by P. G. Thomas
“I don’t see anything.”
“Cause there not anything there. No jobs, no food, no hope.”
Logan knelt down, “You said most left. What did you mean?”
“Ya remember Joshat, I pointed him out yesterda’ when I thoughts you wanted company. When he wakes up, his mind is clear, members everything. Jewels, she realized with child she is, but it was still. I heard them climb the roof, heard them—” She started crying, “They still out back.”
Logan left to investigate while Lauren grabbed one of the hampers and started to pass out food, which they quickly devoured. Logan returned, wiping away tears, and in a quiet voice he said, “They jumped.”
Bringing her hands up to cover her anguished look, Lauren gasped.
“Why? Why ja do it, lady?”
She looked down at a filthy boy wearing only rags, shaking as he stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth. “Ya got jobs for us? Place to keeps us?”
“I wanted to help,” replied Lauren.
Krisp reached for a stale pastry, “Why not just slit our—That would free us.”
“NO! I want to help you!”
“At least with Sun, we don’t know how bad we was.”
“It was killing you.”
“Ain’t this da life now.”
“Can’t you go back to your families?” asked Logan.
“Most dead or done kicked us out,” replied the first boy.
Logan pulled Lauren out to the street, “What’re you doing? Yes, even though they might be in purgatory, it has to be better than this hell. At least, when they’re stoned, they don’t care or kill themselves.”
“That isn’t what I wanted…”
“Well, unless you can do something else for them…Didn’t you have a plan?” asked Logan.
“I need them to start talking to Mother, but there are just too many. I thought that when their minds were clear, they would want to stay that way, not—”
“There’s other suffering here,” began Logan, “so concentrate on that, and leave them alone until you can help them better.”
Lauren cradled her head in her hands, “There is so much suffering—”
“What would Lauren do?” asked Logan.
“I don’t understand.”
“When Gingaar needed to protect Alron, she asked herself, ‘What would Lauren do?’ So if Gingaar was here, and she asked herself that question, what answer would she think of?”
“You’ve been hanging around Ryan too long, but she would probably say she needed Earth Mothers.”
“If there aren’t any, what would Lauren do?”
“Probably something stupid and poorly thought out,” then looked at the staff, “Like make them.”
“What?” asked Logan.
Lauren went back inside the crude shelter and knelt down in front of the hopeless children, “If I can give you something that Midnight Sun could never give you, would you want it?” All of their eyes opened wide. “Wait for me to return.” It was an Earth Bond. “I’ll leave two of my Guardians to protect you and return tomorrow.” Without providing any more information, she walked over to the two dwarves. “Please stay here one more night to protect them.” Without waiting for a reply, returning to the wagon, Logan, and the other Guardians followed, but none saw the small pile of staff ash being absorbed into the wet ground.
*******
Mirtza stopped the wagon on the north side of the Key River, holding out the SHET wagon permit to the approaching Darkpaye Watch.
He scanned the fine horses, “Awfully nice wagon.”
“Tough times,” Mirtza replied, “just trying to make ends meet.”
Scanning the group, the officer saw Steve and Ryan sitting at the back, and the two children sitting on the bench. “Awfully big crew you have?”
“Their mother took ill, so I cannot leave them at home by themselves. Boys in the back are family. The more we shovel, the more pay we get. Just hoping this is short-term employment.” Then Mirtza grabbed the permit when the Watch waved them by.
*******
Eric opened the door to where the machine was kept, and he saw John in the secret room, picking up the tarnished mithril from his second cloak, putting it into a box. As he entered the room, he pushed the cart to the side, “What’re you doing?”
“Since we’re going to need magic to get out of this mess, I need my second cloak. It’ll probably be faster if I take Ironhouse this mithril rather than having them mine and process a fresh batch. Plus, they can still use this chain to connect it to the kites.”
“Makes sense, but you seem distracted.”
“I’ve been thinking about the comments that Bor made. At first, I wasn’t sure if it meant anything, but when Tranquil and Fury made similar, well—they’re all suggesting that something is happening with the dwarves, maybe more, but their comments were elusive.”
“Go talk to somebody from Darkpaye, as maybe they can give you some pointers on interrogations.”
“I would prefer to avoid that kind of—direct interactions, but I would like to find out what’s happening before it…happens. How did you make out with the permit?”
“Jedimac was pretty ingenious, making a perfect forgery. Ryan, Steve, Mirtza, Sam, and Hope should be neck deep in crap by now. I thought you would be working on the root?”
“Drain the water, add more, observe, and then get bored. I’ve been spending time down here stripping components off of the machine to take back to Ironhouse. Ramy should have my first cloak recharging, but it was the second that was more powerful. Lauren has her staff, Logan his tattoos, and you have your dwarven gifts. I imagine, in a couple of weeks that the rage will find Ryan. If something is going to happen, I would like to be on the field and not sitting on the bench, so I need at least one of my cloaks.”
“I agree. The more special teams we have, the easier it’ll be to win.” Then Eric pointed to the spool of mithril, “Do you need a hand with that?”
“If I had that functioning,” John replied pointing to the tattered black garment that had once stopped an army, “probably not. So yes, if you can help, I won’t object.”
Eric walked over to the large, heavy reel of tarnished metal, picking it up easily, and placing it on the cart, “There are times I do enjoy being in these strange lands.”
John grabbed the sides of a box, exerted all of his energy, jerking it from the floor, and swung it onto the cart. “Should’ve put it on the cart first,” he said, rubbing his back.
Pushing it into the first room, Eric lifted the other heavy boxes onto it and then looked at the machine, “Can you fix it?”
“I made it work once so fixing it should be simple. Do you want to go with me to Ironhouse?”
“No, Ironhouse will be safe, but I don’t know what might happen here.”
John pulled off a portal bracelet, dropped a medallion through it, and Eric pushed the cart into Gayne’s stable.
*******
Ryan looked at Sam and Hope, “You’re sure that you haven’t picked up any scents?” When they both shook their heads, he turned to Mirtza, “We should head back since it’s getting late.”
He looked into the back of the wagon, “If I had known you would be that hard working, I would have traveled faster. We need to go to the dump, and it is more than an hour away.”
Sam and Hope both groaned.
“Do not worry,” Mirtza replied, “They built fast roads to move more wagons in the north, and once we get there, we will portal back home.” Guiding the wagon back to the center of the town, he worked his way north, arriving eventually at a very wide stone bricked road. “Steve, Ryan, you both need to ride up front to hold onto these two.” Once they had relocated, he waited for an opening as wagons raced by in both directions, and then he whipped the horses to take to the street as fast as they could, heading north. The first few minutes were interesting, to say the least, but Sam and Hope, in complete fear, had both closed their eyes, turning to hug the person who held them.
As wagons sped towards them, others threatened to overtake them from behind, Ryan yelled out, “Mirtza, get on your side of the damn road!”
“WHICH ONE IS THAT?” he replied, smacking the reins to make the horses go faster.
When they arrived at the dump, Ryan’s legs had cramps from pressing against the front wall of the wagon.
Steve just smiled, “Reminds me of driving with my first ex-wife.”
Sam smiled, looked up to Mirtza, giddy with excitement in his eyes, “Please drive us home.”
“That was fun,” Hope added.
*******
Sam ran into the house, “I want to bathe first.”
“No, me first,” Hope shouted, chasing her brother up the stairs.
Lauren turned to Ryan, “You will be third.” Then she smelled Steve and Mirtza, “Four and five. Did you—”
Ryan shook his head, “No, but the good news is that nobody from Darkpaye followed us or asked what we were doing. It’ll just take some time.”
Lauren nodded, heading back to the patio.
It was two hours later when Logan announced that dinner was ready. As everybody gathered around the dining table, he brought out two twelve inch flat trays. Each was covered by something that looked like bread, and on top, a strange mixture of assorted ingredients. Behind him, two of the house staff also carried similar.
“Pizza?” asked Lauren.
“Tired of eating the same thing every night,” advised Logan, “so Italy and Calicon have been united. No idea what they taste like, but most of the ingredients are similar.” Then he pointed to each, “This one is a meat lovers, vegetarian, deluxe, forget what we put on that one, no idea about the other.” Then he smiled, pointing to the one in front of Steve, “That one is the Peter Piper.”
Steve raised his eyebrows, looking at Logan.
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Beyond the pickled peppers, I’ve no idea of what came out of those foul smelling jars, but I figured you would like it, old man.”
Steve smiled, picked up a slice, taking a bite, “It’s good.” Then had another bite.
“Seriously, pizza?” asked Lauren.
“It’s good,” advised Eric.
“It’s awesome,” replied John.
Wiping a large piece of melted cheese from his lips, Mirtza replied, “Interesting.”
Gayne set down his piece, smiled then looked at the pizza in front of Steve.
“Help yourself.”
Picking up a piece of the Peter Piper Pizza, Gayne tasted it, his eyes opening wide with excitement.
“Hot, hot, hot.” Ryan, grabbing a mug of beer, took a long drink.
“Volcano. The staff helped me find all of the hot spicy stuff in the kitchen, which we dumped it on that one.”
Gayne set down his piece, reaching for a piece that was in front of Ryan, and after taking a large bite, washed it down with a mouthful of beer, “Amazing, what did you call this?”
“Da pizza pie,” replied a smiling Logan.
Gayne reached for another one.
Grasping a piece of the vegetarian, Lauren hesitantly sampled it, “This is really good.”
“Da Pizza,” smiled Logan, “she’s always good.”
After Lauren had swallowed a large bite, she asked, “Why?”
“I was thinking about those kids, no work, living on the streets. Some of the projects that I worked on, during my internships, involved creating jobs specific to hiring troubled youths.” Then he turned to Gayne, “Ever thought about opening a restaurant?”
“You want to sell this?”
Mirtza dropped his piece of meat lovers, “Can I invest?”
“There’s one condition; you only hire the children that Lauren cures. Other than somebody to manage the place. It’ll be challenging, but I think it’ll help.”
Mirtza took a bite of the volcano pizza, washing it quickly down with a long drink of beer, “Do you have any other recipes?”
“Only if you promise to help those children.”
Gayne nodded, swallowed another piece, advising, “We will work out the details after this is done.”
Lauren looked at the two children, “Do you like it?” They both gave Lauren a thumbs up sign, which made her smile, “Did your dad teach you that?”
With her mouth still full with pizza, Hope nodded.
Sam swallowed his piece, “It is even better than Mom’s.”
Lowering his mug, John reluctantly looked at Lauren. “I was thinking of heading to Ironhouse tomorrow. Before you say anything, there’s nothing more I can do with the root. I showed one of Gayne’s students how to take care of it, but it just sits in the pan. If I had one of my cloaks, I might be able to use the magic to help me understand it.”
Before Lauren could protest, Eric spoke up, “You know he’s right. If he had tech or a lab, he might be able to do something, but this world lacks those fancy things. Without magic, he’s just John, but with one of his cloaks, well, he’s the Unchosen. Look at what he did in Alron.”
Lauren sighed, “You’re sure you can’t figure out the root without one?”
He nodded.
*******
The next morning, Mirtza brought forth the magic wagon, which he was glad to smell that the scent was not able to survive in the amulet form. As he placed the shovels in the back, Steve, Ryan, Sam, and Hope all arrived.
Logan also followed them, “Lauren wants me to go with you.”
Steve nodded, “Why?”
He rolled up his shirtsleeves, “In case something happens, but understand this, I’m not doing any shoveling!”
Then the six headed to the Key River with the SHET permit in Mirtza’s pocket.
*******
Lauren woke tired the next morning, as some of the motionless children had escaped the wet alleys, taking refuge in her dreams. As she sat on the patio sipping a hot tea, she saw Danex picking fresh flowers from her front yard and went over. “Would you mind if I harvested some plants from your garden?”
Danex agreed.
When Lauren returned to the house, she saw John receiving the bracelet triggers from Gayne. “Do you want Eric to go with you?”
“No, I’ll be fine. Nothing will happen at Ironhouse, but if he could push my cart through the portal, my back would be grateful.”
Then she followed John, Gayne, and Eric to the stables. Seeing the cart, Lauren recognized the mithril chains, but the three other boxes took her by surprise, “What’re the rest?”
“I’ve been stripping components off of the machine,” John began, “and was hoping that Fodu might be able to find some time to fix them since dwarves built most of it.” Then he dropped a stone through the bracelet, watched the ring form, which showed an image of the Ironhouse stables. As John stepped across the threshold, Eric pushed the cart into the mine, stepped back, and the portal winked out.
“Before we go to visit your new friends, can we stop by the school?” asked Gayne.
Lauren nodded, “Yes, but first Eric and I need to go harvest some plants.”
*******
Four hours later, Gayne stopped the largest magic wagon in his collection across from the derelict building. On their way to meet the children, Lauren had asked him to stop at a large lot of land, which had been destined for urban expansion in better times. On parts of it, some dwellings had begun, but when hard times fell on the Bright Coast, the prospective owners had walked away from their investments. It was there that Lauren planted the clippings she had taken from Danex’s garden, and using the staff, had encouraged them to take root, yearning to sow the seeds of hope.
Eric and the Guardians escorted her to the structure where Krisp and the others waited.
There was an anger burning in Krisp’s eyes, “Are we frees to go now?”
“I offered you something better than Midnight Sun. Are you still interested?” asked Lauren.
All fourteen held out their hands.
“It’s not here, but I ca
n take you to it.”
The only other girl in the group took a step back, “She just cleaning us up, slave trade is er game. I ain’t going!”
Lauren looked at the group, seeing the mixed emotions of defeat, curiosity, and boredom. Knowing that she would never be able to find the right words to encourage all of them to follow her, she issued an Earth Bond, “Trust me,” which immediately caused their moods to change. Lauren turned to Eric, “Please escort them back to the wagon,” and then she looked down to the two Guardians that had stayed to protect them. “While I know this was not part of your duties, I would like to thank you for what you’ve done.” The Guardians maintained their emotionless expressions, following her back to the wagon.
*******
As the rain stopped, they arrived at the lot where Lauren had planted her harvest from the garden, and she disembarked from the wagon, sitting down on a nearby stump. The children followed her, but Eric, Gayne, the Guardians, and blood wolves remained. Even though only fourteen stood before her, it felt like fourteen hundred, as she was uncertain if she knew the right words to speak. “Yesterday, you said there was nothing out here for you. No food, no jobs, no hope.” The last word stinging her tongue when she said it. “When you take the Midnight Sun, you ignore the misery that surrounds you, but few can escape like you do. As such, the desperation remains, feeding, festering, and it breeds more sorrow. With your help, we can change that.” One of the lads mumbled under his breath, ‘This don’t sound better den Sun,’ but she continued. “As the suffering here is great, it’ll take many to help supress its growth, so I wanted to know if you would like to help?”
From the back, one of the youths replied, “I wants whatever you is taking. Stops the suffering, next thing ya be promising be blue skies.”
Lauren whispered a silent apology to Sister, grasped the gnarled staff tight, and thought of cloudless skies. “I can show you things, gifting you knowledge, so you can find those who need help and provide it to them.” As she spoke, her gaze focused on Krisp and the girl sitting beside her, “What’s your name?”
She was young, maybe four-foot-six, wrapped in one of the discarded blankets. Her hair oily, matted down, but she also had deep blue eyes, which seemed to have a spark in them. “Leese,” she timidly replied.
