Eliana cries, sitting in the corner of the back of a dark cavern. Behind her, Aoife lies unconscious as Tisha sits in front of her, watching the mouth of the cavern. A magical barrier sits at the front of the cavern, blocking her vision and tapping them inside. She shakes her head, turning to Aoife as a black mist surrounds her body.

            “Mom. Mom please…” Eli shakes Aoife cautiously, ignoring the pain from the mist.

            “Calm down. Panicking won’t help anything.” Tisha says.

Eliana turns to her with anger in her eyes. “Shut up!”

            “What?”

            “You stupid Elf. Mom’s hurt and Brother is worried. I have to do something. I can’t just sit here being a helpless child!”

Tisha rolls her eyes. “Well, you are that. A helpless child.”

            “No! I am the heir to House Mattox, to our entire fiefdom. I’m not allowed to just be a child. I have to be more than that. I have to prove I can stand just as tall as Brother can.”

            “You care a lot about your brother, huh?”

Eliana nods. “Brother had a tough time because he’s a Half-Elf. People looked down on him and made fun of him. But Brother shut them all up and showed them how amazing he is….” She turns away.

            “But?”

            “But then they looked at me.” She grabs the hem of her dress. “They said they wanted Brother to be the heir, they said I was better off being married off, they said I could never measure up to an amazing older sibling. I…. I want to do what Brother did and prove them all wrong! I want to show I deserve to stand alongside my brother and that the two of us are a perfect pair!”

            “You want to catch up to your idol, huh? That’s a common sentiment.”

Eliana nods. “I can’t afford to be a worthless child. I have to live up to everyone’s expectations. And I can’t cause trouble for my brother.”

            “Well, coming here was a mistake if you wanted to avoid causing him trouble.”

            “I know. I made a selfish request. Mother and Father told me no; they told me how dangerous it would be. But I begged Mama, and she agreed to come, and now she’s hurt and…. It’s all my fault.”

            “It’s not. It’s the fault of the asses who hurt her and are trying to hurt your brother. What’s happening is probably some consequence of her curse, but it will pass. Even now, it’s growing weaker. She’s still fighting, fighting to overcome it.”

            “Mama.”

            “What will you do? Will you sit here crying like a child, or will you get ready to show them they're messing with the wrong pair of siblings?”

Eliana wipes the tears from her face. “I have to fight! I’ll show them I’m not some scared hapless child!”

            “Good. Now let’s go over what we can do and let’s come up with a plan.”

            “Right. I can use some magic; I specialize in using lightning magic, although I can’t use the stronger spells as of yet.”

Tisha smirks. “That’s fine. We don’t need high-level spells for this. We just need to distract them at the right moment to give Glyn the win.”

            “You know when he’ll come?”

            “I don’t exactly know,” Tisha smirks as she pulls an arrowhead out of her pockets. “But what I do know is that the two most important people in the world to him are missing. And if he’s looking, he’ll know right where to go to find them.”

Tisha hands Eliana the arrowhead, and it gives off a slight glow. “What’s this?”

            “A little trick I know as an Elvan Ranger. It’ll lead Glyn right to us. And when he’s coming through the front, we’ll break out through the back. And we’ll scoop up all the bad guys!”

Eliana’s eyes widen. “Right! We’ll stop the bad guys and help out my brother!”

            “That’s the plan, little lady.”

 

Glyn’s eyes pop open and he shoots up from his bed in a cold sweat, struggling to catch his breath. Mila rushes to his side and hands him a cup of a green liquid. He takes it, drinking it as he coughs, his eyes struggling to focus as he turns to Mila.

            “Mila?”

She reaches out and wraps her arms around Glyn as tears well up in her eyes. “Glyn! I was so worried! You passed out and I couldn’t do anything to help the healing wasn’t working on you and….”

Glyn takes a breath, calming his racing mind, only for him to focus on Mila’s tears. He sighs, letting his rage dwell and putting a smile as he looks at Mila.

            “I’m sorry I worried you.”

            “Glyn?”

            “This whole situation is a mess, and I lost my cool for a second there. But I have to keep a calm head if I’m going to save them.” He smiles, holding Mila’s hands. “But thank you for worrying about me.”

            “Brother and the others are out looking. They have to be somewhere on the island and we’ll find them, I promise you.”

Glyn nods. “Thank you, Mila. I… I’m happy to have you beside me right now.”

Mila smiles happily. “Right, I’ll try my best! And maybe when you leave, we can part with smiles on our faces.”

            “Huh?”

            “Ever since we came back, you’ve had a sad look on your face. I… even if I never see you again, I’d hate seeing you with a sad face or a fake smile.”

Glyn laughs. “Sorry. It looks like you can read me like a book, huh?”

Mila puffs out her chest. “I am your Queen after all. I have to do my best to support you!”

            “Thanks. Sorry for worrying you, Mila.”

She nods. “Now let’s go….”

            “Glyn!” Miller yells, entering the room.

He turns to the bed where Glyn and Mila sit, holding hands. Annoyed, he shakes his head and turns away.

            “Could you two warn me if you’re flirting?”

            “We’re not flirting!” Mila yells out.

Glyn laughs. “Sorry. Mila was just trying to comfort me.”

            “It’s fine. We need you to be back in the proper headspace. But I’d rather you not use my sister to help you feel better.”

            “Right. Sorry again. Anyway, you must’ve found something.”

            “It’s two things. But first, we found a strange arrow in the woods.” Miller holds out a glowing arrow as the surrounding light blinks rapidly. “I imagine this is one of Tisha’s, meaning she’s been captured too.”

            “That would explain why we can’t find her,” Mila says.

Glyn stares at the arrow. “Huh? Looks like we might have our clue.”

            “How so?”

            “This is a tracking arrow. It’s used by the Rangers when hunting. Stab this into some wounded animal and you can track it for miles.” Glyn explains. “But how does she expect us to use this?”

            “What do you mean?” Miller stares at him. “You said it’s used for tracking, right?”

            “Yeah, the other way. This arrow can be tracked by the person who fired it because it’s infused with their Mana. Unless we can find some way to read the Mana flow, then we’re out of luck.”

Glyn shakes his head.

            “Is it impossible?”

            “No, in theory, maybe we could find a way. But we don’t have a lot of time and it’ll take time to reverse this.”

            “Maybe I can be of assistance on that front. I’m somewhat skilled at reading the flow of Mana.” A voice comes from the doorway.

            “And that’s the other thing. We have a visitor.”