escape ...

[This is an ongoing chapter a week story that began with the first Words for Wednesday for 2025 on 1 January. I'm hoping to continue it through 31 December, the last Wednesday of the year. To start from the beginning, click here to be taken back to 1 January 2025, and then look for chapters to appear weekly between Tu-W-Th]

  Alexander had pressed Kael hard for evidence of the wood elf community, but something had made Kael feel uncomfortable with giving more specific information that could lead the human to his forest home.  He saw similarities between himself and Alexander that made him come to the realization that he had not been a good elf in his life.  His loyalties had been more toward himself than to the elves, or the forest, something that now made him feel ashamed of how he had treated both.

  For his own part, Alexander had been very generous with his hospitality and his information, telling Kael all about the strengths and weaknesses of the human race.  On one hand, he seemed to be boasting of the power and might of humans to take whatever they wanted in the world, which Kael interpreted as almost threats to the forest and the elves.  The characteristics he called the "weaknesses of man" had more to do with empathy, love, morality, and kindness.  Things that Kael began to recognize had actually been the strength of the elves, and the things that he missed the most.

  At night, Alexander would walk him up to the room he'd been staying in and bid him good night before retiring to his own room.  But one night, Kael heard the soft click of the door locking him into the room, which caused him concern.  It wasn't as if he could have reached the doorknob to open the door once it was closed, but the idea that he was being locked into the room as if he was a prisoner caused him a great deal of fear.  Kael spent the remaining hours of the night, looking for a way to escape.

Image Source: Clark Pest Control UK

  Just as the sun was coming up, he found an opening behind a large chest of drawers that appeared to have been chewed quite some time ago by a rodent of some sort.  Kael knew that small mice were no threat to him, however, larger wood and river rats could be dangerous.  He could feel a difference in temperature between the room he was in and the crawlspace on the other side of the hole and was certain it must lead to the outside somewhere.  But the stench in the crawlspace was what worried him the most.  Not just about rats, but also for snakes.  Where there were rats, there were often snakes that fed upon them... and that also fed upon elves.

  The lock in the door clicked again, and Kael quickly ran to where he normally slept under the bed and pretended to be just waking up when Alexander came into the room.

  "Ahh, you're awake!  Good!  I've invited some clients to join us this evening for drinks in my office, and they also will be staying for dinner.  There will be a lot of excessive activity in the house today as the staff will be arriving to clean and prepare the meal.  I think it would be wise if you were to stay here in the room today, that is if you won't feel it is too oppressive of me to ask.  I think it would be wise to limit your exposure to only certain people I feel I can trust with your existence."

  Kael looked at him as if he was looking into a mirror.  Yes, the two of them were more alike than he wanted to admit.

  "But of course, Alexander.  You have far more knowledge of humans than I do, and I trust your judgment.  I'll just enjoy the view of the beach from the window while the house is prepared for your guests."

  Nodding as he backed out of the room, Alexander smugly smiled to himself.  Oh, this was going to earn him a pretty penny tonight.  He wondered to himself if he had set the opening bid price too low.  Turning the key in the lock again, he walked quickly downstairs to his office.

  Kael waited for the sound of the lock clicking, and instead of climbing to the windowsill, he dove behind the chest of drawers and through the hole in the wall.  Rats or snakes could not be worse than what he feared Alexander was planning.

  Knowing that he was on the second floor, Kael worked his way through the space in the walls until he saw where the stairs began to lead down to the main floor.  The fact that Alexander was seldom home, or that no one lived there when he wasn't, meant that he wasn't likely to run into any rats or snakes until he hit the main level, and then he would need to make sure he stayed in the dryland of the house away from the kitchen and bathroom.  Where there was water, there were larger insects like centipedes and millipedes that mice fed on.  The rats were more likely to stay near the kitchen where they could prowl for crumbs and food left out.  Both of which would attract the snakes.

  It took Kael most of the day to make his way down to the main floor and then into the basement where he was able to find another hole in an exterior door that took him out to the fresh air.  Never before had he been so grateful to see the stars in the sky and towering trees.  Under the cover of darkness, Kael ran in the opposite direction of the beach as fast as he could.  Behind him, he could hear doors slamming inside the house, and Alexander's raised voice shouting.

  "FIND HIM!  LOOK EVERYWHERE, UNDER EVERYTHING, AND IN EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY!  FIND HIM NOW!!"

🌸🌸🌸

  "Are you alright, Thal?"  Lyri looked at him quizzically, noticing that he had suddenly gone silent.

  It was one thing for Thal to tell his friends about the beating he took from the panicked gnolls running over him.  But it was an entirely different thing to tell them he was hearing voices.

  "Yeah, I just ... I just didn't realize how exhausted I am.  I'm ..." 

  Before he could finish his sentence, El interrupted him, pointing to the opposite side of the bonfire.

  "Hey!  Is that Kael over there?!?!"

  Lyri, looking stunning in a pretty flower pink dress against the backdrop of the bonfire, spun quickly and looked to where El was pointing.

Words for Wednesday!