Ellen Smith: The Town
Ellen hovered beside Georgios as he knelt before Sora, who was slumped against a tree, his clothes soaked through. The fire demon sent puffs of heat into his hair, top, skirt. The air around Sora began to mist with steam, and Sora's shivering relaxed into a sprawl.
Sora sighed, stretched his arms and legs. “Now that's better. Thanks a million, Georgios.”
He was still a bit shaky from his fall through the ice so Ellen found some herbs in her satchel that she somehow knew would work strength into the drinker's limbs. She sprinkled a few in an empty flask and tipped in some water from her supply. Then Georgios heated the water again and handed it to Sora, who sipped and pulled a face at his flask.
“What is that?”
“Honey helps,” said Ellen, finding confidence in her Fay voice. “But we don't have any, so you'll just have to drink it all up like the warrior you are. At least, they taste less weird than the protein shakes my dad sometimes drank, back at Earth. The ones with pureed tofu and kale.”
She remembered those summer days when she and her dad would wake up early for a morning jog. Afterwards, he would mix up a protein shake out of the cookbook Shakes Your Body Wants. Even though she disliked them, she'd always drink a little, to accompany her dad. She remembered the laughs they'd shared as they slouched on the living room sofa with their shakes. It made the chasm separating her from home widen and the reality of the situation sink in, and she looked away.
“Do you think we can go home soon?” said Georgios. “It's fun and all to have this adventure in our own world, but home is home.”
Sora drained the flask before handing it back to Ellen. “Home is home because you don't fall into a lake there. I'm no genius, but I know that what we're 'bout to face from now on is gonna make us want to run home. Huh. I don't think I'd ever see my games the same way again.”
“Or books.” She looked up to meet Sora's eyes, but his gaze flicked up to the sky. “They're wonderful, but imagine what happens if you get sucked into them somehow.”
Georgios's magic and Fay's herbs worked effectively to restore Sora's strength, and in a few minutes they decided to depart. Amy, Andrew, and Matt heaved the bundle of thief and vines onto their shoulders while the others flanked them.
Traveling was an excruciatingly slow business. Those not carrying the thief had to find the easiest routes for Amy, Andrew, and Matt. Sometimes the thief wriggled and coated the vines with ice to try to harden and snap them, so they would have to stop and contain him again.
From far away, Ellen glimpsed trails of smoke rising into the chilly, wintry air, and as they neared the town, the gray, brown, and red roofs of houses and stores. The trees around them, originally thick and tangled like the inside of a bush, thinned out around them and grew more tidy, pleasant, tamed.
At noon, they picnicked under a clump of trees.
By the time the river swerved to the right, they reached a cobbled road. Snow blanketed most of it, but in some places stones jutted out and weeds unfurled spindly leaves. Ellen walked lightly and avoided the sharp rocks with ease.
The cottages at the outskirts of town were at first sparse, separated by a hundred paces of empty ground, but soon they grew closer and closer, eventually till their sides nearly touched. Far ahead, Ellen saw a cloud of smoke spewing out of the forge, and heard clatters and bangs from the tavern down the road.
They were supposed to meet the shopkeeper in the town square. Ellen squinted at the sky. The sun was low in the horizon, and the sky was a lake of pink and pale gold.
“Well,” said Andrew, glancing at the tavern as they ambled past. “I think we deserve a solid meal and rest.”
That moment, the door to the tavern burst open, and a stool flew out of it, smashing into Ellen. The wind knocked out of her, she stumbled back and slammed against Andrew. He fell against the thief, knocking him to the ground. Amy and Matt tumbled down and caused several others to fall.
“We have to leave now,” Arthur said urgently, as several drunken men staggered out. From this distance, Ellen could already smell liquor on their breaths. That moment, she wished Fay did not have a heightened sense of smell. She scrambled up and pressed her arm against her aching middle.
Amy darted toward the entrance of the tavern and peered in, then hurried back. Her expression was so grim it looked a little frightening. “One of the tavern helpers is trapped!”
One of the drunks lurched toward the stool, snatched it up, and held it high above his head like a proud flag bearer. He cocked his arm as if about to throw the stool, but the next moment, Amy yanked it back by the legs. He whirled around, face purpling, and tried to snatch it from her, but he was no match. Amy easily jabbed the stool at his chest, and he tumbled to the ground.
“There's no point, Amy!” Neil called out. “They're drunk!”
Jin pulled out his gayageum. “Let's just distract them enough to stop them from fighting. They should tire out soon enough.”
His fingers plucked at the strings, and gold ribbons of magic streamed out toward the men, striking them in the chests. They lost balance and crumpled.
A crash echoed in the tavern, along with the sound of clinking glass.
“It's a bit early to have a bar fight,” Matt muttered, as more men—and several orcs—emerged.
Vines erupted from the ground, tripping a few of them. Arthur turned to Ellen, who stood a little ways from the fight, a hesitant hand on her bow. “Don't bother. We just need to make sure we can get the person out safely.”
Nora and Matt cautiously entered the tavern and returned a few minutes with the person trapped inside. He was a boy of barely thirteen years, probably working in the tavern for the first time, and Ellen couldn't blame him for looking terrified. She would have been too. She felt a surge of sympathy for him.
“Where's his master?” she asked Nora.
Nora sighed. “He was knocked out, but he's fine now. Groggy. Probably as a result of one of the stools flying around. The boy ought to go home.”
Ellen tilted her face up to look him in the eye. “Are you all right? You should go home.” She gave him a little push. “Come on, go to your ma and pa.”
The boy did not move, so Matt said, “The boss told you to go home, so you should obey him. He won't dismiss you if you leave now.”
Ellen gave him another push between his shoulder blades, and finally he took off and disappeared into the shadows. She waved good-bye to him, hoping to ease a little of his shock.
Around her, the fight had ended. Most of the drunks lay sprawled on the ground, and the few that were still standing were shuffling toward home. Jin was packing his gayageum back. He smiled a tired smile at Ellen as everyone assembled into formation around the thief and continued their slow procession to the town square, where the shopkeeper might be standing and waiting.
~v~
They laid the thief before the shopkeeper. But she did not look at the thief. Her eyes fell on the eight arrayed behind Arthur, and her jaw dropped in shock. “You,” she said.
“We happen to be old friends,” Amy explained. “Now, take a look at that thief. It is your thief, right?”
The shopkeeper prodded the cocoon of vines with her foot, but her eyes were still on the group. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“You're welcome,” said Arthur. “I think he has some loot hidden in his pockets.”
Ellen bent over and lifted one of the vines cocooning the thief. She reached in and felt the dark, coarse fabric of his tunic, but also a very slight lump. Coins. She dug deeper and pulled out a slim gold coin. “Yours?”
“Yes, yes.” But the shopkeeper did not take it. "Where's your leader? That priest named K?"
Jin stiffened. “He's—gone and we don't know where he is.”
“That's odd.”
“Very odd.” Ellen wondered how Keith was faring. Was he trapped in Aeyis too? Or was he still on Earth, puzzling about what had happened to his fellow Rpers?
Finally the shopkeeper accepted the coin, and they set to shaking all of the stolen coins out of the thief's clothes--even hair and boots--while he glared at them balefully.
“Well, this has been one eventful day.” The shopkeeper dropped several more coins into her pockets. “A mercenary and I bargain, somehow your leader vanishes.” She stood up. “Thank you, all. I think I have all my coin back now. The village constables can handle him now.” She paused. “And. I hope you find your leader soon. That priest.”
~v~
They decided to book a room in the inn because the darkness made returning to the forest to camp out of the option. Nobody felt like eating in the tavern, so they hurried through, trying to ignore the shards of glass and wood still littering the ground. The room buzzed with chatter as they set up their bedrolls.
“Tomorrow,” Neil said, bobbing up and down like a firefly, “I think we ought to return to the forest for some practice spars.”
Arthur nodded. “You'll have to get used to your new bodies, you know.”
Ellen stretched out on her bedroll and thought of the arrow she had not shot yet, of the sensory magic she had not explored completely yet, and some place deep down inside of her tingled with eagerness to discover just how powerful she—and the others—were.
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