Tearha: The Number 139

Chapter Nine: Omni Kid

Adelaide's vision blurred and her head hurt from the world spinning under her back. The bed she was laid in had its mattress removed, leaving just the hard wooden board underneath. She remembered a fight. She got ambushed by a group of hunter. What happened? She strained to sit up, but a furious flare shot through her abdomen and she crashed back onto the bed with a thud.

Her breathing was heavy. Though her breath was turning to mist in the cold air, her body burned hotter than the heat of summer and seared. She reached down to her waist and felt the cooled blood that had dried around the bandages wrapped there.

"I wouldn't get up if I were you." She meekly turned her head towards the voice.

The hut they were in was smaller than her cave. She could probably cross the length of it in two or three steps, if she could stand first. The wooden walls were old, blackened with cracks and age, but looked otherwise strong. A single lamp hung overhead. In the dark corner opposite, the dark elf sat with his head against the corner of the walls, eyes closed, fighting to sleep against the winter cold. His short sleeved shirt seemed to be an ill choice of clothing for the weather.

Then, she looked down and found her body covered in a slightly oversized black coat. Annoyed, she croaked out, "I... don't need you... to keep me... warm."

Without hesitation or even a look in her direction, The Wanderer replied, "Yes, you do. Now keep it down, I'm trying to get some sleep."

***

Clattering of wheels on stone pulled the elf out of her nap. Adelaide sat behind one of the larger boulders, hiding herself from sight of the main road. The stone road up to Ta'Kalenyilgah, the Dark Gate of Kings, had sparse travellers. Most of them were dark elves returning home. Very little traders went to Ta'Galadul, the Dark Citadel, and those who do were either of questionable morality or very stupid and brave.

She shot to attention, peeking to the side of her hiding spot at the covered wagon that was rolling up towards the gate. The entrance was embedded into the side of a large quarry. The gates were a monolithic arc the height of five stories with its pillars acting as watchtowers, built by the long lost dwarves. The structure was intricately detailed with artworks of ancient dwarven heroes and stories, tales which she had always found too boring and generic to warrant interest. No other mortals knew how to build the grand construction they did, but no others needed to, for they had withstood the test of time for countless cycles. Years and seasons had passed but the darven structures continued to stand.

Two humans, a white haired man and a white haired woman, led the horse and its wagon up to the gate. The stone arc towered over them and everything else within the sight of the landscape.

A pair of dark elf warriors came out of the small door that swung out from the bottom of the larger gate. In their hands were pairs of hiljekts, a dark elf multi-handed sword that terrified Adelaide. Even in the hand of a novice dark elf warrior, they were fearsome weapons due to their versatility. She had only fought one once and she subconsciously reached to her abdomen to feel the scar from the battle.

As one of the warriors stayed at the front to question the humans, another circled around back. He pulled apart the canvas that covered the trailer. He poked his head inside and scanned the cargo, before stepping back and signalling to his partner that all was fine.

His partner nodded back before signalling for one of the riders to follow him. The woman got off her seat and, along with the two warriors, went into the gate.

Dark elves and their paranoia. The only race mistrusting enough to have a law that required a living mortal to be temporarily imprisoned as a toll for entrance to the city. It was because of this law that trade between Ta'Galadul and the rest of Eltar was limited.