An Arrogant Witch by E M Graham

Author:E M Graham [Graham, E M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781999390853
Publisher: OneEar Press
Published: 2019-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

11

‘PLEASE, TAKE A SEAT,’ he said. ‘Be comfortable.’ He indicated the single wooden chair by the fireplace to Alice. I took a three-legged stool, while he folded himself onto the rough bench by the table. He removed his hat and ruffled his hair with his fingers.

He told us his name, but the closest I could get to pronouncing it was Brin. He laughed softly and told us it was a Celtic name after all, so unfamiliar to our Germanic-based tongue, and so we shouldn’t feel embarrassed or lacking at all.

‘You’re an elf,’ I said, after he had poured some kind of tea for us both in cracked fine china cups that looked like they’d been rescued from a rubbish heap.

Brin nodded. ‘I am.’

‘But...’ I looked around the humble room. It was clean, but oh so rough and homespun. How could I find the words to ask my question without risking offense? Elves were notorious for finding insults in innocent conversation, almost as bad as the fairies. Anything which didn’t fit into the narrow elven view of themselves was quickly rejected.

Not Brin though. He smiled beatifically as if he understood my dilemma. Alice was still staring at him, which might be considered rude under some circumstances but it didn’t seem to bother him at all.

‘Why am I in such surroundings?’ He looked around at the clean yet humble home.

It was my turn to nod. Exactly.

‘I’m not like most elves,’ he said simply. It was the understatement of the year, but he didn’t offer any further information. ‘You’re from... Beyond, aren’t you?’ There was a note of longing in his voice.

‘I’ve seen you before.’ That tall thinness was unmistakable. This was the ghostly figure I’d seen out of the corner of my eye, lurking around the corner of the War Memorial. It had been this elf Brin, not a ghost after all. Just an elf who couldn’t quite make it over from Alt.

‘You could see me? I almost crossed the veil, I almost did, but it’s too thick,’ he said sadly. ‘I can see the other place like a dream, but I can’t quite reach it. I can’t find a portal.’

‘But why do you want to go there?’

‘I want to be human,’ he said.

‘But you’re Elf,’ I replied. ‘You can’t be what you’re not.’

‘I’m not like the others,’ he said again. ‘All this being cold and aloof, living far away in secluded valleys and being better than everyone else... it doesn’t fit me. I want to live, but not in this horrible old place. I want to live in your world, be modern, and fly in the air, and all the other stuff I’ve heard whispers about.’ His pale grey eyes shone in the tallow light.

‘I don’t know if you can do that, not to live,’ I said, my voice full of doubt. ‘I mean, when I switch over to Alt, it takes a toll. You might have the same reaction, just in an opposite way.’

He said nothing, just glanced up at Alice.

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