Chapter 5-Surine

We meet the elves. they are not like you may think. they are not good fighters. only quick they are not tall or short as some think but the same height as us. they are not remarkably beautiful either.

Chapter 5

SURINE

 

Zamar transported us to the forest. “East is that way” he said pointing “watch out for the centaurs they are not trusting anyone and are suspicious of all those that they call ‘the hind leg walkers’ which is anyone with two legs they believe our arms and hands are legs and feet.” Then he disappeared.

 

“F**k!” Daniel said “listen to that!” I listened and herd hoofs pounding the ground suddenly centaurs burst into the clearing each one carried a spear and each had blond hair except one who had red hair. There were approximately 30. They surrounded us spears pointed at us and the one with red hair clopped toward us.

“Hind leg walkers” he said with the air of a leader “you tress pass on centaur land without permission and will fight for your life or come quietly with us then you will be trialled and executed!”

“Mypix!” Daniel said. The centaur looked at him.

“jow pttwle ae oh xok wlixn aj Mypix?” the centaur said it took me a couple of seconds before I translated what he had said into English he had said ‘you accuse me of not using my brain?’ we were not off to a good start.

“no texkpwey I simply need to activate the magic i have so that i can think clearly for i am weary” Daniel said.

“Texkpwey?” Emily whispered to him.

“Its centaur in Germish” he whispered back “they prefer it from us calling them centaur.”

“we have no Zepfoxl” Ryan said. We all noticed how cleverly he had disguised activating his pendant i watched with amazement as grass and dirt flew into his hands that were hidden behind his back his fingers blured and suddenly he was holding five balls made from woven grass “and we will not come with you so i hardly call that a fair fight” Ryan finished. I glared at him but realised he was right. Zamar had left us without weapons.

“I will not be Hinrkixn anyone without weapons” I said activating my own pendant.

“Couldn’t we have a test of lkyexnkri instead?” Emily asked Amy was now the only one who hadn’t activated her pendant

“You will fight!” the red headed centaur said “we have extra spears” luckily our sparing hadn’t been restricted to swords they had been the main focus but we had learnt to use the other weapons a spear was past to each of us and then they moved back and formed a line at the other side of the clearing.

“When I say now throw this so it lands at the centaur’s feet” Ryan said handing us each one of the grass balls then we lined up facing the centaurs. They charged and when they got about halfway across the clearing Ryan shouted “NOW!” we all threw the little grass balls they hit the ground and broke but dirt and dust flew into the air the centaur’s cried out in shock and pain as dust went in there eyes. We ran forward and I swept all four legs out from under one before I stuck the spear in the leg of another Emily threw me her spear and started punching and kicking the centaur’s. Each time I heard a bone crack. Amy was simply nowhere to be seen but I then saw Daniel run into something and I heard him say “Amy if you appear every now and then we will not run into you” from then on I would catch a fleeting glimpse of her. Daniel was obviously controlling a centaur because one was doing a very good version of a Michal Jackson dance standing on its hind legs. But it was still holding the spear so that was waving around dangerously. Ryan was just attacking wether he killed or wounded it didn’t seem to matter to him as long as he lived. He had said many times how everything that lived here was to him not real and therefore not alive so killing them was no problem for him eventually the red centaur was the only one that remained standing. The 5 of us only had a few scratches to show for the fight we had just been in. “peace friends!” the centaur said quickly as we turned on him “peace. What do you wish?”

“To leave we were transported here we did not walk here” I said.

“Leave then, go that way hind leg walkers” he said pointing “remember... you have defeated the centaur’s call us and we will aide you once and once alone.” Then he snatched the spears back from us and cantered off. And we began our journey walking in the direction he had pointed us in.

 

We travelled for 5 days stoping by every water stream and lake to drink we saw a few animals eating some berries and so we decided they couldn’t be poisonous and ate a few of them then Daniel decided to try climbing a tree to see where the mountains were. He failed every time as a branch snapped then suddenly we heard laughter. “The stories say we sung the trees into houses! We asked them too we did not just climb them!” I spun to see a man step out of the shadows of a tree but then I noticed he wasn’t a man he was a male but not human his ears suggested he was...

“An Elf” Emily breathed. He smiled.

“My name is Surine I have been following you for 2 days I am on guard duty I’m afraid I can’t let you go any further without permission.”

“I wasn’t trying to make a home in a tree” Daniel said “I was trying to see which way the mountains were”

Surine laughed “it seems you have 2 days or more to catch up if you have a schedule”

“S**t. Are you suggesting we went the wrong way?” I asked. Surine nodded

“Come you have been granted entrance I have been told I can hand over my shift a couple of years early”

“Couple of years?!” Amy said.

“Yes” Surine said as he walked off “we all do 50 years guarding our home this time however I have only done 48 years. I am to take you to the Qweex. I believe you say queen” we followed Surine through the forest and Suddenly it was like we had been teleported to the very centre of a busy city of elves they were everywhere behind us was indeed different to the part of forest we had just walked through. Surine laughed as we all gasped.

“I Love the reactions of the short lived” he said in a sing song voice “They are always shocked.” He looked as if he was about to do jig because he was so happy. Surine led us up a staircase that was wound around the outside of a tree. Then across a vine bridge (exactly like a rope bridge only using vines) and into a large dome that as far as I could see was hanging in mid air connected only to the bridge inside around the edge of the dome were 21 chairs only one, the highest, was occupied.

“Come in Surine Bring our friends too” he went forward and bowed we decided it would be best to follow his example but the queen of the elves (or the Qweex as they called her) stoped us.

“You need not bow to me 5 from another world. You are of equal status as me even if the other elves do not see you that way. I know why you are here and I know what it is you wish to do I am going to help you already I have prepared weapons for you which you may take and use until such a time as you no longer need them they will be here in 3 minutes until then please sit.” She waved her hand as if indicating invisible chairs and immediately 6 chairs appeared each was the perfect size for us Surine however did not sit

“I must decline the seat Qweex” he said “I must pass the watch shift to anther” he went to leave.

“Stay here Surine and sit down it is already done besides you need to be here.” Surine hesitated before he came and sat down. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

“AWKWARD SILENCE!!!” Daniel yelled and we laughed.

“Forgive me” I said “but I do not see anything extraordinarily beautiful about either of you” I said to the elves “and yet I have always heard that elves are supposed to be fair are these stories incorrect?”

“Yes” The queen said “those stories are first told by those that claim but have never really seen us some stories say we are short and some say we are tall as you can see we are neither. We are the same height as any normal human. Here are the weapons” As she finished speaking 5 elves walked in. One walked up to me and first handed me a belt with a sword and sword sheath. I strapped it on and the elf handed me a quiver of arrows which I strapped to my back then he handed me a long bow which was strung I slung it over my shoulder so it was out of the way but easy to get to. Are there extra strings?” I asked the elvan queen. She shook her head.

“No. You will not need them your bow strings have been enchanted so that they will never weaken they cannot break or be cut. This however can be” she said holding up 5 pieces of rope each one was about 30 centimetres in length “this is called fotvek yofe which translates in your language to ‘pocket rope’ it is called this because of its size however” she held up the rope and drew her arms apart. I watched in amazement as the rope got longer “it stretches to the size you need it to be and only returns to normal size when you are not using it anymore” the qweex gave us each one of these ropes. “I have a couple more gifts for you. First take these” the queen handed us each a big pouch that clinked loudly. Upon inspection I found gold coins. These are quilets however mostly they are referred to as gold coins as that is what they are made of... solid gold you will need it for food and maybe bribes in your upcoming quest. I would also like to offer you a bed for a few nights before sending you on your way with a guide (and in the right direction this time)” she smiled warmly and we thanked her agreeing that a bit of rest would be welcome. Surine led us around the tree tops every now and then he would jump from one tree branch to another the first time Amy tried she didn’t land with her feet fully on the other branch half her feet were hanging off the edge she had fallen but even as I had cried out a tree branch had suddenly lashed out and wrapped itself around her and pulled her back up placing her gently on the edge and then resumed its normal place. Surine stoped now and then telling one of us it was one of our rooms eventually it was just me and Ryan left he finally led us to a small round room and told me it was my room. I fell on the bed realising exactly how tired I really was. I didn’t hear Surine lead Ryan to his room I was asleep before they left.

 

I woke the next day and swung my legs out of bed stretched and then turned around to remake the bed. It was already done and there were fresh clothes laid out on it. After recovering from the shock I put on the new clean clothes and found they fit me well. Then catching up my new sheath I headed out the door and turned left to find the others it looked like it was about midday. Before I moved more than 10 meters I came a across an elf running towards me with a bucket of water. Although the bucket was full to the brim he didn’t spill a drop even when he skidded to a halt in front of me.

“Oh you’re awake!” he said “I was sent to fetch you”

“Right” I said “what’s the bucket for?”

“The woman Amy told me that if you were asleep I was to throw a full bucket of water over you to wake you up!”

“Well I’m obviously awake so you don’t need the bucket, she probably wasn’t serious anyway” I told him then reflected Amy probably had been serious but I didn’t mention this instead asking “so where are you supposed to take me?”

“Follow” he said making the bucket disappear and he sped off through the trees. In a few minutes we arrived at a circle in the branches elves were standing around it watching what was happening inside but I couldn’t see over the heads eventually I pushed my way through in the middle of the ring was an elf pounding on Ryan’s sword forcing him back Ryan however was walking backwards in circles so he wouldn’t run into the fence around What I now knew to be an arena for practise fights. I watched Ryan and the elf for a moment before exclaiming.

“He’s not even trying!”

“Who the elf or Ryan?” Daniel said sarcastically appearing next to me.

“Don’t mind him” Amy said then appearing. “he’s a little sour cos' a female beat him up real bad” it was then I noticed Daniel had a cut on his cheek a black eye and numerous cuts all over his body.

“Where’s Emily?” I asked turning back to the ring.

“Here” Emily said appearing behind Amy “and in answer to your question Daniel I believe Matt was referring to the elf not trying as it is quite obvious Ryan is” I nodded.

“We all noticed that the elves weren’t trying after a couple of seconds of watching and a few seconds of fighting” Amy told me “still we all end up hurt” she said showing me her scratches. None of them were as bad as Daniel’s. I looked at Amy questioningly.

“We can use our pendants” she said.

“I can’t control elves” Daniel added.

“I can throw them though!” Emily said. She didn’t have as many cuts as Amy or Daniel but hers were pretty bad. When I asked why Emily said.

“I picked up the elf and threw her out the ring meaning I won but she got a few cuts in first. Ryan was still parrying blow after blow when suddenly the elf changed the height of his swing making it lower Ryan’s block missed and the elf’s sword swept Ryan’s legs out from under him and he landed flat on his back with the elf’s sword at his neck They got up shook hands and Ryan made his way over to us. As he did I heard and elf’s voice ring out.

“Next fight! Matthew verses Kyilkpx one of our best!”

“To win get your sword at their throat or get them out the ring” Ryan said to me as he climbed out the ring and I climbed in.

“Hinrkixn” I muttered as I walked to the middle of the arena. I stood across from a male elf that obviously thought highly of himself because he was showing off to the spectators.

“Draw!” I heard the announcing elf’s voice say. Kyilkpx drew his sword but something stayed my hand and I did not.

“Matthew draw your sword or the fight will start without you being armed giving your opponent an advantage” Still I did not draw and a silence stretched out until finally the announcer said

“Ready... Fight!” Kyilkpx Lunged forward and I stepped back he swung at my stomach and I curved my belly so his sword sailed harmlessly passed the force of my opponents swing spinning him around I took the opportunity and with a quick side kick sent him sprawling. As he got up I drew my sword. Each swing swipe and jab I blocked and with it came a realisation. Kyilkpx was one of the best but he wasn’t very good. I had no doubt that if he were human any one of the five of us could beat him without our pendants that meant none of the elves were good what gave them an edge however was that they were so damn fast. However with my pendant activated I was able to see every vital clue that took away some of that edge and suddenly after I flicked my wrist and sent  Kyilkpx’s sword flying my sword was at my opponents throat before his blade buried itself in the arena floor 5 meters away. The crowed was silent for a few seconds and then burst into applause when suddenly a clear voice called out.

“I challenge Matthew!” I looked around to see Surine climbing in to the ring. He walked to me and then spoke.

“Nicely fought as you may have guessed though most elves don’t have any skill with a blade we beat most races because of our speed and agility. I however have all three. Speed, Agility, and skill with a blade. Do you accept?” I shrugged but nodded.

“Next fight Surine versus Matthew” the Announcer said. “Draw!” this time I took out my sword Surine stood across from me relaxed but his sword was out. “Ready... Fight!” Suddenly surine’s blade was flashing toward my neck I barely had time to get my sword up to block the blow. I managed it but because of my surprise I moved it sloppily and although I stoped the blade the force of the blow ripped my sword out of my hands I immediately dropped and rolled left catching up my sword and rising in one move Surine swung again but this time I was ready for his speed and I blocked his blow I parried blocked and dodged but I never had enough time to go on the offense I was purely on the defence. So then I turned and fled. The elves all burst out laughing. I could see Kyilkpx in the crowed he had a smirk on his face, Still I fled then I spun Surine had followed at a walk but he was surprised when I turned and it was then I jumped at him. I said I would fight him and I meant to fight him until the end I never had meant simply forfeit but I had indeed wanted it to look that way. Now I was on the offence slashing swinging thrusting spinning but I never got past his guard no matter how many times I flicked my wrist mid swing to change the direction suddenly he batted my sword away and brought his sword up I swung my entire arm and brought my sword to his throat but his sword was at my throat to in a real fight we both would have died at the same time. The crowed was stunned there was no applause there was no shouting there was just stunned silence then I thought I heard one voice

“Well done Matt!” it sounded like Amy but I wasn’t sure. After me and surine’s panting had calmed a little I heard the announcer stutter a little.

“I... I... I declare this match... A... A draw!” Surine smiled and shook my hand.

 

Author's Note

If anyone has a better idea for a chapter name let me know!

Reviews

[Greg Close]

50 Year guard-duty - that's a great touch. I like the magic rope, too. Very cool. The fight scene(centaurs) could be a bit more exciting with a little more intense description.

[Amy]

nope but i got one word for you paragraphs! use them please it is really hard to follow