War of Djinn and Men Part 1.

Timous and I start cleaning his little camp and fire. I'm moving slowly but feeling better as time goes on. I take a minute and inspect the area as he continues. The craters from the Conjured still exist. But where the Conjured fell, the grass it died on is completely dead and the body is gone. The row of spikes are also gone, and they left a line of dead grass with it. I see a mound of dirt, looking at it I'm positive that’s the shallow grave to bitch tits. I stand proud to see no marker or gravestone. I look back to Timous, the small backpack he has literally sucks in the wooden bowl he used to feed me that thick liquid.

I stare at it in absolute awe. As he grabs a mortar and pestle, he holds it over the pack. And it simply gets sucked in. “How did you do that?” He looks up to me, with a giant smile. “Simple leprechaun magic boy!” He gathers a roll of leather, holds it over the bag, looks my way, and it gets sucked in the bag past his closed fingers. “See?”

“Wow!” I approach the bag and him and examine by looking only. It’s a leprechaun sized backpack. It doesn’t look very old but it’s worn in. It’s a stick frame built into the wool pack. But the inside just looks empty. The pack fits him perfectly. Had I not seen it, I'd never know what's in it or what it is.

“Do you not have leprechauns in your home world boy?”

“Only in stories, in my home. You’re just myths to us.”

“The Djinn told me once your world was left to the humans only, it's sad. But I understand perfectly. In order to rid the world of the Djinn, they had to push everything else out.”

“You don’t know his name either? He told me you have known him for like a hundred years.”

Timous closes the cover to the back and stands. He sighs, softly. “Djinn was my friend, yes. He slept in my home, ate with my wife and me. We simply called him Djinn and I saw his face one time before today. We spoke to great lengths of his travels, his deeds and we worked together to limit his corrupted fallen Djinn from gaining souls...Eh, did he speak to you of this? In the all-white place?”

“Yeah, I think he brought me up to speed there. I guess this makes me a Mortal Djinn now...” I say, looking down at my hands and body again. “Whatever that’s supposed to be.”

“It'll be up to us to find out boy. Come, come. Aoife will be skinning my hide and tugging my ears off for more than a few days.”

Timous leads and I follow. At a slower rate otherwise, I’d out pace him. We walked back the way he came running from the woods. And I feel like it all looks like earth. There is just too much weirdness here, so I ask questions. ‘Timous, why do you call me boy? What was that about vampires and ghouls? Can you fill me in on this world?”

“Ah yes! If my kind is fiction in your world. Who knows what ya do and don’t know. As a leprechaun, we live a bit longer than man. 2, maybe 3 thousand years old” I stop, wide eyed and stare right at the little guy walking in front of me, he looks back and smiles. “I don’t look a day over three hundred and fifty-two!”

I look him over, thinning red hair on the head and beard. The thick rolls of skin on his forehead. From age? Thin wool clothes. He can't be more than 4 ft tall. His teeth are rather small for the mouth, and there are more canines but incisors too. He has slightly longer fingers that are fat. And the palms are too small for the fingers. They do have signs or age on the back hand and face now that I'm not distracted. Like liver spots on the skin.

He turns and walks. “I'm actually 742, Aoife is 712. In this world my people are not usually welcome near humans or their towns and villages. Most people try to capture us for our wealth. Even the knowledge we gain over our longer lives. Which I’ll have you know, we all love! Stories, education, even recipes. We leprechaun are very educated creatures, passed down or self-taught.”

“Why capture you? Why aren't you just welcomed? Why would you be asked or paid to be some kind of teacher or scholar?”

“Some have been, Aoife's father was headmaster librarian for 3 kings on the other side of the land. He did teach and make many salves, medicines and tonics. He was a great leprechaun. He did much to our reputation till they found Rumpelstiltskin, luring and killing children. When it happened, her father hunted him down and killed him, but in the process was poisoned. Unfortunately, the three of us working together could not counteract the poison. He died 3 days later. “

“I'm sorry to hear that, we have stories of him being some creature taking the first born children.”

“Hmm, maybe the two worlds hold many similarities like this. He did get his start by making people ill, then fixing them for the price of their children's lives before they are born...”

How many similarities are there? This place doesn’t look very advanced. We were not the best people in those times... What about here?

“Uh, the other monsters you mentioned?”

“Let's see, Ghouls are man-like creatures, driven by hunger alone. Like all man eaters, they generally stink of rotted flesh. They can only consume the dead. To nourish themselves and heal themselves. And after doing so, for a while they are very strong. Maybe a day or two. There are very few left. But with that man's body back there, I was in a rush to bury him. I'd be little match for one.”

Now Vampires are also man-like. Turned or born. They are fast, smart and cunning hunters of all men. Many of them are more than able to wield magic in offense and defense. They generally take and keep prey alive for multiple feedings. They can turn anyone into vampires, but only the born vampires are stronger than them. They even have a hierarchy calling the born vampire Nosferatu. They hold more gifts than the others and are so much stronger. There is even a Nosferatu king, in rumor alone.”

“Dracula?” I try to anticipate. “Is he Dracula?”

“No... Odd name. Is that another story from your home? King George The Primary Is said to be the oldest Vampire,possibly the first. His son George the 2nd is the General Defender of the Gothite. He leads an army of humans, familiars and Vampires. Whose sole purpose is to defend the city Gothite and people there from invaders. George the Third. He is savage. He leads the Army. Vampire and familiar hunters. Rumor has it, the people willingly donate their blood to the Vampires for protection. And because of this, the Vampires have done all they can to expel and wipe out all other man eaters in their lands. They are on the other side of the mountain ranges... Few know their rules. But we know they hate competition and outsiders. So new Vampires who have no control of their blood lust, are killed or banished. They cross the mountains and live here, trying to expand their lineage, to go from a Vampire nest, to pack, maybe even a new vampire city.

“Ghouls and Vampires. How big of a threat are they here? How do we kill them?” I need to ask. His tone this whole time has been so serious and analytical... I just know he’s not kidding.

“Well, you can slow them by wounding or dismembering them. But a little feeding and they heal in minutes, it's said they can regrow limbs after a feeding too. Neither can do well in the sunlight; my books say their eyes give them away if you can't smell them. Daylight is apparently blinding to them as scavengers and hunters. Simply beheading them and then burning the bodies is the only way I've read to do the deed.”

We stopped by a river and Timous tells me to sit on a larger rock a few feet from a good-sized stream. He pulls off his bag. Opens the flap and asks “Are you feeling right boy? Do you need water?”

“I'm still a little beat up, water sounds great.” I start getting back up for the stream. He instantly stops me “Ah Ah!!” He points to the rock and stops me in my tracks pointing to the rock. “I'll make you more Willows potion.

I sit and watch. He holds his hands above the bag. 1 bowel, 2 bowels. Then the leather roll which is thick, maybe 15 inches long and 9 inches wide rolled up. He looks around, picks a spot and starts unrolling it on the ground. When it fully unrolls it looks like it's 30 inches long... Ready for a little of my fathers magic boy?” I look on, puzzled. He grabs one corner, and lifts. The whole thing folds open like a cardboard box. He grabs another section and folds that open. 3 rows of leather with what looks like boxes, he looks at them, pushes on one slightly and it opens like a drawer with a magnetic lock. “Aoife's father was a good leprechaun. Trusted and appreciated. Mine was a slave for 30 years, until he was allowed to be a healer. This is his pantry. Keep’s all ingredients fresh and ready to be used! It even holds a few tools!” He gets the mortar and pestle and starts adding ingredients to make his little potion. “Willow bark for aches and fever, blueberry roots and berry for body cleaning, licorice for general infections. Add water, powder to paste, paste to liquid. And drink son!” He hands me the pestle and gets me water. I drink the potion, still a rough thing to get down. And now it burns a little less. But it still tastes funky. He hands me the water bowl and I drink it all down. Look at the bowl and it refills itself with water. I get wide eyed again. “Ha Ha! You should get 4-5 good drinks before it's empty boy!” He says with a smile.

This must be magic... and so far, it's impressively cool. We finish and pack up. Objects sucked into the backpack again and we marched on in some random direction. Following his lead.

“Let's see, I told ya about Vampires, Nosferatu and Ghouls. Let's get to Lycanthrope.” I hold my tongue to not sound dumb again...

“I've seen maybe 2. from a far mind you. They are the size of bears give or take, and they avoid all creatures. But with cities expanding, livestock becomes their targets.Its only a matter of time if we find more, or find out they’ve died. One book I have on lesser known beasts, says they have a second set of glands in their jaw which they can use to envenomate men into these werewolves... but they themselves are said to be driven by hunger alone. And do not travel with the lycanthropes. Uh, to kill them you just need a plan to kill them like a bear. Keep your distance, and attack. They do not heal like other man eaters. If they eat man at all.”

“Are there so few or do they really just avoid everything else? Do they seem smart enough to communicate with?”

“Hmm, I don’t have many answers for you. They were hunted for a time though... Their hides are very tough and if tanned with the Lycanthropes brains, they make very good leather armor. Come to think of it, they were in more abundance some 200 years ago as humans hunted them. So, who knows for sure. Here! Up this ridge.”

“Now a little more about Leprechaun magic we make our homes to be accessed via a key. Which can be any object. And home is wherever the key is. As far as all men are concerned, our homes are invisible. A perfectly impenetrable castle! If I lose the key, it will take my bones for anyone to use the key, if I die in my home with the key, then I might as well never have existed! Aoife has the only key, so she will let us in. Our homes can be whatever we please, change with ease, and house all my belongings forever! You will see a glorious thing today boy!”

We approach a small indentation in a hill side where it looks like a large rock fell out of the hill itself. It’s semi sheltered, and maybe 8 feet tall and 10 feet wide. Timous removes his hat, a simple wool style Irish walking cap. It's gray, not green, obviously. And shouts “Aoife my love, I have returned dear!”

And in the middle of space, seconds later a door slightly bigger than him opens out of nowhere. But in the doorway, a woman, slightly smaller than Timous. Black hair with long curls in her hair, and no deep wrinkles in her forehead like Timous. She looks more human, to the face. With the exception of her teeth, and her hands. She could pass for an older woman, maybe in her 40s.

“Timous you hoor of a Leprechaun I could have sworn ya been called to Ain Sol Eile and I'd never see you again ya Gobshite. And you Djinn! Don’t Think I won't jump up there and wring your neck...” She stops dead mid-sentence as she sees my face... I know she has no clue. But I forgot we were going to have to tell her what happened. So Timous starts with an “I'm sorry my love. But we had some difficulties...” I stand silent as he tells the story of the Djinn being impaled and stabbed. She looks deeply saddened and then looks more concerned for her husband. With tears in her eyes she says, “Mark, I'm sorry for that little outburst, please boys. Come in and I'll make you some stew we have on the fire. Come on boys.

Timous enters first but I have a different idea in mind. I examine the doors perimeter and try to see if there is any structure. Using my hands, I feel air flow from inside the doorway blowing out. It's slightly cooler than what's outside. But all around the door itself, there is no other indication that there is a home of any kind there. It's simply a place that happens to have a portal to a Leprechaun home. I get a little excited, crouch down and waddle through the door. Hitting my head as I enter, I duck down lower and make my way in.

“Welcome to my home Mark, Next time I'll make the door a bit bigger” He smiles, winks and closes the door behind me.