by Max Jager
Then the woman waved Fergus, Tansy, and Bria forward, then a moment later, she smiled at Kaitlyn calling her forward as well. Matt was so intent on what was going on he almost forgot that Sunflower was sitting on his shoulder. Turning his head, he whispered,
"What's going on?"
"That's Aine, she's very very old, she looks out for us, and keeps us safe. The fairy is Zinnia Valley Holm, and the leprechaun is Aengus, he's their leader.'
"What! Not king?" Whispered Matt.
"Shussh! Keep it down!" Hissed Sunflower, "No…No kings here, Zinnia thinks she's queen of the fairies, but that's just an honorary title."
He returned his attention to the proceedings in front of him, as Aine seemed to be speaking to Tansy and the others. Then Sunflower hissed,
"Hurry, step back into the trees, the ceremony is about to begin." He, like the rest of the fairy folk quickly moved back into the tree line. Suddenly he felt something land on his other shoulder, a tiny voice announcing,
"Beggen yer pardon yer lordship, but I canna see." It was another gnome, a male this time.
As Matt watched the event unfolding, he couldn't help thinking,
"Here I am in freaking Ireland, no passport, standing in some forest surrounded be people that aren't supposed to exist with two garden ornaments sitting on my shoulders. How fucking surreal can that be?" Aine was speaking now with Zinnia on her left and Aengus on her right, facing Fergus, Tansy, Bria and Kaitlyn in the center of the clearing. He couldn't understand a word she was saying, but everyone was transfixed, even the two gnomes sitting on his shoulders were not saying a word. Matt had no idea as to what was going on, all he saw were the light patterns changing, along with closeness in the air. Now Aine seemed to be holding a book of some kind, now the book was floating, and seemed to be glowing. He knew magic was playing out in front of his eyes, and that was another thing, THAT wasn't supposed to exist either.
Now there was a bright light engulfing Tansy and the others. Objects seemed to be swirling around, things just seemed to be occurring naturally, well so much for the way mages did things or cast spells in some of the games he had played. The ceremony seemed to go on forever, he had no idea how much time had passed, although when he looked at his watch when it was over, the whole thing took slightly more than twenty minutes. He wanted to get Slavek and Tiag's impressions on this but they were standing up near the entrance. Finally the halo of white light engulfing all those in the middle of the clearing disappeared, and the general glow encompassing the whole clearing faded. The ceremony must be over, as everyone began to talk among themselves, and move around. Aine was now talking to Bria and Kaitlyn, Zinnia was talking to Tansy, and Aengus was speaking to Fergus. Slavek and Tiag spotted him and started to walk over to where Matt was standing.
The gnomes continued to sit on his shoulders causing the Ruddorians to give him puzzled looks. Tiag pointed to his passengers, and asked,
"Who are your friends there Matt?"
"Well this is Sunflower Rockside, but I don't know who this guy is."
"Names Puck Hawk rider, yer lordship."
"What's this "lordship" stuff?" demanded Matt, "I'm no lord."
"Ahh don't get so vexed young fellow, it's just a term." Both gnomes indicated they wanted to get down, so Matt squatted down allowing them to jump down,
"See ya 'round!" Exclaimed Puck. Matt, Slavek and Tiag began discussing what they had just witnessed when Kaitlyn came over.
"Aine wants to speak with you guys."
Strolling over to where the woman stood both Slavek and his sister stopped and bent their heads holding up their right hands as a sign of peace. She returned the gesture as Slavek spoke.
"Greetings from we of Ruddoria, I am Slavek, and this is my sister Tiag." The woman smiled reaching out and touching each of their hands,
"We of the Aos si´ welcome you. You are the instrument that brought our brethren here something we have waited eons for. She then offered a large gold ring to Slavek,
"Please accept this as a token of our appreciation; it will protect you in all your travels." Slavek took the ring, as he and Tiag bowed once more, and replied,
"Thank you for your generosity, as a representative of the Ruddorian race, I count you as a friend." Aine then pointed to one edge of the clearing,
"Please, you must be hungry, there is food and nourishment over there, please, help yourselves." Matt started to go with them but Aine spoke his name.
"Matt Grainger, tarry a moment, I wish to speak to you."
Chapter 50
Titan Stand Chapter 50
He moved over to the woman who appeared to be in her late thirties which he soon learned was anything but.
"Matt Grainger," she began, "Everyone here seems to have a talent or purpose but you."
"On I don't know," he replied, "I seem to have a talent for sticking my foot into "it," or causing trouble. I do what I can to fit in, but I'll be the first to admit I'm way in over my head here." Aine didn't respond at first, but then said.
"Actually I was about to say that you do have a purpose, you brought our family together." He wasn't so sure about that, but decided it was probably wise not to argue the point.
"I understand you come from America as does young Kaitlyn over there."
"That's true ma'am," he replied, "Colorado to be exact."
"America I have heard of, this Colorado, I'm afraid not. Tell me Matt, how old do you think I am?" He studied her for a moment then decided against his first guess suspecting there was more to this woman than met the eye.
"Well ma'am, you look to be in your mid to late thirties, but something tells me you're a lot older than that. I'm going to go out on a limb, and say you're at least a thousand years old." She smiled,
"You're very close young man, I'm closer to 1200 years old, I was given the gift of immortality a very very long time ago."
"Begging your pardon ma'am," he replied, "But are you implying you're a vampire or something?" Aine gave out with what sounded like a chuckle.
"I am familiar with this term but no, I am much more than that, I am the spirit of our people, the Tuatha De´Danann.
"Have your people always stayed in Ireland?" He asked, "Because from what Kaitlyn tells me, you elves and fairy folk appear in ancient Norse and Germanic mythology dating way back."
"Unfortunately I do not have the time to sit down with you and relate all the old stories which you would undoubtedly find most interesting. I understand you will be traveling on to your home shortly?"
"That's the general idea," he replied.
"How long were you planning to remain there?" Matt shrugged,
"Don't really know, at least a week I guess."
"Might I ask a favor of you?"
"Certainly ma'am, what is it?"
"We have so much to discuss as well as catching up to do, would you mind if your friends remain here?"
"Do you mean everyone besides Slavek and Tiag?"
"Yes, I am of course referring to the leprechaun, the fairy, and the dwarf. Naturally, we would welcome your friend Kaitlyn she is not of our family."
"You didn't need to ask me if they could stay," he replied, Fergus, Tansy, and Bria are free to make their own decisions this is what they came for after all."
"This is true," replied Aine, "But I wanted there to be no misunderstandings."
Matt figured the conversation was over, and started to leave when Aine stopped him.
"I understand you are interested in edged weapons?" He wondered how she knew that.
"Yes ma'am why do you ask?" She then produced an unusual dagger and held it up for him to see. I had a small gold crescent shaped hilt with a grip made in four sections, of a dull black material. At the other end was a larger crescent also a bright gold color. A bright chrome blade projected from the open end of the crescent.
"This dagger dates back to the time shortly after our arrival; it is made from materials from our home world of Ae 'Lwar." He studied it, then remarked,
"The handle reminds me of a modern day open ended wrench." Aine smiled,
"Then you would be right Matt Grainger, for that is what it used to be. As I understand it, there used to be "teeth" inside the "mouths" of those crescents which removed and tightened certain fasteners. They were removed to make the handle for this dagger. The metal also comes from our home world and is called Artinium. It is very sharp and will never loose its edge." Matt frowned and shook his head.
"Ma'am, as much as I would love this knife, I simply can't accept it, it's a part of your heritage, a rare artifact, it belongs in a museum or something." He tried to give it back, but Aine refused it.
"No Matt it is a gift to a special person. I can see in your eyes that you are indeed special and will always treasure it. If you are worried that it may be one of a kind or something very rare, do not worry, I will ask the Leprechaun to tell you the story."
He tried one more time to reject the offer but Aine would hear none of it.
"It will be dawn soon," she said, "One week from this day we will await your return Matt."
"That will be just fine," he replied, "If it's possible, we would like to land right here in this clearing, it would certainly be a lot easier."
"Very well, I shall instruct everyone to remain just inside the trees." He bid her goodbye then went to tell Tansy, Fergus and Bria they would be remaining here.
It really didn't surprise him to learn that they already knew.
"Well we'll see you all later, too bad you aren't going to get to meet my folks, but Aine says you all have a lot of catching up to do."
"Good luck boyo," said Fergus, "I do need to learn more of these people."
"I understand," replied Matt,
"I'll be sure to grab some beer for the return trip OK?" Fergus laughed,
"Laddy! I couldn't ask for anything better."
See you later Bria, you too Tansy."
"I truly wish I could meet your parents,"' sadly replied Bria, "This may be the only time we can talk to our "family," please try and understand."
"Oh I do, he replied, "You have duties here."
"We'll be fine," explained Tansy, "this is something we must do. Aine has offered to let me read their original tomes that go back to the beginning, I will be very busy it seems."
"Well I told Aine we will be landing here in the clearing when we return, that's one week, seven days from today."
"I understand," she replied, "We will see you then."
He had really hoped that his parents could have met her, Bria, and Fergus, but he knew this took priority, it was why they came in the first place. Kaitlyn was talking with Bria when Matt approached them.
"Well Kaitlyn, it's about time we got going, we'll see you in a week Bria, take care." Kaitlyn and Bria hugged each other then said their goodbyes.
"I kinda wish I could stick around," sighed Kaitlyn.
"Yeah I know," replied Matt, "but you aren't fairy folk it's kind of an exclusive club if you hadn't noticed."
"I noticed," she sighed, "Well let's find Slavek and Tiag and get out of here."
The Ruddorians were saying goodbye to Fergus, and began to walk their way when they saw Matt and Kaitlyn approach.
"Ready?" Asked Slavek,
"Yeah," said Matt.
The sun was just starting to appear in the east when they lifted off. Since everyone was pretty tired, Slavek put the ship in a high orbit and on auto pilot so they could all get some sleep. Matt awoke to the feeling on a boot being pressed against his side,
"Rise and shine Grainger, we're all awaiting your orders!" He awoke to see Kaitlyn standing next to him munching on a "kremma" a pastry that resembled a turnover but not near as tasty.
"Slavek is ready to head for Colorado but he and Tiag want to have a little fun along the way."
Before heading to the cockpit area, Matt grabbed a kremma, along with a couple Grimin fruit as well as a cup of vima which was the Ruddorian version of "Monster," but didn't have a lot of taste, but it certainly got you going in the morning.
Slavek brought up an image of North America while Matt pointed out a route they could follow.
"You guys want to do a little "hell raising," all right, I'm in."
"We'll come in over the southern Atlantic Ocean, up across South Carolina and Northern Georgia, up over the southern Appalachians. West across Tennessee, Arkansas, northern Texas, hit the Grand Canyon which is where we can "shoot" the canyon. Then up to Nevada over area 51 then drop down to southwestern Colorado and where Kaitlyn and I live."
"Won't that get people all stirred up?" Asked Kaitlyn. He turned to her with a devilish grin,
"Who the fuck cares, I'm with Slavek here, let's shake 'em up!"
"Whatever," she replied.
"Is there any chance of being attacked?" Asked Tiag.
"Naaw," he replied, "Anything the military has couldn't hope to keep up with us.
Just keep it in high gear, ignore the slow-down zones, and stand by on the stealth mode. I read once that radar only picks stuff up at around five hundred feet. Don't know if that's true or not, but you're the pilot, you make the call." He then chuckled as he looked at Kaitlyn,
"Man-o-man are we going to make the news tonight!"
"That's what I'm afraid of," she replied.
Slavek then took them down over the Atlantic while Matt used a special course plotting pencil that would plot their course as they went. They started out at roughly six hundred feet off the water with Matt figuring that they were traveling close to nine hundred miles an hour. The water simply flashed by, they passed over two ships that appeared on the scanner for no more than a second.
"Whoa boy we are really hauling ass!" Exclaimed Matt. Now they were well over land with the scanner indicating that the land was rising.
"Better take her up a little," he said to Slavek those are the Appalachians I told you about. As they streaked across the southern United States Matt and the others were unawares of fear and panic they were leaving in their wake. A series of extremely loud sonic booms were bringing in panicked calls to hundreds of 911 call centers. Matt suggested they back it down a little as they were starting to outrun the course he was setting.
"Wow!" Exclaimed Kaitlyn, "We're over Texas already." Matt was starting to worry though, since the scanner was only showing the landform aspect, it was getting harder for him to figure out where they actually were. Then using the eyepiece on his translator, he was able to pick out I-40, using that as his guide.
"Ok, That looks like the grand Canyon up there, slow it way down we'll go in through the eastern end and pop out around lake Mead and Vegas." As they screamed over the land, He observed Slavek. The guy was totally cool, he kept glancing at the scanner but their course never wavered from what Matt was plotting, however he was about to get a real demonstration of the Ruddorian's flying skill.
Dropping into the canyon on the east, flying three hundred feet off the Colorado, Slavek twisted and turned. Both Matt and Kaitlyn remained transfixed in their seats as they streaked through the canyon.
"Goddamn!" Thought Matt, what must all the tourists below them think?"
"You certainly were not fooling," commented Slavek, "This is truly a challenge, I don't think I've ever run a canyon such as this."
"Well I hope you're having fun," thought Matt, "Because I'm scared shitless!" The primo thrill ride continued as Slavek expertly rolled and twisted, shooting parts of the canyon with only a foot or two to spare. Coming out over Lake Mead, he instructed Slavek to turn north following the northern fork of the reservoir.
Going on pure memory, as he couldn't remember the highway numbers, they followed the "extraterrestrial highway." Then banking left over Nellis bombing range, they dropped down to just two hundred feet off the desert floor. The cars on the highway below disappeared in a flash.
"Anyone down there trying to spy on area 51 is certainly getting a rare treat," he thought. Matt thought it time to call it a "day" and plotted a course in a northeas
terly direction towards his home town of Durango.
Meanwhile the country was in an uproar, many thought the Chinese or North Koreans were attacking, on the east coast it was the Russians. Every call center from South Carolina to Las Vegas was jammed with phone calls; the Air Force as usual was chasing its own tail. There was also a small army of people who were quick enough to snap hundreds of very good photo's of the "UFO" with most already showing up on Facebook or YouTube. The Air Force, and the Navy had dozens of aircraft up, and searching for the strange craft but Matt and his friends were long gone. Since it was still way too early for the planned meeting, they set down on a rocky ledge in a narrow canyon about a hundred miles from home. The craft was in full stealth mode preventing radar from picking them up, or any aircraft from spotting them it was now time to rest and reflect, totally unawares of the panic and confusion they had caused.
