“Is he dead?”
Josh, enjoying the view of this forbidden landscape from the Elf horse, adjusted the makeshift straps that kept Caleb from falling. We’d had to strap him to Josh about an hour ago when he slumped into unconsciousness. “Nah, he’s still just out of it.” Joshua pulled the corners of Caleb’s long, thick midnight cloak tightly and tucked them in between him and his passenger. “How long till we get to… You know… there?”
Looking around at the unfamiliar countryside didn’t help much. I knew how to get to the safe house by simply repeating a pattern of easy-to-follow landmarks, but I didn’t know how long it would take at the pace we were forced to go. We’d tried trotting, but Caleb couldn’t bear it.
“Is the horse a mistake?” Our ‘adventure’ was beginning to wear on Joshua.
“Can you carry his dead weight? ‘Cause I know I can’t.” Then inside I thought quietly, ‘bury it, yes, carry it, no!’
After nearly twenty-four hours without sleep, adrenaline depletion and constant fear, our constant companion, we were both tiring quickly. I would have liked to say, ‘Hey, we’re close, hang in there’… I didn’t. This ‘above world’ was hard enough to deal with without forgetting that elves could be anywhere. I fell back into the safety of silence as my father’s words washed over my mind. ‘Never tell anyone where you’re going or where you’ve been. Not unless you want your throat slit when you get there.’
Hell, when it came down to it, I didn’t even know if we’d make it to the safe house. The early morning wind ruffled the hem of my midnight cloak. I tried hard to ignore that it smelt of death. At least, I was alive and warm.
The air was shifting from cold to bitter, and that could only mean sunrise was imminent. Without the mantle of darkness, our ‘magnificent blood-stained’ cloaks were only good for keeping us warm… or wrapping our dead bodies in. They would no longer hide our presence from wandering elves, so best get to the safe house and hole up until nightfall.
I was impressed that the Elf’s chestnut mare was so quiet and willing to be led by me, a mere human. It made no sound or reaction when we were finally rewarded with a tree-shrouded view into the long, overgrown green valley floor below.
“Don’t tell me that’s your safe house.” Joshua couldn’t hide his disbelief when he spied the derelict burnt bones of ‘The Keep’.
“No, I’m not that stupid.”
The directions were mentally repeated in my father’s voice again and again. ‘Walk into the oak forest near the concrete bus stop. Up the hill, but stick to the trees. Edge below the ridge line. See The Keep – you can always bolt for that if you need to. Keep the big grey boulder with the tree growing out of it to your right. At the boulder, turn due south. Keep the overgrown road to your right. Check if anyone’s been on it - if they have, turn around. If not, you’ll find Willow Circle, and you can hole up there for as long as you like.”
Relief flooded over Josh’s tired face. “Thank goodness for that, I suddenly had an awful thought that all the rumours about your dad were true.” His deep, tension-filled breath was released cheerfully whilst it ignited a fire of resentment in my gut.
I’d heard the rumours.
“What rumours, Josh? The ones about you shutting the hell up and not making so much frigg’n noise? Or are you talking about the rumours my Dad went insane out here?” I stopped the horse and stared up at his wide-eyed face. “If you're worried, I can just leave you with your throat-slitting friend here and follow my mad Dad’s advice on my own.”
His stuttered apology was despicable. “I, I, I’m very sorry, Sam. It, it was thoughtless of me.”
“Do me a favour,” Joshua closed his fat face and blushed deep red, “shut the fuck up!”
I had lived with those rumours, and they had been whispered within earshot after Dad left us. ‘Running had finally killed him. Being outside so long had destroyed his nerves, and he couldn’t cope with what he’d seen or worse… done. He never returned from his last run, and after all he did for everyone, the only way we were paid was in rumours.’
I’d heard them all. And no one truly knew. Not me, not Mum. No one. Yes, he was depressed, who isn’t? Yes, he was fearful, who isn’t? Yes, he was paranoid… again, who the hell isn’t? He didn’t trust anyone and was cutting off his friends. He only wanted to run by himself when no one else went out. But he was good at it. He knew what he was doing. And then... Mum and I fell quickly into the higher levels of the mine, right up to the point where I had no other choice.
I had to run.
After stewing in my dark mood for a while and battling the internal struggle to either hang on to Josh or drop the horses’ reins and hide until the rich rat and his bleeding friend were horribly lost, the morning rays of sunshine turned the frosty world a warm golden hue.
It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
Sunlight.
I’d forgotten… but now, standing here watching a glittering world appear, I remembered the Sun’s kiss on my skin when I was little. I remembered warm breezes caressing my face.
“It’s so beautiful, Sam!”
“Yes.”
And there, just below the rising sun, a ring of mature Willows with a manor house in the middle.
We were safe… for now.
It was, as they used to say, a house built in the ‘once upon a time’ before the Sleep. The red-brick and white-windowed house stood expectantly, waiting for its owners to turn up and weed the garden, open the doors, stoke the fires and have a hearty breakfast.
They never did.
“Would you look at all that!” Josh was impressed.
“Yeah, better than underground.” Then I thought, ‘But maybe not as safe.’ The wind picked up and blew a flurry of snow at us. “Come on, the stables are around the back.”
As I opened a big, heavy iron farm gate and walked the horse through, it seemed the circle of willows and the surrounding iron fencing had held, not only that, but the willows had also flourished. The branches of each tree intertwine with the other, adding a second row of defence.
I don’t know why Elves don’t like Willows, but they won’t go anywhere near them, so they’re planted everywhere by runners in the hopes that one day the tree might serve as a place to hide.
As an overhanging branch brushed his and Caleb’s shoulders, Josh looked around and took in the view. “How long did it take your… Dad?” was asked quietly.
“He helped build this place before the Sleep. Then we spent three years surviving out here before Mum and he found the camp. He looked after it when he ran.”
The tall wooden stable door opened smoothly, with dark wheel grease still evident on the floor tracks. It seemed that a lot of thought had been put into not making noise.
“Why did they leave?”
“Because iron and Willow keep away Elves but not other people.”
Josh nodded. The horror of our lives brought out the worst in some people. In the early days, it was said that if the Elves didn’t get you, then a hungry neighbour would. But now… well, let’s say the Elves had done a pretty good job at picking people off.
Caleb was carefully slid down from the horse and placed on the ground. “Josh, go look in the room over there with all the saddles and tack, see if there’s any sealed buckets with horse food in them.
It didn’t take long to get the Elf saddle off, nor the long bow and saddle bags, which I’d investigate further once we were in the safety of the house.
The longbow was a beautiful piece of equipment. Not that I knew much about them, but I could feel the balance in my hand. And from that… a dreadful plan for the long bow and how we were going to get the arrow out of Caleb blossomed. Both the bow and plan were laid down carefully for the time being; we had other things to do first.
Thankfully, the well pump still worked, once again to Dad's love of grease. I was able to pump up a couple of buckets full of clean water and put them in the horses' trough.
“Will these do?” Josh held a large white bucket filled with green pellets.
“Yeah, they will be once I add a bit of water.”
As I busied myself with another stock bucket and began rehydrating the horse’s food, Josh checked Caleb out. “How are we going to get this arrow out without killing him?”
“Carefully.”
“Obviously, Sam. But how?”
Sighing, I sat on my haunches and watched the old, dried pellets swell under the effects of a bit of water. “You’re not going to like it, but I’d rather be in the house before we do anything. I need to look around for a few things, let’s put your unconscious friend in that wheelbarrow, and you can haul him over.”
Josh wasn’t happy, but I didn’t really care. The horse would be valuable to us, regardless of whether Caleb lived or not. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if the animal were discovered, but if I could get it back and into the mine, I could sell it for a pretty price. Frankly, I think the horse was content in the barn out of the wind and filling its stomach up with nice food, so I didn’t see it making too much noise. If nothing else, Elves were good at training horses.
We, on the other hand, had empty stomachs and an arrow to get out.
The barn had an internal hallway that led directly into a small room inside the house. From there, we entered a spacious kitchen that held a large cooker with dry wood stacked beside it. Good old Dad.
On another wall was a huge silver cooker, which was as clean as the day it was made.
Light poured in onto a large, clean, and dark wooden kitchen table, and all the white cupboards and floor were spotless.
It was amazing.
Suddenly, I felt completely exposed and desperate to feel the safety of being underground, even if it was dingy, dark and dirty.
“Come on, let’s find somewhere to put him where we won’t contaminate any food.
Joshua followed me faithfully down a small, cobbled corridor and into a large room that now held a huge iron cage right smack in the middle. Inside was a bed with stocks of food and containers all placed at least an arm's length from the cage’s walls. And a pretty floral sofa. I could feel Dad laughing, ‘Every room needs a touch of pretty in it.”
“In here, Josh, we’ll be safe if any Elves come knocking.”
“How did this get here?” He was in awe, and I guess… I was, too.
“When the Sleep happened, Dad scrounged metal and brought it all here and set up a forge in the cellar. I don’t remember there being any sound, but I do remember the heat. He made the cage, the railings, the fence, the bars on the inside of the windows, and the iron flat plates on the doors and ceilings. Mum scraped iron filings into paint cans and painted the outside and then the inside of the whole house.”
“Wow.”
“This place was how he survived out here for so long.”
“So much Iron!” Josh looked around in awe.
A spark of pride glowed hot. Not bad for an insane father. “Come on, we need to get that arrow out. Search these boxes and let’s see if there are any medical supplies.”
We hunted for a few minutes before Josh found a big plastic cooler filled to the brim with medicine. “Look for anything with a penicillin, azithromycin, clindamycin or cephalexin label on it. Those are broad-spectrum and should do the job.”
As he did that, I tied a piece of thin cord onto the end of one arrow.
“Found some. Why are you doing that?”
“Because this is how we’re going to get the arrow out.”
“What?
Sighing, I knew I’d have to explain it to him because he was going to have to be the one to shoot the arrow whilst I held Caleb’s leg still. “Josh. Neither you nor I have the strength to pull it out without causing more damage. We can’t leave it in because the infection has already begun.” I pulled out the pair of parrot beak metal shears from under Caleb’s bed and quickly cut the feathered end of the arrow as close to his leg flesh as I dared. Then I began tying the other end of the cord around the metal arrowhead’s shaft. “We’re just lucky it came out the other side because getting those barbs back out the way it came would be really tricky.”
I handed the arrow and bow to Josh, who took on a new shade of green.
“You can aim at that wall. The arrow in his leg will slow it down so it won’t go through anything, but we need a fair amount of force behind it, so pull back hard.”
Josh cocked the arrow, then paused, “Are you sure this is how you do it?”
“Well, if it doesn’t work, we’re going to have to cut it out.”
Josh turned to the wall and pulled the bowstring and arrow back as far as he could. I pushed down on Caleb’s leg with cloth and padding, which made him groan loudly. And before he could think twice about what he was doing, Josh let the arrow go.
Caleb’s scream drowned out all other sounds and rattled around my brain before he passed out. The arrow, though, was out! The exit and entrance wounds were clumsily sewn together whilst Josh helped to stem the blood. Finally, we wrapped his leg with padding and a gauze, then injected him with a vial of antibiotics.
“Do you think he’ll live?”
Looking at Caleb, I felt frightened that he might kill us all by making us stay too long above ground. “I don’t know. He could still bleed out. We’re going to have to get him to drink some water and eat as soon as we can. I guess we should inject him with the antibiotics in 12 hours and just hope for the best.”
“It’s more than he would have done for us.” Josh sat quietly on the lounge as a dark shadow clouded his features. “He would have slaughtered us both out there, and yet we’ve saved him. Who’s the fool?”
“He could have given us away at the willow.” It was the only thing I could think of saying, and when I looked at Josh, he was fast asleep.
“Good idea!”
I locked the cage with the big, heavy padlock and took the key out, wrapping it tightly in my hand. The lounge looked cosy and lived up to its promise. Sleep washed over me the instant my head rested on the lounge’s floral pattern.
Sunshine streamed over my fingers as I held a doll in my little hand. In the distance, my mother and father stood smiling at me with the house behind them. I called out, excited to see them both looking so beautiful in the daylight.
And then the earth shook from under my feet, and my mother and father screamed like banshees as they ran toward me.
“Wake up!” was hissed into my ear.
“What?”
“Shhh.” Joshua held up the whiteboard, and I read one word, which sent dread pounding through my veins. ‘Elves.’
The warm afternoon sun poured through the room’s dusty windowpanes, but thankfully, we were on the second floor, so no one could look through and see us. The whiteboard was grabbed, and in a shaking hand, I wrote “Where?”
Josh moved slowly and quietly as we crawled through the open cage door and up to the nearest window.
The whiteboard read ‘Just past the gate.’
I slowly raised my head to the corner of the window, making sure to stay behind the lace curtain, and looked. I may have been fascinated by one Elf, but seeing four on horseback filled me with dread.
They were, it seemed, arguing.
One big fella was pointing to the house while the other three shook their heads. Finally, after trying to argue his companions into submission, in disgust, the big fella handed his reins to one of his friends and dismounted, pulling out the biggest black knife I’d ever seen.
“Oh shit.”
“Is he coming?” was whispered frantically back to my slip.
“Yep!”
“Oh shit.” Was Josh’s only response.
We both watched as the Elf slowly moved cautiously between two willow trees, being very careful not to touch a single leaf or branch. He turned and sneered at his watching companions.
“I wouldn’t come any closer if I were you, fella.”
“Why?”
“The iron messes with their heads. They have an amazing sense of direction, a bit like a pigeon. But shove them in a circle of iron, and it screws with their ability to think straight.”
“I thought it was just an old wives’ tale.”
“Not when you're crazy like my Dad and dig steel pegs in the ground, that you’ve magnetised.”
Josh turned another shade of red.
The big elf walked bravely forward and then slowed until he stood still and shook his head. His companions called for him to turn around and come back to them. The magnetic iron must have had a pretty good effect on him because he seemed to think listening to his friends was now a pretty good idea.
We watched as he turned and took a couple of staggering steps. He would have made it, too, if he hadn’t fallen onto one of the big willow trees’ branches as he tried to walk past.
Josh and I bobbed down as his screaming matched that of Caleb’s. Slowly, we macabrely rose back to the window and watched goggle-eyed as the Elf’s exposed skin blistered and peeled away. His screaming ricocheted right into the depths of our room as his companions yelled at him to come to them.
The skin from his hands, where he’d grabbed the branch by accident, was now degloving, leaving his fingers red-fleshed and bleeding.
“Holy shit!” Josh was open-mouthed in shock.
“I didn’t know that was going to happen.” I would have guessed I looked as shocked as Josh.
The three remaining elves screamed, yelled and cried as their companion turned and began staggering in the wrong direction. When he fell to the ground convulsing, they fell to their knees outside the circle, and I almost felt sorry for them. Almost, but not quite. I’d heard screams like that from people who’d watched their loved ones tortured to death by elves, so… payback, I guess, is a bitch.
Josh held the whiteboard up again, asking, “Are we safe?”
Mouthing the word “No!” was my only response.
Quietly, we left the window and crawled back to the cage, checking on Caleb. His temperature seemed okay, so maybe the old antibiotics still had a bit of a kick left in them.
Just as I’d drawn up another injection of antibiotics, a sound came from down the narrow corridor from the kitchen. It wasn’t something we could brush off as the wind or a rat because it was a mumbled elvish word. Terror sent my heart racing.
All the colour drained from Josh’s face, and I’m sure mine probably matched. With our knives drawn, we crawled back to the window. Two of the elves were helping the other, distraught companion onto his horse as their companion lay dead on the ground within the metal circle.
They were all accounted for, so who the hell was downstairs?
Slowly, we crawled to the staircase corridor and looked down it to the kitchen, where a boot could easily be seen. An Elven boot.
More Elvish was spoken. I didn’t know what it meant, and by Josh’s shrugging shoulders, neither did he.
The voice from the kitchen began mumbling and fading, then an English word was whispered. A cold chill shot up my spine, sending goosebumps shivering over my entire body.
And there, to ensure no doubt, it was again.
“Samantha.”
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