Read Online 01 - Empire in Chaos by Anthony Reynolds - (ebook by Undead) - Free Book Online

seen
hulking creatures here with horns sprouting from their bestial heads and walking
like men, but upon cloven hooves. In stories she had heard as a child these
woods were haunted by the shades of the criminals hung on its outskirts, and
that they walked amongst the trees in the dead of night, seeking the living. Her
childhood fears rose within her.
    If she died out here no one would mourn her.
    She shivered again, and crouched down in the lee of the twisted oak tree,
trying to get out of the biting wind and relentless sleet. She pulled her hands
within the sleeves of her coat to warm them. She realised that she had nowhere
to run. Tears ran down her face, invisible against the icy sleet.
    How had she come to be in this situation, she wondered? Her legs were stiff
and sore and she sat down on a twisted root, uncaring of the mud. She pushed
herself back against the tree and hugged herself tightly. Despite the wind, the
sleet lashing the tree and the uncomfortable position she was in, she fell
asleep within moments.
     
    Annaliese woke to the delicious aroma of cooking meat. The wind and rain had
stopped, and dusk had fallen.
    She sat up. She was aching from the awkward position she had slept in.
Standing, she stretched like a cat, loosening her cold, cramped muscles. She saw
the elf tending a small, smokeless fire-pit dug into the earth. He was cooking
what looked like a pair of spherical shaped green objects, but the smell coming
from them was divine.
    Rolling them from the fire, the elf moved them skilfully onto a pair of flat
stones with sticks.
    He gestured for her to approach, and she did so cautiously. He placed one of
the flat stones at Annaliese’s side, then sat himself back down across from her
on the other side of the small, glowing fire-pit.
    She took a seat on a fallen log, and looked at her meal, intrigued. Glancing
over the glowing embers, she watched as the elf deftly prized the greenery away
with one hand and a stick. A whoosh of steam rose from within. Feeling her
looking at him, his almond-shaped eyes rose, and she hastily dropped her gaze to
the meal in front of her.
    She saw the green ball was a series of leaves carefully woven together and
overlapped to form a spherical container. It was beautiful in its simplicity and
the obvious care that had gone into it. With her hand and a stick she opened it
up, trying to emulate the elf’s deft movements, and steam billowed from within.
It brought with it the aroma of rabbit and all manner of herbs, many that she
did not recognise.
    Her stomach groaned loudly, but she hesitated. The elf was picking at his
food delicately, watching her. What if it was poisoned, she thought? Then you
will be dead, but at least you will die with warm food in your belly, she
answered herself.
    She tried a piece of rabbit tentatively. It was exquisite, and she smiled
shyly to the elf before eating her meal hungrily. The elf regarded her coldly.
She didn’t care.
    Afterwards she realised that she must have appeared like some ravenous
barbarian thanks to the speed that she devoured the delicious meal. As she
licked her fingers, she found herself staring over the glowing embers at the
elf.
    Long and black, his hair was drawn over his head and pulled into a tight
ponytail, and there was a thin black tattoo upon his cheek. It showed an alien
symbol of curling lines and elegantly tapered flourishes. It was beautiful and
powerful, and she wondered what it signified. The elf ate his food slowly,
delicately picking at the pieces with his long, pale fingers that for some
reason reminded her of the legs of spiders—delicate, their movements measured,
concealing their deadly power.
    Annaliese looked away quickly. There was something chilling about him. She
was fearful of him, of that there was no doubt; everything about him was just
so… inhuman.
    Still, despite her fear, she was curious.
    “I—” began Annaliese, realising that she had no idea what