The Chains that Bind

Elan crept through the brush under cover of darkness softly speaking to the three men beside him. "We've received word that the elves are assembling a new war machine near here, we are going to attempt to sabotage this project and slow down the wheels of war."

The three human males held rusting swords, wore ragged armor, and their bodies were caked with dirt and leaves, but the light of hope shone in their eyes, and they nodded at their leader.

The group crept closer and saw the elves assembling a huge catapult. It was made of wood and vines, and creaked with every movement. It moved smoothly as the elves rolled it back and forth and test fired it. The Catapult was taller than the tallest trees and it was capable of slinging rocks farther than a giant could throw. All those factors made it a grave danger to the resistance.

Elan gave a low whistle and grabbed his bow; one of his men produced flint and tinder and lit a small fire. Elan lit the tip of an arrow on fire, took a deep breath, and fired.

The flaming missile arced through the air and slammed a vine into the war machine, a fire began to spread from that point and the elves began to panic.

"Fetch water, go!"

Several elves rushed off to do this as the remaining elves tried to beat out the fire and keep it from ruining their war machine. The flames continued to slowly climb up the weapon blackening the wood and causing the vines to snap.

Elan charged forward shooting an arrow at the back of the closest elf. The arrow soared through the flames and the elf crumpled falling dead into the fire. The two other elven guards turned and charged with spears, but Elan fired another arrow and took the lead elf down. He parried a spear swing with his bow and whacked the guard in the face with his weapon. Elan's men moved forward once the way was clear and Elan shouted "Keep a lookout; I'll make sure this thing burns!"

"Elan!" one man screamed as the sound of howls pierced the air.

Wolves! Elan cursed and shouted "We need to run!"

The 4 saboteurs sprinted away from the burning machine as sounds of pursuit echoed behind them. However they were drowned out by the earsplitting crack of the catapult crashing on itself, and the hiss of the flames. One man spun as the wolves were seen.

The massive wolves of the island sped towards their prey barking like mad. The four rebels ran like never before, but they all knew it was useless because no one outran these wolves.

The wolves smelled that they were gaining on their prey so they put on an extra burst of speed and their jaws snapped at the legs of their prey.

Elan spun and fired an arrow and it buried itself between the eyes of the lead wolf. He strung another, but tripped over a tree branch and fell. A wolf leapt on him and he fired the arrow at point blank rage skewering it. The carcass felt on top of him and he struggled to push it off, he could hear the wolves breathing near him and could feel them walking around him. Any second now a wolf would sink its yellow fangs into him so he ceased struggling, if he could time it right he could take at least one wolf with him. He reached out and gripped an arrow in his hand ready to drive the point into a wolf.

He heard the wolf tense and then leap!

"Yaaaah!"

He heard the sound of a sword swinging and then the sound of a body hitting the earth, followed by the same sound again.

The wolf carcass was lifted off him and he took in deep breaths as he saw his three men, one who was trying to yank his sword from the body of the wolf he had slain. The other two men had defeated the last wolf and they helped Elan up.

The four then rushed for deeper cover as the sound of pursuit faded. Elan cursed "Great the elves know we were behind it!"1

"Well at least we destroyed the weapon!" One man smiled trying to be helpful.

A sharp whipping sound echoed through the air and the four turned to see several large stones flying through the air towards them.

"No, they have way more!" The same man frowned

Elan pushed the three men forward with one command "Run!"

The four began to run for their lives for the second time that night as the giant boulders crashed near them flattening trees and throwing up clods of dirt. The four evaded the projectiles while debating their action plan.

"Do we go back to the hideout?"

"We can't lead the elves to it; we'll just have to lay low in the woods"

Another boulder smashed into the trees, "There's not going to be any more woods the way this is keeping up!"

"Keep running!"

The stones churned up dirt and debris and the 4 rebels kept running not sure what they needed to do, or how to stop this bombardment.

The elves manning the four catapults kept firing at the area where the rebels had run unsure if they were hitting anything.

"Stop firing!" The elves instantly ceased…they knew that voice.

Queen Mael walked over to the elves and reprimanded them. "All you're doing is ruining the island, those resistance fighters got away. We'll get them soon, for now see if you can salvage anything from that war machine."

"Yes ma'am!" The elves instantly followed her orders and Mael smiled, before feeling a headache, one that she had felt before, a long time ago….

Eighteen years ago,

Mael sat by her mother's bedside, feeling hollow and empty inside. She was married to a king and was queen of the Tempest Vanguards, and in a few years she'd also be queen of the Sea guard, but now she felt horrible, her mother's mind had been broken, and according to the elven doctors it could take weeks to piece back together what she had seen.

The old king was dead, because of an arrow wound, and only her elves used arrows. She knew that not all elves approved of the union with the humans and plenty of jealous suitors secretly cursed Siegfried for stealing her from them, but she doubted violence was the answer. Her mother wouldn't be able to tell her anything, all she had gotten was the word:

Magic

Mael pondered over this, her mother's brain was magical, and could it be a clue?

She thought hard about this for several hours before finally leaving her mother's side.

Several weeks later, Rival's condition hadn't improved. Siegfried was also trying to meet with her, even though they had both agreed to stay away from one another for a while.

Mael put a hand to her forehead, sighing and slumping in her chair by her mother's bed, which had become her throne over the past few months. She simply returned to her long vigil of waiting for her mother to move or speak or do anything. She closed her eyes and fell asleep, joining her mother in slumber.

Two hours later Mael felt movement beside her and she shot up hopefully, she saw her mother rise and get out of bed with a blank look in her eyes.

"Mom!" Mael rose ready to hug her mother, but Rival walked past her shaking off her attempt at a hug.

"Mom!" Mael walked after her mother, trying to get her attention but she was ignored.

Rival walked mindlessly inside her palace, all her other thoughts were muddled but one thing was painfully clear.

Magic

Magic had killed Merek, magic had ruined her daughter's wedding, and who knows what other crimes magic had committed while on this earth? But she could kill it, and end this all. She had all the pieces to wipe magic away from the world, and she was going to do it.

She stopped and closed her eyes, channeling the magic that was inside of her, and she forced it to carry her where she needed to be.

Mael stopped as her mother disappeared from her view and she called out "Guards!"

Elven guards were at her side in an instant and she commanded them expertly "Find Queen Rival, now!"

The guards asked no questions, but instantly called for reinforcements and began the search hoping to find their Queen.

Rival rematerialized inside the middle of the palace, where she walked inside a locked room, and her blank eyes were filled with the light of a massive orb that floated in the room and radiated magic, in fact it was the source of all magic in this world, and in her eyes the source of all evil in the world.

She moved closer and gripped the orb in both hands, feeling the magic straining to get out of the orb. She didn't want to see anyone else be hurt by magic, so she had to destroy it. She had to destroy it for Merek and everyone else whose lives had been destroyed by magic; she was doing everything and everyone a favor. Magic was a cursed thing and she had to wonder if those that had put magic on this world had intended it to be a blessing or a curse.

"This is for you Merek." She whispered

The door was shoved open suddenly and several guards rushed in followed by Mael.

"Mom, stop!" Mael screamed

Rival turned towards her daughter and shook her head sadly "This is for the best, I can save the world this way. Magic ruined your special day and killed Merek."

"No! Don't take magic away, it does so much good!"

Rival sadly smiled and squeezed the orb tightly causing it to crack.

Mael screamed and the guards hustled her out of the room as the orb shattered.

The magical energies tore through Rival's body and then moved out seeking out sources of magic.

The energy ripped through the world:

Necromancers who were raising skeletons suddenly found their constructs collapsing back into piles of bones, and their powers torn violently out of their bodies.

Human healers who were standing inside a temple sending waves of healing magic into the bodies of the sick and wounded were suddenly unable to call on their powers as the cries of the hurt intensified.

A wizard who was holding an unstable building together so builders could reinforce it suddenly lost his grip and to his horror was unable to retrieve it. The building collapsed and the cries of the workers were heard for miles as the wizard tried to regain his powers.

And across the whole world hundreds of magical beings disappeared, simply flashing out of existence.

Thousands of other magic users quickly and painfully had their magic torn out of their bodies with horrible effects.

Mael rushed inside the room and knelt by her mother, Rival was breathing painfully and she smiled, attempting to piece together her shattered mind.

"Daughter" she whimpered "I saved this world, you'll soon see." She reached up and squeezed her daughter's arm before her eyes closed and she died along with the rest of the magic on the world.

Mael broke down in sobs cradling her mother's body and ignoring the guards as they attempted to console her.

"Mother, what have you done?" Mael muttered over and over.

"What did those elves do?" King Siegfried slammed his hand onto the table. "We are getting reports of magical beings losing their powers, thousands of species of magical creatures just disappearing, and the places that once held magic are now being looted by desperate crowds hoping to regain the powers they lost!" He kept shouting at the men surrounding him "This world is falling apart, and it all originates from the eleven island, where my wife is and where she is refusing to speak to me!"

The men surrounding him simply shrugged wondering if the king was really worried about the world, or the state of his marriage.

Finally Siegfried stood "I'm going to that island alone, and speaking to Mael."

The men around him nodded, "Wise choice sir."

Later that night Siegfried had arrived on the island and hid as a procession of elves led by the newly crowned Queen Mael led a black casket to a massive pyre. After a short ceremony the casket was placed on the pyre and after a few short moments the crowd filed away and only Mael remained. Siegfried gave her a few moments to grieve then he approached her, with a simple "I'm sorry for your loss."

Mael turned and threw herself into her husband's arms letting all her anger and grief pour out in massive racking sobs. Siegfried held her and for that one moment they weren't king and queen, they were just newlyweds who needed each other.

Mael simply fell apart in her husband's arms letting all the expectations of being a Queen fall away, becoming who she really was: A scared young girl who had just lost her mother. Siegfried gently kissed his wife and rubbed her back soothingly giving her all the comfort she needed and more.

Mael kissed back and for that one night, all the responsibilities and stress, and the titles of King and Queen were second to their love.

That was all that mattered.

1 Who else would be behind it? Elan's resistance was all there was on the island