Boston and Katie Harper had the last watch in the night.  They sat side by side as the sun readied to come up and talked about their lives and loves.

            “I’m a good Catholic girl,” Boston insisted.  “I finished High School when I was sixteen and went to Saint Elizabeth’s, an all girls college.  I finished there in three years and went straight on to graduate school where I studied.  I mean, I went to parties and all, but electrical engineering takes real work.  I didn’t have time for much dating, and then I got drafted by the Men in Black and just sort of ended up pushing Lockhart around in that wheelchair for the next two years.  That’s all, really.”

            Katie Harper looked back toward the camp.  “Yes, it is hard to remember him as an old man.”

            Boston nodded.  “Him and Lincoln and Alexis who I never met before now.  They were all old.”

            “I understand,” Katie said as she looked again around the perimeter.  “Given the environment, it was a good thing the Kairos was able to make them young again.  A bunch of old people and a cripple would never have been able to keep up.”

            “Glen,” Boston responded.  “He likes to be called by name.  Kairos is too formal, more like a title.”

            “God of event time.”

            “That’s right.”  Boston smiled.  “The Watcher over History, he calls it.”  She looked at the lieutenant and Katie got the impression that it was her turn.

            “I did my graduate work in human cultural studies, specifically the technologies of early cultures.  I have a strong background in modern technology as well, though not exactly an engineering degree.  Still, I am sure that is why Colonel Weber chose me for this assignment.”

            “No doubt,” Boston said before she jumped.  Something roared in the distance.  It was out of sight, down the hill and hidden by the trees, but it was loud enough to wake the camp.  Lieutenant Harper stood with her weapon ready.  Boston had her Beretta, but stayed seated where she was.

            “Bears?”  Katie asked.  She knew it was no lion or tiger sound.

            Boston shook her head.  “I hunted bears in Canada.  That was no bear.”

            The roar came again along with another sound.  It was a squeal that dropped to a low roar of its own.  The trees swayed.  They heard at least one crash to the ground.  Then they heard a whine and something like thunder.  And then there was silence.  There was smoke among the trees, just visible in the dim light before dawn and the women thought the trees might be on fire, but they saw no light from flames.

            “Are you alright?”  That was Lockhart’s first concern when he arrived, Captain Decker beside him.  The women nodded.  “We wait until the light is better before we investigate,”  he decided, and Mingus, Roland and Captain Decker saw the wisdom in that.

            Back in camp, they made what breakfast they could out of the leftover deer and greens and then Lincoln distracted them all by suggesting they pack the camp and be prepared to move out quickly, just in case.  The way he phrased it, the others could hardly argue.

            The sun was well up by the time Lockhart, Mingus, Roland, Captain Decker and Boston made for the faint wisps of smoke that still trailed into the sky.  Lieutenant Harper wanted to go with them, but Captain Decker ordered her to stay and defend the camp.

            “Yes, sir,” Katie responded, but she did not sound too happy about it.

            Boston started out front.  She thought for a second that only she could pinpoint the location, but then she saw the smoke and remembered the roar and slipped back to a safer place between Lockhart and Roland.  They had to separate a little when they got to the trees at the bottom of the hill.  Boston immediately came across a great, old tree that was torn up by the roots.  Lockhart pointed out several smaller, young trees that were broken and crushed to the ground like they had been stepped on. 

            “This is not good,” Mingus said.  He examined the trees and bushes that were burnt and singed.  Some of the trees were still smoking, though none were outright burning.

            “Over here,” Roland called.

            They found the ghoul sitting with his back to a tree, dying.  He was bleeding, Boston guessed, though it looked more like slimy green sauce than blood.  The ghoul looked up at them and made a sound that could only have been laughter.  Boston felt the hair rise on the back of her neck at that sound. 

            “This is definitely not good,” Mingus said.

            “Your unicorn?”  Captain Decker asked, but Boston shook her head.  That was no unicorn sound she heard in the night.

            The ghoul looked up at the Captain and laughed at the word unicorn.  The Captain responded by shooting the ghoul.  It deflated and compressed and left a green smudge on the dirt while the Captain spoke.

            “Mercy killing.”

            “We might have gotten some information.”  Lockhart scolded the man.  Mingus mitigated.

            “No, we wouldn’t.”

            They started back up the hill to the camp when there was another roar in the distance.  Fortunately it was some distance away.

            “I hope that’s a dragon,” Roland spoke softly and Boston looked at the man like he must be crazy.

            “A dragon spirit would be better,” Mingus heard his son with his good elf ears and responded.

            “And if it is not?”  Lockhart asked.

            “Definitely not good.”  Mingus said it again.

After 4465BC.  in Southern China.  Kairos:  Keng

Recording…

            Boston checked the database and read the results out loud.  She concluded with her finger on the map and a note that they appeared to be somewhere between the Yangtze River and the southern mountains.

            “How many time zones do we have to go through to get back to our own time?”  Lieutenant Harper asked from the rear where she and Captain Decker continued to act as rear guard.

            “One hundred and twenty,” Boston answered from where she was straggling at the back of the pack.  “Glen is the one hundred and twenty-first lifetime of the Kairos.”

            “It won’t be anytime soon,” Alexis looked back.

            The land was a mix of forest and meadow with much steeper hills than the Sahara.  When they came to the top of one of those hills, a place where there were rocks sticking out through the soil, Lockhart called a halt.  It would be dark soon, and they needed the rest.

            “As good a place as any,” Lincoln sighed.

            “Yeah,” Captain Decker added.  “Something is bound to catch up to us no matter what we do and this is as defensible a position as any.”

            “Chinese deer,” Roland announced and he got out his bow and jogged back down the hill.

            “And some greens,” Alexis said as she dragged Boston and Lieutenant Harper off to gather.  “I was never a big fan of Atkins.”

            “Some rice would be nice,” Boston thought out loud.  “Too bad we don’t have a wok.”

            Once Alexis showed the others what to look for, they gathered as the sun sank in the west.  They saw plenty of deer, and Boston was sure Roland was already back at the camp and had cut the beast for the fire.  She stepped around a few trees and caught sight of a light in the forest.  It was not too far away so curiosity drove her to take a closer look.

            There was an opening among the trees and sweet grass and flowers in that little place.  There was a bubbling spring, and a creature that positively glowed a brilliant white against the growing shadows.  Boston put her hands together in delight, but she dared not say a thing, not even to call to the others for fear of frightening off the beast.  Thus she simply watched, enthralled as the sun sank lower in the sky.

            “Unicorn.”  Roland came up beside her and whispered.  Alexis and Katie Harper were with him. 

            “But no bones have ever been found of such a creature,” Katie protested.  “I thought such things did not exist.”

            “It isn’t a creature,” Alexis said.  “It is a spirit, a greater spirit of purity and virtue, though it behaves much like a creature.  There are a few still in our day on Avalon.  Certain elf maids pledge themselves to their feeding and protection and do not marry or have relations with men until they retire at age one hundred.”

            “You met Mirowen back at the Headquarters building,” Boston whispered.  “She was a unicorn maid before she met Doctor Roberts.”

            “She lost her unicorn on earth and it was captured.  Doctor Roberts helped her retrieve it from area 51,” Alexis added.  “I imagined you knew that since you and Captain Decker are stationed there.”

            Lieutenant Harper shook her head.  “The whole complex at area 51 is strictly on a need to know basis,” she said.  “Colonel Weber,” she added by way of explanation.

            They watched while the unicorn went to the spring for a drink.  “Unicorns can be injured and even killed when they inhabit this form,” Alexis continued with the information.  “But they are very powerful creatures, much more powerful than the form implies.”

            “If it chose to charge, we would not escape,” Roland added.

            “And it knows full well we are here,” Alexis said.  “But I don’t get it. They usually are not seen unless there is an innocent in need of protection.”

            “Hey.” Roland reached out, but it was too late.  Boston had stepped out on to the meadow.

            “Unicorns are dangerous.”  Alexis spoke quickly.

            “You said it knows we are here,” Boston responded softly.

            “Boston,” Roland raised his voice a little.  “Don’t you dare.”  He turned on Lieutenant Harper because she raised her weapon to the ready.

            “You have to be a virgin.”  Alexis whispered very loud.  Boston paused, turned to look back at them in the bushes and then turned again to continue toward the unicorn.  The unicorn raised its head and began to nod, but it made no hostile moves in Boston’s direction.  When she arrived, the beast turned its horn away from the girl as Boston reached out carefully to touch the unicorn’s neck.  She felt a moment of electric shock when she touched before she was drawn to do what was in her heart.  She put her arms gently around the unicorn’s neck and kissed it right behind the ear.  It was something she dreamed about.

            The unicorn nodded again and broke free, gently.  With one more nod, it turned and bounded into the bushes to be lost in the coming night.  The light it emitted vanished with the beast, and Boston remained to cry gentle tears of joy.

            When the others joined her in the meadow, Boston turned to Alexis.  “You don’t mind?  It was something I just had to do.”

            “It called to you,” Alexis smiled.  “I don’t mind at all.”  She punched her grinning brother in the stomach before they escorted Boston back to the camp. 

            “Boston visited with it,” Alexis said in a cryptic way.  She said nothing about the virgin qualification.  She imagined Lincoln understood and Lockhart may have guessed.  She assumed Captain Decker had no idea, and Alexis was not going to spell it out for him.

            “A unicorn.”  Mingus understood right away.  “Then we may have help guarding the camp against the creatures following us.”

            “I see no good in it,” Doctor Procter said, and he looked morose.

            “We still set a good watch,” Lockhart insisted.  “And if you think you hear or see something, make sure everyone is awake before you go to investigate.”

            That night, when everyone else was worried about defending the camp from ghouls and the bokarus, Boston dreamed about riding on the back of a unicorn.

            “Did you hear that?”  The man picked up his spear

            “Hear what?”  The other man squinted into the dark beyond the wood.  “A predator of some kind?”

            “No.  Hush.”  The first man crawled slowly over the wood, crouched down low and began to inch forward.

            “Oleon.  Wait, shouldn’t we wake the strangers?”

            “No.  It may be nothing.  Just wait here.”

            The second man waited and waited.  He was about to go for help when he heard the rustle of the grass in front of him.  “Oleon, is that you?”  The man whispered before he saw the ghoul rise up right in front of him.  He barely had time to grab his spear and thrust.  He caught the ghoul dead center even as he looked down and saw a spear thrust into his own chest.

            The sun rose hot, but by that time most of the tents and things the people would carry were already packed and ready to go.  They found the two dead men at first light.  It was not hard to piece together what happened. 

            “It is just the ghoul’s way of reminding us that he is still here, watching,” Mingus said.

            “I’d rather have my bokarus back,” Lincoln said.

            “I’d rather have him here than running back to warn the other ninety,” Captain Decker said.  “You did say a hundred.”

            Mingus nodded.  “And where there are a hundred, there is a chief who controls and directs the others.  They may not know exactly what we did, but you can be sure, whatever time zone they are in, they already know we are here.”

            “Cheery thought,” Lockhart said, and he looked over to where the girls had gathered.  Iris was there, and Hespah had warmed up to Katie, Boston and Alexis.  Iris was speaking.

            “Hespah said I can keep mother’s comb.  Isn’t it beautiful?”  She held up the comb, white and clean.

            “Ivory,” Katie identified it.

            “Yes, it is beautiful,” Boston confirmed.

            “Now you will always have your mother with you,” Alexis said, and she reached for Hespah’s hand which the girl willingly gave.  “Both of you.  And you will always have each other.”  Alexis smiled.

            Iris was ten and still a girl.  Hespah was thirteen but had the look of a young woman.  But when the two hugged and a few more tears fell, the others remarked how much they looked alike.

            “I don’t understand how she can look so much like her sister,” Boston wondered.

            “Because she is her sister,”  Alexis responded.  “I mean Hespah is her sister.  But what I don’t understand is why she doesn’t look more like Amri, or Pan for that matter.”

            Katie raised her hand.  “I understand that much.  Outward appearance is a very small portion of a person’s genetic makeup.  I suppose she will always look different, especially when she is a he which is the part I still don’t really get.”

            “Won’t always look different,” Alexis said.  “There are the reflections.”

            Katie looked at Alexis with curiosity etched all over her face, but she said nothing because Iris and Hespah were finished crying for the moment.

            The people, with the help of the travelers, piled all of the remaining firewood on the bodies and set them on fire.  Then the people headed North while the Travelers headed south.

            “We will go to Neamon’s village by the sea and seek to live among them,” Atonis said.

            “I am sure everything will work out well,” Lockhart said and shook the man’s hand.  He paused, then, because Iris was tugging on his sleeve.  “Yes Iris?”

            “The gate should come up quick since we will be moving in opposite directions.”  Iris said it and turned her back immediately to stand beside Hespah and take her hand.

            It was an hour before anyone spoke.  A mass grave will do that.

            “We are making excellent time.”  Doctor Procter looked at his amulet.

            “Shut up.”  Captain Decker was rude and people stopped to look at the man.  “Something in the bushes following us.”

            “Can’t be the ghoul.  They are creatures of the night,” Roland said.

            “They are not bound to the night,” Mingus countered.

            “Ahh!”  Lieutenant Harper was startled and Captain Decker fired his weapon.  The ghoul was there, but also in three other places.

            “What are you firing at?”  Lockhart yelled.

            “Close your eyes,” Mingus commanded.  “The ghoul has your eyes.”  Lieutenant Harper did not hesitate, but Captain Decker took a second before he closed his.  They heard the ghoul let out a sound of frustration, and Doctor Procter took several steps in that direction. 

            “No!”  The doctor shouted at the creature.  “You cannot have them.”  With that, they all saw it just ahead, but it was only a glimpse.  The thing made another sound.  It sounded hesitant and uncertain before it melted right down into the solid ground.

            “It has gone underground,” Mingus said.  “It will rest.  Quick, now is our chance to put some distance between us.”

            “Could we dig it up?”  Captain Decker asked as he opened his eyes.

            Mingus shook his head.  “They are insubstantial underground.  There is no way we could hurt it.”

            “Too bad,” Lockhart said as they made for the gate.  “And I noticed it went first for the marines, so they are not just dumb beasts following instinct.”

            “Neither is the bokarus which I assume is still on our trail,” Lincoln said, and Alexis took his arm.  He worried too much, but at least this time there were things to worry about.

            “It was a good thing the bokarus left you alone after that.”  Boston had a good imagination and could not get the image of the horribly burned man out of her mind.

            “It was my daughter,” Atonis said softly.  “Not Hespah, but my little one, Iris.  She was only seven.  She stood up in the face of that great wind and yelled as loud as her little lungs could yell.  “Bokarus!”  That is how we know the name.  “No!  Go away!  You do not belong here!”  The spirit had just thrown Mumbai into the fire and it stopped to face my daughter.  I was very afraid for her, but then Iris reached for the ghost and it raced away before she could touch it.  It never came back, until now.

            Boston said no more so Atonis said no more.  But Boston did take Lockhart’s arm the way Alexis held Lincoln’s arm, and Lockhart did not push her away.

            The sun went down while the moon came up bright in the sky, though it looked to be a waning moon.  From a distance, the camp appeared to be a well ordered community with a half-dozen tent-like structures in a circle around a central fire.  It was up on the highest hill in the middle of nowhere.  The nearest little woods were some distance, but there appeared to be plenty of deadwood stacked around the camp like a barrier against the wild.

            Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper got out their night vision binoculars and passed them around.  They had to get close to the camp before they heard the shouting and screaming.  They started to run when two dark but human looking figures rose up before them.  They paused, but Captain Decker had put on his night goggles and he opened fire without waiting for the order.  Both figures fell.

            Roland touched Lockhart’s shoulder before Lockhart could yell.  He got all their feet moving with one word.  “Ghouls.”

            Alexis got out the wand she had been working on and managed a light, like a golden spotlight on their path to the camp.  It helped, until a darkness responded.  It came out from the camp, put out the light that it followed like a dog might follow a trail and with a snap it knocked Alexis back on her rump.

            Captain Decker fired in the direction from which the darkness came, and this time Lockhart yelled.  “Decker.  There are people here!”

            They pushed through the firewood that circled the camp and broke into the center space by the fire.  Men had spears and women threw stones, but the ghouls did not appear to be bothered by it all.  Captain Decker, Lieutenant Harper and Lincoln all opened fire as soon as they had a clear shot.  Three ghouls went down.  Another was mauled by Lockhart’s shotgun, and if not yet dead, it soon would be.

            Mingus appeared to be counting, but came alert as a ghoul grabbed Boston by the back of her collar.  He sent a fireball into the Ghoul’s face which made it let go.  Boston fell and spun and unloaded six bullets into the creature’s chest. 

            Lieutenant Harper and Alexis were already checking the men, women and children who appeared to be dead.  Captain Decker with his night goggles caught another attempting to flee the camp.  Then Lincoln heard a scream from one of the tents.  Girls were screaming and it sounded like Atonis responded “Aaii-ii”

            Lincoln ran and arrived at the same time as Atonis.  They saw a ghoul with a woman in one hand.  She was limp and lifted completely off the ground, and the ghoul tossed her away like so much dead meat.  There were two young girls in the corner, screaming and scared senseless.  That was about all Lincoln could see in the second he had to glimpse the action.  He opened fire and did not stop firing until the ghoul was laid out flat. 

            Lincoln watched Atonis run to his children.  The ghoul, one of the big ones at about eight feet in height, shriveled up like a beach ball with an air leak.  It began to compress until it was no bigger than a hand, and then it melted into the soil and left only a sickly green smudge where it had been.

            “Alexis.  Lockhart.”  Lincoln called, and they came to the door.  Lockhart helped Atonis carry his dead wife out into the open where she was put with the others.  Alexis and Lincoln brought the children who looked like they might never stop crying.  As they walked past, Lockhart heard Mingus utter two words:  “only nine.”

            The survivors slept outside by the fire that night to be near their loved ones one last time.  There was never a moment in the night when crying could not be heard.  The travelers stayed with them out in the open and left their tents packed away.  Over supper,  Boston read from her database for any who cared to listen.

            “Ghouls, a type of lesser spirit of the family of Djin.  They feed off the fear and terror they induce in their victims and in the end suck out the life force.  It is said, where there is one, there are ten and where there are ten, there are a hundred.”  She looked up at Roland before she turned her eyes to Lockhart.  “So there may be more of them out there.”

            “I think maybe one more,” Mingus said.  “I think these are the ten who followed us through a number of time zones before we lost them.”

            Alexis apologized.  “I’m sorry.  I did not think they came this far or I would have mentioned them.”  She looked at her father and wondered why he did not mention them either.

            “Probably still looking for you and your father,” Lincoln said.

            “The family of Djin?”  Lieutenant Harper interrupted.

            “Genies,” Roland and Boston spoke together.

            “Tell me about these ghouls,” Lockhart said and he looked at Mingus.

            “They can play with the mind,” Roland said  “They can make you see things that aren’t there.”

            “I may have mentioned that glamours are hard to cast on others,” Mingus spoke openly.  “It would be hard for Procter, Roland Alexis and I to make everyone here look African to blend in with the locals.  But Ghouls can easily cast illusions over others and over things to make you see and hear all sorts of things and literally frighten you to death.  We caught these by surprise and unprepared, but there is likely one still out there.”

            “So we need to set up a watch in the night,” Captain Decker concluded.

            “A single ghoul can only affect one or two minds at a time,” Mingus added.  “What do you think, Procter?”  He looked over, but Doctor Procter was sound asleep.  He did not appear to be adversely affected by all the death around him.  Mingus just shook his head.

            “We will help to watch in the night,” Atonis volunteered the survivors in the camp and Lockhart nodded while Alexis spoke.

            “You don’t mind?”

            Atonis looked back at his people.  Six had died, but there were eighteen survivors.  “We will not sleep well in any case,” he said and turned again to look at Alexis.  “And without your help we would all be dead.”

            Iris came up to Boston and knelt beside her.  Her older sister, Hespah kept back just a little, but Iris came right up close  “Boston?”  When Boston turned her head, Iris cried all over her.  What could Boston do but hold the young girl, pat her back and say, “hush” and comfort the girl.

            The travelers stayed where they were for the rest of that night.  It was hard for them to get back to sleep, but the high ground was a good defensive position and the trees were there to fall back into in case whatever scared the bokarus decided to show up.

            By morning, most of the herd had wandered off and everyone took a deep breath.  There were predators in the night that came to feast on the beasts they had to shoot, and even then they could see the vultures shredding the remains, but that was far enough away so as not to cause concern.

            Alexis was rinsing out her pot when she saw the man in the distance.  He stood straight and tall and held a spear that was half-again his height. 

            “What do you think he wants?”  Lincoln whispered to her.  Alexis shrugged and went back to her work.  They packed the camp and even as Doctor Procter checked the amulet, the distant man began to trot toward them.  Lockhart made them wait.

            The man was tall and dark skinned which caused Lincoln to comment.  “He looks more like a Massai warrior than a North African.”

            “No Phoenician, Roman, Visigoth or Arab blood in him yet,” Lieutenant Harper responded first.

            “Yes.  Very good,” Mingus praised her even as Captain Decker raised his gun to ready position.

            “Halloo.”  The man called when he was still distant.  “You were in the stampede.  I hope everyone is alright.”

            “Yes, thank you,” Lockhart shouted back as the man began to come up the rise.  He looked once at Captain Decker and his dark skin before he turned to the speaker.

            “You are from the land of the Great River?”  The man asked.

            “We are travelers,” Lockhart said.  “And you live in this land?”

            The man pointed and Lockhart saw that Doctor Procter confirmed that it was the right direction for them as well.  “But it is only our camp.  We are also travelers.  We follow after the herd.” 

            “My name is Lockhart,” he said and this time he forcibly took the man’s hand and shook it.  Then he introduced everyone around.  After the man got the idea, the man grinned and shook everyone’s hand except the elves.  He merely stared at them and Doctor Procter did not offer his hand.

            “I am Atonis,” he said at last.  “If you are traveling in my direction you must come and stay the night in my camp.  You will be safe there from the stampede and the beasts of the night.”

            Lockhart simply nodded, so Alexis spoke.  “Thank you.”

            “My camp is a whole day from here,” the man spoke again after they started to walk. 

            “Perhaps we can add some meat to your fire,” Boston tried to be cordial.

            “Along the way we will have to do lunch,” Lockhart told her.  “And you thought that expression just belonged to your generation.”  Lockhart looked back.  Mingus and Roland were on the flanks.  Decker and Harper were in rear guard position.  Lincoln and Alexis were in front of the marines and Lincoln was jotting something down in his notebook.  Boston was on his heels or beside him, and Doctor Procter was wandering aimlessly in the middle, not even looking at his amulet.

            “I must ask,” Atonis said after a while.  “I heard the wail of the spirit in the night.  I was not surprised to see the herd start to run.  But tell me, do you know what makes this sound?”

            “A bokarus,” Boston spoke right up.  “A green man.  It is a spirit of the wild.  It protects the wilderness and hates any human intrusion that interferes with the natural order of things.”

            “And it is following us,” Lockhart added and looked back at Doctor Procter, but this time the doctor made no objection.  More likely, the Doctor did not hear.

            “I have heard this once before,” Atonis said.  “This spirit is not a good thing.”  He said no more about it until lunch.  Roland brought in a gazelle after only a few minutes chase, and Mingus got a fire started.  Alexis made bread but that was the only thing that opened Atonis’ eyes.  Clearly he knew what the elves were and was not going to be surprised at anything they might do.

            It was a good lunch but they overstayed their time, first because Boston explained why they were traveling with two spirits of the earth, as Atonis called the elves; and then Atonis told the story of his first encounter with the bokarus.

            “It was three years ago and my friend Mumbai was to celebrate the marriage of his daughter to a good man.  He wanted to build a great celebration fire and so he had us gather all the wood in the little forest that we could find.  It was not enough for him, so he took a sharp stone and cut many young trees to add to the fire.  They did not burn well, being green, but Mumbai was determined that his daughter should have the biggest fire, ever.

            “As we celebrated, we were interrupted in the night by the wail of the angry spirit.  It flew like a bird in the sky around and around.  The wind became strong and people fell to their knees, afraid of the sound and the wind.  We were all afraid.  All at once, the wind picked Mumbai up off the ground and threw him into the heart of the great fire.  People screamed and the bokarus left us as we pulled my friend from the fire. 

            “His clothes were burned to him and could not be taken off him.  He had great swellings of white bubbles everywhere that burst and made him smell of cooked meat.  Much of his body was charred like the ash after the fire is done.  He was in great pain and in the morning he died.

            “Many said then that we should go to the village of Neamon and dwell there with the village people.  They said the grasslands were becoming too dangerous, but many said no.  We have lived well since then, but we have not forgotten.  And now that the bokarus is back, I do not know what we will do.”

            Everyone said they were sorry and Boston and Alexis hugged the man while he cried.  Lincoln handed him a handkerchief and got him to blow his nose.  It was already late when they started walking again.

            “It will be dark before we arrive,” Atonis said.  “But with this host of people, I expect no trouble.”  Lockhart and Lincoln both looked back and wondered if what scared off the bokarus might follow them after dark, but neither said a word.

After 4480 BC on the Sahara Grasslands.  Kairos: Iris of the Anamites

Recording…

            Boston stepped through the gate and found a hand pressed over her mouth.  It was Lincoln’s hand.  Good thing he was there because otherwise she would have screamed.  A wildebeest was pressed up against her leg.  It begrudgingly moved.  Meanwhile, Lockhart and the others came through quietly, and the herd made a little room, but that was all.

            “Doctor.”  Lockhart whispered the word, but Doctor Procter did not move.  He appeared frozen in place.  Roland stepped up and one beast stepped aside while Roland reached for the amulet.

            “No!”  The Doctor yelled and covered his chest with his hand like he was protecting some great secret.  Several beasts were startled.  They made more room for the people and soon settled down again, but that was a dangerous moment.  They might have all been trampled if the herd started to run.  Doctor Procter looked up at Roland and his outstretched hand.  He looked surprised by his own word.  He pulled out the amulet and both he and Roland looked, and Roland pointed to the south and west, into the setting sun.

            They walked slowly, like a little herd of their own, while the sun went down and the moon rose.  There were zebras, gazelle and antelope in this herd.  Just as the last of the light began to fade, they found some elephants and a couple of giraffes grazing on a small copse of trees.  Boston though it was safe to speak if she whispered.

            “Sahara grasslands,” she spoke as they moved to the far side of the trees where there was some room for them to breathe.  They had walked for more than an hour by then and still there was no end of the herd in sight.  “I didn’t know what that meant, but I see it meant Africa.”

            “No kidding,” Captain Decker said.

            “Before the Sahara turned to dust,” Lincoln nodded.

            “But the soil is no good here.”  Mingus knelt to touch a handful.  “Full of sand already.”

            Alexis joined him to look for herself.  “Unless this land is getting good rainfall, a herd such as this won’t take long to turn the Sahara into the desert we all know.”

            Something laughed in the distance.  “Hyenas,” Roland named them.

            “Lions and tigers and bears,” Lockhart said.  “We better keep moving while we can and pray we find the edge of this herd before too long.”  He looked up.  They were lucky the moon was already up and three quarters full.  In that land with little undulating hills, it was sufficient to see where they were going.

            It took two hours to reach a point where the herd thinned out sufficiently for the group to spread out a little and relax.   A lion roared a warning somewhere off to their left and it made Lincoln jump.  It was another half-hour before Lockhart finally agreed they were far enough out of range to pitch camp for the night.  They stopped on the edge of another small woods, so there was plenty of wood for the fire.  In fact, they built three fires on a small hill out in the open.  They placed the fires in a triangle shape far enough apart so they could set up their tents inside the light.

            “At least there is no shortage of game,” Captain Decker said.

            “Good for attracting lions, I bet,”  Lieutenant Harper countered.

            Roland simply pulled his bow and trotted back the way they had come.  He easily shot a Wildebeest and a zebra and cut rather large flank steaks.  He returned to the camp and left the carcasses where they lay in the open.

            They ate well that night, though the wildebeest proved to be tough and stringy.  The zebra was good.  Everyone said so except Boston who declined to partake.  She said zebras reminded her too much of her horse back home – Spunky.

            After they ate, Lockhart looked at the moon.  It was still rising.  “Lincoln and Alexis get the first watch.  Captain Decker and Roland take the second watch.  Mingus and I will take the third watch.  Boston and Katie can watch the sun come up,” Lockhart ordered.

            “What?”  Boston sat up straight.  “You want Katie and me up early so we can cook breakfast?  Well, forget it.”

            “Actually, I want a pair of Elf eyes available in the dark of the night, but now that you mention it, I take my eggs over easy.”

            Boston made a face.

            “What about me?”  Doctor Procter asked, not that he sounded like he minded getting a full night’s sleep.

            Lockhart looked at the man.  There was something wrong there, but Lockhart smiled.  “Old man, you just hang on to that amulet and keep it safe for us all.”

            Doctor Procter did not argue.

            It was three in the morning when Mingus abandoned his corner of the watch to speak with Lockhart.  “I do not understand my friend,” he admitted.  “Procter is usually a gregarious and talkative fellow, but he has been so quiet.”

            “I’ve been thinking about that myself,” Lockhart said as he moved a little so the elder elf could sit on the log they dragged out from the woods.  He was adjusting.  “Of course, I didn’t know him before.”

            “Strange.  You think you know someone.”  Mingus shrugged.

            “I was thinking that maybe after all those years of study, to now finally have a chance to see with his own eyes.  It must be overwhelming,”  Lockhart offered an explanation.

            Mingus shook his head at that.  “I studied the lives of the Kairos longer than him.  It is exciting, but I would have thought it would make him talk more, not less.”

            They were interrupted by the sound of a distant howl.  It started out low and rose up the scale to a scream.  It was no animal.

            “The bokarus,” Mingus said.

            “It followed us.”  Lockhart nodded.

            They heard the howl rise up to a scream three times before they heard something else.  It sounded like thunder.

            “Everybody up!” They yelled and went to the tents to be sure.

            “Stampede,” Boston named it.

            “And headed right for us,” Roland confirmed.

            “To the trees?”  Lincoln asked.  But Mingus shook his head.  That would not help.

            “Roland.”  Alexis called her brother.  “Split the herd.”

            They grabbed hands.  “One, two, three,” and the light went out from their hands and formed a golden triangle with the point in the distance.  The stampede split down both sides of the triangle and away from their camp, but a few animals stumbled through the light.

            “Lieutenant.”  Captain Decker only had to say that much before both marines raised their rifles and began to pick off the ones inside the light.  Boston and Lincoln pulled out their pistols and Lockhart readied the shotgun in case the ones inside got too close.

            In the distance the howls continued until suddenly it cut off in mid-scream.  Then they heard it no more.

            “Father!”  Alexis yelled.  The pressure against the outer edge of the triangle of light was becoming too much to bear.

            “Father.”  Roland spoke softly through his teeth as Mingus stepped up and laid a hand on each shoulder.  The light strengthened as the elder elf managed to add his magic to the force, and it was enough.  Once the screaming stopped, the herd soon settled down.  It was too large to move far and fast outside of a migration.

            “The bokarus must have broken off a piece off the main herd,” Lincoln said.  “Good thing the screaming stopped.”

            “Yes,” Lockhart shouldered his shotgun.  “But I want to know what scared the bokarus bad enough to make it stop.”

            It did not take long for the boys to get in position.  Pan listened for the bird calls.  Duba was last, as usual, but as soon as he was set, Pan put his fingers to his lips and let the whistle scream.  It echoed from around the Shemashi camp, and then there was shouting, two tents collapsed and sticks on fire were tossed into the crowd gathered around Alexis.  Several of the Shemashi panicked.  They began to gather the children and run toward their own tents and shouted at each other which increased the confusion. 

            The boys ran through the crowd yelling “Fire!” in the Shemashi tongue.  The shaman stuck his head out from his tent and frowned.  Hog, Chodo and Shmee appeared to be frozen where they were, beside Alexis who stood and wiped off her clothes.  Then the boys melted back into the woods and Pan said, “Go.”

            Mingus, Roland and Lincoln walked toward the camp while Bluebell and Honeysuckle flew up to Alexis and spoke in English.  “Come on, we have to go now.”

            “I’m coming,” Alexis said as she picked up her medical bag.  Shmee threw his hands over his eyes on sight of the Fee.  Chodo dropped his jaw.  Hog just looked angry, but he did nothing to interfere.

            “Miss Bell,” Hog said, and Bluebell paused long enough to stick her little tongue out at the man.

            Mingus, Roland and Lincoln stopped at ten yards and waited for Alexis.  The rest stood just visible at the edge of the camp.  They were armed, but looked relaxed, except Doctor Procter who stepped forward and pointed at the three men by the fire who had been their guests.

            “Kill them,” Doctor Procter shrieked.  “Quick.  Now is your chance.  Kill them all –“ The Doctor slammed his own hand against his mouth as Captain Decker and Lockhart both turned to stare at him.  “I don’t know why I said that,” Doctor Procter spoke in all honesty.  “I hate killing.”  He shook his head.

            The shaman came out to watch as Alexis stepped up to Mingus.  “Father.” She spoke in Shemashi and kissed Mingus on the cheek.  “Brother.”  They touched fists.  “Husband.”  They kissed in a way that made Honeysuckle sigh while Bluebell made embarrassed noises and flew rapidly in circles and backflips.

            Then it got dark, or as Mingus called it, goblin dark.  There was a scream much worse than the whistles.  Most of the people still in sight grabbed their ears and fell to the dirt.  A frightening presence was felt in the pit of the stomach and a spirit like a ghost began to fly in circles around the camp.  It quickly built up to a speed that called up a great wind and the sea began to rise.

            “Bokarus!”  The shaman identified the creature and began to chant and dance and rattle his necklace of claws and teeth.  Honeysuckle, Bluebell and Alexis all got out their wands and began to zap at the sky, though the thing moved too fast to hit.  The leaves in all the trees shook quite apart from the wind and the sea continued to rise.

            Pan climbed up on a boulder and shouted.  “Bokarus!  No!”  The thing stopped screaming and paused to face the boy.  It had an ethereal, ghost-like quality that frightened everyone except Pan who was angry and Mingus who was at an angle to send out a zap of his own.  Pan reached out to grab the creature, but Mingus’ ball of flame struck at the same time.  The creature screamed again, this time from being struck, and it tumbled off among the trees to disappear in the wilderness.

            “You almost singed my fingers,” Pan protested as he climbed back down.  The wind stopped.  The sea receded, and the oppressive air cleared and brightened. 

            After it was all over, Doctor Procter pulled his wand from his sleeve and looked at it like he hardly knew what it was.

            “Big help,” Mingus scolded as he walked by.

            “Honeysuckle.  Bluebell.”  Pan called and the fairies came right away.  “You need to stay with our friends and escort them to the next gate,” he whispered.  “Do what Lockhart tells you.  Watch them along the sides as they walk and don’t let the Bokarus near them.”

            “Oh, but that is scary,” Bluebell whispered in return.

            “We will do it,” Honeysuckle spoke for them both, and Pan smiled and spun around to find his boys gathered nearby.

            “Come on, boys.  Back to the secret tree.” Pan yelled, and he ran off, followed by the others, Ramina hot on his heels and the Duba bringing up the rear.

            It was late, but with Alexis’ insistence, the travelers opted to stay the night in the Shemashi camp rather than risk the Bokarus in the dark.  It was something Alexis and the Shaman worked out.  The people in the village kept their distance, but they appreciated the help rebuilding all the things knocked down by the boys and the wind, and they loved the bread.

            “I think the bread-crackers are self replicating,” Alexis pointed out.  “I used my whole pouch but now it is full again.”

            “Like the bullets,” Captain Decker said, but he said it in a way which suggested he was sorry he had not used any yet.

            “And the vitamins.”  Alexis nodded as she handed them out.  They had missed their daily dose in the morning.

            “You know,” Doctor Procter spoke up.  “A bokarus is not a greater spirit.  I am not sure it even qualifies as a lesser spirit.  I am surprised it has taken an interest in you humans, what with our traveling with the company.”

            Mingus explained, as usual.  “What he means is a bokarus is not beyond elf magic. We may pose a threat to it.  But evidently, the bokarus has judged you people from the future to be a bigger threat to the environment so it is willing to take the risk to take you out.”

            “Yes, I was wondering why it was following us,” Lockhart said.  He was thinking it was the same bokarus from the last time zone, and that meant it could follow them from zone to zone.  “But how do we take it out?  You got a good shot at it, but it did not seem badly injured.”

            Mingus shrugged, so Roland spoke.  “They are nearly impossible to damage as long as they remain in their ghost form.”

            Boston got out her database.  “Bokarus or Green man is a defender of the primordial wilderness.  It is catalogued here somewhere between little and lesser spirit.”  She showed the chart, and Bluebell spoke from her shoulder.

            “Yes, but they are scary.”

            Lincoln thought what Bluebell thought but verbalized what Lockhart wondered.  “But it seems to me the question is whether or not this bokarus is the same as the last one or if we just happened to run into two of them.”

            “Yes,” Lockhart agreed.

            “Can’t be the same,” Doctor Procter said quickly.

            “It must be,” Captain Decker said at the same time.

            “It might be, but not necessarily,” Mingus danced between the two opinions.

            Boston stood in the silence that followed.  “Well, while you argue about it, Katie and I and our new friends are going to get some sleep.  I assume we will have to leave about dawn if we hope to reach the gate in daylight.”  She looked at Doctor Procter who looked at his amulet.  He only shook it once before he spoke.

            “Yes.  Er, yes.” 

            Lieutenant Harper stood and followed Boston while Honeysuckle zipped ahead to open the tent flap.

            “But what about Pan?”  Bluebell picked right up where she left off, which was very unusual for a Fee.  “He is my heart.” 

            “I am sure he is,” Boston responded.  “But maybe you just need to back up a little and give him a chance to grow up first.”

            “That is what I have been telling her,” Honeysuckle said as they went inside the tent.

            After that, the morning came quick.  Hog and Shmee came back in their boat not expecting the village to still have visitors.  They avoided the strangers as well as they could, but Chodo was pleased to point them out.  None of the travelers felt obliged to confront the man.  Instead, they concentrated on packing and preparing to leave.

            They moved as quickly as they could through the wilderness.  They took a few rests and stopped only briefly for lunch, eyes open the whole way.  Bluebell and Honeysuckle watched their flank along the way, but they never caught wind of the bokarus until the end of the day as they approached the gate.  Then they only heard a wailing in the distance.  It was a mournful song, like the wail of a ghost in torment.

            “I hope that thing isn’t the same one,” Captain Decker said.

            “You see, Hon?”  Alexis grinned at Lincoln.  “You did not need to say it.”

            “Sounds like you stepped on its toe pretty good,” Lockhart said to Mingus who merely nodded.

            “Here it is.”  Doctor Procter did not wait for them.  Boston and Lieutenant Harper took a couple of minutes to make the fairies get big so they could properly hug them.  It was no surprise that Honeysuckle appeared as a full grown woman and Bluebell appeared as a fourteen-year-old.

            “I’m going to miss you, Katie,” Honeysuckle said.

            “And I will miss you,” Lieutenant Harper admitted.

            “Maybe we will see each other again?”  Honeysuckle suggested.  Lieutenant Harper looked at Boston who shook her head.

            “Maybe,” Lieutenant Harper smiled and she and Boston went through the gate.  Lockhart, Captain Decker and Mingus brought up the rear.

            When the boys awoke, they huddled around the fire and ate what was offered.  Their eyes wide to take in the strangers in daylight.  They said nothing, but Ramina was there with Boston, Katie Harper and the two fairies and they were using up all the words in any case.  When Duba woke, the first thing he saw was the fairies and he screamed.  When he saw Mingus and Roland right behind him, he stepped back and quickly let his fingers draw something like signs or symbols in the air.  Mingus surprised his son terribly, and shocked everyone else except Pan.  He jumped to his feet.

            “Not the Praeger Defense,” Mingus shouted.  “My heart!”  He clutched his chest and fell to his knees before he fell to his side with his eyes closed.

            Everyone was quiet except Duba.  “What?  I didn’t mean it.”  He stepped up close.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean it.”

            Mingus opened one eye and grinned at the boy.  “Well, as long as you didn’t mean it I suppose no harm done.”  He sprang to his feet.  “So are we ready to go yet?”

            “Time to move out,” Captain Decker agreed, and Lockhart made no objection.  Only Lincoln spoke.

            “At last.”

            Once they arrived and found a place from which they could overlook the Shemashi camp, it did not take long to make an assessment.

            “They are all bunched up around a central fire,” Lincoln borrowed the binoculars.

            Lieutenant Harper looked through her own.  “I make it about forty people altogether, plus children,” she said.

            “About two hours before sundown.  Time to go.”  Captain Decker spoke as he cocked his rifle.

            “No!” Lincoln was a bit loud.

            “This is covert,” Pan said.

            “But you said they would reset, I figure like a computer program after we’ve gone, or after you’ve gone.  But if she is injured, she stays injured.”

            Mingus put his hand on the man’s gun.  “And that is why we don’t go with guns blasting.  You don’t think I am going to take a chance on her getting struck by a stray bullet.”

            Captain Decker yanked his rifle barrel free of the elf’s hand and frowned, but said no more.

            “I’m not so sure about the reset,” Pan said.  “I mean I don’t think it will work like that kind of reset.”

            “What?”  Captain Decker and Boston both reacted, and Lockhart made everyone pull back into the forest so Pan could explain.

            “My Storyteller, Glen is missing.  He isn’t dead or Jennifer would be in the womb, but I can’t reach him.  Everything back home is confused, poor Alice.”

            “So which is it?  The Heart of Time resets things or doesn’t it?”  Lincoln asked.

            Lieutenant Harper thought out loud.  “I think reset might mean the time gates jump back to the beginning point of that time zone.  I don’t think the things inside the zone reset. I mean, people don’t come back to life.”

            Pan shrugged, nodded, and shared his thoughts.  “When time began, real time on earth, Alice was drawn back to the beginning of history.  Yes, she was in the Second Heavens, but there was a rock and a dome of air, and angel was there along with Chronos.  Alice, that is the Kairos and Chronos made the Heart of Time together.  That was when history began.”

            “The rock where we first landed.”  Boston swallowed.

            “I, that is Glen did not intend to go that far.  The source must have had other ideas.”

            Lieutenant Harper was still thinking.  “So what you are suggesting is we will be imprinted on the time zone for all time – whatever time we spend there will become part of the historical reality.”

            Pan nodded his head.  “This seems utterly real to me, but maybe I am not a fair judge.”

            “It seems utterly real to me, too,”  Lincoln admitted.

            “Mingus?”  Doctor Procter questioned his friend and Mingus rubbed his chin. 

            “I don’t know.”

            “So, what difference does that make?”  Captain Decker did not get it.

            “It means if we change something here it might change all of history,” Lockhart answered.  “Real history,” he added for emphasis.

            “Like the butterfly effect?”  Lieutenant Harper lifted her foot to look in case she stepped on something.

            “No.”  Pan smiled for her.  “Reality isn’t that simple or that inflexible.  You would have to change something serious and maybe several things to really change history.  Of course, I can’t let you do that.  I would send you all to present day Avalon right now if I could.”

            “What?  Why can’t you?”

            “Well for one, Alice isn’t finished building it yet.  But for two, I told you, Glen is missing and it has repercussions all the way through history.  And for three, the only way for you to get back to your own time is by following the time gates.”

            “But what happens if we screw up?”  Boston was concerned

            Pan shook his head.  “I don’t know anymore.”

            “Only now we have to be real careful not to change history,” Roland said.

            “What do you mean you don’t know anymore?”  Boston interrupted.

            Pan frowned before he turned red and yelled.  “I mean in reality I am an eleven-year-old kid and I told you, Glen is missing and Alice and everything is confused.  Come on, Ramina.  We have to start operation scatterbrains.”  He grabbed the girl by the hand and headed toward the boys who were keeping back from the strangers.  He huddled them up like a football team, and though Ramina giggled at one point, it otherwise might have been a youth team.  They even said, “Break!” when they were done.

            The boys scattered and hunkered down to move through the trees like hunters, or maybe sneaky kids.  Pan returned to the others.  “A bit of temporal borrowing,” he admitted.  “Don’t try that at home.”

            “What’s the plan?”  Lockhart asked, and Captain Decker gave him a curious look, like why was he really asking this kid?

            “Wait for the signal, then come in with Lincoln, Mingus and Roland out front.  Stop about ten yards off.  The rest of you keep back and try not to kill anyone.”

            “What about us?”  Honeysuckle asked.

            “A special assignment,” Pan said in English and watched as several eyes widened at being reminded of their native tongue.  Pan started to speak whatever he could think of in English and was only interrupted once.

            “What is the signal?”  Boston asked.

            “You’ll know,” Pan smiled and then continued to imprint English on the fairy minds while they went back to the lookout spot.

            At that moment, Alexis was being tossed by the waves and trying hard not to throw up.  She had a bag over her head.  Throwing up would not have been pretty.

            “But Hog, they will come for her,” Chodo whined.

            “And they can have her,” Hog responded with a smug sound in his voice.  “By then we will have the secret of the breat.”

            “But what if she won’t tell us the secret?”  Shmee asked.

            “Then we will make her tell,” Hog insisted and he slapped his fist into his open palm.

            “But what if they arrive before we can make her tell?”  Chodo asked.

            “A few people are not stronger than the whole village,” Hog responded.

            “But she is a witch.”  The truth of what bothered Shmee came out in the sound of his voice.

            “Bah!  Our Shaman can disarm a simple witch.  You worry too much.”

            “But what if the Pan and the boys find out?”  Chodo asked.

            “Hmm.”  There was a moment of silence apart from the paddles and the sounds of the sea.  “I will think.  You paddle.”  Hog sounded like Pan and the boys might be a problem.

            When they arrived in the camp, Alexis had her hood removed.  After stern warnings, her gag was also removed and her feet untied so she could walk to the central fire.  They sat her down, untied her hands but retied her feet so she would not be able to escape easily.

            “Stay and watch her,” Hog told his companions, though to be sure it did not take long before the whole village was watching.  “I will fetch the Shaman.”

            Hog walked off and the people pressed in.  Some thought to touch this strangely dressed woman.  Shmee had to defend her.  “Back away.  She is a witch.”

            “You will not hurt our people.”  Chodo threatened her, but the people heard, backed up and left her untouched.

            “If you want me to make bread, the first thing I need is a bone.  It should be a bone from a deer, as thick as your thumb and as long as your forearm.”

            “How did you know we wanted breat?”  Shmee asked.

            “I know many things,” Alexis said, coyly.  “And if you have no such bone, a stick might do, but it must be from an oak, the oldest, biggest tree you can find.  It will take longer to make it the way I need it, but it will do.”

            “I do not remember you using a bone or stick to make breat.”  Chodo shook his head.  “What do you need this bone-stick for?”

            Alexis just looked at the man until he got uncomfortable.  “I must have a new wand,” she said at last, though neither man appeared to know what a wand was.  They thought about it as Hog came back.

            “I have brought the shaman,” Hog said and pointed at the man who followed him.  “Now you make breat for my village.”

            Alexis looked up as the shaman sat beside the fire.  He looked ordinary enough apart from the red streak painted down each cheek.  “Well?”  She turned on Chodo and Shmee and they got up to fetch her a wand.  “I need to be alone with your shaman for a few minutes,” she told Hog, and he was willing in order to find out what Chodo and Shmee were up to.

            The elderly shaman just looked at her at first and tried to see what was inside of her.  Alexis was not bothered by the look, and that bothered the shaman.  But Alexis had seen such looks before, though not from one dressed in a loincloth in such chilly weather.  The man only had a bear skin draped over his shoulders like a cape to keep him warm.  He wore a necklace of trinkets, and he jangled it before her.  Again, she was unmoved.

            “Go.”  The shaman finally spoke and waved his arm.  All of the villagers that had gathered around the stranger separated, though to be sure, they only backed up a few feet and continued to stare.

            “Do not be afraid.”  Alexis remembered the words of the angel.  “I will make bread for the village.”

            “Will I be able to make more?”  The shaman shot straight to the point.

            Alexis shook her head.  “Not unless you have the secret of the elves and can make the crackers.”  She saw no reason to lie to the man.  The man frowned.

            “The goblins?”  He asked.

            “They would not like the name, but I suppose that is how you know them.”

            The man’s face twisted as he thought hard.  “There may be some advantage in that, knowing that it is enchanted.  Call it a one-time gift of the gods.” he concluded his thoughts.

            “Oh, I am always glad to help another person of magic,” Alexis said to test a thought of her own.  She judged by the look on the man’s face that he had no real magic of his own.

            The man shook his necklace again.  “I have the bear claws, the teeth of the lion and the paws of the wolf.  I am the hunter,” he said.

            “And I am just an ordinary woman,” Alexis responded with a sigh.

            “I think not.”  The Shaman leaned forward and touched her clothes, respectfully.  “I am fifty winters and look it.  You are older than you appear.”

            “I am.”  Again, she saw no reason to lie to the man.  “Let’s see.  I was born in the spring, but next spring I will be two hundred and fifty four years old.”  She smiled.  The shaman did not smile.  “Really,” Alexis defended herself.  “My father is a goblin.”  The shaman frowned at that as if to suggest she was carrying things a bit far.  Alexis dropped her eyes.  “I suppose I may have counted wrong, but I tell you what.  When he gets here, you can ask him.”  She smiled again even as Hog, Chodo and Shmee returned.

            Chodo handed her the leg bone from a deer, but it was still moist and chipped at one end.  The other end looked a little dog chewed, but with a great deal of work it might suffice.  Shmee handed her a stick from an elm tree.  She said oak, but who was she to quibble.  The stick looked newly dead instead of dried but at least it was not nibbled.  The stick was a little thin at the tip but about the right length and it had something that might do for a handle.  Alexis waved her hand above the stick and the bark peeled back, then she focused her magic as well as she could with such a crude instrument and waved the stick at the leather that still bound her legs.  The leather separated, and no eyes got bigger than the shaman’s.  He stood with some quick words.

            “This one belongs to the goblins.  I have persuaded her so she has promised to make bread one time for us, but we must return her to her father when he arrives.”  With that, he rattled off some words about placating the spirits and keeping the gods happy and returned to his tent, and Alexis imagined he sealed himself in.

            “Now, Shmee, be a dear and hand me my bag.”  Alexis reached out.

            Shmee shrieked and handed it over with his hand shaking terribly.