Free Nightfall (Book 1) by L. R. Flint Page B

“Nice.” I could not help but smile in delight.
    “Be careful not to let it go to your head,” Ekaitz joked.
    “Hey, I think he might have grown too,” Eskarne announced from behind me.
    I turned around. “Really?” Arrats reacted skeptically to her comment so Eskarne made us stand back to back and then measured our heights against one another. When she announced that she was done, Arrats and I stepped apart, awaiting her pronouncement. “Izotz is my hand’s width taller than you, Arrats.”
    “How did he—how did you—” he said, turning to me, “grow so much in one night?” Eskarne then asked how any of the changes had come over me and I retold the tale of saving Alaia from the Guards.
    “Did she place a spell on the stone that would only activate once the band was around your neck? And why turn your eyes green?” The three of us boys scowled at her, disapproving of the insinuation that the dragonlady would do something so treacherous, for the way she had placed the argument made it sound as if the dragonlady was trying to get me in trouble for having the appearance of a creature of magic.
    “Is it possible that you are an elf?” Ekaitz queried.
    “No. My ears are not even…” I stood for a moment in silence, feeling the elongated tips of my ears. “Pointed,” I finished softly. “But my parents were—” In fact, I could not recall whether my parents’ eyes had been solid green or of a design normal to mankind. And their ears; I did not know their form, but was it possible that I had memories of my mother’s protruding from her long, black, flowing hair? In my mind I mused over the hope of actually being an elf. Eskarne muttered that I was probably a Night elf, but I was too preoccupied by my thoughts to hear it. Arrats insisted that I was not a knight, after which Eskarne called him a dunderhead and gave him a description of the word ‘night’, going as far as to spell it out for him.
    “So there are Day elves?” Arrats asked.
    Not having paid attention to their argument until that point, I said, “I do believe they were called ‘Light’ elves. Or wood elves.”
    “Oh. I suppose I did not pay enough attention to Koldobika’s stories,” he said sheepishly. I smacked him playfully on the back, but it was a little too hard because he flinched and I nearly fell over again.
    “You do not have to maim me,” he exclaimed.
    “Cry baby.” He shoved me just hard enough for me to topple over and I landed right in a mud puddle.
    “Oops.” He bolted, but I was quick enough to smack the back of his head with a wad of mud. “That is it.” He turned back and ran toward me, but in the process I was able to hit him with a few soggy missiles. Then ensued a very unorganized affair involving the exchanging of a large amount of mud and unwanted contact with feet, fists, and elbows.
    “Alright boys, I think we shall leave you now,” Eskarne warned.
    “Wait, I missed one spot.” I landed an enormous handful of mud on my friend’s head and it slopped down on every side. “Perfect.” I smiled and almost got a mouthful of the stuff. Our audience started laughing when we slipped on the mucky ground as we attempted to stand.
    “You do recall that we still have to hunt nook rats?” Ekaitz asked as Arrats and I rejoined them.
    “You are bound to scare them off,” Eskarne added.
    “Arrats already does that all on his own,” I replied with a smirk. She punched my shoulder and I grunted. Arrats had kicked me in the exact same spot, so it was a bit sore.
    After I expressed my concern of being seen in public and of the Guards coming after us, I finally gave in to Eskarne’s suggestion that I tie my shirt around my eyes. Since she was the one to suggest it, she got stuck as the one to lead me around like the blind person I was pretending to be. Once that was solved we continued on our long walk to the hunting grounds.
    The hunting grounds were actually a portion of an unfinished system of sewage