by Bill Albert
She looked up at the twin towers that remained of the behemoth and wondered if anyone would ever get used to that image. She sometimes envied anyone born since that day who would never know the difference. She tensed again, there was someone in the alley, and she held her breath. Their footsteps were slow, lighter than before, and indicated someone was carefully searching the alley. She readied herself. If she were discovered, she would either have to fight or run and she was prepared for either.
The dwarf in the alley reached down and put a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he said calmly.
Midge looked at him with her knife in hand. He stepped back and withdrew his hand in surprise. She looked at him as she rose and soon the starlight glistened off the curved steel blade of his acts. She turned and ran.
She was about to exit the alley when a figure appeared before her. She tried to slip around it, but it was too fast and got a tight grip on her. She tried to struggle but soon realized she’d been caught.
“Got a torch?” The figure holding her, a female, asked.
She could hear the dwarf laughing in the darkness and froze.
“One of these days you’ll say no,” the female said.
“Thanks to my father that will never happen,” the dwarf said. He pulled a 2-foot-long wooden rod from his belt and slapped the end of it against the building. The wood erupted into an amazingly powerful torch that lit up half of the alley.
The dwarf was young, only 20 or 30 years old, and had a gentle face. The woman who was holding her was a halfling who looked to be in her late teens.
“It’s okay, Midge, were not going to hurt you,” the halfling said releasing her but still making sure she couldn’t run.
“How do you know my name?”
“We’ve been watching you. Listening to you and what people say about you.”
“What you want? She trembled as she started to feel fear.
“My name is Aliala, this is Piro,” the halfling said. “We want to help you.”
Aliala smiled and Midge felt some of her fear subside.
“There’s a school, not too far from Atrexia, that set up to help lost children like you.”
“I’ve been to those, one of the ones the governor sponsored,” Midge said shaking her head.
“No, no, no,” Piro added quickly. “This is better than those schools. This is smaller, private school, that the governors, well, most of them, don’t know about.”
“What what I do there?” She asked. Midge had really liked school but had often gotten frustrated with the other students. She learned so much faster than them she couldn’t help but get boarding classes.
“You can learn,” Aliala said. “Your skills can get better. You can fine-tune your talents. Learn how to use them better.”
“I don’t have any money,” she said still not sure these two were being honest with her.
“You don’t need any money,” Aliala smiled. “This is different from those schools.”
Midge gasped as she suddenly realized what they must be talking about.
“A hidden school! Special classes, special training! It’s the one where she’s at. Isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Aliala laughed. “She’s there.”
“I thought that was where she went. After the war and the invaders, she disappeared.”
“Yes,” Aliala said. “To a school so hidden no one in the Land of Starpoint could find her.”
“Is she really still alive?” Midge asked jumping up and down.
“Oh yes,” Piro laughed loudly. “She was the first one who spotted you. She wanted to contact you herself but her and her husband had to make their annual trip north to visit the family of a friend.”
“So, you want to come with us?” Aliala asked.
Midge knew this was the best opportunity she could ever have but there were still more questions she had to ask.
Before she could speak, they heard a shout and two older and stocky man came running up to them.
“Got you, you little thief,” the fat one said.
“What’s going on?” Piro asked them.
“This little thief stole food from us,” the uglier one said.
“It was just a turkey leg,” Midge declared. “I was so hungry.”
“Just because you’re hungry that doesn’t mean it’s free,” the fat one yelled.
Midge quickly reach into a pocket in her torn and dirty pants and pulled out the few coins she had. She gave them to the uglier one.
“What’s this?” The man asked looking at the coins closely. He scoffed at them and threw them into the dark. “Those are giant coins. They’re worth nothing anymore.”
“Okay,” Aliala said. “I’ll pay for it. Just leave her alone.”
“I don’t know,” the man said with an ugly smile.
“Maybe we should turn her in,” the fat man leered at her.
“Yeah,” the ugly man laughed. “Teacher the difference between right and wrong.”
Piro slowly shifted the torch to his left hand and let them see the acts that was now in his right hand.
“Oh,” the fat man said. “Two against one.”
“No,” Aliala said stepping forwards. “It’s two against three,” she said with confidence nodding to Midge.
The men turned and ran without saying another word. Aliala was impressed by just how fast the fat man could run when he was scared witless. She put her flame sword back in the sheath and kneeled down to face Midge.
“You want to come with us?” Aliala asked gently.
Midge wanted to say yes immediately but she was well aware of the dark times and the way old prejudices still had their grips on society.
“Do you have any other elves there?” Midge asked shyly.
“Oh yes,” Aliala nodded. “Novelevon, one of the teachers, is an elf. He’ll make sure you learn how to read and write and will introduce you to the most amazing stories.”
It took a few moments for the thoughts of an actual elf teacher to sink in. Since the curse had been lifted there had been great advances and opportunities for elves, the governors had made sure of that, but there were still some barriers that had not been broken. “I’d like to go,” Midge said determinedly. “How long till we get there?” She asked as they walked out of the alley.
“A day and a half or so,” Piro said as he walked with his ax ready just in case.
“We have to go a long way,” Aliala explained. “The school is hidden just south of Starpoint Mountain.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
The author lives in a small town in Iowa that he enjoys very much. He works in a factory but spends lots of time there thinking about being someplace else. He has had several short stories published, wrote, directed and produced a radio play, and this is his fifth novel. The first novel is “TIME WEB TREMORS” and is available at Lulu and Kindle. The second novel was based on a TV series and is unpublished. He also has written and produced several short films like “THE BURNING ROOM,” “EMILY’S GHOST” and “IT’S NOT EASY BEING A ZOMBIE” that are available on Vimeo.
