Alice opened her eyes and saw what they had landed on. It was a giant eagle. “Oh my goodness,” she said to herself.
“Peter?” she shouted over the wind, and he looked behind him to smile at Alice.
“This was your escape plan?” she asked Peter.
“Yeah!”
Alice laughed with him, lightly punching him in the shoulder. Peter winced. “Ribs, remember?”
“Oh, sorry.”
They flew for awhile until they found an abandoned barn to stay the night.
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In the morning, Alice felt like something wasn’t right.
She went outside to gather some food, hoping to find some wild strawberries. Alice had learned that some things were poisonous, but Skylar had taught Alice how to identify the safe to eat from the not safe to eat.
Alice heard a twig snap and suddenly felt like she was being watched. Could the Dueglesteiners have found them?
“...Peter?” Alice called out to where Peter was patting Ajax the eagle’s beak, calling him a good boy.
“Yeah?”
Alice didn’t feel safe with her back to the woods, but she felt like she couldn’t walk over to Peter without something bad happening to her.
“Can you…come over here for a second?” she asked, feeling her voice shake. Maybe it was nothing, but the hair on the back of her neck was standing up.
“Sure,” Peter called back and began to walk over to Alice when she felt a blade pressed against her throat.
Peter’s face contorted in surprise, and he held his hands up, ready for a fight.
“I vouldn’t do zat if I vere you,” said the person who was holding Alice hostage, their accent thick and making them hard to understand.
A dozen figures jumped down from the trees, landing around Peter and Alice. They were women in white and light blue outfits, aiming bows and arrows at them and holding their swords at the ready.
One began to speak to the one holding Alice in a different language, and it sounded like they were arguing. But eventually the one holding Alice won the argument, and they began to walk away from the abandoned barn.
“Where are you taking us?” Alice asked as the one holding Alice released her. Alice turned around to see her and gasped. She was as pale as snow with white hair and icy blue eyes. But what surprised Alice the most was the pointy ears that stuck out of her white hair. “Elves,” Alice whispered in surprise, and the elf frowned at her, pulling down the cloth that had been covering her face. “It’s actually pronounced elfes, zank you. You humans just mess up ze pronunciations of ze ancient species vith your own rendition of it.”
“I, uh…” Alice didn’t mean to offend this elfe. Afterall, the rest of Iddenu saw Thuron as lower in status despite being the richest country in the world. It was all because they were pacifists, seen as “push-overs” and “peacers” and nothing more.
“It’s fine,” the elfe reassured, leading Alice with the convoy of the other elfes, “You humans have been through so many generations you cannot remember ze true pronunciation.”
“But…I thought the elv-the elfes were extinct. Long ago.” If Alice remembered her history studies right, it stated that the elves had died out hundreds of years before in a civil war.
“Zat is vat ve vanted you to believe. Ve elfes have lived in peace ever since our famed extinction.” The elfe looked at her with a smile, and Peter began to catch up with them.
“Who are you?” Peter asked.
The elfe adjusted a silver circlet braided in her hair and answered, “My name is Adalene Raine Aubrey Maelie Diana, and I am ze Queen of ze Elfes.” Queen Adalene smiled at them, and that was when Alice realized how old she looked. She looked just about the same age as Alice and Peter, right about twelve.
“How are you a queen?” Alice questioned, “I don’t mean to be rude, but you seem about the same age as us.”
Queen Adalene now frowned a little and changed the subject. “Zat is not important right now. Ze real question is who are you, and vat are you doing in my kingdom?”
Alice and Peter exchanged a look, thinking whether or not they should tell Adalene what they’d just escaped from.
Peter nodded, but Alice wasn’t sure about the elfe. Who knows if she was working for the Dueglesteiners and might give away their location?
“We are on a quest and the Dueglesteiners are after us,” Peter said quickly, giving a short summary of everything that had happened in the last few days.
Adalene frowned, thinking it over. “So you two are part of ze chosen six…” she mused, “Ze Dueglesteiners are part of ze reason our numbers are limited now, and I vould love nothing more zan to end zis conflict.”
Alice was glad that Adalene seemed to be on their side, especially since Adalene was the queen.
They walked a little further until they saw the elfes in front of them disappearing after a certain point.
“What the-” Peter started.
Adalene smiled at them, saying, “Follow me, I vill show you how ve have stayed in hiding all zese years.”
Adalene led them onward, and they walked through some sort of field, finding themselves in front of a giant tree. 203Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGnQDQtf1O
“Ajabu,” Alice breathed, saying ‘amazing’ in Thuron.
“Yes, it is quite amazing,” Adalene agreed.
“You speak Thuron?” Alice was surprised that Adalene would learn her language.
Adalene laughed a little at that, saying, “Yes, I know many languages. I know elfeish, Bellonese, Dueglesteinish, Hilgarian, and many other lesser-known languages.”
Alice was impressed. It took her most of her early life to learn both Thuron and the common language, not to mention at least three more languages on top of that.
They walked to a giant gate at the front of the tree and walked inside. Alice thought it looked even bigger on the inside than it did on the outside.
It was an entire city. There were houses and apartments cut into the walls, shops buzzing with vendors selling a variety of items, and even a bank and hotel. Adalene led them to a spare room with two beds and said that’d be where they’d stay.
“My second in command, Fae, vill help you vith anything you need. Now, I must discuss something vith my council. I vill send Fae to take care of you and bring you to me ven the time has come.”
Adalene then left the room, leaving Alice and Peter by themselves...
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