Waldhaxen Channel

[Sareth]

I crutched as fast as I could. "No arguments from me. Anything dropped off in the middle of nowhere by super secret military types can't be good..."

[Graybeard]

With the airship noises now receding in the east (why east, when it had come from the west?), Grope decided to risk a bit of reconnaissance. Joined by his nephew, he crept to the top of the ridge, surprisingly soundlessly for a pair of very large figures.

"I don't think that's a weapon," he said as he noticed the slab on the ground. "Not sure what it is or why they put it there, and I don't really want to know. It must be magical, I can practically feel it all the way up here. Let's avoid it, I --"

He was cut off by the flare of magical light on the top of the slab, followed moments later by a loud FOOSSHH. His hand flew to his sword, purely on reflex; the slab was a good hundred yards away or more, and there wasn't going to be anything to fight right away, but trolls don't live to old age if they're tentative. (A bow and arrow would have been better, of course, but that could come later.)

As the magical light cleared, three Small Ones were standing on the slab who definitely hadn't been there before. Without a word (at least as far as Grope could hear at that distance), the Small Ones stepped off the slab and melted into the forest, heading north.

[AdamZero]

I blinked once, then twice. I looked at the slab, then at the place where the people had entered into the forest, far enough ahead that they probably hadn't noticed us. "No way."

That, I mean, that didn't even make sense! Was that really a ship from that damn disc city? Maybe... maybe not. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "So..." I looked to the group. "Who wants to follow the trio of strange people?"

At least it would be something interesting.

[Viking-Sensei]

"Or... we could try and hijack their transport." Lucas said, casting a sidelong glance at the slab. "Ayiee, can you interface with that thing at all?"

[Sareth]

"Would that mean not having to hobble all the way to town?" I asked, patting my crutch. "Because if the answer is yes, then I feel like committing a hijacking, all right. Just one question. Where does it go?"

[AdamZero]

"Anywhere, everywhere, nowhere." I ticked off the vagueness by rolling my hands. "But yeah, if Aiyee can't make it work, and work safely, we be hosed..." The blue gal seemed to be chewing on the data; eyes wide, and full of stars, as she scanned them over the slab.

"So we either zap away, or trudge through the dark northern forests... hmm" I yawned.

[Graybeard]

"Surely the Small Ones can't be thinking of using that thing, can they?" Scrobian gasped. "Not only is it magical, it uses magic they can't control themselves. For all they know, it could send them straight to visit the Five Great Mothers ... or even Growf."

"That isn't the way magic works ... usually," Grope counseled his nephew. "The blue woman-thing is trying to control it, or at least to learn how to control it. From what I've seen of her, she has abilities that the humans themselves lack. I think there's a pretty good chance she'll succeed."

The younger troll relaxed slightly, but Grope had a second, unsettling thought. "As I think about it, though, there's one thing that bothers me. Have I ever told you about the time Lucas and I were on the boat fighting pirates? I learned then, and on many occasions since, that when he's around, magical things can function weirdly ... very weirdly. If they do use that thing, he'd better be a long way from it."

"But how will he use it then, my uncle?"

"Kind of a problem, isn't it..."

----------

Another special call? Elke groaned; she had actual work to do. Priorities were priorities, however, so she sealed her office and took the call.

"Good news for once," the man at the opposite end said. "We think we have a replacement for Egbert lined up. It's a strange situation and it'll have to be handled with caution. But still..."

[Sareth]

"I'm not so sure," mother commented. She was taking advantage of the break to change Nera and play with her a little, but she was eyeing the object speculatively. "We don't know where it goes, but wherever it does, three people were poised ready to use it almost immediately. That means we could wind up popping up in the middle of some sort of base or some such, and I am sure they will not be glad to see us."

I smiled. "Are we there yet?"

"Jamie..."

Are we there yet?"

"Stop that, young lady!"


"Are we the"

"SHUT IT!" Mother looked just a little cross. "Just think about what I'm saying."

*sigh*

[Graybeard]

I don't want to do this, Grope thought. But I want to go on that magical thing even less. He made his way down to where Lucas and Ayiee were fiddling with the black object, just as Lucas looked up with glee on his face; apparently they'd found some way to make the thing work to their benefit. Well, good for them, but we still have to do it our way. "I am sorry, friend Lucas," he announced, "but we trolls cannot go with you."

----------

Meanwhile, Layla and Zachary were meeting Ace at the airstrip in Kugelheim, with an exchange of hugs, kisses and similar good stuff.

"Dammit, I thought I'd lost you," Layla complained when they got a break, not sure whether she was serious or not. "Weren't you supposed to be back last night? I thought you'd crashed or something."

"No way, sweetheart," Ace smiled. "Do you think I'd do something like that and miss out on your mother's home cooking? It just took a little longer than expected, that's all." Well, that wasn't entirely true. The air-travel part of the trip had gone more or less on schedule, just a little slow because of headwinds, but things at the destination had been ... hairy. Layla, of course, didn't need to know that.

"Here, let me help you with your bags," Layla started, but the pilot stopped her. "No need. I'm just going to do a little service on this thing, and then I've got another trip to make," he said.

That didn't go over well. "Another one?" Layla said. "Dammit, I was really hoping we'd be able to spend some time together and ... talk about things. Do you really have to?" Now why was he smiling?

"Yes, I do," Ace said. "It's another special run, to deliver some very special passengers."

"And I bet you can't tell me who the passengers are this time, either," Layla grumped.

"You'd be wrong about that. You two and your mom are the passengers ... and we're going to Rinkaiel."

[Viking-Sensei]

Ayiee rose above the trees, riding atop the slab, and vanished towards the south.

Lucas stood on the edge of the clearing, not looking at Grope. "I think she's still getting the hang of it. Have you ever seen two different types of trees grow too close together, so that eventually the parts of the trees start getting mixed up and you get branches of one type growing next to branches of another out of the same trunk? Ayiee's... insides... are sort of like that. After we got her back to Tsuiraku, I was able to replace many of her damaged parts with Tsuirakan equivilents, so she's neither dwarven nor human in origin now... she's sort of like a robot errant, if you think about it."

Lucas closed his eyes and turned around. "If you need to go, I understand." he said softly. "I mean, I don't understand... really... but that's part of the problem. You guys have your own ways and customs that I can't even begin to understand. When it was just me, I could fake it, and I know you gave me a lot of leeway during our original journey, but you've got other trolls with you now, and I've got other humans with me, and our parties are just not destined to travel together."

The trees russled, and there was a soft whine as a shadow fell over Lucas and Grope. Between the two of them, the row boat slowly descended until it landed on the ground. Lucas followed the ropes up - ropes that looked suspiciously like they'd been lifted from Grope's hot air balloon - which were now firmly attached to the flying black slab. "On second though, maybe this isn't such a good idea..."