Elf Killers

by Phipps, Carol Marrs

  "My word, Roseen. What do they need my opinion for? Alister knows more about building than I do, and Oisin's older..."

  "Yes," she said, giving his arm a pat, "but as you well know, we're all in this together, and since you're in charge of the shawkyn spooghey, your opinion is particularly important."

  "Well then, let's get up there," he said, heaving a sigh. "Just let me see to Baase for a moment." He paused briefly to think of hunting in Baase's mind.

  Baase wheeled at once and dashed away for the tall grass.

  Olloo watched his bond mate vanish into the big bluestem.

  "What's wrong, Olloo?"

  "Maybe nothing."

  "But you're concerned, anyway," she said as she turned to the rock and started to climb.

  "Yea. Maybe a bit. I've been seeing a strange strike falcon, not one of ours..."

  "Is it out there now?" she said, looking out across the Strah. "Should you 'ave let Baase go out on a hunt?"

  "I don't reckon he's in danger..."

  "Where's it been showing up? Near the mews, the houses?"

  "In my head..."

  "Oh!" she said, recovering from a startled look. "You mean Baase put the thought picture in your head?"

  Olloo nodded. "He keeps doing it, but he's not giving me the slightest clue about it. I don't even know if it's a real bird. You reckon he's dreamed her up?"

  "Her?"

  "Yea. I'm pretty sure about that, but I can't begin to tell you why. Maybe he's made sure that I understand that. You sure can't tell the sexes apart on looks alone. But that really bothers me..."

  "Why?"

  "What if he is after a mate in the wild? What would that do? Everything I've seen leads me to think that they mate for life..."

  "Oh, I see," she said, taking his hand and squeezing it. "You've been so attached to him."

  "It could be worse than that. It could undo everything we're doing here."

  Roseen paused to catch her breath at the top of Carraig Faire. She looked far out over the Strah and pictured her own Caggey.

  "Well there you are," said Kieran roundly. "We'd nearly decided you all needed some supervising. We were just on our way."

  "You seem to be doing well enough," said Olloo as a faint blush came and went. "I can't imagine what you'd really need me for up here."

  "Your approval, Captain."

  "Captain? How's that?"

  "Lord of the mews, captain of the entire defense of Baile Tuath," said Oisin, as he, Kieran and Alister grandly doffed their hats and bowed. "We need you to inspect our work."

  Olloo threw back his head and laughed out at the sight of them. "If you must, but I'm no lord and captain."

  "Very well, Professor," said Alister with a completely serious face as he gestured toward a small rugged shed with windows and shutters on all sides. "Right this way."

  Olloo peered in the door at a built-in bunk and a tall stool, nodding at the things he saw.

  "What we haven't got yet is some provision for a bell..." said Alister.

  "Bell? Where would you get a bell? Making the nails was the hardest part of all this, wasn't it?"

  "Very well, maybe someone could fashion a horn..."

  "To warn the trolls that we see them? You've got a bunk. We need two people up here at a time, one of them for a runner to warn everyone. That way we'll have an element of surprise in our favor. Anyway, this is a perfect watch house. You all did a grand job."

  "Well now, see, Professor?" said Kieran. "That's why we needed your opinion."

  "I give up," said Olloo with a laugh as he took Roseen's hand and turned away, leaving the three of them to hammer at final things, here and there.

  They walked the length of the great rock, gazing out over the Great Strah. "Lord, Captain...Professor..." said Olloo shaking his head the moment they were beyond hearing.

  "They were teasing you, of course, but they still meant what they said, Olloo," said Roseen.

  They climbed down the far end of the rock, enjoying the peace of the late afternoon. "You saw the swing Brenden was making?" he said when they neared the bottom.

  "Yea."

  "Well, he's got it up in the grape arbor. Would you like to try it out with me, this evening after supper?"

  "I'd love to..."

  Suddenly two strike falcons wending through the grass toward the rock caught his eye. "Look 'ee yonder," he said with a nod.

  Roseen took her bow from her shoulder.

  "No, no," he said, resting his hand on her arm, "It's all right. It's Baase and I'm right certain that's the very bird he's been showing me."

  "Oh Olloo...but how do you know? I can barely see their heads through all the big bluestem."

  "He just flashed a dream picture of her in my thoughts."

  Baase stepped out of the tall grass and looked straight at Olloo before turning back and vanishing.

  Roseen saw Olloo's stricken look and hugged him soundly, hoping he would take some measure of comfort from her.

  "I'm fine now, Roseen. Really," he said at last. "The shadows are starting to get long and we both have chores."

  Roseen took his hand as they stepped off the great rock with a bound. "Olloo," she said, "I would really enjoy trying out the new swing, but I'd understand if you don't feel like it."

  He came to a stop with a sigh, glancing away into the grass before looking into her eyes. "You just plainly seem to understand me, Roseen. And you're generous. And I want more than anything to sit in that swing with you tomorrow evening and watch it grow dark. But this evening when I'm done with my chores, I think I want to study the tall grass until it's pitch black out. But you already see how it all is, and it really makes me want to swing with you all the more."

  "Will you walk with me the rest of the way home?"

  "I'd love to."

  Chickens clucked and sprang up, trotting away from their dust baths in the path as they neared the houses. Bullfrogs began their evening's singing from Queen Vorona's new fish pond. The sheep were coming in from the pasture. Their one bell began tinkling furiously as the flock raced to find feed in the manger.

  Long before they reached the far end of Roseen's lane, Donachan took up his whistle and began to play. Soon there was a bodhran, rum-didy, rum-didy, rum-tumpa-tum...

  "Didn't we leave Alister up on the rock?" said Olloo.

  "That's Alister's drum, but that's Rory. He's been a-keeping time for Donachan, lately." Before long they had joined arms and were skipping in time the rest of the way to her gatepost.

  Ursula gave a squeal at the sight of them and did a cartwheel in the yard as her fuzzy new strike falcon dashed after her. "Look how strong Graith is getting!" she cried.

  "He's magnificent," called Olloo. "And just how are my most promising bond mates this evening?" he said with a bow, turning to Sorcha and Tashtey.

  "Oh go on!" cried Sorcha. "You only say that because we're the best." She turned to Roseen. "He's like that, full o' hogwash, but he's mighty good fellow, Roseen. Ursula and I hope you keep him."

  "Sorcha!" gasped Roseen.

  Olloo laughed and squeezed her hand. "Yea," he whispered. "I hope you keep me too." Then he quickly bowed and strode away before she could reply.

  Chapter 19

  The goose and the gander came waddling straight for Oisin with their bills thrust out, just above the ground. They turned at once and halted in salute, pointing their heads at the sky as he went by them. At the pop of gravel just beyond the step, Doona looked up from the batter she was pouring and smiled as the whang yanked the latch.

  "Well, I'm home," said Oisin, kissing her lightly on the neck, "and I love you." He paused, admiring the sight of her as she nestled the iron kettle into the bed of coals over the salamander before turning to the basin to wash his hands. He took a deep breath. "Is that the deer?"

  She nodded as she stood up, wiping her hands on her apron.

  "Well, I've never smelt anything so good. What a joy to have wed someone who cooks as well as Princess Mom.
How big a piece did you cut off, enough for four, maybe?"

  "Four?" she said as she handed him a towel. "Something sure made you hungry."

  "Oh," he said, looking down his front, "am I drooling on myself?"

  "Go on."

  "Well I practically am, I can tell you. But I feel kind of mean..."

  "Why?" she said as she dipped water into a kettle of peas. "It's all right if you're not frothing at the mouth."

  "Well," he said as he sat at the board, "I've invited Olloo and Roseen to eat with us, and I didn't ask, first. Do you mind terribly?"

  "Mind? Are you kidding? You know how hard it is to get Olloo away from the mews. I'm just surprised he agreed to. It's not been that long since he ate supper here. You reckon the work's getting to him, or is it Roseen?"

  "Well, I didn't invite him for either of those reasons."

  "As I said, I'm glad you managed, but has something gone wrong?"

  "Yea, I'd say so. Baase went wild and Olloo's having a hard time."

  "What, got mean or ran off?"

  "Went back to the wild. You can imagine what that might mean."

  Doona shifted the kettle in the bed of coals, sending a shower of sparks racing up the flue. She lifted the lid and peeped at her batter. "I can picture all kinds of bad things it might mean," she said as she wiped her hands and took a seat across the board from him, "but right now, I'm worried about Olloo. He's put so very much of himself into those birds."

  "Oh yea. Roseen told me that he'd spent all night, last night and most of today just a-staring off into the Strah."

  "She's a sweetheart. And she's got a level head. But I don't understand why Baase would just up and go wild. Olloo is always just as easy as can be with him. That's how he managed to get close enough to start all this with the shawkyn spooghey in the first place. My word! If Baase suddenly went back, every other strike falcon could just as well. And where would that leave the wee handful of us with all those hundreds of Marfora Siofra out there?"

  Oisin rose with a sigh and spit into the fire. He thoughtfully shifted his cud to the other side of his mouth as he came back to his spot on the bench and threw his leg over. "That's a possibility, all right," he said as he took up her hand, "but let's not get carried away. Olloo's guess is that he took up with a wild hen. He also guesses that they mate for life, but he'd be the first to admit that he has no way of knowing that."

  "So Baase might come back?"

  "Sure, might..." he said, looking up at the trumpeting of the geese. There was a knock. "Well, here they be." He rose and opened the door, letting in more sound from Vorona's bullfrogs, already baying, even though it was still quite light out. Doona gave Olloo an immediate hug before holding him at arms' length for a moment to peer into his face.

  "Now what is this for?" said Olloo. "You'd think I hadn't been here for better than a year or something..."

  "I'm so glad Oisin asked you all," said Doona, taking Roseen by the hand and giving it a special squeeze. "I've been wanting the two of you for supper ever since the pair of you... Well. Anyway, this a nice deer roast, which certainly beats the mutton we've been a-having."

  Doona heaped onto the board an astonishing bounty for having had such short notice about guests. Besides the huge roast, she set out steaming bread from Baile Tuath's first crop of barley ever, peas, turnip greens and honey. It didn't take long to silence everyone as they addressed their trenchers, savoring every morsel.

  "This roast is wonderful, Doona," said Roseen.

  "You ought to see what's still hanging in the well," said Doona. "I swear it's the biggest deer I've ever seen. It's really too big an animal for this time of year. We'll have to stuff ourselves every day so none of it spoils."

  "Must 'ave been one of the big Strah deer instead of a little maidenhair red, aye?" said Olloo as he raised a big piece of roast on the point of his knife. “You're lucky. And skilled, I might add. I don't think there's a soul who's managed to get one yet, even with the strike falcons. Of course I see where the wild birds have feasted on them, every once in a while..." His voice trailed off as he stopped chewing to stare across the room.

  "Oisin's told me about Baase, Olloo," said Doona. "I'm so sorry..."

  "Thank you, but it doesn't matter how I feel about it. It's what Baase's running off means to every other austringa as well as to all of Baile Tuath..."

  "Sure, but we don't know yet that Baase won't come back after mating season. And if he does, we really won't have a problem, will we?"

  "I don't know, Doona. I reckon Baase could come back and be just as he was before he left, but if a wild born creature goes wild once, it usually keeps doing it until the day it stays wild. It's not like strike falcons have been raised by Elves for generations. I suppose we should expect that if they were laid in the wild, they'd have a little streak of wild in them, ready to cause problems any time, even if they did hatch under our care." He gave a sigh and shook his head. "I swear. We should've gone out and shot every last one of the wild ones, the moment we got all of our eggs."

  Oisin swallowed the last of his bread, licked his knife, sheathed it and pushed his trencher away. "Now do I hear you taking the blame for all this, Olloo?"

  "Well, they did put me in charge of..."

  "Righty-o..." he said as he leant back to work a huge pinch of red maidenhair leaves into his cheek." And you're the best man for the job. But we're all in this together, and you shouldn't feel responsible for every single thing that happens...wouldn't you say, Doona?"

  Doona looked up and gave a nod.

  "Now, we all thought it was best to leave the wild ones alone, so long as they were well away from Baile Tuath. And you know very well that the majority opinion of the council was that wild strike falcons might make nice things for the trolls to run into, out in the tall grass, and that it might come in very handy someday to have some spare birds out there, if it turns out that we don't quite know what we're doing."

  "Yea, like letting them run off in search of hens," said Olloo as he spread honey over one last piece of bread. "And if that's going to happen as each of our bond mates matures, we'll be dangerously short-handed every spring and summer at the very least, and probably all the time. If they don't pair for life, they stay together for at least two years while the brood grows to adult size. We just might be unable to deal with trolls, all over again."

  "But Olloo, why would all the birds want wild hens?" said Doona as she got a handful of candles out of the bluestem wicker safe on the wall. "I'll bet Baase would be here now if there were enough full grown hens in the mews. He's brother to the only hens his age..."

  "Yea. And for all we know, they may run off too, just like the cocks."

  "Well anyway," she said, "the younger bond mates have lots of unrelated birds their age, right here. Next year, even Baase and his sisters could find mates right here in the mews, don't you reckon?"

  For a moment, Olloo was mesmerized by Roseen's dainty hand in his and by the swarm of flashing fireflies, as if all the heavens had come alive and were dancing just outside the window. "I hope you're right, Doona," he said, snapping to. "You certainly could be. Meanwhile, I'm left without my bond mate and you and Lilee may well be in the same spot, tomorrow."

  "My! That is true, isn't it?"

  "Well, it has to be a possibility," said Oisin, rising for his first spit. "So what's to keep us from penning up Onner and Cairys in the mews until late summer?"

  "I hate to make it hard to see your lightning bugs," she said, taking her candles to the fire place, "but I've just got to see to clear these dishes. We'll snuff them when we’re done..."

  "Let me help," said Roseen, standing up at once.

  "Now just stay put, Roseen. You're already helping by soothing my poor brother. No, no. Sit down," she said firmly. Shadows leaped and waved about the room as she brought the lit candles from the hearth and began setting them out. "Well, if the Elf Killers show up, I'm going to want Onner by my side, not penned up in the mews."

 
"Right," said Olloo, "but you wouldn't be a-keeping her shut up during a troll raid anyway, even if you did have her penned. But, if you don't shut her in now, she mightn't be here at all when the curses come in the night."

  "Trolls or not, I can't bear to have her away from me,” she said with a sigh as she turned away from the board with her stack of platters and trenchers.

  Fnana-fnyr stood at the edge of the great putrid shaft to the caverns below in the back of the Hooter Cave, the door to the Land of the Dead, staring into its bottomless inkiness. Not long ago, Fnanar had sent their fmoo that way. And now, thanks to Fnanar, their da and Ninar-dern were down there as well. Soon he would be the very last of his family. He hammered his knuckles against his chest as every hair stood up on his arms. "When I step-out of the Hooter Cave," he snarled, hissing spit between his clenched teeth, "I'll hunt-grab thunder-jump Fnanar all to head-smash! I'll cut-out his heart and juicy-champ it and throw him-down this-hole." He turned on his heel and tramped out under the stars and clambered onto Dyr's rock.

  Once more he furiously drummed his chest. "Dyrney dy-ri-ja!" he roared into the echoing trees. "Dyrney come! Dyrney Fnanar pirr-fey! Dyrney head-smash Fnanar! Dyr-jiny dy-ri-ja!"

  Dyr-jiny hurried forth and planted his staff at the foot of the rock as he began springing up and down chanting, "Ay-ooo, ay-ooo, ay-ooo, ay-ooo..."

  "Ay-ooo!" bellowed Fnana-fnyr. "Dyrney dy-ri-ja!"

  Soon every brute was standing before him, bobbing in time, chanting, "Ay-ooo, ay-ooo, ay-ooo, ay-ooo..."

  "Ay-ooo, ay-ooo, ay-ooo!" cried Fnana-fnyr, suddenly changing to, "Ooot-ooot, ooot-ooot, ooot-ooot..." as he sprang from his rock to land beside Dyr-jiny and join in the bouncing and chanting, "Ay-ooo, ay-ooo, ay-ooo..."

  Suddenly they all froze as Fnana-fnyr pummeled his chest once more. "Dyrney!" he cried as he paused to pass 'round a glare at each of them. "It be plenty moon-go-round to jump-grab Fnanar and his diggy-finger-nose buttocks and head-smash them into the Land of the Dead to grovel-serve Da and Ninar-dern until Arrdsey-phnyr-phey-fne someday gives a holdy-nose-up head-nod. I will juicy-champ Fnanar's heart! When his-heart be my-turd, we will heave-dump him and his diggy-finger-nose buttocks into the Land of the Dead!"