Chapter 2 #2
The Wood Elf’s smile was genuine. She swung her gaze to the corner.
Yasmin followed and watched as the shadows parted to reveal the elf.
He wore all black. His coat was long and cut into six thick stripes at the bottom.
The shoulders had armor plating. He had long, white hair with silver metal around certain locks.
Yellow eyes met hers and seemed to see right through her.
The gray skin of his face was marred by several scars.
One ran from the inside corner of his left eye and cut diagonally down the cheek to his jaw.
Another dissected his mouth at an angle, right to left.
A third ran from his left temple to his left brow, across his nose, and along the right cheek.
Behind her, she heard a soft curse. Yasmin held the Dark Elf’s gaze, even when she wanted to look away. Dark Elves showed no mercy. Their brutality was legendary. Only a rare few showed themselves aboveground. The rest preferred their underground homes.
“I am not,” the Dark stated.
Yasmin backed up until the wall was behind her.
She wanted out of the room and to get as far away from the elves as she could.
She’d had the chance once, and instead of getting away, she had shared her bread.
Now, she was in a predicament she never thought to find herself in.
Both would achieve the same result—her death.
“Perhaps an incentive is in order,” the Dark said.
A muscle in the Sun Elf’s jaw jumped. Yasmin looked at the table and the medicine. Such a small bottle, the glass so thin it amazed her the liquid stayed confined. Within the constraints of the glass was an elixir with the ability to heal.
The Wood Elf stepped back, allowing the Dark to speak. She caught the furious look on the Sun Elf’s face and the Dark’s answering smirk. There was something between the two. If Yasmin thought she could use it, she would do it in an instant.
The Dark walked to the table and looked at the food.
He began returning each item to the bag.
Until he came to the medicine. He palmed it, pretending to put it with everything else.
Yasmin’s heart skipped a beat. He was up to something, and whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
She watched him carefully, waiting until his eyes met hers.
She hadn’t dealt with a Dark Elf before, but their reputation preceded them.
“You’re in a unique position,” the Dark said as he set her bag aside. “You have information we require.”
“Then I’ll draw you a map.”
He grinned. “It isn’t that easy, and you know it. We can get to the stronghold. It’s getting in that is proving problematic.”
“If you know Shaldorn as you say you do, then you know you ask the impossible,” she retorted.
He released a slow breath and came around the table. “Will it be difficult? Dangerous, even? Without a doubt. Impossible? Nay.”
Yasmin glanced at the Wood Elf. Her gaze then moved over the three bullies who had dragged her into the room, stopping at the Sun Elf. He had backed up, but he hadn’t returned to his position in the corner. He stood with his arms crossed and feet wide as if waiting for her to do something reckless.
He wasn’t wrong.
“You don’t understand,” she said, sliding her gaze back to the Dark. “None of you do.”
The female shrugged. “You’re right. We don’t. And it doesn’t matter. The fact is, we have to get inside. You have a choice. The cells, or a trip to Shaldorn.”
A place she swore never to return to. She knew what went on behind those high walls. The misery, the pain, the horror. She had lived it, breathed it. She had barely gotten out last time. There was no way she could return. She would take the cell. She could do it. Prison was better than Shaldorn.
The Dark moved his arm. As he did, he flashed the bottle in his hand. “What would you do for a life?”
She met his gaze, her hatred for elves growing to new heights.
The Dark raised a brow, waiting. He knew the vial contained medicine. His threat was clear. Help them, and he would get the treatment where it needed to go. Refuse, and she would be locked away, the bottle destroyed.
Yasmin wanted to scream at the gods for putting her into such a predicament, but it wouldn’t do any good. The only one who could save her was herself. That was how it had always been, and it was how it would always be.
She had stolen and saved to scrape up enough coin to buy the medicine. Little Jaya was counting on her. All the children were. She had promised to always be there for them. She couldn’t turn her back on them now. Even if it meant going back to Shaldorn.
If she survived this…nay, when…she would get as far from Shecrish and the elves as she could. It didn’t matter what she might run into somewhere else on Zora. Anything was better than elves.
Yasmin turned her head to the Wood Elf. “Take the bag where I need it to go, and I’ll do what you ask.”
“Give us the location,” she replied.
The moment Yasmin stated the locale, the Dark grabbed her bag and walked out the door. The Wood Elf was next, followed by the surly Sun Elf, and then the trio until she was alone. But she wasn’t really. They were watching.
The elves were always watching.