Dragons Eye II: Interlude - Footprints and Smelltrace (2)

 This is a continuation of the Books about Jon, Kathy and Anthem written a couple of years ago. I will publish new pieces of the story every couple of days...

Copyright Dark Aelf, 2021


Each morning one of the little folk, the aelf Teathyme, left the safety of her sanctuary garden, and went searching for any backpacks, shopping bags or wallets that she could find around the stone farm house, boosting any small items of interest: keys, shiny coins, teaspoons, drugs. Occasionally she would go too far, and drag a phone back to the stash.

Then, amidst harsh words and muttered recriminations, the big folk would come looking and, when they found the stash, they would dismantle it piece by piece with sounds of surprise and wonderment.

And the whole deadly process would have to start again.

Teathyme was particularly fond of eggs and ice-cream. But, in the end, it was an egg that brought the whole scheme undone.

One morning, Storm (who lived in the old stone farm house) went down to her mother's chook run, to collect an egg to bake biscuits.

She waited for the chicken to flap down from the egg box and walked to it, peering in to check for rats and lizards.

Her initial thought was that her mother had played a trick on her. Standing inside the egg box was a tiny, slim woman. She was dressed in a soft green tunic with a buckskin jacket, soft shoes, and elegant gloves. And she was holding Storm’s egg with both hands. On second thoughts, she could not be more than 8 inches high. Storm remembered the old stories, and knew without a second doubt that she was looking at an aelf.

They looked at each other with surprise and open mouths.

The aelf shut her eyes tight and said to herself,

“I do not believe my eyes

What creature have I now fantasized? 

Next, it will be butterflies!”

Storm shook her head, searching the aelf’s face. Storm noticed a tattoo on her left cheek and heavy earrings.

Storm said, a little unsure, “You have my egg. Are you for real?”

The aelf opened her eyes and glared,

“I am a landwight,

Guardian of this site

Take care! I bite!”

Storm smiled and changed tact, “I like your tattoo, landwight. Is that a sun? Is landwight your real name?”

The aelf said,

“This is my egg

Taken from chicken leg

For milk and nutmeg.”

Storm considered the situation and started, “I believe in you, landwight but I do not think you can drink that egg all by yourself. How were your thinking of getting the egg out of here? How long have you been stealing my eggs?”

The aelf’s eyes narrowed,

“Teathyme does not steal

Stand clear! Move out of the way!

Or I will make you squeal!”

Storm laughed, “Why do you sing everything?”

Teathyme thought about putting the egg down and fleeing, but the giant was blocking the entrance. A giant that looked a little like her, left solid footprints and had the smelltrace of the land. For a moment she was tongue-tied.

Storm said, “Tell you what. I have never met a landwight. Come to the farmhouse and I will share the egg with you, make you cookies and cream and we can come to a longer-term arrangement about eggs. Then I will show you my tattoo and we can dance. And I will tell you about the most horrible man in the world.”

Teathyme said, “Dance?”


back to the Index to Dragons Eye II

(This piece, from the original story line, is interposed here as an Interlude, to introduce a couple of characters which will appear in the new story line shortly. I am relying on Storm's account of Teathyme's verse, and cannot vouch for it with any pretense of exactitude.)

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