Mia's Stand

  Chapter 24

  Mia, for reasons she later learned to be Saa directed, remembered the Stracombe, the Stracombe of air, the air coin Marigaff had given her. Mia felt like she was about to pass out. She reached for the Stracombe in the pocket on the inside of her tunic. Shaking, concentrating, gasping, she took up the coin. She had picked the Stracombe for air from their lot. Breaths came in ragged gasps. Finnegaff leaned on Lebethtro Larra. Strongwind was on his knees, his torso bent forward to Carameth, who was now face down on the ground, as was Romessee.

  "Fanas duo tura!” (Give us air!). She could barely utter the words. With every bit of strength left her, she leaned back. She tossed the coin upward and fell backward onto the soft ground. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. She lay upon the ground barely able to breathe. She watched the coin flip through the air, up into the trees. There was a brilliant flash of light and a great crackling that got louder and louder, then ended with what might have been the mightiest thunderclap any of them had ever heard. The deafening thunder shook the very ground on which they stood, felling a heavy rain of gray-green leaves from the trees.

  Distant leagues from the Land of Lost Memories, Marigaff halted the meeting she was having with a small group of her students. The Saa within her trembled violently, like an earthquake of great magnitude.

  "What was that?!" One of her students asked, holding his head with both hands. The entire class was on their feet.

  "That," Marigaff calmly announced, but despite her calm voice, gave away her anxiety with the wringing of her hands, "was our Miagaff. She has used a Stracombe of the Elements."

  In Elfwood, Ameretegaff, the mumbwe lady of peace, nearly fell from her horse when the wave of Saa from the use of the Stracombe of the elements hit. Her father caught her before she slipped from the saddle.

  On the other side of the continent, the dirty-clothed Slagg human servant girl, not more than thirteen years of age, was pinned to the wall of Eringaff's library. The dark sorceress held Maraska pon Durk in her right hand horizontal to the cold marble floor. She pointed it directly at the unfortunate girl, who was unlucky enough to be in the same place as her queen during one of her majesty's many rages. She held the terrified youth with the evil power of Essaa. "SHE HAS A STRACOMBE!" she screamed at the child. "WHERE DID SHE GET IT?!" The girl trembled violently. She was crying and shaking her head. "BERIT!" (OUT!) Eringaff screamed at the girl. With a wave of Maraska pon Durk, the dark sorceress sent the little girl flying across the length of the room, out the doorway and into the hall. The child slid across the polished marble floor at a high speed, spinning out of control. She slammed into the wall at the end of the corridor, the wind taken from her. She rose and clutched her side and tried to get her wind back. She forced herself to hobble around the corner, intent on distancing herself as much as possible from the dark sorceress before things got worse.

  A roaring wind came from above Mia's Stand in the Land of Lost Memories. So powerful was the wind that moss blew all around them, not in whirlwinds, but quite parallel to the ground. Sticks and twigs and dirt stung as they struck the party. With the wind came air, lots of air, more than Mia had anticipated. In a few seconds they had all regained themselves enough to make a dash for it.

  The roaring wind came from behind. It was in their favor. Though debris was airborne everywhere, at least they could breath. "Run!" Finnegaff shouted.

  Being roped in tandem made running difficult at best. Though it was but a short distance, it felt like hours to Mia when they emerged into Mantadia, leaving the Land of Lost Memories behind. They halted as soon as they were clear.

  The wind had been a stream only a hundred feet wide. It had torn a hole in the fabric of the gray, clouded mysterious land, which was flowing back to its original shape. The suffocating black blanket had been vanquished by the gale. It had been completely absorbed. The torrent of windswept it away. Upward at a sharp angle veered the snaking wind immediately at its point of exit from the very border of the Land of Lost Memories, carrying with it a witness of debris as it soared high into the sky. As quickly as it had come it had stopped. All watched as the tail of the wind, like the tail of a great serpent, sped away into the heavens. The gaping hole in the Land of Lost Memories closed. With the exception of bent, leafless trees that lay in the path of the mighty wind, all had returned to normal. If one could apply a term such as normal to the haunting land.

  Finnegaff surveyed the party. When satisfied that all were present, he turned to Mia. "Where," he said calmly if a little shaky, "did you get a Stracombe?"

  "Could we do this later?!" she demanded. "What in the name of Saa was THAT?!" She was breathing hard. Her finger shook as she pointed to the disappearing wind. Romessee hugged her, if not as much for herself. She was in about the same shape as Mia. Mia hugged back as they slumped to the ground into a sitting position. They released one another.

  "It was a wind you created with a Stracombe that you just happened have,” Finnegaff answered. He casually untied the rope from his waist.

  She yelled at the wizard as she sprang to her feet. "Finnegaff, I'm NOT IN THE MOOD FOR THIS!" Mia dragged Romessee a foot or so along the ground when she reached for her staff, which was secured to her horse's saddlebag. The Mumbwe quickly finished untying the rope connecting them. Mia planted one fist at her side. Her trembling arm threateningly extended Dielielle at the old wizard. She sighted down its length. "I said, what was that?!" She realized how she must have appeared at that moment, like she was about to blast Finnegaff. It wasn't precisely what she had intended. She decided to feel remorse later. Right now she was mad.

  Finnegaff knew better than to toy with a woman who was in a mood that, as best as he could recall, was practiced only by large, wounded carnivores. He stood silent for a long moment. Mia lowered Dielielle. "I have no idea,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like that!" he said. "I'm sure that it's not of Saa or Essaa. It's probably some kind of natural thing, but I've never even heard of anything like this!" Through the discussion, the others in Mia's Stand couldn't help but notice the authoritative manner in which Mia had presented herself, though Mia herself did not. They were getting a glimpse of the wizardly authority that someday would emerge from their petite friend.

  They stood in a small clearing in the tropical rain forest, trying to gather their wits, and untied themselves. The sun was bright, the air hot, humid. Birds called here and there. The party was silent for at least a minute when that silence was broken by a Mantid hanging upside down from a nearby branch.

  "What was that?" the Mantid spoke in the rasping, grating voice typical of Mantids.

  "Yeah! What was that?" another Mantid to their left said. The double claws of his back four of six feet held on to the trunk of a tree. His praying hands gestured rapidly.

  "What was that?" echoed another of the three-foot long male Mantids, of which Mia had spotted not a one until they spoke. "What was that?" said another. It was her first encounter with Mantids. Though she had read and heard about the sentient insects, she was still amazed. "What was that?" copied a fifth Mantid. Pictures she had seen did no justice to bearing witness to the mannerisms of the fast, big talking Orthopterans. "What was that?"

  "What is that?" Mia pointed to the Mantid on the tree trunk.

  "That, my dear, is a male Mantid." Finnegaff looked at the Mantid. "Wild, untamed, and unbelievably stupid."

  "Hey! We're not stupid!" The Mantid sounded angry and aggressive. He appeared as if he might attack them. Mia hoped that Finnegaff had not provoked the three-foot long insects as he had the halftrees.

  "We don't know what the black thing was!" Finnegaff changed the subject on the tiny-brained creature.

  "It was a black clear thing!" one of the Mantids shouted.

  "It was a cloud!" another corrected.

  "Not a cloud!" shouted the first Mantid. "Black!"

  "Black! Black!" The one on the tree trunk waved his arms. "Not so good!"

  "No! Bad!" yet another added.
"And black!"

  "Bad! Bad!" repeated the pack of Mantids. "And black! And black!"

  The familiar sound of Belemeriath's wing beat interrupted them. One of the Mantids let out a high pitched shriek, which caused an echoing response from the rest of the Mantids. All of them fell to immediate silence upon first sight of the little fairy. They took an alert stance and locked their bulbous eyes on him, moving only to turn their heads, not losing sight of him for even a moment.

  "Hey!" Belemeriath yelled, screeching to a stop in front of Finnegaff. "Did you see that thing?!" He pointed toward the Land of Lost Memories.

  "We were in it!" Romessee told him.

  He went to fly to her, but was distracted part of the way there. "Mantids!" he gleamed. "Wild boy Mantids!" He flew to the one that was perched on the tree trunk, who batted frantically at the little fairy. The Mantid was very fast, but Belemeriath was much faster. He dodged the strikes as easily as any of the slower human attempts Mia had seen him evade.

  "Get it away! Get it away!" the Mantid yelled. He leaped from the perch and landed some fifteen feet back into the forest. As soon as his six feet met ground he ran another twenty feet or so. He turned and froze and stared at the fairy.

  "Great Day, friend Mantid!" Belemeriath laughed as he went to the next insect, then from Mantid to Mantid, each having similar reactions to him. The Mantids would retreat some distance, then turn to stare, appearing frightened, obviously ready for flight at any time. One in fact did fly into a tree, startling Mia. The Mantid hopped into the air. In a single bound, upon reaching the height of the hop, he spread his four-foot wings. In a second he was hanging on to a branch nearly at the top of a tree over ten spans in height. They flew very well in spite of their size. Belemeriath followed him. The big insect wildly batted at the feared fairy and snapped at him with his small, stout mandibles. The Mantid again flew in retreat, this time high over the treetops, until he was out of sight. Belemeriath returned to his friends, laughing. The Mantids on the ground did not leave. Instead they retreated yards into the forest, maintaining a lengthy distance between the irritating little fairy and themselves.

  "Mantids are fun to play with!" Belemeriath hovered amongst the group. He flew to Mia. "Except you know what I noticed?" He looked around as if he were going to divulge a well-kept secret. He cupped a tiny hand to the side of his mouth. Mia leaned toward her little friend, smiling at his amusing behavior. He whispered loud enough for all to hear. "I don't think they're very smart!" He nodded his head once, slowly, slow for Belemeriath, a serious veil about his face.

  "No, they are not. Well," Finnegaff had not lost focus. He addressed Mia "Where did it come from?" he was firm this time.

  "Where did what come from?" She was sincere.

  Finnegaff said not a word. He looked at Mia with implication.

  Mia thought a moment, her chin rested in the palm of her hand. She looked skyward. "The wind? From up in the air, I suppose." She pointed upward.

  "Miagaff!" Finnegaff scowled. "You know what I 'm talking about!"

  Mia smiled at him. "Don't like it either, do ya?"

  Finnegaff's scowl turned to a sly smile. "That was very good!" He pointed a finger at her.

  Mia laughed low, though she didn't feel like laughing, but she had seized an opportunity that she had been waiting for.

  Her fun was over, victory hers. "I got them from," she stopped, wanting to avoid the grandfatherly wizard’s eyes. She recalled Marigaff told her to not let Finnegaff know that she had them.

  "Them?" Finnegaff raised a single eyebrow.

  "I don't know if I can tell you!" she said. “I was told not to.”

  "How many did Marigaff give you?" Finnegaff smiled.

  "How did you know?!"

  "Who else would tell you not to tell me?” Finnegaff wasn't smiling any more, but for the top to remind a subordinate of the unspoken chain of command of Morran wizards, it was soft. And with exception to warranted circumstance, always was the kind and empathetic Finnegaff thus.

  Mia knew Finnegaff's order overrode any other wizard in all of Morrah. This fact was important enough that it had been included in a textbook she had studied at Marigaff's Farm. Finnegaff was ultimately to be neither questioned nor withheld information. "I have three more. Fire, land and water." She looked at the ground feeling shame. "I suppose you want them." She took them from her pocket. There were four. Upon closer inspection, she noted that one of them was the Stracombe of air. Somehow it had found its way back to her pocket. She almost said something, but decided against it.

  "No, no. You be their keeper." He held a hand up, palm out. "If Marigaff charged you with them, I'm certain it was by the direction of Saa. I wonder why she didn't tell me about them."

  "Its because she said..." Mia trailed off. "Are you gonna make me tell you what she said, too?"

  Finnegaff shook his head. He laughed through his words. "No, no. I don't think I wanna to know."

  Mia's Stand made camp for the night despite the early hour. After the harrowing experience in the Land of Lost Memories, Finnegaff proclaimed need for a break. They set their tent. Strongwind erected a canopy for himself. They built a fire over which Romessee cooked venison provided them by Carameth. He had gone for a short hunt the evening before they entered the Land of Lost Memories. A short hunt it was indeed, for as it is well known, the plentiful game of Centauria was easy, hunting being rarely practiced in a country populated by vegetarians. She prepared vegetables with what she had for Strongwind, although the Centaur was content on dining on local finds, his diet variety wide yet very different from that of the rest of the party. Some things he had managed to find in the rain forest were Centaurian delicacies. The acquiring of said delicacies, which grew but in Mantadia, and there in abundance, was difficult, for to do so would mean having to go through the foreboding natural boundary that separated Mantadia and Centauria, the Land of Lost Memories. And that was a trip one made only out of necessity. Mia tried one of the small green plentiful fruits that Strongwind raved. With a sour, shocked expression on her face, she spit out the green, tart fruit, deciding then that Centaurs differed from humans in many ways other than anatomy and speech.

  They lounged about for the afternoon. They told stories, and Romessee sang songs with Strongwind. The wild Mantids stayed their distance with Belemeriath present, but they didn't leave. Occasionally Belemeriath would chase a Mantid or two. He was, after all, Belemeriath. He had a reputation to uphold! All took the opportunity to relax. They turned in for the night as soon as the short twilight of the equatorial part of the globe overtook them with sudden darkness. Strongwind took the first duty of a four-watchman night.

  Mia's sleep did not go well, not as well as she would have liked. The strange hidden noises of the nocturnal creatures that were certainly abundant in Mantadia's rain forest often caused her to start awake. Even with Carameth's assurance that the presence of the curious wild Mantids would keep any potentially dangerous creatures at bay, she still had trouble falling asleep once awakened.

  The half-light of dawn held on to the warm, soft rain that had begun to fall a few hours before. Huge, wet droplets of water dripped through the forest canopy and soaked the undergrowth to complete saturation. Belemeriath, who had long since appointed himself as the stand’s alarm clock, awakened the party. They secured their bedding first such that it might be kept dry, or at the very least only damp. As they packed the horses, they noticed the wild Mantids were still there, as predicted by the Prince of Elves, watching with untiring curiosity. Mia tried an experiment. She stood unmoving and stared back at one of them for a minute or so, trying to get a reaction of some kind. The Mantid showed no sign of noticing that she was staring at him. Mia recalled Finnegaff's remark about the wild male Mantids being very stupid. She had to agree.

  Breakfast was short, the food wet. At least it was food that was supposed to be wet. They discussed the next leg of their journey over a meal of various fruits, including motherberry, Mia’s favorite. "We
're only a few days from Rass, the capitol of North Mantadia," Finnegaff pointed out. "Jungle travel is not all that pleasant. We gotta fill our water skins whenever we find water. Just because it rains a lot doesn't mean there's lots of water available. The floor of the forest soaks up every last drop. I hate rain forest quests. At least it's not the wet season."

  Mia could not imagine more wet. If this were the dry season, she thought, how miserable would the wet season be? "Which way is it to Rass?" she asked.

  Finnegaff pointed to the east. "That way. Kind of."

  "What means you," Strongwind said, "by 'kind of’?”

  "Well, I mean it's east, but I am not exactly sure of our route."

  "That means we could get lost." Mia cleared. “Again.”

  "Oh, no!" Finnegaff smiled. "We're gonna get a guide!"

  "Where are we gonna get a guide?" Mia held her arms out, hands up. "I mean, we're way out here in the middle of nowhere!"

  Finnegaff looked to the jungle and pointed at one of the wild Mantids. "He'll guide us." The Mantid he indicated could surely hear them, yet showed no sign of recognition.

  "Finnegaff, your Mantid be timid to our presence, mostly of our little scout!" Strongwind reminded him.

  "No! No!" Belemeriath flew to the Centaur. "I've seen this before!" He hovered in the center of the circle the group formed, puffed out his chest and placed his hands proudly on his hips. "Finnegaff knows how to do this! He'll use Saa, and the wild boy Mantid will do whatever he asks!"

  “But won’t she hear you?” Mia asked. “The dark sorceress, I mean.”

  “I believe, my dear, the Stracombe took care of that,” Finnegaff said.

  “Oh, yeah,” Mia rested her chin on her palm. “I guess she would have heard that.”

  “No invocation of Saa is louder,” he added.

  Mia had a sickened look. “Ooh.”

  Finnegaff aimed Lebethtro Larra at the Mantid. "Nah eme jalan duo koss, anso pon arstalla!" (This one fear us not, be of service!) With the last word of the invocation, the Mantid sprung to life. He came scampering into their campsite.

  "Great day! Great day!" he buzzed. He ran right to Finnegaff and looked up at him. "It rained last night!"

  "Great day, friend Mantid. It rains every night!" Finnegaff told him.

  "But it rained last night!"

  "Yes, it did."

  "Do you have beetles?" he asked excitedly.

  "No, no beetles. Ah! Wait! Here's one!" Finnegaff reached to the ground. He picked up a small beetle about a half an inch long, handed it to the Mantid, who shoved it in his mouth. A loud crunch and it was gone in three chews. Mia winced at the spectacle, unprepared to bear witness to the small creature's dietary habits. She had to look the other way.

  The Mantid caught Mia's movement with his three hundred forty-degree peripheral vision. He ran to her. "Do you have beetles?" He was bouncing on his back four legs like a child anticipating a treat, undulating in three-inch strokes up and down, about two per second.

  "No, but I wish I had a can of raid!" she smirked.

  "Can you eat it?"

  "Friend Mantid, what are you called?" Finnegaff asked the hyper creature.

  "Maggad! Maggad! That's me!" He was still bouncing.

  "Maggad, we need to find our way to Rass. Do you know the way to Rass?" Finnegaff spoke slowly.

  "Rass! Rass! Yes!" he was excited. Still. Or maybe, Mia thought, this is how he always is. "Rass bad! Not go Rass!" he shrunk back. "Lady Mantids eat us. They eeeeat us!" Mia had learned that female Mantids usually ate the male during mating, starting at the head, which stimulated copulation. It was for this reason that the male Mantids had evolved to being relatively unintelligent, lest the Mantids as a sentient race fail. And also for this reason were there no Mantid kings, at least not any living ones. No males lived in any Mantadian cities or towns.

  "Could you make him stop that stupid bouncing?" Mia snapped.

  "We need you to show us how to get near to Rass. You don't have to go into the city with us."

  "They eat! They eeeeat!" The Mantid stood on his back two legs and grabbed Finnegaff's robe, still bouncing. "They eat you, too!"

  "Would you hold still?" Mia half yelled. Maggad turned his whole head in her direction and stared at her as if he didn't understand. Perhaps he didn't, because the irritating bouncing continued.

  "No, they only eat wild boy Mantids," Finnegaff told the bouncing brainless bug. "They won't eat us. Stop bouncing." The Mantid immediately ceased his irritating habit. He let go of Finnegaff's robe. Finnegaff smiled a bit sideways at Mia.

  The Mantid calmed down. "Oh!" he grated. "Rass! This way!" He went tearing through the jungle.

  "Friend Mantid!" Finnegaff called to Maggad. The insect returned. "We cannot run through the jungle like you can. You need to stay with us, or we'll lose you."

  "Oh!" Maggad hopped as he said it. "Rass! This way!" Again he ran full speed through the foliage.

  "Friend Mantid!" Finnegaff called him back. "They are a bit difficult at times," he told no one in particular.

  Maggad returned and stood before Finnegaff, head cocked to one side, listening, straining with every fiber of his being to give all of the little attention he was mentally capable of. Bouncing. "Walk. We must walk, not run."

  It was the hardest travel they had encountered since the beginning of Mia's Stand. The trail they followed was stark and required some guesswork in places, forcing them to rely on their confidence in an unbelievably stupid Mantid for a guide. Finnegaff spent a great deal of time attempting to slow down the determined Maggad. Mia spent even more time trying to get him to stop his incessant idiotic chatter, but it was his stupid bouncing that irritated her the most.

  "Do you have beetles?" Maggad would ask each member of the stand on frequent occasion. Romessee didn't help matters. She would find a beetle, pick it up, and then call the moron insect to her to offer him the treat. He would talk incessantly about the most trivial of things. They crossed a small river. "I crossed a river! Did you know I crossed a river?" They encountered a band of monkeys. "Monkeys! Look! Look!" He would run to each of the stand. "Monkeys! Do you have beetles? I crossed a river!" And he would go on, with little or no break.

  For two days they traveled thus. Mia had more than her fill of Maggad, and wanted maybe to kill him, when late in the afternoon of the third day the boy Mantid came to a halt. He began to retreat.

  "No closer! No closer!" He withdrew about thirty feet from the direction they had come. He stopped and turned to look at them. "Rass! Rasssssss!" he hissed.

  "How much farther?" Finnegaff asked him.

  "There! There! Past trees!" He gestured to a dense forest grove.

  Finnegaff lowered his staff. "Galta nah eme! Fanas rottoron nar eme stoch! (Free this one! Give him beetles for a week!). As soon as the words left Finnegaff's lips, Maggad fled into the forest and disappeared into the dense foliage. Though they caught but flashing glimpses of him, they could hear the undergrowth rustling with his hasty retreat.

  Mia asked a question she had been working on. "Finnegaff," she said, "if Saa is all about good things, how were you able to make a slave out of Maggad?"

  "He was, shall we say, compensated. Saa gave him an abundant supply of beetles for a week." Finnegaff never took the credit for Saa invocations, as Mia knew was just and right.

  They fought their way through the last of the forest, then came upon a huge clearing in the dense growth. Well, not entirely a clearing. The area was cleared enough so that at least half of the trees had randomly been removed from the city proper. Little undergrowth remained. Though they could tell the city was big, the scattered remaining trees did not allow for the full appreciation of a city that covered three square miles in the middle of a dense jungle. Eighty percent of the female population of North Mantadia lived here. They stood on the opposite bank of a sluggish stream that bordered Rass, perhaps eight spans wide. A solid wooden bridge crossed the river some distance to their left, and it was to
this bridge they headed. Finnegaff explained that the absence of Mantids guarding the bridge was due to the fact that they had very few enemies in their homeland, unlike what they, the Mantids, might experience abroad. They crossed the bridge and entered the great city of Rass.

  Many of the buildings in the city, built only of sticks or boards, never of stone, were in the trees. Their roofs were palm fronds, as were many of the walls. By appearance, most of the houses seemed to be difficult for humans to access. Mantids could fly very well, negating the need for stairways, for the most part. And even old, slow Mantids were more agile than most human gymnasts. A few of the locals sighted them, but paid them little attention. Until they saw Strongwind. Belemeriath knew to stay between Grinnolle's ears, that antagonizing female Mantids was perhaps not wise. They were not two minutes inside of Mantadia when they were stopped by six Mantids carrying spears, evidently a guard. The company stopped when the first four guards split into pairs. The pairs flanked them while the remaining two blocked their path. She could not read their faces, for as everyone knows, Mantid expressions are revealed by change of antennae placement and activity, and Mia had not yet learned to interpret these signals. However, at this particular time, she had no need for this skill. The message the Mantids conveyed when they lowered their spears and pointed them at each member of Mia’s Stand, was clear enough. The Mantid guards appeared ready to lunge at any moment. Mia froze.