The moment I said that, the dwarf unceremoniously threw me over his shoulder, much like a bag of potatoes. I swallowed back a painful groan as most of my weight concentrated on my stomach and hip area, which was pressed against the man’s armor, in an extremely uncomfortable position.
One of his arms was hooked under my thighs, trying to balance me on the run. While I attempted to listen to the sounds of the beasts, it was much harder to achieve results in my current conditions. So much in fact that I couldn’t hear a thing as the noises we made easily overpowered the distant sounds of trampling feets.
I hissed, feeling frustrated from the dull pain coming from my abdomen, but didn’t complain.
We ran for another ten minutes, which I spent occasionally reminding the dwarf that I still didn’t hear any pursuers. They must have gone to the cave where I healed him, or were chasing a different prey altogether.
Eventually, we came to a stop, only when I assured him that I still didn’t hear anything, even in silence. Did he decide to put me down as he collapsed next to me.
I winced. Could practically feel the forming bruises on my abdomen. Grateful for my thick robe over the simple chemise under it, which dampened the contact. I wouldn’t wish to imagine how that experience might have gone without that extra layer of protection.
As we sat on the rock floor against the wall, listening to our heavy breathing, I realized that the earlier numbness I felt was almost gone. I could likely stand up and walk now, with some effort.
I turned my head and looked at the dwarf, who was clearly a lot more tired from that stunt than he wanted me to see. Thinking back to his earlier words, I realized that he wasn’t joking with the dangers lurking in this place. Not that I doubted him much, but experiencing the panic in his voice when I spoke about those noises was a very different thing.
I took a large breath of air and asked him when his breathing somewhat stabilized.
“What… what were those things exactly?”
The dwarf looked at me and shook his head.
“… How would… I know that, lass… from what you… told, I … wager… dire wolves, perhaps… wargs… leech hounds? … Could be something completely different… like goblins, any manner of darklings, even orcs… It doesn’t really matter. Neither of them was planning to pat you on the shoulder. If you were lucky, they would only eat you alive… if not… that… well, I think you get the gist of it…”
I shivered from the thought, and couldn’t help but stare into the dark corridor we came from. Being eaten alive didn’t sound lucky to my ears. I gulped down a mouthful of saliva as I connected the unspoken dots inside my head, adding that to me being a girl now… Lets just say my legs were pressed tighter together for the time being.
I kept sharpening my ears and praying that nothing had followed us here.
To my great relief, I still didn’t hear anything other than our own breathing and the occasional natural echo of the environment.
“I think we are safe here, at least for now…”
The dwarf shook his head, almost amused by my statement. A notion that didn’t give me the solace I secretly hoped for. I expected him to scold me again, but for some reason, he asked an unexpected question.
“How old are you… girl?” — The bearded man asked. The gesture took me off guard and out of habit, I answered with my previous body’s age.
“Seventy-two, why?”
The man looked at me, a spark of realization ignited in his dark brown eyes. Then he facepalmed and sneered, at the same time disgracefully.
I realized the mistake I had just made, and was steadily growing red in my face, expecting that he would call off my obvious bullshit at any moment. I did not look like a seventy years old for sure.
However, the dwarf was exasperated for a different reason.
One that made my eyebrows shoot up in surprise.
“I should have expected that!” — The dwarf grumbled in disbelief. He seemed almost ashamed… Was there a rosy tint appearing above that red beard of his? — “Of course I ended up with a long-eared girl-child saving my hairy ass, one that shouldn’t even be old enough to leave the forests, especially not alone! There is no doubt about it, since you are so ignorant of the dangers here! How the hell did you get to a closed off section of the deep roads, I cannot fathom!”
The man exclaimed, looking much older all of a sudden.
I was taken aback by his words. Staring at him, mystified.
I looked over my body with a complicated expression. Then asked, hesitatingly.
“Do… do I look like… a child to you?” — I was genuinely confused. I mean, my tits were small for sure, and I didn’t have that much womanly curve to my hips either... I wrote those off as elf characteristics.
The man snorted.
“It’s not what you look like! But what you are… do I have to spell it out, kid?”
I stared at him, completely clueless as to what he was speaking of, and it must have been written all over my face seeing how he reacted, scratching the back of his head in distaste. Eventually sighing and doing it, anyway.
“Stone, help me! Look, Selora right?” — I nodded. Signaling that he remembered my name correctly. — “Elfs don’t change much visually after reaching the age of sixty. Except in certain places…” — His gaze wandered to my chest and hips. Oh! I-I see… — “At least not until you get to the last sixty years of your lifespan when visual aging begins. Which, based on the type of elf you are, can range between five hundred to a few thousand years. However, what is common among all of you leaf chewing bas-… cough… I mean, your cousins is that no elf under the age of a hundred years will count as an adult. That’s common knowledge!”
As the dwarf-man finished his ramblings, I fell into a thoughtful state. A hundred years of being a kid? Seriously. Elven parents must be crazy, but well… maybe it’s the same for them… time is relative to our perception of it after all. And since their lifespan is equally larger…
Still, this discovery definitely puts me in a unique position. Who would have thought that I would be treated as a child with my actual age in this world? How amusing. But why a hundred years?
I decided to ask about it.
“Is there a reason why it’s a hundred years?”
The dwarf growled something nasty under his beard. This time, he was obviously embarrassed by my question.
“Ask your parents and stop pestering me with this!” — The man barked at me. I wanted to argue, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.
“Shut it! Focus on walking instead of flapping your tongue. We have a long road ahead. Since you seem to have so much energy to ask stupid questions, you might as well walk on your own… I hope you didn’t expect me to haul your arse all the way!”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
As I was pulled to my feet, quite forcefully, I had some trouble finding my balance and wobbled a bit, before the dwarf stabilized me with one of his hands grabbing my shoulder.
When it was clear that I wouldn’t fall over the moment he let go of me, he did so.
“You good?” — He asked grudgingly, and I nodded, probing my legs. They felt stiff, but walking should be fine.
“Thank the paragons for small mercies.” — The dwarf added turned on his heels and started to walk into the darkness. After a few steps, he stopped, looked over his shoulder and said in a low growl.
“Move!”
I hastily nodded, moved to his side, and tried my best to keep up with him, which was surprisingly difficult even with my longer legs, all thanks to the uneven terrain and the lingering numbness in my body.
The next half hour was spent in companionable silence. I was too focused on trying to not trip in the dim light my staff provided, while also having to keep up with the dwarf, who already slowed down for my sake.
Unfortunately, it was getting harder to do it, since I was still suffering some sort of mana exhaustion, and the fact that I still had to keep up the light didn’t help at all. I was way too reckless pulling of that healing magic earlier… I am not sure if all higher magic is that draining, or healing is an especially tiresome art.
I also realized, while browsing some of my memories, that I made a fundamental mistake in my assumption of how the healing touch spell worked.
I thought that the spell would use a fixed proportion of my mana and continue until it runs out, and then, if I am not satisfied, I will have to cast another one. It was not the case. The spell was one that continuously channeled power from my reserves until I canceled it or my reserves ran dry. At which point it will automatically cancel itself as my body’s self preservation functions kick in, closing off most of my mana emission.
That was exactly what happened. I figured that my body’s natural rate of gathering mana was higher than the rate the glow of my staff consumed it, otherwise it would also shut off completely.
Still, I could feel my power dribbling into the staff, as if it was leeching it away, causing a mild headache on the way. My concentration slipped, and I almost tripped on a protruding rock, only able to catch myself thanks to leaning on my staff.
I stopped. I needed rest, feeling the accumulated sweat on my forehead. I looked at the back of the dwarf and called out to him.
“Dwarf-sir… I think I need to rest. It’s getting hard to keep up the light, and walk at the same time.”
The man stopped, looking at my tired expression. He nodded, stepping to my side, hooking an arm around my hip, giving me the opportunity to lean on him. I didn’t object. However tired I was, being held like a princess again was still less desirable than this… Not even mentioning being carried like a bag of potatoes over his shoulder.
I didn’t want to think about the palm sized bruises on my stomach.
I winced as the dwarf's armored fingers accidentally brushed one of said bruises. I couldn’t help but ask him.
“How far do we have to go? And come to think about it… where are we even going?”
The man, noticing my pain, wordlessly repositioned his hold and said.
“The closest dwarven fortress is about four days of travel from here.” — I paled as the words took root in my head. A sense of despair churned in my guts as the man continued. — “But there is an outpost not far from here. It’s where I am stationed, along with others of my kind. We are heading there.”
I felt an immense sense of relief hearing those words. He was not done with the explanation, though.
“The reason behind the outpost is to attempt to reclaim this abandoned section of the deep roads. As you can see, our attempts were yet to bear fruit. Especially after being ambushed by a large group of hobgoblins half a day ago. I am unsure if others from my patrol managed to survive the attack. I have my doubts about that. But who knows? I survived alone and separated until you saved me. They had their chance as well.”
I listened to the man, feeling his muscled arm curled around my hip and feeling his unfaltering steps, even with my added weight.
“This didn’t feel like I was the one saving you…” — I mumbled, dispirited from the reality of the situation.
The man chuckled lightly next to me.
“Girl, you might not realize how close I actually was to kick the bucket for good… Don’t underestimate the help you gave me…”
I nodded, a sheepish smile coming to my face, along with a fluttering sensation in my stomach. It felt nice to be appreciated… Back in the hospital… well, let’s just say I almost forgot what it felt like to be useful, or even treated as a complete human being. If the powers Lord Axis granted to me could be used for good, and that seemed to be the case… Then this entire journey might not be as problematic as it sounded first. After all, it’s not like I would stand aside and watch without helping to begin with.
My ears twitched as we took a turn, entering into a smaller tunnel. We couldn’t have stood side by side without leaning on one another. As we moved through the suffocating darkness, I noticed something unexpected. There was a warm light blinking at the end of the tunnel.
I looked at the dwarf, catching his relieved expression in place of the usual stony one.
So that is the outpost he was speaking about.
While we got closer to the light, I could see a metal door appearing at the end of the tunnel. It blocked the way completely. A single torch was burning hooked above the doorframe. Giving the tight place a burnt, oily scent. The flames coming from the torch have discolored the ceiling directly above it with thick black soot. The sight was a testament to the age of the outpost, and a proof of how often said torch was changed down with another…
The dwarf let go of me and went ahead, hammering his fist against the door.
In the meantime, I leaned on my staff, closing my eyes, and willing the light to disperse entirely. As the last of the magical light disappeared, my pulsing headache almost immediately lessened in its torturous intensity.
I sighed, relief flooding my mind. Followed by a sense of drowsiness. I was sleepy, that much I realized. I would happily fall asleep if an even more threatening sensation wasn’t gnawing at my belly right now.
I was ravenous.
A metal part of the door slid aside, revealing another pair of similarly dark brown eyes as the dwarf’s… whose name I still didn’t know have.
The eyes widened in shock as they focused on my escort.
“Emrum! Is that truly you!?” — The words of the unknown dwarf were filled with genuine disbelief.
“It’s me… Tymur… Just open the door already. I would rather have this conversation inside…”
The shocked dwarf quickly nodded, not even noticing my presence, and began the complicated process of opening that ridiculous door, which was a lot thicker than I anticipated.
Its thickness was similar to that of bank vaults back on Earth. At first I thought it was an overkill, but looking closer and seeing the few centimeters deep claw traces scratched into the metal, I reevaluated my thoughts on the matter.
The door eventually opened, and I was rushed inside by Emrum… As I finally got to know his name.
The next thing I knew, I was standing in a much similar tunnel than the one I just left behind. Yet it was more taken care of. There were more torches on the walls, even a few braziers in the distance.
The temperature was a lot warmer too. Compared to this, the tunnel outside was freezing. A thing I didn’t even have the chance to feel bothered with, not until I realized how cold it was just now.
I stood in the comfortably warm corridor, another wave of drowsiness assaulting me as a result of the warmth.
Before I could think much else, a loud exclamation interrupted my thoughts.
“Emrum! Is that what I think it is?!”
My escort didn’t seem to react to the loud question, as if he was expecting the drama beforehand.
“You brought an elf into the outpost! The commander will throw a fit about this, I can tell already!”
“Oh shut it, Tymur… I owe her my life!”
The man seemed even more scandalized by this knowledge, his otherwise red cheeks becoming even redder.
“You must be joking with me… she looks like the one who needed to be saved…”
My ears drooped unconsciously… right… that was exactly what I was talking about.
However, Emrum showed a disapproving look at the other dwarf. Who clearly got the underlying meaning which was probably along the line of shut up.
We headed deeper into the outpost and in a minute or two; we went through another similar metal door. This had far less claw marks on it. Still enough to make me raise my eyebrows. The implication was that the first door was not enough to keep out all the threats lurking in the darkness.
I gulped and walked through the second door. Which led to a wider cavern, covered in simplistic decorations. A row of bunk beds on both sides of the hall, chairs and tables put into every nook and cranny to make the best use of the provided place.
A dozen dark brown eyes focused on me, most of them filled with surprise, suspicion or downright hostility at seeing my appearance. Then as the gazes wandered to Emrum, following me in a step most of those glares turned into relief, disbelief and confusion.
I stood, leaning on my staff, unsure of what to do in this situation. Emrum gave me a side look, then pointed at a chair next to a round table beside the door. I understood and nodded with a weak smile, sauntering over to the table and slumping down into the chair, closing my eyes in a heavy sigh, completely forgetting just about anything else the moment my bottom hit the stone chair covered in some unknown creature’s fur.
I hugged my staff, propping one of its ends against the bent behind my ankle, then the upper end. I leaned over the crook of my neck. With that, I dozed off. Not even noticing the shocked stares directed at me.
My hunger was forgotten as the warm temperature of the room whisked me away to a dreamless sleep.