Chapter 17 ( Three Elves and An Evil Fox )

Back in the salt museum…

Kerari , Valudaz and Sherari readied their weapons and braced themselves for the advance of the creatures that came from the shadows.” Melwreth, that armor will have to wait until we kill this thing." He said over his shoulder. From out of the shadows came a beautiful female with whiskers ,white fox ears and a white long tail.” How dare you take my treasures!” She yelled as she advanced their way.” These are Mine! Mine! I found them, they make me happy!” Then in a great plume of smoke she transformed into a large nine foot tall upright fox with nine tails .

 Turning her backside to them , each of her tails began spinning. Valudaz stepped forward and stomped the floor sending a shockwave knocking the beast off balance and stepped in and severed the tails from her body.” Screaming in rage she turned and slashed at him wildly while Kerari snuck up behind her and began stabbing her through the rib cage with her blades. Slowly ,the beast began to weaken when suddenly she keened a large wail calling her kits into the room. Sherari rolled her eyes slightly and huffed as she shifted forms and began to bite and slash at the young ones dispatching them quickly. Then turned her fangs to the beast , with three last slashes of her claws she grasped her and held on with her claws and teeth growling as Valudaz shifted his weight and stabbed upwards into the beasts heart. Pulling Excalibur free from the wound, the beast dropped to the floor gurgling her last breath. Blood spreading out around her clothes, soaking her white fur as she slowly turned back into human form. Kerari bent down and riffled through her pockets and found a ring and three sapphires the size of her thumb exquisitely cut. 

One was tear drop shaped the other was emperor cut and the other was a classic cut. Moving to her armor she smashed the glass and pulled the armor free and placed it into her bags along with the sword and dagger. She quickly thumbed the katana from it's sheath and saw the blade was pristine. There was a soft pale yellow glow that emanated from the blade before sliding it back into the sheath. They moved out of the room and back into the corridor heading downward. They began to pass trucks and mining equipment as they descended lower into the mine. Kerari and Daz both made a mental note to check and see if they would still work. they seemed to not be rusted too badly considering they were encased in tons upon tons of salt.

The trip was uneventful for the rest of the way down to the bottom of the causeway. When at the bottom , they noticed a whole herd of skeletal puckwudgies and began to slash their way through. Kerari laughed out loud as she kicked one off her sword and turned with ease and lopped the head off another and watched them fall to the ground. Daz growled slightly and dispatched a few and turned slightly to see a pack of eight or so jump on Kerari's back and whistled to her sister to come that way. They both edged closer to Kerari who was struggling to get her sword and dagger up as she seemed to be slightly stunned. Daz and Sherari began picking them off one by one and finally at last all the little buggars we silenced to eternal sleep. They all riffled through the rags they wore and found various baubles and coins. Sherari poked her fingers into a pocket of one particularly rank rotten form and poked her fingers through. wincing she began to dry wretch and then turned her head and puked hard.

 Looking at her hand she held four very large diamonds exquisitely crafted by an ancient jeweler. Nodding she put them into her pockets and continued to the next critter. Kerari and Daz found a few things as well. Daz found a small book he thought his mother would enjoy and grabbed it and stuffed it into his satchel to give to her when he went to their apartment in New Orleans. Kerari found a few little sharp needles with what seemed to be a neurotoxin from what she smelled on them. The rogue left them in their quiver and slung the strap over her shoulder and said," I am going to have to have my potions teacher tell me what this compound is. I'm unfamiliar with it's scent."

Looking around quickly, Kerari noticed a large vat of oil and several oil lamps nearby and motioned for them to help her get them lit. They would need more light than her sister’s staff if they were to get all the heavy gold loaded and out of the mine in time to get it to Avalon in three days. Daz found some old wicks stored in a box off the ground and gathered them up for the oil lamps. He sat there and strung each one and filled them with oil that smelled like kerosene. He wrinkled his nose slightly as a he lit them. The acrid smoke turned black and wafted quickly up. Kerari stepped forward and placed the glass covers over the lamp.

They quickly had the lamps lit and Kerari found the vault door and began pulling her lock picks out of her bag. Leaning her head against the door she listened as she turned the wheel.” The door is old tumbler mechanism. I think I can pop the lock if not we are gonna need some serious power to blow it off the hinges and open from the opposite side. “Sher, can you go see if there is something to blow this? Dynomite, C-4, acid, anything," she said and her sister took a lamp and went to search the equipment nearby.

Daz nodded his understanding and stepped back to watch her work. Once again he felt as if he had sensed her energy before this,  but had no memory of her face even though he had known her father quite well. Many years had passed and the ladies couldn’t be more than one thousand five hundred years old. He decided he was going to ask her." Kerari, how do I know you? I have been through a whole lot lately and there is alot I can not remember." He said tentatively. She looked over her shoulder and spoke softly," Daz, I have known you my whole life. I was fifty five years old when you came to this side of Avalon. You and I did a great many things together. I had always thought you were going to be my mate but you never came back to the grove for more than a few days at a time. We shared many fires of Beltane together before you left. I knew you were told by the High Queen to join your family so I never for one second questioned anything." He looked at her and tried his best to recall what she said. " You know, I have some potions in my house that may be able to help you but it will be difficult for you i am sure to remember everything that happened. The compound unlocks your mind to be able to see what you can not remember. I snuck onto a few military bases in my younger years and found many solutions to memory loss and to cause memory loss as well. So if you are ever interested just let me know." She added because she could feel his frustration.

Sherari returned with a few sticks of TNT and handed them to her sister quietly. Moving about just a tad , Kerari bored a hole into the vault door and slid a slender tube of TNT into the door then yelled ,” Fire in the hole as she ran back covering her ears to shield them from the sound of the blast. Daz laughed slightly as he saw the poof of smoke come out of the little hole and then the vault door just gave a final shudder and fell forward off its hinges." That was comical and so very worth it." he said as he waved his hand in front of his face.Waving the smoke away they looked into the room beyond and could not believe their eyes. Besides the gold there were many, many artifacts sealed within the cavern here.

Looking about Sherari came upon a sealed document and began reading,” When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one to dissolve the political bands that held them with one another. To assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitles them. , A decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that they should declare the causes which impelled them to the separation.” With tears in her eyes , she looked up at the other two. “ It says it is the Declaration Of Independence.” I wonder who they were running from . This is so profound, no wonder they hid it in here for an eternity. It has got to be pretty darned important.  Daz spoke up quickly, " They were running from the British. The Brits were quite evil back in the day.“ Looking further they came across many writings. Daz stepped back about twenty feet then turned down a row that seemed to be calling him when he came upon a large row of ancient tomes. Taking a deep breath he began reading the titles off.“ Don Quixote” volumes one and two, “Dante’s inferno”, The Omer and the Odyssey” The Torah” The Haphtorah, The Writings.” He leaned out from behind the books and yelled . “ And it just goes on like this down the row. They go on forever it seems. Someone wanted to save all these books. We need a mage! I bet Rahnyah would have a field day in here. Drow would give his left nut to read these as well." He said in awe.

Kerari , while fingering the binding of the books she murmured slightly to herself and came to books of ancient herbs and her breath caught in her throat, what she knew she learned from word of mouth and trial and error. Here before her lay tome after tome of herbs , oils, pigments and dyes. Looking through them carefully knowing she only had limited space to carry things she decided upon herbs and where they grow and herbal recipe book. Tears of joy fell from her eyes as she decided which ones to gather and which ones she could live without until she came back for them but when she did it would be with Rahnyah or IShellia because she knew they would be able to drop wormholes through out and they could carry things through and pop right back through and keep doing it until they had gathered all the things they wanted or needed. She chose eight books and put them in her satchel.

Back to present day, Rage Gale Keep:

Old Thibideau put the book down on his lap and looked at his old pocket watch and noticed that the time had gotten away from them. “Oh children let’s go have some dinner and then we will continue our story yes?” Trinine popped up and smiled and yelled ,” Momma!” when she turned slightly she realized momma had been there for quite some time.” I love it when Old Thibideau tells us stories, Is this one really about you and father and all of the nobles? Did it really happen? Is that really Rhenna and Robert in the great trees that are twined together through the boughs? Mom, did you really die? What was it like? Dis it feel weird?” Miralania laughed slightly and said, "Slow down young one, let’s go eat some dinner in the main hall and then finish the story shall we?” They all ate dinner and the children talked among themselves at the children’s table. Thibideau smiled quickly. I’m only reading three or four more chapters tonight. We can leave Old Drow for another time.I have spent all day with the children and hardly any work has gotten done. But I must say it has been fun.” He said as he lifted the fork to his mouth. Mira and Alyssa smiled softly and spoke in unison,” They love it when you come and read them the story of how we all ended up here.”

He smiled at them from across the table and looked to Slayde he was slightly greying now but the tincture of everlasting life seemed to be holding off the sickness he had. The lovely cook had laden the table with roasted Beef and mashed potatoes, brown sugar glazed carrots ,baked sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, green beans and a beautiful lasagna and four cakes, two pies and a pudding. The children all gathered around and waited patiently for all the nobles to be seated and the king picked up his fork and speared a large chunk of prime rib. Old Thibideau smirked," Ok you reached first its your turn to say grace." Slayde took a deep breath and smiled. " OK children bow your heads and close your eyes." Even though he left his open." Bless the hands that cooked this food, may it nurish our bodies and help us grow strong." Young Dazmon was so hungry he reached a finger out and dipped it into his potatoes and licked." Slayde smiled and continued on." Bless the lives of the whole world and bless old Thibideau for putting up with these crazy children. Amen." He ended with a smile." OK eat everyone eat!!!" the meal was amazing and the children ate their weight worth quite literally. the servants had to bring more food out twice for them.

 Dinner wrapped up and Cook removed the dishes from the tables. Thibideau patted his stomach and gruffly spoke in his southern drawl. “ Time waits for no man or woman, children grab your blankets and let’s head back to the fire so I can finish tonight’s story. The children hurried to get their blankets and rushed to their pillows where they quickly lay down and pulled up their covers. The old man smiled as he walked to the chair he had been sitting in and picked up the old tome and placed it back on his lap. “ Ok, Now where were we?” He said as he adjusted himself into a comfortable posture.