Tearha: The Number 139

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Lonely Mercenary

Fire raged across the seaside town. Pillars of flames reached up to the sky from the burning buildings as dancing hands of red and orange that destroyed everything they touched. There were screams, piercing yells of chortling pain and dry gurgles that came only from death unimaginable.

A female voice shouted from out of her field of vision, "Get Adelaide out, now!"

A male yelled in reply, "What about you?"

"I'll hold them back. Get our daughter and run!"

In a puff of brown smoke, the male elf appeared before her. The memory unclear from her years as an infant, she could only make out his green tuft of hair.

"Hey..." he said softly. "Time to go."

She reached out to hold him and the man held onto her tiny fingers gently. She blinked, and the sky was no longer burning, the world no longer shrieking. A peaceful, piercing calm struck into her soul. Before her was the blackness of space littered with uncountable stars. The sound of rustling leaves could be heard off her side.

"Stay here," he told her. "I'm going to get your mother and be right back."

Another puff of brown and the man was gone, leaving her alone, watched by the light of the stars. By the time the Twins had risen and coloured the sky with a blood red dawn, the man had yet to return.

A croaking voice sounded, "What do we have here?" An unfamiliar face leaned over into her view with a hair that was receding white and eyes stretched to be kind. "An elf girl? Aren't you lucky I found you first."

***

The mumbled voice of Miguel Vallertes continued the lengthy history lesson. "And after the First War of the Gods, the genocide of the two races became the longest lasting dent in the history of Tearha. And–..."

The sound of rolling paper echoed through Adelaide's stirring head, waking her in time to see a rolled up piece of newspaper thrown on an approach for her face. She jerked back, jumping away from the attack, leaning back against the spine of her chair. Despite avoiding the hit, she still fell backwards and landed with a crash, the back of her head smacking hard into the ground.

Eyes tearing up, rubbing the nape of her neck in pain, Adelaide cried, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Miguel looked to her, annoyed, "You're suppose to be listening to my lesson." She mumbled about the history remedial being boring and Miguel sighed in defeat. "And where did you learn the word, 'fuck'?"

She got up from her fall, resetting her chair and taking her seat. "The Watcher taught it to me. He said it was a swear word from his home universe. I like how it rolls off the tongue. Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity, fuck, fuck."

Another sigh and an additional palm to the face later, the Enhancer noted that he needed to have a stern word with the time traveller. "In any case, I need you to listen to everything I tell you."

"Why?" Adelaide asked. "What's the point of me learning all these long gone history?"

Her irate voice echoed the room. They were within the town hall of Valent. Save for the large rectangular table that they surrounded and the chairs they sat on, the room they were assigned to by the mayor was empty.

From a corner, Luce, who was half asleep and hugging her rifle, answered, "You'll be meeting a group of people who has a death grudge against you. The least you can do is learn a little of their history to appease them."

Adelaide clicked her tongue in frustration. She had not expected to be dragged into the negotiation. She had expected Luce to do all the talking while she waited aside, but the Titan Ranger had insisted that Adelaide was 'a key to making it work'.