gentledeepwaters's journal

Sara put her hand on Sir Aus's arm, her eyes enormous, keeping her voice low, "This may tie in with what our hostess and Sister were saying."
But Sir Aus, all these things happened over a century ago, that is what I don't understand.......I thought a few years but a century?" "Well..well, back to what they were telling me.......this place was visited by a dragon!......a real honest to God .......big...lizardy....dragon way before all this mystery took place!" "So perhaps the dragon, did a bit of burp, accidently of course.......and did away with the wizard or the witch...or both?" "Well.....maybe an accident the first time....but it is stretching things to assume an accident the second time?"

"Lass, ye keep trying to work a dragon into this mystery!" "I don't particularly care for great gruesome beasties, I tend to shy away from them." "Do you know how much that armor weighs? I mean, with me, in it?" "Can ye not see me trying for a trot toward the great beastie encased in a tin can for tha' frying?" "Tha' steeds we have willna support that great weight.....and I promise you I dinna have the talent to be a circus performer with one foot on each, standing there in all me clanking glory with a bent lance!!!" "It doesna' need the telling I'd probably be faster afoot!!"

Sara beams up at him...."That's why I am so glad I found what I did in the witches lab!" "Soft as butter, light as air, but I swear she has done Kevlar one better." "The only problem I see is the helmet......the part you look out of?.......so as you go in for the killing blow.....if it takes a deep breath...turn your head." "Besides they assure me they have the perfect steed to carry you." "Hiccup can go back to being a pack horse."

As they saunter up to join their hosts......Sir Aus leans down and growls in Sara's ear....."Thy name be Puck."

They notice a changing in the landscape as they rode. The grass a bit larger, plumper, the seed heads fuller. So many types of grasses in the fields, intermixed, the scent was a bit stronger. Off in the distance cattle, sheep, goats and hogs were seen grazing or resting, long low buildings came into view.....some apart with larger additions in different areas.....a few in groups of threes or four....clones of each other. Then a flat area containing obviously man formed pools....where very large fish leaped from and jets of water sparkled up into the air and fell back into the pools. Then a sight we had to stop and watch.......a vertible mass of fowl.....huge for their kind, chickens of all breeds, duck, geese, peacocks, dove....all grazing, scratching, across a very large pasture....as they moved a fence rose up behind them...to dissappear back into the ground as they moved farther to reappear behind the last straggler. "Lass.....it looks like a "herding" chicken coop.......a massive one!" "And look there, tisna' an oak tree??" "But look at tha' fruit! Those are no acorns!"

Sara's jaw dropped in amazement......Two huge oak trees....beautifully formed....but from the tips of the branches...grew apples, oranges, cherries, grapefruit, pears ........so many fruits.....nuts even! The fence line changed from time to time.....from whitewashed wood to stone...or what appeared to be stone.....at a wild bird's lighting atop it.....a stone formed a shallow cup of water. Fields of flowers, pineapples, a weeping willow dripping orchids.....all these we saw and the fields stretched back as far as the eye could see. Finally a entrance with a road came into view and we turned in there.......beyond a sloping rise......a huge barn....rising three stories.......and a low rambling house surrounded by a veranda.....beyond the house a huge pool with floating flowers.

From the house came a nun and a woman.....shading their eyes to see us better......from the barn area came an older man and two young men.
Introductions revealed the overseer and his family and the little nun was visiting to bring back a report of how things were doing to the abbess.

Our animals were unpacked and taken to the barn to be groomed and fed....we were invited into the huge kitchen for a meal...it was understood that we were to spend the night and resupplied for our journey. Inside the house were mirrors everywhere.

After showing us to our rooms.......a large meal with all attending....we were invited out to see the "pool" by James and Megan, the overseer and his wife. Strolling along behind them a bit......we were heading for a gazebo that had been built in the middle of a bridge that spanned the pool. "Eh, lass, I got a bit more of the story from tha' James and tha' boys......it seems tha' wizard's disappearance came shortly after his wife found him enjoying a bit of conversation with a "sweet young" daughter of a farmer hereabouts." "Then tha' story takes an odd turn, or at least to me it does." "I gather tha' witch did grieve most piteously, tha' said she wore his clothes, surrounded herself with as many of his things as she could put in their living quarters...to tha' point...ye couldna' walk safely, it was so cluttered." "She covered all tha' mirrors, wouldna' leave tha' house.....then sent word to tha' abbess to come." "It seems, she had a relic of great importance to tha' church....owned by a Saint of sorts....and she wished to give it back into tha' keeping of tha' church." "After tha' abbess came, they talked days and days, and she got a bit better...walking with tha' abbess over the lands...bundling up his things and making arrangements to have people aboot ta' take care of those things not magicked to continue on." "Then.....after tha' abbess left with tha' "Holy Relic", those that were here said she went back into seclusion......in her laboratory.......rare to be seen.....her beauty still untouched but unkept...ya' understand?" They think she was trying to "find" tha' wizard......but no one really knows." "Then tha' night of tha' huge light and tha' earth moved.......and tha' witch was seen no more!"

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Toward dusk, they were joined by a farmer and his wife, their two sons and two daughters, returning from helping another family plant some crops. Their wagon was pulled by two fine looking bays. Introductions and exchanges of identity and purposes were made at a stop to water the animals and gain comfort for the humans. Sir Aus accompanied the men and animals to the stream........I was taken aside by the wife and plied with smoked ham and cheese, bread and a weak "ale" that tasted like honey. From the conversation that ensued, they too had known of the expected "Knight Protector" and knew a bit more of the mystery background. As I wolfed down the wonderful food....with a bit of guilt.....they told of the very handsome and personable Wizard....and his beautiful wife.....come from a land far away.....it was said they were of a great age but did not seem so.....devoted to each other.....one a wizard of reknown......one a witch of great power......two magics....very different.

The wizard had settled in to use his skills to explore working with plants and animals to "adjust" their properties, making them larger, stronger, less open to disease or ills. His goal was to help make sure there was food enough for everyone. This land was just coming out of a wide- spread failure of crops that had lasted decades.

His beautiful wife was a creator of beautiful things...they spoke of a pool in which she had created huge gemlike floating "flowers" that threw a scented mist into the air....and a quiet compelling music that came and went.....at night they glowed. Pottery that formed into different useful but beautiful forms at a touch.

Of the two, they said, although both were kind to a fault, the wizard was the most approachable. The witch preferred her own company and his.....and her factorum was lined with mirrors. They also spoke of a seeming jealousy of skills on the part of the witch.....wishing to meld her skills with her husbands in some way.....but failing because the two schools of arcane skills did not meld.

Then they spoke of the wizard's sudden disappearance.......and from that day the steady mental and emotional decline of the witch. On that day.......a great light had shown and the ground shook as jelly for a few minutes......but no damage was noted, anywhere.

The witch had called for the abbess and after a long visit......had sent back carts that gathered up the seed and sprouts...dispensing them to the surrounding farms.....and they all grew. Larger, the tastes more sublime, no worm or disease did disturb them....and their seeds held true.....generation after generation.

After many years.....no more was seen of the witch.....they assumed she was bereft from her loss and had closeted herself away in her lab.....no one ever saw her, as their help had aged and died or moved away......the abbess had sent others and maintained the farm and laboratories. Everyone assumed that was something agreed upon in that visit.

Sara's eyes were as big a saucers......the last of the story had been told in whispers.......she shook herself. Clearing her throat.....Sara asked..."So why do you think after all this time, the Abbess has felt need of a "Knight Protector"?? "Has there been some word or change noted.??" Shrugs and shakes went around the little circle.

The men returned, laughing and joking....repacking and reharnessing the rested animals.....food was pressed on Sir Aus, who was freshly pungent, but upright, and we were invited to stay the night.

After a wonderful night's sleep in the fresh haystacks of the farmer's barn.......a jokingly, half- serious attempt at horsetrading by Sir Aus....and a huge breakfast. We were on our way, the next stop would be the wizard's farm and then beyond the cloister.

"Lass, ye be frowning quiet this fine morning." "A worry or a burr bothering ya'?"

"Not really, the farmer's wife drew me aside last night and gave me a bit of advice is all, I'm trying to decide my course of action." Having said that, Sara harked up a large one and spit.......unfortunately a little too short into the oncoming breeze.

"Lass, is it something ye' can share.....sometimes it helps tha' deciding on tha' true course!?"

"She said if I'm going to attempt to appear a male, I need a bit more.....action to it......that just trying to look the part is not fooling anyone......that I might not be able to fool anyone....but if I developed certain ways and gestures.....I could possibly befuddle someone......even for a short time into buying into our "squire in training" persona." "She also suggested we think of a name.....Lass....is a dead giveaway and Sara evenmoreso."

"Ah, I see." "If I may, shall I ponder on an appropriate name?"

"Please do, I have thought of some but they just don't stick in the memory, you know? It wouldn't do to forget your name in the heat of battle or something!"

Sir Aus burst out laughing....."Sorry, Lass....twas' just the.....dinna wurrry aboot the name in tha' heat of battle!" "Tis a rare thing to be shouting out then." "Eh......and tha'....actions.....your thoughts on them?"

"Well.......walking......I need my stride longer....a swagger here and there....scratching various odd parts of my....self....frequent spitting....more ............adjusting my clothes at times." "Try not to talk if possible.......my timbre is wrong......try to look vague if addressed directly and then look to you as if for the answer."

"And if I'm not present?"

"She gave me a packet of beans......"
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"Lass?" came a quiet voice much too close for comfort........."Eh, ......eh.....tha' salve?.......isna' to be applied before or after?"

"In the case of kilt versus uh ... uh pants........I think would be best to apply, before......during.....and after."

After a quick trip to the cave, Sir Aus returned and the quest was surely on it's way. The only after effects noted on the animals was a certain extra liveliness in Hiccup.......almost as ..........say a edgy human might be........the donkey seemed the same except maybe for some extra blinking..........and Deef seemed to have a tendency to drift off to the right or left at times.......but then....that could be because the rider was having a tendency to lean to the right and left at times. A very quiet group it was.......excepting Sir Aus....who obviously felt the need to fill the ride with ........conversation.

"Yes, lassie, I think it is an idea lookin' inta' when we return to our time."
"A way to bring water to tha' deserts of tha' wuurrld, cheaper than most, simplicity itself, no wasteful polluting energy......weel' nae' as much as soom' ideas."
"Ye set up this large reflecting dish on one o' the poles.....use tha' sun's power n' heat.......possibly wit' tha' help of a laser.....mebbe not.....melt tha' snow n ice.....port it quickly inta' huge thick balloons where tha' water freezes back.......roll tha' balloons......to tha' water."
"Now, mind ye, tha's tha' part where you must be most canny aboot......tha' location.....ye canna be melting yurself out of where ye need ta be.....but ye canna be so far from tha' water that tha' rubber will give up from the wear of tha' rollin'"
"Of course, having tha' melting parts portable would be of necessity."
"Now, tha' best part cooms when tha' reach tha' shore........ye just roll them in.....tha' buggers will float......fresh water in tha' salt water.......a bit below tha' surface......is best."
"Tha' way ye miss the worst of any bad weather."
"Ye herd tha' balloons into a strong current o' the ocean, one that goes close by a land needin' tha' fresh water. " "And there ye' have it!"

Sara's aching brain played with the picture of the possibilites of a laser zapping in and around a reflecting dish during possibly......a whiteout...pictured huge black or orange or tye-dyed balloons rolling to the sea.....to be greeted by cute little penquins and seals....plopping with great geyser's into said sea......and.....

"Ah, Sir Aus, how are you going to "herd" them?"

"Submarines, Lass, submarines!" "Two at most, I figure, with a large net between em', just a nudge here n' there to get them inta' tha' proper current, then at the proper time ta' nudge them oot'."

Sara at this point, took a small swallow o' the red from the skin she volunteered to carry......"just in case", and noticed the pink tinge was finally leaving the mid morning sky.

Sara....played with the vision of huge balloons floating below the sea....gathered in a large clump then gently loosed in the swift undersea currents....free at last to find their own way down the watery highway...each at the mercy of whatever the fates might choose during this........

"Ah, Sir Aus, how are you going to prevent .......say .....one or two bobbing up in ........say......Venice?"

"Bungi cord, my dear Lass, Bungi cord....connecting each to the other.....enough that tha' whales canna pass through without restraint of their natural ways........verrrrry ecological........Bungi cord.......a marvel that is underrated and until now.........not used to it's true potential!"

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By the time of the nuns return, Sir Aus was a bit more upright, damp from a dip in the pool and happily digging through the packs and some large wooden boxes, he had found in a small side cave on the other side of the pool hidden in the shadows.

Soon, everyone was seated and enjoying the hot stew, bread, buttered turnips, piquant cheese and blessed be......strong tea with milk and honey. Sir Aus was regaling them with "tales" of his deeds......obviously slightly colored to fit the time and the land. Sipping a bit o' the red, the enemies became more numerous, larger, eviller, and met their dooms in escalating amounts of gore and blood. After the demise of the flame eyed gryphon with four faces, eight legs and the barbed tail that could shoot lethal fire balls along with his legion of flying harpies, two of the paler nuns suggested a bit of music to round off the evening. Sir Aus's eyes lit up, as he searched for the bagpipe, Sara slipped out of the cave with a bag of oats and a bulging skin o' the red.

As the steeds gobbled down the mixture, the first wheezes heard in the breeze, Sara whispered to their suddenly cocked ears, "You may hate me in the morning, but you will love me tonight!!"

The night held it's breath and the.......the.......session began.

Sara leaned back against a post, and took a tentative sip o' the red.

"Lass.......Lass.....where be ye?" "Ah.......there you are." "A fine night, indeed." "Tha' night air is just perfect for tha' breathing." "You could almost touch tha' stars." "Nae a creature is stirring." Sir Aus enters the small corral, he's carrying a large skin bag of water and proceeds to refill the water "trough" for the steeds. Two of which said steeds are lying down........out cold.......the third.......the donkey is leaning his weight against a large upright pole and has been nodding constantly for some time now.

"Tha' lasses have called it a gud' night and left for their beds." "Tha' Mother Superior, went over the map to the cloister wit' me and marked tha'
Wizard's farm we will pass on our way very clearly." " I dinna think we shall have any problem at all finding our way." "Tis, odd, I dinna mark tha' Mother's stutter before.......but then a few of tha' lasses seemed to be sickening for something." "Probably the milk......must be hard to keep fresh." "Weel, time for rest, at dawn we start tha' quest."

"Hic."

"Aha, weel up wit' ye.....your color is good.....had a feeling twas tha' milk.......good choice on your part....a drop o' the red is best in this time of uncertain waters and milks."

"Tha's it.....just let me help ye a bit.....dinna mind tha' leg not working right....in the morning tha' will notice a bit of stiffness from the riding, but will work right as rain for ye." "Sigh......nothing like music to end a day." "Settles a body's soul and mind ye know."
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"Inside the scroll, is also a map to your "headquarters", also they gave us a couple of oilskins, a very few cooking pots, couple of blankets, a heavy metal container on a strap they said is for carrying coals?"

"Oh.......ho ho......!" Sara looks up......Sir Aus has unslung the baggy thing and is stroking it like a favorite pet. "A treasure indeed......tis a bagpipe! The grandfather of bagpipes......but now we shall be accompanied by many a merry tune on our quest!!" "Yes, indeed, in my youth, I did have a fine touch a' squeezing tha' skirls." "Nothing like the sound of tha' pipes echoing off tha' hills to put the heart in ye!"

Sara smiles at him...."Would be a fine thing around the fire at night.:" "The two nags, I mean horses are named Deef and Hiccup by the nuns, due to one is deaf in one ear and the other has a tendency to hiccups they say." "Had no problem at all with them on the way here...plodders for sure but very biddable." "The little nun who tended them said to halter them at night though, they'd leave us in a heartbeat for a pail of oats or a roof when it rains." "She also said to especially wary of Hiccup for some reason."

Sir Aus, examining the bagpipes carefully......looks up and says "Lass, I neiver in ma' life have hefted a sword, wore armor or rode a horse while trying to deal with a lance." "I've done ma' share of camping out, traveling horseback, was in an "action or two", shot game." "Did they say what kind of "quest" we have been called for??"

"No........not really....they said we would pass a famous Wizard's farm and factorum on our way to the Cloister, to stop in there and inquire and introduce ourselves, the mystery of it started there."

"Whew"....."dinna sound like a case of 'Ware, here be Dragons, then."

"My thoughts exactly, well, I'm going to get some water from the stream to boil for drink and put us a meal together." "Be back in a few."

Sara ambled off to the stream, leading the horses and carrying the largest pot with a handle, followed slowly by the cud chewing donkey.....("he has a very good point, what will we do if we do need to defend ourselves?........we are so very out of our element here......they gave me a small knife to carry......I could rig up a slingshot.......but I don't know how to aim one or hit anything aimed at!!!" "I wonder if he knows anything about slingshots and can teach me?") Suddenly a great.........wheezing ........then a shriek splits the sky.!!!!!!!!!!!! "SIR AUS, RUN.....RUN......("Godamighty,,,,,a dragon!!!) Dropping the reins of the screaming horse that has pulled around her, the pot.........Sara bolts for the stream. Her mind babbling....(WATER......GET INTO THE WATER.......UNDER THE TREES .....IN THE WATER......ONLY CHANCE!!......DRAGONS DON'T FISH!......DO THEY?) Sara dives into the deeper looking hole of the widest part of the stream, praying no boulder lurks beneath.........surfacing, water streaming down her face.....unable to see........she screams...."RUN..........RUN......UNDER THE CART.......NO.......NO.....THAT'LL BURN.......THE ARMOR?.......RUN AND COVER.!!!!!!!!!!!.......She can hear the dragon shrieking!!!!!!! Sara dives for the bottom.
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