Fairy

Avalon 5.1 Sirens Are for Emergencies, part 4 of 6

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“Thalia,” Alesandros called from the entrance to the temple.

“Here,” a woman called back from the front of the great room, though no one could see her.

“We have company,” Alesandros said, and led the travelers toward the front.

Though it may have been as big, the temple hardly looked like some cathedral on the inside, since the inside was filed with regularly spaced roof support posts, that Katie called “Aeolian Columns.”  She said, “It is the only way to build such a big open space, though it makes the space appear not so big and open.”

When they got to the front, they found a woman of about thirty-five years or so, who was just beginning to become plump as some women did when they got older. Age was hard for the twenty-first century people to judge, because before the twentieth century, people aged more rapidly, and showed it.  The woman welcomed them, as Alesandros stepped up and gave her a quick kiss.

“I found these people in the village.  They are not like any I have ever seen or heard of, but they seem to know the lady, and I get the impression they may even be friends with her.”

The travelers were busy taking in the view.  The cathedral had a sacristy, set apart by a railing.  Most of the space was taken by a long table filled with bread, fish and flowers.  They could smell the fish.  Off to the left was a stone statue which Katie claimed was remarkable for the time-period.  The statue was of a most beautiful and noble woman who appeared to be walking on the sea.  Her right hand was lowered to pet the head of a rising dolphin.  In her left arm, she held a baby, wrapped in a blanket and close to her breast.  Over her left shoulder, a fairy fluttered, with a look on her face that said, ‘this is fun’.

Lincoln was especially taken by what he saw behind the altar.  It appeared a narrow opening that covered the whole back wall, like the biggest picture window, except without glass.  Obviously, a roof overhang protected the temple floor from the rain, but the window without glass showed the rain in all its fury.  Great strokes of lightning flashed over the sea and across the sky to light up the night.

“Nice view,” he mumbled.

“Yes,” Thalia responded, as Alesandros went to pull the curtains.  He helped the travelers set out places to sleep while Thalia continued.  “It is a small way down to the cliffs that overlook the bay and the sea.  On a clear day, I can see for miles.  I sometimes come and sit here, and look out on the sea for hours and hours.  I never knew the beauty and wonder of it all until I became friends with Amphitrite.”

“Thalia and Amphitrite are best friends, since they were young.” Alesandros said.

“On Akalantas,” Lincoln said, and Thalia stared at him.

“Yes, how did you know?”

Alexis answered.  “My husband keeps the database and reads it when we are not looking.”

“Lovely table,” Boston interrupted.  She felt something warm to look at it, knowing that all these gifts were offered to the Kairos, in a sense, and now that she had become an elf, that was her goddess, too.

“Altar,” Katie corrected her.

“Of course,” Thalia acted like she was forgetting her manners.  “If you are hungry, please take what you wish.  Some of the bread is very good.  Our lady would not wish any to go hungry.”

“We ate in the meeting house,” Alesandros said, giving Thalia another quick kiss.

“Don’t people object to taking the food offered to the goddess?” Katie asked.

“Not here,” Thalia said, with a big smile.  “We do not waste the offerings.  In the morning, the mothers will come and give thanks, and the food will go to feed the children.  Besides, after too long, the fish starts to stink, so it all works out well.  A few people collect and bring offerings every day.  We gather the village here about every fifteen days, and some come from other villages to join us.  We get people here from the cities up the coast every season, and we have seasonal celebrations…”

“And we get to share the love of our great lady,” Alesandros added, and this time, she kissed him.

“Too bad the children can’t eat the flowers,” Artie said, wistfully.

“Yes, well, some are not suited for hunting or fishing, or for baking bread,” Thalia knitted her brows for one minute before she called.  “Lilac, come here and meet our friends.”

“Yes, Lady,” the travelers heard a sweet voice before they saw a beautiful young woman of about eighteen years at most, step out from a dark corner where apparently, no one looked.  At least Alexis felt that was what they were supposed to think.  Alexis felt suspicious, and it got confirmed when Boston stepped up and spoke.

“Hello fairy.”

“Hello elf,” the young girl responded.

“My name is Boston.”

“My name is Lilac.”

“You can get little if you want.  My friends won’t hurt you,” Boston said, and removed her glamour to show herself, pointed ears and all.  “See?”

Lilac glanced at Thalia who closed her mouth and gave a slight nod.  Lilac immediately returned to fairy size, and fluttering her wings, came right up to Boston to commiserate on nothing in particular.

“I see you have your own little one to worry about,” Thalia said with a look on her face that said she was not unhappy about it.  “Mine keeps me young and is my heart.”

Elder Stow interrupted before anyone else could respond.  “My mother. My father.  I have worn my glamour faithfully for a long time.  It is as you said, I mostly forget it is even there.  But it would be a great kindness to me if I could take it off, just for this night.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Katie said, and with a brief look at Thalia, and Alesandros, who came up to slip his arm over his wife’s shoulders, she looked at Lockhart.

Lockhart looked unsure.

Elder Stow said, “I am sure I would sleep better, and maybe not snore so much.”

Katie shrugged and Lockhart nodded.  “Only if Thalia and Alesandros don’t object.  If they are uncomfortable, you must put it right back on.”

Elder Stow nodded, and to their credit, only Thalia made any noise, and it was a little gasp.

“He is not an elf or dark one or any spiritual creature I have seen.”

“He is an old one.” Katie said.  “One of the ancient races that lived in this land before the flood

“I really am a very nice fellow,” Elder Stow said.  “That is what young Boston says.”

“I’m only about a hundred and ten, elf years old,” Boston admitted.

“Miss Lilac is just over a hundred herself,” Thalia said.

“I just barely qualify to be called Miss Lilac,” Lilac said, sounding more like a ten-year-old than one who looked eighteen in her big size.  Lilac settled down to sit on Thalia’s shoulder, a place she was obviously accustomed to.

“One elf and one old one makes me wonder what other wonders you have to share,” Alesandros said.  He smiled, like he was enjoying the show.

Alexis shook her head, but Boston spoke.  “Just one.  Elder Stow, we have to give Artie a check in all this rain.”  Artie looked up, but she had been quiet all through supper, on the road to the orphanage, and now in the temple, where normally she would have been in the midst of it all, asking questions.  She did not appear to have the gumption to protest as Elder Stow nodded and rummaged through his pack.

“I don’t feel well,” Artie said.  “Is that the right way to say it?  I don’t feel well.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Alexis said, as Katie sat down beside the android.  Alexis looked like she wished there was something she could do.  Her healing magic worked fine for wounds and broken bones.  She could pull poison and infection right out of the body, but she was not as effective on illnesses, and in Artie’s case, Alexis felt powerless.  She could not heal wiring.

Elder Stow sat and placed a disc against Artie’s head.  Artie voluntarily closed her eyes, but when Elder Stow tuned the disc, Artie stiffened like a corpse.  Thalia let out a little gasp again, but Alesandros held on to her, so she stayed quiet.  Boston slipped into Katie’s place.  When she reached down to open Artie’s middle, Thalia muted her gasp in Alesandros’ chest so she would not have to watch.  Alesandros watched, fascinated, and eventually Thalia also turned to see.

“She is a machine,” Elder Stow said.  “But most of her insides imitate human insides.”  He spoke to Boston.  “Find something to sponge that water.”  Boston got her fairy weave blanket.

“A machine?” Alesandros got close.  “I thought… she seemed a fine young woman.”

“I suspect the moisture seeped in all day around her middle joints,” Elder Stow said to Alexis and Katie.  “She is rust proof, and her flesh, like human flesh, is designed to repel water, but when she bends, even like sitting, the flesh bunches up and makes a miniscule gap.  Human flesh is stretchier and tugs against the muscles so we can only bend so far and can’t make gaps.  After an all-day rain, sitting on her horse and all, enough moisture got in to her insides to begin to cause problems.”

“Can you fix her?” Katie asked, obviously concerned.

“Not without covering her in an entirely different kind of flesh, for which I do not have the equipment.  Very sophisticated equipment.  Magic might do it, I don’t know, but science can only offer a sealer, like a glue stop.  I can give Alexis a list of ingredients to look for.  Artie may find the glue uncomfortable, and in any case, it will only work as a stop-gap until a more permanent solution can be found.”

Boston finished wiping out Artie’s insides, and Elder Stow closed her up.  He paused on waking her when Katie said, “Wait.  Let’s not tell her just yet.  Let’s wait until we see the Kairos.  She has resources and knows thing that we cannot imagine.  Maybe she will have a solution.”

“You don’t want her to worry in the meantime,” Lockhart said, and everyone agreed, though some might have thought keeping secrets from her was not a good idea.

“Not keeping secrets,” Alexis told Lincoln.  “Just not confirming the diagnosis until we get a second opinion.”  Alexis was a nurse.

“Okay?” Elder Stow asked.  No one objected, so he removed his disc and Artie came around quickly.

“Am I going to be okay?” Artie asked first thing.

“How do you feel?” Alexis asked.

Artie thought first.  “Better.”

Katie helped Artie to stand.  “You are going to be fine.  We just need some rest.”  She escorted her to where they had laid out their blankets.

“No watch tonight,” Lockhart decided.  “Everybody get some good sleep.”

“Good,” Decker said from where he was already lying down.

Well,” Alesandros said.  “I knew you people were special, but I had no idea how special.”

“Don’t worry,” Alexis said.  “The rest of us are plain ordinary humans.”

Lincoln shook his head.  “Actually, Alexis used to be an elf, but became a human when we married.”

“No,” Thalia voiced disbelief.

“True,” Alexis said.  “I am Boston’s sister.  She was human and became an elf to marry my brother…who has moved on ahead of us toward our destination.”

“How can humans become elves and elves become human?” Alesandros asked.

“The Kairos,” Alexis answered.  “Amphitrite.  What can the gods not do?”

“Of course.”  Thalia and Alesandros understood when she put it that way.

Alexis looked at Boston, who chose to sleep by the altar.  Lilac, apparently, slept on the altar.  “And I am feeling terribly guilty about it, oh, not guilty about becoming human.  But I feel guilty not being with Boston, at least for a while.  She has so much still to learn about being an elf and about magic and everything.  She is such a young elf.  Right now, there is no one else, and though I cannot show her things like I could if I was an elf, I should at least be sharing with her those things I can describe and things I remember from growing up elf.”

Alesandros went around, putting out candles, and Lincoln took Alexis by the arm.  “Come along.  I want to be asleep before Elder Stow starts snoring.”

From out of the dark, they heard what sounded like a Neanderthal giggle.

It stopped raining by two in the morning, and the world slept well until after four, when things got strange.

Avalon 5.0 Invading Armies, part 3 of 6

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“I have monitored the prevailing wind for the last six hours,” Elder Stow reported.  “The mustard gas will stick to the ground for a day, perhaps many days where it fell and where it spread, but we should be safe enough in this one direction.  We should keep an eye on our horses’ legs and hooves for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, but then we will be in the clear.  Under no circumstances get down and walk.  Try not to touch the trees, grass, or bushes.  Are we ready?”

Several eyes went to Artie up on her horse, Freedom, where Ed sat behind her and held on, looking uncertain about the whole idea.  Artie nodded, and Elder Stow turned off the screens.  They waited for a minute while they heard several trees crash into other trees or fall or slide to the ground.  One medium-sized tree blocked their intended path, but it would not be difficult for the horses to step over.  Everyone got warned again not to step on the ground.  The androids, with their plastic-semi-organic flesh were no exception.

“And stay in line,” Lockhart added.  “The further you move to the left or right, the less safe you will be.

“The sulfurous gas residue will eat through your flesh in no time,” Elder Stow explained to the androids.  “The humans will just develop blisters.”

“What about me?” Boston asked.  Elder Stow merely shrugged.  He had no idea how the gas or the residue might affect elf-kind, though he pointed out that it was no friend to the environment.

Lockhart and Elder Stow took the front.  Katie and Artie, with Ed holding on, followed.  Lincoln and Alexis came next, while Decker and Boston brought up the rear.  Decker insisted on the rear-guard position where he could have some firepower to protect the group from whatever might follow them after they reached the open field.  Boston tended to straggle at the back when she did not urge her horse, Honey, to ride wild through the meadows.

The horses walked, and made no objection.  The path appeared to be residue free.  Alexis and Decker covered their mouths with fairy weave, though the gas itself had long since dissipated on the wind.  Katie said she could still smell the mustard.  Lockhart said it smelled more like garlic.

Elder Stow stopped at the edge of the trees where the way became blocked by three thick, old trees and plenty of underbrush.  Lockhart pointed.  Elder Stow nodded.  They went left around the roadblock and broke out into the grassy field.

“All clear,” Elder Stow said.  “But we would be wise to quickly move out of the area.”

They trotted toward Edward’s wrecked fighter craft, not a direction they would have chosen if they had a choice.  Fortunately, Decker had checked the sky with his eagle eye, and Elder Stow had double-checked with his personal scanner, and neither saw anything overhead.  Lockhart wondered if perhaps the Anazi wrote off the fighter as a loss when the homing signal quit.  Boston wondered if the glamour fooled the machines after all.  Ed shook his head, as he had learned to do for ‘no’.  Like some humans, though, he had not yet realized that a head shake was ineffective when people could not see his head shake.

“It is not the Anazi way to leave salvageable material unaccounted for,” he said.

“I can confirm that,” Artie added, and leaned back to smile for Ed.  “I like having your arms around me,” she whispered, and clearly, Ed did not know how to interpret that.

“We should be completely in the clear by now,” Elder Stow answered a question Lincoln asked.  Several people got down to take another look at the crash.

“Anything you can find to recharge your equipment?” Lockhart asked Elder Stow.

“Good thinking,” Elder Stow said, and he immediately joined them on the ground and began to rummage around.

Ed spoke when his feet once again touched the ground.  “There are not many Anazi left,” he said.  “We came here, an advanced group to prepare for an invasion, but the humans used the gas on us.  Many androids melted, as Elder Stow suggested.  Most of the Anazi became sick and died.  I do not know what message has been sent to home-world, but I saw that the conquest of this world would not be as easy as some said.”

“But mustard gas should be beyond the ability of the locals to produce,” Katie still insisted.

“Like gunpowder,” Boston countered.  “It is not a complicated compound; it just has to be discovered.”

“I suspect the Kairos,” Lincoln said.

“Or the Masters,” Lockhart said and frowned.  “The Kairos would not likely make something that could disturb the flow of time and history, but the Masters would.  Remember, their intention is to change history to make it come out more to their liking.”

“I would think establishing the kind of scientific lab and secure procedures to produce the gas safely would be the hardest part,” Boston said.

“And the most potentially damaging to history,” Alexis, the nurse agreed.

“I don’t know,” Katie hedged, and they all turned to listen to the doctor in ancient and medieval history and technologies, to hear what she had to say.  Katie cleared her throat.  “The Egyptian physicians in this age had labs and safe and secure procedures good enough to mummify the kings.  They knew and practiced certain form of surgery, successfully.  Their procedures had to be good.”

“So, the Egyptians are suspect,” Lincoln thought out loud.  “Maybe the Masters wanted to repel the Hyksos invasion.”

“Maybe,” Alexis and Katie agreed, when Decker interrupted.

“Company.”

Eyes naturally went to the sky before they returned to the ground where they saw men, and several wagons and chariots approaching.

“Stow,” Lockhart got the Gott-Druk’s attention before he got up on his horse and pulled his shotgun.

“Coming,” Elder Stow responded.  “I found something that may work for a few time zones.  It is primitive, but the Anazi do quality work, so it may last a couple of hundred years.”  He stuffed some pieces in his saddlebag and mounted with the others.  They walked the horses to meet the oncoming group.

“Friend,” Lockhart shouted when they got within range.  “Where are you headed?  Are you searching for someone?  Perhaps we can help.”

Boston reacted.  “Hey!  Stop that.  Leave our equipment alone.”  Several flashes of light, like little explosions appeared around the horses.  They looked like they were insects driven back by some force.  Alexis’ Misty Gray and Katie’s Beauty startled and bucked.  “Get big so everyone can see you,” Boston ordered.

A male fairy in armor appeared, floating in Boston’s face.  He asked a question that came out like a statement.  “You are not the Masters?”

“No way, Jose,” Boston answered.  “We belong to the Kairos, and we are looking for him…”  She checked her amulet and pointed.  “That way.”

A fairy woman appeared next to the man.  “You are the red-headed elf who travels with the yellow hair woman and former elf, and the men who ride on the big horses from the future.”  It was a mouthful.

“I’m Boston.  Who are you?”

The male fairy answered.  “My name is Wedge.  We are the smidgens made by our lord to interfere with the workings of the alien machines.  We took down the fighter plane, but we have been strictly charged not to harm the androids that pilot such machines.”

“This is your big size?” Lincoln asked.

“It is,” Wedge answered.  “But it is our normal size.  When the Lord made us, he made us so we don’t get big, we get little.”

“Little?” Katie asked.

“Smaller than the human eye can see,” Alexis and the female fairy spoke at the same time.

“Hi, I’m Alexis, the former elf.” Alexis smiled.

“Hi, I’m Cherry,” the female fairy said, as she fluttered up to face Alexis.

The men, like soldiers, arrived at that point, and the chariots stopped, and the men watched while the rest of the smidgens got fairy big and introduced themselves.  Lockhart looked at the man in the chariot who appeared to be the head man.

“Lockhart,” he said.

“Hebron,” the man responded.

“Should you lead, or should we?” Lockhart asked.

The man shrugged, split his group in two so some could lead and some could follow, and started out with a word.  “We should arrive at the great ships by sundown.”

“I do not understand,” Ed admitted as he turned his head back and watched Cherry get comfortable sitting on Alexis’ shoulder.  He saw Wedge sit in the mane of Lincoln’s horse.

“The universe is more alive and full of life than the Anazi can imagine,” Artie said.

“There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” Katie added.

“I do not understand imagine, or philosophy, but I do not doubt what you say is true.”  Ed responded, and he paused to think.  “I believe you, but there is no explaining it.”

“It is called faith,” Artie said with a big smile.

“I think it is called trust,” Katie offered another word.  “By his own free will, he is willing to trust what we say.”  Artie nodded in agreement.  Ed shrugged, like he saw the human shrug.

“The visual evidence helps,” Alexis spoke up from behind.

“It does,” Cherry agreed.  “I heard of you all my life, but I never thought to see you.  You seem very nice… for a human.”

Elect II—18 Spring Break, part 3 of 3

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The women left the bodies of the men to their fate.  Those bodies would have just slowed them down.  When they were ready, they vacated the ledge at the top of the hill and rode hard down the hill.  Immediately, Melissa’s alarm went off.  It was a perfect imitation of a car alarm and made all those different annoying sounds.  But the orcs who decided against direct confrontation were not against hiding in the bushes and pelting the troop with arrows.

Jessica happened to turn her head so the arrow just scratched across her cheek.  Two elves were wounded, one in the arm where she held her shield and one in the leg just below her shield.  Most of the arrows fell short or hit the shields the women had pulled out against just this possibility.  ab-war-elf-4Emily’s horse took an arrow behind the saddle, but it did not penetrate deep and soon fell out on its own.  Fortunately, the horse did not balk.  It ran with the rest as hard as it could.

When the women got out of range and the alarm died down, they paused only long enough to examine their wounds.  The bloody one was Jessica’s cheek, but a bandage was about all they could do.  The bandage would turn red, but soon stop the bleeding.  The one most seriously injured was the elf with the arrow in her arm, but she broke off the shaft of the arrow and looked at her Captain with determination etched through the pain.

“Ride,” the elf said, and Riverbend, who was barely holding to her own horse did not argue.  They rode, perhaps not all out, but at a swift pace all along that valley.  Twice more they heard Melissa’s alarm, but they did not stop.  They rode through and saw no more arrows.  And they saw no more orcs until evening, just at sunset.

The trees were already back to normal.  The light was pure and untainted with the darkness.  Sara and some others hoped they were out of it, but Riverbend knew better even if no one else did.  Sure enough, there was a line of orcs directly in their path, and that line was three thick.  The whole troop came to a halt some distance away.

ab-war-wo-3“No way around,” Riverbend said.  The river to their right was too fast and deep, and the trees to their left would give them no chance of outrunning the enemy.  Emily did not pause.

“Wounded to the rear.  Everyone else form up like two sides of a triangle behind me.  We poke a hole to ride through.  Protect the wounded.”  To be sure, the line was ragged and would get more so once they started to ride, but the idea was there.

“Lances everyone,” Riverbend yelled.  “Tuck them tight under your arms and shields up.”

Emily began to trot, Riverbend beside her.  They all had fairy weave helmets since Jessica took that arrow in the face.  No doubt they looked as formidable as they could be.  The enemy began to shoot some arrows when they were still out of range, and there was some yelling and shoving among the orcs.  But then the women were in full charge mode, spears pointed forward like needles deadlier than any arrow.  Some orcs began to back away.

ab-war-elves-1Then they were within range.

Fifty arrows came at them all at once, followed by fifty more.  Some of the first fell short and some of the second overshot their targets.  But some struck hard on.  Many of the arrows were stopped by helmets, shields and armor, but a few penetrated.  Two horses went down, but the elf with an arrow in her leg reached down and picked up one of the elves without stopping.  Mindy was a bit more difficult.  Arwen had to slow considerably to bring her aboard.  Then they had to catch up, but by then Emily and Riverbend reached the enemy line and the orcs scattered, or died.  The hole was plenty wide when Arwen and Mindy went through last, and they were free.

Two hundred yards on and they stopped.  The orcs were not following them and there were wounded.  Just about everyone was hurt, or had an arrow somewhere.  The Kevlar proved effective, but not entirely so.  Melissa had an arrow in her thigh.  Maria had one in her side not unlike the one Jessica took all those ages ago in the gym.  At least that was how it felt apart from ab-war-wom-1the pain.  Mindy likely had a concussion to match Amina’s.  Jessica’s cheek was bleeding badly again, and Emily was sure her hand was broken this time.  Even Sara took an arrow, in her foot, but she was more embarrassed by it than otherwise.

They left two dead elves on the field, and Emily started the tears.  The elves cried with them, and then Sara started the hugging.  It was not long, though, before they all vanished from that place and found themselves in a courtyard of the castle where little ones of every shape and size stood ready with stretchers and elf medicine that Maria the healer and Emily the would-be nurse wished they knew how to make.

 

###

Once the Amazons were settled in the hospital, all in the same ward, Zoe came to visit them.  “At least none of you got killed,” she said with a smile.  Several of the women moaned.  “And I thank zoe-1you for retrieving the apples.  That was one of the things my elves could not retrieve.” she added as she turned to Amina.  “Any idea who the mysterious goddess might be?”

Amina started to shake her head, but it hurt so she said, “No.”  And it was a sad little no.

Zoe smiled again.  “Cheer up.  I have every confidence you will solve my mystery soon enough.  Now get well.  You still have a whole week of spring break.  No reason why you shouldn’t spend it here.”

Zoe left.  Nurses came and changed bandages and gave pills, just like back home.  Then they were told to rest, but Hilde, who had said nothing that whole time finally spoke up.

“So tell me again why I am doing this?”

“You said in Israel you would be doing the same thing,’ Greta said, seriously.  Several of the women looked at Greta like she had a loose screw, but Jessica remembered she was a psychology major.  She probably had several loose screws.

“Can you think of any better training?”  Emily asked

ac-sarah-3“I am not expecting Israel to be attacked by orcs anytime soon,” Hilde responded sharply.

“I don’t see why not,” Sara spoke up.  “Everyone else wants to attack Israel.”

Hilde nodded and pointed at the Priestess.  “One point for you.”

###

On the following Saturday the women sat around in the great hall where the dwarf lady, Ms Biggabut brought in some new treats for the buffet table and stayed to tend to what was already there.  Riverbend and a few of her troop sat with them.  Maria remarked that the week was far better than a trip to Florida if she did not gain a hundred pounds.  She meant it as a compliment.

Ms Biggabut shook her head.  “Young girls eat like birds.”  They all smiled

“Better than Disneyland,” Jessica commented.

“Disneyworld,” Mindy corrected the Californian.

“And Six Flags put together,” Maria added.

ac-sarah-a1Heads were nodding in agreement when Sara came in dressed only in a bikini.  Natasha was the one who verbalized the “Wow.”  They had only seen the Priestess in frumpy head to toe clothing, sometimes with a minister’s collar.  This was a sight, and in fact Sara was very good looking, if not beautiful.

“Who would have thunk it?” Jessica said.

“Are you girls going swimming today?  The mermaids said they would come up the river after lunch.”  Sara looked down, like she, herself, was a bit embarrassed by what little she was wearing.

“Paul should see you dressed like that,” Emily said with a little impish grin that she was learning to imitate from being in such close quarters to the real thing.

Sara shook her head when a golden fairy came in the door and fluttered right up to her.  “Are we ready?” the fairy asked.  “You look remarkably lovely.”

The women all knew that voice.  It was Commander Falcon.

Sara nodded and the fairy sprinkled her with some proverbial fairy dust.  Sara rose up into the air and followed the fairy out of the room in flight.

“Paul is going to be so jealous,” Maria decided.

“She better stay away from Brinkman,” Jessica decided something else.

“Robert could not handle my little bit of magic.  No way he could handle all this,” Melissa sighed.

“Bill would be freaking out, too,” Mindy responded.

ab-bigabut“I would like a boyfriend.”  It was Arwen, the elf who spoke up.

“I got mine,” Riverbend said with the biggest grin of all.

They all stopped when they heard the sharp crack of Ms Biggabut’s cooking spoon on the buffet table.  “Boyfriends,” the old dwarf said through her frown.  “All you get with them is the three Hs, heartaches, headaches and husbands, and husbands are usually the reason for the first two.”  She cracked her spoon sharply once more when Amina spoke up.

“I think I am going to go out on another date.”

“Got anyone in mind?” Jessica asked.

Elect II—18 Spring Break, part 1 of 3

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Eleven women followed Riverbend and stepped from this world to that world.  Fiona, the elf huntress was there along with eleven elf warriors, all women dressed in tall leather boots, skirts of fine chain mail and helmets that covered all but the eyes and mouth.  They carried swords, knives, spear-like lances, the inevitable bow, and wore soft green cloaks with the hood down overall.  They looked formidable, but the Amazons could hardly appreciate that fact.  They were all busy feeling sick, dizzy, and like they were dying or had already died.  Those feelings passed soon enough, but by then all eyes were turned to the tall and stately beauty of the woman who approached across the lawn of soft, green grass.  The elves dropped to their knees and lowered their eyes, but the Amazons hardly knew what to think.  Emily saw a golden light buzzing around the woman’s head, but before the woman arrived it vanished into her golden hair at the shoulder.

hween-alice-1“Welcome.”  The woman’s voice was as beautiful as her person, and what is more, she was framed by a perfectly blue sky and a magnificent castle which stood on a hill some distance away.  “I am sorry but there is nothing I can do about the transition between Earth and the Second Heavens.  Some find it rough, but the feeling passes.  Are we all here?”

Emily looked around and saw that the others were waiting for her to answer.  “Yes,” she said.  “All that are coming.”

“And it is all that were invited.”  The woman smiled and the smile was dazzling, warm and lovely.  “I hope you will have time to rest here. But I know the urgency of your task must come first.”

Jessica was feeling like she just moved from Earth to Oz.  The colors of Avalon were more colorful, somehow, than any of the colors back home.  In fact, back home was so drab by comparison she felt like she just went from black and white to color.  “The Good Witch of the North?”  Jessica could not hold back the words.

“Alice,” the woman introduced herself.  “And welcome to Wonderland.  This is the place for my little ones, where the spirits of the earth can come to rest from their labors.”

“In the Second heavens?”  Sara made her statement a question.

“Yes, Sara.  The first heaven is over the Earth as you know, and the third contains the throne of God, even as Uncle Paul wrote to the Corinthians.  There is paradise in the third heaven.  These second heavens are the place between.  Matter, energy, and even time work strangely here and it is layered like a fine French pastry so many think there are seven or more heavens here but it is really all one.”

“But—” Melissa started to speak, but Alice interrupted.

“Now, Melissa.  You above all know how Mister Hawkings postulated parallel universes.  This place does not qualify, exactly, but you surely grasp the concept.”  Alice waited for the next outburst, but the women fell silent so she spoke again.  “Well, Commander Falcon, what do you think?”

ac-war-falcon-1“I think they will likely all get killed,” A gruff male voice spoke as the golden light exited Alice’s shoulder.  It was a fairy and there were several gasps, and then several more when the fairy transformed into a full sized human.  He looked human too, with a bit of gray around his temples and in his beard, and without the pointed ears of the elves or any sign of wings; that is to say he looked ordinary if one did not count the fact that he was standing in full plate armor, golden in color and with a falcon symbol on his chest plate.

“Now Commander.  There are twenty-four of them and that is the Storyteller’s favorite number, and they will be twelve and twelve if David ever asks her.”

“As it may, my Lady.  These Women of the Watch might yet provoke a war, and as for the humans…”

“Pardon me,” Alice interrupted and stepped forward to tap each human woman gently on the forehead.  She spoke as she went.  “Normally I have no say over human affairs, but this way I may track you and recall you if you are injured or in serious trouble.”

Mindy stepped up after she was touched.  “But Zoe is a true goddess.  You could simply wipe out the rebels if you chose.”

Alice stopped and touched Emily last.  “Solve my mystery,” she said before she turned to Mindy.  “I am Alice, not Zoe right now, but as far as it goes, I believe I will let the priestess explain why Zoe holds back.”  And Alice vanished.  She simply was not there anymore.

Every eye turned on Sara, including the eyes of Commander Falcon.  Sara dropped her head and spoke slowly, but clearly.  “Because every person deserves a fair chance to repent and be forgiven.  We would not be here if the Most High wiped us out for turning our backs on him.”

“Enough.”  Commander Falcon shouted.  “Women, gather your horses and your charges.  We will create the agreed distraction, but you are on your own.”  Commander Falcon looked ready to leave, but he paused for a final word.  “Good luck,” he said and he changed back to his normal fairy size and flew off toward the castle with such speed he also appeared to vanish.

ab-war-wo-3The Amazons got swords, shields and spears of their own.  They got fairy weave clothing as well, a magical cloth that could be shaped and colored on command.  Emily told everyone to make the fairy weave into Kevlar-like vests.  She assumed the men had guns.  Sara made a long white dress and a white cloak with a fine hood instead, and the priestess would take nothing but her crook.  No one argued.

The horses were a bit of a problem.  Jessica had her own horse back home, of course, but of the others, only Sara and Melissa and the farm-girls Diane and Greta had ever ridden, and that was not much.  The rest were all city girls, more or less.  They had to force Detroit Natasha up on the beast.  The Watcher Women were assigned to ride one beside each Amazon.  Riverbend said it was to promote cohesion in the group, but she and Emily both knew it was so the elves could keep the Amazons in the saddle.

When they were finally ready, they turned their back on the distant castle and headed for the hills whose cliffs faced the sea.  Maria was the one who asked.  “What good is this?  We can’t ride our horses across the water, can we?”

“Wait,” the elf healer, Linnea who rode beside Maria spoke softly.  Maria waited, and when they passed through a gap in those hills, instead of being confronted with the sea, they found themselves on a grassy meadow that stretched into the distance for as far as they could see,

“The islands of Avalon can be reached without ever crossing the water,” Fiona explained to Jessica.  They were the hunters who rode out front, like scouts.  Jessica later said she understood completely, but none of the others understood at all except perhaps Melissa who talked about black holes and folded space and things that were even more confusing than the reality they experienced.

That afternoon they went to three or four different islands, or lands as Emily preferred to think of them.  Riverbend had explained that they were riding alongside but outside of orc territory.  In the morning, they would turn into orc lands and ride swiftly to the center where the men were.

ab-war-river-1“This way we may enter the land from an unexpected direction.  With that we might be able to get in and out before they notice and mount a defense.”

“Might,’ Emily responded.  “But what makes you think they aren’t watching us even now?”

Riverbend paused to look around.  “That may be, but in the morning Commander Falcon has proposed to intrude, however briefly, on orc land.  Our hope is he will draw all eyes to him while we dash for the center.”  Emily nodded.  She had no better suggestions.

“I would rather he draw all the spears to him,” Melissa said in her quiet voice from behind.  Emily and Riverbend turned their heads briefly and saw Melissa’s elf nodding her head without a word.

“You put those two quiet ones together,” Emily accused.  Riverbend just smiled in her elfish way.

“I won’t bite,” Sara said.

“Yes, Lady.”  That was all her elf would say except for the occasional, “No, Lady.”

Maria and Linnea were exchanging recipes for Gazpacho, whatever that was, so Mindy turned to her elf and spoke.  “My name is Mindy.”

“Yes, Mum.  I’m Arwen.  I was southern born myself, around Charleston.”  Mindy perked up.  But she would file that for later.  First she had some questions.

“So tell me how Lady Alice and Zoe could be the same person.”

“The Kairos has been reborn one hundred and twenty-one times right down since the beginning of history.  My father works in the Avalon history department.  Oh, but I am not supposed to talk about it.”

ab-war-mind-elf“Yes, I see.”  Mindy smiled.  “Interesting, though, how she can be Alice one minute and a person who lived and I suppose died thousands of years ago the next.”

“Oh, it is worse than that,” Arwen said.  “Lady Alice has not even been born yet.”

“What?”  That threw Mindy’s thoughts into confusion.

“Yes, she won’t be born for another fourteen or fifteen hundred years.  We aren’t quite sure, my father I mean, since it isn’t actually history yet.”

“She is from the future,” Amina spoke up from behind like it was an obvious fact.

“Holy Moly!”  Mindy wanted to swear.  “How does she do that?”

“Oh, I’m not supposed to talk about it,” Arwen said.  And that was the way their conversation went after that.  Mindy would ask questions and Arwen was not supposed to talk about it, with the occasional compliment that some of Mindy’s questions were tricky enough to almost be elf worthy.

When they stopped for the evening, they built a fire and laughed when they realized they knew some of the same jokes.  Linnea brought out some crackers as Fiona cut a deer for the fire.  Jessica watched as much deer cutting as she could tolerate.  Maria thought it was going to be a very slim meal until Linnea added some heated water to the crackers and they blossomed into full loaves of hot steaming, fresh baked bread.

“You know, though.  Laughing at humans is not encouraged,” Arwen admitted.

“Good to know,” Sara said, and there was silence for a time until Arwen stood up and told the story of the three dwarfs at the bottom of the well.  All present, elf and human alike, laughed so hard at the story, their sides hurt.  Even when they went to bed, there were occasional giggles that rose up here and there almost until sunrise.

Charmed: Part 9 of 11, A Disney-Like Halloween Story (Without the Singing)

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Chapter 9

The music was contagious. Jake and Jessica could hardly hold their feet still, even when they were still down the hill and could not see a thing. Cinnamon could not keep back. She zoomed ahead, just to check things. Mary floated along contentedly on her broom. Jake took hold of Jessica’s hand to help her over a rough spot in the path and neither one wanted to let go after that. They held on tight when they heard the wolf howling in the distance.

“Wolf, howling at the moon,” Jessica suggested, and she smiled at Jake and he returned her smile. hween big moonThe moon remained very big and full and low on the horizon so it appeared to have some orange and even red in the midst of the golden light, and the face of the man on the moon was plain as day, and also smiling down at the young people. Jessica looked shyly down where her hand held his.

Mary perked up her ears and when the howl came again and she corrected Jessica. “Werewolf.” Jake and Jessica held on tight to each other after that, and Jake fingered the cutlass that rested at his side.

When they reached the top of the path where it let out into the great clearing and the stone circle, Mary was the first to see something, and it did not make her happy. “Mister Stuffings!” She raised her voice a bit and there was some scolding in her tone. “Who is home watching the garden?”

A man turned and removed his hat, except it was not a man since it was made entirely of straw. “Sorry, Miss Procter, mum, but this is just once a year, if you don’t mind,” the scarecrow apologized.

Mary softened her look and Jake and Jessica knew by then that the witch was really a sweet old lady. “I don’t mind.”

hween jack2“Good,” They heard another voice hidden behind the scarecrow. “’Cause even a doorbell needs to get out once in a while.”

“Jack!” Jake and Jessica said it together, as Mister Stuffings the scarecrow stepped aside and revealed Jack-o-lantern on the ground, facing the circle.

“Hey, kids,” Jack said, but with the scarecrow no longer blocking their view, Jake and Jessica made no response. They were already watching the dancers, taking in the music and wanting to get in the middle of it all. Then Jake saw Elizabeth and shouted.

“Elizabeth!”

Elizabeth heard, turned her head and returned the shout. “Jake!” She let go of the fairy hands to run to him, but as soon as she let go, she fell the full six feet to the ground. The music stopped. Everyone gasped. Cinnamon whipped out her wand and slowed Elizabeth’s fall, but since it happened so fast, she could not stop it. Elizabeth hit the hard ground and scraped her knees and hands, and she began to cry. Jake ran to her. Jessica came right behind, and paused when Jake held his sister in a strong embrace and cried a little with her. Jessica hesitated for a second before she got to her knees and threw her arms around them both to join the hug and add her tears. They had all had harrowing experiences on that Halloween night.

“How quaint,” Greely Putterwig said, as he stepped free of the crowd. Jack stared hard at the man who no longer looked like a man. His skin was green, which offset his bloodshot eyes, and the only other color was the two tuffs of white hair around his two pointed ears, just like Putterwig the man had hween greely 3around his not so pointed ears. This Putterwig was very skinny, with a small trunk that he more than made up for with extra long skinny arms and skinny legs. He had a pointed nose, a pointed chin, long thin fingers with pointed nails. His feet were flat and wide and he had thick toes, to keep him from stumbling in the dark, Jake supposed.

“She is my sister,” Jake said. “You can’t have her.”

Old Putterwig grinned a hobgoblin kind of grin. “But I have her already. Elizabeth, come here.”

Elizabeth, who turned to watch what was happening, got to her feet, and with a “Yes sir,” she walked over to stand beside the hobgoblin.

“I got her fair and square,” Putterwig said.

“You tricked her. It doesn’t count,” Jake protested

“Son,” The dwarf called Nuggets spoke gently to the young man. “Tricking is the hobgoblin version of fair and square.”

“You said you wished she would just get lost,” Putterwig raised his voice. “You should thank me. I am making your wish come true.”

“That’s not right. I didn’t mean it. Not like that.”

hween dwarf 2“Oh, son,” Nuggets shook his head. “You should always say what you mean and mean what you say. No good will come from doing otherwise.”

Jake got tired of arguing. He carefully pulled the cutlass from his belt. “Then I’ll take her back.” He found a small but strong hand on his hand, and it lowered the sword.

“No son. That is not how we settle things here. Please put down the sword before someone gets hurt.”

Jake lowered the sword and did not resist, but he fought his tears as he spoke. “But what else can I do?”he asked the dwarf. “Elizabeth.” He touched the cutlass tip to the ground and held out his free arm. “We need to go home.”

Elizabeth only glanced at Mister Putterwig before she threw her arms out in response to her brother and said, “Jake. Help me.” She began to cry once again because her feet would not move. Then she began to weep, and this was from a pain far deeper than any skinned knees could ever be. In fact, any number of those in the dance began to weep with her, empathetic as so many of them were.

Cinnamon, a full sized, full grown woman, stepped up between Jake and Jessica and put an arm gently around each. “Is this what you want, Greely Putterwig, to make this poor child suffer for the rest of her hween greely 2days?”

“No,” Mister Putterwig spoke in anger. “She will forget. In time she will forget all about that other place.”

“Bet it leaves a great big hole in her heart.” Nuggets stepped up beside Jake.

“She will suffer mightily from that hole in her heart, and the empty pain will point at you. Is this what you want, for Elizabeth to hate you forever?” Cinnamon stared hard at the hobgoblin until he shrieked.

“You don’t know. You have friends, and people who love you. You all have no idea what it feels like to be alone all the time. Sometimes, I am so lonely I can’t bear it.” He was the one who was now holding back the tears.

“Why you silly hobgoblin. I don’t know why hobgobs should be loners and so pigheaded and stubborn.” Mary stepped up beside Jessica. “Just look around. You have a whole community of people who would be glad to be your friends, who are your friends, and some would be very good friends if you let them.”

“Yes. That’s right. True enough.” Words came from every direction.

hween greely 5“Is this what you want?” Cinnamon gave no quarter. “For the community to despise you and turn their backs on you? Did you really steal this child in order to hurt her?”

“No.” Mister Putterwig shrieked again. “I don’t want to hurt her.” The tears came at last, unstoppable. “I don’t ever want to hurt her.” He got down on his knees and hugged Elizabeth and cried, and she hugged him right back and cried, too. Everyone else remained still and silent until Mister Putterwig pulled back enough to say, “Go on. You are free. Go home to your mom and dad, and your brother Jake.”

“Really?”

Mister Putterwig tried to smile. “Really.” And he watched Elizabeth as she ran and jumped into her brother’s arms and Jake let go of the cutlass completely to wrap up his little sister. Cinnamon stepped back so Jessica could join the hug and join in their happiness as she had joined in their sorrow.

Everyone was suddenly smiling and happy, and the music would have started again at any minute, but a small golden glow appeared in the middle of the circle, and it grew in size and shape until it turned into a beautiful woman, tall and slim, with long blond hair and sparkling light brown eyes, though sparkling is not usually a characteristic of brown eyes. The woman came dressed in a full length, well fitted gown of the whitest white, and she wore a cloak to match where it became hard to tell exactly hween Alice 1where the gown stopped and the cloak began. She wore sandals on her lovely feet, but to be sure, it was never certain if her feet actually touched the ground. She looked happy, but she also looked like one who might get angry if anything ever made her unhappy.

“Lady Alice,” Mary curtsied. All around the circle, the people bowed, or went to one knee, or went to both knees and lowered their heads and eyes. Jake, Jessica and Elizabeth did not know what to think, except that they felt they ought to keep very still and quiet. Poor Mister Putterwig fell to the ground, prostrate and trembling.

“All settled?” Lady Alice said in a voice as beautiful as the rest of her, but clearly she was not really asking. She stepped up to Jake and touched his head as she named him She named Jessica and brushed Jessica’s hair from her eyes like a gentle, loving mother. She kissed Elizabeth as she named her and Elizabeth positively and literally glowed a rich golden color to match the moon. “Now the fairy food will no longer affect you, and you are free indeed.”

Lady Alice turned to Mister Putterwig and smiled. “L-lady,” Mister Putterwig stammered. “I know I did wrong and I am so very, very sorry. Please, show mercy.”

hween alice 3“I thought you didn’t care.”

“Careless words Almost human words. Please.”

“Do not fret,” Alice bent down and lifted the Hobgoblin’s head. “As my friend Will used to say, all’s well as ends well, but this play is not done.” Lady Alice stood and smiled once around at everybody. “There is a last act to this story, but I believe it requires a change of venue.” The Lady clapped her hands, twice. All of the people and creatures around the circle remained solid enough, but the Lady, the ground and the trees, the mountain and the hills, the stars and the moon began to fade from sight.

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Charmed is either a very small book or a long story offered in eleven parts over this October, 2015, leading up to Halloween. The posts will be put up on the blog on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, October 5, 6 and 7; 12, 13, and 14; 19, 20, and 21; 26, 27, and an extra note on the 28th. If you miss a post, or want to go back to the beginning, they are easy enough to find. Just click on the archives and select October 2015. Charmed is the only posting for the month … So after the 28th, I say to you all, Happy Halloween, you know, spiders on your back and over your head, waiting for you to go to sleep.

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Charmed: Part 8 of 11, A Disney-Like Halloween Story (Without the Singing)

M G Kizzia 1 Comment

Chapter 8

Elizabeth heard the music before she saw anything. She called it bouncy music that wiggled in her tummy and made her want to tap her toes. One minute she kept yawning, but the next her eyes sprang wide open and her feet got ready to dance. When she finally reached the top of the hill, she saw big stones set in a big circle and all sorts of people and creatures enjoying the dance. The musicians, imps or gnomes or dwarfs, or whatever they were, had guitars, mandolins, fiddles, pipes and plenty of drums. The dancers included graceful elves, all sorts of dwarfs that wiggled like jelly, fawns, sprites, one big centaur who stood back and clapped, and people of so many different kinds, Elizabeth could not name them all, even if she knew what all of them were. Best of all, there were fairies dancing in the circle, and Elizabeth wanted to run to meet them.hween fairies

She did not have to run. Two fairy girls zoomed up when they saw Elizabeth and asked if she wanted to dance with them. Elizabeth wanted to shout, “Yes!” but she looked up at Mister Putterwig first. “May I?” She asked very sweetly. Mister Putterwig smiled, after a fashion, as it seemed that even he was not immune to the music.

“For a little bit,” he said, and then he looked down at her and tried to look serious. “But then to bed young lady.”

“Yes sir,” Elizabeth said, and both fairy girls got big right in front of Elizabeth’s astonished eyes. The one who introduced herself as Sage looked to be Jake’s age of about sixteen. The one that Sage introduced as Thyme looked more like she was twelve or thirteen. They each took one of Elizabeth’s hands and entered the circle with her. In a few short minutes, they flew six feet off the ground, giggled and laughed, and Elizabeth flew right there with them, holding on, dancing on thin air and circling around the heads of the dancers beneath them.

###

hween witch 2Mary Procter tried to explain and Jake and Jessica tried hard to understand. “Time and space don’t always work the same here as on Earth. Three or four days can pass here, while on earth it is still the same day. You might be here six or eight hours and find only an hour or hour and a half passed back home. Then again, Six or eight hours here might be several days back home. It varies. It changes. It doesn’t make the normal kind of sense.”

“How long have you been here?” Jessica asked, and Jake understood the question as a gentle way of asking the witch how old she was.

“I was born in 1669, and my brother Thorndike was born in 1672. That was the year my mother died. Father left me with foster parents when he moved to Salem and started over. He kept saying he would come for me, but he never did. He remarried, had other children, and then the trouble all started. I was twenty-three, and not married when the trouble came. Everyone knew I was a Procter. It was no secret. But when father got arrested in Salem Town, my foster family became afraid for me, especially since they knew I could do some things that were not exactly normal. We moved to the wilds of New Hampshire, but the word followed us. I would have been taken for sure and condemned to the pressing if Lady Alice had not brought me here.”

“Yeah, who is this Lady Alice we keep hearing about?” Jake hated to interrupt, but he had to ask.

“She runs this place and oversees all who are here. I say she is as like to a Heavenly Angel as flesh and blood can be. Sometimes she calls this place her loony bin, but the truth is she loves every blessed creature here, even the nasty spiders. She says everyone deserves a chance to live.”hween cottage 3

“So, you are three hundred and fifty years old?” Jessica had been counting.

“Witches do live longer than non-magic folk, but not that much longer. I am around ninety seven, give or take, but I think I still have a few more years in me. That was what I was trying to explain about time. Time here and on earth don’t move at the same rate. To be sure, I might just as easily have lived to ninety seven while on earth it might have been seven or eight years later, like 1700 instead of two thousand and whatever year you say it is.”

Someone knocked on the door. “Knock, knock.” Jack-o-lantern shouted.

“Who’s there?” Mary asked, like a well-worn game.

“Cinnamon.” Cinnamon answered for herself.

“Cinnamon who?” Mary asked, but she already got up to answer the door.

“Cinn-a-min, can I come in?”

hween fairy 2“Of course,” Mary opened the door. Cinnamon squirted in and went straight to the table where she stopped, threw he hands to her hips and tapped her foot in mid air. Jake and Jessica looked down and to the side where they did not have to see the glare in Cinnamon’s eyes.

“Waiting right there, huh?” Jake and Jessica held their tongues and took their scolding gracefully.

“It’s all right,” Mary said. “The spiders found them and I thought it might be safer in here. We have just been having some tea and stories. Would you like some chamomile?”

“No.” Cinnamon softened at the word, spiders. “I found Eliza-BETH,” she said, and grinned at Jessica.

“Where?” Jake stood. He ignored the jibe.

“She is safe. She is fine. My two daughters have her by the hand and are dancing with her, now that they got over being scolded. They are supposed to be sleeping you know, but they couldn’t sleep with you making all that noise.”

“I’m sorry. You are right. I’m to blame. I am sure your daughters are good girls,” Jake confessed.

“I was with you until that last part,” Cinnamon responded with a sigh. “But it is Halloween night, the one night their antics might be forgiven.”hween fairy house

“Posh. She is joking,” Mary got her shawl. “Sage and Thyme are wonderful girls.”

“Are we going there?” Jessica asked. “What are they doing with Elizabeth?”

“Dancing. It is the Halloween celebration. I don’t really mind the girls being up tonight. This night only comes once a year. We can join the fun, if you like, and we can go anytime you are ready.”

Jake looked at Jessica. Jessica stood to say she was ready. “Now would be fine,” he said.

“Wait, wait,” Mary raised her voice. “Let me find my broom. I can’t walk up that old hill like I used to.”

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Charmed is either a very, very small book or a long story offered in eleven parts over this October, 2015, leading up to Halloween. The posts will be put up on the blog on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, October 5, 6 and 7; 12, 13, and 14; 19, 20, and 21; 26, 27, and an extra note on the 28th. If hween angel and demon 3you miss a post, or want to go back to the beginning, they are easy enough to find. Just click on the archives and select October 2015. Charmed is the only posting for the month … So after the 28th, I say to you all, Happy Halloween, you know, Angels and Demons

hween angel and demon 1

hween angel and demon 2

Charmed: Part 4 of 11, A Disney-Like Halloween Story (Without the Singing)

M G Kizzia 2 Comments

Chapter 4

Elizabeth and Mister Putterwig walked toward the light. They had been walking for some time through an old growth forest of oak, maple, elm and birch. The forest floor had some bushes,. brambles, thorn and briars, and plenty of fallen lumber, from twigs to whole trees, but mostly it was covered in generations of fallen leaves. It was impossible to walk without crunching every step.

Elizabeth did not mind the crunch. She snapped a few twigs on purpose. She also liked the fact that they were headed toward the light. She was not afraid in the dark when she was with Mister Putterwig. He was a grown-up, and she trusted him to protect her. But light was better. The woods were kind of spooky.hween forest 4

Greely Putterwig was much more cautious. If it was a fairy circle filled with all sorts of people and creatures celebrating Halloween, they might be in trouble. He did not think it was the dance because he did not hear the music, the enchanted kind that made poor humans dance until they dropped. But if it wasn’t a Halloween celebration, well, the alternative was probably worse. “Confounded curiosity,” Mister Putterwig swore, and he hushed Elizabeth as much as he could when they reached a point where he could look out through the branches

A bonfire in a big clearing lit up the night, and there were dancers of a sort. They were goblins, and a couple of trolls. Mister Putterwig found his hand automatically drawn to cover Elizabeth’s mouth. The dancers looked frightening, with horns and tails and snake-like eyes over tusks and very wide mouths with very sharp teeth. There were noses and ears of all shapes and sizes, and they had claws instead of hands and sometimes instead of feet. They wore rags and had skulls and human looking bones of fingers and toes for necklaces and bracelets that sounded click and clack in a kind of rhythm under the moonlight. Worst of all were the grunts, howls and shrieks that filled the air and obscured whatever ghastly music was being made on such odd instruments and drums. Indeed, the music was mostly drums, and someone older than Elizabeth might have wondered where they got the skins for drumheads.

hween bonfire 2Elizabeth did not think that. When she wriggled her mouth free, she said, “They look like they are having fun.”

Mister Putterwig looked down at the little girl, astounded by her innocence. “All the same, it would be best if we moved on quietly so we don’t disturb them.”

Elizabeth nodded. She trusted. And together they took three whole steps before they found themselves surrounded by three goblins and a troll.

“Greely Putterwig,” the goblin with the red eyes spoke with a haunting voice guaranteed to send chills down the nearest spine.

“Marrow, Worms, and Maggot.” Mister Putterwig named the three goblins like they were old friends. “And Big Tooth.” He named the troll. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”hween forest 8

“What have you got here?” Marrow leaned down in Elizabeth’s face, but she was holding tight to Mister Putterwig’s hand and had her eyes closed. “A little human girl. Bet she’s tasty.”

“She isn’t yours. I got her fair and square. She is my friend, mine alone, and belongs to me, so back off,” Mister Putterwig growled.

Elizabeth ventured a look to see if Mister Putterwig was indeed her friend, but she saw the goblins and the troll and shrieked. She threw her arms around Putterwig’s middle and buried her face in his belly. He put his arms around her and did finally smile, and cooed that she shouldn’t be afraid and everything would be alright.

“What do you mean she is yours?” Worms asked.

“Where can we get one of those?” Maggot complained.

hween elizabeth 2“Fairy food?” Big Tooth suggested, and Marrow’s eyes got big.

“Do you know the penalty for stealing human children?” Marrow shouted.

“I don’t care,” Mister Putterwig responded with a sharp look and a haughty stare. “You touch one hair on her head and Lady Alice will know, and it won’t be from me telling her, either.”

“Boys,” Marrow took a step back. “I think we best leave this one alone.” They all began to step back. Marrow saluted.   “See ya around,” he said, and the goblins and troll went back to the dance.

Marrow took them all the way to the back of the bonfire and whispered so Putterwig would not hear with his good hobgoblin ears. What Marrow did not know was Jake, Jessica and Cinnamon were right at the edge of the trees, listening.

“We can blackmail old Putterwig and get him to let us use his portal to the human world. There are lots of children out on Halloween night. We can scare them to death, and then we can feast.

“I want to eat so much I have to throw up to make room for more,” Worms said out loud as he began to drool.hween goblin 2

“I claim the throw up,” Maggot yelled, and the other three gave him a disgusted look.

“Quiet.” Marrow slapped Worms in the forehead for talking too loud.

“Hey!”

“As for you,” Marrow grabbed Maggot’s earlobe and pulled so his head had to follow.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!”

Marrow let go and Maggot’s head clunked into Worm’s head. There was a definite hollow sounding Pop! when they hit.

Jake and Jessica, who were terrified by the sight of the goblins, now had to keep themselves from giggling. Cinnamon floated up from Jessica’s shoulder and sprinkled the two with some dust. Jake and Jessica found their feet lifted off the ground.

hween cinnamon 7“Walkies,” Cinnamon whispered, and Jake and Jessica found they could walk perfectly well in mid-air. Of course, they made no crunching sounds in the air.

“Wait a minute,” They heard Big Tooth rumble. “I smell fairy.”

Cinnamon simply said, “Runnies!”

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“Come along,” Mister Putterwig said with his haughty nose still up in the air. He took Elizabeth’s hand this time without her reaching for his, and they walked for a time is silence. They reached the edge of the woods where a path skirted the trees. Across the path was a big stone wall and that seemed a curiosity to Elizabeth. She had to ask when they came to a gate.

“What is on the other side of the wall?”

Mister Putterwig took her to the gate where they could peek in. “It is a place you don’t want to go. It’s the infinite graveyard, and this being Halloween, it is the one night of the year when the dead rise from their hween wall gategraves.”

“Oh,” Elizabeth saw the grave stones and moved to Mister Putterwig’s other side so she had him between her and the wall.

“Now don’t worry. They can’t go beyond the wall. We are perfectly safe on this side.” And he smiled again as he took her down the walk to the fens.

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Charmed is either a very small book or a long story offered in eleven parts over this October, 2015, leading up to Halloween. The posts will be put up on the blog on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, October 5, 6 and 7; 12, 13, and 14; 19, 20, and 21; 26, 27, and an extra note on the 28th. If you miss a post, or want to go back to the beginning, they are easy enough to find. Just click on the archives and select October 2015. Charmed is the only posting for the month … So after the 28th, I say to you all, Happy Halloween, you know, skeletons that go click-clack in the night.

hween skeletons

Charmed: Part 3 of 11, A Disney-Like Halloween Story (Without the Singing)

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Chapter 3

Jake soon realized he was getting nowhere by yelling. Jessica took his hand and calmed him down enough to look at the footprints where he had not yet stomped. Jake recognized Elizabeth’s prints by her little foot and short stride. The other prints were barefoot, flat footed and too big.

“Mister Putterwig?” Jake asked. The prints did not look right because they did not look exactly human.

Jessica shrugged. “Where are we?” She squeezed Jake’s hand, and her question caused Jake to finally look around and wonder the same thing.

“I felt something when we came through the door,” Jake said. He dropped Jessica’s hand, stood, and fingered a pine branch to be sure it was real.

“I did too. An odd tingling sensation.” Jessica only looked at himhween forest 2

“Me too,” Jake agreed. He went to look again at the footprints. He avoided Jessica’s eyes.

“I don’t see any way back the way we came,” Jessica walked all of the way around one of the trees.

“This is the way we need to go,” Jake said, and he pointed in the direction the footprints pointed.

“But the way back has to be around here,” Jessica protested. “We can’t wander off. We’ll just get ourselves lost and never find this place again.”

“I’m not leaving this place, wherever we are, until I get Elizabeth back.”

Jessica felt scared about wandering off into the dark woods, but her words spoke of something else. “Are you sure? You didn’t seem too concerned about Elizabeth before.”

“What are you implying?”

“Nothing. You said she ruined your life. I just thought you were only concerned about Jake.”

“What made you think that?”

“Well, you sit right next to me in Civics and you won’t even talk to me,” Jessica said, a complete change of subject.

“Well, you won’t talk to me either.”

“I’ve tried, but you don’t respond.”

hween forest 3“Well, I can’t talk to you.” Jake turned a little red. “I’ve tried, too.” He took a deep breath. “I can’t think of what to say, and my life is so dull and boring.”

“Oh.” Jessica lost some steam on hearing the truth. “I don’t think your life is dull and boring. I think taking care of a seven-year-old is special, and you do a great job.”

“I didn’t do such a great job today,” Jake confessed. His voice was also calmer, but his upset remained.

“We will find her together,” Jessica offered, and reached out to touch his hand again.

“Good,” a woman’s voice said. It startled Jake and Jessica. They backed away from each other like two young people caught by their parents, “Some of us are trying to sleep.”

“Who said that?” Jake raised his voice and spun around.

“Was it a bird?” Jessica pointed toward the top of a tree where the branches shook.

“Don’t be silly,” the voice said. “Birdies can’t talk in words you would understand.” Something fluttered down from the branches to face them, and at first it made them think it might be a bird after all, or a giant talking insect. It turned out to be a little woman with wings, a fairy, and Jake stared and smiled. Jessica fell over and seemed to have trouble closing her mouth.

“Elizabeth, my little sister dressed like a fairy for Halloween,” Jake said, completely enchanted by the mere appearance of a real fairy. He put his hand up slowly to touch and see if the fairy was real, but the fairy backed off and would not let him touch her.

“Yes, I heard you calling. Elizabeth. Eliza-BETH. It was very loud. Too loud for sleeping.”hween cinnamon 4

“I’m sorry about that.”

“We’re sorry,” Jessica corrected Jake as she began to get over her astonishment.

“Oh, Jessica. Elizabeth would love to meet a real, live fairy.” Jake looked down, and gave Jessica a hand to help her to her feet.

“Do you know the way through the forest?” Jessica asked and spoke to Jake, though she never took her eyes off the hovering fairy. “I wouldn’t mind going after Elizabeth if we had something like a guide.”

The fairy fluttered down to face Jessica. “There are ways through the trees, and then there are ways. I’m not saying which way is best.”

“Maybe you could show us the way Elizabeth went,” Jake suggested.

She zipped over to face Jake. “I don’t know the way Elizabeth went.” Jake looked defeated. “But she went with Greely Putterwig, and I know where he lives.” Jake brightened. “Maybe we could go to Greely’s nasty house and ask.”

“So, you will go with us?” Jessica asked

“Well.” The fairy looked at them both and put one hand up to tap a finger against her cheek. “Human people don’t belong here. I suppose Lady Alice would not want you to get lost in the woods and yelling. Then nobody would get any sleep.”

hween forest 1“So you’ll come?” Jake asked.

“My sister Pumpkin used to travel with human people and she had great adventures.” The fairy appeared to smile. “Okay,” she said. “Where are we going?”

“To Greely Putterwig’s house,” Jessica said.

“But we can’t get there from here,” the fairy said firmly.

“I’m Jake,” Jake said and pointed again. “The footprints go this way. Maybe they wil take us to a place where we can get to Putterwig’s house.”

“Okay,” the fairy said happily. “I’m Cinnamon.”

“What a lovely name. I’m Jessica.”

“Hi Jessica. Can I ride on your shoulder?”

Jessica stopped. “Will it hurt?”

“Only if you get too bumpy. I might have to hold on to your hair.”

“Okay,” Jessica imitated the fairy and then squinted in case it did hurt. The fairy settled down without a bump, and she was very light so Jessica hardly felt her. “That’s not so bad.” She started to follow Jake and Cinnamon grabbed to the strands of Jessica’s hair that stuck out from beneath her cap.

“Woah. Pumpkin never said it was this bumpy.”

Jessica grinned at her thought. “I just think you want to ride on my shoulder so you don’t have to use your own legs, or wings as the case may be.”hween cinnamon 1

Cinnamon nodded, though Jessica could not exactly see her. “That, and to hide in your hair and shut my eyes when we run into spookies. Too bad you don’t have more hair.”   Jessica removed her ballcap. She actually had a full head of rather thick hair. Cinnamon sounded delighted, scooted closer to Jessica’s ear to get covered and promptly spent the next few minutes playing peek-a-boo like Jessica’s hair was a kind of curtain.

They heard a scream up ahead. It sounded like Elizabeth, and Jake began to yell again. “Elizabeth! Eliza-BETH!” When there was no answer, he stopped yelling, but he turned them in the direction of the scream.

Cinnamon asked. “Can I take my fingers out of my ears now?”

“Yes,” Jessica said, but her peripheral vision showed Cinnamon still plugged up. Jessica had to reach around very carefully with her finger and dislodge one of Cinnamon’s arms to unplug the ear. “Yes,” Jessica repeated with a smile. She noticed that the fairy felt like flesh and blood and not at all like something ephemeral.

“Good,” Cinnamon grabbed a chunk of hair to steady herself. “You know, there are all sorts of monsters, nasties and spookies that can make screaming like that.”

Jake stopped for a second to check the footprints. “I figured that, but it sounded like Elizabeth, and we don’t have anything else to go on.”

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Charmed is either a very small book or a long story offered in eleven parts over this October, 2015, leading up to Halloween. The posts will be put up on the blog on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, October 5, 6 and 7; 12, 13, and 14; 19, 20, and 21; 26, 27, and an extra note on the 28th. If you miss a post, or want to go back to the beginning, they are easy enough to find. Just click on the archives and select October 2015. Charmed is the only posting for the month … So after the 28th, I say to you all, Happy Halloween, you know, bats and spooky thingshween bats 2

hween bats 1

Charmed: Part 2 of 11, A Disney-Like Halloween Story (Without the Singing)

M G Kizzia 2 Comments

Chapter 2

Elizabeth Simon, all of seven-years-old, finished at 315 Bleeker Street, but when she went to the sidewalk, she saw her brother occupied with some big kids. She did not interrupt. She decided to go to the next house as she had been taught. She liked the house. It was dark and spooky, the way she thought Halloween was supposed to be. The unkempt yard cast all sorts of odd shadows across the walk, and the rickety porch squeaked under her steps. She even found a big spider web in the corner next to the post, up near the roof.Hween putterwig house 1

The old man sat in the rocker, watching. Elizabeth saw him from the front walk, so he did not startle her. “Child,” he said. “What do you want?”

“Trick or treat,” Elizabeth said her line, held out her shopping bag, and smiled a warm smile.

“Trick or treat? Trick or treat is it? What a quaint custom.” Mister Putterwig glanced ever so briefly at the young people out on the street and he thought he could easily make the little girl disappear. “I can do a trick, and I have a treat, both,” he said, and put out his hand. It held the biggest, most chocolaty, gooey mess Elizabeth had ever seen. “But only good little girls can have some,” he warned.

Elizabeth’s hand hesitated. “I try to be good.”

“Wisely spoken,” old man Putterwig conceded. “Try it.”

She did, and when the old man held out his other hand to take her hand, there was nothing more she wanted in the whole world than to go with this kindly old man. When they entered the house and came out among the pine trees, Elizabeth had a question.

“Where are we going?”

“To a land of wonders and enchantment and magic, and keep walking.” Mister Putterwig looked back.

“The land of the fairies?” Elizabeth sounded excited.

“I suppose there are some around,” Mister Putterwig made another concession. “But once you eat fairy food, you become captive to the little ones, or in this case, to me  Now, you have to do whatever I tell you.”

hween greely 6“Oh, yes. But I don’t mind because you are such a nice man.”

Mister Putterwig’s face turned red and then purple. “First of all, I am not nice. I am grumpy and, um, mean. I can be very mean. And second of all, I am not a man.”

Elizabeth stopped and looked up into the man’s eyes. He contorted his face with a big toothy grin and squinted his beady little eyes. Elizabeth shrieked and looked away. “There, see?” Mister Putterwig sounded proud, like he proved his point. “I told you I could be mean.”

“No, that isn’t it,” Elizabeth said. “You looked like a clown face and I’m scared of clowns.”

“Oh,” Mister Putterwig deflated before he looked up, sharply. They heard Jake call,. “Eliza-BETH.” Mister Putterwig barely got his hand over Elizabeth’s mouth in time.

“Don’t answer him. Come on. Hurry.” They began to walk again and picked up their pace. It was a few minutes before they slowed again and Mister Putterwig had a question.

“So, do you have a name?”

“Elizabeth. Elizabeth Simon.”

“Well, Elizabeth-Elizabeth Simon, my name is Greely Putterwig, and I am a Hobgoblin.”

“I’m a fairy,” Elizabeth responded, happily.hween elizabeth 1

“What?” Mister Putterwig eyed her closely.

“My costume. Don’t I look like a fairy?”

“Not too much,” Mister Putterwig said, and seemed relieved. “You’re a bit big.”

“But I got wings and everything.”

“I see that. Turn around.” Elizabeth turned and Mister Putterwig adjusted her wings to set them more squarely on her back. “That’s better. Now you look more fairy-like”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth said, and reached for Mister Putterwig’s hand, who took her little hand and almost smiled.

They started to walk again. The pine forest did not seem too dark where the trees did not grow too close together.   Plenty of room remained overhead for starlight to find the forest floor. Elizabeth saw some snow on the firs and she could not help voicing her thoughts. “Do you know any Christmas Carols?”

Mister Putterwig stopped and looked angry for a moment, but one look into Elizabeth’s innocent face and he decided to think about it. A hoot owl sounded out not too far from where they stood. He started them walking again and sang, “Oh, you better watch out.” He stopped there, and Elizabeth giggled.

“That’s not it. It goes, “Oh, you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m tellin’ you why…”

“Stop, stop. Stop!” Mister Putterwig waved his big hands back and forth, shook his head, and snarled. Elizabeth stopped, worried that she got it wrong. “You can cry and pout if you want to. Go ahead and cry. And Pouting is an old family tradition, my family I mean. “Oh, you better watch out” is the only part I sing. There’s reasons for that we don’t need to go into just now.”

hadj ghouls 4Elizabeth tried to nod and agree, but all she could do was scream. An eight foot ogre stood directly in their path. He was ugly, tusky, full of boils and puss and with more sharp teeth than anyone would consider reasonable. He had long arms and short legs, all the size of tree trunks, and apparently carried a separate tree of some sort, his club, in one huge, gnarly hand. He also had a spark of intelligence in his eyes which said this creature is fully capable of chasing you and eating you, though to be fair, the spark of intelligence was a very small one.

“Eliza-BETH!” The sound came from a long way off, much further than before

“Jake!” Elizabeth shouted back. She recognized the voice.

Mister Putterwig looked back and said, “Quiet. I said don’t answer him. Now, run.” They ran and Mister Putterwig mumbled. “Leave it to Pusshead to ruin everything.”

Elizabeth was glad to run from the ogre. She was a bit upset when the ogre spoke over her head.

“What are we running from?”

Elizabeth screamed again, and stumbled. Old Mister Putterwig scooped her up and ran at a spritely pace. In fact, even carrying the little girl, the old man ran fast enough to lose the ogre somewhere in the deeper forest.

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Charmed is either a very small book or a long story offered in eleven posts over this October, 2015, leading up to Halloween. The posts will be put up on the blog on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, October 5, 6 and 7; 12, 13, and 14; 19, 20, and 21; 26, 27, and an extra note on the 28th. If you miss a post, or want to go back to the beginning, they are easy enough to find. Just click on the archives and select October 2015. Charmed is the only posting for the month … So after the 28th, I say to you all, Happy Halloween, you know, witches flying across the face of the moon and stuff.

hween a witch moon

Avalon 2.9: The Army of Invention

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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After 3440 BC in the Ukraine.  Kairos life 29: Flern

Recording…

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            Flern felt cold hands on the back of her neck.  She shrieked and jumped.  Thrud looked up from her cooking and laughed.  Vinnu, who was leaning back comfortably in Big Gunder’s arms while he leaned against a tree hid her smile.  The boys, Gunder and Kiren knew better than to smile at all, much as they might have liked.  Flern frowned, but as she looked up, Kined bent down and kissed her.  That was fine.  She was suddenly not mad anymore.  Flern and Kined had been married for almost a whole month.

            “Where is Vilder?” Kined asked as he grabbed the seat next to his wife.  Flern took his hand and smiled at her own thoughts.

            “He took Pinn past the trees to the little beach on the river,” Kiren said as he patted Thrud’s butt gently to move her over in order to snitch a pinch of the deer to taste test.

            “It’s not done yet,” Thrud protested.

            “Seems we need to throw a bucket of water on those two,” Gunder spoke up while Vinnu squirmed into a more comfortable position in his arms.

            “The river is cold,” Kined suggested, but with a look at Flern he verbalized, “The Danube,” before he finished his thought.  “Maybe we could throw them in.”

            “You’re talking about Vilder and Pinn?”  Vinnu was half-listening as usual.  No one answered her.

            “So where are Riah and Goldenwing?” Kiren asked as he retook his seat to wait for the deer to be done.  Flern said nothing.  She merely looked at Kined, let go of his hand, took his arm and inched up close beside him.  Kined tried to look serious.

            “Let me see.”  He concentrated despite Flern’s attempt to tickle him.

            Thrud spoke an aside to Vinnu.  “Riah and Goldenwing might as well pair off, too.”

            “But we are all married, not just paired off,” Vinnu responded, not quite sure what Thrud was suggesting, but by then Thrud eyed Flern who ignored her friend to focus on her husband.

            “Er!” Kined started to speak but first he had to peal Flern’s free hand off his knee.  “Riah and Goldenwing went out to hunt and scout ahead for when we leave in the morning.  They are – wait.  What?”  Kined jumped up and shoved Flern to the ground in the process.  Flern let out a shout of protest even as an arrow struck Kined in the thigh.  Kiren jumped up and Gunder deposited Vinnu on her rump in the grass as he leapt to help.

            Goldenwing the fairy zoomed up and got big so the others would be protected behind him and his golden armor.  “To the river!” he shouted as a second arrow hit the log Flern and Kined had been using as a seat.  Goldenwing pulled his bow from some invisible pocket, but Riah already had hers out and the elf maid was coming on faster than any human could possibly run.  She let two arrows fly in the span of a single breath and a grass carpet out in the open field began to rise before it fell back to the dirt to never move again.

            “To the woods by the river,” Goldenwing shouted again as he readied his bow and Riah came up huffing and puffing from her run.  She was elf fast, but she was not fairy fast.

            “Kined!”  Flern yelled her concern as Gunder and Kiren helped Kined walk to the river.  She stuck her head up, but there was another arrow.  It fell short, but Flern put her head right back down.  This time Riah and Goldenwing shot together and another grass rug stopped moving.

            “Now.”  Riah nudged Flern with her foot, but everyone paused when they heard the sound of thunder coming on fast.  Flern stood, but someone stood in front of her.  It was Vrya, the Aesgard goddess of love and war. 

            “My son,” Vrya said and touched Flern’s face gently.  “Even when you are my daughter.”  The goddess smiled and another figure appeared.

            “I don’t belong here,” Artemis said.  “I just came to tell you if you have to escape across the river I could maybe help.”

            “I invite you,” Vrya also smiled for the Olympian.  “As my sister among the Amazon, you are welcome to kill as many of these men as you wish.”  And with that word more than a hundred horsemen came into view, in a full charge.  Goldenwing and Riah could only stare in awe as the two goddesses looked at each other before they let loose a virtual rain of arrows on the oncoming horsemen.  It was only moments before those horses turned toward a distant rise they could hide behind.  They abandoned their dead and wounded as they rode for their lives.

            The goddesses stopped firing at once and their bows disappeared as they turned toward Flern.  Vrya slipped one arm around Flern’s shoulder and Artemis slipped her arm over from the other side.  In this way, the goddesses turned Flern toward the river and spoke as they walked.  Goldenwing, fairy small again sat on Riah’s shoulder and they followed.  The cooking fire with the deer still cooking away also followed them to the riverbank.

            “I shouldn’t be here,” Vrya said.

            “I really shouldn’t be here,” Artemis repeated herself with a nod.

            “But maybe if these Jaccar think we are still here, they won’t try another charge.”

            “I can’t speak for the ones in the grass.”  Artemis glanced around.  It was all grasslands apart from the trees that lined the riverbank.  The three wagons that carried the bronze making equipment and bronze weapons that Flern and her friends were trying to get home to liberate their village from these very Jaccar sat idle in the grass.  All of the horses Flern and her crew rode and with which they pulled the wagons also grazed essentially undisturbed by what just happened.

            “Of course,” Vrya spoke again as they stepped behind the trees.  “Since I am not really here, you will have to find your own way out of this mess.”  She kissed Flern on the cheek and vanished.

            Artemis turned to face Flern.  “Sorry about your man getting shot.  Probably another reason why I don’t want one.”  Artemis smiled for Flern like it was some kind of inside joke.  “But seriously, if you decide to cross the river, I will help.”

            Flern looked back across the grass toward the rise that hid the Jaccar.  “It may come to that, but first I have to do everything I can to keep the bronze from falling into Jaccar hands.  They are a terror with stone and copper.  With bronze they would be unstoppable.”

            Artemis merely nodded and planted her own more tentative kiss on Flern’s cheek before she vanished as well.

            Flern paused and looked around.  She was at the bottom of the four foot river bank beneath the trees.  The deer was still cooking at the top of the bank, above her shoulder in a slight clearing among the woods that she never noticed before.  Kined grinned for her though his pain and the others all looked at her, including Vilder and Pinn who had obviously dressed quickly.  Flern frowned again.

            “Okay,” she said.  “How do we get out of this one and keep the bronze out of Jaccar hands?”  That was all she could say before she stepped over to Kined to hug him and cry all over him. 

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Avalon 2.9:  Dead and Wounded … Next Time

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