Friends and Enemies // Chapter Twenty Nine // The Trick

Willow read out loud the script under her pointer finger. "The Dark Lord shall rise again. What you see will deceive you. Trust no one."

   The three glanced at each other. "What is that supposed to mean?" Emmeth asked, scratching his head.

   Willow wrinkled her nose in thought. "Who's the "Dark Lord" supposed to be, anyway? *Sceleris, perhaps?"

   Emmeth shook his head. "In Tashrian culture, Sceleris is referred to differently. If it were him, they would have worded it "Dark Lord of All", even though, of course, he's not lord of all. It is a cultural term."

   Willow grunted. "Some cultural term. Anyway, Mr. Terraneth, do you have any more books on this?"

   Terraneth shook his head. "I'm sorry, but no. About a year or so ago, actually, the king visited me and requested all of the books pertaining to that. I must have overlooked this one here, to give to him."

   Emmeth looked surprised. "Really?"

   The old librarian nodded. "He did not say much about why he needed them, but he mentioned that he was storing them in the palace's library."

   "Great," Willow muttered. "How are we going to see those other books? This might be vital to the Resistance!"

   The prince looked thoughtful. "Perhaps..... well, I have an idea."

   Willow cocked an eyebrow at him. "What?"

   "Are you sure you want to do this?" Willow asked for the fiftieth time.

   Hyaline nodded as she whisked the eggs in a dull silver bowl. "Of course," she answered with conviction. "This could be extremely important to the Resistance, and to us."

   "But you have to understand the risks involved?" Willow persisted, an uneasy look residing behind her normally confident brown eyes.

   "Of course I do," Hyaline answered, tucking a stray bit of wavy hair behind an ear. "But I know what must be done." She waved the whisk. "Now go on, you have work to do!"

   Willow nodded. "You're awesome, Hyaline," she grinned, than bounded out the kitchen door. Hyaline watched her leave with a smile.

   "One down, still several more to go," Willow reported to Emmeth, who was supervising some new fortifications being erected.

   "I have already asked the others," he answered. "All will be well," he added, noting the concern lurking behind the mask of cheerfulness on her face.

   She smiled. "I know. I simply must trust, and try not to think about it. But, I know this is stupid... but do you think it'll work?"

   Emmeth nodded firmly. "Yes. It will. It must."

    "Sir, you have a visitor," a servant reported to Kedemeth, where he was seated in the great hall of the palace at the capital city of Tashra.

   Kedemeth gulped his roast chicken. 'Who is it?" he asked carelessly.

   "Hyaline of Gossgath," the servant answered.

   Kedemeth started. "Hyaline you say? Send her in now," he ordered. Then he turned, and grinned at his younger brother. "You see, my brother, the lovely maiden has chosen me instead of that dirty son of a shopkeeper."

   Tajoreth looked concerned, but managed to hide most of it with an indifferent expression. His elder brother was extremely thick at times, and never seemed to noticed the times that his younger brother did not seem to approve of his actions. Their elder sister, Zemerah, on the other hand, seemed to always notice. If he didn't know her better, he almost would have thought that she was spying on him.

   A petite young woman with curly dark hair and a pale face entered, and Kedemeth rose to meet her. "Hyaline, my dear," he grinned, taking her delicate hand in his. "You have finally come to your senses and come to me. Here is some food and drink. You remember my sister and brother?" He gestured to his siblings.

   Hyaline nodded and took a seat. I surely hope that Willow and Emmeth know what they are doing, she thought.

   "I shall be back in but a moment," Kedemeth assured her, patting her hand. "I am going to tell Father about your fortunate turning up."

   Zemerah rose as well. "I shall ask the servants to prepare another plate," she commented coldly, directing her piercing eyes at Hyaline. She left with a rustle and a swish of her ornamented gown.

   Once both Zemerah and Kedemeth had left the room, Hyaline leaned forward so that she was face to face with Tajoreth. "Your cousin sends you this message," she whispered, drawing a tiny note from her sleeve and offering it the Tajoreth.

   Glancing around to make sure they were alone, he accepted the offered paper. "That is why you are here, is it not?" he murmured.

   Hyaline bobbed her head ever so slightly. "Yes. Please, this may be extremely important to the Resistance. Tell me once you have replied and I will send your note on its way."

   Tajoreth nodded. "Thank you. I will."

  
 

"Here you go Asharlah," Willow offered, handing the princess the end of a weather-beaten gray chain. Emmeth twisted the chain uncomfortably. It had been fastened to a largish metal ring, which was then secured around his neck.

   "Sorry," Willow added, adjusting the chain. "But this was your idea, I seem to recall."

   He rolled his eyes. "Remind me not to tell you anymore of my ideas."

   Asharlah tugged at the tight fitting garb. "Not the most flattering apparel," she commented dryly.

   Willow shrugged. "According to my research into your culture, it's some kind of historical staple. No idea what that's supposed to mean, but it works."

   She nodded, and her expression hardened into a rather frightening mix of hatred and revenge.

   Willow grinned. "That's the spirit. Perfect. Now, don't mess up, don't forget the plan, and I'll see you in about a week."

   The pair started off on the dirt road, chain links clinking. Willow watched them nervously, fiddling with her waist-length braid.

   "Author be with you," she whispered into the warm summer breeze. "Be with all of us."

Whew! That was a looooonngg time coming. I am sorry that it took so long :(

But it's here, so that's good :)

Anywho, as you've read from D's post, she completed her first book! Hooray! Good job, D-ster!

Ammelia 'n' Billie are going to be at camp for a while {it seems like all our friends are (:}

so they won't be writing in :(

So I will be trying to keep on, but it shouldn't be hard. The Trick chapters are going to be tons of fun :)

Be a Friend, Not an Enemy,

Willow

Postscript // don't forget to check out our new an updated pages!

The Watchmen Files // The Christmas Edition // Chapter One // I'll be Home for Christmas

Hey guys! Merry Christmas in June ;)

   Yep, I got my chapter ready for posting! I thought it'd be kinda cool if most of the chapter titles were Christmas song lyrics or titles. Or not... but it might be kinda cool.

   Oh, and I want to thank everyone who commented on my last post! Thanks so much for the input, I think I'll be doing everything you suggested :) Great ideas! I love getting ideas from you guys.

   Anyway, there's a song that inspired me for this chapter a lot, and I'm gonna put it on here... if you like, you can listen to it while you read, it had no words (just a cello),  and it's good background music :)

So here is the start of the Watchmen Files: A Holiday Special: The Christmas Edition!

   The late December night sky was partly overcast, occasionally covering the bright moon and the twinkling stars' cold light that shone on the town's icy sidewalks and snow-covered house roofs. The street lamps, spaced only a short distance apart, revealed the small amount of snow that was falling softly on the neighborhood streets.
   It also illumined a character dressed in a black hoodie and jeans plodding down the sidewalk, checking his cellphone every few minutes. He pulled the dark hood over his face to hide his features from any passerbys, of which there were none. The phone vibrated again and he checked the new message, turned down another corner, and finally spotted his target: another figure, this one stocky compared to his wiry stalker and unaware of the watchful eyes on him. Unlike his unknown follower, this man was wearing grey gloves and a grey hoodie.

   If he had bothered to look around him, the man in grey gloves wouldn't have thought much about the young man following him from a comfortable distance away, anyways. It was two weeks before Christmas, he would have though he was probably just a young guy with no sweetheart, wandering aimlessly around town. But he would have been wrong, quite wrong. Well, technically he would be right, the young man didn't have a girl, but he still had an agenda to carry out, and it might not end pleasantly.

   Six minutes and forty seconds later, the young man in the black hoodie turned another corner away from the man in the grey gloves as he continued down the previous street until he reached the house. Thirty Second Street was full of well kept middle-class houses, so this house wasn't anything different, other than the lack of snow-shoveling on the driveway. This family of four wasn't going anywhere for the holidays this year. The colorful Christmas lights of red, green and white, along with the angel wrapped in golden lights told the neighbors that they were ready and waiting for the joyous holiday to finally arrive.

   Taking one last glance around, the man snuck up over the locked wooden gate into their backyard without being noticed by the residents.

   But watching faithfully from the corner, the young man in the black hoodie silently followed in tow.

   Rubbing his grey gloved hands together to keep warm, the stocky man shuffled across the untrod yard to the shed and started climbing up to its roof. Carelessly, he unwedged a few shingles in the attempt as the man in black cautiously tiptoed in the other man's footprints heading across the lawn to the shed.

   From inside the home, in a cozy girls room was a brunette of about fifteen years who was carefully wrapping her little sister's Christmas present: a Sonic Screwdriver. Not that she even knew what the small lightsaber-like (minus the saber) gift was, but her sister had it on her list that year. She said it was a Doctor Who thing and then yelled "Allons-y Alonso!" and ran out of the room. Didn't make much sense, but it was better than buying her a blue telephone box that she insisted was a Police Box, or a T.A.R.D.I.S., or whatever silly si-fi gadget she loved.
   The sound of a sudden chunk of snow and shingles caused Jessa to go to the far wall and look out her window that had a good view of nearly the entire yard to find out where the noise had come from.

   She squinted, gazing intently at the shed in the corner of the span of nearly untouched snow. I say nearly because not but five minutes ago that lawn had been completely covered in snow, no foot holes made by any of their family, but now a set of footprints going from the wooden gate to the shed was visible.

   Not that the footprints weren't curious enough, but she saw two hands and then arms on the roof of the shed, apparently attempting to pull them self up on top.

   Meanwhile, the man in black had reached the far side of the shed which was facing away from Jessa's window and found legs dangling off the roof as the man in grey gloves attempted to pull himself up. Without even a grunt, the young man grabbed a hold of his legs and yanked him down to the snow-covered ground with a thud.

   The man in grey made a muffled shout and tried to get up, but the young man was fast and had him on the ground immediately.

   Cocking her head to one side at the sudden disappearance of the arms and odd sound, Jessa tromped out of her room and through the living room to the back door that lead into the yard.

   Her sister popped up out of nowhere from behind her, tucking her also brown hair behind her ear and asking, "Whatcha doin'?"
   "I saw something," Jessa insisted and hurried past her to the glass french-doors, shoved them open and stepped out onto the deck outside.

   Still wrestling in the snow, the man in black head-locked the stockier one and shoved his hand into the gloved man's mouth to keep him quiet as the teen studied the lawn suspiciously.

   Keeping the man silent as best he could, the hooded man waited patiently waited until Jessa's sister plodded up next to her. "What's up?"

   After a long minute, Jessa shook her head. "Nothing. I just thought I saw something."

   Playing around with her red bow-tie (yes, like the kind guys wear. Why, don't even ask), she cocked her head up at her sister. "What was it?"

   "I dunno. I just thought I saw something."

   "Maybe it was a weeping angel?"

   "Terry-"

   "Or it was the Silence, and you just forgot..."

   "Ugh! I'm outta here," Jessa dramatized with a playful smirk, went back inside, and Terry followed after her with a shrug.

   Waiting until the girls had been gone for thirty seconds, the man in black pulled his hand out of the guys mouth and handcuffed him.

   The man struggled against his silent captor and kicked him in the face, causing his hoodie to fall back. "You?!" the man with the grey gloves gasped with surprise. "But you're suppose to be dead!"

   "Then this shouldn't hurt at all," he retorted and shoved a shot into the other man's thigh.
   His vision clouded and he fell back unconscious into the snow.

   The young man sighed and turned back to the house. Leaving the unconscious man and carefully sneaking over, he peeked though the glass french-doors into the living room where the family was having dinner and chatting about Christmas time.

    The calm environment was soothing to watch. With the father, Mr. Gibson seated at the head of the table, the mother at the other end, and the sisters on separate sides, everything was going smoothly. Just like the man in the grey gloves had never been climbing around their property.

   Checking his cell-phone, the young man in black determined that he had at least two minutes before he was called back to base. They had given him enough time to do the job, and a little extra. That was nice. It was, after all, the Christmas season.

   "So Jessa," Mr. Gibson cleared his throat at his eldest brown haired daughter who looked about fifteen, maybe sixteen. "What were you looking for earlier?"

   "Oh, nothing," Jessa shrugged and shoveled down some salted pork.

   "She saw a weeping angel," Terry, the younger of the two, who he guessed was about thirteen or fourteen, added to her sister's answer promptly.

   "Terry!" Jessa rebuked, but Terry just looked to their mother innocently.

   "What did you see, sweetheart?" Mrs. Gibson questioned Jessa. "You saw an angel?"

   "Um, I... I didn't see an angel. At least I don't think I did..." Then she went on the explain what she had seen from out her window, or what she thought she saw. After she finished, she tilted her head at the thought. "Mom, can we see angels? And do we really have guardian angels?"

   "Well, you can if they appear to you. But I don't believe that they do that anymore. And I think that we do have guardian angels, it's at least very likely. But I'm not sure if we can see them or not. And the Bible does say that you may be entertaining angels unaware."

   "So whenever Jessa does something stupid the angels can laugh at her?" Terry joked with a smirk.

   "Now Terry, don't tease your sister," Mrs. Gibson rebuked calmly. Turning to Jessa, she continued, "But I don't think you saw an angel. It was probably just the neighbor's cat."

   Jessa nodded and shrugged, "I guess so," then smiled and giggled. "I must have been seeing things! That's a silly thought anyways..."

   They all enjoyed a good laugh and meal as the hooded figure left the glass doors, carefully retraced his footsteps and jumped over their gate. Glancing back over the fence, he could still see the feet of the man in the grey gloves sticking out from behind the shed. Someone's suppose to come get him later, he noted to himself.

   He sighed, then glanced back at the family inside the cozy home. They laughed at the thought of a protector like him. Sure, he wasn't an angel, but sometimes he wished for a thank you every once and a while. Maybe, when they prayed at night for God to protect them as they slept, He counted that prayer for people like the man in black, for people like him.

   His phone vibrated in his hand, alerting him to the new message. Okay M.W.K., it is time to catch the flight and go spend Christmas with the family. The young man smiled to himself. His co-worker, Conner McKee still didn't use text-talk like all the other Watchmen in the world. He was still himself, and undoubtedly, that would never change. And he liked that.

   Not many knew of what he had done, certainly no one in that household knew what he had protected them from. Trotting off down the empty snow covered sidewalk, the tall, lone figure of Mason W. Kruger pulled his black hood back on and began to hum quietly. He was going to see the only family he had left. He would be home for Christmas.

   Well, that's it folks! Hope you liked it :)
   I wrote this last Christmas, and when Willow was reading it over, she asked suspiciously, "Is Jessa me and are you Terry?"
   I shrugged. "I dunno. Not really, but kind of. Why?"
   "You want me to get you a sonic screwdriver, don't you?" she asked dryly.
   That was kinda funny because I sorta did want one :) But I got Ten's from my parents and the Journal of Impossible things from Willow, which came with a small sonic. I'm quite happy with that :)
   But getting back to the story, I'm still quite open for suggestions for chapter content or your favorite things about Christmas. I love hearing those... it makes me happy ;)

On to announcements...

Pages! As you might have noticed, Willow has made some new pages! Including Completed Books (where all of the links to the chapters of the first file are), Pinterest Links (story boards galore!), and an updated Upcoming Books page. Also, all of the links for the first File have been moved from Story Links to Completed Books, so don't panic if you don't see it on Story Links.

So Ammelia and Billie are going to work at camp for the summer! So, of course, they won't be posting any new chapters. I wish them good luck, and Godspeed!

Willow is in writer's block, but hopes to get the chapter done for this week or the next.

And for course I'll try to finish the next chapter of the Christmas Edition, so tune back next Wednesday for that.

Well, that's it, I believe. Have a good rest of the week, and see you next Wednesday!

Always Watching,

Darrion