TheException.
The sun filtered through the greenleaves, illuminating what little ground it touched with a green tint.The wind ruffled the thick grass between the spacious forest trunks,carrying the smell of the ocean up and over the cliff nearby. Thewind slipped around the two figures in a clearing, who were tied to atree as a nearby camp bustled busily. The smell of the sea wasreplaced with burning wood and sweat.
The two figures tied to a treestruggled, their clothes ripped and dirty, and their hair matted andmessy. The sun glanced off the blond hair of one, and placed a haloof soft brown on the dark brunet. The hair of the blond one coveredhis ears, but the brunet's hair was much shorter and revealed thepointed ends of his ears quite nicely.
"We wouldn't be in this mess ifyou'd gone to the council!" the Brunet whispered furiously in theirstrange, harsh language.
"You were the one who wanted to findout why these Humans were here!" The Blond retorted.
"I didn't say we should invade theircamp! I only wanted to observe." the Brunet sighed, "Perhaps wecan call for help. Or maybe escape our bonds, they're not verytight."
"They took our calling whistles, howare we to call for help?" The Blond looked at their whistleswistfully, as the humans had placed them only a few yards away.
"I have a method. Now be quiet,before the humans figure out we can talk!" The Brunet squeezed hisbright green eyes shut, a look of concentration adorning his face.The Blond sighed and tried carefully to wiggle free of their bonds.Despite what the Brunet had said, the bonds were actually very tight.The Blond thought mournfully of all the things he could imagine thehumans doing to them, and of the circumstances leading up to theircapture. If only he hadn't tried to steal that pastry, they'd stillbe up in the trees, carefully observing.
"Will you be quiet?!" the Brunet'seyes snapped open.
"I didn't say anything!" The Blondfrowned at the Brunet with golden eyes
"Well stop thinking so loud!" TheBrunet once again shut his eyes, leaving the Blond in the dust ofbewilderment. The Brunet inwardly sighed. Of all the days for him toreceive a new patrolling partner, it had to be the one where theywere captured.
Night swept through the forest,enveloping it in a cold blanket of darkness. The moonlight piercedthe dark cloth in the clearing and the spaces between the leaves.
The captured elves still stood againstthe tree, wrapped just as much as before. The camp around thembustled as the humans prepared for the long night.
"WelWen, look!" The Blond criedout. "They're burning trees!" he struggled against the bondsharder, oblivious to the marks on his arms. The Brunet looked over tosee the humans building fires, and using old trees to do so.
"Beelnam," WelWen replied,catching The Blond's eyes "We can't do anything. Calm down!"Beelnam stopped struggling, tears flowing from his eyes as he did.
"But the trees..." He wailedsoftly.
"They're already dead." WelWenlooked over to the camp, "Just be happy they've not burned the treewe're strapped to." helooked down at his bonds and sighed. His earlier attempt at callingfor help telepathically seemed to have failed. He thought that he hadfelt someone's mind responding, but the connection disintegrated assuddenly as it had appeared. WelWen closed his eyes and took in whiff of the fleeting ocean smell. He knew what the humans would doto them once morning came around. And it did not involve him andBeelnam surviving.
Hefelt a tugging at his bonds, and his eyes snapped open. His heartfluttered as he came face to face with a human, who was staring athim with big blue eyes. This one was shorter than the rest, and theirhead looked to be bigger than the other human's in relation to theirbody. It's hair was a soft brown, and it was wearing a smallerversion of what the others were wearing.
Ittugged again against the bonds, and frowned. It bounded away for amoment before returning with a knife. As it approached WelWen andBeelnam, The elves struggled. They thought this the moment they woulddie. This small human would kill them with the knife, they were sureof it.
"Areyou alright?" The small human said. It's voice was unusually high,and much like the elves'. "Daddy can sometimes tie ropes too hard."it frowned. It walked forwards and started cutting at the ropes.
"Myname is Jullie, I'm Bart's daughter. I like trees, and grass, andflowers, and oceans, and animals, and bees, and birds," The smallhuman jabbered on as it continued to cut the bonds away, too absorbedwith her task to notice the elves' expressions. They were completelybewildered, why was this small, tiny, human cutting their bonds?
"Andunicorns and dragons-"
"You'veseen unicorns?" Beelnam blurted out.
"Yes."Jullie nodded, eyes wide, "They're really pretty."
"Where?"WelWen asked carefully.
"Thatway." Jullie pointed out across the ocean. "Daddy sailed acrossthe sea for many days to bring one home. I heard him say that it washard to bring one home alive." her eyes sparkled. "It was soooooopretty. Its hair sparkled like a rainbow! And it was really nice, Iplayed with it for hours before daddy found me." The Elves lookedat each other again. This was not a regular human. It didn't have thesame speech patterns as the taller ones, and it seemed more innocentthan them as well. The small human finished cutting the bonds, andthe elves slipped a little further into the forest, staying In thedarkness to hide themselves. Jullie followed.
"Jullie,"WelWen asked, "how many years are you?"
"I'm"Jullie looked up thoughtfully, using her fingers to count. "Seven.I think." she smiled at them, "How many years are you?" theelves relaxed a little. She was only a child.
"I'meighty, and Beelnam is forty." WelWen replied.
"Ohwow you're old!" Jullie sounded amazed.
"JULLIE!!!!!!"A rough, loud, and cruel sounding voice called out. Jullie flinched.
"That'sdaddy." She said quietly. "I should go, before he gets too mad."and before the elves could say anything, she bound off towards thecamp.
"Daddy!"she called out. The elves watched from the forest, holding theirbreaths in horror as they watched the large human raise his hand tostrike the small one.
"Whatdid I say about RELEASING PRISONERS?!?!?!?"His voice was frightening to listen to, especially at this volume. "ESPECIALLY ELVES?" He struck the small child again.
"Butthey were hurt." Her voice was small and choked. "I just wantedto help."
"DON'TTOUCH THE PRISONERS!!" The man yelled. "I HAVE TOLD YOU THIS MANYTIMES!!!" He raised his hand again, but Jullie scrambled up fromthe ground and ran towards the forest where the elves were. She hadtears falling from her eyes, which mixed with the blood from whereher father had struck her.
Theelves grabbed her and ran with her, each elf holding one of herhands. They were leading her back to their kingdom.
"WelWen,isn't it against Fairy and Elf law to bring humans to the kingdom?" Beelnam pantedas they jumped over a small log.
"Yes."WelWen kept his eyes forwards. He stole a glance towards Jullie, whowas still crying.
"Butthere are exceptions."
