I awoke to pain. Excruciating pain in my waning and in my breast; and a sharp pain in my head, just above my left ear. A sharp pain accompanied by a blow; a blow and a series of noises. Noises that I knew were voices.
I opened my eyes and saw Grubbers. Two Grubbers were standing in front of me, and I heard one behind me. They were all yelling at me, and throwing rocks. It had been a rock that had woken me up. Another rock hit me in the breast, a rock thrown by the boy... the Dwarf boy.
I had to make them stop, I had to. They were going to kill me. I hated them, I hated who they were, I hated who they represented; what they represented. But I had to make them stop.
Those weren’t just noises, they weren’t just voices, I knew what they meant. I knew I knew.
[Format note: Showing the use of other languages is rather tricky. I am going to use different quotation marks for a new or unexpected language. These might look like «this» or //this// depending. If I use different ones, that means different languages.]
<<Kill it!>> The boy in front of me screamed, <<Kill it!>>
Another rock hit me from behind, and the boy that was yelling picked up another one, but the other looked at me, confused.
<<Let’s just leave it alone,>> he said.
<<What?>> Said the other, throwing a rock at me and missing when I ducked, <<Why?>>
Another rock hit me from behind, in the head. I was dizzy, I was sick, and I was in incredible pain, but I had to make them stop.
<<Don’t,>> I croaked. But they didn’t seem to understand, and three more rocks hit me before I managed, again, <<Don’t. Don’t kill me.>>
<<Stop!!>> The one boy said, the smaller one in front of me, <<Stop!! It’s trying to talk!>>
<<What?>> came a voice from behind me, <<Eagles can’t talk.>>
<<Don’t kill me,>> I whispered, and the world went black.
I awoke, to a crowd. When I had fallen asleep there had been two boys in front of me, and now there was a whole crowd. And mostly adults, adult male Dwarves. But the boys were still there, “It spoke, father! It spoke to me.”
<<Eagles don’t speak,>> the father responded, but he didn’t sound convinced.
<<I heard him too, Elder Gunther, I heard him say, ‘don’t kill me’.>>
<<Look, he’s awake,>> the first boy said.
The all looked, and were silent. I looked at them, and then saw that someone had put a bowl of water near my beak. I took some, I needed water.
<<Talk>> the one boy said to me. I turned my head sideways and looked at him, at them. I understood what he was saying, but I wasn’t sure what to say back.
<<You see son,>> one of the men began, when I finally managed,
<<Don’t kill me>> I said.
View from a Height
On a world far away, several races live… mostly in peace. What few knew was that they were all one race… that a dwarf could become an elf, who could become a troll, who could become a farmer.
A young farmer prince was climbing with some of his dwarf friends when he found out that the same thing applied to eagles…
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von