The Dark Protector

Chapter 2: Merethyl

“Yhendorn, what are you doing? We need to get down to dinner. You know mother will be mad that we’re late. We have guests.”

“Mere, you worry too much. Mother won’t be mad at us.”

“She won’t be mad at you, you mean. You can do no wrong in her eyes. She’ll probably blame me for us being late.”

“You realize, you’re acting like a 5-year-old, not a one hundred-and five-year-old?” Yhendorn says.

“I’m still young by elven standards. It’s not my fault that there is such an age gap between us. I’m sure mother felt that there was no way she could have a more perfect child than you, so it took father nearly 50 years to convince her to conceive again.”

“Bitterness does not become a Princess,” he says to me.

I roll my eyes behind his back. My brother is the perfect Prince. And he’ll make a great King one day. I, on the other hand, I’ve always been the wild child. Ready to explore the world, question everything, and endlessly test my mother’s patience. Or at least, that’s what she always says to me.

As we enter the dining hall, filled with our people and those of the visiting elves’ troupes, my mother rushes over to us. “Merethyl, Yhendorn, I’m so glad you could join us,” she says through gritted teeth.

“It’s my fault, mother, I caused us to be late. My apologies,” Yhendorn says, knowing my mother will never believe that.

"Of course. Come. Let me introduce you to our guests,” she says, giving me a glare. My brother turns and winks at me. I shake my head and follow them.

She guides us over to a table where I can see that the Lord and Lady have brought their daughter, who I’m guessing is their very eligible daughter, to meet my brother.

Before I can get away, he grabs my arm, turning as he pretends to hear something, only to speak quietly to me. “Leave me and I’ll never forgive you.”

“Mhmm,” I acknowledge, turning to look in the direction he is looking, making it seem as if we both heard something.

My brother and I have been doing this for decades. He and I agreed long ago that when our mother tried to hook us up with someone, the other wouldn’t leave their side, no matter how awkward it got.

“What are you two looking at?” our mother asks, trying to redirect our attention. “I want to introduce you to Lord Luthais, his mate, Lady Penelo, and their daughter, Lady Shaerra.”

We nod our heads in acknowledgment.

“And please let me introduce to you my children, my son, Yhendorn, and my daughter, Merethyl,” our mothers says.

“It’s very nice to meet you all,” says Yhendorn.

“Yes, very nice to meet you,” I say.

“Merethyl, why don’t you come with me? We can let Yhendorn sit with them and get to know them better. It’s good for the future King to know his subjects, wouldn’t you agree?” she asks Lord Luthais.

“It is,” I say, butting in before Lord Luthais has a chance to answer. “And as my brother’s trusted advisor, I think I should stay and get to know them as well. Thank you so much, mother.” I smile at her quickly before turning and dismissing her.

I see my brother’s lips twitching as he pulls out my chair, and we sit down. For the next hour, we listen to boring tales of all the wonderful things that Lady Shaerra has done and what a fantastic mate she will make some lucky man, aka my brother if he’ll have her.

We’ve just about finished eating when I hear a commotion outside. I turn, looking at Yhendorn, but he doesn’t seem to have heard it. I tune in and I hear it again.

“Yhendorn,” I say quietly, putting my hand on his arm. “Do you hear that?”

“Mere, I’m in a serious conversation here.” He thinks I’m trying to get him out of a conversation, but that’s not it.

“Yhendorn!” I say more forcefully, just as the windows all around us shatter and tear gas grenades are launched all around us.

I grab my brother and pull him down to the floor. “We have to get out of here,” I say to him as everyone around us begins screaming and running. Shots ring out everywhere, hurting my delicate ears.

“We need to get to our parents,” he says.

“Okay,” I say and we’re just about to move toward where we know they are sitting when I hear my father’s voice.

“I am King Thallan. What is the meaning of this?” my father says coughing through the gas.

A man in a gas mask comes in, walking up to my father. “Ahhh, the Elf King. Surrender or die.”

“Surrender to whom? Who are you?”

“They call me The Chief. I am a scientist, and I am here to collect you and your family for my experimentation. Now, if you’ll just point out which ones are your family, we can take you out of here, unharmed, before we kill everyone else.”

“How dare you?” my mother says, moving to stand beside my father.

“I’m guessing you’re the wife, mate, whatever you call yourselves?" the Chief asks.

“Yes, I am Thallan’s mate, and you will never take my family.”

I only have a moment to be thankful that she didn’t say ‘my son and daughter’, letting him know that we are here when he pulls a gun and shoots my mother in the head. I sit there in shock, watching as her body falls to the floor. Her head, with the hole in the dead center, faces me. Her eyes are open and unseeing, her mouth still open in her final state of shock.

I hear a scream before a hand clamps over my mouth. Yhendorn leans close to my ear. “We must move now. They want us, and we must get out of here.”

I feel him tug something off my head, my elvish crown, before he begins pulling me away. Just before I turn away, I see my father turn on the man in the mask. His gun moves to my father and in a moment, my father is lying dead beside my mother.

Yhendorn begins dragging me down the hallway. The air here is much clearer, and I take gulping breaths as I hyperventilate.

“Did you…did you see…”

“Pull it together, Mere. We need to get out of here. You heard them, they want to experiment on us. We’ll be lab rats until they decide to kill us. I need you to focus. We need to get out of here, now.”

I nod and follow him as he tugs me down the long hallway to the secret passageways. They’ve been here for centuries. Yhendorn and I used to play in them when we were kids. I haven’t been in them for over 80 years. We’re almost there when we hear someone behind us.

“Hey, you there, stop.”

“Run, Mere,” Yhendorn says, and we rush to get to the secret passageway. Just as he reaches to open the panel door, a shot rings out, and Yhendorn slams against the wall in front of me.

I scream, grabbing him as he crumples to the floor. “Yhendorn!”

“Run! You need to run, he whisper-yells before he loses consciousness. I don’t know if he’s just passed out from the pain or if he’s dead.

I don’t run. I stay with my brother until they rip me away from him.