Chapter 6

The accident had happened near the ranch owned by the elderly couple, so the woman rode in the back of the wagon while Fire Bringer drove it. The woman had been distracted by her concern for her husband, so she did not see what Fire Bringer did to replace the broken wheel. He made extensive use of TK to do the repair, and the job was completed in only a few minutes. There was not much that the medicine of the time could do for the man, so Fire Bringer did not use any of his skills to get to the ranch any sooner than normal. He had introduced himself as Bobby Thornton, so the Harrises had no reason to suspect him of being special. Fire Bringer rounded up a couple of ranch hands to move Mr. Harris to bed and left, pleading a need to be on his way.

Once they were safely away from the ranch, Storm Who Walks commented, "I thought that you handled that very well. You are learning fast how to control your skills, and your maturity is showing itself by your actions. What would you like to do next?"

"I want to practice with my Far Seeing ability. I think that I really need to develop it as fast as I can. Let me see what else I can find on this road." They continued down the road at a lazy pace while Fire Bringer ranged his Far Seeing farther and farther along the road to see what he could see. He had arrived with his Far Seeing at the next town without finding anyone else in need, so he decided to swing out away from the road in case there was someone there that he could help.

He found another road and was following it when he came to someone needing help. This was a Cherokee who was being harassed by 5 White men. Fire Bringer did a quick search of their minds to find out if there was any justification for the action of the White men; he found that they were bothering the Indian out of pure meanness. The situation was about to get real ugly, so he TPed to right behind the Whites and said, "That's enough! Leave that man alone. He does not deserve to be hassled by you men. You should be ashamed of yourselves, 5 to 1 odds are hardly fair."

"Mind yer own bizness, pipsqueak. We'll do what ever we damned well please an' ya can't stop us."

"Oh, but I can. Now, leave this gentleman alone before I have to get rough with you galoots." Fire Bringer had taken the precaution of using his TK to lock the guns in their holsters, no amount of tugging would get them to move. It was a good thing that he had done so, because all 5 men tried to draw, but to no avail. "Those guns are stuck in their holsters until I release them, so you might as well stop trying to draw."

One of the men tried to draw his Spencer carbine, but Fire Bringer had locked that in place, too. "Naughty, naughty." Fire Bringer fashioned a small club from air molecules and tapped the man's hand with it. It was invisible, so no one could see what he had done. Unfortunately for the galoot, Fire Bringer was not experienced enough in this sort of activity, so he struck the man's wrist hard enough to break it. The man screamed in pain and jerked his hand back; he now had lost the use of his right hand until the break healed, around 8 weeks.

"What the fuck did ya do ta me, ya bastard?"

"It looks like I broke your wrist when you tried to shoot me. You other gentlemen should take note of the consequences of trying to harm me or those I choose to protect. Now, get out of here before I get mad!" There was a lot of grumbling, but the 5 men rode away. Once they had gotten over 100 yards away, Fire Bringer removed the clamps holding their guns in place.

He asked the Cherokee, "And you, Sir, are you OK? Do you need anything further from me?"

"Who are you? Are you a spirit? I saw you appear out of thin air to save me from serious harm. I thank you, but I would like to know who saved me."

"Yes, I am a spirit. My name is Fire Bringer and my job is to try to help people who are in trouble. You seemed to be in need of help, so I came as quickly as I could. I am still learning the job, so please do not talk about me to your friends. Currently, I am very limited in what I can do, and I don't want to build up hope that I can't fulfill."

"Very well. I don't understand, but I will abide by your wishes. Thank you for helping me. Is there anything that I can do for you to repay your kindness?"

"No ... Wait! Yes, there is something you can do for me. The next time you see somebody who needs help, just stop and do what you can to be of aid. That will repay me many fold. Now, I must leave you. Goodbye and good fortune to you." Fire Bringer TPed them back to his original launch point.

Storm Who Walks said, "You handled that very well, too. You appear to be an excellent choice to be an agent for good! I look forward to a long and happy association. Now, I suggest that you work some more on your Far Seeing ability."

"Now is a good time for that pastrami sandwich I wanted. Let's see if I can find that delicatessen." Fire Bringer concentrated on his former Philadelphia neighborhood and found the store he was looking for. There was no one in the shop at the moment but a clerk that he had never before seen. Fire Bringer dismounted and stowed things like his pistol and knife that would not be acceptable in Philadelphia into his special storage chamber and TPed himself to just outside the door of the shop. He opened the door and walked in. Bobby Thornton ordered the pastrami sandwich and a glass of lemonade which he sat at a table and ate. When he finished eating, he returned the glass and plate to the serving counter and started out the door.

Before he could even touch the doorknob, the door was violently pushed open and Bobby was knocked to the floor. Three toughs in their late 20s or early 30s barged into the shop and ran up to the counter. After one quick glance, they had dismissed Bobby as insignificant and ignored him after that. One of the men brandished a knife and demanded that the clerk give them all of the money in the till. The clerk was too frightened to do anything but comply, so he handed over the money.

Bobby knew how the street gangs would take revenge on people if they caused any trouble for the gang, so he wanted to let the toughs exit the shop before Fire Bringer acted. The toughs kicked Bobby aside and sauntered out to the street. Now was the time for Fire Bringer to act. He stood up and went outside to see which way the toughs had gone.

Ah! They were a few stores down the block opposite an alley. Fire Bringer used TK to force them into the alley. He walked into the alley and used his TK to lift the crooks just high enough that their feet would not touch the ground. Since they could not see what was holding them off the ground, the crooks were scared shitless. Yes, they had messed in their pants. The TK was used to carry them about half way down the alley where they could not be easily seen from either opening. Fire Bringer decided to have a little fun with these characters who thought that they were so tough. Storm Who Walks concurred, so Fire Bringer turned the three men upside down and shook them to get everything out of their pockets. Most of the money taken from the deli was in small change, so it scattered a bit as it fell to the ground.

Showing off a little, Fire Bringer pulled all of the money back from wherever it had rolled and proceeded to make a stack of one coin on another until the column reached about 4 feet high; he froze the coins in place so that the stack could not fall over. He let the men look at this stack from their upside down vantage point, and he hung them there until their faces started turning red. He flipped them back over, but he still did not let them settle to the ground. He had done a very superficial mind read on the three men and had determined that they were very superstitious and had an Irish heritage.

Fire Bringer said, "Do you know who I am?" When he got the expected negative answer, he said, "I am a leprechaun, and I am very unhappy with you. You have been stealing from my friends, and I want it stopped immediately. Spread the word that you are getting off very lightly, but I will deal harshly with the next incident of theft or any other law breaking by you or by your friends. I'm going to show you what I might have done if I happened to be in a bad mood." Fire Bringer raised the three about 50 feet off the ground, turned them upside down again, and released them to fall on their heads. He grabbed them just before they hit the ground and flipped them over, just in time for their vomit to spray all over each other. "Now, get your sorry asses out of this neighborhood and don't come back, if you know what's good for you." With that, he released the three men and let them run from the alley.