The Shasta Caper, Chapter Sixty-Six, Part One

                 Chapter Sixty-Six, Part One

The rest of their journey was relatively uneventful. 

Mother Elephant recovered several days later with the tender care of Nanny, who it turned out was a quite capable nurse among her many other talents. She never left the Mother Elephant for a moment, making sure she was warm enough, sometimes even using her own body for extra heat, though the baby elephants usually closed in to add warmth as well.

It was quite a site to Samuel and Jimbo as they watched that last morning. 

Robin and Smarn were off scouting for the best path back to their home, which was also where  they wanted to go.

When Samuel told Robin about Lady Marantha his eyes lit up. "Oh her!" 

Smarn smiled. "Smarn!"

Robin glowered at him. "You lovesick puppy!"

Smarn grinned.

Robin eyed Jimbo, who had this look on his face. "Everyone loves her. They can't help it, she has a charm on her."

"Charm?" Jimbo demanded. "No one is charmed!"

"Little do you know, oh tall one." Robin replied, even though he was as tall as Jimbo.

Jimbo looked flustered a moment. "Tell  me how then!"

"Do you not believe in the goodness of the One Light?"

Jimbo rolled his eyes. "There we go with all the hocus pocus, spiritual mumbo jumbo again."

Robin looked at Samuel. "Is he always like this?"

"Pretty much." Samuel agreed, winking at Jimbo, who gave him a disgusted look, then walked away, pretending to go looking for food.

"He's in love with the Mommy and the daughter, I take it." Robin commented, as he and Samuel watched Nanny hugging the Mother Elephant, who put her trunk around Nanny's neck and hugged her back.

"Aren't you?" Samuel asked, a hint of amusement in his eye.

"I suppose." Robin said, a touch of sadness in his voice and eyes. "There was one like her once I cared for quite deeply. We came here after the War of the Roses saw the defeat of good King Richard."

"I don't remember him thought of as a good king." Samuel remarked.

"You wouldn't. Those times were rife with the hand of the church, which rewrote history to whichever way it served it. Hence, I becoming a legend to your world, when I was quite real."

"You're that...Robin Hood!" Jimbo exclaimed, having come back with a handful of odd fruit.

"Exactly. And the love of my life was none other than..."

"Maid Marion." Jimbo jumped in with, looking excited for the first time in days.

"My heart and soul."

Robin touched his heart, then wiped at his eyes. The memories were burning his heart once more. Though he was not one to look back, but instead forward, these moments of remembrance were bringing up old pains. He would have to speak to Methusaleh about it, to see if there were something he could do to heal that wound, which it obviously still was, in his heart.

He took a deep breath, then looked up. "Ah, your young friend looks ready to take a journey!"

Nanny joined them. She took Robin's hand and squeezed it. "I wanted to thank you again for rescuing  us."

                      

The Beatles Rooftop Performance --- last performance as a live band together

How I miss them.

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Sixty-Five

                        Chapter Sixty-Five

None of them suspected that the Nazis were able to fly in stealth mode, but they had. When they shivered into visibility they were surrounded by ten Mechas, all standing at least fifteen feet tall with soldiers mounting their sides, all with weapons trained on them.

The closest Mecha stood over thirty feet tall and Saron stood at its peak, a cape flaring behind him. He looked majestic as the air flipped his cape about, but his eyes were like cold ice. His soldiers watched Samuel and his friends nervously. They had seen the death and destruction left behind by these people and were wary of what they might do.

"We meet again."

"Unfortunately." Jimbo muttered, looking for a weapon.

A number of Soldiers raised their weapons when he moved.

"Don't." Samuel warned him.

Jimbo growled angrily, but kept still.

Saron laughed. "Such wisdom in a savage is unparalleled. Maybe it's time we emerged on the upper earth and took back what was rightlfully ours."

"And maybe not." Samuel replied, his eyes steel hard at that moment.

Robin put a hand on his hip, close to his sword. "You are barely suffered here, there you would be annihilated!"

"Perhaps." Saron replied, the hint of a snarl on his lips.

Saron dropped to the ground and stepped several feet in front of his Mecha. "Did you really think you could get away from us so easily?"

"Actually." Robin said with a half bow.

"Shoot him!" Saron ordered.

A dozen soldiers raised their arms to fire.

Samuel shouted. "If you do, then you die along with him!"

The soldiers hesitated.

Saron looked at Samuel. "You hardly look capable of carrying out such a threat."

"Looks can be fooling." 

Saron weighed that a moment, then smiled. "Okay, let's say I do fire, what's the worst you can do?"

Samuel looked at the nearest walker and held a hand up. It glowed a bright red for a moment. 

Samuel's body became lit up like a living flame. 

"Shoot him!" Saron ordered, pointing to Samuel.

"No!" Cried out Jimbo and Nanny at the same time.

The soldiers fired, but instead of their energy beams striking Samuel, they repelled from the energies around Samuel and struck the men who had fired them. The lances of energy struck the weapons that had fired and they exploded, sending all the soldiers flying into the air, their armor and clothing on fire. Their screams filled the air as they collapsed to the ground.

Samuel stood there. Not a word coming from  him.

Saron looked ready to say more, but instead he shook his head. "We'll meet again."

"I doubt it." Samuel replied.

Saron climbed one of the Mechas and they all flew off back into the forest.

Before anyone could stop him Robin  clasped Samuel in his arms and gave him a big hug. "I could kiss you!"

WHAM!

Samuel stood in front of an oddly fashioned mirror made of polished metal, admiring his long brown hair. His blue eyes set off the color of his hair nicely. He took the goose feather comb and began stroking his hair, smoothing out the burrs in it, while his husband watched him with eager eyes from the canopied bed of their bedroom.

"You get more beautiful every year."

Samuel smiled, then turned about, causing his long woolen nightgown to swirl about his hips and legs, accenting them momentarily. "You're just saying that because you want me to kiss you."

He laughed. He was wearing no more than long woolen shorts, his hair chest bristling with gray hairs, reveal a muscled body worthy of a god. "Always the tease."

"Always the  hunter."

He grinned. "But I hunt well."

"Indeed you do." Samuel replied, putting down his comb and sitting next to Hermes. She leaned her head into his heavily muscled arm and he sighed with relief. 

"You know this might be our last chance to be together."

Samuel nodded. "Don't go."

"I must. Our city will fall without its general."

Samuel looked up into his warm, brown eyes. "Then let it fall."

He cupped Samuel's chin and held it close to his face. "You look even more beautiful when you're being contrary."

He kissed Samuel lightly on the lips and Samuel pulled back.

He gave Samuel a surprised look, then Samuel rose and went back to his grooming. This time he began washing his hands in a small pot of warm water that had charcoals under it, keeping it warm. Hermes had made it for Samuel on their wedding day some months back. He had been so proud of it. Called it a warmer. "Someday, everyone will have something like this." He had boasted.

Samuel had laughed at his vanity, then given him a hug. "You are not only a brave soldier, but a smart man. A thinker."

"No. Not really. Well. Sort of." He concluded with a light agreement on his lips, which always curled slightly when he was being self deprecating.

Samuel  finished cleaning his hands, then dried them with a cloth hanging next to his mirror. He turned and held up his hands. "Now they are worth of being held."

That was all Hermes needed to know. He swept across the room like a vulture seeking its prey and tossed Samuel over his shoulders. He twirled Samuel about the room, yelling like a madman, causing Samuel to scream like a small child in delight, then he tossed her on their bed and dropped on top of him. 

"Now, my beauty, you shall pay the price!"

"And what price is that, dear Hermes?" Samuel demanded coyly.

His lips smashed down against Samuel's mouth, his tongue...

WHAM!

Robin rebounded from Samuel as the flames flickered out and a bright blue light replaced it. Robin flew several feet through the air and landed on his bottom.

Smarn reached for his weapon.

Robin leaped up and stayed his hand. "He didn't mean to harm me!"

Samuel swayed there a long time, his eyes on Robin, his body trembling, then he steadied. 

Jimbo said nothing. He knew what had just happened, if not the details of it. He had seen this happen so many times by now. He put a hand on Nanny, who was giving Samuel a deeply worried look. 

"He's fine."

"Don't look fine."

"Trust me!" Jimbo said.

She punched him.

"Owww. Or not!"

Nanny ran over to Samuel and helped him sit down. "What just happened?"

Robin and Smarn came over and squatted next to him. Jimbo sat next to his friend and watched silently.

"I saw a pastlife with Robin."

Robin's eyes widened. "Was I pretty?"

"No."

Robin looked crushed.

"I was."

Robin laughed.

Doctor Strange, the Marvel Magician in his original TV show.

I remember at the time this came out that it was everything I could ever hope for, but of course, times have changed, and with modern efx and a good actor or a great one like Benedict Cumberbatch. And for God's sake he just got married to my favorite actress in Torchwood, Sophie Hunter.



Anyway, enjoy this tv movie, because you're not likely to see Benedict in the Doctor Strange movie from Marvel for another four years or so.

Enjoy

--John--

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Sixty-Four

Chapter Sixty-Four

In this the next chapter we see Samuel save the little elephants who are hurt, heal Nanny and Jimbo and Robin and Smarn as they seek to escape the furious Nazis from the floating city.

Large birds landed on the branches above a smoking heap of metal and plastic, glass and fiber. They pecked at their feet, then preened their feathers, seemingly uninterested in the spectacle below, but when a hand suddenly flopped out of an opening in the ship, they became stiff and alert. What was happening?

A moment later another hand came out, then Samuel dragged himself into view. His forehead was torn and bleeding, and his shirt was cut in numerous places and hanging loose on him. He groaned, then looked back inside, reached in and slowly and painfully pulled out Nanny, whose face was a pallid white, as if she were seriously injured. 

He managed to get to his feet and drag her to safety some yards away. He set her down flat, then limped back to the broken vessel. Several baby elephants streamed out, trumpeting in alarm. He moved out of their way, as more streamed out. 

He dropped to his knees, then crawled back into the wreckage.

A small explosion greeted him, hurtling more debris into the already smashed cockpit. He saw Jimbo caught between several braces of metal and struggled to free him. 

"Damn it!!" Samuel swore.

Then he did something he had never tried before. He placed his hands on the braces and closed his eyes. The braces became surrounded with a bright blue light, then began to shake.

Jimbo didn't notice, he was unconscious, a huge bruise purpling his right cheek and the top of his head, where blood was matting. One of his legs looked broken at the angle it stuck out.

Samuel kept concentrating and the braces stopped shaking, then slowy and noisiliy began to rise off Jimbo. 

Samuel opened his eyes, then grabbed hold of Jimbo and still concentrating on the braces, slowly, with great effort and pain began to drag Jimbo from beneath them. He felt like his whole body was shaking from the effort. He could feel his heart pounding and his muscles quivering from the effort, but he didn't stop. He wouldn't stop!

With a final burst of energy he got Jimbo the rest of the way free and collapsed over him, just as the braces fell, smashing the rest of the flooring upwards, almost skewering him and Jimbo with splinters of plastic and small metal pieces.

Jimbo's eyes fluttered open to find Samuel on top of him and almost face to face.

Painfully, and almost in a croacking voice he said. "Really, Sammie. You coulda just asked me out first."

Samuel raised his head. He hadn't seen Jimbo's eyes open. He grinned. "I got this thing about nasty women."

Jimbo heaved and Samuel slid off, and rolled onto his side. He screamed. A broken rib.

"Damnit!" He cursed.

Jimbo took a deep breath, then looked around desperately for a moment.

"She's outside. Safe." Samuel answered the unspoken question.

Jimbo slipped an arm around Samuel's waist and gently began moving him out the gap int he ship. He shoved him the rest of the way, and when Samuel had rolled out of the way, he tumbled out.

He grabbed his head. "Mother of all elephant headaches!" He groaned.

Then they both heard the trumpeting groan from inside.

Samuel looked around and saw all the baby elephants looking at them plaintively.

"She's still inside!"

Jimbo groaned, but got to his feet. A new explosion knocked him down, then he got up again and headed for the opening. "If I don't make it out, she's yours."

"I heard that!" Nanny shouted.

Jimbo looked over at her and grinned. She shook a fist at him.

Then he crawled back into the s hip, where the flames were spreading quickly from the tail section towards the cockpit. 

The baby elephants began trumpeting in alarm, scared for their Mother, when Jimbo crawled out, then reached back in and pulled the Mother out with a series of grunts.

"Damn these hairy little things are heavy!" He cursed, then he dragged her to rest beside Nanny, who immediately began feeling her body for  broken bones.

Samuel limped over and dropped beside them.

The ship gave a loud rumbling sound, the imploded in a series of small, then louder explosions, leaving it just a  heap of burning debris.

High overhead a series of Nazi ships scoured the air. They slowed when they spotted the wreckage, hovering for several moments.

Samuel and Jimbo hurriedly pulled the Mother elephant and Nanny to the other side of the tree. The baby elephants followed.

Beams of pure light struck the ground near where they had been and searched the area in front of the tree, then stopped.

Samuel risked a look and the air ships were shooting away. "They must think we're dead."

Samuel flopped back with the others, then saw Nanny's alarmed expression.

"I think she's dying, Sam." She said, her heart saying everything in her tears and rough voice.

Samuel managed to get over there, even though all his bruises and broken rib were killing him with the effort. He place his hands on her body and closed his eyes.

Nothing happened. Then a green ambient light began to seep from his hands and pour over the Mother elephant until her entire body was bathed in it. He held that focus for several minutes, then her trunk moved weakly.

He pulled his hands off. "She's going to be okay."

He went to Nanny next and put his hands on her shoulder and forehead. The green light poured out and around her body. She closed her eyes. She had never felt so good before.

"Remind me to hire you for my next massage."

Jimbo grunted. "You should be so lucky."

"I should." She said, opening her eyes, surprised that the pain was gone.

Samuel looked at Jimbo and he shrugged. "I can live with a few pains, Sammie."

Samuel shook his head and put his hands on Jimbo's shoulder and forehead.

Jimbo cracked jokes the whole time, but you could tell he was feeling his oats, because his jokes just got worse and worse.

Finally, Nanny put her hands on Samuel's to pull them away. "Hey stop that! You make him any better and we'll never have a moment's of peace."

Jimbo sighed when Samuel sat back. He looked wasted from the effort. Inside he felt great and the healing of them had also healed him as well, for whatever you do for another like that the same is done for you. He knew the spiritual laws. Give and get. Ask and recieve.

He sat back against the tree and sighed. "I just wish we could have saved Robin and Smarn."

"Then what would you have done for an encore, my friends?" Robin asked from overhead, where he and Smarn had watched the whole thing silently.

Jimbo jumped up. "You lazy so and so, you should have helped us!"

"A measure of a man's heart is the measure of his temper." Robin said dropping lightly on his feet beside them. He looked at Samuel. "I had to know for sure that you were the good man they said you were."

Samuel looked at him, saying nothing. 

"And you are."

"Smarn." Smarn announced as he landed with a louder thump and almost crashed to the ground.

Robin steadied him. "You have proven yourselves to be both brave and selfless. Two qualities that are rare upearth, but even here in some places."

He reached out his hand to Samuel. "I hope you will accept my friendship, for it is truly an honor to be your friend, if you choose to accept me."

Samuel stood up and  took the hand. He gave Robin a weak grin. "Accepted, but right now, besides all this self congratulatory stuff, I could use a real meal."

That was when Jimbo noticed that his stomach was churning. It gave out a huge gumbling sound, so loud that everyone heard it. "Second that!"

Everyone broke into laughter.

Then all hell broke loose!