The Eldar

Ya naa lle? (Who are you?)

Mankoi naa lle sinome? (Why are you here?)

-

Seungcheol was still deep in thought when he felt the cold sharp blade pressing on the side of his neck. Grief turned to panic as he dropped his bow and lifted both his arms to surrender, glancing around to assess his opponents. There were four soldiers, one keeping him grounded and the others pointing an arrow at him. Weighing the odds, he thought there's no way he can win against them. Not without Mingyu.

Abandoning the plan of fighting his captors, the prince decided to just observe them. These soldiers weren't like the one Mingyu was talking about. They look like humans, except maybe taller and slender and they have normal dark eyes and tresses. There's faint markings on the side of their face but it wasn't outrageous, if anything, they look too neat as soldiers of the woods.

"Stop!" said a voice from behind him. 

"Hir nin Jihoon" the men pulled their weapons and stood stiffly on the side.

He let out a sigh of relief. 'Jihoon? Is he from the capital?' His name is definitely from the old kingdom. The guy walked unhurriedly until he was facing the prince. 

"Who are you? Why are you here?" he spoke gently, unlike the four soldiers beside him, this one is different. He had a light redish hair like the last leaves of autumn, pale skin and round beautiful face. 

"I am Seungcheol." he muttered, forgetting all his titles. Jihoon stepped closer, probing his face and then his clothes. "Crown prince of Ilea." he added like an afterthought. 

"A human prince." he stepped back a few steps. "What are you doing here in Neldortas?" he asked, his voice now venomous. 

'Neldortas?' Seungcheol wondered, is there any city near the borders with that name?

"Wait, i know i shouldn't be here but i have questions as well" the prince dropped his arms because it was aching. Its hard to maintain that posture even with light armor. The two soldiers tensed and pulled out their swords however their leader stopped them once again. If he wasn't in this situation, he would probably praise the two for arming themselves simultaneously. That was some sword skill. 

When the leader gave him a moment to ask, he quickly took the opportunity. "I gave you my name, you should tell me yours. And where am I? What is Neldortas, is it part of the Kingdom of Cudura?"

His expression dimmed. "I am called Jihoon and we are the eldar of Lilh Edhil. You are standing in the ruins of Neldortas, a city of the elven kingdom of Andalihn."

None of these words makes sense to him, unless he's reading an old nighttime book full of myths and legends. 'Eldar? Elven?' his eyes stared widely at Jihoon.

"We are the wardens of these woods. We protect it from human outsiders." His hand pulls out a long sword from his side, revealing a treaded leaf like armor beneath his moss green cloak. This guy Jihoon is armed to his back.

Seungcheol held his breath.

-

The boy ducked below the pile of bricks and stones. He shouldn't have come to this place again, he swore he wouldn't come back yet here he is. He crawled carefully because he knows the creatures have sharp hearing. He must return to the city and report what was happening quickly. The boy ran in haste without disturbing the forest floor and when he neared the river, he turned and ran upstream where there's a naturally formed bridge made up of small and some sizable boulders. Nobody knows that path except him.

He was drenched in sweat when he reached the city wall. The poor boy did not even stopped for a breather and just pushed his way across the crowd to find the high ranking guards. 

"My Lord!" he panted, hands on his knees while he coughs.

Mingyu helped to steady the struggling boy, confused about his panicked look.

"Hey! Calm down, what's the matter? Why are you rushing?" he said, reaching for his waterskin to offer to the boy.

"Forgive me, my lord. I am- no, I mean, you need to come with me now!" the boy pleaded. Mingyu instantly felt something is extremely wrong and looked around at the soldiers, recalling which one he left to guard the prince.

"You! Where is he?" he asked quite menacingly, gripping his collar tightly.

"I- I don't know my lord, the prince told us to ran some errands and ordered us to stay here after were done." the man stuttered as he tried to free himself from Mingyu's hold.

He escaped. Again.

Mingyu was barking orders and gat