10:16
Siobhan pointed her finger, sketching paths between the islands. Then she did it again. And again. Kim followed the movements, trying to figure out the logistics herself.
Turning as carefully as possible so she faced the door instead of the stove, she called out to Ivan, Dempsey, and Dan framed in the doorway. “How are we getting the stuff out without it all falling apart or into the abyss?”
None of them responded. Ivan remained leaning on the hand he’d propped across the doorway. Dan continued to flip through pages in his book. Dempsey still stared into the kitchen, his gaze shifting between Kim and Gwen and Ben.
“Hello?” Kim called, raising her voice. “Ideas?”
Dempsey kept staring. Ivan kept leaning. Dan kept flipping pages.
“Hello?” Kim called, louder this time.
Ben looked up from his slicing and mincing and gave her a curious look then added his voice to hers. “Hello!” he boomed. Gwen’s whisk clattered against her bowl and she shot Ben an admonishing look.
He waved his knife at the door and the three men clustered there clearly not responding to their calls.
“There’s something up,” Siobhan said.
“Seems like.” Kim sighed, put her orange back on the stalagmite top, and jumped across the gulf between her station and the door.
She landed on the thin landing, her momentum throwing her towards the doorway. And she bounced. Bounced! Off of nothing. Or, well, something. Obviously something.
As she reeled her arms and tried really hard to not fall backwards and to her imminent plummeting death, she glowered at the apparently empty doorway. And into the confused expressions of Dempsey and Ivan. Ivan leaned forward and his nose flattened against the nothing blocking the doorway. He must have exclaimed at the hit because Dan looked up from his book and peered intently at the doorway.
Kim reached a finger forward and tapped it against the invisible barrier blocking the doorway.
“Can you hear me?”
Dempsey’s mouth moved, probably in a response but Kim couldn’t tell because she couldn’t hear him. Two air ladies swirled up, bracketing Kim, and peered through the doorway.
Kim turned to the one on her right. Can you get through the doorway?
The lady slid in front of Kim then through the doorway. There was no hesitation in her movements. The barrier did not affect Air. Then again not much kept Air out. It was everywhere and could enter anywhere.
Okay.
Can you speak to them?
No. They do not hear us. To them we are the wind.
Shit.
The lady gave Kim a confused look. Air does not defecate.
The lady remaining next to Kim looked at her with a curious expression. How will defecating help you communicate with the males?
Kim chuckled. You would think as long as you have been around me you’d get slang.
The lady’s expression shifted to one of mischief, the corner of her mouth twitching and a subtle twinkle, like stars in the night sky, entering her eyes.
Kim straight up laughed and shook her head. You are teasing.
We are teasing.
Kim stared at the lady on the other side of the barrier. She swirled between the three men, trailing a hand over Ivan’s chest then poking a finger into Dempsey’s ear. Dempsey twitched. He’d felt that. Probably like a burst of wind rather than a finger poke but he’d felt that.
Could they work with that?
Kim looked at Dan. Or specifically she looked at his book and his pencil.
Can you move the pencil?
Of course.
Can you write him a message?
The lady on Kim’s left gave her a dubious look. This would require us to understand mortal communication methods.
You can’t spell.
We cannot spell.
Dang.
Dang. The ladies tone tasted the word.
“What’s going on over there?” Ben called.
“There’s a barrier. Air can get through it but apparently sound can’t.”
“That’s a problem.”
“No shit.” Kim tapped her fingers on the barrier, beating out an idle rhythm. Ivan leaned in, his gaze locked on her fingers. He leaned over and said something to Dempsey who then shifted to also stare at her fingers. She paused her tapping, pulling her fingers back to tap them against each other instead of the barrier as she considered the potential in the tapping.
Turning her head she looked to Siobhan. “Can you think of a way to communicate with tapping?”
“Morse code?’
“I’d have to know that?”
“You don’t?”
“Do you?”
“No.”
Kim lofted her brows, letting the motion speak for her. Siobhan lowered her lids and waggled her brows back.
“How about just talking? Maybe they can read your lips?”
“That’s a thought.”
Kim turned back to the barrier then waved. Once she was sure the others were looking she pointed at her mouth and very slowly, with much exaggeration of her mouth movements, asked, “Can you read lips?”
Dempsey turned and called back into the dining room. A mikro later Prairie pushed up under Ivan’s arm and waved broadly at Kim.
“Can you read lips?” Kim repeated with the same exaggerated movements.
Prairie stared intently at Kim’s mouth then pointed at her own mouth. Kim intently stared at it as Prairie mouthed something. Shit. Might have considered she couldn’t read lips before suggesting this form of communication. She made an exaggerated grimace and then an equally dramatic pout while looking down, trying to project chagrin.
Ivan leaned over Prairie and tapped his fingers on the barrier. Two taps. Pause. Two taps. Pause. Two taps. Pause. Two clearly shorter taps. Pause. Two longer taps. Pause. Two shorter taps.
He repeated the sequence. Stopped. Waved his hand broadly to catch Kim’s attention then did it again.
Kim turned back to the others in the kitchen. “Anyone hear that?”
“I did,” Ben confirmed.
“Know what it means?”
“Nope.”
“Helpful.”
“Siobhan?” Kim called.
“Yes?”
“Tap tap. Stop. Tap tap. Stop. Tap tap. Stop. Taptap,” she ran those two together to indicate the shorter rhythm, “Stop. Tap tap. Stop. Taptap.”
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
“Do you know Morse code?”
Siobhan frowned. “I studied it. A very long time ago.”
“Is that Morse code?”
“I think so.”
“Know what that means?”
Siobhan considered a moment then frowned. “No. Maybe if I heard it?”
Kim eyed the gulf between them. “How are we supposed to get you over here?”
Ben looked up from slicing cucumbers and eyed the layout of the islands. “With difficulty.”
Kim blew out a long breath.
“How about sign language?” Gwen offered.
“I don’t know it.”
“Not even the alphabet? Everyone knows the alphabet!”
“Maaaaybe,” Kim drew out the word.
“Here.” Gwen put down the whisk again and held up her palms facing Kim. While Kim stared she made a bunch of finger motions.
Kim tried to follow but, yeah. She crunched up her mouth and shook her head. “Can you get over here?”
“How?”
Shifting her gaze along the paths between the islands, Kim shoved her hair behind her ears. If Ben jumped to the cupboard and she jumped… That could work.
“Ben, can you jump to the cupboard?”
Ben put his knife down and jumped to the cupboard island then looked back at Kim.
“Gwen, I’m going to jump to Ben’s island and you are going to jump to my stove and then to this landing.”
Saying that Kim moved to Ben’s island. Gwen jumped from her island to Kim’s island to the landing. She tottered there a moment, flailing her arms. An air lady swept in and gently pressed her hands to Gwen’s shoulder, holding her in place. Gwen looked back over her shoulder, frowned, then shrugged and turned back to the barrier.
She made a bunch of movements with her fingers. Kim tried to see the response beyond the barrier but the angle of Ben’s island made it hard. Looking across to Siobhan she called, “Can you tell what’s happening?”
Ben answered. “Prairie shrugged and moved back. Now Dempsey is moving his fingers and staring at Gwen. And Gwen is moving her fingers back.”
“That I can see. Gwen?”
“Yes,” Gwen responded in a distracted tone while continuing to move her fingers fast.
“Dempsey knows sign language?”
“He knows the alphabet. This is slow going but I think I got the question across.”
“Did he respond?’
“Still working on it.”
“Okay. I’ll shut up.”
“It’s sign language. Not like you are going to drown it out.”
Kim snorted but she remained quiet, letting Gwen concentrate on her silent conversation with Dempsey.
Ben went back to slicing cucumbers and Siobhan sat down on the landing of her column with her feet dangling over the abyss, her shoulders planted against the icebox and shifted her bag to her lap before poking around in it. Kim looked at Gwen’s back for another moment then turned back to her stovetop. The others had the right idea. Nothing they could do except keeping on.
“Siobhan? You know how to make crepes?”
“I’ve never made crepes but as a pretty great alchemist I figure I could figure it out. What are the steps?”
“How far did Gwen get?”
“Let me check.” Siobhan pulled her feet in and stood up then jumped to Gwen’s column. Once there she looked over the preparation. “Looks like everything is mixed.”
Kim reached for the butter and started creaming it in the pan. “Is the pan hot?”
“Feels like.”
“Butter it. Make sure the bottoms and the sides are coated. Then pour a small amount of batter into center of the pan.”
“A small amount?”
Sugar and zest joined the creamed butter in Kim’s pan. She kept mixing, eyes on the butter, as she answered. “Use the measuring cup and dip out about a quarter cup. Maybe a bit less.”
“Okay.”
“Pick up the pan in one hand and tilt it a little bit. Just a little.”
“Done.”
“Pour the batter into the center, rotating the pan so the batter flows around in a very thin circle. Try to get it all the way to the edges of the pan and even up the side a little. That little lip will help you get the crepe out.”
“How long do I cook it?”
Kim shrugged. “Is as long as it takes too vague?”
Siobhan laughed. “Yes.”
“Let it go about a mero then try to lift a corner without tearing the crepe. If you tear it just pour a little more batter in the tear. When the bottom is slightly colored but not brown or crispy, flip the crepe.”
“With the spatula thing?”
“I do it with my fingers but,” Kim looked up to flutter her fingers, “I’m not prone to burns.”
“That’s,” Siobhan paused then lifted her brows high enough they probably hit her hairline, “very encouraging.”
“Okay.” Gwen drew Kim’s attention from Siobhan. Both she and Siobhan looked to Gwen who turned very slowly and leaned back against the barrier. Ben looked up without stopping his slicing. Kim’s breath caught for a mikro but a quick look showed the cucumber and not Ben’s fingers being sliced into neat discs.
“I explained that we need to figure out a way to get the food out. He wants to know if we think the barrier will drop once we finish making the food.”
“Like we know,” Kim said.
“Right. What I said too. Good to know we’re on the same page.”
Gwen looked over to ‘her’ column as Siobhan set the pan down on the top and asked, “Want your place back?”
Gwen shrugged. “Unless you want to make the crepes?”
“I’m good.”
“Okay. We might as well make the food. Maybe the barrier will drop once we’re done.”
*
Dempsey turned his back to the barrier and looked at Dan, Patti, and Ivan hovering close by. As soon as he turned all eyes in the dining room focused on him. For a moment he was quelled by the responsibility implied by the way they looked at him, like he had answers and not as many questions as they did. He got a firm fist around the questions ricocheting around in his mind, took a silent breath, and donned the calm façade that was like a favorite shirt for him by now.
He was used to people looking to him. What he got for being the biggest person in the room. Gazes naturally gravitated his way. It made him feel like a lighthouse on a peninsula. Planted. A beacon that was supposed to stop people from wrecking themselves against the metaphorical rocks he straddled.
Ever since he grew into his height people had looked to him in that way. And he admitted he’d internalized the role. It was a self-perpetuating cycle. He stood strong and people looked to him so he stood stronger and people got used to looking to him. Around and around.
But this group had Ivan. He was an actual elected official. And Dan was so confident and solid. And they’d been with this group far longer than Dempsey. Yet there was Ivan and Dan looking to him and even differing to him.
“What’s going on in there?” Ivan asked.
“They need a way to get the food out without destroying it.”
“We can hope the barrier drops when they are done making the food,” Dan said. “But we should also plan for if it doesn’t.”
“Ideas?” Dempsey asked.
Ivan peered intently at the barrier. Dan looked around the dining room. Prairie walked over from the end of the room near the contraption Ben discovered and looked up at Dempsey. “The only odd thing in the room is the thing at the end of the room. And it enters the kitchen through that hole in the wall. I think, maybe, it’s the answer?”
They all turned to look at the thing that looked like a drugstore soda counter without the chairs or stools. Ivan walked over and crouched down so he could peer up at the bottom of the counter portion.
Dan wandered over to look out the window with Abe while Patti, Prairie, and Dempsey walked over and stared down at Ivan as he made noises of interest. Ivan duckwalked along the length of the counter, gaze intent on it. He grunted when he clocked himself with a support. Adjusting slightly to avoid the support, he raised a hand to massage his forehead while continuing to gaze intently at the counter.
He made a few more hmms, tilted his head, and focused on something in the corner he’d managed to move towards without raising from his crouch. With another hmmm he dropped onto his back and stared hard at the underside of the counter. After a few more mikros in which he squinted and poked at whatever was under there, he used his feet to pull himself out from under the counter and looked at the gathered group.
“I think it’s a conveyor belt.” He rose to his full height and grasped the edge of the counter with his hand. He joggled it and it moved a little bit in each direction before the motion was blocked.
“It looks broken.” Patti’s voice rose, making the statement a question.
“It is. Lucky you have a handyman!” Ivan planted his fists on his hips and stroke a hero’s pose. “Can I fix it? Maybe.”
Prairie giggled. “I don’t think the quote goes that way.”
Ivan looked down at her and smiled his wicked pirate smile. “It’s a quote?”
“Yes, it is!” Patti and Prairie said almost in unison then looked at each other and smiled.
Dempsey rubbed the side of his eye where a twitch formed. “But, really, can you?”
“Fix it?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, I can!” Ivan lifted his grinned and Dempsey, who considered himself very, very hetero questioned that just a little. “Maybe.”
“Is this the smolder?” Dempsey asked Patti from the side of his mouth.
“Close enough. Feeling heated?”
“Redacted.”
“You’re feeling redacted?”
Dempsey turned his head and gave Patti a stern look. She was completely uncowed. She, in fact, grinned at him and then winked. Or maybe she had something in her eye. Dempsey was going to go with that.
“Too bad I don’t have any tools,” Ivan said, chagrin in his tone. “I can probably cobble something together with silverware.” He turned and gave the tables an assessing look, like he was calculating how many forks could be used to make a wrench.
“We shouldn’t remove anything from the tables, in case.” Before Ivan could make any comment, Dempsey said, “I have tools.”
“You have tools?” Ivan’s tone was incredulous.
“Yeah. Nothing extensive but I always carry a basic set.” He reached over and moved his messenger bag so he could dig his hand into it. Envisioning the tools in their leather roll, he lifted the flap of the bag and dropped his hand into it.
The leather wrapped tool bundle separated itself the depth of the bag and fit itself into his hand. It took some manuevering to get the length of the tools pointing down so he could extract them from the opening of the bag. The hack saw and one of the screwdrivers were considerably longer than the bag’s opening was and the parallel clamp set was bulky enough that the bag’s Magick had to do some compression and expansion to loose them from the mouth.
“Will this work?” He held the bundle of tools out to Ivan. Ivan didn’t take the tools immediately. Instead he intently stared at Dempsey’s bag before shifting his gaze to the tools then back to the bag. Dempsey gave a sigh. “It’s enchanted.”
Ivan shifted his attention back to the tools. “Are the tools too?”
“Nope. They are just tools.” Dempsey thrust them towards Ivan. “Do you want them.”
Ivan’s hand closed around the tools before Dempsey could pull them back. “Yes.” He shifted his gaze back to the bag. “Can I look at that sometime?” He rubbed the fingers of his free hand together. “I can feel the power of the Magick on it but not the actual enchantment.”
Dempsey shrugged. “Maybe.”
“I promise to treat it like my own baby.”
“Do you have a baby?” Patti asked.
Ivan shook his head. “No. But I’d like to think if I did I’d treat it well.”
“I’m sure.”
Ivan turned back to the conveyor item and dropped to his back to scoot under it. Then he scooted back out. “This might take a bit.”
“I figured,” Dempsey replied. “We’ll leave you to it.”
Patti wandered over to the place the conveyor belt entered the wall and hollered, “Hello?”
It was too much to hope there’d be a response, but Dempsey wasn’t compelled to stop her. Because maybe there would be a response.
While he knew the Sign Language alphabet, he didn’t really know much beyond that and a few cusses a deaf jungle guide had taught him in his youth. Because as a youth that had really been what he wanted to learn. Kind of kicked himself now that he hadn’t applied himself more because spelling things out letter by letter with Gwen had given him a stress headache. Plus, the logistics of her getting to the barrier to communicate with him had amplified the headache and he didn’t want to have to rely on that form of communication if they had any other option.
There was no response to Patti’s ‘Hello’ or to the two others she yelled into the hole with escalating amplification. Patti stepped back from the hole and shook her head at Dempsey.
Dempsey eyed Ivan under the counter then turned to look over the dining room.
“We don’t know how long it will take for them to finish the food. We might as well set up a rotation for watching for trouble.” He counted the group. “Since there’s five of us I suggest we have two at a time watch the windows.” He looked to where Dan and Abe were doing that. “Hopefully this won’t take too long but I figure we break it into half hora chunks. Right now Abe and Dan have the windows covered so,” he looked over the rest of the group, “Prairie and Patti you should find some place to sit. I’ll watch the door just in case.”
In this way they split up slightly, dispersing around the dining room. Dempsey sat at the small table next to the easel and focused on the door. Patti sat down at one of the tables. She unhooked Sass’ house from her belt and placed it on the floor. Sass scampered out and up to sit on Patti’s shoulder, bright eyes intently peering around the room. Prairie leaned her shoulder against the door frame of the kitchen and watched the activity in there.
From time to time there was a clunk and an exclamation from Ivan. Otherwise, it was quiet in the room. Quiet enough that Dempsey found himself being lulled into a dull half-doze. He told himself he was definitely going to remain focused but as time stretched and nothing attacked his mind drifted.
Stifling a yawn, he forced his eyes open and did a visual survey of the room. Prairie had given up her vigil at the kitchen door and was now sitting against the wallboard with her knees up and her chin resting between them. Her eyes were almost completely closed and it seemed clear she was in a similar lulled state as Dempsey was.
Patti had thrown out her arm over the edge of the table she was sitting at and was dosing on the crook of it. Abe and Dan were talking quietly near one window. Abe gestured at a table. Dan shook his head no and turned to do a visual sweep of the room before settling back to stare out the window.
Something flicked in Dempsey’s peripheral and Patti cried out. She jumped up, knocking her chair to the ground as she looked wildly around. Sass scampered across the table then jumped up to grab something flying towards Patti. The mouse hung suspended in the air for a mikro then dropped. It held a fan shaped cookie in its hands.
Patti stared at the cookie. Stared at the mouse. Stared back at the cookie. Then darted a look at Dempsey. “A cookie attacked me.”
Dempsey eyed Sass and the cookie. “Maybe?”
“There’s no maybe,” Patti started and looked to the table closest to where Prairie sat on the floor. “Prairie! Watch out!”
Prairie jerked her head up from her knees and looked around wide-eyed in time to see a slice of pink and green cake levitate from the table and head for her face.
“Ah!” She threw a hand up and snatched the cake from the air then looked to Patti and then to Dempsey with a bewildered look.
And then it was on. Baked goods rose from the tables like locust off a field, hanging in the air before seeking the members of Dempsey’s group like they had heat-seeking technology.
Abe and Dan turned from their vigil at the windows to witness the mayhem. And catch the baked goods flying at them.
“This is a dream!” Patti yelled. “Right? This is a dream! I’m asleep?”
“Not a dream,” Dan replied.
Abe jumped up and grabbed a cookie, then another, then another from the air, stacking them delicately in their crooked arm. “Unless we’re all having the same dream?”
“It’s possible!” Prairie jumped up and dashed to the table closest to her and carefully put back the slice of red and green cake. She flicked her head to the side, avoiding a savory muffin headed at her eye then spun and deftly snatched it from the air before it could connect with the wall. Turning at the waist, she pushed it back into place on one of the tea trays.
“But likely?” Patti asked.
Prairie shrugged and grabbed a pair of scones from the air. “What constitutes likely in The House?”
“True.”
Running to the first table against the window wall where the scones appeared to have originated, Prairie set them down on one of the tea trays. “We should try to put them back where they belong.”
“What happened to not removing anything from the tables?” Patti cried as she juked to the left and snatched a tartlet from the air, carefully scooping her hand then caging it with her fingers, probably so she didn’t smash it.
“What happened to the domes?” Abe dodged left and right, grabbing a bun in their right hand and a teacake in their left.
“I don’t know.” Dempsey jumped and grabbed a brown petit four from the air. “And I don’t know.”
Dempsey bent and put his shield on the floor, then set the petit four on it. He watched for a mikro to see if it would rise and attack. It didn’t.
“Don’t destroy anything!” He looked up, watching the pastries fly. “We need them on the tables!”
“Tell that to the petit fours!” Patti snatched a cake sailing at Dan’s head, then jumped and grabbed a second one.
Dempsey looked down at the petit four on his shield and murmured, “Don’t destroy anything.”
The petit four said nothing in return.
Situating the petit four dead center, Dempsey kicked the shield so it skittered down the aisle between the tables in the center and the ones closer to the wall with the kitchen door. “Don’t waste time going table to table trying to replace them!” He darted to the left and grabbed two scones flying for his head then dashed over and carefully placed them on his shield, making sure they didn’t get damaged. “Looks like they don’t rise again. Patti use your shield as a tray. Put it on the floor nearer Abe and Dan.”
Patti grabbed a piece of shortbread flying passed her shoulder, then leaned down and pulled her shield out from under the table she’d dozed on. She held the shield flat like a tray and placed the cookie on it. Then she hurried over to place it on the floor in the aisle nearer the windows.
Prairie ran to intercept the triangle of scone shooting towards where Ivan tinkered with the conveyor belt. Hand out, she leapt deftly and grabbed it from the air, then dashed down the aisle between the tables to put it on the Dempsey’s shield. She shot Dempsey a look. “I’ll keep Ivan covered.”
Dempsey nodded. “Works.”
And then it was all-hands-on-deck, sans Ivan, running and dashing and jumping and snatching. Even Sass got into the act, scurrying back and forth on their table and snatching baked goods from the air with coordination and competence that was admirable for a creature of their miniscule size.
Patti’s shield, being smaller than Dempsey’s, filled up faster. She ran over, snatched it up in both hands and ran to the nearest table. Her gaze skittered over the tea trays on it and then she was quickly snatching baked goods from her shield and replacing them in the empty spots on the table. From there she moved table to table, replacing items where they fit. She had to flick her head side-to-side several times to avoid taking a piece of cake or a cream-filled sandwich cookie to the eye.
Abe ran over and grabbed a meringue before it could hit Patti square in the face. Some of the coulis on the top of it flew out in a spray and hit Patti. Slashes of red painted her skin. She stuck out her tongue and licked the bit covering her mouth. “Delicious!”
Shifting her shield, she lifted her thumb and removed the rest of the spray then licked her skin clean before moving to the next table and clearing the last pastry from her makeshift tray. “And not poison at a–ah–“
Grabbing her head with her free hand, she staggered then righted herself, turning to look at Dempsey over her shoulder while waggling her brows.
“Not funny.”
“Kinda funny.”
“Watch out!” Dan snagged a small pink square of cake before it could hit Abe then turned and placed it on the nearest table.
Patti ran over and shoved it on her tray then placed it on the ground and took up her previous position near the center table.
The rain of pastries died down a little but didn’t stop. The slight lull gave Dempsey time to look at his cake splattered hands and consider the merits of licking them as Patti had. Had to be better than wiping them on his pants which was his instinct.
Prairie jumped up, hands over her head, and intercepted a choux bun’s arc towards Ivan. Cradling it to her chest, she dropped back down to her feet and looked over her shoulder at where Ivan lay partially obscured by the conveyor. “Any luck?”
Ivan’s voice emerged from under the conveyor, slightly muffled. “Almost there.” A clunk sounded from somewhere further down the thing. “Uh, maybe. Almost there, maybe.”
“We’re just being attacked by pastries out here,” Patti yelled then jumped to grab a bun from the air. “No big. Take your time.”
“Pastries?” Ivan scooted out from under the conveyor and shifted to an elbow so he could survey the room. “Huh.” Then he dropped back down and under the conveyor with a wrench raised.
The attacks slowed down. Not stopped.
Prairie danced back and forth, guarding Ivan like a baller guarded the net. She even held her hands at her sides as she moved back and forth in a slight squat. When a pastry ventured in that direction, she darted left or right to grab it and then dashed forward to place it on either Dempsey’s or Patti’s shield before shuffling back into position in front of the conveyor. Abe and Dan kept up their positions near the windows, snagging any pastries that flew that way and running to put them on shields.
In that way Dempsey’s shield filled to the point he felt it should be emptied. He dashed forward, sliding like hitting a base to further the sports analogies, his foot tapping the shield lightly. As he did so one of the stacked religeuses came flying at his face. He cupped his hands in front of his face. When the stack hit his palms he let his arms pull back to absorb the hit and hopefully minimize the damage to the pastry.
Careful to not disturb it more, he shifted it to his right hand then leaned down and placed it carefully in one of the last open spots on his shield. It looked pretty okay for having flown through the air and smacked into his hands. It canted slightly to the left and the layers of it were a bit askew but all the cream and fruit layers seemed intact.
Dempsey tapped his finger against the side that was leaning and righted the tower then carefully picked up his shield with both hands and rose to his feet only to see a tartlet heading straight for his face. With both hands full he had no option to catch it. Besides his mouth.
Enter The Woods 