Free Dragons & Dwarves by S. Andrew Swann Page A

almost a ruff. The ears were impossibly contorted and twisting to a slightly forward curving point on their tips. While I watched, I could almost see them move in response to the noises in the room. “However, we are not here to answer your questions. I have to ask you to accompany us for a short while.”
    Very calm, very polite. I doubt that more than three humans alive had ever seen an elf nervous, or angry. They all talked with the detachment of a bored psychoanalyst.
    “It’s two in the morning. Don’t you think it reasonable that I might not want to go anywhere right now? Why don’t you come back at a more human hour?”
    He gave me a sterile smile that showed a flash of very narrow, very even, very white teeth. “Since we do not suffer the human addiction to periodic unconsciousness, following a ‘human’ schedule would be an exercise in inefficiency. I think that, upon a moment of reflection, you will see the wisdom in following our schedule.” He gave a slight nod to the elf with the Glock. “The wrong decision would be inconvenient for everyone concerned.”
    “Yeah, yeah.” I stood up, gingerly placing the takeout container on the coffee table between me and the elf with the gun. The tacky sides of the container made me overly aware of the sticky feeling of my sweat-stained shirt sticking to the small of my back.
    I gave the elf with the Glock an ironic smile. He didn’t smile back. The bastards didn’t even appreciate the effort I was making not to freak out.
    I turned back to Elf One. Even with me standing, I still had to look up at him sitting on the arm of my couch. “You mind telling me what this is all about?”
    “As I have told you,” he stood up, towering over me and stooping slightly to avoid the track lighting, “we are not here to answer your questions.”
     
    We walked down the stairs, I think because the elves didn’t like the elevator. Being enclosed in a solid steel box must be somewhat unnerving to them.
    This time of night, Willie was long gone. There were supposed to be a half-dozen wards blocking unauthorized access to the building, but my escort walked through each magical barrier as if it wasn’t there. The fact that they didn’t trip a single alarm reinforced the idea that these were cops who had access to the talismans that allowed them free passage. My own talisman for the building was on my key chain, currently sitting on the kitchen table.
    Elf Four was idling in a minivan out in front of my building. Probably not enough steel in it to bother these guys, mostly aluminum, plastic, fiberglass, and an acre of tinted windows.
    I was hustled into the back, flanked by two elves, while Elf One took shotgun. I saw his head brush the roof. These guys needed the headroom of a van. In a normal car, Elf One would be looking out the windshield from between his knees.
    As promised, none of my questions were answered, which didn’t stop me from asking—occupational hazard. They didn’t show any irritation, even though I was expecting a prod from the Glock at any moment to remind me who was in charge. Apparently, the elves didn’t think like that.
    We drove through the processed quaintness of Shaker Square, a yuppie haven of upscale restaurants, chain stores, and the occasional art gallery. Like my condo, it was built in the nineteen-thirties, and had about seventy years as a nice piece of local color before the developers got hold of it. I’m waiting for them to put in the Disney Store.
    We drove through the square and took a turn north up MLK. We stuck with Martin Luther King Boulevard to where it hit Case Western Reserve University, and University Circle. Up until this point I was pretty sure that we were going to be heading deeper into Cleveland proper. I had just about assured myself that these were detectives from the SPU who were going to take me downtown for some clandestine questions.
    I was physically prepared for some inconvenience, but I wasn’t particularly scared