Writetober Day 23: Ancient

Eyes followed Eerie as she walked into smurf village. The stares were a mixture of curiosity and wariness. It wasn't surprising given her people's reputation. Even after over a century of being reassigned as protectors of the village the older whites were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"That's the one that never smiles." She caught the stage whisper from a pair as she padded by.

"Oh, hey." Came a drawl from her other side. "Papa's waiting for you."

Eerie stopped and looked at the smurf. He looked tired with a few unkempt black locks sticking out from his hat. While she hadn't announced her arrival, the presence of a Grey in the village was usually met with a 'nice' invitation to see their leader. She nodded at her appointed escort. "Lead on."

He turned and started along the path she had already been heading. "You're Eerie right?" He yawned.

"Yes. And you are?" The oracle asked.

"Lazy." The smurf answered.

It fit him as well as her chosen name fit herself. She was silent as they approached the mushroom shaped house and her companion knocked. The door opened.

The elder of the village glanced at them and beckoned them in. Lazy headed to a couch and lay down. Papa looked curiously at the Grey. "Smurfy afternoon! How can I help you?"

The redhead reached into her bell sleeve and pulled out a rolled up bit of parchment. She held it out to the old smurf. "I would like to know if you know of a creature like this."

Papa hesitated for a moment before he smiled and took the paper. He unrolled it and looked at the drawing. It was a life-like depiction of the nine legged creature. He studied the image. "I'm not sure. But you're quite the smurfy artist."

"That was accomplished with a spell." The redhead explained. "My skill actually lies in tailoring. ...If you're unsure, do you have any available bestiaries?"

“I have several. Let me smurf them for you and we can search.” The red clad smurf said. He turned and began selecting books off the shelf.

They poured through the texts. Eerie hadn’t expected to spend hours looking through books at Papa Smurf’s. But by the time they’d finished the stack the sun was setting. They’d found nothing.

“Could you smurf me just why this creature is important?” The old smurf asked as he closed the tome.

“It’s because they might be coming here.” Lazy drawled. He stretched and sat up from his nap.

The oracle stared at the slothful smurf. “What do you mean?” She asked carefully.

“Perhaps I can explain.” Papa started gently. “You see, ancient tales smurf that smurfs can see the future. That isn’t quite true. Not all of us can. But some of us, like yourself, can. And others, like Lazy, have abilities that are very close. There are a lot more smurf oracles than most fey, which is where we smurfed that reputation.”

Eerie’s expressionless face hid the pounding of her heart. She didn’t realize her hand was creeping towards her bell sleeve until the old smurf held up his hands. She stopped. “If you knew what I was then why reveal things this way? I wasn’t expecting entrapment from whites.”

“Because when you dream of somesmurf finding out it becomes a nightmare.” The smurf on the couch said. “And I only found out about it because Havana asked me. So I figure you want to know about them because you smurfed that they were coming here.”

“How do you know my niece?” The redhead stood quickly. Had she been more emotive, her soprano would’ve been accusatory.

“Oh. She’s a Dreamer like me. She even smurfs she’s part of the Grey Guard for our dreams.”

“And a Dreamer is?”

Papa smurf stood. “Dreamers are those who can travel freely in the land of dreams. They are aware when they slumber, and can smurf a great many things inside the land of Nod.” He turned and pulled out an old tome that looked like it had been repaired a few times.

Eerie sat slowly, numbly, as the red clad smurf opened the ancient book in front of her. Old pictures showed a smurf running across the clouds. The next showed them conjuring a sword and shield. She turned the page.

Papa Smurf gasped.

There was the nine legged beast.