Zephyr, crouched in a corner in the woods wraps a bandage around is left arm, wounded from his encounter with the dwarf and the young swords man.
He laughed at himself, 'I thought that was going to be an easy one, the damn dwarf.'
He had thought he would go in, take the girl and breeze out, but instead he was out here in the woods, nursing himself after a thorough beating.
'Zephyr, you have to be smarter with this,' he said lecturing himself, 'you are usually smarter than this, not just rush into a fight.'
He scans the little town watching out for traces of the target. He was not going to give up.
*
Aegor pulled at the chains around his ankle.
'What are you doing there,' one of the guards bellowed and started to approach him.
'These bloody guards again,' Aegor whispered.
'You are quite the troublesome one,' the guard barked, 'trying one of your gimmicks again?'
Aegon stayed silent.
'Those chains are stronger and is no way you'll ever escape this place,' the guard leaned towards Aegor, 'and I mean ever escape.'
Aegor smashed his face into the guard's face, making the guard jerk backwards in pain, 'You bloody elf,' the guard screamed in pain. 'I'm going to end you right here and now,' the guard drew is sword and is about to swing it at Aegor when another guard stopped him.
'You know you can't kill them, the alchemists will have your head for that,' the other guard stated.
The guard cleaned some blood from his nose, his eyes blazing with anger, 'one day they will have no need for you and I'll be waiting for you.'
'I'll be waiting for that day aswell,' Aegor stared back defiantly with a smile on his face.
The guard spat on the floor, gave Aegor a stern hateful look, then returned to his station.
'How are you able to do that?' the frail elf next to Aegor asked.
'Do what?'
'Stand up to them.'
'Have you forgotten we are elves? Magical elves and without these blood chains zapping all our essence, that guard would not have stood a chance,' Aegon replied.
The elf sighed.
'How do we ever get out of here?' the elf asked.
'We will, one day the opportunity will come,' Aegor smiled.
'I just feel weaker every day,' the elf groaned in anguish, 'this is worse than hell.'
'Tell that to the people enjoying out that window,' Aegor looked out a small narrow window at the end of the hall where almost three hundred elves were held, their essence extracted by the chains, 'they probably feel this is heaven.'
'But why can't they find another energy source, why use our essence,' the elf asked.
'I guess you'd have to ask the alchemists that,' Aegon answered dismissively.
'Will we ever get out of Isop?'
'I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of here,' Aegon looked at his chained hands. He could hardly remember when he was captured, it was a raid on his village and almost everyone was taken. They had then brought them to the tower at the center of Isop where their essence was being extracted to power the city. He'd heard in another hall were dragons and another hall had fairies. The alchemists, the rulers of the city had found a way to extract magical powers to power the city.
Good for them, bad for us, he thought. That was the way the world worked, but he wasn't going to let it continue, at least to him.
'Do you still remember your home?' the elf next to him asked.
'Yes, it was beautiful little village in a valley beyond the mountains, it had a river flow right through the middle and we had all kinds of fruits,' Aegor smiled.
'I remember mine to, but I'm afraid I might never see it again,' the elf said, gloomy and defeated.
'I'm going to see mine. I will get out of here, and maybe I might help you lot get out of here aswell,' Aegor said confidently.
'I admire your confidence, don't forget me when you eventually escape this place,' the elf said, letting out a little chuckle.
'What's your name?' Aegor asked.
'Elhir, that's my name, Elhir,' the elf said.
'Okay Elhir, I might just recue you too when I finally get out of these chains,' Aegor smiled.
*
'I'll miss this place,' Blog took one last look at the little town that had housed him for a few days. He walked behind Max and Amy. 'We have to watch out for the bounty hunter, he looks like one who wouldn't easily give up.'
'Well, if he come after us, it will probably be the last thing he would do,' Max said with a cold finality that shook even Blog.
'You are tough young man,' Blog patted Max on his lower back, he would have wished to go higher but he was a dwarf. He never really minded being a dwarf, he loved it.
'Where are we going next,' Amy asked.
'I really don't know, but we need to move far away from here as possible. Who knows who else might be after you,' Max said.
'I'm sure we will find a place to camp soon,' Blog said, climbing a protruding rock to see ahead.
'But why did the bad man come after me, I'm just a little girl,' Amy kicked a stone in front of her, she wondered what they wanted her for.
'Well, that magic light that came out of you and saved us from those screaming people,' Max said looking at a confused Amy.
'And then maybe your friend that came in your dreams wasn't that friendly after all, some people think you are very powerful,' Blog added.
'Do you think I'm powerful Mr Blog,' Amy asked.
Blog pulled some of his beard and pondered on her question or at least appeared to ponder, 'I think you are indeed very powerful, based on what happened, you possess the power of light, and the power of light is the most powerful kind of magic.'
'I'm powerful,' Amy raised both hands trying to bring out some light from her hands, 'but I can't bring it out right now.'
'Don't worry, it will come out at the right time, just the way it came out when those naschians tried to harm your brother.'
'Don't worry Max, I will protect you,' Amy said, a beaming smile on her face.
Max smiled back, 'I'm sure you would.'
'One thing you must do however is not to tell the little bunny anything if you ever see it in your dreams. I think he is just appearing as a rabbit and isn't really a rabbit,' Blog said pulling the edge of his beard. He seemed to do that whenever he pondered on something.
'Okay Mr Blog.'
'But what baffles me is what would possess powers to appear in dreams. Only the highest form of magic could do that, really old magic,' Blog pondered, pulling at a particularly stubborn strand of hair that was entangled with other in his beard.
'Whatever it is would have me to contend with, I won't let anything harm you Amy,' Max said, placing his hand on Amy's shoulder. Amy rushed to him and gave him a tight thug.
'I love you brother,' Amy said, a wide beaming smile on her face.
'I love you too Sis,' Max bended to hug his sister.
Blog looked at both of them, enchanted by their bond, 'Both of you would make me cry, makes me miss my home.'
'Come join us Mr Blog,' Amy gestured for Blog to come closer.
Blog joined the hug trying his best to wrap his short hands around both Amy and Max, 'I'm glad I met both of you,' a short tear wetting his eyes.
*
Zephyr had spotted them and made sure he stayed a good distance from his targets. He had almost lost them back in the town but he decided to go into the woods in the opposite direction, a lucky guess, intuition, or his keen sense of smell that he wasn't exactly sure of.
He eventually found them and kept a good distance but used his view founder to maintain visuals on them, 'I have to be more smart with this.'
If muscles didn't work, then stealth would, that was why he was the best, he was always willing to adapt based on the situation, and this situation required stealth. He could see the three of them giving each other a hug, 'how sweet.'
He made sure not to feel any emotion towards his targets, that would only complicate things. He only saw coins. He would follow them and wait and at the right time, when they least expected, he would make his move.
*
The Alchemists, founders of Isop stood at by the window in the highest tower of Isop staring down at the city they had built, proud of the of what they had accomplished, 'we built this,' they said in unison, three lofty towering figures, human but alien at the same time, they had long over smooth faces with tiny mouths and oversized craniums.
Flying cars, robots, super-fast rails, Isop was a thriving futuristic city in the middle of a chaotic earth, no other place like it existed and it was all due to the alchemists. Everything in the city was powered by magic elixir, extracted from magical beings, dragons, elves, fairies, artefacts, anything that had magic had an essence and the alchemists had found a way to extract it to fuel their numerous technology.
The alchemists themselves had lived for centuries using magic elixir to replenish their lives, they were all once perfectly human but not anymore. They now considered themselves gods. They created Isop, and were the gods of isop. Behind them were laboratories and mega machines that processed magic elixir into forms that could be used for various things they themselves invented. They had assistants, other smart minds and then soldiers that guarded all their investments. They also had special troops that constantly went to hunt for magic beings. There was constant demand for magic and it was a lucrative business for bounty hunters who captured magic beings and sold to them.
'Much was sacrificed for this great city,' they said in unison.
'Yes, much was sacrificed,' one of them repeated.
'Yes it was,' the other two repeated in unison.