The
rats came in first, dozens of them. Earlier
that morning Gnomes had discovered an entry into the house, an exhaust vent that
led to our clothes dryer in the basement.
Gnomes immediately propped the outlet open and sent for their nefarious rodent
allies. Rats were ordered into the vent
and hastily scurried along inside the round plastic exhaust venting, in through
the house siding and down into the basement, and all the way to the dryer, where
they chewed through the plastic venting and dropped onto the cement basement
floor.
The
gnomes would have followed next, but were too large and couldn’t fit, all
except one, a small female with black hair that was exceptionally slender by
gnomish standards. They tied a harness
to an unusually large black rat and the slender female gnome attached ropes
from the harness to around her waist. They
covered her with cooking grease and by holding onto the rat’s tail, with the
help of the harness, keeping her arms and legs straight, the big rat was able
to pull her through the venting to their exit hole and all the way into the
basement. That was all they needed.
Under
the leadership and control of that slender greasy female gnome, a small group
of most compliant rats followed her up the basement stairway and into the
kitchen. It was just bad luck on our
part the basement door had been left ajar, or they would have had to hack and
chew their way underneath and we might have heard them. They made their way into the living room undetected
and crossed to the large bay windows at the front of the house. These Pella windows open and shut by turning
a small knob and handle. The slender
female gnome slid open the lock, then tied ropes from the knob to the harness
on her large black rat and two others.
Pushing and pulling in concert with the rats, she was able to slowly
crank open the large bay window.
More
gnomes were waiting impatiently outside.
They had carried some loose bricks and a bucket, found along the side of
the house, to just below the window and stacked up some temporary steps. They slashed open the screen with a hatchet,
handed in their weapons, and then chambered in one by one, I think probably
another six of the squat ugly little fellows.
They were in.
Bonnie
and I were upstairs in my room lying on the floor watching TV. She was the first to become suspicious. Fairies are exceptionally alert by
nature. Her little head bobbed up in
surprise, and the fur on the back of her head and neck stiffened. She looked back over her shoulder towards the
shut and climbed to her feet. She uncurled
her wings.
“What’s
the matter Bonnie?” I asked, as she took a few steps towards the door and rose
up on the balls of her feet. She sniffed
at the air and cocked her head.
The
fairy was wearing a two-piece swimsuit and short beach robe from her Barbie Doll
clothes collection. She pulled the robe
tight about her body and tied the sash. She
flapped her wings and looked ready to spring into the air. “I hear something in the hall?” she
exclaimed, and then she ran a few paces and dived forward. She flapped her wings with fluid smooth
strokes and drew herself up into the air.
She circled up until near the ceiling by the doorway.
Then
I heard it too, the sound of something skittering across the carpet in the hall
just beyond the door. I got to my feet
also and put my ear to the door. “What
is it?” I whispered.
Bonnie
shook her head. “Not know.” She hovered near the upper corner of the shut
door, motioning at me to open it.
I
glanced at the window and saw it was secure, then put my hand on the door knob. I shook my head at the fairy. “You stay here while I investigate.”
The
fairy furiously shook her head back at me.
“No Michael, no, Bonnie must come too.”
“You
think it might be some of your fairy fiends?”
“No
Michael, something else.”
Slowly
I turned the knob and then cracked the door open. Bonnie hovered above my head looking out the
crack. She had her dagger out.
I
was astonished to see two big ugly rats squatting on the carpet a short ways
down the hall. They were just sitting
there staring back at me, seemingly unafraid, making no move to run for
cover. I pulled the door on open and
stomped a foot towards them, to shoo them away.
They immediately fled, but only a few feet, and then stopped again to
stare back at me. I exited the room and
they retreated to the top of the stairs.
I faked like I was going to rush at them and they fled and tumbled down
the stairs, and then skittered around a corner and out of view.
I
looked at Bonnie in amazement. “We have
rats in the house?” I’ve been seeing
more and more of them out in the yard lately.
Bonnie
was flying up close to the ceiling, looking down the stairs after them. She shrugged, and we started down the stairs together
to investigate. “Be careful,” she
cautioned, in that little high pitched melodious voice of hers.
I
didn’t see any further sign of rats in the front hall or living room. It seemed awfully quiet in the house. We checked in the kitchen and didn’t see anything
suspicious there either. Then I noticed
the door to the basement was ajar. I
opened the door carefully and peered into the dark. Then I flipped on the basement light
switch. There was the sound of scurrying
feet and rat claws scraping on cement flooring as the basement illuminated and
they ran for cover. I looked at Bonnie
and shook my head in disgust. Then I picked
up a broom and started down the basement stairs.
“No
Michael,” the fairy cautioned, but I didn’t listen. I just kept wondering what my mom would think
to learn we had rats in the house.
Bonnie followed, flying in pace with me, only up near the ceiling. She was staying as high as possible.
Half
way down the stairs, we came out of the stairwell enough to see the main room
of the basement. I was aghast and froze
on the steps. It looked like hundreds of
them, but actually probably only dozens, swarming all about the floor, all
around the main furnace, all over boxes and loose ends we had stored down in
the basement. They were coming out of
the laundry room, emerging out from behind the washer and dryer.
I
shivered involuntarily and felt the hair on the back of my head stand up. I turned around very slowly to tip toe back
up the stairs, trying hard not to disturb them.
I motioned at Bonnie to retreat back up the stairs too. The last thing I wanted was to have the rats
attack us.
Yet what should I see at the top of the
basement stairwell, blocking our retreat, but a little gnome, the first I had
ever seen. He was squat and ugly, and angry looking, and he held a large axe,
leaning on it like a staff with the head on the floor. I wasn’t sure whether to be alarmed or
amused.
This
gnome, as my fairy later told me they were called, was half again as tall as
the largest of the warrior fairies we saw in the woods, probably a foot to a
foot and a half tall, and he must have weighed three to four times the weight
of the slender fairies, he was so squat and heavy. He had heavy coarse gray hair, and a
voluminous gray beard that was braided in front of his chest. His eyes were beady and angry and his
forehead knit in furious concentration.
He wore fur clothing with hard turtle shells on his shoulders, back and
chest, for armor. His arms were thick
and muscular and he had on armlets adorned with turquoise stones, matching the
stones embedded in the helmet on his head, which actually had horns like you
might expect from a Viking helmet. He
had heavy brown boots on his overly large feet.
His axe was massive and the blade was almost as tall as half his
body. He hefted it into a ready position
as I took a trepid step back up the stairs towards him, and he seem to grin, as
if relishing the chance for a fight.
I
looked back into the basement at the rats, and was alarmed to see several of
them massing at the bottom of the stairs, as if preparing themselves to rush at
me in a mass. I stomped a foot in their
direction and shook my broom at them and they scattered, but soon recollected
themselves. I screwed the head of the
broom off and threw the head down at the rats, causing them to scatter a little
more thoroughly. Then I pointed the
stick at the gnome barring my way, and then raised it over my head to threaten
him. He only grinned more broadly and
swung his axe around in response, challenging me.
“What
is it?” I asked my fairly. He wasn’t big
enough to really be afraid of, but that axe looked awful sharp and his self-confidence
was unnerving.
“A
gnome, one of Knutr’s clan ,” Bonnie responded.
“These are bad gnomes, led by a fierce couple, Jarl and Gyda Knutr.”
“What
do you think they want?”
Bonnie
hovered down before my face. “They’ve
come to take revenge on me!” she cried, her face torn with fright. “They want their hammer. Don’t give it to them.”
“The
hammer, the hammer we found in the woods?”
Bonnie nodded.
“They need it to work their magic
and re-open the portal into the realm of fairies. Don’t give it to them, no matter what. They are bad.
Gnomes are enemies to fairies.
They will end my life if they can.”
The
rats were massing at the foot of the stairs again, and I knew we couldn’t stay
there long. A couple of them started
climbing up the first steps, so I swung my broom stick at them again and scared
them back into the basement.
“We
need to get outside,” Bonnie cried. “We
need to get out in the open.”
Looking
back at the gnome at the top of the stairs, I saw movement on one side of the
doorway. There were one or more gnomes waiting
just out of sight to ambush us. “I’ll
knock him aside and we’ll make a dash for the back door,” I whispered. “You stay up near the ceiling.”
Then
I charged at the gray bearded gnome and swung the broom stick down hard at his
head. I wasn’t worried at this point,
because of my size I had a distinct advantage in reach and strength. So I didn’t put all my strength into the
blow, I didn’t want to kill the little gnome, he wasn’t much over a foot and a
half tall, but perhaps I should have.
The little warrior planted the foot of his axe on the floor, stooped
under the head of the axe, and caught my descending stick on the top of his
axe, blocking my blow. Immediately another
gnome jumped out from next to the doorway.
This one also had a gray beard and was armed with a big stone sledge hammer,
which he brought down onto my stick, breaking it clean in two. I fell forward onto the steps right in front
of them. Immediately the axe wielding
gnome leapt to the side, pulled his axe free, and swung his axe around and
would have chopped me in the nose, if it hadn’t of been for my fairy.
Bonnie
had flown into the kitchen well above the heads of the gnomes. Then, seeing my predicament had dived down
onto the back of the gray gnome and thrust her little dagger into his shoulder. He howled in pain and dropped his battle axe
enough so that the blade passed just under my nose, pretty much between my
lips. It was that close. I pushed myself backwards and slid down the
steps on my stomach, all the way to the bottom.
Worried about the rats and sharp little teeth, I frantically leaped back
to my feet, jumping up and down in case any were trying to bite me, and raced
part way back up the stairs.
I
heard Bonnie scream and looked up to see her just dodge an arrow. Two more gnomes had appeared banishing cross
bows. These two had red hair, a male and
female, the male with a red beard to match, and these had long pikes stuck in holsters
on their back, and carried cross bows in their arms. They each took another shot at Bonnie, which
she narrowly dodged, working with all her might to gain altitude in a swerving
spiral. I howled at the gnomes in rage
and charged up the stairs. To my horror,
the gray bearded gnomes slammed the door shut in my face, but before it closed
I saw my fairy take an arrow in the stomach and fall, dropping like a dead
bird.
I
lowered my shoulder and hit into the door, but the handle had clicked secure into
the frame latch and the door held firm against me. Ignoring a searing pain in my shoulder, I
turned the door handle and flung open the door.
The gnomes tried to hold the door shut against me, but I was too strong
for them, and shoved them back until I had two of them squashed into the wall,
where they roared with rage and shouted warnings to their fellows.
Across
the kitchen I was alarmed to see a large muscular blonde- headed female gnome
had stuffed my fairy into a large burlap bag and was dragging her out of the
kitchen and into the living room. I
charged after them, but they had been warned, and a group of four gnomes formed
a skirmish line at the doorway between the kitchen and the living room to block
me, while the muscular blonde female gnome continued with Bonnie across the
living room.
I
skidded to a halt and was evaluating my chances leaping over their skirmish line.
I didn’t think I would have much chance
charging through, especially not since the two red gnomes had dropped their
cross-bows and were positioned at either end of the skirmish line, with those
wicked looking pikes. In the middle of
the skirmish line was the biggest of the gnomes I had seen thus far, a large
blonde gnome with massive beard and a one sided axe that looked more like a scythe. Next to him was a skinny black female haired
gnome, who was proportioned similar to a human, but was the same height as the
other gnomes and dressed in similar garb.
She was all covered in grease and had a long sword and was swinging in
back and forth as if spoiling for a fight.
They were soon joined by their fellows who had fought me at the top of
the stairs, the gray bearded gnomes. The
one with the hammer had lost his helmet and, although he had a wonderfully full
gray beard and giant mustache that curled up above his eyes, was totally bald.
The
six of them had me blocked, no way could I fight through with those menacing
weapons, and the seventh was dragging Bonnie away and was almost to the large
bay windows clear across the living room.
I was about to charge anyway, in a vain rush, when I had a sudden
idea. Bonnie had said they wanted their
hammer. I snatched the keychain out of
my pocket and held up to their view. There
was a collective sign from the gnomes when they saw the hammer, followed
immediately by a torrent of grunts and curses.
I removed the hammer from my key chain, it was attached by the leather
tongs, and dangled it in front of their eyes.
“You want this, little people, you come and get it.”
The
big one in the middle of the skirmish line stepped forward, obviously their
leader. He grunted at me in some type of
guttural language and pointed at the hammer, then opened his palm as if he
expect me to hand it over. I shook my
head and pointed at Bonnie, squirming in the burlap bag, now being held on the
ground under one foot of that muscular blonde female gnome. My refusal seemed to enrage the leader gnome,
for he grew red in the face and began blustering and shouting at me all the
more in that guttural tongue of his. I
wasn’t going to have any of that, so I opened my mouth, tipped my head back,
and held the hammer right above my mouth, as if about to swallow their precious
hammer. This started them all to yammering
something terrible. But they knew what I
wanted, and the leader quieted the others and then shouted at the blonde female
gnome and she took her fat foot off Bonnie.
I
was relieved to see my fairy struggle out of the burlap bag and shakily get to
her feet. Assessing the situation, Bonnie
took a few running steps and launched herself into the air. I was afraid she might have an arrow sticking
out of her, I had seen her get shot in the stomach, but she appeared unhurt.
A
trade is a trade. I waited until Bonnie
was up near the ceiling and then I tossed the ugly fellow his stupid
hammer. Only I threw it in a high arch just
over their heads, and when all the gnomes reached up and jumped to try and catch
it, I immediately darted for the back door, assuming Bonnie would follow and we
could escape outside.
Unfortunately
my valiant fairy had other ideas. She
swooped down from the ceiling and intercepted the hammer in mid-air, snatching
it just beyond their fingertips. They
howled and howled as Bonnie ascended to the ceiling with their precious hammer,
now well out of their reach once more.
The gnomes were in a frenzy of rage and shouted and screamed in the most
horrible way imaginable. The two red
gnomes fumbled to load their cross bows and soon were launching arrows at
Bonnie, trying to shoot her down again.
She circled the ceiling and then darted up the stairwell towards higher
elevation, and got herself safely out of range around a corner and disappeared
upstairs. The gnomes scrambled for the
foot of the stairs to give pursuit.
Not
willing to abandon my fairy to the gnomes, I reversed myself and high stepped
back through and over the startled gnomes and raced up the stairs after Bonnie. This drew the attention of the cross bow
gnomes and I took several hits, two in the side, one in the shoulder, and one
on my left cheek. The cross bow arrows bounced
me, and I realized they had padded the tips of their arrows, probably wanting
to take Bonnie alive, but the one that hit me in the cheek worse than a bee
sting.
I
chased down the hall after the fairy, into my bedroom, and flung the door
shut. “Bonnie, why didn’t you just let
them have the stupid hammer?”
“Gnomes
not get hammer,” she responded. “Gnomes
bad.”
“But
it’s their hammer, give it back to them.”
“Not
good, Michael,” Bonnie argued. “If
gnomes get sacred hammer, gnomes can open portal to the fairy realm, which is
also the homeland of the gnomes.”
I
listened to the howling and shouting of the gnomes as they climbed their way up
the stairs after us. They were coming,
we didn’t have a moment to spare. I
raced over to the window and flung it wide open. Then I quickly removed to screen. I had one foot out the window, when Bonnie
cried, “Michael, you cannot fly!”
The
gnomes reached our bedroom door at that moment and we soon heard them grunting
and straining at the bottom of the door trying to push it open. The door handle held, but I jumped back over
to the door and pushed on it just in case.
Soon we heard the sound of axes and pikes smiting at the bottom of the
door. There was the sound of rats out
there too. The gnomes were determined to
cut their way in after us, and from the sound of the splitting and splintering
wood, I didn’t think we would more than a moment or two before they were upon
us.
I
raced back to the window. “I’m going to
jump,” I cried, then Bonnie flew in my face.
“No
look,” she cried, pointing out the window.
I
saw movement in the grass below. There
were more of the squat little gnomish creatures outside. I counted another squad of eight, out in the
yard hiding, among the bushes and in the garden. Some of them had cross-bows too, and soon
arrows came flying up at us, forcing me back into the room.
I
raced back to the door and violently kicked the bottom of it, which gave them
pause for a moment, but only for a moment, and then they back at the door with
renewed fury.
“Bonnie,
do you think you could avoid their arrows once you got outside?”
“Yes
Michael, of course, I fly high. They not
hit Bonnie. But if you jump down, they
will kill you.”
“Don’t
worry about me,” I said. “You escape out
the window and I’ll lock myself in the closet.
Make sure they know you have the hammer.
Maybe they’ll leave off trying to attack me once they see the hammer’s
gone.”
Bonnie
wrung her hands. “Oh Michael, I don’t
know.”
There
was a loud splitting noise and a rat squeezed under the door, under the space
they created with their axes, and emerged fully into my room. He saw us and scurried across the room to
hide under the bed. Another rat poked
his head through but drew it back. The
axes begin swinging again and there was more wood splitting. “Just do it,” I shouted at Bonnie, and leaped
into the closet, pulling the door shut and holding it tight. The closet door in my room is made of folding
slats, not nearly as secure as the bedroom door, which they had hacked their
way through, and I knew it would not hold them back for long. There was more splitting of wood and the
leader of the gnomes came crawling into the room. Bonnie finally followed my directions, and
with a cry of dismay darted out the window with the hammer. The gnome leader howled in renewed rage. Then the wood at the bottom of the door gave
way and all the gnomes and a good dozen rats poured into the room. They looked in my direction and could see me
standing there through the slats. The
older bald one with the big hammer shouted an angry war cry and charged at
me. He swung his hammer at the bottom of
closet door and delivered a mighty blow.
I kicked my side of the door in response and he cursed and hit the door
with his hammer again. Several of his
fellows moved to assist him.
Then
a glorious sight. Suddenly streaming in
through the window came a squad of warrior fairies and all the pixies,
including my Bonnie. Teutorigos, my man,
deployed his warriors to the right and left and they circled the ceiling,
raining arrows down on the gnomes and rats.
This forced the gnomes into an immediate retreat and the rats to scatter
for cover, either back out the door or under my bed. The gnomes got out their cross bows and sent arrows
winging back at the fairies, disrupting their formation.
A
huge battle then commenced, such a one as you never might have imagined outside
of some fantasy storybook. The gnomes
were bigger and stronger, but the fairies had the advantage of speed and airborne
mobility. Assisting the gnomes were
dozens of rats, but they were of little help other than adding to the bedlam
and scaring any fairies from alighting on the ground. Four big crows followed the fairies into the
room and these were flapping their wings and circling about the ceiling making
all kinds of racket with their awful cawing cries. Unfortunately they weren’t of much help
either, other than in frightening the rats.
The
gnomes erected a barricade and got behind my gym bag and heaped up odd clothes
I had left scattered about the floor, but not before several were injured and the
blonde muscular female gnome looked about ready to drop from pain and
exhaustion. The fairies could not engage
them in hand to hand combat though, for whenever a fairy warrior drew close,
the superior reach of the gnomes only put them in danger of those heavy gnomish
hammers and axes and pikes. I was
surprised to notice the tips of the fairy arrows were also covered and
blunted. The only blood I had seen spilt
was downstairs when Bonnie stabbed the gray axe gnome in the shoulder.
Bonnie
was circling speedily about the ceiling with the rest of the fairies, swinging
the gnome’s hammer in great arcs and shouting taunts at the gnomes. Then Teutorigos ordered her out of the
way. She flew off to the bookshelves
near the ceiling, where she joined the other two pixies to watch and shout
encouragement to their fellows from the safety of their perch. I saw one fairy, Elisedd the one renowned for
archery, take a hit and go down, and immediately the rats were upon her. One of the gnomes beat them off and they drug
her behind their barricade.
Another
fairy, Drust the largest male fairy, got nicked in the leg by an arrow, but
didn’t fall. The fairies had the gnomes
pinned down, but it looked like a battle of attrition was developing, one which
the fairies would lose in time. There
were only six fairy warriors, and one was down already, and only four worthless
crows to help. There were seven gnomes
and a huge host of rats arrayed against them.
Time was on the gnome’s side. The
gnomes were shouting and taunting the fairies now, trying to get them to expend
their arrows.
To
make matters worse, I noticed one of the gnomes had snuck across the room,
unobserved by the fairy warriors, and made her way under the bed without being
seen. It was the slender female gnome
all covered in grease, the one that looked proportionally similar to a miniature
human. She had black hair and looked a
lot like Xena in that old TV show, Xena the Warrior Princess, only not so
pretty. I watched in horror as she shed
her armor and threw her weapons down. Pulling
herself up by the sheets, she climbed up onto the bed in a feat of skill that
would have made any human mountain climber proud. The she clambered up onto the headboard and
took hold of the cord that ran to a lamp up on the shelf where Bonnie and the
other two pixies were huddled together safeguarding the hammer.
I
tried to shout a warning but the squawking of the crows the shouting of the
gnomes drowned out any chance of Bonnie hearing me. Xena began to hoist herself up the cord and climbed
it hand over hand, her feet wrapped around the cord for leverage and
support. She reached the bookshelf and
got clear up on the shelf before the pixies noticed her.
The
little pixies screamed with alarm and shrank back, but then bravely rose to
face Xena, who cracked her knuckles and smacked a fist into the palm of one
hand. Xena the gnome was about twice
their height and her body was rippling with lean sinewy muscles. Jennie rushed at the gnome first, but Xena
smacked the little pixie on the side of the head with the back of her hand, causing
Bonnie’s little friend to tumble off the shelf unconscious, and drop all the
way to the floor. Bonnie laid the hammer
down, then she and Courtney rushed at Xena together. Xena stiff-armed my Bonnie and knocked her off
the shelf too, but Bonnie deployed her wings and caught herself in mid-air and
flew back at the gnome. Meanwhile
Courtney punched Xena in the stomach, but it didn’t seem to faze the gnome. Then Bonnie swooped in and lit on Xena’s
back, then she grabbed Xena by the hair and tried to pull her head back, wings
flapping to give added muscle to the effort.
Courtney immediately grabbed Xena around the legs and pulled, trying
hard to upend the gnome.
Suddenly
I heard the sound of the garage door opening.
My room is directly over the garage.
Mom and Brian were back. What
would Mom think of all this bedlam?
Gnomes and rats tearing about her house in an all out battle against fairies
and crows. She would go crazy. But that didn’t matter, Bonnie was in
trouble. I couldn’t just stand there in
the closet watching while my little fairy was fighting for her life against the
giant Xena gnome.
I
burst out the closet and pointed at the battle on the bookshelf. “Up there!” I shouted. The fairy warriors turned to see their
danger. Teutorigos cried a command and Seisyll,
the champion of fairyland, flew to the immediate assistance of the pixies. This caused the gnomes on the ground to shout
in frustration and mount a charge out from behind their barricade. Since I was the only one with my feet on the
ground, and hence the only one they could attack, the two red gnomes and the
bald gray gnome rushed at me. Fortunately
the fairies interjected, as Teutorigos led Judocus and Drust to intercept and
they landed in front of the gnomes and fought them to a standstill, with Cadeyrn
shooting arrows from the air to keep the others at bay.
That
gave me a moments respite, but now I could hear car doors shutting in the
garage below. I leaped up onto my bed,
flicked the Xena Gnome off the bookshelf just as she and the fairy Seisyll punched
each other in the face, and I snatched up the hammer myself. “Hey look what I got,” I screamed. “You guys want the hammer, you go and get
it!” Then I flung the hammer out the
window as hard as I could.
Immediately
all conflict ceased and everyone froze in apparent horror. They looked at me, then they looked at each
other, then they looked out the window at the disappearing hammer. Teutorigos shouted an order in fairy language
and immediately Seisyll and Cadeyrn sped out the window in pursuit to try and
beat the outside gnomes to the hammer.
The leader of the gnomes began shouting at his squad, and they began an
immediate retreat, all the while yelling what I took to be gnomish obscenities
at me. The large brutish blonde haired
gnome leader, paused over the muscular female blonde gnome, and in a surprising
act of empathy, took up his dazed partner, draped her arm over his shoulder,
and helped her hobbling from the room.
The fairies did not molest them in their retreat, but instead looked to
their own wounded. Both Jennie and Elisedd
had fallen. Drust picked up the fallen
pixie by himself and lifted up into the air and left out the window. Teutorigos shot me an angry stare, then he
and Judocus lifted up the unconscious Elisedd, each taking an arm and wrapping
a leg around her opposing legs, they rose into the air as a group and also flew
out the window. The remaining pixie, Courtney,
followed, but not before making a face at Bonnie.
Only
my fairy stayed behind. Bonnie sat
herself on the bookshelf, legs dangling, trying to catch her breath, but looking
none too worse for the wear, so I slammed the window shut and collapsed onto my
bed.
A
cry downstairs from Mom brought me back to a sitting position. I heard Mom shouting, “Where did all these
rat droppings come from? We have rats in
the house!!” I smiled and fell back onto
the bed. Thank goodness that was all we
had in the house now.
Bonnie
flew over to me and landed on my chest, where she curled up and we just lay in
silence, trying to absorb what had happened and recover from the battle. We
were safe. For now.
No comments:
Post a Comment