38 Maleficent Four (1/2)
Like many of the others I've seen here, they're wearing tight black shirts, black cargo pants, and black boots. After being out here for several hours they are, as I am, covered in dirt, grime, and blood.
”Garon, We have a few minutes to rest. All the injured outside the mine have been sent to the healers; we're just waiting for the Elders to do a scan. No one wants to accidentally collapse it because they didn't know where to step,” a well-built man says and props himself against Garon with his arms crossed. He has tanned skin, round, boyish face as well as light brown eyes and hair. He gives me a smile showing off a dimple in his right cheek. Looking every bit like a typical boy next door. And the fact he can smile in this situation makes me think he's either very resilient, crazy, or both.
”Garon, are you going to introduce us to your little friend?”
”Emma,” Garon replies.
”Well hi there, Emma,” he reaches over to pat my head, and I swat the offending appendage in annoyance.
”I'm not a child, so kindly refrain from doing that again,” I bite out.
”Oh, I think you made her mad,” a shapely woman pipes up. The fair skin on her arms is marred with old scars, and she has long black hair gathered into a ponytail that reaches her round hips. Her oval face has a small mole under the right side of her lips, which currently stretch into a teasing smile; giving the impression of a mature older sister. ”Don't mind him. His mother denies it, but we're all certain she dropped him as a baby.”
”Hey!” he pouts indignant.
She ignores him, ”So what are you doing here? Where are your parents?” Her face scrunches in concern while looking at all the blood covering me.
I narrow my eyes, ”Parents? How old do you think I am?”
She hesitates, ”How old are you?”
I grit my teeth, ”Twenty-five.”
They all fall silent, and my irritation grows. I'm a perfectly normal, but here the average height is six and a half feet. So that means I barely reach the chest to most of the people.
”By all the Gods, she's older than me,” I look over to who spoke, and he looks surprised like he hadn't meant to say that out loud. His blue eyes dart around as his narrow handsome face twists nervously. He shuffles his pale, slightly built frame awkwardly while his short, curly brown hair bounces. He finally settles on staring at the ground.
The shapely woman speaks up to save him from his awkwardness. That's right, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Ede,” she says gesturing to herself. Pointing at boyish dimples next, ”He's Alistar,” he responds with a cheeky grin. I roll my eyes as she continues. ”You've met Garon already,” he stoically nods with a grunt. ”Finally there's Lex,” the awkward man glances up and makes a small wave.
”Right, and as you heard from Garon, I'm Emma.”
/Wait...Ede, Alistar, Garon, and Lex. Why are those names so familiar?/
I'm brought from my thoughts when Alistar comes forward putting an elbow on Ede's shoulder while bending forward, ”Now that greetings are out of the way, mind telling me what you're doing here?”
”Me and my companions were passing by when the ground shook. We heard the screams, so we came to help.”
He asks, ”Friends?”
”Yeah, I'm sure you've seen them hanging around. The one helping with healing, Andri, he's one of them.” Looking around I spot Daric helping bandage someone arm. I sigh, /So much for keeping him away from dead bodies./ I think exasperated.
The ground trembles, we all turn to the mountain as part of it caves in, adding to the multiple pitfalls. The fact it hasn't collapsed completely is already a miracle.