Rain

 

The rain never stopped. Down this far in the depths of the city the humidity and the heat lead to a constant precipitation. Sweat, tears, filth it all settled down to the bottom of the Undercity. Only two miles under ground but it felt like the depths of hell. It was dark and always night this far down.

The Elf lit another cigarette and checked the time. Two hours and counting, he didn't enjoy waiting in the bowels of an Undercity. Waiting, sheltered under a lone street light his only company a pile of cigarette butts.

Another car drove past, its headlights temporarily limiting the elf's sight. He watched it pass, figuring he'd give this job another two minutes then go back to his hotel and shower for a week. His longcoat drenched through, his long black hair soaking wet and any hope of staying dry given up an hour ago.

The car continued to the end of the street then turned around. It was a huge old hunk of junk the sort of thing that had once cruised the the upper and inner levels of the city, ferrying some executive type to and from his boring office job. It looked like it had seen a few owners since, not in bad enough condition to be sold as scrap to those that live outside the city to maybe relive its former glory lovingly restored to run the demongrounds or maybe just get turned into shiny ashtrays to trade to the orks. Who knows who cares? The elf only knew that if it stopped in front of him that shower would have to wait.

The car stopped.

'Hey what you doin' here pretty boy?. You and those ears look like they need a little breakin'. We don't like elves stinking up our streets with their long pointy ears standing up all proud like. Don't you know your place elf."

The Elf gave up trying to light his cigarette with his water logged-lighter. The gutter was cracked and broken from years of neglect. The elf bent and picked up half a brick that lay near the street and approached the car. Its five passengers exchanged grins.

'Your lighter work in this thing?'

'Get him boys'

A minute and a half later the elf was the proud owner of a new old car, of which the cigarette lighter and thankfully the air conditioning worked. Bleeding in the street lay five humans who no longer need it this night.

The cold air was nice and at least he wouldn't be taking a smelly cab back to the hotel. It had taken a week to get here. He'd been happily spending some time off in the Twin Cities, taking it easy relaxing, enjoying the sun and the simple life. A messenger had found him and given him the message to be here tonight two hours ago. The message bore the royal dark Elvin seal, and it was genuine. But why here, why him, surely there where others back in the underground kingdom that would be better suited to the task, whatever it maybe. Affairs of state where no longer his problem.

A lady approached the street light. An elven lady. Her ears tied back hidden amongst her mess of blonde hair, the ear cartilage damaged. Judging by her clothes she was a cheap whore. He hoped she had nothing to do with why he was here. Her skin was ever so slightly darker than a normal elf's. She was a dark elf like him, or she'd been down here too long out of the sun's bleaching light.

She waited, a cutesy clear bubble umbrella sheltered her from the rain, her beautiful blue eyes vacant , it took a while for her to notice the bodies in the street, she looked half dazed, probably some sort of addict. But then she noticed the car and its driver, she quickly hurried over to it and got in.

'You're Zarg-nar, prince regent of the dark elven kingdom, I offer my life to the kingdom.'

'Oh god no!!! GEt out!! out out out. I don't do prince stuff any more."

'My lord I beg that you hear me out, wow is this car yours, hey air conditioning, what's this switch do?"

Three hot-dogs, a super-sized softdrink and two doughnuts later, Zargnar was still confused, wet, hot and sweaty. She ate like she hadn't seen food in a month. Late-nite convenience food was never good and the lighting never comfortable. He would have liked to have just left her on the street but the lengths that she had gone to to get him here and that royal seal had him worried and unfortunately intrigued.

She had babbled non-stop about the impending war, but he knew that while he stayed away from the kingdom none would dare wage war in his name. He stayed away now, ever since he had come of age every time he returned home the war machine would start, the factory would churn out evil diabolic weapons and the generals would start to plan which nations would fall first and prattle about world domination, cleansing the demons and the scourge that inhabited the planet. They had the weaponry, they had the skill, but did they have the right. The dark Elvin kingdom numbered so little and everyone of these 'wars' dwindled their numbers so much they could never hope to hold the territory they would gain, they had not the troops. His father had waged regular wars, and it had cost him his mind, but unfortunately not his life, his mindless corpse lives on immortal, and so does his final plans for world domination.

Zarg-nar remembered the insanity of those wars, all he could remember was looking at the people, the despair in their faces. The death tolls though minimal to a normal nation of millions, devastated their population of mere thousands. Birth rates had never been high, and the ever thinning gene pool would destroy what was left, already birth defects were common. When his father had become injured he became regent, never to be king. His fathers final orders perpetually in effect. But as 'regent' he is also the armies token figure head without his presence the war may not proceed. If his father were to lose his heir, his mindless rule would end, and another family would take the role of king. Two hundred and fifty years Zarg-Nar has wondered the planet, trying to escape his destiny, knowing that only his own death can release his people form eternal war and its damnation. At times he would welcome the release.

'hey you listening', Megan scoffed the rest of the donut she had been dunking in her soft drink.

'No'

'I'll say it again. About a month ago I was entertaining some real hi-rollers, some corporate types, any ways I over heard them talking about some military action thing. Well as soon as they saw me and my ears they got all funny, started poking fun at me and stuff, I'm used to it, means I can charge more, Orks really love doing that you know. Not that these guys were ork, but anyway that's when they tell me what they have planned, I don't know they were gloating or something suppose they just wanted to break my sprit some more, as if I ain't got it bad enough, stuck down here just so I don't have to put up with the voices and the random magics."

"Your a rogue mage? How? Our people don't have that talent very often"

"Dunno? but it's why I got exiled from the Dark Elven kingdom. I was only a kid when some ork slave trader caught me wondering around the Twin Cities and sold me into this business. Lucky for me I ended up here rather than down at the Lakes.... I hear they scoop your brains out and feed 'em to dragons"

"That's only if you don't follow their rules and pay your tithing."

"Yeah down here there's less connection with the darkness, and you can get this medicine that completely numbs you to it, it's expensive, but it feels good. Got to be careful though they tell me its addictive.", Her eyes glazed over as her thoughts wandered off into oblivion again.

"How did you get that royal seal? How did you find me? Why did you find me?" Zargnar regretted every question but they all had to be answered.

"OK one more time. The seal I stole from my trick that night. I found you through some friends of mine that have some contacts in Gauntlets Gate the message then got redirected to you. And if you don't stop these guy's they are gonna destroy what's left of the empire gain access to the ancient factories and build a bomb big enough to wipe the face of the planet clean again."

Zarg-nar lost his composure and nearly drowned in his coffee. "What was that last bit again"

Megan repeated it slowly, whilst wiping sprayed luke warm coffee from her face and cleavage with wads of napkin.

" T h e y a r e going to d e s t r o y the kingdom and then the surface. They have put together an army in here and are going to hire mercenaries from everywhere. Hey with the number of enemies we have half of them will work for free. And they have a secret weapon... a magical virus... a plague. One that can even effect elves."

"I need names, dates, locations, numbers. Anything and everything you know. And I need you to set up another 'nights' entertainment with these guy's", Zarg-nar realised that if the Dark Elvin senate found out of this plan they would immediately wage another suicidal war, whether or not he was there to stop them.

"Oh no! that's it I've done my bit for the kingdom. No heroics for this working girl"

**************

Two days later Megan was more than half naked and dancing for some gentlemen in a high-priced hotel room. Her movements as smooth and elegant as her skin. Her long neck held a pretty and eternally youthful face aloft with the grace and poise of a princess, her long legs moved and twisted, in elaborate complicated graceful movements, her hips moving to the rhythm of an ancient elven lullaby that only she could hear in her mind, her eye's showed the pain in her heart. But no-one was looking at her eyes.

'Yeah, That's it baby', two men in suits, their ties loosened, squealed at her, yelling obscenities that she had heard a thousand times before. Obscenities about her mother. Obscenities about the children she would bare them. Obscenities that no-one should ever have to listen to, including a cheap whore like her. Behind the two suits stood their bodyguards, five of them joining in, shouting similar things.

Zarg-nar had planned to wait and listen for the information they would volunteer, but he couldn't let this go on. Even if it was her chosen profession, not even pig's deserved to be demoralised this way.

He stepped into room from the balcony. By the time the guards had realised that he wasn't part of the act he had broken one of their arms and two of their noses. The forth clutched his throat where the knife had entered and the fifth was staring down the barrel of a sleek looking pistol in Zarg's left hand.

"Gentlemen I believe you owe the lady an apology"

"Flarg you, pointy head", bravely declared one of the suits.

Megan got her clothes together and rushed into the bathroom to dress and to wait.

The only remaining uninjured bodyguards headless body slumped to the floor, the tinkle of the spent cartridge on the tiles the only sound to break the silence after the bang of the gun.

"In five minutes the rest of the guards will be here and you won't be so cocky then", sneered the brave suit.

The elf looked in disbelief at the braver of the two suits, who had already stood up to face off the elf. Two more shots were fired and the suit was back in his chair clutching his knees, and screaming.

The elf grabbed another chair and sat opposite the remaining suit, his gun pointed in the general direction of the remaining body guards.

'I will be asking you a series of questions, you will answer them. I will not waste my breath on threats, please assume the worst.... Who do you represent? When are you to attack the Dark Elvin empire? Who is in charge of the operation? Where are your operations based? What are their numbers and capability? Why did you have the royal seal? Heart or Brain?", Zarg-nar returned his knife to its sheath but held on to his pistol.

 

It only took the suit three minutes to answer all of the elf's questions. The suit had chosen brain. When the rest of the guards arrived all they found were six bodies, all shot in the brain. One remaining guard was still desperately holding his throat with both hands to staunch the bleeding.

In the elevator, on the ride to the bottom, nothing was said. Zarg-nar knew what Megan did and she him, but neither had witnessed the others work before, they both wished to never again.

 

Inspiration : to the other short stories