A short story by NeKoeNMa
The south plains are possibly the best place to be in the world. There, a small race brings happiness to the whole land. Although not numerous, to the Halflings life is a permanent party. The land is green, the birds sing, a perfect place. Most people that pass trough here feel a dire need to stop and relax.
For this reason every Inn, be it on a village or in the middle of a road, is always full. Lots of ale and laughs, one being smoking on that corner, and the travelers, of course, joining the happy singing and dancing of the little folks. A worker of the bar went to serve more ale to someone on the edge of the room. He peacefully drunk a bit and gave to the waiter a couple of gold coins, without saying a single word.
The waiter of course, looked with strangeness to the person. He had pointy ears and was carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows on his back. “Of course!” he thought it should be an elf! They’re quite serious and don’t care much for these kinds of things. However, even an elf should start singing at any time… At least on that particular Inn.
After finishing his cup the elf watched a bit of the confusing dance of three drunken halflings and a drunk human. He finally asked the Innkeeper for a room. He paid what he needed and climbed the stairs. The waiter gave an extra glance at him. He was wearing a dark green tunic. Under that he could see some leather, possibly of some kind of armor.
Arriving at the room the elf organized his package and opened up a book. He wrote some things and then closed the book, blew out the candle and went to bed. He couldn’t sleep because the mess was big on the room below, and he still could smell the ale perfume coming trough the cracks on the wooden floor.
Being unable to sleep he opened the window and jumped to a tree nearby with easiness. He glanced at the crescent moon and at the stars.
“So many… If my pocket were of such a size…”
After thinking a bit about random things, he gave a look down. The front door of the Inn was below, and he saw three men with dark red hoods going trough the door. He jumped back to his room and sit on a chair. Something unusual happened. The sound coming from the room below stopped on an amazing speed. He decided to go down the stairs.
When he arrived he noticed that everyone was looking with apprehension to the counter, where one of the men with the hood was, with a dagger on the neck of the waiter. The other two were walking around the room, with sack, getting the purse and coins of the Inn’s customers. The elf then moved silently to the shadows below the stairs. The two robbers walked in the direction of the leader, with a sack full of gold and copper coins.
“Hee heh… Thanks for your gold, buddies! Now… Just next time, bring more!”
The robber leader then made a movement with the arms; he was about to kill the waiter. In a fast movement the elf run on the direction of the robbers with an amazing speed. He threw himself on the robbers making them fall with a surprised look on the face and. He got some ropes that were serving as an ornament on the Inn wall, quickly tied the robbers and grabbed the purse.
The people started to talk again. The Innkeeper looked with a smile on his face, and the waiter was recovering from his frightening experience. The Innkeeper said with the biggest smile he could ever do:
“Oh thank you, thank you! You saved the life my most precious waiter and recovered the money of me and my customers.”
The elf just glanced at the waiter, and then at the Innkeeper. He just let drop a small paper and quickly runned up the stairs. He grabbed his thinks and jumped to the tree, then to the ground. He started to run on the direction of the closest town, with the three sacks full of gold coins and purses.
The people looked perplex and the waiter picked up the small paper on the floor. He looked at the shade of the elf running on the night and then read the paper. “Thanks for the money. Longleef Oaktree”.
NeKoeNMa
May 27 of 2004