Dwarfs

Avalon 2.12: Setting the Stage

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            The travelers found armed dwarfs guarding the forest, fighter-like ships patrolling the skies and armed men by the thousands in the wilderness.  It looks like war is on the horizon and the travelers, having already participated in such killing in the last time zone, don’t want to get mixed up in another one.  For the moment, they are in a friendly camp where they find a couple of old friends in Ahn-Yani and Kim-Keri.  They only hope the camp stays friendly.

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            Kim-Keri was the perfect hostess and Ahn-Yani was good all night.  There were gnomes to groom and care for the horses, and an elderly dwarf woman who did the cooking.  There was a keg of wine for supper, and a great kettle of brew.

            “Silenus himself got Saturn’s leave to bring this wine to the Don.” Kim-Keri explained.  “He traveled over the mountains with a train of donkey’s following behind.”

            “Mathonwy buggered some of it,” Ahn-Yani added and took a great gulp.

            “The ale is good too,” Lincoln added.  “But no matter how much we drink, this kettle never seems to have less.”  He looked hard at the kettle and rapped the outside with his knuckle.

            “The Don brought many such treasures up from the south.”

            “S-good,” Elder Stow slurred.  “S-very good, I shay.”

            “How much has he had?” Lockhart wondered.

            “Just the one bowl, I think,” Katie responded. Lockhart and Katie sat side by side and while not inclined to touch each other, they appeared to have given up pretending they wanted to be anywhere else.  Ahn-Yani was good, but not perfect.  She giggled.

            When Lincoln sat again by Alexis, they heard a snap! And all eyes were drawn to the cooking fire.  “You had enough firsts and seconds.  We need to save some for our guests.”  The dwarf cook slapped the dwarf male’s hand with her cooking spoon and no one knew what to say since they never noticed the dwarf having any firsts or seconds.  Roland might have noticed, and the two lesser goddesses certainly knew, but they did not say anything about it.  Suddenly, Boston had a thought.

            “I’m guessing you are Grubby.”

            The dwarf looked ready to split, but his desire for thirds got the better of him and he responded, “Yes, mam.” 

            “Gorman with you?”

            Grubby shook his head.  “Taking the night watch.”

            The cook frowned and added another surprise.  “Next time you see that husband of mine, you tell him I got a parcel of children that would like to see their dad once in a while.”

            “Yes, mam.  I will.  Yes man.” He grinned and stuck out his oversized plate.  The cook filled it before she rapped him on his head with her spoon 

            “The end,” she said and went back to fiddling with the roast.

            “More company,” Decker said from his perch up on a boulder beside the big tent.  Thirty Little Ones came marching into the light, one out front.  The tallest might have been just over a foot tall.  The smallest was nine or ten inches, which was about fairy height, but these did not have wings.

            “Where is Lord Mathonwy?” the leader asked sharply.

            “He is not here at the moment,” Kim-Keri said.  “But you are welcome to stay and have your fill of meat and bread and mead.”

            “Well, we’ve come to join the fight against Domnu and her ilk.  We’ve a camp just beyond foot stomping range.  If he comes looking for us, tell him not to blink.  If he blinks, he might miss us and walk right past.”

            “A wee little camp?” Boston asked.  Roland wiped the smile off her face and explained.

            “Leprechauns.  Have their eye on the emerald isle, no doubt.  Sensitive about their height, and they can be vindictive with some of the strongest magic among the Little Ones.”

            “I am sure Mathonwy will be glad to have your help,” Alexis said.   

            “S-goog.  S-verry goog.”

            In the morning, Elder Stow only held his head a dozen times.  Mostly he seemed normal, if quiet.  Lincoln and Alexis woke in each other’s arms.  They were very close and intimate since their reunion, but they were married so it was expected.  Roland and Boston were also in each other’s arms, but they were young and in love, so that was also expected.  The unexpected was finding Lockhart and Katie holding tight to each other and finding each other very comfortable

            Lockhart was married long ago, and divorced.  He had grown children, but that was before his youth was restored.  He imagined there was not a woman in the world for him and had long since given up looking, yet here she was.  Katie had devoted herself to the military and to her studies.  She was a beautiful blond who had long since decided there would never be a man who could appreciate her for who she was.  She believed no man could get over seeing her as a dumb blond.  Yet here he was.  They were awkward about it for their own reasons, but those with eyes knew what was inevitable.

            Captain Decker came out of his tent, stretching and smiling.  They never saw him smile much.  But he said he could not help it that morning.  It seemed in the night, Ahn-Yani proved to be perfect after all.

            “Hey!”  Boston was the one who noticed, or at least the one who said something even if her shout of surprise sent Elder Stow’s hand back to his head.  “Where did everybody go?”  The camp of a thousand men plus women and children had packed up in the night and moved off before dawn.  No one heard them.  No one woke to any sound.  Indeed, everyone of the travelers, including Roland the elf slept soundly through the night.  They were well rested.  What is more, their horses looked rested, groomed and fed and ready to go as well.

            Mathonwy’s big tent was gone.  Ahn-Yani and Kim-Keri were nowhere to be found.  The dwarf woman was there cooking up enough food for an army, but the army had left.  There was a small band of dwarfs where Grubby had brought in his little group, but they were sitting quiet and patient, waiting for the food to be ready.  “Huh!”  Boston concluded, and they all set about striking their camp for travel while they anticipated a mighty fine breakfast.

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Avalon 2.12:  The First Encounter

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Avalon 2.12: Celtic Dreams

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After 3266 BC, Near Coasts of Brittany  Kairos life 32: Danna

Recording … 

            “Hush.”  Roland’s ears picked up something.  He and Boston dismounted and tied off their horses.  They snuck forward to the back of a boulder and climbed up to look down on a strange scene.  Two groups of dwarfs with spears and shields were separated by a few trees so they could not see each other, but Roland and Boston could see them both.

            “When I said who goes there I meant are you friend or foe?”

            “How would I know?  Who am I talking to?”

            “Who am I talking to?”

            “I asked you first.”

            A little, well bearded dwarf stepped up and nudged the leader of his group.  The leader spoke again.

            “Fair enough, I’m Grubby McDirk.”

            “I’m Goram Flocker.  And I would not say friend.  You owe me a meat pie with all the trimmings.”

            “I do not, Goram, and you’re no friend of mine either.”

            “Grubby McDirt.”

            “That’s McDirk.”

            “Oh, that’s worser.”

            “Come here so I can punch your nose.”

            “You’re not getting my nose all dirty, McDirt.  Maybe I should punch your nose.”

            “Flocker, why don’t you just flock off.”

            “I gotta keep the woods clear of foes.”

            “I gotta do that.  Where did you get your orders?”

            “Direct from the Lady.”

            “You don’t know any ladies.”

            “That does it.”  The dwarf threw down his spear and finally stepped forward, his fists up and ready to fly.

            “Right.”  The other threw down his spear, spit on the palms of his hands and rubbed them together.

            “Ahem.”  Boston stood and Roland stood beside her  “Can you help us?”  she asked, but got no more out.

            “Cheeze it,” Grubby said.

            “Human mortal lady.” Gorman said, though it sounded like swear words.

            “And she’s got an elf with her,” Grubby added.

            In a heartbeat, both groups of dwarfs vanished into thin air.  Boston blinked.  Roland helped her back down the back of the boulder.  “We will lead the group by another route,” he said.

            “Why?  The woods are empty now, aren’t they?”

            Roland shook his head.  “The dwarfs are still there, just hidden by glamours or maybe invisible.  We best go around.”  They paused at the sound of a high pitched wail.  They knew that was the sound of the bokarus, the one that had been on their trail since the beginning.

            “I just hated to see them with bloody noses,” Boston said, but Roland said no more.

            “Well?”  Lockhart asked when Roland and Boston came back to the group.

            “This way,” Roland said and picked a path that would take them well around the group.

            “I don’t like the smell in the air,” Lincoln said to Alexis.  “Smells like more than fires.  It smells like war.”

            “Do you think?”  Captain Decker asked, but it was hard to tell if he was being serious or sarcastic.  Alexis took it as serious.

            “Oh yes,” she said.  “I trust Benjamin’s smeller.”

            “Better be ready,” Lockhart said as he checked his pistol.  “But don’t shoot anything until we know if they are friend or foe.”  Boston started to laugh out loud, but she could not explain why.

            It was not much further along when Elder Stow pulled the group back beneath the darkness of the trees.  There was a flying ship moving slowly overhead.  They looked up from the dark, but it was impossible to identify the ship.  The majority thought it looked like an Agdaline ship, but the evidence was inconclusive. 

            “This is beginning to look more and more like Tetamon’s world,” Katie said.  “Aliens hunting overhead, armed little ones guarding the forest ways.”  Roland had told them that much.  “Are you sure we did not take a wrong turn somewhere?”

            “No snow,” Elder Stow pointed out. 

            “And no snow storm.” Boston gave a big nod.  She had gotten separated from the others in that snow storm.

            “Soil is all wrong for the Ardennes.  This is sandy, rocky soil good for apple trees, maybe.  This has to be Brittany, or at least Normandy on the edge of Brittany.”

            “So what is with the aliens and armed Little Ones?” Alexis asked.

            “And the armed men,” Lockhart said, and all eyes shot to the front where some thirty men with bows and spears blocked their path.  Lockhart and Katie pushed up to the front and dismounted to see what these men wanted.

            “Lockhart,” Lockhart introduced himself and stuck out his hand and introduced Katie.  “Katie Harper.  How can we help you.”

            The man shook Lockhart’s wrist and then appeared to change his mind and shook just the hand instead.  “We are creating a whole new world, after all.  Name’s Mathonwy, but my sister just calls me Math, unless I am being bad.  Then she calls me Mathy, like a child.”  Mathonwy laughed at some memory before he looked again at the two in front of him.  I think you better follow us.  I will explain what I can on the way.”

            Lockhart waved to the rest and people dismounted to walk their horses.  Boston had to shout.

            “Grubby, you might as well come, too.”  She was surprised to hear Math shout from the front.

            “You too, Gorman.”

            “Oh, we’re coming … ouch!” came the response.

            “The one you are looking for came up from the south.  The gods kind of pressured her.  Thus far she has claimed Iberia, France and the lowlands, as she says.  She has been given the key to the old Vanheim claim since it was getting to be a big muddle.  Aesgard claimed the whole thing, but realistically they could only hold the north.  They are too spread out as it is over Germany, Scandinavia and nominally over Russia.  Egypt, that is North Africa wants Iberia.  Olympus wants the coasts to as far inland as they can get away with.  Before hostilities really broke out, though, they all knew they had to deal with Domnu across the sea.  She is the sister of the old Queen Nerthus of the Vanheim and she and her Formor children claim it all, and she holds the islands.  So the gods decided to make a new house and give it to Danna and her children as a relatively safe bet.

            “Yes, what about Danna?”  Lockhart asked.

            “Oh, she is fertile enough to have bunches of children.  Bile raped her when she was really a child, yet she had children.  She was married to Apollo for some years.  You know Apollo?”

            “Not formally,” Katie responded.

            “Well, they had children.  Their eldest married Morrigu, the nasty offspring of war and battle; but I suppose they are happy.  Now Danna is hanging out with Mangi, son of Thor.  Of course it won’t mean anything if she can’t figure out how to defeat Domnu.”

            “What’s with the aliens and armed Little Ones?” Lockhart asked.  “And the armed humans?”  They arrived on the edge of a sea of tents.  There were easily a thousand men, all armed and prepared for war, though certainly there were plenty of women and children running around as well.

            “These men have suffered for generations from incursions by the people of the islands lead by the Formors.  They can’t wait for the opportunity for pay-backs.  We will invade the islands, once, as I said, Danna figures out how to overcome Domnu.”

            “But the –“ he looked up as a small ship flew overhead.

            “Complications.  An Agdaline fleet returned at a bad time and Domnu captured half of them and has them brainwashed.  Danna is also concerned to set them free and send them to their rightful new home.”  Math pointed to the sky.  “Her job, you know.  There are also Shemsu setting up standing stones along the coast.  I have no idea what they signify, but man those people have OCD really bad.”

            They came to a very big tent and stopped out front.

            “And Domnu?”  Katie wondered.

            “Yeah.  She figures if she can defeat and kill Danna, she can hold on to the islands by treaty and let the gods fight over the continent.  The thing is, the real people, the humans that belong to Vanheim are mostly the urnfeld people – the Celts, and they will be moving west over the next couple of thousand years.

            “Wait a minute,” Katie looked squarely at Mathonwy and felt like a veil was suddenly lifted from her eyes.  “How do you know all these things like Scandinavia and Russia and Egypt?”

            “You know full well how the young and immature gods leak all over those close to them.  My big sister leaked all over me when we were growing up.  Some of it was from just inside the BC, but much of it was from the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.”  He shrugged and stepped to the tent door where two women came out to greet him.  He kissed both in turn like a lover.

            “But that means you are –“  Lockhart started.

            “Yes, I am one of them,” Math interrupted, “and I believe these are old friends of yours.”  He stepped into the tent and disappeared. 

            Boston ran to give Ahn-Yani a great hug.  Lincoln grabbed Alexis by the hand to introduce her to Kim-Keri.

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Avalon 2.12:  Setting the Stage … Next Time

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Avalon 2.6: Traveling Mercies

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            When the travelers discovered they would be more of a hindrance than a help in the war, they reluctantly decide to more on.  Getting out of the war zone was good, but it hardly meant they were out of danger.

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            The line of lights in the dark steadied for a moment and Katie wondered if it was some kind of ground machine, like a truck with side lights.  “Is it Gott-Druk?” she asked.

            “No,” Elder Stow said flatly.

            “How about a dragon hunting near the ground?” Lockhart wondered with a look at Lincoln.

            “Thanks!” Lincoln sat up straight.  “That is an image I won’t soon forget.”

            Gimble, the chief dwarf stood, squinted, and then let out a whistle guaranteed loud enough and shrill enough to crack a window.  The string of lights wavered, turned, and fluttered straight for them.  The humans might have been afraid if the little ones were not so relaxed about it.  When the lights arrived, it turned out to be fairies, as many as a hundred, and they went mostly for the trees for the night, but a number of them paused to examine the horses first.  Two, one golden lit male and one bluish lit female made a special effort to pause before each human face around that camp.  They hesitated in front of Elder Stow as well, but only very briefly.  They also hardly paused at the elves and dwarfs as if they knew what they were and had no real interest in them.

            “It is as we heard,” the female spoke.  “Humans and spirits working together.” 

            “Strange,” the male said.  “And the gods divided and alien creatures fighting beside the rest.”

            “We are not aliens,” Elder Stow spoke up loudly.  “Our genesis was on this world the same as the humans.  We have as much right to be here as they do.”

            “But you are no longer authorized to be on this world.  By decree of the gods, it is a human world now.”  Lockhart spoke the truth of it.

            Elder Stow got a little hot.  “But the gods have gone away, at least in our day.”

            “Hey!” Roland, Boston, Katie and Lincoln all spoke up.  “You are not to speak of future things like that.”

            Elder Stow paused and looked around the group and ended with a look at Katie.  “Mother.  My apologies.  I did not mean to speak out of turn.”

            “Accepted,” Katie said without hesitation.  Her eyes were on the blue glowing fairy.  “I knew a fairy once that was blue like you.  Her name was Bluebell.”

            The blue fairy rushed up to Katie’s face.  “My mother’s name was Bluebell,” she said. 

            “But it couldn’t be,” Katie shook her head, sadly.  “That was on the other side of the world and had to be almost nine hundred years ago.”

            “My mother lived to be over nine hundred.  I was born five hundred years ago two years ago.”

            “That makes you five hundred and two,” Lockhart suggested.

            “It does?  Well, that is a good thing, isn’t it?”

            “A good thing,” Lockhart agreed.

            “And we just arrived from the other side of the world,” the male added.

            “But I don’t know.  Mother avoided humans.  You see, she met some once shortly before she lost her Lord.  After that, she stayed away from the human world.”

            “But she met some?”

            “Yes.  One with hair like fire who was called Mary Riley, but her real name was Boston and one with hair of gold called Lieutenant Harper, but her real name was Katie.”

            “That’s my Bluebell!”  Boston shouted.  “I’m Boston.”

            “And Honeysuckle?” Katie thought of her special friend.

            “She was my mother,” the young male said.  He did something then that caused Katie to audibly gasp.  He got big, which is to say human sized.  His wings vanished and his fairy weave clothes grew with him to fit his new size.  Katie had forgotten fairies could do that.  “My name is Ivy, and my wife is Holly,” he said.  Holly got big, and she was as beautiful as everyone expected a fairy to be.

            Katie stood.  “I am Katie,” and she did what she did when she said good-bye to Bluebell and Honeysuckle.  She hugged each of the fairies in turn, this time to say hello.

            Captain Arturo rubbed his hands together.  “Good thing you are here.  We can use your help.”

            When the travelers set out in the morning, they had a hundred fairies with them to watch their rear, move way out on their flanks, scout ahead and spy from far overhead.  Elder Stow said he was honestly not sure of the range of the Gott-Druk scanners in the atmosphere, but he thought they might send a ship if they saw him traveling with humans, and especially if they picked up sign of the spirits with them.

            “Then again, in this mixed-up war, they might find that normal and ignore it,” he concluded.

            “Some little or lesser spirits might notice,” Captain Arturo admitted.  He was jogging beside Lockhart and was speaking with him, Katie and Ivy in his small form who sat on the neck of Lockhart’s horse and held on to the horse’s mane.  “Lesser spirits might have been a real problem with just my troop, but I have confidence now that we have the force to meet any such threat.”

            “Let us hope the force won’t be needed,” Lockhart responded.

            “I asked for this assignment,” Arturo admitted.  “But my Lord could only send me and my troop.  There were no others that could be spared.  I believe the retreating has ended now and the real fighting will begin.”

            “What?”  Lincoln looked back as if looking all the way to the burning woods.  “You mean there hasn’t been any real fighting yet?”

            “To be sure there has,” Arturo said.  “But most of our effort until now has been in an orderly retreat.  They landed at the place my Lord calls Normandy.  He brought the humans and us from that place step by step.  We carried what food we could and destroyed the rest.  We harried the enemy, but did not pitch battle.  Now the enemy men are starving and the rebellion of the spirits is wavering.  One good blow now and the enemy may fall apart.  If the elder race can be turned, all the better.”

            “Elder race?”  Katie had to be sure she understood.

            “The Gott-Druk,” Lockhart confirmed.

            Up front, Boston talked nonstop with Missus Holly who was small and rode in her horse’s mane and Linnia who jogged beside them.  Roland did his very best to ignore them.  They were all three talking when a troop of six fairies rushed back from the front.  They paused only long enough for a sentence before they rushed back to report to Lord Ivy.

            “The enemy is up ahead just standing there, doing nothing.”

            Boston got out her amulet and took a reading.  The time gate was less than a mile away and she turned and shouted back to the others.  “I bet they are guarding the time gate.”

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Avalon 2.6:  The Battle for Freedom … Next Time

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Avalon 2.5: Getting Out Alive

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            The Buffalo burgers were good, but now it is time to move on.  Lincoln and Lockhart especially want to get back to the twenty-first century before they became old men again.

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            Lockhart secretly set a watch in the night.  It was only one person for a couple of hours each so no one went without rest.  Even so, when he woke up in the morning he found a stranger beside the campfire and a pile of their things beside him.  With his eyes half closed, his feet stumbling and his brain lacking his morning coffee, Lockhart nevertheless recognized that the stranger was not human and patted himself on the back for that realization.  For one, when the stranger stood and turned to face Lockhart, he proved to be nearly nine feet tall.  For two, Lockhart thought his sleepy eyes were tricking him at first since it looked like a bush grew up in the night beside the fire.  Even when the stranger faced him, he looked something like the trees with bark-like skin, vines for hair and tree trunk knots for his mouth and eyes.

            “I am Deep Roots,” the stranger introduced himself.  “I cannot stay long away from my trees, but I thought I should help.  Huyana is not always on top of every situation and I suspected the little diggers would rob you in the night.”

            “My thanks,” Lockhart said. 

            “Think nothing of it,” Deep roots said and let a smile creak across his face before he vanished.  Huyana came stumbling up, Aster trailing, as Katie brought Lockhart his coffee.

            “What is all this?”  Huyana pointed to the pile

            “Your dwarfs borrowed a few of our things in the night,” Lockhart said.  “I hope they didn’t break anything.”

            Huyana looked suddenly unhappy.  “Lady, remember the Earth, the sea and the sky,” Aster whispered.  Huyana took a deep breath and then called, “Dwarfs!”

            All seven appeared, tied together in a group with Decker’s rope.  They were gagged as well with bits of leather, and not one of them could wiggle enough to get free.  Boston came out of her tent in time to laugh.  Roland, who was with the horses also laughed as he came over to untie them and collect the rope.  The dwarfs pulled off their own gags and yelled, mostly all at once.

            “It was Deep Roots.  We found this stuff fair and square.  We could have been rich.  He stole it from us.  We just want what is ours.”

            “These are our things,” Katie said, reasonably.  Boston interrupted.

            “Three second rule.  All this stuff has been sitting here untouched for three seconds.  I claim it.”

            “Oh, buggers.  Toots.  Twaddle,” the dwarfs swore and added a few real words as well.

            Huyana put her hands on her hips and tapped her moccasin.  It made a surprisingly crisp sound on the dirt.  The dwarfs noticed, whipped off their hats and put on their most humble and sorry expressions.  Huyana was not fooled.  “Three seconds or not, everything these people brought with them is theirs, not yours.  You so much as touch one of their things again and you should have your fingers burned.”

            Aster stepped up and took Huyana’s hand, but it was too late.  Digger cried, “uh-oh,” and whipped something out of his pocket and tossed it to Picky who tossed it to the next one.  It was the ultimate game of hot potato, but the potato was Boston’s Beretta.  Finally, Gome had the sense to toss it to the pile.  It went off when it landed, but by some unknown grace, the bullet missed everyone.

            “Now, enough,” Huyana had to take several breaths and squeeze Aster’s hand several times before she could speak.  “I am asking you, will you escort my friends to the next time gate.  They will know the way, but I need someone to guard them from the bokarus.  Will you do this for me?”

            “Bokarus is spooky,” Picky spoke for the group.  “And what might we expect –“

            “This is not a bargain!  It is yes or no.”  Huyana shouted and squeezed Aster’s hand several more times while the dwarfs all said, “Yes, sure, of course.”  Huyana squeezed once more before she said, “Thank you.”  Then she let go of Aster’s hand.  Aster whipped the hand to her mouth to hold back the tears.  Her hand got a serious workout, squeezed again and again by her own goddess, but she would do it again.  She did not mind, really.

            Ogalalo came up to join them for breakfast and marveled at the bread they offered.  Then he saw them mount to ride out.

            “We may not make it in a day if we walk the horses the whole way,” Boston said mostly to herself.  Huyana heard.  She was ignoring Ogalalo.

            “The dwarfs will protect you in the night.  They will take you all the way to the time gate as promised.  Isn’t that right?”

            “Oh,yes.  Yes mam.  Absolutely.  Time gate it is.”  Gome was the one who asked.  “What’s a time gate?”

            Huyana sighed.  “You will know when you get there, only you are not permitted to go through the gate.”

            “Oh yes, absolutely.”

            “Just like a real goddess,” Dingle spoke up with pride in his voice.  “Cryptic as the best of them.  What’s a time gate?  You’ll know when you get there.  Yes, sir.  Just like a real goddess, she is.”

            “Ogalalo?”  Huyana could not ignore him any longer.

            “I wanted to warn your friends to beware the Onakatta if their way takes them into the next valley.  They are a treacherous and cruel people best avoided.”

            “Thank you for the warning,” Lockhart said as he started out.

            “And thank you for the feast,” Katie added. 

            Boston thought to say something else.  “Good-bye Huyana.  We love you.”  Huyana started to cry when she heard that and Aster and Ogalalo did their best to comfort her, but the dwarfs all began to argue about which one of them was really about to say that, except the dumb human beat them to it. 

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            The tapestry of life is three dimensional.  It has layers, but life gets confusing when the layers begin to interweave and the colors bleed into one another, and when war is the reason, it also gets downright dangerous.

Avalon 2.6:  Multiple Worlds … Next Time

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Avalon 2.5: Unbroken

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            After the attack of the bokarus, the shaman wants to sacrifice the travelers, and he has a dozen armed men to back him up.  The travelers still have their handguns and steel knives but then a woman’s voice interrupts the Mexican standoff.  A referee, or more fuel to the fire?

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            “Huyana.” Ogalalo recognized the woman that bounced up and down on the back of the great beast.  Huyana was far from a horsewoman, but rode up and got down carefully.  Roland brought up the rest of the horses with strange looking riders in his trail.  There was a beautiful elf maiden on one horse, and the other three horses carried dwarfs.  Two bounced on Lincoln’s horse, two on Lockhart’s and three on poor Decker’s horse, and they complained the whole way.

            “You let my friends go!”  Huyana yelled at the Shaman as soon as she felt the earth under her feet again.

            “I have no quarrel with you,” Ogalalo said and took a step back.

            “You have a quarrel if you mean to harm my friends,” Huyana responded.

            “But the Elder Elf and his daughter said they were people of great power.  You know the Onakatta tribe we struggle with.  I only hoped to help my people.”

            “By stealing?  By holding innocent people hostage?  By making more enemies?  Did you ask first if they might help you?  These are good people.  If you have a genuine need, they would help.  No.  You never thought to ask.  All you think is to take, you brute.”

            “I’m sorry,” Ogalalo borrowed Boston’s word.  “I didn’t think.  I am sorry.”  He waved his hand, angrily and the men with their spears went back about their business.

            “We had a visit from the bokarus,” Boston told Roland.  Roland relieved Lockhart of holding duty, but Boston was about able to stand on her own by then.

            “Ahem,” the young elf maid coughed.  It was a time honored nudge.

            “Boston, this is Aster.  Aster, Boston.”

            “Hi,” Boston said and gulped.  This maid was lovely beyond words, or anyway beyond her words.

            “Good to meet you.  I have heard so much about you,” Aster said, and Boston fought to keep her nose from turning up.  Aster even sounded beautiful.

            “Oh?” Boston stood up instead and looked at Roland who gave Aster a mean stare.

            “So then the bokarus flew off,” Lincoln finished explaining as Lockhart moved Katie off to the side.

            “What did you think you were doing?” he asked her.

            “I was trying to get us out of here.  I was trying to get him to let us go.”

            “You were busy showing off.  elect or not, you don’t willingly step into a circle of spears.  That is a good way to get yourself killed.”

            “I don’t work for you,” Katie said.

            “No?  You going to go back to some Marine Corps, Pentagon desk?”

            Katie paused.  “Okay, I work for you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t show initiative.”

            “It doesn’t give you the right to behave stupidly either.”

            “What I did was not stupid.”

            “It was stupid showing off and you are not allowed to get hurt.”

            “Well, you are not allowed to get hurt either.”

            “Yes, but I still have those Gaian healing chits running through me.” 

            “But the Kairos said not to depend on them.” 

            Well, the same goes for you.”

            “Well, I didn’t get hurt.”

            “Well I’m glad.”

            “So am I.”

            “People!” Huyana yelled as one of the dwarfs put his fingers to his lips and let out a shrill whistle.  Roland, Boston and Aster looked up from one direction.  Katie and Lockhart looked up from the other.  Lincoln stopped babbling with Ogalalo and Elder Stow.  “You need to get your things back for the journey.  Am I the only one here with any sense?  There’s a switch.”

            “Nice crew,” Lincoln said, referring to the dwarfs that crowded around and made the people in the village keep their distance, the ones that were not already keeping back.

            “Thanks,” Huyana said before she realized Lincoln was not being serious.  She explained anyway.  “Aster keeps me sane.  She is my nurse in the Dryad’s house in the forest.  I left the ogre at the house because Ogalalo is scared of him.”

            “I am not.”

            “Yes you are, and good thing it wasn’t the right time of day for the goblins.”  She winked at the Shaman.  “Then there are my dwarf buddies.  There are seven of them and I don’t want to hear one wisecrack.  I can’t get rid of them.  I think if I went to the moon they would track me down.  They followed me all the way from the desert, where I used to live.”

            “The Mojave?”  Boston asked innocently and Aster touched Boston’s arm and shook her head but it was too late.

            “Yes,” Huyana said, and she began to cry.  “And I am so sorry I made them come.  Please.  I didn’t mean to make them come.”

            Aster moved as did Katie, but Boston got there first to hug Huyana. 

            “Why am I alive?” Huyana said quietly in Boston’s shoulder.  “Why can’t I just die and be done with it all like any normal person.  I’m so tired and I screw up everything I touch.”

            “Hush,” Boston said softly in return before she did something that surprised everyone, most of all Ogalalo.  She placed Huyana in the man’s arms.  He held her at first like she was a soft flower, easily crushed.  But after a moment he bent to kiss the top of her head and pulled her in to comfort her.

            “We have to find our own things,” Elder Stow said.  Lincoln shrugged and they went in search.  Katie and Lockhart stared at Huyana and Ogalalo and at each other. 

            “I’ll make sure the horses are ready,” Roland said and went down the line.

            Aster stepped up to Boston’s side and spoke to her alone.  “I have only just met him, but I would say you are a very lucky woman.”

            “I know,” Boston said as she watched Ogalalo’s face turn to one of pure joy.

            “As long as you know you are lucky, I am content.” Aster said.  

            When the men came back with their equipment and supplies, Katie checked her rifle first while Lockhart checked his shotgun.  There was the sound of distant thunder and one of the dwarfs stepped up.

            “Weather’s coming.”

            “Powerful weather,” A second said.

            “But I am smelling something more,” a third spoke up.

            “Something is on the hoof and sounds like thunder,” said the fourth, and they saw it as a woman screamed and came running into the village.  A herd of Buffalo was headed straight toward them.

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Avalon 2.5:  Things of Power … Next Time

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