these last two words with distaste between clenched teeth. Vlad nodded to Kaya, giving her a look that told her that she should be the one to speak.

"Please, sir," Kaya repeated, "we come from the Dwaves. They offer a treaty. There is a war approaching, the Orcs and many of the Dark Elves have joined forces to-"

"Don't you think I know that?" boomed the Elven king. "That is why we captured both of you! A Dark Elf and his companion, here to spread lies to ensure our demise." He walked over to Kaya, looking her directly in the eyes. Vlad was impressed with his travelling companion, she didn't even blink or glance away. She gave no sign of being scared of this man.

The king stared at Kaya for a moment, and Kaya stared back with defiant eyes. Finally, the king turned and nodded to one of his guards. "Bring me this girl's weapons." The guard bowed and ran off to his task. The king turned back and smirked. "You seem oddly different. What is your name?"

Kaya looked at him with unwavering bravery. "My name is Kaya. I was raised in the forest that separates the Dwarves and the Orcs."

The kings expression remained unchanged. "I thought so." The guard had returned with Kaya's daggers and brought them to the king. The elven man took one of them and removed it from it's sheath. Something that Vlad had not noticed before now came to his attention.

The dagger had an engraved symbol on it. On the blade of the small weapon, a carving of a dragon wrapped around the hilt of a sword was barely visible. The king's smile widened. "And I would assume that this appearance of yours is a ruse. You are not really a Wood Elf, are you?" With one strong hand, the king grabbed Kaya's hair and yanked her head back. Vlad yelled and tried to get up, but several guards held him down.

"Leave her alone! She hasn't done anything!" he shouted. But that didn't stop the king.

The king held the dagger to the back of her neck. He swept the dagger back through the air, cutting of at least half of Kaya's hair. The hair that he now held in his hand turned white, as though it had come from an old grandmother. "We shall soon see what you really are. Show me your arm," he commanded.

Kaya hesitated, then rolled up her sleeves. On her arms were tatoos, one on each arm and both different. One was of a rose with a bird sitting on top. The other was the same as what was on the dagger.

"I'm sure you don't know what they mean," said the king. "They represent your mother and your father, as do the symbols on these daggers." The king rolled up his own sleeves, revealing the tatoos on his arms. Vlad noticed something about one of the kings tatoos.

"Wait..." he said. "That's the same as the one on Kaya's arm!"

Kaya's eyes widened in shock as she noticed the same thing. Shouts could be heard from different guards as they noticed the now half blond hair that she had, but nobody paid any attention to them.

"That's right," said the king. "She's my daughter."