Chapter 14
Danger
Esgalmir spent the day at home, alternately prowling the Net and trying to figure out how to get to Mark Lewis. He did send one e-mail to Malfinien, offering his unofficial assistance, but did not really expect a reply. He wanted to contact the man himself; what if Malfinien or some other Elf met him and got the information about the Road, then left him, Esgalmir, completely out of the loop? He'd be trapped here. They probably wouldn't do that, he knew he was over-reacting, but such a vastly important matter must not be left to 'what they will probably do.'
Sunday night passed the same way, and Monday began another week in the endless continuum. Except that today something occurred that, once again, would shake the entire Elven world.
It happened around midday, although Esgalmir didn't find out about it until later. He had flipped on the television for the news; if anything big enough to matter to him happened, he'd know about it here. The only moderately accident-connected story was local, though: a crashed bus, somewhere in Charlotte. One survivor. He allowed himself a moment's sadness over this, but really, humans died so quickly, Esgalmir was used to them passing. And yet-- the few years they had been cheated of meant so much more to them, they had such short lives already.
That evening he gave Malfinien a call, hoping to follow up on the e-mail. However, when she picked up the phone, he knew something was wrong-- she didn't answer with her usual chipper 'Hi, this Liz!' Instead, "Yes?"
"Malfinien?"
"Esgalmir? Oh, Esgalmir-" he heard her breath catch "- it's Lothwen. She was in that bus, the one that crashed. I was about to call you."
He reeled back from the phone, again. "Lothwen's dead?"
"No. She was the survivor."
"Oh-"
"Indeed," she replied grimly. "An Elf has finally found her way into a human hospital. And what happens now?"
Well, several things. For one, swear-- he did so. For another, get out of Charlotte, out of North Carolina, and if possible, out of America. Or even out of this world-- "This makes the Straight Road all the more important," he said finally.
"Exactly. I know you're Unfit and all, but I think that was an over-reaction and I want you to help me anyway. This incident has pushed everyone who was undecided firmly to Firlaith's side, and I think they're all going to get out of here together, as soon as possible."
"Do you think we shouldn't?"
"What do you think we should do about Lothwen?" she answered, ignoring his question.
"What can we do?"
"Break her out." Esgalmir gaped slightly.
"She's not in a prison!"
"If she isn't yet, " Malfinien snapped back, "she will be soon, for all practical purposes. Esgalmir, we've lived among humans for long enough. What do you think they'll do when they find out she's not human? They treat one another as animals when they look different or speak different languages, and now they have someone who isn't even part of their species!" Esgalmir did not try to refute the irrefutable. Instead, he sighed.
"All right. How do you plan to do this?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but we can wing it once we know what hospital she's in."
"Will the humans know who she is? They won't have a DNA sample or doctor's records, remember. We might have a big problem finding her room."
"We can wing it," Malfinien repeated steadfastly.
"All right. When do we leave?"
"Right now, when else?" Esgalmir gaped again and did not respond. "Esgalmir?"
"All right, all right, I'm coming."
"Meet me at the entrance to St. Patrick's, that's where I heard they usually take accident victims."
"All right. Be there in 45 minutes."
"Why so long? Oh, right-- you take the bus. Tell you what, I'll pick you up."
"See you out front then?" He took the *click* as a yes, sighed again, and hung up the phone. Now who was over-reacting?
He cleaned up his apartment a little more than usual tonight. Some sixth sense gave him the feeling he might not come back for a few days, and he planned accordingly, then headed down to the street to wait for Malfinien.
The car jerked violently to a stop right next to him, and he had to jump back to avoid the door that flew open. {Get in,} she barked; he obeyed meekly, then before he could shut the door she took off again.
{Is this really necessary, Malfinien?} he complained as a bump in the road sent his head into the ceiling. She nodded tersely.
{We can waste no more time-- I wouldn't put anything past humans. You haven't been working in a college.} She gave a harsh laugh. {Believe me, Esgalmir, if you have such a strong desire for the Road, just be glad you didn't become a teacher. You'd have committed suicide long ago.} Esgalmir said nothing, just buckled his seat belt securely.
A few minutes later Malfinien whipped into the parking lot outside the hospital. After racing up and down the rows, narrowly avoiding an old lady with a walker, and having the space she'd spotted taken by an opportunistic punk in a sports car, she muttered something under her breath and drove back onto the road.
{Where are you going to park?}
{Right here,} she responded, stopping the car on the curb just beyond the fire lane.
{It says staff only,} Esgalmir pointed out.
{This is more important than a parking ticket,} she answered, jumping out. Esgalmir followed more slowly; she waited for him to come up beside her, then caught his arm.
{Now remember. Lothwen is probably in a pretty bad condition, but we cannot risk her being taken somewhere else. If she's survived the crash, she should already be on the mend; we'll need to be careful with her, of course, but we'll need to take her anyway. So don't waver when you see what she's like.}
Esgalmir nodded. {I have seen accidents before, Malfinien. And war. I know what Elves can take.}
{Very well. Let's go in.}