Gnomes of Suburbia (24 page)

He paused in front of a home that was surrounded by flowers.

Abby looked through her other sight and saw them glowing softly in the afternoon. Magic blooms.

"Here she is. I will take our children so that you may talk."

"May my gnomes accompany you?"

"Certainly, I think the children will enjoy it."

His lips twitched in a sideways smile that had her heart pounding in her chest. He was so much like Xander it was scary.

He swung the door open and called out as he went inside. “Ladies, we have guests. If everyone smaller than my waist will come with me, it will let the adults speak."

Abby staggered as she walked into the cosy home. A short blonde elfin girl who looked just like her daddy, was clinging to her thigh.

"You came! I didn't think you would, but you did! I saw you!” Tears were in the bright blue eyes.

"Hello, Elspeth. It is nice to meet you. If you hadn't told your mommy about me, I would never have come.” She stroked the silky hair gently and gave the little mite a tiny kiss on the forehead.

"So it did work. Strykr told me it would, but I didn't believe him."

Abby was puzzled for a moment until she put it all together. “Your daughters are very like you, aren't they?” She was looking at the only male in the room, aside from the gnomes.

He blushed a bright red. “They share my gifts, yes."

"And you gave her the book."

"Yes."

"And she wrote in the book."

He was almost squirming now. “Yes. I have had the seer's gift since I was a child. I knew Terranor as mine the instant that I saw her. I brought you here knowing what you would do, but not how you would achieve it. I do not have precision in my sight."

She looked over at Terranor, a very unprepossessing woman who was making a small doll on the table. “I think you did a helluva job, Strykr. The knowledge of how to come through time was given to the gnomes when they came alive. I only had a vague idea of what they were building. Now, can you leave us alone? We have Nexus stuff to discuss."

With moaning and protests to stay, the girls, gnomes and elf were shooed out of the house, leaving two Nexus’ and a gorgon.

"Welcome. I have to say, I did not have my husband's faith in the magic I put in the book. Welcome."

Tears were in her eyes and Abby moved to hug her quickly. She knew all too well the feeling of being overwhelmed by events beyond her control. She snivelled a little as well. When they finally separated, she said, “My name is Abby, by the way, this is Seesee. We are here to help."

"What can we do?” It was a harsh wail. “They will be here in less than a day and we have no defences in place."

"Terranor, can I call you Terra ... we are going to make this village disappear.” To say her host's jaw dropped would have been an exaggeration, but she did notice a distinct slackening. “I am serious. We will throw a shield around the village that will keep the invaders from seeing it."

"The magus knows my power, he will see it."

"Well, he would if he could see it. He won't"

"How will you keep it from him?"

"It's a surprise. Call in the short squad, we need some rocks."

"The what?"

"Your kids and my gnomes. We need some rocks. And some clay, mud, sticks, a fire and a few really big branches of poison ivy.” She ticked the ingredients off on her fingers, then remembered something. “Oh, and call in your pixies, they can help."

"My what?"

"Pixies. The small fairies that are winged Terzas."

"Oh. How do I do that?"

Abby blinked. She had instincts for her magic. It had never occurred to her that her counterpart would not. “Sit quietly, look with eyes that don't see the world around you and look for your colours."

"Colours?"

"Your magic is coloured by your personality. It is bright, light, yellow and pink.” She looked over at the first of her kind and sighed. “Shall I do it?"

"You can call them?"

"I don't see why not. Magic is magic, if I make it tempting enough, they will come."

"May I watch?"

"Sure, but get the little ones busy. We need those supplies."

"Why?"

"We are making brownies.” Abby looked over at Seesee while they waited for the kids to be given their tasks. Shrieks of glee reached them.

Just before Terra came back in, Seesee asked, “Do you know what you are doing?"

"I really hope so because this is going to hurt. A lot."

Terra nodded. “They are gathering the supplies. The potter left so we can use her kiln and the clay in her stores."

"Excellent. First the pixies.” She sat comfortably in the second largest chair in the room and then closed her eyes almost completely. She sent her senses out looking for magic, dodging what was obviously the magus with his army and continuing until she saw the small flickering lights in the forest. She used her senses to touch those lights one at a time.

They were bright, curious and only to happy to help. They were on their way.

Her eyes opened to a fascinated Terranor staring at her.

"I saw them. They are coming."

"I didn't even feel you along with me. You learn fast.” She stood and stretched. “Now. Time for sculpting. To the pottery."

Once she explained the principle, Terranor and her family took over.

The application of the poisoned ivy was left to Seesee's hair. She tucked it into a crevice on each and every hideous creature. “Okay people, don't touch them now. The only one who can get them up and running now is you, Terra."

"Me? Why not you? You have such a grasp of the power."

"Because these are your guardians. No one can grab them and they can cause and create so much havoc that you will be amazed. They will live outside the village and they will thrive. I guarantee you. That and, of course I am going to be back in my time and they will not be able to draw power from me if they need it."

"Oh. I see.” The look said she didn't see.

"Terranor, how do you usually draw in power?"

"Uh, well. Not in front of the children."

The little girls giggled.

It was enough to give Abby the last clue. Apparently, power was generated the same way here as back home. “I understand. So why don't you and your husband have a short ... conversation, while I keep the kids occupied.” Abby winked and waved her off. The gnomes were still capering with the children and Terranor needed a fast energy boost. Only sex or heavy petting was going to be enough. The first Nexus was bemused, but followed her orders and, in thirty minutes, the power shot was out. The wave of magic caressed their sculptures, but it was when Terra returned, patting her hair smooth again, that the brownies came to life.

"Missy? Where do you want us, Missy?” They chirped up as one. Terranor looked surprised as the brownies stood and unfolded their multiple arms and legs.

"You can guard Missy best from the outskirts of the village. Make sure no one breaks the circle of rocks.” Abby gave the direction as Terranor was still obviously shocked at how simple the activation was.

"Yes, Missy-friend. We go.” Wave after wave of the slender creatures ran past them to take up their positions as guardians. Phase one of her plan was complete.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Phase two consisted of shoring up the pebbles and keeping the barrier seamless. For this, Abby used her magic to charge them, simply dragging her hands through a vat of gravel. The gnomes dug a small trough around the village and laid the bits of gravel in it with astonishing attention to detail.

Abby and Terranor were washing their hands by the village well.

Terra asked her, “Are they your creatures? Did you make them?"

"I did and they are. They are great."

"They seem terribly intelligent."

"They are."

"How do you control them? They seem so loyal."

"What? Control them? I just let them do their thing. They choose to stay with me.” She looked over at them and watched them carefully, knowing that her face was showing maternal pride. She couldn't help it, she was proud of all that they accomplished.

"So the pixies as you call them? They will be loyal to me?"

"Probably. It depends on if you were feeling lonely when you created them."

"Very."

"Then, when they arrive, there will be nothing that will stop them from protecting you."

"That is amazing."

"The really amazing thing, to me, is that we came through time and still manage to get ourselves understood. I guess it helps that we were wrapped in your magic when we did.” She looked down at herself. “Sorry about the clothing. I didn't have time to find something more appropriate to this time."

"No worries there. The elves often wear rather risqué clothing, it doesn't matter."

"Speaking of the elves, why have none of them offered to help in our little escapade?"

"They leave human matters to the humans. The elves who are here are prepared to die."

"But they don't want to, right? Because if they have a suicide wish they had better hit the bricks. There will be no deaths in this village.” The look she got was admiring.

"You are sure about that. I can tell. What do you know of the future?"

"All I know is that the village disappeared, with no reports of deaths or capture. I know how to make that happen."

"How?"

"It's a surprise. I don't mean it to be mysterious, but until we are facing the magus and tell him off, it will not be a reality.” Abby shuddered and took a deep breath. “We have to do that before anything else."

"Why? I don't know if I can face him after all these years."

"Because that is the way it was written so that is the way it must be.” The words came out of her mouth without a second thought. Abby blinked and rummaged through her brain for the origin of that comment and found nothing. Not even a stray peanut. Something was weird. She muttered to herself, “Shake it off, Abby,” and earned a long look from Terranor.

"What is it Abby? You are thinking something. Something important."

"I can't help but feel that something has been pushing me to this point. Even a month ago, I would never have dreamed that magic could throw a person through time. If the gnomes hadn't known what to do, I would have been stuck."

"Well, so far I have not put the knowledge of the portal generator into the book. Where do you think this influence is coming from?"

"I have no idea. I only know that it is unsettling to feel like something is pushing and pulling me to be certain places at certain times.” She shook her head again, trying to clear it.

"I am sure that all will be revealed in good time. I can only be grateful that something is pushing you to be here with us at this time.” Her skirts rustled as she washed her hands and she had no sooner set the table than an elf came through the door with a tray of food. “Thank you, Anwyn. It is most appreciated."

"You are welcome, my friend. We hope that you have success in these endeavours. In fact, we are depending on it."

The grace that the blonde elf used in the curtsy to Abby freaked her out. It was the manoeuvre of a butterfly, dipping and rising with boneless grace. “Anwyn, may I ask you a question?"

"Of course, my lady.” She dipped again with that ethereal grace.

"Could you ask the villagers a question? Could you ask them if they would mind being taken out of the living world?” At the woman's frightened look, she struggled to find the proper words. “I mean. Oh. Hell. I suppose I will have to tell everyone or they won't have the chance to agree or not.” Abby squirmed in the seat. Public speaking was not her forte. “I don't have the words now, but if you can arrange a meeting with the members of the village, I would be very grateful."

"I will see to it, Lady.” She almost ran from the cottage.

Seesee took that moment to assert herself, “Well
that
went well. Why don't you just tell them that you have invented a plague. It will scare them faster."

"I blew it. I suck at confrontation. Well, aside from when I blew up Miranda, but that was just luck."

Terranor smiled and put the food on the table. “The same luck that has sent you here and created guardians for my village? Good luck, I say."

The gorgon turned to her friend and said, “Tell me what needs to be said. I will tell them at the meeting. I am quite the excellent public speaker."

"Are you sure?"

"There has to be a reason that I am here. This must be it.” She smiled and her hair snapped and curled with excitement. “It is either that or to teach these elves the benefits of good pastry. I can't decide."

Abby hugged her friend with relief. “Thanks. I always want to hurl when I am at a podium."

"All right. Abby. Tell me your plan."

Terranor leaned forward as her family trooped in and waved them to silence. She wanted to hear the plan that would remove the threat of the magus from her family. As the Nexus Abby spoke, she felt her eyes widen in surprise.

"It all started when I remembered the
boom
..."

[Back to Table of Contents]

"So, good people of the village, will you stay, knowing what will become of you, your children and your grandchildren?"

"We will. The option to seek mates outside the village is appealing. If necessary, we will hold a lottery so that only one is out of the village at a time."

"That will be fair. But the Nexus Abby has another question to put to you. Will you answer her?"

"Of course we will. She has given us this opportunity, we will listen to what she has to say."

Trembling with fear of public humiliation, Abby faced the group of ridiculously handsome elves. “Elders, have you heard of the magical council?"

"Yes. Of course. Several of us are members."

"Then have you heard of the Eternal Archive?"

Brynwyn, the elder answered, “No. What is it?"

"It is something that exists in my time, an eternal record of all the varagries of magic. Including my own and that of Terranor. Someone needs to keep these records. They need to record the books that have the best spells, the best teachers of each generation and the greatest loves. Would you, this village, become that Eternal Archive?"