ASRAN SERIES- ACROSS THE BORDER

Chapter - 18

The tiny man then said, “This place is too dirty. Eww... Yuck... Why did we even come here? Are you sure that the sister you were mentioning earlier is really at a place like this and not somewhere else? Moreover, do you even want a sister from this part of the city? I can get you a better one if you want from a much better place. You can trust me on that...” 

When the Tiny man opened his dirty mouth and spouted nonsense, it made Peter and Robert angry and they glared at him. Before Robert could react, Peter moved forward and for the first time, he lost his cool self and shouted, 

“Shut up! Just shut up! If you speak one more word, I would leave you here to fend for yourself. Then we will see who is dirty and Yuck and Eww...”

Peter groaned and briskly walked further into the muddy street in search of his sister, Elly. He looked at every kid's face in that area to check if any one of them resembled Elly. After seeing Peter getting so agitated, Robert held his hand and squeezed it. 

"Relax, Peter. We will find your sister, I promise you and we will bring her back with us to our parents. Have some trust in my magic? Didn’t we already get close to her, likewise, we will find her too and soon. Don't worry," Robert mumbled to Peter and tried to calm him.

Peter did not say anything to him and kept on moving forward in hope of finding his sister sooner as Robert suggested. He was most afraid that his sister, Elly might also be in such a poor condition and he couldn't even bear to think of her suffering and roaming the streets like an orphan.

“Robert, we have to find Elly and we will not leave from here until we find her… We will not go anywhere...” Peter said with determination and kept on walking forward without minding the uneven muddy ground under his feet.

When they were searching for Elly in that area, they suddenly noticed a few knights patrolling around in beggar’s clothes. The minute Robert caught sight of them, he pushed Peter into a dark alley and hid along with him.

“I think they have put some soldiers in this part of the city to monitor the situation for any rebels. Right now, we cannot use magic as we might get caught easily. We have to stay low-key and try to find Elly without any magic…” Robert stopped talking as a door next to the wall suddenly opened and someone emerged from inside the house.

“I didn’t think that there was a door here when we came to this alley,” Peter mumbled and became cautious.

“Me neither,” Robert gulped as he sensed a powerful mage nearby and he didn't know if they were friends or enemies.

He immediately hid his original face and inserted his hand into his pocket to pull out the wand in case something worst happens. But to their surprise, they heard a young girl's voice which made them rejoice at once.

“Brother!” The girl said and dashed towards them. 

“Elly!” Both Peter and Robert exclaimed together and went towards her with a shocked expression.

They didn’t expect to find Elly so easily, especially, since they never thought to enter this dark alley in the first place. Peter swiftly ran near her and hugged her. Even though she was dressed in ragged clothes, she looked slightly well compared to what he had expected.

“Let's get out of here right away before those knights catch us,” Robert hurriedly said to them and pulled them deep into that dark alley instead of getting out towards the street. 

Elly immediately stopped them and said, “We cannot get out of here so easily now that they had installed patrolling units. This place may look poor from outside but the people here are actually not. This is all a pretense to hide the truth from the militants. Let’s get inside the house and discuss a proper plan before we decide to escape from here.”

“Inside the house? Were you staying here after you got lost? Whose house is this?” Peter asked her while looking at the door with anxiousness.

“Yes, I have been here from the time you all left me. Also, I promise you would be surprised once you entered the home and meet the owner of this house." Elly said with bright eyes and then whispered,

"I have someone special to show you,” She smiled at Peter.

Robert and Peter had a feeling that something was wrong with this whole situation. First of all, they could not believe that they found Elly so easily and the next part is, as they have feared, she didn’t look like she had suffered all these days without being with her family.

“Brother… Robert, let’s go…” After seeing their hesitation, Elly once again urged them to enter the house.

She even pulled their hands to bring them inside the home she had lived in after being separated from her family. When Peter and Robert entered the door, they saw the eminence of the place and wondered whether they had come into the wrong place. 

 But seeing Elly joyfully skipping through the crowd of some famous people, they couldn’t help but open their mouths in awe. ‘How could such a house exist in the middle of the dirty streets?’ They wondered but still did not let go of their cautiousness.

 By the time, they almost reached the end of the hallway, they noticed Peter’s grandmother sitting in a rocking chair and talking to someone in a hushed tone.

“Grandma!” Elly zoomed like an arrow and stood next to the old lady.

At first, Peter could not believe his eyes. But then when Robert pinched him, he also shouted, “Grandma” and ran to hug her.

Instead of standing next to the old lady as Elly did, he jumped on his grandmother in excitement. As he almost slammed against her, it made the old lady lose her balance and her rocking chair moved behind a lot.

In no time, Grandma Rose steadied herself and said, “My baby, darling! I missed you too!”

She hugged Peter who was crying like an infant and kissed his head. She then noticed Robert who was standing awkwardly next to Elly with a small smile on his lips. But before she could smile at him, she noticed the hygelnewl plant and its guardian emerging from inside the Peters’ bag.

Rose knitted her eyebrows and stared at the carnivorous plant with a scrutinizing gaze. Just before anyone could realize, Hygelnewl grew larger than anyone would expect which made the people in that house scream in horror. Then all of them at once started to scatter around the house to save their dear life.

“Calm down, everyone,” Grandma Rose ordered and stood up from her chair pushing Peter aside. 

Everyone immediately stood in one corner, further away from that gigantic enormous plant with fear evident in their eyes. Grandma looked at the mess created by those people with disapproval and turned towards Peter.

“Peter, what’s going on? Why did that devil plant come out of your bag along with that short man?” She pointed at the Tiny man and questioned him.

“Grandma… that….” Peter hesitatingly looked at the angel plant and then at the Tiny man.

“Grandma, I will explain to you what is going on and why we were carrying this devil plant I mean… angel plant came in Peter’s bag?” Robert came to Peter’s rescue but that only made the situation worse.

“Robert! I hope you know that I did not ask you that question. So, why won’t you allow your friend to speak up for himself instead of interfering in our conversation?” Grandma demanded and made Robert shut his mouth.

‘I am sorry,’ Robert mouthed to Peter and moved away a little to allow him to come forward.

Peter then slowly started to explain everything from when he left the campsite and how he reached this place. He also told them that he had to use the help of the miracle plant to get here.

“If not for this plant, we could have never reached here and met Elly,” He concluded his story and then walked near his grandmother.

He held her hands and said, “Grandma, I am sorry! I didn't mean to surprise or cause you any trouble at all. I am sorry, Grandma... I am sorry..."