The Other Side

by Alan Hotchkiss

  Eric only hoped Mr Colman had phoned the police straight away, rather than looking for the culprits of the break-in on his own. Although he wasn’t even sure the police would be prepared for what they would encounter, never mind a lonely janitor.

  After leaving the gym hall and travelling along another corridor, Eric announced: ‘This is it here,’ pointing towards a door that had ‘Head P.E. Teacher’ emblazoned across it in white letters.

  ‘Out the way then boy,’ said Riezgar as he once again pushed Eric out of his way and positioned himself in front of the door.

  ‘It’s probably……’ began Eric, but before he could finish his sentence, Riezgar took one step towards the door then raised his right foot and proceeded to kick the door square in the middle of it, so hard that the door exploded out of its frame and flew backwards into Mr McFarlane’s office.

  ‘Locked,’ Eric said to himself.

  Riezgar walked through the now open doorway, scanning the office immediately for any sign of the Straize. He did not see the gem, but he did however notice that there were plenty of places within the office to store it out of sight. There were rows and rows of filing cabinet drawers along one wall, three large cupboards along another wall, and in front of the only window within the office was a large, wooden oak desk and matching chair.

  When the teacher confiscated the Straize, he would have believed it was just an ordinary, harmless piece of jewellery and not one of the most powerful and precious gem stones in all the known universes, thought Riezgar to himself. So he would have been unlikely to have gone to any great lengths to hide it.

  Riezgar walked slowly around the large, oak desk and slid into the leather chair that sat behind it. As he glanced down he noticed two drawers on either side of the desk and a wry smile formed on his face as this would surely be the most obvious place for the teacher to store the Straize.

  ‘Search the room,’ barked Riezgar to his soldiers and they immediately flooded into the room and began to pull the filing cabinets and cupboards to pieces. As confident as he was of finding the Straize in the desk drawers, he could be wrong, so they might as well get the search started sooner rather than later.

  ‘Get the boy in here,’ Riezgar added and Eric was hauled by his collar into the room by the giant Elf Grogar, who did so rather roughly.

  ‘Keep your eye on him Grogar,’ said Riezgar nodding his head towards Eric. ‘Make sure he doesn’t move an inch.’

  Grogar nodded to his chief then looked down upon Eric and smiled at the boy. It wasn’t a warming, cheery smile, more the kind laced with malice and threat. Eric gulped and looked away with the feeling that his chances of escaping were becoming slimmer and slimmer. He looked around at all the other Elves tearing the office apart. Only Doogard did not join in. He stood at the doorway, looking oblivious to what was happening in the office. He seemed to be deep in thought, his mind elsewhere.

  Back at the desk Riezgar took a deep breath. ‘Okay time to find our treasure,’ he said, more to himself than anyone in particular. There were two drawers on either side of the desk. He started with the right-hand side first and tried the top drawer. It was locked, but with just a tiny little bit more effort, he easily burst the lock and pulled the drawer free from the desk completely, then emptied it on top of the desk.

  Of the contents emptied onto the desk, most of it was what you would have expected: paper, pens, rulers and other common stationery items, but no gemstone. Riezgar brushed the whole lot clean off the desk then ripped the next drawer free, and once again spilled the contents on top of the oak desk. Again, lay nothing of interest to Riezgar on the desk, so it was scattered on the floor like the contents of the first drawer.

  The other Elves in the room emptied filing cabinets in the same manner, quickly turning the office floor into a mess. As they finished clearing the rest of the room, Riezgar had now disposed of the third drawers’ contents as well. He paused for a second as he prepared to open the fourth and final drawer. The room went silent and all eyes fell upon Riezgar.

  He yanked open the final drawer but kept it low behind the desk this time, out of sight from the others. He raised his head and his cold eyes looked around the room at everyone, his face giving nothing away. As his gaze came to rest upon Eric, he held it on the boy for a few seconds before a slight grin began to form on his chiselled face.

  It felt like watching in slow motion to Eric, as Riezgar slowly raised his left hand from behind the desk. As it came into sight, everyone in the room could see a gold link chain rising up and then, there attached to the bottom of it was the large, ruby red gemstone. All the Elves in the room let out an extremely loud cheer and smiles began to form on all their faces, except Doogard’s.

  Eric had immediately recognised the chain that had been given to him so long ago, as a gift from the parents he had never known.

  Chapter 30

  ‘What happened next on that fateful night for the Pixie King is a thing of myth and legend, but the truth is that only one person knew, and that’s a tale he never shared with anyone. What we do know, is that the next morning the King was found dead and his precious sword that held the Straize gem stones was gone.

  Stedd returned to his small home to find an emotional Rosalia waiting for him. As they embraced, they found themselves no longer able to hold back their true feelings for one another, and their close friendship now became a loving one.

  Rosalia had returned to Stedd’s small cabin nearly every single day he had been gone, in the hope of him returning. It had been a long, but worthwhile wait. Dante however, had seemingly lost interest, writing off Stedd as being as good as dead. Whilst his friend was away, Dante had found a new ambition and had spent most of his time trying to climb the chain of command within the Fairy race. It was only when Rosalia told him of Stedd’s return that he came to visit his old friend.

  After Stedd had taken the King’s sword and reclaimed the gems he knew it would be unwise to keep the weapon as it was, for if it fell into the wrong hands then devastation would be reaped upon the lands once again. So he had removed the gem stones and hidden the sword.

  Stedd told Rosalia and Dante what he had done, but refused to tell them where he had hidden the sword. Stedd told his friends that it in the interests of their safety and that of their whole world that the fewer who knew of its whereabouts, the better. Rosalia understood Stedd’s decision however Dante did not and argued long and hard with his friend over the subject.

  Dante had become power hungry and knew holding that sword and the gems would make anyone the most powerful person in the land. Stedd made the mistake of showing the gems to Dante one day and right there and then he could begin to see the greed and envy within his friend’s eyes, as they lit up upon viewing the precious stones. Stedd began to fear he was losing his friend to his lofty ambitions of power.

  He tried in vain to describe the devastation he had witnessed of his own people and land, never mind the mayhem the Pixie King has caused to others, but Dante would argue that it had been down to the King being evil in the first place and that if he, for example, wielded that great power, that he would do so fairly. Stedd doubted his friend would stick by his words when he became consumed by the weapon’s power as the Pixie King had done.

  Stedd and Rosalia had not yet told their friend about their new relationship. They knew Dante would take it badly, as he too had fond feelings for Rosalia, but they knew they must be honest with their friend and had planned to do so soon. That plan had been delayed however, over Dante’s increasingly rash behaviour regarding the whereabouts of the Pixie King’s sword.

  Dante now visited Stedd on a daily basis with only one thing on his mind and the daily arguments grew tiresome for Stedd. All he cared for now was to relax with his love Rosalia, but instead they had to continue to hide their relationship, which was becoming harder to do with Dante’s frequent visits.

  Stedd made the decision to destroy the gems, that way preventing anyone from obtaining too much power and terr
orising their world as the Pixie King had done. This was easier said than done however, and try as he might, the gems seemed to be indestructible. Hiding the sword was fine; on its own it was just an ordinary sword, albeit a very finely-made one, but the gems were different and Stedd didn’t like the idea of hiding them. There would always be the chance that someone would stumble upon them.

  There was also a part of Stedd that didn’t really want to part with them. His father had bravely earned the gems in defeating the Straize dragon and he should have duly inherited them from his father, so they rightly belonged to Stedd. They were also the only possession he had left of any kind from his family line.

  So in the end Stedd kept hold of the gems, very tightly.

  Stedd and Dante’s relationship had become strained by now and Stedd was sure the only thing keeping Dante loyal, was his feelings towards Rosalia. However, this loyalty was put to the test even further when Rosalia became pregnant with Stedd’s child.

  Stedd and Rosalia knew before long she would be showing, and one way or another Dante would find out. The time had come to tell him of their relationship. On finding out, Dante was furious, and accused Stedd of breaking their promise. He declared their friendship over, Stedd and Rosalia’s relationship disgusting, and the pregnancy an abomination.

  You see, the thing is, in this world Finn, the different races don’t mix. And I don’t mean generally, I mean never. This was the first and as far as I know the last time, where two different races formed a relationship and most definitely the first mixed-race birth.’

  ‘Really?’ piped up Finn, looking surprised.

  ‘Yep really I’m afraid. The different races don’t mix as freely here as they do on earth. But also, our genetics or DNA as you would call it, is different too. You see on earth, human races may be made up of different colours, but when you get down to the DNA it’s generally all the same.

  But here, our DNA is vastly different between species. We also have sort of……….different kind of powers…….or abilities, or you may even call it ‘magic’, running through our veins,’ said Max looking like he was struggling to find the right words to use.

  Anyway, the point is Dante was definitely against the relationship, especially the pregnancy. After a blazing row he stormed off and never returned to Stedd’s cabin to visit his friend again, only talking to Rosalia when she was in the Fairy village. Stedd and Rosalia then worried that Dante would expose them to the Fairy hierarchy and fled their cabin to hide in the woods for a few days, just in case. But Dante didn’t expose them. Though open about his hatred for Stedd now, it seemed his feelings for Rosalia despite her relationship with Stedd, were still strong enough for him not to betray her.

  Unfortunately, in tragic circumstances that was all to change. When the birth arrived, it was a complicated one. Rosalia had hidden her pregnancy from most of the Fairies, for if they had discovered who and what the father was, Stedd, Rosalia and their child would all have been killed immediately. So as I say, she had had to hide it from her own people— only telling her close family, which as you can imagine was not easy for anyone, but in the end they were good folk and supported her.

  Rosalia’s family also took a shine to Stedd after they got to know him, but worried over what would happen should the Fairy elders find out about the relationship. Due to the secrecy surrounding the birth, it had to take place at Rosalia and Stedd’s cabin. With doing so however, they would neither have the tools nor folk that specialised in such matters in the community. So when complications arose, they weren’t well enough equipped to deal with them.

  Rosalia made Stedd and her family swear they wouldn’t go to the village and seek help. For she knew the moment the Fairy hierarchy found out, it would be a death sentence for them all. She would rather die alone, knowing that her babies had a chance of life. As heartbreaking as it was for Stedd and the family, they knew Rosalia was right and devastatingly, by the next morning she was gone.

  Dante knew when the birth was due and with no news or sightings of Rosalia for a while he made a trip to Stedd’s cabin for the first time in a long period. No one was home when he arrived, but as he looked around the ground he stumbled upon Rosalia’s grave. The last piece of decency within Dante died right there and then. He too devastated, blamed Stedd for her death. Furious with his old friend, he swore he would find him and make him pay for what he had done.

  Dante then trashed Stedd’s cabin and set it on fire before heading off back to the Fairy lands, ready to tell all the secrets that he had been keeping from the elders and the Queen. Albeit omitting anything that would incriminate himself.

  When Stedd returned to find the charred remains of his cabin, he knew he and his family were in terrible danger. The Fairies and others, once the word reached afar, would come searching to destroy his family and also steal the Straize gems. The time had come to flee once again, which was fine for Stedd, but it was a hard life living in the wild and certainly not one suitable for raising a young family. Stedd needed a plan to ensure the safety of his baby boys.’

  ‘Boys? And you said ‘babies’ a minute ago, so how many kids were there and were they okay? As in… were they normal? Just with the mixed race stuff you were talking about…’ asked Finn, engrossed in the story.Max laughed before saying, ‘Ah yes, I wondered when you would catch on. Yes Stedd and Rosalia did not just have one baby, they had two boys, twins.’‘Twins……boys……what like me and my brother?’ asked Finn, with a slightly puzzled look on his face.Max laughed again, then said, ‘Yes Finn, exactly like you and your brother.’

  Chapter 31

  Riezgar sat behind the desk dangling the gem from the chain right in front of his face, gazing at it in awe for a few moments before he suddenly snapped out of it and slipped the Straize into an unseen pocket next to his chest.

  ‘Well that was bloody easy,’ he announced with a smile on his face as he looked around the room at his comrades. ‘Drer’s gonna reward us well for coming back with this little beauty, so let’s be on our way,’ he added, as he quickly rose to his feet . To the sound of much agreement in the room, they all began to filter out of the office.

  All the Elves left the office, including Grogar, leaving just Eric and Riezgar. Just as Eric was about to ask what he was supposed to do, Riezgar breezed right by him without even a second glance. Hope rocketed through Eric’s body, was that him now free to finally go home? Were these awful beings really done with him, he thought to himself.

  However the thoughts were short lived as Riezgar paused at the office entrance where Doogard still stood facing in towards Eric. The two Elves growled at each other for a moment then Riezgar spun his head back towards Eric. ‘C’mon boy, didn’t think we’d be leaving you, did you? he said with a sly grin. Eric’s hopes sank just as quickly as they had risen, and deflated he trudged by Riezgar and out of the office.

  As the group began retracing their steps through the school, they headed along a short corridor, then through the door that led them into the school’s large sports hall. As they all filtered into the hall, the noise levels began to rise as the Elves chatted away to one another. Clearly happy with themselves for finding the Straize they were therefore feeling more relaxed. In an instant however, silence fell and everyone froze as the noise of a squeaky door opening then swinging shut loudly with a bang, grabbed their attention.

  Across the other side of the hall, the same could be said for Mr Colman, the school janitor. As he too, had frozen on the spot, gaping at the strange sight that lay before him. After a few seconds trying to regain his composure the janitor said, ‘What’s going on here then? You lot shouldn’t be in here…………..you’re all in big trouble now.’ He stammered, trying his best not to sound scared.

  The Elves looking a little unsure at first, glanced around at one another then at the same time, all burst into fits of laughter. All except Doogard.

  If Eric wasn’t mistaken, he thought for the first time, Doogard was looking slightly worried. Not once sin
ce they had met had Eric seen this fierce-looking warrior looking even remotely apprehensive about anything, yet his face now definitely wore a look of concern.

  Then it hit Eric. The look of concern Doogard had was not for himself, it was for poor Mr Colman, the janitor, and now Eric too shared the same look of concern on his face.

  Mr Colman had been visibly taken aback by the response of the elves, however as the laughter subsided he regained his composure for a second time. As he did, he spotted Eric standing amongst the Elves and pointed at him.

  ‘You boy,’ he shouted, ‘I know you, you go to this school……well not for much longer after this,’ he added, whilst inching warily closer to the group. Eric opened his mouth to respond, but no words came. What on earth could he say to explain the current situation? Instead it was Riezgar’s voice that boomed out across the gym hall.

  ‘Come on now old man, there’s no need for that, we’re all friends here……right?’ Riezgar said as he began walking towards the janitor. Mr Colman ceased inching forward at the sight of this large, unfriendly-looking person striding towards him. He was also unsure as to how to respond to Riezgar’s comment.The gap between the pair had now been closed down to just a couple of metres as Mr Colman gulped hard but still said nothing. Riezgar now halted right in front of the old janitor, towering over him.

  ‘I asked you if we were all friends?’ said Riezgar in a sneering tone. Perhaps finally sensing the danger he was in, Mr Colman had begun to visibly weaken. The colour in his face drained and his lip trembled ever so slightly as he spoke.But…….eerrrmm…….I don’t even know you mister,’ he replied sounding like a small, frightened schoolboy. ‘That’s enough Riezgar, we have what we came for, the mission is over, so let’s be on our way. No need to hurt any innocent people now,’ said Doogard as he pushed his way by the other Elves and headed across the gym hall to where Riezgar and the janitor now stood.