Rest

Alex wasn’t for sure just how long she had been chipping away at the rock wall but judging from the ache in her back and shoulders, it had been a while. Her hands were blistered and bleeding from the constant friction of the wooden handle against her skin. The tops of her feet were scratched and bruised from debris falling on them. And her face was still sore from being drug across the floor, even her hair hurt. The gnawing in her stomach told her that it had been quite some time since her last meal. She briefly wondered what happened to the rucksack filled with food. For the first time since arriving in the mountain she thought about the blue pebble that she had been carrying. She made a mental note to check her pockets during their rest period.

A loud horn blew from an unknown origin jolting everybody from their stupor. Ugh appeared with a lighter weight chain, weaving it through the loops on their ankle clasps. After twenty of them were linked together he detached them from the wall chain, thus insuring that at all times they were secure. He led them through a narrow passage at the back of the chamber that dead ended after a few feet. Once again they were fastened to a wall. Sitting down they tried their best to stretch out their legs and make themselves comfortable in the cramped space. Ugh, feeling satisfied that everything was in place, left the tiny passage where he had to walk stooped over.

Alex’s stomach let out a loud growl causing several heads to turn in her direction. She felt the heat of embarrassment on her cheeks.

“Don’t worry; they’ll be bringing us something to eat in a little bit. They have to get the new shift settled in first. I’m Lish, an elf, in case you were wondering.”

“Alex. I’m human in case you were wondering.” With this Lish let out a jovial laugh causing Alex to smile.

“We need to get you out of here, Alex. You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Everybody keeps telling me that.” She replied while taking stock of her many wounds.

“Do you still carry the Pebble of Balox with you?” Alex looked questioningly at the elf. “The blue-green stone that Salmurk gave you.” He said as a means to clarify.

Alex reached a sore hand into her pocket and felt the cool smooth stone at her fingertips. She nodded an affirmative to the elf, not sure where all of this was going. “How do you know about Salmurk?”

Lith smiled mischievously, “Why the cat told me, of course.”

Before Alex could ask anything else several little brown creatures came into the passage way carrying bowls on their heads. “Tanglos” answered the elf to Alex’s silent question. The ‘tanglos’ handed a bowl to each of the prisoners and then left as quickly as they had came. Alex looked at the contents of the dish and nearly lost whatever was left in her stomach. It was pea green in color but had a lumpy texture to it, like cream of wheat that was poorly mixed. It smelled of stagnant water and she could have sworn there was something wriggling in it.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. Just close your eyes and drink as quickly as you can.”

Alex watched as the creatures around her drained the bowl of its contents. Hearing again the emptiness of her stomach, she surrendered to her hunger. The first glob that hit her tongue caused her to catch her breath. It tasted even worse then it had looked. She forced herself to finish it, not knowing when her next bit of nourishment might be. She felt as green as the gruel had been. She sat there for a few moments with her arms holding her stomach and her eyes shut, willing the ‘food’ to stay down.

“You humans really are an amusing species.” Laughed Lith.

Alex couldn’t understand how anybody could be so jovial in a dreary place like this. She found herself smiling at the elf’s antics. Before long the two became immersed in conversation.

“I take it you don’t know how to use the pebble, if you did you wouldn’t be here. Take it out and I’ll show you.”

Alex reached into her pocket and pulled out the stone. Again she saw the blue and green colors swirling about but when they cleared away to show a picture it was the pit that was revealed with a blinking red dot off to one side of it.

“First off, you hold it like this.” The elf turned the stone so that the thicker end pointed away from Alex’s body. “This here red dot is you. Unfortunately, the stone can’t show you a large radius, but you can usually make out enough to guide you along.”

“It’s a map then” Alex said to simplify things.

“Well, yes, a map that is constantly changing. This will help guide you through the various tunnels that you’ll need to take to get out of here and out of the forest.”

“How do you propose I get out of here? They watch us like hawks and when we are left alone, we’re chained.”

“No wonder your Earth was failing with attitudes like that.” The elf shook his head in shear wonderment of it all.

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, no need to fret about it right now, those events took place centuries ago. Let’s just focus on the present, shall we.” Lith then proceeded to go over the escape plan.

When the elf had finished, he leaned his head against a rock and went to sleep leaving Alex to think about what was said. There was no way she would be able to rest now, there were too many questions and concerns rolling around in her head. For a moment she wondered whether it was day or night. She soon found her eyelids growing heavy, she didn’t realize how tired and sore she really was until she stopped moving. She aloud the sleep to steal upon her, exchanging one nightmare for another.