by Martha Carr
"Yeah, that's a good rule." Thanks Dad. "Come on, let's get going. These animals will have to be transported across the border. That's going to take some doing."
"That's our concern."
Leira didn't hear the Gardener of the Dark Forest arrive, riding on his lion, the great antlers stretching out to either side. Perrom was standing by his side, the irises of his eyes moving in different directions taking in everything.
"Friend of yours?" asked Hagan.
"You're real..." Louie smiled, his eyes wide.
"Hagan, this is the Gardener of the Dark Forest. A myth to most Oricerans but very real. He is the protector of so many plants and animals and birds... on two different worlds. And this is Perrom, Correk's best friend."
"We're here to manage moving the animals. We'll take care of this part of the operation," groused the Gardener. He was doing his best to hold back his anger at what he was seeing. The lion let out a low rumble, pacing slowly back and forth.
"Head home and we can talk later," said Perrom. "Tell Correk I'll see him soon."
Chapter Fifteen
Hagan sat on the banks of the lake, dipping his fishing rod into the water. The troll sat next to him with a smaller pole, lazily moving it back and forth. He was wearing his small black cowboy hat and red boots, chewing on a blade of grass. From the distance to people in passing sailboats it looked like an older man had dressed up his hamster. Not so strange in Austin that it would make people take more than a second look just to be sure.
A pink box of doughnuts sat between them.
The troll looked up at Hagan and let out a trill. "Everything okay?"
"You can stop checking on me, little guy. I'm doing okay. We're just fishing. I'm not going to get into trouble just sitting here. No magic." He waggled his hands as the troll blew a raspberry in his direction.
A black crappie jumped through the air in the distance as the troll stood up excited. "We'll be eating good tonight!" He let out a whoop and tossed his cowboy hat in the air.
"I tell you, Yumfuck, this whole magic thing might be a younger man's game. I'm pretty sure I was kaput this last time. Not sure how I managed to pull through. Pretty sure I saw Rose telling me everything would be okay and to just let go." A shudder passed through Hagan. "When I got home I had to tell Rose some of what happened but I left out some key details." He looked sheepish and shrugged. "Well, I did for a good hour at least. She wheedled it out of me with pie and one of her classic looks. It was the one where she sits across from me and looks patiently at me till I crack. The woman is a mastermind at getting me to tell her the truth!"
"You are a necessary part of keeping the peace, Agent Hagan, but maybe it's not right by Leira's side," squeaked the troll. "You're my buddy. I'm going to need you to stick around this world for a little longer before you take off for some other dimension."
Hagan chuckled. "What is it I can do for you, little buddy, besides pick up the tab?"
"Tell me more about your kind. You know, I see you as the most magical creatures of all."
"No kidding!" Hagan was surprised as he looked down at the tiny troll. Hagan gave a tug to his line but there was nothing there. "Slow day."
"Good fishing."
"I suppose, if you want to chitchat more than you want to eat."
"It'll all work out. Always does." The troll rubbed his face with his paw, sliding his hat back on his head to catch the warmth of the sun. "The natives on this planet have a remarkable capacity to come together and work as one large, fluid movement. Have you noticed? It's in your DNA to cooperate, not compete. You have to go against your natural instincts to take up arms against each other."
"We're pretty good at that, if you haven't noticed. If we weren't I'd own a hardware store in Dripping Springs and spend most of my time explaining the virtue of different drill bits."
"Your kind spends way too much time talking about the ones who went south. They're the minority but they eat up a lot of attention and scare the crap out of the rest of you." The troll held up his paw. "I get it. One bad one can do a lot of damage. But when even a small number of human beings come together to work for the good, strange things happen. Others see it and want to join in, and offer what they have, even when they have so little. They can even see it on TV and want to join in!"
"These days, the millennials would see it on the internet, pretty sure. Social media, remember? Got us in a lot of hot water for a fleeting moment there. Funny how that all went away."
The troll gave Hagan the side eye, his mind working. "Tell me more about the social media. Mara says it can do anything."
"You're gonna have to go to somebody else for the lowdown. I can tell you more about what people are like in the flesh. Come to think of it, may lean a little too much to the dark side." Hagan reached into the box and pulled out a cruller. He bit into the soft dough, letting out a deep and contented sigh as he felt a twinge from the bruising along his ribs. "Son of a bitch," he whispered, his mouth full of doughnut. He tore off a piece and put it in Yumfuck's lap.
Yumfuck leaned over and gave it a good lick, nibbling around the edges.
"Never seen you savor anything before. You're in a mood." Hagan's line gave a hard tug and a jerk and he sat up, reeling in his line but by the time it got to him all that was left was a piece of the curly tailed grub from the end of the hook. "Today's your day, fish." Hagan put another grub on the hook and stood up to cast the line, gently pressing his thumb against the reel as he sat down.
"I've been thinking of a career change." The troll took off his hat and rested it in his lap. His green hair shone in the sunlight.
"Didn't know you had a career besides sticking close to Leira and eating."
"All trolls have jobs if they're not bonded to somebody. Getting bonded is usually our way of retiring but I live with Leira. My old career was the study of plants on Oriceran. I helped take care of the royal gardens."
"You don't say... will wonders never cease. How come you spend so much time acting like you're a new sponge just taking in the world?"
"First of all," said the troll, holding up one claw. "I am new to Earth and second, your kind talks more when they think the listener doesn't understand. You learn a lot. But Mara had my number from the start. Figures. She was born on Oriceran."
"That's an interesting bit of news."
"Would be to Leira and Eireka too. Don't think she's shared much about her childhood with them. Let them find out about me and Mara in their own good time."
"So what's the career change? Baker? TV host?"
"Crime fighter." The troll lowered his voice as far as it would go. "I am Batfuck..." he growled.
"Might need to refine the name a little. Maybe not." Hagan smiled, raising an eyebrow. "A little caped crusader? Makes it easier to know what to get you for your birthday."
"Utility belt!" The troll cackled.
"When is your birthday?"
"We celebrate being alive every day. It seems strange to wait. There are hundreds in my village and every time I see one of them, we hug like it's our birthday. Woot! Woot!" The troll raised his paws over his head.
"Good to know. I'll put one tiny utility belt on my shopping list. Have to ponder what kind of tools you'd need. I can probably get Rose to whip up a cape and mask." Hagan shook his head. "What a weird life."
"Two sizes, please. Large and small."
"Right, good point. Need a mask when you're eight feet tall so people don't recognize you." Hagan bit down on his doughnut and licked his fingers before he picked up his thermos, pouring out a cup of coffee. "Just promise me you'll be careful. I won't try and tell you not to do it, mostly because you won't listen and you'll do it anyway."
"And you'll keep my secret."
"Well, that goes without saying. What kind of a Commissioner Gordon would I be if I busted your secret identity? It's just between you and me, little buddy. Do your best to not make me regret that."
"Deal."
"Given any thought to what kin
ds of cases you're going to take on or will this be for general cries for help?"
"Batman has no limits."
"Yeah, that was a great movie. Saw it a few times myself." Hagan winked at the troll. "No details yet, I take it."
"I haven't gotten that far. Still thinking it over." The troll leaned back on one elbow, tugging at his pole but nothing was biting.
"Solid plan. If you get anything tricky will you do me a favor and run it by me first? I'd sleep better at night if you did. Think of it as a favor to me."
"I will go you one more and give you my digits." The troll dug around in the creel Hagan brought with them and pulled out his phone, handing it up to Hagan.
"You got some muscle on you there, Yumfuck. I get tired of holding my phone in my big mitt and you lift that thing up like it's nothing. You may make a better crime fighter than I give you credit. Is it scary that I'm a little excited about this new venture?"
The troll held up his paw, curling under his claws for a fist bump. Hagan held up his fist, bouncing it against the troll's fist and opening his fingers, waggling them.
"That'll be our secret handshake for your new venture."
"We'll need a bat signal, too."
"That one might be trickier but I'll give it some thought. Hey, you got a live one!"
The troll's fishing line started pulling and tugging. He pulled back, hard as his boot slipped in the dirt. He held on tight to his pole as the fish made a run, pulling the lightweight troll behind him. The troll's weight wasn't enough to keep him on the shore and he went face first into the lake, plowing behind the fish, his hands still tightly around the pole.
He pulled on the pole just enough to get himself into a sitting position as he put out his heels, pulling himself to a standing position, waterskiing behind the fish, zigzagging around the lake.
"Steer him this way!" Hagan waved his arms over his head. "Hang on, I'm getting some video of this for Rose. She will never believe this one without a little proof."
Hagan held up his phone as the troll held up one arm, and then the other, then pointed a leg out behind, smiling and showing all his tiny teeth.
"Yeehaw!" yelled Yumfuck, waving at a passing boat as he rode over the wave created in their wake.
The fish slowed near shore and Hagan picked up the long net, scooping the wet troll out of the water as he pulled the line behind him. Eventually the fish emerged.
"I think that sucker is bigger than you!"
Hagan put down the net to pick up the troll in one hand and hold up the fish from the line on the other. The fish was bigger.
"Good job, little buddy. This will make some good eating."
"Let it go. It fought valiantly. We can stop for tacos."
Hagan set the troll on the ground so he could shake out his fur and worked the hook out of the fish's gills, throwing him back. "I like where you're going with this. Let's pack it in and we can head toward home. Not allowed to report to work for a few more days but I might stop by and see what's up. Just check in."
The troll gave him a look.
"That's pretty good. You almost look like Leira when she does that to me. Much like you, I can be a little stubborn so just go with it. Come on, let's roll. You might want to work on that name a little while you're at it."
The troll let out a cackle. "I'll think about it."
Chapter Sixteen
Leira walked up the long grassy pasture toward the dense forest in the middle of the sanctuary just outside of Austin. She was there to test out a theory. She came up to the crest of a hill and thought she saw something moving at the edge of the forest.
Perrom... good.
She waved her arm over her head as he emerged from the forest, the squares on his skin flipping back to their natural resting state of honey brown skin. He stood there, patiently waiting for her to walk the last mile. She was in no hurry this time to get there.
The battle to rescue the animals and shut down the operation took a toll on her, if only temporary. She wanted to enjoy the quiet solitude and listen to the sound of the Texas wind blowing across the grass, the sun warming her face. Hagan signed on for this work long before you were his partner. He gets to decide his fate, not you.
Leira had been having this argument with herself since she got Hagan home, safe and sound. You would never let anyone tell you what you could or couldn't do. "Give him the same respect." She stopped and shook out her hands, breathing in the warm air deeply. She smiled and started back up the hill. "Better enjoy the calm moments while I have them. Start adding up the gratitude. Come on, Berens. Remember where you were just a little while ago? Mom in a psych ward, Nana missing in action? Now you're a magical badass and you met your father. Bonus, he's not the dick you thought he was all these years."
Perrom called to her out in the field. "That's a peculiar thing that people like to do here. I could hear you arguing with yourself halfway up the hill." Perrom tapped his pointed ear. "Exceptional hearing. These points are like antennae."
Leira ran the rest of the way, her legs responding easily. Running was still one of her favorite things. "Using magic to do it doesn't hurt, either."
"No, it doesn't. Shall we go?"
"Thank you for meeting me here." Leira followed Perrom deeper into the sanctuary.
"You said it was important and involved the animals, and you're a friend of Correk's." He looked over his shoulder at Leira. "I can see that he trusts you." He glanced back again. "You fight like a great warrior."
"Warrior... never thought of it like that. Where I come from they call it doing your job."
Perrom laughed, surprising Leira. "That sounds like a version of something Correk would say. I can tell there's Elven blood in you." He looked back again. "Jasper blood."
"Correk told you?" A tall vine growing around a tree with large white trumpet-shaped blossoms turned toward Leira's voice. The blossom closest to her head blew out a fine powder that she breathed in before she could stop herself. The rest landed on her face, sinking in to her skin. "That can't be good."
"It's harmless. You'll see colors when you hear music but the effects are temporary. I'll show you." Perrom reverted to the language he used on Oriceran singing the words as Leira watched the colors splash into the air, all around her, filling the space, twirling together and fading away. "See what I mean?"
Leira sang out a note to see what happened, watching the colors take different shapes. "Mary had a little lamb, little lamb..." Red, orange and blue colors floated in front of her, taking the shape of the nearby trees, eventually fading.
Perrom looked back at her, amused at her singing. "Children on Oriceran seek out those vines. They bloom in early spring and the singing goes on till summer."
"The karaoke of the plant world. I wonder if it's ever heard Journey."
Her reverie was broken by the sound of a low lowing from the distance. An orange blob vibrated in front of her face as the lowing died down.
"The animals..." She touched the top of her bracelet and felt it warm against her skin, giving off a low vibration.
Perrom was watching her closely, his irises moving back and forth. "Correk didn't tell me anything. He wouldn't break your confidence. You can feel the animals, can't you." He tapped his chest hard. "It's inside of you... a connection to their life force through the artifacts."
Leira looked up expectantly, stepping over a low root, only to realize it was a snake that slithered over the tip of her other foot and into the underbrush. She kept moving, keeping just behind Perrom, reminded there were still a lot of creatures in the sanctuary she knew nothing about and had never seen before. The trees rustled overhead, shaking.
"You know about the connection. Can you tell me more?"
"No, but the Gardener of the Dark Forest may be able to. He knows a lot of old teachings he learned from the Gnomes a very long time ago. They started training him when he was still under a hundred years old and just a teenager living in the woods on his own."
"Training him
?"
Perrom lifted a branch out of the way, holding it for Leira as they passed under an old weeping willow.
"Taking care of him is probably more accurate." Perrom let out a low whistle and a black cloud of bees erupted from a bush in front of them, hovering for a moment. He let out another whistle and pointed to the west as the bees followed his command, flying in a narrowed buzzing formation.
"Looks like you've learned a few things too."
"My father made sure of it. If you know your way around, these sanctuaries are paradise. If you don't, they become very dangerous, very quickly, which I suppose is the point. Come on, we can keep going now. Their sting takes weeks to get over. The Gardener was abandoned in the woods when he was a young child. He survived on his own for awhile and that's back when the woods were actually dangerous. It's why he has such an affinity for everything in it. It's also what made him such a great conversationalist." He gave a tired smile.
"Parents are an interesting breed. Not sure I'd be that good at being one. I keep getting tangled up with dark mists and in fireball fights. Would make it hard to convince anyone to go on a play date with my kid."
"Elven parents would understand." Perrom put a finger to his lips and slowed down, making no noise as he walked. They entered a glade where the rescued cows were grazing, chewing on cud as the machinery inside of them quietly whirred, turning cogs and wheels as some stood on artificial limbs.
"Never ceases to horrify and cause a kink in my brain," whispered Leira. "They're not in pain anymore. I can feel it."
"No, my father did something. I saw him working with herbs and a few other ingredients but he wouldn't tell me exactly what he was using. Not that I expected him to. He whispered a spell into it and it took flight, mixing with the air, calming them all down instantly. Perrom stood at the edge of the herd, talking calmly in a low voice. "They're still skittish especially around anything that resembles a human being."
"They trust you." Leira pressed her hand against the scar on her belly. The stone in the center of the ring was swirling and changing color to a pale blue and green. She looked at it more closely. "It's like a magical mood ring. It's reading the energy of the field."
