Chapter 17: Chapter 16

•Desolate Lands•

•The abandoned tunnels•

"Stop bumping into me, Spike." Crunch, an Elf complained to the other Elf walking behind him, they were in a secret tunnel gingerly carrying a large, wooden box in-between them.

Spike, the one behind grunted and cursed. "If ya would let us take a break, I wouldna be bumping into ya." He fired back, sweating copiously in the dim light that was given off by the flickering torches hung intermediately on the tunnel walls.

"Take a break? Take a break you say?" Crunch paused their journey to glare at his partner, his dark, bushy eyebrows low on his blue head. "Duke Scarlett would have our heads if we're so much as a minute later than the time given."

Spike ignored this dire threat and dropped the handle of the box he was holding gently on the ground to take off his helmet and wipe the sweat off his brow.

"What me still doesna understand is why we is still wearing them helmets."

Crunch made a face at the other's embarrassing vocabulary. "We're in a faulty tunnel, Spike." He explained slowly with patience he wasn't feeling. "A stray rock could fall on us and no matter how hard headed you are, a falling rock will crush your skull." He repeated for what had to be the hundredth time since they started the journey.

They were ordered to go through a secret tunnel other than the main one used yearly to retrieve Fairy Dust, to get a package from Flora City and were to discreetly transport said package back to the City of Mountains.

The secret tunnel was as a result of all the tunnels that were first made when the Elves raided the Fairies but as they changed their tactics, over time a lot of unused tunnels became obsolete and were locked up.

It sounded very shady to Crunch even though the orders came from a Diamond-Black Faction member who was also a High Minister and he feared that they would be disposed off after the mission but the pay was too good to pass up on, at least he could send it to his siblings back in Stone Town if he didn't make it.

"We're going ta be walking for 'bout a week, I canst understand why ya are in a 'urry 'bout it."

Crunch was left with no other option than to drop his handle as well, and take a forced and very impromptu rest. "I suppose a couple minutes couldn't hurt." He rubbed his neck and found a stone to settle on.

"What do ya think is in them fancy box?" Spike asked, sprawling on the ground, hands behind his head in a lazy pose.

"I don't care." Crunch replied shortly, searching inside his rucksack for his water bottle. He truly didn't, curiosity was a dangerous trait in the City of Mountains, especially for peasants and commoners like them.

It was even worse for the lowest of the lows, the Lower Class which consisted of guards and factory workers.

"I suppose I shoulda expected tha', woulda been shocked if you said anything else." Spike shrugged his heavy shoulders, encased in a ratty tunic, his pants were in a similar fashion, worn out and ragged.

"Do you think what we're doing is illegal?" Crunch asked, taking another grateful sip of the cool water.

"Let's see now, it's just us two, Lower Class Elves tha' are na even guards, we had ta use an unopened tunnel." He counted this off on his grubby and dirty fingers which had dirt streaked and chapped nails, some fingers were missing their nails. "Dook Scarlett ordered that we couldna use wheels, we canna talk to no one, we have ta take it to a hidden place at night for his men to pick them fancy box up." He looked at Crunch at this point with a blank expression. "Of course na, there canst be anything illegal about this." He concluded with a straight face.

Crunch froze for a moment, trying to comprehend this complex speech before he burst into cackles, slapping his clothed thigh. "D-Did you just use sarcasm on me?" He asked incredulously, trying to contain his laughter.

They might be far from any possible patrolling guards but too much vibration could make loose stones fall.

"I do nae know wha' tha' means but ya question was plain dumb so I gave it the appropriate an'ser." The bigger Elf grumbled.

"Yes, you're right." Crunch sighed, picking off flint's from his slightly better looking but still worn and patched nylon pants. "I hate to agree but you are right."

"How did ya learnt how ta speak proper anyway? Ya are just a peasant like I is, all we is good for is factory work, farming and cave digging." Spike said without a hint of bitterness, he had long accepted his lot in life.

"I'm from Stone Town…" Crunch started to say solemnly.

"What part?" Spike grunted, flicking open an eye.

Crunch averted his head in embarrassment but managed to mutter out and audible. "Pebble Village."

Spike exploded into a snorting laughter. "That dump, and ya learnt to speak so well there? I oughta move down there for a change."

Crunch clenched his fists, it was true that his village was nothing but a dump for the rest of the City, it was pushed so far back on the outskirts that it was almost no longer a part of the City of Mountains.

"I can't help where I was born." He said tightly, the veins in his neck standing out in stark relief.

"True boy but tell me, why did ya come so far out to Town?" He couldn't help asking, Spike's own village, Rock Village was the closest to the Town so it was no wonder that he landed the job.

"I want to get out of Pebble Village and become a Middle Class Elf, their children can go to schools and the parents can afford basic things like food and shelter and their work is lesser than us Lower Class." He said with spirit.

Spike looked like he might laugh but then he became incredibly sober. "I admire ya courage boy, I bid thee well." He simply said.

He knew that he didn't need to tell Crunch of all the obstacles in his future path, the youth knew well enough of what he was going to face. He could tell this much from his hard face that had eyes full of hopes and dreams.

Spike scratched his pointy ears and closed his eyes again, he was like that once, younger and full of hopes and dreams but the City of Mountains was like a large beast that fed off those same hopes and dreams.

They stayed in complete silence like that for a while, with nothing but distant rustling and dripping from an underground stream to fill up the silence.

Soon, too soon in Spike's opinion, Crunch got up and announced that their break was over. Even though Spike was obviously way older than Crunch, he respected the smallish Elf, his hardened determination despite being aware of what life truly was.

"We continue our march and rest at midnight." Crunch said to his partner, standing up to stretch out his sore joints a bit.

"We'd be faster if ya woulda let me hoist this here fancy box all by me-self." Spike started to argue.

Crunch was already shaking his head before he could even complete his sentence. "Duke Scarlett expressly stated that we were to carry it in this fashion, you seem to want to die soon."

Spike just rolled his eyes but got up as well, scratching his full bushy beard and wiping his bald head before dropping the metallic and crudely made helmet over it.

"Yah, yah, it's always Dook this, Dook tha'." He complained childishly.

Crunch let out a small smile at the bigger Elf's antics and settled into position. "It's Duke, Spike"

"If ya correct me words one more time, boy, I'll shove a rock in ya noisy mouth." He threatened seriously, picking up the handle of the wooden box again.

Crunch just laughed at this, his heart was suddenly a whole lot lighter. With the money he got from completing this mission he could buy a certificate to permit him to become a Middle Class Elf and then he'd do the same for his two brothers, everything would turn out fine.

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