Elarayne - What Am I?

Chapter 3

The stench was disgusting, the ways narrow and the night dark. I searched my way through the labyrinth in the walls. My paws were small and my ears big. I was a mouse. I searched for the exit but it was nowhere to be found. What's that? Squeaking. It's another mouse. I followed it and it brought me to the shed in which I was sleeping. Or should be. Nobody was there. What kind of dream is this? What's happening?

"Elena! Elena, wake up!"

"What? What's wrong, Alexander?"

"I thought you wouldn't wake up. It's already noon."

I didn't realise that I had slept over half of the day.

I told Alexander of my dream like every morning. Well, now it was already noon.

After we had ate breakfast -no wait- brunch we went to the marketplace. Today the merchants didn't have many wares like the last time.

"They closed the gates. Nobody is allowed in or out.", Alexander said.

You could feel that the battle is coming closer with every hour.

"What about the farmers? They must be still out there. Why wouldn't they let their own people into the city?"

Alexander looked at me and said:

"The king only sees them as tools."

I knew that this answer would come. Everybody knows it but does the king know it himself?

"Let's go to the library.", I suggested after we stood around without saying a word to each other.

"Now? They're preparing for a battle and you want to go to the library?

"Why not? You have a better idea?"

"Alright. Lead the way.", Alexander said.

We went to the small entrance of the library and climbed the stairs to the top. This time the old man wasn't sitting in the middle of the room. It took me a while to find him.

"Oh, hello there. I didn't expect visitors at this time.", the old man said.

"We just wanted to look by before the battle outside of the city begins.", I said.

"Ah, don't worry about the battle. There have been countless battles and they never managed to get over the city walls."

"Who are exactly 'they' ", I asked.

"Savedian. It belongs to one the biggest empires with Javtaia. But their struggle for land leads them into an everlasting war.", the old man said.

He showed us a map hanging on the wall.

"There are 4 big empires. Savedian, Javtaia, Novtria and Ofaldun. Savedian and Javtaia are in the north. Novtria is in the southeast and Ofaldun in the west. Novtria and Ofaldun are never at war because they have enough land. Between the capitals of the empires there are the farms and smaller villages. But there is always a new king trying to make himself a name. Always defeated by the others. There is not enough space for an other empire."

"Why isn't there enough space?", Alexander asked.

"As you should've noticed we're surrounded by high mountains. We can't pass them. We're forced to stay here and share the land. To the south you'll find the ocean but many believe the world ends there. The sailors sail only by the coast.", the old man explained.

"What lies behind the mountains?", I asked.

"Nobody knows for sure. Legends tell of small human looking creatures: dwarves that live inside the high mountains. Behind them are elves. They have pointy ears and magical powers. Or so the legends tell."

I looked at the old man before I answered:

"How do you know that they exist? Nobody has seen them."

"In this century.", the old man said,"In the century where dragons and shapeshifters roamed the world dwarves and elves have been seen. You know in these books are diaries from that time. Every one of them mentions them.", he continued.

"What do they tell?", Alexander asked after being very quiet for a while.

The old man looked at him and then he stood up from the chair he was sitting on. He walked through the bookshelves until he pulled out an old dusty book. It was rather small and the leather holding the pages was very old.

"This is a diary from a scholar of that time.", he said and sat down.

"The mountains are watching us. The dwarves are watching us. The high mountains have no entrance and no exit but yet they come. I saw one hiding in the bushes and it was watching me. I only saw him a brief moment but it was enough. He had a long brown beard. It was so long one could braid it together. His arms and legs were short but his feet were large. He had a crossbow. Did he want to shoot me?
I'm not crazy. I swear it. Others have seen them too. They're everywhere."

"So the dwarves watched the humans. Why?", I asked.

"The humans never found out for sure. No one had ever spoken with a dwarf. Or no one wrote about it.", the old man explained.

"What does it say about the elves?", Alexander asked.

"Give me a second. I need to find the page.", the old man said as he was turning the pages.

"Behind the mountains we saw lights. They were green but yet blue. The magic of the elves. What were they doing? As I eagerly wanted to find the truth I followed one of the dwarfs I saw. It lead me to a waterfall at a valley. The only way out was where I was now standing. At the waterfall one long and skinny creature was waiting for him. It had pointed ears and a long face. An elf. Both disappeared behind the waterfall. I followed but there was no entrance to be found. I'll never find out the truth."

Suddenly we heard a cannon. The old man looked to us up until he said:

"The battle has begun."