We could now confer using a little tree without any fear of being discovered or interrupted. I'm glad to say the ones we had with us survived the ordeal as well as we did. They were enjoying the outdoors and rain in the back garden. While the tree spirits did not feel pain or discomfort when their trees were damaged or killed, they did enjoy inhabiting their trees and enjoyed anything that improved the condition of their trees. They had led a pretty stifling existence for a while in our pockets. For the conference we used one of the others we had brought along from Malcolm's farm.

Aril, Lira and I were not doing badly in the local language, but the "translation" of the tree would help immensely and we could be in contact as well with our friends - they had all been notified and most were able to join us. All of the Tirkenez family and Buden were there and so was Captain Jar and his wife, Emily, and Bret.

When we had all made contact with one another and then with the little tree we had the tree relay to the others the names of all present. In return we were told that these were in contact: Mrs. Penny, Victorius, Mora and several of our Gnome friends including X, Y and Z. Lemuel hadn't been reached, but would be notified as soon as he made contact with any tree spirit. The Great Tree was in contact with us, of course, through the little tree.

There were also several newly taught members of the group; our network was expanding, both in membership and in area. The new members included one of great value too, Sola-Proom, the Watcher of the Dwolim. I'm going to write this as though they were all in the room with us rather than saying they were talking through the tree spirits each time; it will be much easier.

The first thing Malcolm did was ask Sola-Proom how their spying was going. The Watcher told us that things were going well. They had to be very cautious of course; if they were discovered, or if it were even suspected someone was spying, the least that would happen would be an end of the information. It might even mean the destruction of the Dwolim and an immediate start of hostilities.

Despite the risk and the great care they were taking, they were finding various disused tunnels and ventilation shafts to spy on Bolgar's innermost rooms.

As had been reported before, no actual date for the takeover had been found, but it seemed that Bolgar's plans would take six months to a year at the minimum to come to the battle. Perhaps Bolgar had not yet set a date. This was great news as Malcolm had always felt that six months would give us the advantage and the more time that passed after that would give us an even greater advantage. It would also allow us to find the Great Tree and possibly multiply our advantage. Still, even the best scenario promised many terrible battles - much death and destruction. But we had to do everything possible to minimize it!

Malcolm said, "With at least six months of careful spying we should be able to find out enough to get most of the vulnerable innocents out of harms way. Too much of that too early would alert Bolgar so we'll have to wait till the last minute to protect most people. But we must be as ready as possible while being careful that as few as possible knew what was going on.

"Given enough time we might be able to destroy Bolgar himself; that would decrease the troubles immensely, though it wouldn't eliminate them altogether. We'll put some of our resources to work on that possibility, but there isn't a lot of hope of that. How do you feel about that Victorius?"

"I agree Malcolm. After hundreds of years of study, Bolgar will have protected himself very well. If he has a vulnerability we can capitalize on, it would be very subtle and difficult to discover - probably something even he doesn't know about. Certainly no physical attack the Dwolim, or anyone else, could mount could succeed without an overwhelming simultaneous magical attack. Ultimately he must be defeated by magic, of course, but that can only be done when his armies have been defeated and he is isolated.

"On a more positive note, all of my apprentices have been notified and are diligently seeking any signs of Bolgar's plots in their areas. Bolgar seems to have studied all the failed attempts of the past and has been very wise, patient and subtle in his preparations; it's going to be difficult to discover who's working for him, let alone rooting them out. Have you discovered anything on that side of the world that would lead you to believe Bolgar is plotting there or even knows it exists?"

"Not a hint - but we still wouldn't have had a hint in our land if Vriim and Resik had not escaped from Bolgar's torture chamber. We must find some way to discover some of Bolgar's cohorts and how they communicate and what their plans are. Could you keep an eye out for those things, Watcher?"

"Indeed, I'll notify the Sub-watchers after this meeting. That should probably be our main focus now that we know we have six months or more."

Mrs. Penny reported, "Things are quite normal in this area and no further signs of the priests had been seen for many miles around, but that's probably to be expected since Tintinel had turned up clear over there.

"Every so often one of Victorius' helpers shows up and we teach them how to contact tree spirits and then they leave again. The teaching gets easier each time. Be careful of those children, Malcolm."

"I'm always as careful as I know how to be, Mrs. Penny. Can you do something for me? I'd like to keep a record of who has been taught tree-popping and where they reside. Also, the general or specific location of every tree that's been contacted. I'm sure the Great Tree can help you there."

"I'll be glad to help." said the Great Tree. I hope Justin will be able to get here soon - I think it will be of great help to you."

"The problem," said Captain Jar, "is that the storm season is just beginning and you are far from here. The first storm of the year demasted the slave ship. I understand the urgency and I'll risk a lot, but it won't do anyone any good to end up at the bottom of the sea. I think we'd better consult with my crew and a number of old sailors here before we make any firm decisions on the matter."

Read Part Sixteen 

Stories about dragons, centaurs, and wizards, enhanced with electronic media, for fantasy lovers; new postings monthly by Antelope E-Books

Stories of action, adventure, mystery, and just plain fun, for the entire family with new postings monthly.