Betty

I was gasping, panting and sweating like a cross country runner in Death Valley. I was still too reactive and not proactive enough. So my next move still gasping the thin air around me was to alter the Barrier frequency just enough to create a slicker surface than it usually has. Reducing the purchase the wind could get on the fabric of the Barrier. Who ever was generating this storm was seeking blood, so if I don't think and act fast they may just have enough horses to pull it off., I could not flinch even once. I needed to act as my strength was depleting. Unlike Atlas I could not afford to shrug and wouldn't even if I could.

Clifford

I had made it home two days ago after having gone to work in April doing my summer work, reworking Hotel rooms for the higher line establishments. Haven is such a nice break from the mundane outside world making me happy to be home during the bad weather of the winter.

My work is specialized requiring a large number of skills that your normal hammer and nail contractor doesn’t have, so I remain in constant demand. This season’s work had been profitable not only in pay, but also in the salvage I was able to stash away for my own projects.

Louise has been holding down the home fort since April with me only making over night visits in July, so my coming home now allowed her to take a little time off to play up in Blessings with our family. I really like the eccentricity of Haven and the fact that the weird is normal here. There are times things can get spooky; this became one of those times.

Within the micro seconds it took to recognize something was wrong, things became really horribly wrong. We can have these violent wind storms come up in the spring and early summer as the seasons would change, but never in the fall. With the spring winds there was some warning that something was brewing but not this time.

The entire building shook when the wind fearsomely struck, causing Jessa my counter girl to yell,

“Boss”

“Ya Kid I am coming “ but I could not be sure she could hear me over the sound of the screaming wind. Then Kelly, our maid, shouted, “ stay put Cliff I got her”, followed by the sound of the automatic window shutters vibrating as they struggled to crank up over the large picture windows we have in the front of the building. The front door had its own slide out panel but it was somewhat sheltered from the wind, so it trips then shuts.

Just before the front window shutters totally closed I saw the Heavenly Bean rooftop sign of the manically smiling Buddha standing in its oversized cup, doing a lazy cart wheel past the window heading out of town.

The lights flickered then went out for a few moments before our UPS kicked in, turning on the emergency lights. From outside I could hear the sounds of a lot of stuff hitting the Windward side of the building then a couple of bangs then shattering glass in the leeward side of the building where the parking was.

My office phone rang on the township priority line so I scrambled to get it. It was my brother Bob next door at the Dragon.

“Cliff, are you all right?” Bob yelled over the wind.”

“Yes, we are for now; the window shutters closed before the power went out. UPS is working fine the help is a little rattled and I think I may have lost a window or three in the rooms I can't see well enough yet. And you? “
Everything is ok here. Marge, God bless her, was just leaving when she saw the front line of the winds topping the valley ridge line and just calmly came in and hit the shutter button yelling for every one to get on the floor Do You know where Betty is?

No, Haven't met her yet, she's not there.

No, Oh shit she may be at the circle.

Marge

Working the dinner shift was always a bit dull around here, mainly the regular locals who I have known for years. Tonight we had a couple of tourist families who were vacationing together.. Both families seem to fit the type of people we used to get back in the day. Both had kids with a good sense of humor and their parents were the searching type looking for more than a house in the burbs with a three car garage.

I was musing about how things were looking up when I heard a dull thud against the south window followed by Janice ,Jake's wife, making a quip about not ordering scrambled eggs tartar. That was followed by several dull thuds that I discovered were eggs flying through the air on their own. My puzzlement grew when a chicken was plastered against the outside glass; was followed by the sound of something rolling down the road that turned out to be the Giant coffee cup from Heavenly Roasters roof top, to which Jake seeing this added “ There's that take out coffee you were looking for dear.” That's when I finally looked up at the horizon to see what had created this storm of chickens and eggs. The weather phenomena roiling on a fast boil did not look real to me leaving one possibility that it something magically foul was attacking Haven.

With all of the trash in the air I knew something would eventually punch through the window, to prevent that I went to the cash register counter and with more than a little force I hit the big black button that started the storm window protector to start grinding down to cover up the outside glass. As this was happening I noticed that Louise’s place was doing the same thing.

Bob came out of the back looking at me for some answers, but I had none, so I could only shrug my shoulders. What ever it was, it was nothing we needed, or wanted right now; personally I could use another hole in my head more than this. Just as the shutters on both of the building ground past my field of vision I could see Cliff and his two people gathered in the entry room, I could account for every one besides Betty. Then the memory sunk in; Betty was out in Ann's circle.

James

The three of us were uneasy before this with our ears popping and Melissa whining in pain from the air pressure drop. We were inside working in the work out practice room. When it hit knocking all three of us to our knees. The Banshee sound reached us through the air vents and our highly tuned senses causing my eyes to water and my nose to run with a trickle of blood. Lilly was the first to react, running to Betty's apartment only to return moments later yelling to me Betty's not at home according to her note I think she is outside in the circle.

At that one moment everything around me moved in slow motion as I ran full wolf to the emergency air lock entrance right near the circle. From the window in the wall what I saw terrified me like nothing else ever. There was Betty holding the wind at the outer edge of the Barrier using such a large amount of power there was a blue green signature color of manna surrounding her. Betty was using so much energy holding the Barrier together, debris was getting past her personal projectile wardings, with some of them striking her like bullets. I was seeing her bleeding from many different wounds staining her simple white ceremonial robes. I noticed straw and some small sticks wedged in those robes, some obviously sticking through into her skin. But like Ann before her, Betty was stoically refusing to surrender, even being the target of the worlds largest sand blasting machine. .
By then the girls joined me both of them simply saying “what’s holding her there.?”

“Her determination and love for this town lasses; that is one person you never want to meet in a dark alley if she is pissed at you.

Mel go to her prayer room bring that chain mail gauntlet with the crow device on the back of it. Lilly go to the infirmary just down the hall from the practice room I need a gurney, blankets, Crash kit and Trauma Kit. Go now get back as soon as you can. “
To their credit I didn't need to tell them twice they were gone in a flash.

I tried to open the door but there was no way for me to lever it open just from the wind pressure on the other side. Screaming in frustration I redoubled my efforts to opening it only to have the door crack open just long enough for the wind to suck the air from our around me causing me to release the door as it firmly reseated itself to the hatch edge jamb.”

I watched as things wound around in slow motion, Betty was not just flaying around she was working things like a pro. Dilating time stretched out how long she had to react to things but it also increased the time she was feeling the pain of what she was experiencing. I could not port into her circle or both of us could end up as unrecognizable goo smeared thinly all over Haven’s residential neighborhoods.

She was on her own, as only she could reach out to another allied energy, that is what I sensed that she was trying to do. There was a brief moment I could see her praying or chanting as some of the wind blown trash struck home peppering her body like buckshot. Still she stood trying to anchor herself more firmly in the protection of the circle.

“James why didn't the fool wear the gauntlet I gave her for protection?.”

Badb voice startled me,

“I don't know my lady I think this is a total surprise to everyone, the last night of the cycle is usually very mild, nothing like this. And did you ever inform her of that gift gauntlet that had that ability?”

“ She should have discovered that herself. “

“With all pardons my lady, ye have been removed from our worldly concerns for a long time. Betty has so many responsibilities in the physical world there was no time to do so, but to her credit as you directed she did not just try to do this alone, did she my goddess?

“Well, yes, James she did call for help, and this is an honest mistake on my side of the equation. Don't tell her I am assisting her. ”

“With all due respect my lady Badb, all of your students in the past have had a lot more time to suss this job out, before being used as a human dart board, and only ye know how many practitioners it took to produce this effect. If ye don't help now there may nay be nay any thing left to help.”

Before the lady could do anything suddenly Betty changed her tactics, causing Me to gasp.

Betty

Snaking my life lines two ways was tapping my energy reserves with no return, I sensed the worry for me from all around, hell I was worried about me. Then a trickle of energy came from Gaia along with the thought of “fight like with like.” With that I remembered that there was an upper air pattern weather system that was circulating in the opposite direction. I had to take a crazy chance that could go either way, but as my mama had the habit of saying when she was undeceive about something that needing to be done

“Do something even if it is wrong, just act.”

This was a fifty fifty chance; better odds than allowing this pepper mill to grind me into dust. I shifted my energy turning my circle into the center of the vortex. With the speed of a starving predator the storm gobbled me up, but with a greater speed I pushed the upper edge of the vortex up into contact with the counter rotating upper air. I was in the center where the fireworks started but the natural system had far more horsepower driving it, than any normal people could focus. The result was our storm was being sucked up off from the ground then eaten like string cheese by the far larger storm. There was cloud to cloud lightning running water in sheets as only part of the storm above disassembled and neutralized the smaller hell storm.

The uninvolved part of the ground storm reacted like a wounded animal separating its self from its trapped part recoiling away from my location. The wind rapidly died down where I was standing It had turned its remaining fiery away from me, striking out east towards the hills which separated our township and the native lands. It took only a moment for me to see in my mind that the target had shifted to the narrow cleft of stone which separated us from the approach to Gretchen’s home and barn, then beyond that the new orchard would lie in its direct path. The stone cleft would concentrate the power of the storm into a scythes edge creating a devastating front that would cut through everything it encountered like a hot knife through butter.

Gretchen’s

The sound of small stones against my kitchen window startled me and my company. Mocking bird only got out “what the shit “ before the window blasted inward peppering us with dirt, twigs, and small stones. Its path howled into the kitchen then took a short cut through my dining room door then out my front room picture window. The wind was so strong it picked up my two cats and Zak's ferret up off the couch back, where they were sleeping, and tossed them out the window.

Bettty

I sent my second strand of consciences out to find a place to stand and divert this apparently semi intelligent storm. In moments I found an anchor place that stood out in my minds eye it shown with a silvery glow. Holding the connection between the natural and the shit storm distracted the smaller storm just enough for me to wrap my presence wardings in a tight ball of energy, I released its attachments to Ann's circle and pulled on the cord shifting my location to where I needed to be.

If a rabbit could run two hundred miles an hour that was my perception of what the entire trip appeared to my senses. It was over in a moment all with but me hitting any thing solid. I arrived smack dab on the spot I was aiming for. Directly in the mouth of the rock cleft I anchored up. The energy there was pure and powerful, drawing on this energy I deployed my wardings into the face of the wind, which had already stripped some trees of there leaves. There was enough energy in this node to pop out my ramp shaped wardings just where they needed to be. The kinetic shock of the wind hitting the wardings nearly knocked the wind out of me. But now I had good leverage so I could push the leading footing edge of the storm upward forcing its top edge strongly into contact with the natural system above.

The lightning effects were even more spectacular here, as waves of Technicolor lighting rippled like ocean waves across the sky as the natural met the unnatural head on at over four hundred miles an hour. The upper level was connected to the jet stream making its power a factor of a thousand times stronger than my ground storm. I just needed to keep these two rubbing against each other long enough.

A line from a song came to me then,

“Does any one know where the love of God goes when a storm turns minutes to hours. “

The angry roar of the wind became bone shaking as I was again pelted by the trash picked up along the storms path getting here. But in this situation it was mind over matter. I could not mind so it did not matter, I was going to prevent a slaughter. The storm clawed at me like a wounded leopard snarling and scratching at me, just out of its claws reach, it could not claw me but but did it ever spit on me.

All of the wind force was pushing me slowly backwards but my left boot heel found a rock which stopped my slippage. I then noticed a slight weakening in the wind speed as the smaller storm was losing its grip on its manna source losing more energy than it can pull from its source. A surge of energy ran through my legs flowing up into my hands offering a golden sheen to the energy I was protected when this connected with the storms gripping edge there was a separating tearing sound from the earth as the storm in front of me was being sucked up off the ground by the increasing strength of the upper level storm,

Zak

“Mom what in the hell is this?”

“Shut up, Zak, and close that dining room door.”

Suddenly the wind diminished to a whisper of what it had been, and through the missing kitchen window I saw a human form glowing brightly corking the wind outside of the stone funnel. The storm was being directed upwards along the cliff face and into the sky where it was making a lot of lightning effects.

“Mom, who's that in the cleft?”

Mocking bird answered me in an incredulous voice “Betty”.

James

"What the bloody hell now?”

James uttered looking at the blank spot Betty was formally standing in.
Badb commented “very clever and innovative your Betty is. She shifted her stance from here to the new target of that malignant work of craft. She is now making a stand in the rocky cleft east of here very good use of terrain. James prepare for me to send you to her she will need some medical attention.”

I was clearly unimpressed by Badb's nonchalant expression over Betty's actions, treating this like a school assignment and not the life and death situation it is.

Betty

Standing rooted in my spot the manufactured storm screamed like it was in pain from being torn to shreds by the larger storm overhead. The Frankenstein storm was being unraveled one stitch at a time.
I had to admire the craft that created this monster but at the same time fighting it I wished the practitioners had put their efforts to better purposes.

I was front row center watching this spell stripped of its life, so when the wind stopped with a pop I could see the swirling mass being lifted into the sky as it rained trash. My hearing was so over stimulated I could not hear the stuff hit the ground and my sight took a while to clear so when it did I could see that my robes were in tatters, torn ,and bloody from a lot of flesh wounds that I was too numb to feel. as I leaned against the stone wall to steady my self I knew this was going to hurt like hell in the morning as I disassembled my wardings I took stronger note of my condition.

I had the appearance of a human pin cushion with all sorts of twigs sticking in my hair and in my robes. I started to remove those that were not stuck in me deeply or just trapped by my robes. Suddenly I felt a pair of strong arms gently enfold me steadying me on my feet. It was Strong Bear and as my hearing recovered I could make out he was talking to me.

“Steady on woman, let us help get you to Gretchen's porch where we can get a look at you and check you out.”

“Bear I really need a cup of coffee ,a bottle of aspirin, then a bath, in that order I feel like hamburger right now.”
I was moving painfully slow when James appeared, excused him self, he picked me up like a baby carrying me over to the porch where people were assembled ready to help me. James laid me down while the others gathered with towels, blankets and hot water.

Zak

“Bird man what’s happening?”

“Were trying to keep Betty from going into shock while James, their field medic, figures out what to do next. She got pretty torn up out there fighting this monster.”

“Why would she do something like that, she doesn't know us?”

From over Bird Man’s shoulder a deep and very Scottish accented voice came from the man they called James,

“Because that's what people like her do, ye brainless prat, Betty stuck it out there because she could do something about the situation, and because she cares for your mom and your people.. She was determined to save your mum and the new orchard from that hell storm, it comes with her job description ye know, the one that she doesn't get payed for.”

I watched as James emptied the pot of red stained water then refilled the pot again with more clean hot water, silently James left with the water. I followed soon after I heard Betty cursing from outside.”

“Bird man is that blood that was staining that water.?”

“Yes son it was, that's a first time someone has shed their blood for us in a long time. I need to rethink how we are handling this situation with Haven and we all need to be thinking of some very humble apologies, to give Betty after she can have visitors.” all the while he was looking directly at me.

Melissa

“Lilly who is this leaking power all over the floor?

“This is Badb She is one of the three sisters who are collectively known as the Goddess Morrigan, she is James and our big boss. She's like an immortal, big ass witch who really cares about Betty and is James’ patron Goddess.
“ Then this is a Good thing she did because she may be needed to resurrect the dead if we can’t get Betty stabilized. “

The hairy eyeball from James stopped me in mid thought.

“Mel you really need to develop the skill of the unexpressed thought. Especially when dealing with Goddesses and Gods.!!”

Some how Betty's heart didn't stop from the shock of what just happened to her. There were cuts and bruises everywhere. We got her to the emergency infirmary before I noticed that James had put a silver metal gauntlet on Betty's right hand.
James was a good trauma medic, doing the heavy lifting as far as the sensitive procedures like starting the saline drip IV and cleaning the really deep wounds. While Lilly and I removed the little pieces of straw and stone Betty had stuck in her skin resulting from her saving this town from what ever that hellish thing was.

Badb and James talked in old Gaelic, about what I could not tell, but several times Badb intervened and healed a wound that was very severe, or to speak very kindly to James. Then she sweetly kissed Betty's cheek and forehead leaving a glowing cloud of energy around Betty. Badb then spoke to Betty's sleeping form as if she were a very loved sister. Smoothing Betty's hair Badb smiled then proclaiming something very loudly, in a voice that resonated with the fabric of the heavens. Betty still looked the worse for wear, but her healing rate was rapidity increased, but something else transpired as when Badb did what she did. Lilly's and James eyes grew wide, then both of them became subdued and respectful.

Badb

Mortals do not fully realize just how important they are to the function of things in the universe. Very few even give there thoughts and intents the slightest credit for achieving any thing. In truth the skillful focus of intents are really everything, it is that alone which separates my sisters and I from the norms, today Betty has taken the first critical step in joining our little club. It was Betty's focused intent that saved Haven, not mine. I was not going to allow Betty to come to harm, any more than what already had transpired, but it was her intent to stand come what may, that won the day.

You learn a lot about a human from what they are willing to bleed for. No one would take the savage punishment Betty did with out demonstrating that she had what is required to stand against any comers, who could confront this Village and region. The next requirement of our champion is imaginatively becoming able to participate in the process, not just slavishly perform rote tasks like a dog doing a trick. They need to trust us, being willing to act as our conduit for our intent, with out which our power in this realm is very limited.

Betty has proven herself to be fully on board, reaching out to the universe on her own, searching for solutions that may be hidden in the details. Things that Goddesses and Gods can miss. Her comfort level and confidence in us is critical to making this work.

“My lady Badb I have known ye and your sisters long enough to know to ask just what are you planing?”

“ Yes, James, you can and I will answer you thus. As you are aware, we knew .that Porta Santus was destined to be destroyed, and we know just about when it would happen. In spite of the war between humans and my people. We fay never included all humans as being our enemies. . There were always some human allies who were respected and loved by our people. There was a decision made to do what we could to prevent the loss of the irreplaceable knowledge and talent that was Porta Santus. We could see many different paths which the human society norms could take. But their free will did not allow our knowing which path would play out. Only the one source knows that and she is not telling.
We were allowed to choose to save as many of the practitioners and there knowledge as we could from the murderous rage of the scourge of Medici. Just before the town was attacked, we moved those people we could saved ,by gentle force ,through a passageway to a cave where we previously hid the original books and stores of seed for the medicinal and food crops. The one source made it clear we could not prevent Portus Santus being razed then burned with the rest of the fleeing population put to the swords, we were required to allow destiny to play out, Its destruction had to convince the attackers they had accomplished there goal, so they did not searching perhaps disclosing our hiding place.

The plan was open ended as we did not know then where or when we could deliver these souls. What we decided to do was the same as we did for our own population. We put those saved in a deep slumber to await with our people who fled, when Humans drove us from our lands. Still they await for the spell to be completed allowing them to emerge from the place of slumber back into this world.
We were also preparing for another event, approaching in your near future, which will alter your world so much so , the Fey will be able to rejoin the rest of the population in the sun and once again majik will rule over technology.”
“My lady if I may be as bold to inquire, when in Tartarus were you intending to inform me of this situation?”
“Now, when you needed to know, and can act on what I am sharing with you. I do not withhold information you need from you James, I just need to be judicious as to when I let you know, to when you need to know it..”

Betty

“Having survived many a thrashing, there is a certain taste, smell and dull achy feeling you became aware of when just waking up. Always there is the physically hurting, everywhere., so bad you would need to get better, just so you could die. Then there was the metallic smell and taste of blood, with all of your senses turned internally, as your fuzzy mind sorts out what is, or is not, still working.
Then .I find ,I become aware of the smells of where I am, whether there is light or is it dark, and if any one is touching you. I knew I was in some sort of clinic, there was a subdued lighting. I was wearing something on my right hand, and some one was holding my left speaking something, my brain struggle to untangle.
“Lie still my daughter, as you need to conserve everything you are receiving, so you may heal.”
“my children?”
“ worry not they are safely having fun working the carnival in Blessings.”
“....... can not see this.”
“I assure ye, they will not, you will be whole when you see them again..”
“ people safe?”
“You are forever the mother and leader my dear, we are all proud to say yes to all, There was some damage to buildings but the people are safe, and you are still secret to your opposition. They still do not know, that presently, there is an active protector of Haven.
She placed her hand over my eyes and forehead . “Sleep my brave one, rest, and heal knowing things are safe, and so are you,”
A warn golden glow filled what little sight I could discern, as I felt the need to claw and hold on to awareness drain out of me satisfied at the moment, I had done my duty,
nooo annyyy else mattereeeddd.

Morgan la Fay

Leaving Betty's side, I was pondering what would make a mortal willing to stand in opposition of unbeknown fury, motivation only by the drive, for protecting, of that, which they love. Tonight was nothing short of an epic victory that in my day would be worthy of song and myth. This may be something human kind needs to rekindle anew. For all of their modern wonders, today's people lack that visceral emotional contact, with the epic stories of the struggles their hero's endure, so there are examples of what to emulate if called upon. Like those, real human. common folk,, in the past who were also brave enough to take a stand. Beowulf, Gilgamesh the mortal who was Thor. Mulan ,the Valkyrie, or Amazons all fighting for survival in a dark and cold world. All of them were just flesh and blood becoming heroes after they paid the cost for standing, come what may, making a difference by there actions. These hero's stood against outlandish odds, selfishly giving them selves for their people, Those sacrifices became the reason to enshrine their memories.
Then the old time story tellers refused to allow the names of these heroes to be eroded by, or forgotten in the flow of time, or the clutter of more immediate concerned. The Girot's of Africa, the minstrels of Europe, the twisted hair's of the American first people, all kept there social icons alive in stories. Betty is earning such immortality, because although she could have run, she stood her ground. All most totally alone she saved Haven the town, and the orchard lands of the local first people, Betty is a hero worthy of remembering. Standing as she did tonight has cost her a lot she could have easily died from all of the injuries.
Braving that storm grossed her, lbs of stones, and sticks, studding her flesh, numerous deep cuts, severe wind burn to her body and eyes, extreme dehydration and the near total depletion of her stored manna. Badb, of the Trio Morrigan sisters, was so impressed, she herself intervened in Betty's healing.
Note to self
Because Thoth is responsible for the record keeper of this planets Akashic Records , I pray that I can convenience him to assign a muse to start recording in verse, Betty's stories and her bravery. I believe I should bring that up with Thoth at our planning session for our response to the near time Event looming for the mortals.
This Event will mark the beginnings of some very interesting times, for this lonely little planet. Often I ponder, how such a technologically arrogant people will deal with the return of Magic as the driving factor of their world once again. Yes these times should be interesting, very interesting indeed.