Chapter one hundred and eight

"Are you like me?"

I was going to answer her question when the soldiers started screaming something in German. I didn't speak German but I didn't need to be fluent in the language to know that the way they were brandishing their guns and screaming at me wasn't an invitation to go out and have a cup of tea.

I smiled at the little girl and ruffled her blonde hair before getting up and facing the soldiers, "Do any of you speak English?"

They all looked at each other. I was sure that all of them understood me but they all seemed to be afraid to volunteer. They had a whispered conversation among themselves before one man reluctantly stepped forward, "I speak English."

"Good, now can you please tell your friends to put down their guns. They are scaring little...," That was when I realized that I didn't know the girls name so I turned towards Helena and asked, "What is this adorable little girl's name?"

She quickly answered, "Elisabeth."

I continued my conversation with the soldier who was now looking at me incredulously, "Put down your guns. You are scaring little Ellie here and as you already have found out that is not a good idea."

"Ma'am, I don't know who you think you are but you are in no position to be giving us orders. We are from the German army, we give the orders and I order you to get down on the ground and lay down with your arms behind your back and your legs crossed together."

I sighed at his sudden boost of courage and bravado. Just a second ago he was cowering from a little girl but now all of a sudden he had grown a spine and was puffing his chest out and crowing at me like a cock greeting a new morning.

"Dude, I just saved your collective asses from being burnt to a crisp. Now if you don't put down those guns I will finish the job that Ellie has started."

"Are you threatening us?"

"Nothing gets by you, does it? Yes I'm threatening you."

"You can't do that!"

"I'm pretty sure I just did. Now the question is will you listen to me or are you completely stupid?"

The idiot actually pulled the trigger of his gun while pointing it at my face. As you would expect I didn't take very kindly to that. I walked over to him and grabbed the barrel of the Heckler and Koch MP7 submachine gun he was pointing at me and used the stock of his own gun to bash his face. There was a wince worthy crunch as his nose broke and he went down like a sack of potatoes.

I turned to the rest of the soldiers and asked, "Anybody else feeling stupid?"

They all lowered their guns and backed away a few steps.

Seeing that the soldiers weren't going to do anything stupid, I walked back to Elisabeth and her parents. The man who had been standing between the soldiers and the little girl , who I was assuming was Elisabeth's father, had joined his wife and child. He introduced himself as Baldric and he was indeed Elisabeth's father.

A few minutes of conversation later I found out that Baldric was a baker and owned the bakery downstairs. Baldric and his family lived in the small apartment above the bakery which we were in right now.

According to him , his daughter had been perfectly normal and had never exhibited any powers before today. He explained how the soldiers had been going door to door and asking questions. The soldiers had eventually gotten to his bakery and he had freely let them inside. He answered all of their questions and everything was going fine until one of the soldiers had pointed a strange instrument at his daughter and then proclaimed that she was being taken into custody by the German military. Predictably enough Baldric had refused to give up his daughter and tried to push them out. One of the soldiers had punched Baldric in the gut when he refused to give up his daughter which turned out to be a big mistake. Elisabeth had witnessed her father getting hurt and that had flipped her off. In her distress she had made a fireball that flung the soldier who had hurt her father out the window. She had also created many other smaller fireballs that caused the soldiers to be in the disheveled state they were in now.

If Baldric's story was to be believed then I had a large problem on my hands. The templars had sent soldiers to look for people with supernatural powers and equipped with those little gadgets ,the soldiers were going to be successful. What this meant is that situations like this one could be happening all over Munich, maybe even other cities and countries.

The moronic actions of the templars had put the lives of both the people and the soldiers in grave danger.