Kinderling 61

In case you are interested in starting this story at the beginning, Kinderling 1 can be found here:

The Tricycle of Thought: Kinderling 1

Please don't judge the story or the writing too harshly, this story is written with little to no editing.  It is just meant to get me writing regularly for practice.  

Now back to our story, already in progress.

The Sky Ship left the next day.  To my surprise, the Lady of Eastwood stayed behind with a guard of five Elven Archers.  I tried to catch her alone to ask why she stayed, but the archers rarely left her side.  Finally I resorted to accosting her in her bath.  The Elves were using in one of the barracks in the garrison.  While the Lady was able to commandeer officer quarters in the barracks, apparently when the garrison was built, lower ranking officers were still required to share bathing facilities with their troops.  Higher ranking officers were housed elsewhere.  The Lady, being a very private person did what officers probably always did and ordered her guard to get out for a few hours so she could bathe in peace.  Too bad she didn't count on me.

"Lady, may I speak with you?"  I asked, getting a little bit of a tickle out of seeing her startle a bit. 

"Wise One, I will always make time for you."  I could tell she was just being polite, but pretended to assume the Lady meant that now would be that time. 

"First, can you just call me Tandy?  It's my name.  I hate being called "Wise One" all the time.  It makes me feel like an owl."  I said, "I just wanted to ask, why are you still here?  I thought you would leave on the Sky Ship with the Star Sailor and the King of All."

"Wise One is your proper honorific.  It is you.  You are the Wise One.  I could no more call you Tandy than I could name you a Gorf."  the Lady said,  "And you were mistaken.  While I'm sure the Star Sailor would have gladly allowed me passage on his Sky Ship, the King of All is not so enamored of me at the moment.  He chose to wash his hands of Iowne and her people, and encouraged me to do the same.  I feel that I still owe Iowne a debt of gratitude, so I refused.  We Elves tend to take things like gratitude very seriously.  Because he chose to have this conversation in a public forum, the King of All lost prestige when I rebuked him.  The one thing an Elven King of All can't abide is losing prestige."

"Aw, did Junior get his little feelings hurt?" I asked smiling.

"You don't understand.  When the King of All loses prestige, he risks inviting a challenge.  Unless that challenge is met in an exemplary fashion, more prestige could be lost inviting further challenges.  With each challenge there is a risk of being overthrown.  No King of All has ever survived being overthrown.  One makes far too many enemies on the journey to becoming the King of All.  Once there, almost any decision made risks creating even more enemies.  There is no way to please everyone."

"I had no idea."

"No, you probably don't."  Said the Lady of Eastwood,  "But your mother most definitely does.  I was appalled when I first heard the Mystic call him Junior to his face, right in front of everyone.  But now I wonder.  He seems to handle it well, and doesn't seem to have lost prestige over it.  I'm still trying to understand how that is."

"Oh, that's easy."  I said,  "Mama is Mama.  She's a force of nature.  Getting upset and trying to control Mama would be like getting upset at a thunder storm and trying to make it keep it's lightning to itself.  Only a fool would try.  Remember the Captain?"

The Lady of Eastwood thought it over for a moment.  "You truly are the Wise One."

"Oh not that again!"

Uncle Zon and the militia continued baiting Baot's patrols ever further North, while our scouts watched for an opening on the South side of the village.  At least that part of my plan seemed to be working well enough.  Unfortunately, a lot more of the Mountain King's soldiers and overseers escaped the King of All's wrath than we expected.  It seemed like every day a few more would find their way to the village.  Without the Mountain King, they were at loose ends, starving, and ready to be recruited into Baot's expanding army.  

When I could get away, I started joining the scouts to watch the South side of the village, hoping for an opening that would allow me to swoop in and. I don't know, do something?

On the up side, with Baot sending more of his army patrolling towards the North, it did give us some chances to see Mouse.  He looked like he was doing well enough, in spite of his time wearing the harness.  I felt bad for him, and bad for Daisy who clearly missed him so.

"Uncle Zon, is there any way we can speed this up?  Baot is sending more and more patrols North, but he still has enough to cover him in the village."

"That's what I'm worried about too." Uncle Zon replied.  "If we can't get him to send enough of his soldiers out, we won't be able to get to him."

I couldn't see how things could get worse, but apparently that was a failure of imagination on my part.  The next day, Baot stopped sending patrols North.  Instead, he arrayed his army on the South side of the village in full view and ordered his soldiers to build a pyre.  I had joined the scouts that day and was confused at first, not understanding what they were doing.

Once the pyre was constructed, Baot yelled out.  Someone must have given him a device to make his voice louder because we could all hear.  "I see you sneaking in the woods!  Did you think you could deceive me?  Witness the consequences of your folly!"

With that, Baot signaled to have torches thrown on the pyre.  It didn't take long for a large fire to start.  Then a couple Gorf soldiers stepped forward carrying a tied-up Kinderling.  I wasn't close enough to see who it was, but with that size and shape, it couldn't have been anything but a Kinderling.  With a wave of Baot's arm, they threw the Kinderling on the pyre.  The screams were heart wrenching.

"Each day, until every one of you surrenders, another Kinderling will go on the pyre.  Don't you see what your abandonment of the village has caused?"  Baot was gloating.  He had just ordered a Kinderling to be burned to death, and now he was gloating.

I couldn't take it.  I pulled out my arrow chucker and loaded it.  It was a long shot, but not really all that much further than the shot I took against the Captain at the cave.  I shouldered the arrow chucker, noticed the direction and speed the wind was moving the greasy black smoke from the pyre, made a couple small adjustments, and fired.

An arrow sprouted from Baot's chest, and he fell.

Chaos ensued.