Chapter 078. Vol 3 - The New Heroes Pt.2:
Janet saw the strike coming from above. Her senses were now far when she was a human, almost like it was beyond even instinct. Her right arm moved and deflected the rusted iron sword. The green creature recoiled, it's small arm breaking at the elbow under the strain of the deflected strike. It howled in pain, clutching at the loose and flopping arm, as it turned its beady yellow eyes towards her. For a moment Janet's former job as a nurse tried to take hold, to help this poor creature. Before she took another breath it charged again, its right arm flopping about uselessly as it tried to strike her with just its claws. She took a step back and slashed her sword upwards, slicing apart the guts of the green creature's distended stomach and spilling it's green, grassy innards. The strike continued upwards and through it's chest and smashed apart it's jaw. The momentum of the creature carried it towards her before slamming into the grass infront of her. Remembering her brief training she thrust her sword into its head and cracked open its skull. The creature didn't even whimper as life left its form.
As Janet took deep breaths to steady herself a slow clap came from behind. “Well done. Well done, Janet.” She looked back and saw the Elf Captain, Taranath Vunyth, approaching, several male elven warriors nearby. Unlike the rest of the Wood Elves he appeared to be quite old, about fifty to sixty years old if he was a human. However, during their brief practice sessions, she knew that he was a very skilled and powerful warrior. He smiled, the only honest smile she had seen since arriving in this place. “You have just slain your tenth Green Goblin.”
Janet didn't know what a Goblin was supposed to look like, the stories of her youth didn't match those creatures with what she was seeing now. These were small deformed humanoids with a bulbous green stomach, with only a ragged piece of rabbit skin to cover its groin. She looked down at the dead creature and another nine dead around lying still around that.
“I don't know if I should be glad to kill a creature like this.” Janet said. As she turned back the armour she wore clinked and rattled, like the smallest wind chime. The Wood Elves gave all of them a set of the same armour that the soldiers wore, with a bright red piece of cloth around their arms. It was a lot lighter than she thought it would be, so too was the sword and shields they had each been given. Janet struggled at first, her mind still remembered her old body and tried to compensate on this new one. After a few days she had a decent understanding of her new body.
“Of course you should.” Taranath smiled and gently held her shoulder, his hand barely touching her shoulder so as to not invade her space. “These vile creatures prey on any sort of intelligent beings that they can get their grubby little green hands on. Every sentient species has to deal with their predations. Some do it better than others.”
A shout came from in front. A red banded Wood Elf was being surrounded by five Green Goblins. They stabbed at him, their rusted swords and spears unable to find holes in the armour but chipped away at his strength. He was struggling fighting so many at once.
“One moment.” Taranath raised his hand, a bright green light gathering in his palm. Out of the bright light tree vines grew as his mouth muttered an incomprehensible set of words. The vines grew at a rapid pace and formed a bow, a strange bow that appeared to be alive. He said something again and a vine arrow grew out his hand, the arrow already nocked on his bow. He drew back the bow, a strange groan emanating from the living wood, and fired the arrow. It flew straight, striking the Green Goblin in the neck. As the arrow started to draw blood and pierce the flesh the arrow began to bloom, vines sprawling out of the wound. Within a second the vines began to grown like a tumour, travelling underneath and rupturing the Green Goblin's skin, literally sucking the life out of the creature. Within two seconds it was dead and replaced with a mound of vines roughly forming to its shape. Taranath summoned another four arrows and dispatched the remaining Goblins, leaving the red banded elf stunned and staring at the strange circle of vines that surrounded him.
“One day you'll be able to do that.” Taranath said. “If you work hard enough.”
Janet smiled and nodded as warmly as she could,. She had no intention of staying for any longer than she needed to. There was something about this place, these people and this goddess they worshipped, that gave her the creeps. When they approached the man he freed himself of the vine statues and made his way to them. Janet didn't recognise his face, other than that he was a male and young. She only knew Dustine and Jacob's, not that she wanted to know the latter any better.
“Thank you for rescuing me.” he said in a light voice, his head taking a tiny bow. “I thought-”
“No time for that.” Taranath snapped, the man jumping in surprising. “We're still in a battle.”
“I...Okay.” he bowed his head again, raised his sword and shield, and returned to the battle.
“That goes for you too. You need all the experience you can get to defeat even the weakest Demon. These Goblins are nothing like those creatures, but at least you won't get killed instantly by these things.”
Janet took a deep breath and readied herself for the battle infront of her. All thirty five of the Human Elves, those that had died and had been brought to this world, had been ordered to clear out a large Green Goblin nest. The nest had been built into a tangled mess of trees and what appeared to be a fort of some kind. An old Wood Elven fort. Currently they were struggling to take the ground before they even reached the base of the tree fort. They had support from the other Wood Elven soldiers, and Taranath, but they were mostly left to their own devices. Taranath had assured them that there were only a few hundred Green Goblins and that wouldn't be any trouble for them. It didn't put Janet at ease, especially with how badly they were going.
I can't think too deeply about what I'm doing. I've never taken a life before today, and it goes against everything I know. Lord, do I take the lives of these creatures so that I might live?
Her mental musings were stopped by the arrival of another wave of Green Goblins. They appeared out of crevices in the trees all at once, like they had some sort of plan and weren't just mad and deranged beasts. She readied her sword and shield as they approached. It seemed that the decision had been made for her. The first Green Goblin, wielding only a crude wooden spear, charged straight at her. Remembering what little they had been taught, she took a step forward and dug her foot into the ground. When the Goblin was within striking distance she swung the sword, snapping the wooden spear like paper. It looked surprised as the sword continued and struck its face. The metal cut through bone and sprayed blood everywhere, even onto her. The other Goblins didn't worry about their friends death and continued their charge. Now there were two attacking at the same time, not out of a plan but opportunity. These attacked in the same way and they were dispatched by a single swing that cut through their weapons and heads. Whatever the metal the sword was made out of it was incredibly sharp, far more sharp than anything she knew could exist, even in a hospital.
When the last Green Goblin fell she felt a strange rush of energy flow through her. She was old and experienced enough to recognise the sensation, adrenaline and excitement. She made a mental note not to enjoy the sensation too much. There were no more Goblins nearby so she took a quick scan of the surroundings. The other Human Elves were struggling, but they were improving. Each swing was a little more confident and the Goblins were inflicting less strikes on their impossibly strong armour. Within half a minute all the Goblins outside the tree fort had been killed. Now there were just those on the inside. She saw Dustine and the Human Elf Taranath rescued come towards her. Both were covered in blood and looking emotionally worse for wear.
“Janet.” Dustine said, her beautiful elven face covered by specks of blood. “How...How are you taking this? I'm...”
“I'm just taking it one step at a time.” Janet replied. “It's all very confusing for me. I mean, I worked around blood and dying people all the time but nothing like this.”
“Thank you for help me.” the man said. “I thought I was done for.”
“What's your name, Dear?”
The man cocked his head, his elongated ears twitching in surprise as a strangely childlike and playful look appeared on his face. “Why are you speaking like that? You aren't old?”
Janet frowned deeply. “I'm actually eighty, young man.” she jabbed him with the edge of his shield and took the wind out of him.
He smiled and rubbed the end of an ear, the tip starting to turn red from embarrassment. “Sorry. This is all so new to me. My name's Percy. I-”
“Sorry to interrupt you.” Janet cut him off, much to both of their surprise. “But Taranath is right. We've still got a fight going on.”
She looked back and saw the Elven Captain looking towards them, impatience plastered over his face. The living bow was still in his hand. If Janet was honest that thing was the most terrifying thing she had seen all day.
The other Human elves were forming into small groups and getting ready for the next phase of the assault. Janet didn't know anything about how wars were fought but felt it was being handled very badly. There was no organisation and everyone was just expected to work together without any experience or real training in team work. Even though she knew nothing of war, a hospital couldn't work without everyone working together and an established hierarchy. Did they just expect one to form naturally? With everyone terrified of their new existence and the source of their troubles fighting alongside them?
With no answers, and a battle still to be fought, she readied her sword and shield. Dustine and Percy moved behind her. She felt a little odd becoming almost the de-facto leader of this little group. As she made her first step something stopped her. She looked back to Taranath, the older elf frowning as their eyes made connected.
“Taranath.” Janet yelled back. “Do you have any suggestions on who we should proceed?”
He looked a little chuffed, that someone was looking for his advice. After their brief training exercise most had the impression that they were ready for anything. Janet had overheard him arguing with the elven princess, Aeirlaya Luyarus, about their readiness. He argued that they simply weren't ready and needed considerably more training before their first mission, something that Janet agreed with, while Aeirlaya argued they needed to go now and that experience in the field would be all they needed. Invoking the name of the Eternal Majesty put Taranath in his place and he acquiesced to her request.
Taranath smiled and pointed to his head. “Make sure you keep your helmets on and stay alert. Keep together and take it slow. If you don't know what it is, don't touch it.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Janet turned forward and readied her weapons again. “I guess that's the keep your wits about you thing that I heard in movies.”
“Which moves are those?” Percy asked.
Janet ignored him and advanced towards an opening in the tree fort. She glanced to the side and saw the other Human Elves doing the same thing. At least they wouldn't be going in alone.
The moment they entered the fort Janet felt herself gagging on the smell. Evidently the Green Goblins were not heading outside to go to the toilet. It was horrific and overpowering, doubly so with her Wood Elf body and its enhanced senses, that it nearly caused her to simply run away. She pushed through it, breathing through her mouth. The smell was lessened but still present. Now there was something else underneath it, though she couldn't put her finger on it.
When they had taken a few paces in they heard a shout. Before they could move any further a dozen Green Goblins set upon them, the narrow corridor formed by the trees making them appear like a tide of angry green flesh spurting out of the wood wielding wooden spears and rusted swords. Janet backed and formed a wall with her companions shields and braced for the charge. The tide of green smashed into their shields, Janet felt the anger through the strength that was being forced upon them, and nearly started to tip over. She thrust her sword between the gap between the shields. Something screamed as she wounded an attacker. The strength pushing upon her shield weakened and allowed her to push it forward. Percy and Dustine attacked alongside Janet and the Goblins were quickly dispatched. They took a moment before they continued. With hesitant steps they moved over the dead Goblins and deeper into the fort.
Janet, seemingly decided upon to be the leader, led them slowly through the small passageways of the tree fort as shouts and clanging of metal resounded around them. It was impossible to tell exactly where it was coming from but, most importantly, it made it difficult to hear if something was coming towards them. A few branches started to emerge in the passageways. Janet only dared a peek down the smaller passageways, she didn't want some Goblins to sneak up on them later.
They travelled for some time before they saw any sort of life. Ahead, in a large room within the passageway, she could see Human Elves and Green Goblins fighting furiously, the Goblins outnumbering them six to one. Just as Janet was about to order them to help she found herself inwardly groaning, something that she had expected her old age to take away from her but constantly came back. Jacobs, and what looked like his whole gang, were fighting furiously against the Green Goblins. It looked nothing like the graceful movements of Taranath's teachings or the nervous stabbings of most of the Human Elves. This was rage, pure and simple. They hacked and battered their opponents, and were doing quite well considering the lack of skill. Janet scrunched her eyes and ran to attack. No matter what person he was she wasn't going to just watch him die. Jacob's eyes darted towards her in surprise, nearly receiving a wooden spear to the face, then back to the Goblins in front of him. Now that the Goblins were set upon on the rear there was little hope for them. A few screams, flashes and spurts of blood, and they were dead.
“Never thought I'd say thanks to you.” Jacobs grumbled. “So I'm not going to.”
“You're still an arse.” Janet mumbled back to him, keeping her attention towards the center of the fort.
Jacobs laughed. “Who knew the old bag had a sense of humour.” his eyes narrowed. For a moment she thought that he was about to attack them but he looked behind to one of his gang members, panting furiously with his hands digging into his knees for support. “And what the fuck's wrong with you? If the old lady can do it, then so can you!”
“I've...I've never had to do something like this.” he whimpered out. He wiped his face clear of the sweat that covered it, the skin underneath looked deathly white. “Never.”
“Harden the fuck up.” Jacobs boncked him on the head with the side of his shield, the man crying out in pain. “The old lady can do it, the woman and that young prick can do it, so you can as well. And you thought you were supposed to be tough.” Jacobs shook his head. “Just think of it as a video game. Just, you only get one go at it. On second thought, just think it's like life.”
The man shook his head but rose up anyway. His hands were shaky as he held his sword and shield low. If he could fight Jannet didn't know.
“So, where now?” Percy asked.
Jacobs growled at the man's question. Percy moved behind Janet to avoid his stare. He seemed quite terrified to have his gaze upon him.
“Well.” Jacobs started. “If this is supposed to be some sort of tree fort, and it looks like it's round and you can just walk in from anywhere, then I would put all my important shit in the middle.” He pointed his sword down the passageway. “So that's a good decision as any.”
“Why would you say that?” Dustine asked.
Jacobs shrugged. “Staying here ain't gonna' fix anything. And I want to get me some good food, drink and maybe one of those elven women if I can convince them.”
The gang members, bar the recovering one, chuckled, even a few licked their lips. Janet and Dustine grunted in disgust. Jacobs simply shrugged. “Whatever. If there's a reward for clearing this thing than I'm gonna get it. You chumps can help if you want.”
Jacobs led his men deeper into the fort, the recovering man giving them a final nod of apology before following.
Dustine leant around to Janet's ear. “Are we going to follow them?”
“Sure.” Janet replied. “But we'll stay well back. Just in case something happens.”
“Shouldn't we be at the front to help them?” Percy asked.
Janet shrugged. “We should. But I don't think that he's the sort of person who's going to look after his friends all that well. Don't you think?”
Percy hung his head low. “Sorry.”
Why did you say it like that?
As Percy offered no explanation Janet was forced to let it drop for now. They grouped together and followed. A few dead Green Goblins littered their path, even one that looked like it had been burned. This one was jet black, Janet quickly realised that was it's actual skin colour, and covered in rudimentary wooden and rusted iron armour. Janet pointed her sword to it, the others nodding when they saw it. They would need to handle these Black varieties with caution.
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They caught up with Jacobs barely a minute later. He, and his gang, were standing perfectly still, their swords and shields not raised to fight.
“What are you doing?” Janet asked in a soft whisper.
Jacobs only shook his head. “What the fuck?” he spoke even more softly than Janet. She didn't even know if he had heard her.
She approached him, looked over his shoulder and nearly wretched at what she saw. An unspeakable horror lay infront of her. The center of the fort, quite a large open area, was filled with naked women in varying stages of pregnancy. Human women. For a brief moment she wanted to move forward to help them but she couldn't. A gang member wretched, again and again, but Jacob's didn't reprimand him. A woman weakly moaned as a green mass slid out from between her legs. Janet felt her heart turn to ice. It was a baby Green Goblin, ugly and screeching as its diminutive hands clawed at it's mother's flesh on her legs. It was not the only one writhing about, there were dozens of the baby Goblins crawling about. One, its skin dried and its umbilical cord gone, crawled towards Janet. She froze as the creature stopped a few meters away and looked up at her. It was angry, even though it couldn't have been more than a few days old. It barred its already yellowed teeth and hissed at her.
What sort of creatures would be so angry? Lord, what horrors have we uncovered?
The baby Green Goblin rose up onto its weak legs and took tentative steps towards them. Its hands reached up to strike her, the imbalance was too much and the Goblin fell back down, the look of hatred and anger never leaving its face.
“Are you blind?” a voice came from behind, breaking them out of their trance. Taranath was behind them, as well as the few Wood Elf soldiers. He frowned deeply at them and shook his head. “Those are Goblins that you need to kill.”
Janet looked down at the approaching Goblin child. It was less than a meter away and still angry. A strange noise came from behind as an arrow shot past, striking the Goblin in the head. Vines consumed the Goblin in under a second, nothing remained of the small creature.
“Those creatures don't care who you are.” Taranath said as he moved past them and infront of a human woman. “They capture and breed with any female they can find. This is what you'll find at the center of any Goblin nest, no matter what colour. Green, Yellow, Blue, Amber, Black, Blue, Purple or Red. It doesn't matter the colour, they'll have someone captured there...breeding an army.”
“We...” Janet glanced and saw that everyone else was still too stunned by what they were seeing. “We need to help them.”
Janet moved forward but was stopped by Taranath. His hands were far more powerful that she thought. As he looked back more Human Elves entered the room. Some had wounds on them but were immediately stunned by what they saw. Taranath sighed, a deep look of sadness on his face. “There's nothing you do to save them. Their minds have been broken, not that I would expect anyone, human, elf, dwarf or beast-kin to survive such an atrocity. There's only one thing that can be done for them now.”
He moved towards the center of the room, not caring the he stood on and crushed the heads of the Goblins underneath his feet, and raised his sword over the head of the closest pregnant woman. He looked back again. “If we leave them here as they are these Goblins will grow into adults and start this whole thing again. That is something that we cannot allow.”
“But...” Percy started, his head drooped when Taranath looked towards him.
“It is despicable what we must do.” Taranath thrust his sword into the chest of the pregnant woman and into her heart. She gave a final gasp as life left her. “But it must be done. This is something that you will need to get used to if you want to survive here.”
I don't want to get used to it.
Taranath made sure that each of the Human Elves killed at least one of the pregnant human women each, though he did make sure it quick and relatively painless. In all her life Janet had never felt so sickened. She was the last to kill one of the women, the sword hit one of her ribs as it pierced her heart. The look of the woman, as life left her, was filled with anger and relief, both directed at her. It was an odd sensation.
With the last of the women dead Taranath ordered them out. Janet couldn't just leave, even though everyone else, including Jacobs and his gang, appeared more than happy enough to go. She knelt down next to the woman she had killed, for the crime of being raped and used to breed these little green monsters. All of the children had been killed and Taranath said that those still not born won't make it to their adult forms without help. Something caught her eye on the dead women. She only noticed it now that she was so close. It was their wrists and ankles. Old and deep bruises covered them. She had seen this before, when someone was bound for a long period of time. She looked around, the sight of all the dead was utterly revolting, but there wasn't anything that looked like metal or even rope bindings.
A sickening thought grew in the back of Janet's mind.
These...Goblins, didn't have anything other than wooden weapons, which are easy enough to get, and rusted metal weapons. They didn't make those metal weapons. And these binding marks....Were the Goblins given these weapons and women? As a test? These poor people...
Janet scrunched her eyes and stood up. Taranath was waiting for her to finish, he wasn't going to interrupt. She couldn't ask him. Even if it was the truth he wouldn't say anything and it would arouse a tremendous amount of suspicion. She resolved to keep it to herself. Taranath followed her and left the room.
Once outside, and into the fresh air, Janet felt her mood improve a little. It was amazing what a change in scenery and smell could do. Taranath waved some of the Elven Soldiers forward. They brought out wooden torches and lit them, the same green fire that the other Wood Elves used, and threw the torches at the fort. The green flames engulfed the fort and soon it was nothing more than a green roaring inferno.
Taranath waved all of the Human Elves together. They didn't look to happy, all were rather emotionally drained from their experience. “Congratulations.” he spoke calmly, the taking of the innocent lives meant nothing to him. “You have just survived your fist battle.” Janet didn't miss the sneers of the Elven Soldiers on her periphery. “It may not sound like much but every battle is important. There are quite a lot of things that you will need to learn if you are to survive. Many of you actions were lacking, especially considering how quickly you were thrown into battle.” A twitch overcame his mouth, one which he hid very well. “We will return home to rest. I advise that you all do that, as you will be going back into battle tomorrow.”
Taranath turned and walked back to the way they came, everyone else was expected to follow. Janet took one last look back at the burning tree fort. She hoped that the human women would forgive them, but it gave her some hope. There were humans nearby, somewhere. That meant there was somewhere other than this strange forest with these strange elves.
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Their new bodies allowed them to move at speeds that Janet never thought possible. What she would have considered a fast run was now a gentle walk. This new found speed did lead to some problems, as their minds were still adjusted to their human bodies, but it was amazing how quickly they covered ground. It took them a little over an hour of running through the forest before they reached the Wood Elf city. From the outside it was virtually indistinguishable from the trees that formed and surrounded the city. Once they passed a particularly thick hedge the forest cleared and they were inside.
They still weren't allowed to wander around this city, something that the surrounding Wood Elf Soldiers made clear with their presence. One Human Elf stopped to try and admire the scenery but was pushed forward.
All around she could see the Wood Elves going about their lives. During their brief forays outside Janet had tried her best to understand the world she was stuck in. She didn't see anything like industry, if that word even applied to this way of life. What she could see were hundreds of elven men and women working and carrying food. The men wore loose fitting pants and open shirts, the women wore essentially a sun dress. They wore gloves and boots that appeared to be made from interwoven leaves bound together with a gold and white metal, the same as their armour. Both sexes were working in perfect harmony, there seemed to be no distinction between them as they worked. There were giant trees bristling the strange looking fruit of impossible size. The elves clambered up the trees without effort, snapped off the fruit and dropped it the elves below. They caught the dropping fruit, sometimes without even looking at them, and placed them in giant baskets. Others were bringing back dead animals, slung over their shoulders. She saw elven children running about in play, some helping their families, all looking like a massive happily family.
The moment they realised they were approaching their attitudes changed. The adults stopped their work, rapidly climbing down the trees and to the ground, and gathered near the children. They hurried them away, the children looking rather confused, and gave them a wide berth. Janet, once again, became acutely aware of how much they were regarded as foreigners and freaks. She didn't know if the other Human Elves recognised this yet.
Taranath led them towards the large bunk that they were sleeping in. He stopped them just before the door.
“Again, I would like to congratulate you on your first victory. Food will be provided to your shortly. Once you've eaten you should get some rest.”
Taranath gave a final nod and opened the door. Inside was the same open and spacious room as before, small green crystals hanging from the ceiling that illuminated everything in a strange green hue. There was something different waiting in the room. The Wood Elven woman, Aeirlaya, stood before them, wearing the same extremely revealing clothing she did before. Upon seeing them she smiled, clapped her hands wildly as she deliberately pushed up her breasts. Janet saw that quite a few of the men looked in awe at the sight. Strangely, Percy didn't have any visible change, not even a downward glance. Though she shouldn't judge someone because they weren't leering. She made a mental note to keep herself from judgement.
“I am so glad to see you all alive and back safely.” Aeirlaya spoke with soft, but unmistakeably fake, concern. “We will see to your weapons and armour. Some of you will have to tell me of your heroics in battle.”
Her words restored uncomfortable memories amongst all of them. Everyone groaned lightly and shuffled awkwardly, Aeirlaya tilted her head in confusion.
Taranath smiled. “First they must eat and rest.” He looked straight at Aeirlaya, his face blank. “You and I need to have a...discussion.”
Aeirlaya smiled, a flash of annoyance, before she nodded and walked past them. A few eyes trailed on her behind but far less than Janet thought. Everyone scattered the moment the doors closed, very few said anything and left for their rooms, leaving Janet standing with Dustine, Percy and a young female Human Elf she didn't recognise.
“I...” Dustine looked around. “I really just want to curl up into a ball and cry. I don't want to do anything like that again.”
“I...” Percy looked to on the verge of tears, great beads of water formed in the corners of his eyes. “I don't want to be here anymore!” tears flowed from his eyes, his head head leaning back as he started to bawl. “I just want to see my mummy again!”
The unknown Human Elf held his hand. It seemed to calm Percy a little. Something was nagging at the back of Janet's mind. It stemmed from one of the first things that she heard upon arriving at this strange world.
“Percy, Dear.” Janet said softly. “How old are you?”
Percy sniffed, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. “Eleven. And my sister, Sandy, is twelve."
The unknown human Elf raised her hand and waved it weakly at Janet, every action felt unsure and unsteady. Her face looked a little similar to Percy's, if not perhaps a little older and a little more feminine. It was a little difficult to tell with these bodies.
It dawned upon Janet, a horrible and disturbing possibility had been put in front of her. Not only were their bodies not their own, now it seemed that they might be someone else's. Their souls, of every age, thrown into these new ones. Perhaps that was why the other Wood Elves looked upon them is with such disgust and scorn. Where they once friends and family that sacrificed themselves, willingly or not? It may Janet's skin crawl. At least it would explain why they were lying virtually naked on the floor of the giant marble temple. Had the bodies had already been laid there, ready for their souls to enter from wherever they had been collected?
Janet didn't want to think about it any more than she needed to, that the forms they were residing in were literally husks. There would be time to think about it once they made their escape “Sandy, Percy. I know this is a little difficult to speak about, but how did you get here? I don't remember seeing you on the bus. Which one were you on? Were you on the bus were people tried to rob you?”
Percy and Sandy both shook their heads. “No.” Replied Sandy. "We were just on the way home from school. We were at the front of the bus, the lights were green and we went through. The bus driver let out a terrifying scream and we smashed into another bus. Next thing we know we are in that strange dark place with the lady with the long flowing green dress. Then everything went black and ended up here.”
Janet took both children's adult hands and held onto them tight. “You are both very brave you know that?” She spoke in the most gentle voice she could manage, even though her own was starting to crack up. “I don't know of any children they would not be just bawling right now.”
Percy and Sandy looks each other with deep worry in their eyes. It seemed that only by them being brother and sister, together in their terrible present, were they still able to maintain any sanity in this world.
Sometimes the strength of children defies expectation. Dustine and I, as the adults here, need to be strong for them as well. I suppose that we can all be strong for each other.
“So what happens now?" Percy asked.
“Well...” Janet brought both of the children, forced into adult bodies, closer and Dustine as well. She glanced around to make sure that no one was listening. There was nobody left in the large room, amazingly everyone had seemingly decided to go to bed. Even Jacobs and his gang members had decided to seek oblivion in sleep rather than contemplate what they had seen or try and seduce some Wood Elf women. “If I'm perfectly honest with you, I don't want to stay here a minute longer than we need to. This was just one fight and I do not want to go through another. Ever. I do not want to see those creatures falling to my blade, nor do I want to have to plunge my sword into the heart of an innocent young woman again. I never thought I would actually kill is someone in this world, but I have. Someone that didn't deserve it, someone whose only crime was being kidnapped and brutalized by those disgusting little green creatures. So...I say that we run away.”
All three were silent for some time, Dustine was the first to make any sort of noise meant that she actually understood her words. She found deeply, and brought her face within millimeters of Janet's ear. “Are you crazy?” She asked in a hushed and furious whisper. “We have no idea where we are going, or what the world is even like beyond the forest walls. Beyond the forest it could all be desert or ice, endless miles of nothing and nobody. We could be chased and forced back here, and then what would they do to us?”
“I am eighty years old and I am not going to be a pawn in some game that I made no decision to be a part of.”
Sandy nodded her head furiously. “I...I don't want to be here either. Everyone looks at us like we really bad people. That we've done something wrong, and we've only been here are a few days. I hate it. And I want to go home.”
Jack smiled back warmly as she could. "So do I Dear, but I don't think it's going to be that simple. We aren't exactly in our bodies anymore.”
Percy and Sandy looked to their hands, holding them up like they were ill-fitting gloves. Their minds were still used to their 11 and 12-year-old bodies, not these gangly forms.
“There must be a way.” Percy said with great enthusiasm. "If they got us here than the must be a way to get us back.”
“I don't know Dears.” Janet shook her head. “But I don't really want to be here much longer. I don't know how that everyone else feels...”
“How would we get away?” Sandy asked. “I don't see any way that we can get away from here.”
“I don't know.” Janet replied. “There's quite a few things that will we would need. Food, water, a map, and a distraction big and long enough to keep these Wood Elf Soldiers, and anyone else they decide to send, off our backs long enough until we are well, well, past where they can reach. Then we can find somewhere to hide and figure this whole thing out.”
“That sounds really hard.” Dustine said. “Not to mention that any getting any of the first three would attract serious attention. They give us more than enough to eat but they make sure to clean up everything that we leave behind. So there's no chance of us slowly building a hoard of food. I'm pretty sure the same could be said for water. And I'm sure they check our rooms when we are gone.”
“I didn't say it would be easy.” Janet chuckled, a rare smile coming to her face. “But there is also something else that we need to do. Something that I, and I'm sure that the three of you, will not find pleasant.”
Sandy frowned. “And what's that?”
“We need to learn how to fight. Better than what we did today. Better than the other soldiers. And better than Taranath. We need to be better than all of them, and it's only going to be the four of us. And I have no idea how many of them there are. I don't think this is the only city, village, whatever you want to call it, in this world. There could be tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, of these elves. All which would better soldiers, better warriors, than us.”
The other three looks rather despondent. Jana didn't know how well Sandy had fought in the battle but she guess he was just as badly as Percy did. Her body was not her own, her arms and legs did not respond in the way her mind wanted it to. That was something both of them would have to deal with if they were to escape, or even survive, this world. Taranath said that the daemons that they were here to fight were far, far, more powerful than the Green Goblins. And she had no doubt that the Elven Soldiers were far better than they were right now.
“And how are we supposed to do that?” Dustine asked. It seemed to be more of a confirmation than an objection.
Janet smiled. “I overheard Taranath and Aeirlaya arguing before, probably like they are now, about how ready we were to actually fight those Green Goblins. He said we won't ready while she said that there was no time for us to continue to practice. I think that we can use that. Use Taranath to make us stronger and better warriors, fighters, so we can, at a moments notice, escape. We might even be able to get better armor and weapons, maybe not the same that he has but far better than what we've got. It might be enough to get us out of here.”
“Are you going to go and find him now?” Percy asked.
Janet looked towards the door. She couldn't hear arguing, or even speaking, on the other side. Perhaps the two had gone someplace far away to have their little discussion.
“I will." Janet replied. “I'm far older than all three of you combined, so if there's any problem with me trying to walk around to find him I'll deal with that. You three go and do what you were told, go and have a little rest and then get some food into you. I think that Taranath is right and will need everything we've got to see this through. And that doesn't mean staying up late while we'll have yet another battle tomorrow.”
Three nodded, somewhat nervously, and left for their rooms. Janet wondered if they understood what they were actually talking about, what she was actually getting them into. She didn't know if she was actually serious about running away, but the idea of doing something constructive, that wasn't just fighting and killing, gave her the strength to keep going. Janet took a deep breath and and open the door, strangely it wasn't barred or locked.
She looked along the dirt path and towards the large marble temple they arrived in. Halfway between the their building and the immaculately manicured moss covered stone pathway stood Aeirlaya and Taranath, clearly in a heated argument. Aeirlaya flailed her arms about wildly while Taranath simply watched on with a bored but controlled expression. Finally, when it appeared her words were falling on deaf ears, she threw her arms up dramatically in the air walked away from the marble temple in a great huff. The well practised, almost sultry, walk was gone now, replaced by a strangely defiant fast stride. Her choice of attire, with most of her rear and backside on display, made the whole thing very odd to watch. She could see the look of exhaustion and a thinly veiled look of disappointment on Taranath's face. He shook his head and hung it low before turning back towards their bunk. Janet realised there was no way that she could hide herself so she decided to take a small modicum of initiative. She took a deep breath and walked towards him. He was very surprised to see her.
He froze for a moment before frowning, then slowly forming a smile. “Janet. What are you doing outside?” His words seemed to be a genuine curiosity, not an implied threat.
“I was actually going to ask you something.” Janet began. She took a quick look towards Aeirlaya, still storming off in the distance. She quickly reached the large wooden building that they first brought them to, threw open the doors and stormed inside and slammed the doors shut. Even with the distance Janet felt the shutter of the doors travel through the ground and into her bones. The woman was very, very angry at something. “Is this a bad time?”
Taranath sighed and shook his head. “Not particularly. Aeirlaya wants you to go on another Goblin raid early tomorrow. If I'm being honest, I do not think that you are ready yet. Only a few of you I would consider even remotely ready. Especially that other man that you were with when you entered the main area of the fort.”
Janet remembered what she had seen in their, the bindings, and the bruises. She didn't have the strength or will or desire to ask that question is debt, to ask if they were slaves or captives being used to breed Green Goblins for them to fight.
“Actually, we wanted to know if there was a chance that we could get some extra training. This, and I don't know if you know this, is the first time that we have fought. Well, most of us. You understand that we come from a different world where violence is normally avoided by most people. We barely even though to hold a sword and shield, I don't think any of us know how to use a bow and I don't think you have guns.”
Taranath raised a brow at her last word. It was clear that these people had no idea of firearms from their world. Perhaps that was a good thing.
“We didn't really get much training before we were sent out there. So, I was wondering, and so are quite a few of us, if we could get some extra training before nightfall. Even if it's just how to properly hold the sword and use a shield it'll help us in the battles to come.”
And maybe even helpless with an escape, if it comes to that.
Taranath let out a smile, a genuine smile. It seemed a little impressed that she was actually asking him for help. He cleared his throat, rather dramatically, and rested his hand on the pommel of the sword. That sword look nothing like the ones that Janet and the rest of the Human Elves had to use. Theirs looks quite common, if that could actually be applied to these weapons, while his looked like it was made just for him.
“Well. I do agree with that. You do need more training before you could even think of fighting a wounded Demon and not just being turned into a red paste on the ground. Very well. You and those that are willing to do extra training are to meet me outside barracks in a few moments. Gather your weapons and armour, and I will do my best to teach you some basic skills. If you are going to be an asset to His Eternal Majesty you can't just be continuously thrown into battles we have no understanding, where the chances of you dying are incredibly high. Bringing you here, whatever world you came from, took a lot more than you might think. And we shouldn't waste those resources.”
Janet presume that was why they were in Elven bodies and not human. Taranath didn't elaborate and walked towards one of the large inhabited trees on the other side of the manicured mossy stone pathway. Janet turned back to their bunk, not really knowing if she had done the right thing to talk to him. However her path had been set and there was little she could do to change it. She readied her mind to deal with the horrors that they may have to endure in order to escape, or even to survive. She wondered if, if things continue when they were, she would even see the end of the week. The thought of the missing man from the bus was just a flicker of thought before it became lost in the tumultuous sea of her wild thoughts.