Page 27 of The Dark Elf's Secret Baby
The overseer takes me straight to my quarters to start. I look around, examining the spacious bungalow. It’s nice, much nicer than the cabins in the mining camps. Probably because there are so few dark elves that live here, they’re able to pour more resources into where they live.
I settle in, promising Iheru that I would arrange for a meeting between us later. For now though, I need to unpack and write a letter to my guard leader back at camp to let him know I’ve arrived. I’m on a semi-vacation but a working one. I’m here to “gain experience” working with Iheru, as it were, and I suggested to some of the higher-ups that it might behoove us to take a page from Zerva’s books.
The island is a kind of haven for the lost, so to speak. They have fewer dark elves but produce good numbers here, which means they must be doing something right. I want to bring back what I’ve learned here on Zerva and make more changes to the camps, to encourage better dark elf-human relations.
So even though all I want to do is rush after Layla and demand answers, I have a job to do. Once I’ve finished unpacking and I’ve written my letter, I head down to the overseer’s office.
“So,” I tell Iheru once I’m inside his office. “I want to see more of the island first. Can you give me a tour?”
“Right away!” he says, puffing up his chest. He clearly thinks highly of himself and I’m sure giving the new Lieutenant a tour is going to be his main topic of conversation for the next few days.
“So those are the human homes,” he says, taking me past the officer quarters. “Just that way. The rest of the dark elf workforce lives on the opposite side. There is a large port city just down the road. I can take you there. We have many merchants and traders that come through this way on their way to other places. They stop here to do business with us.”
It’s a pretty place. If I had to pick somewhere to live, this might be on the top of my list. For not the first time, I berate myself for cowarding out on signing up for a transfer back when I had the chance. I could have been working on this island. Maybe I would have even been here when Layla arrived.
Maybe we could have come together.
I have to shake her from my thoughts. Not yet. I’ll have plenty of time to track her down later but I need to focus. Iheru keeps talking, explaining more about how life works on Zerva. There are other islands in the Yarcarres but this is the most populated one, the one where the main trade happens.
All the business and work takes place here. There are two smaller islands that more humans live on as well. Some choose to live further out but work on Zerva. The smallest islands are home to some orc refugees and a few naga explorers who settled here. It’s actually fascinating, seeing so much more of the world than I’d ever seen before.
“And here is the city center,” Iheru takes me along the cobblestone path, through a copse of trees and it leads us straight into the heart of the city. There are merchant stalls that line the streets, shops, restaurants, and more. I see the large administrative building at the top of the hill.
“Rumors tell of a sea hag that lives deep inside the island too,” Iheru whispers. I’m not sure why he’s whispering but I play along.
“Does she ever come out?” I whisper back.
“Not many have actually seen her, there’s a lot of rumors about her though. I haven’t seen her myself but some of the humans have legends about her.”
This place is quite something. It’s so different from Tlouz. There’s a relaxed atmosphere here that we don’t have in the mining camps. People come and go freely and there are hardly any dark elf guards around.
We head back to the officer quarters, bypassing the village once again. I scan the crowds in the village to see if I can spot Layla but there’s no sign of her.
Now that I’m here, I can spend my time looking for her. She won’t be able to hide from me forever. The island is only so big and I’m a very determined man.
And she has a lot to answer for.
17
Layla
Shit. Shit! I rush back home, determined to get away before he can find me. What is happening? Why is he here?
I knew that Kerym wanted nothing more than to become a Lieutenant, but I also never expected him to stay in Camp Horizon. Hardly any dark elf does. That place is merely a stepping stone to bigger and better assignments.
Did he know I came here? Is that why he’s here? Did he track me down or is this all some sort of weird coincidence set up by the cosmos?
“Mama, big elf!” Jasper says as we arrive back at our bungalow. “Mama see big elf? Eyes, mama!” He points to his and I know instantly he saw Kerym’s startling eyes that resemble his own.
“Yes,” I smile, pretending everything is fine, trying to calm myself so Jasper doesn’t notice my panic. “I saw the dark elf. You are so smart!”
Inside I’m reeling from the encounter still. I can’t believe he’shere. It’s not like I haven’t thought about what would happen if he showed up. I just never thought it would actually happen!
My mind is a mess. Should I pack a bag? Should we run? Has he even connected Jasper to this whole mess?
I can’t stop thinking about the shock on his face when he saw me standing there with our son. Did he miss me? Is that why he came? No, I can’t think like that. He came on official business, nothing more.
Still. He has to know something is up now. Will he be angry with me? I feel bad that I left the way I did, but at the time it didn’t seem like I had much of a choice.