Chapter 5

Tama spent the next several months learning how bow strings and arrows are made. From the base fibers, the waxes, even the ties that hold the loop together have their own process and materials. She learned the needed skills quickly. She soon had a dozen custom strings made for her bow.

The arrow making process was actually more complex and time consuming. The first step was to find the maximum draw on the bow. After that was the cutting down of the heavy sticks to the proper diameter. This required training on the wood lathe to turn the shafts down to the proper diameter. She was quickly learning that if not pushed to stay straight, wood loves to bend and flex. She received advanced training in the proper method of steaming, straightening and drying of the narrow wood shafts.

Next came the fletching, or feathering as some call it. Finding matched feathers proved to be the hardest part until she thought about asking a local eagle if it had any loose feathers it needed to get rid of. She suddenly found herself with more than knew what to do with. Every Eagle in the region came to her carrying a dozen or more old feathers. When she asked the first one why so many came to her with these, she was told simply, "You were his apprentice and successor child. We honor his memory in aiding you."

Tama could find nothing to say to the Eagles except to thank them and wish them good hunting.

That evening before she went to bed, Tama took the time to study all the feathers. Any that were broken she set aside. The rest she sorted between right wing and left wing. You can't mix the flight feathers, if you do the arrow will not rotate and will just wobble all over and miss the target.

Once she had the feathers sorted, she continued reading the history of the mage wars. She could hardly believe that Ogres at one time used to be so powerful. It was when they formed the giant alliance and challenged the gods directly, including their creator, Rallos Zek for power. They soon discovered they were not as supremely powerful as they believed.

At that time of the war, Ogres had hair, lots of hair. They braided it into massive dreadlocks that were weapons in their own right. When the gods defeated the giant's alliance, they cursed the Ogre race as a whole to baldness and utter stupidity. The trolls were not to bright to start with, but also were reduced in intellect. The giants were turned into navigational hazards where ever they went. Wanderers of the lands not allowed to find a place to call home. The Orcs were rendered to basic brutes, and the goblins, what was done to them makes one wonder how serious their crimes must have been. Even they don't remember, and they consider that a blessing.

It has only been in the last two centuries that the ancient curses seem to have started to fade. It was becoming noticeable with goblins as they had started to become more intelligent with each generation. The Orcs had been advancing at a faster rate for a longer period and the Crushbone empire was the result. There had been reports from Kunark of a city built by several tribes of giants as well.

Tama placed the bookmark to save the page for the night and slept soundly. Her Granddame still came and visited, but did not lecture her any more. One new element to her dreams was a young male Elven that stayed back and watched. He would smile at her and give a wave then she would wake up for the day.

When she took the feathers to the shop, Master Stave just looked amused. "Do I want to know how you found so many feathers, and from the looks of them, all eagles feathers."

Tama tried not to look contrite," I saw an eagle roosting by the park looking for squirrels, so I just asked her if she had any old feathers she needed to get rid of. She looked at me for only a second then let out a screech and flew off. A couple of minutes later she returned with a dozen or so old flight feathers. Then another flew by a dropped some. This went on nonstop for half an hour. When I asked why, she told me they were honoring his memory by helping me in this manner."

"Then we will use these with reverence to honor him as well." said Stave. "Now why don't you check on the shafts you have drying and see if any are ready to have the nocks attached."

"Yes sir," Tama went to drying shed and examined the first batch she had straightened. They did not seem to have warped and the sound seemed right. She took the bundle and went back inside to her workbench. She took each shaft and rolled it as she had been shown how in order to see if it was still straight. Only one had any wobble as it rolled across the table. She placed that one near a stack waiting for steaming.

Tama had been making and storing hand carved nock fittings for her arrows while the first set of shafts dried. The box she kept them in was in one of her tool drawers so she knew that they would not be lost or damaged in some way. Another part of the arrow is the point. Stave limited her to field points only for her own safety. They were basically the same as the nocks except they ran to a point rather than the cutout on the end. The hardest part was drilling the mounting hole in the end that would go over the shaft. It had to fit snugly or it could come off, even if glued as these would be.

The first shaft she tried, the nock would not slide on, she had not cut the end down enough while it was on the lathe. This was an easy fix though. With her whittling knife, she scraped a thin layer off the shaft. Once the nock fit, she set it aside. She had 30 shafts in this batch and about half needed this treatment. By the time she had finished, it was time for her to go home.

She secured the shafts in a bundle and tied them together and set them at the back of the table. The nocks went back into there little box in the drawer. Gluing the nocks in place would happen in the morning.

Tama wished everybody in the shop a pleasant day and walked home at a leisurely pace in the late summer heat. She knew she would be home before the midday rains began so felt no urgency. Several other children her age were sitting around looking slightly at a loss. One saw Tama approaching and got up to go meet her. "Hey Tama, No class today it seems. Elder is gone for the day."

Tama had not heard anything about Elder so was as surprised as they were. "How come, is Elder sick, or was he called away somewhere."

"He was seen leaving town going up your favorite torture test. He had a large sack too and was in a big hurry. Not even a note on the school door to explain why."

The girl, Winter, just stood a moment then decided she wanted to go elsewhere and play. "See you later Tama." The other child, the boy smiled at her, gave a quick wave and took off after Winter.

Tama stood around for a moment longer then had a horrible thought. Ever since the undead invasion had ended so abruptly, Elder and the Green brothers, she had recently learned they are brothers, had been on full time guard over her. Her stomach knotted and she felt the pull of her powers as she felt that bad things were about to begin again. She took off at full sprint for home.

When she arrived home her mother was out back tending the garden so Tama joined her in the chore. "Elder was seen heading towards Butcherblock a little while ago mama. No school since he is gone for now."

"Did he let anybody know why he had to go?"

"Not that I have heard. I found out on the way home from several classmates."

"That is not like him at all. The emergency must be extreme for him to just up and leave in this manner. I would prefer you stay home today Tama, just to be safe."

"Ok mama. I have a queasy feeling bad things are going to start happening again soon. I wish they wouldn't, but they will happen," said Tama in a sad resigned voice.

Elder made it to old Skin Stitch as he called the necromancer before sundown. The cave the old guy lived in was a gold mine in reality. He had several dozen stone golems working the stone, collecting the metals for him. When Elder arrived so suddenly, he knew there was a problem to be solved.

"So old Elven, what drags you to my lovely home."

"I come to ask a favor, and I have your payment with me. I also have the special items you will need."

"Elder, if you come to ask of me a favor and come prepared, it must be dire indeed. What do you need made my old friend."

"If possible, a stone golem duplicate of me. I have been informed of a trap that is set to kill me if I go to Antonica. I would like to send one of your creations in my place to trip it and deal with the killers."

"Is that all? And I thought you had a challenge lined up for me," he almost seemed to pout a little with that.

"It has to be able to use the druid ring," said Elder with a sly smile and a touch of sarcasm in his voice this time.

The Necromancer stopped and thought about that. "That is a pretty poser of a problem indeed. It can be done, the operator has to allow it to pass unopposed is all." He rummaged through an old sack, then another until he found a token that might work. "Make sure the gate operator receives this before hand so he knows it is approved and the golem is cleared by you to use the gate."

Taking the token, Elder handed over the bag he was still carrying. "Here is your payment and what you will need from me to complete it."

After looking in the bag, the old man smiled. "You came prepared and more. The fruit and vegetables are most welcome by the way. I will get started right away. Well, I, Well you know I need a little of your blood to make the appearance come out correct."

Elder walked over to the basin that was set up for this purpose and cut a six inch gash down his arm and allowed the blood to flow into the bowl until it had the correct level in it. He pulled a small jar from his pocket and rubbed the contents on his arm, being careful not to get any near the basin. The blood stopped as soon as the salve covered the cut and the pain faded away quickly as the magic did its work. "That should be all you need for this job I think."

"More than enough, more than enough, you really are serious. Normally you would piss and moan about that part for hours. I can start right now and it will bind to you as soon as you touch it. I will need about five minutes to get everything ready. The actual creation only takes a few minutes when dealing with stone. It was flesh that always took so long to prepare."

Elder went back to the front of the cave and watched while he waited. Necromancy always left a sour taste in his mouth, but no ordinary golem would serve in this case. The old necromancer poured several buckets of loose stone on a large workbench, then one of his other creations came in with several small boulders and added them to the collection. He then started the enchantment and sprinkled the blood over the stones. As he did this the stones moved and formed the shape of a humanoid figure. It compressed and took on the size of an Elven, then details emerged. In less than a minute, it was a grey colored copy of Elder. The necromancer nodded at Elder to come over.

"Place your hand solidly on the center of the torso, right there in the center." He pointed at the spot.

Elder placed his hand where indicated and the color shifted to that of Elders. It grew matching clothing as he watched and soon its eye opened and it looked around the room.

The necromancer told it, "You are to serve your original for the mission embedded in your form my child. Go and do your duty, make me proud my child."

The Stone golem rose and smiled at its creator then slowly rose it its stone feet for the first time. It looked at Elder as if to say, lets go old fool. "Thank you old friend. The offer stands, should you..."

"I know, but you know why I could never accept."

"Yes, and I agree with your reasons, but still I felt I must offer."

"I know, off with you. You have assassins to kill, remember?"

Elder left the cave and the stone copy followed him without a word. The sun had set so once he was well away from the cave, he set up a cold camp for the night, sleeping lightly until dawns light woke him.

Tama was up at her normal time and did her morning workout and run. She had reduced the amount of weight in her bag as her mother had requested and now she was able to make it to the top every morning.

This particular morning presented her with a surprise. She had made it to the top in very good time so had set down to relax and enjoy the view for a few minutes. An odd sound became audible after a few minutes, like stone smacking softly on stone. When she turned to look in the direction of the sound, she received a rather nasty shock. There were two of Elder walking towards her. She had to fight down the urge to shadowstep and get away as fast as she could.

Rather than risk the wrath of the adults for using her abilities, she dropped down behind the rocks and tried to stay out of sight. The pair continued on past her hiding place when she heard Elder say, "You can ignore her, she is not one of those you are to seek out." On hearing that, Tama hunkered down in the rocks even further to let Elder and the stone creature move away from her before she started home to tell her mother this. The question is would she be believed?

Once she couldn't hear the stones steps she got up and headed back to the trail leading down. She saw the two fresh set of prints and wondered about the ones that were almost, no exactly like stone rubbing on stone. She followed them down just to see if Elder was going to take it into town. He didn't though, at the second ledge another lesser used path had been cut to the edge of town to the main road. That was the way they had gone from the tracks left behind.

She quickly decided that following Elder any further would not be in her best interest. She sped up to her normal downhill jog and headed straight home to cleanup and head to the wood shop.

At home Tama washed up and started to put on her work cloths. On a whim she stopped and went to a spot on the wall where she had put marks for her height. When she felt she had the mark, she stepped away and looked at the new mark. She had grown two inch's in the last six months. That put her at three foot one. She also looked at herself in the mirror for a moment and for the first time saw how much effect her exercises had on her body. Even though she would begin to really developed for another seven or eight years, she could see that she would have one drop dead body if she stayed in shape like she was now.

She dressed and ate a quick meal then set a fast walking pace to the shop. Today she would get all the nocks glued onto the shafts. Once she had them set, she could pull the next batch from the drying shed if they were ready to be worked with. The glue was a common plant and bone mix that had been long proven stable in the environment of the forest. She coated the nock end of the shaft with a light coating of glue, then pressed the nock onto the shaft until it was fully seated. She had to make sure she wiped all the glue off that had squeezed out of the gap as the nock seated on the shaft.

Now she had to move quickly and complete 24 arrows before the glue could fully set. She loaded the arrows in a press jig as she completed them. Once it was fully loaded, she carefully clamped them down and set the end press to hold the nock in place until the glue had cured. That usually took 2 hours for it to harden enough so the nock would not slip on the end any.

Now that she had this part completed, she was able to retrieve the next batch of shafts and begin fitting the nocks. Today went much more quickly now that she had some experience at the process. The shafts were ready and the nocks set aside in another box for the next day. By the end of the morning, the glue had set firmly and the shafts could come off the jig. She set the first batch in the holder she had made for them. A leather tube not unlike a quiver in make and nature for holding the incomplete shafts until she was ready to put on the points and fletching.

Her time in the shop for the day was up, so she put everything away and cleaned up the bits and a few drops of spilled glue that had hardened on the table. While scraping the spots, they got her thinking and she had to ask. "Master Stave?"

"Yes Tama," he replied as he walked over to see what she wanted.

"Does a spot of glue on the table set at the same speed as the glue on the shaft after I seat the nocks?"

He smiled and chuckled a little before answering. "No, the drop would be set long before the shaft since it is getting air and the covered glue is not. You were thinking of using a spot as a timer?"

"Yes sir."

"Well my dear, just about every apprentice comes up with that idea at some point. Some ask about it, others just go ahead and try it and end up ruining their project. I am glad you thought to ask first." He rubbed her head and told her to scat as she had finished cleaning while he talked.

After she was gone he tracked down his brother Heart. "That girl is smart Heart. She will go places and do things that will shake the world."

"I know Stave, I know. That is what worries me too. I just hope those of us that are still here can help her survive the upcoming trials we will all face."

"The nightmares again?"

"Yes, and they are becoming more detailed. The flash in the sky, the fire. But I still can't see the cause. I just see Tama leading Elven away from home. I am getting worried Stave, I don't see us or her parents in there anywhere."

"If we are meant to survive that time, we will survive it."

With that, Stave returned to his apprentices to see what they had managed to wreck in his brief absence.

Elder had used a cart to transport his stone copy to the druid ring. The trip took almost three days because of the weight slowing the horses down so much. Upon arrival the gate operator started to object to sending the golem through, at least he did until Elder handed him the token from the Necromancer. "Very well sir, I will send the warning through first so they don't attack it right away." The controller opened the gate to Antonica and stepped through for a minute. When he returned he told Elder that the assassins had been camped nearby for several days and were waiting for his arrival.

"Good, then let's send our little present here to them so they can have a play companion." Elder turned to the golem, your targets are on the other side of the portal, go and have fun with them. You know your mission."

The golem looked at him and slowly it smiled and walked into the glowing circle. Once through it stopped and the operator on the other side played his role and called out, "Welcome Elder." It only took a few seconds for the first arrow to strike the golem. Even as the arrow shattered on its stone skin, it was turning and had sighted the archer that had fired. They never expected anything could move so fast.

The fight lasted less than a minute as all the assassins attacked the golem after it had torn the head off the first archer. The final body count after the mess was cleaned up by the local druids, golem 14, killers zero. Once it was confirmed all the assassin targets were dead, the golem bowed to the druids and sank into the ground as the spell that bound it together dissolved.

They reopened the gate to the Faydark and reported the assassins had been obliterated by the golem and the golem itself dissolved into the ground. Elder thanked them and they returned home. He then looked at the local operator, I was never here son, I went through the gate and died as far as the observers over there are concerned. Got that?"

"Yes sir, plain as day. And sir, I really don't want to know if its all the same to you."

"Smart lad." Elder remounted the cart and headed back to the village. 'I just hope nothing happens before I get back or a lot of people will get seriously hurt or killed.' He thought.

The observers reported that Elder had gone into the gate and an arrow struck him before the gate could be closed. This news actually caused Thornbreak to smile. "That old fool is out of my way at last. Now for the next stage of the plan."

Thornbreak knew his window of opportunity would be small, so he had had his gear ready to go for some time. He had four remounts as he planned to ride the horses hard all the way to the Village. His return trip would be easier as he had a teleport disk as part of his gear. It was a limited use device, once used, it would be drained and just be a paperweight where he left it. His plan was simple, grab the girl, drop the disk and step on it and be back at his home in Kelethin in seconds.

It was a good plan, a simple plan. The kind of plan that usually works quite well in fact. It still took him nearly three days to get to the Upper Pass Village. The weather turned to a heavy rain that turned the dirt roads into mud slowing his horses progress. Then the Quanet River bridge had gone down due to flooding delaying him further. He did get to the village just before nightfall and he knew his chance for the day had passed. He went to the Upper Pass Inn by the main road and tried to get a room for the night. Between three caravans, the weather and a road repair crew stopping in before he got there, there were no rooms to be had. He had to stay in the common room instead. He did not dare raise a fuss or somebody would report his presence to the villagers and in turn to the girls parents.

He did not sleep well that night sitting on a hard wood bench, but it was the best he could manage. He was not aware of it, but he had already been identified and his presence reported to Elder who had returned just before the storm broke. He didn't tell Axemen or Willow for fear they would do something foolish. The Greens did know and were ready in the morning if something should happen with Tama.

The next morning one of the woodcutters met Axemen early and told him something was up. All the guards were at full alert and watchers were stationed all over town. What was happening, no one was sure, just that they were expecting some sort of trouble. Axemen returned home for a moment and told Willow what he had been told. "Walk her to and from the shop and school today, just to be safe." She agreed and Tama was told there may be trouble so, if told to run, run for the school flat out using her abilities.

Tama nodded and said nothing. She knew it must be serious if she had just been taken off the leash to use her powers to their fullest. Axemen headed back to the meeting point with his crew and they left to clear the collapsed hillside and trees along their section of the road.

Willow walked along with Tama who was explaining to her what she had planned for today in the shop. Willow was only half listening to Tama as she was trying to look in all directions at once to spot any threat to her daughter.

Thornbreak had his gear ready, the disk on his back ready for him to drop and use when he needed it for his escape with the girl. He then stepped around a corner to make sure nobody saw what he did next. He used an invisibility potion to try to conceal his presence. This it turned out was the first part of his undoing. He saw Willow and recognized her immediately, so the girl child with her had to be the one he was after. He started to close in on them when the child suddenly stopped talking and moving. She quickly spun in place and started looking around, until she stopped, pointed and seemed to focus on him directly.

"Mama, somebody is invisible and following us! I can feel them," she spun and looked around for a second then centered on the spot, she saw his muddy boots and prints in the mud. She pointed, "He is right there, his boots stand out in the mud."

Willow spun around and pulled out her long dagger. Her actions triggered a planned series of events though out the village. The Green brothers, Elder, and half the towns guard closed in on their location. Thornbreak knew the plan had just failed but he didn't understand why. So he dove forwards grabbing Tama by am arm, and slashing his own dagger at Willow once the invisibility spell had been broken from his own actions.

Tama saw her mother receive the cut and that set off a reaction nobody was ready for, least of all Thornbreak. Without a thought, she pulled all the ability strings from their mental hooks and pulled them into herself. Next she was able to grab a fist sized rock from the ground by her feet. She then charged the rock with Lightning strike, the one hand to hand battle skill she had control of.

She spun her small body around and drove the lightning imbued stone into Thornbreak's gut. He stiffened and screamed in agony as the charge of energy drove into his body and his insides quite suddenly cooked and exploded. His grip released and he flew across the road twitching a bit in the mud before he died.

What happened next was even worse. His supposed master appeared and claimed the body as it died. Mayong looked around, found who he was looking for, "Thank you child. You have rid me of an annoyance." He made a slight throwing gesture at Tama and she felt something hit her in the head, but was not able to worry about it then as she suddenly couldn't stop her lightning attack. He then vanished as quickly as he had appeared, taking Thornbreak and the disk with him. He had his own plans for that disk.

Tama had just continued to stand were she was and had started crying as she couldn't turn off the lightning in the rock. "Elder! MAMA! Help me please, I can't make it stop!" She was close to a total panic when Elder tried to use the sleep spell to no effect.

"Tama, reach back inside and put the ability back on its hook. You can do that."

"I can't, the end is inside of me now, not loose."

"Oh that is bad, very bad. Tama, gently pull on it, see if it will come loose."

Tama did as she was told and the string slowly pulled free in her mind. Once it was loose again, she found the hook and returned it to its place. The rest she left in place for now. She knew she could deal safely with them later.

The sparks faded and the rock was once again just a rock. She dropped it into the mud and ran to her mother. Heart had already started to wrap the cut on her arm when she suddenly started to shake and foam at the mouth. The blade had been poisoned. A cleric had also arrived and saw what was happening to Willow. He immediately started casting and neutralized the poison as fast as he could. He was able to counter the poison and remove it from her body before any permanent harm could be done. Next he focused on the slash on her arm, that healed without difficulty and faded to a slight scar.

"She will need to rest for a few hours. That was a nasty neurotoxin on that blade," said the cleric.

"Mama, will you be alright? Please mama, be well. I'm sorry, I didn't act quick enough to stop that evil man. Elder, who was that?"

"That Tama was Thadius Thornbreak, member of the Kelethin High council. At least he used to be. You cooked his innards quite well by the way. Now as to the other that appeared and took the body. That was none other than Mayong Mistmoore. What ever Thornbreak had done to anger him, is a moot point. If anybody were to see him moving around once I report these events, he will be staked by one of your stakes in a heartbeat."

"Now Tama, did you see what it was he had on his back before you cooked him."

Tama thought about it for a minute. "It looked like a solid grey disk with faintly glowing markings around the edges. That is all I saw of it. I am sorry I did not see more Elder."

"No Tama, you did quite good seeing and remembering that much in spite of everything that happened so fast. How did you know right were he was, he used invisibility, not camouflage to sneak up on you."

"I could still sense him and his boots had mud on them and I could see them were he stood." She smiled at that. "He was not a very good sneak."

"No Tama, that he was not," said Elder grimly. "Since you are not passed out yet I assume you still have several abilities going."

"Yes Elder, if something else happens, I want to be ready. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY hurts my mother and gets away with it."

Elder took half a step back from her as he felt the power she was starting to radiate. "Tama, you need to back it down a little bit please. You will hurt yourself if you keep pushing that hard."

Tama realized what he meant and slowly began releasing each string from her inner self and hooking them back on the mental wall. She kept the agility going though so she could regenerate her badly depleted mana supply and stay awake a bit longer. She finished this then went back to her mother who was sitting up but groggy. "What is wrong with her," Tama asked.

Heart looked at her then decided the truth was the only answer. "The blade had a poison on it. The cleric cured her and healed the cut, but she needs to rest for the rest of the day."

"Has word been sent to papa yet so he can come and care for her?"

"Almost as soon as it happened, a runner headed out to find him."

"Good, I will stay with her too. I will be asleep soon myself. I can feel it lurking in my mind, just waiting to pounce and put me out."