((So folks, I'm back! And with a new story no less! HAHA! This is the prequel to Unlikely Defenders. R/R and enjoy!))

The boat rocked gently as it crossed the waves. The seas were calm and the night was quiet as the elven craft sailed along under the stars. In the hold huddled in the dark sat a small family; father, mother and child. They held tightly to one another, the child sleeping soundly in her mother's arms.
"Kayrn?"
"Aye, Mikel?"
"I think we're nearly there."
Kayrn smiled wistfully in the darkness, her elven features lighting up.
"Firiona Vie should be the perfect place to raise our little one, our little Soriana."
She caressed the infant's cheek as she spoke. She smiled at her human love.
"It'll be much safer than back in Freeport."
He kissed her cheek softly and held her tightly.

Stormsiege stood on the deck staring out at the skies. His hands were on his belt and every so often brushed against the swords hanging on his hips. He drew the blade hanging on the right and looked it over. It shone in the dull light of the stars and moon, still unused and unscarred by battle. With a soft sigh, the high elf returned the sword to its sheath and rested his hands on the rails on the side of the boat. Soon they would arrive on Kunark and soon his first mission would start.

Dawn broke just as the ship came to its moorings. As the gangplank was lowered, dark elves charged forward, killing those in their path. Stormsiege pulled forth his twin blades and slashed wildly at his foes, his eyes shining in a mix of fear and awe. A blade ripped through his light mail and it hit him that this wasn't a training battle anymore. Screams ripped into his soul from below deck, the sounds of the elven settlers being slaughtered. He bit the inside of his cheek in anger, it had been his task to defend these elves and he had failed them, all of them. His blade ripped through the nearest dark elf, flicking crimson blood all over himself and the other dark elves. He fought with the ferocity of a cornered wolf, edging closer and closer to the hold, closer and closer to the screams. Soon, only a single dark elf stood between him at the door leading below decks.
"Move aside, dark elf." He growled.
The dark elf raised his crossbow level with Storm's eyes and shot a volley of bolts at him. Storm struck each of the bolts back at dark elf. The rogue shrieked in pain as his own ammo struck him through his heart. He fell across the doorway and Storm stepped over him. He looked around him, stunned silent. The elves he had been charged to protect lay dead around him, not a sound breaking the eerie air of death. He stepped forward, his boots sounding loudly in his ears as he walked. In the corner, an elven woman stood leaning back against the wall. Lying next to her on the floor was a human man, his throat slashed out. The young paladin walked over timidly and stood in front of the elven woman. He touched his hand gently to her throat, hoping to Tunare he would find a pulse. Her eyes snapped open and she stared up at him.
"M'Lord Sir Paladin, I beseech you, take my daughter. The tier'dal whom you battled here slew my husband and the selfsame poison that took his life now flows in my veins."
In the elven woman's arms she held an infant. As she reached out to hand the girl to Stormsiege, she stumbled. The Lord Protector caught the young child just in time to hear the mother's dying words.
"Her name is Soriana….may Tunare guide both of you…."
The infant half-elf smiled up at Stormsiege, not knowing to cry, not knowing that she had lost one family only to gain another.