Is This a Child?

As soon as Taylen announced that the task was completed, Krystof came running towards the party while slinging his bow onto his back. His blonde hair bounced in the wind. Out of a green leather belt slung over his shoulder, Krystof pulled out a glass vial and an eyedropper. He knelt down and extracted the vitriol from the corpses that littered the field. He had the steadiest hands out of the group, so Tyr had put him in charge of this tedious task.

"How many do ya want?" Krystof hollered while he raised a golden eyebrow. He hoped his friend would ask for one or two vials, so he threw that question out there to see if he could get lucky.

He hated collecting the demon blood because it took all of his concentration to cut the demons open and find the heart sac. It was important that he not mix the other juices with the blood from this sac, or the quality would immediately deteriorate.

Tyr sighed and shook his head. His small onyx wyvern came to rest on his pauldron and he reached nonchalantly into a side pouch that hung on his hip. He fed the wyvern a dead mouse. "Krystof, why do you have to ask such an obvious question? As many as you can get. You know we're going to need a lot of funds if we want to expand the guild's property in the city."

Although Tyr was a first cousin to the king, he was trying to expand the guild without using his family's money. This was a source of pride for him and he wanted to show that he had the skill and not just family connections. The guild was large and had just moved into one of the prime locations in the city's center. Each guild owned the shops in their properties, which sold things that their guild supplied. As a result, a great part of a guild's income was based on what they obtained for the shops to sell.

"Everyone, after Krystof finishes, we'll head to the stream that lies to the West of that ridge to wash off our gear and make camp." Tyr pointed to a ridge in the West. He did not want the vitriol to stay on their weapons and armor for too long. Although they had expensive S grade equipment, repairs were expensive and vitriol would eventually eat through the metals.

****

"Great, another day of this..." Macha thought as she made her way to the stream. She wondered if she needed to leave the car and follow the stream until she found civilization. She wasn't sure how much longer she could live like this. The daily grind was tiring, but meeting a stranger or running into a wild animal could be worse.

Macha continued with her daily routine of washing her clothes, bathing, fishing, and eating. Each day she expanded her scouting area, searching for the Hana Road. Macha felt that something was not right with the area. She felt positive that she would have found the road by now. As Macha put on her clothes, she heard voices coming from further upstream. She tucked away her net and purse under a bush and snuck towards the sounds.

What she found, surprised her. Macha did not expect to see real elves. Most of them were tall and lean. They covered their bodies in armor and weapons and looked tired from traveling. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. They spoke a language that sounded like a European language, but she did not understand any of the words.

They all seemed to follow directions from a handsome elf that had dark brown hair with long bangs that parted over one of his eyes. He tied the rest of his hair into a low ponytail. A beauty mark just below his eye and his long taut body gave him an alluring look. His long lance was fashioned so a dragon's breath made the blade and it lay against a tree trunk behind him. His black armor had green and gold leaf embellishments on it that reflected the rays of sunlight.

A small black wyvern lay in his lap. Its little pot belly softly rose and fell. It seemed relaxed and content laying in the man's lap. As Macha spied on the camp, the little wyvern snapped to attention and looked at her.

This caused the leader's attention to focus in her direction. The man snatched his lance, leaped up, and had her by the arm before she had a chance to turn around and run. He had the lance's point against her throat. His piercing green eyes sized her up and he said something she did not understand. Macha could tell by his eyes that he demanded some kind of explanation.

Macha was startled at how quickly he had caught her and fumbled with her words. Looking down she said sputtered, "Uh, um... I, I'm sorry. I don't understand what you are saying." She tried not to breathe because the point of his blade pressed against her throat. Macha trembled and feared that the man would kill her.

****

Upon seeing a pair of brown eyes between the leaves of a bush, Tyr grabbed his lance and advanced upon the figure. Once he had captured the figure, he realized that the ears were not extended, so it must be a child who did not catch "longum auris" yet.

"What are you doing here?" Tyr demanded. He was tired from staying up all night and did not like the surprise visitor causing drama for him to deal with.

The small figure looked at the ground and spoke in some tongue he did not understand. She looked small and weak so he lowered his lance and dragged her forcefully into the camp. Tyr pushed her into the middle of the group and she stumbled.

"Do any of you know what she said?" he asked as his brows furrowed with annoyance. Tyr specifically eyed Taylen because he knew she spoke a few more languages than he.

All around, people either shook their head no or were silent. An awkward hush fell over the camp. The members looked at one another. The child looked helpless, but they did not have a way to communicate with her.

Krystof, wanting to lighten up the mood, walked over and bent down to offer the girl some jerky. "Want some, kid?" he smiled, waving a piece of meat back and forth in front of her face. Krystof knew Tyr's attitude scared kids sometimes.

Seeing something other than fish or figs, Macha looked up. The food looked delicious. Her mouth craved a different texture other than the soft flesh of uncooked fish or figs. She felt her mouth salivate and she had to swallow. Her hands reached out slowly.

Tyr noted the hunger in her eyes. She wore a beautiful smile when she reached out for the jerky. He thought she would probably grow up to be a heartbreaker.

Krystof smiled and placed the meat in her small hands. He looked up at Tyr and chuckled, "She's pretty hungry."

Macha was worried about accepting food from a stranger, but her hunger drove her to rationalize it. She decided that if they wanted to kill her, they would have already.

She was unsure how to thank the kind elf, so she quickly bowed and devoured the jerky. Macha savored the flavor of the cooked meat in her mouth. Tears came to her eyes. She missed civilization.

As she ate the jerky, she realized that if this was real life, she would never return home. The idea caused her to choke up and make swallowing the meat difficult. She suspected something was wrong earlier because she could not find the Hana Road, no matter how hard she looked. She also did not remember seeing those fish and plants in Hawai'i before. These strangers confirmed her suspicions about not being in the same place and the realization scared her.

Krystof quickly did a scan of the trembling girl and smiled, "Uh, I don't think this is a child."