Gods of Blood and Fire - A. J. Strickler Page 0,3

that Julian knew it was the truth.

Kian watched the boy come towards the fire. He stopped and stood just inside the ring of light the flame cast. “Come sit down, Julian. I have a little food you can have.” The boy sat down; he was starving since he hadn’t eaten at all today. He held his hands out to the small blaze the swordsman had built. The evening air was so cold Julian could see his breath.

The fire felt good, its heat making his face almost hot. Without its warmth, the night would have been miserable for him.

Kian leaned over for the small pack and water-skin he carried. His long black hair swung forward and parted exposing his ear. He heard Julian gasp.

“Your ear, it’s pointed,” the boy stammered.

Kian sighed. “Yes, I guess they are slightly pointed.”

“Are you an Elf?” the boy asked wide-eyed.

The swordsman shook his head. “No, I’m not an Elf.”

The boy seemed almost disappointed. “I have never seen an Elf before. The priest in our village said they are nasty creatures and God has no place for them in his heart.”

Kian threw an apple from his pack to the boy. “I’m not an Elf, but my mother was.”

Julian pointed his finger at Kian. “You’re a half-breed, the priest of our church talked about them too. He said that’s even worse than being an Elf. He said it was an abomination before God for a human to breed with an Elf.”

Kian looked at the boy and saw the wonder in his eyes. Kian was a rarity, something not meant to exist, according to the Holy Tome of the human Church; he knew all too well what the world thought of his kind. What the boy had said didn’t anger him; he had heard it all before. Besides Julian didn’t seem malicious just genuinely curious. “Your priest is wrong. I’m just like any other man. No better no worse.”

“I heard all the Elves were gone from the world, except the ones that lived in Sylonia. What are you doing here in Trimenia? What is your name?”

The half-breed smiled in spite of himself. The boy seemed full of questions. “My name is Kian, and what I’m doing here is a very long story.”

“I love stories,” Julian said. “My father would tell us stories every night when I was little.”

He marveled at the boy’s resilience; a few hours ago he had killed his uncle and two cousins, now he wanted Kian to tell him a story. Maybe he hadn’t been that close to them, the swordsman thought, or maybe he was just amazed to see something as unique as a Half Elf. There were very few of his kind in the world, even Kian only knew of one other and that was his twin brother, Tavantis.

“What happened to all the Elves, Kian? My father told me once there were huge numbers of them and they had their own Kingdoms, is that true?” Julian asked scooting a little closer to the half-breed.

Kian took a drink from his water-skin and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I can only tell you what my mother and my master Gildor told me. It was the God of Death, the Reaper, that destroyed the Elven race. No one ever knew why he despised the Elven nation; some said it was a grudge he carried from the dawn of time, others said it was because the Elves would not worship at his altar. Whatever the cause, he wanted to destroy my mother’s people. The Reaper caused the humans of the world to hate the Elves, and he taught mankind the ways of battle. The Death God organized them into a mighty army, the Army of Desolation. He and the humans waged war against the Elven nations for millennia. The Reaper was not content to just defeat the Elves; he wanted to eliminate the entire race.”

“The Elves however were not without great warriors of their own and mages of immense power. They fought back with unheard of courage and valor.”

“Did they win?” Julian asked hopefully.

Kian paused and looked out into the night, then he shrugged. “In the end, who can stand against Death?” Kian rubbed the stubble on his face. He didn’t like talking about the Elven race’s fate, but the boy had asked. “After the Elves were defeated, humans dominated the world and the fearsome God of Death returned to hell. Very few Elves still remained in the world. Without the Reaper to fuel