Riskime Mel

     In this world, two races exist. There are Elves and humans. Us humans worship elves as our gods. They provide all of our nature with their magic. Elves live longer than us humans by centuries, they have immense beauty and are a lot richer due to many offerings throughout history. The only knowledge we have on the inside of those gates are the untrustworthy rumors and the music heard from across the walls when close enough. No one ever gets through those gates, not that many people were brave enough to. Those that have tried, failed and had no mercy came to those that wouldn’t give up. The only elves that people ever get to see are the healers that run our hospitals and the many guards surrounding the gates of every elven city. This day, this moment right now is the first time someone has set eyes on an elven royal and I am that lucky someone.

     Nothing but silence as I stare into a pair of deep ocean eyes. We sat there, both in shock, waiting for the first move. There was no doubt about it, I was witnessing an elf. Sharp ears, extreme beauty, nicely made clothing, a gold pendant around her neck, long green hair, and those eyes. I haven’t even seen healer elves before and the guards were all wearing helmets so I don't get a good look at them either.

     “Wha- what a- are you doing h- here?” I ask her, stumbling over my words. As soon as I spoke she flinched and backed up a few steps. "My name is Syndra Igril, I apologize for appearing in your backyard unannounced, I'll be on my way now". She was out of breath and visibly shaken up. "Wait, you can stay here if you want. You are an elf right? It wouldn't be wise to walk out in the open" I can't believe what I'm saying, an elf…in my house.

     I let her into my home and we sat down to talk. Syndra is the second princess of her kingdom Damerel. She explained that she escaped with her invisibility magic and ended up here. Her mana had run out when she made it to my backyard, that's why I was able to see her, I was in the right place at the right time. 

     "Why did you leave your kingdom to human lands? Surely your kingdom is far superior" I handed her a cup of water, it was the best I could offer at the time. "I was just curious, most of us elves aren't allowed beyond our gates, especially us royals, I think it's a stupid rule and just want to show my dad how independent I can be". 

     "Well you can stay here all you want, I won't tell a soul", mainly because I have fallen for your beauty, but I can't tell her that. Is this what "love at first sight" means? She continued to talk about her family, their culture, and their land. I sat there absorbing it like a sponge. So much knowledge unknown to humans is being shoved into my head. I am really lucky, aren't I?

     Some things I had already known, like how there are four elf kingdoms in total, Damerel, Mirstone, Falkirk, and Northon. Each of those kingdoms specialized in its nature magic. Falkirk uses fire, Nothon uses water, Mirstone uses earth, and Damerel uses air. 

     I exchanged information about our race too. Well, I tried to, but it seems like they know all about us. It felt like we made a real connection with this chat. I know it sounds crazy but I feel like I have fallen in love. She was getting tired so I gave her my bed. I felt really bad that she had to sleep on such an uncomfortable bed. I am not poor but not rich either, especially not to noble standards. I am a coachman, I make a living giving others rides. My house itself is pretty small, so my room is no better. I gave her all the pillows that I had to try and make her comfortable. “Goodnight princess, I will sleep on the couch”, I said as I turned the lamp off and closed the door.

     I put my back to the door and slid down to a sitting position with my face covered, trying to shield my blush. My mind was running wild, many thoughts were firing off, and my heart wouldn’t calm down. “She is so beautiful”, “I wanna tell her what I am feeling before she leaves in the morning”, “Before she gets found by her father”, “He will find her right? He would be sending guards after her ”, “What if he finds her? ”, “What if I can’t see her again? '', “Will they allow me to be with her? a lowly human?”, “What if they think I kidnapped her?”, “Will they imprison me?”, “My life would be over if I go to jail”, “WILL THEY KILL ME?”. No, no, they wouldn't, right? The princess will vouch for me, I will be spared. I sat there at the door and continued to think for…I don’t even know how long. I finally got a hold of myself and fell asleep on the couch.

     BANG BANG BANG BANG. Who the hell is banging on my door this early in the morning? I get up and start walking to the door. BANG BANG BAN-. I open the door and immediately get shoved out of the way by four heavily armored men…men… who had big pointy ears pointing out of their helmets…they are elven guards. “We are inspecting this city to find the lost princess of Damerel, stand back or we will get physical”. I stepped back with my hands up as high as they would go, I don’t stand a chance against these guys. “If she is here you need to tell us, NOW”. I kept my mouth shut, half too scared to say anything, half wanting to spend another night with the princess. “No sir, you are the first elves I have seen away from the gate”, I said very shakily. “Hirwen, use your detect spell in every room”. Oh no, this is bad, is she awake? Please use your invisibility. Wait, can they detect her while she is invisible?

     “Living room is clear”. Shit, they are gonna arrest me aren’t they? “Bathroom clear”. I shouldn’t have lied, why did I have to follow my heart? “FOUND HER”, Heroine grabbed the princess as she struggled to get away from her. “YOU, how dare you kidnap the princess and lie to the royal guards,” said the leader of the group as he grabbed my wrists and tied them with vines using his nature magic. “I didn’t kidnap her I swear, I am sorry I lied, please let me go”, I pleaded with him, dreading what was gonna happen to me. “STOP, he didn’t kidnap me, I ran away” YES, the princess is vouching for me. “You what? Do you have any idea how worried your father is, why would you do something this stupid?” The leader let me go and started lecturing the princess. “Don’t move”, I stood as still as I could. “Princess, you are coming with us, put this on and don’t take it off, we don’t want your face to be known to more of these humans” the leader stared at me with the word human. “You gain mercy from princess Syndra, be grateful”, the guards left, and they took the princess with them.

     It took me a while to move, shaken up by what unfolded in my home. I ran outside to try and get a good look at her as she was put on a carriage. Everyone looked at me with confusion and envy. “YOU MET A ELVEN PRINCESS” a kid yelled in awe. People started swarming me with questions and compliments, trying to get me to spill the beans about her. I ran back inside and shut the door. I was spared, she cared about me, will she come back? I started pacing around my room, thinking of her return, should…should I do what she did? Will I be spared if I somehow make it to her? Will she save me? Can we be together if we aren’t allowed in each other's homes?

     I think and think, and think, and think. Should I be thinking about breaking into their kingdom? I am pretty fast on a horse, I ride them for a living. I should be able to distract the guards and run through. Princess Syndra is royalty, so she should be living in the biggest palace in her land, I won’t miss it. Would I be able to get into the palace? Can I catch up to her before she enters the palace to talk with her? Will she be able to protect me if I do meet up with her?

     I think I have finally lost it. I snuck through my back window and grabbed a couple of rocks. I saw the kid that yelled at me earlier and waved him to come around. He squeezed through the crowd that surrounded my front yard and met with me. “Hey, keep quiet I got a favor to ask,” I told him, leading him to where he couldn’t be seen. “You wanna see the princess right?” his eyes widened. “Yes yes yes,” he said, jumping up and down. “Ok cool, well help me out and I will let you see her if things go well, I will introduce you to her myself”, I knew this was a long shot, but I had to try. “So cool, what do I have to do?” good, he agreed. “I need you to throw these rocks at the gate guards when I give the signal, I need to get through” My heart wouldn’t stop beating. “Got it” he took the rocks and made his way towards the gate. I ran to my one-horse stable and got ready.

     Ok, I got this. I kicked the horse and started moving full speed at the gate, I made sure to go from an angle that is harder to see. I whistled as loud as I could to signal the kid. He started chucking the rocks at the guards grabbing their attention. As they moved towards the kid to stop him, I zipped right past them heading straight through the forest. I looked back to see if I was being followed and no one was there. I did it, I made it through.

     As I rode through the forest I noticed how much more elegant the land here is compared to my city. There were big healthy trees with vibrant leaves. The grass wasn’t as muted as our grass was, it had volume, and the color popped to the point where I thought someone painted on them. I shook my head and stopped myself from being distracted by the scenery. I needed to focus on finding the princess. I rode up a steep hill and as I cleared it reaching the top I looked down on a huge city, I was stunned, in awe at the sight. I then saw a huge palace across a bridge on the other side of the city. That must be where she lives. I scanned the area to see if they were still making their way through the city and there she was. I spotted the convoy, they were talking to some city guards to get through. The princess was no longer covered and many elves looked to be welcoming her back home.

     I snapped out of the awe of the city and rushed over to them. As I got close to them I hopped off of my horse and yelled to princess Syndra. The town went dead silent, the guards at the entrance of the city swiftly turned their heads at me, and the guards that were convoying the princess ran up to me with knives pointed at my neck. They were quick, like the speed of light, in half a second they went from next to the princess to being two inches away from slicing my neck apart. I stood there with my hands up, not daring to look threatening.

     “State your business before you are beheaded” the leader snarled at me. “STOP” the princess yelled. All of a sudden a gust of wind knocked the guards back and I was pushed over to her. “Why did you follow us? How did you even get past the guards? My father won’t allow this no matter the circumstance” she sounded sad like she knew that something bad was gonna happen. “I-I'm sorry, I couldn’t help myself” I gulped, heart racing. “I think I love you, I couldn’t stand the thought of us not being allowed to see each other” I felt dumb saying this, a wave of regret flowed through me. “What is the meaning of this princess?” the leader shouted from behind us. “Shut up and let me handle this, we are in my kingdom now so you follow my orders, tell my father if you will, now be gone” she waved them away. The guards, minus the gate guards, made their way to the palace, most likely to inform the king of the situation.

     “You humans are really interesting. I like you too, I don’t think I feel love, we only met for a night, it may be my beauty that is influencing you” she tried to change my mind, to reassure me. Maybe she wanted me to give up because if the king were to come here, I would be imprisoned or killed. “It isn’t just because of your beauty, princess, I enjoyed our chat. I enjoy your presence, do you think it would be possible to continue to see each other?” I regretted this entire situation, I should have thought about this longer.

     “Look, I don’t want you to get hurt, I would like to see you again if I could but you know the rules between us, I was never meant to meet with you. You must go, please, before my fa-” her words were cut off by a loud horn. “MAKE WAY FOR THE KING” my heart dropped, it was too late to run. The king, dressed in a silky purple robe, gold jewelry on every part of his body. 

     “State your name human” he stared daggers at me, walked up to his daughter, and lightly shoved her aside. “Father please, hear me out”, “Hush child”, I couldn’t understand them, they must be speaking their native tongue. He didn’t yell, but he said it in a way where you knew he was serious. “M-my n-name is Bryn Bithell, I am from the city of Alru, I apologize for my intrusion, but I had something to tell your daughter” I was more nervous than ever. “And what was that? Was it worth risking your life?”. “Father please”. “I love your daughter”. 

     This shocked the king, I could see it on his face. “Unbelievable, you can’t be'', “Is it against the law?”, “No, but attempting to enter the royal city is, not to mention the disconnect between our cities, I can not permit this'', shit, why did I think this would work. “Bryn Bithell, you are under arrest for smuggling the princess, harassment of a royal, sneaking into the forest of Tryil, and attempting to enter the royal city of Damerel. Guards, take him to the prison, and Bryn, prepare for your trial, may the jury and judge have mercy on your soul”, wait, they use a court system? Of course, they do, they are even more advanced than us humans. “Father, this is ridiculous, just let him go home”, “I can not allow that, he would just make his way back here, he has too much knowledge of our land”, “Then let him stay here, the royal court won’t settle for imprisonment, they may kill him”, “STAY? Are you serious? If the court wants to end his life then so be it, end of discussion”. I was taken away from the city, to be sent to prison. 

     We made it to the prison, a huge underground bunker. I was put into a cell alone, not even with another prisoner elf. I just sat there awaiting the trial. This is my final chance. Once I am in court, I must make a decision. Should I take the risk again? Should I try to reason with them to go home, or try to get around the rule of disconnection with our cities? I sat there thinking about what to say during the trial. About how I can get myself out of this situation. And if I should risk or flee.