From the Park County, Powell Tribune, September 28, 4099 (Page 2)
Goblins? In Park County?
Yesterday, at 10:35 AM, a flurry of reports started being made to the authority stations located in and around the lower areas of Park County, Wyoming; at around noon, the reports grew to such a high number that authorities started wondering if a group of pranksters weren't at work in trying to pull an early Halloween scare. The reports that were made to the various stations of lower Park County were much the same; that a group of Goblins, who were wearing various outfits, from army fatigues to tuxedos, and all being said to have a range of skin colors from either plain or medium green, brown, and blue, were seen as entering certain structures or scaring people who were mindlessly walking around, minding their own business.
Only two locations where the reported Goblins were seen as entering have footage of the creatures being in their establishments; all other reported locations have no footage to show that the creatures were in them, which is why most of the authorities think that a majority of the reported sightings are nothing more than a gang-inspired prank. Kay's Jewelers, located in the town of Meeteetse, on Ausable River Drive, and the Walmart located in the town of Wapiti, on Colrain Street Southwest, are the only locations where the sightings have been taken seriously; all other reports have been said to be looked at with a less serious mind. The footage from Kay's Jewelers and the Walmart on Colrain Street Southwest is grainy, but it does show three creatures that seem to match the fabled, legendary little creatures that became apart of folklore in the 12th century.
The Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, located in Mammoth; the Food Lion located in Cody; and a pawnshop called Charles' Pawn 'n' Sell, which is located in southwest Cody, have also been said to be recipients of the Goblins, but none of these establishments have viable security footage that shows the reported creatures as being in them.
As of 2:34 PM, no further reports on the Goblins were made, which does seem to confirm the authorities' assumptions over the reports being pranks. The cease in report-making happened at the time were interest in the creatures reached its peak; though still a bit unnerved over the reports, civilians of Park County have returned to normal living.
From the Sheridan County, Sheridan Press, October 1, 4099 (Page 1)
Big Horn Experiences Prank Calls?
Park County, Wyoming experienced a small scare two days ago when a good number of reports came in about Goblins running amok in the county's lower-most areas; after a few hours of report checking, most authorities deduced that a majority of the calls that were coming in were being placed by patrons who were playing an early Halloween prank. It looks like the ones behind them early Halloween prank calls decided to migrate to our county—ten calls, all coming from people of questionable character, came in; all made-reports claimed that a group of Goblins, who either had green, blue, or brown skin, and most wearing army fatigues, were seen in and around the towns of Big Horn, Arvada, and Story.
The group of Goblins, one being said to be wearing something similar to what one would wear when they're attending a dinner party, and all said to be between four foot, three and four foot, eight inches tall, were said to be doing exactly that of what the ones in Park County did—enter certain establishments, or scare unsuspecting civilians.
It's being reported that most of the authorities in our county stopped taking further calls after the tenth call was put in; one of the reputed calls that were placed is said to of come from a woman, who claimed that she was taken captive, and then questioned about where the Goblins' master's "wife and children" were. According to the station that's located in Clearmont, an estimated twenty calls were placed; of them twenty, only ten were investigated. Nothing of them ten placed calls was found, which makes some think that the pranksters from Park County, Wyoming had simply moved shop to our county after seeing that their pranks weren't being taken to heart in the county that they started pranking.
From the Hot Springs/Washakie County, Combined County Gazette, October 2, 4099 (Page 1)
Hot Springs/Washakie County and Johnson County Authorities Debunk Goblins
Earlier this week, the pranks issued to the police located in Park County and Sheridan County were taken as just that; the pranks, which have continued to this mid-week, are no longer being looked at as harmless. Authorities in the combined counties of Hot Springs/Washakie and Johnson were called to action after calls came in about civilians who had been injured, or taken captive, and then retained in captivity for a length of ten minutes or more, by the very ones who are making these pranks. The situation is so serious that a curfew has been placed to the two counties; adults between the age of 21 and 55 are being told to be mindful of their actions if they venture outside of their homes while children under the age of eighteen, and adults above the age of fifty-five, have been told to remain indoors until the call's given that the pranksters have been caught and then thrown in jail.
Authorities in Hot Springs/Washakie and Johnson County started receiving calls just last night, at around midnight, about the pranksters' deeds; though taking a cautionary interest in the calls, the authorities didn't inact the curfew, or say for the young and old to stay indoors, until word reached them about the four people who were taken captive and then assaulted by the very ones who were behind the pranks. A curfew of 6PM was initially placed, then upped to 5PM after two police officers were dispatched to look into a report about a woman who was reportably beaten to within an inch of her life; the woman who was beaten was taken to Washakie Medical Center—she is said to be in critical, but stable, condition.
"There is no Goblins—the ones behind the pranks that have been experienced these past few days are human, and are around middle to high school age." the chief of the Johnson County police station, Jerry M. Lowe, said upon being questioned about the pranksters.
Despite Mr. Lowe's statement, there's two stores located in mid-Johnson County that seem to show three squat-sized creatures that resemble Goblins; Mr. Lowe didn't comment on this after it was brought up to him. Mrs. Sonya V. Chasse, the sheriff for the combined counties of Hot Springs and Washakie, claims that the footage simply shows three, normal-sized humans who were simply duck-walking about the two stores.
The authorities are now tracing calls placed to their stations about the reputed "Goblins"; it's been reported that twenty persons have been arrested for calling the stations of both counties to report encounters with alleged Goblins—the last person to be apprehended was a store manager, who claimed that his store, Film 'n' Reel, was ransacked by the Goblins in question. Film 'n' Reel was discovered to be ransacked by police after the arrest was made; though he claims to be innocent of the crime, the manager of the store is said to be the party responsible for the ransacking. At the time of the arrest, several other stores were noted as being ransacked as well—a number of videos, books, games, and a wide assortment of candies are the only things to be noted as stolen; all monies in the ransacked stores were found as being intact in their registers or vaults.
"We are actively looking to resolve the issue so everyone can return to normal living. We're estimating that by noon of today we'll have the pranksters in custody." Mr. Lowe said early this morning. Everyone is waiting in earnest to see if his words are true, and to see if the pranksters are really of human origins.
The Combined County Gazette article was given the same treatment that the Sheridan Press and Powell Tribune articles were—he cut it out, then placed a book on it to ensure that it'd be flat; after taking it up from underneath the book, then checking to see if it was really flat or not, he placed it in the folder that he had putting the other articles that he had been clipping from the papers as of late in. He, like his mother, and brothers, had been keeping up-to-date on things with this "Goblin" business that had been going on up north of their location; while he and Bile had taken the situation seriously Lazeer had been casting all sorts of jokes about it. Hazaar, from time to time, would become involved in the joking; for the most part, he had been uninterested in what was going on in Park County, Sheridan County, Hot Springs/Washakie County, and Johnson County. He had gotten a shock after seeing their mother not reacting to what was going on; instead of being all worried about the people that lived in them counties, or wanting to help them in ousting the Goblins, she had been as calm and a quiet as could be on the subject.
Normally, their mother was one of the more serious ones in the house. On any normal day, she'd come home, set her stuff down, unwind from her day, then ask them how their day was; only after hearing them tell their tales of wonder, or, depending on what the day's activities were, non-wonder, she'd speak of how her day was. After the tales of what all one did while out of the house were told, she'd head down to the cellar; he'd follow—only after getting her alone would he engage her in adult-related subjects, such as the finances; where the money was coming from for this bill or that bill; where the money was coming from for Lazeer's glass; where the money were coming from for the usual food stuffs that were needed for the cabinets or fridge; and, of course, of each of their worries and concerns.
His mother's mind, as of late, was especially bogged down with all of them issues; along with also worrying about them things he also had a bunch of other things weighing him down—his worry list had been increased by two very recently. As of the last three weeks, he had grown concerned over Hazaar actually getting so mad that he'd decide, just for the hell of it, to run away from home. He also worried about Hazaar causing intentional harm to himself, or to one of them, during one of his temper tantrums. These two, very similar concerns had caused him to miss some sleep, and he had actually made the decision to skip out on going to work because of them.
His worry over Bile not looking to have any sort of responsible bone in his body was the same, as was his concern over Lazeer's depression issues—the issue of his youngest brother causing himself harm because of his depression was still there, he had yet to scratch it from his list of worries or forget about it. His concerns over their mother, and her health and relative well-being, was also still the same; the personal issues that gave him cause for a little concern—figuring his legs out, so he could get faster sooner, and keeping himself in tip-top form while also trying to not over-do it, for example—were also the same.
As of the last three days, his and his mother's talks on the adult-related stuff had come to a complete stop; he was no longer allowed to follow her to the cellar, and it seemed that his attempts in talking to her about the bills, the pantry, Lazeer's glass, and their general worries and concerns were for nothing. She either didn't want to talk to him about them things or she wasn't listening to him whenever he brought them subjects up.
"Probably glad that they were seen as being up north of here instead of here." he thought as he closed the green folder that his collected newspaper articles were in. Though this was a reasonable explanation as to why his mother hadn't shown any concern over what had been going on in the counties to the north of them he had a feeling that there was some other cause to her showing no reactions to what had been going on.
As was the now usual, they had gotten both the usual papers, from both their town, the towns around them, and from the counties both to the north, east, and west of them, and the papers from the various planets that were known to be in the Universe; Granny D was still sending them the papers that were distributed to the denizens of the Universe's other planets and they were still reading them. As of the last few weeks, he had developed a keen interest in the Gamma Vile paper, and the papers that were distributed around the Zeta Reticuli system; their mother, who knew this well, had asked Granny D to send them a paper each from Gamma Vile and from one of the planets in the Zeta Reticuli system each morning and, so far, she was doing so.
After closing his folder, then standing up from the table, he ran his hand down his left arm gingerly; his mother had done all that she could to heal his burned arm—she had used her Water Healing ability, which was a sub-power in the Elemental Water power, on his arm for all of ten minutes in an attempt to get the burned areas to heal. He had nearly started crying—the pain was that damn bad for him! His brothers, even in their pained states, had done all that they could to calm him down to nearly no avail—their attempts in calming him down had very nearly fallen on deaf ears.
He had started feeling the pain right after being placed on his mother's dragon-formed back; it hadn't been that bad at first... he had been able to feel it, but it hadn't been enough to cause him to nearly crack. By the time his mother had flown into the shield, and then gotten them halfway home, it had started to creep in stronger; the pain had all but taken him over after he had taken the initiative in sliding from his mother's dragon-formed back after the voyage from Sweeney Ranch to their apartment was finished. The door to the apartment was thrown open, she had led them inside then she had told them to plant it on either the living room sofa or on the living room's lone chair. After they were seated, then somewhat comfortable, she went for the medical supplies—tubes and jars of creams, rolls of bandaging, anti-septics, a few bottles of water, and a large, ceramic bowl had been in her arms when she returned. Since he had been the one who was experiencing the most pain, she had gone to work in trying to fix him up first.
"While she was able to heal the cuts to my face, and to the other parts of my body, she wasn't able to heal my arm." he thought as he went to exit the kitchen.
He felt no anger or remorse towards that; she had done the best she could to heal every injury that he had had on himself. His arm had just been too far-gone for her to heal with her powers—it was the severity of the burns that had caused her to not be able to heal him; upon coming home, then taking his shirt off, then giving his arm a quick examining, he had found himself as having extreme second and third degree burns.
Pain had ripped and roared all throughout his arm right after the examining was done. He had felt it as it ran its course in his arm; by the time it had started being felt in his shoulder, then had started to creep down to the rest of his body, he had been near to crying in grief. It had almost felt like there was a colony of fire ants biting him, or trying to burrow out from inside him—that was the only comparison that he could think of to describe the pain that he had been feeling.
His mother, while speaking to him, trying to get him to calm down, had been hard at work in trying to help him. The water that had been put in the bowl had risen more than six times; it had only just been settled over his arm before being moved, or revolved, around and around. Only after the water had gone from its normal, clear color to black had it been removed; the blackish water had been returned to the bowl, then allowed to return to its normal coloration, before being used again. In all, it had taken six or seven tries with the ability before any results started being seen; by the time she had used her Water Healing ability on him for the tenth time, the pain had subsided.
He still had high-level first and second degree burns on his arm; while he still felt pain, it wasn't as bad as it had been after he had come home. He was grateful that his mother had been there, and that she had gone out of her way in trying to help him—if she hadn't, he would of landed in the hospital. He could see it now... the nurses would fuss and fret over him, would hook all sorts of intravenous drips to him before going on to examining his injured limb; only after looking his burned arm over would they start the standard procedure in putting an unknown amount of non-working medications on him. The doctors in charge of his care would only come into the room that he was in after he was in a more comfortable, and "stable", condition; they would check him over as a team before the head-honcho of the group would head out to talk to his mother about the available options that could be used to help him in his situation. After, say, an hour or two, he'd be prepped for the first of many surgeries that he'd endure over the next six months; if his arm was too far-gone—wouldn't accept the pieces of flesh that the doctors would take from other parts of his body so to close the wounds that were in danger of gaining worse than bad infections—the decision to amputate it would be made.
He was glad that his mother knew the abilities that one with Elemental powers could use to heal their injuries with and he was double-glad that she had made the decision to use one of them on him; while he could accept not having both of his arms he didn't want to imagine the life that he'd have after one was removed.
As was natural, he had gone upstairs for a much needed rest after being treated for his many injuries. Nurse Mom had been very helpful in helping up the stairs, and in getting him into bed; only after seeing that he was fine had she gone down to tend to Bile, Hazaar, and Lazeer.
"We were allowed to sleep all day long the following day; the day following, we were allowed to just laze around." he thought as he stopped before the kitchen's open doorway. "Bile and I were too sore to get up from bed, so we were allowed to stay in bed on that day; Hazaar just sat in the living room all day."
Their mother, when time came for them to finally get up, and move around some, had helped them; along with helping them in getting out of bed, and then getting dressed in something that'd cover the parts of their bodies that didn't need to be exposed to all who were out and about outside of the apartment, she had also helped them in going down the stairs. She had taken Bile first, then she had come back for him; only after he was helped down to the kitchen had he noticed that she had been cooking.
Two bowls of spaghetti, one with meatballs and the other without; a plate of buttered biscuits, some with jelly in them and others without; a bowl of plain baked potatoes; a heaping bowl of salad... that and more was what had been on the kitchen table. After eating all of this, then complimenting the chef on her fine culinary talents, had they learned what dessert was.
A layered pound cake, that was filled with raspberry jam and lemon curd, and that was finished with buttercream frosting, had been placed before them after the table was cleared of its collection of bowls, plates, and eating utensils. He, and his brothers, had devoured that cake in no time. Conversation at the table had been grand; talk on the fight had been minimal, very little mention of Baruk, Gaajah, and Bohir had happened, while talk on the food, and on what they were planning on doing after getting past their sore days, had been plentiful. After eating the cake, then giving the chef a further compliment on her skills in the kitchen, they had been helped to the living room. A few hours of watching tv, or playing video games, or just plain reading magazines or newspapers, had happened before he and Bile were helped back to their room.
It had taken him and Bile all of six days before being able to get up, and move around, on their own power; on the pain scale, his pain was a high-level five now—he was able to move around, and be involved in certain activities that one didn't have to put but so much effort in on, yes, but he was still bogged down with enough pain to cause him to not want to resume the life that he was use to living. As it was, he had missed out on a week and five days worth of dancing at the club where he worked at—this, he imagined, was putting quite a damper to the family finances.
"Hey," Hazaar said after seeing that he was standing just within the living room.
"Hey," Lhaklar replied.
"Feeling better?"
"Yeah—not as sore as I was last week."
"Same here."
Lhaklar looked at his younger brother; they would of all been surprised if he had come home unscathed from the fight that happened a week and five days ago. With Hazaar taking on Baruk, then finding himself fighting their uncle and grandfather, and also finding himself having a minor opponent in their father, he had come home with a few injuries—all that he had griped, and moaned and groaned, about, and all that had been mom-treated.
The acid burn that had been on his stomach, which had come courtesy of their old man, had been bad enough to hurl over while the injury that he had had to his right leg had very nearly caused their mother to squeal. His ribs had also been badly bruised—good, ol' Uncle Kuruk was the cause for both of the latter injuries. Like with him and Bile, their mother had done the best she could to help Hazaar and, like with them, the use of her Water Healing ability had only been able to heal but so much.
Underneath Hazaar's red t-shirt was a wrap of bandages; the burn to his stomach had only been able to be healed halfway, the rest had been given the normal medicated treatment. Their mother changed the bandaging, checked the wound, then applied the creams and other medicines to it, then re-wrapped it in new bandage once a day. His brother's leg had been the worst of his received injuries; like with the burn to Hazaar's stomach, the wound to his leg had only been able to be healed halfway—instead of using her Water Healing ability on the wound their mother had used her Fire Healing ability, which was yet another ability that one with Elemental powers could use, but this one coming from Elemental Fire instead of Elemental Water, on it. Hazaar's leg, from the knee on up to his groin, was wrapped in bandaging; the use of her Fire Healing ability had only been able to make the first layer of skin grow back—the wrap of bandaging was only precautionary; their mother hadn't had a desire for Hazaar to get any sort of infections, or cause further injury to himself by plain leaving the leg open to the elements.
"Bile," Lhaklar acknowledge the oldest of his brothers.
"Lhaklar," Bile, who was seated on the room's Laz-Y-Boy chair.
"Look well this morning."
"Feel better than what I was a week and five days ago." Bile admitted. "If you're wondering, I'm still very stiff and sore."
The Laz-Y-Boy that Bile was sitting on was a few years old; it was made of a dark brown, velvety material that was quite soft, and it had a recliner hidden in it. The chair that his brother was sitting on was reminiscent of the types that drunk men sat on when they were watching their shows while downing another beer or two—as it was, the chair was mostly used by Bile whenever he was watching a program on the tube. Bile was wearing what he called his Night Clothes, which was just a pair of red and white boxer shorts, that went down to his skeletal knees, and a white t-shirt, that was baggy as all get out and that was all torn up in the shoulder areas.
Like with him and Hazaar, their mother had done the best she could with healing Bile's injuries; the older of his brothers' right shoulder had been fully healed but the deep gash that he had to his chest was still there—their mother was fast in checking it every day after coming in from work. His legs had all sorts of bandages on them; like him, Bile's burned arm had needed to be tended several times before being healed to the state that it was currently in.
Bile had been too tired, and in too much pain, to enter the apartment under his own power; their mother, after downing her form, then unlocking and then throwing the front door open, had practically carried him in. The pain that he had been going through had been enough to make him squeeze the arms of the chair that he had been placed in; as it was, he had damn near screamed himself hoarse after their mother went to examine the injuries that he had been given by Baruk and Bohir.
Their mother, who, on his request, had saved him for last, had been exhausted by the time that she had reached him; instead of using her Water Healing ability on him she had used something that she called Smoke Healing, which had gotten some very surprising results. Due to his brother's burns not being very deep, and not as severe as his, his right arm had nearly, fully been healed—despite this, it had still been wrapped in bandaging. To that day, it still pained him.
"Who's winning the game?" Lhaklar asked. Hazaar and Lazeer were playing a football game on the room's tv, which was around thirty of so inches in width and length, and which was on a short, brown walnut entertainment center.
"At the moment, Lazeer." Bile replied. "Was back and forth for a little while—he's two points ahead."
"Extra point, hell yeah!" Lazeer exclaimed.
"Make that three." Bile said.
Lazeer, who had the red remote to one of the tv's gaming devices, had come off better than they with his injuries. Even though he hadn't been involved in any of the fighting he had gotten his shoulder injured after being struck by a car; their mother had done one session with her Water Healing ability on him before declaring him healed of all injury-based ailments that he had been inflicted with. After healing him of his one injury, she had told him to go take care of his eye, which had become exposed to the sun just prior to the car hitting him.
Lazeer, for the past week and five days, had acted as a sort of nurse for them—things such as food and drink; magazines, books, or newspapers; and games had been brought to them during the period where they had been too sore to get up from bed.
He and Lazeer had played chess and checkers three days in a row while Bile, for four straight days, had enjoyed an age-old favorite—after being brought Lazeer's old Gameboy, he had asked for the bag that the games were in then he had set down to playing a few of them. He believed that the game that had mostly been played had been Pacman; another game, this one sounding very Tetris-like, had also been frequently played.
The Gameboy device that Lazeer had was from the old days; their mother had found it one day in the dump. After coming across it, then checking it to see if was working or not, and then noticing that it was in near-pristine condition, she had brought it home; along with the handheld gaming console, she had also found a bag full of old games that were more than compatible with the device. The Gameboy was old but, damn, did it ever play fine.
There were all sorts of game systems hooked up to the tv; the Nintendo 64, which Hazaar and Lazeer were playing, and the Playstation 2 and 3 were the most played while the Playstation 4 and Super Nintendo were a close fourth and fifth to them. Like with the Gameboy, the game systems that were hooked up to the tv had all been found in the dump; it had either been their mother or Bile who had come across them, their mother was the one who had the credit in finding all of the games that they had that were compatible with each of the game systems. Most of the games had been found in the dump while others had been purchased from the town's flea market; he and his brothers were more than happy to have their gaming systems and their mother was more than happy to know that they had them to enjoy—they played one, or more, of them at least twice a day and, thanks to the wide assortment of games that they had, none of them had a chance to grow bored with them. Sometimes, their mother joined them in playing a game; she seemed to be rather fond of playing Super Mario 64, and she also seemed to have an interest in Red Dead Redemption... which just so happened to be one of Hazaar's most favorite games, and which just so happened to be compatible with the Playstation 3 gaming console.
Hazaar, who hadn't been able to tend his hair in the week and five days that had fallen since their encounter with Baruk, Gaajah, and Bohir, and Lazeer were playing a game called Madden Football 64—which, owing to it being released in 1997, was older than all of them combined, but still played as if it had just been removed from the box. There was a small pile of games beside them; it looked like his younger brothers had played Duck Hunt, The Legend of Zelda, and Super Black Bass—the latter being a game for the Super Nintendo console while the rest being strictly for the same console that his two brothers were playing.
"Wanna play?" Lazeer asked after he and Hazaar finished their game. Hazaar was now looking for another game to play—one of the plastic boxes that were in the entertainment center's lone cabinet was out; his brother was busily sifting through the many games that were inside.
"No. Thank you but no." Lhaklar said. "Think I've been cooped up long enough—think I'll head out; maybe a dip in the spring or something will help me, and my sore body, some."
"Lhaklar, you insane? Ma would have a bird! First, she'd flip her lid, then she'd track you down, then she'd chase you all around Green River with a nice, fresh, dish towel." Bile said.
"They're up in the north—there's nothing to worry about down here, Bile." Lhaklar, who was very decisive on doing what he had just said he wanted to do, said. "I'll be near Expedition Island; if I'm not back by noon, you know what to do."
As with the previous twelve days, he threw a red tack on the map, that was up on the wall of the room that he was in, then turned to look at the Goblins that were in the room with him; the men in the room with him were, what he considered, the "leaders" of the groups that he had been sending to the towns and cities up north of their location—these men, who had been given orders to stay low while searching the counties that were located in the state's northern sector, had not been going by the orders that he had given them, which did more than piss him off.
Each of the locations that he had sent these men, and their respective groups, to had had a shield over them; his wife's shields were holding up well, he had been told, and there looked to be little to no wear and tear to them, which was good, seeing as the one who was behind them had to be healthy for them to still be up and in better than fine shape. Park County was where his wife had said she and the boys lived in; he had based his search to that part of the state before deciding to do searches of the other counties that were close-by—when no leads, or sightings, of his wife and children were noted, he had come under the notion that Homsi and Eldass had been given a false lead.
Instead of just sending members of his militia to Park County, and then to the counties that were close to it, he had made the decision to send an even mix of both his militia Goblins and staff to the locations—the idea, at the time, was that the even mix would cause the members of his military, who had been said to not be putting their full heart in on looking for his wife and sons, to do better in their searches; it looked like that idea had not happened.
He had nothing but air, and a map that had more than enough red tacks on it, and more than enough reason to be angry at the men who were in the room with him. Each of the red tacks that were on the map symbolized the areas that had been searched; the communities that lie in the northern sector of Wyoming were nearly all taken up by one of the red tacks. With the tack in place, and his anger noted, he walked over to the long, black-stone table that was in the room's center; once at the table, he took the chair that was stationed at its front-lying end out then sat in it. He folded his hands after his rump found itself to the seat of the chair.
"I'd like for an explanation as to what the hell you were all thinking when I sent you off to do your searches?" he eyed the men who were in the room with him for a second before saying more. "I clearly recall giving the order for you, and your groups, to be as secrete as possible and yet—" he grabbed the folder that was in front of him, which was open, and which had several newspaper articles in it, then held it up. "—ten sightings in Park County, twenty in Sheridan, and a little over thirty in Hot Springs/Washakie and Johnson counties... that's sixty-four sightings! That is not secrete! That is you hanging your asses out in the open!"
"Sir, at the time of our appearance in the north, a sort of festival was going on—there were a lot of humans walking about." Losal said. "We did our best to remain in the shadows but—"
"Your best is peanuts when you've been seen by the public eye!" TazirVile threw the folder that had the articles in it at Losal; the Goblin reacted by holding his hands up—while the articles flew from the folder, none of them struck him in the face. After throwing the folder, TazirVile turned his attention to Homsi, who was seated in one of the table's stationed chairs. "I sent Homsi and Eldass into Green River the day that I also sent them, and you and Kalach, into Park County; there were no reports from Green River about them and their activities now were there?"
"No sir," Losal replied.
"Then what's the damn problem! You and the others that I sent out have the same education as they and yet here we are. Reports of abductions, threats, thefts, and now human civilians being thrown in jail because the law on this planet thinks that they are causing disruption."
"We had to question the humans and—" Losal started to say, Eldass was fast in interrupting him.
"We've been using the Memory Block spell on the humans that we've taken to interrogate and we've been checking the area that we're in before the one that we've targeted to capture is grabbed."
"That's smarts!" TazirVile exclaimed. "Mr. Zultoa and Mr. Modulavich have both used their educations well, and have come back with good intel from the town closest to us, while the rest of you, along with the other men not present in this room, haven't! All you've done is make yourselves known to the general public." when no one said a thing, he slammed his fist against the surface of the table. "I expect better from all of you! All of you were picked to search the state's northern-lying sector because you were associated with my wife in some degree. If you're not going to use your time on this planet to assist in finding my wife or sons, or in keeping my ship tidy, then leave. I want my wife and sons and all of you have hindered my efforts for twelve long days. Begone!"
They were all thinking the same thing when they exited the room that was directly across from the one that was their personal lounge: it could of been worse.
Their Master could of really gotten on their cases for what the ten Goblins from his army, who he had personally picked to go with them, had done. Although they had been gotten on, it hadn't been a full on-you type of chiding—their employer would of been wringing his hands around their necks, and would of been calling them all sorts of names, if it had been one of them types of chidings. The man would of also overturned his chair after shouting at them to leave his presence if the chiding that they had been given had been a full on-you type. His get-on wasn't fully meant; they worked, and they worked hard, and he knew this. The ship was spotless—so much so that the man could eat off the floors—, and there was not a speck of dust or dirt anywhere, and everything was working properly.
The room that they had just come from had a brown-checkered carpet, and brown walls, in it; the ceiling, while a degree lighter in color, matched the room's color theme well. The room's long, black-stone table had a gold T and S—their employer's initials—on its surface; the fourteen chairs that were seated around it had chocolate brown cushions on their backs and seats. There were several screens in the room; half of them were the normal color-range type while the others gave off green images. The green screens were the ones that had the important information on them—their coordinates, the places that they had previously been landed at, and the radar and sonar information that one who owned a ship needed to know. Underneath all of these screens were the computer keyboards and command centers. On the wall was an oil painting of their Master; he was standing, looking just as proud as could be after winning a battle on one of his conquered planets. He had been painted shirtless; the muscle, scars, sweat, and blood that were on his chest and arms had been painted well, as had the background imagery—there was an exploding building on a waterfront, which was surrounded on all sides by trees, which were all on fire. All sorts of people were fleeing in panic from the armies of the man that they worked for.
Homsi, thinking better than to go to the lounge, where most who had attended the meeting that they had just left were going, decided to head outside. He wasn't far off from the ship's main entrance—just a short fifty feet. He stopped long enough to grab the items that were needed for weather that was below sixty degrees then went towards the airlock hatchway doors; when he exited his master's ship, he was greeted with a chilly breeze. The doors behind him slid shut, sealing the ship, and its heated air, behind him. He had no more taken two steps from the ship's main entrance before feeling the ship's hot air blow on him—Eldass, and his son, Zshon, exited the ship soon after he did.
"Cold this morning!" Zshon exclaimed. When a better than chilled breeze hit him, he shuddered. "What'd the thermometer say before we left the ship?"
"Forty-six degrees," Eldass replied. "For this planet, that's about right for this time of year—it gets much colder here later on in the season."
"How much colder, papa?" Zshon asked.
"Goes down into the negatives." Eldass replied. "Which means, if we're still here at the time the temperature plummets, coat, double coat, and triple coat."
"Or else, Mother will be on us worse than a hot coal." Zshon cocked his elbow into his father's ribs; his father responded by chuckling.
"Glad we decided to don our coats before leaving the ship." Homsi, who was wearing a brown trench-coat, said. "Hope the Mistress and her sons are alright. Staying warm, and are being fed well."
"I'm sure that she has the needs of both herself and the Young Masters taken well care of." Eldass said. "The more pressing question, for me, is where they are."
"A question that I'd also like to know." Homsi said.
Homsi looked at the landscape that was around him; it shouldn't be but so surprising that the once fertile area, which had been teeming in green grass and sugar cane, and more than enough bushy bushes and trees, had turned into being a dead area in four days time. The grass had withered away; the yellow shoots of the yellow grass fields to his left had become brown before falling over to the ground; the raging river that was close to his employer's camp was frozen in places; and the trees and bushes were nearly fully naked of their leaves. There was not an animal in sight either—all had either moved south for the upcoming winter or had taken refuge in the structures that they had built over the warmer months. The only thing that gave the area a living quality was the steam cloud, which was north of their location.
He and Losal had explored the area a few weeks ago; while this area was fertile, everything that was around it was just as dry, and as arid, as could be. Nothing but dirt, dust, tumbleweeds, and rocks were to the north, west, and south of them. Really, the only thing that had called the women, and a few of the men, from the area had been the area's lone hot spring, which was about a half mile from them.
The water was warm—not scolding or boiling hot as some would think it'd be—and it did provide for some comforting moments. He had given the hot spring a try once—when it had been night, and when most everyone in the area was bedded down. The hot spring had done its trick in relieving him of his stresses, and it had helped to relieve the tension that he had had in his muscles as well. He hadn't stayed long—just fifteen minutes... just long enough to call it an experience worth experiencing. He couldn't believe that the humans didn't head to such locations more often; surely such a place would be a hot-spot for wary, tired, or pained humans who were looking for some relief from their daily stresses.
"Don't see why we can't head out for a stroll," Homsi thought as he went down the ramp; after exiting the ramp, he took a turn then went towards the hot spring. Eldass and Zshon, having nothing better to do, followed him. Losal, when he came out from the ship, wasted not a second in catching up to them.
For one who wasn't so ravaged with body-pains, the task of removing the clothing from the body would be easy; for him, and his aching body, the chore proved to be more than difficult. He was slow in undoing the buttons that were on his brown, button down, long sleeve shirt, and he was slow in taking the shirt from his top half and in dropping it to the ground. When the task came for him to take his pants off, he very nearly started to cry; sitting down after undoing the belt that was around his waist, then undoing the button, and then unzipping the zipper, wasn't easy, and neither was the task of taking his shoes and socks off. With them tasks done, he used the little strength that he had left in him to get to his knees; his pants, and underwear, were removed in one quick action, then kicked to the side.
With all of this taken care of, he started crawling. He left everything—his clothes; his wallet, which had his fake I.D., and around twenty dollars, in it; and his cigarette case, which glistened in the glow of the near-afternoon sun—in an uneven pile behind him as he went forward. When he got to the edge of the hot spring he didn't slide in like a normal person would; he ducked his head low then allowed the weight of his body to take him into the water. Once his body smacked into the water, his muscles screamed—first in pain, then in relief as the warm water started its magic. He stayed underwater for ten or so seconds before surfacing; just that one dip seemed to of rejuvenated him—he was able to bring his hands up to wipe the water from his face and head without experiencing any pain, and he was able to move his legs in a less pained way. Soon after surfacing, then wiping his face of the water that was flowing down it, he turned his head.
The area around him was bleak; dirt, which had been bleached by the summer heat, and which had a consistency akin to sand, shown brilliantly in the near-afternoon sunlight. There was a line of bushes that ran around the outer edges of the hot spring's bleached grounds; the landscape got wild with foliage beyond them bushes. There was a beaten path separating the trees, which had already lost most, if not all, of their leaves; roots protruded from the ground in various places; and rocks, old tires, and other cast-away items littered the ground around the spring—he had come very close to severing one of his fingers a few summers ago after unknowingly grabbing a broken coke bottle, which some human had just thrown to the side either before or after getting into the spring. The scar that he had at the base of his index finger was a firm reminder of the events of that day—that broken, jagged-edged coke bottle had really done a number on him and he had sure voiced his pain after the glass sliced through the lower-part of the bone-joint in that finger.
"Mr. Index Finger from my left hand nearly got evicted on that day." he thought after blinking his eyes, then taking in a few, deep breaths. "The palm of Hazaar's right hand was also cut on a piece of thrown away pipe—mom very nearly said that we couldn't go to the spring anymore after he came home with his palm being a bloody mess."
His trip to the hot spring had been a long one; after hearing more than a few cautionary sentences from Bile, he had taken off at nine. At first, his brown wool jacket had been slung over his arm; he had stopped long enough to wrap it around his shoulders before shoving off again. He had tried to teleport to the train yard but, due to his sore physical state, he had only been able to teleport half-way to the train yard; he had been forced to walk the rest of the way.
Each and every step had hurt; each and every movement that he had done, whether it be minor or major, had sent a torrent of pain ricocheting down his body; and, as if to make matters worse, the wind had been blowing. The wind, which had since died down, had been blowing just enough to make his progress go from being slow to slower than a snail—this, coupled with all the other issues that had plagued him, had caused his trip to be longer than usual. In all, it had taken him an hour and five minutes to get to the hot spring; it had taken nearly four minutes to undress. He hadn't even bothered with checking the area, to see if there was anything or anyone around that would want to harm him—just seeing the circle of heated water, that had a cloud of steam above it, had made the word relief completely dominate his mind. Now that he felt some relief of his aches and pains, and now that he was all cozy and content-like against one of the spring's sides, he took in his surroundings.
He looked around—his head and neck, due to being the only things of his to be above the water, took on the appearance of a periscope. When he saw that there was nothing in the neighborhood, animal or otherwise, he returned to being as he had formerly been.
Feeling froggy, he swung his arm up; he made the ground that was underneath his cigarette case shoot up. His cigarette case, a thin, silver-aluminum box, that was four inches long by three and a half inches wide, flew through air for a few seconds before landing in the palm of his hand. The case, which had an etching of a bull deer jumping over a fallen log on its front side, and which had a clasp on the inside that kept the six, black-papered cigarettes from being jostled around, had been purchased three winters ago. The $85 for the thing had been fair; while the thing had been in good condition on the outside it had been bare on the inside. He had been the one to add the red velvet material that lined its interior and he had also been the one to put the clasp in.
After opening the case, then taking a few seconds out to marvel at the material that lined its inside, he took one of the cigarettes out. He put the cigarette in his mouth, then lit it by making a small flame appear on the tip of his left index finger, then took a drag from it before leaning his head back.
"Worth every damn step here," he said to himself. He turned to put his cigarette case down behind him; once that was taken care of, he turned back around then resumed his session at the spring. He lowered himself so that only his head was out of the water. "Bile-O, you missed out on this one. You'd of gotten some relief from your pains, and them sore muscles of yours would of been more than relaxed, if you had come with me."