black haired elf

Two guards rounded a corner on the far end of the square. Directly behind them a single man followed by two more guards.

The man in the middle, obviously a prisoner. The only clothes he wore looked to be old tattered pants. He was decently muscled, must have only been thrown into a cell a few days before. He walked with his face pointed straight ahead. He had black hair that had grown to the end of his shoulder blades, his eyes were closed, his features were all normal in an almost beautiful kind of way. Anyone would have Thought this man to be a human at first glance if it weren't for his ears, they were not rounded at the top but long and pointed. It was quite easy to see this man was not a man, but an elf. 'But what elf had black hair?' Emilia thought, looking on from her position in the crowd. 'We are the fairest of the races, i've never met an elf with black hair.' Her thoughts were interrupted by the guards.

"We found one!" One of the two guards in the front yelled to the elite, who stood on the raised landing in front of the town hall.

"Well bring 'em up let's get this purging over with!" The elite shouted back and the guards hurriedly moved through the crowd of townsfolk.

The two in front met with no resistance as the people cleared out of their way. The two in the back each placed a hand on either of the prisoners shoulders and attempted to push him along, but instead of the prisoner moving forward, the two guards seemed to have pushed off a wall and had to catch themselves by taking a step back. The prisoner continued to walk at his own pace up to the Landing were the elite and other two guards stood waiting.

"State your name before the gods and anything that you have to declare before being put to death." The elite stated in one breath, not intending to listen to what the prisoner said.

The elf raised his face to the sky and took in a long, slow breath before saying, "My first breath of fresh air in three years, not quite how i imagined it." He lowered his head to face the elite, and opened his eyes. 'Red, his eyes were red , how strange. An elf with black hair and red eyes, i've never heard of that before.'

"Three years, did he say three years?" Murmurings could be heard from the crowd. 'This elf has been in a cell for three years? That's absurd, look at him. His body didn't appear to be malnourished in the slightest. No elf's weren't affected by lack of nourishment as severely as humans, but still this Was absurd to not be affected at all in three years. Plus all the townsfolk were surprised by this also, Almost as if none of them had known he was there in the cells beneath them.'

The elite, having either not heard or not cared what the prisoner had said, in one fluid motion pulled his sword from its sheathe at his waist and intended to sever the prisoners head from his body. But to the the elites surprise the prisoner ducked, and his sword sailed right over his head. The elite quickly moved his left foot back taking up a fighting stance and asked, "Do you intend to fight prisoner?"

The prisoner stood up straight, "I have no intention of fighting, but nor do i intend on dying. I do not know why you are trying to kill me, but if you make a second attempt i will fight back," he looked the elite in the eyes," and you will lose."

Archer and Landis, the two men Emilia had brought with her, motioned to summon their weapons. Emilia raised her hand slightly to tell them to wait. She was curious about this elf, 'what could he do unarmed, Fresh out of prison against 5 armed soldiers, one an elite.'

The four guards all pulled their swords in preparation for a fight. "I was only expecting a simple purging of prisoners today," the elite said, "not all of this insolence!" As the last word left his mouth, the elite stepped forward and made a vertical strike at the elf who simply stepped to the right, turned is body to the left and when the elite was right in front of him, placed his hand on his back and pushed him along. The elite tumbled head over heels to the other side of the landing.

Emilia was surprised. To catch an elite of guard was not something so casually done. The guards stepped forward, but before they could strike the elf said, "I have no desire to kill you, so sit." All of a sudden it seemed as though her body weighed three times it's normal weight. She immediately fell to one knee. The guards to their faces, the elite didn't get up. Of the towns people, some fell to their faces, some to their knees. The elf with black hair was the only one standing. He turned toward the crowd and saw everyone kneeled down or collapsed

Emilia tried with all he might to stand. Slowly she was able to push herself to a hunched over position, then straight up. Before she knew it the elf with black hair stood right in front of her, a foot away. The pressure immediately increased. She would have fallen to the ground if the black haired elf hadn't put his arm around her waist and caught her, putting them stomach to stomach. He held her straight up. They were roughly the same height, he was a little taller. "You and your two friends are good people." The pressure lifted instantaneously, "forgive the out burst, I'm a little out of practice."

The black haired elf moved toward the road headed out of the town. It wasn't until he had moved past the crowd that Emilia came back to her senses. "Wait!" She called, "since we are good people, do you wish to come with us?"

The black haired elf stared down the road for a moment before turning around and calling back, "lead the way."