Chapter 100: Never Trust An Elf
"Hey, Mercy," said the wolfman, causing me to chuckle.
"Sorry, Wolfie," I said. "But my name really can’t be shortened like that."
"What do you mean?" asked the wolfman cocking his head to the side. "And nice fur."
"Thank you. But the term mercy means compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within their power to punish or harm. However, my name, Merciless, means someone without mercy," I knew that they couldn’t see the grin on my face, but I was really enjoying the expression on the faces of the two males before me.
"Understood," replied Wolfman with a nod. "But my name isn’t Wolfie, whatever that means. I am—" There was a pause while my translator tried its best to figure out the roars that made up the wolfman’s name. After a moment, it was translated to "Midnight along the vast fields." No wonder he shortened everyone’s names if his was that long.
"I’ll call you Midnight," I said, trying my best not to laugh over the idea of calling a wolfman by a name given to cats or dogs on Earth.
"Acceptable. Now, about those zmaj," said Midnight as he shared a look with the male beside him. "We had some concerns when I learned that it was you that would be obtaining them."
I looked up at the camera to try and figure out what a zmaj was. My translator wasn’t able to translate it, and it was the second time I had heard that term.
"You call them snakes," said Jun Li in my ear so that no one else would be able to hear him.
"What type of concerns?" I asked now that I fully understood what he was saying. I was not at all concerned about his lack of faith in me. Hell, I had concerns about me getting the frigging things, and that was before I even knew what they were.
"Not even the best hunters have been able to capture them, let alone kill them," admitted Midnight, and I simply shrugged my shoulders.
"Then I guess I am better than the best hunters," I said, the smile on my face hidden beneath my veil. "I have all eight of them that you requested." Switching to English, something that we accidentally discovered that translation devices had no idea how to translate, I told him to give them a picture from the bay that we had put the snakes in.
I heard their gasp of breath and could only assume that Jun Li had given them the picture. "Any more questions?" I asked.
"How soon can you drop them off?" demanded the male who had remained silent up until now. I studied him for a moment, taking in his pure white skin and long white hair. His ears reached a point on either side of his head, making him look like an elf. More Tolkien than an elf on the shelf, but yeah, he was definitely an elf. He even would have been attractive if it weren’t for his beady red eyes.
"Dryadalis," came Jun Li’s voice in my head, "He is a Dryadalis and a high-ranking one at that."
Well, wasn’t that an interesting bit of information? "Remind me to ask you about selling information, too," I said out loud in English.
Midnight and the Dryadalis exchanged another look, and Midnight turned to me. "I can’t say I have ever heard of that language before," he hedged.
"Now, Midnight, you aren’t trying to get information from me, are you?" I asked, switching to the language they had determined as archaic.
"Information from you? Never," he assured me with a toothy grin. "Merely curious."
"On my world, we have an expression; ’Curiosity killed the cat.’ I know you can’t appreciate the humor that I find, but the meaning is the same. Keep your nose out of my business before you lose it," I said, the smile under my veil becoming sharper.
"Understood, Merciless. And here was me thinking that we could be friends," Midnight chuckled.
"And the best friendships involve knowing just how far you can go," I nodded in agreement.
"Now, the zmaj. Can you do it tomorrow? We would prefer a ship-to-ship transfer if that is okay for you," said the Dryadalis, interrupting the conversation between me and Midnight.
"Of course. Where would you like to meet?" I asked with a shrug of my shoulders.
"I’ll send you the coordinates. See you then," said the elf before he terminated the link between us.
"We good?" I asked Jun Li after a moment of silence. I didn’t trust any connections that I didn’t terminate myself.
"Checking. Link has been terminated successfully," answered Jun Li, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I took off my helmet. "Coordinates have been obtained."
"Check them through with a fine-tooth comb," I said as I jumped down from my chair, completely forgetting I went with style instead or practicality. I teetered on the stiletto heels for a second before getting my balance back. "I don’t trust the elf."
"May I ask why?" asked Jun Li, causing me to chuckle.
"You just did. And honestly, he makes my skin crawl," I replied with a shrug as I turned around and walked back to my room.
"But he is one of the most prominent Dryadalis’ in the universe," said Jun Li, more than a little confused.
"He is the most prominent Dryadalis’ in the universe, and he turned to us, an unknown arms dealer, to obtain something that he admitted the Saalistaja had a hard time hunting. And he wanted eight of them," I explained as the door to my room hissed open.
Night was now curled up on the bed, waiting for me. I didn’t know how long I had been awake, but I could definitely use a nap right now.
"I still don’t understand," pressed Jun Li as I removed the stunning dress and let it fall to the floor in a heap. Taking off my shoes and everything else, I climbed between my sheets, enjoying the feeling of them on my bare skin. I added the white fur over top of my covers, but I couldn’t wait to add the rest of the furs to my bed. However, that would have to wait until tomorrow. Much too tired right now.
"He is either in law enforcement and is trying to take out a new arms dealer, or he is a well-established arms dealer and is trying to take out the competition before it becomes a threat," I said, holding back a yawn.
