From Chapter 4 Journey Begins
It had been many hours into the night and Leron had woken Vlad and took his time to sleep. Vlad stayed awake looking into the darkness for a few hours while Leron slept noiselessly. He thought of his father, and then his comrades and then he thought of the place that had become home for the dwarves for many years. He was trying to find ways of keeping his eyes open but he knew he was still tired and as his mind drifted to other places his eyes became heavy and he found it difficult to keep them open. He began to question why he was still awake, after all he knew the village was deserted and also he could not see very far beyond the fire place. The night had stayed warm so Vlad did not even have the chill of the weather to keep him awake, his eyes began to close slowly and soon he found comfort in the wonders of his dreams. The dream of places long forgotten, of an England filled with green, and a place where species of old and new joined together in union to try and defeat a common enemy. He dreamed of a time when there was hope, and he remembered a mystical place where his people once lived. A place protected with the magic of Elves, a world within a world hidden from the prying eyes of humans. A place where the Elves and the dwarves lived side by side, and then his dream turned into a nightmare. As he dreamed of the creatures the Elves had become. How most of their features had changed and they had become dark and twisted, seeking to destroy their own flesh and blood. Their distant cousins, Vlad’s people.
In his dreams they were monsters killing and maiming his people, tall being now tall and slender, his nightmare was interrupted by a sharp blow to his abdomens and he began to cough as the pain sunk deep within him. He opened his eyes to find what first appeared to be a group of humans surrounding him. He looked around and found that Leron was nowhere to be seen as four pairs of strong arms picked him up with no effort at all and began pounding him in his face and stomach. It was the symbol on their clothing that made him realise who they were. They were clothed all in the same black overalls the symbol of the grey hand that was on all of their uniforms put fear into the heart of Vlad.
These being was not human neither where they alive. They were humanoids; dangerous killing machines put on the earth to make sure order was kept, and to watch that the Elves governed the earth as was expected of them. They had amazing strength and no human could withstand more than one blow from these things It was in Vlad’s favor that dwarfs were strong. Vlad began to wiggle furiously making it hard for the four to hold him, two let go but the other two held him firm. They never spoke – they never made a sound. It was said they communicated by radio waves instructing each other what to do. Vlad kicked with his legs hitting one in his knee.
The humanoids loosened their grip for only a second, but this was enough for Vlad to break loose. He dropped to the ground and quickly found his feet he looked for a way to run, but there was none. He could now see through the flickering of the burning log that there were about ten of them and they had the main exit covered. Vlad half prayed in his mind to his God hoping he would listen, and as if in answer Leron came speeding through the entrance staff in hand hitting the first one fully on his skull. The human robot stumbled back. Vlad grabbed his pack of the ground and picking up his bow quickly unleashed the few remaining arrows into three of them, the arrows showed little effect on the beings as they surged towards him. Leron dived onto the back of them and shouted to Vlad to run.
Vlad did not think twice he headed for the exit as quick as he could running as fast as his legs could carry him. He ran into the dark having no idea which way he was headed. Not long after, Leron was running besides him shouting at Vlad to hide. The dwarf knew he was right and they both ran towards an old wired rusty fence knocking it down and running into a clearing in the darkness. It was well known that the humanoids were fast possibly as fast as Leron and if this was so Vlad had no chance of escape so the only thing left was to hide. But it was the hiding place that found them, running in the dark was not bad when you had a Fairien with you, but when a Fairien was distracted by his pursers, it then became not the Fairiens fault that there was no warning when they found themselves falling down a big hole.