10The gnarled elf poured the liquid slowly down Taktoon's throat. She stepped back when all of it was gone and put her hand to her mouth.
"Wh - " Jade asked.
The elf glared at him violently and pressed her fingers to her mouth.
"SHHHHH! Humans, puh. Always want to know everything." She muttered loud enough to hear yet quietly enough to make Jade look like a fool. Again the company watched Taktoon in silence. He turned pale and his twitching fingers stopped. He turned gray. Sitka rushed forward, preparing to shake Taktoon for all he was worth, but the old elf caught him and pushed him back. The force of the push sent him careening into a misshapen cupboard. Glass shattered around him.
Slowly, Taktoon turned pink. His body arched and he shook violently. The liquid that had been poured so slowly down his throat came up and splattered his body. The elf's eyes went wide and her lips moved, uttering a secret curse.
He had risen from the table a good four feet when suddenly the shaking stopped. His body hit the table whose legs cracked under the sudden force and it again fell, bringing Taktoon with it. They both landed on the floor amid a mist of dust. The dust cleared and Taktoon was laying on the ground, his tunic ripped apart.
Then, to everyone's amazement, a black liquid started to creep from his belly. At first it was just oozing, but then the edges around the small hole became inflamed and the black started eating away at his body, slowly, and with deliberation. The group watched, spellbound. They watched the black eat away at his legs and arms until everything became black. Everything that is except his head; and from his mouth dark blood spurted and streamed down his cheek.
For a few moments the group stood waiting, it seemed that a fury would jump from the black mass. But instead something beautiful arose. Butterflies. Most were white, but some held a tint of another color: red, blue, and green. So beautiful that each member of the group took a step backwards to give room to them. The butterflies flew throughout the room and out the door. Nothing was left on the table except Taktoon's body, which had turned back to it's normal color. His tunic was still ripped open. The old elf felt his forehead and pressed his temples. Her own forehead wrinkled and she put her ear to his nose.
"He's alive"
The group looked at each other, each feeling joy.
"But - "
"But? But? What but? There isn't any but!" Cried Sitka who had rushed forward to grab Taktoon's hand. Taktoon's eyes opened but he didn't respond to the sudden jerk on his arm. Sitka gazed into the elf's eyes. They were black.
"Wh- what's wrong with him?" He whispered. Ekomaus rushed forward to stare into Taktoon's eyes which paid no heed to the light that was streaming through the open door.
The old elf woman sighed. "He's lost his soul, it's been happening lately. Every elf I try to heal turns into something like this. He wont respond, don't try it dear, " she said to Sitka, who was waving his hand in front of Taktoon's eyes. "He feels nothing, smells nothing, tastes nothing, sees, nothing, and hears nothing. He's a rock. He'll starve to death and not even know it." She shook her head sadly, "There's a dark magic going around children. Dark enough to steal the very thing out of our bodies that could never be stolen, out soul. Poor dear." She looked at Taktoon like a mother looks at her children.
"What will happen to him then?" Asked Jade, who was leaning against a cupboard.
"he'll die," her eyes widened, "of starvation." She let the thick silence settle. " I van keep him here, but when the elves find out what's happened, they will come looking for you. The know when one is dead, it's quite remarkable really."
Sitka shivered. It was like they were following them, waiting for the group to mess up, waiting for them to make a mistake so someone else could recover the treaty. So much depended on it, Sitka thought, it's not right. He watched the poor soulless Taktoon sit up on the table and babble. He said no words, just mumbled and didn't seem to notice the group he had just been with.
"I suggest you leave now," said the elf. She hurried to the door, "They'll feel the disturbance, and you'd best be on your way." She shooed them out and slammed the door behind them as if they were visitors she didn't have any use for.
Ekomaus stared hard at the closed door. She turned around and looked at Jade softly.
"Flidesgek." She said softly. Her hand brushed against his cheek, "It's almost over, we need to get to the village."
"But - "
"jade, you're a man of many words, but I plead to you please take us there." Jade glared at her. Hi hands twitched uneasily.
"No." He said stubbornly.
Ekomaus threw up her arms. "What now then! What now?"
Sitka was looking back and forth between them. His heart was troubled. Whatever Jade was unwilling to do was going to get them into trouble. He watched his stubborn brother, so different from the days when the both played so carefree in the woods together. His head and heart were split again. He watched his brother with growing anxiety and his senses suddenly became sharp. The explosion was bound to happen.
"Just leave us Jade!" He yelled.
"Jade turned to him in fury.
"Fine! Fine! I'll just leave, I'll just come to your aid when you need me then." He trailed off while walking away. "But I'm warning you, both of you, you wont survive, the box will kill you both off, it wants to get back to the dragons. And they, they will destroy everything."
He disappeared. Ekomaus glared at the spot where he had been.
"The village is five miles away." She said, "We must go."
They walked on for a while sharing the same uneasy silence they had had since they began the journey. The forest turned into plains. Grass swayed back and forth as the wind caressed their faces. Each thought separate thoughts. The came to a turnoff from the dusty road and made headway towards a slight light. Dusk came and then were shadowed. The light grew even brighter and Ekomaus's hope of coming into the village before dusk shattered, but within the darkness of her soul a new hope fluttered. Warmth, food, a bed.
Sitka's only thought was how familiar his surrounding were. Of course! The village. But he had decided never to turn back and every fiber of his being was pulled away from the growing light. Sounds of merriment came from a tavern they saw as the advanced on the road. Light shone through the window like a candle through punched tin. It was a glorious sight for a travel worn person.
The reached the tavern but stopped at the gate.
"Let's go." Ekomaus said softly. Sitka secretly resisted, but knowing a bed was awaiting him, he walked up the path.
They opened the door and let it slam against the wall. Warm air blasted onto their cold cheeks. All merriment ceased. Sitka stood in the doorway and looked around at the familiar faces. Someone got up and ran across the room. The person stopped at Sitka and raised his chin with a finger.
"Sitka? Are you home?"
Sitka lifted his head and saw a girl's face. It was Erin.
-AN-AN-AN-AN-AN- So? Whaddya think? Took me about two months to come up with this one, pretty sad huh? But the really sad part is that I didn't even have writer's block for any of it, I just refused to give it to you guys heehee XD by the way, if there a lot of typos, it's my fault. I wrote this at school but my disk messed up so I had to type it onto my computer and there may be a lot of subtle typos. So sorry, won't happen again . . . I think.