July 2018

"Find him!"

The sound of boots hitting the concrete floor was echoing through the garage. Behind one of the armoured security cars, a young elf was crouching and listening to his pursuers.

"Zaos Merryray, you have nowhere to go! Come out and I promise that you won't be hurt!", said one of the security guards

Zaos heard that a few of the guards came closer to the truck. From the sound, he assumed that they had their guns ready. Zaos touched the truck with both his hands and started to quietly say an incantation of a spell. Before he finished, he heard a female voice.

"Glaciant!"

A moment later Zaos heard screams of pain and fear from the security guards.

"Whoever you are, stand down!", a guard shouted

Zaos stopped saying the incantation and came out from behind the vehicle. The guards were completely immobilized. Their legs and hands were covered in a white-bluish substance similar to ice. The woman who cast the spell was an elf. She was much older than Zaos. He looked at her clothes. They were modern, but she had a necklace around her neck which looked very old. As Zaos was getting closer to her, he could see it clearer and clearer. It was the sigil of the guards of the European Order.

"Run, youngling! I will keep them busy!", the woman said

Zaos looked behind the woman. The garage doors were open. From what he could see it was done quite violently. There was no time to waste, so Zaos ran towards the door when he was out and climbing up the driveway, he heard the noise of several people hitting a wall at high speed. Zaos' saviour wasn't fooling around. He ran through the night as fast as he could to just get as far from that place as possible.

***

Zaos ran for hours before reaching a more densely populated area. It was still dark and lights in all houses were off. Zaos didn't stop even when his legs were hurting from exhaustion. He stopped when he reached the main road. He looked around. It was calm. Only a few cars on the street and no people walking. Everything was lighted by the orange light of the street lamps. Zaos reached the nearest bus stop on the way to the city centre and sat there. He was safe for a while. Enough to rest.

***

The morning sun woke Zaos up just as people were starting to come to the bus stop. They were all human, but the sight of an elf wasn't surprising to them as much as his clothes. When Zaos looked at what he was wearing, he understood. He was in a white t-shirt and trousers. On the t-shirt, there was a sewn-in name tag with his name partially erased. People must have thought that he escaped from a psych ward. He didn't have a lot of time to think about a change of wardrobe as a bus came to the stop. As people started to board it, Zaos sneaked through the back door and hid in the crowd hoping there wouldn't be a ticket controller. The crowd on the bus made him optimistic. The vehicle moved. Zaos clung to the ticket validator to keep his balance.

Everything seemed fine for a few stops. When the bus entered the east bank districts of Warsaw, Zaos heard and clicking sound and noticed that the validator was showing a red light. It was blocked. A controller was on the bus and the driver just left the last stop. Zaos put his right hand into a pocket of his white trousers and concentrated.

"Ticket, please", said the controller to Zaos

He took his hand from the pocket holding a piece of paper and showed it to the controller. The officer looked at it and rubbed the paper with his finger. Small, white sparks flew into the air.

"That's fake. A fine is due."

"That's not fake! It's real. I just have some dust in the pocket", said Zaos.

The controller looked at him.

"You're joking, right? I'm a magic-user. I know a magic fake when I see one, elf."

"I'm running away from some bad people, sir! I need to get to the Fey Order's HQ!"

"I heard every possible excuse. It doesn't change anything. The law is the law", said the controller.

Zaos didn't argue more. He and the controller got out on the next stop and the controller wrote him a fine.

"Please, at least call the police and tell them I need a ride to the order!"

"Police is not a taxi service, kid."