Gnomes of Suburbia (23 page)

It was obvious that the magus was preparing for a magical war. I told them that he had no defensive weaponry and that I would be willing to provide them with a defence. They seemed pleased.

When Strykr recovered, he began courting me and I am happy to say that he proposed marriage. I found myself heavily in love. The elves held a lovely ceremony for us as we bound our lives together in front of witnesses.

"You go, girl.” A trill of happiness went through Abby. In fact, as she read the book, she felt everything that Terranor must have felt. The fear, the hate, the first blush of love and the joy of being with the man she loved. This book was truly magic.

I will spare you the details of our coming together, but it was more than I had ever imagined two people could have. We were two halves of a whole and each day brought us closer to becoming one.

The brief flare of happiness was extinguished when I became with child. The magus had told all who would listen that I was a mule, unable to bear. When I shared my happy news with Strykr, he grew pale, then shook his head and grinned. The pallor he had exhibited was due to the reaction of the elven council in the village.

They would not have a Halfling in their village. We were told to leave. Apparently, the only reason that they allowed Strykr to mate with me was that they expected him to make a more suitable match after I was dead. Since I was supposed to be sterile, there were to have been no offspring to be concerned about.

I looked to my beloved and he put his arm around me. As one we left the village and did not look back. My powers gained strength with my pregnancy and, when we found another elvish village, we offered our skills as a package to them in return for shelter and a place for our young. The offer was accepted and we became citizens of Dath Mor.

That was the village where our first daughter was born. Elspeth. Over the course of the next five years, three more came to join our family, Aolin, Maylal, and Seleeth. Strykr named them all, and never ceased to show his love for me everyday, it was why we had so many children.

Secure in his love, I began to enchant weapons for defence and attack. Three villages banded together to create a masterwork of steel and had it enchanted by me. It was a large sword and they named it Hex-Ca-Libre. The instant that magic flowed into it, I knew that it had a great destiny.

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"Holy crap. She made Excaliber. Well, enchanted it.” Abby was talking to her short and sleepy eyed audience. Gnomes were sitting on every inch of her desk, but left a wide margin around the book. She hadn't realized it, but since her throat felt hoarse, she must have been reading out loud. The gargoyles were perched on the back of a nearby chair and listening raptly. Yup, that settled it, she had been talking. “Shall I continue?” At the entire group of nods, she laughed and then went back to Terranor's happy ending.

Other villages started to come to me for magic. It confused me until one of the elders explained it to me. There is a finite amount of magic in the world at any given time. It resided in people, trees, water and earth. Any one of these can over draw magic. Especially the human magi. They drew on not only their powers, which were considerable, but drained it from others. Usually other races to forward their own agendas.

I was born to replace lost magic, through waste and greed. The earth magic created me to draw on the energy that binds magic between worlds. Those were the purposes of the magus’ first lessons, to have me break the wall between worlds and draw power through. Like a fool, I did it.

Once the veil was broken, the power flowed like water, the more I used it, the more I could identify the type and purpose for the magic drawn through. It was good to keep busy, but with four girls, I was so busy that I could almost not see the disaster that was right around the corner.

Rumours came to us at first. The magus was making war and stealing the power of the elven villages. No one could believe it, but I knew that this was exactly what he had wanted. I went to the village elders and spoke to them about the magus. They decided to take a wait-and-see attitude toward the situation.

I prepared for war.

With my children, I crafted tiny warriors, and then not so tiny ones with multiple arms to wield weaponry. Elspeth named them brownies after the mud that we made them from. I whispered my instructions to them and sent them into the forest.

My children brought me pebbles, which I had Strykr enchant into wardstones. The little ones deposited them around the village. They helped me make the village as safe as it could be with no one preparing except our family.

My husband was preparing his own surprise for me. For two years, he worked on creating this book, making it as sturdy as he could for just this purpose. It would not be destroyed by time, wind, weather or fire. His enchantments were powered by our intimate time together, but when he presented me with this tome, I cried.

My father would have loved to have created a book half as beautiful.

My heart wept with both pleasure and pain of remembered loss, but eventually I calmed myself enough to assure Strykr that I loved his gift and that he had not insulted me. Foolish male.

My little Elspeth got excited when she saw the book. She screamed, “That's it, that's it,” over and over again. When I finally calmed her, she told me that the book would bring us help.

My eldest was born a seer. The gift woke in her on her third birthday and since then she has had a hard time explaining to us what her magic is telling her. My other daughters are also waking to the gift of foresight, but none as strong as my eldest.

She could not keep away from this tome, she kept stroking it as if to bring it to life.

We received notice that the magus was approaching, he would not harm the village if I was handed over to him. The council met and refused his request. I had become part of them, you see. Half of the elves evacuated the village, but the rest stayed to defend their lands. I provided what help I could, but since I had never completed my training, I could not give enough to the defenders. It has frustrated me.

Elspeth remained fascinated with the book and it was at her urging that I began to pour some magic into it. When the news came that the army was only one day away, I began to write this chronicle so that someone would know of my life and the circumstances of my existence. The next Nexus needs to know the danger that they are in.

I can only hope that my efforts have been successful.

The tale ended there. No other writing swam to the surface and Abby almost screamed in frustration. Dawn had lit her study and her creatures were just as irritated as she was. “What the hell happened?” Her hands were on the phone before she had a conscious thought. “Seesee. I need to know everything about the first Nexus and I need to know it now."

"I thought you might ask for it, I had the archive fax it over last night. I will bring it over right away."

The line disconnected and Abby was left shaking and burning with the need to do
something
. The gnomes had scattered and were busy assembling something that Abby couldn't identify. It involved a large mirror and jumper cables so she didn't want to look too closely. She was pacing by the time Seesee arrived and snatched the documents from her hands with a curt, “Thanks."

"You know, you could tell me what this is all about. I may be able to help.” Her hair writhed in confusion.

It was hypnotic to watch, but Abby only spared her a glance before sitting down and reading the history of Terranor. “Sorry Seesee, it's a Nexus thing."

The gnomes shooed Seesee out, much to her consternation. She was trying to say something when they closed the door in her face.

It was a short history. Lord Magus Mervyn Atur took the orphaned Nexus into his charge and trained her as best he could. The ungrateful wretch ran from him and hid with a village of elves. The elves staged a violent revolt against the magical council, which was squelched by the Lord Magus and ended with the elven village and the first Nexus completely disappearing. They were presumed dead. No trace of the village remained after the battle was completed.

Mervyn took pride in his eradication of the elves, although a head count of the dead and a confirmation of the death of the Nexus was never provided. It was all the convincing that Abby needed.

Abby called Xander's cell and left a message. “I am going to be out of touch for a few days. I have something that I have to help a friend with.” She knew that she had to move fast. The image of what she needed to do burned in her mind.

The book had given the image to her as it had the image of the gnomes. She would be a fool to ignore it. She was not a fool. Well, not anymore.

Harby tugged on her leg to draw her attention and she looked at what they had made. It was a portal. Sort of. The mirror that Xander had given her was hooked up to her large mirror and two jumper cables lay open for connection.

The marks that she had noted on the Chronicle lined up perfectly with the clips on the cables. As soon as she had the cables in place, she took a deep breath. “I can't believe I am going to try this."

"Neither can I. You are not going anywhere without me.” Seesee was back and ready to rumble.

Her hair was a little twisted and Abby figured that she must have picked the lock with it. “Seesee, you can't come with me."

"You are going into the past? To help the first Nexus and her village?"

"Sort of. There will be no village when I am done."

"The history of the gorgons tells the tale of one of us who came from the future for three days. No one has done it yet and yet several have tried. I get the feeling that I am that one. Besides, I am your bodyguard for the week. Until Alexander gets back, I am all you have."

The gnomes were on point, just waiting for Abby's decision. “I guess the more the merrier."

"More? You are taking the gnomes?"

"Bitsy isn't well enough to be on his own yet and having me in the past may affect their power supply. I want to make sure they stay up and running until I get back here.” Her creatures looked up at her gratefully. They didn't need to be grateful, she would always protect her critters with everything in her.

"So how are we going to do this?"

"I am going to stretch the magic around the book and create a time bubble that will link us to Terranor. Then I will run my power through the book, hopefully making a connection between her time and ours. Then we pray.” Abby bent and put a hand on the Chronicle, starting the process. “I would get closer if I were you. Only items in the bubble are going to make it through the portal."

"Book? What book?” Seesee Montrose barely got the words out before it all started.

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"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Fucking ow.” Every time a small hand touched her face she winced. “Am I going to die?"

"You had better not. If you do, I couldn't kill you."

Hands pushed and pulled her upright and she was surrounded by her creatures and a scowling Seesee.

Her hair was rubbing at her temples and she looked pissed. “Did you know that it would hurt that much?"

"No, or I would have packed some aspirin.” Buffy dropped something on Abby's lap and she looked at it curiously. It was an apple. “Thanks, hon.” She bit through the sweet crunchy flesh and sighed as the juice flowed down her throat. Her headache disappeared in an instant. Seesee was also munching one and she smiled with relief as her pain eased as well. “You know, you guys are way smarter than I gave you credit for. How did you get so smart?"

"You told us, too. We heard it in the whispers of the magic when we came to life. It has been teaching us since the day you made us.” Bitsy gave her that bit of information with a small pat to her knee.

"Okay, kids, where are we?” Slowly, Abby stood and surveyed their surroundings. There was no sign of civilized life, only the endless expanse of forest in front, behind and around them.

"You are standing in the middle of the hunting ground.” An elf moved out from behind a tree.

Abby was gob smacked. He looked like Xander. “Who are you?” She was trespassing, but she still couldn't help herself.

"I am Strykr. You are?"

She was stunned. It had worked. They were in Terranor's time. “Pleased to meet you. Can I see your wife, please?” He looked almost angry until she started to pull her power around her. The gnomes stood in front of her and the gargoyles hovered at her back. She turned slightly and nodded to Seesee who let her hair whip wildly through the soft air of the forest.

He stood facing them, scowling protectively at the mention of his mate. “Who are you to ask for her?"

Abby pulled power from the rock and trees, swirling the magic into bright waves. “I am a Nexus and I am here to help. I know all about your wife and courtship and I will prove what I know if you will come here so that I may tell you the name of your wife's constant companion."

His interest was now fully peaked and his eyes grew brighter than she could imagine. Slowly and carefully, she moved toward him with her hands outstretched, her crew hanging behind at a safe distance. She stopped in front of him and waved for him to bend toward her. He did and she whispered the name in his pointed ear, “Terza."

He straightened abruptly and gave her a terse, “Come with me."

Shrugging, she and her entourage followed.

The village was quiet. The few elves that she saw looked at the motley crew that they were and turned back to their tasks. It was obvious that they prepared for war.

Abby could feel the hum of the magic that Terranor was putting out, hell, she could
see
it. The colours of lemonade, pink, lemon and gold were on everything metallic and all doors. She had really tried hard to keep the village safe from the coming invaders.