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"The Counting Game" (Somewhere in Muse Field) She had gotten little sleep the night before. Elza had spent most of it searching the fields and, as a result, she was very groggy this morning. But she just ignored it and enjoyed mid-morning the best she could while riding Artemis slowly. She felt like she had looked everywhere, but could not find what she was looking for. While deep in thought on where next to look, she failed to notice, at first, a small figure in the distance. It was a tiny man, no taller than Elza's waist, dressed in a white blouse, black pants, dark blue cape, and a very old and tattered grayish-black top hat. "Hi, hi!" He shouted when they finally ran into each other. "I be Albert the Great! Would pretty lady like see magic tricks?" He asked in the worst English Elza had ever heard. She just raised an eyebrow at him. "Very well," he continued, "I be making flowers appear for you!" The man mumbled a few inaudible "magic" words, and then there was a puff of smoke in his hands. A second later, after the smoke cleared, a dove was sitting in his hand that then let out a loud screech and flew away. After a few seconds of silence for them both, Elza said, "I never thought that flowers screeched, much less fly." "Uh…" the man started, "Just a mistake. Let I try again." He started to mumble again, but before anything could happen, Elza spoke. "Look, I don't have time for this. I need to ask you a question. On you, um…travels, I guess, have you seen a tall building, almost like a temple, out here, in the fields? I need to help a friend by finding it…" Albert thought for a moment, then his face lit up. "Yes, yes, I be seeing such things out here. Heavily guarded place, me not go near it." "Can you take me there?" "Why you want go there? It could be dangerous, and I just not be see-EEEEEE!" Elza, ignoring what he said, cut him off in mid-sentence and just picked up the (surprisingly light) midget by the neck of his cape and carried him off, making him guide her to where she wanted to go. Elza had been watching the front entrance to the building Albert had led her to for a while. She had been silently watching and counting the men (and only men) who had gone in. Two of them were guarding the entrance and eighteen younger men, almost children in fact, had willingly gone in. That, in it self, surprised Elza in comparison to what she had seen in the past. But now she was getting restless and wanted to see inside. She looked around for an idea and saw Albert tending to her horse. Elza smiled. "Oh, Albert!" she called. He looked up and then walked over to her. "Could you provide a distraction for the guards?" He looked out at the pair and then back at Elza. "What you expect me do?" "Use your magic tricks. I am sure they will be entertained for hours," she said with a fake, but reassuring grin. Albert started to slowly back away, "Oh, no. You not gonna make me do - AHHHH!" Elza cut him off in mid-sentence again and just tossed him out to the guards. He landed right in front of them with a thud, then picked himself up and dusted off. He then looked up to notice that the two guards were looking at him suspiciously. "Um, uh…I'm am Albert the Great!" He finally said with a mighty tone. "Be amazed as I have doves appear…" he mumbled a few words, hoping to get it right this time. Another puff of smoke went off in his hands and when it cleared, there was a bouquet of wilted flowers in his hands. He and the guards stared at them for a moment, than Albert gave a nervous grin as he tossed them aside. "And…uh…" he continued, then pulled off his hat, "pull rabbits outta hat!" He stuck his hand in his hat, and pulled out…a pair of pink polka-dotted underwear. He looked at it, blushed, and quickly stuffed them back in. "How that get in there?" The guards now had their full attention on Albert, waiting to see the next time he would mess up. Elza wanted to see too, but decided against, for she had to find a way in. It didn't take her long to find a small, non-guarded side door, though it did have a bunch of locks on it. She quickly picked them all and opened the door. Before going further, she remembered that all of the people she had seen going in were men. If she were to accidentally run in to anyone, she would be caught right away, for she was a woman. So, she pulled the hood over her hair and put a scarf over her mouth and nose and quietly entered. Inside the building, it was like a maze. Every time she came to the end of a hall, it usually split into at least two or three different halls. Elza got lost pretty quickly, but made sure to stay in the shadows at all times. It really didn't seem to matter though, for there was never anyone there to hide from…at least, none that she noticed. She continued her walk down the corridors, randomly picking which way to go every time she came to a "fork in the road." She then came to another one of those forks, which had two ways to go: either straight-ahead or left. Elza was about to turn around the left corner when she heard voices down that hall. She looked down the hall, trying to stay out of sight. She saw another door (the place was full of them), except this one was about as big as the door at the front entrance, if not bigger. This time, there were five guards standing in front of it. '21… 22… 23… 24… 25…' Elza counted in her head. "The Master has been a little on edge lately," one of them started. "I wonder what's going on…and what's with all the tighter security?" "Haven't ya heard?" A second one replied. "There has been rumors of one of his old enemy being seen in the area. He doesn't expect the extra guards to stop 'im, but it'll at least slow him down. The Master wishes to…prepare for his arrival." "Enough 'bout that." Another stated. "How are the new recruits doing?" All of a sudden, from behind the big, wooden door, there was a loud sound, almost like the crack of a whip, and then a cry so full of pain, it made Elza wince. The first guard began to chuckle. "Sounds like they're doing great!" This made all the other men began to laugh. Elza, disgusted by their behavior, had heard enough. Sticking to the shadows, she made her way down the hall straight ahead of her, so as not to be seen. She was left with plenty to think about as she continued her way through the halls of the building. 'He'll not be too happy to hear about this next time I see him,' Elza thought about her friend from the past. As she continued to look around, she came to a hall that just kept going straight ahead. Soon, she heard some more voices. Looking ahead she saw four other men walking straight towards her. Counting in her head again, '26… 27… 28… 29…' As said before, this was a straight hall, with no place to hide from these men. If she turned back, she would not only start going around in circles in the building, but also the men ahead might think it suspicious for her to be avoiding them. She pulled the scarf more over her face and pulled the hood further down, hoping that they would just think her one of their 'recruits' and ignore her. She thought it was working, for when they met in the middle of the hall, they just kept walking right on past her. But, her luck didn't last very long. One of the men suddenly stopped and turned around. "Hey!" He shouted at Elza. She stopped and slowly turned. "What are you doing out her, boy? Aren't you supposed to be training at this time of day?" "I…uh…" She began to speak in a low voice, drawing the hood even further down her face. "…I…got a…day off, for…umm…good behavior," she finally replied. "Oh…okay…" the man said, kind of unsure. Elza turned back around and began to walk in her original direction again, only more quickly paced. But before she could get much further, the man said again, "Wait a minute…we don't give days off!" "Of course not, stupid," she said under her breath, but the guard heard her. He quickly ran after her and grabbed her wrist. "What did you call me?" He asked harshly. A defiant silence was all he got from Elza. "What is your name, kid?" "El…" she began, and almost hit herself on her forehead for almost giving her real name. But the guard still had a hold on her, so she had to say something. "El… Elrond…" She looked around, and the first thing she saw was a door. "My name is Elrond… um… Door." 'Elrond Door?' she thought. 'I think I am loosing my touch.' The guard was silent for a moment as he thought and then squeezed Elza's wrist painfully. "There are no Elrond Doors hear. Who are you really?" He asked, and before she could answer, he yanked off the scarf hiding her face and pulled back the hood. He gasped when he saw her face. "A women! You're gonna pay for ever stepping foot in here, snake!" He pulled hard on Elza's arm to make her follow, but, naturally, she would not stand for this. She kicked the man in the stomach hard enough to cause him to let go of her and keel over. As soon as she was free she began to run down the hall. After a few seconds, the man shouted at his three companions, "What are you staring at?! Go after her or I'll have your heads!" They did not need much more encouragement as they ran to catch her. By this time, though, Elza had gotten too much of a head start. She ran a fast as she could, down this hall, then that hall, through a door, through another door. She quickly lost them, but forgot to watch where she was going. She ran right into another guard, who grabbed one of her arms. There was another one there who grabbed her other arm to make sure she didn't escape the first. Try as she might, she couldn't struggle from there grips. Considering the situation, Elza still kept up the counting. '30… 31…' "Ah, Elza, it has been years. I suppose you and my other old 'friend' are well?" A familiar voice asked. She looked up to see a similarly familiar shape standing in the shadows, make no attempt to leave them. "It's you!" She said in shock. 'Number 32…' she thought.
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