Chapter 59

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." R. Frost

I told Billy to wait. I'd take the first shot. I would start with the big guy and he was to start with the guy at the end. I got ready, steadied my breathing and squeezed the trigger. The Dragonov was quiet. The big guy went down, followed by the guy at the end. I took out the next two on my side of the grouping before the women could even drop to the ground. Billy was doing an expert job on the other side. We were down to two when one guy grabbed a young girl of about 13 and hid behind her. The angle was not good for me and I called to Billy as he dropped the other guy in his tracks. He said he didn't have a good lock on the guy either. I told him to just follow my lead. I stood up ghillie suit and all. Everyone noticed me. The women covered up and started wailing. The guy turned toward me and held the girl in front of him. From under the suit I pulled the Glock. I walked slowly toward the guy. I stopped about 20 yards from him.

"Pull your silencer and shoot one in the air" I whispered. A couple seconds later I heard the roar of the rifle. The guy naturally turned and at that moment I leveled the Glock. I put one 9mm wadcutter right into his left ear. He dropped like a stone. I put the Glock away and addressed the group of women.

"Take what you can from these men. You may use your knives on them if you wish, but I assure you they are dead. They can harm you no longer. I am sent to direct you to Elmo. When you leave this valley, turn a bit toward the setting sun. Travel 1/2 day towards the setting sun. You will see many trees standing close in a line. They will no longer have their hats of green. If you go along this wall you cannot penetrate you will find a gateway. You will be welcomed in that gateway to enter the kingdom of a mighty warrior. Elmo and Zena and the rest are there. They will tell you of the people. You already can see that the people are protected there. They protect all who are weak and weary. You will be asked to stay. You should accept that request but you are not required to. We will be watching."

I started up the hill then dropped to the ground. I scooted out of the way and made my way to the top of the hill to the south. I carefully turned to look and saw some of the women just now moving over to the spot I'd been standing. Others were searching the grass around them. Still others were tearing away the belonging of the dead wanderers. In no time they would all be stripped bare. I rolled over the top of the hill and saw Billy standing by his horse. He'd already removed the ghillie suit and was ready to ride. As soon as I was clear, I jumped up and was out of the suit in no time flat. We were ready to ride. We skirted the vale and got back on our track quickly. Soon we were riding toward the secret entrance. An hour later we were headed back through the tunnel. We had to dry, curry comb, brush and put away the horses. We didn't want anyone to be aware that we'd left. We got the weapons and the ghillie suits back just in time. We were in the weapons container when Dina came in.

"Oh there you are. For the longest time I couldn't feel you, but now I got you. I am getting better at finding you." She said as she jumped up and wrapped her slender legs around me. She wiggled her chest to rub her little titties on my chest and I fingered her ass and pussy while I held her. She was starting to squirm when Billy reminded me we needed to get outside and be seen. I kissed her hard and sucked her tongue into my mouth. I didn't hold the kiss long and I released her and set her down. I could smell her arousal but we had other things to do. We left the cave hand in hand.

I found Shamona and told her that Elmo and Zena would have the company of their relatives and others from the camp as they had been rescued and sent this way by the earth spirits. I told her to tell them and then Shanklin would confirm it. I sent a though message to HAL.

HAL will you please have Shanklin go in a trance and have him see the group of women coming toward the camp. Give him a vision of the slaughter of the wanderers and the ground spirit rising up. Give him the words spoken so he can verify the events. This will make the shaman stronger.

Michael, I can do anything you wish. That request will be easy to comply with. Your thought processes still amaze us. We are again gratified at the progress you have shown and continue to make. You might want to take some time to talk with Elmo today. Find out where he stands, what he knows and the lore he can share.

Good idea, HAL Thanks.

With that I headed over to where Elmo was. He and Zena were resting with a group of villagers. Elmo was telling tales of adventure. He was a storyteller! That is just what we needed here. Someone who can tell the teaching tales and help the children to grow in mind as well as body. I carefully looked him over. I judged him to be close to or even over 50. If he was, he'd be the oldest male besides me 'n' Billy. I noticed his hands were scarred badly. When I asked about them he hid them behind his back. I assured him it was not a problem here.

"I not able to work any more" he said. "Please don't make me leave. I decide to stay and urge my family to stay too. I just got hurt and cannot make knife any more. " a tear streaked his dusty cheek.

"You were a knapper of flint, weren't you?" I asked kindly.

"Yes, I made knife and spear head. I even learn how to make small pieces very sharp. Not have use, but easy for me to make. Hurt hands 2 summers ago. Lermo take me in and hunt for Zena and me."

"It's all right. I have use for you. You will be village storyteller. And you can teach someone to work the flint. You will be teacher. How about that? Would you like to be teacher, you and Zena?"

"Oh yes we like that very much. Bring much happiness to village. Elmo knows many stories can tell. Keep little ones happy. Learn much."

"That's good. Now I want you to start now. You can make up a story telling how you were rescued. You learned many things and you tell them in a story. I know you are the best one for the job."

With that taken care of I decided to make a list of possible apprentices. And while I'm thinking about it I need to get apprentices for several of the trades. Fletchers were going to be needed for make arrows, now that we have a knapper to make arrowheads. We had Lumberjacks for harvesting the forest and farmers for growing the food. Hunters were already overstocked, we just needed to keep up with attrition. I seemed to be getting a headache so I decided to decide another day. I probably was hungry. We'd missed lunch with our little foray so I went out to the community kitchen to see if there were any leftovers. When I got there, I walked up to the counter just as Amna turned around with a big bowl of stew and some of the berry punch they were so good at making.