Chapter 24: Friends or Rivals?

By Shawna D.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was just beginning to set. Of the three unconscious elves, the first to awaken was Rogir, who luckily having been knocked out, had slept off the hangover. After realizing he, Amarth, and Admir were all tied to a tree, he nudged Admir slightly, hoping she would awaken.

Admir opened her eyes slowly. "Where...where are we...?" she moaned.

"Tied to a tree, Admir." Rogir replied sharply. Admir kicked him in annoyance.

"Ow. What the hell was that for?" he snapped angrily.

"For being a jerk." Admir replied swiftly. Then she noticed Amarth. "He's still with us..." she muttered.

"Tch, of course Thelion forgives all..." said Rogir sarcastically. "He likes when people betray him..."

Admir made to kick him again, when Amarth blocked her foot. "Don't waste your energy." he said calmly.

"Amarth, why did you side with us...?" Admir asked more to herself than him.

"Why? Because I was...I was..." he was beginning sound like when Rogir tried to apologize, and Rogir, thinking he was being mocked rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I guess I was sympathetic...I'm not truly like them...I...I don't know why I hurt either of you, but if it makes you feel better, when we get free, you can beat the hell out of me." he replied sadly.

"Why does your voice sound different?" asked Rogir out of curiosity, wondering if it was the same reason as his.

"It's changing..." sighed Amarth.

"Is that like breaking?" asked Rogir, slightly confused.

"How does your voice break?" asked Amarth, giving Rogir a confused glance.

"Ask Admir." replied Rogir a bit more crossly than intended.

"Well, when I was littler..."

"YOUNGER, stupid!" snapped Rogir.

"Hollen am!" demanded Admir crossily glaring at the one that had rudely interrupted her. "When I was YOUNGER," she threw Rogir an annoyed look before continuing, "Aradwyn's voice was making the same noise, and when I asked him, he said his voice was breaking."

"I believe you mean 'changing'." said Amarth gently, not wanting Admir to get any angrier, because even though she was a girl, she wasn't weak when she lost her temper. And how did he know this? Well he just happened to have pissed her off about a year ago and ended up with a black eye and bloody nose.

"I do?" she asked.

Rogir glared at her furiously. "You don't even hear things right! What kind of elf are you?" he spat.

"YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH ME BEING A PEREDHIL?" she demanded.

Rogir narrowed his eyes at her a smirked. "Maybe I do."

If it were possible for a person to catch fire out of anger, Admir would most likely have burned down the whole tree they were tied to, not to metioned herself and the other two elves.

Before Admir could say anything, Amarth had turned to Rogir in rage. "DON'T YOU EVER COMPLAIN ABOUT PEREDHIL'S UNLESS YOU WANT TO DEAL WITH ME!"

Rogir opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it, and clamped his mouth shut. Amarth may be on their side, but if he said something wrong Amarth could turn against them. Not to mention, Amarth was much bigger and stronger than Rogir, dispite that one year age differance, and if he didn't want to suffer any more injuries than he had already gotten throughout the whole day, he might as well shut up now. He shook his head.

"Good!" snapped Admir and Amarth in unison.

"Ow...something in my pocket is poking me!" whined Admir. "Rogir, take it out, I can't reach my pocket!"

Rogir rolled his eyes and obeyed. After pulling the object that was hurting her out her pocket, he stared at it wide-eyed. "W-where did you get this...?" he stammered awkwardly.

Admir raised an eyebrow at him. "On the ground outside our house." she replied. "Why?"

Rogir shuffled his feet nervously. "Well...I...I made it for you...and I was going to give it to you." Rogir felt himself blushing, and turned away from her.

"I have an idea!" she exclaimed, startling the other two with her sudden outburst. "Rogir, give me the pendant back."

Rogir looked her uncertainly, but obeyed again.

After a minute or two of scratching at the rope that bound her, it finally spit on the sharp edge of the pendant, which had broken when she had dropped it, and all 3 elves (elf and half-elves) fell onto the ground.

"Rogir sat on the ground for a minute, then turned to Admir. "I have another question." he said in a grumpy tone.

"What's that?" asked Admir still angry about his earlier comment.
"How I didn't die earlier...?" he asked.

Admir stared at him oddly. "What?"

"Well I was...er...at least I think I was...hiccuping, why am I still alive? And how come water made it stop? Or did it just look like water?"

Admir grinned. "You didn't die from hiccuping earlier?" she had a plan, to pay him back for the earlier comment. She winked at Amarth, who was about to say that hiccups weren't life threatening or anything. "Well...let's see if you die THIS time! Then you can tell me how you got them in the first place!" she cried tackling him and tickling him, knowing he was going to kill her later...

Uh...well...(laughs nervously) um...isn't this...odd? Yes, Rogir is obviously ticklish, since at the moment he hasn't lost his mind yet, and he's pretty much normal right now...yeah, to try to give Rogir the hiccups, just so he'll think he's dying, that is a bit overly cruel of Admir, but wut can I say? She's mad at him, wouldn't u be insulted if sum1 said sumthing like that about ur race or religion? That's how she feels, and Amarth knows it which is y he isn't stopping her. lol

Namarie!

Shawna D.