51 Hand Him Over

"Brother, why are we looking for the youngest first anyways? He would have the smallest chance of inheriting anything because he would be too young and weak to fight any rivals." No longer able to take the silence, the younger man quickly asked another question.

"Hmph, idiot! Of course it's because he was the only one we could easily find. I'm sure She and that beast husband of hers told their older children to not reveal their identity at all, however, the last one was born on that day. He would have no knowledge. We can use his blood to locate the others. Him being the weakest is also good for us because there is no way he could resist capture. I don't even know why I have to explain these things to you." The older man scrunched his brows showing his annoyance towards the pointless chatter. Sensing the man's unhappiness, the younger man decided to stop asking things at this point. Inwardly rolling his eyes, he lamented his luck that his first outside mission would be with this block of wood.

The two men quickly flew in the direction of the church. The closer they approached, the lower they came to the ground until they were finally walking up. Before they could even say anything, the two strangers were noticed right away by the kids playing outside. To their surprise, the children glared hostilely towards them. These children were happily playing before and they had yet to do anything that would warrant such hatred, so they were puzzled wondering if the seventh child knew more than they expected. Did the maid who ran away with him survive?

One of the boys quickly took one more glance at them before running into the church. When he made his way back out, he was followed by the entire crowd of angry children and a shocked nun.

"Darius, I thought you said those men had come back?" Sister Lily looked towards the young boy who had gotten their attention.

"They aren't?" Darius asked confused.

"No, of course not. They are not even human. They are elves, a very rare sight around here. Hello, sirs. I don't know what you could want from our church?"

"At least one of you humans has eyes. How could you mistake a magnificent elf such as I as a disgusting human?" The younger elf quickly pulled down the cowl of his hood showing more of his silver hair and pointed ears with clear disdain in his voice.

"Cedyl, quiet. Hello. I am Efe Bluepoem and this is Cedyl Woodland. We are from the Elf Empire's imperial capital Glass City. We are part of the core guard of the Retired Queen. Our mission was to pick up the offspring of a lost princess, sister to our current Queen. We heard of rumors that the child was placed in this orphanage after a disaster struck the princess's family."

"Child? There was never an elf brought up in the orphanage."

"He would not be a full elf. He would be..."

"A mixed-blood!" Before Efe could finish his words, Cedyl interrupted and spat at the next words in disgust.

"Mixed-blood?" Sister Lily was lost in thought. There was only one... Greyson, this time that he came back he had the signature elf hair and he had told her that some elf blood had awoken in him. She looked towards these elves. Although, the older one spoke with utmost etiquette, she knew that he disdained humans just as much as his companion so obviously showed. What if they meant harm to Greyson? She could not very well just give him up.

"But none of our children showed any signs of mixed blood. Even half-elves would grow up with silver hair." She feigned confusion and ignorance. Efe furrowed his brows at her words. Was the information incorrect? Sadly, at this moment, one of the younger children had not realized the severity of the situation and spoke out.

"Wow, Sister Lily, their hair is so pretty! It's sparkly just like Grey's!" The little girl meant no harm as her eye's sparkled in wonder at the beautiful flowing hair. Hearing the words, Sister Lily felt her heart tighten and her mouth run dry. Efe and Cedyl both squinted their eyes dangerously towards Lily. A threatening atmosphere leaked out from their bodies which pressured all the church children and Lily. All of them did not have magic, so they quickly were pressed down to a kneeling position on the ground. The pressure only continued growing until a sickly young toddler spat blood and fell to the floor.

"STOP! STOP, you'll kill the children!" Sister Lily could no longer keep quiet and she screamed out to the elves.

"Hmph, lowly and weak humans. We treat you with respect and you decide to lie. How unsurprising." Cedyl sneered.

"I was not sure... that you wanted... Greyson... with good intentions. I raise... these children... as my own... I would never... just give them up." Barely getting her words out from a clenched jaw under the strain, Lily tried to explain. After her words left her mouth, the pressure started to ease away until it disappeared. All the children and Lily let out a deep breath and felt the sweat dripping down.

"I admire the loyalty you have towards these orphans. However, this is your last chance. Hand over the boy. We don't mean to harm him. There are just some inheritance issues that need to be fixed. If anything, his quality of life might drastically improve."

"I really don't know. He discovered that he could use magic, so he ran away towards more populated and powerful cities to join the magic academies. I have no idea where he is now." Sister Lily grit her teeth and kept as even as a voice as she could. Just from their show of power, she knew that they were lying to her. They were definitely not planning good things for Greyson. She told them half the truth. Just last week, she really had no idea where he was or where he could be headed. Efe closely scrutinized Lily looking for any hint of lies. Not completely sure that she was telling the truth, he was at a loss of what they should do. His orders were to retrieve the boy and not cause a scene that would catch the human empire's attention. Coming to a decision, he was about to ask a different question when Cedyl stepped at and quickly slashed with his arm.

A green wind blade grew from the sweep of his arm and cut through half of the group of children. Within just a second, suddenly half of the children outside were cut down. Silence ensued until Sister Lily screamed.

"NO! WHY?!" Following her shouts, the rest of the children unfroze and all of them collapsed to the ground and stared blankly at their dead friends. The younger children all burst out crying while the older ones went to hold the cut up bodies of their friends.

"Wolf... Wolf... wake up, wake up... We have to go to the first day of school tomorrow. Wolf, we were so excited..." Finally not able to hold himself together, Darius began bawling holding the familiar Wolf's cold body.

There was so much chaos that broke out with the crying children. Efe deeply scowled looking over at his partner who smugly shrugged his shoulder.

"They needed a little psychological push. Who cares for these weak ants anyways? Not even the other humans would care."

Darius saw the man's unrepentant face and a fire burned in him.

"You monster, how could you just do kill people like that? Does it make you feel good to pick on weaker children? You're just a coward! You wouldn't be like this if we were more powerful than you." He shouted angrily at Cedyl.

"Darius! Darius, step back! What do you think you're doing?!" Sister Lily quickly reprimanded him. Cedyl looked at the kid who dared lecture him and felt slightly ticked off. Lily could see his reaction and her heart dropped. Her mind grew blank as she furiously tried to think of what to do before her eyes suddenly lit up with brilliance.

Reaching into her chest, she pulled out a tiny bag that was always wrapped around her neck. Priest Williams had passed on to her before he died. He said that it will only work once and that it would protect her and the children.

Quickly opening the pouch, she saw a beautiful golden talisman. Once it was released, the talisman slammed to the ground and the whole church lit of with golden lines tracing out a pattern. A shield protecting the church was erected while the elves were pushed out. Seeing the sudden change of situation, the two elves were shocked first, then they began to hit the shield with spells, but it would not budge an inch. Sister Lily first was shocked then realized the shield was extremely strong and they could not be let through. She didn't know how long this precarious situation would last, but she would make the most of it.

"Children, quickly grab the... other... children. We need to give them a proper... burial..." She knew that she had to get this done so that all of her children could rest in peace, but the words dead and all others associated with death would not easily flow from her mouth.

...

3 days. It had been three days. Every single day was torture as Sister Lily and the children squatted inside waiting to see if the shield would go down or not. They had long ago buried and prayed for the departed children, while their tears slowly dried into determination. Although they were filled with fear, they slowly began to build a determination to fight instead of just waiting for death inside the walls.

The elves only got angrier and angrier, even the calm Efe was showing frustration. Hearing their shouts and the banging against the shield only filled the church people with dread. What could they possible do? Another sleepless night rolled into the other.

...

On the fifth day, the situation finally changed. Right in front of their eyes, a hole the size of door opened up. A old, decrepit man hobbled out from it wearing the signature red robes of a cardinal. Looking around at the situation, he soon understood what was happening.

"Haaahhh..." A long sigh escaped his mouth that seemed to have a soothing effect towards crowd surrounding him.

"Oh, Ian, you never used it even when you were dying on your deathbed, but instead passed it on to these children." His scratchy voice finally echoed out as he talked to no one in particular. He looked over at the angry banging elves before his eyes lit up.

"Elves? This is not your territory, your Queen should know this as well. Begone!" He waved his hand and the elves were both sent flying back before they slammed into the ground buried underneath the dirt. Sister Lily and the children were left in shock at how easy and comfortable it was for this old man to wave away those strong elves that had tormented them for so long.

"Hohoho, you children are making this old man blush. I have thin skin." His voice was good-natured and calmed its listeners. The kids automatically grew fond of the old cardinal.

"Maybe this is God's Will that I help you children. Come follow me, I will take you someplace safe." He beckoned with his hands. Most of the children did not even think twice before moving towards the man, however, Darius, Sister Lily, and some other older children all paused while looking at the church and the newly added graves. They were very reluctant to leave.

"I know, my children. The church is a holy ground and a home, however, it is not a place but a people. As long as you all are together, the next church you stay at will be the new home. Your friends are now at peace, they would rather see you thriving and alive then joining them with God." The cardinal could easily see what was going through their minds from their looks and the freshly dug graves. After they heard his words, the hesitant group finally nodded while Sister Lily knelt down and prayed on last time then got up and followed the cardinal through the portal. Soon the courtyard was completely empty other than the old rundown church and the new graves.