home II

Sarah sat up straight to add to the conversation, “It is sad to think that we have come to such a state.  When I was little it seemed that Porto was the safest place on earth.  If the five little kingdoms fall Capiz won’t last long and Salem will be the last refuge before the peninsula is the front line for the north.”

Eliza said, “If that happens it will be like the north has no chance and the south will give up on them.”

Isaac countered, “Not everyone in the north may realize it yet, but other than us the south has given up on the north.  They can’t expect any help from that part of the world any longer unless they make some changes.”

Sarah countered, “We are not the only ones that will help. There are other families in the south that have family relations with some in the north.”

Isaac cautioned, “There are some that would take refugees but none of them are sending anything to make a difference in the war.  If it wasn’t for Methuselah and the knights of St. Michael the north would be gone already, Porto and all.”

Isaac continued more confidently, “Father worked on accumulating enough wealth to be able to have the forces to open new lands for twenty years before he died.  He started working on this plan shortly after he met Niona and her fairy started shrieking.  I didn’t even see the fairy until everyone started looking at it.  Hurt my ears.  I have spent the last eighteen continuing with his plan and getting everything in place.  It would be better if we could start now and load everyone on ships and head north, but we can’t let the little kingdoms, as you call them, fall, so we will spend the summer keeping Miller Pass closed.”

A small voice through the window perked up, “Cam said Grandfather thinks they need to take the abandoned city of Jericho and tear it to the ground. Then the orcs will leave.” And then inquisitively he asked, “Why did the fairy start shrieking, I thought people can’t hear them talk?”

Sarah turned to send the owner of the voice back to bed, but before she could say anything Isaac called into the house, “Zack you should have kept your mouth closed, now your mother knows you have been hiding there the whole time.”

Eliza answered Zack’s question, “People and dwarfs can’t hear them talk, only a few elves that have a special gift can hear them.”

After Zack had given himself away, he felt free to continue, “Why didn’t you see the fairy? Why was the fairy shrieking? Where were you, and what was the fairy trying to say?” Then he walked out the door and put his hands on his hips standing in front of his father pushing his luck as his curiosity got the better of him, “Who is Niona and why is the fairy story a secret.”

Sarah pulled Zack to her trying to slow him down, but his father picked Zack up and sat him on his lap, then he answered, “Its not a secret, I guess we never talk about it because everyone knows about it except little boys that should be in bed.”

Sarah put her hand on her sons arm giving it a squeeze and took over answering Zack’s questions, “Where to start, we don’t normally hear a fairy because our ears don’t pick up their high voices.  Your dad was down at the docks when Niona came to help your grandmother Em when she was going to have Caleb and Joshua.  It is not easy to have twins and Niona is like a miracle worker and a cleric, but the fairy tells her how to help people when they are sick.”

Eliza interrupted, “Fairies can smell real good and tell if someone is sick before they know they are sick. Then they tell them.” Looking at Sarah she asked, “What would you call it, Niona is… not its owner?”

Sarah shrugged her shoulders guessing, “Friend?”

Eliza continued, “Anyway, if you are sick the fairy can tell what is wrong and tells its friend how to help you.”

Then she nodded to Sarah to take over, but before Sarah could continue Zack interrupted talking to his father, “But why could you hear it?”

Isaac answered humbly, “Sometimes a fairy gets overcome by the light and makes a prophecy and its voice changes to a,” deepening his own voice he continued, “deeper tone.” He returned to his normal pitch, “The fairy was making a prophecy about your Grandfather Noah and Hezekiah, it was saying that when my dad’s seventh son became a warrior the tide would turn.”

Zack had an extremely puzzled look on his face, after thinking about it a second he asked “But the tide turns twice a day, and Hezekiah is younger than Caleb and Joshua, Hezekiah wasn’t even born yet?”

Tickled Isaac explained, “She didn't meant the tide in the war, the forces of light would start to win.”

Sarah took over, “A prophecy is telling about the future, so the fairy was saying that Noah would have a seventh son, years before he was even born.”

Still troubled Zack asked, “But Hezekiah isn’t even a knight it should be Caleb and Joshua that do it.”

Isaac was getting exasperated, “Hezekiah can’t do it by himself, that’s why Grandpa started planning for the future.  Now Hezekiah is trained to be a warrior and we feel a little more confidence about the future.  That is why we are going to try and take Jericho.

Zack, with all of the confidence of a six year old, said of his uncles, “Caleb and Joshua will push those orcs and trolls out of Jericho first thing and Cam and Grandfather can tear the walls down and then Porto will be safe again.”

Isaac shook his head, “It’s going to take more than just tearing the walls down.  When most of the orcs and goblins got back through the pass last summer they learned that we are weak there.  They will be back, led by more trolls and because of their success there will be more of them.”

Zack questioned his father, “But we will win, won’t we? That’s what the fairy said.”

Isaac said reassuringly to his son, “We will win this summer.” Under his breath he said to his wives, “Its next summer that is gong to be the problem.”  Then he continued in a stronger voice, “They will need to carry the stones away and they are going to do that with the help of the dwarfs that Silas is bringing from the Lost Mountain. Hopefully Hezekiah will have a fair amount of dwarves with him that decided to join us.  Anyway, Elijah and Luke hope to have enough help that we can tear Jericho’s walls down and use the stone to build a wall or outpost at the mouth of Millers canyon.  Hopefully without a lot of work the dwarves can use the old stones.  The stone on the five little kingdoms side is too soft for making a good wall but the stone at Jericho is granite. Cam will make sure that it is put in the right spot.  The five Kings will need to make sure it is manned properly.”

Zack proclaimed, “Caleb and Joshua won’t hide behind a wall, them and their knights will ride right over all those orcs.”  It was easy to see who Zack idolized.

Sarah commanded Zack to bed saying, “Go to bed, I am not going to wake you in the morning and you will miss saying goodbye to your father.”

In a parting shot Zack retorted, “You don’t have to wake me I’m not going to sleep tonight.”  They all knew both were blustering and that Eliza wouldn’t let him miss saying goodbye to his father.

The three adults sat in silence for a while and then Isaac said, “A number of the forces we have gathered are going to start the summer green, but by the time it is over they will be well seasoned.  I hope they like to eat fish because before we can harvest next summer it will be the main course of our diet.”

Eliza responded, “Yes, but with the new land your dad picked out they won’t be eating fish after the next year unless they want to.  The dwarfs are going to be able to grow all the potatoes they want, if the way you describe the black soil is right.  It sounds like a perfect spot,” She sighed, “except it can’t be because we already live in the perfect spot.”

Sarah stood and walked to the door to make sure that no little boys were still up then she said, “The boys’ bags are in the cabin, I hope you can keep three little boys out of trouble for a month.”  Then she went into the house.

Eliza whispered, “So you will be gone for a month?” then she took his hand and led him into the house.