The midnight hour had come and long gone before Earnest Heinz returned with some men from Munderville and under a
dazzling sky of chatoyant diamonds, the twelve burly natives of the village -including Eugene Pudding, carefully removed
the exhausted and traumatised young women from the Kaffajinn's subterranean refuge with barely a word said during the
pensive salvation.
A solemn and weary Peggy Powler and Officer Wilbur Delphi oversaw the slow recovery from a position near the entrance
to the crack in the cliff and continually advised the men to take heed of the unreliable terrain and get the girls to medical
care as soon as possible.
For Nate Burdock - a labourer who occasionally worked on Wilbur's land in the spring seasons, he felt that the supervision
was superfluous and when they were out of earshot, even pondered to his fellow-rescuers about the extent of toil that the
Witch and his periodic employee had undertaken to find the lost colleens. The Great Sea watched on with disinterest as
the circumspect cadre of men gently carried their benumbed burdens back to the sanctuary called Munderville and ignored
the doubts of a human who enjoyed his bed too much.
.................................................................
The gorge was quiet again and for the store-keeper in the dirt-smudged apron, the shadows of the thick jungle offered a
fair reason for not returning to the comfort of his home. The gloomy narrow area containing the warm-water stream didn't
do any better in allaying Earnest's uneasiness of what he believed was to happen next, but at least he wasn't alone.
"Have the' gone?" the Last Witch of Underhill whispered as she returned from auditing the Kaffajinn's den and hoping the
lack of light would shroud her immodest climb-down from the demon's nest, Peggy readied herself for the second part of
ridding Bowes County of malignant monsters.
Wilbur put his arms out to help the clambering spell-binder get back onto the steep stone-littered incline below the cavern,
but catching a glimpse of the necromancer's uncovered posterior, the elected law enforcer's enthusiasm to assist his basal
-cultured partner suddenly waned. "Yes, the maidens will be cared for in Munderville" Wilbur replied for no other reason as
to re-establish his own sense of gentility.
Peggy breathed in deeply and then turned her gaze to the skinny man standing beside a large slab of fallen rock, the third
member of this devil-battling knot stared timidly back for a few moments before swivelling his wide eyes towards a hidden
location of his fishing pole. "It's time, me-fellas" the weary Witch muttered resignedly and followed Earnest's stare towards
a clump of rocks resting in a large bed of Michaelmas daisies. Both the weather-worn aggregate and ground-hugging asters
sporadically twitched as the trio scanned the tenebrous scene. The Kaffajinn was still alive.
.................................................................
Epilogue.
The bare-footed wanderer of Calder's Way stood on the top hewn ledge of the Dog Steps and sighed contentedly into the
warm azure sky of the last day of Summer. It had been two days since she'd had dispatched the sordid blackguard that
had dwelt beneath the Percy Fessel Cloud Walkway and the subsequent sleep had been well embraced. Peggy squinted
in the bright sunlight and watched two seabirds spiral and dash in their efforts to steal food from a large-pouched Pelican
bobbing on the water beneath them. A quest more complicated than the one the midget-wizard and the two men behind
her had undertaken, she mused.
"It'll be grand to get some customers back this way, now the bad feeling of the place has gone" Earnest Heinz said as he
mimicked Peggy's perusal of avian-hijacking and the act of coveting of a chosen cuisine. Wilbur Delphi nodded and went
back to stroking his horse's muzzle.
Mary Bottle and Dorothy Cobb had recovered quite quickly from their recent ordeal at the stolen hands of the Kaffajinn and
before the first day was out, the resilient pen-friends were sitting besides the Bottles' fireside with distracting blather about
building a sewing business. Jane Beesley and Topsy Cantrell were still bed-ridden, but seemed to be responding positively
to the care from the female faction of their fellow-Mundervillians. The indigo-wearing officer of Munderville had rode out to
the lonesome store to inform them of these developments.
"Aye..." the wistful warlock wheezed huskily, "...Yer' owed a livin' considerin' the bugger that came te' stay fur' a while"
and with a straightening of her large hat, set her mind towards leaving Bowes County. But reaching the spot where both
men watched her purposeful approach, the pair felt a strange twinge of dolor for the little woman who would never know
a home.
"Yer' both saw the execution of the thing in the gorge... Ah' tek' it yer'll nay mention te' anyone what yer' witnessed or what
yer' heard?" Peggy said with a tone of commanding menace that even Wilbur Delphi nodded as robustly as the shopkeeper.
"We all have our tasks te' keep our young uns' safe from the monsters and majick -just like yer' badge Officer Delphi, is just
one of the weapons we have te' carry" she appended and imparted the smile of the damned up at her fellow-slayers.
The two humans and the half-Fae standing on the side of the land became statues for a few moments before they broke their
parley and went about doing what they had always done. For Earnest Heinz, this meant a new scheme to draw folks back to
the beach and ergo, through the door of his retail establishment. This would involve some work, but as he walked briskly back
to the building in question, Earnest feverishly scoured his memory to recall where the piece of paper was that held his father's
old ice-cream recipe.
The big mare snorted from the unaccustomed handling from her rider and expanded her display of pique by turning around in
order to hinder Wilbur Delph's mounting. The big plough-horse didn't mind the rituals of farming and being fed the odd carrot
from her owner's children, but this new patrolling malarkey...? Well, there's no orange-coloured vegetables growing along the
road to Munderville, that's for sure.
For the smallest member of the disbanded Kaffajinn-killing crew, her enduring quixotic future lay in the land of the peculiar,
the alien and the hidden. Peggy Powler's small shadow would once again sundial across the ancient sea-stones of Calder's Way
and maybe -if we're agreeable enough, we can take that walk with her again.
The End.
dazzling sky of chatoyant diamonds, the twelve burly natives of the village -including Eugene Pudding, carefully removed
the exhausted and traumatised young women from the Kaffajinn's subterranean refuge with barely a word said during the
pensive salvation.
A solemn and weary Peggy Powler and Officer Wilbur Delphi oversaw the slow recovery from a position near the entrance
to the crack in the cliff and continually advised the men to take heed of the unreliable terrain and get the girls to medical
care as soon as possible.
For Nate Burdock - a labourer who occasionally worked on Wilbur's land in the spring seasons, he felt that the supervision
was superfluous and when they were out of earshot, even pondered to his fellow-rescuers about the extent of toil that the
Witch and his periodic employee had undertaken to find the lost colleens. The Great Sea watched on with disinterest as
the circumspect cadre of men gently carried their benumbed burdens back to the sanctuary called Munderville and ignored
the doubts of a human who enjoyed his bed too much.
.................................................................
The gorge was quiet again and for the store-keeper in the dirt-smudged apron, the shadows of the thick jungle offered a
fair reason for not returning to the comfort of his home. The gloomy narrow area containing the warm-water stream didn't
do any better in allaying Earnest's uneasiness of what he believed was to happen next, but at least he wasn't alone.
"Have the' gone?" the Last Witch of Underhill whispered as she returned from auditing the Kaffajinn's den and hoping the
lack of light would shroud her immodest climb-down from the demon's nest, Peggy readied herself for the second part of
ridding Bowes County of malignant monsters.
Wilbur put his arms out to help the clambering spell-binder get back onto the steep stone-littered incline below the cavern,
but catching a glimpse of the necromancer's uncovered posterior, the elected law enforcer's enthusiasm to assist his basal
-cultured partner suddenly waned. "Yes, the maidens will be cared for in Munderville" Wilbur replied for no other reason as
to re-establish his own sense of gentility.
Peggy breathed in deeply and then turned her gaze to the skinny man standing beside a large slab of fallen rock, the third
member of this devil-battling knot stared timidly back for a few moments before swivelling his wide eyes towards a hidden
location of his fishing pole. "It's time, me-fellas" the weary Witch muttered resignedly and followed Earnest's stare towards
a clump of rocks resting in a large bed of Michaelmas daisies. Both the weather-worn aggregate and ground-hugging asters
sporadically twitched as the trio scanned the tenebrous scene. The Kaffajinn was still alive.
.................................................................
Epilogue.
The bare-footed wanderer of Calder's Way stood on the top hewn ledge of the Dog Steps and sighed contentedly into the
warm azure sky of the last day of Summer. It had been two days since she'd had dispatched the sordid blackguard that
had dwelt beneath the Percy Fessel Cloud Walkway and the subsequent sleep had been well embraced. Peggy squinted
in the bright sunlight and watched two seabirds spiral and dash in their efforts to steal food from a large-pouched Pelican
bobbing on the water beneath them. A quest more complicated than the one the midget-wizard and the two men behind
her had undertaken, she mused.
"It'll be grand to get some customers back this way, now the bad feeling of the place has gone" Earnest Heinz said as he
mimicked Peggy's perusal of avian-hijacking and the act of coveting of a chosen cuisine. Wilbur Delphi nodded and went
back to stroking his horse's muzzle.
Mary Bottle and Dorothy Cobb had recovered quite quickly from their recent ordeal at the stolen hands of the Kaffajinn and
before the first day was out, the resilient pen-friends were sitting besides the Bottles' fireside with distracting blather about
building a sewing business. Jane Beesley and Topsy Cantrell were still bed-ridden, but seemed to be responding positively
to the care from the female faction of their fellow-Mundervillians. The indigo-wearing officer of Munderville had rode out to
the lonesome store to inform them of these developments.
"Aye..." the wistful warlock wheezed huskily, "...Yer' owed a livin' considerin' the bugger that came te' stay fur' a while"
and with a straightening of her large hat, set her mind towards leaving Bowes County. But reaching the spot where both
men watched her purposeful approach, the pair felt a strange twinge of dolor for the little woman who would never know
a home.
"Yer' both saw the execution of the thing in the gorge... Ah' tek' it yer'll nay mention te' anyone what yer' witnessed or what
yer' heard?" Peggy said with a tone of commanding menace that even Wilbur Delphi nodded as robustly as the shopkeeper.
"We all have our tasks te' keep our young uns' safe from the monsters and majick -just like yer' badge Officer Delphi, is just
one of the weapons we have te' carry" she appended and imparted the smile of the damned up at her fellow-slayers.
The two humans and the half-Fae standing on the side of the land became statues for a few moments before they broke their
parley and went about doing what they had always done. For Earnest Heinz, this meant a new scheme to draw folks back to
the beach and ergo, through the door of his retail establishment. This would involve some work, but as he walked briskly back
to the building in question, Earnest feverishly scoured his memory to recall where the piece of paper was that held his father's
old ice-cream recipe.
The big mare snorted from the unaccustomed handling from her rider and expanded her display of pique by turning around in
order to hinder Wilbur Delph's mounting. The big plough-horse didn't mind the rituals of farming and being fed the odd carrot
from her owner's children, but this new patrolling malarkey...? Well, there's no orange-coloured vegetables growing along the
road to Munderville, that's for sure.
For the smallest member of the disbanded Kaffajinn-killing crew, her enduring quixotic future lay in the land of the peculiar,
the alien and the hidden. Peggy Powler's small shadow would once again sundial across the ancient sea-stones of Calder's Way
and maybe -if we're agreeable enough, we can take that walk with her again.
The End.
Read The TV Guide, yer' don't need a TV.