Lithari

A warm morning light broke through the cracks of the worn down hovel, its tendrils reaching out to caress Lithari’s cheek that rested on a coarse pillow, returning her consciousness to the real world. Opening her eyes, Lithari reflected on her dream from that night. She dreamed of a city, bursting with colour and excitement. Warm smiles were given as she wandered through the marketplace, the city’s diversity was evident here. Humans, elves, and dwarves all intermingled in the market: laughing, asking about family, shopping for their goods together. The dream seemed so vivid that Lithari almost thought it was real. Almost. She had learned very early in life the truth that reality held, she could tell a dream when she had one. The dream was too good to be true. So different from the grim reality in which she lived.

 

She sat up on her bed and stretched out the sore muscles in her back as she looked over at Senras’ bed in the corner. Her older brother laid sprawled over the mattress, a small stream of drool trickled down the corner of his open mouth. The young elf had stumbled into their hovel late last night, shoulders slouched and stinking of alcohol.

 

“Stay away from them pointy eared folks, all mangey drunks they’s are” she remembered hearing an old woman say to a young child, as she was trading in the market. “They’ll kidnap you and sell you to some eastern slaver for more booze.” Senras was doing a very excellent job at keeping the elvish stereotype of “mangey drunk” relevant, yet thankfully not so much the part of kidnapping and selling children.

 

“Wakey, wakey my dear brother.” Lithari pulled back the curtains from the window to let the light into the room. A pained groan came from the hungover elf boy in the other bed.

 

“Close those sodding drapes” Senras hissed. “My head feels like it is full of mad hornets”

 

Lithari grinned slyly. “This is what you get for drinking yourself into a stupor.”

 

Senras just growled and pulled the pillow overtop of his head to block out the light and mocking chime of his little sister’s voice.

 

“Fine stay here and ferment.” Lithari walked to the changing screen and slipped into a simple red linen dress “I’m going into town to pick up some supplies.”

 

Senras sat up in bed as she emerged from behind the screen “There is no way you are going out there alone”

 

“We need food, brother and you are in no shape to go anywhere.”

 

Senras ran a hand through his dark auburn hair and growled a curse under his breath “Fine, just be careful you can’t trust any of those humans, they are all the same.”

 

“Not all humans are like that, even you know a few decent ones” she wrinkled her nose at his prejudicial comment “Besides, I’m a big girl now and can take care of myself.

 

“Just… be careful.”

 

Lithari smiled warmly at Senras and waved him goodbye as she opened the door of the hovel and walked out into the world. A large sun glowed in the sky above the tall stone walls that enclosed the elvish ghetto from the rest of the city. The sunlight and mild weather had brought many of the residents out in the streets to enjoy its glow, but no amount of light could hide the squalor that the elves lived in. Urchins and tramps told riddles and sold cheap trinkets in hopes for a few coins as a dejected harlot beckoned to a patron to follow her into the brothel where she worked. The crumbling walls were plastered with posters of the missing elf women (those whose bodies haven’t been found). Every day a new woman would go missing or a body discovered, many of the victims were identified to be prostitutes. The charcoal eyes of the women sketched onto the posters seemed to watch Lithari, she shuddered in disgust.

 

“How can you stand here and do nothing!” She turned to see an elderly elf yelling at a human guard as he gripped his arm. “They took my daughter, my little girl dead while you do nothing to look for the monster that did it!”

 

“Get off me you filthy knife-ear.” The guard struck the elf sending him crashing to the ground, before striding away and leaving him in the mud. “My job is to keep you rabbits in line, not to go after whoever is carving up your whores.”

 

Once the guard had left, Lithari rushed over to help the old man who she recognised as Geras; he was the father of the latest victim of what elves of the ghetto called “The Lowtown Dicer”. The murders had started little over a month ago when the mangled body of a young woman was found in an ally. Since then the body count had risen to three women found a week, all in the same morbid condition. Under the hegemony of the humans, no investigations were being carried out, bodies would just be dumped into mass graves and the citizens told to “behave” and not make a fuss about the situation at hand.

 

“Are you alright?” Lithari asked softly.

 

The elder forced a weak smile and chuckled “Don’t you worry about me my dear I’m a tough old bird."

 

“Those damn humans.” She growled “They think that they are the “superior race” and can rule over us just because their ears are rounded instead of tipped, we’ve been oppressed by them for far too long!”

 

Geras frowned “Take heed Lithari, don’t speak too loudly”

 

“Well I don’t care, let them hear!”

 

“Tensions are rising girl, and the guard is beginning to get jumpy.” He looked around “They’re just waiting for us to lash out, would be a perfect excuse to eliminate the undesirables.”

 

“They don’t have the right…”

 

Geras cut her off “They have every right, it’s us who don’t have any rights; basic rights don’t apply to us in their books.”

 

Lithari opened her mouth to speak, but shut it right away. The treatment of elves in this country absolutely appalled her. The difference between a human and an elf was ear shape, yet they saw themselves as superior in every way. She had heard that in the eastern kingdom of Keapedor, an elf sat on the throne as sovereign, and elves lived as equals among humans. Lithari could hardly imagine that it could be possible that there was a whole kingdom where the humans treated the elves with fairness and justice. Perhaps it is possible, and perhaps that the humans here in the city of Brynwall just didn’t have a moral code to follow.

 

“One day we’ll be free” Lithari walked away from the old man and began to walk toward the city gate.

 

The high stone walls separating the elves of the ghetto from the privileged human citizens of the city of Brynwall, had only one small gate, heavily guarded and passage restricted. When Lithari arrived, a small line had already formed in front the city guard who stood at the gate. Lithari kept her head down as the line began to shrink.

 

“What business do you have leaving the ghetto?” The guard growled harshly, but with a touch of mockery.

 

Lithari looked up with a stiff jaw and a sharp comment on her tongue to see the smiling friendly face of a young guard, a mischievous look gleamed in his eyes. “Ren” She said with a grin.

 

Renfrey was a young city guard that Lithari had known for years. He was quite different from the other guards, kind and humorous, a helpful friend of the elves. He and Lithari had grown very close over the years, discussing politics and the inequitable treatment of the elves.

 

“Almost got you, did I?” Ren laughed. “You really ought to watch that temper of yours, not all the guards are as pleasant and charming as I am”

 

“I’ve had a rough morning, I was angry.”

 

Ren opened his mouth to speak, but cut himself off when he saw the sharp glare from his senior officer. “Look you should clear out before trouble comes to both of us.” His voice dropped almost to a whisper.

 

“Things are getting that tense that you can’t exchange pleasantries with elves?” She asked.

 

“A storm is coming.” He looked straight into her eyes with intensity as she began towards the gate. “You and I both need to be ready for what comes next.”

Lithari nodded to him in thanks, a knot clenched in the pit of her stomach as she digested Ren’s words. Nothing ever shook Ren, and that's what made her so nervous. She was worried. Worried for her fellow elves, for herself, and for the young guard. The ghetto had enough problems as it is with the poverty, the murders, and the daily discrimination they faced, but now with the tensions rising on both sides it was just a matter of time before something big erupted. With thoughts heavy in her mind Lithari descended into the world of men.