Chapter 7

Allister walked over to a tree and knocked three times. To the astonishment of Liona and Foster, a rectangular section of the tree pushed inward and seemed to disappear.
“Follow me.” He commanded. Allister disappeared into the tree, and Liona realized there was a staircase inside the tree.
“Be as silent as possible.” Allister said as they moved down the stairs, which became steeper and steeper as they descended.
The teenagers obeyed, and soon they came to the end of the staircase that led to a tunnel much like the one Liona had encountered not a few days earlier. Unlike the tunnel she had come upon before, there were torches burning on the sides of the walls, illuminating the structure around them. Allister saw the recognition on Liona’s face and smiled.
“Adara escaped the part of the tunnel that collapsed, but she didn’t know that the tunnel had since been taken over by Elves.” He whispered. “They found her only a few hours after you left our world, and have taken her as a sort of prized gem. We will have a hard time getting her back.”
He turned and began walking, Liona and Foster following. Soon they came to a large opening, and Liona couldn’t hold back her gasp of astonishment. There was a miniature town with houses and buildings only six feet tall. Miniature ponies with carriages attached bustled about on the busy roads, which clearly stretched much farther than they were able to see. What was more, there were people, no taller than four feet walking and stirring around. It was like an underground version of the town she had been to when she first came to Mondel.
But when Liona looked closer she realized these weren’t normal people. Their faces were much rounder than normal faces, and their eyes glowed a bright yellow. She realized their hands were webbed and had sharp claws attached to them. The men had bright orange hair that stood in whips around their heads, and the women had much longer red hair that was braided around their head. They were all dressed in brightly colored clothes, mostly in shades of reds, oranges and purples.
“Elves.” Allister said, as if reading her mind. “Soon one will notice us.”
Sure enough as he said it, Liona heard a screech and several ponies came to a halt. The pedestrians loose in the streets all stood frozen, and stared at them with their eyes wide.
“We mean no harm.” Allister said, loud enough for the Elves to hear. “We must be taken to your court immediately.”
“Cat creature,” One of the nearby Elves hissed. “And two humans. What business have you here?”
Allister remained calm, though Liona noted all of the Elves looked as though they wanted to attack. “We seek a dispute to your capture of the Princess Adara. She is ours, and we need her back.”
A group of Elves scurried to talk to one another, and soon one of them emerged to walk towards Allister.
“You seek a dispute, and so it shall be brought to the court. Follow me, please.”
Liona and Foster were both reluctant, but Allister motioned for them to follow.
“They are not dangerous, so long as you do not attack first.” He said to them, following the little man into the streets of the little town.
The town was much larger in area than Liona thought, and the group attracted a lot of attention as they went. Allister was as tall as the buildings he passed, and Liona and Foster were not too much smaller. They passed mostly houses until they reached another open area with official looking buildings that stood about seven or eight feet tall. One of them was labeled Court House.
The little man motioned for them to stop when they reached the stairs of the Court House, and promptly walked up to knock on the door. An elderly Elf with white hair poked his head out of the wide door and their guide began whispering quickly to him.
“What exactly are we doing?” Foster asked, eyeing the little men at the steps of the Court House.
Allister only smiled. “We’re winning the princess back. I don’t suppose either of you are lawyers?”
Foster made a face. “You’re kidding right?”
“No.” Allister said, shaking his head. “But don’t worry, I’ve been to trials of theirs before. The Elves like to handle things in an official manner, but they won’t want to give her up. We may have to make a bargain with them.”
“What do Elves bargain?” Liona asked, curiously.
Allister shrugged. “Material things, information. We’ll have to fish around to find something they find valuable.”
“Real official.” Foster said, rolling his eyes. “Somehow I don’t think bribery is part of law.”
Liona raised an eyebrow. “Did you watch the same T.V I did?”
“Come this way!” The elderly Elf grumbled from the doorway.
The group obeyed and the old Elf led them into the Court House. It was much like what one would imagine a courthouse to look like. There were rows of seats running from the entrance to a large podium-type structure at the front. In the corners, there were boxes for the witnesses and jury.
“Now,” The Elf grumbled. “Which girl did you seek?”
Allister frowned. “Which girl?”
“Yes.” The Elf said, pointing to a back room. “We have them here, as a matter of fact. We were soon to have a trial about what to do with them.”
The Elf shuffled through the seats, which were a little small for humans, to the front of the court where to one side there was a doorway. After ducking through the doorway, the group was surprised to see another set of doors.
“They’re in here.” The Elf said, walking to the second door on the right. When he opened it, both Foster and Liona gasped in unison.
“Kali?” Foster exclaimed.
There, sitting on a sofa, was Adara and Kali sitting side by side. They were dressed in the same bright colored clothes as the Elves, and Liona realized very quickly the room was almost like some sort of hotel room.
“Lilly!” Adara exclaimed and jumped out of her seat to give her a warm hug.
Kali looked up at them and smiled. “I told you to bring me next time.”
Foster shook his head. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw you go into the girls bathroom, so I had to see what you were doing.” She said, shrugging. “When I saw that the water was glowing and neither of you were in there, I figured Lilly had been telling the truth. So here I am. I ended up in the middle of their little town—aren’t they cute?”
Adara let go of Lilly and rolled her eyes “Cute indeed.”
The elderly Elf grunted to catch their attention. “Which one?”
Liona frowned. “Both of them.”
“Both?” The Elf said, raising a bushy eyebrow. “Well, this will be a much bigger trial than I had anticipated.”
Kali motioned towards the Elf and wrinkled her nose. “See? How adorable are they when they talk?”
The Elderly Elf did not look pleased. “All of you can wait back here. I shall begin the trial in an hour.”

* * * * *

Waiting for the trial to begin, the group sat around the room and began to sort things out. Adara and Kali didn’t know Allister, and Adara also had yet to meet Foster.
“I’m so glad I’m able to meet your friends!” Adara exclaimed, smiling warmly at Foster when everyone had been introduced. “I’ve heard so much about them.”
“So tall dude is part cat?” Kali asked, raising an eyebrow. “Cat man is kinda hot…”
Foster rolled his eyes. “Look, what happened? If we’re going to go to trial we should probably have a mutual story, right?”
“Bothersome one is right.” Allister said. “If they find any inconsistencies they will deny us. They believe that since Princess Adara was found in the tunnel that she belongs to them because they rescued her, and because Kali appeared in the middle of town that she also belongs to them.”
Liona frowned. “That’s not very good logic.”
Allister only shrugged. “Had you two come alone, they probably would have found a way to claim you too. Elves are fascinated with humans, the fact that you were with me signified to them that you were mine.”
“So they think of us like possessions.” Foster said, nodding. “Great.”
“That’s why we may have to bargain.” Allister said. “They think what they found is rightfully theirs, and now that we’re after more than one of their possessions, they’re particularly weary of giving us anything.”
Adara shook her head. “We’re not some sort of thing they can claim, I don’t see why we can’t just walk out of here.”
“I wouldn’t try that if I were you.” Allister said. “Elves may look small, but they are certainly not harmless.”
“So what are we bargaining, Allister? You look like you have an idea.” Liona said.
Allister nodded. “I have information that will be very valuable to them involving our future predictions. I shall offer it to them, and we will go from there.”
“They might not even take it?” Foster asked, looking worried. “What if they don’t take it?”
Allister only held up a hand. “Be calm, ignorant one, we will find a way.”
Foster pursed his lips. “I have a name, you know.”
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and a woman Elf waltzed into the room.
“Will the objects of dispute please follow me.” She said in a high-pitched voice.
Kali and Adara looked at each other, and slowly stood up to follow the Elf woman out into the courtroom. Adara shot one last desperate glance towards Liona before the door shut behind them and only Allister, Liona and Foster remained.
“Listen closely.” Allister said, eyeing the doorway. “If we do this right, we can not only have both of them safely free, but we can be out of here quickly. We must not waste time here, we’ve a much bigger journey waiting for us.”
Foster shook his head. “I still don’t understand what we’re doing.”
“Keep your mouth shut, and let me do the talking.” Allister said, giving Foster a quick glare. “If you must speak, be careful of your words for it is easy to offend them. And lastly, try not to stare at them. They find that very offensive.”
“Kali blew that one out of the water by calling them cute.” Foster said rolling his eyes. “Of all the places she could have ended up…”
“Nonetheless,” Allister said, his face relaxing into a half smile. “Good luck.”
Right after he said it, the door opened and the same Elf woman walked into the room. “Please follow me.”

* * * * *

As they entered back into the courtroom, Liona couldn’t hold in her surprised gasp. What had once been an empty room only a half hour before was packed full of little redheaded elves with yellow eyes murmuring quietly to one another. As was traditional, there were two tables set up facing the judge’s podium, and the Elf woman led them to the table on the right. At the other table sat Adara, Kali and a professional looking Elf man with a bright blue suit.
“Those things really like their colors obnoxious, don’t they?” Foster whispered to Liona as they walked towards the table.
Liona frowned. “They aren’t things, Tweak, they’re Elves. I like the colors, it makes the underground seem less depressing.”
Allister sat down and motioned for the two teenagers to take their places. Liona was surprised to see that there were chairs big enough for them, but the table was still quite small. Allister’s knees came nearly to the table’s edge, and Liona felt as if she were in an elementary school room where everything was child-sized.
“Hear ye, hear ye!” An especially small Elf squeaked from the side of the judge’s podium. Suddenly the room became very quiet and out of the corner of her eye she saw Kali bite her lip. She smiled to herself as she realized Kali was having to restrain herself from making any offensive comments about how cute the child Elf was.
“The court is now in session. Please stand to welcome honorable Judge Heggle.”
The whole room stood, and Liona couldn’t help but look around her to take in the sight of so many Elves packed into the already small room. She quickly estimated there were about two hundred of them, many of which didn’t even have a seat; they simply stood in the back. Soon, the same old Elf that led them into the courtroom appeared from one of the side doors and made his way up to the podium. When he sat down, so did everyone else with a thump.
“Welcome, fellow citizens, and thank you for attending on such a short notice. I ask the prosecution to please stand and introduce your table.”
The little Elf on the other side of the room stood up and bowed his head first towards the judge and then towards the audience behind him. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the court, my name is Henry Gessle and on behalf of the state I will be defending our rights to claim these humans next to me; Princess Adara Mondel and Kali Lander.”
The judge nodded. “Now the defense will please stand and introduce your table.”
Allister stood immediately, bowing to the judge but not the to audience behind him. “Honorable judge, my name is Allister Williams and with me today is Liona Knight and Foster Grahm. We would like to argue that the humans you are holding in your possession rightfully belong to us, and we are willing to provide compensation for their safe return.”
“You do realize, Allister, we shall have to ask for much compensation.” The judge said, raising a large white eyebrow. “One human is enough of a request, but that you want both is another matter entirely. We have not been in possession of a human for centuries.”
“And for good reason, judge.” Allister said, still standing. “Since King James banished us our world and the human’s world have been quite separated.”
Allister walked from behind the table then and stood in the middle of the court, facing the audience. Liona frowned, watching him. He looked so confident, but she couldn’t help feeling very nervous that something would go wrong.
“Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, cat creatures can see nearly as much as the tree folk. I possess information that you will find very valuable. This information makes a prediction that will affect not only you, but all of our kind. I ask now what you are willing to offer us in return for this information.”
The judge narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment. “We will offer you one human for this information.”
Allister turned around. “I must say, judge, that is a fairly low offer for such incredible information.”
“You will take this offer or leave it, Allister, you must give us more if you want the second human.”
Liona frowned again. The trial had turned more into an auction than anything else. As Allister and the judge bickered back and forth, she glanced over at Kali and Adara, who returned a concerned glance. Suddenly, something caught Liona’s eye. A flicker of light from the torches had caught her watch and glinted a little, and she wondered to herself if it really was eight at night.
As if a light bulb had gone off in the room without electricity, Liona suddenly had an idea. Without a second thought, she stood up.
“I have another offer.” She said.
Suddenly all attention turned to her. Allister and the judge stopped bickering, and the audience that had once been mumbling to one another as the two argued were now completely silent.
“Speak, child.” The judge said, and Allister gave her a questioning look.
Liona took a deep breath and turned towards the audience. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I have in my possession something that I am sure you have never seen before. It is an invention that came from the world I am from, which is much different than yours.”
She quickly took off her watch and showed it to the audience. A low gasp came from the crowd and Foster frowned.
“They don’t have watches here?”
Liona looked at him and shook her head. “They have clocks, but not watches. Plus this one is digital, I don’t think they know what a battery is.”
“This device tells time by means of mystical numbers which appear on its face?” The judge said suddenly, and Liona was surprised that he could see what she was holding. She thought to herself that Elves must have good eyesight for living underground.
Turning to face him, she nodded again. “It’s one of the finest inventions we have in my world. Very valuable. Priceless, I might even say.”
She glanced over at Allister who smiled at her. Winking back, she looked back at the judge who narrowed his eyes towards the watch. Sitting back in his chair, he squinted in concentration.
“Well, miss, I believe you have a bargain.”