Kinderling 28

  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 morning of the rescue finally arrived.  Mama and I had our gear packed up and ready to go.  The night before, Mama insisted on helping me pack, then proceeded to make me unpack it and repack over and over again, calling me on it anytime I didn't repack something in the exact same place.   I didn't understand what she was doing until she pulled out a blindfold.  

"Inertia light, you need it now!"  Mama commanded.

I failed.

"Unpack it, and pack it again."

It took some time, but eventually I got to where I could reach into my pack and pull out any given object without having to look for it.  I tried to trip Mama up, but when I called out "Suture kit!" out of the blue.  Mama didn't even look, she just pulled it out of her pack.  

"You understand that you might need any given item, at any time, and you might not have time, or be able to see, to retrieve it."  Mama explained.

I could only agree.  

When we walked out of the Garrison that morning, Father gave Mama and I the oddest look.  We were both weighed down with gear and implements of war.  Well, at least I thought we were.  What do I know about war anyway?  Mama had her big knife, her bow, and a couple quivers full of arrows, along with a backpack stuffed with everything she thought she might need.  I was likewise equipped, but the knife I carried was tiny by comparison.  One of my quivers carried regular arrows, and the other carried the special arrows that I made.

The Mizzy rescue team consisted of Mama and Myself.  We were going to rely upon stealth, so we decided more people would mean more chance to be seen.  The villager rescue team consisted of Uncle Zon and his remaining patrol members, Zenna, Fendt, and Toff.  Added to that, surprisingly enough, was Adiz.

"With both you and your Mama going after Mizzy, they needed a medic."  Adiz explained when she saw me looking at her.

"Tommil wanted to come too,"  Adiz laughed, "but I persuaded him that he was best able to help by getting the Garrison ready for the refugees."

I have to admit, I was a little surprised that Tommil even thought of coming along, but considering the way he looks at Adiz, maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised.  If I had a girl so wonderful, I wouldn't let her go off on a dangerous mission without me.

When we emerged from the Garrison, Flower was waiting for us alone.  I guess sending one's loved ones out on dangerous missions without you isn't contained to Kinderling kind.

I have to admit, I started to get a little nervous when Flower started guiding us in the opposite direction from the village at first.  I had to laugh at my self a moment later when I realized that, of course, the entrance to the caves and tunnels we would need wouldn't necessarily be in the direction of our destination.  That was above-ground person thinking.  Thankfully, we didn't have to go too far, and reached the entrance by mid-morning.

Mouse met us at the entrance to the caves.  I looked around for Watcher, but he was nowhere to be seen.  I guess he really wasn't kidding when he said that he was not allowed to be involved.  I dreaded not having Watcher to act as an interpreter, already I was seeing Mouse watching us out of the corner of his eye as if any moment he expected us to get with the biting and chewing.  I can't really blame him, I've seen what remains after a Gorf tribe gets ahold of one of my kind, so I was fighting similar thoughts myself.  I was once hired to find out what became of a poor hapless Kinderling who had gotten lost in the forest.  I found his trail just where his family said he was going, and then followed it to where he was ambushed by Gorfs.  Tracking them back to their cave wasn't difficult.  I felt responsible for recovering what was left of the body.  That I could carry the remains of an adult Kinderling back to the village all by myself, in one trip, should tell you how little was left.

That thought made me realize just how daunting the task of brokering a peace between our peoples was going to be.  I hoped that task would fall to someone better equipped to handle it than me.  I am not my father, diplomacy was never part of my skillset. 

We managed well enough with Flower using universal hand signals for "come this way", and pointing to say "watch out for that", and a pushing motion for "stop" or "wait there".  Mouse was there more in a hiding-as-best-as-a-giant-Gorf-can-in-a-tunnel capacity, yet he watched Flower like a hawk.  I'm guessing in case one of us got hungry judging from how nervous he was being.

That Gorf should have been named Squirrel for how twitchy he was being.  At least he wasn't smiling, I don't think I could have handled it if he was smiling.

We made surprisingly good time, or maybe I was too busy with my own thoughts to realize how long we had been walking, because I found myself looking at a very familiar looking little stone bridge long before I expected to.

"Uncle Zon, Is that the same bridge?"

"Yes Tandy, it appears to be."  Uncle Zon answered puffing a little to catch his breath.

I looked around and everyone seemed to be a little winded.  Even Mama.

"You really drive a hard pace Tandy," Mama said. "but I think it's time for a rest.  Zon, is this water safe?"

Uncle Zon waved to get Flower's attention and then mimed scooping up some of the water and drinking it.  She looked at him confused for a bit, apparently puzzled at what Uncle Zon was asking.  Then it must have clicked, because she pulled out her canteen and started filling it, waving for the rest of us to do likewise.

"Appears so Bonnie."  Uncle Zon replied.

When I realized how empty my canteen was, I was glad for the re-supply.  I had no idea that I had drunk so much.  I really had a lot on my mind during that march.

We all took a much needed rest by that little bridge.  While we were resting, Flower came over to me and handed me a parchment.  On it, written in the most graceful, if florid, hand was a note from Watcher.  

Tandy,

    I am sorry that I can not be there to help your people.  I have been given orders to not get involved.  Flower will show you to the tunnel that will take you north of the village.

Watcher

Watcher had told me that the Priesthood didn't want him involved in Kinderling or Fallen business.  So none of that was surprising.  What was surprising was that there was a second note on a much thinner material.  This one Flower didn't hand me, she just opened and allowed me to read.

Tandy,

    Be careful, the Priesthood is against Kinderlings and the Fallen forming any kind of alliance.  I am afraid that they might have something planned if that should come to pass.  I have gone to see what I can find out.

W.

Once I finished reading the second note, Flower pushed the edge of the note into nearby a lit torch and poof, the whole thing went up in smoke.  Flower gave me a meaningful look - or at least I expect it was meaningful.  It's so hard to tell with Gorfs.  I handed her the first note, and she burned that too.  Were we just being paranoid?  I don't know, but paranoia isn't always a bad thing, right?

Once Mama and I were ready to go, Flower signaled for the rest to stay at the little bridge and beckoned for Mama and I to follow her.  We followed the underground waterway up-stream for a short way along a ledge that I hadn't even seen in the darkness.  I lit up one of my lights - one of the floaty ones, not one of the inertia ones - and carried it in my hand.  I had some string for the purpose of pulling it along, but it seemed more bother than it was worth.  Perhaps I should have just made one into a hand-held light.

After a short walk, we came to an opening which Flower guided us through and indicated that we should follow.  She reached out and held my hand for a few seconds, then turned back the way we came and was gone.

"What was that all about?"  Mama asked, curious.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Mama."  I replied.  Secretly, I hoped it was Flower's way of saying that we were now friends, but I had no way to know for sure.