[Motivate, Target]

  Only a few more bodies were stacked by the portal so we dealt with them and portaled back to the tower. I went right to Draco’s lair. He was sleeping. So I went to find Opal. She and Ruby were in the dining room.

  “How are you sweetie, you did a wonderful job today but you must be really tired out. Should I gather more magic for you?”

  “No Rose, I’m fine, I’m at ninety three percent.”

  “Thank you, you saved Draco’s life today, you were very brave and also very strong.”

  Ruby asked, “is it over, Rose.”

  “Not quite, Ruby, about two thirds are gone. I don’t know if they’ll turn and run or continue. I need to check with Elmer and I’ll try to speak to the gnomes that are still out in the woods.”

  I went to the library to ask Elmer what was happening in the woods.

  “Gnomes are chasing army deserters, but the main force of which the trees in the forest are reporting numbers in the upper eighties or lower nineties. Still on the road, one wagon remains. But they don't appear to have any water left and have just set up camp by the new forest on the road.”

  I thanked Elmer and did a locate spell on Maz, he was on the farm site. I portaled to the site. I did another locate spell, Maz was in the saw mill. I walked over and it was oddly silent.

  “Hello Maz?”

  “Rose, how is Draco?”

  “I think he is going to be alright Maz, Opal saved his life but I am done risking my friends lives. It’s time to end this war, the way I should have in the beginning. But I need your help. I need you to build me some bombs.”

  So I jumped him to Tregaron and he got to work. In the end I had ten bombs, I put them in a messenger bag and portaled back to the tower. I portaled to road portal number four. Another four bodies were stacked up by the portal. I jumped them and their weapons to War World, wiping their memories and sending them on their way.

  I portaled back to the road and waited for a gnome to arrive. I wanted to know if anyone was hurt and needed transport, hopeful that when Draco had crashed he hadn’t harmed any of the gnomes. Soon a gnome arrived and he seemed surprised to see me waiting.

  “Hello ma’am”

  “Hi I’m Rose, I came to see if anyone was hurt or needed medical aid or transport anywhere? Or if there was anything I could bring you?”

  “We’d love to hear news of Draco ma’am.”

  So I told him, and I cried again when I told him how I thought that Draco was dead after pouring so much magic into his body without a sign of life. I told him about the tail thumping onto the ground and about the brave eleven year old girl who’d saved his life. This really seemed to cheer the gnome up.

  “Can’t I get you something hot to eat?” I asked the gnome.

  “No thank you ma’am, we have the rations that Draco gave us, we're fine and no one has been seriously hurt.”

  “I’m so glad, could you guide me to where I can see the soldiers' camp, please?”

  “If you’d like ma’am but why?”

  “Because I’m tired of entitled rich people doing whatever they want, and evil men trying to hurt my friends and allies.”

  “Yes ma’am, follow me.”

  It was just starting to get dark, twilight on the road, but already dark in the woods themselves. The gnome moved swiftly and quietly, I clopped behind sounding to my ears like a charging bear. But the gnome never scolded me, he slowed a little and with the slower pace I was able to proceed a little more quietly. It was almost pitch black when the little green hatted man came to a stop and whispered.

  “They are just ahead on the right, you can smell their campfires. They are too afraid to come into the woods any more. They finally noticed that those that come into the woods never come back out. But Draco scared so many into the woods that we couldn’t keep up with them.”

  “Thank you for guiding me, I’ll be alright now, please go back to your camp.”

  “No ma’am, Elder Glimmerdus gave us strict orders, we are not to let you act on your own.”

  “I’ll be fine, just stay in the trees.”

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  He gave a cricket crip, I was surrounded by gnomes and I heard chirps from the far side of the road as well.

  “As long as I stand in a magical field, the bullets can’t hurt me.” I have some bombs to throw at the army, so I’m going to create a magical field then stand in it and throw my bombs. If someone makes it to the magical field I’ll jump him to another world, where he can’t hurt me in the slightest. Just stay behind me and if you see magical paper don’t touch it. I have magical bombs to get rid of these guys forever.”

  I created a magical field about portal sized around ten feet in front of me. I tried to be quiet, but it sounded very loud as I attempted to make my way out of the forest onto the road. I made it to the magical field. There were three campfires which the men sat around. I was surprised that I didn’t see any guards, these couldn’t have been real soldiers, or if they were maybe their leaders had been taken. I created another magical field three or four feet ahead close to campfire two. I think I can throw far enough from here.

  I threw my first bomb at the campfire in the middle, it almost went too far, but it landed on the road on the far side of the fire. When it hit the ground it exploded and dirt and paper fluttered in the air, soldiers or thugs started to disappear. Men at all three fires were on their feet. Guns in hand, they had been looking at the fire so their eyes weren't adjusted when they started looking outward in every direction. I lobbed the second bomb, not so hard it hit the ground, exploded dirt and paper thrown into the air, more soldiers disappeared.

  By now someone had seen me and started firing in my direction. The bullets landed harmlessly at my feet. People were running my way now so it was easy, to toss bomb after bomb into thick groups of men after the explosion, men winked out of existence then as the men ran towards me they too winked out.

  I was down to my last few bombs when I heard the machine guns for the first time. It sounded like hundreds of bullets being shot at me, and the men firing stood too far away for me to waste throwing my last bombs. So it was a stand off, they couldn’t hurt me and I couldn’t hurt them either. So I ignored them and focused on the last group charging my position from campfire three, when they came into range I tossed my last two bombs. After the explosion, all of the soldiers from campfire three were gone. Five or six men still stood on the far side of campfire one and they continued to shoot in my direction.

  Finally their leader stopped them from firing from wasting bullets, there was I would imagine a finite ammunition supply.

  “What do you want?” the supposed leader asked?

  “I just want to talk, without shouting, I’m all out of bombs.” I took the messenger bag off of my shoulder, turned it upside down and shook to prove that it was empty, then tossed it away.

  He drew out a sword and started walking my way. I wonder if he knew that sword would likely work where his bullets failed, or he just didn’t like walking around unarmed. I wanted to distract him so, as soon as he was on my side of the fire. I started talking again.

  “Where is your army from?”

  “Don’t you mean where was it from, witch.”

  He did some complicated sword move, whipping around the sword supper fast in front of his body and kept walking.

  “What’s your name, mine is Rose?”

  “Trying to humanize yourself, do you really think that will keep me from killing you.”

  “No I think, that would be my job, Rose you have to stop sneaking off to save the town on your own. We don’t all have locate spells that find the people we love.”

  “You're a big girl, you really want me to kill you first, no problem.”

  I saw him start to draw out a hand gun, I was closer to him and dove at him. But Lu’s werewolf speed got her to him faster. One punch and he was down, just as the four remaining soldiers started to raise their machine guns. But they never got the chance. All four collapsed in a heap and I saw one of them blink away. Four gnomes stood their stun wands in hand.

  “Don’t touch any of the pieces of paper, please. Everyone just hold on and stay where they are, I’ll go fix the pieces of paper. Be right back.”

  I portaled to War World. Soldiers with guns were wandering around. I put everyone in the world to sleep, I changed all weapons to candy and finally I destroyed the portal. Making those tiny pieces of paper back on the road, just that. Then I portaled to road portal number three. I walked through the forest that the soldiers hadn’t started to cut down. Soon I was back at the campfire. The gnomes had their prisoners bound for transport weapons stacked neatly besides them.

  “Is anybody missing, count off and make sure your friends are still here, if they are not I need their names so I can go to the other world and locate them.”

  The gnomes claimed no one was missing, so I took the last four soldiers to war world. Where I wiped everyone's memory for five years. Then I portland back to road portal four to see if I’d missed anyone. I hadn’t so I portaled to number three where I met with the trees, Lu and the gnomes. They all joined hands, limbs and we portaled to the guard house.

  I thanked the gnomes for all they had done. They used the public portal to get to the gnome colony. The trees also portaled to the colony for their short walk home. Before he portaled off Woody said, “Why did the spy tree wear camouflage?”

  “I don’t know, Woody, why?”

  “Because he was an undercover operative, and he didn't want to be seen branching out from his mission! Hoot Hoot”

  Nora was at the desk and the first thing she asked about was Draco. I told her he’d be fine and I really hope that was true, I’d look in on him when I got home. Lu still held the unconscious leader in one hand. Nora led us back to Dogberry’s office. She knocked and Dogberry looked up and smiled widely.

  “Well, well, well, look who we have here Rayan Artsiom, Nora back out to your desk, stop any guard from coming in here and you never saw this prisoner.”

  “You got it boss.”

  “Rose, if we arrest him, I’m afraid his political connections and money will get him released, don’t you have a nice fictional world you can make him disappear into.”

  “I do, he can relax in War World. Just him and his buddies. I just wanted to know where the army came from. I guess we have our answer, Veracity. Is there anything you or Arthur can do about it?”

  “I doubt it, Rose, it’s been a lawless hell hole for years and no one ever does a thing about it. But with their entire army disappeared, I highly doubt anyone from Veracity will be troubling Wyldwood for a long time.”