Awakening

by G Clatworthy

  Espretha had turned and drawn a curved knife with a bone handle, that I hadn’t seen her carrying. She stabbed wildly towards Lorandir. He gracefully side stepped her attack and ducked under her arm into the living room where he finally drew his sword. I heard him mutter “Sheld” in passable Dwarfish as he joined me behind the sofa.

  The male elf launched another magic attack, which this time bounced off Lorandir’s enchanted shield. I took a moment to have pride in my craft. It wasn’t often I saw weapons I had forged in battle, and the protection charm was working well, thank goodness.

  “What’s the plan?” I asked Lorandir out of the side of my mouth. This time he had an answer.

  “Can you sneak around to the kitchen if I distract them?” he asked. I nodded slightly with my head.

  I tensed, ready to launch myself towards the kitchen. Lorandir murmured something under his breath and extended his arm towards the window. A deafening crash sounded and cold wind suddenly whipped into the room. It turned out his distraction was blowing the windows out.

  Both Espretha and the male elf were surprised by this. In the instant that they turned to duck, I rolled and scurried in a crab-like crouch to the kitchen counter. I was hidden from the male elf, who I desperately hoped hadn’t seen me. If Espretha looked in this direction, I was clearly visible.

  I took a breath, grabbed Bane with both hands and stepped out from behind the counter. I was now the same side as the male elf. His sharp eyes spotted my movement immediately and he grabbed another knife from an open drawer in front of him. This one was a cleaver and it looked like he knew how to use it.

  I dodged his first swipe by stepping backwards. I swung Bane towards his stomach as he moved to follow me. He retreated and I pressed my advantage. Bane was double-headed so I didn’t have to worry about turning the axe and instead I reversed my swing, again aiming for his stomach. He parried with the knife and then turned his parry into an attack.

  I had done some battle-axe training with my family, what dwarf hadn’t? My Dad had been determined that I could at least handle the ancestral axe but this elf was another level. Somehow I fought by instinct or perhaps Bane helped, fuelled by previous battle experience. I managed to block the magic user’s attacks.

  As he pressed forward, I saw an opening. He was fighting as if I was a warrior. I was not. I blocked his next blow then ran towards him, moving inside his reach. I was stocky and my weight took him off balance. I shoved him. I went down with him, landing heavily on his chest and winding him. His eyes had a slightly panicked look as he’d been expecting to win easily.

  I knelt, digging my knee into his groin and taking some satisfaction from his groan of pain as he instinctively tried to curl up.

  I hit his hand with the flat of my axe. He dropped the cleaver with another gasp of pain. I raised myself upwards, placing my boot on his neck in case he tried anything. As I stood, I could see over the counter.

  Espretha and Lorandir were fighting. It was strange to watch, as she couldn’t get through the magical barrier created by my charm. He was able to attack, but I could see he was careful not to injure her. He was fighting to disarm her. She looked a lot more desperate as she lunged at him. Errol was still scratching at the door, smoke curling from his nostrils.

  As I was distracted by the fight in the living space, the elf grabbed my boot with both hands and pushed hard. For someone so slim, he had surprising strength and I felt my leg move upwards, taking me off balance. As I whirled my arm to grab the counter, a blast of magic took me. I cursed and gritted my teeth as I tried desperately to grab something.

  The magic wasn’t hurting, it was as if a gust of wind was trying to push me. I didn’t know if it was Gunther’s charm or my natural low centre of gravity, but it was like being battered by a very strong wind. Judging by the elf’s expression of concentration, it was meant to do more than that. I felt the strength increase as he put more effort into the spell. I abandoned my attempt to grab something and instead dived forward, flattening myself to the floor.

  My plan partially worked but as I was heading to the floor, the wind took me. It carried me towards the destroyed window. The elf was standing now, his arms outstretched, focusing all of his power on me.

  I called out in fury and desperation, trying to push back as my feet connected with the ground. My plaits were flapping behind me and I felt like I was trying to walk in a tornado.

  I looked at Lorandir. He was still fighting Espretha but had been alerted to my distress by my cry. Errol also seemed to have been roused from his door and he slunk behind Espretha and sunk his teeth into her calf. She screamed, and turned to face this new threat, trying to kick him off.

  Lorandir used Errol’s distraction to hurl a blast of magic at my tormentor. The dark-haired elf staggered off balance as my shoes reached the edge of the kitchen floor. I managed to take a few steps forward, but then my attacker shot another blast at me. I was swept off my feet, hitting the laminate floor hard. I was winded and now moving along the floor. I felt my feet hang over thin air and frantically tried to commando crawl forward back into the room.

  The elf snarled, “Stop or I will finish her!”

  Lorandir stopped mid step on his way towards the kitchen. The dark-haired elf stepped backwards, his eyes flicking from me to Lorandir. I tried to wriggle forwards but was held by firmly in place by the magic.

  Espretha had managed to kick Errol off and picked him up behind his head, holding him at arm’s length so his claws couldn’t find purchase. She moved to the hallway and stood alongside the male elf.

  As they stared at us, Errol managed to turn his body and gouged Espretha’s arm. She screamed and released him, grabbing her injured arm. I noted with irony, that it was the same side that I had injured earlier in a very different wyrm attack. That felt like a year ago. Errol snorted fire and her tight indigo jeans began to smoulder. She shrieked and batted at them frantically with her other arm.

  “Let’s go!” she shouted hysterically to her friend. He scrunched up his mouth, twisting his attractive face into a scowl. Then he looked directly at Lorandir.

  “Chase us or save her. Your choice,” with that, the elf blasted me with more magic and I slid backwards.

  I cursed in Dwarfish as I felt my body hang over nothing, my legs kicked uselessly and my hands scrabbled to find something to hold onto. I managed to grab a piece of glass that was jutting upwards in the frame, somehow surviving the earlier blast. It cut my hands and I felt blood trickling down my wrist but I hung on. My life depended on it.

  I felt a strong hand grab my wrist and looked away from the glass and into Lorandir’s face. He grunted and braced himself before beginning to hoist me upwards. He was stronger than I expected from his slim build. It felt like an eternity but in reality was only a few seconds before I fell awkwardly on top of him as he finished pulling me in.

  I lay there for three heartbeats with my eyes closed, enjoying being alive but not fully believing I was safe in the flat. In that moment, everything seemed more real than ever. The air in my lungs felt new and fresh, my body felt warm and alive. It was the adrenaline coursing through me and it felt good.

  He coughed and I opened my eyes, meeting his.

  “Thank you,” I gasped.

  “Not at all,” he replied without any arrogance. I pushed myself up, leaving bloody handprints on the floor as I heaved myself off him. I offered him my hand but he gave it a haughty look and clambered upright with a lot more grace than I had. He considered me.

  “You’re hurt,” he said and had the good grace to look embarrassed as I stared at him for stating the obvious. Before I could say anything else, he reached for my hand and his palm started glowing with a soft gold aura. As he touched me, I felt his power enter my hand and travel up my arm which was still not fully healed from the wyrm attack earlier that evening.

  I had never been healed by magic before, Madam Mim’s Cure All aside. It was a strange sensation, a sort of tingling warmth that started with my
hand where Lorandir touched me and continued through my body. When it found a cut or bruise, there was more intense heat but it wasn’t painful. I closed my eyes and felt for his power. I wasn’t particularly sensitive to elven magic but somehow I had an impression of trees, their leaves golden in summer sunlight and the taste of soft honeyed mead and dark, bittersweet chocolate. It felt like hours but I suppose it was only seconds before I was aware of the warmth of his power leaving me, retreating back through my now healed body and leaving via my palm, which Lorandir was still holding.

  I opened my eyes and immediately felt dizzy, feeling the absence of his magic. He eyed me with concern as I swayed slightly but said nothing.

  Errol was now whining loudly, his sharp claws had already destroyed the finish on the corner of the polished door. I glanced at Lorandir then walked over. I put my hand on the silver handle, nodded to the elf and wrenched the door open as Lorandir stepped through brandishing his sword. I heard a muffled shriek as if someone was trying to scream through a pillow and followed him in cautiously.

  As my eyes adjusted to the dark room, after the electric light in the kitchen cum living space, I saw a small form huddled on a large bed. I flipped the light switch by the door and couldn’t help sighing and rushing over when I saw my friend on the bed. She was frantically kicking the sheets, focused on Lorandir, or more accurately, on his sword when I landed on the bed and pulled her into a hug. The soft mattress dipped at my weight and I tried to breathe and not let the sobs I was feeling fill me.

  Aloora made some odd noises and I broke off the hug and looked at her properly. Tears were running down her face. A green gag had been stuffed in her mouth and I fumbled to untie it, trying to soothe her as I did so. Once it was out she took deep noisy sobs and I held her, stroking her spiky hair.

  Lorandir was kneeling by the bed and was trying to undo the handcuffs that secured her to the iron bedframe. He didn’t have any joy and stood, taking a step back and aiming his sword. I saw what he was about to do and stepped off the bed in alarm. He might be a good swordsman but there was no way I was risking Aloora’s hands to his aim.

  “Let me try!” I shouted, my voice sounding louder than I expected in the quiet room, with an edge of panic that stemmed from concern for my best friend. Lorandir looked at me with confusion and I studiously ignored him as I took my unlocking key out of my pocket and pressed it to the handcuffs. Although it didn’t fit into the small hole, it seemed to work as I heard a soft click and was able to undo the cuffs and free Aloora.

  “Are you hurt Ally?” I asked her anxiously as she rubbed her wrists.

  “No…well my hands hurt, but I’m OK,” she started to shake, “I’m sorry, I…”

  “Shhhh,” I cut her off, “you have no need to apologise.”

  Aloora started to stand and I supported her with one arm around her waist and the other holding her hand closest to me. As we walked out into the stark, white living area, I suddenly noticed the mess.

  “Schiztz!” I exclaimed, “How are we going to explain this?”

  Lorandir looked lazily around the room as if taking it in for the first time.

  “We could just go…” he trailed off.

  I snorted. “My blood is everywhere and Aloora was attacked and kidnapped. We need to call the police,” I heard sirens in the distance, “if someone hasn’t already,” I muttered.

  I took out my phone and made the call, asking for an ambulance for Aloora as well as the police, even though she insisted she was alright. Then I made a second call to Marco to reassure him that I’d found his flatmate and a third to Gunther. He must have been waiting for me to call as he picked up on the first ring. I briefly filled him in, leaving out the part about being flung over the edge of the building. It still made me queasy thinking about it. I told him not to come before hanging up, as he protested loudly at the other end of the phone.

  Now that we weren’t trying to leave the flat quickly, I decided to make some tea. Aloora was still shaking and the massive hole where the window had been was letting in the cold wind.

  The police arrived quickly, confirming my suspicion that they had already been alerted by the explosion or the fighting. They took statements from each of us and looked very surprised at the account, noting the shattered glass, my blood and the handcuffs. They called an ambulance so that Aloora could be checked out properly, and I accompanied her on the journey, bumping around in the padded spare seat and trying to keep myself and Errol out of the way of the efficient medic who was taking readings from a very pale looking Aloora.

  When we arrived at the hospital, I found that Lorandir had followed us in a cab and without a word he tailed us inside. He was silent while we waited in the emergency waiting room and I leant back in the uncomfortable plastic chair, noting the time. Three am. I was tired and kept yawning. Errol closed his eyes and tuned out the beeping of the medical equipment and was soon snoring, softly curled around my neck. I was thankful that the medical staff tactfully ignored him as Aloora was finally called and taken to be looked at.

  After prodding and poking her, they decided she needed to stay in for observation, whatever that meant, and settled her into a bed. As she was a referral from the police, she got her own room and it hurt to see her in the hospital bed with a tube sticking out of her thin arm.

  “You should go home,” she mumbled as she fought sleep.

  I harrumphed. “Not likely, what if someone tries to hurt you again?”

  Lorandir had crept into the room too. Even he had light blue smudges under his eyes, though they didn’t diminish his attractiveness. If the elf looked like that, I must look terrible, I thought, as I brushed hair off my face, then lowered my hand quickly as Errol shifted. Wyrms were a grey category in the pet area and I was surprised no one had tried to make him wait outside but as he could technically sterilise himself with his fire and I had heard rumours that the university hospital was using magical creatures to help their research, I kept quiet and said nothing.

  “You’re too tired to do anything,” replied Aloora with her eyes shut. “Go home.”

  My friend was always sensible. I racked my brains for a smart response but realised she was right. I needed sleep and we needed to talk about what had happened, but that would have to wait. I sighed then called Gunther. I trusted him and he was good with an axe. He would help.

  As I waited for my friend to show, I snuck a look at Lorandir. He was sitting in a plastic chair, looking relaxed and comfortable. His eyes were shut and his face looked serene. I studied his perfect cheekbones and wondered what he was still doing here. He could have gone once his friend had left him, but he had stayed, staring unseeing into the distance until he fell asleep. I wondered what was going through his mind after he found out his childhood friend was a kidnapper and partnered with a would-be killer. I decided not to ask, I didn’t want to disturb him and I was a little afraid of what the answer might be.

  Gunther arrived barely an hour later and after a very brief exchange, which awakened the elf but fortunately not Aloora who needed sleep. I gave him my seat next to Aloora’s bed and left with Lorandir in my wake.

  I yawned many times as we walked the empty cold corridors which had a tinge of blue thanks to the reflection of the lights on the floor. I hated hospitals and was glad to be leaving but I shivered as we left. I blinked in the strange pre-dawn light. The rain from the previous night had vanished and instead a swirling mist encased the car park, giving the grey tarmac an ethereal feel. I rubbed my eyes before I saw a taxi waiting and got in. Errol was still asleep and the driver didn’t seem to notice him so I didn’t have to argue, which was a bonus as I wasn’t sure I had the energy to convince the driver he wasn’t a danger, and I definitely didn’t want to walk home from the hospital on the outskirts of Cardiff.

  Lorandir followed me into the slightly stained back seat of the car and I didn’t have the energy to question him as I gave the driver my address and then leaned back, closing my eyes as we turned onto the main r
oad and started back to the closest street to my workshop cum house.

  Chapter 7

  The drive back was mercifully uneventful or at least I suppose it was as I was asleep for most of it. I paid the fare and was dimly aware of Lorandir climbing out of the grey, Cardiff taxi after me and following me home.

  We made it to the Arcade, which was still locked as it was only just dawn. I fumbled with my key and opened the thick metal gate.

  I turned, “Well, this is me…”

  Lorandir nodded simply. Obviously he knew where I lived; he had heard me give my address to the taxi driver and had been in my shop only yesterday. Sleep deprivation was clearly affecting me.

  “Err, you can come in if you want, I’ll make some breakfast,” I added lamely. I held my breath hoping he’d leave as I opened the gate and walked through.

  “Thank you,” He replied. Schiztz, I thought but I plastered a smile on my face as I walked to the shop. Errol jumped off my shoulders as soon as we got inside and raced to his forge, either to grab some coal to eat or to sleep some more.

  Lorandir followed me inside and upstairs. Part of me really wanted to tell him to get lost, but he had helped me find Aloora and healed me and he’d just found out his friend didn’t want him anymore. I was glad my living space was tidy, even with my destroyed clothes flung over a chair.

  I sat on the small sofa, sinking into the cushions and closed my eyes, intending to rest for a moment before cooking us an omelette. I was dimly aware of Lorandir seating himself next to me.

  The next thing I knew, I was blinking awake. I glanced to my right and saw Lorandir sleeping on the sofa, his head at an uncomfortable angle on the cushions but otherwise looking annoyingly unruffled considering what we had been through last night. I allowed myself a smile as he was going to wake up with a crick in his neck. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and grimaced when I noticed the time. I’d been asleep for hours…with a strange man in my house…who I had invited in for breakfast!