Aure fingered her hunting knife. Men were guarding the main entrance, dwarven smithing guarding the secret tunnel. That just left the elves, her included.

"Aimer, take Reyna and Laiya and go up to the third floor. Shëa, Myris and Aure, the second." Lord Elkea looked around.

Aure went to stand with Myris. She knew that her being included probably meant it was the least dangerous position; She had never been an excellent fighter. Her brother, Aimer, winked at her from where he stood.

"Loria, Shira, Anomer, Ashe, each take a tower. The rest of you, guard the ground floor and assist the Sun Warriors." The elves seperated into the groups, and Aure followed Shëa up the stairs to the second floor.

The corridors were silent. The orcs had not attacked yet, but it was only a matter of time. The three elves patrolled hallway after hallway, seeing nothing. They were inspecting an unusual window when a scream from above echoed.

Instinctively, Shëa turned and ran. Myris and Aure followed close behind her, running up the closest flight of stairs. Aimer and Reyna stood back to back, defending against a group of orcs.

"How'd they get in?" Shëa shouted, joining in the fray.

"I don't know!" Aimer yelled. "They took Laiya by surprise." Aure pulled her knives out, attacking one of the orcs from behind, before having to dodge a blow from another. The battle raged on around her. A small goblin nicked her, and she was forced to defend herself from all sides.

As she was caught, knives against swords, one of her precious Starmetal knives fell, and an Orc picked it up. They were retreating against the onslaught of elves, running back down the corridor. For some reason, as she pushed them back with her single knife, a goblin pulled the weapon out of her hand before scampering back down the corridor.

"Well, I guess I'll need new knives" She thought. Myris was bleeding, and holding a cloth to the wound, but otherwise everyone looked fine. Laiya was missing, but Aimer was sure to find her soon.

"Aure, will you go and report to Lord Elkea? Take Myris too. We'll see if we can find where they came in" Shëa said, already moving down the hall.

Aure helped Myris down the stairs back to the place they had started. Lord Elkea was still in there, jotting notes on a map of the castle.

"What happened?" He asked, standing up.

"Orcs." Aure said, explaining what had happened. He frowned as she told the story. "They must have gotten in somehow. Take Myris to the infirmity."

Aure nodded and lead Myris a few doors down, opening it to reveal a clean room with several cots. A older female human and a male elf were talking casually, organizing herbs. When they saw Myris, they looked up.

"What happened?" The elf asked as he examined the wound. As Aure explained, her cleaned out the wound, the woman assisting him by getting the herbs he requested.

"This was poisoned." He said, as he finished up. "Was anyone else injured?" Aure began to shake her head, but then remembered the scratch from the goblin. She showed it to him, and he cleaned it off.

"Some of the others might have gotten cut, I don't know." Aure said. It hurt to be back in an Infirmary. She had gotten so close...

"I'm not sure how well I can treat this particular type. Maybe Wild Ashe? I'm not sure."

"Try Wind ringer." Aure said automatically. His eyes widened in surprise. "I used to study under a healer" Aure explained quickly.

"Then why are a you a warrior?" He asked. Aure felt a lump form in her throat. "I failed the final exam. I... I accidentally killed someone with Fireweed."

"Oh." He looked at her strangely. "Let the others know that they should come here to get cleaned up. You go rest." Aure nodded and quickly left the room.

***

She had the nightmare again that night. The Fireweed taunting her, whispering in and out of her dreams. A memory of the elf she had been trying to heal. It had been just one small slip, yet it had been fatal...

***

Aure walked with Reyna and Ashe down to the forges. As Reyna struck up a conversation with Ashe, Aure looked around the room.

"Can I help you?" One of the dwarves asked.

"Yes, actually." Aure replied. "I'm looking for a short sword. Not too long."

"I might have the perfect thing." He smiled and pulled out a sheathed sword. It was small, really just a large knife, but as Aure pulled it out to look at the blade, it felt right. Runes decorated both the blade and sheath.

"It's beautiful" She said, thanking the smith. A cry rang out through the castle.

"ORCS!" Someone bellowed. Suddenly, from the back of the forge there was a huge CRACK! And a giant troll lumbered into the castle. Ashe was blown back instantly, and the dwarves were scrambling to grab weapons. Rayna and Aure stood back to back, fighting off the hordes of Orcs and goblins that came rushing through the gap, but soon they were pushed back into the main part of the castle. When they were joined by Loria and Risan, they had been pressed up a flight of stairs. The four of them managed to hold their own for a while, but something changed. Orc horns, howling through the castle as a huge Orc entered the fray.

"That can't be..." Loria whispered.

"Yep. The Orc king." Reyna finished. The battle raged on around them. Sometimes a group of men or dwarves would pass, but it was a rare occurrence. Aimer was pushed back to them, with the only surviving member of his patrol, an old veteran elf named Riven. But there numbers dropped again when Risan was taken by a huge troll. Soon the six of them were fighting back to back. Aure's short sword served her well, slicing through orc after or orc as though they were paper, but the tide was still in the Orc's favor. A huge wave of goblins cut of Loria and Riven, and they were soon engulfed by swords and flailing limbs. Then Aimar and Aure were fighting back to back, tooth and claw for their lives.

A troll roughly grabbed Aure's back, throwing her away from Aimar. She hit a wall, sliding down it. In the time it took her to recover, Aimar was overwhelmed. Her brother was dead. There was no one left to help.

The orc king knew it as he bared down on Aure. The other orcs and goblins stood back, happy to let there king do this, final killing. He seemed to know that she was a novice, a fighter yet untrained. He taunted her, played with her. In a final, desperate attempt, Aure slashed at his knees, creating a deep cut in his flesh.

But then she was backed against a wall. There was no where else to go. Sure could feel the king's sword pressing against her neck. But he didn't kill her, only made her drift into a world of blackness.

***

When Aure woke she felt pain. She wanted to go back, go back into the dark... But she couldn't. She was chained by her foot to a peg in the cold, snowy ground in the middle of the orc camp. They were celebrating. "Why did they keep me alive?" she wondered, but it probably wasn't a good reason.

"This wasn't a good place to make camp" Her fevered mind thought. Fireweed and Brush Weed surrounded the clearing. They had a pot, probably of meat, that the orcs were drinking out of. Unconsciously, a plan came to her, though it took her awhile to figure out what it was. A single sprig of Fireweed...

She spotted one, just below her feet, and tried to pick it up, though her hands were numb from the cold. Then she crawled, slowly to the fire, and reached up to put the plant in. The orcs had noticed what she was doing, and were coming for her.

Aure dropped the sprig of poison, that had once closed her everything, into the pot. And then, she let the darkness take her.

For the last time.