The room was more akin to a large, dark warehouse. Wooden boxes were haphazardly stacked and scattered across the floor, while pieces of furniture covered with heavy blankets stood like deflated ghostly sentinels, forever trapped in this place of dust and darkness. Aaron turned his Hacklet light on and surveyed his companions.
Swift was on his feet, his back leaning heavily against a stack of boxes with straight arms braced upon bent knees. His green skin still had a few shades of paleness; otherwise, he seemed to be recovering from the wild car chase they had experienced.
Tommy stood holding Jackie in both arms. The large elf carefully assessed the room in silence while Jackie continued to softly whimper. Though her eyes were closed, her face looked too tense to be asleep; her arms remained extended into the air, keeping her broken, mutilated hands away from her body and Tommy.
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A sigh of relief escaped the dwarf’s lips as the system notification scrolled across his vision. Aaron was grateful his daemon had worked, and they had escaped the car chase encounter before its effects were enacted.
“Hey, Buddy,” Tommy softly approached Aaron. “Jackie isn’t looking too good. I think we need to get her to a healer, or hospital, or something.”
Aaron nodded. “Give me a minute to figure out where we are, and I should be able to locate a hospital easily enough.”
“No,” The agony in Jackie’s voice pierced the dusty air. “No hospitals.”
“Your hands are messed up, Jackie,” Aaron responded with a furrowed brow. “Also, you don’t look too good—You may have used more magic than your body could handle.”
Her eyes fluttered open as she leaned forward in Tommy’s arms. Pain etched deep lines in her face, accentuating an intense warning in her quiet voice, “No hospitals.”
“Well, what do you suggest we do?” Aaron raised his hands, casting shadows in errant directions with his Hacklet light. “You can’t stay like this. We can’t drag you around like this.”
Swift approached the trio with shaky legs and motioned to his shoulder bag strapped around Aaron’s torso.
“Besides,” The dwarf unequipped the shoulder bag and returned it to the orc. “I suffered a Moxie strike back there. Jackie, you’re probably on death’s door. Depths, I’m willing to bet Swift has a strike, too. I don’t know about you, Tommy, but we are all beat up and need healing. We can’t keep on like this, not without fixing our Moxie strikes.”
Jackie whimpered as she became racked with a wave of pain.
Tommy looked to Swift, who was busy rifling through his shoulder bag, then at Jackie, then Aaron. “I hear you, buddy. We need healing, but she said no hospitals. Can you work your techno-magic and figure out someplace we can go?”
“I don’t do ‘techno-magic.’ But I can probably triangulate our position if you give me a minute.”
Two keystrokes in, Aaron was jabbed hard in the shoulder. He glared to his side and saw a very dour orc staring back at him. Swift made several rapid gestures that were punctuated by pointing at his shoulder bag.
Focusing his attention back on his Hacklet, Aaron shook his head and shrugged. “Sorry if some stuff fell out, orc. I did my best to keep that thing closed.”
Another jab. Aaron craned his head and saw the orc holding up a white business card between his fingers. The card had a mushroom with a circle around it—Aaron remembered the other side had a QR code. The look on Swift’s face read that he already knew what had happened but wanted Aaron to speak this knowledge into existence.
Aaron frowned, then turned back to his Hacklet while answering. “Okay, I had to use a few things, too. I’m sorry. I didn’t know how else to get you guys out.”
Though he tried to keep focus on his Hacklet, the dwarf could feel Swift’s glare burning into the side of his head. The orc was not letting this go.
“I needed a cab,” Aaron purposefully stared at the Hacklet screen. “I found a fairy cab. They needed monies. I didn’t have any, but I found a gold coin in your bag, so I used that for payment. They gave me that card in return.”
The Hacklet screen flashed bits of information, but Aaron stared past the screen, focused solely on not looking at the orc. The room was quiet. Dust particles silently floated in the light of Aaron’s Hacklet, yet the tension in the air seemed to keep the particles in suspense.
A loud, moaning yell shredded the silence, and Aaron turned to see Swift throw down a small, old crate. It fell to the floor with a loud snap and scattered the suspended dust particles, causing them to hide in the surrounding shadow and darkness. Silence and rage awkwardly hung over the skinny, downtrodden orc, like the blankets covering the old furniture in the room.
Aaron glanced up at Tommy, who looked back with a puzzled expression. The elf shrugged, then nodded for the dwarf to go to Swift. Aaron looked to Swift, then to Tommy, and shook his head. Tommy looked down, locked eyes with Aaron, and then nodded more emphatically for the dwarf to go speak with the orc.
With gritted teeth and grumbled murmurs of disagreement, Aaron closed his Hacklet and puttered in Swift’s direction.
Swift was sitting on the floor with his back against the crate he had knocked down. His tense arms rested on bent knees, and his head was down in mourning. The orc always had a pitiful look, which Aaron assumed came with wearing a loincloth all the time, but the skinny orc was now the embodiment of misery.
“Look, I, uh…” Aaron tried to think of something to say but struggled to find words. “You want to pick this out in a mine?”
Swift looked up at Aaron with incredulity.
“It’s an expression,” Aaron sat down near Swift. “My Gramps would always say, ‘Dwarves, when we fight, we take it out in the mines or the drink.’”
Swift’s expression softened as he watched the dwarf adjust to a more comfortable position on the floor.
Aaron sighed. “I could really use a drink right now.”
They sat silently for a moment, then Swift motioned to Aaron’s Hacklet. The dwarf raised his arm, opened the Hacklet, and moved closer to the orc. Opening a writing app, Aaron allowed the orc to type a message.
You are a stupid fuking dwarf.
Aaron read the message aloud as it was typed. It was not what the dwarf expected to read, and Aaron suddenly found himself laughing. “You know, you’re right. I am a stupid fucking dwarf.” His laugh slowly extinguished as somber memories of his grandfather smothered the levity. Aaron settled back into the crate that Swift leaned against. “I hate being a dwarf.”
Swift poked Aaron and motioned to the Hacklet. The dwarf raised his arm but did not look at the Hacklet until it felt like the orc was done typing. Glancing at the screen, Aaron read, “I lost someone, too. My Ina.”
Aaron squinted to make sure he read that last word right. “Ina? Eena? I don’t know how to say that word. What is that? Or is it a who?”
Ina, she is my chosen first mother. I loved her.
“Your ‘chosen first mother?’ –I’m still not following.”
In the tribe, we have many mothers and many fathers. It is a great family where we take care of each other. However, Ina is the one you choose to be your first—they are the one who shares the strongest bond.
Aaron silently processed the words he was reading, steadily coming to an understanding that he had never really known Swift as a person before this moment.
That coin was a gift from my Ina. It was the last thing she gave me before I escaped my tribe.
“Escaped? I thought you said the whole tribe was your family?”
Yes. I disgrace my tribe family. I gambled, got in trouble, and tried hiding in the tribe. This put the tribe in danger.
“You’ve got a gambling problem?”
No. I am master with the races, dices, and cards. But sometimes, I get –The orc stopped typing. He tapped a finger on his lips as he contemplated what to type.
“Sometimes you get unlucky?” Aaron suggested.
Swift shrugged. Luck is not real. But this is easiest to understand.
Aaron nodded. “So you gambled big, lost hard, and got in trouble. Then you ran away from your tribe?”
The orc shifted as he tried to hold the unseen burden that weighed heavily on his mind. I could not face my waziyata. I am canl waka.
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“Oh, graphite. You’re giving me more words I can’t read.”
Swift did not offer an explanation. Instead, the orc quietly sank deeper into his burdenous misery.
“Look, I didn’t know that coin was from your, uh, first mom.” Aaron jabbed the Swift’s shoulder for attention. “If you want, when I’m done helping Tommy, I can try to find it and get it back.”
The orc smiled sadly. You won’t get that coin back. It’s a wishing coin. The fairies will feed off that magic for generations.
Aaron read the text on the screen a second time to ensure he read it correctly. “That was a lode-blasted wishing coin!”
Swift silently chuckled with a half-hearted nod.
“You’re telling me—” Aaron struggled to contain the broiling mix of emotions within. “You’re telling me I gave the fairies a wishing coin to pay for a ride across town. A coin I could have used to instead make a wish to, oh, I don’t know, maybe get you guys out of jail!?”
Swift’s silent chuckle turned to full-body laughter. It was not loud and boisterous, but it was not completely silent either. The orc slapped his thigh, and a few tears ran down his face as he doubled over with mouth open wide and an occasional sound emitted from his throat. The orc threw up a few quick hand gestures, and Aaron suddenly found himself laughing, too.
The dwarf’s laugh was a mixture of rage, frustration, and the acceptance of pure helplessness in controlling the past. Aaron yelled, forcing the pain and rage out with the laughter as he gave the nearby crate a few good punches.
“You guys good?” Tommy asked as he carefully approached Swift and Aaron.
A quick hand gesture and a nod came from Swift while Aaron echoed the orc’s answer, “Yeah, we’re good.”
“Good to hear,” Tommy smiled. “Everyone ready to head out?”
“Ah, coprolite,” Aaron murmured as he turned back to his Hacklet. “Hold on, I still need to figure out where we are.”
“We are in my safe place,” Jackie spoke through her pain.
Aaron gave Jackie a sideways glance. “Your safe place?”
“Portals don’t work well if you can’t see a place in your mind. This is a place where I would always hide as a kid when there was trouble—it kept me safe. I’ve kept it in my mind and continue to escape here whenever there is trouble.”
“Huh,” Aaron twisted his mouth in thought. “So you know where we are in the city?”
“Yes—” Jackie winced with lost breath as another wave of pain rushed through her body. “I don’t know of any nearby healers, though.”
Swift moved to stand in front of Jackie and Tommy and carefully examined Jackie's mangled hands. The fingers were twisted and snapped at unnatural angles. One bone pushed so hard against the skin that it was a wonder that the bone had not yet broken through. The hands were reduced to balls of meat and bone, stuck at the end of two thick sticks for arms. The orc made a series of hand gestures and then turned to his shoulder bag.
“You think you can help me?” Jackie asked.
The orc stopped looking through his shoulder bag to communicate with more hand and arm movements.
“You have bandages for temporary healing?” Jackie responded.
Everyone paused and looked at Jackie. Swift made a few more hand gestures.
“Yeah, I think I can understand what you’re saying?”
“You can understand what Swift is saying?” Aaron asked.
“Mostly, yeah,” Jackie said. “He communicates with a sign language that is a little different than what I learned, but there’s enough similarities for me to get the gist of what he’s saying.”
“There’s different languages with your hands?” Aaron asked, still trying to comprehend the interaction taking place. “How do you know this language Swift uses with his hands?”
“It’s called sign language, dummy. And, yes, just like you can speak different languages, you can also sign in different languages. I learned sign language when I was a kid because my little brother couldn’t talk. It was the best way to communicate with him.”
“Freaking fluorite,” Aaron turned back to his Hacklet. “You guys are blowing my mind here.”
The orc was in a flurry of hand and arm movements, excitedly talking with Jackie. Jackie smiled and slightly raised her hands. “I’m sorry I can’t reply in sign. It is really nice to meet you, too, Swift.”
Motioning toward an open space, Tommy followed Swift to a nearby crate and carefully sat Jackie on the floor. The orc rummaged through his shoulder bag. He pulled out a small light that mimicked a lantern and a couple rolls of sparkling white gauze.
“Where were you hiding those?” Aaron asked while looking over his Hacklet.
Swift merely winked at the dwarf and proceeded to communicate with Jackie regarding the course of action he would take.
Aaron returned his focus to figuring out their location in the city. The maps on his Hacklet highlighted a few potential locations for healers, but all gave the impression of providing allegiance to the authorities or the local gangs. All except one.
Staring at that one exception on the map, Aaron heard the low rumbling of thunder outside the walls of the building. Wind swirled in the distance, and waves crashed on a beach. He stared hard at the only safe place he never wanted to see again. Thunder rumbled more loudly, and the winds picked up, causing the walls to creak and sway. Waves crashed hard, washing against the sand and telling him it was time to go and leave her again.
“I love you.”
Aaron jumped from his spot at the sound of Molly’s voice. He heard her behind his shoulder, but only darkness resided there. Jackie had cried out in pain at the same time, masking the dwarf’s jumpiness. Looking about, Aaron did not hear any thunder or wind. Even the crashing waves could not be heard. No one seemed to have heard what he experienced. Grumbling, Aaron shook the shiver out of his spine and pulled up a different window on his Hacklet.
The recent chaos of the day had almost caused Aaron to forget the real reason they had started all of this. This all started because they were looking for a gnome with a much-needed tequila hat stuck on its head. If that hat truly had an infinite amount of tequila pouring from it, then Aaron was confident Tommy’s boss wouldn’t miss a fifth from that gnome’s hat.
Reviewing the previous analysis, Aaron had narrowed down the potential escapees to two gnomes. He had not yet been able to locate one, but the other had a relative whose residence was literally a block away. This was closer than any healer, and going to any healer would mean they would need to backtrack to this gnome. This was the better option, isolate the gnome first, and then they could worry about healing.
Something rustled in the darkness behind Aaron, and the dwarf spun about to see what it was. He pointed the light on his Hacklet at different locations but only saw boxes, covered furniture, and shadows.
“You okay, buddy?” Tommy approached Aaron and gently laid a hand on the dwarf’s shoulder.
“I thought I heard something.” Aaron continued to move the Hacklet light about.
They both searched in the direction Aaron pointed his light. The dwarf felt a gentle squeeze on his shoulder as Tommy spoke, “Come on, Buddy. Swift is about done. Come back to the group and show us where we’re going.”
One more cursory look and Aaron turned to follow Tommy. All four of them sat around the small light provided by Swift. Aaron looked at the sparkling white gauze wrapped around Jackie’s hands—it looked like she was wearing a pair of thick white mittens. She was smiling and talking to Swift, which was astounding for Aaron, considering she was in pure agony a moment earlier. The dwarf surmised the gauze must be imbued with some sort of magic.
“My brother was into the same thing,” Jackie said excitedly. “Always getting into mischief.”
“Your brother and Swift like the same stuff?” Aaron interjected himself into the conversation.
“Uh, yeah,” Jackie looked down and away. There was a shift in her tone. “Something like that.”
“Good to see you’re in better spirits, Jackie.” Tommy said before the awkwardness was apparent. “How are your hands?”
“They are much better, thanks to Swift,” Jackie smiled. “Swift tells me these wrappings have a sort of fake healing magic to them. I guess they don’t fix a Moxie strike; instead, they give you a temporary Moxie and make it feel like you’re fixed.”
“How long do the effects last?” Asked Tommy.
Swift shrugged.
“Swift told me he hasn’t used these ones before, so he’s not sure how long it will last.” Jackie looked at Swift, then back to Tommy. “I don’t think I want to find out how long they last either.”
“That’s fine,” Tommy leaned back and turned to his friend. “That’s fine because Aaron has found us a place where we can get you healed.”
“Uh, right,” Aaron cleared his throat. “About that. I think there’s something else we should see first.”
All three faces around the light darkened.
“Tommy, you need to hear me out,” Aaron held one hand out while extending his other to show the map on his Hacklet. “The whole reason you and I started this insane adventure was because we needed to find this blasted gnome for your boss.”
Swift and Jackie looked at Tommy, who leaned in closer to see the map on Aaron’s Hacklet.
“I’ve narrowed it down to two gnomes,” Aaron spoke quickly. “One of the two gnomes is literally a block away from here. We can run down there, see if it’s our gnome, then snatch him up and head out before anything else happens to us.”
Tommy peered into the map. He seemed oblivious to anything outside the map. He pointed to a small triangle on the map. “That’s where we are now?”
“Yeah.”
Tommy nodded. “You know where we are.”
It wasn’t a question, but it was a statement that required acknowledgment. Tommy, looking at the map, now knew the location of the closest healer. Internally, Aaron kicked himself repeatedly for showing Tommy the map. He screamed, No! Not there, anywhere but there! NO! Externally, Aaron responded with a quiet, “yes.”
Tommy continued to stare at the map on the screen in silent contemplation. Behind him, Swift made some hand movements. Jackie spoke up, “I’m with you, Swift. What’s going on? Do you guys know where to go?”
“Yes, we know where we need to go.” Tommy looked at Aaron plainly and smiled. “But first, I need a phone. Does anyone have a phone?”
“You know those things are always traced,” Jackie answered. “Nobody carries a phone these days unless they’re with the government or protected by some corporation.”
Tommy continued to look at Aaron. “I need a phone.”
“You’re not making any dirty calls on my Hacklet,” Aaron grumbled as he brought his arm back in and brought a new map on screen. “However, there’s a small bodega on the corner across from where the gnome is. I can mask any burner you get from there.”
Tommy nodded. “Then we need to make this quick.”
“Excuse me,” Jackie waved for attention. “Would you please include us in this conversation?”
“I apologize, Jackie,” Tommy stood, his smile broad as ever. “There’s some business that we need to address. I promise to make it quick. After that, Aaron and I have the perfect place where we can get you, and the rest of us, permanently healed—no temporary bandages. It’s not far from here.”
“I thought we weren’t going to try and find out how temporary these bandages are?” Jackie’s voice cracked slightly.
Swift answered with his hand and arm movements, and Jackie spoke the orc’s response. “They should last a full day, but we’ll likely need a long rest before they can be used again.”
“This won’t take more than a moment,” said Tommy. “We’ll take care of your hands well before the magic in those bandages wears off. What’s the quickest route to the street, Jackie?”
Jackie stood, waivered, and started to fall. Swift leaped forward, caught her, and held her upright. Jackie smiled, her cheeks flushed as she leaned on the skinny orc. “I guess all that magic did take more out of me than I realized. Do you think we could get a bite to eat when we reach that bodega?”
Aaron watched Swift and Jackie. The orc looked more skinny and pale next to the dark and curvy elf. Yet, the scene created a unique juxtaposition of pale and bold coloring, thin and thick compositions, in two bodies that opposed the usual stereotypes placed on their respective races. The unlikely pair made a connection through a common language the dwarf did not understand, and through that connection, something special could be seen.
“Come on, Jackie,” Tommy spoke as he approached the duo. “I’ll carry you around until you feel ready to walk.”
“You sure, big elf? I’m not exactly a little thing.”
“Don’t worry, Jackie. I got you.”
Tommy got down to one knee and had Jackie climb onto his back. She wrapped her arms snuggly around Tommy’s neck and seated herself comfortably in his arms. Jackie giggled as Tommy stood, lifting her away from the ground. “I could get used to this.”
Tommy chuckled. “Where’s our exit, Jackie?”
“Just head in that direction.” She pointed a sparkling white mitt in their direction of travel.
As Swift gathered his little light, Aaron turned back around to look at the shadows of the large room. Something was there; the dwarf was sure of it, watching them just beyond the reach of his passive checks.
Something tapped the dwarf’s shoulder. Aaron spun around to see Swift, who made some hand gestures and pointed toward Tommy and Jackie.
“Yeah, yeah,” Aaron pushed the paranoia toward the back of his mind. “I’m coming.”
Together, they exited the quiet of Jackie’s safe place and returned to the living chaos of the city streets.