The Useless Degree | Page 38

come here, Faye?”

Faye looked up at him, the fairies moving out of her line of sight. “I’m as much an elf as you are,” she said.

“No, you’re human, despite what you believe,” the other one said, also removing his hood to reveal his red hair and elf ears.

The bartender approached the elves, bringing with him two mugs filled with brown brewery. “Here are your usual drinks sirs,” he said, handing them to the two elves. The bartender turned to Faye and asked,” How about you, miss? Would you like something?”

“She’s not to stay,” the greenhead said.

Ignoring him, Faye asked, “How’s the water?”

“It’s normal right now,” the bartender responded.

“Then I’ll take a mug full.” The bartender left and Faye, who had been sitting on the floor with her back leaning against the wall, now stood up to come two full heads short of her elven friends.

“You’re not staying, Faye,” the greenhead said.

“I should be part of these meetings, Dorek,” Faye said.

“You’re not an elf!”

“Well, I should be!” Faye shouted.

“At any rate, you’re too young,” the redhead said.

“But Locke, I belong with this secret society of elves,” Faye said.

“Shh!” Locke whispered harshly. “You’ll ruin everything!” He looked around to see if anyone had heard, but none one seemed to pay any attention.

“Sorry,” Faye apologized. The bartender had returned with Faye’s drink and handed it to her. She looked within the mug, the murky water swirling with brown unknowns. She drank it with eagerness and took a seat at the nearby table.

By now, other elves had arrived in similar fashion, both male and female. The youngest was sixteen, who said, “Glad to see you here again, Faye.”

“She was just leaving,” Dorek said.

“Oh, let her stay,” a female said. “She’s good company.”

“Very well,” Locke said, quieting everyone. “Let’s get down to business.” All those present took seats at the large table, ready to hear the news. Locke put his hands together and continued, “Vincent has been getting bolder. His raids are getting ever worse, and it’s starting to raise some deep concern with many I have spoken to.”

“Why don’t we just fight back?” Faye spoke.

“You’d fight against your own kind?” someone asked. “That’s no better than treason.”

“My kind abandoned me,” Faye said. “I have no respect for them anymore.”

“We are not fighting back,” Dorek said angrily, “because there are too few of us. It would be suicide.”

“Better to stay hidden and safe,” Locke added, “than captured and dead.”

“You’re not one of us anyway,” Dorek said with annoyance. “We could just as easily assume you were a spy.”

“I’m no spy!” Faye shouted, storming out of the pub. She slammed the mahogany door, which cracked more, and leaned against it, anger brewing in her mind, body, and spirit. Her fairies tried to comfort her, but Faye’s angry aura would not be subsided.

Suddenly, she heard a great deal of commotion coming from a nearby building, including shouting and glass breaking. Rushing to it, she saw a boy being dragged forcefully out by a group of armed humans, his hands clawing at anything to keep control. One hand had grabbed the doorframe and held on strong, but the hunters would not be denied, for one stomped on his wrist, bones cracking as his hand let go.

“Help me!” the boy screamed, clawing at the dirt.

Faye took a step forward. “Stay out of this, little girl, if you know what’s good for you,” one of the hunters commanded. She was about to, but then caught sight of the boy’s ears, pointed to a tip, and she knew she could not allow this to happen.

“Sky, Sora and Amon, attack!” she commanded of her fairies, who darted towards the armed men, beams of light shooting out in fantastical patterns, killing them. As her fairies killed the last one, Faye rushed forward to help the young boy to his feet. His arm was broken and he was cut up, but he was grateful.

“Thank you!” he said, hugging her.

“Who are you?” Faye asked.

“My name’s Ven,” the boy said.

“Faye. Now let’s get out of here before more hunters…” her sentence trailed off, for suddenly she was paralyzed, a dart in her back. She tried to reach for it, but her legs gave way and she crashed to the ground.

Faye looked down the road to see a figure wielding a crossbow standing there. He had long hair, a dark complexion and wore a cloak covering his armor. He lowered his crossbow then as more hunters arrived to take Ven violently away. This was the last thing Faye saw before she blacked out.

“They’ve taken him!” Faye shouted, throwing open the pub door violently. All present stared at her with confusion, many standing up in shocked alarm.

“Who?” Locke, the first to respond, asked.

“Ven! They’ve taken Ven!”

“Who is Ven and who took him?” Locke asked calmly.

“Ven is an elf I just met and the hunters took him away!” Faye said, near hysteria now.

“Do you have proof?” Dorek asked, and Faye pulled the dart out from her back and held it up for the now approaching Locke to examine.

“It’s a dart from Vincent himself,” he announced to his fellow elves. There were gasps of shock. “It seems Vincent captured this one personally.”

“Then he’s as good as dead,” Dorek finalized.

“We have to help him!” Faye said determinedly.

“I told you before,” Dorek said, “its suicide.”

“I’m sorry Faye, but this Ven is gone,” a female said.

“You’re all bloody cowards!” Faye shouted, storming out again, the door closing roughly. Faye allowed some time to pass while her anger decreased. “How do I find Ven?” she asked her fairies with unintentional harshness.

“Everyone knows where to find Vincent,” Sky said. “All you have to do is ask.”

“Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear,” a passerby said, coming close to Faye. “You’re looking for Vincent?”

“Yeah, you know how to find him?” Faye asked.

“It’s quite simple really. Pretend you are an elf and he will come running.”

“Thank you,” Faye bowed, rushing away from the pub.

“What’s your plan?” Amon asked, buzzing quickly to keep up.

“No idea,” Faye admitted, entering the building she had previously seen Ven being dragged out of.

Inside was a ransacked mess. Furniture had been knocked over and dirt had been tracked all over the worn rug. The home was fairly decorated despite the poverty of the immediate area. A picture had overturned and Faye picked it up gingerly. On it were two adults with their ears hidden from view and a young child that must have been a younger Ven.

Meanwhile, the passerby who had just spoken to Faye ran up to a guard and shouted to him, saying,” Guard! I just saw an elf run into that house!” The guard looked to where the man was pointing and gave signal to his fellow guardsmen. He was about to leave when the passerby said, “Wait! What about my reward?” The guard handed him a sack of gold. When the guards had gotten out of earshot, the man said almost in prayer, “Good luck, kid,” and turned to leave the scene.

Suddenly, Ven’s house was swarmed with hunters who grabbed roughly at Faye, with malice and without mercy. She struggled to break free of their clutches, tearing at the carpet and grabbing the couch. She was pinned in place on the rug, her hands and feet tied, a blindfold placed over her eyes, and then, like a pig, she was led out of the house and onto a transport, awaiting slaughter. She started to kick and scream, so someone smacked the back of her neck, knocking her out cold.

“Look at her ears,” a gruff voice said. “They’re not pointy.”

“She’s not an elf?” another said, surprised.

“Correct sir,” the first voice said.

“Go get Vincent then, he’ll deal with her.”

“Yes, sir.”

The one who had spoken second had now gotten close to her and said in her ear, “Vincent will fix you up good!” Then for a while, there was only silence, in which Faye contemplated the voice’s meaning to “fix you up.” Then, she heard the soft patter of boots hitting cold stone flooring, the sound echoing through what sounded like a tunnel.

“It seems you have a desire to meet me,” a deep voice said. Her blindfold was removed, and she saw the man who had shot her earlier standing now in front of her. She struggled to break free of the chains that bound her in place, but could not. “Why do you cause trouble for me? Do you not think my day is long enough without pretending to be an elf in an effort to annoy me?”

“Release my friend!” Faye screamed at him.

“Ah, you must be talking about that young elf boy I captured earlier. I see; it makes sense now why you behave the way you do. I was just about to kill him, but this will make things more interesting.”

“What do you mean?” Faye asked worriedly.

“A choice, my fair maiden. You can leave now and forget about this elf whelp you seemed to have formed an attraction to, or you can die a most horrid death by his side. I give you this choice only because you are human and I have little desire to kill someone from my own race who is as young as you.”

“And I’ll give you this choice,” Faye said boldly. “Release Ven or suffer the consequences.”

“Big words coming from someone so small. Very well then, you have chosen death.”

Vincent released her from the chains and grabbed her wrist tightly, leading her through the stone hallway. Soon she was led into another chamber that held multiple metal cages suspended from the ceiling. Many of them contained bony remnants, the remains of countless elves. However, in one, an elf boy was still alive and he was crying out for help.

It was to this cage that Faye was thrown into. Ven hugged her and asked, “How are we going to get out of here?”

“I don’t know, I’m still working on that,” Faye confessed.

Vincent had climbed onto a platform where he sat down on a furnished seat, ready to watch the event proceed. Someone brought to him the cleanest water Faye had ever seen, and he drank slowly from it. “Release Krayto,” he commanded.

Suddenly, a giant door was opening and from it, a great dragon burst forth. Immediately it started spewing fire in every direction but towards Vincent’s podium. Bursts of fire rocketed past the cage, heating up the metal and singeing their hair.

The dragon jumped onto the cage, thrusting its long maw through the bars, attempting to bite them. Ven pressed as hard as he could back against the other side, the dragon’s teeth scrapping his chest, blood seeping out from wounds and staining his shirt a dark red.

“Excellent, now for the kill,” Vincent commanded. Faye struck out with her fists as the dragon snapped at Ven’s outstretched hand, gorging at its eyes. The dragon pulled back out of the cage, howling in pain, then forced its jaws further in, this time going for Faye. She dove for the hard floor, the dragon’s teeth tearing at her back. Ven struck at the dragon, but its angry snap sent him falling back against the cage.

Metal creaked and suddenly, the cage was falling, sending human, elf and dragon crashing into the rocky passageway. Surprisingly, the cage landed on its base, but it knocked the dragon loose, and it circled around, getting ready for another strike at the cage.

“Kill them!” Vincent shouted.

“He’s controlling the dragon,” Ven noticed.

“What? How?”

“See that insignia on its neck? As long as it’s there, the dragon is a slave.” Faye dove out of the way as a wall of fire suddenly shot towards her, and then got an idea. “You still with me, you three?” she asked, and from the folds of her clothes the three fairies appeared.

“Yes!” they said together.

“I need you to do a favor for me, attack the dragon’s insignia.” Instantaneously, the three flew from the cage and, dodging flying flames, sent forth a beam of light that shattered the magical attachment. The dragon paused for a moment, turned towards the platform, and then roared, fire discharging at Vincent’s guards before they could react. Vincent reached for his crossbow, firing at the dragon in rapid succession, bolts hitting it on its neck, body and wing. Despite this, it continued, landing on the platform, the dragon’s weight breaking the platform into pieces.

“No!” Vincent shouted as the dragon turned its head to face him, eating him in one bite. Then, it crashed into a wall, piercing through it and soaring free into the sky.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Faye commented.

“Yes, but how are we going to get out of this cage?” Ven asked.

“Leave that to me. Sora, if you will,” Faye commanded. One of the fairies stuck their small hand into the cage lock, shook it around for a while, and the door lifted free.

The two scrambled out and exited through the dragon sized hole in the wall. Outside, Locke was waiting for them, as were many of the other elves. They were all dressed in full armor regalia. “Well done, little one,” he said to Faye.

“I thought you weren’t going to fight,” Faye said. “Yet here you are all dressed up for battle.

“For some crazy reason,” Dorek said. “We decided that you were right, Faye. We should stand up and fight for what is right.”

“Prince Llewellyn,” Locke addressed Ven.

“What?” Faye shouted, surprised. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“I thought you wouldn’t be my friend if I did,” Ven said. He straightened up to appear taller and more in control. “My people, I regret to inform you that the King and Queen, my beloved parents, are dead, killed by Vincent himself. But now, thanks to Miss Faye’s quick wit and determination, the tables have been turned, for I am still alive, which means the ancient Elvin bloodline still thrives. I may be young, but with some guidance, I am sure I can lead us from these dark slums and into happiness once again.”

There was a lot of cheering, but Ven, Prince Llewellyn, quieted them, continuing with, “With Vincent dead, we have lost our primary enemy. Now we can finally make peace with our fellow humans.”

He turned to look at Faye and speaking in a softer voice said, “Faye, if you are willing, I would like you to be our emissary to show your fellow humans that we are an equal race and capable of being great friends and allies. With you, they will see that this is true. So, what’s your answer?”

“I’ll do it,” Faye responded.

Elves cheered and Locke approached Faye, saying, “My wife and I have long been discussing something, Faye, and we have come to the agreement that you need good strong parents to look up to and you don’t have any. Therefore, I would like to adopt you and become your father; my wife will be your mother.”

“Thank you, Father,” Faye said, very pleased. Locke placed an arm around his new daughter and led her away from the mumble jumble of the present politics.

“Wait!” Ven shouted, chasing after them. Faye turned around to face him and he placed a and on each side of her face, leaning in for a long kiss.

They would live happily ever after.

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