Elervia: A fairy tale

(Again another story from several years ago that I wrote for school...it may sound a little "choppy" but that is because it was supposed to be a short story and I had a books-long story in my head...so that is why it seems to "jump around" a bit. ;) )

Elervia: A fairy tale

           
           Once upon a time in a far away kingdom there lived a king and queen who had seven beautiful children. They ruled the land with justice and mercy, and for years there had been peace. But now there was a new king in the land of Koor, King Ishma, he was a bad king, and now the peaceful valley of Silverton was to be invaded by the evil king and his warriors. This is where the story begins.

     A beautiful young girl in a long green riding cloak ran past the river to the tall, looming woods behind. Her long, brown curls flew behind her, her face was flushed pink and her breathing raspy from all the running.
"I must warn Henry and Arthur before the men get to them." Thought the girl desperately. This girl was the middle daughter of the king and queen, she had four brothers and two sisters. She was now going to warn her two oldest brothers of the coming evil warriors from Koor. She put on a new burst of speed and reached a wooden bridge across the wide, fast-running river. Her two brothers were working to help build the bridge with some other boys. The girl stopped to catch her breath at the beginning of the bridge, one of the boys, tall, muscular and dark looked up and wiped sweat off his brow. Seeing the girl, he said,
"Hey Elervia! You brought lunch with you?" then the other of the two, also tall, dark, and muscular, but older than the other looked up; he thought that he saw fear in his sister's eyes. Quickly he got up and grabbed his sword. 

"What's wrong, Elervia? Is it mother or father?" he asked in a worried voice.
"Henry, it's Ishma's warriors, they are coming to attack. They will be here any moment. We must hurry back to the castle before it is too late." Elervia said quickly. By that time everyone else who had been working on the bridge had heard what she had said and quickly grabbed their swords and tools and hurried to get home.
"Get on my horse, Elervia." Ordered Arthur, and then jumped up behind her when she mounted. Henry jumped on his steed, and they galloped off through the woods towards the looming castle in the distance. Eventually, they reached the village, and Elervia could see all of the people huddled in their houses, not daring to hardly breathe for fear that someone would find them. They galloped on past here and arrived at the castle, and as soon as they were across, the drawbridge lifted up, shutting out all of the rolling green hills, the woods, the river, all that Elervia had grown up familiar with. Tears stung her eyes, and she quickly blinked to keep them from falling. What would happen to the valley? To the people? To her family? Elervia pushed these thoughts aside, dismounted with Henry and Arthur and hurried into the castle to hear the fate that would come to their family.

                   Elervia quietly opened the door to the girl's room. She sunk down unto her bed and sighed. It had been decided tonight that she, and the other children would have to go into hiding until the danger was over. She and her younger sister, Karianne, who was five, and her ten year old brother, Charles, were to go to the woods to live with a peasant family who lived there. Her older sister, Janilla, who was seventeen, was going to stay with mother and her baby brother, Elias, at the castle. Her two oldest brothers, Henry who was eighteen, and Arthur who was sixteen were going to battle with father. Elervia had pleaded to be able to stay with mother and Janilla, but to no avail. Her parents thought it safest if they went to live in the deep woods than stay in the castle. Elervia thought it unfair that Janilla got to stay, but then there would always be Silas, a knight to protect her. Elervia rolled her eyes at the thought of her sister's fiancee. He was kind alright, but the way they acted together, all love-eyed and stuff made Elervia sort of disgusted and gave her the creeps. Her mother said in time, she too would fall in love and get married. Elervia didn't think so. She wanted to become a swords woman and go help father with the battles, not stay somewhere and do nothing while she could be doing something to help. But always the answer was the same,
"The battlefield is no place for a girl like you. Wait until you are a little older and more skilled with the sword." She had been working hard with her training, and could now beat Arthur at a match, although she still couldn't beat Henry, not yet anyways. The door creaked open and Karianne tiptoed in, thinking Elervia was asleep, which was just fine with Elervia because she didn't feel like talking to anyone much now anyways. Eventually Janilla entered quietly.
"Probably talking to Silas," Elervia thought bitterly to herself. Janilla quietly dressed into her nightgown and slipped into bed. The soft breathing soon told Elervia that she was asleep. Elervia rolled over and looked around the room,
"Maybe this will be the last time I'll sleep in it." She thought, but quickly brushed that thought aside. Father had said that they were not to worry,  but just trust in God to help them get through this. He had read in the book tonight,
"Oh what was it?" Elervia wrinkled her brow in thought as she tried to remember what her father had read from the special book that the stranger had brought a couple of years back.
"Oh yes, it was, "All things work for the good for those who love God, those who are called according to His purpose." Everything would be alright, wouldn't it? Elervia turned over in bed and repeated the verse over and over to herself, and soon she was fast asleep, not knowing the dangers and trials that she herself would face in the days ahead. 

                      Elervia's steed galloped at a fast pace, its sides foaming in sweat. Elervia turned her head to look back, yes the warriors were still behind her, and picking up speed. Elervia urged her horse to go even faster. A fence loomed up ahead, leaning forward, Elervia jumped the fence and galloped off into the woods to try to lose the men. All of it happened so fast. But hadn't everything that had gone on in the past two years? The maybe few month hideout with the peasant family had turned into two long years. Ishma's warriors had captured Janilla, mother, and Elias, and forced father to give up the war and surrender the kingdom or it would be their death. Father had, of course, surrendered, and Ishma soon ruled Silverton. He had tried in vain to find the other children, but for many years they had stayed safely hidden with the peasant family. But food had run out under the oppressive rule of Ishma, and Elervia, now sixteen, was sent out to find food.
"At least the others will be safe at home." Elervia thought with gratitude, knowing that her brother and sister were in good hands with Sir Benkly and Lady Benkly. The soldiers behind her had been making fun of a little girl, and Elervia, with the hot temper she had, rashly jumped in to save the little girl from the taunts and blows of the men. One thing led to another and soon she was in an all-out sword fight. She had seriously injured one of the evil men, but the others were soon replaced with even more. Knowing that she would loose against so many, she had jumped on her horse and galloped off in the other direction away from the hideout into the vast woods, hoping to lose the men. Now here she was, running for her life in the middle of nowhere, with only her sword and horse. Elervia's horse was very tired, and was losing speed. The warriors behind her looked even more evil the close they came, they had smirks on their face, as if they knew they would capture her. This infuriated Elervia, and she urged her horse to go faster, but the tired horse could go no further and stubbornly sat down in the middle of the forest.
"Come on, please get up." Elervia said with panic in her voice to her horse, but the horse paid no attention, and just lay there, its sides heaving. Knowing that the horse would be safe, as the warriors probably would want the horse anyways, she set out in a sprint away from the spot into the thick underbrush, hoping to hide if they came her way. Soon she could hear voices, that sounded very near. Quickly she dropped into the underbrush and laid there, her heart pounding in her ears. The men came closer, very near to where she was hiding.
"Where is that little brat?" said one of the men as he swung his sword, cutting the underbrush. Elervia knew that if she stayed here, she would certainly be found and taken to the dungeon with the rest of her family, possibly even killed, well, most likely killed on the spot seeing how angry these men were. She knew that her only chance of survival would be to fight the warriors. Elervia swallowed hard, knowing that there were at least five men, impossible for her to fight alone. But she would rather go down fighting for her life than letting them take it, as the would if she continued to lay here. She crawled away a bit, and then stuck out her foot and tripped one of the men. She clobbered him with the end of her sword, and he fell unconscious. By this time the men had seen the commotion and came running over. Elervia brought down the first one and the second one, but the third and fourth, seeing their buddies dead, fought with vengeance, and Elervia was soon forced into retreat. Soon she was cornered against a tree, the two men hovering around.
"Say your last prayer, girl, cause it's gonna be your last." Spat out one of the men. The other readied his sword, ready to strike. Elervia gave one final blow, but the warrior's sword met hers so hard that her own sword fell out of her hand and unto the ground some feet away. The warriors smirked at her helplessness. Silently she prayed to God,

"I know I'm in a mess right now, but you said that you would always be with us. So please, God help me to have your peace, and please help me to get out of this. I really need a miracle." By the time that Elervia had finished her silent prayer, the warrior had already lifted his sword to deal with the final blow. In the few split seconds that followed, Elervia saw out of the corner of her eye a thick branch. With lightening speed, she grabbed it up and deflected the blow. The warrior cried out in anger and started to strike madly at Elervia. Elervia screamed as his sword sliced into her arm, making a deep cut. Again the warrior got in position to deal the final blow on the helpless girl. Just as he was lowering his sword a young peasant man me the blow with his sword, and met the man with the art of a skilled swordsman. The man and his buddy sere soon defeated, and both ran off into the woods as fast as they could away from this stranger, like the real cowards they were. They young man then turned around and smiled at Elervia. he had blond-brown hair and sparkling, kind brown eyes. His muscles rippled under his shirt from the extreme workout that he just had. Something about him looked familiar to Elervia, but she couldn't quite place it. Who was this brave young man who had saved her from death?

"It's been a long time, Elervia." The young man said gently. Suddenly Elervia knew who he was.
"Jeriah! I didn't recognize you. You look a lot different." Elervia said, a happy look replacing her puzzled expression. Jeriah had been a good friend of Elervia in her younger years, and they usually practiced their sword fighting together, or even just fishing. They had been the best of friends until suddenly Jeriah's family had disappeared, and no one knew where they had gone. Now here he stood, her long lost best friend, and she stood there tongue-tied, not knowing exactly where to start or what to begin to talk about. Her dilemma soon ended when Jeriah broke the silence by saying,
"Elervia! Your arm is bleeding. Here, let me see it." Elervia stuck out her arm to him and he carefully cleaned it and bandaged it. All of this time Elervia gritted her teeth and bore the pain of the cleaning. After it was finished and done, Elervia told her story, and all that had happened the past few years. Jeriah listened silently, and his shoulders hung when he heard that father and the rest of her family were stuck in the dungeon of Ishma, and her two brothers injured in battle, supposedly dead. Then he told his story. His father had overheard one of his customers one day speaking in low tones to another strange man. He overheard some of the conversation and learned that these men were spying on the land for Ishma. On his way to tell the king, he was kidnapped and taken to the dungeon. Jeriah's family had searched for him, but couldn't get him out when they did find him because of the fierce dragon that guarded the evil dungeon. His sister and brother (his mother had died when he was born) were now prisoners also. Jeriah said he had found a way to defeat the dragon and was now on his way to get his family out when he heard her struggle. By this time they had ridden into a small clearing, (they had mounted on Jeriah's horse), in the middle was a tall oak tree. 

"We'll camp here for the night. In a few days your arm will be healed and I'll take you back to your siblings." He turned to go away but Elervia grabbed his arm.
"Jeriah, I want to go help you fight the dragon. I'm sure that the place you speak of is the same place where my family is being imprisoned. I must go get them out. I must." Elervia said in a determined way.
"It's too risky." Jeriah said and shook his head. Elervia flipped back her long, thick braid and her brown eyes flashing said,
"I am not afraid, and risk is what comes with life. God will be with us and protect us. I can help you fight this dragon and together we will defeat it." Jeriah grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. Finally he said,
"I can see that you are serious. We will leave as soon as your arm is healed, which will probably be a few days. In the mean time I'll tell you of my plan. Sleep well, Elervia, and God be with you always."
"God be with you too, Jeriah." Elervia said. Jeriah walked over to the oak and leaned against it, his hand on his sword in case of an attack. Elervia , try as she could to stay awake, soon fell asleep beside the fire. 

                 Sweat dripped in Elervia's eyes, and she shook her head to get them away so she could see. The dragon reared up on its hind legs and struck it's clawed, scaly paw at Jeriah. Jeriah fell over in a heap, Elervia jumped over to cover him, and struck the dragon on the arm with her sword. The dragon roared and charged Elervia. Jeriah had by this time recovered and came to Elervia's rescue. This had gone on for at least half an hour. Elervia's strength was fading, and she could see that Jeriah was tiring, too, but the dragon seemed as fresh as when they started to battle it. Jeriah said that the only way to kill it was to pierce it's neck. During the past few days Elervia's and Jeriah's friendship had deepened, but Elervia felt somehow a little different towards Jeriah than she had when she was a girl. She felt the same thing in Jeriah. Her thoughts were shattered when she heard the dragon scream. Jeriah had cut it's tail severely. The dragon, angered, leashed out all of its power on Jeriah and Elervia. Soon that all seemed hopeless. They would surely die. They could see the dragon was about upon that magical hour when it could breathe fire.
"Run, Elervia!" Jeriah said desperately, pleading with Elervia to run.
"No, Jeriah, if we die we die together." Elervia tried to say bravely, but she was the most scared that she had ever been in her entire life. All of a sudden Jeriah pushed Elervia out of the way of the charging reptile. Elervia tumbled some ways away from the spot, and looked up just in time to see the dragon pin Jeriah against the dungeon wall. Elervia quickly climbed a nearby tree and jumped on the dragon's back. The dragon hissed and reared up. Jeriah diverted it's attention by stabbing it, while Elervia took the opening to aim for the dragon's throat. She had one try, and if she failed then it would be the death of Jeriah and herself. Saying a quick prayer to God, she put all of the last of her strength in the blow. The blow met its mark and soon the dragon lay there dead at their feet. Jeriah hugged Elervia.
"I was so scared you would be hurt, Elervia."
"You were?" Elervia asked.
"Of course I was. I love you, Elervia." Jeriah said with emotion.
"I love you too, Jeriah." They both blinked back tears and held each other's gaze for a while. Their reverie was broken by the cries of help from inside. Soon, all of the lost family members were freed. There were happy reunions between all of them, and soon after Ishma was defeated and the land of Silverton was once again in peace. It turned out that Henry and Arthur weren't dead, and the whole family was reunited. 

                Elervia had never felt so happy in her life. Her father was about to walk her down the aisle. There waited the man she loved the most, next to God, with all her being. Jeriah.
"I'm so proud of you, my daughter." The king said with emotion. Then he blessed her and Jeriah after their wedding.
"May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you. And give you peace. And may your love last a lifetime and increase with every year. May your faith in God grow, also--and He will be with you always."

And they lived happily ever after. 

The End