In the Company of Elves: Chapter.2 Elves!

(this is chapter 2 from the book, In the Company of Elves. Enjoy.)

       Suddenly a gust of wind pulled her through the door! The door closed behind her with a bang. She lost her balance and fell to the ground as the whirled wind dissipated around her. She is dazed and feels a bit nauseous. Pain shot through her left knee. “I must have bruised it with the fall,” she thought, as she noticed a tear in her jeans.    

 “Oh, my God! What happened!?”  She looks around in dismay. Her knees feel weak as she slowly rises to her feet.

   “Where am I,” she thought. She could hear faint static in her ears, but it faded as she stood there, bewildered. She can hear birds and indiscernible sounds all around now, whereas before all she could only hear was the static buzz. Suddenly she was knocked to the ground. Her small frame squirmed underneath the weight of a man pinning her down! 

“Hey get off me!” She cried out, fuming.
  “Please milady, don’t move. I am not going to hurt you.” A man with an accent responded.
     "He sounds English or Scottish or something,” she thought. He rose to his feet and helped her up. Melissa caught her breath.

  “Are you a spy for the Sorceress Myrna?” he asked, with a stern voice. His hand cupped her arm firmly. Melissa jerks her arm away.

  Her hair is tousled, cascading over her shoulders. Bits of dry leaves hang from the tips of her hair. She begins plucking them out, not yet noticing her assailant’s appearance. Her brows furrowed, she is livid.

    “What the Hell are you talking about! Who the Hell is Myrn….” Her voice trailed off as her eyes rest on the perpetrator.  “What the Hell?” She muttered. Her mouth dropped. The shock of having the wind knocked out of her is nothing compared to what is standing before her.

The two men stared at her, perplexed. They did not know what to make of the stranger who stumbled into their world and in return, she did not know what to make of them.

  “They are no ordinary men.” Melissa thought. Her bewildered, eyes scan their appearance. Her mind is racing to find an explanation. As she stared at them, she realized that they are not human.

  “Oh…my God they look like Elves! It can’t be. They are dressed exactly what I imagined they would look like! I can’t believe it. Wow!” She thought to herself as she stared at their ears. She clears her throat.

  “I must be dreaming!” She said out loud. “Am I dreaming? Who are you?” She mustered up the courage to ask them. Her tone is apprehensive as she stares warily at them. They both looked at each other.

“Where am I?” She asked, crossing her arms as she looked around.
  “What is your name?” The fair-haired elf asked her. He is sitting on his horse.

  “My name is Melissa I came through the door. I was running after a white rabbit that ran through it…but I don’t see it anymore!” She pointed in the direction where the door had been but there was nothing there. It had disappeared. The wall disappeared and a dirt road leading further into the forest took its place. Her mouth dropped, she is beside herself.

   “Oh God. This is inconceivable. There is no way this is happening to me.” Fear crept into her heart. She rubs her eyes and looks again at the spot where the door was.

  “Wait! There was a door there!” She walks toward the spot where the door had been.

   “No!” She exclaimed, flustered. Her face ashen.

 “No. I swear there was a door and a wall, right here,” she pointed. “Where did it go?"

    Dumbstruck and frustrated she steps back, putting her hands on her hips, staring at the spot where the door had been. The two elves shrugged. After a moment of silence, the blonde elf spoke again.

   “Did the white rabbit pass through here?”  He asked.

 “Yes, the white rabbit was in my garden and it ran through the door when I opened it.

  “Did you see it?” She replied solemnly. 

   “Come with us.” The elf that tackled her, grabbed her arm and escorted her to his white horse. He helped her up onto the saddle and sat behind her taking the reins in his hands.

  The other elf followed on his brown and white steed. They rode for an hour, stopping only once at a creek to give their horses some water and fill their wineskin canteens.

   The elf who rode with Melissa spoke to the other elf in their language when they were resting at the creek. His dark brown hair crept down past his shoulders, his emerald eyes glance periodically at her as she stood next to his horse, watching them warily.

     “His skin is so perfect, almost flawless,” she thought, her cheeks flushed. She took a better look at their clothes as they filled their canteens. The elf with the emerald eyes and brown hair has on a pair of dark green trousers tucked into his brown leather boots and a brown sleeveless tunic fitting loosely over his pale green poet shirt.

  A dark brown leather sash is wrapped around his waist. Melissa softly sighed, in admiration.

  “He is so cute," she thought. He walks up to her and offers her a drink from his wineskin canteen. She took a sip. Melissa’s mind scrambled to put the pieces together.

  “Okay, so let’s see what could have happened.” She pondered. “Did I stumble and hit my head? Was I in an accident and now I'm in the hospital in a coma and this is what happens when a person is in a coma?”  She scoffed.

  “I guess I’m not in Kansas anymore.” She let out a nervous chuckle as she remembers the lines from one of her favorite childhood movie. She handed the canteen back to the elf. He smiled and walked back to his brother.

  “Maybe I somehow traveled back in time or to another dimension?” The thought frightened her, knowing that she would never be able to return to her world if that was the case. Pain shot through her knee making her wince; reminding her of how real the experience is. She groaned as she rubbed her knee. They mounted the horses again and as they rode down the trail, the blonde elf pushed his horse forward so that both horses are side by side. 

The two elves are talking in their language. Melissa did not understand what they are saying, she just hopes it wasn’t about her.

  “Hmm, he must be speaking elfish.” The elf with the blonde hair has his hair pulled back in a ponytail. His aqua blue eyes sparkle hauntingly.

  “He dresses almost identical to the other elf, but his garments are a different color. He is wearing a beige poet shirt but is not wearing a tunic. A black belt hugs his waist,” she thought.

   Her eyes swing down to his boots. “His black leather boots have a decorative braided strap wrapped around them. These elves seem very different than the ones described in books that I’ve read.”  They stared at her for a moment, looking at her clothes. She realized that in their world the women probably don’t wear what she is wearing so to them her clothes seem a bit odd and out of place. She stared at them. They smiled at her, musingly.

    She blushed and grinned nervously. “Milady, you said that your name is Melissa. Is that correct?”
“Yes.” She did not want to let on that she is scared to death, but the tone in her voice gave it away.
   “Don’t worry. We will not hurt you,” He said, reassuringly, and winked. The dark-haired elf finally introduced himself. 

   “I am Arowyn and this is my brother Keefe." He gestured with his hand toward his brother. "We are the sons to our late father Lord Auril.” Melissa smiled warily at them. Suddenly she remembered where she heard that name before.

  “Auril?” she thought. “Of course, the stories my grandmother told me when I was a little girl! That’s where I heard that name! How is that possible?” She pondered. “Did grandma know about this place, I wonder?  Wow, if she did she sure as Hell kept it a secret from the family for years. Melissa's crackled voice broke the silence.

  “Who is Myrna?” Arowyn looked at Keefe.

 "All questions will be answered at the counsel Hall of Alondra.” They rode the rest of the way in silence, much to Melissa’s chagrin.

NOTE: pictures used for this entry are not in the book.

 In the Company of Elves eBook