The Project

Chapter 15

The project Chapter 15

Alex found a note written by Kelly stating;

"Alex, don't leave this place without me. I've got something very personal to take care of, and queen Breca and Mullein say they can help. Don't worry, I'm not sick or anything like that, I've just got to get some things right in my head.

Later….Kelly"

He shrugged,

"Well…Whatever." So together, he and Fergus set out to see what Gwyn Wood had to offer. The palace and governmental area was surrounded by a low stone wall roughly chest high, the main gate (which wasn't the one they had originally come through) had two Elvin guards keeping an eye on things. As they approached, one of the guards greeted Fergus, while the other gave Alex the once over.

"You're that fellow that's come here from that planet the Aos sí ended up on?"

Alex shrugged,

"Yeah I guess so, but they're all gone now." The guard grinned,

"Why do you say that?"

"Well," replied Alex, "You only see elves, fairies, and the like in pictures, or the movies, no one's ever seen them in real life."

"Ahh you think so," replied the guard, "Just because nobody's ever seen them doesn't mean they are not there."

"Well that's true," replied Alex, "But there can't be many if they're still around."

He then had a thought,

"Hey Fergus, if we're going to go walking around, I don't have any money, or what you people use for money." The guard overheard him, and said,

"We tend to frown on people going around here with no money; sometimes the temptation to steal just gets the better of them."

"Hey look!" Exclaimed Alex, "I'm no thief, I'm more than willing to work for gold or whatever it is you guys use for cash around here." Both guards gave him the once over,

"Well there might be a couple things we know about that might put a few weins in your pocket."

"What are they?"

"How good are you with a bow and arrow?" Asked one of the guards.

"Not very good," replied Alex, I've shot them before, but I'm not real accurate."

"Too bad," replied the guard, then speaking to Fergus, he added.

"They've got a Shadox problem out by the crossing; all the farmers are up in arms about it. They've shot a couple, but word is that the pack is pretty sizeable."

Fergus nodded, then asked,

"I take it there's a bounty out?"

"I've heard that the miller's guild is offering five weins for every Shadox head that's brought in," replied the guard.

"A rather tidy sum," responded Fergus.

"What's all this?" Asked Alex,

"Shadox, are animals we have a problem with here on Deneva," replied Fergus.

"That's right," added the guard, "They are nasty buggars, long snouts, tusks they can kill you if you surprise them. They tear up the farmers fields, but they're pretty wary, incredible hearing." Alex thought a moment, so far, he hadn't seen anybody carrying guns just swords and Bowie type knives.

"Care if I give it a try," he asked, "I've got something that might do the trick."

"Doesn't matter to me," replied the guard, go see Deegom Betalok if your serious, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Fergus shook his head,

"Now listen Alex, these Shadox aren't anything to fool with I can't…"

"Don't worry," said Alex, I need to get back to the ship and get something, I guarantee it will do the job."

Alex noticed that Fergus seemed to have some "pull" around here getting them fixed up with a small wagon pulled by a Centaur named Drott. Returning to the Karla-Ann, Alex retrieved his AR, and shotgun, along with his knife, and extra ammunition. Both Fergus and Drott had never seen anything like the rifle, and were unsure of its function

"Let's just say this weapon made bows and arrows obsolete on my world," explained Alex. Then Drott took them to a large mill, next to the river. Upon entering, Alex was astonished to see that the mill was powered not by water power, but steam. They then sought out Deegom Betalox, who ran the place.

Deegom was only slightly taller than Alex, and another elf. Although he wasn't overly muscular, Alex had no doubt Deegom could beat the crap out of him. After Fergus introduced Alex, Deegom looked him over carefully.

"I heard there were visitors other than the Golians up at the palace, so what can I do for you?"

"Alex want's to make a few Weins by taking care of the Shadox problem," explained Fergus. Deegom studied Alex a little more, then said,

"Go see Yufic Mooncalled, they've been bothering his place lately, he can better direct you, tell him you've talked to me." So now it was off to Yific's place. As they rode in the bumpy wagon, Alex observed the countryside.

"The roads were all paved with flat stones interlocked with each other, and instead of just following the terrain, the road cut through small hills, and ran flat over "fills" that leveled out the low spots. In asking Fergus about it, the Leprechaun hinted that magic had been involved with the road building.

Alex also noticed large mushrooms that were as high as trees,

"Those are Sensal," remarked Fergus, we get a lot of products from them, but only those with licenses from the witches league are authorized to do so."

Alex chuckled,

"Sounds like they have scam going there, probably take a big cut out of everything someone gets for "harvesting" whatever it is they take from them."

"Not really," replied Fergus, they're more concerned that people know what they are doing, improper harvesting techniques can easily kill a plant, and everyone you see has been here since every one of us."

The countryside looked very neat and orderly, very green, but he also spotted vegetation consisting of yellows and oranges as well. They finally arrived at Yufic's place where they found him working a small forge. After the introductions, Alex asked,

"I didn't think you elves went out much for smithing, and metal work." Yufic snorted,

"I don't know where you heard that friend, but those damn dwarves have nothing on us, here take a look at this," with that, he pulled a wicked knife from a sheath at his side. Alex studied it for a moment. Normally he would have tested the blade with his thumb, but just looking at the thing said,

"Touch me and I'll cut you to the bone." The metal resembled Damascus steel and looked very well made. The hilt closely resembled a K-Bar with its thick leather washer construction. Alex then asked,

"That's a cool knife sir, where could I get one?" Yufic studied him for a moment, then replied,

"You take care of everyone of those Shadox pestering my crops, and I make one for you."

"I don't understand," replied Alex, "Are you a farmer, or a blacksmith?" Yufic put his hand on Alex's shoulder,

"Friend, farming is my livelihood. Knife making is my passion. Now if there are no more questions, it's getting close to the time of day those damn Shadox are out and about. By the way, what do you plan to kill them with?"

He retrieved his AR and shotgun along with the shoulder bag of ammunition and showed them to Yufic. The elf gave him a puzzled look, then looked at Fergus,

"Is this some sort of magic device?"

"He claims bows, arrows swords and the like are obsolete where he comes from. I am no more familiar of these things than you are Yufic," stated Fergus.

"Is there a tree or something I can climb into?" Said Alex, "I understand these animals have a good sense of smell, but if I can get above them I can pick them off." Yufic looked at him again,

"Yeaaah, I think we can find you a nice tree."

Yufic suggested that Fergus and Drott wait at the house while he took Alex back to the edge of a medium sized field where there were tracks and rooted up ground.

"What exactly do you grow?" Asked the teen. Yufic reached down and pulled up what looked like a giant peanut.

"These are called "Plota's" right now they're still growing," explained the elf. "When this outer casing turns orange, the tubers inside are ripe, when you are finished, I'll give you some they are very popular, and quite tasty."

Alex selected a tree on the edge of the field that he could climb. With his AR, and shotgun slung over his shoulders, Alex worked his way up a fork in the tree and made himself comfortable. Calling up to the teen, Yufic said,

"I'll leave you to your hunting now, good luck."

Nothing happened for awhile, and Alex found himself starting to nap, when he suddenly heard chuffing noises coming from below him. Looking down, he saw several creatures that resembled a cross between a pig and a dog. Long snouts almost like an elephant's trunk only stubby. Pointed ears like a boxer, and legs like a dogs, in fact these animals looked like a Labrador with a wild boars head.

The animals seemed agitated, but others were busily digging up plota's with their snouts and tusks. As quietly as he could, Alex slowly charged his rifle, and took aim at one of the animals that was digging. "Bam!" and the Shadox started to run, but keeled over and died. The rest of the pack stopped what they were doing, but didn't run which was what he was afraid of. Taking advantage of their ignorance, Alex quickly took aim, and began targeting as many as he could get a bead on. One of the animals was only wounded, and began yipping, this caused the others to go into a frenzy, and attack the hapless Shadox.

Taking full advantage of this, Alex emptied one magazine, on the pack, and quickly re-loaded. Since he couldn't take the time to take careful aim, Alex sighted anywhere he could on their dark brown bodies, wounding many. This caused even more frenzy, as the remaining animals began to attack their wounded pack members. Alex went through another twenty round magazine, then switching to his shotgun, finished off the screaming animals, with only two escaping. Reloading the AR, he waited for close to half an hour, to make sure all the Shadox were truly dead. Just as he was about to climb down he heard voices coming towards him.

Remaining where he was, Alex saw Drott, pulling his little wagon, with Yufic, Fergus, and another elf riding in it. Yufic looked up at Alex and exclaimed,

"We heard the noise from the house, then all that shrieking and yelping. Frankly, we thought we'd find you torn to shreds." Then both elves and Fergus cautiously approached the scene of the c*****e, poking the bodies with a stick. As he climbed down, Alex explained what had happened to the incredulous faces of Fergus, and the elves, even Drott, commented on the incredible sight.

Yufic uttered a low whistle,

"Eumbria wept. By the deities what did you destroy these creatures with?"

Alex held up his rifle, along with a single round.

"With this, you saw it, it's not magic, if that's what you're thinking, it's called a rifle, it shoots these bullets, and this is called a shotgun it fires these shotgun shells." The elves looked at the firearms like they would bite them, but didn't say a word, just staring at Alex with fear in their eyes.

"Nobody will ever believe this was possible," exclaimed Yufic, "Let's toss these animals on the wagon here; I want Deegom to see this." Carefully stacking the dead Shadox on the back of the wagon, over the protests of Drott, they made their way up to the mill. Along the way, Yufic introduced his brother Reggin, who worked the adjoining farm. He also told Alex,

"Friend, for what you have done, I will create a magnificent blade,"

"Well if you do," replied Alex, "I really liked that handle on yours; many of the knives where I come from have similar handles."

"So it shall be," replied the elf.

Like the others, Deegom Betalok couldn't believe what he was looking at as well, the wagon now leaving a trail of blood dripping on the ground. It had also started to draw onlookers who gathered around the gory sight.

"Well I count fourteen animals here," said Deegom, it looks like the guild owes you seventy weins, I will see to it that your reward is sent to…Uh, where is it you're staying?"

"At one of the guest houses up at the palace," replied Alex, Deegom gave him a surprised look,

"You are a guest of the queen?"

"Yeah, we arrived a couple of days ago,"

"I thought you were one of those Golians," replied Deegom.

"Naw, two of us are from the planet earth, we have a couple androids with us who are from a place called Xindus, in fact, the queen and her Prime Minister are talking with them right now about building a couple spacecraft to travel between here and Doradus."

"Well I wouldn't know anything about that," replied the miller, "But tell me, would you be interested in making a little more gold?"

"What? Shooting more Shadox?" Questioned Alex,

"Perhaps, but…Well let's just say I have…Friends. Do you know where the "Moon Spinner" is?" Fergus glared at Deegom, and shot back,

"You don't want to send him there, it's not the kind of establishment honest folk are found in."

Alex's ears immediately perked up,

"What is it, some sort of "tit" bar?" Both the elf and Leprechaun gave him strange looks,

"It is a place where Succubi frequent," replied Fergus matter-of-factly."

"What! Exclaimed Alex, "Prostitutes?" Both Elf and Leprechaun burst out laughing.