Elf

Medieval 5: Elgar 7 Second Chances, part 2 of 4

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While King Athelwulf, Eanwulf, and Osric were off helping the Mercians beat down the Welsh, the king’s wife, Osburh caught a cold. As sometimes happened in those days, she died before Athelwulf got home. The king went into a time of seclusion. For some months, they could hardly get a word out of him.  Eventually, he would only speak to the priests and so perhaps it was no surprise when after two years he decided to make the pilgrimage to Rome. He took his younger sons, Athelred and Alfred with him.

Athelwulf’s eldest surviving son, Athelbald took the reins of the kingdom, though he was not the sharpest knife. Athelwulf made his next eldest son, Athelberht, subking over Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, though Athelbald did not allow Athelberht the same grace to rule that his father allowed him. Eanwulf and Osric liked having Athelbald in charge. He was easy to manipulate. And they supported Athelbald when Athelwulf returned and found his throne occupied.

While in Rome, Athelred and Alfred were tutored under the watchful eye of the pope. Alfred took to the learning and reading like the proverbial duck to water, in particular the histories, though he was only nine years old. He became fascinated to learn how Rome built such a mighty empire and organized itself to last a thousand years. He read about the saints and martyrs who struggled and sacrificed so much for the gospel and to convert the heathen. He read and received instruction about many things, and even at that young age, he recognized how the people of Wessex and the church in Wessex were hampered by the inability to read and the lack of books worth reading. He took a vow against his enemy, ignorance.

Athelred, by contrast, had little interest in the lessons. It is not that he was lazy, but his interests went more toward the martial arts. He did not mind learning about Caesar and hearing all about the battles. His was more of a romantic view of empire, of battles and conquest, not necessarily ruling. All the same, their father Athelwulf had both young boys invested in a way that proved their worthiness to rule. Athelwulf figured when he died, the older boys could not shave the younger one’s heads and stick them in a monastery somewhere to be forgotten.

When they left Rome after a year, they returned to the Carolingian court of Charles the Bald. Alfred, now ten, brought his trunk full of books. Athelred, fourteen, carried a sword with which his father hoped he would not cut himself.

Charles the Bald spent those days building alliances with outside kings and rulers as a balance against his own nobility that did not like him very much. Athelwulf, king of Wessex, certainly fit the bill. No one can say how Charles’ twelve-year-old daughter Judith came into the negotiations except to say Judith was a witch who had no intention of becoming a nun. She was beginning to chaff under the strict rules of her parents and wanted out. At her young age she had no business considering marriage, but it was all she could think of to escape. Besides, she figured the old man would not give her any trouble. He still loved his first wife, Osburh, and he would not live that long. She prepared herself to make sure of that.

When the family returned to Wessex, they found the throne taken and Athelbald would not be giving it up. Much to Athelwulf’s disappointment, his old friends Eanwulf of Somerset with Ealhstan, Bishop of Sherborne supported Athelbald, while Osric of Dorset sat on the fence between the two. Athelwulf, who was already not feeling well, was reluctant to start a civil war. He had the support of Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Berkshire, so he made a deal with his son. Athelbald took the western provinces of Somerset, Dorset, and Devon where Eanwulf’s friend Odda took the reins after his other friend Ceorle died in the 851 battle against the Danes. Athelwulf kept the central shires under his hand. Basically, Athelbald got the bishop of Sherborne while Athelwulf kept the bishop of Winchester. Athelberht in Kent, who refused to take sides, kept the bishop of Canterbury while the bishop of London was still technically claimed by Mercia, and by the Danes.

The agreement only lasted about a year. Athelwulf got sick and died just after the new year, 858, in Sussex, where he was buried. Athelbald moved back to Winchester and to the throne of Wessex. Then he did one thing that Elgar, Eanwulf, Osric, and the Bishop of Sherborne all agreed and advised against. He married Judith, now fifteen, his father’s widow. He did not know she was a witch.

It certainly was not Judith’s intention to be saddled with the son, but she saw no other way to power. At one time, she imagined after she got rid of the old man she might take the crown for herself, but that would never fly with these rude and ignorant Saxons. They called her queen, but in Saxon terms, the queen was no more than the king’s wife. Judith ruled through Athelbald for two and a half years, but it soon became too taxing to continue. The man was terminally stupid, and stubborn once he got a thought in his head. She controlled things well enough to get what she wanted, but he got on her every nerve. Athelbald was already sick with the same mysterious disease that killed his father when the Vikings under Weland burned Winchester. That happened in 860.

Charles the Bald originally contracted with the Viking Weland to drive out some other Norsemen that were threatening Paris from the north shore of Francia. Weland sort of succeeded. He gathered his army and put those Norsemen under siege until they paid him an ungodly amount of gold to go away. He thought this was a good thing. He heard about Athelwulf in Rome, how he lavished gold everywhere he went. He thought Wessex was just across the Channel. He imagined if he brought his army there, they might also pay him off to go away.

To his credit, Weland got all the way to the walls of Winchester before the army of Wessex gathered. He burned parts of the town, but he did not take the town before three times his numbers came from outside the city to confront him. Weland could not run fast enough. They fought, and Weland lost badly before he made it to his ships and escaped. The people of Wessex did not pay him off. They just got mad, and it was a mistake that got echoed in the halls of Denmark and Norway. The Vikings lost badly at the Parrett River. They lost again in 851 near Kingston in Surrey. Now, Weland had to tuck his tail and run. The message was don’t mess with Wessex.

Without knowing it, Weland did three things that might have proved troublesome in the future. His army managed to kill two ealdormen, the leaders in Berkshire and Hampshire. Poor Wulfheard of Hampshire was the father of Eanwulf’s wife, so he was family in a sense. And he had no sons, so the position stayed vacant for a while. For the hat trick, Weland’s army drove Athelbald from the city and nearly caught him in a skirmish outside the city walls. Athelbald received a cut in his arm which was not life threatening, but he was already weak from being sick.

Athelbald ran to Sherborne, to where he imagined his friends lived. The Bishop, Ealhstan, received him as the king, but he did not show any great friendship. Eanwulf did not even bother to visit. Instead, he sent Elgar.

Elgar spent the last seven years at home where his wife finally gave him a son to go with his four daughters. He felt it was about time since he turned forty in 860. In those seven years, he only drove off two Viking raids, and he figured one landed on his shore by accident. He guessed they were headed toward Glywysing in Wales and got turned around in the storm. It would have been nice to think he spent those years in peace and quiet, but no such luck.

Some of that time got spent receiving reports about the would-be god Abraxas. The god settled in Northumbria, on the opposite side of the island from where Elgar was located in Somerset. Marsham the elf and Pinoak’s fairy sister, Heath, both moved into the area where they could watch the god closely. Both married into the local elf tribe and fairy troop and settled in to do their duty. Abraxas seemed to be moving quietly around the area, though he brought in more Danes and Norsemen than Elgar imagined was healthy. Elgar guessed Abraxas wanted the pagan Vikings and English Christians to clash in their culture and faith and cause uncertainty in many minds. Elgar concluded that Abraxas could take advantage of that uncertainty. He would have to watch it.

The rest of the time, he kept one eye on the Flesh Eaters who abandoned the Earth only to land on the moon. From there, they regularly sent shuttles back to earth to pick up whole herds of animals, sometimes including cattle and sheep, and the occasional farmer and rancher. More concerning was the three-person bombers being used as scout ships and to deliver Flesh Eater counselors to the Danish throne.

Elgar’s elf spies suspected the Flesh Eaters were using their mind control devices on certain chiefs, counselors, and elders throughout Scandinavia. It was impossible to tell, or prove, because the elves knew nothing about that level of advanced technology, and the men behaved perfectly normally, as far as the elves could tell, even if their instructions came from the moon.

Elgar hoped the Flesh Eaters left Earth and were only hiding out on the moon until things settled down in deep space. Once the battles between the Apes and Flesh Eaters quieted down out among the stars, Elgar hoped these local Flesh Eaters would leave the solar system altogether. He was willing to let them visit and gather food as long as that food consisted of deer, cattle, sheep and the like. He was not happy about the occasional rancher or farmer they took with the herds, but at least they stopped eating the Geats on a regular basis.

Elgar talked to Reed, his house elf, the one who gathered all the information brought in by the elf and fairy spy networks. “Hopefully, when the fireworks in deep space settle down, these Flesh Eaters will leave altogether.”

“Hopefully,” Reed agreed, but all they could do was watch and wait. “It has been fifteen or sixteen years. How long will this war in space continue?”

“Eighteen years since the Apes found the Flesh Eater home world,” Elgar said and shook his head. He thought to explain what he could. “It takes a week, or two with bad winds, to travel from Denmark to England. But in space, the stars they travel to are not necessarily next to each other. To sail from Copenhagen all the way around to the Mediterranean to raid in Provence, Italy, or get to Constantinople takes months, maybe a year or two. In space, the distances are vast. Even at faster than light speed, it can take months or years just to get to an Ape colony or Flesh Eater colony. The actual fighting does not last long. It is the travel to get to the battlefield that takes forever. It is not much different on Earth. Armies gather, and most of the time is spent just getting there.”

Reed nodded that he understood.

Medieval 5: Elgar 4 Carhampton, the Sequel, part 2 of 2

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Alfpryd had twin girls she named Alfswip and Alfswith, she said to honor her friends, Athelswith and Elgar’s sister, Eadswip. Elgar complained with the thought Doctor Mishka put in his head, though he was very glad the doctor had been there to help. Twins were not easy.

“I’ll never be able to tell them apart,” he said before he came up with his own complaint. “And about the names…”

“Now, we agreed,” Alfpryd interrupted. “I name the girls and you name the boys. Besides, Reed and Violet like the names.”

“I’m not surprised,” he said. They were elves and probably inclined to like any name that began with the word Elf, or Alf. Violet served as Alfpryd’s maid, and her husband, Reed, kept Elgar updated on the progress of the Flesh Eaters. “What does Poppy think?” Poppy was the local fairy Elgar sometimes mistakenly called Edelweiss.

“Poppy loves Alfwynn, and says she loves Alfswip and Alfswith already, and they are just babies.”

Elgar nodded. “You are such a lucky woman.”

“I know. I love my husband so much.”

“I meant, that you are loved by so many. Even the very spirits of the earth love you.” he gave her a kiss and left the room so she could rest. He found Reed waiting for him.

“What news?” he asked, and Reed understood his mood and skipped the niceties.

“The Flesh Eaters appear to have completed their survey of the earth and the civilizations presently that cover the globe. I feared briefly that they might settle in northern Tang, but the Tang have become like the Eastern Romans, past their prime. Likewise, the Hoy Romans and the Caliphate are falling apart due to internal squabbles. The Flesh Eaters have chosen the place where the warrior culture has become paramount even though unity has not yet been achieved.”

“The Danes,” Elgar understood. “My friends in the future, or whoever is controlling my rebirths, tends to put me where I am most needed.”

Reed nodded. “They hope to unify Danish and Norwegian lands very soon. Then they can work on uniting with the Swedish and Finish lands, and eventually the Baltic and Rus lands. That would make a substantial, young, vital, and ambitious empire that might conquer the world.”

“You think they are after world domination?”

“That has been much discussed among those who are watching. They have only one mothership and nothing in the way of support vessels. They do not have the resources to conquer the lands themselves and do not appear to have access to more ships and more Flesh Eaters. They may be renegades of some sort. Coming to a planet clearly marked Do Not Go suggests that possibility, though many say the Flesh Eaters would not care about that. But they are either renegades or their fleets and Flesh Eating people are occupied elsewhere and unable to help.”

Elgar shook his head and relayed what once he heard from Alice of Avalon. “Their home planet has been discovered by the Apes. There is a massive war going on in space right now.”

“As some suspected,” Reed said. “In any case, the Flesh Eaters here appear to have settled on the Danes as their servant intermediaries. Once the world is under control, without the Flesh Eaters having to fight and risk their own lives, then the Flesh Eaters can rule over all from behind the curtain and feast on human flesh for many, many centuries to come without fear of the humans rising up and rebelling against them. They are beginning to experiment with mind control devices but are several years, maybe a couple of decades from being ready.”

“Keep me informed,” Elgar said, with his thanks. “I suspect the reason I was born here is because England will be the test case. I imagine the Danes will first invade this island with the idea of conquest before they invade the continent. I think that will be the case even if Denmark and Germany share an easy land border.”

“First, the divided kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons. Then the more powerful Franks and Germans. Then third, the Eastern Romans and divided Muslims. Then I don’t see anyone stopping them.” Reed concluded.

“Unless the Turks and Mongols miraculously pull themselves together a couple of hundred years ahead of schedule.”

“Turks and Mongols?” Reed asked.

Elgar waved him off. “Forget I said that.”

Reed nodded.

843 was a busy year. First the twins were born. Then Wulfrun reached her last month and everyone seemed happy when they got interrupted. Odda sent word from the Devon coast that a large number of Danish ships were seen sailing for Carhampton. Riders were sent out, but Wulfrun delivered a boy before the army gathered. Athelwulf hurried with four hundred men from Hampshire. He only had fifty on horseback, however, because he decided the expense of a full hundred was not worth it. Osric brought six hundred from Dorset, this time some coming from the north and from Sherborne. Eanwulf had his six hundred, but most came from the north where he rode. Few came from the west side of the Parrett, or from the Devon border area. Eanwulf was disappointed with his brother. Elgar simply complained.

“At this rate, the Danes will not only burn down the churches, they will have time to build big pagan shrines in their place.”

The king, Eanwulf, and Osric ignored the young man, as usual. When they arrived at Carhampton and camped in the same place King Ecgbert camped seven years earlier, they found a surprise waiting for them. A hundred and fifty men gathered from the coastal towns and another fifty from in and around Exmoor jointed them. They said what they were told was correct. If the Danes got a foothold on the coast, their homes would be the next to be burned. Apart from the two hundred men from Somerset, they also found a hundred brought by Odda from the coast of Saxon Devon.

“We have to stick together,” Odda told Eanwulf. “Otherwise, Devon may be next.”

Those three hundred men kept the sixteen hundred Danes in Carhampton bottled up for a month while they waited for the army to arrive.

“We have the numbers,” King Athelwulf thought, and proceeded to make the same mistake his father made. He threw his full force of roughly eighteen hundred foot soldiers, mostly farmers and tradesmen at the Danish line of twelve hundred. The Danes fought bravely and held the line for a long time, but when cracks began to appear in the Danish line, the Danish commander threw his fresh four hundred reserves in and that was enough to cause the exhausted Saxons to crumble. The Saxons had nothing in reserve.

Elgar looked around the camp. They had about a hundred and thirty men on horseback at most, and some of those were monks and priests surrounding the Bishop of Sherborne. They did not have enough men to attack the enemy. About all they could do was stand about and look mean to prevent the retreat of the Saxons from turning into a rout.

The Saxons fell back to their camp. They would fight again if they had to in order to prevent the Danes from breaking out of the town and into Somerset, but unless they needed to fight, they preferred to lick their wounds. The Danes, for their part, probably decided it was not worth the sacrifice to push inland. Instead, they gathered what treasures they stole and headed back out to sea.

Elgar yelled at his brother, and Osric was there to hear. Fortunately, the king was not there. “You have twice seen how the Heathens fight. You have seen how they hold some men back from the fight and when our men are exhausted, even if they are winning, the Danes throw their fresh men into the line and twice they have broken us. Twice we have come without horsemen, and twice we have been lucky the Danes have had no men on horseback. If they had, our men would have run for their lives and been cut down one after another. You saw how affective it was when our horsemen charged the Danes at Hingston Downs, and when we circled around and came up behind the Celts, we forced them to surrender and they had nowhere to run. Twice now at Carhampton we have handed the victory to the enemy by our foolish tactics. Learn something, for God’s sake.”

Elgar stomped off to his tent and did not wait for a response.

One result of the second battle of Carhampton was Elgar got promoted by his brother, and he was forced to move. “From the Parrett river north to the Severn Estuary, most of the coast is marshland and not suitable to bring many ships to shore,” Eanwulf said. “I surveyed the area in this last year when we went about. But from the Parrett River to the border of Devon, even on the coast of Exmoor, there are many places to land, especially the long, skinny, shallow draft ships of the Danes. I am making you the Dux of the coast from the Parrett River to the border with Devon to five miles inland so you will have the towns and villages there to watch the coast. I expect you to keep the heathens out of Somerset. Maybe you should live at Carhampton since the Danes seem to like that place.”

Elgar shook his head and hardly had to think about it. “Watchet,” he said. “The old Celtic fort there needs work since Grandfather Edgar tore it down, but it is near the center of the coast. From there, we can hold the Danes in check until you can get there with the army. We can set up a coastal watch like Odda has set in North Devon, and we can drive off simple raiding parties. But any substantial landing, you better back me up with the army or this won’t work.”

Eanwulf did not like to have to be bothered with that, but he agreed because he knew his little brother was right. “And maybe Osric and the men of Dorset can help. I think Osric’s uncle was right. The king does not need to be disturbed with every Danish landing. That is what he expects us to take care of to keep the kingdom safe.”

Great in theory, Elgar thought, but if the Saxons don’t learn anything, they will lose every time on the battlefield. They need cavalry, and to keep some fresh men in reserve to reinforce the line where it may be weakening. Saxon brute force might have been enough against the Welsh, but not against the Danes.

************************

MONDAY

The Danes come in force to the Parrett River, as predicted, and the Flesh Eaters come to watch. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

*

Medieval 5: Genevieve 1 Cinderella, part 2 of 2

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Signore Lupen first came when Genevieve turned nine. He came when she was eleven, and again when she was thirteen. Each time, he stayed during the month of May and each time Genevieve’s position in the house grew more and more difficult. On the last visit, when she turned fifteen, she was the only servant left in the house. She had to cook and clean and got very little sleep and little to eat that month because their visitors came early that year, in April, the slim month, and Genevieve feared they might stay through June. She imagined she would not survive that long. They would work her to death. It was bad enough when they left around the third of May. She was so exhausted she hardly knew what she was doing.

Genevieve escaped the house and ran through the meadow at the back of the hill. She went into the little woods at the bottom to hide from whatever eyes might peer down from the house above. She found a clearing there and collapsed to the ground on top of all the old leaves and pine needles, and she wept, bitterly, being unable to do anything else.

Edelweiss, the fairy found her first. “Why are you crying?”

“Oh, Edelweiss.” It was all Genevieve could get out at first.

The fairy came close, a curious expression on her little face. “You know my name?”

Genevieve tried to sit up and wipe her eyes, but the tears would not stop that easily. She just nodded before she heard two more voices in the woods.

“Little one.”

“What did you find?”

The fairy flew up to face the two young elf maids that came to the edge of the clearing. “The young lady Genevieve,” Edelweiss said. “She won’t stop crying.”

“Margota and Nellinis.” Genevieve called to the two elf maids and waved them to join her but could not say anything more just yet.

“She knows us?” Margota wondered.

“We know you. How do you know us?” Nellinis asked.

The elf maids came close and sat near her. They found a few empathetic tears though they did not know what they were crying about, and Genevieve’s tears were mostly from exhaustion in any case. Soon enough, Genevieve took a deep breath and settled herself to talk.

“It is Signore Lupen and his son, especially the son, Antonio,” she said.

“Mister Lupen,” Nellinis responded with a frown. Genevieve looked up as she explained. “He is no more a knight than I am.”

Margota said, “He is from Lombard lands. Up here, the Franks and Germanic people have no way of checking. He can claim whatever he wants.”

Nellinis added, “I am sure with a title he expects better treatment than he would get as plain old Mister Lupen the merchant.”

Genevieve shook her head, but she was not surprised. “Anyway,” she said. “I feel there is something wrong with him, and his son, especially the son. His three hired men, the dark one, Blondy and Baldy might just be mean and ugly, it is hard to say, but Signore Lupen—Mister Lupen… There is some seriously wrong there.”

“The dark one?” Edelweiss asked as she settled on Margota’s shoulder to participate.

“Dark hair and dark eyes, never a smile, and always standing in the shadows,” Genevieve described the man. “They have names, but I know them as Darky, Blondy, and Baldy.”

“Good names,” Nellinis decided.

“Anyway,” Genevieve said again. “There is something twisted, something wicked about the Lupens, father and son, only I can’t put my finger on what that is.”

The elf maids nodded, and Edelweiss probably did as well, but she was small, covered by Margota’s hair, and hard to see, so she spoke instead. “My mother told me when they come I need to keep an eye on you to make sure you stay safe.”

“Your Mother Heartsease,” Genevieve said.

“That’s the one,” Edelweiss agreed. “My mother is from the mountains and gave me my name, Edelweiss. Sadly, there are no edelweiss flowers around here, but my father agreed with the name.”

“Your Father Evergreen,” Genevieve said.

“That’s the one,” Edelweiss agreed. “He said your mother died mysteriously and your father married a lady he hardly knew, and then he died. Father worried about you, but he never said why.”

“And you two? Margota and Nellinis—Margo and Nelly. Why are you here?”

Margo and Nelly looked at each other, and Margo confessed. “Lord Alpine had the same feeling as Lord Evergreen. He said there was something special about you, a good kind of special, and given the way your mother and father got killed under questionable circumstances, he said you needed to be watched.”

Nelly added, “We’ve been coming here regularly since you turned six and that Lady moved into the house, and especially when Mister Lupen came here.”

“You feel it too.” Genevieve plainly said it and did not ask it as a question. Nelly and Margo both nodded, and probably Edelweiss as well, but it was hard to see.

“It is difficult getting close to the house when Mister Lupen and his son are here. It feels like the very air around the home is dark and wicked,” Margo explained.

Genevieve agreed, but then they dropped that subject and spent the next hour sharing as all young women do, and becoming friends, as all young women should. After that, Genevieve shared that Wednesday was shopping day, though they all knew that already. After lunch, Mother Ingrid always took Ursula and Gisela to town to look at all the pretty things. Margo, Nelly, and Edelweiss agreed to come to the house Wednesday afternoon and help Genevieve with her work and be her friends. And when they could, they would meet her on the way to town when she got sent on various errands. Genevieve cried again, but just a little, and this time they were happy tears knowing she would not be alone forever.

Avalon 9.3 Bewitches, part 2 of 6

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Helga, Heidi, Hans, and Pater hid behind a fallen log in the forest.  They all peeked into the clearing where the breakfast fire burned their breakfast and the half-struck tents flapped in the wind.  Pater’s old dog settled down quietly beside his master, lucky for them.  The old hound was not inclined to bark at strangers, or anyone else for that matter. Helga’s cat, equally lazy, lay in the open tent and watched, seemingly unconcerned.  The mule, being high strung, pushed a bit more into the woods, but he remained tied to the rope so he could not wander far.  The witch, Ursula floated a few feet off the ground, seated on a broom.  And she cackled.

Hans whispered.  “I hate clichés.”

The four mercenaries Pater hired to escort young Helga and her maid back to Switzerland had their hands up.  The witch’s seven men got the drop on them, and three had matchlocks.  Hans only got the girls to hide in the woods because Helga was relieving herself.  Pater and his old hound followed Hans.

Pater had five soldiers two days ago.  Franz said he was born in Bavaria, and he led them to the east side of the Germanies to avoid all the trouble around Worms.  They came through the Bavarian Forest and to a town where Franz said he had some friends.  He told the bar maid Ursula about the rich girl, Helga, and the Bremen knight’s son, Pater, who had plenty of coins as well.  He thought to betray the group, but Sergeant Adolph and old man Herman figured it out. The group escaped.  Franz lost his life.

And Ursula turned out to be a witch, Hans thought.  No doubt a servant of the Masters.

“Where is the girl?” Ursula the witch demanded an answer.  She floated forward to face the young one, Kurt.  She avoided the old soldiers, Sergeant Adolph, his right-hand man, Ralph, and old man Herman.  She showed Kurt her open hand.  “Where is the Kairos?”  She made a fist and Kurt arched his back and cried out in pain.  Adolph, Ralph, and Herman shuffled their feet, looked empathetic, but said nothing.  The witch opened her fist and Kurt breathed.

Hans glanced to the side.  Heidi had her hand over Helga’s mouth.  He glanced the other way.  Pater had his mouth open and his eyes as wide as they could go.  The hound panted as Pater turned toward Hans.  Hans whispered.  “I’ve called for help.”  Pater nodded, imagined what kind of help, and decided to close his eyes.

“Where is the girl?” the witch closed her fist again, and again Kurt shouted from the pain.

Helga managed to pull Heidi’s hand down from her mouth, and she shouted, “Kurt!”

Heidi and Hans both shook their heads.  Pater opened his eyes again to look at the girl. The expression on Pater’s face asked how anyone could be that stupid.  Then he curled his lip when he remembered that originally, he was supposed to marry the girl.

Ursula the witch put one hand to her ear for dramatic affect.  “Hark.  Do I hear the maiden’s call?”  She cackled again, but before she could move, three arrows came from the woods.  The three men with matchlocks died from three perfect shots to the heart.  An ogre roared.  Two handfuls of dwarfs came from the trees and bushes, their axes sharp and ready for battle.  Two of the witch’s men quickly got chopped to bits.  The other two began to run, but the dwarfs chased them, and no doubt would catch them.  The witch screamed and took off through the trees, the ogre hot on her tail.

Hans stood and mumbled, “Star Wars.  Maybe the witch will run into a tree trunk and explode.”

One elf stepped from the woods.  He appeared human enough and dressed in green like a hunter.  One dwarf joined him.  He hardly looked human and had something to say.

“That witch is a power to reckon with…”

“…I reckon,” Hans said, and gave them names.  “Legolas and Gimli.  Sorry I don’t have a ring.”  The elf and dwarf looked at each other, questions on their faces.  Heidi looked at Hans and smiled for him.  Pater laughed even if he did not know what he was laughing about.  “You can put your hands down,” Hans told the soldiers.  “Allow me to introduce our saviors.  The kobold is Alderman, and the dwarf is Bushwacker.”

“Happy to meet you,” Heidi said.  Pater just stared.

“My lady,” Alderman bowed his head.

“My pleasure,” Bushwacker removed his hat.

Heidi looked at Hans again, and she grinned.  Hans pointed at the little ones and grimaced.  “Now, don’t you start.”  Alderman and Bushwacker also grinned as Hans turned to Heidi and then explained for the elf and the dwarf.  “I am only the son of a baker, and not a very good baker at that.  Pater and I grew up together because his father kept riding off to wars and his mother loved the cinnamon rolls my father made.  Being friends with a young lord does not make me anything special.”

“So?” Heidi smiled and also explained herself.  “My father was a poor miller before he ran afoul of his creditors.  He is indentured now.  I came to watch Helga with the promise that Helga’s father would cancel my father’s debts.  That is the only reason I am here.”

Heidi and Hans stared at each other.  They both smiled, but neither looked willing to budge.

“Just ignore them,” Pater said.  “Helga is over there, crying on Kurt’s chest and hugging the stuffing out of the fellow.  The rest of my troop of mercenaries who got caught napping is Sergeant Adolph, old man Herman, and Ralph, the one Hans calls the wrecker.”

Alderman nodded.  “I suggest we pack up and move from this place.  We might find breakfast down the road more appetizing.”

The soldiers looked at Pater who looked down like a young man who rarely had to make a decision.  Without hesitation, the soldiers looked at Hans who said, “Pack it up.”  Pater nodded.

“I’ll drive the wagon if you don’t mind,” Bushwacker said and went for the mule.  “I am not much good on a horse.”

“We only have three horses between us,” Sergeant Adolph said.  “We mostly walk.”  He signaled the men to finish packing the tents and load them in the wagon.  Helga let go of Kurt to bend down and pick up her cat, who had gotten up and presently rubbed her legs.  Helga got right in the wagon and called to Sir Bert, Pater’s old hound.  The dog got right up in the wagon with her and the cat.

Heidi went to the wagon to be sure everything got properly loaded.  She would walk with Hans and Pater.  Kurt would walk behind the wagon and keep Helga entertained.  Herman, Ralph, and Sergeant Adolph would take the horses and ride out front, beside the walkers, and in the rear to guard the way.

  It hardly took an hour before they arrived on the Danube and the city of Regensburg.  Helga complained.  The spoiled girl was hungry, and Kurt supported her.  Bushwacker, who put on a glamour to appear more human, said he knew of a place by the bridge.  He called it the cookshop near the crane, and they all had boiled sausages for breakfast, and they were quite good.

“So,” Sergeant Adolph spoke while they ate.  “We have to assume the witch won’t give up.”

“Makes me nervous just thinking about it, which makes me hungry,” Bushwacker said over his third sausage.

“Worse,” Hans admitted.  “Ursula knows about the Kairos which can only mean she is a servant of the Masters.  In that case, she will definitely follow us, unless she has another assignment.  Pray that is not the case.”

“You want her to follow us?” Heidi asked, some surprise in her voice.

Hans nodded.  “Any other assignment would be to assassinate someone important or start a war.  I would rather take her attention until I can figure out how to deal with her.”

“How do you deal with a witch?” Kurt asked.

“Maybe the ogre got her,” Pater suggested.

Hans looked at his friend and mouthed the cliché.  “Don’t hold your breath.”

Reflections Flern-13 part 1 of 1

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“What the Hell is wrong with me?” Flern screamed. “I never said I wanted kids.” She began to breathe. “Let me rephrase that. What the Hellas is wrong with me?”

“Hush, you are doing just fine,” Eir reached up to wipe Flern’s brow.

“Doctor Eir. Just for that, I’m going to get you pregnant, again.”

“Really?” Eir tried not to look excited. “A playmate for Tien?”

“Listen to me. A woman telling another woman she is going to get her pregnant.”

“I know how that can be arranged.”

“Hush you two.” Nanna stood up with baby Tien in her arms. “Isn’t it time for you to push?”

“Dubba, dubba, dubba.” That felt like all Flern could say for a minute. When sense returned, she added. “Really. You know we don’t have to stay in the far east to watch the Jaccar.”

“I like it there,” Eir said. “It is peaceful.”

“Eir doesn’t like being too close to the watchful eye of Aesgard,” Nanna said and sat back down.

“You know, you have fine hips for babies,” Eir said.

“Are you saying I have a fat butt?”

“One more push.”

An hour later, Kined came in, Riah and Goldenwing on his tail. He looked so concerned.

“One would think you were the one sweating,” Flern said.

“He was,” Riah admitted.

“Our daughter?” Kined looked down and touched the precious, baby face, and then the crew came in. Vinnu’s son sat on her hip and chewed a block of wood. Thrud’s daughter wriggled to get down, so she could crawl around and break things. Pinn came last of all. Her baby son, born only a month ago, nursed. Pinn smiled and indeed, she had not stopped smiling since the baby was born.

Flern looked around while Kined held their baby. “Well, we survived.”

“I know,” Thrud said. “Amazed the heck out of me.” Vinnu and Pinn just nodded while Kined spoke.

“Yes, that was a long, dangerous trip. But we made it home and saved our village and brought peace at last to all the people.”

“What are you talking about?” Thrud asked. “We were talking about childbirth.”

“Oh.” Kined froze. He looked once around and handed the baby back to Flern. “Excuse me. I think I am late for being punched in the arm multiple times,” and he left, Goldenwing clinging to his shoulder, just to be safe.

END

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TOMORROW

The introduction to Avalon, Season 9, the final season when the travelers get home, wherever home might be… See you tomorrow

*

Reflections Flern-11 part 3 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Flern squeezed Kined’s hand and smiled up into his eyes.

“Everyone else is happily married,” he said. “You and I are the last ones.” His eyes returned her smile.

“Not the last,” Flern responded with a nod of her head. Riah and Goldenwing walked close to the riverbank while Flern and Kined sat on the blanket where they could look out over the deep blue water of the Danube. Riah and Goldenwing were not holding hands, but they might as well have been.

 “She is his heart,” Kined nodded his agreement before he clicked his tongue. “I can’t believe I am worried about her being so young. I mean, she is over seventy years old.”

Flern’s eyes never left Kined’s face. “Am I your heart?” she asked.

Kined dropped the blade of grass he worried with his thumb and forefinger and slipped his arm over Flern’s shoulder. “Let me say it this.” He scooted right up beside her so they were touching, side to side and Flern felt a sudden flush of desire. “It has been a long, hot summer. Now you say it will be a good two months to follow the Danube to the sea. A couple more months to winter on the sea, and a couple more months to follow the Dnepr to the town at the foot of the pass. From there it will be across country back to the Dinester and home so we might get home by late spring, more than a year after we left.” Kined turned his eyes to the river and his voice dropped to a soft whisper. “I don’t think I can wait that long.”

Flern also chose to look at the river. She had told Kined she would not marry him until the adventure was over. She secretly figured if she died, she did not want to leave him a widower. But another six or eight months sounded like forever to her, too. “I don’t think I can wait either.” He turned her head and kissed her.

Flern reveled in his kiss until his kiss suddenly went cold. Flern pulled her head back to look. Kined looked frozen, and Flern had to wiggle out of his arms for a better look. He seemed completely unmoving, like a statue, or someone stopped in time.

“Who is there?” Flern stood up and quickly looked around. This could only be the work of one of the gods. “Show yourself.” The shimmering image of a man appeared, though never became fully manifest. A shimmering image of something Flern did not recognize appeared beside the man—but Flern recognized the man well enough. “Loki!”

Loki looked up at Flern and looked surprised. Clearly, he imagined himself to be invisible. But as soon as the shimmering something became manifest, Loki did disappear—or left the area. To be sure, Flern’s focus turned elsewhere, because as soon as the something manifested, Flern felt a great sucking pain in her gut, like something started being drawn out of her. Immediately, the shimmering something took on Flern’s exact shape down to the unbuttoned top button on her dress.

Flern screamed. “Doppelganger!” But the replica screamed at the same time and yelled the exact same word in the exact the same way.

Kined, suddenly set free, spun around to see the two Flern’s facing each other. Riah and Goldenwing rushed up from the riverbank but stopped to look on with uncertainty.

Flern fell to her knees, but so did the anti-Flern. Flern pointed and said, “It is sucking the life out of me,” but so said the other Flern.

Pinn and Vilder ran up, wearing leather aprons, their skin grubby from coal dust. Pinn yelled, “But which one?”

“Try the Princess, or Wlvn,” Kined suggested.

“I can’t,” two Flern’s said while two hands went to two stomachs. “I don’t remember how.”

“Flern?” Vilder had to ask.

The two Flern’s began a slow crawl toward each other. It looked like at least one of them resisted, but which one? “Don’t let it touch me,” both Flerns said as Gunder, Tiren and Andronicus rode up on horseback.

Vilder grabbed one of the two Flerns and Gunder dismounted and grabbed the other.

“Call for your armor.” Kined was still thinking, but Flern’s mind felt too dizzy to concentrate.

“Which one?” Pinn asked again.

“I can’t tell. I can’t tell,” Riah admitted.

The boys held the Flerns to their feet by sheer arm strength. Flern, herself prepared to black out when a bright, white light came streaking down the hillside. The unicorn came, and it appeared to know which one, in answer to Pinn’s question. Gunder and Vilder were both blown back by some force of light and wind as the unicorn leapt. The anti-Flern put her hands up and breathed, “no.” Flern stopped with her hands half-way up. The unicorn horn went through the doppelganger and the ganger dissipated in a puff of smoke and twinkling lights. Flern felt all of her essence rush back into her gut and she collapsed.

The unicorn turned and kept everyone away by snorting and stomping its foot. It came to Flern and nosed her until she sat up, groggy, but alive. It put its nose to Flern’s back and shoved her toward Kined.

“Okay. I was going to say let’s get married now. Don’t be pushy.” Flern did not move, however, but Kined dared the unicorn. He came in close and scooped her up in his arms.

“That is the one,” Pinn said, with a nod of certainty. “Why do today what you can do tomorrow?”

The unicorn snorted once more before it turned toward the river. It ran and bounded and made one great flying leap a half-mile over the river to the other side, where it landed gently and disappeared into the distant forest.

“I think that is the last I will see of the unicorn,” Flern said softly. Kined looked down at her with questions on his face, so she explained. “They only visit with very young, innocent children and virgins.” Kined’s shock looked priceless.

Three days later, Vinnu tugged on Flern’s wedding dress to make sure it covered her ankles while Thrud complained about it being too hot for a wedding. Pinn wisely stayed outside where she could keep an eye on the food. She was not sure what the boys were doing, but it seemed to involve a great deal of punching in the arm.

When Flern and Kined stood before the village priest, he stepped aside for a woman. Flern recognized as the goddess Hestia, but she said nothing. She looked back once and saw Artemis and Aphrodite, and Aphrodite stayed good. She did not molest anyone.

On the other side of the aisle, Vry and Mother Vrya sat side by side and looked happy. Frigga sat behind them, next to the old man, himself. He seemed impossible to miss, big eye patch and all, yet none of the locals or her own crew seemed to recognize the strangers in their midst, if they even recognized them as strangers.

Hestia asked. “Do you, Kairos, take this man to be your husband?”

Flern spoke loud and clear. “No.”

There were gasps from the witnesses, but Hestia did not even blink. She turned calmly to Kined and asked, “Do you understand?”

Kined looked briefly at Flern before he said, “I do.”

Hestia gave a little smile before she began again. “Do you, Flern, take this man …”

“Yes,” Flern interrupted.

“… to be your husband?”

“I mean, I do.”

After the ceremony, Flern came face to face with Frigga and Odin. The queen of the gods held tight to the old man’s arm and told Flern she looked beautiful. The king of the gods looked down at her with a face impossible to read. Flern felt a touch of discomfort while he cleared his throat.

“I have placed a hedge around you and your companions so that none of the gods may interfere directly or indirectly with your quest and confrontation. You humans need to settle your own human problems, and that includes the Wicca. Now, where is the cake? I always like a good wedding cake.”

************************

MONDAY

Flern and her friends return home to find an army gathered. Flern needs to face the Wicca. Until Monday, Happy Reading

*

Reflections Flern-11 part 2 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

It took three days to reach the river and they never questioned the path or wavered in their course, even through a whole day of late spring rains. Riah brought them straight to the village of Andronicus, but she said it felt more by instinct than knowledge. They found homes there of a very different construction than their own. These were made out of far more lumber and used far less stone, and it made them all feel like they were in an entirely new world. The language the people spoke underlined that feeling. They understood none of it.

A big man, a Gunder sized man of about forty years came out dressed in a leather apron. “The word came through our seer that you were coming.” Riah had to translate for the others, but Flern understood the words well enough. “The thing is we are not inclined to give away our secret for free.” A dozen or more men stood in the background, and they were all watching, More than one pointed at the elf, and whispered.

“Not free,” Flern spoke quickly. “You have four strong men who will work to learn.”

“And me,” Pinn volunteered when the words were translated.

“And you have horses,” Andronicus said and wiped a bit of coal dust from his naked arms. “There are not many horses around here, at least domesticated horses.”

Flern dismounted, so the others dismounted as well. She went straight to Kined and took his hand first before she walked up to face the big man. “We are offering free labor. I think we need to talk about the horses later,” she said, and tried to sound firm about it.

The big man looked down on her and studied her face. He shook his head. “No. Despite your spirit guide, I see nothing special in you. I think you need to give us your horses and maybe whatever else we want if you want the secret of the metal.”

Flern floated up to face the man which caused the man’s eyes to widen a bit and caused him to take a half-step back. “Horses later.” Flern put her hands to her hips and spoke in her most determined voice even as a bright flash of light came from down by the river. A beautiful woman appeared in what looked like a Greek mini-skirt, and she had a silver bow over her shoulder. She looked down as she walked, like she was following some special trail.

“Artemis!” Flern squealed in delight and forgot all about the big man. She fell to her feet and ran to the goddess, but when Artemis looked up and gave her a hard and uncertain look, Flern left that place and let the Princess, dressed in her armor, finish the run. Artemis showed a guarded smile at the change. The Princess got gifted and filled with the spirit of Artemis herself, and of course Artemis knew that even if she could not imagine when she might have done that or might do that in the future which she knew as something special about the Kairos.

“Good thing you got here,” the Princess said when she arrived. The two women looked at each other for a moment. The Princess knew that for Artemis the relationship was still young, but she had known Artemis for centuries and finally gave into her urge. She hugged the goddess and greeted her with a true sisterly kiss. Artemis responded in kind though the uncertainty remained. A moment later, Kined arrived and went to one knee before the goddess. Riah was right beside him, though the others kept back.

“I see you have one already.” Artemis pointed her head at Riah. “I brought some more to help with the language problem and whatever.”

“Kined,” the Princess spoke to Flern’s fiancé. “This is Artemis, my best friend in the whole world, forever. Artemis, this is Kined and Riah is also my friend.”

Artemis merely nodded and turned her head to look around. “Where can they have gotten to? Goldenwing.” Artemis called just like Flern when she called Bricklebrains back from his journey. Goldenwing had no choice but to appear. He was a fairy, and there were two dozen young fairies with him, males and females. They fluttered a bit before they took to hovering in the air as Goldenwing transformed into his full, human sized form. He bowed graciously to Artemis and then bowed with equal grace to the Princess as he spoke.

“My Lady, how may we serve you?”

“I need some of you to translate so my friends can understand and communicate with these people. Then I need the rest of you to help us set up and maintain a camp outside the village where we can stay through the summer while we learn about the bronze making.” The Princess turned back to Artemis. “Thank you,” she took and squeezed Artemis’ hand. “I never considered the language barrier, and you would think of all people I would have thought of that. You are always so thoughtful. Please,” she waved the fairy troop toward her friends. “I would be grateful if you would help.” Some of the fairies fluttered toward the horses.

“Actually, I thought you might have some trouble here. Andronicus can be hardheaded and greedy.” Artemis took a moment to study the Princess’ face even as Andronicus studied the face of Flern moments before. “Let me see the one who belongs here.” She said the words, but she honestly asked, and it sounded odd because the gods never really asked anything.

The Princess nodded and Flern returned. Oddly, Flern felt a bit shy in front of the goddess where the Princess felt completely comfortable and familiar. “Do you like?” She lifted her arms to show herself off, but her uncertainty in herself mostly showed.

Artemis slowly smiled like she just figured something out. “I like,” she said. “I think I could get used to the idea of having a best friend in the whole world,” and this time she hugged Flern and gave her the sisterly kiss. Flern blushed and had to turn to Goldenwing who stood patiently, waiting on the gods.

“This is Kined, my betrothed,” she said. “I would be grateful if you stayed with him and maybe the two of you can find the right helpers for my friends.”

“It would be an honor to stay with the young Lord.”

“Maybe you could get small and sit on his shoulder. Then you could whisper wisdom in his ear.”

“If I have any wisdom to whisper,” Goldenwing said. He seemed quite young, as was his whole troop of volunteers. With a bow and a look at Riah that no one missed, Goldenwing returned to his natural small size and fluttered to Kined’s shoulder. Together, they walked back to the others, talking like they were old friends, the rest of the fairy troop following. Flern noticed Andronicus had turned from the group. Vilder and Gunder were following while the others held the horses. Pinn shouted and pointed to the fairy that hovered beside her.

“He said he would give us everything we want. He said he was not about to cross the gods.”

“Good,” Artemis said, and looked again at Flern when the two of them were alone, but for Riah.

Flern had a thought and voiced it. “But where are Ares and Dite? They were the ones who came to Wlvn.”

Artemis smiled at the name, Dite. “Aphrodite is flitting about in her way as I am sure you know. Ares is off sulking. Your war will be in another world, and he cannot even attend unless he is invited.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Flern said. The jurisdictions of the gods were fairly well defined, and they were strict about humans and other gods crossing the lines. Of course, that meant little to the Kairos who moved as the Watcher over history. The gods understood that history included the whole earth. And it also did not mean much to the little spirits of the earth that migrated with the winds and the waves and the seasons.

Artemis spoke again as they slowly walked toward the village. “What I have heard is Odin believes you may find a way to resolve things without the need for further bloodshed. He thinks very highly of you.”

“The Kairos, not me. I’m just Flern.”

Artemis offered Flern another kiss on the cheek, and a genuine, unguarded smile at last. “You will never be just an anything.” And she vanished.

Flern sighed and spoke to Riah as she took the elf’s hand and walked slowly beside her. “I have all the rest of the spring, all summer and probably all fall to try and figure out what to do about the powerful and terrible Wicca without spilling more blood and killing more people.”

“Good luck.” Flern felt the words echo in her soul and thought “thank you.” She was going to need all the luck she could get.

Reflections Flern-11 part 1 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Flern woke up happy and wonderfully well rested. There was only one thing that caused ripples in the calm surface of her mind. “Am I home?” she asked.

“Yes.” Mother Vrya stood right there to assure her. “And I have something else for you.” She handed Flern a paper with the name Andronicus written on it. “The bronze maker.”

Flern gave Vrya a funny look. “But didn’t all the gods promise not to interfere with the Wicca?”

“I don’t make promises,” Vrya responded. “I learned that ages ago from someone very wise. Besides, a name is hardly interfering.”

Flern arrived in her good old dress, and she had a pocket where she put the paper, but first she had to hug the goddess and say, “Thank you.” And Vrya said something sweet to Flern’s ears.

“Just what Brmr would have said.”

It did not matter that Brmr had technically been Wlvn’s sister, not hers. She felt the joy of the statement and felt very happy for Brmr, for Wlvn, and for herself. “But my friends?”

They stood and Vrya informed her. “They left the village last night and are camped outside. It is early morning, but I believe they have eaten.”

“Oh?” Flern walked slowly to the cave entrance. Vrya disappeared at some point, but Flern did not notice. Her mind focused on Pinn, Vinnu and Thrud, and the boys, Vilder, Gunder and Tiren. She knew she had to remember Riah, but when she looked, she only looked for one person.

“Flern?” “Flern!” The girls stood when they saw her. The boys moved a little slower, but they also rose as Flern saw him. She ran, perhaps floated a bit, tackled Kined and landed on top of him.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes,” and she kissed his face. “Yes.”

Kined smiled well enough as he rolled her over and pushed up to look into her eyes. “But I haven’t—oh, I see. So will you marry me?”

“I already said yes.” Flern answered and thought of Andrea as she pulled his head down to kiss properly.

“I’m glad that’s settled,” Thrud said. At least Vinnu had the decency to sigh.

“You owe me,” Tiren said.

“Ha. Glad I didn’t bet this time,” Gunder grinned while Vilder rolled up his sleeve.

After a while, Kined stood. Flern’s face appeared full of curiosity, but Kined spoke honestly. “I have to.” He started getting too interested.

“Oh,” Flern felt it too and did not argue. “I suppose we need to keep moving while we can. Oh, I missed you all so much.” She hugged the girls each in turn and pulled out her paper and handed it to Pinn.

“What is this?”

“A gift from Mother Vrya.”

Pinn barely paused on Flern referring to the goddess as mother. She started adjusting. “But what is it?”

“Real paper. I don’t know how she managed that.” Flern rolled her eyes at Vinnu.

“No, I mean these marks on it.”

“That’s writing.”

Pinn stared at it for another moment while Vilder came up to look over her shoulder and the others gathered around. Finally, Pinn spoke again. “But what does it write?”

Flern realized the problem and took the paper back. “It says Andronicus. Mother Vrya says that is the name of the bronze maker.”

“Andron…”

“Andronicus,” Flern repeated as she put the paper back in her pocket.

Riah chose that moment to come up and bow. “Lady,” she said and kept her eyes lowered.

Flern reached out and took the girl’s hand. “It is still just me. You were very good to Wlvn me. I hope we can be friends, too.”

Riah smiled at that thought, but Kined had to ruin it.

“But poor Riah is now the only single person on the trip.

“Maybe we need to find someone for her,” Flern suggested, and she felt very grown-up as she slipped her arm around Kined’s waist. He grinned and put his arm over her shoulder.

“Oh, yes,” he said, “someone very nice.”

“Oh no, you wouldn’t, would you?”

Flern giggled. “You sound like your mother.” She poked her finger in Kined’s chest. “And you sound just like my wife.”

“Your,” Kined wrinkled his brow. “Wife?”

“Well, Wlvn’s wife.”

“Ah. He never mentioned it.”

“Later,” Flern said as she thought she better let go of him again. They needed to fetch their horses anyway. “But say, where is Bricklebrains? I was looking forward to seeing him with my own eyes.”

“Ah.” Vilder stepped up as he rubbed his upper arm. “He went back to Movan Mountain. He said his wife’s cooking called him, but he said you knew where to find him if you need him.”

“And I do,” Flern said. “Bricklebrains.” She called in a special way and the dwarf was obliged to appear before her. It looked like great magic, but in truth it was something perfectly natural to Flern since the gods collectively saddled the Kairos with oversight of the little ones. Bricklebrains showed up with his back to her and had something to say.

“Hey! I was almost half-way home.”

“Ahem,” Flern coughed to get the dwarf’s attention. Bricklebrains turned around, saw her, whipped off his hat and held his tongue. “I just wanted to thank you for taking such good care of Wlvn.” She bent down and kissed the dwarf on his receding hairline. “Say hello to Balken for us and give a special hug to Badl for me. Now go to Movan Mountain.”

Bricklebrains said nothing. His cheeks and forehead were scarlet from the kiss, but as Flern clapped her hands, Bricklebrains vanished.

“Amazing,” Kined said. Flern just looked up at him and smiled.

Reflections Flern-10 part 3 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The inn looked guarded. There were Jaccar outside and no doubt inside as well. Wlvn had to walk all around the house to find an unguarded second-story window. They probably imagined the second floor would be safe. They never reckoned on the fact that Wlvn could fly. Reaching the window proved the easy part. Opening the shutters without alerting everyone up and down the road seemed a bit more difficult. With the window cracked open, he floated, listened and hoped to hear nothing. Instead, he heard the voice of a very old woman. The Wicca? He wondered, but soon decided it could not be the Wicca. It had to be just an ordinary witch.

“Why won’t you children tell me the truth. A girl cannot simply slip backwards in time. Life does not work that way.”

“We are telling the truth.” Wlvn thought that might be Thrud’s voice. “She is no longer here and Wlvn, a boy has taken her place.” Poor Thrud sounded like she had either been drugged or enchanted, which amounted to the same thing.

“More likely the girl has turned herself into a boy to elude capture. That says there is some real magic at work here,” the old woman responded. “And where is this boy now?”

“We don’t know,” Pinn responded out of the same drugged voice.  “He became a legendary woman and turned into an owl to fly up to the Were plateau in search of our friend. He has not come back yet.”

“What legendary woman? No one can go up to the Were plateau and live.”

“Faya,” Thrud said.

“What? Impossible.” The witch paced. Wlvn heard the click clack of shoes against the plain wood floors. “It is no wonder the Wicca asked me to do this,” The witch explained to someone. “This girl sounds like a very powerful sorceress to change her shape as she does.”

A man answered, but he spoke in a language Wlvn did not know.

Wlvn opened the window slowly. He had not yet been seen, probably because the Jaccar soldiers below were not in the habit of looking up other than to check the time of day. Since the sun just started to break above the horizon, no one looked up, but that grace would not last forever.

The shutter creaked, but only a little, and Wlvn managed to slither in while he floated, so his body never touched the wooden floor. There were four rooms upstairs, the room he entered and the one beside it, where the questioning took place, had the door cracked open. Then there were the two front rooms by the stairs. Wlvn wanted to find Riah and Bricklebrains. He assumed the boys were as enchanted as the girls, but he imagined his little ones would be resistant. He opened the front room door slowly and snuck a look. Riah, Nadia, and Vinnu were there, tied up, and Vinnu slept, besides. Wlvn guessed the boys got tied up in the other room, but this would do for his purposes.

He was about to enter when he heard the door to the boy’s room open. Thrud and Pinn got tossed back into the girl’s room, and they both stumbled and fell. Whatever the enchantment or drug this old witch used, it looked powerful. Neither girl complained, but they also did not get up right away. Wlvn thought to try a different approach.

He sat quietly and cleared his mind. Then he reached out to Riah with only his thoughts. “Be free,” he thought first. “Be free of whatever drugs or enchantment the witch has laid upon you.”

“I am free,” the thought came right back. “She has not tried to drug me or Nadia yet.”

“Good,” Wlvn thought and put a hand to his head against the inevitable headache. “One of you needs to keep the others entertained while the other one backs up to where I can untie you.” He pictured it in his mind and cut the contact. Riah immediately leaned over to Nadia and whispered in the girl’s ear. Nadia backed up. Wlvn thought it would be the other way around, but then he imagined Riah would be the more familiar face for the drugged ones. They might be too blurry to even remember Nadia unless they looked directly at her.

Riah engaged Pinn and Thrud in conversation right away. She also planted the thought that they should face the boy’s door since that was the way they came when they were fetched. Wlvn thought of that as good thinking. It gave him a chance to work on Nadia’s ropes without someone facing him. He did quick work, but almost not quick enough as the men came back to fetch Nadia and the elf. Riah had already set herself free, it turned out, with a bit of magic of her own. And she and Nadia went straight at the two men who at first were startled and surprised to find them free. Wlvn would have made quick work of them if his own door had not opened, and two men came into his room.

Wlvn moved at a speed impossible to follow. He grabbed each man in turn before they could reach their weapons, and tossed them hard out the window he had come in. He almost got them before they could raise the alarm, but the last one shouted and shouts also began in the girl’s room.

Wlvn decided he had no going back. He smashed down the door to the witch’s room and punched the big man with the strength of Thor in him. The man crashed through the wall and no doubt died as he broke to pieces.

“Stop!” The witch raised her hand and Wlvn found he could not move, but his hand was also raised in her direction, and he had no doubt the thunderbolt of Odin would reduce her to ashes. He just got ready to unleash the power when he found himself totally disabled by a power far greater than the witch. In fact, the witch herself also seemed disabled and Wlvn quickly understood why. Mother Vrya stepped in front of his face and had some stern words.

“You were about to make cinders of my pupil,” she said. She turned to the old woman and touched her. “There, dear. Now you are free of the Wicca’s control.”

“I was controlled?”

“Yes, dear. The Wicca is a half-goddess, and you have no power against that.”

Wlvn could not speak, but his mind yelled, a demi-goddess!

“The witch!” Bricklebrains came storming into the room ready for the kill, but Vrya just sent her pupil somewhere else. “I spent her whole life trying to push her magic to the limit. My great experiment. I am not going to lose her now.”

Bricklebrains caught up with events in his mind and whipped off his hat. “Sorry your ladyship. Trying to save my friends is all. I’m sure you understand.” Vrya could not resist a little smile for the scamp.

Nadia and Riah came in next, and Riah made the announcement. “The boys and girls are all free of the enchantment, and the boys are right now chasing off the remaining Jaccar.”

“I did it!” Nadia interrupted, and spoke to Wlvn, not yet realizing he could not speak back. “I fought and won.”

Vrya smiled and stepped up to kiss the young girl on the forehead. “Yes, you did, my sometime grandchild. And don’t you worry, everything will work out, but for the moment I have to borrow my son, even if he is not presently my son. Come to the cave at the bottom of the hill when you are ready to finish the journey.” She smiled for them all as Thrud and Vinnu came bounding into the room.

Wlvn appeared in a cave with a bed. It felt strange to him, being in bed in a cave, but when Mother Vrya said lay down, he did not argue. Nothing he wanted more than a good eight-hours of sleep.

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MONDAY

Flern returns to her proper time and place, plus they get some extra help toward finding the secret of the bronze. Until then, Happy Reading

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Reflections Flern-9 part 3 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Once the enchantment had been removed, the dark elves turned out to be an affable people, quick to talk about the weather, life under the earth, and working the rich veins of metal and precious stone that mother earth provided. Thrud hated being underground and cried a lot, so Tiren often had to focus on her. Vinnu never got over being frightened, just to look at the goblins, so Gunder had his hands full as well. Kined, Vilder and Pinn, by contrast, were all ears, especially when the goblins talked about the bronze. By the time they reached the other side of the mountains, they had a good idea of how to work and blend the metals to produce the high-grade composite.

They came to a big cave that first night, one that had been worked and expanded over the years. Bricklebrains felt right at home in the cave, but he felt wary about the company. Riah did not mind the company so much, since her people had not had a run-in with goblins in a long time, but she said she felt likely to suffocate in the caves if she did not soon get out into the fresh air. Wlvn stayed non-committal about the whole thing and would have been content to sit back through the whole journey if there had not been that argument in the night.

“What are they on about?” Bricklebrains asked. The goblins camped a bit apart from the travelers so as not to interfere with their night sleep. Goblins were creatures of the night and apt to be up at all hours.

“Seeing who gets what part to eat once we fall asleep.” Vinnu could not help it. The words just popped out of her mouth. Everyone ignored her except Gunder who held her.

“Wondering which way to go?” Pinn suggested.

“How they find their way in this underground maze is beyond me,” Vilder agreed.

“The nose.” Bricklebrains tapped his nose like a person might tap the side of their head. “Can’t you just smell them? I smell trolls, come to think of it.”

“I can’t smell anything,” Riah admitted. “I can’t hardly breathe down here. It is so stuffy.”

“Stuffy is not the word I would use,” Thrud said. “It smells like a grave if you ask me.”

“Hush,” Tiren said softly, and turned Thrud’s head back into his shoulder.

Kined got ready to add his thoughts when a goblin stood and said, “Lord,” loud and clear. Wlvn sighed. He hoped he could stay out of it.

Two goblins came over with Goldenstone. Wlvn named them as Batwings and Dross. Goldenstone did the talking. “We got an argument brewing and wonder if you could help us settle things.”

“I heard,” Wlvn said.

“Well, you see Lord. It’s about all the hardware you are carrying. Dross here says it was made by the gods what with you being counted among them and all, but Batwings insists it is elf made. He says his family proudly made some of it back in the ancient years.”

“Let’s see.” Wlvn pulled out his sword. It gleamed in the firelight, though how the goblins managed a fire underground that did not smoke them all to death was a magic beyond any the humans could imagine. He handed the sword to Goldenstone to examine, and Vinnu shrieked softly.

“Are you mad?”

Wlvn just smiled as Goldenstone turned the blade to the ground in order to examine the area around the handle. “The runes here are kinda small,” he said.

“Unauthorized,” Wlvn told him. “No permission from Aesgard to use runes.”

Goldenstone did not look up but nodded. “More than likely. It says property of the Kairos, but we know that.” Goldenstone turned it over and then turned it over again. “Sorry Batwings, I don’t see your family mark. But then I don’t see any mark.”

“Check the handle,” Wlvn suggested.

“Naw, they always mark the metal,” Dross insisted.

“Not when they are using unauthorized runes,” Wlvn countered.

“Good point,” Dross conceded, and they checked the handle and Batwings fairly shouted.

“Aha! There it is. My family mark, just like on Thor’s hammer. This sword was strictly elf made. No god ever touched it.” Batwings puffed out his chest. “My family is the best in the business. The gods themselves come to us for what they need.”

“Let me see that.” Dross made a grab for the sword.

“Hey!” Batwings had one hand already on the handle while Goldenstone still held it. They began to tussle for it, and someone yelled.

“Fight!”

Vinnu buried her face in Gunder’s chest. She did not want to watch. Kined, quite to the contrary, had to keep himself from laughing. He started adjusting to the idea of having at least some second-hand responsibility for all of these spirits of the earth. Riah caught Kined’s feelings and stifled her own laugh.

Wlvn just sighed again and snapped his finger, and with a word the sword vanished from the hands of the goblins and reappeared properly sheathed across his back.

“Hey!” All three goblins shouted and swatted at the air with empty hands for a moment before they stopped.

“I told you it was elf made,” Batwings smirked.

Dross turned red in the face. “Your family got no finesse. We make everything worth having, like the amulet of peace and prosperity. That was one of ours.” Dross raised a fist. Batwings responded by raising both of his fists. Goldenstone backed up to get out of the way. Wlvn spoke up.

“Gentlemen, we have guests. Please behave yourselves. I have heard this argument before and it is pointless, but at least you could wait until we are finished with this little journey.”

Batwings and Dross both lowered their fists slowly, but they snarled at each other before they smiled for Wlvn. “Of course, Lord. As you say. We can always settle matters later. Journey first.” And they backed away with a few bows before they rejoined the group of goblins on the other side of the cave where, truth be told, some looked disappointed that there would not be a brawl.

“So, your weapons are elf made?” Vilder had to ask, and Wlvn responded by pulling out his long knife. He handed it over with a word.

“Bronze. The dark elves discerned the secret ages ago, but we humans are just discovering it.” They all examined the weapon before they opted for sleep, not to say that Vinnu, Thrud or Riah got much sleep. Bricklebrains also felt inclined to stay up most of the night, since he had little trust of goblins.

After two days, they saw sight of the setting sun through a cave entrance and Thrud dropped the reins of her horse and made a run for it. She collapsed just outside the entrance and breathed like she had been holding her breath the whole time she was underground. Riah also took deep breaths, but it was because the stink underground finally got to her, or so she said.

Wlvn made Kined stand beside him when he said good-bye to Goldenstone and the other goblins, and then they all started out together, still walking their horses over the rough, rock-strewn upper mountain path.

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MONDAY

They arrive in the village where Faya grew up and find great-grandchildren there. Faya is prompted to search for Fritt, but the Jaccar and a powerful witch arrive. Until Monday, Happy Reading

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