Kinderling 30

    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...

It was a little after noon, which gave us a good amount of light to take a look at what was going on in the village.  I could barely make out the scorched, bare area where my home should have been.  I didn't know that it was burned down.  After all that had happened since the village was over-run, I found that I couldn't muster up enough emotion to be upset at the loss.  That worried me more than anything.

The tree fort was almost perfect.  It wasn't exactly across from Old Stump, but it was close enough, and it had an easily accessible branch where Old Stump could be observed without being seen.  I hung up a no-see-me charm just to make sure anyway, but I don't think it was really needed.

Mama hung up the improved no-see-me charm that I had given her at the entrance, and hung up another under the bush to make sure that if a Gorf patrol happened by there wouldn't be any chance of them seeing us.  After looking at it for a few minutes, I recognized the that second no-see-me charm as one of my prototypes from when I started getting the charms perfected.  I had given it to Mama as a present on her birthday.  I had no idea that she still kept it.  It wasn't pretty, but it worked.

I spent the afternoon watching the Old Stump.  Nothing much happened until what I initially thought was a Gorf patrol stopped in front of the stump.  It wasn't until I saw Daggi come out and bow that I noticed Baot, and his nephew, Beso, were in a little carriage amidst the Gorf platoon.  I was shocked when I realized that the carriage was being pulled by a couple of Kinderlings, and those Kinderlings where in chains.  What kind of person would do that to their own kind?

At first I worried that one of the Kinderlings pulling the carriage might be Mizzy, but that was rediculous.  Mizzy is way too small to pull something like that.  I couldn't get a good look at them at first with all the Gorfs in the way, but eventually was able to make them out, and was shocked once again.

It seems like many years ago, a much younger me tried to make friends and found herself on the wrong end of an argument with a bully.  That bully was Beso.  The two Kinderlings pulling the carriage carrying Baot, and Beso where none other than Ghead and Weph.  Ghead and Weph have been Beso's henchmen for as long as anyone can remember.  He never went anywhere without them.  On the day Beso threw me in the ravine and pelted me with rocks, those two stood right up there with him alternately fetching stones for Beso to throw, and throwing stones themselves.  I don't know how I managed to escape with my life that day, but it was a near thing.  Once Mama saw me, she had me on bedrest for a week, and Mama doesn't coddle anyone.  Now those two henchmen were apparently being treated like slaves by Baot and Beso.  I almost felt bad for them.  Almost.

After an animated conversation involving a lot of waved arms and loud enough shouting that I could hear the noise, if not the actual words, Daggi climbed into the carraige and the whole group of them sprang away as Baot started laying about himself with a whip, yelling the whole way.

I slid down the ladder as quickly as I could.

"Mama, that was Daggi leaving with Baot and Beso, and they looked like they were in a hurry."

"I wondered what all the noise was about.  They were too far away to hear what they were saying from this distance."  Mama replied.  "But with this distraction, now sounds like as good a time as any.  I wonder if Zon had anything to do with it.  I hope everyone is safe."

We had already decided what we would take with us on "the assault".  Mama's term, not mine.  We each carried a much smaller pack with only the essentials, and our weapons.  Mama also insisted we each carry at least one canteen.  I didn't think we would be so long that we would need them, but Mama insisted, and I have learned over the years that when Mama insists, it's best to just go along.  

We also took our improved no-see-me charms just in case.

"Remember, the retreat points are the fort, then the cave entrance with the ferns if for some reason you can't safely get to the fort."  Mama said, for at least the third time.  I could tell she was scared, because Mama never repeats herself.

As we planned, we split up and took a different route to the Old Stump.  The ground between the forest and the Stump didn't offer much in the way of cover, but it did roll a little bit and wasn't completely flat, so I was able to follow a natural low spot in the ground where water generally drained through when it rained.  It was shallow, and covered in grass, but that wasn't too bad, I'm small and ran as low to the ground as I could, hoping the grass and the small depression would hide me.  

Mama used the forest for cover until she became even with the Stump and then threw stealth to the winds and ran straight to the Stump, depending on speed and the fact that this part of the village was mostly deserted.  

We must have timed it well, because Mama made it to the Stump only a few moments before I did. 

Mama strapped her bow to her back, and pulled out her long knife.

"You use your arrow-chucker Tandy.  Since it is easier to handle in tight quarters than a bow, you should be fine."  Mama said.  We had already planned all this, but I appreciated that Mama cared enough to go over it again, just in case.

The doorway into the Old Stump was rotten.  It was locked, but it only took a swift kick from Mama to break it open.  The stench that wafted out from inside was incredible.  My eyes started to water.  Good thing I carried a handkerchief in my pocket that I could use to wipe away the tears and cover my nose and mouth.  It didn't help much, but at least it was something.

I after a moment I began to recognize that stench.  I smelled it almost every time I found myself in a Gorf settlement.  It was the smell of lingering death and cooking.  I tried to warn Mama before she entered, but she had already gone in.  There was nothing for it but to follow.

The inside of the Old Stump was surreal and terrifying.  The place had the look of a workshop, much like Tilly's, only dirt and dust were everywhere.  On top of all that, there were cages, and various animal body parts hanging here and there as if they were decoration, or maybe staged for use in some demented experiment.

I am ashamed to say, I screamed in terror when a dark, furry something landed on my shoulder.

*"sssshhhh, loved one, it is good you are here.  your --- needs you.  come quickly"*  Again with the --- thing.  I still didn't understand what it meant, but I knew Smoke was talking about Mizzy.

"What happened!" Mama exclaimed sweeping back across the room with her knife looking ready to chop someone, or something into bits.

"Sorry Mama, Smoke is here, she startled me."

*"not my fault you can't see in the dark, and you have such an inferior nose"*  I could hear the smile in Smokes sending.  *"but dear one, you must come quickly, your --- needs you!"*  

With that Smoke jumped off of my shoulder and guided us through a doorway, and down some steps to a lower level.  At the bottom of the steps was a kitchen and dining area.  What I saw there almost had me scream again.  There was a Gorf woman, cleaning an already clean kitchen, wearing nothing but a harness and an oddly shaped thing on her head.  I might call it a helmet, but even then it was oddly shaped for a helmet.

*"never mind that one, that one is blank"*

With how horrible the mess was on the level above, the clean kitchen was almost surreal.  That it was being cleaned, and apparently re-cleaned over and over, by a Gorf woman who seemed to not even notice us, made the wrongness of the scene so much worse.  Then I noticed the shape of the Gorf woman's hands.  Two thumbs, three fingers.  I wondered if this could be one of Flower's people.

*"come come, no time to dawdle"*  Smoke sent more urgently.

Across the kitchen and down another flight of stairs.  I didn't know that any Kinderling homes went down three levels.  It didn't seem natural, although I guess if you don't have a tree above you to expand into down was the only way to go.  

The stench of the next level down was hard to handle.  There were no windows to let air in, and thus smells out, this far down.  How could there be, we were under ground? 

The stairway let out into a low room lined with cages.  I followed Smoke to the other end of the room, trying to catch a glance into the cages as we passed.  A few of the cages contained what I was sure were dead bodies that included both Gorfs and Kinderling.  There were also a few large animals.  Well... large to a Kinderling anyway. 

At the end, in a cage where Smoke stopped lay Mizzy, all wrapped in a ball.  She wore a harness and helmet much like the Gorf above, in the kitchen.  

"Mizzy, I have come for you.  Sorry it took so long."  I had to get a hold of myself, I was tearing up and if I started crying I would be worthless to anyone.  C'mon Tandy, suck it up and get the job done! Plenty of time for bawling like a weakling later!

Unlike the Kitchen Gorf, who didn't make a sound that I could hear, Mizzy was a constant barrage of crazy.  Giggling one second, groaning another, and cursing in anger a third.  I tried to open the cage, but there was a stout lock on it.

"Smoke, do you know where the key is?"  I asked.

*"the bad one's pocket."*

"Never mind that Tandy." Mama said pushing past me.  Mama pulled a needle out of her pocket, stuck it in the lock and turned it.  The lock popped open with an audible pop, along with a tell-tale puff of black smoke.  The device worked, and then disintegrated, much like all my early devices.  I wondered how it worked.  It was just a needle, and I had a vague idea of how locks worked, so what turned the lock?  I also wondered what runes the device used and how they were connected.  I would have to ask Mama later.

"Can she walk?"  Mama asked, always the practical one.  "If not, I'll carry her."

I didn't think Mizzy looked in any condition to walk,  I checked her for any injuries as quickly as I could, just like Mama had trained me when you have to move a possibly injured patient.  Mizzy seemed whole, no broken bones or anything that I could tell.  The only thing I could find wrong was that Mizzy was only about half as big around as I remember.  Don't get me wrong, Mizzy could never be described as fat, but she did have a softness to her that wasn't there anymore.  Now she was skin and bones.

"Can you get up Mizzy?  Can you walk?"  I asked softly.

"Tandy?"  Mizzy said softly as if far away.  "You came?  Daggi will get you, run away."

"Daggi just left in a hurry,"  I tried to tell her "We will get out of here before he gets back."

*"your --- not move for days"*

"Mama, you'll have to carry her." 

The whimper that came from Mizzy when Mama picked her up almost made me tell Mama to put her back down, but we really needed to get out of there.  I was terrified that Daggi would be back with a platoon of Gorfs, so I lead the way with my arrow-chucker, ready for anything.  

I almost murdered the kitchen Gorf.

It wasn't on purpose, of course, I reached the top of the stairs from the lower level and there she was sweeping the floor right in my path.  The arrow thankfully missed, but not by much.  

"Go GO!"  Mama yelled as she passed me standing there like an idiot.  "Don't stop for anything."

I'm not sure what made me do it, but when I was passing the kitchen Gorf, I grabbed her hand and pulled her along with me.  She didn't seem to go willingly, but she also didn't seem to have the will to resist either, so in spite of her being a least three Tandys tall I was able to pull her along with me.  

We climbed out of the Stump as if all the minions of the Below were on our heels and made directly for the forest.  Just when I thought we were about to make it, I heard a yell from behind.  

"STOP THEM!"

Mama wasn't far ahead, and I could tell she wasn't running as fast as she could because she didn't want to leave me.

"Mama!  GO!"  I said, and turned around, readying my arrow-chucker. 

"Oh no you don't!  There's got to be a reason Tandy wants you!"  Mama said as she grabbed the kitchen Gorf by the harness as the kitchen Gorf tried to meander back to the Stump, presumably to her kitchen.  "Give me a few minutes head start and then get out of here, we'll meet at the fern cave."

Part of me felt abandoned as Mama sped away towards the forest with Mizzy over one shoulder, and a kitchen Gorf in tow.  That feeling was instantly swept away by a wave of anger as I saw Daggi running towards me, directing a squad of Gorf soldiers.

I grabbed for an arrow, unthinkingly snagging the very first fletching my hand landed on, and loaded it into the arrow-chucker.  I aimed at Daggi.  Father was right, I should have made that decision.   I thought I had.  I warred with myself over unleashing the arrow.  

Too late, I decided and the arrow flew.  By that time, there was a veritable mountain of Gorf soldier between Daggi and me.  I was still shooting at Daggi, but I couldn't really even see him for all the Gorfs.  

THWUMP!

I found myself flying through the air.  Something enormous had smacked me in the.. well.. the entire front of me, and I was flying backwards.

My face tingled, everything was black, I couldn't see.  I had dirt in my mouth, and when I tried to brush it away, there was something there in the way.  It took me a moment to realize it was my lips because I couldn't feel my hand touching them.  The air around me was hazy as I started being able to see again.  I shook my head... big mistake.

Looking around, I found myself a lot closer to the edge of the forest than I thought I should be.  Not far past where I was standing a moment ago, it seems like longer, there were humps on the ground.  As my vision came back more, I realized it was Gorf Soldiers, laying on the ground, being covered by the dust cloud that was settling.  

It hurt, but I managed to get to my feet.  My pack was still on my back.  My arrow-chucker was broken, so no help there should more Gorfs come after me.  Through the ringing in my ears, I started to hear someone cussing in Kinderling.  It was a male voice that could only belong to Daggi, so I guess he escaped... whatever just happened.

Time to go.  I turned and headed towards the forest.

*"..."*

"Smoke!"  I said out loud.  The mental cry was almost silent, but we are bonded, so I knew where she was and hobbled over to her as quickly as I could.  Poor Smoke.  She had been flung right into the forest and landed in a bush.  I picked her up and carried her with me.

One of the things I have learned in the few years of roaming the forest, in an emergency situation, take inventory of yourself and be honest.  If you can't run, be honest and acknowledge that you can't run.  That way, when you start planning what to do next, you don't do something stupid like relying on speed to get you out of whatever your emergency is.

I couldn't run.  For that matter, I could walk, but I wasn't going to be walking very far, very fast, or very long.  I checked my pack for my no-see-me.  It was there.  

"Right then, the fort it is."  I told myself. 

Talking to myself.  Not a good sign.

I took a curved route to the kids fort under the tree, being careful not to leave a trail for someone to follow.  When I got there, I made sure that weeds and grass covered the outside of the entrance hole in as natural looking a manner as I could manage.  I wanted to give my no-see-me as much help as I could give it.  I couldn't hear any pursuit, but my ears were still ringing, so I wasn't sure if I would hear any if they were stumbling through the woods as loudly as Father.

I ducked inside and hung the no-see-me at the entrance like Mama and I did before.  I was both happy and sad to see Mama's old no-see-me hanging under the bush on the other side where she left it.  Maybe in my daze I wasn't thinking clearly, because the plan had been to bring Mizzy back to the little fort to watch for trouble before heading back to the caves.  Mama had called it exfiltrating.  

I was tired.  More tired than I should have been, which worried me.  I checked on Smoke.  She seemed to be okay.  *"just need some rest dear one"*  was all she said before curling up on a blanket that I left behind when we set out for the Stump.  Unable to stay awake, I curled up on the blanket that Mama left and dozed off.

I woke to the sounds of someone, or more a group of someones, searching outside.

*"enemies outside.  many enemies"*

We stayed as quiet as we could, and barely moved.  I did go as far as to peek out through the bush, being careful not to move the bush and give our position away.  There appeared to be an entire platoon of Gorfs searching for us.  If they found us, there was nothing I could do against so many.  

I started taking inventory to see what, if any, options I could come up with.  To my surprise, I managed to get to the fort with most of my belongings.  The pack and both quivers had stayed on my back, and because Mama had drilled me and drilled me to always fasten my pack shut, everything seemed to all be in place.  

That's when I figured out what happened when I shot that arrow at Daggi.  My quiver of regular arrows was still full.  All accounted for except the one I accidentally shot at the kitchen Gorf.  The other quiver, on the other hand was missing precisely one arrow.  That arrow was one of two that Tilly helped me make that were designed to explode on impact.  I had no idea that it would work so well, I was expecting more of a pop, if it worked at all.  Like one of the firecrackers the village used to celebrate No Kings day.  

As a child, like nearly every other child that had any talent with runes, I tried every year to make a No Kings day firecracker.  The only ones allowed to set them off were the villagers who made them.  It was one of the few rules that the village council made that was universally accepted.  The few who could make them kept the secret to their construction very closely only handing it down within their family.

I don't think I cracked the code on the No Kings day firecrackers though.  What I set off was something far far larger.  I wondered how many Gorfs I killed.  Certainly the one that was hit with the arrow.  Others?  Daggi?  I didn't know.

The last, and probably most important thing I found was my go-stick.  YES!  We had a chance.

I'm pretty sure that the Gorfs knew I was in the area, because the platoon kept searching.  I was thankful for the new version of no-see-me with the upgrades that Tilly had helped with.  Without it, I have no delusion that I would have already been found.  

I waited till it started getting dark.  I had everything that Smoke and I would take with us staged and ready to go.  My plan was simple.  Use an inertia light to distract the Gorfs, and then climb up to the look-out branch above and fly out from there.  Before I started, I quickly checked the go-stick for proper operation.  Hey, no harm in testing.  While it's unusual for a magic construct to fail without disintegrating to dust, it did happen on a rare occasion.  

Once I was all ready, I lit the inertia light and tossed it along the forest-line to the West.  Then climbed the ladder for all I was worth.  When I got to the lookout and made sure everything was fastened and tightened, I could see Gorf soldiers chasing the inertia light, but I could also hear someone coming up the ladder from below.  I risked a peek, and it was a battered and bruised Daggi, along with Ghead and Weph who were very determined looking.

I didn't have an arrow-chucker anymore, and I didn't think my little knife would work to ward them off for long.  Nothing for it but to not be here anymore when those three arrived.  I hopped on my go-stick and took off heading East.  I could hear Daggi hollering curses after me.  I didn't look back, I had my hands full keeping myself from hitting a tree branch or falling off.  

After a while, I turned North, towards the Fern Cave.

It took a while, and it had become full dark by the time I managed to find the Fern Cave.  I was began to worry that Mama had put up her no-see-me charm and that Smoke and I were flying past it again and again without seeing it.  Sure enough, when I started to call out quietly, the ferns a few feet away split open and out came Mama.

"You're not dead."  Mama observed.  I could tell she was so happy she was about to burst, but I don't think anyone else would be able to.  I did notice a tear in her eye.

Then a stumbling, crying, mess of Kinderling half-ran, half crawled out and tackled me right off of my go-stick.

"Tandy oh Tandy oh Tandy!!!"  Mizzy cried over and over as I held her.

"We should get inside." Mama said calmly.