Chapter 9
Glaston Township, State: Percival, Republic of Shantu, Continent: Barat Year: 2040, Planet: Grimoire
With everything happening so fast, Harper and the others could barely catch their breath, they were so exhausted. He stood leaning against a tree while contemplating what to do. how could he and the others help the adults who'd been working tirelessly for the past several hours?
Thoughts rolled through Harper's mind, but he wasn't able to come up with anything right away. However, as he watched Marcus' actions when it came to searching for signs of black magic on the newborns, an idea came to him.
Harper straightened up and walked over to where his siblings were sitting or crouching near the bassinets. He first spoke to his siblings. "I've got an idea so please hear me out."
Anara regarded him with bafflement. "I'm all ears if it means we might have a shot at survival that we're also accomplishing through our efforts." She gestured wanly. "I doubt those three will reject anything that is suggested as long as we don't attempt to risk our lives."
All of the children agreed with her assessment, much to Harper's relief. "Eh, we aren't going to be risking our lives doing this." Thus far none of them had really contributed anything to the escape efforts and were feeling rather useless and left out.
"I got this idea while watching Marcus scan the babies." Harper outlined what he conceived of, and the other kids nodded in agreement.
"Huh, sounds like fun." Holly's eyes brightened.
Daryl grinned. "Yeah, we can make use of skills that can manipulate the elements."
Ambrose's eyes glinted. "I think it has merit. Why not create golems?" His suggestion of something somewhat more complicated took Harper by surprise.
Hmm, now that was not something Harper would've thought of, but it would actually work out quite well, better than what he'd conceived just moments ago.
Now his siblings were grinning from ear to ear with anticipation.
"That sounds doable, and it would certainly create variables that the hag wouldn't even think we're able to do something like that," Sherpa mentioned. "Now should we tell them," He gestured towards Hermina, Joan, and Marcus who were huddled together. "Or should we just act independently?"
Hmm, that was a good question and one that did somewhat bother Harper. While he did want to get their approval, he also wanted to get started so that they could preserve what precious energy they had still being too.
"Just go for it," Daryl told him. "We can just explain afterward that it would be a good way to leave a decoy for them to chase after." He shrugged. "I think it'll work. Those folks of Glaston tend to underestimate us rather to their detriment anyway."
Harper grunted and saw that the trio of adults were looking in their direction with some dubiousness. He told them what he'd thought of doing and got their wholehearted approval, much to the surprise of the other children.
This was a first in their experience to receive approval and encouragement from someone other than their mother.
Thus, they gained the courage to take their first steps as independent young adults into the unknown of making major decisions freely.
*
While Harper and Ambrose set up the first set of decoys, Daryl and Sherpa wandered off to create another set of decoys. Daryl noticed that Sherpa was unusually quiet and subdued while creating the necessary pieces of the creations they were making. "What's bothering you, Sherpa?" He inquired after a few minutes.
His older brother hesitated and sighed. "I'm upset by the fact that I didn't even know that the babies had been ensorcelled, to begin with by that evil muck." He tended to be one who could recognize signs of danger just by looking at someone.
Daryl grunted. "Did it even occur to you to check?" To him, it was something that was easily overlooked. "I typically would check for malicious intent everywhere else but the medical clinic." He shrugged. "So, the fact that you didn't check is not necessarily a bad thing."
Especially since they'd been somewhere where no one would dream of killing someone else. Daryl sighed when Sherpa shook his head unconvinced. "Look, it was pretty obvious that we hadn't even known about those little ones that had been lifeless corpses since they weren't in the room when we arrived. How could we have known that someone would tamper with them?"
Sherpa winced. "Okay, you've got a point. I guess I was just sulking because I haven't managed to get my head around the fact that we won't be able to talk to Mother again." He sighed. "She's not even in the spirit realm."
Ah, so he'd been searching for their mother in the ether. Not exactly something that Daryl thought of doing. "She might not be there because of some prearrangement or another to keep us safe." He mentioned the possibility offhandedly.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right, but it seems strange that we're forced to not ever speak with her again." Sherpa sighed. "I guess we'll be able to grieve later once we're safer elsewhere." His glum mood made Daryl wince.
"Yeah, we're all in the same frame of mind, brother." Daryl reminded him. "That means we're also just waiting for the right moment where we can rest and grieve at our leisure."
Everyone had different methods of handling grief. Right now, though, no one has the luxury to indulge. Truth be told, Daryl would love to create a bit of chaos with the creations. He wouldn't risk the controls falling into the wrong hands if he did that. So, no running wild in the streets of the township.
*
While the boys had already begun their work, all of the girls clustered together at Anara's request. "They've got a good foundation, but I think we can make it more interesting. I think we can get some suggestions from Miss Hermina and Mrs. Joan Whitcombe." She insisted. "That way, when we join the boys, they won't view us as bothersome."
That would also cut down on the confusion of potentially creating too many golems and losing some in the process which Anara could see happening if they all did separate things.
As a result, they walked over to where the two women guarded the babies and consulted with Hermina and Joan about the best way of doing what their brother suggested.
It didn't take long to garner some interesting advice from the two women who were amused at what the boys thought up this time. At last, the girls split up into two groups and joined their brothers. "We figured that we'd help with the finishing touches," Sapphire told Daryl and Sherpa as she and Jennifer approached them.
Anara and Holly joined Harper and Ambrose as they worked to finish their part of the creations. Carefully designed golems that would become a thorough nuisance and bait for the matriarch and any of her minions she sent after them.
All of the children had fun with the projects. It would be fun to watch the chaos from a safe place. However, they also had to make sure that the creations couldn't be purloined for some nefarious use afterward.
Anara studied the creations with a critical eye. "Hmm, how much time should we allow for them to maintain their forms?"
When the others glanced at each other in dismay, Anara sighed. "We cannot let them fall into the hands of the enemies and give them new weapons to use willy-nilly."
Her argument made sense to the others. Therefore, there were mechanisms set in place to make them self-destruct after a certain amount of time passed. "This should make for an interesting time in the enemy camp should they make it that far back." Ambrose's eyes gleamed with anticipation.
All of them had inserted different intent of what they needed to be done as golems. The fact that a bit of mischief was incorporated was merely part of the creators' efforts to vent their rage and grief against the matriarch for essentially forcing their mother to kill herself to save their lives.
Now, however, they had to pause and rest so that Marcus could focus on ensuring their safe departure from the forest path that appeared to have turned into a trap sealing them in there permanently. Just the very thought frightened all of the children. They were very rapidly reaching the end of their ability to support composure. This hadn't been the greatest of days when they acknowledged that their mother would only remain in their hearts.