A Rubecula Story (Fiction) General Noddy

Please excuse typos It was just a spur of the moment draft that I thought up because of my nickname on here. No proof reading has been carried out.

Part Two: The Origin of Noddy

Well gentle reader, where shall we start in telling the story of Noddy? We could go back to the beginning through the mists of time to when the only thing alive were the gods and a few protoplasmic blobs. But that is too far back. Indeed we can go back to the time when lost in his own miseries, Rubecula caused havoc in the lands of Tyran. Yet again that is too far back, closer but yet still too far.

No we must go back to a day in Tyran, when the market was in town.

Rubecula had met a lady, a beauteous lady who had captured his heart. And like all men.... well we are getting ahead of ourselves a little here. Let's go back to the market..............

Rubecula was strolling along between the stalls, not looking to buy anything in particular. Mostly he was thinking of Seraphina Aris. He wanted to take her for a nice romantic meal for two, somewhere expensive, somewhere fine. To this idea came a further one. He really could do with some fine clothes. His clothes now were very expensive, very fine quality, but they lacked something, they were a little bit utilitarian.

Having watched some of the more elegantly dressed males in Tyran, Vampires, Noblemen and such like, he came to realise that a good tailor would be required, and apparently there were a few in the market. This is what he was actually looking for when he chanced upon a small stall selling a variety of whatsits and whatnots. There was a small crowd of women gathered around it, and rightaway came the idea that there might be something there that would interest Sera. So, fatefully as it turned out, he pushed his way through to see what exactly was on offer. It was a stall selling cosmetics and beautifying products. With a slight *tisk* of mild annoyance he made to move away, when he happened to realise that the far end of the stall was devoid of customers all together. Curious, he made his way along and noticed that the emulents and oils here were in large unadorned jars.

A little man appeared wearing a funny sort of hat. "Yes Sir can I be of assistance?"

Rubecula looked up from his examination of the jars. "I am just curious, but what are in these jars? The women seem to be up at the other end of the stall."

"Well sir," replied the man, "These jars are meant for men, unfortunately men don't buy such things very often, so we have little chance to sell them in a place such as this. They are mainly oils and infusions for mixing with your bathwater, not only wonderful for cleansing the skin, but they leave you feeling toned and healthy. They also part with their scents and leave the gentleman smelling sweet and attractive to the ladies."

Rubecula was taken by the sale's pitch. It could be ideal for tonight when he went walking out with Sera. Digging into his purse he pulled out a handful of coins. "I think I will purchase some of that then. How much are they?"

A few minutes and a bit of haggling later, Rubecula proudly strode off with half a dozen jars of the things, all different. Lot's of enthusiasm but no instructions apart from "Put some in the bath water."

The clothing could wait for now, It was unlikely he could get a suite of clothes made to order by tonight anyway. However a nice long bath with these oils could be just what he needed.

Hurrying home to his mansion house, he swiftly stripped off and ran a nice hot tub of water in his rather exclusively designed stone bath. Exclusive because he had designed it himself, and frankly he had no idea on design. Nobody else was likely to have one quite like it.... luckily for them.

Once the tub was full of steaming water, Rube poured in an entire jar of something that smelled vaguely of pine forest. He wasn't sure about that, the smell was a bit strong and perhaps a little wrong. The next bottle was Lemon scented so he added the entire contents of that too. By this time he began to wonder if he would get it right, and he reasoned that if he mixed them all into the bath, the resultant smell would drive the women wild with desire. So he emptied every jar into the bath, whereupon the water took on a strange greyish look.

The smell was somewhat pungeant, really rather strong. No doubt it would fade a bit once he had covered himself in it. So he hopped in and lay back. He had water covering him totally from toes to chin. He smiled, confident that this would be impressive.

Perhaps impressive was the wrong word to use. Rubecula had never heard of an allergic reaction, but it was not all that long before he discovered what one was. His skin began to turn an angry red and started to itch. He rubbed at it. The itch just got worse. Swearing he stood up and climbed out of the bath. The itch increased exponentially with contact to the air. Rubecula bit his lip and rubbed like crazy with a coarse towel. This only made him sore and the moment he stopped the itch came back tenfold. All over his body, in every nook and cranny.

Rubecula began to make almost whimpering noises as the dreaded itch would not go away. Worse still his body was now partly crimson and partly scarlet in great blotches.

"Gaaaaaaaah!" Rubecula ran naked from the bathroom, out into the garden to get fresh air blowing on him. This had no effect, the itch began to feel like a personal attack on his body and his sanity. He needed cold, sweet cold and ice.

He raced into the mountains where the snow never melted. There was no relief in this form either, and his body's defences seemed to cause him to explode into a great golden flame of fire. It was not long before he reached a small mountain top valley with snow still in it. And luckily it seemed a small lake (or large pond) of icey cold water. Frantically he tried rolling in the snow. The itch was now so bad he had tears in his eyes. He groaned, the snow helped but it just didn't cover his whole body.

Finally with a mild scream of total frustration, he dived into the pool of water, and finally too came blessed relief, as the cold cold water removed the last of the oils, and cooled his furious skin. The raging itch faded and finally went away.

"Dear gods" he breathed "What in the seven hells was that?" He was so pleased to be free of the itch he settled back to float and drift in the cold clear water in wonderful itch free peace.




While he was enjoying a nice long soak in the pool, Rubecula began to playfully dip under the water and swim around. The water was deeper than he had expected, but not too bad. He started to explore it's depths.

After a few minutes, something caught his eye, something quite bright half hidden behind a large boulder. Of course this roused his curiousity, and being who he was he could hold his breath very well. Not just mere seconds, he could hold his breath for minutes. Nevertheless his ability to hold his breath came in useful as he swam down to the bright gleam below him.

He recognised it immediately he had a clear sight of it. He had not seen one under water before, but he knew it instantly. It was a portal. For a moment he wondered why the water did not simply flow out through it, then he realised that there must be a similar pond on the other side.

Peering through it he could see how the water changed from it's fresh clear blue to an equally clear greenish colour. It took him no time at all to decide he wanted to take a look. With a sharp folding of his body, he darted through the portal like an eel.

The sudden change in temperature hit him like a body blow. His saved breath left him in a whooshing sound. Quickly realising his mistake, he shot to the surface to gasp for air. He made it, panting furiously.

Looking around he could see why there had been a slight greenish colour to the otherwise clear water. The sides of the pond were overhung by huge trees festooned in moss and vine like plants. The sunlight was filtered through the leaves giving everything a greenish colouration. It was breathhtakingly beautiful. Swimming to the edge of the pond he climbed out and looked around. He saw no signs of large life forms apart from the trees themselves. A few small birds darted between the branches, some of which his appearance had startled away from the pond where they had obviously been drinking. He spied a small squirrel running up a tree. Ohter than this there were no animals about at all. Not even an animal track to catch the eye. It seemed that the little glade was totally isolated.

Being isolated was a good thing considering his clothes were still in his bathroom at home. So finding a moss covered rock that had a shaft of sunlight on it he sat down to let the warmth dry him off.

Just in arm's reach, was a small tree, with fruit growing on it. A small animal, possibly a vole, was nibbling on one of the fruits. Rubecula plucked one and looked it over. He had not seen one before and it reminded him of a cross between an apple and a fig. It's odour was remarkable. Very much a fruit that could stir hunger in a well fed man.

Perhaps rather stupidly in light of future events. (It was Rubecula's day for doing stupid things) He took a bite of the strange thing. It was truly fantastic. The juices ran down his chin and he chewed at the thing with a smile, and delight in his eyes. Whatever the thing was, he would have to get the seeds and plant it at home. Sitting back against the trunk of the tree he ate every last bit. Then with a sigh he looked up. The tree was covered in the things, but no point in being greedy.

Looking around to see if he could count how many of these trees were in evidence he noticed something that sent alarm bells ringing through his head. Under virtually every tree of this type were small bodies. They seemed to be twitching and moving about. Well most of them were.

Rubecula realised he may have just done the most stupid thing of his life. Poisoned himself in the midst of a place where nobody knew he had gone. He had to get home. Fast!

Getting to his feet, he began the process of getting back home. Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing happened. He concentrated, he knew that he was doing it right, but still nothing happened. On impulse he threw a green fireball towards the tree that had poisoned him. A slight tingle in his finger tips was all that occured and even this faded amost instantly. With the beginnings of real worry he decided to try a running dive into the pond.

His legs moved sluggishly, then slowed down, he fell forward to lie on his face, one outstretched hand just reaching the water's edge. As he lay there he saw one of the little animals apparently wake up and begin all over again to feast on the fruit, only to keel over in another fruit enduced sleep. His last thoughts before he too succumbed to the sleep were about the nature of Nature and the clever traps it produced.

Rubecula was totally asleep a second later, his bare legs twitching slightly in a mirror image of a squirrel not three inches from his nose.



With a soft groan, the man awoke. Climbing to his feet in slow motion he looked around. There was some food to hand, but for some reason he felt very sick. Ignoring the food, he padded off through the shrubs and trees, his bare legs getting swiped by branches and his naked feet making almost no sound on the soft loam below.

He retched a couple of times. almost to the point of throwing up, before controlling the urge and pushing on through. He broke into a clearing where he at first only heard voices. Then the sight of what was occuring came to him. A huddle of frightened men were being shepherded by armoured knights on horseback. One of these nights spotted him as he broke through the undergrowth.

The knight called to his companions "Another of them. I will get him."

The knight charged his hose waving a massive mace overhead. The naked man stared, still wanting to vomit, at the approaching rider. A threat to him, which instinct made him counter. Moving to the 'wrong' side of the horse to avoid the blow, he leapt up and punched out with all his strength. The massively muscled bady flexed as he did so and the impact of his fist actually unseated the rider. He fell from his horse with a nasty cracking sound and his neck lay twisted in an awful way, a look of astonishment still on his face.

Instantly, two of the remaining three riders charged towards him, howing in rage and swinging weapons. Seeing them come at him at such a pace, the naked man did not run away, which would probably have been fatal. Instead he ran at them. At the last minute with the leap of a desperate man, he did the Bull Dance, but on the horse.

His foot lightly touched the leading horse on the forehead in an astonishing leap. He somersaulted over the rider, bringing his clenched fist down on the helmeted head, jamming the helmet down so hard is cracked the skull beneath it. Then as he came down fom he flight through the air his leg swept around in a roundhouse kick that took the third rider in the chest before he had a chance to prevent it. The third rider fell from his running horse with a massive dent in the thin plate he wore. His chest caved in.

While this was happening the last horseman was being hauled from his steed by the group of unarmed men who had previously been his prisoners. He managed to let out a scream of pure terror before all sounds were cut off by his throat being torn open with bare hands.

One of the group looked up at the naked man and walked over with arms wide in greeting. "We thank you stranger, for your timely arrival. Had you not come when you did I am sure the Overlord's men would have had us all killed"

He offered his hand in greeting. "May I ask who you are, and why you are undressed?"

"I don't know" The naked man began, but suddenly he doubled over and fell to his knees, retching and choking, he vomited up a vile mess from inside himself. The man who had approached stepped back, but looked with growing concern at the vile gloop on the ground.

"Parrapas Fruit. Wild Parrapas fruit." He turned to the others. "Quickly fetch brandy the idiot has been eating Wild Parrapas"

The naked man felt a flask pushed to his mouth and a burning liquid gurgled down his throat. Until he managed to push it away.

The leader of the group looked at him. "Why would you eat that thing? Are you stupid? Or suicidal?"

"I don't remember. What is it?"

"Parrapas fruit? You have never seen it before? Well obviously not I suppose, since you ate it. Parrapas is a fruit we grow and care for, it has properties to ease the mind, to numb pain and many other medicinal things. But in the wild, it gets infected with a fungus, the Black Rot. When that happens it can have mind bending effects. It can turn a sane man totally mad, it can destroy your memory and it may even bring about death. Obviously you have eaten it, and the evidence supports that it has robbed you of your memory."

"Who am I?" The man looked up from his knees. "I can't remember anything until I came through those trees."

The men looked at each other. "We don't know either, none of us have ever seen you before. Can you not even remember your name? I am Sickle, a farmer by trade. Thats how I recognised the damned fruit."

"I don't know who I am!" The sound was almost a plea, almost a whine. It was most certainly a wail of fear. Which seemed odd after the way he had taken out three armoured knights on horseback whilst being naked and unarmed.

One of the men who had gone around the dead knights called over. "I think we should get some clothes off these guys to cover Mister Nudie over there before the women see him." His thick accent sounding like he said "Mister Noddy."

Sickle nodded. "Good idea Sprout, sort it out for him will you. We will stay with him until he can stand up." Turning to the man he smailed in a friendly, almost fatherly way. "We owe you much my friend, and we will do what we can to help you. We have a healer of sorts back at our camp, name of Malbrach. It would be best if he sees you and brings your memory back if he can. It is beyond me." He stroked his chin. "But first, finish off that brandy, it may ease any further problems you may have. I think you probably got it out of your system, but just in case eh?"

Sprout arrived with an assortment of clothing taken from the dead knights, while another of the men had rounded up the horses.

"The guy is not fit to walk, when we have him dressed, put him on one of the horses. The other things we have pilfered off the dead men we can pack onto the others." Sickle looked again at the man. "We have to call you something my friend. Have you no idea at all what your name might be?"

Remembering what Sprout had shouted, the naked (but getting dressed now) man shuddered before replying. "Noddy?"





The trip, for all the hurry to get away from the area of the fight, was quite leisurely. 'Noddy' was sitting on a smallish mare and swaying in the odd looking saddle, dizzy and slightly drunk from the brandy. This was noticed by a few of the others.

"I don't think he is used to strong drink"

"No he isn't, could he be a priest?"

"What kind of priest? There isn't a holy house for days and days of riding around here, and the nearest one has a full compliment of drunken priests."

And so the talk went on, some interesting ideas on the stranger came to the fore. None ever came closer than the first ideas though. In the end the consensus of opinion seemed to indicate the man, Now actually called Noddy by them all, was a mercenary soldier who had been ambushed while inebriated and robbed of all his belongings. The idea covered the facts as they knew them.

Some time later, and it was getting a little dark, they approached a change in the woodland. The trees were bigger, more gnarly, and fearsome looking. If ever there were demons in the woods, this would be where they would have chosen.

A man appeared, painted in woad to give him a deep blue countenance. He had a long dark cape of some strange fur and carried a staff. His long hair and beard were almost completely white.

Sickle called out on seeing this apparition. "We have a victim of Parrapas with us. He saved our lives, and deserves our help."

The man said nothing, and for a long moment simply stared at Noddy.

He then waved them forward and sank back into the deeper darkness of the ancient woods. The boundary of his domain and that of the green forest the riders were about to leave was as clear as if drawn by some incredible pencil of the Gods.

His voice when it reached them was fantastically strong and reverberating. "Bring him to the village and I will tend him there."

Noddy heard all this and tried to voice an opinion, but simply hiccupped and slumped forward in the saddle. By the time the horse had crossed the strange boundary, he was snoring his head off.

End of part two

Part three: Rube begins life as Noddy



When he awoke he was laying on something soft with a blanket of some kind over him. Looking up and feeling the worse for strong drink he observed a roof of sticks and similar above him.

He groaned, sat up, and groaned again. A fire was burning in the middle of the circular room he was in. The place seemed to be a mud hut of sorts and the inside was quite smokey. An elder man sat opposite him and was watching him with care.

"Greetings ummmmm.... Noddy? I am Malbrach, a sort of healer for the People."

The capital in the word People was obvious in his tone.

He came over to Noddy and offered him a mug of some steaming liquid. "This will make you feel better, although it tastes pretty awful. After you get up we can take a walk outside and have a little chat. Agreed?"

Noddy nodded.



It was not to long afterwards that a slighty overhung Noddy was strolling carefully through what appeared to be a refugee village in the forest with his companion, who was telling him about the people here and life in general.

"These folks are all simple people" said Mallbrach. "Mostly farmers and quiet peasants. However since the Overlord came to conquer the land with his army and his paid mercenaries, many have fled here to the great wood and tried to live in peace. At first we did try to send emmissaries to say we didn't mind them sharing our lands with us, but all diplomacy failed. Our messengers were slain and ploughed into the fields as fertilisers for pure enjoyment by them. None of us have experience of this kind of evil and we are not a people of fighters. It seems you have some experience in such things from what the men who brought you here say."

Noddy furrowed his brow. "I don't know, I can't remember."

"Well apparently you took those soldiers like it was nothing. Tell me can you remember anything? Anything at all that may help me fix you up?"

"No nothing at all, not before coming to in the glen, that was just before I stumbled on the soldiers, and they attacked me."

"Unfortunate, the parrapas fruit has a nasty effect when it is full of the fungus. If I could get a glimpse of your past I could perhaps produce a potion that would restore your memory. Without any hints it is a bit of a trial by taste to see what works. It could take some time you know." There was a hint of genuine appology in the words. "Perhaps while I produce my potions you could help train some of our people in the art of fighting? We surely need help in that quarter, we are as helpless as sheep in a pack of wolves."

Noddy paused. "You think you can help me remember then?" When he received an answering nod, he pursed his lips. "OK, I will be more than happy to do what I can for you. Although, as I can't remember much, then I am not sure how much help I can be. I suppose some of it is 'muscle memory' and it will come back to me. If it feels right then it probably is I suppose. Yes. Yes i think I can help you, and if you can help me bring my memory back, perhaps I can do more for you."

Malbrach smiled back at Noddy when he heard these words, although his thoughts we not so joyful. "That is if you don't remember that you are an enemy of ours after all." But these thoughts he kept strictly to himself. Potions can heal or kill after all, and he needed to make sure he had a weapon he could use against this seemingly awsome warrior if the need arose.





The following day, after a good night's sleep and a decent breakfast, Noddy got down to business.

A number of men, quite a large number in fact, were lined up with sticks and branches to imitate swords. Pairing them all off, Noddy had them going through general sword skills. Cut, parry, thrust, drive and so on.

He held the sword he had obtained from the men he had killed and went through the motions with the men, using a tree as an opponent. Somehow the sword fell into the right movements and his speed picked up. The men stopped sparring to watch him, and oblivious to the attention he had, Noddy went faster and faster, harder and harder.

It was only when a piece of the tree flew out and stung his cheek that he realised he had an audience. Stopping to look at the men, he received a spontaneous round of applause.

Noddy blushed, then clapped his hands together. "Keep practicing lads, speed is fine, but accuracy is final. You need to develope your skills if you are to make a difference."

Once the men were back to practicing, Noddy went amongst them, correcting movements and displaying how to parry or thrust at an opponent.

Some of the men would never be much use with a sword though, and Noddy had to stand back while he considered what to do with these persons. It was while he was thinking of this that he noticed a woodman's axe leaning against a tree. Picking it up he gave it a practice swing. There was something familiar about it, although not remembering his life as Rubecula, he also didn't remember that Rubecula's first favourite weapon had been a mighty axe. An Axe that resided over the bar of the Tavern in Tyran. The thing just felt very familiar.

A couple of the lads who were not so good with swords were big powerful farm boys. He called them over and tossed the axe to one of them. "Let me see what you can do to this terrible enemy with that." He pointed to the tree. "This fiend has just raided your home. Kill him."

The big man took the axe to task against the tree with such vigor that in a few short moments it was near to collapse.

"Stop" cried Noddy. "You will have it down on top of us." He reached out and took the axe, passing it to the next man in line. He pointed to a second tree and gestured for him to continue. This went on down the line of the big men, and some not quite so big men. Just watching them made him tired. Each one trying to outdo the one before.

Noddy smiled at the promise they showed. By lunchtime, he had a cadre of what promised to be good swords men and mighty axemen.

Eating, away with Mallbrach, he nodded to him between mouthfuls. "They seem to show promise, or at least I think they do. They are desperate to make a difference and to either protect what they own or gain revenge for what has been taken. That could work to our advantage. Sending them into battle when they are trained up is not likely to be a concern."

"No" said Mallbrach. "But stopping them once they start may be more of a problem. They will need a battle leader who can control their 'enthusiasm' in the fight. I am not sure, that given my age and abilities that I am the right one for the job. Fancy taking it on?"

Noddy chewed thoughtfully on a piece of meat. "Ask me tomorrow" was his simple answer.

Lunch over, Noddy gave the men some slightly more complex moves to worry about. Skills first, tactics later. He watched for a while and began to think of other methods of fighting. Archery and pikestaffs came to mind. Later on they could begin to think of armored knights to match the mercenaries.



That evening, Noddy sat sipping a mild drink of mixed fruit juices and thinking. Most of the men had settled down to rest and eat. many of them, in fact nearly all of them were nursing blisters and feeling the effects of a hard day. They seemed to be happy though. Happy that they would soon be able to fight back for the first time in their history.

Noddy picked up the axe and played with it tentatively. There was something very familiar about it if only he could remember. Standing up, he walked a little way into the forest, out of sight and hearing of the others. A few practice swings, and he warmed up to the task.

Suddenly spinning, he brought the axe round to block an imaginary blow, twisting it round and jabbing with the blade. Something clicked in his head and his massive avian muscles took over with pure instinct. He attacked a moderately sized tree. One almost unbelievable blow took the blade right through the trunk, taking a huge bite out of the wood. The hard ash shaft cracked with the fury of the blow. Noddy hardly noticed, so lost in his routine as he was. It was only when the shaft broke in half with the next blow he came to his senses. There was a second loud crack, and the tree began to bend around the gash in it's trunk.

"Oh Bejabbers" Noddy snarled with alarm as the tree began to fall in his direction. He picked up his feet and moved like lightening as the branches came tumbling down on top of him. He almost made it. The last few feet of the tree came down on his head and back, pushing him to the ground and covering him in pine needles.

For a moment nothing happened, then a hand pulled the branches apart. A bedraggled head followed and finally, Noddy pulled himself clear. For a second or two he looked viciously at the tree, then his face cracked a smile. The smile turned to laughter. He was doubled over, tears running down his face. "Oh you dasted fool" he choked out to himself. "Why on earth didn't you just step sideways?".

Retrieving the broken axe, he headed back to the campsite still chuckling away. He was totally unaware of four eyes watching him, partly impressed and partly with humour. Two were the hard eyes of Malbrach, and two were brown with long lashes.

Noddy took little time to get back, tomorrow he would speak to the blacksmith about repairing the axe and maybe strengthening the shaft. Besides it's edge had totally gone now.

Putting the axe to one side, he pulled his rough woven cape over his body and head and settled down for a few hours rest. There was a few more things to be started in the morning. And the training needed to continue.



Eyes closed, Noddy lay under his roughly woven cape. There was no need for better shelter than that in these warm summer nights. Something caused him to open his eyes. Perhaps it was a sixth sense, or maybe a soft barely heard sound, but whatever it was, his eyes opened and he peered between the weave of the cloth.

Slowly moving, softly getting closer, was a pair of leather booted legs. Noddy noted how they moved carefully, so as not to make a sound on dead twigs and leaves. The owner, whoever it was, was good, very good indeed, and it was only the fact that his nerves were taught as harp strings that had allowed him to be alerted.

Whipping his cape from his face, and a hand on the hilt of the blade under the cape with him, he stared hard at the owner of the legs.

To his surprise, it was a young woman. A pretty face with hard eyes in a sunburnt complexion, framed by full deepest black hair. Her hard brown eyes were looking right into his, without fear. He did notice that she was a touch surprised by the way he was awake and looking right at her though.

"You are General Noddy" It didn't seem to be a question. More of a statement of fact. So he grunted agreement rather than give a verbal answer.

"You are training men to fight I see and hear."

"I am." He kept his response low and short, alert for any untoward attack.

"Why do you not allow women to fight. It is our land as well."

"I am not stopping women from fighting. I do not force people to fight, the only ones who have come to learn are men. I have no worries about women fighting too if they so wish. Do you want to fight?"

"Yes" Her reply was less antagonistic now after his words. "There are many of us and we discussed fighting back a long time ago. We have been practicing."

"Excellent" Noddy replied. "I will see you in the morning then."

With that, Noddy pulled the cape back over his head and settled back. However, his dismissive and relaxed pose was a sham. His eyes once again peered through the weave and watched her surreptitiously. He smiled as she frowned at him, obviously irritated by his lack of excitement, but this was warring with delight at acceptance. Noddy was testing her in reality. As she stalked off, no longer attempting to be silent, Noddy's smile broke into a broad grin. If the other women she spoke of were as good, then he was building a formidable host to fight with.

Noddy had no cause of worry over the fighting abilities of women, unlike many men. He knew that generally speaking men were physically bigger, except for individuals where a big woman was stronger than a small man, but women were usually excellent archers, and many were superb with a sword, and a spear. If they had been practicing for some time, they would possibly be a lot better than the men in his charge at this point.

Yes, he surmised, this was building up to fighting strength very rapidly. If it carried on as quickly, he would have to let them test themselves somehow. However that was a set of plans for a clear head and now, he wanted to sleep and let thing roll over in his mind.

Under a flowing tree, and wrapped in a rough woven cape, Noddy slept.




The following morning arrived with, not so much of a bang, but a sizzle. The sizzle was due to many breakfasts being cooked. Noddy had not brought any food with him and he felt a grumbling in his belly. However it was his own fault, and he decided he would pay the cost as a punishment to himself for being so absent minded. However this was not going to be a day where he was left hungry. Malbrach arrived with a young girl who was carrying a couple of plates loaded down with fried foodstuffs.

"I noticed yesterday you were a bit busy to remember your food, no need to worry on that score though, young Maire here also noticed and volunteered to bring you some breakfast while you are in training."

Noddy made a mental note not to abuse this kind gift, and then spoke his thanks to Maire out loud. "That is very kind of you. I will be very grateful for your help."

The rest of the training camp had stirred by now and some were actually loosening up for more weapon practice. The people were very keen, but, Noddy realised, these people were fighting for their existance. Or they would be when they knew how to. His eyes wandered around the groups of people, their numbers had swollen overnight, and Sickle had taken it upon himself to sort them out into various groups.

A new group was approaching through the trees, Noddy looked them over. It was a sizable group of women, all carrying weapons, and led by the woman who had spoken to him in the night. She gave him a defiant look. He gave her a little wave of the fingers and a wink.

As he polished off the breakfast, licking the grease from his fingers, he handed the plate back to Maire with a grateful smile. He was amused that the young lady blushed and ran off.

Standing, he approached the newcomers who were looking around.

"I see you have all come to join us, for which I am grateful to be truthful. If you have been practicing for as long as you have told me, then perhaps you will be able to help train some of the others. Would you be willing to do that?"

The woman who led the group tilted her head and looked quizzically at Noddy. "I think we can do that. We are all on the same side I believe."

"Indeed, I hope we are" Noddy felt a sort of warmth inside, there was a sizable armed force here in this small clearing, and if they did well, it would act as a recruitment for more people to join. Nevertheless they would be up against professional fighters, and for such an act, the right tactics needed to be thought out. First things first though, these folk needed to be able to fight, not just want to. Tactics could wait while skills were developed.

End of part three