Chapter 30 part 2

"So, what'd he say?" Tim asked as he started following Charlie.

"Well, he thinks we're here to steal his soul or something," Charlie answered, wishing someone else, other than Ralph, could help with translating. While Ralph could, it was clear that he didn't care to.

"So, you said what you did about evil and that to… what?" Beth asked.

"It was more to say that evil is more about perspective than anything else," Charlie answered, then amended her statement a moment after. "Uh, that is at least in regards to how he views us."

"So close, Charlie," Amelia sighed. "That bit in the book was more about what a person views as evil themselves has to do with their perspective. After all, terrorists would probably think what they're doing is good and right while we'd see it as evil. Doesn't necessarily change what's happening or any of that, but it would at least illuminate where they're coming from."

Charlie sighed herself. "I figured I'd screwed it up, but I knew that we weren't going to convince him anyway, so I thought I'd offer to help with some of the chores so he and his daughter wouldn't be as stressed as they are," Charlie said. "As his wife and three sons died from a plague recently and his daughter is struggling to take on the burden of running this farm. He helps where he can, but the illness reduced what he could do himself."

"Wow, what a hard luck story," Ralph remarked. "Though, shouldn't we just continue on to the next gate?"

"We could, but not on this world," Charlie retorted, annoyed at Ralph's attitude. "All the intelligent creatures on this world are likely going to he rather hostile towards us, as they view all humans as evil."

"Actually, I'm with Charlie on this one," Hannah said. "I mean, other than a few things about the animals here, it seems like a regular farm from our world. How hard could helping out be? I mean, it's not like we'll be here that long, right?"

"Who's to say how much help they'll need," Beth added. "I mean, I'm sure Amelia could probably heal whatever problem the man has that he got from being sick, but would he be willing to let her do that anytime soon? Personally, I doubt it."

"Maybe, but I still plan on staying to help out. If you guys want to go on ahead, that'll be your prerogative," Charlie replied, feeling more tired than anything else at the moment.

"Not a bad speech," Wes remarked, patting Charlie on the shoulder. "Though, it could have done with a little more flair. You know, making it a little more flashy, but regardless, I'm with you."

Charlie sighed. Maybe she did kind of make a little speech, but that was entirely unintentional. She wasn't trying to make a point or anything. She was merely doing what would help her keep her own piece of mind.

A part of her was wondering if this might be a side effect of looking into that man's mind. After all, if she hadn't seen the hard time he'd had with his family dying and not being able to do anything about it, she wasn't sure that she'd have been willing to help him like this. Especially with how they seemed fine and the entire farm looked like it was doing well.

Yet, it was clear that while it appeared like they were doing well, it was only the calm surface. Beneath, there was a turbulent current that was threatening to pull them under at any moment.

"Besides, we owe at least his daughter for scaring her like that," Charlie said, coming out of her thoughts as they started to approach the gate. She hoped that the conversation hadn't shifted to something else while she was lost in her own thoughts.

"Maybe, but I still think that we should let them go on with their own lives and move on to the next gate," Ralph protested.

"Well, if that's the way you feel," Amelia said, "then I guess it'll be just you and Beth. Well, maybe Tim as well, but at least you two going on your own."

"I didn't say I was against the idea," Beth protested. "I was merely pointing out that anything we do will probably not be appreciated."

Charlie smiled, pausing a moment before entering the gate. "Hey, they may not appreciate us helping them, but I'm sure they'll appreciate not having to do every chore with just the two of them," Charlie said. "If nothing else, I'm just hoping that they'll stop being so afraid of us."

No one said anything else until they'd all passed through the gate. "Well, we'll see what happens with that," Beth remarked. "I mean, you did see what needed to be done, right?"

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, I saw what chores needed to be done and when. Though, I'm sure if all of us do it, that we'll be able to finish before they even realize we were there," Charlie answered.

"Uh, how early do we need to get up for that?" Hannah asked, realization of some of the finer details of what Charlie was suggesting was dawning on her.

Charlie shrugged. "Not really sure, but we could either set an alarm or watch so we get up about the same time that girl would. Though, in that case we'd have to move quickly to get it done for her," Charlie replied.

Beth sighed. "Charlie, you saw into the man's mind about what chores were needed to be done, right?" Beth asked and Charlie nodded. "Then you should see what time they regularly do those chores. Which means that we can get started on those chores near that time, but with enough time that it'll be done before she would be around."

Charlie shrugged. While she didn't mind helping, dealing with these fine details were rather irritating. Especially since they wanted to avoid her finding out that they were helping her.

"What I'd like to know is how long you plan on doing this for?" Tim asked. "After all, while we can do this, we don't exactly know how long the rest of our expedition will take. Though, I think we might have discussed this topic before."

"I was thinking about until they bring their harvest in, at the latest," Charlie answered. At the very least, it would allow the girl and her father a short reprieve from the full brunt of all the chores that really needed more than two people to do.

"How long will that be?" Wes asked, starting to sound doubtful of his choice to side with Charlie on this.

"Well, from what I could tell from the man's mind, within a week or so," Charlie answered. "After all, it's already fully grown."

"Well, what's taking him so long to get to it?" Tim asked.

"Uh, I think he was waiting for whoever he sold it to, to arrive in the nearby town," Charlie answered. "I think it's because he's been having trouble with other farmers and those in town because of his success."

"If that's the case, think we should stand guard on his fields as well?" Ralph asked, surprising the rest of them.

"What do you mean?" Beth asked.

"Well, it's simple," Ralph replied, sounding much more smug than Charlie would like. "If someone is looking to do him harm, then either burn his cash crop while he has it in a storehouse or burn it before he can harvest it. Either way, if it gets burned, he has nothing to sell."

"Charlie did only look into the man's mind," Amelia allowed. "So, Ralph's suggestion is entirely possible."

"Well, what if we have some of us set as guards and the others set to do the chores?" Tim suggested. "That way we can get both done. Especially since those who stand guard will probably need to sleep through the day so they can remain awake at night."

"Uh, actually, I can set an alarm so if someone tries anything, it can wake me up and then I can wake the rest of you up," Charlie interjected.

"You know, one of us could also take turns using our magic to protect the field of grain from getting burned," Hannah suggested. "I mean, we could essentially give the field a temporary enchantment to keep it from catching fire. That way we won't need to stay up to try and stop whoever form trying to set it on fire."

"Probably a better idea," Beth remarked. "After all, just because we stand guard, that doesn't mean we'll be able to stop them. Even if we used our magic, we could still fail in that objective."

"So, we should just play it by ear, right?" Amelia asked. "Although, if no one has a problem with it, I'll go out tonight and use my magic to put the enchantment on the field. That way it'll be done no matter what else happens. Then we can continue reading!"

Charlie couldn't help but groan. Of course Amelia would be up for this idea. It would let her have more time for all of them to read through the books. Charlie couldn't help but wonder if the should move on to another series, if only for a short time, since she was getting a little bored with the Sword of Truth series for the moment. They'd gotten most of the way through the second book, but she couldn't help but feel that taking a break from the series wouldn't hurt. The problem was she couldn't think of how to get Amelia to agree with it. As she was sure Amelia would have the biggest objection to changing the series they were reading and others were probably fine with whatever book or series and didn't care which one.

So, who's going to join Charlie with doing the chores in the morning?" Tim asked.

Charlie didn't object to not getting to opt out, as it was her idea to begin with. Even though she wasn't sure about dealing with the animals so much, she had to stick with what she'd determined to do in regards to helping that man and his daughter out. Even if they never would appreciate who it was helping them out.

_

Beth was already worn out as they passed back through the gate to the fungaloid's world. It didn't help that Charlie had startled her out of a wonderful dream when she woke Beth up. Volunteering to help Charlie the night before had seemed like a good idea, but when she was woken up, she was regretting it, even though she wanted to show some support for her best friend.

One thing that made it better was that Ralph had been pulled into it as well. Though, what didn't help was how cheerful Charlie seemed about it. She'd taken care of feeding the weird horses and the pigs, while Beth focused on milking the cows. Charlie also took the time to help each of them to know what to do and where they should put everything when they finished.

Such as where to put the milk and eggs when it was time for them to go. Beth wished she could hide and see the girl's expression when she came to do what they'd finished doing, but she didn't want to risk the girl seeing them. After all, aside from her being freaked out by Beth and her friends being human, she wouldn't think that it would mean as much if the girl knew who had done it.

Although, even though they were done and it was pretty much the time that they'd usually been getting up anyway on this world, Beth was ready to go back to sleep. They didn't need to do anything else and she'd like a chance to get the sleep that had been interrupted earlier.

In all, it wasn't until the third night that something had actually happened. Which, annoyed Beth more than she would have expected. Part of it was that Charlie's alarm about the field had woken them up earlier than Charlie had been to get the chores done. Beth had been starting to wonder if she should get her head examined, because she found herself volunteering every morning. She was confident that Charlie wasn't using her magic to get her to volunteer, yet she couldn't think of an alternate reason.

"Who's turn was it to enchant the field to be fire resistant?" Tim asked as he came out of his tent, his eyes showing how much asleep he really was.

"I think it was Hannah's turn," Amelia said as she came out of her tent.

Beth wasn't surprised to see everyone still in their pajamas, especially since they knew they didn't have time for any of the to change. After all, they didn't know how long the fire protection would last, and they needed to get whoever was likely around the field away before they had a chance to either figure out a way to get around the enchantment or to wear it down enough that it wouldn't be of any more use.

"So, how should we do this?" Wes asked, as they started to enter the gate. "Approach in guns blazing? Use invisibility on ourselves?" Or just go and play it by ear?"

"Play it by ear, of course," Amelia replied. "If we go in 'guns blazing' like you suggested, then they'll know where we are. Yet, if we play it by ear, we could maybe get them to look in multiple directions from where we'd be attacking. Then with the invisibility option, that won't be that useful. After all, I think it would be better if they didn't quite get an idea of how many we are, but remember, if they can't see us, they can't know that we're not the man or his daughter."

"Not bad, Amelia," Hannah remarked. "Though, should we set up a distraction for them so this won't be as difficult for us as it could be otherwise. Y'know, if things start to go south for us."

"What do you have in mind?" Beth asked.

"Maybe something to make them think that we're something other than we are as well as something that won't come back on the man and his daughter," Hannah said casually as they passed through the gate.

"How about you do that when we get the field safe from the fire," Wes suggested. "That way we can be sure the field will be okay rather than trying to distract those trying to torch it while running the risk that the field will get torched."

Hannah nodded. "Yeah, I can do that, but until then, I think we should make ourselves invisible. That way they won't accuse the owners of that field about colluding with something they consider evil," Hannah said.

"Good point," Amelia commented. "After all, if we're helping them out, we should do it in a way that'll help."

"What if we disguise ourselves as something else?" Tim asked.

"Do whatever you want, so long as it's something that doesn't create more trouble," Beth said. She was really hoping this wasn't going to be like when they rescued the pronghorn-kin from the deer-kin. She didn't see a reason for it to be like that, but couldn't dismiss the possibility that it could happen.

As they neared the field, Beth pulled on her magic to create a field of invisibility that wrapped around her like a sheet. She couldn't help but notice all of her friends did the same, including Tim. She smiled to herself at that, noting that he couldn't think of anything else to do that would be as effective.

They could also see where whoever was trying to set the field on fire was attempting to do so across part of the field, though Beth couldn't help but wonder if they'd be able to make it in time before the fire protection ran out. Although, she couldn't help but wonder if they might eventually give up if the fire doesn't catch. It would be nice if things worked out that way, but she doubted that it would work out that way.

Beth was surprised to find that walking through the field wasn't as easy as she'd thought it would be. She made sure to have her magic make it look like the wheat wasn't parting to let her pass. Otherwise it wouldn't matter if she was invisible or not. Whoever was there would be able to see that someone was there.

–I think I see them.– Ralph said with his magic. –They're getting frustrated that the field isn't going up, but I don't think they're going to back down. –

–Okay, if they're not trying very hard to light it up anymore, then it might be a good time to give them the distraction.– Beth commented, still making her way to where the arsonists were.

–Should I do what I had in mind or would you like to contribute something else first?– Hannah asked.

–I got an idea.– Tim answered.