Perryn was at a crossroad. The kind thing to do would be to try and wake up the poor Elf but, the way they fought laughed with nary a care in the world as they all but played with their prey made her feel uneasy, come to think of it though, Perryn was at least certain this Elf played no part in taking the beast down.
She turned her gaze towards him once more and her thoughts were all confirmed, whereas the Elves who fought garbed themselves in silvery armor, this one did not, in fact, he was not dressed for combat.
The Elf's clothes resembled that of those noble minstrels from faraway, way too many ruffles, it did not help that his clothes came in a myriad of bright colors, green, white and pink.
Another stark difference was his hair, his companions all seemed to share the same silvery white hair put into beautiful but complex braids, but this one? It was a stunning yellow, golden, if Perryn were to describe his hair they were free of braids and instead long with heavy ringlets. He looked like a princess, one awaiting her fair knight to kiss her awake.
Perryn laughed; this was not the time to remember those silly fairytales from her childhood.
After much contemplation, she decided to wake him, Fae or not she thought it reasonable to at least have a companion as she searched for a way out of the forest and into the nearby town.
Perryn pokes his chest, not even a stir, she would have thought him dead had it not been for the slow rise and fall of his chest, she sighs and reaches for one of the many twigs scattered around and aims it to his cheek, better to be safe than sorry if he turns out to be easily startled, she pokes again, still no response.
Perryn throws the twig aside and reaches for the back of his head, she cradles it gently to feel for any sort of injury, her hands feel warm and wet, well there is her answer. Her little Elf 'princess' had an injury.
Perryn would not claim to be a healer, but she was sure that if this was left untreated it was sure to be fatal, it was for Men at least, for Fae though, she was not quite sure.
Fae, an Elf, Perryn moved on from that fact way too quickly.
This was the first Elf, well Fae really, she had ever met. She had mostly heard tales about their other kin, Faeries, tricksters who delighted in the torment and despair of their victims, rarely though were Elves ever seen.
The sleeping Elf was completely foreign to Perryn, like the other Elves he emitted a faint glow, it was eerie. Oh well, she could not regret her decision now.
Trying not to dwell on it Perryn got up to her feet and with great effort, began to drag the hopefully sleeping and not dead Elf towards a bush, it was best to keep him out of sight while she continued looking for the town. It was the least she could do, her good deed for the day.
Once she laid him onto the bush, she did her best to rearrange the leaves to provide enough cover. Satisfied with her work she looked around for any marker, best to try and remember this area lest she forget about her little Elf "princess".
The clawed markings would have to do, she contemplated dropping some of her jewelry along the way, but it would be best to try and trade it for some medicine when, if she reached the town.
If she did reach it would it be smart to come back? Galavanting with a Fae especially a high one did not seem wise.
She could be on her way, no doubt it would only take a few days (or less really), before her father finds out about the attack, this could be her chance, to run away and never look back, why squander it helping some Elf?
With nothing more to do in the area she picked a random direction and walked towards it with determination, something akin to hope began building up in her chest, she could make it out, she had to.
After a few more minutes of searching whatever hope she had had died out. It was too dark, and the trees did nothing to help as they had all looked the same, Perryn decided it would probably be wise to make it back to the Elf. She was quite literally dead on her feet and the thought of more walking was not a comforting one.
With the aid of the deep gashes, she somehow managed to find the sleeping Elf, without much thought she threw herself to the ground.
She lets out a startled gasp, she had sat on something hard, a bit harder than the forest ground.
After shuffling around a bit, she found the culprit, a delicate looking flute, it looked from what little light she had, to be in great condition. It was carved out of wood, its pattern was made up of intricate swirling flowers.
The flute she heard as those Elves fought, such a bewitching tune, Perryn could only surmise that it belonged to the sleeping Elf.
From his garb he was clearly not a fighter, a bard then? That would explain the clothes, still perplexing though, why would a bard Elf be willing to put himself in danger knowing full well he was not a fighter?
Unless there was some kind of musical magic involved, the letters her older brother sent home once in a while mentioned something about musical instruments being able to channel magic, something Perryn found fascinating. She could only assume Elves had something similar, maybe more powerful.
She felt a sliver of pity for the Elf, to be abandoned, discarded, it was the worst feeling.
Frankly Perryn just wanted this day to end, she wanted it all to be a dream, any moment now and she would awaken back home, back to the suffocating place where her hopes and dreams were never taken into account.
Was this any better? Being lost in some forest, her only companion being a High Fae, one that was rarely seen.
She wondered if he would even live through the night, it was sad really, how easily Perryn gave up on him, on searching for the town, would you fault her though? If she had the strength, she would have tried harder but remembering that carnage, the bodies, she lacked the will to go on.
A quick glance to her companion proved that he was still alive and with nothing left to do Perryn turned away and gave herself into the sweet embrace of sleep, hoping the events of the day would not haunt her dreams.