“Show yourself!” - The Elven leader shouted pointing his spear towards my direction.

Good, they haven’t seen me yet. Should I show myself or should I stay hidden?

I wasn’t completely sure what should I do. I knew that stepping out of my hiding spot would be risky, but staying there is also risky. Since I don’t have any grudges with elves I came to the conclusion that showing myself is a better option. Staying hidden might make them fire magic at me and I still don’t know true capabilities of the elves.

I jumped off the tree directly to the ground, previously jumping from that height would at least fracture bones in my legs, but now because of Hal augmentations I could hit the ground with terminal velocity(1) and still be mostly fine.

My sudden performance startled elves a bit, except for their leader. He didn’t even flinch. He just looked at me and asked with cool voice.

“Who are you and why were you spying on us?”

“Me? I was just minding my own business when I noticed a group of people being chased by you, so I hid myself, because I don’t like being a part of troublesome events. ” I answered.

“You actually want me to believe that you stumbled upon us by peer chance?” He said.

Great! Another troublesome situation. I should have stayed in a village little longer.

“Yes, because it’s exactly what has happened?” I replied.

“Daughter of 2nd elder has been kidnapped during the only day it was possible for her to be kidnapped. Mercenaries who did this ran towards the place you were waiting at. Additionally your stealth skills at least on par with our best scouts, even now I can’t feel your presence in aura at all.”

“That’s just a coin...”

“You will have a plenty of time to explain yourself before the council.” Elven leader interrupted me in mid sentence.”

I knew that now was the best moment to run, because escaping later would be at least thrice as hard as now, but there was still possibility of reasoning with elven council.

I didn’t know which option was better, so I decided to listen to my gut and go with elves. I always believed that when you don’t know what to do, you should listen to your instincts. Even if you end up in a deep shit, you at least will end up in it in harmony with oneself.

“Fine.” I replied.

“Well, that’s unexpected.” Said elven leader.

“What is unexpected?” I asked.

“I thought you would try running instead of agreeing.” He replied.

“Will you chase me if I escape?” I said.

“Yes.” He answered.

“Then no, I won’t run” I replied.

Especially when I don’t know how to counter your magic.

“You are the strangest spy I’ve ever seen. I’m looking forward to your trial.” He said.

The elven leader turned around towards his men and said: “Oi’es lortan nael na’es fen’ur miir na.”

What is this language?

“Checking the database… No matching languages found… Checking the database for similar languages… 2 languages found… Language learning in progress… Language learning 21% complete.”

Well at least I won’t have to learn it from the scratch.

While I was busy talking with Hal an elf approached me holding something that looked like golden bracelet and said: “Oi geem sal na”

Thanks to Hal I could barely understand what he has said. I suspected that he wanted to put this bracelet on my hand, but I pretended that I didn’t understand him at all and just looked at him with confused expression.

“Uhhh... ” The elf sighed.

He pointed at the bracelet and then at my wrist. It looked a bit funny, but I didn’t show my emotions and maintained the poker face. Because I didn’t want to prolong this troublesome, awkward situation I extended my hand towards the elf and let him do what he wanted..

“I hope this wasn’t a proposal.” I murmured to myself after he put a bracelet on my hand.

“Alright, let’s go. Na’es cor ma’vier” Said the elven leader.

We were walking through the forest for at least 4 hours. The sun has been already gone for some time. The only thing that was giving light was a full moon accompanied by countless stars. Moonlight could barely pierce through the dense leaves of the forest. It was as if I was placed in a strange dim world. Nevertheless elves didn’t use any sources of light, they moved at the same pace as during the day. I was pretty amazed by their ability to navigate through the forest, If it was me from before I wouldn’t be able to see anything, but now thanks to Hal I was able to see everything perfectly fine.

“Na’es lorfe!” Elven leader said loudly.

Following the leader’s voice everyone has stopped and formed two columns.

“Auris matria ti’theine oi lein ti’moer las oi othwe od ma’thom.” The leader said with melodious voice.

Suddenly I felt the change in surrounding energy, it started pulsating. Energy agitation was followed by the movement of the forest. After a moment a perfectly paved road appeared with trees bending over it, forming countless arches.

“Na’es lor.” Said elven leader and entered the “tree tunnel”.

We’ve followed him into the “tunnel”. When last person entered the entrance was sealed off by trees. The leader smiled and said to me: “You just lost your last chance to escape.”

“We’ll see about that.” I answered.

Finally, we’ve reached the end of this strange road. What awaited me was a huge town built on a cliffs around the lake, everything was illuminated by countless lights. Most building had pointed, tall shapes. The whole scene looked like it was taken out straight out of the painting.

I see... The elves favor aesthetics over the practicality

“What a beautiful view.” I said.

“I’m glad to know you appreciate it. Elven architecture is more sophisticated than demon’s.” Leader replied.

Ahh… So they think I’m a demon too.

*Gasp*

The elf who was carried by the leader suddenly gasped for air.

“Tae’ir va?” she said with faint voice.

I almost forgot that he carried her entire way.

“Noa las wi orlan. Na’es orathu’ir oi miir sal’es tyth lafal.” Elven leader replied.

“Na pyrea’hie cin.” She said.

“Oi silust’hie, oi roth laevir deam, ifet’es ep ket koen’hie yesh. Aloe na rivolan oi od thom.” Said elven leader.

“Sagaal” said elven girl.

Elven leader handed the the woman to one of his men and said: “Oi rivolan nael od thom.”

“Vas oaar vas!” Elf replied and departed with sleeping female elf

“Noelmaar! Oi dal lor miir na, Sodare maesh!” Elven leader said to his squad

“Vas oaar vas!” The squad replied and started dispersing.

After two minutes there were only me, the leader and two elves from the group left.

The leader approached me and said: “Follow me, I will take you to our guest house.”

“You mean prison?” I replied.

“No, guest house. We elves do not build prisons.” He answered.

We stopped in front of a building which looked like some sort of a tower.

“You will live here, until the council will find time to judge you. These two men will guard you, so don’t even think about doing anything stupid.” The leader explained.

“How long I’ll have to wait?” I asked.

“Not too long, ten or fifteen years at most.” He answered.

Waiting fifteen years for a trial is not too long!? Then what is long for you?

“Will I have to stay here 24/7?” I asked.

“You will be allowed to leave, but only with a guard accompanying you.” He replied.

I guess I’ll have a plenty of time to come up with an escape plan.

“Who is this ‘Demon spy’ you’ve captured? Did you accuse another peasant of being a spy?” I heard the woman’s voice from behind the door.

Why is she speaking a human language? Is it because of me?

“No, this time I’m certain that I’ve captured a spy.” The leader replied.

“We’ll see about that.” The woman replied as she walked out of the “tower house”.

She looked at me and then at his brother.

“You moron! You did it again! I told father that giving your own squad would be a bad idea. Be happy that she didn’t pulverize you and your squad.” She shouted

If you really want to know what they were talking about then follow this small dictionary:

Elven Dictionary:

Fast Grammar:

Plural - ‘es

Future - ‘ur

Past - ‘ir

Negation - ‘hie

Affirmative/imperative Sentence:

subject + predicate

Interrogative sentence:

predicate + subject

Possesion - ep

(Mine) - ma’

(Your) - ti’

And, everything - las

Bring, take - rivolan

Fellow men - ma’vier

Give - geem

He, him - naal

I, me - na

Lay - deam

Must, have to - roth

People - fael

She, her - nael

These, those - tyth

Yes sir - vas oaar

Yet, already - yesh

allow - aloe

amulet - ket

arive - lorfe

become - tae

breath - thein

carry - volan

cuff - lortan

effect - ifet

end - koen

exhaust - silust

from - miir

go - lor

hand - sal

home - thom

humans - lafal

leader - oaar

lend - lein

lower - lao

memory - pera

mother - matria

much - laevir

nature - theine

nothing - cin

open - othwe

power - moer

remember - pyrea

return - cor

save - orathu

take - fen

to - od

what - va

yes - vas

you - oi