Faith, Grace, Isabella and Jennifer were busy getting things organized in their new home. Vincent Standish might be a grump and look disheveled but he had certain qualities that the four ladies found most attractive nowadays. Those qualities had encouraged the ladies to slightly exaggerate the housing problem that the Hermit’s Village was now experiencing. Luckily for them, they had embellished things only a trifle, and Vince had been so distracted by his work and their presentation, that even with his true sight he had failed to catch on to their slight overstatement of the true situation.

Despite having a prickly exterior Vincent was in fact a caring and compassionate man and all four women liked that about him. This attribute was proven by the way he had helped so many wrongly incarcerated people regain their freedom, and then financially helped those newly liberated people. And for a lucky few, such as themselves, he had even opened up his home for them. That was not even taking into account the charities that he had donated heavily to before and after the first Warnings messages. The four ladies appreciated how he was bringing new magical conveniences back into their daily lives to replace the old ones that they had lost. The four women were thrilled by how he was making their old repeating firearms functional once again. They adored how he could burn monsters down to their very bones with a single wave of his hand. And they absolutely loved his house, which had exterior walls built of sixteen inches of reinforced concrete and a heavy gauge steel roof. Yes, those were all qualities that could cause a girl to fall hard and fast for such a man who possessed them, poor Vince.

On the other hand, all four of the green screen women were extremely honorable and intelligent. Two of them had lost their orange status by only the smallest of margins while the other two were only fractionally worse. The ladies realized that they were putting a burden on the Hermit by moving into his house. Real life was about giving and taking. Right now they were only taking from Vincent and they were intelligent enough to comprehend that such was an untenable situation for the long term, which could easily lead to disaster for all four women. They were also honorable enough to thoroughly detest being only a taker, like his ex-wife and children had been. Isabella, Grace, Jennifer and Faith, had all privately vowed to make things right with Vincent for their recent actions.

Beyond that, the desperate mind bending world altering situation that the ladies, were all now living in, could alter the strongest personalities or perhaps let some people perceive what is really and truly important in life. Because all four women now found that grumpy unkempt foul mouthed compassionate dependable men, who wore chicken feathers in their hair, were now almost irresistibly attractive.

Boris Khan was now the newly appointed senior Lieutenant of the Hermit’s Guard. And he felt really small and lonely as he saw the three tanks drive out the front gates. He and his family were definitely in a better position now than they had been in yesterday. But he didn’t like the fact that he was losing the firepower and armor of all three vehicles and the local wizard to boot, especially when it was now his responsibility to protect the village until the Captain returned.

Even though over a hundred people including himself; had been brought to the compound yesterday only twenty-one of them had any military training or combat experience, which was actually a pretty high ratio when compared to a normal civilian population sample. Boris’s problem was that eleven of them just left the compound and according to Clyde only two other people in the Hermit’s village had any military experience and Clyde, who had just left, was one of them. He turned to resume talking to Steve Monet the village logistics expert.

“Steve, I appreciate the repeating firearms but can you please let me have some more experienced fighters? I’ve got ten men, including myself and the six you’re willing to lend me but that isn’t enough, not with the size of this place.”

“First off Boris, you don’t know how hard it was for me, to get those repeating firearms away from the people who had already been issued them. They did not like having to go back to using the muzzle loading Hawken rifles for self defense. Currently, Vince is the only one here who can make repeating firearms. Grace and Ron have both tried duplicating his engravings but they haven’t been able to make an enchantment work as of yet. As of today, we only have thirty-four functional repeating long arms and six revolvers, not counting the 20mm rifles which are flintlocks. Twelve of those repeating rifles and shotguns, along with one revolver just now left with the tanks. The Boss has his own personal weapons, so I didn’t count those. Our new Peace Keepers get to keep all of their weapons, and in addition Glen, Mack and I get to keep our revolvers. That leaves us with twenty-two repeating long arms and you’ve got all of them plus twenty-six Hawken rifles. And don’t forget all of our fixed mortar emplacements, with the steel the shop had in stock; they were actually easier to build than our Hawken rifles, according to Glen.

As for manpower, I wish I could let you have some more but with all these newcomers I need experienced people to show them around and where to work. If you can find any newcomers that are willing to be trained, you can grab them; so long as they don’t already have a skill that we desperately need, like a machinist or farmer.

I suggest you get with Glen and have him familiarize you with the Priest. Clyde has probably already told you about it, but it’s basically configured as an APC now and it’s equipped with six 20mm rifles.”

Boris sighed in defeat, “Okay Steve, introduce me to Glen.”

They walked to the shop and Glen Stewart showed Lieutenant Khan the modified Priest. “Lieutenant, we had some casualties a few days ago, caused by enemy archers who were riding on the backs of mammoths. As a result of that battle we put some extra armor on the Priest. On the left and right sides of the Priest’s steel box we installed armor panels on swing arms. Right now, it takes at least two people to move and raise the panels but later on, when we have time, we might power the swing arms with air cylinders, so it will only take the simple turning of a valve to lift them into place. When those two panels on either side of the box are pulled on and lifted, they swing overhead and form a roof for the armored box on the Priest. Additional new steel panels in slots on the inside of the steel box can be raised and locked into place to complete the walls for our armored personnel carrier.”

Boris was impressed; he had seen better but for right now he realized that he was extremely lucky to have such a vehicle. Glen showed him the new armored vests and helmets that were currently making, they wouldn’t stop a most rifle bullets but they would stop an arrow or a sword thrust.

The three men then talked about a “shit hits the fan plan” for the community. They decided that when the village was under attack that the noncombatants would seek safety either in the Boss’s house or in the shop where they were presently talking. Glen already had a steam whistle piped in, and it now would be used like an air raid siren if danger was detected, thus signaling people to seek shelter.

Boris after some instruction from Glen took possession of the Priest and drove it to the infirmary building which the new Hermit’s Guard was currently using as a command post. Steve was still accompanying him.

Lieutenant Khan had a pleasant surprise when he arrived at the infirmary, eleven people had already volunteered for training and most of them had some experience with firearms. That brought his current forces up to twenty-seven men and women. Lieutenant Murphy had twelve people deployed either on foot patrols or as lookouts on various high vantage points in the village. The patrols were equipped with whistles and the lookouts had either air horns or alarm bells that Steve had given them earlier. Candace Murphy had kept two guards back with her, to act as a reserve in case of an attack. She was extremely happy to see the Priest arrive with Boris. Boris was a former Captain in the Vietnam War and he had a lot more combat experience than she had because of the U.S. Army’s current position on women in combat. However, because of some loopholes, and pressing needs at various times, Candy while a sergeant in the U.S. Army, had participated in combat operations on more than one occasion; frequently filling the role of a sniper because of her vast expertise.

Besides all the death and destruction that was going on in the world now, the other thing that had her extremely ticked off, was that she didn’t have any of her own modern bolt action rifles currently with her. When she had been picked up with her parents, they had all been carrying fifty caliber flintlock rifles. She desperately wanted her .300 Winchester Magnum, even though she was more comfortable with her .308 or the .260 Remington. She desired the bigger rifle because of the new necessity to use black powder and she wanted a larger cartridge case that could hold more propellant/explosive. On the other hand she was experienced with the Springfield rifle and had even won contests with it; said contests had been limited to guns from the same era.

Boris began speaking. “Candace let’s take our recruits out to the gun range that Steve has constructed here. We need to see the new guardsmen shoot and we both need to get familiar with the Priest and the weapons it carries.”

She had some of the new guards climb up into the Priest, while she led the others off at a jog, following along behind. Upon arriving, they all spent the next hour and a half practicing with their weapons and then they were shown by Steve how to clean them and their brass, at the cleaning station specially built next to the gun range. All the new recruits seemed reasonably competent with their new weapons though five of them were a little upset at being stuck with single shot, muzzle loaders for the time being.

They all came back to the infirmary, where Steve scrounged up a late lunch for the sixteen of them, including himself. They were half way through with their meal, when the lookout on the small water tower, to the northwest, began hitting his alarm bell.

Boris cursed, “Damn it! Candace you take charge here and organize our recruits. Steve and I will take the Priest and see what’s wrong. If I want you to reinforce us, I’ll blow this air horn three times.” He lifted up his right hand, showing her a small portable air horn that he was holding. “If you hear three honks, send one of your people to the shop and have the foreman there, blow the steam whistle which will hopefully alert all the noncombatants to seek safety at the Hermit’s house or the machine shop itself.”

“Understood Lieutenant”

The Priest arrived at the northern water tower in less than three minutes, to the very great relief of the lookout stationed there. Steve and Boris hurriedly, climbed the built in ladder on the side of the thirty foot tall tower. The lookout was shouting and pointing to the northwest. He handed his binoculars to the Lieutenant.

“What the fuck is that?” Muttered Boris terrified at what he saw there. He began to pray that the tanks would somehow magically return. Lieutenant Khan unclipped the air horn from his belt and hit the button three times. He then handed the binoculars to Steve who was clearly desperate to take a look for himself. The Lieutenant began planning on how to defend the village without the tanks and air support he so desperately wanted.

Stephen Monet had once owned a trucking company that primarily handled intermodal work. At a young age he had started the company with his father and upon his father’s death he had assumed complete ownership of the business. Everything had been fine, until six of his truck drivers had gotten greedy and had begun smuggling drugs using his company’s trucks. The six men weren’t the brightest and they were all caught after only eight months in business.

The problem for Steve was that the authorities, for some reason, had assumed that he was the criminal mastermind of the operation, and they made offers to all six truckers for lesser prison sentences, if they would agree to testify against their boss, when in fact Steve had been completely innocent. The six truck drivers had leaped at the offer.

Steve Monet was found guilty of drug smuggling. He lost his company and to protect his wife and children, he urged his wife Barbara to divorce him so she could at least salvage something financially and perhaps have enough money to take care of herself and their children. When Vince pronounced him innocent, Steve had been in prison for over three years. Because of his expertise in the trucking industry he soon became the logistics expert for the Hermit.

Upon assuming the job, Steve quickly saw that things needed to be improved at the compound and he arranged with Mack to have a large fenced in graveled parking lot built. The lot would be used for storing steel shipping containers filled with the newly bought supplies. Sadly Steve didn’t obtain as many full containers as he had wanted to acquire and the storage lot was only half full at the five hundred hour mark but anyone else would not have done nearly so well at the job.

Because of Steve’s past professional experience with transporting and signing for various goods, he had diligently inspected every single delivery that was made to the compound and he had used his appraisal skill while doing so. As a result his appraisal ability was probably one of the highest in the village, if not the highest.

Steve Monet looked through the binoculars, used his appraisal skill and began to loudly read off what he saw on the blue screens in front of him. That was because the Lieutenant and the lookout were audibly wondering what the hell kind of monster they were currently looking at. The immense horrific creature was casually ripping apart and eating a mammoth, less than a mile away from where they now stood.

Name: Shark Devourer

Title: Eater Of All Living Beings That Are Not Sky Kraken

Species: Sky Kraken, Young Adult

Air Magic Level: 5

Water Magic Level: 5

Steve next appraised the words Sky Kraken.

Sky Krakens are sentient and the apex predators on their world of origin. They are highly aggressive creatures that can travel through both the air and water. They are carnivorous and will eat any animal not of their own species. Intelligent and knowledgeable in Air and Water Magic, their magical abilities are primarily used for propulsion. Some rare specimens will know some basic Earth Magic as well.

Sky Krakens have an oddly shaped “W” pupil that permits each eye to look in two directions at once. They have no blind spots and have excellent vision in all conditions. Their eyes bulge out from their mantle for better observation around their own body.

Sky Krakens communicate between themselves by altering their skin coloration and patterns. They can roar and send simple signals using sound. The ability to alter their skin colors, allows them to blend into most backgrounds. Sky Krakens normally travel in shoals or large groups and frequently send out small scouting parties to locate new sources of food.

Sky Krakens propel themselves; using both jet action and magic. In water their maximum sustained cruising speed is fifty-six kilometers per hour and they can dash up to ninety kilometers per hour for as long as fourteen seconds. In the air, their sustained cruising speed is between thirty-five and seventy kilometers per hour, maximum sprint is one hundred forty kilometers per hour for as long as eighteen seconds. They have the inherent magical ability to create a lifting gas from water, which is then used to fill expandable sacs in their own mantles.

Natural weapons include tentacles equipped with both claws and suckers; eight powerful legs and the ability to mimic an air or water cannon, which is dependent on their current environment and using their inherent jet propulsion ability. The air cannon, is effective up to one hundred meters and the water cannon is effective up to forty meters. Both weapons are used to stun their prey. They like to eat their meals while their food is still alive or freshly killed.

Largest Observed Specimen

Sky Kraken mantles have a circular cross section. The mantle is twenty-one meters in length, fifteen meters in diameter when inflated for flight, five meters in diameter when deflated for underwater travel. The mantle is surrounded by an undulating wing or fin that is used for stabilization, steering and helps to provide additional propulsion or station keeping.

Two eyes: each ninety-six centimeters in diameter.

Eight Legs: fourteen meters long.

Two Tentacles equipped with claws and suckers (the round suckers are lined with teeth). Tentacles are thirty-seven meters long.

Boris was not pleased with what he was hearing from Steve and he was even less pleased, because of the two krakens he saw moving behind the first one. The creatures basically had the shape of a fat dirigible with tentacles hanging off of one end. They blended well against the sky and it was possible to even miss them despite their immense size if not for their prey they were so bloodily tearing apart. The monsters were definitely far too close for comfort, in Boris’s mind. The steam whistle went off and he winced, hoping that the noise didn’t attract the colossal carnivorous creatures.

“Steve the only effective weapon I think we have against them are the 20mm rifles. But get with Glen and see if he can whip up some Molotov cocktails or maybe even some type of short range flaming spray gun. Something you can use if those monsters get past the Guard and the creatures try attacking through the doors and windows with their tentacles. Heck, even throwing a big pot of boiling oil onto one of their tentacles or legs will probably get them to withdraw their limbs.”

Steve nodded his head and started climbing down the ladder. Lieutenant Murphy was already waiting there at the bottom; she started climbing up the moment Steve got down. When she arrived, Boris handed her the binoculars and started briefing her. When she saw and heard what they were facing she was glad that she had gotten at least a little practice in on the 20mm rifles.

Shark Devourer and its siblings were well aware of the little monkeys scrambling less than a quick squirt away from them. But there was no reason to rush, they would soon finish their mammoth snack and then see if there were enough monkeys gathered over there to make it worthwhile calling in the rest of the shoal. The monkeys were fun tasty prey but they were so tiny that they were barely a mouth full. In the end, the krakens were so lazy after their big meal that they didn’t even dash in to attack the monkeys. They just drifted slowly over that way, by fluttering their fins.

It took over an hour for the krakens to finish their meal and advance on the compound. Boris had gotten lucky and among his new unit, he had found a former Marine, who while in the Corps had been an M60 tank driver. The man was assigned to the Priest and he had spent the past forty minutes getting a feel for the vehicle. Candace meanwhile had selected their best shots and she had been drilling them in how to aim the 20mm rifles when fighting against aerial targets.

The plan was for Lieutenant Murphy, in the Priest’s box, to start the ball rolling. She was authorized to start firing when the monsters were within five hundred yards. The other nineteen guards would fight dismounted and target the large eyes of the creatures. Personally with her current weapon, she held out little hope of accurately shooting the monsters from anything more than two hundred yards so that’s what she told her crew of sharpshooters to prepare for. Once they heard her shoot, they would then be free to fire as well. They would all start with the nearest monster and target its eyes if at all possible.

Sky Devourer drifted closer to the monkeys and he was readying to fire an air blast at them. Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and pain is his left eye. There were more puffs and more bursts of pain all over his mantle. Instead of using that puff to stun his prey, he used it to squirt away.

His nearest sibling did not realize what was going on and not only didn’t retreat with her brother but continued to slowly advance towards the monkeys, she was feeling a little peckish. Her siblings had been greedy and they had eaten most of the two mammoths that they had recently caught.

Lieutenant Murphy was a little disheartened not to bring down the first monster with those shots but she refused to show it to her team. She ordered them all to reload, refill their primer pans and fire on the second creature. This time they had much more success; three shots hit the same eye and drove deep into the monster’s brain. Creatures that size have big brains and while the shots didn’t immediately kill it, they did blind the monster in one eye and caused it extreme pain and internal bleeding. That monster was stunned and didn’t immediately withdraw. This gave the sharpshooters time to put six more shots into the beast which sealed its fate, though still not killing it instantly. Some of the shots punctured two of the twelve gas sacs that kept the monster in the air.

The third kraken was now making roaring noises in alarm, while Shark Devourer was completely enraged. How dare these monkeys hurt him and his sibling? He decided to dash in, and hit them all with an air blast.

All the sharpshooters were shocked, to suddenly find the first squid, was now almost directly over their heads, all of them but Candace Murphy that is. She crouched down and fired her 20mm into the beast while screaming at the Priest’s driver to get the vehicle moving, since she clearly saw the monsters tentacles swinging towards the armored vehicle. After firing the 20mm, she scooped up her Springfield rifle and emptied most of its magazine into the monster’s open beak, despite the creature’s eight legs that were in the way.

The Priest finally started moving and not a moment too soon for her. The other guardsmen that were hiding throughout the compound began to fire. Their shots were no more than bee stings to the giant monster but bee stings hurt. The third and much smaller kraken was checking on the second monster that was slowly sinking and communicating distress through its skin colors.

The first beast was beyond enraged now and started lashing the compound with its tentacles. Which was disastrous for the compound and fence but it also hurt his tentacles. Flying debris hurt more than one guard but luckily there were no fatal wounds delivered. Derrick Miter was the driver of the Priest and he was busy looking for a good safe place to stop, that would provide the gunners with another opportunity to shoot the massive monster. Meanwhile the gun crew was desperately hanging on so they weren’t thrown out of the steel box on the Priest, while it was being wildly driven about the compound.

Shark Devourer let loose with a half power air blast which sent more debris flying and succeeded in stunning two guardsmen. The third kraken was roaring for help and was considering leaving its stricken sibling to help his brother crush the tasty monkeys. It was at that moment that Derrick finally found a good location to stop. Fifteen seconds after braking to a halt, all six guns fired and at only three hundred feet they had far more power and the bullets drove deep into their furious foe.

The sudden painful nearly simultaneous wounds caused Shark Devourer to recoil back over the fence line. It was now his turn to be stunned. Six more shots quickly followed, and then six more. A third set of shots were fired into the monster. The Priest shifted locations and the gunners now took under fire the third smaller kraken. Distressed and seriously injured, the third kraken fled beyond range of their guns and then out of sight.

Boris breathed out a sigh of relief but he knew that he couldn’t let down his guard. If anything the situation was now worse because of the escapee. According to Steve the krakens used scouts and in his opinion the teenage krakens they had just fought had been exactly that. Soon the village might be facing an attack by a full shoal (whatever the hell that is) of angry adult Sky Krakens. He ran to consult with Candace in the Priest and while running he shouted out orders to the uninjured guardsmen to see to their wounded compatriots. He quickly found Candace outside the vehicle and moving in his direction, which he liked better since they could now discuss things in private.

“Candace, what do you think?”

“We were unbelievably fucking lucky, is what I think. If they would have attacked us all at once or if the big one had laid a tentacle on the Priest or if the little one had backed up the big one, we would all be dead right now. We don’t have enough weapons or manpower to protect an area this big from monsters like that. Do you think we’ll see more of them?”

“According to what Steve said the Sky Krakens send out scouting parties. I have to assume that’s exactly what we just fought. So yes, I expect them to come back and soon, probably tonight in fact. Supposedly they have excellent vision in all light conditions.”

“So what do we do now?”

“We can’t assume that the Captain and the others will make it back in time and even with the three other armored vehicles it will be a tough fight. So we have to plan on fighting those krakens with what we have on hand right now. You have the men take care of our wounded and get all of them to the infirmary. I’ll run to the machine shop and send the healers back to help you. Once you’ve seen to the wounded, have the guardsmen clean their weapons and get back on patrol as quickly as you can in the Priest. I’ll organize things with Steve, Glen and Mack. Don’t let your guard down and get some lookouts back into position.”

“Understood Boris”

He took off at a run for the shop. He was wondering about his decision to accept the Hermit’s offer but he knew that if he had been anywhere else, that he wouldn’t have had even a remote chance against such monsters.

He ran into the shop where he found Glen and Mack. Steve was evidently in the house. A messenger was sent to get him. People were demanding answers and he asked them to get the healers to the infirmary so that the wounded could be helped. Steve arrived and Lieutenant Khan then gave them all a report on the battle and his prediction that the monsters would soon be back and probably that very night.

Steve asked, “What do you think we should do?”

“It’s my understanding that Mack is in charge of all construction here. I think he has to do two things. He has to repair the fence and we need slit trenches dug in this small fenced in section around the shop and house. We also have to contract the area we need to defend for tonight. We need the slit trenches built with overhead cover to protect our people from the air bursts the krakens have and for that matter the monsters might just start dropping multi-ton rocks on us. So the slit trenches should be as narrow as possible with strong roofs and reinforced sides. But we only have three hours to build them before dusk, so whatever you can get done in three hours Mack.”

Mack nodded his head in acknowledgement and Boris continued. “Glen I have a question about those mortars. How strong are they? Can they be overloaded with powder or not?”

“Lieutenant, we were all paranoid when building those things. Heck we’ve been paranoid with every gun or cannon we’ve built. We knew that those mortars would only be used from fixed locations and never moved so we built them tough and heavy. All of our mortars have been proof tested with a four times powder charge and our first mortar was tested with an eight times charge.”

“So you would have no problem if I put in powder charge of two and a half or even three times?”

“Up until recently none of us have built any firearms, including Vince, so I would have no problem with a two and a half times charge. Three makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Why are you asking?”

“To use their tentacles those things have to come in pretty low. I want to move all of the mortars around the house, shop and trenches. We’ll increase their powder charges, load them with grape shot and use them like shotguns.”

“That’s a good idea; we’ve already got four mortars here, two on the eastern fence and two on the southern portion. We’ve also got a fifty millimeter cannon that we’re still debating where to put. Clyde likes how easy it is to aim that 20mm on the Scorpion and how quickly it can fire. While I liked have six 20mm rifles on the Priest when I was commanding it. So the fifty has just been sitting here, we saw no reason to build another big cannon, until maybe today.”

“If you have the time just fix mount the fifty inside the shop door. But I think you won’t have time for that. You need to help Mack’s crew scrounge up some materials to reinforce the trenches and then help me reposition the mortars and maybe make some more grape shot for us as well.”

Steve spoke up, “We won’t have any trouble finding wood for the slit trenches. I wasn’t able to get as much food or some other materials as I wanted to acquire but I was able to fill several containers full of lumber and we even got a small fortune in structural steel too. The Boss won almost sixty million dollars in the lottery a year ago. Jennifer, Glen and I were the first he helped to regain our freedom. And the very first day we came here, he turned over thirty million dollars to us. Vince told us to think like we were going to be cut off from the rest of civilization in two hundred hours and to buy everything we thought that we might possibly need in order to survive in a world filled with monsters. As he freed more innocent people and gave them a home, they helped us buy even more stuff. We paid double and triple what the materials and supplies should have cost, just to get things here in time. When the countdown ended we still had over half; that thirty million dollars left. So while we don’t have all the guns, gunpowder, food or toilet paper that I would like; we got building supplies coming out our wahoos. More than enough to build some slit trenches.”

After that, the four men quickly decided who was doing what and everyone started moving. People were permitted in small groups to retrieve a few precious items from their homes, since except for Vince’s house none of the other residences were going to be defended.

They feared an attack from giant flying intelligent monsters, not a flight of bombers, and so consolidating their defensive lines made sense.

The badly injured little Sky Kraken limped its way west to where it expected to find the rest of its shoal, periodically the monster would pitifully hoot for help.

Chief Storm Wind was thankful for the meat that Vincent Standish had left for his clan but he was concerned since it was past the time Standish had told Tornado Challenger that he would return. But finally he heard the sound of the traveling machines that Challenger had spoken of.

His gathered clan hid in the tree branches, while he stood by one of the slain beasts and waited as was his responsibility and right as Chief. The noisy green vehicles arrived pulling small metal houses on wheels. He had been very impressed with how much metal he had seen in this world; he was even more impressed now. Tornado Challenger had related to him what Standish had told him about this world and how it used to be before the Warnings. Evidently, they used to have many machines that use to work before the calamity that had befallen this world.

The traveling machines assumed a very rough triangular formation which was obviously difficult because of the cumbersome houses they were pulling. Chief Storm Wind waited as one man got out of his machine and approached him.

The man tried to talk to him with both words and hand signs but Storm Wind did not understand at first. He tried to recognize a pattern in the sounds he heard but it was to no avail. His people had always been gifted with sounds and different languages but even he needed more time than this, to learn a new tongue. He did an appraisal on the man before him.

Name: George Mesquida

Sworn Knight of the Professional Hermit Vincent Standish

Title: Knight Captain of the Hermit’s Guard

Title: Captain

Title: Husband of Sheryl Mesquida

DING

As Chief of the surviving members of the Long Flight Clan on this world, you have the ability to understand any sentient being, you wish to communicate with and have them understand you as well, if you so desire.

Ah, just as Challenger related to him on how Vincent Standish was suddenly able to make himself understood, so too had now happened for him. This was a good thing. Chief Storm Wind began speaking.

“George Mesquida, I am Storm Wind, Chief of the flyers of the Long Flight Clan that are now on your world. The Ding-Ding System as your own Chief Vincent Standish calls it, has gifted me too with the ability to communicate with those who speak languages yet unknown to me. I wish you no ill and I only seek to meet with you in peace so that we may come to understand one another. I do not see any one else here who is an orange. Is Vincent Standish in one of those small moving homes?”

“I’m glad that the Ding-Ding System has given you the gift of understanding. It makes things far easier for me. Yes, my chief is inside one of the travel trailers. He is not here greeting you himself because he was wounded by a blue screen human. Luckily my chief along with his other abilities is an accomplished healer and is recovering but he’s unable to move at this time. Would it be possible for you to come inside his trailer and speak with him? With your wings you are very wide but I believe you can fit sideways through the door and once inside, it’s larger and it will be easier for you to move. If that’s not possible for you, we can open a window by his bed and you two can talk through it. Whichever way you wish to handle things is fine with both my chief and I.”

Melissa Kilmer had her face pressed up against the window and absolutely refused to give it up. Now this is what she had been hoping for when the Warnings had first started happening. New intelligent peoples in the world and these ones could fly too; though they were kind of short, if you only measured from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads. For some reason the person she was looking at, reminded her of a sparrow, maybe it was because of the color of his wings?

Mesquida, I would like to try and fit inside one of your houses. If I have too much difficulty, then I will speak through the window with your Chief Vincent Standish.

I was lying on a queen size bed eating some turkey jerky and sipping water. I had made some very rough repairs to my penis, bladder, pelvic region and thighs. And I needed to do still more work on myself before I attempted to move on my own. The door opened and a winged being started to sidle through the opening. Hallelujah an angel has come down from heaven to take me away from all this crap, I have been saved! For an angel his clothes looked kind of dirty and he definitely needed a bath. I wish I could think of a good sarcastic joke to tell myself about bird baths and bird feeders but I was drawing a complete blank, must be because of my injuries or maybe the turkey jerky.

With his wings it looked like he would be far more comfortable with four feet of shoulder room instead of the less than three foot gap he was forced to deal with inside the trailer. Personally I might have been claustrophobic in his shoes or his wide leather boots in his case. The boots had obvious slits in them with stitched edging; I speculated that his talons could emerge from the slits when needed. Challenger seemed able to easily grip that tree branch when I saw him upon it earlier. I hit the new guy with appraisal. Oh great, another asshole with a name cooler than mine. I bet the females of his species thinks he’s hot too.

“Greetings Chief of the Long Flight Clan, my name is Vincent Standish. Please refer to me as Vince or Vincent. Because of the Ding-Ding System, I am the ruler of a very small piece of land on which a number of my fellow humans are seeking refuge from this calamity that has befallen all of us. As I told Tornado Challenger, the Ding-Ding System or DDS as I call it, started warning us about a month ago. We had many machines and most of them were powered by chemical and other energy sources. Those energy sources, no longer work nor do the majority of our machines. We had devices that let us communicate over extremely long distances and they no longer work as well. Right now, my tiny group is just struggling to survive. A short while ago an evil human wanted me surrender myself and the land that I own. I refused, made him angry and he injured me with a smaller version of the same weapon that we ourselves used, to kill the rhinos that attacked us here in this clearing.”

“Greetings Vincent, I am Storm Wind and Chief of the portion of my clan that was swept to your world, two nights ago. We numbered over a hundred when we first arrived but now we only number sixty-two. Things attacked us last night, even though we had built crude platforms high up in trees on which to sleep. We did that in order to keep ourselves off the ground and hopefully less vulnerable, it didn’t work. Invisible monsters came for us and we fought them, but poorly as if we were half asleep. Our confusion and ineptness persisted despite the fact we saw friends and family being torn apart before our very eyes. My aunt was made the first Chief of our splinter group and she valiantly put herself in the path that we knew the monsters were taking. She fought hard and I think she killed some of them but she fell in battle against them.”

“Chief Storm Wind, I think I know the monsters that attacked your clan. They are called Night Stalkers by the DDS. They have the ability to make themselves invisible to our eyes. So long as one member of their attacking pack is still alive all members of their pack, even their corpses remain invisible. We have seen two different varieties of the Night Stalkers. One is a lion hybrid which is bigger than a human and has long claws and very sharp big teeth. The other is a bat hybrid that is a little smaller than your own body. We can offer you lights that when used to illuminate an area will reveal all of the Night Stalkers that the light’s radiance falls upon. At least these lights have worked that way for us. We don’t have many of the lights with us right now but we have more back at my home. I can give you a few now and more lights later if you visit us. Upon our return, I’ll alert the people in my compound to keep an eye out for you so you will be greeted in a friendly fashion.”

Rich and George were both giving me dirty looks. I think they had expected me to offer sanctuary to Storm Wind’s clan. When I offer sanctuary to someone, that means I think that I can do a better job of protecting them than I think they can do on their own and I don’t know that. Tonight for example, Night Stalker dragons might attack the compound. I just don’t know what is going to happen and as such I won’t offer the Long Flight Clan sanctuary when I don’t know their capabilities.

“Vincent, I am a young clan chief, a very young chief. I have my wife and child with me. This world is too strange for us. May my clan seek shelter at your compound? I fear if we spend one more night without sufficient protection none of my clan will be alive in the morning. We will work hard to contribute to the mutual defense of both our peoples.”

This man should be ashamed of himself, puppy dog eyes. He’s got a wife and child and he’s making puppy dog eyes at me and their really big eyes too, suitable for a flying humanoid that needs to see over long distances.

“Yes, you may enter my compound at least for the next few days, while we talk things over and we can both decide if a long term relationship between our peoples is a good thing. It will be necessary for you to allow us to arrive first. We have been attacked more than once by some very large non-sentient owls and the people in my compound might mistake you for them if I don’t tell my people about you first. But be warned, while I will try my best to protect you and your people, the dangers we now face are new to me as well and I can make no guarantees about your safety. We are approximately eight miles from my home; can you and your clan, follow us over that distance?”

I had expected him to say eight miles was an easy distance for them to fly, I was wrong.

We have many young and injured with us. I know I ask far too much but may some of us ride in your moving homes?”

A half an hour later, we were all on the move again. My trailer and one other was stuffed full of the feathered folk. They must have been desperate to willingly jam themselves into such small places when they were so broad shouldered or is that broad winged? Storm Wind was in the other trailer since he could make himself understood to humans. As he mentioned they had a lot of children with them, in fact over half the sixty two clan members were children and some of them had recently lost a parent. Then too, there were many adults and children that had bloody wounds on them. But despite all of that the children were fascinated by the trailer and were poking into things, I shamelessly eavesdropped. It’s not like I could do anything to stop them.

George could handle the introductions once we got back home. I hated to do this but the only place I could think to put this crowd of bird brains at least for tonight was in my two garages. Someone would have to move my classic cars outside but I’d make damn sure that they put some tarps on them! Both the shop and the garage had full bathrooms but that wouldn’t be enough for this crowd. I would have to give them access to the bathrooms in my own home and maybe the ones in the infirmary as well. And then, we still need to put roofs over the seventeen people that we just took from Kilmer’s estate, oh joy.

It took us only a half an hour to make it the rest of the way home. To say that we caused some commotion when we arrived would be putting it very mildly. To say that I was pleased with what I learned and saw when we arrived would be a big fat fucking lie.