Chapter 7: Terrorists

We took off so early in the morning on Monday that none of the Webster’s crew had come into work yet, so we didn’t waste any time replying to being asked how the family weekend went. Dad will have to put up with all the questions; he always did have lots to say but he won’t be able to say a word of it, just try and get away with vague generalities. Pity, I’d like to have heard his efforts to talk about something he physically couldn’t talk about, he had never got tongue tied when I lived at home!

We had an uneventful flight, shortly after take-off dipping below the radar allowing the human air controllers to forget all about us and shifting into North Pole air space.

How do we do it? This porting lark? Well, I, for one, can’t actually do it yet, although I was able to follow Junior closely behind him when we took two planes there and back for our weekend. Junior only has to think of crossing over and he does, in similar fashion to finding things in his Santa sack, or in any drawer or cupboard in the house; he just sets his mind to thinking about what he wants to find or where he wants to go and it happens. When you consider his ability to walk through children’s bedroom walls to deliver their presents in the absence of chimneys, it’s not too difficult to accept that he can dimension shift as easily as anyone else can change their socks.

It was a smooth flight back to the North Pole and we were looking forward to sitting down to one of Gronwynk’s famous breakfasts. This didn’t happen.

Alffin the air traffic controller elf warned us of bad news as soon as he came on the radio.

“Hey Junior, welcome back, but we had a terrorist attack last night, over.”

“What!” Junior exclaimed.

I was horrified, terror is too much ‘real world’ stuff that should never happen in a never-never land like the North Pole.

“Three fierce giant monsters attacked the Santa household just after supper time, Junior,” our earphones erupted Alffin’s shocking words, “It was as the Santas moved from the dining hall down the corridor towards their family sitting room, over.”

“Anyone hurt, over?” I asked.

“Not seriously, Miss Jennifer,” Alffin replied, “one of the elf servers had a nasty cut arm, but Santa took one down, your Uncle Henry tackled another, and the third one also died in the incident, over.”

“Does this happen from time to time, you know, monsters invading the North Pole? Over,” I asked.

“No,” Junior replied over my intercom, “Never in my experience.”

“And I’m a lot older than Junior, Miss Jennifer,” Alffin interjected, “and I can’t remember anything like this ever happening, and the oldest elves tell us that there hasn’t been a violent death in the North Pole since before the Old People were evicted after St Nicholas arrived.”

As soon as we landed, a sleigh was already teamed up ready for us and we drove as fast as we could to Santa’s Main House.

Hilde met us at the door with streaming eyes and, after sharing a hug with both of us, silently guided us through the corridors to the sitting room, where Beata and Uncle Henry sat together in a two-seater settee, with Henry comforting the young lady. Old Nick and Georgianna sat close together on another settee holding both hands and they stood up as Junior and I entered behind Hilde. Young Nick was broodily pacing back and forth in front of the fire place, stomping his feet in anger on the stone flags. Junior went over to hug him.

“This has never happened before,” Santa growled over his shoulder to me, “a thousand years and more of peace, laughter and joy, and something like this happens, on my watch. This isn’t Christmas, this is ... is terrorism, like the wars I lived through, only hatred, deliberate injury and violent death doesn’t belong in this place. Somehow we had got complacent and have let slip our defences.”

“Do we know how they got in here?” Junior asked.

“Not yet, we’re searching everywhere now. I’m afraid, Jen dear,” Santa looked at me with doleful eyes, “We had to thoroughly search your quarters.”

“No, of course you had to, that was where the most recent outsiders stayed for the weekend. I hope nothing was found that could...”

“Nien, nien,” Beata said, putting her arm around my shoulders, “nothing at all vas found to cast any dispersions upon you or any of your family und guests. It vos ze first place ve looked but that was simply common sense to start vere strangers have come in and stayed so recently. And a thorough search revealed nothing, absolutely nothing, Jennifer, dear.”

“That is a good thing,” Georgianna said, “Because we have all fallen in love with every one of your adorable family and friends.”

“Now we are searching the ‘Old Places’,” Old Nick added, “those places that the older elves and St Nick himself remember from those early days where the Saturnalians ruled the roost here from those places important to them, like the baths and the party playgrounds. Trouble is there were so many of those places, the North Pole was so much more extensive back then and a lot of those places are no longer on the surface, but buried under ice and snow.”

“What about down in the cellars?” I said, remembering the feelings of dread I gleaned from my brief visit to those dungeon-like depths.

“At the same time we were searching your quarters,” Young Nick released Junior from his embrace and faced the room, “we were also lighting up and checking the cellars, flagstone by flagstone and looking for hidden doors, but those were also thought to be sealed beyond any doubt. Now we’re generally searching everywhere we can think of.”

“Even our quarters are being searched viz a fine-toothed comb,” Hilde said. “Zis old building vos built on ruins zat vos central to ze Old People’s settlement, so ve need to poke into every nook und cranny where a portal could be hidden.”

“As soon as they’ve finished with your quarters, Nick, Hilde,” Old Nick said in his booming voice, “You’ve been up all night and need to get to sleep, Georgie and I will hold the fort here, so to speak, until you awake refreshed.” Then he turned to me, “Jen my dear, take Junior to your cabin, get everything straight and ship-shape and relax there today. We are not going to be getting anywhere with Christmas preparations on a day like today. Start fresh tomorrow.”

“But,” I started.

“No buts, Jennifer,” Hilde said, “Dad is right, ve are physically und mentally exhausted, und sick to our stomachs with the shock of this terror attack. No purpose vill be served by you here today. Rest, get your place straight and we’ll start at 9 in the morning. Und zey vill be light duties to start with until ve can let all zese negative thoughts turned back to positives.”

She came over and hugged and kissed me on the cheek, then she gave Junior a hug and proceeded to push us both out of the door with a smile. Georgianna and Old Nick, waved us off with a small smile. Gronwynk fell into stride next to us with her short legs moving quickly to match us but remain in control.

“Your place is already perfectly put back together and, for your safety, we have round the clock elf patrols on skis and or sleighs keeping an eye on what is going on outside. We have this all over the North Pole. It is something we did in the early days, but have not need to do for hundreds of years. This incident has had a profound effect on all of us. None of us ever want those bad old days of the Old People back here again.”

“I wonder if,” I started, “we disturbed something hiding in those cottages, hiding in a corner somewhere since the Old Days?”

“No, Miss Jennifer,” Gronwynk reassured me, “those cottages were built just over 200 years ago by a retired Santa, who gave up the job to his eldest son, the father of Old Nick. The area was a slight hollow on a plain that would be buffeted by high winds that used to sweep across that plain. The planting of the wood we rode through yesterday provided a wind break. I don’t remember there ever being any Old People activity there and before we cleaned up we had the structure rigorously surveyed to ensure it was sound. Nothing could have remained hidden through that.”

“So what actually happened, Gronwynk?” Junior asked, “Dad whispered to me by the fire place that he didn’t want to bring it up in front of Mother.”

I nodded, “Hilde was clearly knocked sideways by this, in fact anyone anywhere would be, but here in this place that so positively promotes generosity, love and family, it is inconceivable that it occurred at all.”

“It started so suddenly,” Gronwynk recounted, “with Young Nick and Hilde leading the way, followed by Old Nick and Georgianna, they being followed by your Uncle Henry and Beata. I followed behind with a couple of servers bringing some ices that Hilde asked for instead of coffee. I couldn’t see her from where I was, but a young girl elf Joynik, who has only just started working in the kitchen, ran up to say the sitting room door was left open during the meal so she checked to see who was inside and saw a huge winged monster warming itself with its wings spread wide in front of the fire. So she ran down the corridor to warn us.”