An excerpt from EARTH 2010
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INVASION

Lina was amazed at the things the humans were able to build; smaller dwellings within the big dwelling, clear walls to see outside the dwelling, fur to cover the dirt, cloth sitting devices, paintings; there was so much she would have to discover. The horseless wagons truly amazed her; humans have always tried to bring all their belongings with them when they traveled instead of living off the land, and their wagons of yore were barbaric compared to the wagons they now utilized. She still could not understand what the metal contraptions with avian devices were used for. Some had fowl appendages and yet there were some with flat sword-like devices fashioned to the top. Everything astounded her and again made her worry that she miscalculated her warrior needs. Elves could not be created magically, and their birthing requirements did not allow for swift procreations. She could have kept multiplying her Horde and this is where she might have erred, she now feared that her force was insufficient.
The human spears also worried her. A mere handful of human warriors caused a significant loss of Horde life, and the way things stood, she would need every spear she could muster. However, she was thankful that Dracon used the Horde as a first strike. If the human spears had hit her warriors, the loss would have been monumental. Lina was busy inspecting a marvelously crafted wooden dinning platform that was in one of the inner dwellings. The wood was oak and it encompassed the entire length of the area. Surrounding it were seating devices that could accommodate nearly eighty warriors. The humans must have used this as their primary inner dwelling based on all the packages containing garb. These also amazed her, and as she started to pick through some of the garments, Dracon entered carrying some of the human spears. "Gargon is bringing the human."
Lina nodded her head in understanding.
"You should come see this dwelling, Mother, there is water coming from a metal device."
"Show me," she replied in amazement. The inner dwelling that Dracon brought her to was no more than a five-foot square area with a seating device filled with water, and a metal tube dripping water. Lina was very perplexed. She also noticed the reflective shiny metal that was very similar to the large wall on the outer dwelling. "I look horrible, Dracon."
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Mother, and you are truly ravishing."
She smiled, "flattery will get you everything, dear."
Dracon laughed.
As they exited the inner dwelling, Gargon was approaching with the human. The creature looked pathetic, and it had no garments on its body.
Gargon anticipated her question, "its garments smelled horrific, Mother."
"Well, there are more in the large inner dwelling." She noticed how much the human was shaking and remembered that the humans did not draw upon the earth's warmth as do the Elves. She had forgotten about this fact. Lina placed her hand on the humans arm, and transferred warmth into its body. It was a repulsive act to perform on a human, but she needed answers and didn't want the human perishing of cold.
Senator Ash stiffened at this woman's touch and immediately felt warmth flow through his limbs. He let out a heavenly sigh. The one she called Gargon made him wash his body with snow, and with the temperature well below freezing, Ash thought he would turn into an icicle. Her touch, whoever she was, was wonderful and he felt like it was a cool summer day. These people spoke English, and Ash felt comfortable that he would be able to wield his influence with the British troops and save his hide. He had many connections in England and it was rumored that his family was descended from a royal line. However, something just did not seem right with these folks; for one, they didn't seem to need light to see. He was basically walking blind and relying on this Gargon fellow to lead him along; and two, although they spoke English, they had weird reflections in their voice that made their speech almost seem alien to him.
"What is this dwelling, Human?" Lina asked
Ash was confused by the question, and answered, "It is one of our Alaskan military bases. We have several in the area."
"What is a military base?"
Now Ash was really confused, who the hell were these people, "they are government bases for our soldiers." He responded.
"What is government and soldiers?" Lina asked.
"The government rules the country and our soldiers protect it." "Ah," she responded, "These soldiers are your warriors, yes?"
"You could say that, yes." Ash responded, "Why have you attacked our country?"
"What do you mean by, country?" Lina asked.
"Our land, our borders, I don't know, its just our country."
Ash felt an explosion hit his face and if Gargon was not holding him, he would have fell, "this is my land you human filth." Lina grabbed his hair and yanked his head into the dwelling with the water, "what is this dwelling?" She said angrily.
"I told you." Ash felt another blow, this time on his back. "Stop, please stop." He said.
"This dwelling in here," Lina yanked his head hard in emphasis.
"I can't see what you are talking about, Ash pleaded."
"Mother, I don't think the human can see in the darkness."
Of course, Lina thought, she forgot all about their shortcomings. She concentrated for a moment, and a small pebble in her hand started to glow. The light was not obnoxious enough to affect the superior Elvin sight, but should be enough for the human.
Ash immediately recognized the room this crazy woman was talking about, "It is a bathroom."
"What is a bathroom?" the woman asked, and Ash moaned in frustration, which earned him another punch on his back. Gargon could really deliver a blow.
Ash quickly demonstrated; he turned the faucet all the way and the water started flowing. The gasp from these people would have been humorous if it weren't for his current predicament. He then flushed the toilet, and again they let out a gasp. "We use the sink," Ash pointed to the faucet, "to clean-up. It is better than snow." He said sarcastically, but it was lost on these people. "The toilet," Ash pointed to it "is used to relieve waste."
"Waste?" The woman asked, and Ash couldn't take this basic questioning anymore. He turned toward the woman and was about to say so, when he glimpsed her features. His knees buckled, this was by far the most gorgeous woman he had ever had the pleasure to meet. An exotic beauty with ravens black hair and deep blue eyes; she was maybe five and a half feet tall, extremely petite, and feminine featured. He stumbled for words, but he forgot the question, and he was now very aware of his own nakedness.
An explosion rocked the right side of his face, "eyes down you swine, if I catch you looking at anything but the Mothers feet, I will carve your eyes from their sockets."
Lina asked again, "What is waste?"
Ash really had to go, so he shuffled to the toilet bowl, and relieved himself, "waste" he said as he pointed to his pee. He thought this would earn him another beating for relieving himself in front of the mother chic, but instead, she and the Gargon fellow just stared and cooed. This made him very uncomfortable. When he finished, he pointed to his rear-end and sat down, "you can do both into this same bowl, we use this," he pulled some toilet paper from a roll, "to wipe-up when we're done," Ash stood back up, "when you're all complete, you press this little knob, and the potty monsters take you're poopoo away," He finished as if he was talking to some small children, and again they did not seem to catch his sarcasm. Gargon reached out and touched the toilet paper, "it is soft, Mother, much better than leaves and dirt,"
Lina just grunted her understanding. She had a feeling that this human was toying with them, but there was so much that has changed that she felt very uninformed at the moment. "Bring the Human to the large inner dwelling, Gargon, I'll be along shortly." As Ash passed by her, she pressed the glow stone into his palm. "Thank you." He said, and Lina sniffed in reply. When Gargon and the human were out of sight, Lina used the cleaning room like the human demonstrated. She walked back to the inner dwelling with a smile on her face. She had learned something pleasantly new today.
~~~
Ash was led back to the main conference room at the front of the base. He was amused by their reference of it as "a large inner dwelling", but also confused by who these people were, and how did they get here? The Gargon fellow allowed him to find his suitcase and dress. He chose the warmest attire he could find, and he started feeling much more comfortable, although still sore from the punches he received. The warmth in his body remained but as time progressed, he could tell that he was getting colder, and noticing the steam coming from his breath, he knew it was very cold inside the base. Whatever the woman had done to him he was thankful, and would not mind having done again. He studied the little pebble that the woman had given him, but he could not tell where the light was emanating from. He was very thankful for the light, he felt so helpless stumbling around in the dark. He placed the pebble on the conference table, sat back in the chair, and reassessed his situation.
These people just murdered over one third of the nations leadership without breaking a sweat, but he was still alive and he would have to play his cards right. Ash studied this Gargon fellow; he was tall and sleek with the same colored raven hair as the woman and he noted how much they resembled each other. He had the same blue eyes and facial features, and the same length of hair except his was tied back from his face with what appeared to be a leather band. He was dressed in some type of medieval garb, with chain-link covering his body over what appeared to be a black leather jacket. He also had black leather pants and moccasins. Ash loved visiting the Resonance Fair whenever it was in town, and these people reminded him of the folks you would find there. Gargon was just as gorgeous as the woman except in a masculine-way; he is definitely powerful looking. He seems very confident in himself, and Ash knew that this was a very dangerous man.
Gargon stood between him and the rifles that were piled at the other end of the table, and the door. He kept his gaze squarely locked onto him; Ash tried to pretend that it had no affect on him, but the mans stare was becoming more and more annoying.
Another popped his head through the doorway, "have you seen Mother, Gar?"
This guy was nearly an exact replica, Ash thought.
"She will be here shortly, Brother, you may want to summon Rika. Mother may have need of our sister."
The duplicate left, and the Mother entered, but she somehow looked different.
"Mother is on her way, you may wish to stay" he gave Ash an evil stare, "for the show." he finished.
So this is the sister, Ash thought, and no less ravishing than the mother.
She bore a hole through him with her gorgeous eyes, "It shall be a pleasure, Brother," she said Her gaze was evil in its intensity.
After a few minutes, the mother entered and her beauty again struck Ash to his core. "Rika, dear, please summon your brothers. I want everyone gathered while I speak to the human."
Ash watched as the Rika beauty shut her eyes and seemed to sway from foot to foot. It seemed like she was dancing.
"My name is Jefferson," Ash stated, "Jefferson Ash." Gargon started to charge at him and he realized that he had looked at the mother's face when he spoke. Ash curled into a defensive position, but the mother called off the charge before the man had a chance to hit him.
"You may look upon me human, for I see our immediate futures linked, but to me, you have no name. Is that understood?"
Ash shrugged his shoulders, "as you wish my lady, but if you do not know what a bathroom is, then it would appear that you need me more than I need you."
Lina could not deny the creature's statement, but she did not want it to think it had the upper hand, "you are expendable to me, human, do not underestimate my kindness. I can find another human to tell me what I wish to know."
As she finished her statement, three more men entered the room. Ash noted the exact likeliness that they all shared with each other. If he looked close, he could tell them apart, otherwise, they would seem like duplicates.
Since they seemed to like playing a medieval role, Ash thought to play along, "My Lady," he stated, "you may find another to fill my void, but you will not find any others with the influence I wield for my country."
"You are a lordling, then?" the Mother asked.
"In a sense my lady; I am an elected official for the people of my land. They call me a Senator."
Lina was unimpressed, "Who is your king?"
"We do not have Kings, My Lady, my nation is ruled by many people who serve the interest of the people they represent." Ash was proud of his statement.
"How many humans make up this council? Lina asked.
Ash noted that everyone was seated now with the exception of the Gargon fellow. This helped put his nerves at ease, "hundreds My Lady," he replied, "you killed nearly one third of the representatives of my nation today." Ash noticed the duplicates smiling at each other.
Lina was very pleased with the creature's statement. Humans have a way of giving-up once their Lords are eliminated, she thought. "You seem very proud of your standing, human, but a people who are ruled by so many are not ruled at all. There is an old saying handed down from my great ancestors. It states that too many appendages in the kettle, spoils the brew. We Elves have tried councils of your sort within our history, and the concept bore fruit in the early stages, but as generations progressed, the honor of the first council diminished and corruption held sway. How many human generations have passed since your rule of council?"
Ash sat up in shock. Did she just say Elves? Ash was too dumbfounded to think of time in generations, so he answered her in years, still in shock by her statement.
She smiled at his answer. "That is many generations by way of you humans. I would stake my life that corruption runs rampant through your council."
Ash remained silent, and still bewildered.
Lina nodded her head in understanding; "Now tell me, for your life depends upon your answer, where does your King reside?"
"We do not…" Ash cringed as Gargon stormed in his direction,"Lady, please, we truly do not have a King, we have a President, but he is merely a figurehead. Congress runs the nation."
Lina held up her hand to ward off her male. The human mentioned a different name for the King. Maybe the humans have changed their designation of the leader. "Where does your," she stumbled to repeat the word.
"President." Ash interjected.
"Where does it reside?" she asked, and she motioned to one of the seated duplicates. He pulled a map from his belt and placed it in front of him.
There were no markings on the map, but it was a fairly good hand drawing of North America. It looked as if it were drawn on animal skin. Ash pointed to a spot near the east coast, "We call it the White House," he said, still too defeated to think clearly.
Lina slapped him across the face, "that is impossible. The human Kings have always resided in the east. Gargon, K…"
"Wait, wait, please let me explain." Ash was truly terrified; "my nation is made up of mainly people from the east. England, France, Italy, Pakistan, geez there are people from all over the world living here. I tell you the truth, My Lady, I have no reason to lie to you."
"I do not know those names you speak. Why should I believe you?"
Ash whined, "Because I am telling the truth, Lady, I truly am."
Brako interjected, "Mother, there were Ethiopians amongst the humans we eliminated."
Lina looked at her male offspring and nodded her head, "very well, we will seek this King in the White House that the human suggested. Runko, you will take your force to the east above and around the Waters of Life," she outlined his path on the map and Ash noted that it traveled south along the Hudson Bay and east between the bay and the Great Lake, and then the path swung down the east coast from the north. "Gargon, Rika and I will travel your path until you swing east above the Waters. I will have Sanon reclaim the northern cold lands, and Dracon and Brako will retake our lands to the west. Conquer everything in your path. We will join forces with you in the east once the mid and west lands are reclaimed. I wish to cleanse my lands before the warm season."
Lina motioned to Dracon and the spear, and he slid the human weapon across the table to her. "What is this?" she asked.
"That is an assault rifle, My Lady." Ash responded.
"This weapon killed many of my creations, human, how does it function?"
"I have never shot a rifle, My Lady, all I know is that you pull the trigger and a bullet will shoot out the end."
Lina felt that the human spoke the truth. "What is a bullet? "
"What is an Elf?" Ash responded, and speaking the thought aloud startled him.
They all laughed at him; "The humans question is reasonable, Mother, they have probably all forgotten about us." Gargon stated.
Ash watched as the mother folded her hair behind her ears; "there're pointed!" Ash exclaimed in exasperation, "what are you people?"
"We are Elves, not people, you swine." Ash noted that the one called Rika, answered. She didn't seem to like him very much.
"But that is just a fairy tale. Elves don't exist." Ash said in exasperation.
"That is a long story for another time; now, what is a bullet?"
Ash shook his head, he could see the clip, and he pointed at it, "they are kept in there, and when you pull the trigger," he pointed again, "the bullet shoots out the end." he finished by pointing to the muzzle.
"Mother, we should use the human spears against them. They shoot five times the length of our bows."
Lina looked at her daughter, and noted the shaking of Gargon's head. She agreed with her eldest male, "we would never become as efficient in their use as the humans are, dear. It is a mighty weapon, and could be our undoing."
Lina shifted her gaze back to the human, "show me this bullet."
"I told you my lady, I do not know how to use them. I just know that they are kept in there." Ash again pointed to the clip.
Ash watched as Gargon drew a sword from his waist. It seemed odd to him because he didn't remember seeing the guy - elf- whatever these things are, wearing one. Thinking that Gargon would finally finish him, Ash fell to the floor and curled into a ball. It took him a moment before he realized that the cracking sound he heard was the rifle. Ash slowly lifted his head to peer onto the table, "are you crazy?" he remarked, "You could have blown those things up."
Gargon looked at him in shock and quickly backed away from the table. All the rest followed suit.
"Show me this bullet, human."
Ash saw that the clip was severed completely in half and also that the table was sliced open. He looked at Gargon's sword in disbelief, the edge had to be extremely sharp. He also saw that the sword split the clip and the bullets inside perfectly. A hair either way and there would have been lead flying around the room. He grabbed the clip and carefully extracted one of the bullets and set it on the table. He pointed at it "that is a bullet."
"It is so tiny, Mother." One of the duplicates noted.
Ash thought that the Runko fellow answered, but they moved around and he lost track of who was who. He could defiantly tell Gargon from the rest and of course, Rika and the Mother, but the other three were too close in looks for him to decipher them apart.
"How does it function, lordling?" the Mother asked.
Ash picked up the bullet, and Gargon immediately went into a defensive position. Ash held up his hand as if to say, its ok, and placed the bullet in his palm. Ash pointed at the fat end, "gun powder is packed inside this cap," he then showed them the bottom of the bullet, "this little thing right here, is a charge. The rifle," he pointed at it, "has a little hammer that strikes this little charge, and it makes the gun powder explode." "The bang sound." Gorgon stated.
Ash nodded his head in the affirmative. "When the gun powder explodes and makes the banging sound," he nodded at Gargon, "this top piece shoots out at a very fast speed. If it hits you, it will hurt."
Ash noticed that they were all nodding their head in understanding, and he was thrilled that he was able to explain it like he did. He really had no idea about guns, but he has learned enough to know the basics.
"You must show me this powder, Lordling." The Mother stated.
Ash, although pleased that she stopped calling him a human, but also mystified that she would think him a Lord, looked at her in confusion. "My Lady, I don't know if I can open it without it exploding. I don't know much about weapons."
"Then you are of no more use to me, Gargon!"
"Wait - wait, I'll try." Ash knew that the bullet end would come off, he just didn't know if it would blow-up in his fingers. He studied it and then grabbed half of the sword split clip. He held the bullet by the base, and used the clip to grab the top by pinning it against the table. He noticed the Elves shuffling out of the way. He slowly wiggled the bullet while he ground the clip into the led at the top, and after a few minutes, he was surprised when it separated. He slowly pulled the bullet off the base with his fingers, and poured the gunpowder onto the table. He was very proud of his accomplishment.
The mother came over, and sniffed at the gunpowder. "I know this material," She stated to her offspring. "I last seen it used by our great ancestors. They used to tell us children stories around a camp fire, and would toss bits of it upon the fire so that it would spark and hiss." She walked back toward Rika, "our greatest ancients used to draw ruins in the dirt before they cast their mightiest spells. It wasn't until later in our upbringing when we discovered that the dust had no bearing on a spells success or failure, and the practice was forgotten." She placed her fingers upon her chin in contemplation, "There was a spell that was used to negate the use of dust. Sorcerers would cast them at each other while they each tried to draw a ruin in the dirt."
She looked at Ash, "how many warriors are in your service, Lordling?"
Ash was confused. How could she negate gunpowder, he thought. "Um, about five hundred thousand." He didn't mention that over three hundred thousand were out of the country.
Everyone except him, gasped.
The last time the humans drew battle against her, they could only muster thirty thousand warriors, Lina thought. If they kept their use of these weapons, she would have no chance of prevailing. "How many swordsman, archers and cavalry?" she asked.
Again, Ash was confused, "we no longer use swords or archers, and our vehicles have made horses obsolete." He responded.
Lina was shocked, as were her offspring. They all just stared at him as if he were a stark raving lunatic. "What is a vehicle?" she asked.
"Four wheels and metal." Ash responded. He didn't feel like trying to explain the simplest details to these Neanderthals.
"The horseless wagons, Mother," A duplicate, blurted out.
"They are hardly horseless, My Lady, each vehicle has the power of three hundred and fifty horses."
They again looked at him as if he were mad, "I would rather have three hundred horsemen with swords, than one horseless wagon, human. You seem too proud of such an insignificant exchange," Runko stated. The Senator threw his arms up in defeat.
"So you don't have any swordsman?"
Ash shook his head.
"Or archers?"
"Nope!"
"Or cavalry?"
Again, Ash responded in the negative.
"Well, children, this may be easier than I thought." Lina smiled and Ash thought it was the loveliest thing in the world to see. Until he realized what it would mean for his country.
"Um, My Lady, without rifles you would not stand a chance. They are one of the deadliest things man has ever created."
"They will be useless very soon, Lordling." She grabbed Rika by the hand and led her to the gunpowder, "I have a spell that can make the sparkle dust useless, but I'll need to draw upon your energy once again. It will likely make us both very weak for a few days. Gargon, you, and Rika will stay with me, Dracon, Runko, Brako; you have your mission so go to it. Once Dracon and Brako neutralize their areas, they will join me by the Waters and then we will reinforce Runko in the east. Do not kill the King, Runko, I wish that pleasure for myself. Without their weapons, the humans will be novices in battle. Enjoy your killings, children."
She turned toward Ash, "without trained warriors, your human race will soon become extinct."
Her children started filing out of the room, Ash sat down, and placed his head in his hands. My God, he thought, this woman is worse than Hitler.
"Gargon, take the human to another dwelling. Rika and I will remain in here and cast the spell."
"Gladly, Mother," Gargon pulled Ash to his feet and roughly shoved him toward the door. "Lordling," Ash turned in her direction, "after I complete this task, you are going to teach me all there is to know about your human life. I will know everything, or I will leave you to the crows. Do you understand?"
Ash just nodded and exited through the door.
He was sitting in General Slovich's office with his feet up on the desk, trying to get some rest. The Gargon fellow was standing in the doorway. How was he going to get out of this mess? Ash thought. Elves, what the heck are Elves? He thought they were supposed to be little like Santa's helpers, but every male he saw was rather tall. Ash stood six feet, and so did the Elvin males. He had to be dreaming because this nightmare was excessively freaky. He also worried about giving the direction of the White House away. His thought at the time was to lead them away from D'Marco, but now it appeared that the largest force was going to be heading straight to where he was vacationing, and with the majority of the US troops stationed in Iraq, what chance did America have? The thought was too much to bear and he was about to close his eyes when all of a sudden, the ground began to vibrate. Gargon garbed a hold of the door jam to steady himself, and Ash clung to the arms of the chair. He looked to Gargon for an answer, but the intimidating brute just smiled at him. Ash had a feeling that his greatest nightmares were about to begin.

An excerpt from EARTH 2010 twenty ten
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