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“We’ve always recognized your unique disposition, Annette,” Jessaphine says. “You’re not exactly like the other humans, are you?”
I don’t know what to say. A flicker of light escapes my hand, unnoticed by everyone, as my brain unwittingly stumbles through incantations.
“We’ve been very kind to you because we recognize your unique gifts. But we know there are many who have spoken out against your kind, and they’re all –”
“Dead,” Dritz interjects. “Torn apart, flayed open, burned, the moisture sucked out of every orifice in their bodies.”
“Now, wait a minute,” I start to say.
“No. No more minutes.”
Jessaphine rests her head on her hand now, unable to contain her impatience. She can’t hide the fury from her voice.
“We’ve humored this farce long enough. If you’re not gone by sunset, we’ve hired somebody to remove you, and we’ve told them we’d take you warm or cold. We cannot allow this threat to our village to go unchecked.”
I pause to think, my skin clammy.
The only bright spot is that they’re not executing me for these alleged crimes. They’re actually being merciful by just sending me out of town.
Every step out of the hall is devastating. I can hear the blood coursing through my body. My very heartbeat is deafening.
I reach the archway and step through it, feeling the sunset’s rays on my face only to feel something hard and sharp collide with the side of my face. The noise in my ear is deafening upon impact.
Moving my hand up suddenly, I wipe the tangy and ripe-smelling tizret, its juices and skin intermingled with a trickle of blood, from my cheek. Tears well up in my eyes as I trace the trajectory of the fruit to an elderly dark elf.
“Fucking whore of a witch!” the man screams. And he’s not alone.
A crowd of about fifteen furious elves stands to my left, staring at me callously. The entire time that I’ve lived here, I’ve had to avoid them, never looking at them the wrong way or saying the wrong thing in their presence. They clearly knew I was meeting with the council and waited outside for my exit.
My lip curls. I wish my spells were powerful enough to eliminate them from the face of reality. But then the magic of dark elves is leagues above my own anyway, so I’d probably just be stopped with countermagic.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes, not saying anything as I step forward.
Their movements mirror my own, and I can feel the coolness of their shadows overwhelming me. Their enraged comments nearly break me.
“If we weren’t standing in broad daylight, I’d kill you myself!”
“You’d better watch your back at night, girlie!”
“We demand justice! Turn yourself in and face the consequences!”
I start to walk at a quickened pace through the town before breaking into a run, looking only at my shoes hitting the hard cobblestone tile. I heave and gasp, clutching my side, before realizing that I’ve shaken the mob.
Perhaps I shouldn’t blame them. Many of them have probably lost family members and feel like they have no sense of closure.
I expect to find more solidarity with other humans as I cross through lowtown, but I discover no such comfort. As I shuffle forward, covering my head with my hood, I can feel their eyes upon me, scrutinizing me. Their judgment is as clear as the council’s.
Staring down at my feet in the vain hope that I could shut out their demeaning stares, I bump into a hard, tall figure of a man.
“Excuse me,” he says, shuffling out of the way before noticing who I am.
I hope to clear the distance before he can say anything.
“You ruined everything, you know that?”
His tone is less caustic and more matter-of-fact.
I consider moving forward, but I realize that I can’t convince him. Instead, I find myself turning to face him. “Pardon?”
