Forces Collide by Jamie Wilson (ap literature book list txt) 📖

Chapter 1 –

I peered out my window. It was quickly nearing dusk; the sky was cast into brilliant different shades of orange, intermixed with faint rays of pink. Though it was still warm, I knew it would soon start to cool off, and people would begin to retreat inside to their cozy homes for the night. From where I looked out my window onto the street I could see families moving indoors, small clusters of them moving around.

Brightly colored birds were singing as they flew to their various nests, the happy laughter of the children out on the street. I knew that any animals that were not nocturnal would be heading back to their dens, nests and caves to their young. In the air I could smell the scent of rain which would probably fall later in the evening. The last thing I saw before going to sit on my bed was a group of human children passing through a doorway.

Houses were crumbling, and only about a hundred people lived here. The streets were dirt-covered, though once they were paved. The buildings here were old, very old, and all seemed the same. For instance, the one I was looking out of was made of wood, and could get quite drafty at times. The wind often came through the families there weren't all that large, generally two parents and two children at the most. Maybe in the bigger cities the families could be larger, but that was the largest I had seen. All the men and boys wore shorts and sleeved tops. All the girls, including me, as I wanted to blend in, either wore skirts, or simple dresses. I preferred to wear shorts, but that I could not do while I was there. I'd have stood out.

A group of human children were moving indoors as I turned and sat on my bed. I was no human.

In the orphanage I lived in, my room was small, crowded and had little free space. In one corner, opposite the old creaky door, there was a cracked mirror. The cracks ran across it in several places, making what looked like a crescent moon, though it was slightly oddly shaped. There was a hard lumpy mattress on an iron bed frame that I really hated. I knew there were much better beds in that place; I often chose to sleep on the floor. The cracked and faded floorboards were far more comfortable in comparison.

I resented living with all those humans. Of course, I had my reasons, since logically those days; elves would not have been caught dead in the human towns. About twenty perhaps, the numbers changed each year. Children came and went, never me. I made sure of that. I had learnt to get along with them, though only resentfully did I put in that effort. When I'd first gotten there, there had been times when I had lashed out at them, when they had picked on me.

Later though: after realizing that doing that was alienating me from them, I had to try harder to fit in with them. After a long time of not being talked to by anyone but the adults, I had decided to try and fit in a bit more. So when two twins had arrived at the orphanage and had grown up until about five years old, I had then made friends with them. Another pair of girls, one three, the other about four when I met her, had joined me as my friends.

Turning to face the old mirror while I sat on my bed, I smiled. The elf that looked back at me had golden blond hair, of which several strands fell across my blue eyes. Though I knew that elves were considered perfect, many of us weren't. My face was not yet as angular as those of the adults of my people the tips of my pointed ears were actually rounded off. No normal elf has rounded ears at the age I am now. That was one of the faults I had. Another fault I knew I had was that my eyes brightened every time I lied, so I could not ever lie convincingly. Luckily only elves knew about that, not these humans.

Though I was skinny, I knew that would not be an issue when it came to fighting. When it came to fighting, we all seemed to skinny to wield the weapons we chose, and I knew that I would be no exception. As I knew, being brought up by the elves as who I am meant to be, means that one day I may have to lead my people into battle.

Frequently I longed to be away from the humans that surrounded me. I did not belong there. Those people had such a dull, boring life, and I rather detested them. The humans were rather boring; all they ever seemed to do at my age was play. Whereas back in my old home, I knew that children my age would be learning to fight, some would learn the skills of the wyvern riders, and others would start to pursue things that interested them.

Being an elf in a human town, I do not let my ears be seen when I am amongst the humans. When I am alone in my room at night though, I always let my ears poke through my hair. If I had to interact with humans, my ears were always hidden, though I longed to not have had to do that. That was because I knew what I was, an elf among many humans. I'd rather to not hide my true identity, it's a nuisance. Also it had seemed to take a bit when I was younger to learn to hide my ears and not look different to anyone else.

If a human had seen me as an elf, it would not have been long before I would have found myself in the torturous grasp of the human king. Lindan Marcos had let the nation fall into ruin since he had begun to rule. He was tearing it apart, by continuing the war he had instigated against my people. He was being ruthless about how he ascertained his armies; I'd seen boys taken from the orphanage by the soldiers. When they'd come, I'd had to hide, and quickly. They would have recognized me for what I was. Of course all the humans seemed to think that Lindan Marcos was the best thing that ever happened to Nuban, though I saw his actions through different eyes. No one loved him enough that he would ever ascertain an heir. That would have meant a painful death on my part as he simply loathed elves.

I could always tell when the soldiers were coming to take the boys away; the whole town seemed to become more on edge. They also seemed to be on the lookout for any foreign faces, especially anyone who vaguely resembled at elf. For me, it was a time to hide and not come out; they'd noticed the resemblance in me.  The soldiers always seemed to turn up at evening, and the first place they always came was here to the orphanage. All us girls would run and hide in our rooms, and not come out. The first few times I peeked out from my room, curious but no more. The idea of the boys being taken against their own will really disgusted me, and I no longer took an interest in it.

Lindan Marcos would never be able to get me to be obedient to his iron will, and a good thing too. I did not approve of what he did; my parents had taught me all about what the humans had been like before his rules and the differences now. The humans had been a lot more free willed and friendly.

We'd all noticed the changes since he came into power, we'd all had to hide again in our beloved forests. Also we'd had to fight him on multiple occasions to defend the woods. He was not a good man and I knew that. Eventually I would help, to bring the man down.

Fifteen years had gone by in that place, and I still didn't like the way things were. I remembered the elves, how my people lived. It's a much more peaceful, relaxed place in the woods of Quessir Sdnal, the mighty woods that mark the southern end of Nuban as a whole realm. Those woods were the true home of my people.

While I sat there, I heard someone knock on my door. I hastily covered my ears, having finally gotten a grasp on hiding them completely, as the door opened a little.

The orphanage mistress, Mrs. Glassby, tucked her head in. Her hair was a dark brown, short and curly. Even for a fully grown human, she was shorter than me, and slightly chubby. I glanced up at her to see that her generally never worried olive eyes were filled with fear. They only ever took on that look when the King's men were here, recruiting again.

"There's someone here to see you," she said. Her voice was barely audible. That surprised me; I wondered why she was so shaken like this. She withdrew from the room, leaving me quite afraid, had the soldiers realized what I was?

Then I watched as another woman entered my line of vision, on almost silent feet. I raised my eyes to take in her appearance. She had shiny shoulder length chocolate brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. The woman's lips were slightly thinner on the top lip, an unusual flaw in my people, and her brown eyebrows were finely slanted, as was her chin. My eyes fell on the powerful longbow she held and the quiver of arrows slung across her back filled with black swan feather fletched arrows.

My eyes widened a little as I took those weapons in. She chuckled. I watched as she lowered the bow and quiver to the ground near the door. She also placed a slender sword with the bow.

"Uh, who are you?" I asked a little shakily. Who was this woman? Why was she here?

She finally turned to face me and in a voice that I actually remembered a second after she'd spoken, she said, "My name, Gem Hawksong, is Nuala Evandari."

I sat there for a moment. My mind was racing due to the fact I had not seen another elf in so may long years. Pleasure shot through me now, and I knew that she would be pleased to have found me. "You've come for me, have you?"

"I certainly have," was her kind answer. I felt reassured, that voice was very familiar. Of course, that was because she was the sister of my father. Nuala seemed quiet for a long pause and then she finally said, "There is another reason I came."

Another reason? What? I thought in confusion. Hiding it though, I asked, "What would that be?" I kept my voice polite and my eyes showed I was eager for an explanation.

Nuala's lips were a blur as she said something completely silent, unexpected. Her eyes squeezed shut as she concentrated.

With a soft thump, a white and orange orb appeared on the bed beside me. It was interesting the colours. The main part of it was white. The orange on it, consisted of several large spots spaced evenly over the shell. Where did that come