Kairos

Reflections Flern-9 part 1 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Wlvn made Bricklebrains ride behind Kined, though Bricklebrains called it an honor he did not deserve. Still, it gave them a chance to get to know each other a bit, and after a while, they dropped back to include Fritt in their conversation. Kined felt concerned. He feared Fritt might not speak to him alone, but Fritt adjusted better than Kined supposed, and even said something surprising.

“I’m glad if Flern did not pick me, she picked you. I could not have stood it if she picked Trell or Tird, but you and Flern have been best friends forever, so I don’t mind so much.”

“Good,” Wlvn said when Riah with her good elf ears told him what they said.

“But I don’t like spying,” Riah complained.

“Yeah, well Flern hasn’t picked anyone yet, and I am certainly not going to marry Kined.” Riah opened her eyes and mouth wide before she shut her mouth with a clack.

“Of course.”

They crossed the river Sware just after lunch and reached the town well before sundown. This was the first town Wlvn ever saw that had an inn of sorts. Of course, he never saw much in the way of towns. There were nearly five hundred people in and around the town and it had become a real center for civilization in the area. Apparently, there were a half-dozen towns on the river along with any number of villages, and they all traded with each other. Back in Wlvn’s day, a hundred was a massively sized village, and when he added it up, there were probably more people in those towns along the river than in all the villages in the land of the Titan, combined.

“There weren’t as many people back in my day,” he confessed to the others. “This feels very crowded.” Still, he knew what to do at an inn, thanks to the Princess and others guiding his hand and words. The economy had no money, of course, but trade worked well enough, even the prospect of future trade.

They were found by the important people in the town right away. Wlvn demonstrated his bronze sword and knife and said how they were going to find the secret of making this miraculous metal. The people said, “We heard,” and an elder named Oren took the lead.

“We also heard how you fought off the Jaccar. It is all the talk up and down the river. We have turned from being a people in fear to a people with hope. And we will fight with you, whether you succeed in finding your bronze or not.”

Vilder and the others got excited by that word, but Wlvn, and now Pinn, waited for the other shoe to drop. It came from a woman on the council named Leelar. “But where is the red headed girl?” she asked. Wlvn turned to Bricklebrains, and he nodded and pointed at the woman. Wlvn returned the nod and put poor Pinn and Riah on the spot.

“These two will explain how Flern is negotiating with the dwarfs but will be along in a couple of days.” He took Oren by the arm, and Bricklebrains followed them outside where they could talk without being overheard.

“Never mind Leelar,” Oren said. “She is firmly against all sorts of fighting. But I tell her she cannot hide beneath a basket and expect to be safe. Most of the council is solid in support of you, and I feel what reluctance there might have been vanished when you rode into town with an elf and a dwarf who both answer to you. I never saw an elf before, but I understand they are a proud and independent people, as wise as they are mysterious. And I never heard of a dwarf answering to anyone.”

“I appreciate your sentiment, but Bricklebrains, tell him.”

Bricklebrains frowned but Oren bent down a little to better hear what the dwarf had to say. He even smiled against Bricklebrains’ frown in anticipation.

“When me and the chief found Lord Wolven, we were enchanted by the Wicca.”

“Eh?” Oren did not know who that was.

“The leader of the Jaccar,” Wlvn said. “A most powerful witch.” The look on Oren’s face showed that he knew what a witch was. “Powerful enough to enchant dwarfs.” That was serious power. Bricklebrains tugged on Oren’s sleeve. He had not finished.

“Well, our Lord set us free of the enchantment, but he made it so I could smell if someone else was enchanted, you see? I got the nose for it.” He proudly lifted up his nose so Oren could get a good look at it.

“Well?” Oren asked the dwarf.

“Well, it’s like this. Your Miss Leelar is enchanted by the Wicca, just like we were. I don’t imagine she can speak her own mind. No idea what her mind might speak. But she can speak what the Wicca wants, that’s for sure.”

“What?” Oren turned that question on Wlvn.

“I have no power to break the Wicca’s spell over humans,” Wlvn said. “All I can say is don’t listen to her. The words will be full of lies and manipulation, and she will lead the village into slavery to the Wicca and the Jaccar.”

“What!” Oren shouted and looked back and forth between the man and the dwarf. “Are you sure?”

Both Wlvn and Bricklebrains nodded, and Wlvn had a suggestion. “Let Bricklebrains sniff around, quietly, and see who else, if any, might be under the witch’s spell.”

“I can’t believe it.” Oren said as he found a place to sit down. That did not mean he did not believe it. “I have known Leelar for forty years. She does not seem changed to me.”

“That is probably why the Wicca was able to get to her,” Wlvn suggested as Oren took another look. “Leelar probably leaned in a direction convenient for the witch to use.”

“But why should I believe you? What reason do I have to trust your word for this? These dwarfs are known to be great tricksters and not to be completely trusted.”

“Hey!” Bricklebrains took offense, but Wlvn calmed him with a simple wave of his hand.

“Let me put it this way. If you wish to support us with men and hunters against the Jaccar, fine. If you decide not to support us, fine. I am not here to control your decision. I am only asking that you make your own decision and not let the Wicca make it for you.”

Oren thought for a minute. “Your offer is fair enough, and I think I would like to test it if your dwarf is willing.”

An hour later, they stood in the council chamber and Bricklebrains sniffed at the seven men and two women. He quickly identified two of the men along with Leelar. Oren nodded, knowingly.

“These two and Leelar have been most vocal against joining you in your fight. You would have no way of knowing that unless what you say is true. Mylara,” he pointed at the other woman. “She has also voiced some opposition, but I felt she just agreed with these others and did not feel committed. She has said as much.”

Mylara looked up and nodded her head. “I believe it will be terrible to lose our young men and then have no one to defend us when the Jaccar come here.”

Wlvn got the woman’s attention. “An expression to remember. United we stand, divided we fall.” The woman said no more because Leelar spoke up.

“So, what is this? To see if the dwarf could point out the ones against fighting and dying for some unknown village and unknown people?”

“No, actually, it was to see if the dwarf could pick out those under the spell of the Wicca, the powerful witch that also controls the Jaccar.”

“What?” The council imitated Oren to a person, and some backed away from the three singled out.

“The fact that you three have also spoken so strongly against joining the fight just confirms it,” Wlvn said. “I will tell you what I told Oren. If you fight with us, great. If you decide not to fight with us, that is fine. We will not hold it against you, only let it be your own decision. Do not let the Wicca decide for you.”

Wlvn returned to the inn and made everyone follow him to just outside the town where they camped in the wilderness at the foot of the pass. All he heard was how they were all looking forward to spending a night in a real bed, despite the fact that the so-called inn only had three beds. But Wlvn would not hear it, and they understood despite the complaints. Town simply became unsafe. Someone under the power of the Wicca might easily be there to kill them in their sleep.

For the first time, Wlvn organized a watch in the night. They knew about the watch set out against the Jaccar, of course, but this time they were not expecting any Jaccar so there was reluctance until Wlvn thoroughly explained it. “Just a precaution,” Wlvn said.

“Genius,” Vilder called it in the end. “We each take two hours to watch and guard the camp so people can sleep in peace, and everyone gets real rest, and everyone stays protected.”

“Provided you watch during your watch,” Wlvn underlined the word.

The morning came without incident, and they left that town behind as they began to climb for the pass. Thrud, Vinnu, Tiren and Fritt were anxious to find out what the town decided in the night, but Wlvn would not let them. He said the best way to show they meant it when they said they wanted the town to make their own decision would be to leave, not to go back and put pressure on them. “Besides,” he said. “What if they decided against us after all?” That quieted them.

Reflections Flern-8 part 3 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Wlvn spent the afternoon riding out front, alone, as Fritt brought up the rear by himself. Kined and Riah rode side by side, and that was fine. It gave Wlvn some time to think things through.

This Wicca and her army of Jaccar warriors seemed a terrible thing to have to face, but in his heart, he knew it was something Flern might be able to handle on her own. He knew Flern had no business going up against a Titan, and he marveled at the revelation of how he was one person through time and yet many different people. Each life he lived not only had a different skill set and different abilities, they also had different personalities, and in some cases, they were very different. It might all still be just him, but the differences could be striking. Being male or female of course was the obvious one, but upbringing and culture were massive. In different places and times throughout history, he, or she saw and responded to the world in startlingly different ways. God, he hoped he was never content to be part of someone’s harem.

With that strange thought, he glanced back at Kined. He genuinely liked Kined, and he wondered if the reverse of what Kined said might also be true. He was not sure he could dislike, much less hate Kined as long as Flern felt the way she felt about the young man. Then again, he did not know exactly how Flern felt since she remained out of touch. That disturbed him. Maybe he still just vibrated the feelings she felt before they double traded. He supposed she might change her mind, given the chance, only he could not imagine a way she might have that chance. There had to be some way they could double trade back, but he could not imagine it, and none of his other lifetimes knew how either—at least the lives he could currently touch.

The night crept up on them and they almost stopped too late in the day. Riah found a roe deer that she said practically got handed to her. “The spirit of this forest, old Firblog was being kind, and I thanked him,” she said.

“Firblog?” Fritt asked. He still tried to fit into the group, though he told Vilder he felt a bit like a leftover.

Riah nodded as she swallowed her bit of liver and spoke. “These are dwarf woods, the woods of Movan Mountain. They run up to the Pert and the river bridge we came over. The elf woods of Miroven are the woods of Lord Oakvein. This side of the Pert belongs to Firblog. His woods rise up to the plateau itself and cover all the land between the Pert and Sware Rivers. Of course, the humans call the whole thing the Brugh, like they can’t see one side from the other.”

“You are right about these being dwarf woods,” a voice came out of the dark and startled everyone. “It makes me wonder why a young elf maid and these humans might be traipsing through my woods.”

“Firblog?” Vinnu asked.

Wlvn shook his head. “Show yourself,” he said, and just like his dwarfs, he smelled them all around. A very short looking creature stepped into the light. He might have looked like a man but for being just four feet tall, and he might have looked like an elf except his pointed ears folded down, his nose looked too bulbous, and he had far too much hair on his face. “Balken.” Wlvn named the creature but said no more as he waited for the dwarf chief to speak.

Balken looked around the circle of faces before he made his pronouncement. “You appear to be missing one. A girl with red hair, I believe.”

Wlvn nodded. “He is looking for Flern, as I suspected. I can feel the enchantment, can you?” He spoke to the others but looked at Kined and Riah. Riah shook her head. Kined did not seem sure. Wlvn spoke up, loud. “Put down your arrows and come into the firelight so we can see you all. Now. And stay by the fire until I give you leave.” Balken stared at Wlvn, and wonder crossed his face. Wlvn stared back and said one more thing while they waited. “You are free from your enchantment.” He did not speak it loudly, or wave his hand, or flash a wand, or anything associated with magic, but both Riah, and in a lesser way Kined felt a power beyond calculating. The only way to describe it would be to say this was not a derived power like magic, but a source power, the kind of power from which all other magic is derived.

Balken responded by rolling up his eyes and collapsing.

“Hey!” More than one incoming dwarfs reacted, but Wlvn reassured them. “Your chief is fine. Just come here so we can see you.” There were eleven so Balken made it an even dozen. These others were all clearly dwarfs.  Their ears were more normal, but their noses were extra large. The tallest stood a bit less than four feet tall, and their stocky builds and long beards completed the look.

Wlvn knew exactly who he was looking at, by name and family history if he cared to look. He found one who stood shorter than most, barely topping three feet, but who had an uncanny nose. He could track and find about anything with that nose, and the dwarf only hesitated a second when Wlvn said, “Come here Bricklebrains.”

“L-lord?” Bricklebrains certainly smelled something.

“The rest of you are free of the enchantment.” Wlvn waved his arm that time, and all of the dwarfs collapsed even as Balken got up, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What hit me?” The dwarf chief asked. No one answered because they were too busy watching.

“Can you smell the enchantment?” Wlvn asked Bricklebrains.

“Y-yes,” Bricklebrains stuttered as he whipped off his hat and worried it in his stubby fingered hands. He looked frightened, and Wlvn responded to that. “Don’t be afraid.” He smiled for the dwarf.

“Your Lordship, yes. I smell it, but I can’t do nothing about it. I want to kill the red headed girl and I can’t help it. Please, I don’t want to kill anybody.”

“The Wicca?” Pinn asked. She and Vilder were beginning to get it. This was not all about a Jaccar army.

Wlvn nodded but kept his attention on Bricklebrains. “Be free of the enchantment,” he said softly. “But be able to still smell it on others.”

Bricklebrains stumbled. Riah and Kined caught him, and he turned his head farther than any human could and said, “Thanks other Lord,” to Kined and, “Creepers, I got elf cooties,” to Riah.

“Balken.” Wlvn spoke to the dwarf chief. “Tell your father I am sorry our path does not take us to Movan Mountain, but I hope when we return he will send any who are willing to volunteer for the fight against the Jaccar. I am going to borrow Bricklebrains for a while, but I plan to return him in one piece.”

“Good to know,” Bricklebrains whispered quietly to Kined who started practicing his elf grin.

Balken meanwhile stared at Riah. “So Lord, you are traveling freely with the one who stole my mother’s name?”

Riah reacted. “My mother and yours were best friends.”

“So I heard,” Balken said, but clearly, he did not appear pleased with Riah being named Moriah. “I didn’t recognize you at first. You have grown.”

“You haven’t,” Riah shot back.

“Thank you,” Balken responded, much to the surprise of the others, but then Wlvn spoke up.

“I have given Moriah the name Riah for this journey, and you must remember she is innocent. She was given her name as you were given yours. She had no say over what her name would be.”

Balken put his hand to his beard and stroked it. He had not looked at it in that way. “The Lady Laurel and I may speak one day.”

“And it better be a nice talk,” Wlvn said, sternly. “Meanwhile, please take yourself and your fellow warriors home.”

One of the dwarfs spoke up. “Can’t we stay for a bit?”

“There is too much deer for this group,” another interjected.

“We could like help them fix it proper.”

“And build this pitiful fire into a real fire.”

Wlvn looked around at the others and saw no serious objection. “They are immune to fairy food and no tricks or stealing but treat these like your friends and I have no objection.”

Balken nodded slowly before he sent his people here and there to gather wood and food for a real feast. Then they partied, and Wlvn eventually had to sneak off to get some sleep. That was about the time the humans realized that two of these dwarfs were women.

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

MONDAY

With Bricklebrains along to sniff out any enchantment, they visit a village beneath the mountain pass and find a couple of key players swayed by the distant Wicca. Until Monday, Happy Reading

*

Reflections Flern-8 part 2 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Wlvn and Riah brought the group to the Pert River bridge, a fine-looking stone bridge with high sides for horses. Wlvn asked who built it. “Dwarfs,” Riah explained for whomever might be listening. “They trade with us and with the villages upriver and are not great on horseback. They have trouble crossing this fast-running river at certain times of year.”

“Like now.” Thrud said, and they all took a good look at the late spring rush which was both fast and deep.

“Well, good for them,” Wlvn concluded and started across the bridge with another thought. “Let us hope no trolls have taken up residence beneath.” That caused Vinnu, Tiren and Fritt to all glance out over the edge of the bridge, but Wlvn knew it was too small for a troll.

Once beyond the Pert, the forest changed subtly. There were more fir and pine trees and the hills seemed steeper, closer to the mountains, while the lowland between the Pert and the river that Riah called the Sware bogged down into swampy and soggy places. An overcast day might have brought nothing to cheer about, but with the sun shining, spring stayed heavy throughout the day. Thrud and Vinnu still talked, but now they included Tiren and Gunder. If the boys responded, it had to be too soft for Wlvn to hear. Vilder and Pinn also rode side by side, and while they said nothing, the vibe of desire between them pulsated strong enough for Wlvn to feel.

At lunch, Wlvn put his back to a tree where he faced the fire and watched Riah prepare some of the food brought from the elf camp. Kined and Fritt finally came to corner Wlvn while everyone else wandered out into the spring among the trees and meadow flowers. Wlvn expected the boys on the first day, especially Kined. He did not exactly understand what took them so long, but he sat, game to their presence, willing to listen to what they had to say.

“Flern and I have always been close, since we were children.” Kined started things before he looked at the ground and pulled up a handful of grass to watch the wind take it. “I do not understand you and the other people she has been or why she cannot come back, but I have to ask. Will I see her again?”

“That is my hope,” Wlvn responded as he turned to look at Fritt.

Fritt looked startled for a moment, like no one ever asked his opinion about anything, but he opened up. “I have never made a secret about how I feel about Flern. For years, I fought Trell and Tird for her attention and I started thinking that now that they have settled down, I might have a chance with her, to tell her how I feel.” Fritt clearly fought the anger that came up into his face. “But now you are here, and you say you don’t know if you can get her back and I don’t understand where she has gone, and I might never be able to tell her; and it isn’t fair.”

“You can tell me. Even if I can’t reach her right now, I am not cut off from the Princess and the others you have met. She will hear your words, eventually.”

Fritt looked at first like he wanted to say something, but instead his face contorted to keep his tears at bay. “I hate you,” he shouted as he stood and ran off.

“No, stay!” Wlvn spoke quickly to Riah and made it a command. The elf stopped in her tracks. In the empathy of the little ones, Riah had in mind to comfort the boy, but Wlvn knew the complications that could lead to. He could not afford to have an elf and human fall in love. “Finish what you are doing here. Fritt will have to work though his feelings on his own.”

“Lord.” Riah lowered her eyes in submission and went back to the fire, but there were tears in her eyes.

Kined spoke again. “I don’t hate you. I don’t think I could ever hate anyone who is as close to Flern as you are. It is true, I cannot look at you without seeing her. I believe you when you say that you and Flern are really the same person, though I don’t understand how that could be. You are very different.”

“I grew up a slave under the eye of a Titan. It was a harder life than you can imagine. And from the day Poseidon brought me those horses, I got thrust into a leadership position that Flern would never accept. I had no choice but to learn to lead. She wants no part of leading.”

Kined smiled. “I understand. She is a young fawn, like her name, a gentle flower with a soft and tender heart. It is one of the things I love about her.”

Wlvn smiled but repeated himself. “You know; whatever you tell me she will hear eventually.”

Kined just returned the smile. “I understand. I don’t care. Flern and I have always been straight with each other.” Wlvn cocked one eyebrow and stared down the young man. “Okay, in every way except how I feel about her.” Kined smiled again. “You know, you and Flern are very different in some ways, but very much alike in others. She would never let me lie to her, either.”

“So, what honest thing do you want to tell me?” Wlvn knew he had to get to the point. Riah finished her preparations and stood ready to call the others to lunch.

“That I have loved her since we were babies. That she is the only person I want to be with for all of my days. That I was always afraid to tell her because I knew in my heart that she was special.” Kined raised his own eyebrows at that thought. “Of course, I had no idea how special.”

“You know,” Wlvn interrupted. “If you marry her, it will only be her you are marrying. The rest of my lives will not be there to fix everything for you or her. If you have a baby that dies in childhood, Doctor Mishka will not be able to fix that. If you have a bad year with the crops, Nameless cannot come and fix it. If you ever have a confrontation with a stranger, Diogenes cannot step in and fight your fight for you. If you ever have lustful thoughts about the Princess, Flern will beat you up.” Wlvn paused to scratch his chin. “Though I suppose lustful thoughts about the Princess might be hard to avoid.” He knew the Princess was attractive almost beyond reason. “Still, if you ever hit Flern… Well, in that case I might be tempted to beat the crap out of you, but you know what I mean.”

“I understand.” Kined nodded his head, vigorously. “So Flern, will you marry me?”

Wlvn froze like a statue for a second before he answered, and not without a smile. “I will pass on the message when I can, but I am sure she would prefer you ask her directly.”

Vinnu heard, and she shouted with glee as Thrud arrived. “Kined just asked Flern to marry him.”

“Well, it’s about time,” Thrud responded with a look at Kined that made him turn his head in embarrassment.

Tiren and Gunder were there, and Tiren spoke. “You owe me one.” Gunder nodded and braced himself while Tiren hit him in the upper arm, hard.

“Ouch.” Gunder rubbed his arm. “Now we are even again?” Gunder wanted to be sure, and Tiren nodded.

Vilder and Pinn came in and said, “Congratulations,” but looked at Wlvn who merely shrugged. Vilder saw Fritt by the horses and went to him. The others left Fritt alone. They knew it was something Fritt would have to deal with in his own way.

After lunch, Kined felt too good to sit still. He helped Riah clean up and got a surprise when he handed the pot to her and she responded with, “Thank you, Lord.”

“What?”

“If you are going to marry my Lady, that makes you my Lord by extension. I feel it. I cannot help it. And that will probably include any children you have, too.”

Kined paused to search his own feelings. He had to pause at the thought of children, but then he responded. “I feel it, too,” he admitted. He suddenly felt very protective about this elf maid and loved her like she was his own in some way. He grinned more broadly than he had before. “Do you think that means she might say yes?”

Riah looked up at the man and matched his grin and then some with her elf grin. “Oh, I hope so.”

Reflections Flern-8 part 1 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Heads nodded with understanding as Wlvn spoke. He felt he had been patient enough. “But now, you have something to tell us I think.”

“Indeed,” Lord Oakvein also nodded his head. “Of late I have become aware of a great power in the east. Her eyes are turned in this direction, and not for good. She alone has power to force others to her will. There is nothing that even the gods can do to force my will, being counted as a lesser god myself, but I fear the little ones, the elves and dwarfs and the dark elves who live under the mountain might not have the strength to resist her. As for men, she might not have the power in herself to take a whole village. I see she has soldiers for that task. But one man here, one woman there might be swayed by her, even at this great distance. I know you oppose her. Be careful whom you trust. What is more, she does not work alone.”

“What do you mean?”

“I cannot say who, but I imagine one of the gods themselves is supporting her, directly, and I see the other great gods holding back as if they promised not to interfere.”

“The gods don’t make promises,” Wlvn said.

“So I have heard, but they may pledge to stand back for a season. It is not unknown.”

“One of the gods?” Vinnu sounded frightened by the thought of opposing a god.

Wlvn could not help teasing her. “Do you see what trouble Flern has gotten you into?”

Thrud and Tiren laughed nervously.

“I don’t care.” Vilder spoke up, and it sounded a bit loud. “The Jaccar have taken our homes and imprisoned our families. I will fight the gods if I have to in order to set them free.” Pinn touched Vilder on the arm and leaned up to kiss his cheek. Everyone but Oakvein and Riah gasped. They had never seen them so much as touch. Vilder also appeared shocked, from the look on his face, but he quieted and took Pinn by the hand, and they held hands for the rest of that night.

“What of the Were?” Wlvn asked.

“I do not know,” Lord Oakvein admitted. “They may be beyond her reach for one reason or another.”

Wlvn nodded. “I am not as concerned about my little ones as I am about those that are not mine.”

“Your little ones?”

“Yes, mine and Flern’s.” Wlvn told Oakvein, and the others by extension, though they understood or suspected as much.

“So that was why she traveled with the half dwarf and the half elf and Moriah’s mother, Laurel. But what of the mermaid? How do you explain that?”

“Tell us about Flern,” Vinnu spoke up. She wanted to get her mind off the idea of fighting the gods.

“Yes, what did she stumble into?” Thrud asked, having been exceptionally quiet that whole time. “Flern was always a pretty good klutz.”

Lord Oakvein lifted his ivy vest and showed his scar again. “That sword, actually.” He pointed at Wlvn. “She was learning.”

Wlvn listened at that point. He felt glad to hear that things were continuing according to plan. Skinny Wlkn and Elleya were still clinging to each other, Badl and Moriah would end up together and Flern apparently found the one Mother Vrya and Aphrodite designated for Andrea. If Wlvn should find his way back to his own time, he would not have to marry any of those women. He smiled and turned over to sleep while they talked, Riah right in the middle of the conversation.

Wlvn instinctively knew it would be best not to listen too closely. If he heard too much about how things turned out in those days, he might be tempted to change things, or accidentally change things if and when he got back there. He considered his situation and wondered briefly if this double trade might really be the accident it seemed, but then he slept.

In the early morning, Riah woke with him before the sun. They walked as they talked so as not to wake the others.

“You were named after Moriah, my friend,” Wlvn said it out loud.

“Yes.” Riah looked at the ground. “She died seventy-two years ago, the day I was born. She and mother were best of friends.”

Wlvn nodded and stopped when the light began to peek above the horizon. “And Badl?” he asked.

“Very old,” Riah said. “His son, Balken is chief of the dwarfs of Movan Mountain.”

Wlvn stopped walking at the edge of a small clearing and looked at the elf. She became self-conscious under his stare and looked away. “So, you are seventy-two. From your appearance, a girl about fourteen or fifteen sounds right.”

“I am older than my mother was when she accompanied you, I mean Flern.” Riah said in her defense and wondered what Wlvn might be getting at.

“And I suppose you can’t tell me what happened with your mother.”

Riah shook her head. “Mother was right about that. I never paid attention. I only know what Lord Oakvein spoke about last night, and I am sure some of that is not to be told. I would not be surprised if the others woke up without remembering it at all, and while I remember what he said, I am sure my tongue will not form the words. The law is young, but I know the law in my deepest being. I cannot tell you about things you have not experienced for yourself, even if they are things in the deep past.”

 That was indeed the law, his law. It was safer that way. He understood, but he did not answer. He stood still instead when he heard the bushes rustle behind him. Riah looked and smiled, but Wlvn figured it might be one or more of the others. His eyes were drawn instead to the increasing light in the forest because that light did not come from the rising sun.

After only a moment, a bright white light erupted from the trees and into the little clearing. When the light dimmed, they saw a unicorn, its horn pointed up in a non-threatening manner. It shook its head and glowing white sprinkles fell from its mane. It pointed at Wlvn and stomped its left foot twice on the ground. Then it turned and bolted back into the woods to be lost from sight.

Reflections Flern-7 part 3 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

In the morning, Wlvn rode out front with Riah close beside him. He needed Riah to show the way, but he also wanted to keep a close eye on her. The more he learned about his many lives throughout time, the more he learned that prolonged interactions between humans and his little ones were not recommended.

Vilder and Pinn rode behind and stayed very quiet the whole day. They only passed occasional whispers between them, and while Wlvn knew full well Riah listened in with those good elf ears, he refused to hear what he assumed was private. Meanwhile, Thrud and Vinnu became very talkative and animated the whole day. It had to do with the terrain, the weather, men and women, husbands, babies, and whatever else came to mind. Tiren and Gunder came next and said nothing, being content to let their women do all the talking. Wlvn only hoped that Kined and Fritt were paying attention at the rear of the column. He felt a little concerned that neither Kined nor Fritt had yet expressed their feelings about Flern’s disappearance and his arrival in her place, but he could not worry about that just yet. It would happen.

In the meanwhile, Wlvn instinctively kept his ears open for the sound of a baby cry, a sound seldom, if ever heard when the sun came up bright. They were night creatures after all. Of course, he knew he had fallen into another time altogether and he had no reason to suppose the Wicca would follow Loki’s pattern. He did not imagine the woman, powerful as she might be, would even have access to night creatures. It would take a god to bring them from their world of origin, wherever that might be. Still, he listened all the same, and the more so as the sun began to set.

He called for an early camp and let Riah practice her hunting skills while the couples built a fine fire. Wlvn sat and occasionally stared at Kined and Fritt. He did not know what to tell them. He knew that Flern started seriously falling for Kined, if not already fallen, and he got the impression the feelings were mutual, poor Fritt. Sadly, there seemed absolutely nothing he could do about it but stare at them now and then and sigh. Things generally stayed calm and quiet in the camp until he heard a voice instruct Tiren.

“Please take only the fallen and dead branches, if you don’t mind.”

He heard Fritt fall over. He imagined Tiren fainted as well. He heard Gunder shout and Vinnu scream, and he sighed and got to his feet. He found a tree-man, a dryad some eight feet tall, well back from them all, and posing no threat to anyone. In the perfect timing that the little ones show now and then, Riah came into the camp at that very moment, a roe deer slung over her shoulders.

“Hello, Lord Oakvein,” Riah said. “An honor to see you again.”

“My pleasure, young daughter of Laurel the Wise.” Lord Oakvein smiled at the elf as Riah walked to a small clearing downwind from the camp where she could butcher the deer for their supper. “You are not the young woman I expected,” Lord Oakvein turned his eyes on Wlvn. “But unless my old memory is failing me, I would say you look exactly like her in a masculine sort of way. Besides, I recognize the sword.” Lord Oakvein lifted the ivy that hung like a vest around his shoulders and showed a scar in his right side. He continued to smile and appeared to consider the scar something like a badge of honor.

Wlvn returned the dryad’s smile and invited him in. “Come to the fire, though not too close, of course. Fritt, get up. Kined, help Tiren. Gunder, why don’t you go help Riah butcher the deer. Ladies, I believe the water is boiling to make the elf bread. Vilder and Pinn, you might want to stick with me. I imagine this good gentleman has some news for us.”

“Not entirely good news, I’m afraid.” Lord Oakvein shook his head as he stepped up to walk beside Wlvn.

They passed pleasantries for a time, until the deer got cooked. Strips of meat started being smoked to take on the road. The bread also got made and some tubers, not unlike potatoes that Lord Oakvein pointed out. They cooked quickly. By then, the company had become comfortable with the dryad’s presence and found him to be a kind and caring soul. But by then, it had also become dark in the woods, and the travelers were inclined to keep close to the light of the fire.

Finally, Lord Oakvein told something of himself. “I am the spirit of the forest,” he said. “I feed the birds and animals that live in my place, and I know that they, in turn, feed others. Even those that die of age feed my roots and help me reach for the light.” He paused to nod at Riah. “The elves of Miroven take the dead and fallen wood. They also cut the trees I mark, the diseased, broken, and stunted ones.”

“Does that hurt?” Vinnu interrupted with the question.

“Like a haircut,” Wlvn responded. “Go on.”

“The elves do me much good when the fires come.” Lord Oakvein took a breath. “But the men by the rivers have no restraints. They take what they will and cut down what they would have. I am the one who is restrained from interfering, but then I have seen the homes and wagons and great things they have done with my wood. I am not unhappy that they nibble at my edges.”

“Good to know,” Vilder said, and he explained when the others looked at him. “We have cut many trees from the forest around our home, but I never thought of it as cutting into someone who was alive.”

Lord Oakvein smiled again for the young man. “All of creation is alive in one form or another. It would be very sad if men began to think that all the world was dead and empty.”

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

MONDAY

After a visit with the Dryad, Wlvn and Flern’s friends follow their elf guide into dwarf territory. And Kined proposes to Flern, which is strange.  Too bad Flern is not there… Until Monday, Happy Reading.

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Reflections Flern-7 part 2 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Flern rested in her own time and place in history but she sat up when the girls called. She got to her feet when she heard the noise of horses in the camp. “They are here,” old Gallred stuck his head in the door, but Flern already started on her way.

Laurel came first to the top of the rise on her elf-steed, one more capable than any the humans rode, and Flern’s mare followed dutifully behind. Kined and Fat Fritt came next, their jaws dropped as they pointed out amazing things about this world where the elf had taken them. The couples came last, Pinn beside Vilder, Vinnu beside Gunder and Thrud beside Tiren who brought up the rear.

Flern walked up as they dismounted. She introduced Gallred, the gray-haired elder elf before she gave her little speech. “I imagine Laurel explained. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I was here a day before I realized I can’t do this without you. Anyway, you all volunteered, and it is your village as much as mine. It was not fair to leave you behind. I understand that none of us may survive this journey, and that includes me.” She stopped because she started crying and could not say more.

 Pinn, the first to reach her, hugged her. Vinnu and Thrud were not far behind. The boys stood back and let the girls commiserate, but Laurel stepped up, spoke when she could.  “There, you see?” She added her own hug to the party. Flern simply wiped her eyes and nodded while Vilder spoke up.

“Trell has gone with Arania and the travelers. Tird has stayed with Vincas, and they will be married soon, I think. Elluin and Drud have also stayed in the village. I feel for her as much as any of us, but Drud has said he wants to do right and maybe make up for Bunder and their years of being ox droppings.”

“Vilder!” Pinn objected.

Vilder frowned before he grinned. “Okay, their years of being bad. But as you can see, the rest of us are here. You were the one who wanted to fetch the bronze all along. Maybe it would have helped if we went sooner, and maybe not. I was not sure when we escaped if we might all just end up settling somewhere. I thought the Jaccar could not be beaten. You showed us they can. You showed the village and the travelers that the Jaccar are not invincible. Now I feel we have a real chance to save our village and all of our families and friends. But we have to finish the journey together or die trying.” He paused and looked around at every face. “We understand the risks and I think now we understand why the Jaccar want to stop you, especially. We talked about that. We need to keep you alive to finish the journey because you are the best chance we have to set our people free.” Vilder stopped and looked again at everyone. His face asked if he said that right and if anyone had anything to add.

“I—” Kined started to speak but stopped when Flern turned to walk toward him. She wiped her nose and eyes on the sleeve of her dress as she walked up and gave him a hug, a quick thing before she turned away, but it felt important, or at least she felt it was.

“Got anything to eat around here?” Fritt broke the tension with the question and old Gallred stepped up.

“Of course, young human. Leave your horses to us and come and refresh yourselves. We have non-enchanted food specially prepared, just for you.”

Flern looked at the smiling elf. “It’s all right. I have already decided they won’t be enchanted by the food so feed them what you will.” She returned his smile.

That afternoon, Flern took the girls to the small pool in the woods. It appeared to be just a bit of crystal-clear water, but it had been surrounded by a soft lawn and plenty of flowers that grew to make the whole area smell lovely.  Laurel also accompanied them, but she kept back and kept her thoughts to herself.

“This is called the pool of reflection,” Flern explained with a look at Laurel who nodded. “The elves tell me that sometimes, instead of your own image, it can reflect what is most pressing on your mind and heart.”

“So, what?” Vinnu asked. “It will show me what I really want?”

“Not what you want, necessarily.” Flern started to explain better.

“Oh, go ahead,” Thrud interrupted. “If it is what you want, you will probably only see yourself.”

“Thrud!” Flern and Pinn objected, and Pinn pushed ahead to the pool. She looked, and at first, she only saw herself. The others watched, but from an angle so as not to disturb the image. After a moment, the water began to swirl, or rather the picture began to swirl. The water stayed as still and calm as ever. Slowly, a different picture formed. It remained Pinn, but she sat to the side, smiling, and nursing a baby. Pinn quickly backed away.

“Pinn,” Vinnu touched her friend on the hand. “I never knew.

“Who would have thought it?” Thrud spoke up.

“I never would have guessed,” Flern agreed, and Pinn turned a little red for one of the few times in her life. She moved Flern’s hand toward the pool.

“So, let’s see you,” she said.

Flern lifted her eyebrows, shook her head, and tried to back away, but the others would not let her. The more she said, “No, no, guys. Please, not me,” the more the others insisted until she finally gave in. She got in position, and looked and saw herself, but another picture came into focus quickly—the picture of a young man.

“Oh, where did you find him?” Thrud quickly asked. Pinn looked a little closer.

“Why, he looks just like you,” Pinn said.

“Who is it?” Vinnu asked.

Flern mouthed the word carefully. “Wlvn.” She saw Wlvn mouth a word in return, and she heard that word clearly in her head. “Flern.” Then their eyes met and Flern became terribly dizzy. She fell back, and after a moment, Wlvn sat up.

Wlvn smiled for Pinn, Thrud and Vinnu each in turn. He quickly checked the pool, but all he saw was his own reflection. He looked again at the girls and then up at the Lady elf who stood quietly by a tree. “Laurel.” He named her. “I see you are all grown up, and may I add, you are lovely.”

“My Lord,” Laurel came close. “You did that, or rather Flern did that despite knowing what was going to happen. Why?”

“I didn’t know what was going to happen. Flern did not know. We are partners in time as well as being male and female reflections of each other, you see. I am experiencing Flern and myself at the same time, more or less. Why?”

“Because you have double traded, as you called it. And as I understand it you are stuck now living Flern’s life and she is stuck living yours.”

“That can’t be good.” Wlvn reached out for Flern with his mind, but for the first time in years she was not there.

“I don’t understand,” Vinnu said.

“She is taking up not following things where Elluin left off,” Thrud said. Pinn elbowed Thrud but otherwise stayed exceptionally quiet.

“I assume I won’t find her again in the pool.” Wlvn spoke to Laurel.

“No Lord,” Laurel admitted, and then she appeared to think very hard before she spoke again. “When I was young and Flern appeared in your world I had a vision. In it, I saw you continuing her quest while she continued yours. Whether or not you find a way to straighten out your lives, I cannot say. But what you do is up to you. It is always up to you.”

“You will come with us?” Wlvn asked and Pinn, Vinnu and Thrud all looked at the elf. They had not considered that possibility, but they did not seem to object to the idea of bringing along a little magical help, as they saw it.

“I dare not. I rode with Flern, and I know the outcome of those days. I may speak of things out of turn which may change things in the future.” Wlvn looked disappointed, but he understood. “But there is one, if you wish.” Laurel let out a sound like the whip-o-will at sundown. It echoed through the woods, and it did not take long before they all heard an answer.

“Sounds like a girl,” Thrud said, and in only a moment, a girl ran up much faster than human legs could run. She looked young, maybe fourteen or fifteen, but she was not dressed in a dress like Laurel and the girls. Laurel, in fact, looked majestic to Wlvn’s ancient eyes, but this girl had more of the Peter Pan look about her, being in shorts, leggings and an alpine-type hat. She held a bow in her hand like it was her best friend.

“Is it done?” the girl asked, breathless.

Laurel nodded and introduced Wlvn and the girls and then introduced her daughter, “Moriah. She is not interested in the past and thinks she is an Amazon.” Moriah gave her mother a dirty look.

Thrud and Vinnu stood and said that they were glad to meet the girl, and happy to have someone on the journey who knew where she was going. Pinn looked at Wlvn, and so did Moriah. Wlvn spoke slowly as he framed his thoughts into words.

“After myself you must listen to Pinn and follow her instructions. Then you must listen to Vilder who is in charge of the boys and do what he says after Pinn. Is this clear?”

Moriah wrinkled her nose and looked at her mother who only smiled. “He is worse than you.”

“And another thing. I knew Moriah, the one I am sure you were named after.” Wlvn looked at Laurel who nodded. “I think we need to call you Riah instead. I get so easily confused.”

Pinn interrupted. “But Wolven, won’t you be in charge?”

Wlvn lifted his eyebrows and shook his head and the young women all gasped. It was what Flern always did. “I am an accidental traveler,” he said. “My chief job is to find a way to trade back so Flern can live her own life. Barring that, I have to figure out some way to overcome the Wicca.”

“The what?” Vinnu asked.

“She is the one in charge of the Jaccar. They only do her bidding.”

“And her magic is far stronger than my own,” Laurel said. “No little spirit can resist her power. We are safe here, but only because there are many of us.”

Wlvn nodded like he understood. “It must be in her blood,” he said, and Laurel agreed, though she could not imagine who the Wicca’s mother or father might be.

Wlvn shook off his thoughts and turned to Riah. “Well?” He asked, and it sounded a bit sharp. Riah jumped.

“Yes, Lord. I will do this.”

“Good.” Wlvn stood. “I need to introduce myself to the men, if a certain elf will accompany me.” Laurel just smiled broadly and stepped up to take his arm.

He smiled for her and shot the words over his shoulder. “We leave in the morning.”

Reflections Flern-7 part 1 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

When the Jaccar reached the wall of wagons, the bowmen had put down their bows and picked up their spears, clubs and long, hunting knives. Some had farm hoes and whatever other sharp instrument they possessed that might be turned to a weapon. They bunched up in the gaps between the wagons and got up on the wagons to strike down on their enemy. They were determined to keep the enemy outside the wagon wall, but the Jaccar were just as determined to break in. This became the worst of it for Flern. She got off the wagon top and stepped away from the action to watch, but in reality, she covered her eyes because she could not watch.

One of the Jaccar who tried to push his way through a gap between two wagons, spotted her, and shouts went up and down the Jaccar line. The Jaccar doubled their efforts, and before Flern could do anything at all, a half-dozen Jaccar pushed through in two places. Those gaps in the line quickly closed, but now there were six Jaccar inside the wall of wagons, and that might have been dangerous if this had been a real battle. Fortunately, the Jaccar were only interested in one thing, killing the young, red-haired girl, and that became a problem for them because she was not there anymore. Diogenes had taken her place and drawn both his sword and long knife, and he got angry at the thought that good men probably got killed or hurt when the Jaccar pushed through.

These Jaccar were not really soldiers, though they were perhaps fighters after a fashion, with some experience against hapless opponents. They had never faced anything like Diogenes, to be sure, one trained in the finest military school in Pella, Macedonia, raised to lead men in battle, born to take every ounce of his aggression out on the Persian army, and he did so massively on more than one occasion. Diogenes once killed an elephant with his bare hands when that elephant was bearing down on Alexander. Surely even six Jaccar would be no problem. To be honest, it did take a minute to kill them all, but then it took no longer than a minute. A village man and a traveler came up when they realized that it would not be a good thing to have the enemy at their backs, but they just watched in stunned silence.

Elluin, Thrud and Vinnu each shot their arrow at the beginning, but then they escaped to hide under the tarp, and Vinnu at least had her hands over her ears the whole time as well. They saw it all, and also the look on Diogenes’ face that suggested he really wanted to wade out into the thick of the fighting, and only reluctantly got distracted by the noise downriver where they expected the Jaccar cavalry. Diogenes walked in that direction, surprised to hear cheering.

The scene was simple, and Diogenes understood something the men in that place did not understand. Miroven and his band of thirty were devastating the Jaccar. Their cavalry charge stopped in mid stride, and those Jaccar that were lucky enough to escape the first volley had no escape but to dive into the river. Of course, the river spit them back out, much to their surprise, and then a second arrow from the elves finished the job.

One traveler turned around and quickly nudged the others. Diogenes did not explain a thing. “Get back to the place you were taken from. Go reinforce the main line, now!” The men hurried. Even if they did not recognize the armor, and they likely did, no one argued with a man splattered with blood and who had blood thick and dripping from his weapons. “Miroven.” Diogenes said it out loud, because he had learned the contact got better when he spoke out loud, and now Flern would know that as well since he had done it in her lifetime. “Go and take the Jaccar from the rear. “I don’t want your knives in the battle, but your bows may help if your aim is good.” Diogenes did not play at war. Unlike Flern, he had no qualms about using Miroven’s thirty volunteers for the work for which they volunteered. Miroven understood perfectly well.

“Yes, my Lord,” came the response, and Diogenes turned back toward the main battle. He arrived just after the men he sent, and that force turned everything against the Jaccar. Flern’s men on horseback were in ragged lines on the left and right, and while they were not greatly impacting the battle, they made sure no Jaccar escaped in those directions while they slowly advanced. Some of the sturdier men followed Diogenes out beyond the wall where they could come face to face with their assailants; some because they had spent the last frustrating ten minutes jabbing with their spears at Jaccar who kept ducking, and then ducking in turn as the Jaccar jabbed at them. The blood lust came up in some of them, and the Jaccar sensed something they had never sensed before. They were going to lose. The blood lust came up considerably in Diogenes, and he, alone, might have sent the remaining Jaccar into flight. Sadly, for the Jaccar, there turned out to be nowhere to run. There may have been as many as fifty who tried for the cloud bank, probably figuring if they could make it to the fog, they just might escape. They did not know there were elf bowmen waiting for this very thing. It may have taken two arrows each from the thirty, but elf bowmen rarely miss. None of the Jaccar made it as far as the mist.

Even though there were casualties, some dead and many wounded, the men from the village and the travelers cheered. Diogenes stayed long enough to clean his sword and knife and make sure they were properly sheathed. Then he apologized to Flern, but she apologized to him, because he was the one who had to do the killing. Diogenes went to the tarp where Thrud, Vinnu and Elluin were still in hiding, and he tried to smile for them. When Flern came back, she let go of her armor. She wanted her own dress back. She wanted to be one of the girls again, and she proved it by falling to her knees and weeping. Thrud and Vinnu only hesitated for a second before they fell to each side of her and hugged her and wept with her.

When later came, Flern felt amazed to find that none of her friends from home were dead or even had anything more than scratches and bruises. Borsiloff was dead. Karenski was wounded as well, but not badly. Apparently Arania and Trell dragged the old man to safety before he could be more seriously hurt or killed. Pinn was dirty everywhere, like she might have fallen in the mud several times, and Vilder said he had to pry her fingers apart to get the knife out of her hand. Flern saw the knife and it looked like it had never been used, and she was grateful for that, but after her cry, she became ready to give up this whole foolishness.

“I’m leaving,” she told the girls in a sudden decision. “The Jaccar won’t come here again if I am not here.”

“Flern, you can’t.”

“I am sure the village won’t mind if you stay with Tird. They will probably help you build homes. And I am sure Karenski, Arania and Trell won’t mind if you go with them, only I have to go.”

“Go where?”

“Flern.” Vilder spoke, but Pinn stood right there with him, agreeing with every word.  “We started this together and we need to finish together. We are going for the weapons of bronze and then we find the men to set our village free.”

“I won’t be responsible for more people being killed,” Flern said, with as much determination as she could muster.

“But the Doctor,” Vinnu said. There were many wounded who could use her help, but Flern shook her head again.

“These people need to know the true cost of standing against the Jaccar and softening the blow would not be a good thing.” Doctor Mishka argued with Flern in her mind, but Flern was not going to be swayed.

“Flern.” Kined spoke at last. She had not seen him since the night Bunder tried to rape her. He had kept away, and maybe she had as well. “I believe in you,” he said. “You will figure it out, and I will be here, waiting for your return.”

“Kined!” Tiren and Vilder objected, but Gunder put his big hand out.

“Maybe she needs time,” he said.

“I will miss you,” Fritt added, and with one last look in Kined’s face, Flern turned and walked toward the mist. She went into the cloud and disappeared. A wind came up right away. The cloud dissipated slowly, but no one felt surprised that when it was gone, so was Flern.

Reflections Flern-6 part 3 of 3

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“The Jaccar will wait until morning at the very least,” one big man said. Vilder, Tiren, Gunder, Borsiloff and Karenski all looked at Flern, and she did not disappoint them as she shook her head most firmly. She heard from Diogenes and the Princess, her two experts in this sort of thing, and she spoke as well as she could, and with an uncharacteristic decisiveness.

“The Jaccar may wait until morning or until the rain stops, but we cannot count on that. My decision would be to press forward in the bad conditions because I would expect my enemy to become lax and lazy. I say double the watchers in the night and be sure they can keep watch on each other as well. That way, if some sneaky, grass covered Jaccar takes out one watcher, the other can raise the alarm.” Flern looked down at her boots. She felt sure that whether in the night or in the morning, good men were going to die to protect her. The Jaccar seemed only interested in getting to her, after all. “Maybe we can plan a surprise for them in the morning,” Flern said offhandedly. “A good bit of morning fog might help.” She looked up toward the sky, full of rain clouds. She started toward the tent, not wanting to argue with anyone. Vilder called after her to ask where she was going, and she did not mind telling him. “Doctor Mishka needs a nap,” she said. “And so do I.”

Flern woke up before sunrise and sat up to very little light. It took a few seconds of eye adjustment to discern that the other girls were all present and sleeping. The rain had stopped, and the clouds had cleared off, so the light of the nearly full moon helped a lot. What is that knocking at my door, Flern wondered. “Who is there?” She asked out loud, but soft enough to not wake the others.

“Miroven.” The answer came quickly, and a message came with it. “The Jaccar have arrived in force, nearly a hundred, and they are preparing to move.”

Flern jumped up. “Show time!” She shouted, and everyone in the tent began to stir, slowly. Flern called for her weapons and felt surprised to learn that she now knew how to use them. Of course, she understood that head knowledge and hand knowledge were two different things. She felt the other gift, too—the one from Baldur. Wlvn received the gift of speed. She knew, but it probably would not help her fly. “Show time!” Flern shouted again. “Hurry up!” She said, as she left the tent.

Flern listened to Miroven as she walked to what she called the command tarp. “We are presently arrayed behind their position. If they pull back, we will have them.”

“I hope by the time we are done, there will be none left to pull back,” Flern said, and she cut the connection and found that her headache did not feel as bad as before. Perhaps, in time, she thought she might be able to do this without any headache at all. Flern had gotten up when Mishka awoke, and she arranged things before she put herself back to bed. Now she would see, and she let her thoughts drift up to the sky, and the few lazy clouds that remained there.

“Little friends in the sky, come down now. Bring the clouds to make the wall and I will be so grateful.” That was all she thought before she came to Karenski and the lone village elder who presently had the duty. Gunder stood there as well to represent the young people, and they all looked at her for what to do. “Get the men up and moving,” Flern said. “They are coming.”

“Are you sure?” Gunder asked, and Flern frowned. She did not need her own people questioning her. She was not used to this command business, and such a question might make her question herself.

“I am sure.” That seemed all she could say. Fortunately, it was enough. As the men went off to their appointed tasks, Flern floated up to the top of the nearest house wagon. She looked up briefly and said thank you to Nanna, the moon goddess for the flight, and again as she felt the light of the moon rise up inside of her. When she raised her hands, she still did not know if it might work, but sure enough, light came from her hands and then from her eyes, and it looked like several spotlights of moonlight, like moonbeams that she could move back and forth. To be sure, it looked dim, not much better than spotlight flashlights, but it looked strong enough to reflect off the gathering fog bank. The bank looked more like two hundred yards off rather than a hundred yards, but it should still work if the sky sprites made it thick enough. If the Jaccar came on foot, she figured the travelers and villagers would have an advantage, being able to deploy some of their men on horseback. But if the Jaccar came on horseback, she felt they would be in trouble. A cavalry charge would overwhelm the poor defenses of the village. This artificial fog bank created by her sky sprites should make a cavalry charge impossible. The Jaccar would have to slow considerably to get through the fog lest they become disoriented and begin crashing into each other.

Flern turned off her lights when they began to simply reflect back from the fog. She scared herself a little because it took a minute to figure out how to do that. “Entering the fog on this side. They are on foot.” Flern heard from her elf spy while she floated back to the earth. “There are thirty horsemen down the riverbank. I suspect they will charge once the footmen engage your forces.” Flern’s panic must have been palpable as she ran to where Vilder waited, Pinn beside him.

“Vilder. They have horsemen downriver. What are we going to do if they charge our flank?”

Vilder might not have known what a flank was, exactly, but he moved quickly to draw one in five men on the wall of wagons to reinforce that side. The sides of the wall had been virtually deserted to strengthen the center where they all felt sure the Jaccar would strike. Now, the downriver side of the wall got staffed again. “We can’t do more,” Vilder said. “We can only hope that if they charge, these men will be able to hold them until we can send more help.”

All of a sudden, poor Flern became a nervous wreck. She felt sure that this would not work, and good men were going to die needlessly, for her, to protect her. “Pinn?” She looked to her friend, the strong one on whom they always depended.

“There isn’t any more we can do. We are as ready as we are going to be. I only wish it was over,” Pinn said, and walked away to catch up with Vilder. Flern followed more slowly and dragged her feet but started when she heard from Miroven once again.

“They are coming to the edge of the fog bank and should present targets soon.” Flern ran.

“Get ready!” She yelled. “Get ready!” she shouted down the wall and jumped-floated up again to the top of a house wagon. She saw the first, and then more and more, coming on slowly and carefully. There seemed so many of them, Flern had to hold her breath and listen very closely to the words inside her head. She had to bite her lower lip to keep from screaming despite Diogenes repeating his phrases, “Be patient. Not yet. Be patient.” When Diogenes finally said, “Now!” She almost did not hear it. Then she shouted, and while the barrage of arrows turned out to be an intermittent thing, there were enough arrows all at once to pin more than one Jaccar to the ground.

The Jaccar charged as arrows continued to rain on them. Flern’s hunters knew how to shoot a bow and hit their target, even if they were not warriors and did not have the experience at war that the Jaccar had.

“Again!” Flern shouted, and she let her moonbeams fall on those places where the Jaccar were bunched up. Any archer attracted to the light could hardly help hitting someone with an arrow. Then the arrows stopped, not all at once, but in a ragged sort of way as the horsemen from the villagers and travelers pushed out between the wagons and, spears in hand, affected a counter charge. These men were chosen for their ability to hunt with their spears from horseback, and they cut big gaping holes in the Jaccar charge, but there were still plenty of Jaccar coming on, screaming and yelling in a way that would frighten the villagers and travelers, not because the Jaccar were courageous, but because they were giving voice to their own fears. The screams were the sounds of terror and imminent death. Many were going to die.

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MONDAY

There is a battle and Flern runs away, but then the mixup happens and Flern ends up vanishing.  Wlvn takes her place and there does not seem to be a way back. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

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Reflections Flern-6 part 2 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Vincas’ father, Venislav turned out to be as verbal as his daughter. “That young man saved my life. He saved us all.” He reached up with his good hand and patted his daughter’s hand and smiled for her when she came over to watch. Venislav’s other hand rested in his lap. His arm broke, but it did not hurt much as long as he kept it still. Mishka smiled and sent Borsiloff and Thrud off in search of what she needed for a splint and sling. A broken bone in those days often did not heal right and it meant loss of some use in that limb, if it did not cripple, but it would not be that big a deal to one who knew her anatomy. The big deal would be keeping it immobilized until the bones knit together. She distracted Vincas and her father with a question.

“Pivdenny Bugh, it used to be all woods. What happened to all the trees?”

“The Brugh?” Venislav said, before he squinted and groaned softly as Mishka made sure the bones lined up correctly. It had been a clean break and should heal completely. “We cut them, for our homes and to make our fields and, well, everything we needed.” Vincas spoke up in her father’s place.

“Our forefathers did.” Venislav corrected his daughter while a few tears dropped from his eyes. “That was well before my time. Anyway, if you go further up into the hills, the woods are still there. We hunt there sometimes, but nobody goes very far into the woods.”

“Why is that?” Mishka asked as her things arrived and she began to immobilize the arm. Venislav watched the doctor work, so Vincas spoke up again.

“Because the woods are full of ancient spirit people, elves and dwarfs.” Her eyes got big as she spoke. “And they have magic and play terrible tricks on the poor souls who get lost in the woods.”

“Silly superstition.” Venislav spoke when he saw that the Doctor was not going to hurt him anymore. “It is just too easy to get lost in the woods, that’s all.”

Doctor Mishka nodded. She heard what she wanted to hear, and now all she needed was to charge Venislav with every terrible thing she could think of to be sure he left his splint on and his arm in the sling long enough to properly heal. When she stood, she told the others she needed a break before seeing any more patients. She had treated the worst, so no one would die on her.

While they walked outside, Doctor Mishka asked Flern a question. “Would you like me to do it?”

Flern took a minute to come out of whatever spaced-out condition she rested in, and she realize that she knew everything the good Doctor said and did, so while Flern might not be in her own time and place, in a way she still was. “No.” Flern responded in Mishka’s mind. “It is my life. I should do it myself.”

“Doctore.” Pinn pronounced the unfamiliar word imperfectly. “Thrud, Arania and I are going back to the wagon wall to check on the boys. Vinnu and Elluin say they can help here, but we feel kind of useless.”

“Mishka,” she said. “And that would be fine. I will be along, shortly.”

“See ya, Flern,” Thrud said, with a broad grin.

Just for that, Mishka smiled and instantly changed back to Flern, startling Thrud and almost making her stumble. “See ya,” Flern said, and she watched Pinn laugh, turn the girl in the right direction, and watched them walk away.

I have to concentrate, Flern thought to herself as she looked away. She was going to try and contact the earth spirits that might not even be there. It could not be harder than contacting the water spirits, she thought, but then, if they were there, they would be terribly far away. “Miroven.” The word popped into her head, and at first, she did not know what it meant. She understood it as a name, but whose? She shrugged. She called. “Miroven.” Nothing happened. She tried again, and a third time, and still nothing happened. She felt frustrated, because she felt sure something was supposed to happen, so on the fourth call, she shouted, and in her heart, she demanded some response. She jumped in her skin when the response came into her mind. She had heard from other lives she had lived, but this felt different. It sounded clearly like a voice outside of herself coming, she imagined, on a very private wavelength.

 “We are here, my Lady.” Miroven said. “We knew you were coming, and we have prepared. There are thirty of us, all volunteers, who will help in this struggle, and more who will help to defend the river and keep the enemy from crossing over.”

“What? Prepared? Thirty?” Flern looked around, but she did not see thirty people or thirty elves.  “No, wait. Don’t come here. I will come to you, but I don’t know when.”

A long pause followed before Flern heard an answer. “We will not come there if you do not wish it, but we are very close if you need us.” That felt like enough. Flern cut the contact and put her hand to her head. She was going to have a nice headache.

Vincas took that moment to come out of the common house, and she came up to Flern, immediately. “Are you well?” she asked, sweetly. Flern smiled for the girl, though a weak smile, and she nodded, though it did not help her throbbing temples. “Maybe if you became the Dokter—the healer again.” Vincas suggested. Flern nodded and made the change, and Mishka’s smile felt more genuine.

“Trouble is,” Mishka said. “When Flern comes home, she will still have a headache, I believe.”

“Oh.” Vincas clearly did not know what to say. She had no idea how it worked and simply felt overwhelmed on watching the transformation from one person to what looked mostly like a completely different person.

Doctor Mishka eventually made her way over to the house where they kept the Jaccar prisoner. His wounds were the worst of all, and she knew he did not have much time to live. If he did, she felt sure the village elders would be getting out the rope; but the village healer, more or less a shaman for the people confirmed her diagnosis. She questioned the prisoner, which surprised the shaman. None of them had been able to talk to the man, and Mishka figured Flern might not have understood the words either, but she had access to a lifetime that Flern did not yet know, so she got the language and got to ask her questions. It soon became clear that the man seemed normal in all respects, except he seemed convinced that serving the Wicca and doing whatever she asked was the most important thing in his life. He asked Mishka several times if she knew where the young red-haired girl might be. He spoke very frank in saying that his only desire was to find this girl and kill her. This is what the Wicca asked, and so it was what he must do. Even in his half-dead condition, Mishka felt certain that given the opportunity, the man would try.

“It is a very powerful enchantment,” the healer said, when Mishka explained the situation. “I have no way of undoing something so strong.”

“Nor I,” Mishka agreed, and she gave the Jaccar some pain killers so at least his last few hours would not be so painful. When she went back outside, she saw that it started raining again. She returned to being Flern, the right person in her own time and place, and Flern suffered with her headache all the way back to the wall of wagons. Pinn and the others sat there under a hastily erected tarp. Karenski, also present, said nothing. He just looked at Flern the way he did. Flern started getting used to that. Two of the village elders were also present, and they were currently arguing that now that the rain returned, and now that it would soon be dark, surely the Jaccar would not do anything.

Reflections Flern-6 part 1 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The river ford ran by the back of the camp. Flern walked in up to her ankles and stopped. She knelt down to place her hand in the water. The naiad had spoken to Wlvn about the water sprites, and Wlvn went under the impression that they were part of his responsibilities since Kartesh, when the Kairos got made responsible for the little spirits in the Earth. They were sprites, or spirits in the air, the fire, the water, and the earth, but at the moment, she had to try and get in touch with the ones in the water, this water, if there were any. It turned out to be easy, and in almost no time a little gelatinous head popped up from the current.

“My Lady,” the sprite said with deep respect, despite the squeaky little voice. Elluin and Vinnu looked a little frightened at this sight, but Pinn, Thrud Arania and Borsiloff all looked fascinated. Flern had to do everything in her power to keep herself from reaching out and hugging the cute little thing.

“I have a dangerous thing to ask you,” Flern sounded like a mother who might speak to a child. “And I will be just as happy if you say yes or no.”

“Please tell.” The water sprite spoke in a voice as cute as his looks, and he looked anxious to please his Lady.

Flern put on her most serious Disney Princess face and shook her finger. “I mean it now. This is a free choice, and I would not want to see any of my water babies hurt.” She could not help calling them water babies. She thought that the instant she caught sight of that cute little head. “Do you know who the Jaccar are?”

“Dirty muddy creatures,” the sprite answered, with a look meant to say he did not think much of the Jaccar, but which in reality made him look cuter than ever.  “Some swam in our good waters in the night.”

Flern nodded. “Well, if any more try to swim the river, you have my permission to stop them and wash them back to their own shore, and if you cannot stop them, you must come tell me right away, before they reach the village shore.”

“We will!” The sprite smiled and appeared to dance in the water. “Thank you, Lady. We will! You will see.”

“Thank you, Sweetwater.” Flern called the sprite by name. She was not sure how she knew the sprite’s name, but if these water babies were indeed part of her responsibility as it appeared, it would only be natural for her to know them all by name. Flern cut off her thoughts in that direction before she did know them all, and all at once. She felt rather certain that such an influx of information would have incapacitated her mind for some time.

“Now Tird?” Flern looked back at Pinn for guidance.

Pinn smiled very broadly. “Now Tird,” she assured her. They started to cross the ford at that point, but found their feet lifted from the water so that it felt like crossing a bridge, an invisible bridge made of water itself, and Flern heard Karenski in the distance as he now yelled at men to get up on those wagons!

Vinnu looked afraid to cross the river at first, but Flern took her hand and helped her. “They are sweet and will never hurt you,” she assured her friend. Vinnu looked like she was not quite sure.

When they got to Venislav’s house, Flern suggested that all of the wounded be brought to the common house to be tended for their wounds. Any number of people were wounded, not just Tird, and even one Jaccar survived the night raid. No one moved, though, until Pinn insisted on it, and then she insisted that the healthy men get out to the front line with the travelers and the young people.

The village elders that helped bring the wounded to the common house stood there, ready to protest that the Jaccar might swim the river again and they needed to protect their families. Borsiloff and Thrud tried to explain, and Pinn eventually took over explaining how Flern had solved that problem. They looked at Flern, and since she was waiting for that moment, she took advantage of it by instantly trading places with Doctor Mishka. Mishka was even an inch taller that the Princess, and her brown hair, a genuine brown, but the most startling thing, for those who noticed, was seeing Flern’s fawn brown eyes turn suddenly blue. The Princess had blue eyes as well, but no one watched that transformation.

“My friends are on that line.” Mishka spoke right up. “You would not want it said that on that day, the children showed more courage than their elders.” That stung a couple of the elders, and the rest wisely held their tongues. “Go, go. Now, go.” Mishka waved them off like she might dismiss a class. “Borsiloff, I need you here in case I need to send word to Karenski. I am Doctor Mishka, from Saint Petersburg. I had the dubious honor of learning my trade in a world war and practicing more than a lifetime in the Second War as well. Just remember, I am no miracle worker. Sometimes people die despite our best efforts, is it not so?” They all nodded, more or less. “Now let us see who we can help.” Mishka called to that same place her armor came from, and a little black bag appeared in her hand. She knew that with some of the equipment and medicine in that bag she tempted time and there might be a danger of changing the future, but she remained a careful person and her things never went far from her hands. Besides, this far in the past, more than likely they would not even recognize what she was doing, and no way they could duplicate her equipment. “Go, go,” she said. “See who you can help.” Elluin, Vinnu, Arania and Borsiloff went to see what they could do, but Pinn and Thrud shadowed the doctor.

When she came to Tird, she saw the terrible gash down his leg. It had been bandaged after a fashion, and it had stopped bleeding, so he appeared in no immediate danger of bleeding to death. Vincas sat right there with him, holding his hand, letting him squeeze her hand every time the throbbing pain in his leg became unbearable. “He saved my life.” She kept saying it over and over.

Tird said nothing but, “Who?”

“Flern,” Thrud answered.

“Mishka,” Pinn corrected her friend.

“Your healer,” Mishka clarified as she removed the bandage and spread an ointment over the whole area which had the effect of anesthetizing the leg in a few seconds. She pulled out a scalpel, a hemostat and a pair of tweezers and shocked everyone by first opening the leg. “We must make sure there is no stone or metal inside to poison him.” Mishka explained. “You should be around in the days of lead bullets and powder burns.” Seeing that the wound was clean and assuming it bled clean, Mishka got out her needle and self-dissolving thread. “A dermal regenerator would be better, but we use what we have,” she said, and sewed up the leg as neatly as sewing a tear in a dress. “You must stay off it for a week,” she instructed. “If you do, it should be good as new.” Then she polished it off with some antiseptic and a clean bandage and told Vincas how to be sure the bandages were always clean. “Boil them. Boil them.”