Everglade: The Underaged

Chapter 36

Everyone! Shelter under a Dragon!" Forwin yelled above the wind. Luke released the foal from the harness and started to head towards Fionntan. He and Eclipse had just gotten there, when Luke noticed Slade struggling. A wind blasted through and he fell over, landing face first into the mud. He struggled to get back up. Luke went over to him and helped him up. Together they got over to Fionntan. As soon as Fionntan's wings were closed, the winds stopped. Ailwin started a fire and Fionntan opened the top of his wings a little to filter out the smoke. Damianus began to clean the mud off of Slade's face. Slade growled and snatched the cloth from Damianus. He wiped the mud off himself. Then he pulled up his pant leg and took off his fake leg, popped off the top and dumped the water out of it. He pulled out a towel from the bag he'd brought and wiped it dry.

Luke looked at Slade's leg. It looked thinner than his other leg where it had been cut off. Slade put his fake leg back on and put the towel away. Then he laid down on the ground. They made a meal. Slade decided he didn't like it again, and Damianus gave him food from his bag again. Luke ate his meal and a piece of Elven fruit. Eating the Elven food made him feel better than when he ate only human food. He guessed it had nutrition in it that he could only get from Elven food. He ate a second fruit before setting up his bedroll and laying down. He was glad that he'd managed to free the foal from his harness, because his warmth was welcome. Eclipse laid down in her usual spot. Luke slowly fell asleep.

When he woke up, the sun was out. He stood up and stretched. The others were still asleep. He carefully slipped out of Fionntan's wings. The ground was muddy and so was he. He debated changing into the Elven clothes. The others might get jealous because he had clean clothes and they didn't. He didn't like how the dried mud felt heavy. He also considered the fact that Damianus might have extra clothes too. Maybe Slade did too. Luke finally gave in and grabbed his bag. He found a place with privacy and changed out of his clothes. He felt much better when he had changed. He ate a root while he waited for the others to wake up. Today the root tasted like fizznut soup. He wondered what it would taste like tomorrow. He had just taken his last bite of the root when he heard a noise behind him. He turned around, still chewing the root. It was Ailwin. He had clothing draped over his arm.

"Know any good places to change?" Ailwin asked. Luke, still chewing, pointed toward where he had changed.

"Thanks." Ailwin disappeared into the spot. Luke swallowed the root. He felt less guilty about changing his clothes after Ailwin had come out with clothes of his own to change into. One by one, everyone woke up. Just as Luke had suspected, Damianus and Slade had clothes as well. Slade's were black. When Luke asked Damianus about this, he explained that Slade had worn black clothes ever since he'd been taken. He'd rejected all of his colored clothes and boots for the black clothes and boots that only went up past his ankles. Luke was wearing a set of his rejected clothes.

"Do you know why he wears black?" Luke asked.

"No. we've asked. He's never told us. My best guess is that he plans to use the dark colors to hide in the shadows so he can't get taken again." Damianus replied. "Humans have tried to invade our country for centuries. We came up with our anti human weapon to use on the bad ones. It electrocutes them enough to paralyze them."

"How long ago was the last attack?"

"A month ago. The Crows attacked us. We're considering relocation. To a place no one knows of."

"Will I have to go?"

"Of course. You're an Elf."

"You said I was a special breed of Elf. What breed is that?"

"You're of the royal breed. Your mother was the sister to the King. The King currently has no heirs, he's unmarried. Currently, you're the only living heir to the throne."

"Me? But, I'm already the heir to the Earlship of Everglade."

"Well, if the King doesn't marry by the time he dies, You're going to have to give that up."

"I don't want to never be able to see my friends again. That's the whole reason why I made them immortal in the first place." Luke looked down at his feet. Why was his life so abnormal? Why was he so abnormal? He was a Partnered Elf. Slade came over.

"I won't eat that human food again. It's nasty." He said.

"You should have packed your own food." Damianus said.

"It would have given me away if I took food from our stores, Father would have sent an entire legion after me." Damianus sighed.

"Eventually, you're going to have to learn how to eat food you don't like. What happens when we run out?"

"I'm learning magic, remember? I could probably enchant my bag to give me food or anything else I need."

"Why not do it now?"

"I said probably. It's not for certain." Luke slipped away, knowing where this was going. He went and ate breakfast. When breakfast was over, they packed up. Daimianus had refused to give Slade Elven food, so Slade went without. He got hangry as the day went on. Eventually he made them stop because he saw a bush of Elven fruit, which was ultimately his downfall.