Mac and the Little People Ch. 09

"Thank you. I think I can get up and go on now."

"But you just got here," said Greenwood.

"I know. But my friends need me."

"If its not rude, will you tell me what they need you for?" asked Berry.

"I need to give the elf her name and the gremlin her tools, and rescue them both from the diamond woman who lives over there," Mac said, pointing up the rocky slope across from them.

"See, you can be good," said Berry.

"We don't like her," said Greenwood.

"I can guess why. She is grabby," said Mac

"So grabby! She is so hard all the time but it would be better if she was soft. She takes whatever she can take, but never takes the one thing that she needs."

"And what would that be?" asked Mac

"A strong man with a hard cock," said Berry.

"Rude, Berry. She needs what we all need. Somebody to love." said Greenwood.

"I wish her luck in that. I'm just hoping to rescue my friends and escape," said Mac, and pushed himself to his feet.

Berry held onto his pants leg. "Mac, If you get the chance to satisfy her need, do it. Don't hold out like with Rose. She needed you and you didn't fill her."

"How do you know about that?" Mac asked.

"We just do," said Greenwood.

"I had a nice rest and a nice talk with you, now its time to say goodbye" said Mac

"Come back when you can stay a while."

Then the two were gone.

---

Fifi was sore, stiff, and getting bored. Mac had been gone for a while. The sun was low, casting long shadows and shafts of orange light.

"I hope he gets back soon and rescues us," she said.

"I hope he stays gone a long time," said the elf.

"Whys that?" asked Fifi.

"When he comes back, she gets the pebble, and we get enslaved" said the elf.

"Mac won't let it happen."

"Have you been paying attention? Her soldiers are stronger than Mac, and there are a bunch of them," said the elf.

They were interrupted by the diamond striding purposefully through the rock wall into the clearing. "I will brush your hair some more, little goblin. The recipe for employing you is proving difficult. Perhaps you are a defective goblin with substandard hair. That would explain your undersized stature as well."

"But am--" Fifi began, and stopped. If the diamond wanted to waste all her magical ingredients on the wrong recipe for a gremlin then Fifi would let her. As long as the diamond gave up before starting on her pubic hair Fifi could endure, even if brushed bald. The diamond brushed and pulled out some more hair.

"This is a waste of time," said the diamond. She began plucking Fifi's hair by hand.

"Ow, Stop it. Mean!" complained Fifi, now with a bald spot on the side of her head. The diamond held up the tuft she had extracted.

"You are a mess," said the diamond. She strode back into the rock.

When she was gone, the elf asked Fifi "Whats it like with Mac?"

"Ug, now you want a piece of him too," said Fifi.

"I didn't mean it like that. I mean whats it like to have somebody strong and good?"

Fifi thought a moment. "I feel like everything is easier. If I was alone and my tools got lost I wouldn't know what to do. But Mac and I together can go get them back without thinking twice."

"I wish I had a friend like that."

"What about the other elves?" asked Fifi

"They are the opposite of what you said Mac is like. They make everything harder. When I go away from camp by myself I feel like I can do anything."

"Yet here you are" said a voice from inside the stone soldier.

---

Mac crossed the creek and hiked up the hill. Now that he knew one of those stone soldiers could emerge from a rock face at any time he stayed alert. What he needed was a weapon, something good against stones. A hammer would do. Then he remembered that he had one. Mac pulled out the little gremlin made hammer. He examined the head in the twilight. One face was flat and the other pointed. Either would work to put a crack in one of those stone soldiers. He tried out the handle. It was short for a human, but felt like it belonged in his hand.

The head began to glow a dull red-orange. Mac held a hand near it to test whether it was getting hot but there was no heat. Instead he felt more competent, as if whatever work he did with the hammer would be a success.

"Mac!" came a loud whisper from nearby.

Mac looked around, seeing nobody. Then a smallish rock gestured to him. It was Gniff, crouched with her arms around her knees. She looked like a little boulder in the twilight.

He approached Gniff. She shivered, then spoke to him as if reciting a memorized message. "Give the name to Gniff and be on your way. Your goblin has already been repatriated to the edge of gnome lands" Gniff shook her head. Mac had seen enough hostage videos to know that the statement was false.

"That part wasn't in the original instructions. What is she trying to pull?" asked Mac.

Gniff held out her hand and repeated the instructions. Mac took the little white pebble out of his pocket and put it in her hand.

"Now snap out of it and tell me what is going on here" he said in a forceful whisper.

Gniff stood up and walked slowly toward one of the rock faces, as if pulled unwillingly. She pointed to Mac, then herself, but did not answer.

"What are you trying to say?" Gniff was getting close to a rock face. Then he got the message. Mac dove and tackled her to the ground. She didn't struggle like the elf did earlier. Instead, Gniff turned in his grip and held him tight. Her soft breasts cradled Mac's head and she gripped his sides with her thick legs.

"Listen, before she calls my name again and I have to go. She is going to try to take your goblin away. As soon as I give her the name the boss will either kill you or drive you away. I can go slow, but you have to make it count. She will hurt me if I make it obvious that I'm stalling for you. You have a few minutes while she is inside cooking the magic." Gniff shivered. "Its cold so the soldiers won't be at their best. You have a nice warm body so you should be fine."

Mac didn't feel warm. He felt wet and uncomfortable. Gniff seemed to think otherwise. She rubbed his back with her cold hands.

"It's been so long," she whispered. "Lay like this with me. Just a few minutes." Mac obliged. He was in a hurry to rescue Fifi, but Greenwood's words were fresh on his mind. Gniff moved her hands into his messy hair and massaged the back of his head.

Then her posture changed. Her soft breasts and belly hardened slightly. "She's calling. You have to hurry. But don't forget about me." Mac untangled himself from her embrace and rose to his feet. Gniff got up and backed into the rock face with her eyes full of tears.

Mac climbed the rest of the hill as fast as he could. He had not counted on the diamond trying to enslave Fifi. Mac's half baked plan turned out to be more like a pile of raw ingredients plan. He hoped there would be a way to improvise.

When he reached the edge of the place where the elf and gremlin were being held he was out of breath. He rested behind a rock, holding a hand over his mouth so the soldiers wouldn't hear him panting. Mac assessed the situation. The soldiers were making small talk about something, using miner jargon and geological terms that Mac had never heard of. If they were disinterested that was good. Then he heard some better news.

"It's too damn cold. My suit's joints are binding," said one stone soldier. Suit? What suit? Thought Mac. Then he realized that these were gnomes in mechanical suits, not solid stone men.

"That human better hurry his pink ass up and get here. My batry's low," said the other.

"Thats cause you keep the heat turnt up all the way," said the cold-jointed one.

"Cause its damn cold out here," said low-battery. Then Mac got an idea. He hastily removed all his clothes and put his boots back on. His pants had dried some, but his underwear and socks were still soaked.

"Good evening gentlemen," Mac said as he stepped into the clearing holding his clothes to hide the hammer. "Where is your diamond boss? I have something for her."

The two soldiers turned their stone helmets toward Mac. Then paused for several seconds. Then one said "Hope it ain't yer wee willy winky," and burst into laughter.

"Was the creek really that cold, peanut?" asked the other, and also began laughing.

"You showing her you know how to do y'own laundry?" asked the first again, and they both laughed.

"He wants to show her his pet baby mole," said the second. More laughter.

The two females stared in shock, then alarm. The soldiers were shaking with laughter and jostling their captives. Mac rushed forward and swung the little hammer at one soldier's helmet. It curved in an arc of orange light like a fireball and smashed down through the stony visor as if it were plaster and shattered the chest plate into innumerable shards. The second soldier looked shocked, a nearly impossible emotion to convey through a stone helmet. Mac took advantage and swung at him, smashing the stone arm that was holding the elf. She landed lightly and sprang out of reach.

Fifi pried the slack articulated fingers open and dropped to the ground. The two soldiers wisely backed away in their badly damaged armor. The one who had narrowly escaped being smashed hopped out of the wrecked front of his suit and scurried into the rock face with an odd posture, as if there was something foul in his pants that he didn't want touching his butt.

"So thats why you insisted on having your gremlin made tools," said Mac.

"Gimme!" said Fifi.

"Gremlin indeed" Said the haughty voice of the diamond. They turned to see her holding a crystal goblet full of green glowing liquid and a white lace doily. A squad of stone armored soldiers emerged from the rock behind her.

Mac threw his cold, wet socks at the diamond. She dodged them, nearly spilling her potion. While she was off balance Mac threw his boxer briefs. They struck her face with a splat.

"Ow! Cold!" shrieked the diamond. The soldiers turned toward her instinctively. Mac scooped up Fifi and the elf, and ran.

"Catch them!" commanded the diamond. The soldiers moved to obey, then stopped.

"You really want us to fight a naked human?" asked one.

"Ew, he's all pale and gross like a drownt worm," said another.

"You looking at his worm? I'm a-tell your wife," said somebody in the back.

"Damn it! Go get them!" Mac heard the diamond shout from far behind. The soldiers moved grudgingly in pursuit of Mac in a noisy shuffle, which soon faded into the distance. He moved faster than the clumsy stone armored suits, even carrying two little people and a wet pair of pants.

Soon they saw the relatively brighter moonlit field ahead of them. Mac put down the two short people so that they could exit through the edge of the forest. Instead of going around like last time, Mac crawled through on his hands and knees. When they emerged into the field they could no longer hear the sounds of pursuing soldiers.

"Wait," said Mac. The other two looked up at him. "I have to give the elf her name back."

"So give it," said Fifi.

"Not so anyone else can hear," said Mac.

"But I want to know it," said Fifi.

"She can tell you if she wants to," said Mac.

"I want it to be a secret," said the elf.

Fifi begrudgingly walked farther along the trail. Mac dropped to one knee and put his mouth close to the elf's pointed ear. She put a hand on his cheek.

"Your name is Tais," whispered Mac.

"Thank you" Tais whispered, and kissed his cheek.

"I don't know if you can be commanded by anyone or only me now, since the name I gave is the same as your old name. I don't want to command you. You are free to go where you want. Come visit if you want to," said Mac.

"Is this goodbye again?" asked Tais.

"For now, yes", said Mac.

---

Tais couldn't look at Mac. Instead, she hid inside a bushy cedar tree. The human words "for now' could be anything. Last time it meant over twenty years.

She missed Mac already for the second time in her life. She watched his pale back fade into the night. He had grown bigger and stronger, but he was the same little hero. He just didn't remember a single event from that summer over twenty years ago. He didn't remember Tais or any of the other elves. Tais almost didn't remember him.

She turned to go back into the forest where her squirrel skin dress laid beside the trail. Whatever she did next, she preferred to face it with clothes. Tais wanted to go with Mac and Fifi but she was not quite comfortable naked in front of Mac. The maleness of his eyes on her body made her feel uneasy. It was nice to have her form appreciated, but it was too much to deal with all at once. The rest of the elf troop with their obsidian eyes never looked at her like that. They had no desire, and none of them would satisfy her desires.

If she returned to the elf camp she could continue living as an outsider under the thumb of Drochide. If she followed Mac and Fifi she would be a third wheel, or a true outsider if Fifi drove her away. Which was worse? She was sick of being lonely all the time. The little bit of company Rose shared with her earlier cast her loneliness into sharp relief.

Voices ahead caught her attention. Tais was still too far away to make out the words so she willed herself invisible and crept to within earshot. There in the berry patch stood Drochide and three other elves in discussion. Tais' clothes were piled in the center of the group. It appeared she came upon them in mid conversation.

"Even though the orders to retrieve her come from the queen, don't forget that Lamlag is the cause of the trouble. The one who captures her gets to put the first ten stripes on her back and gets the honor of standing beside me during the repeat of the re-naming procedure." said Drochide.