by Quil Carter
Ben’s eyes widened and he felt his gut stir under this new information. Now two elves were after them? Wasn’t the damn bounty hunter enough? Ben looked to his left towards the common room, scanning it for any sign of what he assumed a Serpent knight would look like. He made a decision in that moment he was going to insist that Teal give him a weapon. Sure he trusted his friend to protect the both of them, but he felt better being armed. This was a dangerous world, much more dangerous than his old one.
“He looked like one, though his uniform was the older Alcovian style, before Erick gave them Serpent garb. He didn’t have a sword either, just a one-handed crossbow, made of Jevarian ravenwood. Looked to be in a hurry, and a hurry to find you,” Wellen said.
“How long ago did he pass?” Teal asked. Ben could see his nails digging so deep into the wooden counter it was starting to leave marks.
“Hmm.” Welled stroked his short grey beard. “It was the same day the merchant with the smoked hams came through. A week, I reckon.”
Teal swore. “If he comes in here …” his voice trailed. Wellen nodded and picked up his rabbit again.
“I won’t tell a soul,” he said and walked back to the rocking chair.
Teal made a small hissing noise and turned around. With his eyes ablaze he motioned for Ben to follow him. The two walked down the old wooden stairs, a flickering oil lamp resting on the flight’s landing lighting their way. As the stairs turned a corner they could see a well-lit kitchen and several elves appearing and disappearing as they walked past the open door. The smells were mouth-watering, but Ben found that the new information had made him forget his appetite.
The ladyelf running the kitchen was kind and motherly. She provided them with a wooden tray that contained two large bowls of soup and two small loaves of dark bread split down the middle and lathered with a generous slab of butter. Teal and Ben both thanked her profusely and the two of them took their meals up to the top floor of the inn.
“You didn’t see anyone matching the knight’s description in the pub area, did you?” Teal asked quietly as they walked up the last flight of stairs. In front of them was a wooden door with iron rungs. Teal pushed it open with his shoulder and the two of them carried on down a narrow hallway with the same iron rung doors, two on each side.
Ben shook his head no. “It doesn’t seem like he’s here… but Wellen said he hadn’t been seen in a week. He must be long gone…”
Teal pushed the door open to the room they would be staying in and placed the tray on a round wooden table. Ben walked in and checked the room for any unexpected visitors, though it was quaint size and without any obvious hiding places.
It was a cozy room but well-worn. There were a couple dusty paintings hung on wood walls that were a lighter grey colour due to age and wear. The table Teal had sat the tray of food on was surrounded by two chairs and was beside a brick fireplace that had a nice stack of dry wood close by. Then underneath a single curtained window to the far left were two beds laying side by side with grey wool blankets on top of what looked like a hay-stuffed mattresses.
Ben walked over to the window and looked out, a pensive sigh escaping from his lips before he could stop it. He looked out into the village, seeing the shadowed thatched and shingled roofs all the way to the stone walls in the distance. It was a beautiful picture in front of him, but Ben was more thankful for the view of the entrance to the inn and the road.
There was a sound behind him that made Ben turn around. He was witness to a rather curious sight: Teal had his knapsack beside him and was kneeling in front of the entrance to the apartment with a vial in his hand.
“What are you doing?” Ben asked curiously. He left the window and walked up to his friend.
Teal popped the cork off of the vial with his teeth and dashed a couple drops onto the floor about an inch in front of the door. He then nodded to himself and rose to standing, then shut the door and locked it.
“It’s called cneen,” Teal explained as he put the bottle back into his knapsack. “It’s a root extract, it sort of acts like an alarm. If anyone crossed this line, I’ll know,” Teal said; he motioned to the table that held their food. “Now let’s eat and get some sleep, you must be exhausted.”
Ben looked nervously at the evaporating wet dots on the floor; he wasn’t convinced at all. “Have you used this stuff before?”
Teal laughed. As Ben sat down on the table with the food he started putting some of the dried sticks into the cold fireplace. “You don’t trust me?”
Ben took a wooden spoon into his hands and nervously rapped it against the table. “You’re the only one I’ll ever trust here, Teal.” He dug into the food and watched as his friend lit the fireplace. Once it was going Ben moved the table even closer to it and soon the both of them were sitting with their food, enjoying the fireplace quickly heating up the small room. Teal had even put a kettle on the hearth for Ben to soak his sore feet later.
“With the cneen working we can both get some sleep tonight,” Teal said as he chewed on a bit of the dark bread. Ben was in love with it already, it tasted like rye bread and the butter was so thick and creamy he wished for a spoonful of it to eat raw. The soup, well more of a stew, was delicious also. Potato, barley, and carrot with thick pieces of what Teal said was borsow meat.
“Tomorrow we can get a fresh start,” Teal continued. “While you soak your feet in some hot water and serums I’ll sharpen our weapons, just to cover all of our angles.”
That’s right… Ben was reminded of his requirement from Teal. “With this knight following us, I really want a weapon.”
Teal’s eyebrow twitched and he was silent for a moment, only the snapping fireplace adding sound to the room. Ben glared at him as he spooned the soup into his mouth, mentally daring his friend to deny him a weapon. He might be new here but he wasn’t an idiot, it wasn’t like he was going to accidently stab himself in the eye.
“Okay,” Teal said finally. He rose and grabbed his knapsack and put it down on his chair.
To Ben’s absolute perplexity, Teal reached inside of the knapsack, which always appeared to be half-full, and pulled out an entire bloody sword, one that possibly couldn’t fit into the normal size canvas bag.
“What the fuck?” Ben cocked his head to the side like a dog who had heard a confusing noise. “How did you do that?” He craned his neck over and looked into the open pack, but to further the conundrum he realized he couldn’t see anything inside of the bag, just darkness and – nothing.
Teal laughed lightly at his friend’s puzzlement. “It’s hibrid, or demi-elf, magic. This is a magic bag It’s enchanted so you can carry many times over its weight but it only weighs about ten pounds,” Teal explained with the beaming smile he held on his face whenever he was explaining something to Ben. “I have a lot of things in this pack. To summon the item I only have to think of it, or –” Teal grabbed the spoon he had been eating from and placed it inside of the pack, Ben watched it disappear into nothingness. “I can summon the last thing I put into it by doing this.” Teal snapped his fingers and, sure enough, the spoon appeared right into his hand.
Ben gaped at him and shook his head back and forth slowly. “That’s insane… and amazing. I didn’t even think to ask where our supplies were coming from. Are there a lot of odd things like that in this new world?”
“Oh yes!” Teal said, sitting back down on the chair. He picked up the sword he had gotten out for Ben before handing it to him. “This isn’t enchanted though but it’s still special to me. It was my brother’s sword – but you can have it since–” Teal’s ears reddened and he suddenly looked shy. “–since you’re my first friend.”
Why am I your first friend? And – where is your brother? Two questions Ben still couldn’t ask. Instead he smiled at Teal and picked up the sword. It was heavier than it looked but not enough that Ben couldn’t wield it. He held it up and turned it back and forth. It had black crossguards and a pointed pommel with an E engraved in it. It was polis
hed to a shining and sparkled as it reflected the light of the fireplace.
“I’ll take good care of it,” Ben said, feeling a huge relief that he was now armed. Even if he didn’t know how to swing a sword there was a lot of comfort just knowing he wasn’t absolutely helpless. “That knight won’t know what hit him.”
“Because nothing will hit him,” Teal said with a snort. Ben gave him a mock laugh back and the two of them continued eating.
After the two of them were stuffed and content and Ben had spent a good hour soaking his sore feet they headed to their beds. The mattresses were nothing compared to the ones Ben was used to sleeping in at home, and the hay poked through the sheets and made his skin itch, but it beat sleeping on the ground.
Ben curled up in his bed, feeling so exhausted his head was starting to hurt again. He settled in, his nose full of the smell of hay and the soothing scent of wood burning in the fireplace.
“I’m a light sleeper,” Teal said through a yawn. “So I’ll wake up anyway, but if you need to relieve yourself there’s a chamber pot underneath the bed. Don’t go out the door or you’ll get the shock of your life.”
“Chamber pot?” Ben muttered to himself, his eyes closed and his mind already drifting off to sleep. “Magic backpacks and yet you don’t have flushing toilets.”
“Mmhmm,” Teal murmured back. “Perhaps one day, my friend.” Another yawn. “Good night, Ben. Have a good sleep.”
And because even in this new world yawning was contagious, Ben yawned too and submitted himself to sleep. “Good night, Teal. You have a good sleep too.”
10
It all happened pretty quickly.
Ben was in the middle of a deep sleep when suddenly a blinding white light pierced through the darkness. Immediately his eyes snapped open and he looked around confused. Still half-asleep he couldn’t for the life of him remember where he was or what was going on. His entire world was the cold white light flooding him from all directions, sodomizing his senses and searing his retinas.
Instinctually his hands shot up to shield his eyes; he closed them tight and tried to figure out just what the hell was going on.
Then Teal was beside him. “Do you have your sword?” his now familiar voice yelled. He grabbed the collar of Ben’s tunic. Ben felt himself get pulled out of bed and he tumbled onto the cold floor.
“Yeah… what’s happening?” Ben gasped. He felt the fur cloak get thrown onto him and he knew enough to quickly latch it. The bright shadow of Teal was in front of him quickly stuffing his knapsack.
“This is our wakeup call.” Teal turned around and Ben saw him wrench the window open and throw the backpack onto the ground. Then he grabbed onto Ben’s cloak again and started pushing him towards the building.
“Jump!” Teal commanded, disappearing behind him, then suddenly there was a crashing noise from the front of the room.
“What?” Ben said in alarm as he whirled around. “It’s three-storeys down!” Then another noise, this one belonging to an elf and it was a cross between an annoyed grunt and a slippery hiss.
“Dammit! JUMP!” Teal yelled. Then, with a great deal of strength, he shoved Ben towards the open window, and when Ben stumbled and braced himself against it, Teal took the opportunity – and shoved Ben out of it.
Ben screamed as he felt himself falling down to the ground below. But then to his shock a new set of instincts took over him. He felt himself twist around; his legs kicked in midair and his body start to move to the standing position. To his overwhelming relief, he landed on his feet unharmed but that didn’t stop the pain from his blistered feet giving an angry throb.
For a moment Ben stared forward, feeling dumbfounded. However he was snapped out of his shocked state when he saw the bright light behind him become noticeably dimmer.
He turned around, temporarily marvelled at how far he had jumped (or fell) before reaching down and quickly putting on Teal’s knapsack and picking up his new sword.
Then he saw Teal’s illuminated image jump out the window and land beside him. Teal gave him a searing look, as if angry Ben hadn’t started running.
His friend pushed him towards the dirt road. “Move!” he shouted. Once again he grabbed Ben’s collar and pushed him forward. “As fast as you can, down the dirt road towards the north gate. It’s the bounty hunter, I saw him – it’s a Dashavian.”
Ben didn’t need to be told twice. He was surprised with how fast he could move as the two of them dashed down the dark road. His legs seemed to take on a life of their own, leading Ben as far away from the inn as they possibly could. He had never ran so fast in his entire life, not even when he was being chased by people who wanted to beat him up back home. It was a great feeling, and what seemed like another perk to being a hibrid.
But Ben didn’t have time to enjoy it; he was bewildered and confused, with no idea as to what they were supposed to do next. Though he felt a momentary quiver of relief when he saw the ghostly outline of the walls ahead of him coming closer and closer.
Teal appeared beside him. Ben looked over to see his friend with a determined look on his face. The neurotic nature of Teal seemed to have disappeared with the chaos that was taking place around him. He was shoulder to shoulder with Ben, occasionally glancing behind his back to make sure they weren’t being persued.
Then Teal let out a snarling curse word, one Ben hadn’t heard before. Unable to help himself Ben looked too and saw a flickering figure in the window, like the infiltrator was moving in front of the light and distorting it.
Then, as quickly as it had come, the light suddenly vanished, temporarily crippling Ben’s night vision with night blindness.
“Chaka!” Teal snarled, then, oddly, Ben saw a green glow beside his friend. He looked down, the two of them still speeding towards the stone wall, and saw that Teal was holding in his hand the Jewel of Elron.
Teal looked at Ben, a grim and serious expression on his face. “Don’t slow down when we get to the gates,” he commanded, the jewel firmly clutched in his grasp. “Run right into the gate. There is no night gatekeeper; there is no one to let us out in time.”
“What? We’ll slam right into it!” Ben exclaimed; the outlandishness of what Teal was suggesting was making him question his sanity.
“You have to trust me,” Teal yelled back, his face was bathed in an emerald green glow. “The bounty hunter is a malkah, a skilled and powerful mage. Only they can turn cneen off, Ben. We need to get out this town now. Or he’ll kill us both.”
Ben looked forward to the towering wooden gate coming closer and closer. His body started to panic, his brain telling him to slow down. But Teal’s words were stuck in his mind, as was the reality that a greater threat was now behind them actively pursuing the two.
So, even with every fiber in his body screamed at him to stop, Ben pushed forward and he didn’t slow down.
When the wall was only several feet away from him Ben closed his eyes and bit his lip hard. He lowered his head and braced for impact, just as he heard Teal say in a strained voice: “Okay, Kelakheva – you said this would work…”
Through his closed eyes Ben saw a green light press against his eyelids, then several things happened at once.
First he felt the sensation of being inside of a vacuum, followed by the breath being sucked out of his lungs. All around him was the darkest black he had ever seen, and a cold damp smell that crawled up Ben’s nostrils and stayed there.
And while he and Teal were being pulled through the wooden gate, he heard a scream, a bloodcurdling, painful shriek like someone was being tortured in the most horrific of fashions. It seemed to dig into Ben’s brain and shred it; its intensity so strong Ben felt a swell of pity towards whoever it belonged to.
And then it was over.
Ben landed on his stomach, the cold ground greeting him with no regard to his confused and scared state. He gasped and coughed, trying to force air into his aching lungs through sharp, wheezing inhales.
He could hear
Teal beside him in the same state, gasping and trying to inhale deep breaths. The two of them stayed where they were for several moments, Ben desperately trying to comprehend just what had happened. It seemed like his consciousness had been left in the bed back at the inn. Every time he tried to make sense of what had happened he felt his brain turn to mush.
Teal stood up beside him and Ben felt a hand on his shoulder. “You okay, Benny?” he said in an exhausted, but strangely calm voice.
Ben nodded and managed to get to his feet. He stumbled and leaned up against the wall, clutching his chest as he continued to try and force air into his lungs. “We have to move – the malkah…”
“I think he’s dead,” Teal said, taking his backpack off of Ben’s back and putting it on his own. “Didn’t you hear that scream?”
Ben’s brow furrowed. He looked up at Teal’s serious expression. “You – you think the jewel did that?”
Teal nodded and looked down at the Jewel of Elron. The brilliant, almost flame-like green gleam was now gone, though Ben could still see the yellow glow that seemed to reside inside of it. “It was Kelakheva… every time I desperately need it to work it’s always Kelakheva. I still can’t do it myself.”
Ben drummed his finger up against the walls of Malla nervously. He didn’t feel like the danger was over.
“The sun will start rising in about two hours, we better move,” Teal said. He reached into his backpack and a sword scabbard appeared. “We’ll rest when we’re about four miles away. I want to get some good distance between us and Malla right now.” He motioned for Ben to turn around then started putting the scabbard on underneath Ben’s cloak. He was briefly thankful that Teal had told him there were no nightclothes to be worn while they were travelling.
Ben had protested at first but now he was thankful for the information – or else he would be travelling in his underwear.
“There,” Teal said, adjusting the scabbard now on Ben’s back. “Your shoes were blood-soaked anyway so perhaps it’s not too tragic that they were left behind. I have some boots for you, it’ll be rougher terrain once we get to the forest.” Teal handed Ben a pair of well-worn hard leather boots which he quickly slipped on and laced.