When I opened my eyes there was no change in the light it was still dull. Not having a window or anything was giving me no idea of time. Nothing looked any different and to my disappointment, I was still in this cell.
Voices we’re still chattering on around me but at least the one in my head was quiet. When I heard one of them shout.
“The new guys awake.”
How the fuck do they know that there is no way they can see me. I’m going to ask they don’t seem to care about asking questions.
“How did you guys know I was awake?”
It seemed like everyone had something to say all at the same time. Every voice at the same time shouted something. None of them made it to my ears it was too loud like trying to listen to every conversation in a bar at the same time. I never liked being in loud places my ears couldn’t cope with it. Someone shouted for them to be quiet.
Then one voice came to me again. The girl in the next cell.
“Sandy is a unicorn. He can tell who is awake and only speaks telekinetically. I believe he was speaking to you before you blacked out. He didn’t mean to her a good guy. He won’t do it again until your ready.”
“Oh ok that makes sense. A unicorn. To go along with me being an Elf.”
“You are. You need to accept what you are. Let me guess. You like being in nature. You can run and climb with ease. You never feel tired and can tell when and where animals have been instinctively. You can hunt and track like anyone else walks down a street. When you run it’s faster than anyone you have ever met.”
“Stop. Your freaking me out. How do you know this?”
“Typical Elf skills.”
“But I’m not an Elf.”
“Yes you are. You have been hidden by your people. They found you a family and they taught you life. They taught you wilderness skills but brought you up as a human to protect you.”
This can’t be true. My mum dad grandparents. They weren’t my family then who was. Are there more of my birth family out there. How can I find out now? Why didn’t they come to me and warn me? Why didn’t they protect me from a distance?
“Yes you are. Everyone here knows about our lives and can spot another from the old times just at a glance.”
“Ok let’s say I believe you why do you keep saying the old times. I’m sixty years old. I have seen my family grow old and die. I never married and lived on my own.”
“Ok let’s start small. You never married because your an Elf. You have probably only seen humans. An Elf mating with a human is like a dog shagging a cat. It not natural.”
“But I didn’t know that.”
“No but it’s instinct same for humans.”
Could this be true have I really been living a lie for sixty years. If what I have seen in the last day or so is real then yea it is. So why have I been lied to. Why hide me from myself. I don’t know who I am and what I can do. I need more information. As I’m coming to terms with this I here the will at the end of the hall move.
Foot steps marched down the hall and everyone fell silent. I stood and waited waiting to find out why they stole me. The guards stopped outside my cell.
“You walk backwards to the bars.”
“No.”
“What did you say?”
“I said no.”
“Ok. Boys. This one needs teaching a lesson.”
I wasn’t ready for this. The main guard opened the door and three of the other guards ran into my cell. I barely got my arms over my head before they started meeting me with small electrified bats. Each blow sent pain through my body and at the same time my muscles contracted with the shocks of electricity pudding through me.
They stopped when I stopped moving. I wasn’t knocked out but I was close. Everything was spinning and I was sure I had some broken bones. While I was limp on the floor they put the strange rope around my wrists again. When they were sure I was no threat to them they dragged me off to the lift thing. The guard spoke to me while we were in the lift.
“The gaffer wants to speak to you. He likes to introduce himself to our new guests.”
“Hummm. Ok.”
Words we’re hard to form. I had never had a beating like this. Obviously, I had had fights before but normally one untrained guy at a time. Not what appeared to be three highly trained sentinels. So all my words were muffled and grunts. Again instead of being given time to get to my feet I was unceremoniously dragged by a couple meat heads who must have been on some serious steroids.
As I was being dragged to see Mr big. I tried to look at the others in the cells again. Now my eyes had adjusted to the light it was easier to see into the cells. There was a fucking unicorn in one of the cells. As I was dragged passed he winked at me. This guy has a chip on his shoulder. He freaks me out by talking in my head then the first time I see him he winks at me. I’m still ranting to myself in my head when we make it to the lift.
It catches me off guard by going down this time. Not forward. Usually a lift just goes up and down. I made the stupid mistake of thinking this would just go forwards and backwards. Nope down we went at what felt like breakneck speed. Then stopped nice and easy. This time the side wall opened up.
There in front of us was a large plush office. The guards had given up on holding me now and we’re back to pushing me. I stumbled out onto the deep pile cream carpet. If it wouldn’t be highly inappropriate I would have taken my shoes off and buried my feet into it. There were large beautifully carved bookcases. Loaded with old books. When I say carved. I don’t mean out of wood. No, they were carved into the rock as well. And the books aren’t just old they are ancient.
Contrasting to the rest of the room was a huge marble desk. It gleamed with a high polished finish. On the other side of the desk was a woman. Small maybe even petite. It was hard to judge with her being sat down. She was attractive. she was at least forty five but obviously still cared about her appearance. Her hair was long and black no grey. Her skin was the whitest I have ever seen and her eyes were so brown they were nearly black. Her makmake-ups very subtle apart from her lips. She had used a deep red. Making her lips the focus of her face.
“So your our new guest. I’m guvnor Powell. I’m the one who says his pleasant your stay with us is. When you go back to your room there will be a rule book waiting for you. Do you understand?”
Now, this was spoken to me in a kind and gentle way. Her meaning was still a threat though. Stick to the rules and I will be looked after as well as a prisoner can be. Break the rules and I will be punished. I am angry at being kidnapped for no reason. Right now I have no way of answering in a way that will improve my situation. Instead of complying with her question I keep quiet.
“You’re not going to give us trouble, are you? I asked you a question. Now the correct answer is yes Mrs Powell.”
The woman was clearly pissed off with my response. Again I said nothing.
“Guard four seven two. Respond to his answer.”
Swiftly I was struck across the back of both my knees dropping me to a kneeling position.
“Do you want to rethink your answer?”
Again I said nothing.
“I don’t like hurting you. So please answer or I will. Laws for your kind aren’t the same as for humans. You don’t exist so nothing we do to you happens.”
I chose to stick to my guns and say nothing.
“Guard again deal with this insubordination.”
My head banged and all went black.
Opening my eyes I found I was back in my cell. I didn’t want to call it my cell but it was looking more and more like it was going to be. Tossed on the floor was a small manual. On the front it simply said rules.“Hey you up?”The girl in the next cell called to me. I’ve just opened my eyes and they are talking to me already. How did she know I was awake.“Yeah. How did you know?”“ There is a telepathic unicorn here he knows when your awake if he wants.”“Oh ok. I forgot about him. What’s your name anyway?”“Susan.”“Susan?”Who the fuck has ever heard of an Orc called Susan. Don’t they normally have names like Mursha or zoguz? Weird things like that.“Yes, Susan. My parents thought it might help hide us if we took human names. Most of us have them now. To be honest it is easier to have a human name than a
M.R 5Time passed by. How much I don’t know and it was playing havoc with my mind. I wanted out of this place. I needed to get the Gnome to speak. He was always in the back of his cell in the darkest part. I had been trying to get him to talk for what felt like hours. Over and over I called to him always being polite. No matter how frustrated I got I refused to use bad language or raise my voice in anger. The others were getting mad at me but I would not stop. Susan even told me to stop.“Hey Eddie.”“Yeah.”“Shut up.”I have never known anyone who will never answer you if you don’t stop poking at them. Eventually they will give in. They might not give you the response you want but you will get one. At least there were two sets of bars and a hall way between us. So he wouldn’t be able to get to me. If it went the wrong way. Not that he would be able to punch me above my thigh. Gnome was th
M.R6The Elf started to walk with me. I had never listened so intently to anyone in my life. His voice was rough and raspy like he smoked heavily and had for many years.“Many years ago. Roughly three thousand to be closer to the point. That is what I should say. Humans and all other beings lived alongside one another. For a long time, we managed to keep peace. That is until a king took over the Humans. He preached that humans were the master race. That they had great numbers and better weapons. That they should not have to breathe the same air as none humans. That we were nothing more than animals that should be used in such a way. Slowly other humans began to start thinking like him. The way he did it was incredible. The way the story goes he rallied an army. An army so big no race could defeat them. They marched and rode across the country attacking any village they came to. No mercy was given. They gave no warning of their attacks. Before any of us knew what
M.R 7Time passes by so slowly when your locked in a tiny cell with nothing to do. But I don’t have nothing to do. I have plans to make and plotting to do.Having guards on a regular routine help. They don’t always get the guards attention but it was possible. One of the guards seemed a little different from the others. He or she would call us by name and not just bark orders at us. I don’t know if it is a man or woman because of the robotic voice. The figure again was indecipherable thanks to the uniforms. All the padding and array of weapons that I didn’t know the capability of.I was fe”eling like I was missing something. Something important. Then it hit me. My health was suffering. I could feel myself getting out of breath easier and I was just wanting to sleep all the time.This place was starting to get to me. It will not break me. I will not let my body become weak. Did the others in here feel the same and do the same
M.R8My exercise routine was rigorous and relentless. With no distractions and nothing better to do I worked out. I ran on the spot. Crunches touching knees with my elbows. Holding plank position. Press ups. Squats. Its amazing the amount of exercise you can do with no equipment when you out your mind to it.I will not let myself get out of shape. No one has ever escaped here until me. My determination was doubled. Now I had to figure out how to convince the others to work out.Nigel was watching me intently through the bars. I pushed my self harder. Watching him slowly creep closer. Inch by inch he got. It was like trying to catch a wild animal. Ignore it let it think you haven’t seen it wait until it is close enough to catch. Then pounce. That’s what I was doing now waiting to get Nigel in a position that he can’t get away from without losing face to the others.If I judge this right he will have no choice but to start working out. He
M.R9There was an atmosphere since our last outside exercise period. The guards were rougher and shouted more. You know like someone higher up has come down on the underlings. Now they were coming down on us. It’s true what they say shit rolls down hill.The guards were making more patrols than the days or weeks before. They seemed to be walking up and down the hall constantly. There was no distinction between them. So I had no idea if the softer one was ever near.On one of the guards passes a note was tossed into my cell. I was up off my bed in a flash and palmed it. When I was a sure as I could be that there was no guard near I read the note.“The boss is suspicious of you. We have been punished for not paying attention. She thinks your trouble. We have been ordered to keep a close eye on you. Keep a low profile. You are one step away from death. Don’t make any more moves until things calm down.”For some reason, I could
Mythical Rising 1The air was still but cold as I sat in my little rowing boat. Rod propped on the side. A light mist over the lake in the early morning light. Nothing ever bites at this time of day, not even the insects. It’s not the fishing that brings me out but nature. It’s like it talks to me.On days like this, I know that the trees are happy. Flowers will bloom. Bees will collect the nectar and plants will get pollinated. No matter what people do to the world life will go on.Nature has always been a huge part of my sixty-five years of life. My dad used to bring me into forests and leave me. From the age of eight, I was able to hunt kill gut and cook a squirrel. I could tell you what animal made what tracks and how long ago with a glance by the time I was ten. At eleven I was making weapons and shelters. By the time I was fifteen I was able to live for days in the wild with nothing but the clothes on my back to start. Schoo
Humanities crime 2I was tired up and gaged with some kind of strange rope and thrown into the back of a van. It was strange in that every time I moved it tightened up. I couldn’t see my bindings. My arms were behind my back. But every move made them get tighter.The van drove sensibly. No excessive revving of the engine. Smooth left and right turn. Easy breaking no sudden stops. After being in the back of the van for so long I started to get drowsy. It was an effort to stay awake. My mind worked overtime though. Fear and confusion making sleep impossible. It felt like we had been driving for at least six hours but not having a watch or the sun to look at I had no idea. Eventually the va stopped and the driver’s door opened and closed.The back doors didn’t open for minutes. I got to my feet and thought about making my escape. When the doors opened I was going to run at the man hopefully knocking him down. Then run. Run as fast as I could for a