Chapter 9

I got down and walked over to the man sitting right in the way. "What's the problem, Sir? Do you need help, or do you have another reason for blocking the road?"

"I swear, you humans are dumb! Can't you see that I am a woman?"

"No, Ma'am, your magnificent beard had me fooled. I thought you were a human man who just happened to be very short." That appeared to mollify the woman sufficiently so that she calmed down. Why do I keep putting my foot in my mouth?

"No, I ain't a human, I'm a gnome what's looking fer a family of werewolves we were told could be found traveling this road. I was chosen to be here because I was the most beautiful of the maidens in our tunnel. I had hoped to entice the male to help us."

"I am the male you are looking for, and you certainly have enticed me, at least my curiosity. How can a werewolf help a gnome?"

"I'll have to think about that. I think that I was just insulted, but I ain't sure. Oh, well, please come with me and let my father explain the full extent of our problem."

"OK, can I bring my cart, or do we need to park it somewhere?"

"You can bring your cart most of the way, just follow me. By the way, my name is Cummy."

Cummy led us off the road and into a valley that was located between two gently sloping hills. We came to a wooden door that suggested a tunnel tall enough for the gnomes, but without wasted space beyond that. It would have been impossible for us in our human form to walk upright, so I told Cummy that we would follow her in our wolf form. I also warned her that we would not be able to talk in that form, though we would be able to understand her.

I discussed with my wives the problem of what to do with the children, and we decided that Jonga would stay with them while the rest of us followed Cummy. She led us through the door into a long tunnel that spiraled down deeper and deeper. We followed for what seemed like miles, though I am not sure exactly how far we actually went. Eventually we came into a large chamber with a ceiling high enough to allow us to stand as humans, so we shape-shifted to that form.

Cummy led us to a dais that held a high wooden chair that just had to be a throne. Seated on it was a little man with a beard split in two and curling around behind the chair. I knew it was a man because Cummy said, "That is my father sitting in the Chair of State." She introduced us to Auckalog, naming him the king of the Under-the-Silver-Hill Gnomes.

I bowed and asked, "How may we serve you, King Auckalog?"

"We are in need of someone to help us fight off a marauding band of revenants (a kind of zombie) that has attacked us over the last five months. They have the appalling practice of kidnapping our people and dragging them to their camp where they eat their brains and turn them into more revenants. So far, they have converted 27 of our people to their side, and we can't sustain such losses much longer.

"We want you to help us fight. We have heard that you defeated a bunch of fairies and recently defeated a monster dragon, so we hoped that you would agree to help us. Will you join us?"

"Yes, but the first thing we must do is get our children to a safe place. They are still at our cart with only one of the women to protect them. We need to bring them down here where we can protect them from harm. The children are supposed to be invulnerable, but we have never tested that, and I don't want to start now."

"Certainly, bring them here. How can we help?"

"Send several of your people with Orda to carry them back down here, since the children are too young to walk this far."

"Of course. Cunny, pick enough people to go with you to do as Vilkatas wishes. Talk to Orda for details."

Orda and Cunny stepped to one side to discuss what needed to be done while Trudy and I continued to talk to King Auckalog. So far, the gnomes had fought the revenants with clubs and axes. They had disposed of the enemy's body by chopping it into small pieces and burning it to ashes. This has been the only way they could keep the revenant from reainimating. The gnome experience has been that the revenants are magical beings but have no magical abilities.

Trudy said that we, as werewolves, were ideally suited to fight revenants, since we could bite their arms and legs off, and the gnomes could burn them. We decided that we would use that strategy the next time the revenants attacked.

We spent a very pleasant four days with the gnomes while we waited for a revenant attack. The fourth evening we were there, a gnome came running into the chamber to announce that the revenants had finally arrived. We four quickly shifted to wolf form and prepared to attack the invaders.

King Auckalog sent his troops to their defensive positions and sent Cunny to guide us to the best place for us to hit the revenants. They came pouring down the tunnel, led by a converted gnome. The invaders moved at a slow, shambling pace, but they were inexorable in their advance. It reminded me of a column of ants on the prowl.

We waited in a small chamber with several tunnels branching from it. Each of us lurked in a tunnel entrance, waiting for the first enemy to appear. We were not apprehensive as we waited because we were so sure that we had the superior fighting ability. If anything, we were bored, since we couldn't talk to each other while in wolf form.

Finally they came. We let as many into the small chamber as would fit and still leave us operating room. Our plan was to bite off an arm or a leg as fast as we could, and to continue with each revenant until we had rendered that one totally helpless before moving on to the next victim. Shit! Yech! I had forgotten just how vile decaying flesh could taste. Oh, well, now was not the time to be too picky. We tore into the revenants as fast as new ones showed up, and the incapacitated ones were dragged off to be burned by the gnomes.

I lost count of the number of ex-people I chomped on that night, but I was days getting the foul taste completely removed from my mouth. Nobody kept a rigorous count, but I am certain that there were between 200 and 300 of the filthy creatures that we killed that night. We kept at it until the last of the revenants was destroyed. I can't say that any of us enjoyed the experience, but we all felt a sense of satisfaction over our accomplishment that night.

There was a big celebration in the Under-the-Silver-Hill tunnels that night. We were wined and dined with almost excessive good cheer. King Auckalog insisted that we had wiped out all of the revenants, but, if we hadn't, the gnomes could surely handle any remnant that might be left.

We stayed with the gnomes for four more days, then I realized how late in the summer it was getting, so I reluctantly had us head back for the channel. The trip was pleasant and I vowed to return another time, but, right now, I was in a hurry to see how Holly was getting along.

We pulled out onto the beach near the water line and I called out, "ARE'LE'ROO! ARE'LE'ROO!"

I heard a voice answering me, "WHO IS CALLING FOR ARE'LE'ROO?"

I answered, "HIS FRIEND, VILKATAS, IS CALLING HIM!"

"VERY WELL! I'LL RELAY YOUR MESSAGE!"

"THANK YOU!"

We set up camp and waited to see what would happen. That evening, after dark, a voice called out to me from the ocean, "Vilkatas, are you ready to return to the other shore?"

"Yes, I am. What would you have me do?"

We arranged for Are'le'roo to lay his tail on the beach and I led the team of horses up onto his flattened tail. We had little trouble getting the cart into position, so Are'le'roo pulled away from shore with us on his back. We talked about the things that my wives and I had done while we were on the island. Are'le'roo was especially interested in our contact with the gnomes and the revenants, but he was amused by our adventure with the dragon. As before, it took most of the night for us to reach the other shore, but we left our friend with heartfelt farewells as we drove up onto the grassland.

We headed for Sagro's home at a reasonable speed. It wasn't necessary to be in a great hurry at this point since we could count on two more months of good traveling weather before we would run into problems of that sort. We were riding along, minding our own business, when we were approached by nine men. We were not moving fast, so the men had no difficulty in reaching our team and grabbing the halters of the lead horses.