CHAPTER 11

Hoop was wondering if he had gotten on the wrong chopper. He looked out the open door of the crew compartment and looked at the long boring stretch of trees tops that went on for as far as the eye could see. This was the chopper his orders put him on but, he still wished he had gotten on the other one instead. At least they were going somewhere with a little more variety of scenery. That news reporter and her two cute body guards were also going somewhere that was a little bit safer than he was. All of these thoughts were enough to leave Hoop just radiating his dissatisfaction.

Vinny Anders had, naturally, picked up on it and the sailor had mostly kept his mouth shut. Finally, he kicked Hoop in the ankle and said, “what’s up your ass?”

It was the Chinese Captain, that had some kind of name like Chan, even though he was universally called “Charlie” by everybody on the team, who answered for Hoop, “he’s pissed off cause we left Tay-Tay behind.”

That drew a sneer from Hoop, “Charlie, we only brought your ass cause we needed at least one alien on the crew.”

Charlie smiled to the point of beaming as he said, “you only think that because China has superior technology to that of America so it looks space age to all you Hill-Billy white boys.”

The Canadian, Jamie Jones, rolled his eyes and said, “yeah, and next you’ll be telling us China invented it first.”

“Sure we got it first,” Charlie replied, “but only cause we’re closer to Japan.”

Jamie slapped his forehead and groaned while Vinny ignored the joke and pointed something out that had been troubling him, “my question is, where’s Cross and Avery?”

Hoop was still acting sullen as he told them, “I don’t think this new Ranger colonel trusts them any more than he does the elves, if you want my two cents.”

Again Chan asked, “which leads me back to my original point. How did I wind up on this kamikaze run, I know you guys can’t tell the difference but I’m not Japanese.”

Hoop leaned over so he could look the Chinese Soldier in the eye, “Charlie, can you ever say anything without being a smart ass?”

“Um,” Chan pretended to think about it and then replied, “don’t think so. I think it’s a communist thing?” That drew more moans from his comrades. The truth was that Chan had grown up in Hong Kong where the party was not so popular. He also spoke English as much as he did Cantonese and that was one of the main reasons he got picked for this mission. He did have a serious side, every now and then, “really guys, what’s the problem with Avery and Cross? I think I missed that memo.”

Anders shrugged it off, “we don’t know. That’s what we’re wondering about. Looks to me like times be-uh-changing.”

The chopper came in slow over the huge field next the target village. It came to a hover at about a half meter off the ground and the crew chief did not even have to signal his cargo to move. The operators all knew it was time and were out the door and hunched on the ground as the chopper wasted no time picking up altitude and speed. The entire operation took less than five seconds.

Hoop hoisted his bags on his shoulders, put his sun glasses on, and then joined his three companions in walking towards the village. They had already drawn a few spectators but, they had long since become familiar the sights around here and most of the gnomes went about their business as if the human’s arrival was perfectly normal. Hoop supposed that, at this point, it was. He did stop for a second when he saw some familiar looking children, all Gnomes, that had gathered at the edge of the field. He dug out a case of chocolate bars, from one of his bags, and tossed it to the kids who then played tug of war, with the treats, before rushing off.

Charlie had kept walking but, he did notice the little incident and had to ask Hoop when the Delta guy caught back up, “sure they can eat that?”

Hoop blew it off with, “they might look like little rodents but, they ain’t dogs, Chan.” Then Hoop added, “sides that, if you believe Horshen’s bullshit, they invented chocolate.”

Anders winced at the sound of that. He turned and walked backwards as he asked Hoop, “think that’s true?”

Hoop was still agitated, “how the hell should I know Squiddy?”

Anders simply shrugged and turned back around without ever breaking his stride. He and his crew then walked past the first series of huts, mostly stone, mud, and with thatched roofs. It was then that Anders saw someone who was obviously waiting on him. He told the team, “I’ll catch up guys.”

Hoop had kind of figured this would happen and he was ready with, “you know what Momma always told me Anders?”

Anders was equally ready, “don’t tell me Hoop, something about chocolate, right?”

Hoop ignored the jab and kept right on with, “that all sailors are damn perverts.”

As Anders kept on walking he said, “yeah, I think she mentioned that to me when I got out of bed this morning. Only she sounded happier about it.”

Hoop stopped for a second and took a look at the little Elf girl that was standing down at the end of the lane. She looked to be all of fifteen years old, had on a beat up button down that she tied off so you could see her abs. She wore faded and ratty jeans that were definitely from back home. The worst part of it all was that she had her golden hair in two pig tails. She was constantly playing with them. Hoop stepped up to Anders and stopped him while asking, “seriously dude, how old is that little Spock?”

Anders wanted to laugh, “seriously dude, is that all you ever think about?”

Hoop replied, “once or twice a year I check my bank balance.”

Anders rolled his eyes and then said, “well, in case you didn’t know it, she’s actually three years older than me.”

Hoop blinked, “you’re shitt’n me, right?” When Anders didn’t reply, Hoop walked off with a parting comment, “I ain’t saying nothing.” He also did not look back and caught up with Charlie and Jamie who had already found their contact. To be more accurate about it, Horshen had already found them since he had obviously seen the Blackhawk come in and leave.

As Hoop had discovered, Horshen was not exactly the honcho in this village. He was just the highest ranking guy who would deal with them. Apparently the other gnomes were not that interested in talking with humans and, as Hoop figured, that was largely because they thought it beneath them. It was a strange attitude because Hoop had also seen that many of the gnomes in the area had actually come to think of the operators as genuine rock stars. Whenever the humans recruited for a mission, they always got plenty of volunteers.

Horshen never acted as if he particularly liked humans but, Hoop had discovered, that he was pretty stand up when it came to dealing with them. If he gave you his word, he would keep it if at all possible. That was why Hoop was a tad bit alarmed when Horshen acted somewhat snooty about their arrival. While most humans, at least those from the other side, might have taken his gestures and behaviors as rude and elitist, Hoop was starting to understand it was more like an act of being alarmed or, at least, that was true when it came to gnomes. The question that bothered Hoop was exactly what had alarmed Horshen?

The key to the mystery seemed to be one of Horshen’s followers. Hoop had never figured out how to pronounce this guys name and, for that matter, he was still not even sure he had Horshen’s right. This particular gnome was obviously one of Horshen’s main go to guys. He was also spitting a lot as he talked and, as Hoop very well knew, that was a sign of being defensive and alarmed. The gnome just kept saying one particular phrase, over and over. If Hoop was hearing it right, it sounded like, “meech-gah hadum die hayden zafen.”

Horshen spoke English well enough but, he seemed to have a problem interpreting this particular sentence when Hoop asked about it. It was Anders who would do it for him and not because he actually understood the language. He had three elves in his company when he approached the little meeting by the town well.

Anders said as he walked up, “they heard about the Rangers guys.”

Jamie looked confused at Anders and was in something of disbelief, “how would you know that Vinny?”

Hoop was still trying to work out the gnome sentence in his mind, “they usually say ‘zafen’ at the end of most sentences. If I heard him right, hadum means human.” Horshen nodded in agreement but, said nothing else.

One of the three elves was the little girl that had flagged Anders attention earlier. The other two, which at least looked grown up to Hoop, were a male and female named Rominesence and Halyla, respectively. They had been living with the gnomes since Hoop had first starting coming up here to Gnomeland. It took him a while to find out that they were some kind of NGO aid workers, or at least, the elf equivalent of it. That was the only thing that made any sense to Hoop.

It was the female, Halyla who spoke up first, in good English, when she pointed out, “you heard him right Mister Hooper. To paraphrase, our little friend said, ‘more human earth troops in Feyland.’ As you might notice, they’re not too happy about it.”

Rominesence crossed his arms and was quite easy going as he added, “and as you might have noticed, we’re meeting at the town well.”

That made Chan think hard and he wanted to kick himself for having missed it. Horshen had indeed sought them out and with good reason. He wanted them here and not at the village meeting hall. Chan vocalized that by saying, “they want this all in public, don’t they?”

Jamie filled in with, “so we have inadvertently put our buddy Horshen on the spot here.” Horshen did not speak but he emphatically shook his head in the ‘yes’ direction. Jamie understood how to take that because gnomes did not have that gesture. Horshen was sending a peace offering by mimicking human body language. That seemed like a good thing but, Jamie was still stumped, “how do we fix this?”

The little elf with the pig tails stepped forward now. Her name was, at least Hoop thought it was, Camiceau. She had seldom talked to any of the humans besides Anders. She sounded a lot more self assured than Hoop would have figured she might. The most communications the girl had ever had with him was an occasional smile. Now she said in a commanding tone, “that would greatly depend on what you are here to ask for. Beyond that Mister Hooper, it will take time but, I suspect they will get over it.”

Now, Hoop was almost afraid to ask. He kind of stumbled with his words and it was Anders who came out with, “we need a patrol up in the Hurt Again. We figured Horshen and his buddies might want to take another hunting trip with us.”

Cami considered what she was told and then said, “so what you really need is a guide? Is that what you’re asking for?”

Hoop now recovered and was less shy about asking, “and some extra hands wouldn’t hurt.”

“I can’t help you with that Mister Hooper,” replied Cami before continuing with, “but I can get you a guide.”

Anders shrugged, “who?”

Cami was quite resolute sounding when she turned around to go back to her home, “I’ll take you. We’ll leave at quarter day. Meet me back here.”

When the little girl and her two companions were gone, Chan had to ask Anders, “who is that chick again?”

The Navy S.E.A.L was rubbing his chin and watching her walk off as he said, “you know Charlie, I’m starting to wonder that myself.”