Ch: 81 Back In The Saddle Again

Gary drove hard, pushing the limits just a little. The horses and riders were ready for a break by lunch, while the wagon passengers and even iron assed Gannet were done with being shaken to bits. Poor Axio stumbled off the road and released a vast, billowing spore cloud.

“Oh, much better! This ‘travel’ is invigorating, though this seems excessive. Must we move so swiftly?” The mushroom spirit stretched his mycelium body in weird ways, making his chitin squeak.

“We need to get home and settle in. Plumeria and Miss Maple need to be warned. We know the cult needs to power their summonings and they have to be close. I’m not losing a friend… or a maple to these assholes.” Shai shot him a dirty look for his language around the kids.

They ate quickly, attended to the animals and themselves and set back out, at a more reasonable pace, with Wheatford visible in the distance.

Liam and Tawny cantered over to where Gary trotted along with the wagon. “We are going to head over to the maple grove, she likes me…” Liam mumbled, embarrassed for some reason.

Tawny gave her man a gentle swat on his armored shoulder. “That is why I am going along…” Tawny said smugly.

“Foolish girl.” Solange murmured from where she was curled up inside Tawny’s cloak, riding double with her. “We have no use for his body. The light he emanates is what we crave, so clean. Your boy is almost a druid… yet born of flesh in the human way. Unheard of!”

She snuggled deeper into Tawny. “You too girl child… I feel it taking root in you, you too soon will blossom… we shall see what develops as you do.”

The trio peeled off, cantering their own way up the track to the maple grove, accompanied by Tallum, Ivy and Luna. Dannyl patted Gary on the shoulder with a sad smile. “Plumeria still likes you… not as much as she likes Axio…”

“Mean Dannyl, really mean…” He turned a little to face the woods, rather than the young artist. “Let’s wait here a minute, Nara has been running herself ragged trying to keep up. Maybe she wants to join us now.” He almost shouted into the sparse forest.

“I hate tracking sorcerers… and your tricks are worse than most.” She snarled from behind her fierce cat mask, as she slipped from the woods silently. “Streeka asked me to keep an eye on you… discreetly. I am using my discretion, now I will watch you up close.”

“I never would have known you were there if you resisted the music.” He made space on the dog cart with the kids. Nara hopped aboard with a soft purring sound and pulled the sleepy kids to her, burrowing into the blankets until only her gently twitching tail showed.

“This will be a very interesting spring.” Otho muttered from the wagon, while Axio and Amicus continued their long running debate on the nature of life and magic.

They rolled through the gates of Wheatford an hour before sundown, with dinner on the table and the kids washed up before Tawny, Liam and the rest arrived.

“Luna is camping in the sugar shack tonight, she wants to keep an eye on our new friend.” Liam announced. “She hinted that master Khan should join her there.”

He put on a show of grumbling, but quickly packed a few items and snatched a couple bottles of Gary’s inexpertly made nouveau red wine.

“Ohh, not that. Don’t you want something good? We have a couple bottles from Esperanza’s last visit.” He groaned.

“Luna likes it, she says it tastes like grape juice but hits like a hammer.” He peered about eagerly. “Do you have any of that ‘moonshine’ stuff?”

With a sigh the musician handed Khan a covered basket. “I made a few of these, my standard fae first contact kit. Inside is a set of wooden tableware, a fresh loaf of bread, butter, milk and honey. There’s a bottle of moonshine in there, don’t give her the whole thing. There are a few bags of sugar and salt, you won’t need those.”

He pressed a hug on the older man. “Don’t wear much iron, don’t let anything iron touch the food or tableware, it’s poison to them.”

Khan and Annie trotted off happily, enjoying the spring evening, as the shadows lengthened.

Amy and Wilford were asleep by the fire, passed out on Otho the dog, while Ivy and Tallum had a gentle drum and bass session nearby.

Plumeria, Amicus, Otho, Axio and Solange were closeted in Khan and Luna’s empty carriage house, getting nerdy.

Becky kept busy working with Tawny and Liam, planning a search of the town and environs that would not raise notice. Gary and Shai both vanished into the basement workshop, busy on some craft of their own.

“I’m gonna buzz out to Z’s place… and check the scene tomorrow morning.” He sang quietly to the tune of ‘Born To Be Wild’, while putting the last few stitches into his saddle.

“I should be back by lunchtime.”

Shai giggled at his musical antics,while gawking at his device.

Two spindly steel wheels with tires of some hard, black substance were connected with a flat chain strung between a pair of gear sets. They were all mounted on a frame of laminated hardwood in odd asymmetrical triangular forms. A saddle of stitched leather sat over an odd stirrup arrangement. A wooden beam crossed in front of the saddle, with obvious handgrips near a number of strange levers and controls.

In the center of the whole mad machine, one of Gary’s ‘sandwich engines’ sat, bolted in and linked to the gear assemblies with a flat linked chain of its own.

“Tis nigh fifteen miles tae Zygnos' cabin, I would nae hae ye out there alone in the night… nor the day an I’m true.”

He tightened the last bolt, dusted off the seat and smiled. “I made certain assumptions. If they hold true we are going to have another secret to keep.” With an effort he squeezed the machine into his Pockets!.

“Oh, that was close. Barely fit in! I’ll only be walking until I’m out of sight, after that… This is going to kick ass.” His excited grin nearly broke her resolve.

“Nae, if there be mischief afoot, none of us should be off alone, summat must go wi ye.” She said with finality.

“Ok, you win. You can come along… No! I give up, you win! Becky and the gang can watch the kids, we go on an outing.” Shai stood with hands on hips as he argued and convinced himself, while somehow dragging her into his project.

“I just so happen to have a second prototype on deck, you know me…”

Head out on the highway…

Looking for adventure…

In whatever comes our way!

He fell back into his work, bolting parts onto another asymmetrical wooden frame he pulled from his backside.

“I feel as though I hae been tricked intae summat mad. Be that the case boy?” She asked, with a growl in her voice.

“Absolutely, pure madness. I think, once you have a throbbing machine between your legs, you will see the method behind the madness.” He whispered his innuendo and flashed a perverted grin and went back to whatever he was up to.

“Ye do make it sound filthy and debauched… ye do know me so well my love.” She kissed him and went back to her tasks.

“What are you working on?” He asked, wrenching on his own project at arms length, so that he could rub his butt against hers.

“Tallum did ask fer a bill hook, I would hae ye work yer arts on it, I would observe as well, Ducky kinnae tell me how it is ye do it.”

“The way I enchant? It’s me. I started without a clue, just going by feel. Everything I made in the beginning has bits of my soul strung through the enchantments, like beads on a cord. It's all filthy with chunks of me.” He cut a glance at Amy, off in the sitting room section of the workshop, where she was not progressing on the recorder.

“That’s how I know when the kids are practicing their instruments and who is slacking off…”

She stuck her tongue out in the prescribed manner, before taking up her flute and going back to work. “You can just magic it and make me play… why do I haveta learn?”

“Because I said so.” Gary replied, as tradition dictates. “Intent is the key sweetie, if you direct your will and effort, the music will take root and grow.”

Gary put down his tools and took out a ukulele. The simple strumming patterns he laid down made Shai frown, conjuring an unpleasant memory. Amy and Wilford responded with giggles of delight.

“You gotta do the Kermit voice!” She demanded.

Why are there so many,

Songs about rainbows

And what’s on the other siiiiiide?

Threads of his gift poked her, prodding the flute back where it belonged. He strummed, whistled and sang in a nasal, squeaky voice, while Amy and Wilford tooted along, between giggles.

The lesson wrapped up as Shai finished her billhook project.

“Ohh that looks good, I’ll work on it this week…” He said, still using his ‘Kermit’ voice.

#

Bedtime snuck up, and caught the little family by surprise. When they brought the kids upstairs, Nara was already curled up in their bed, with her tail tucked over her nose.

“Is that going to be an issue?” Gary whispered.

“I do like her very much, an she dances like the wind in the grainfields. I hae no concerns here.” She said firmly, while tucking the kids in beside the warm, purring woman.

“I shall hae few worries wi Becky and Nara tae watch my children.”

#

Joy was still lurking nearby, flooding the zone with a bit of her regard. “I’m working on it Ducky, She needs to give me some space. Nobody is getting another piece of me right now.” Gary wrestled down the urge to skip and prance through his garden like an undignified idiot.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“She is not a patient deity, unaccustomed to being forestalled, she finds it novel and interesting, at the moment. I suggest you either Contract with her or learn to live with her attention. Journeyman Shai seems to hold no reservations…” She was chasing Thirp and the kids through the verdant island, hopping over giant toadstools and dancing around fairy rings of colorful fungi.

“That does look like fun…” He mumbled.

#

The full troop of younglings hit the public baths at sunrise. They drew Amy and Wilford out of bed, as soon as the first kid crossed the garden gate.

Gary and Shai were already up, briefing Becky and the rest. “We should be back around mid afternoon I think. Let’s start planning a series of low key outings to cover the valley.”

“If you see something, we all converge, no solo operations, these people are dangerous.” Liam said firmly. “No nonsense.”

They shared a nice breakfast with the random assortment of friends and relatives that showed up. With hugs and kisses for the kids, the happy couple strolled out the gate and into the town, whistling and jingling gaily.

A quarter mile out of town, he pulled her off among the fallow fields. He pulled the strange machines from his pants with a grimace of effort. “That’s a stretch!”

He leaned one machine against a property marker and straddled the other. “Watch me, it’s not like a skate board, you gotta feel it with your butt.” With a wink, he nudged off with a toe, put his feet unerringly to the strange stirrup pegs and began to crank with his legs.

The mad boy drifted up the narrow cart lane, between the leafless trees. He seemed to expend almost no effort to breeze along at a quick trot.

He turned about with a smooth, banking maneuver, slaloming among the trees briefly with a soft clatter of mechanical gears. He cranked his way back and dismounted smoothly. “Let’s get you rollin!”

Before she knew what was happening, the pegs were under her feet and Gary was slowly pushing her down the gently sloping track. “Start pedaling, just relax and let your legs run.” He began to trot, then run behind her as she pedaled the strange machine. “Don’t think about balance…” Gary’s voice shifted in tone as she pedaled. “You got this… cause you have been balancing yourself for a quarter mile.”

He gently pulled her out of a lingering snow bank, turned his woman about and trotted after her, back to his machine. “Ready to travel?” He asked, once he was straddling his own device.

“I dinnae ken why we did nae take the cart. Flora would get us there an back in a day wi yer tricks.” She sighed. “I fear a sore arse and tired legs ere we arrive.” she cast a glance to the points on the frame where the motors had been mounted.

“Oh, no love, just relax. Feel with your legs, pay attention, when you feel you need a break, we can stop pedaling and walk a while.” He smiled benignly.

“I do mean the place where ye had a motor attached. Did we nae intend tae ‘buzz’ out there?” She demanded, already rubbing her butt.

“I’m proud of how many of my prototypes worked right out of the gate, I’m at like eighty percent success…” He said boldly, while looking embarrassed. “I took one out for a predawn shakedown ride… shakedown indeed. My asshole is still vibrating.” He shifted uncomfortably in his saddle.

“It was a real grundle grinder, I have Tallum working on the problem. It pounded my backside to rubble.”

#

The orchards flew by, the well tended rows festooned with plum and cherry blossoms. Geese, turkeys, ducks and chickens scratched and hopped in the empty fields and hedgerows, guided by kids bundled against the spring morning. A few peered their way, but they were gone too fast to be any more than a confused impression of movement.

The cart track became a path, then a trail, as it rose into the olives and mesquite. Spring had things bustling beside the stream and trail that led to Z’s place in the hills.

The tough, scrubby grasses of midsummer were still soft and tender, giving the land a dreamlike feel. Vines and creepers were doing a brisk business in the undergrowth as small scurrying things did their own stuff.

They made pretty good time, until the trail closed in. Gary tucked the machines away and the pair began cutting the trail wide enough to pass. Progress slowed as they fell to lopping off berry canes, nettles and thorn bushes. Shai’s murdershovel sheared through brambles and boughs with frightening ease.

“I may take up gardening after all, boy.” She shot him a fierce grin. “The more I use this tool the more I like it.”

#

“I deeply underestimated the sore ass factor, even mine… though this is a new ass, I left my old one behind.” He murmured from Shai’s bath, a stone’s throw from Zygnos’ front door.

“Truly, what do we, out here? Ye never did say. Be there some funerary tradition tae visit Zygnos’ grave?”

“It’s this place, Z said it was special, can you feel it? I did when I landed. This place is holding its breath, waiting for something.” He breathed in deep and slow, enjoying the scents of earliest spring.

“Someone is in that cavern, maybe a sentient spirit, maybe just an undirected elemental. Either way, this place is my responsibility and it's a prime spot to summon something nasty.” He scooted closer in the bath.

“First, let’s trade buttrubs. Mine is near busted… see, there's a crack right down the middle!”

#

The door swung open easily, letting them into the front room. It looked unchanged since their last visit, just dusty. They quickly made their way into the cavern chamber, with its strange bubbling glass device.

“This thing… I was afraid to touch it before, it felt… ominous. Now I see the reason, Z enchanted this cavern. Not the whole thing, just the entrance and this device. The entrance is hidden from anyone who is… well, not like me, or rather, us.” He shrugged eloquently.

“The magic we dump out through our auras disrupts most glamors and rituals, we screw up magical devices that aren’t well constructed too.”

He eyed the strange alchemical device with satisfaction. “That’s why I don't work iron and steel much, if I’m not careful, my enchantments get weird and rusts the project away. That’s why this is all brass and glass.” He poked it with a finger.

Spirit level, unique enchanted tool. Purpose unclear. Etheric, unstable.

“Yup, this has Z all over it. He had a little bit of a problem like mine, he left parts of himself scattered around here and there.”

Gary settled down on a rug and some cushions he made appear. “Join in if you want, this is the part where we kinda wait to see if anybody wants to say high.” He set out a low tea table, set for company. The musician gently untucked the snowy white napkin covering a basket of small loaves, rolls really. A crock of butter, pot of honey and a pitcher of milk landed nearby.

He produced a tiny copper samovar; a small combustion chamber, over a tinned copper water tank. The chimney ran up through the middle of the water tank to a small warming tray designed to hold a tea kettle. He kindled a wax and sawdust fuel cake and sat back on a pillow. With the tank filled from the spring, they had hot tea in just a short time.

The cavern’s soft music surrounded the pair as they ate a quiet lunch of fresh bread, butter, soft cheese and pickles. No guests arrived to share their meal, despite a few extra cups warming on the samovar.

“Let’s try a little experimentation…” His mundane, fretted shamisen appeared, beginning a slow thumping accompaniment to the trickling waters. “No magic or gifts, just a little music.”

He gave a naughty wink in the glimmering light of the strange ‘Spirit Level’. “If you wanna dance just for me, I’ll play just for you.”

Shai never needed much prompting and the music was slow and sensual. A cool earthy scent from the cavern mingled with the warm bee’s wax scent of Gary’s samovar. The meal and tea, with the rainbow hued light from that strange bubbling device created a mellow dreamscape.

She twirled and swayed, feeling at last the comfort her mad boy always claimed this chamber held.

“Aye, this place be welcoming and peaceful… nae like Axio, tis the calm, patient stones, awaiting what may come.” She sighed as she danced, the bells on her hips making sweet counterpoints to her steps.

#

The music wound down and Shai settled to a cushion beside him with a tranquil smile. “I do like this place after all, ye may keep it.”

“Don’t get comfy yet love, too much tea, I’ll be right back.” He left his instrument propped up on a pillow and scooted off to water some lucky shrub.

“I thought that thing would never leave.” Something whispered from all around. “It’s frightfully bad manners to bring something like that inside. I’ll forgive you, since it showed up by itself the first few times.” The voice was smooth and soft, rounded by ages unremembered, but solid and clear.

“I was vexed when that druid brought a bunch of tree corpses in here and assembled that platform… now I see its purpose. Please continue dancing… if you would.”

“Where are ye? Kin ye show yerself tae me? Be ye an ent or spirit?” She called out into the shadows around the cavern walls.

“Ent, spirit, elemental… it matters little, I see you have met a few of us recently. Kai of the waters… Axio is finally moving again… dryads, three of them. Busy busy mortals, I love how fast you scurry.” It muttered abstractedly.

“Your aura is a wild mix of different experiences… so delightful… Perhaps I see why so many of the others have become so entranced by you silly creatures over the ages.” He mused softly, bringing to mind a bubbling spring.

“It’s coming back… I had hoped it would stay away, or fall in the stream and float off. That would be nice.”

The instant Gary reappeared, the presence was gone. Like a lantern snuffed out or a door shutting, it was simply no longer there.

“I felt… something… did you sense anything?” He bumbled and shouted into what had been a tranquil stillness.

“Galumphing mooncalf, get thee hence! Fie, tis hard tae find decent undead slaves these days.” Her grin and enormous wink took the sting out of her words.

“Pardon the intrusion, I will await you in the front room, mistress Shai.” He said humbly, bobbing a bow and slipping away quietly.

“I hae sent him away, will ye appear before me, friend?” She whispered into the darkness all around.

“I do not ‘appear’ mortal, I am, always… and will remain, until the end.” It sighed softly.

“That be why we hae come tae speak wi thee. Tis our goal tae prevent such an ending.” Shai whispered back. “Hae ye a name? I be Shai, smith and adventurer, who be ye?”

“Names are for mortals, I am… I will remain until all things end. What can any do to change that? I simply await and observe. I have never invested myself in your short lives. I have no body, no name, no visage to show you, save these mountain faces and stone halls.”

“Dae ye nae consider acting, as some do?” She asked the quiet, wistful spirit. “Some join in the activities of life an do find it rewarding…”

“It is such a strain, interacting at the rate in which you exist… outside my caverns, I struggle to even perceive you. I would hardly have noticed if you had not followed that… thing here.” He muttered.

“About that, Gary be my mate and a human man, I would hae him speak wi thee.” She began gently.

“He does hae a…”

“No, I do not engage with outsiders, others may, but not I. He is also some form of self willed revenant… that rarely ends well. Perhaps you should let Axio have him, I sense his touch on you both.”

“Axio has joined our cause, he is a friend of my mate. Will ye nae speak wi him?” She cajoled gently, pouring more tea into a cup.

“Gods mortal, if I were not so entertained by your antics I would never… very well. Reach into that pool and scoop out some silt. You need to make me a mannikin.”

#

The whispering voice coached her through sculpting a small doll of fine, slippery cavern silt, moss, clay and a few tufts of grass gathered from the stream outside. Gary watched her come and go from his seat on a garden bench, smiling blandly.

#

“Come Gary, He will speak tae ye now… dinnae mock my crafts. I had nae much tae work with.” She sighed and took his hand to lead him inside.

In the cabin he found a cushion by the fire occupied by a diminutive clay figure. At three feet tall he was not intimidating; his dark, pebble eyes and grass tuft hair failed to strike awe in the young musician.

“Hello, I’m Gary Ward, will you talk to me?” He asked gently, while Shai took a seat in a camp chair.

“It really is convincing. Did you train it to do that, The breathing thing? The heartbeat is a subtle touch too.” He asked, smooth and mellow tones of mudslide and rumbling stones rolled from the tiny creature.

“I can go almost anywhere to get insulted, I chose to get my chops busted here, by you. Isn’t that something we can agree on?” He said wryly, while settling into a chair. “We are here to help, not to annoy you.”

“And yet you succeed beyond your wildest expectation. I am heartily annoyed, how shall I require your help?”

“We have an end of the world type situation going on, or something like one. That affects everyone.” He said soberly. “We are working on that with some like minded friends.”

“The world will end. Nothing can stop that. Whatever are you flailing about for? I only agreed to this because your mistress entertained me.” He seemed mildly put out… or something. Unlike most spirits his clay doll remained simply clay and grass.

“Uhh, cause ending the world sucks, but the world is not really ending…”

“Of course it is. Silly mortal, the world will end. When is an open question, but end it will. Not any time soon by my estimation. We should have at least long enough for you to finish your tea.”

He turned to Shai, peering at her with his pebble eyes. “He is not doing very well. Is this about that outsider cult that has been sniffing around?”

“Ye do already know of them? Hae they hurt thee?” She demanded, suddenly furious.

“I am a mountain range, sweet Shai, hurt me with what? Even after the mountains have been ground to sand and washed away… I shall still be. I hope I wind up somewhere tropical. I rather fancy being a beach again. If you don’t mind, I have a very fine geode I have been cultivating for a while now.”

“Is this guy for real?” The musician asked in wonder. “I dig the vibe… but things are clearly all messed up around here. Do you want some jerks summoning outsiders in your territory?”

The creature looked him up and down, shrugged his tiny shoulders and grumbled like a falling hillside.

“Some jerk already did, I’m talking to the outsider he summoned.” He snorted. “The druid was annoying, I don’t remember them being so closed off to the natural world.” The entity grumbled with the sound of frost splitting stone. “He never could hear me, but at least he came all the way into this world and kept himself tidy.”

“Wow… that felt like a personal attack.” Shai’s pet complained.

“Don’t take it personally, you are not really a person in any case.” He huffed in the sound of rocks shifting as the snow melted. “I am a creature entirely of this world, of course your liminal, half-life offends my sensibilities. Just as my dryad kin savor their bifurcated, semi divine existence, I cherish solidity and permanence.”

“They hate me too, because of the undead thing. They like the halfway into the world part.” He hung his head in despair. “Axio and Kai were cool, the rest of you are kinda jerks.”

He reached out his tiny clay hand and patted the musician on the shoulder.

“We are creatures of this world. You are a twisted and damaged revenant, taken root in alien soil. Your outsider nature agitates my crystals.”

He shuddered gently. “While not uncomfortable, you draw my attention, forcing me into this frenetic pace. You are exhausting. If that was all you had, run along. Your silly doomsday cult is no threat here.” He looked about the room with mild interest while the mortals digested that.

“The last batch discovered my dirty secret… I’m infested with all manner of creatures. They wanted to summon someone, so I sent them something from the depths. So many tentacles.”

He sucked his pebble teeth and sighed. “I must get back to work. Tell Axio to send some biodiversity my way. It’s dismal out there.” The creature tottered to his tiny feet and waved to Shai. “Come see me again and dance some time, you can bring that if you wish.” He nodded to Gary, before strolling out the front door and jumping into the stream.

“That was kinda creepy, the dryads should give lessons on making an exit...” Gary said from the porch, while watching the small clay figure crumble away. A single clay hand emerged from the fast shrinking pile, flipped him the bird and promptly dissolved.