FREE STORIES 2012(80)

“I’m sure,” said Quinn with a farewell wave, “that from here on, accomplishing the rest of your mission will seem like child’s play.”

Thomas scowled. “And I won’t miss your so-called jokes either, Larry. Get on with you and your foolishness, now: I have an aerodrome to set up.”





Peace Offering

by Wen Spencer





Since war broke out between the elves and the oni, the stories in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had gotten a lot more bizarre. Walking trees loose on the North Side. Dragons terrorizing Oakland. A spaceship crashing into Turtle Creek. Flocks of men with crow wings mobbing downtown.

The Post Gazette was still printed on paper complete with non-scalable fonts. Olivia had to wear her secret identity glasses to read it. She looked like a prim and proper librarian with them on, auburn hair twisted up into bun, a vintage blue gingham sundress on. No one could tell she was an illegal immigrant, a runaway teenage bride, and a whore. She and Superman. Both from Kansas. Both hiding behind the glasses. Both not what they appear to be.

"Oh, I love this war." Peanut's moaned comment sounded like pure sex.

Olivia glanced up from yesterday's newspaper. They were waiting for the keva bean handout on Penn Avenue, a block and a half from the head of the line. Earth Interdimensional Agency personnel and Pittsburgh Police officers had been on crowd control since dawn. A flood of red uniforms, though, signaled that the Fire Clan had arrived with the keva beans.

Everyone had gone tense as the elves fanned out, even the police and EIA personnel. The royal marines were laedin-caste and proved to be a surprisingly friendly and laid back group. Unfortunately Prince True Flame of the Fire Clan had also brought with him nearly fifty of the holy sekasha-caste warriors known as Wyverns. Because they were considered morally perfect, the Wyverns were above the law. They could and would kill anyone that pissed them off, even other elves. The humans scanned the incoming troops, looking for the scale-armored vests and protective spells tattooed down the Wyvern's arms in Fire Clan red. After a few minutes, it became apparent that there were no sekasha among the elves. The crowd seemed to take a collective sigh of relief.

Only Peanut had been unfazed by the arrival of the royal troops. She eyed the marines like they were red-frosted cupcakes. Until the war broke out, all the male elves in Pittsburgh that were interested in intercourse with human women had already been claimed. Peanut had been up against the window of a bakery, drooling at what she wanted and couldn't get. Every day now brought more elf troops to the city. "Oh, I need to get some of this yumminess."

"Don't you get enough at night?"

Peanut laughed. "That's all men. It’s the difference between a stale Twinkie and one of those hot fresh-made coffee rolls loaded with cinnamon and topped with icing." She mimed licking her fingers. "Elves. They live forever and they see nothing wrong with sex, so they do it all the time, and they do it oh so well."

Olivia wondered if it was also why half of the marines were female. Certainly her life would have been so very different if her family hadn't considered sex connected to sin and a woman's weakness.

She'd arrived in Pittsburgh during the last official Shutdown in mid-July. It was the farthest from Kansas as she could get; a totally separate universe from the one she'd grown up in. Elfhome was the world of elves that was a mirror to Earth with Pittsburgh the only human outpost. It seemed like a perfect place to hide from her husband.

She'd gotten a job, found an empty house to squat in, and everything seemed good. Three weeks later, war broke out. Pittsburgh found itself lost deep in virgin forest, five hundred miles from the nearest elf settlement and an unknown number of oni hidden within the city limits. All contact with Earth and its bounty had been cut off.

Olivia had always believed that if she worked hard and used her head, she'd land on her feet. The writing on the wall, though, told her that she wasn't going to survive this war. She might be from Kansas but she wasn't Superman.

Certainly she was no longer surviving with any virtue intact.

Before the war, there was actually a shortage of workers for low paying jobs. The city had needed people like her to fill the gaps. She'd been working at a bakery on third shift. She was paid under the table, so even though she was only making minimum wage, nothing was being held out for taxes or benefits. A week after the war started, though, the bakery was out of flour, sugar and salt.

Since then, she'd been walking Liberty Avenue with the other hookers, trying to keep food on her table.

"Oh, I want that one." Peanut pointed at a clump of elves standing nearby. Olivia couldn't tell which one had caught the girl's eye. The elves looked like they could be brothers or cousins. Tall. Lean. Blonde. That they were impossibly handsome went without saying; they were elves. "Save my place?"