Fox Hollow
an excerpt

Day 4: Attack! Elves Carry Big Swords.

The next morning, Broadway hurried them out of Fox Hollow at the intolerable time of six o'clock. She dabbed the potion on the insides of their wrists again and they traveled quietly in the pre-dawn light. It was fairly dark out, and there were all sleepy. They nearly tumbled over each other when Broadway suddenly stopped and hushed them all.
They quieted, and Broadway's eyes narrowed. Inwood opened his mouth to talk, but a tall and elegant man rushed out of the bushes and attacked Baychester. They tumbled off the dragon, onto the grass and Broadway sighed. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled.

“You marcature of overloard of the use, of that my married man elven exclusively!”

The elve raised his head and Baychester took this opportunity to pin the man onto the ground. He struggled, but Baychester was bigger and stronger. Broadway hopped off her wolf and walked over. She sat down next to the man and sighed.

“That thing that you demand?”
The man spit, “Disgustoso he that I scrape of my people! Escupida in its falls.”
Broadway rolled her eyes, “I assume that you that you would wish to say the talisman?”
He growled, “Its stole of the east family talisman of my people is much production here! It is not his law-voluminous characteristic!”
“They are stupid,” Broadway said exasperatedly, “this before he is older gives to father mine, that one that in cross they we determined years to her. It gives to form his to bring.”

A timid young man of about twenty stepped out from behind a tree. He touched Broadway's shoulder and she turned around.

“Fer I not to request. It reacted in esagerazione.”
Broadway snorted, “Let him up George.”

Broadway stood up, as did Baychester and the strange man. They dusted themselves off and turned to meet a very confused group of people who did not have a single clue what just went on. Broadway ran a hand through her hair nervously. She was thinking of a proper response when the young man stepped forward and bowed.

“I am sorry for the troubles you have had. My people had not understood the travels of which you were partaking. If you could forgive us?”
Inwood blinked, “What?”
Lawrence sighed, “He means to say that his people thought we were intruding and they didn't understand why we where here. You're forgiven.”

The strange man walked over to the timid one and whispered something into his ear. The mimid one bit his lip and shook his head, but the strange man cupped his chin in one hand and repeated the request softly. The timid one sighed and turned back to the group.

“I am the one known as Nassau, and he is the one known as Kosciuszko. He wishes to known if the group which you are would like a pair of elves at your disposal?”
Inwood blinked again, “What?”
Bergen hit Inwood, “He wants to know if they can join us. And you may, but you're not getting paid.”
“Kosciuszko knows of this. He wishes to travel with the group which you are because it will help when he must again understand the motives of the peoples that are not our own.”

Inwood almost said something idiotic again. He would have, but Bergen hit him again and he had to nurse the large bump on his head. Broadway spoke again.

“That thing the horse or he, who it has?”
“We exceed more in the plus hartebeest.”
“The OH. It is covering much.”

Once again, everyone was confused. It didn't matter, because what looked like two very large deer walked out of the forest and the two elves mounted them. The group rode on and Broadway rode back to be next to Inwood.

“Sorry about that. The elves are kinda weird around these parts. They speak in a weird language that's super-hard to learn. I always thought it sounded like they ran whatever they wanted to say through some kind of translating program a couple of times, but maybe that's just me.”
Inwood sighed, “So what were you talking about earlier?”
“Oh. I just asked him to get off Baychester and he told me I was a thieving bitch. I told him that my father and I passed though and they gave me the potion. Then Nassau came and told me not to hurt him, which I wasn't. And then we talked about riding animals. They ride those really cool antelope.”
“I . . . See.”
Broadway nodded, “Yeah. Sorry about the way Nassau speaks. You'll get used to it, trust me. He'll also learn how to speak better from being around us. It'll be fine.”
“I really don't understand them.”
Genuine laughter, “No one does, Woodie. No one does.”

With that, Broadway rode up to speak with Nassau and Kosciuszko again. There was more silly sounding talk and Inwood sighed heavily. Every time he came to terms with the world around him, something new and even freakier popped up. There was just no getting to be normal for him, was there?
Lawrence rubbed Inwood's back sympathetically. The poor guy never dealt well with the supernatural. He was just too down to Earth. They rode for a couple more hours before coming to the edge of the elven lands, or so Megan said at around lunchtime. They rode for about ten minutes more and stopped in very tiny town which didn't even have a name.
There was, however, a very kind lady who fed them there. She seemed blithely unconcerned with the fact that two of their members were freakishly tall, two had large, pointed ears and hair the colour of silver, one was quite possibly the strangest girl in the world and one was the prettiest girl most people would ever see. Inwood was worried about this lady. She seemed very, very ignorant of the dangers of the abnormal. Or maybe she was an abnormal herself?
But he ate in silence. There was good food and good pie afterwards, for which everyone was grateful. Nassau and Kosciuszko were fascinated by what they called “food of here” and Broadway explained it all very patiently in the strange language they called elven. They thanked the lady, who just smiled and nodded. Inwood was beginning to think that, yes, this lady was abnormal.
Once they left, Inwood asked Broadway if that lady was, indeed, not of this world. Broadway just laughed at him, which he did not appreciate. He was beginning to feel like this journey would never end, they would never find the White Angel and he would never find the love of his life. He sighed heavily again and resigned himself to a life of pain and immense suffering. There was just no way he would ever understand the world, and it seemed like only those that understood it prospered.
He kinda hated those people. Especially Broadway. She seemed like she had it all figured out. Lucky bitch. He wondered how mad his boss would be if he shot her. Inwood shuddered. He couldn't kill Broadway. Even though that would be an awesome thing, it would only be an awesome thing for about two seconds. And then Bergen and Lawrence would kick his ass and his boss would kill him. Another heavy sigh. Damn bitch.