Post by Tekel Brighteyes on Mar 26, 2007 2:39:29 GMT -5
Before I start this story I want to give a special thanks to Cricket Quickblade and Tara Winker. They were both generous enough to allow me to use them in the story not to mention all the help they gave me telling me their backgrounds and how they would respond to certain situations. Please enjoy the story.
King Isarn and his people were still on the other side of the lake. He was a hill dwarf by birth and king by self-proclamation. Though he could offer no proof to his kingship, nor did he have any land to call his own, he called himself a king anyway. Visionary some said, ambitious said others, mad said most. He was all of these perhaps but he had proven to be a wise man and leader non the less.
Though he had no land, no title, no clam, King Isarn still managed to have a following. Some were friends out of loyalty, some were forced to follow, and some came simply because they had no better place to go.
Cricket Quickblade was one such person. People didn’t like having her around. Many thought she was mean and spiteful. At best she was sometimes tolerated as a social outcast. Not even kender, her own people, liked having her around. So Cricket would travel from one place to another, staying until the other people got tired of her and forced her to move on.
That was how she came to meet King Isarn. She had just been forced to leave a nice little city called Jelek which is in Neraka when she stumbled onto King Isarn’s camp ground. She had been walking along, minding her own business, when she saw his camp. She went to get a closer look when she tripped over a root, and ended up hopping on one leg into his camp trying to catch her balance.
She was brought before King Isarn where he had her recount her story for him. He in turn told her of his plans to find the perfect hill. A place where he and his people would set up home. He would then gain more and more land until finally he had a kingdom to call his own.
This sounded truly fascinating to Cricket so she decided to tag along with King Isarn and his people. Of course, they didn’t know she was still with them until a few weeks later. At first the dwarves thought she was just showing up where they headed. Then they thought being a kender, she was trying to find something of value of theirs to take. Not that kender try to take things of value, or that they even had anything of value. Then they thought she was trying to hear their stores of following the would be king or worse, try and tell her stories.
Then came the day the dwarves realized that not only was she doing all of this stuff, but she was also helping around camp by gathering food, helping to fix things, or even helping with the young ones. And they no longer threatened her every time something turned up missing. They would just go to her and ask if she had “found” it laying around somewhere. That’s when they realized she was no longer a tag-along. She was now part of the clan. She was now family.
In fact, as the time passed, the only one that didn’t want her around was King Isarn. But even he started to enjoy her company. She always listened when he told her about his plans to become king. And she never made fun of him for his dreams as so many others did. When he told her he was King, she didn’t question it. She simply took it as fact. And when he said he would one day find a place for his kingdom, she offered to help look.
And eventually they found the perfect spot. A truly wonderful hill near a forest. There was even a pond and stream nearby. And it would support life because it was crawling with kender. King Isarn wasn’t going to let a thing like that stop him. He was however worried how Cricket would take it. But when he talked to her about it she didn’t have a problem with him taking over the hill. In fact, she offered to scout it out and even help with taking it over it she had the chance. Besides, it’s not like they had ever done anything for her.
That’s where she was now. Crouching behind some bushes, watching. And in spite of her bright pink shirt and bright green pants, she was doing a wonderful job of not being seen. Her long brown hair was tied in the traditional topknot except for two little bangs in the front which hung down like two antennae. Yes, Cricket Quickblade was a sight to be seen. That is if she could be seen. But her brown eyes were observing all.
This was the day she was going to take over the hill. She had already had a few encounters with the kender of the hill. Nothing serious. But always they had managed to keep her from taking over. But not today. Because today there was only one person on the hill.
Tara Winker was busying herself about the hill. Once again she was bored. And once again everyone was dumb enough to leave her alone. When would the others learn not to leave her alone where she might get bored? It started off innocently enough. She was jumping on her homemade trampoline which was canvas and old clothes, sewn together, and stretched across some boards and sticks.
She was considered strange by some. Being one of the few kender who wore almost all black. She wore a revealing black vest with red buttons. And under her red and black mini skirt were black stockings with red spider webs on them. She had think black boots with red buckles on them. And her long black topknot was tied with red ribbons. She even wore a set of black costume wings. Her complexion was darker than some but not as dark as others. But she had blue eyes that seemed to shine with an inner light. She said it was the fires of Sirrion shining through.
But as she jumped on her homemade trampoline she got more and more bored. Suddenly she got an idea. Then she got the wicked little grin that only she is capable of. She would have a surprise waiting for the others when they came back. Yes, it would be nice. Nice and funny. And as Tekel often told her, Branchala loves a good since of humor. She just hoped he would be the one to find her little surprise. He always seemed to enjoy them.
From where she was sitting Cricket couldn’t see what Tara was up to. All she knew was that Tara was busy with something. The two had met many times before and Cricket knew Tara could be… um… let’s say unpredictable. And she also knew that Tara had a black dagger on each wrist. Then again, she also knew that each dagger was wood for children to play with.
Cricked decided now was the time to take over the hill. She would capture Tara, tie her up, and signal King Isarn to move their people in. Of course, had she seen the wicked little grin on Tara’s face, and the gleam in her eye, Cricket might have waited. She knew that look as well as anyone else.
When she saw Tara climb back on the trampoline and start bouncing with her back to Cricket, she knew this was her chance. As carefully and quietly as only a kender can, Cricket snuck up behind Tara.
Only when she got close and heard ropes being released did she know she had walked into a trap. Tara turned just in time to see Cricket being hit from all sides is piles and piles of leaves. Tara almost fell off the trampoline from laughing so hard.
“I’m so sorry.” she said through bursts of laughter. “I had hoped to get one of the others as they returned.”
Cricket thought she should have been mad. But she was surprised to see she was laughing to. And just as Tara gets a wicked grin when she’s up to something, so Cricket gets a sinister smile when she’s up to no good.
Tara saw the smile just before the leaves Cricket had grabbed hit her. Tara jumped from the trampoline and soon they were both throwing leaves at one another laughing.
“So,” Tara said as she grabbed a hand full of leaves and threw them. “I suppose you’re trying to take over the hill again?”
“Oh I’m going to do much more than try.” Cricket said grabbing her own hand full of leaves and throwing it.
“How do you plan to do that?” Tara asked as she did a dive roll on the ground, grabbing more leaves and throwing them as she came back up.
“I’m going to tie you up and signal King Isarn to come in.” Cricket explained as she did her own dive roll avoiding Tara’s leaves and then throwing her own.
“I’d like to see you try.” Tara said laughing. Then suddenly there was a rope around her. “WOW! You’re good.”
“It’s not me.” Cricket said as a rope was thrown around her as well.
Cricket and Tara looked around to see they were surrounded by big human men in red armor. They both tried to introduce themselves and shake hands with the guards. But of course their hands were now tied up. They’d just have to shake hands later. Cricket and Tara were then carried down the hill to a nearby camp that had been set up and thrown into a cell. At least the guards were nice enough to leave them tied up so they would have fun untying themselves.
Three minutes later Tara and Cricket were looking through the bars, both bored again. But what they were able to see made them think this was going to be a lot of fun. They were able to count about 20 or so guards in all. But they heard there were 10 more scouting the area. But no matter how much either of the kender tried to talk to the guards no one would answer.
They were finally able to hear two of the guards talking about how they were able to make a look out point on a nearby hill now that they had gotten rid of two pests. All they had to do now was set up so they could test their new weapon on the nearby town. Cricket and Tara slumped down against the bars and started talking.
“How dare they take over the hill I was going to take over?” Cricket said outraged.
“And how dare they take over the hill I was playing pranks on and keeping you from taking over,” Tara replied.
“And what’s up with the two pests they found. You’d think we could at least meet them here.”
“Plus you’d think they could at least be nice enough to let us see the new weapon they have instead of having us locked up here.”
Cricket stood up and walked to the far end of the makeshift cell. “We’ll just have to do something about all of this,” she said. “But what?”
Tara came up beside her, “Oh, I think we’ll be able to think of something.”
Suddenly Tara and Cricket looked at one another. Tara had a wicked grin and Cricket had a sinister smile. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Cricket asked.
“That gnomes beards look great breaded?” Tara responded.
“No… No… No… Well yes. But I meant to get out of here.”
“Oh that. Yes. No I haven’t had any idea. But I do have my lock picks under my wings. The guards didn’t search there. And if you were to stand on my shoulders you could reach the lock that they put way up high and pick it. Other than that, no ideas.”
“Too bad.” Cricket said looking a little sad. “Well I suppose we could give your lock pick idea a shot.”
So they waited until all the guards were else where to start. And it’s not like the guards even wanted the cage locked anyway. If they did they would have used a decent lock. Once the plan was set in motion, it took less than a minute for Tara and Cricket to escape.
Carefully they made their way around the camp until they found the tent where the secret weapons were being kept. They weren’t able to get inside but they were able to over hear the two men standing outside the tent talking about it. Apparently it was a big cone thing loaded with fire oil in the front section. Dangerous stuff to carry. But the back end had some powder explosives as well.
The idea was simple. Run a piece of cloth to the back end. Set the cloth on fire. The fire would spread to where the powder was. There would be an explosion which would cause the cone thing to fly towards a target. In this case the town. Once it hit the front end would burst open causing the fire oil to spread everywhere. The back end which would still be on fire would ignite the oil.
Both Tara and Cricket had to stifle laughs when they heard this. It was an idea so crazy only mad gnomes could have come up with it. And yet the guards seemed confident it would work.
Carefully but quickly Cricket and Tara made their way back to the hill. Then they climbed into Tara’s tree fort to discuss plans. As they were talking Tara wrote a note, put it in a small capsule, whistled, and tossed the capsule high in the air. She was delighted to see her raven Spirit swoop down, catch it, and fly off with it. She just hoped he would reach the others in time.
But just in case it didn’t, they were able to come up with a plan what would stop the small army from testing their weapons. It was a simple plan they were both sure would work. But if it didn’t at least they’d be able to go out with a bang.
It was nearing nightfall when they decided to put their plan in motion. First Cricket climbed down the rope ladder because Tara said there was something she had to do. When she came down she had bells pinned to her vest and dress.
“What are you doing?” Cricket asked.
Tara said, “Well, you’re dressed in bright pink and green. So I thought I should wear bells.”
“Why?”
“Don’t you get it?” Tara asked. Then she yelled, “I’M MOVING SILENTLY…” Then she dropped her voice and whispered, “and you’re hiding in shadows.”
Tara started laughing so hard she fell to the ground. Cricked didn’t know if Tara had gone insane or… No. She decided that Tara had gone insane. But now was not the time to worry about it. When Tara was supposed to start handling fire, that would be the time worry about it.
They made their way back to the army encampment. In spite of their best efforts, neither of them were caught. All the guards were busy setting their carts up so no one was around the cone weapons’ tent.
Once inside the two kender found the cones laying down on their sides. Upon closer examination the discovered small plugs near the top. This is where the fire oil was put in. Their plan was now simple. Now that they could actually make one. All they had to do was point the cones straight up and light them up.
In theory they would burst into flames in the air and the fire oil would burn up before it hit land. And if it didn’t, at least it would come back down on the army camp. In theory at least.
Cricket was just starting to stand them up when she heard, “What’s this for?” She turned to see Tara looking at several jars on the table.
Moving closer Cricket saw a piece of paper on the table. She got it and read out loud, “Add these to your cones to see who hits what.”
“What should we do with them?” Tara asked.
“Well, so this army can’t use it, let’s add it to the cones. I just wonder how much to use?”
Tara got a wicked smile and Cricket got a sinister grin. Together they said, “Let’s use it all,” then gave each other a high five.
So the uncorked the cones and added the liquid from the jars. Then they recorked the cones and stood them up in a circle. Cricket, who had a sinister smile had just finished tying all the clothes which were to be used as fuses together as Tara came back with a lit torch and a wicked grin.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Ready.” Cricket answered.
Tara was just about to drop the torch on the clothes when several guards walked in. Seeing Tara standing near the cones with a lit torch in her hands causes a few of them to lunge for her to grab the torch. It caused the rest to run in terror.
Tara tried to run but got tangled in the clothes on the ground and tripped. “Oops,” she said as the torch fell on the clothes. There was a mad dash as everyone, human and kender alike ran from the tent. Not that the kender were scared mind you. They just wanted to get back to enjoy what they hoped would be a great show.
There were several loud explosions and the cones were thrown into the air. Higher and higher they went. Both Cricket and Tara fell on their backs so the could see them flying into the sky. Suddenly they exploded in the air. And because of the other liquids the kender poured in the cones when they exploded they burst into many colors. The kender ooooohed and aaaaahed as the sky was filled with colorful lights.
But soon the show was over and the two kender found themselves surround by several angry, and a few very scorched, men. The kender knew there time was up. Or at least it would have been had not many Knights of Solamnia arrived. They had heard of a small group of Knights of Neraka in the area and were out looking for them. They might have missed such a small band if it hadn’t been for the light show which lead them there.
The Knights thanked the kender though for some reason they didn’t sound as if they believed their story of how they rigged everything to blow up. Then they left taking the Knights of Neraka with them.
“So does this mean we’ll be able to call a truce now?” Tara asked Cricket as they walked up the hill.
Laughing Cricket said, “Oh, of course not silly girl. I can’t tell you the reason but I still plan to take over the hill. One day it will be mine.”
Tara laughed. “I hope so. As I found out tonight it can be just as much fun to take the hill back as it is to guard it.”
They laughed the rest of the way up the hill And the next morning as other kender began to arrive on the hill they found Tara and Cricket passed out on the trampoline. They were both covered with soot from head to toe.
“Just what have you two been up to?” someone asked.
Cricket and Tara looked at each other. Cricket got a little wicked smile and Tara had a sinister little grin.
The Enemy of my Enemy is… Well, They’re Still my Enemy Just Not so Much
King Isarn and his people were still on the other side of the lake. He was a hill dwarf by birth and king by self-proclamation. Though he could offer no proof to his kingship, nor did he have any land to call his own, he called himself a king anyway. Visionary some said, ambitious said others, mad said most. He was all of these perhaps but he had proven to be a wise man and leader non the less.
Though he had no land, no title, no clam, King Isarn still managed to have a following. Some were friends out of loyalty, some were forced to follow, and some came simply because they had no better place to go.
Cricket Quickblade was one such person. People didn’t like having her around. Many thought she was mean and spiteful. At best she was sometimes tolerated as a social outcast. Not even kender, her own people, liked having her around. So Cricket would travel from one place to another, staying until the other people got tired of her and forced her to move on.
That was how she came to meet King Isarn. She had just been forced to leave a nice little city called Jelek which is in Neraka when she stumbled onto King Isarn’s camp ground. She had been walking along, minding her own business, when she saw his camp. She went to get a closer look when she tripped over a root, and ended up hopping on one leg into his camp trying to catch her balance.
She was brought before King Isarn where he had her recount her story for him. He in turn told her of his plans to find the perfect hill. A place where he and his people would set up home. He would then gain more and more land until finally he had a kingdom to call his own.
This sounded truly fascinating to Cricket so she decided to tag along with King Isarn and his people. Of course, they didn’t know she was still with them until a few weeks later. At first the dwarves thought she was just showing up where they headed. Then they thought being a kender, she was trying to find something of value of theirs to take. Not that kender try to take things of value, or that they even had anything of value. Then they thought she was trying to hear their stores of following the would be king or worse, try and tell her stories.
Then came the day the dwarves realized that not only was she doing all of this stuff, but she was also helping around camp by gathering food, helping to fix things, or even helping with the young ones. And they no longer threatened her every time something turned up missing. They would just go to her and ask if she had “found” it laying around somewhere. That’s when they realized she was no longer a tag-along. She was now part of the clan. She was now family.
In fact, as the time passed, the only one that didn’t want her around was King Isarn. But even he started to enjoy her company. She always listened when he told her about his plans to become king. And she never made fun of him for his dreams as so many others did. When he told her he was King, she didn’t question it. She simply took it as fact. And when he said he would one day find a place for his kingdom, she offered to help look.
And eventually they found the perfect spot. A truly wonderful hill near a forest. There was even a pond and stream nearby. And it would support life because it was crawling with kender. King Isarn wasn’t going to let a thing like that stop him. He was however worried how Cricket would take it. But when he talked to her about it she didn’t have a problem with him taking over the hill. In fact, she offered to scout it out and even help with taking it over it she had the chance. Besides, it’s not like they had ever done anything for her.
That’s where she was now. Crouching behind some bushes, watching. And in spite of her bright pink shirt and bright green pants, she was doing a wonderful job of not being seen. Her long brown hair was tied in the traditional topknot except for two little bangs in the front which hung down like two antennae. Yes, Cricket Quickblade was a sight to be seen. That is if she could be seen. But her brown eyes were observing all.
This was the day she was going to take over the hill. She had already had a few encounters with the kender of the hill. Nothing serious. But always they had managed to keep her from taking over. But not today. Because today there was only one person on the hill.
Tara Winker was busying herself about the hill. Once again she was bored. And once again everyone was dumb enough to leave her alone. When would the others learn not to leave her alone where she might get bored? It started off innocently enough. She was jumping on her homemade trampoline which was canvas and old clothes, sewn together, and stretched across some boards and sticks.
She was considered strange by some. Being one of the few kender who wore almost all black. She wore a revealing black vest with red buttons. And under her red and black mini skirt were black stockings with red spider webs on them. She had think black boots with red buckles on them. And her long black topknot was tied with red ribbons. She even wore a set of black costume wings. Her complexion was darker than some but not as dark as others. But she had blue eyes that seemed to shine with an inner light. She said it was the fires of Sirrion shining through.
But as she jumped on her homemade trampoline she got more and more bored. Suddenly she got an idea. Then she got the wicked little grin that only she is capable of. She would have a surprise waiting for the others when they came back. Yes, it would be nice. Nice and funny. And as Tekel often told her, Branchala loves a good since of humor. She just hoped he would be the one to find her little surprise. He always seemed to enjoy them.
From where she was sitting Cricket couldn’t see what Tara was up to. All she knew was that Tara was busy with something. The two had met many times before and Cricket knew Tara could be… um… let’s say unpredictable. And she also knew that Tara had a black dagger on each wrist. Then again, she also knew that each dagger was wood for children to play with.
Cricked decided now was the time to take over the hill. She would capture Tara, tie her up, and signal King Isarn to move their people in. Of course, had she seen the wicked little grin on Tara’s face, and the gleam in her eye, Cricket might have waited. She knew that look as well as anyone else.
When she saw Tara climb back on the trampoline and start bouncing with her back to Cricket, she knew this was her chance. As carefully and quietly as only a kender can, Cricket snuck up behind Tara.
Only when she got close and heard ropes being released did she know she had walked into a trap. Tara turned just in time to see Cricket being hit from all sides is piles and piles of leaves. Tara almost fell off the trampoline from laughing so hard.
“I’m so sorry.” she said through bursts of laughter. “I had hoped to get one of the others as they returned.”
Cricket thought she should have been mad. But she was surprised to see she was laughing to. And just as Tara gets a wicked grin when she’s up to something, so Cricket gets a sinister smile when she’s up to no good.
Tara saw the smile just before the leaves Cricket had grabbed hit her. Tara jumped from the trampoline and soon they were both throwing leaves at one another laughing.
“So,” Tara said as she grabbed a hand full of leaves and threw them. “I suppose you’re trying to take over the hill again?”
“Oh I’m going to do much more than try.” Cricket said grabbing her own hand full of leaves and throwing it.
“How do you plan to do that?” Tara asked as she did a dive roll on the ground, grabbing more leaves and throwing them as she came back up.
“I’m going to tie you up and signal King Isarn to come in.” Cricket explained as she did her own dive roll avoiding Tara’s leaves and then throwing her own.
“I’d like to see you try.” Tara said laughing. Then suddenly there was a rope around her. “WOW! You’re good.”
“It’s not me.” Cricket said as a rope was thrown around her as well.
Cricket and Tara looked around to see they were surrounded by big human men in red armor. They both tried to introduce themselves and shake hands with the guards. But of course their hands were now tied up. They’d just have to shake hands later. Cricket and Tara were then carried down the hill to a nearby camp that had been set up and thrown into a cell. At least the guards were nice enough to leave them tied up so they would have fun untying themselves.
Three minutes later Tara and Cricket were looking through the bars, both bored again. But what they were able to see made them think this was going to be a lot of fun. They were able to count about 20 or so guards in all. But they heard there were 10 more scouting the area. But no matter how much either of the kender tried to talk to the guards no one would answer.
They were finally able to hear two of the guards talking about how they were able to make a look out point on a nearby hill now that they had gotten rid of two pests. All they had to do now was set up so they could test their new weapon on the nearby town. Cricket and Tara slumped down against the bars and started talking.
“How dare they take over the hill I was going to take over?” Cricket said outraged.
“And how dare they take over the hill I was playing pranks on and keeping you from taking over,” Tara replied.
“And what’s up with the two pests they found. You’d think we could at least meet them here.”
“Plus you’d think they could at least be nice enough to let us see the new weapon they have instead of having us locked up here.”
Cricket stood up and walked to the far end of the makeshift cell. “We’ll just have to do something about all of this,” she said. “But what?”
Tara came up beside her, “Oh, I think we’ll be able to think of something.”
Suddenly Tara and Cricket looked at one another. Tara had a wicked grin and Cricket had a sinister smile. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Cricket asked.
“That gnomes beards look great breaded?” Tara responded.
“No… No… No… Well yes. But I meant to get out of here.”
“Oh that. Yes. No I haven’t had any idea. But I do have my lock picks under my wings. The guards didn’t search there. And if you were to stand on my shoulders you could reach the lock that they put way up high and pick it. Other than that, no ideas.”
“Too bad.” Cricket said looking a little sad. “Well I suppose we could give your lock pick idea a shot.”
So they waited until all the guards were else where to start. And it’s not like the guards even wanted the cage locked anyway. If they did they would have used a decent lock. Once the plan was set in motion, it took less than a minute for Tara and Cricket to escape.
Carefully they made their way around the camp until they found the tent where the secret weapons were being kept. They weren’t able to get inside but they were able to over hear the two men standing outside the tent talking about it. Apparently it was a big cone thing loaded with fire oil in the front section. Dangerous stuff to carry. But the back end had some powder explosives as well.
The idea was simple. Run a piece of cloth to the back end. Set the cloth on fire. The fire would spread to where the powder was. There would be an explosion which would cause the cone thing to fly towards a target. In this case the town. Once it hit the front end would burst open causing the fire oil to spread everywhere. The back end which would still be on fire would ignite the oil.
Both Tara and Cricket had to stifle laughs when they heard this. It was an idea so crazy only mad gnomes could have come up with it. And yet the guards seemed confident it would work.
Carefully but quickly Cricket and Tara made their way back to the hill. Then they climbed into Tara’s tree fort to discuss plans. As they were talking Tara wrote a note, put it in a small capsule, whistled, and tossed the capsule high in the air. She was delighted to see her raven Spirit swoop down, catch it, and fly off with it. She just hoped he would reach the others in time.
But just in case it didn’t, they were able to come up with a plan what would stop the small army from testing their weapons. It was a simple plan they were both sure would work. But if it didn’t at least they’d be able to go out with a bang.
It was nearing nightfall when they decided to put their plan in motion. First Cricket climbed down the rope ladder because Tara said there was something she had to do. When she came down she had bells pinned to her vest and dress.
“What are you doing?” Cricket asked.
Tara said, “Well, you’re dressed in bright pink and green. So I thought I should wear bells.”
“Why?”
“Don’t you get it?” Tara asked. Then she yelled, “I’M MOVING SILENTLY…” Then she dropped her voice and whispered, “and you’re hiding in shadows.”
Tara started laughing so hard she fell to the ground. Cricked didn’t know if Tara had gone insane or… No. She decided that Tara had gone insane. But now was not the time to worry about it. When Tara was supposed to start handling fire, that would be the time worry about it.
They made their way back to the army encampment. In spite of their best efforts, neither of them were caught. All the guards were busy setting their carts up so no one was around the cone weapons’ tent.
Once inside the two kender found the cones laying down on their sides. Upon closer examination the discovered small plugs near the top. This is where the fire oil was put in. Their plan was now simple. Now that they could actually make one. All they had to do was point the cones straight up and light them up.
In theory they would burst into flames in the air and the fire oil would burn up before it hit land. And if it didn’t, at least it would come back down on the army camp. In theory at least.
Cricket was just starting to stand them up when she heard, “What’s this for?” She turned to see Tara looking at several jars on the table.
Moving closer Cricket saw a piece of paper on the table. She got it and read out loud, “Add these to your cones to see who hits what.”
“What should we do with them?” Tara asked.
“Well, so this army can’t use it, let’s add it to the cones. I just wonder how much to use?”
Tara got a wicked smile and Cricket got a sinister grin. Together they said, “Let’s use it all,” then gave each other a high five.
So the uncorked the cones and added the liquid from the jars. Then they recorked the cones and stood them up in a circle. Cricket, who had a sinister smile had just finished tying all the clothes which were to be used as fuses together as Tara came back with a lit torch and a wicked grin.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Ready.” Cricket answered.
Tara was just about to drop the torch on the clothes when several guards walked in. Seeing Tara standing near the cones with a lit torch in her hands causes a few of them to lunge for her to grab the torch. It caused the rest to run in terror.
Tara tried to run but got tangled in the clothes on the ground and tripped. “Oops,” she said as the torch fell on the clothes. There was a mad dash as everyone, human and kender alike ran from the tent. Not that the kender were scared mind you. They just wanted to get back to enjoy what they hoped would be a great show.
There were several loud explosions and the cones were thrown into the air. Higher and higher they went. Both Cricket and Tara fell on their backs so the could see them flying into the sky. Suddenly they exploded in the air. And because of the other liquids the kender poured in the cones when they exploded they burst into many colors. The kender ooooohed and aaaaahed as the sky was filled with colorful lights.
But soon the show was over and the two kender found themselves surround by several angry, and a few very scorched, men. The kender knew there time was up. Or at least it would have been had not many Knights of Solamnia arrived. They had heard of a small group of Knights of Neraka in the area and were out looking for them. They might have missed such a small band if it hadn’t been for the light show which lead them there.
The Knights thanked the kender though for some reason they didn’t sound as if they believed their story of how they rigged everything to blow up. Then they left taking the Knights of Neraka with them.
“So does this mean we’ll be able to call a truce now?” Tara asked Cricket as they walked up the hill.
Laughing Cricket said, “Oh, of course not silly girl. I can’t tell you the reason but I still plan to take over the hill. One day it will be mine.”
Tara laughed. “I hope so. As I found out tonight it can be just as much fun to take the hill back as it is to guard it.”
They laughed the rest of the way up the hill And the next morning as other kender began to arrive on the hill they found Tara and Cricket passed out on the trampoline. They were both covered with soot from head to toe.
“Just what have you two been up to?” someone asked.
Cricket and Tara looked at each other. Cricket got a little wicked smile and Tara had a sinister little grin.