by W. D. Newman
CHAPTER 27
ANGRY DWARVES
“Hey, where’s Grandma,” said Ben, looking around. Amos was not among them either.
“Over here,” the big man called. He was still kneeling beside Louise, who had not yet wakened from her faint. Everyone rushed over to check on her.
“Is she okay?” asked Casey.
“I think so,” Amos answered. “She saw Bellator strike you and it was too much shock for her system to take in. She thought you were killed and her body just shut down on her. To be honest, I don’t see how anyone could have survived that blow. How is it that you are okay and unharmed? Is it wizardry?”
“No,” Merlin answered, “there is no wizardry or magic behind her healing. It was divine intervention, plain and simple. By all rights she should be dead.”
“Can you do something for Grandma,” Ben asked the wizard.
Merlin stooped over and peered at Louise’s face. “Yes, yes, I do believe I can do something about this. Gabriel, has your flask any water in it?”
“A little, why?”
“Let me have it! Hurry, now!”
Gabriel pulled the flask from his belt and handed it to the wizard. Merlin snatched the flask and hastily screwed the lid off. He then poured the lid full of water, handed the flask back to Gabriel, and knelt down beside Louise, being very careful not to spill any of the water. As he hovered over her, he closed his eyes and waved his hand above the lid, while chanting in some strange tongue that no one understood.
“What’s he doing?” Ben whispered to Gabriel.
“I hope not, but I think he is up to mischief,” Gabriel responded. “We shall see.”
Merlin continued to chant, his voice growing louder and louder. He began to sway back and forth as he continued to wave his hand over the lid of water. Then suddenly his body went stiff and rigid, and his chanting ceased. “It is ready,” he cried with a loud voice and with that proclamation he took the lid of water and tossed it into Louise’s face.
Louise bolted upright, coughing and sputtering. “What? What happened? What happened?”
Merlin cackled with laughter and slapped his knee. “Ha-ha-he-heeeeee! I really had all of you going, didn’t I? That was great, you all thought I was doing some big magic, ha-ha-he-heeeeee! I fooled you all!”
Marcus smiled at the wizard’s antics, but shook his head in disapproval. “You didn’t fool anyone for even a second, old man, but Louise thinks her grandchild was just killed. Show her some compassion, respect, and concern.”
Merlin pulled the floppy hat off his head and mumbled an apology, while Amos tried to calm Louise down and assure her that everything was okay. “Louise, calm down, Casey is unharmed.”
“Casey!” she sobbed. “Oh no, Amos, she’s gone!”
“No she isn’t, she’s right here. Look, Louise, she’s unharmed.”
Louise still did not hear him and continued to weep. Casey came over and sat down beside her.
“Grandma, I’m right here. Look at me, I’m fine.”
Louise sniffed and wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve. She stared at her granddaughter and blinked several times, as if her eyes were deceiving her and by blinking she could vanquish the specter before her. No, there wasn’t anything wrong with her eyes. Maybe she was losing her mind. “Is this a cruel trick?” she finally asked with a weak and trembling voice. She was totally devastated and almost too afraid to hope. “How can you be okay? I saw him hit you!”
“It’s not a trick, Grandma, it’s really me and I’m really okay. He did hit me and it almost killed me, but I believe the Creator healed me. I’m perfectly well now. Actually, I’ve never felt better in my life.”
Louise threw her arms around Casey and sobbed, but this time it was tears of joy that streamed down her cheeks. When the tears finally ceased, Amos helped her to her feet, but when she saw Ben the tears started flowing again. She hugged both of her grandchildren tightly and wept over them. This was the closest she had ever come to tragically losing someone that meant more to her than life. The prophecy of Venus was not the only thing that was final. This was the final time she would ever venture through the Merlin tree. It was the final time she would ever take a chance on her grandchildren’s safety by allowing them to come here. She resolved in her heart to say her goodbyes and, when she returned home, she would ask George to cut down the Merlin tree. Cut it down, burn it, pull it up with the tractor; whatever it took, the tree must be destroyed, but before she could contemplate that any further, she had to know what had transpired after she fainted. “What exactly happened?” she asked. “Where is Bellator and how was he vanquished?”
“I think Casey will have to explain part of that story,” said Marcus. “One second she was with us and the next second she was where Ben had just been standing.”
“Someone pushed me out of the way!” Ben exclaimed. “I know it was you, but how did you get over to me so fast?”
“I used one of my charms,” Casey answered. “It was the charm shaped like a sundial. Venus told me that it would stop time for a few seconds. When Bellator raised his hand to strike Ben, I invoked the charm and then ran over to push him out of the way. The charm didn’t last long at all, only long enough for me save Ben.”
“When Bellator struck you,” said Merlin, “I blasted him with the spellcatcher. I knew it wouldn’t hurt him, but I think it stunned him for a split second and that was all that was needed for Gabriel to fling the sword at him.”
“Hey,” said Ben. “How did you manage that? I was the master of the sword. No one else should have been able to move it!”
“The sword sometimes chooses its master, Ben. Excalibur was always seeking to return to Bellator; its true master. You had a predestined confrontation with Bellator, so the sword chose you so that it could get a little bit closer. You had no intentions of giving the sword back to Bellator, but after he struck Casey I had every intention of giving it back to him, only not like he expected.”
“The sword couldn’t tell that you were wanting to harm Bellator?”
“No. It all happened so fast. I don’t even remember thinking, I just acted. It never even crossed my mind that I might not be able to move the sword. It was the closest weapon to me, so I grabbed it. Maybe the sword thought that Bellator would catch it and maybe he would have caught it had Merlin not hit him with the spell catcher. Who knows?”
“Okay,” said Louise, “this might make sense to all of you, but I’m having to fill in the gaps here. Was Bellator killed with his own sword?”
“No,” Marcus answered. “He would have died, but Casey saved him.”
“Casey? How? Never mind how, Casey, why would you save him, after what he did to you?” Louise hastily looked around with a frightened expression on her face. “If you saved him, where is he? Is he coming back? Does he have the sword now?”
“No, he is not coming back,” said Gabriel, “and he does not have the sword. Casey showed him undeserved mercy through personal sacrifice. She gave her life for him. It’s the greatest act of love one can bestow on another and it shook him to his core to have a mortal do that for him; a mortal enemy, no less. In shame and humility, he flung Excalibur into the lake and reclaimed his true name. He also resolved to never harm another living creature.”
“Then where is he?”
“Home. He has gone home to the Creator. Venus came back to get him. It’s all over, Louise. We can all return home now.”
Home. Louise thought on that word and the real meaning behind it. It wasn’t a place, it was a feeling; a state of mind. Actually, it was more of a state of the heart. The house and farm where they lived; that was a place. The joy and happiness that they experienced and shared there made it a home. Yes, home was not a place, because no matter where they laid their head at night, home existed in their hearts. Never-the-less, Louise was ready to get back to the farm and to all of the people that made the farm her home. “If
everything is truly over, may we leave now? I’m exhausted and ready to get home. We’ll visit some other time.”
“Certainly,” said Marcus. “If you feel like riding, we can leave immediately.”
“No need for that,” said Merlin, rapping his staff on the ground. A black hole popped open in front of them.
Louise stared at the black hole for a moment and then placed her hands on her hips and glared at Merlin. “We rode horses for several hours to get here and you could have just opened a pathway for us? Why in heaven’s name didn’t you?”
“Old woman, I’ve been stuck in one of those tunnels for centuries and I wanted to have a nice, leisurely ride, so there!”
“Old woman, is it? If I had my pocketbook with me I’d wallop you across the top of your beany little head, you spindly legged old geezer!”
“Spindly legs!” Merlin cried. “Now you’ve gone too far!”
Amos and Marcus quickly separated the two before things could escalate any further. Merlin might be a great and powerful wizard, but he had no idea who he was messing with. Once Louise got her dander up, even Amos gave her a wide berth.
“One thing we must do before we leave,” said Marcus. “Amos, do you have the flasks with you?”
“Oh yeah, I’d almost forgot!” Amos replied. “They are over here.”
“Help me empty them into the lake.”
“Here? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am certain.”
After the three flasks were emptied, the water began to bubble and swirl, then suddenly it exploded into a geyser of white, frothing foam. As the column of water that shot up from the lake rained back down, Arinya began to rise up from the surface. When the water nymph spotted Ben, even though she had never met him, she instinctively knew who he was. With an angry cry, she lunged at him, but he and the others were too far from the lake for her to reach.
Marcus walked down to the edge of the water and Arinya leapt at him. She tried to grab him but some unseen force kept her from touching the elf. She tried to knock him over, but that same force deflected her water at every turn. When she finally realized that she couldn’t even get him wet, she crossed her arms and glared at him.
“Where have you brought me?”
“You are in Faerie, in the beautiful city of Jupiter.”
“Why have you brought me here? Am I now your prisoner?”
“No, you are not a prisoner here. I only ask that you stay with us for a little while, a year perhaps. At the end of the year, if you wish to leave, we will take you wherever you wish to go, but I cannot imagine a beautiful creature such as yourself wishing to live anywhere else. Think about it, Arinya. You have been moved from the dark cold waters of the gnome mines to Long Lake. Was that not better than the mines? And now I have brought you from Long Lake to Faerie. Look around you! Is this not better than Long Lake?”
“The water is different here, I’ll admit. It feels cleaner, purer. I actually feel more alive in these waters than I can ever remember. What is the catch? What do you want from me?”
“Two things. First, you must never harm any living creature ever again. This is a new beginning for you. This will be your home and there will be many that come to visit you, for we have not had a water nymph in Faerie for many ages. Secondly, there is a sword at the bottom of this lake. You must guard this sword and make certain than no one ever gets it. That is all.”
“One year?”
“One year. Will you do it? Will you be the Lady of our fair lake? Will you be the guardian of the sword at the bottom of the lake?”
Arinya considered her options. The waters in Faerie were amazing and the lake was indeed quite beautiful. It was only for one year too. She finally decided that it would be nice to relax here for a year. At the end of the year, she could re-evaluate her options. “I agree to your terms. I will stay for one year. I will harm no one and I will guard the sword at the bottom of the lake. No one shall touch it while I inhabit these waters.”
“Excellent!” Marcus exclaimed. “I’ll return here to visit with you often. I have many questions to ask you and I look forward to getting to know you.”
“We shall see,” Arinya replied. The water nymph slowly sank into the water and vanished.
“Thank goodness that is over,” said Hob. “I am anxious to be leaving. I have such stories to tell Gob and Nob. If I did not have witnesses to back up my story, I doubt they would believe any of the things I’ve seen.”
“Let’s be off, then,” said Gabriel, with a smile. “I wish to see their faces when you tell them of your adventures in Crag.”
When they arrived at the lodge, Marcus instructed Torac to send arrow hawks to every supply center in all of the cities with news of the day’s events. Each dwarf that manned a supply center would send out arrow hawks to the remote garrisons that belonged to the city where the supply center was located. It was an announcement of victory and a call to return home. Once Torac took his leave, Merlin opened a pathway to the garrison where Jonah was stationed.
The pathway opened up near the Merlin tree. They found the garrison minimally staffed and the stables empty, as most of the elves were out on training maneuvers. Since Jonah was in charge of the garrison, they found him in the commander’s tent along with Gob and Nob. The two dwarfs were sitting at the table and arguing, between bites of food, about the dragon’s cycle on Crag.
“I’m telling you for the last time, you bearded bonehead, it’s the time of the Awakening,” said Nob. The dwarf was waving a fat turkey leg over his head as he spoke.
“And I’m telling you for the tenth time, you prune faced fathead, it’s the time of the Slumber,” Gob responded.
Neither dwarf saw them enter the tent, but Jonah did. “You’re back!” he cried, jumping up from the table. He ran to embrace them and then he spied Merlin among them. He froze and his jaw dropped to the floor. Gabriel and Marcus laughed.
“Your eyes do not deceive you, Jonah, it is indeed our friend of old; Merlin.”
Jonah ran to the old man and grabbed him by the arms. “Is it really you?”
“Oh no, we’re not going to have one of those sappy elf moments here, are we?” Merlin grumbled.
Jonah threw his arms around the old man and lifted him off the ground in a great bear hug. He spun around with him and then sat him back down. “It is you! By all that is good in Faerie and Camelot, it is you, but how? How is it possible? Where did you come from?”
“We have been to Crag,” said Hob. “Merlin here is the wisest one from the prophecy.”
The wizard doffed his hat and, with a grand flourish of his robes, bowed low at the waist.
“Good grief,” Louise grumbled.
Merlin yanked his floppy hat back onto his head and shot Louise a look of annoyance.
“You’ve been on Crag this whole time?” Jonah continued. “I don’t understand.”
“I’ve been inside of a pathway this whole time,” Merlin answered. “It was a pathway from the Dragon’s Cradle on earth to the Dragon’s Cradle on Crag. I entered the pathway from the earth Cradle and then closed it while I was inside.”
“How did you survive through all of those centuries?”
“There is no passage of time inside a pathway. As far as I could tell, I was only in there for a brief moment.”
“Then how did you know when to come out?”
“I didn’t. Ben had my staff and with it he had the ability to open a pathway. When he saw the Dragon’s Cradle on Crag, he recognized it as a structure that also existed on earth. He knew instinctively to open the pathway to the one on earth and that is how I was able to get out. It was all part of the prophecy.”
“You went to Crag without us?” Gob cried.
“What about Bellator?” asked Jonah, completely ignoring Gob. “What do we do now?”
“Bellator has been dealt with,” said Marcus. “It’s finished.”
“I thi
nk they went to Crag without us,” said Gob, poking Nob in the ribs. “HEY! Did you guys go to Crag? You know that Nob and I wanted to go along!”
“So, it’s over?” asked Jonah, still ignoring the angry dwarf. “He’s dead?”
“No,” Marcus answered, “not dead, just gone. Gone forever. It’s a long story and a little later we shall tell it in its entirety, but for now, suffice it to say that everything worked out just perfectly.”
“SOMEBODY ANSWER ME,” Gob hollered. The poor dwarf was red in the face and yanking furiously on his beard. “DID YOU GO TO CRAG WITHOUT US?”
*****
