“What?” Holly asked. “Those things are real?”
“Holly, you’ve heard me talk about the Winter Queen’s sasquatch, right?” I asked.
“I thought it was a nickname. You also call it a troll and I thought you just said it looked like a bigfoot,” she said.
“Sasquatch are very real,” Devany said, which brought all of our attention his way. He shrugged. “I had my own experience, in Maine.”
“Like what?” Kristin asked, forgetting, it seemed, to be shy or scared.
“I was hunting moose. My dad got an archery permit through the lottery. We were above Moosehead lake, in deep wilderness. I was on a stand on the edge of a marshy area. It got to be dusk and suddenly this… creature… just steps out of the woods. He was across a little flow of water from me, maybe as far as the back wall of this range. He kneels down and gets a drink, then suddenly looks up in the direction my dad had gone. Very casual like, he just turns and steps off into the woods. Five minutes later, Dad come out right where he had been looking. We crossed over to where I saw it and sure enough, there was a massive track in the mud. We took pictures of it.”
“Sasquatch is very real and appears all over the planet. In medieval times, they were called trolls in parts of Europe,” Declan explained. “That’s also what they are called on Fairie. But both the earth elementals in the Adirondacks and the volcano under St. Helens conveyed to me that ‘squatches have long spoken to them. Something about the infrasound that sasquatches seem to generate. And… get this… often the elementals have lent them power to form portals.”
“That’s a huge piece of information,” I said, not doubting for a second that he was understanding them clearly. My warlock is gifted beyond measure in many ways and his attention to detail was molded into him almost from birth.
“Portals?” Kristin questioned.
“The reason nobody ever captures or tracks down a ‘squatch is because they can open portals through space, like the elves do,” Declan said.
“Like you do?” the girl asked.
“Yeah, pretty much, but they’re better at it… faster, more instinctive.”
“So why is this so important?” Holly asked.
“Because with elemental power, they can easily open portals even to Fairie,” Declan said. “We knew they could do it but didn’t understand where the power came from.”
“Oh,” Holly said, realization flooding her features.
“The dude with the goblins and pucks that Caeco was guarding,” Devany said.
“Exactly. It tells us that Morrigan’s ‘squatch can come and go as it pleases,” Declan said.
“Unless the elementals here on Earth don’t cooperate with it,” I said. “She can command the power to get it here but for the return trip, it would need to ask a local elemental. What if they agreed to say no?”
My witch looked impressed, a look I like to see often and directed my way.
“Let me see what they say,” he said, nodding.
“After you sleep,” I insisted.
“Yeah, after.”
“You should also check with the other sasquatchs to see if they cooperate with the elves too,” Devany said, which caused both Declan and me to give him a surprised look.
“Damn, I really am tired,” Declan said, shaking his head. “Okay, I’m off to catch some Zs. Please keep thinking of all the things that I’m obviously not.” He started to pack up the gear he had barely unpacked.
“How likely is it that bigfoots… bigfeet work with elves?” Holly asked, frowning.
“Morrigan’s is the only one we know of,” I said. “She apparently raised it from a baby.”
“I actually think we need to make contact with sasquatches and find out,” Declan said. “The elementals of Earth do not like the queens of Fairie at all. And I don’t recall hearing a lot about trolls on Fairie other than that they were shy. So they might be good allies.”
“I recall Greer saying something about packs of trolls,” I said. “He was impressed with Awasos and commented about ‘Sos being able to kill trolls. It didn’t sound like he was friends with them.”
“Let’s hope not,” Declan said. “Having a small army of ‘squatch transport forces for the queens would be a nightmare.”
“The fact that it hasn’t happened yet might be a sign that it’s unlikely to,” I said.
“Well, lots to think about. Oh, and we were right about the land in New York,” he added.
“Oh? It’s gonna work out?”
“Yeah, the ley lines are small but numerous and more than sufficient for what I need. Plus the Adirondack Elementals are all in for helping me out.”
He was talking about a piece of land in the Adirondack Park, far north of the eight million people who live in the City. We knew he would be a target in the coming war and we didn’t want that target situated in the middle of one of the biggest cities in America.
“Omega is buying the land,” Declan added.
“Correction – I have already bought it. Excavator drones are headed there now,” Omega said.
“Excavator?” Holly asked.
“I have modified the design of the old centipede drones. They are now primarily designed for tunneling and construction of underground structures.”
“Primarily?” Bruce asked.
“They can still fight, and fight well.”
“Omega, how long do you think it will take to carve out a new base?” I asked.
“Barring any surprises during excavation, a useable base should be ready in eight days. Full build out will take several months.”
“The closest elemental will help if we come across anything weird, but I scanned it pretty deep when we visited the land two weeks ago,” Declan said. “Anyway, I think I’ll head to bed.”
“That is your best idea yet,” I said, with a mock glare.
He swung his small range bag over his shoulder and headed out of the Demidova Tower range. Our quarters were one level up and he better be headed that way. I would need to check on him in a little while. His stubborn sense of duty is both a boon and a curse.
