Liv pulled aside a branch and peered at the factory across the floor of treetops. Five identical brick barracks surrounded by a barbed wire fence and an unmanned watchtower lay on a stretch of moorland, right at the treeline on the hillside of Domedus. A white flag carrying the Greene family’s emblem flapped from the top of a flagpole in the center of the compound. From the mountain thundered a glittering waterfall that turned into a river and flowed between the barracks where it made a large wooden wheel rotate. It seemed a regular modern factory, and it would not exist out there in the wilderness unless it contained a black-hearted secret. Liv wondered what Leon was doing. The elf had said he intended to sneak up to the fence to scout without causing trouble.

A gust of wind passed by and pressed a leaf against her injured arm. She jerked back with a jolt of pain. The wound was becoming worse. Finn sat on a thick branch beneath her and stared anxiously into the forest. In less than a day, Leon had become as important to him as Pastor Brock had been to Moriah. From below came the voice of Lira as she interrogated Kaan and Paul about the world outside the forests of Domedus. Neither of them was keen to answer her questions, and Liv knew that if she climbed down the elf lady would attack her instead. So she stayed up in the tree and allowed her mind to wander.

When the sun reached its highest point in the sky, Leon returned, drenched in sweat and with his bow flung over his shoulder. He made an unusual amount of noise as he moved, and they could hear him from far away. As the elf came into view, they understood why. Leon dragged behind him a man dressed in a gray uniform with a rope around his neck. A black playful dog scuttered after them, its long tongue hanging out its mouth. Everyone except for Finn realized that the man was a factory guard. The young elf jumped from the tree and pointed in wonder at the prisoner.

“He’s a guard, probably their first officer,” Leon explained and showed them a red star on the man’s chest, then toppled him over with a light kick. “Joseph Wilder's uniform has a star like that too. I caught him while he was taking a piss. Four guards are still in the factory.”

The prisoner twisted and whined. His fly was open and his hands tied, and the elf had used a short rope and the guard’s beret to gag him.

“Where did you find the rope?” asked Liv.

“Inside the barracks. They have their quarters in one building and keep another one as a storage. The smallest barracks contain tiny bunk beds and have black curtains in the windows, the way gnomes like it. I could not enter the other buildings without risk of being seen.”

Finn put his bare heel against the guard’s chest. At first he was gentle, as if he was stepping onto thin ice, then increased his pressure. The prisoner moaned and gasped for air as the young elf pinched him to the ground.

“What should we do with the prisoner?” asked Kaan.

“I have a plan,” said Leon and turned his attention to Liv. “Do you think they can send for help?”

“They might have messenger pigeons.”

“No birds will betray us,” said the big elf and tossed the bow to his brother, who caught it midair with a reluctant expression on his smooth face.

*

They made their preparations and crossed the woods along the path that Leon had come by. Liv walked a few strides ahead of the unfortunate guard. She pitied the man, and she feared what would happen next, yet she was excited. At least she told herself so. As she dug deep inside her, she realized that she was indifferent to what would occur, and it worried her.

“I won’t have much of a life if it goes on like this,” she muttered to herself.

“What did you say?” Kaan walked up to her and fumbled with his fingers to find hers. She made sure Leon was not watching, then grabbed his hand.

“Not long ago my days were boring, pointless and without adventure. Now I risk my life every day for no reason,” she said, feeling more at ease already. “I wanted excitement, I wanted a purpose, but this can’t go on forever.”

Kaan shrugged. “Aren’t you used to danger? I mean, I know what your dreams are like,” he said.

They left the cover of the trees and followed the river towards the gate. A small stretch of moorland lay between them and the factory. Leon walked up in front of the others. He was unarmed and dragged the guard in a leash. Kaan knocked an arrow to his bowstring, and Liv took the gun out of her bag. Paul jogged on one flank with a crossbow in his hands, and Finn on the other, exaggerating the length of his strides. The boy handled the dagger Leon had given him as if it were sacred. Having tried to convince her son to stay with her, Lira remained hidden in the woods, alone.

Leon stopped at a stone’s throw distance from the gate. Liv stepped up beside him, ready to fight, but not ready to die. Up close she could see how ridiculously low the fence was. It reached to her hips. She saw guards inside the compound: two bearded gaffers who looked like they spent their days guarding stoups of ale. They were standing still, or at least they were not fast movers. Out from a barrack rushed two younger men with blond fuzz on their cheeks, so alike that they must have been twins. When they spotted the Beings they stopped short, startled like two shepherd pups who realize that a wolf has entered their flock of sheep. One of them had a whistle in his mouth and blew it in vain. These guards were not of the same caliber as the Dream Park’s officers. Presumably there was no need for big brutes to guard gnomes. She scanned the area for the small Beings, but saw none.

“Put down your weapons!” roared Leon and tugged the leash, making the prisoner lose his balance and fall to the ground. The men behind the fence stayed still. Again, the elf pulled the rope, but this time he jerked it towards him with all his strength. The guard gave away a muffled shriek of pain as he hurled backwards. “Tell them to throw down their weapons and step back, then kneel with their hands behind their heads.”

He removed the man’s gag and patted him on the back. The officer repeated the elf’s words in a smothered voice. His men glanced at each other, all of them unwilling to be the first one to act, then dropped their rifles simultaneously.

“All your weapons!” boomed Leon. Before long, four batons and four daggers lay next to the rifles on the grass.

No combat. Liv felt relieved and suspected that Kaan and Paul were too. Finn growled — the first sound she ever heard from him — and threw his dagger deep into the mud. He and Kaan walked over to the gate and opened it. It did not even have a proper lock. The bolt was just high above the ground. On Leon’s command, they hustled the men into the closest barrack.

“What a victory!” Paul exclaimed and made a poor attempt at feigning laughter as they bolted the door. “Where are the gnomes?”

“What are you waiting for? Search the rest of the buildings,” ordered the big elf. The half-gnome and the other two elves walked away, and left Liv alone with Leon and the prisoner, who looked at her with pleading eyes.

“Do you know what I think of officers like you?” said Leon and put one foot on the guard’s shoulder. He pulled back the rope while pushing the man forward. Both of them were staring at her. She turned around, pressed her hands against her ears to shut out the man’s wheezing attempts to breathe. She knew that she had the chance to save his life, but sudden sickness crippled her. The thought of intervening was as terrifying as if there had been an army of hostile soldiers standing between her and the grinning elf.

Not until the guard had gone silent did she dare turn around. The lifeless body looked more peaceful and dignified than expected as it lay there on the grass. Leon walked up to the fence and strode over it.

They found five dozen gnomes in the barracks. The Beings sat packed together on long benches, busy carrying out all kinds of handicrafts, oblivious to what had occurred outside. When Kaan opened the door, they threw an eye at him, then resumed their work. Paul stepped inside the room with a crossbow leaning against his shoulder. The gnomes let go of their tools and gaped at the half-gnome.

They did their best to herd the small Beings outdoors and gather them on the moist lawn between the barracks. Meanwhile, Finn dragged away the first officer’s corpse and threw into the river upstream of the spinning wheel. After a minute he returned with a burning torch that he had somehow gotten hold of. He circled the house where they had locked up the guards and stroked the flame against the brick walls. Leon laughed so hard that his entire body rocked when he understood what the boy was up to.

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“What an eager young elf we have here,” he said. “Humans will fear you.”

Paul walked up to Finn, grabbed the torch, and extinguished it in a nearby water barrel.

“Bricks don’t burn,” he said. The young elf glared at the half-gnome for a long time until Leon commanded him to fetch his mother and he ran off to the woods.

The gnomes had stepped out of the buildings and now crammed together in a dozen small groups. They whispered to each other, uncertain of what was happening. All of them had pale skin and were no taller than little children, but otherwise no gnome was another one alike. Some were round-bellied, others looked famished. Their hair came in all shapes and colors, from maroon crew cuts to black wispy pony tails. There were pointy and flat noses, eyes like tiny dots of water and big brown eyes that never stopped staring. Some gnomes had smooth skin, others had countless wrinkles in their faces and looked like they had been born at the dawn of time. No gnomelings were in sight, however. They later found out that the guards sent the females who became pregnant to a ranch down by the sea. There they gave birth to their children before they returned to the factory. A few years afterward, when the gnomelings had grown, they joined the factory to work as apprentices to their parents.

Liv zigzagged her way through the gnomes up to Leon and pulled him aside.

“Don’t kill the guards,” she said. “No more blood.”

The elf remained calm and sober. He did not break into a rage as she feared.

“You know how it ends,” he said. “It always ends with blood. Just don’t let it be the blood of elves.”

He walked away and stopped at the center of the lawn. The gnomes encircled him and looked at him in awe. Everyone stood hypnotized as he spoke with a rhythmic voice both daunting and trustworthy. The words tinkled with tones unlike anything Liv had ever heard. Though the gnomes could not remember exactly what he said, he buried a promise of retribution and a better life in the back of their minds. The magic in his voice wore off and anger took its place. She noticed that Kaan seemed to absorb every word, as if a god was preaching to him, and not his big brother. No one made a single sound long after Leon finished speaking. Then a huckle-backed gnome with a potato-shaped nose and two thin stripes of white hair on his desolated head staggered up to the elf.

“Do you have a foreman?” asked Leon. Kaan had told Liv that two members of every race in the Dream Park were appointed foremen. In practice it meant that they had to enforce the officers’ orders onto their fellow Beings. His brothers had held the duty for a few weeks, but misbehaved and lost the humans’ trust.

“I am the elder gnome and one of our foremen,” said the gnome and stretched his back. His voice sounded confused, like old men do when they try to make an experienced impression. “That scoundrel is the other one.” He pointed at a tall gnome with long brown hair that covered his eyes. “On behalf of all of us, I thank you.”

He bowed and kneeled. Liv could not tell if it was a gesture of reverence or a loss of balance. Someone shouted ‘hooray’, but failed to lure his fellows into the salute and fell silent halfway through it. One after another, the gnomes kneeled, all except for the second foreman who put his hands to his waist and bit his lip.

“The officers were fair…” he said before the others interrupted him.

“Traitor!” someone screamed.

“Shut up, you snitch!” came another voice.

“Don’t listen to the elf. Things won’t work without the guards. Remember…” he tried to speak, but this time Leon’s fist lunged the foreman backwards and sent blood pouring from his shattered nose.

“Who else is on the suppressors’ side?” roared Leon. No one spoke in favor of the humans. “Well, you are an elder and I know how much gnomes value the wisdom of their old ones. You will decide the faith of the officers and the traitor.”

The old gnome shone up and started giving out complicated instructions to those around him. They threw the second foreman into the barrack with the guards. With astonishing speed, the little Beings fetched small axes and short saws, and climbed up on the roof. As the last gnome jumped to the ground, the walls collapsed like a house of cards. When the dust settled, one of the buried men coughed and a helpless hand reached up through the wrecks. The hound which until that moment had been sniffing the newcomers and wagging its tail, opened its jaws and threw itself at the guard. Most of the gnomes looked terrified, and it seemed to please Leon.

“You all witnessed justice today,” he said. “Now, prepare for departure. You have many small steps ahead of you.”

Lira waited for them outside the fence. Leon told the rest of them to make sure the gnomes brought all the food and warm clothes they could carry, then take them back to their camp. He went over to the elf lady and put his arm around her, whispered something in her ear and led her into the forest. Finn came running after them, delighted to see his mother and idol together.

“Don’t follow us,” said Lira, before the two elves disappeared into the shadows of the trees.

*

That night they lit a large campfire in a glade. The gnomes roasted corn cobs and sweet potatoes from the guards’ pantry, and even opened a cask of ale. After a few sips, the Beings giggled and flopped to the ground.

Before dinner, the elder gnome held a brief ceremony where he thanked his liberators and handed them gifts. Leon received a shiny spyglass that worked in the dark and a pair of brass knuckles with sharp diamonds. He gave Kaan, Finn and Paul three jackknives with shining blades of various sizes. Liv and Lira received a gold medallion with a tiny lid each. It contained a miniature mirror and on the backside of the lid was a small painting depicting the forests of Domedus. As Liv tilted the medallion, the reflection in the mirror changed, showing the landscape during different seasons. She asked the gnome how they had obtained such valuable objects, but he just gave an evasive answer. Proper gnomes had a box of treasure hidden somewhere and that they were certainly no exception.

Leon sat on a stone in the middle of the camp. The old foreman stood next to him and whispered in his ears. Kaan shared a bottle of sour spirit with a chubby gnome who had handled the ale better than the others.

The festivities bore a gloomy undertone, an impression that there was nothing worth celebrating. Liv perceived that the gnomes did not know how to enjoy their freedom, and their ingratitude offended her. Those closest to her just sat on the ground and gnawed on the same dried meat that they had been eating every day for their entire life.

Many huddled together in a circle around the fire, their shoulders pressed against each other and their hands close to their eyes. When she realized that they were making handicrafts in the dim light of the flames, she became furious. The Beings twined ribbons, put pearls on beads and carved wooden figures. They performed the same labor they had spent countless hours on in the factory. She clumped over to a freckled gnome kneading a lump of wax into a miniature elf, snatched the figure and threw it into the fire. Without saying a word, the gnomes nearby dispersed into the shadows, where they stood perplexed and watched the melting wax figure. Liv walked over to the outskirts of the camp and stared into the forest. There was only darkness to see, but she needed to turn her eyes away from the camp. She did not want the others to see the tears of disappointment running down her cheeks. The cool mountain air made her shiver, but the wound on her arm burned. More than a day had passed since she ate, but she had lost her sense of hunger. She lacked the energy to keep her anger alive and instead felt feeble.

“You should celebrate our small friends’ liberation. Why won’t you, half-blood?” Leon had walked up to Liv without her noticing. She saw in the corner of her eye how Kaan got up and reeled towards them.

“What do you want.” It was not a question, but a statement that she wanted to be left alone.

“Today we set the gnomes free from enslavement”, said Leon. “It is our biggest step yet in our fight for justice.”

“In your fight, not our fight. And don’t tell me it’s justice. I’m going to Norma and Kaan is coming with me.”

“My brother stays here to help me raise an army. When spring comes we return to Sommerfort and settle our scores with Arthur Greene, the officers and that rat of a professor, once and for all.”

Leon incited his anger as he spoke. Perhaps it was his hatred for the oppressors in the Dream Park which surfaced. Or maybe he had just been unusually calm since he and Lira went into the forest and now assumed his normal aggressive state of mind.

“Every house in Anland shall burn if that’s what it takes for us to reclaim our land.”

Kaan had reached them by then and walked up to stand next to his brother. Liv presumed he had overheard most of their conversation with his sharp ears.

“You won’t succeed,” she said. “You know nothing about humans or what they’re capable of. They have weapons and professional soldiers. Killing every human you come by will only make them catch you faster.”

“You don’t know what forces an angry elf can summon,” Leon said through clenched teeth.

A tree stump cracked loose from its roots and ascended into the air. The trees above their heads bent forward and hid the night sky. Everything became quiet. The big elf was sweating, and his white face turned red by exertion.

“We have our dreams and we have magic, but to succeed we need every drop of elven blood there is. Kaan, I forbid you to leave.”

Liv looked astonished at the stump floating above her head. The safest thing was to stay silent, but that was not how her mind worked. She was the kind of person who stood up, and she had already turned her face away in fear of him one time that day. After a moment’s hesitation, she took a deep breath and prepared to fight in case the elf made any sudden movements.

“You should be locked up in a cage,” she said and regretted her words at once.

Leon flinched, and for a moment Liv thought she would die, then the tree stump crashed to the ground beside her and everything returned to normal.

“Go to Norma, half-blood. If you return, I’ll consider you a human. I’ll haunt you and kill you together with all the other humans.”

Kaan looked miserable but said nothing. Ever since he was a small boy, he had longed for the day Leon would rise to save them. Now that the day had come he would follow his brother anywhere, unlike Liv who would never follow anyone. It occurred to her that Leon broke the balance in her and Kaan’s flock of two. Someone had to leave, and she volunteered.

“I don’t like you when your brother is around,” she said. “I should have left you in your cage.”

She fetched her belongings and disappeared into the night. Kaan had been nice to her, and she knew she would regret departing without giving him the friendly goodbye he deserved, but she could not bring herself to it. Doing so would be like losing somehow.

“I’ll see you in my dreams,” she whispered.