Alright, I just wanted to say I'm only 13 and if this story is really good or really bad no matter what I would like to hear your comments. I really hope you like it and if the title seems a bit bizarre then don't worry because you'll soon discover what it means, Enjoy!


Chapter 1

Sail your Summer Song to my ears so the winter wont hurt me and give me a chance to blossom all of your withered flowers, my sweet...

"Sajan!"
Elcho thrust open her eyes, her bottom jaw quaking. She already felt the frigid tongues of wind lapping and licking at her cold cheek, exiling her bodys' warmth and leaving it to feel much like the essence of frozen ash. Frowning sharply and lightly brushing her skin that quenched the tears with her fingertips, she rolled to her feet painfully after arising from her bed.
The room was dark and had a stuffy odor of dust-ridden cobwebs, though Elcho expected nothing more. She studied the landscape out her blotchy window and could just make out the notched shadows of the towering mountains in the distance, a weak glow of watery, morning sunlight seeped through a break between them.
Elcho shut her eyes and made a long, stuttering sigh. Again she had dreamed about Sajan, her one and true love. He was fighting in a grisly and blood-sheading battle far up north-west in the mountains against the strangers the Offside who had sailed across the seas and claimed this comely land as their own. But every wisp of thought made Elcho shiver madly. It was such a gruesome and heartless age to live in; she wanted to be free and careless with Sajan far, far away.
Opening her eyes with another dilating shiver, she stumbled towards her cabinet and felt around like a blind-begger for a candle which she lit with a sparkling flame. Once she did so, she stripped of her clothing and reinstated them with warmer, woolen clothing to repel the cold.She then had buckled on her buckskin boots and took a comb made from a deer antler and began brushing her chestnut hair, watching it glitter bronze in the candlelight. Elcho unbolted her front door with a clank and slipped outside into the early morning air.
The chill nibbled harshly at her ears and the gravel was munched by the soles of her boots. In the dimness she could see the silvery sheet of frost that froze over the woodhuts and the grey tufts of grass that sprouted here and there over the road that had been butchered by the hooves of livestock.
Elcho lived in the small, bedraggled village of Templamb. She was merely a girl of fifteen perhaps six feet tall and with azure eyes. Her brown hair grew down to her waist and her limbs were rather skinny. She didn't care though, she didn't care about anything except for Sajan.
"Elcho!"
Elcho whipped her head upwards and scanned the lurid shadows for the source of her name. She suddenly noticed a very hunched and jostled figure hobbling towards her. She finally had the picture painted in her vision of the old baker widow who stared up at her through creased, olive skin.
"Elcho," she said in her rustling tone that had an edge of excitement. "The soldiers, the last troop is arriving at the west gates!"
"They are?!" Elcho felt the first grin she had felt in months being smeared across her face. She immediatly turned and fled west, adrenaline boiling inside of her as she rushed through the slicing wind that clawed through her skin and teary eyes.
"Sajan, oh Sajan..... I hope you are there!"

Thanx I don't really write stories that go as fast as this but I don't really want to write a whole book. This chap is longer but its more interesting.

Chapter 2

Elcho sprinted towards the west gates, her heart rattling in her throat. He was here, back in Templamb! The war is finished so the two of them can be as one once again.
As she ran she noticed other villagers errupting out of their huts and quickly striding or trotting west, their lit torches eliminating shruddering blades of amber. They too have long anticipated the advent of sons, fathers and husbands so they could ran far away incase the Offsiders rise to claim land again. East was the only direction that might be able to provide eternal freedom.
But Elcho only wanted Sajan to be back because without him she would be all alone. It was depressing to know nothing about her family except that they left her in an orphanage a long time ago out in the farmlands of Templamb. But the longer she thought about it, the longer she realised that she really didn't care anymore.
The west gates came into view up the meandering road ahead of her. They were congested with families ready to leave Templamb with provisions strapped to their backs and to their livestock.
This was it, Sajan would soon be there to welcome her with loving arms. Already could she smell the sweat that draped over his skin from his strenuous journey and could feel his tattered clothes running between her hands. She could hear his smooth tongue as he whispered to her and she could see his jade green eyes that studied her back.
Elcho skidded to a halt by the babbling crowd and scanned it hopefully. "Sajan?" she called out into the glacial air. "Are you there?"
There was naught but the cries of rejoice and the weeping of those overwhemled with happiness.
For what felt like hours did Elcho stand stiffly in the centre of the crowd with a blank expression, her head cocked to a side like a curious puppy allowing her hair to cascade over one shoulder. All around her families gathered eachother and began their voyage east as soon as possible. They would be safe but Elcho was all alone.

She heaved herself through her front door and out of the abandoned streets as bare and as bleached as a bone. Her heart was trembling beneath her ribs. The same words kept resounding through her mind, he's not coming back...
Now she truely felt like a loner and a clueless one at that. What could she do? She could go and join the others going east and save herself from any Offsiders scouting the land for hostages to torture, or stay and wait for Sajan to arrive. Certainly he wasn't dead, maybe only a little late.
Elcho growled at herself in irritation. She was facing a horrible decision that was leading nowhere. What was she going to do?
Suddenly she heard a terrible noise like something sharp grazing metal. It made her spine tingle and fizz in an unnerving manner so she immediatley yanked open the door gawped outside with a shriek.
The golden sunlight gushed down throught the foggy, barbed mountains over the uneven, dirt road and old, tumble-down buildings. But that was not the reason at all that Elcho was so frightened, no not at all.
A very eccentric looking creature stood hunched in the middle of the road, the strangest animal she had ever seen in her life. It was roughly the same size as a draught horse and was the colour of shimmering silver. Water droplets swung from the ends of each of its hairs, waving in the slight gusts of mountain breeze.
Elcho clapped one hand over her mouth and took a step backwards. The beast had huge, hooked, glossy, black talons, five on each foreleg and four on each backleg. Its shoulders were two bony humps raised high over its snake-like neck and its hips were awfully knobbly. Its tail was long and skinny with a tuft of sparkling hair at the end which it whipped against the ground, choking the air in clouds of dust.
Elcho could feel a heartbeat in her teeth as she slowly reached backwards for the dry wood of the door. She nudged it with her knuckle and the door squeaked on its hinges making all her muscles tense.
The huge animal wheeled its long, narrow head around and gaped at her with wide, liquid, black eyes. It flattened its very long pointed ears against its neck, curled its top lip to flirt its fangs and made a rumbling growl from deep in its throat.
Elcho could only whimper as she watched clouds of air roil from its wide, wet nostrils into the drifting wintery morning.

Thanx all I'm glad you like it

Chapter 3

Elcho watched in complete and utter fear as the demonic creature twisted its narrow head around in awkward positions with its maw open wide, as if trying to decide which angle would be the right one to bite her from. She tried to scream but the only noise she made was a soft squeak as she squeezed her eyes shut and tensed her shoulders, ready for the blow. This was it, this was the end...All alone and ready to die.....Templamb empty...Sajan gone....help me!
There was silence.
Nothing happened.
Extremely confused, Elcho peered through her eyelashes at the creature that was frankly examining the surroundings. The abandoned houses, doors creaking on their hinges and ripped curtains flapping through windows. The wind dragged dust, leaves and shards of straw around with it as it twined between the woodhuts.
The silvery beast beat the ground with its tail as it surveyed the mountains with its liquid, black eyes. Tufts of fur danced about on its chest as it flared its wet nostrils again and snorted.
Suddenly realising that she could escape thus not risking being clawed or chewed to death, Elcho began to slink away when there was a rumbling voice older than time itself that shattered the silence into pieces.
"All alone."
Elcho froze in her creeping pose gawping up at the creature through her fringe as it turned and looked at her squarely.
"Please spare me!" She said very, very fast.
The animal snorted again and said mightily, "Foolishness, foolishness. Offside will not spare lone human! Offside ruthlessly torture! Human is witless and obtuse for being alone!"
Elcho's breaths came faintly, "So you wont kill me?"
The beast rose its head, its body creaking like tree branches grinding over eachother. "Thoa-Thoa do no such thing!" he turned away haughtily.
Elcho collected every little bit of courage she could find in every corner of her body before asking, "Thoa-Thoa....Is that your name?"
The creature studied her from under its rumbled brow. " 'Tis," he murmured.
"Human both lonely and dim."
Elcho blinked. "My name is Elcho and I will not be alone for a moment or so. My love is just late."
There was a pause. "Moment passed human still alone!" Thoa-Thoa said, "Thoa suspects that human's love is still fighting in war against Offside."
"But the war is over."
" 'Tis not!" Thoa-Thoa replyed with a growl, startling Elcho. " Thoa suspects that kin is there since they are not in Templamb."
Elcho felt the tiny bit of hope inside her flee at that moment. Now she would be all alone, the last party had already come, why an earth did she even suspect Sajan would be late? He was still in the war...Possibly badly wounded or worse, dead!
She sighed sadly feeling tears build in her eyes. She hated the idea of Sajan fighting and he would hate it too. What was she going to do?!
Thoa-Thoa seemed to read her mind. He said in a very wise tone. "If Elcho wishes, Thoa can take her to war so she can be reunited with love. Elcho no need to worry, Thoa led her, Thoa-Thoa know the way."
Elcho rose her head as a burst of joy exploded inside of her. "Y-You will?"
The creature rolled its muscles as its ribs rippled like water beneath its hide. "Thoa will keep his word."
"Oh thankyou so much. I had better get some provisions."
"No time! Offsiders arrive soon, they follow last troop! we must go!"
Thoa-Thoa began trotting quickly towards the west gates, his sharp claws biting into the road and spitting out dirt and gravel. The morning sun pouring down and wetting them with golden sunlight.
"Pardon me Thoa-Thoa," Elcho said, "But can I can you Tho since my tongue is lazy?"
There was a long silence and for a moment Elcho thought she had chosen the wrong approach until the huge, silvery creature replied;
"Tho say yes."


....Oh and also in this chapter you know why the title is as it is

lol well u just gotta put ur mind to it and really get into ur writing. Just try it out And thankyou all again for the comments and I don't think I should publish this into a full length book because someone will most likely steal my idea That is the reason why I'm not posting the full length book I have already written (which is a different story to this) But oh well, keep reading!

Chapter 4


You need not to fear Sajan, I am coming for you...
Elcho felt herself being sprinkled by sunlight as she wandered through the forest that enclosed the mountains. There was a strong scent of damp moss and rain and the sound of chirping crickets and songbirds. The leaves smothered eachother and sometimes the furrowed tree trunks would make a droning or rasping sound, as if they spoke to eachother in their own earthy language of her approach. The thought made Elcho feel quite strange in her stomach.
Patches of green and brown were raiding her eyesight along with the constant flicker of gold. Moths and other colourful, buzzing insects sometimes dipped and dived from the trees, serpentining under the roots covered in soft, fleshy protuberance and over the cushioned leaf litter. Elcho somehow felt that there was much more life aswell, just obscure to her.
Tho, the strange creature that she followed, constantly appeared and disappeared from sight between the trees. When he moved he sounded like a very ancient sailing ship echoing through a deep canyon. It scared her most of the time since it seemed to be such a ghostly sound for an animal to make. It was as if he was very old and his bones were wearing down with every motion he made.
In the mountains' forest, Elcho never saw him very much, only the shimmering of his beauteous, silver coat through breaks between the trees. She naturally held her breath every time she heard or saw him, as if she expecting him to lash out at her. Before she had thought her fear was gone but she quickly discovered that it still haunted her.
As the sky began to turn to pastal colours of pink and orange, Tho murmured, "Find clearing for rest."
Elcho dared not disobey. She scouted about until she found a nook in a cliff face were the trees left quite a large clearing of about a hundred feet, leaving some supple, lime green grass instead. She settled herself neatly by a mound of bluestone, hugging her knees as the nights' cold began to lurk towards her through the shadows.
She heard an odd sound as Tho slipped between the trees, making them bow over to allow him pasture. He halted on the soft grass, massaging them between his toes with swishing his tail, back and forth, to and fro.
"What does Elcho eat?" He asked while licking the knobbly knee on his foreleg with a long, forked tongue the colour of grey and purple smudged together.
"I eat...What do you eat?" She asked back at him.
"Thoa eats vegetation and drinks the morning mists."
"Then why do you have sharp teeth?"
"To defend life, rights and territory from foes," Tho replied. "Now mine question; why is it that humans hunt yet have teeth like a horse and long intestine?"
Elcho eyed him flatly. "I have no idea. I don't eat meat if I can avoid it-"
"Good, Thoa-Thoa collected Elcho some berries." Tho wheeled himself around to face the trees again. He dipped his head and clasped his teeth around the stem of a leaf as wide as a wagon wheel before dragging it out into the open with a sweep of his long neck.
"Thoa was not sure Elcho ate vegetation. Thought she would only consume animal flesh."
Elcho crawled forwards cautiously to examine what ever Tho had given her. It seemed to be a pile of blood red and pea green berries. They didn't look very appetizing but to appear polite and hopefully cure the hungry cramp in her belly, she lifted up a green one and begen nibbling through its velvety skin.
Tho arched his back so that his spine, ribs and hips were visible before he bunched the muscles in his legs and vaulted up into the air and landed on the cliff face with a shower of dirt and stones. Elcho squinted through the cloud of dust as Tho powerfully hauled himself upwards with his hooked talons that ripped through the vines that had once webbed over the stone.
He then found a massive crevise in the rock that he wedged himself into so that he could lay under the approaching night sky.
"Tho....I was pondering on why you are wanting to go to the war. It is not a very cheerful place to be and I don't understand."
"Thoa told you," he grumbled, "he is searching for kin."
"You mean others of your kind?" Elcho asked slowly.
"Of course!" Tho replied hastily.
Elcho hesitated. "Tho...What exactly are you?"
The silvery creature flared his nostrils and crumpled his snout easily like wet paper as he blinked twice.
"Thoa-Thoa is a Mryduar."
"A what?"
"Mryduar. We are gaurdians of the forests, the mountains and the plains. Rarely do we appear to your kind, only to sometimes give good advice but otherwise we are hidden. Thoa only appeared in Templamb because he thought that our little ones might have went there to seek play but he found they were gone too."
Elcho thought for a while while pinching the half nibbled berry between her fingers. "If you are the gaurdians of the forest then why are you leaving?"
Tho's face suddenly turned a deep shade of grey and his eyes went very droopy and miserable. He gestured to the forest and said, "Elcho may not feel it but Tho does. The Askew forest pleas and begs for help because it is dying."
"Dying?"
"Yes. Askew forest needs other gaurdians too, the other two gaurdians or it will die. Kin went towards the war where the others are to tell them to come back."
"Why didn't you go too?" Elcho asked, finally crushing the berry with a splatter under her fingernails.
"Thoa overslept autumn hibernation and Mryduar are heavy sleepers. Kin couldn't awaken him."
"Oh..." Elcho interlaced her fingers together. "But I don't understand why these other two gaurdians left for the war."
Tho sighed wearily. "Elcho fancies asking questions." He puffed out a gust of air that stirred the dirt that clung to the stone. "Tho doesn't know the answer to that."
Elcho tightened her jacket and turned out her collar and her sleeves to sleep. The night would be very crispy and no matter what it was definate that she would be cold.
Tho made a sound like the soft chime of a bell. "Elcho must also understand that Thoa will not stand for woozy thought. Wit and wisdom is a definate on our voyage because Offsiders will stop at naught to harm their foes, whether a human is with a flock of themselves or alone like Elcho is."
"But I am not alone, you are with me."
" Sometimes a shepard must sleep Elcho," Tho's voice drifted off tiredly. "Sometimes a shepard must sleep.."



This chapter might seem a little boring to some of you but don't worry, it gets more interesting

Awsome story

Thanx again, and forswornmonk yeah Tho is my fav char... He is always fun to write about lol.
P.S I based the weather on how it is where I am.

Chapter 5

Elcho dawdled through the wavering tree branches as a draft of wind splashed by her and began swimming through the air with a horde of dry, rustling leaves. Strands of hair coiled and uncoiled by her cheek. Oh how she wished she could've brought her comb. She sighed, blowing her fringe and tightened her jacket around herself as she bit her lip.
It was a cloudy night. The only light she had was from a very old candle that Tho had found in the forest. How he lit it, she had no idea. He was such a mystery in many ways.
She gawked at it and its golden light sending a tint of gold to the opaque surroundings around her. The light gnawed into the wrinkles of the tree trunks around and washed over the forest floor as if scrubbing away at all the shadows it could grasp until the dark was stronger further away. The canopy loomed over her and swished slightly in the wind. It kinda looked like each branch covered in leaves was a paintbrush and they were gently painting the dark colours for the twilight sky. It was quite beautiful if Elcho was not alone and could not hear the eerie sounds of the wind passing through hollows in the trees.
Elcho could only question the whereabouts of Tho. She had only seen him once as a silhouette far away between the tangled trees and that was when he ordered her to carry on walking through the dark and then gave her the half melted candle. She was weary and footsore since this was the fourth day on their journey. Already was she getting tired on the constate scenary of trees,trees,trees. She completely disliked the food that Tho provided her but she was very grateful for the water that he brought to her in the huge, wagon wheel sized leaves which was always just enough for her. He was looking after her but she didn't desire being helpless towards anyone but she never gambled her odd bond to him.
Suddenly there was a roar of thunder that splintered the sky into beams of purple lightning. Elcho could smell the slight scent of dust as it began to rain.
"Wonderful!" she said out to the empty forest as she watched a single drop of rain splatter on the candle and douse the tiny flame until it was no more. She felt the icy drops plash on her shoulders and down her brow as she stood there mincing her teeth.
"Is this what you want?!" She cried through the low grumbles of thunder. There was another flash of violet lightning so that Elcho could see the hundreds of millions of drops glittering like diamonds in the dismal night.
"No."
Elcho looked around in the pitch black forest, her eyes vast with appall. There was another shimmer of light as lightning spilled from the sky and she saw Tho's horselike figure sitting in the rain that made his silver coat sparkle gloriously in her glimpse.
"Tho never wanted this. Why would Elcho suspect so?"
"I..." Elcho paused, "I was just upset."
"Bah! If you have a feeling that will sit you in an awkward position then overcome it because negetive energy will affect all it will grasp." He snorted in with a sharp sound. "But of course 'tis human nature to expose emotions without thought."
"Tho what are you talking about?" Elcho said running her eyes over the place where Tho stood.
He didn't answer but instead made a very low grumbling sound and changed the subject, "Can Elcho see?"
"How could you in pitch black?"
"So Elcho is completly sightless in this light?"
"Tho there is no light."
Tho made another creaking sound and growled, "This will make it easy for passing Offsiders to spot us."
"What will?"
There was an echoing sound like a weight dropping in a deep pool. Elcho stepped backwards as she heard a tinkling sound like wind chimes and a blade of silver light stabbed the shadowy air.
Elcho clamped her jaw shut as a secound powerful sword of silver began to murder the dark. There was soon a gigantic ripple of light that pierced her eyes painfully until it wilted into an unfaltering glow.
Tho stood there, the tip of each hair glowing on his fleecy coat. He looked very vivid and intence, a sight that was so beautiful and wonderous that Elcho's jaw dropped in awe.
Tho straightened his back, flared his nostrils and shook his coat free of some of the water it collected, an extra shower upon Elcho. The lose skin on his scraggy body sliding over the lumps of bone and few muscle in his chest and neck. As he did, his coat reminded her of the gentle waves in a black ocean that had been speckled with thousands of stars. It was a magnificent sight to see.
Tho lapped his long tongue between his fangs and said, "Elcho lucky that Tho is a silver Mryduar and not a black or mossy green one."
"Tho...How did you do that?" Elcho said shaking her head.
"Tho collects energy from forest to light his fur." He shook his curly mane like a horse.
"It's beautiful."
Tho cocked his head. "You are very kind," he said swishing his tail lightly. He twitched his ear slightly and blinked his large, puppy-like eyes. "Now come Elcho, Tho wishes to show you something..."

Aww thankyou and yes I am 13 and waiting to get a chance to drive a car or ride a motorbike around Australia once I'm out of year 12, lol. Thanx again

Chapter 6

Elcho rose an eyebrow, "What do you want to tell me?"
" 'Tis surprise," Tho said, blinking his large eyes. "But Thoa is aware that Elcho is bushed so he while her."
"Carry me?" Elcho's face went void of expression apart from her raised eyebrow. She scrutinized Tho's horselike body as skinny as a rake with pointy lumps of bone here and there around his hips, shoulders and backbone. Even though he seemed so graceful and large he still was witnised to be very fragile and eons of age.
For a moment Elcho just watched his sparkling fur wink at her as it was as the raindrops soaked between it until she stated, "You wouldn't be able to carry me!"
"Of course Thoa can carry Elcho, she is not a ton of bricks!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yea." Tho took a step over closer towards her, creaking like rusty hinges as he lowered himself to the saturated ground, his fur drooping slightly with every motion he made. He resembled an old, worn cat with beautiful sparkling fur ready to pounce upon its prey. He seemed ever so scenic and fair but at the same time very frightening and dangerous, with an outlandish air that Elcho felt wary about. She watched him for an instant more, his tail skimming the soppy leaves.
"Alright, if you are sure," Elcho strode towards him, a lump of fear clogging her throat. She listened to the sploshing and pattering sounds of raindrops upon wet leaves and bark. The smoggy sky above her rumbled heavily as she placed a hand on Tho's flocculent fur.
He smelt strange, a little like incense but it wasn't too strong and was quite pleasant. It made her forge a small smile as she carefully climbed upon Tho's back, sitting between his two shoulder blades and clasping his curly mane and part of his forlock.
"Hold on," Tho said, his breath quite throaty, "Thoa-Thoa slips between forest like water through open fingers."
"I beg you not to go too fast," Elcho cried quietly.
"We have already wasted too much time," Tho growled, "Elcho will like what Thoa will show her."
Tho bit the tips of his talons into the leaves as his thin, stringy muscles flexed and he carefully straightened his legs to stand up. Elcho felt her heart plummet slightly as the ground shrunk away until her head was roughly ten feet in the air. She gripped Tho's neck as he snaked it up in the air and hauled his lips back into a slightly misshapen grin.
Elcho bit her lip as she skipped her vision between his black eyes. "Please be gentle or I will never be able to ride a horse again."
Tho snorted, puffing misty wind in her face. "Who would want to ride a horse when Thoa is here?"
And then he lept forward.
Elcho yelped as she felt the wind gush past her ears. Tho arched his shimmering back until his paws collided with the earth again and he landed with a shower of wet leaves, squatting his legs to soak up the incredible force of his jump. Elcho flopped over on his neck, her breathing fast and rapid as her jaw hung open. Before she could even figure out what had just happened, Tho lept forward again, tossing her backwards as he landed once more and began running through the trees with extreme speed.
He moved like a snake in fast motion, dodging tree trunks at the last moment which sent a horrible feeling in the pit of Elcho's stomach. At times Tho turned so sharply that she was almost sitting up parallel to the ground.
Elcho could feel his muscles begining to soak up power as he vaulted into the air again and over a small tree, his forelegs stretched out infront of him as the lightning flashed and they were caught in flare of bright, purple light until they landed again in a spray of water and leaf litter.
"Tho!" Elcho screamed as she watched the trees speed past her, lit in silver by Tho's fur. "I want to stop! Let me off!!"
Elcho closed her eyes and sobbed as her heart was battered around inside her rib cage. Every muscle in her body was as tense as stone. She wanted to stop! She wanted to get off! "LET ME OFF THO!!!"
Tho halted so quickly and supernaturally that Elcho slammed into his neck. Before she could scream out in her outrage she felt herself slip and she was sent tumbling way, way down into the darkness, her spine-tingling scream resounding through the rainy night.

Thanx again yous and dont get too scared lol Enjoy this chapter then!

Chapter 7

Elcho...Wake up Elcho....We need to leave.....We need to leave now!
Elcho gently opened her eyelids into the dim, rippling, silver light. But this silver light moved oddly, in spirals and ovals over an opal coloured surface. She could feel her clothes drag on her heavily and her brown hair swell around her.
Where am I? She tried to breathe but the air bunged her throat as if it were something between a solid and a liquid. She then realised that she was underwater.
Her lungs battered against her rib cage as she thrust herself upwards with a powerful movement from her arms and legs, her buckskin jacket weighing her like lead until she broke through the barrier of water.
Elcho gasped and panted, taking all of the relief that she could before coughing and splattering out the water that had congested her wind pipe. Once her vision focused again and her eardrums clicked back into use, she could see the wispy strips of circling mist slither over the water. She also noticed a gigantic, spurting waterfall through the haze, pounding at the water with its fists as if it were a huge bongo drum.
Elcho felt herself quailing from her shock and tried to look up from where she had fallen but the colours of the cliffside melted with those smoky ones of the sky and so did the most of the waterfall. Only the silvery light gave her access to what she could now see.
Grinding her teeth in fury, she slowly spun around causing tiny whirlpools in the water to see the one that gave her that emotion. Tho.
He was laying on the marshy bank of the the vast lake, lagoon or river, Elcho couldn't tell in the dark. His fur seemed to still be teeming with starlike sparkles, twinkling in the breeze from the power of the waterfall. His ears were still layed back, long and pointed against his snake-like neck and his backbone was still ridged under his loose skin. He had his two, front wrists crossed over eachother so that his polished, black talons could gleam under his own light. His long tail swayed over the bank, the tip brushing the water while he stared at her, his narrow head cocked to one side.
Elcho watched him from the slits that resembled her eyes and barked, "What is wrong with you?!"
Tho flared his nostrils like a llama, "What is wrong with what?"
"What is wrong with you?" Elcho jutted out her bottom jaw, "Are you trying to kill me?!"
Tho seemed taken aback, "No, why is Elcho being thick? Thoa would never try to kill her."
"What?!" Elcho frowned very sharply, biting her tongue until she could taste a bead of blood.
"Elcho must mean Thoa-Thoa's rough sprinting-"
"Of course I do!" Elcho exclaimed, "Not to mention you dropped me over a cliff which felt like it was one thousand feet high!"
Tho stared at her blankly, still flaring his nostrils. He then turned a little grave and said silently, "Tho did not mean for Elcho to be so upset."
Elcho said nothing, only glared at him from under her eyebrows.
"You see," the silvery creature carried on, pointing his nose at his feet but still watching her with his huge, glittering eyes. "Thoa is....not as young as he once was. Infact, Thoa is very old and cannot move with as much grace as he was designed to. Moving around is painful, bones are drying up. Thoa will never be the same, age is an awful thing."
Elcho's expressioned softened as she blinked at him.
"Thoa-Thoa wishes for no harm to bestow itself in Elcho's path and would do anything to protect her."
Elcho rose her chin, "Why do you care about me so much, we hardly even know eachother."
"Thoa may not know Elcho's life story but he does know Elcho's position." Tho sniffed and turned his head away. "Since Thoa is very old, he has no pleasure in traveling but mine son and daughter are elsewhere and Thoa will do anything to find them, even saw off foreleg if the needs are true." He dipped his head as he turned to her again. "Tho only wants to find them."
"But why did they leave, would they not stay with you?"
"They have been gone for long time to find medicine for sick mother."
Elcho winced and felt her heart beat bluely. "Your mate is sick."
"Was sick."
Elcho beamed, "Then she is well."
"Is dead."
A horrible hesitation came from Tho. His ears drooped and his tail was motionless, like a dead snake. Elcho even witnessed the tiny lights it the tip of each of his hairs falter as he dropped his head on the soggy ground.
"Tho I am so sorry, I never knew..."
" 'Tis alright young one, I have forgiven you from the start."
Elcho suddenly felt a very vile feeling in her stomach. Tho had offered to help her right from the start. Sure he would sometimes call her dim or thoughtless but he was really very kind and had given her something no one else could or would; a chance.
Changing the subject, Elcho stuttered, "I-Is this what you w-wanted to show me?" She looked around as if setting her eyes upon the scene for the first time.
Tho looked up at her, his face still sombre and his chin muddy for the peaty ground. "Yes, Thoa could sense that Elcho was uncomfortable in her condition and needed to bathe. Also this water is from a spring so it is not cold."
Elcho had just noticed that. The water was quite warm and comforting like an old friend. She stripped off her drenched buckskin jacket and threw it towards the bank so that it slapped the ground along with her pants, boots and socks. Tho took no notice of her until she said, "Wont you join me? The water might sooth the painful memories."
Tho rose his head slowly, Elcho flinched at the sounds his bones made like rustling lumps of gravel. He eyed her wearily and said, "Wise words for youngster."
Elcho grinned as Tho let himself slide into the water in several surges of liquid before slowly paddling towards her, swiveling from side to side a little like a swimming crocodile. He still had a very miserable face even though he was no human and it made Elcho feel guilty.
Tho allowed his tongue to slip out between his lips and wrap around in mid air before returning to his mouth. He did this a few times before Elcho asked what he was doing. He whispered gently, "Thoa drinks mist, did he not tell Elcho?"
"Oh yes, I forgot."
Elcho watched Tho drift by her before rolling on his back exposing his chest in the light for, his face blank.
Elcho frowned as she watched him make gentle, sad noises from deep between his ribs.

Thanx again whoo!!! And er I'm really sorry that I am taking so long to post. You see, over here in australia school has just started again and I've had no time. But have no fear, the Silverwolf Strider will finish it all!!! You wont be left wit nothin!

Chapter 8

Elcho minded Tho's movements under her brow with remorseful eyes. The queer creature was still in a woeful air, gazing at the blemished sky miserably; the clouds blushing deep purple from the silent lightning. The tips of his sparkling hairs were gently swaying through the water in half slumber, just as Tho was.
He made a very low burr deep in his throat and puckered his brow. He seemed to be in heavy thought as he rolled over and began paddling again, beating the water randomly with his taloned feet and hunching his old shoulders high.
"Tho..." Elcho whispered, her mouth drawn into a thin line, water pattering on her head.
Tho let his head float over towards her, water trickling along his silvery fur. He blinked at her with those huge, inky eyes that reflected his burnishing light and the specks of purple lightning but that wasn't what made Elcho feel so blue. It was all the emotion they reflected, years and years of pain and agony, most she probebly never even knew about.
Feeling suddenly very weak, she uttered three words, very quietly, "I'm so sorry."
Tho stiffened and flared his nostrils as Elcho bowed her head. "Sorry for what?" he asked softly.
"Everything." Elcho was feeling very guilty but somehow she guessed that Tho knew. He snaked his head up from the water, drips showering from his neck and landing back on the surface in target shaped ripples.
"Elcho should not be sorry!" His voice began to beam with its usual natural purity, "Why, if Thoa-Thoa is haunted by his past at times, then why should others be? That would only be rude to stuff someones mind with your own problems!"
Elcho looked up to see Tho wearing a strange, twisted grin in pride. Without meaning to, she grinned and let out a small laugh as Tho then lowered his head to eye her in line.
"Thoa is very sorry for making Elcho feel bad. He was just in a trance of his own thoughts." He blinked his large eyes and Elcho forged another smile. He then leaned forward and nudged her slightly on the arm with his narrow snout. "By the way, Thoa wishes to show Elcho something."
Elcho frowned, "Oh no..."
The huge creature chuckled lightly, like leaves whispering to eachother in a afternoon breeze. "No fret, Elcho will enjoy every moment!"
"A-Are you sure."
"Will bet!"
Elcho decided, whether for better or worse, to trust him. Tho slithered through the water towards her and said, "Hold onto throat only."
She very carefully wrapped her arms around Tho's delicate neck and asked with a slight fear that she had felt not too long before, "Where are we...going?"
Tho expanded his ribs and whispered, "Down."
Elcho felt herself being hauled deep into the heart of the water, her hair in a wild fury behind her as she clung on to Tho. They were being pulled deeper and deeper into the waters' dark, icy depths, blind and bemused for Tho's silvery, hoary fur didn't shine or even flicker under water. It was as lurid as their empty surroundings.
Elcho was beginning to panic. What if Tho took her too deep and she got squashed by the pressure or worse, ran out of air and drowned? Her body would be floating in the empy pit of the waterfall forever without Tho even noticing.
But then, he suddenly skidded to a halt in an outrage of bubbles that Elcho could only hear tickling past her face as they popped. He seemed motionless for a moment or two until there was a breckage of light that pierced Elcho's eyes and Tho's fur changed back from dull grey to a starry night of silver, rippling even more underwater.
Elcho watched him cautiously, his two forelegs tucked in while his narrow back ones stretched underneath his upright pose. Without having much time to ponder on how human he looked, Tho gestured downwards so she followed his gaze to only be struck by brilliant awe.
Tho's fur had lit up four exotic fish. They were roughly as long as Elcho and their fins were shaped like licking flames and ran in usual parts like their sides, backs and tails but also along their eyeridges and tube-like snouts. Their fan-shaped scales were the most ruby red with tinges of gold all except the largest and eldest looking one that was as black as coal and tinted silver. Its fins were more streamer-like and it had round snow-white eyes.
Elcho swam an edge closer towards the creature, her head cocked as she gazed through the light that stopped the usual blurr that was seen. It snorted and kicked out its tail to dart away, deeper in the depths, the other three squirming away after it in a stream of smoky water.
Elcho suddenly felt her lungs beg for air. She spun around to face Tho, stretched out her chin and tapped her colour bone to motion for air. Tho looped around towards her so she could grasp his sparkling fur and began climbing upwards with thrashes of his tail that would help him slice through the water. Finally they burst through its rippling barricade and out into the open.
Elcho released Tho and began swallowing as much air as she could in gasps. She then swore under her breath in total disbelief for what she had witnessed. "What were they?!"
Tho shook his head so that drops of water shot off him like sparks. "They were River Healers; creatures that are not of fish, mammal or any of the rest. They repair the water just as Thoa-Thoa repairs forest."
Elcho gaped down at the swirling depths below her. There was so much she didn't know.
Suddenly, Tho shot his head upwards, flaring his nostrils and half pricking his long pointed ears. His fur blackened out so that the only source of light was the distant lightning.
"Is there something wro-"
"Hush!" Tho barked, "there is a human coming, infact a flock of them." He turned to face Elcho in a silhouette. "Elcho must hold breath and swim to shore to hide amongst the reeds. They come on fast foot!"
"But what if they are as innocent as you or me."
"There again is woozy thought!" Tho snapped, " Thoa is one with trees, they tell him more than the truth. These humans are with gruesome mind and destructive hands thirsty for blood. These humans are Offsiders!"

I see what you mean lol, the chaps are getting bigger but keep reading!

lol thanx again peps I hope that you will like this next chap, it grows and grows...

Chapter 9

Before Elcho could spill out all the mindless words that came to her head, she heard Tho let out a stream of different growls before he dived beneath the surface and his burnishing fur blackened out in a spray of disturbed water. Elcho pursed her lips tightly before she waded silently into the shadows of the reeds near the bank, frogs croaking at her approach as the rain began to harden.
The mist was slowly begining to cower away to wherever it had originated from. Elcho could now see the hazy outlines of the trees of the Askew forest, as black as freshly burnt ash smeared and smudged over grey paper. Their branches were slowly scraping the sky with its twisted twigs.
Feeling suddenly very alone, Elcho tried to dig herself further into the reeds until she could feel the slippery bank underwater with her toes. She couldn't help but peer over their tickling tips every now and then into the eerie trunks, accursed with shadows of ill humour. She kept wondering where Tho was. Surely he hadn't ditched her out of sheer fright? She had her doubts.
The rain pattered down on her as she sat motionless in the shade of the reeds. There was no light but of course the distant specks of lightning. The sounds that brushed against her ear all made her quake inside, the whistling of the gentling gusts of wind through the leaves and over the water, the sound of the echoing waterfalls fists, the murmurs of thunder overhead but the most uncanny was by far the creaks of the tree trunks that reminded her so much of Tho's movements. Perhaps he was there, lurking in the forest? But she had not witnessed him climbing out of the water or even touching the surface.
She was beginning to worry.
Shivering as the cold swelled her skin, she though she noticed a faint light from beyond the reeds, far beyond. She parted some of them with her wet fingers and noticed that the light was as gold as sunshine but it was blinking through the tree trunks.
Ahh...You are clever O' Thoa! Elcho smiled to herself. She knew exactly what he was doing that quick one, he was frightening off the Offsiders by lighting up his fur golden! He must of had clambered up the bank further down and hid himself in the trees. Elcho could not help but admire him more.
Grinning, she listened to his footsteps through the trees, shuffling through the leaf litter with his iron-hard claws. She could her the swishing of his tail and his satisfied snorts. She could even hear the creaking of his body, a little like flexed leather. But there was something wrong with his approach. Something that then came to Elcho immediatly once she glimpsed the sight, as terrible as she had ever thought. She had never wanted to ever see them. Never hear them. Never even speak of them if unnecessary. They were the ones clouding her mind of pain. This was the real ones; this was them.
Offsiders. There were two of them, each upon huge black stallions with fur suffering of skin disease and thin, wet manes. Their tails were not trimmed and their legs were battered with scars, layer upon layer as if they had been sprinting through brambles all their life. Their eyes were bloodshot and droopy, suffering from what seemed to be days without rest but they still held their necks up high in arches showing an odd behaviour of lapping their pale tongues over and over their brown, brick-like teeth again and again. They snorted out fumes of steam as they strode slowly toward the bank in a strange way not like any normal horse.
Elcho was perplaxed and horrified at their approach. With dread, she gazed up at the two riders, each one bearing the name of the Offsiders.
They were both very still, dirtly rags twined around their arms. They both wore very queer helmets that seemed to have been melted over them and made of a strange, pale metal. There were only two dark slits for eyes and they wore crimson tunics with slabs of armour upon each shoulder. Their hands, that clasped the worn leather of the horses' reins, were very pale yellow. Lines were etched all over their tough skin like sickening water.
Elcho dared not move or even breathe. She sat as still as possible, praying that they had not noticed her. She might be able to run away though, the horses looked like their couldn't move another inch, but was she sure they were normal horses?
One of the soldiers held a lit torch shredding golden light as bright as the sun. Tho was not there....He ran away.
Elcho felt her teeth chatter as she watched one of the Offsiders slip from the tattered saddle of its steed. It then hunched its shoulders and scrutinized the surface of the water.
Tho where are you...? She pleaded in her thoughts. If these Offsiders found her she would be helpless, she knew it. All she could think of was to run, maybe into the forest? Tho's environment. Maybe it would save her if she could get away....
The soldier took a step closer, his breathing was hissing in Elcho's mind. She could hear the crunching of the dirt under its boot, only inches away. She needed to breathe and she needed to escape. But how was that possible? Was there any way?
Suddenly there was a huge explosion of lightning in the sky along with a horrendous roar of thunder. Elcho was fully splashed in light that made her shriek and and wheel away to face the reeds.
The two soldiers didn't seem taken aback at all, they only peered at her through their pale helmets, their rags streaming back in a sweep of icy wind. The one off their horse reached down through the reed and clasped their rotten hands around the scruff of Elcho's tunic under her buckskin jacket. Before she could respond, she was hurled through the air onto the muddy bank that bruised her shoulder and caused her to quiver in pain. They were so strong....
A sheet of rippling wind was cast over her, groaning and mourning the dead night. It let its fingers loop through the trees and and brush the leaves and raindrops that was pitter-pattering over the land, softly and gently. It didn't dare snuff out the flame of the torch though, it left it alone.
The first of the Offsiders strode over and hauled Elcho to her feet. Her lungs were numb and she tasted blood throughout her mouth. She felt fear quaver in each bone as she stared into the pitch black slits in the helmet.
The Offsider barely fished around in his belt until he found the hilt of his dagger. He slipped it out and held it by her throat, the nasty blade as bloodstained as the hands of a butcher. Elcho did the only thing she could.
She closed her eyes.

OH NO!!!

OoOOo Double numbers now, I wonder what's going to happen (well you do anyway, lol)

Chapter 10

Elcho felt the skin on her neck tingle as it began to split to make way for the daggers blade. She felt her warm blood slither down her neck as she waited for the minor cut to become major. The thought made her insides feel rotten but she dared not open her eyes. She would die seeing nothing, as if she were asleep. Perhaps she would feel better then.
Elcho could hear the Offsider's rasp that bordered his hefty breathing as he began to push downwards on the blade, She allowed herself to cringe and gasp but nothing more.
Suddenly there was an ear-splitting sound like screeching metal that stabbed and drilled into Elcho's ear. She yelped and opened her eyes to see the that both the Offsiders were hunched over, covering their ears. The first one dropped the dagger and let it fall to the ground without a sound.
The pain was unbearable. Elcho felt as if her eardrums were going to explode and was even beginning to wish so. She kneeled down and wrapped her arms around her head like bandages, hoping to repel the pain.
Then, the vile sound ceased. Elcho clamped her jaw shut and let her vision swipe the landscape in a whip-like way. The Offsiders had frozen solid in their tracks, waiting for something to explain what had recently occured.
But Elcho noticed it first, and it made her heart thunder in merriment. She should have guessed something so obvious.
Tho was standing half in the water, thousands of droplets clinging on tightly to his fleecy fur. His head snaked up high and his tail was thrashing the water, not nearly enough to eliminate his wild outrage. He bared his needle-sharp fangs and flattened his long ears against his neck as he let out a wisp of a growl from the pit of his throat.
The Offsider on the horse cocked its head as it studied Tho. The other one retreived its dagger with a lazy swipe of his arm.
Tho stepped out of the water, his left foreleg coiled upwards exposing his long, razor-sharp claws. He then leapt into the air, a dispassionate sound errupting from his maw as he landed ontop of the secound Offsider's horse.
The Offsider cowered over the saddle and his charger was whinnying in fright as Tho's talons began to slice open its ragged hide. The Offsider vaulted off the horse, as agile as a cat, and landed in the mud on all fours.
The squealing horse tumbled to the ground under Tho's weight, its tattered skin leaking blood. Tho bared his teeth in his outrage and sprung off the horses quivering body and landed lightly beside the Offsider. The blood that was not stained onto his fur and talons was quenching the soggy ground along with the rain.
They slowly began circling eachother as the rain drummed upon them. The Offsider made an odd hissing sound as it peered at Tho through the slits in its helmet. Elcho eyed the other Offsider whom had not moved an inch, nor seemed to be breathing.
Suddenly Tho darted forward in a blur and pinned his opponent down, his lips trembling in anger. His hooked claws were digging into the Offsider's stomach and chest, making the wounds heave scarlet blood. Tho then cuffed his jaws around the Offsider's right shoulder, preparing to rip it off.
Elcho turned away and shut her eyes as a horrendous howl was spilt into the night. She also heard another sickening sound that she wished she never had heard and didn't ever want to hear again. Only when there was a sound of pattering rain remaining did she dare open her eyes again.
Tho was standing over the dark, flaccid figure of the now deceased Offsider, his bony shouders hunched high in the air and his head close to the ground, like a wolf infuriated by regressive hunger.
The other Offsider, that had tried to murder Elcho, stood motionlessly as if nothing had occured. It observed the scene without a single noise or hint of body language, only twirling the nasty hilt of the dagger round and round its finger. Elcho felt sick as she watched an amethyst that was wielded into its blade glitter in the shimmer of firelight from the fallen torch.
It then quickly sprinted towards its mount and bounded into the saddle before urging it forward towards the wet, wavering shadows of the forest. Tho wheeled himself around with breathtaking speed to snap at the rider but he was an inch off it. For such a beaten horse it was very energetic and hurdled over drenched boulders and bushes, its ebony hooves barely skimming leaves and stone.
They rode off into the depths of the sorrowful night with Tho's ghastly roar to spur them onward.

Alright we are now moving onwards and I think I will shange the title to something more interesting. I hope it works since I have never changed a title before

Chapter 11

Morning finally rolled in from over the horizon and the rain ceased, leaving trails of mist as a ghostly image to drift throughout the emotionless forest without a thought. A glacial feeling had cuffed its hands around the trees as the sun sprayed a weak air of dim yellow over the tree tops.
Elcho found herself propped up against the rough hide of a spiney pine. She had only recently awoken and sighed a breath of relief when she found she was not anywhere near that horrendous waterfall. Its pounding fists could not even be heard as dim patter. The forest was completely silent except for the low whispering as wind snaked through tree hollows.
Cold errupted over her skin in goose bumps. Her breath fogged as it passed through her trembling jaw. She felt so stricken by what had recently happened all so fast that she was begining to think of it all as an illusion.
Tears trickled down her cheeks. Sajan... she whimpered in her mind. I don't know if I can make it to you. If this is what has occured only now then I doubt I'll come out clean through even the heart of the Askew forest. I still have a long way to travel across this tortured land. I'll end up in a bloody mess before the trees even part.
She let the tears continue freely as she pondered on the voice she had heard when she had fallen in the lagoon. They still wisped through her thoughts. Elcho...Wake up Elcho....We need to leave....We need to leave now! At first she had thought the voice was Tho calling to her so that she did not drown but it seemed different and only half familiar.
Shivering, she began to observe her surroundings under cold eyelashes. The raindrops had frozen on the ebony bark of trees and rotting logs creating strange images on their trunks, like the handprints of spirits that had came and were now gone. She was in a small clearing where the sunlight slide down one of its watery limbs to touch the ground. It seemed to be the only beam that had leaked through the heavy, grey clouds.
Elcho suddenly remembered Tho. Where is he? She remembered what he had done and she remembered the blood that had stained his talons and fangs. It was nothing like him neither. It made her insides quake.
"Tho...?" She whispered as the wind coiled around some of the frozen branches of the trees. "Are you there...?"
There was no reply.
Elcho hugged her knees and closed her eyes; ready to doze off into a chilly slumber when there was a loud crack as a log behind her broke. She jumped, startled and gazed about.
Tho was there.
He stood between two textured tree trunks in a crumbled stance. His fur whipped around slightly in the air, dull and caked with dirt clumps and strings of blood. His sharp teeth hung from under his thin lips and his ribcage stretched outwards from his shrinking skin. He looked in no fit condition.
"Tho..." Elcho slowly rose to her feet, watching the huge creatures tedious eyes. He flickered his tail as if with a slight tremor but made no other motion.
"Tho..." Elcho repeated weakly. "Tho are you...alright...?"
Tho lifted his narrow head and peered bluely into the trees, his bones crackling like the embers of a fire.
"No," he stated plainly. " Am not."
Elcho frowned and then wandered very cautiosly towards him. "Thankyou," she said, hoping to cheer him a little. "Thankyou for saving me."
Tho suddenly went very stiff. Elcho watched as he slowly wheeled his head around in her direction, glaring as his top lip trembled into a snarl.
"Never thank a murderer." He said very grimly.
Elcho blinked, taken aback. "But...But you saved me-"
"It doesn't matter!" Tho growled loudly, making Elcho flinch and raise her arms naturally as he if were going to attack her. He snorted at her reaction darkly. "Thoa slaughtered someone, something our race is never meant to do." He glared at her again. "Not like a human would understand that anyway."
Elcho rose her eyebrows and said. "We are not always killing."
"Are." Tho sniffed. "Humans are the ones who start these gruesome wars while the rest of the creatures have to suffer for it. You can not deny what you are."
Tho clawed at the leaflitter beneath him, raking it away to reveal the soft earth beneath. Elcho could see that he was very upset. "But the one you killed was an Offsider."
Tho snorted out a cloud of air. " Thoa-Thoa is as muddied as the fur on back."
He then flickered his gaze back to Elcho and said. " Will be leaving at dawn tomorrow. Even if Elcho is not ready, Thoa will leave without you and let thy find reason with mine words."
As the huge creature began to plod away, he said. "Journey forwards towards suns' birth place. We deepen into Askews' limbs."

Really good I haven't read this for awhile but its great!