02. Elves...

I had no idea where I was and everyone around me was either fleeing or shouting at me in a language I didn’t understand. Five men in brown leather armor with swords at their hips cautiously crept forward and started fanning out around me. They each wore a patch emblazoned with the black and white profile of a woman’s face over a sky blue background.  

I backpedaled and raised my hands in what I hoped was a calming gesture. 

One of the men pointed at me and shot out a string of heated, foreign words. 

My back thumped against the door. “Hey, guys, I’m just as confused as you are.”

Their aggressive postures didn’t relax and no comprehension showed on their faces. 

What the hell are you doing? They clearly don’t understand you…

One of the men barked something and was answered with the rasps of swords being unsheathed as the men drew their weapons.

Flight won out over fight as I spun around and wrenched open the sturdy wood door. I slammed it shut behind me and found myself in a tavern.

My eyes darted over the pub as I looked for a way out. 

It was deserted, half full mugs sat atop round tables scattered around the room, and the remains of unfinished meals lay abandoned on the grungy bar. My eyes locked onto a door set in the far wall with windows revealing sunlit stone on either side. 

My feet thumped against the floorboards as I charged forward, awkwardly having to weave between tables and chairs to get across the room. 

Behind me the front door burst open and more meaningless shouting preceded the stomping of boots as my pursuers gave chase.

A mug sailed past my head and shattered one of the nearby windows as I shouldered the backdoor open. 

An alleyway. The right was a deadend, so I whirled around and sprinted towards the other end. 

I emerged onto a street and was met with more shouting and screaming. Two new men in brown leather armor stood sentry on my left at the end of the street. Our eyes met and they shot towards me. Boots clattered in the alleyway as my original pursuers emerged from the tavern. 

Shit! Shit! Shit!

I wheeled to my right to make a break for it and found a grizzled man standing in my shadow. He hadn’t been there less than two seconds ago and the impossibility of his sudden presence made my brain freeze up like an overloaded computer. 

His mouth formed a severe line as he narrowed his stone gray eyes. He wore the same leather armor as the people chasing me, but with the addition of a long coat the color of soot. Upon the breast of the outer garment was the same patch as the other men, except with silver embroidery and forest green behind the profile of the woman. 

Long, pointed ears poked out from his mane of salt and pepper hair. 

His fist slammed into my face and I was out before hitting the cobblestone. 

***

I groaned as my blurry eyes sluggishly opened. My head throbbed like it was being filled with lava and was getting close to bursting. 

I was slumped over a cold metal table, the side of my face felt bruised and painful as it rested atop the smooth surface. 

I firmly blinked a few times to try clearing my vision before sitting up.

A small windowless room constructed from stone with a single door set into the far wall. Shadows danced across the walls, directed by the solitary lantern hanging by a chain from the ceiling. The man who’d knocked me out leaned back in the chair across from me, a black folder sitting before him on the table. 

My eyes drifted to his elven ears and a delirious giggle popped out of me. 

Or maybe not a man? Sure, why not? Looks like elves are a thing!

Links of metal rattled as I tried to hold my pain-filled head. I had been shackled, the chain attached to the manacles around my wrists threaded through a hole in the table to presumably attach to the floor.

The man raised an eyebrow and studied me as though I were an interesting bug. 

“My head…” I grumbled as I thumped my elbow atop the table and placed my forehead against my palm. The painful pulsing had grown more forceful since getting upright.  

I heard the rustling of leather before the man said something in a rough voice that matched his weathered appearance. 

I looked up and saw a plain iron ring in his outstretched palm. He insistently offered it to me and said something else, his tone shifting into annoyance.

The iron felt cool against my skin as I plucked the ring from his palm. He pointed at my fingers before rumbling out another few words that were easy to interpret as a command. 

My eyes narrowed at the ring in suspicion. 

This guy was clearly not my friend, and the thought of doing what he wanted after maybe giving me a concussion rubbed me the wrong way. 

However, after a moment of consideration, I let out a weary sigh and stomped out the budding idea of refusal.

What’re you going to do? Throw it like a kid chucking their chicken nuggets against the wall? You’re chained up in a room with no windows… If he really wants me to put it on, it’ll happen whether I want it to or not.

I slipped the metal band around my right ring finger, and as soon as I did, it gently tightened around the digit until it fit perfectly. 

I stared at it slack-jawed as my throbbing headache and fuzzy mind congealed into a growing tide of nausea. Pointy ears and suddenly appearing assholes could be potentially explained… but hard matter shrinking to this degree was a whole other thing, and it made the gears of my view of what’s possible to grind and screech. 

“Hey, outworlder, you understand me?” the elf asked.