“Okay, that makes some sense. But I don’t suppose you happen to have a tree just laying around that we can use?”
“No, I don’t. But that shouldn’t be much of a problem.”
“Let me guess you have a tag in the middle of a forest or something.”
With a broader smile he replied, “Why, yes Francis, as it turns out I do have something along those lines.” As he shifted his gaze I was able to see the glint in his eyes as he asked, “What’s that famous motto? That’s right. Be prepared.” The snap of his fingers was timed just right to punctuate the motto that apparently guided Alexis’ life.
“So when do I go?”
With a light touch to the doorframe beside him Alexis said, “How about now?”
“Now?” I asked with more than a little bit of shock. “What am I supposed to do?”
“What do you mean what are you supposed to do?” He said with just a hint of scorn. “What do you think you’re supposed to do?” “You walk through the doorway, find and chop down a tree that will be your approximate size and weight, and then wait. I’ll check in with you every fifteen minutes or so.”
“And while I’m chopping down my tree what will you be doing?”
“Getting both Dempsey and myself ready to carry out this little charade. That is, unless you’d rather switch jobs?” Alexis asked with a smug smile.
“So I’ll find us that tree then.” I replied as I grabbed an extra hand warmer and walked through the doorway that Alexis had prepared for me. I immediately found myself in a rather dark and dank, but dry, patch of land. Was this another one of Alexis’ safe houses? If it was I’d like to know where the actual house was located. Looking around I began to see that this might just be the man’s lumber yard; there were a number of stumps as well as saplings. Then I took a moment and began searching beyond the immediate area, and noticed that this spit of dry land was surrounded by water, and not crisp, clean water either.
I had been dumped in a swamp. Great, well there was no use wasting time. Before moving out I opened the bag covering the hand warmer and secured it just over my heart. Using the warmth of the little package, I picked up a sturdy branch and, after creating a clear picture of an axe in my head, I gathered the warmth needed and forced it into the branch. In the blink of an eye the branch was a solid axe, complete with a razor sharp edge. With my tool in hand, I started looking for an appropriate tree.
It took me about five minutes to locate a tree that, once felled, I would be able to be cut down into the right dimensions. I went to work and soon the tree was falling over. A part of me wanted to yell “timber,” but I figured now wasn’t the time. Soon I was stripping the limbs from the tree’s trunk and having cleared a section of the correct size, I cut the necessary length from the tree.
When I was done I realized that now I needed a way to drag the log back to where I first entered the woods. I held the axe loosely in one hand and forged it into a length of rope I could use to drag the tree. Finally back where I had started, I sat down on top of the log and waited. I was beginning to think I had made a mistake and that I was waiting in the wrong spot when I heard Alexis call out to me. “Well, did you want to just skip the rest of the plan?”
I spun around and smiled as I replied, “What and miss all the fun?”
With a hearty laugh Alexis rolled his eyes as he spoke. “If this plan of yours is what you consider fun, then you have some very serious problems, Francis.”
“That may be so, but it doesn’t change my mind.” I patted the log under me and asked, “Will this one do or should I go find another?”
Alexis spent a few moments studying the length that I had appropriated and finally said, “No, I don’t think you’ll have to go cut another one down. This one should be more than sufficient for our purposes.”
“Good, then you can help me carry it back through your portal.” I said as I stood up.
“I’d rather not drag that through my home.” Alexis said before he knelt down to place his hands upon the tree. “Now listen very carefully, Francis. Normally I wouldn’t even begin to teach you this technique for a few years but necessity being what it is you’re going to have to be a very apt student.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Okay, the first step is pretty much what you’ve come to expect. You need to gather all the warmth that you’re going to give me. Once you have that, you’re going to place your hand somewhere on my exposed skin, like the back of my neck for instance. That should be pretty simple for you, so why don’t you get started.”
Without a word I did as I was instructed and gathered all the body heat I could spare. Then I decided to pull just a tad more, but not too much. Once that was ready I moved around the fallen tree and placed my right hand on Alexis’ neck and waited for the next step.
“Okay now that you have the heat readied, you need to focus your mind on the part of your hand that is touching my skin. What you’re going to do is mentally picture a tunnel leaving your hand and entering my neck. Then you’ll force the gathered heat into that, but be sure to do it slowly. I cannot stress that enough, you have to slowly force the heat out. If you do it too fast what you’ll get is a nice fireball instead of the transfer we’re trying to create.”
Understanding dawned and I began forcing the heat into him. “Is that what you had in mind? Nothing’s happening.”
“You’re doing it right and you’re doing well for a first attempt. Good, you’ll know it’s working when the heat you’ve gathered suddenly begins to drain from you. Don’t fight the swiftness of the transfer, instead, just allow it to happen or you’ll just waste part of the heat you’re trying to transfer.”
“But you said I have to push it out slowly.”