Whispered to the Winds

Commission for , of his character Maylara Maltree.
He gave me as well a text for the image, that I can slighty modify for my universe of Aiers...
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The cold wind of a winter that aproached, blowed in the mountain range of Nohalion, bringing with it the scents that come from the plains of Purpurian.

The h¡gh mountains stood, defying the wind, like they have done for ages, and the thick forests between the valleys danced with the wind, that rocked their branches.

Two dark siluettes where walking, tired, in a path of goaths, covered with heavy robbes that hidded most of them, their possetions... and a little baby carried in a back carrier, the newborn child of a young drow couple.

They where hunters, and had ventured into unknow lands to them, dwellers of Kazrrad, the underworld, with hopes of gathering food, for themselves and to sell it.

Even if they wheren't completely ignorant of the surface, it was difficult to them walk along the vegetation, and the sounds of the forests distracted them.

However, the female drow, who was carring in that moment their child, her ears perked up, and she turned to her mate.

"Did you ear that?"

"Surely it was a squirrel... not much meat to be hunted"

they continuated walking... but something wasn't right. Even with their relative inexperience in the surface, they eared furtive footsteps in the leaves...

"there's something coming."

The male Drow nodded. "I hear it".

The female nooded back, and they looked had each other, and then to the surrounding area: thick bushes and pine trees. A surrounding to foreign for some underworld drows, to fight or move freely.

They needed to go out from the forest in that narrow valley, and climb, so they can, from a clear point, see who was following them, and use effectively the crossbow they had with them.

Quickly, they moved, expecting to leave behind the ones hunting the hunters, climbing their way out of the forest, to the nearing peaks.

When they leaved the forest, outside of the range of a bow and arrow shooted from there, they turned to the forest, trying to find their pursuers, as the female drow handed their child to the male, and prepared her crossbow.

Then, between the pines down in the forest, appeared they hunters.

A small band of Black Orcs, Koktos. In the moment they see their preys in the higher grounds, they fired a volley of arrows with their small hunting bows, but the drows where out of the reach.

But not them, down in the valley, and the female drow shooted her crossbow, aimed against the one who looked like their leader:

She didn't hitted any Kokto, but this made them be more careful, and they began to advance, taking cover.

The female drow fired her bolts, to slow down the black orcs, wounding one. The situation wasn't so bad, as they where in higher ground, and still had plenty of bolts, to dis-encorauge the koktos, when, suddendly, they began to laugh and cry.

The drows didn't understood why, until some pebbles rolled down the slope:

They turned, and see with horror that they where trapped, as two other orcs surrounded them, appearing in the hill-top, cutting their retreat.

As the orcs, laughing and crying, run towards them, the drows feared for the secuirty of her child, and so, as the female shooted and loaded the crossbow, firing against the orcs, the male proceeded to go over a nearing bush, hidded between the grass and rocks, and he took off the back carrier with his daughter, and placed it securely hidden in the bush.

"you'll be safe here Maylara" he kissed the baby on the forehead, and left a small note writed in the reverse of a playing card, in crude unlic language characters: Maylara Maltree. Raise her with care.

As the male finished doing this, he returned with her wife, preparing his dagger to face the incoming orcs, meanwhile the female drow, as she leaved in the ground the now useless crossbow without bolts, and whispered to the winds

"please protect her, allow her to sleep and not make a sound until this is over"

They steadied themselves, as the furious black Orcs arrived to their possition, in the middle of savage warcries.

The young Drow couple were outnumbered and not as well armed, but they put up a good fight all things considered, managing to take down three of the bandits in the furious combat that followed, but having sustained mortal injuries in the process.

The remaining Koktos, seing their comrades dead, and some enemies more determinated than they thinked they will find, fled like cowards, and as they go away, being lost into the forest down into the valley, the young Drow couple collapsed to the ground by each other when the bandits were out of sight.

"Is our daughter well?"

They looked toward the bushes: as they fighted, the orcs managed to step over all their luggage, and some even, instead of fighting, dedicated themselves to gut their luggage, looking for gold or food... but the bush, away, was intact...

"She is fine, we can only pray someone finds her and takes care of her."

The male drow simply nodded and placed a kiss on the female lips, as tears shed down both their faces, they each held their right hand together and closed their eyes, accepting what was to come.