CHAPTER TWO

 

Rouffe followed his friend’s look and turned to look over his shoulder.

 

A solemn man in chain mail who wore a sword stood and studied the young crowd.

Rouffe jerked upright at the solemn countenance of the man.

“Gladsdon, what brings you here?”

“Young master, your father wishes to see you.”

Rouffe knew him as one of the men at arms his father maintained. “I have a horse for you.”

Rouffe nodded and adjusted his cap and followed his father’s man. He nodded to his friends who took on a quiet demeanor.

 

“Oh Rouffe, what have you done now?” One grinned. He could only shrug and shake his head.

 

Your trick just may be my treat!

Watch out! They’re coming soon!

What are you going to do?

#CountdowntoHalloween2021#CryptKeeper
Visit: http://countdowntohalloween.blogspot.com/ to see other Halloween blogs/

Voices From the Fire

By Wally Runnels




It had been a good burning.

The flames had climbed to the sky in writhing tongues of light. The wooden effigy of Loup Garoux was as tall as a castle tower. It came to life and writhed in the burning inferno. Its torso wobbled in a two-legged dance. The wooden shoulders that supported a wolf’s face and jaws twisted and the head-like structure rose as if it howled. Flames poured outward and flared from the body like a cloak on a windy day.
It had been a year since Chaud Houd, a local baron who lived on a hill surrounded by walls, had killed the creature. The fire was a celebration of the creature’s death. Burning him in effigy was a way to warn his spirit and hopefully keep others away.
Chaud Houd’s son Rouffe had danced around the burning creature with his friends. They reveled in the joy of a good harvest and hoped the valley would have a plentiful year to come. Everyone had clapped and yelled curses at the burning macabre figure. It had been a whole year without the monster killing anyone.
The air was cold crisp and gray smoke filled the air with a sappy pungent odor.
Rouffe danced with merry kicks and laughed with joy. All reveled in thought of the All Hallows celebration that was to come. Flashes and beams of light from the burning effigy fell over Rouffe and his friends.
A man in chain mail who wore a sword stood respectively in front of Rouffe. He jerked upright at the solemn countenance of the man.
“Young master, your father wishes to see you.”
Rouffe knew him as one of the men at arms his father maintained. “I have a horse for you.”
Rouffe nodded and adjusted his cap and followed his father’s man. He nodded to his friends. His friends took on a quiet demeanor. “Oh Rouffe, what have you done now?” He could only shrug and shake his head.
Rouffe and his escort rode back to his father’s walls. They were granite and marred by previous assaults. Smaller stones set within the larger boulders were patches from hurled missiles from catapults. They looked like scabs. Rouffe had been a baby when the last war occurred. They crossed a bridge and entered the gate flanked by two rearing dragons.
Rouffe worried about what his father wanted. He was fourteen and the age when he might be required to make a formidable adventure. One of which many young men had not survived.

So you wonder how drugs are being run across the border into the U.S.? There’s a lot of ways it can happen. Some are delivered by eighteen-wheelers, which open up like a puzzle. Hidden chambers hide various forms of packaging.  Drugs can by carried by people. These carriers are called mules. Drugs are tapped to their body or hidden in private areas of their body.

     Some drugs are hidden in cars that are driven to the port of entry (POE)at the border.

The places of entry can vary. Attempts can be made at a desolate place or a busy port of entry. Some smugglers walk, some drive, some fly over and land on the American side at private airports and try not to be caught. Rarely does anyone drive a radical machine loaded with goods, making noise and dust. The Border Patrol would love to see something like that out of Mad Max.

Most illegal entries are attempted at the port of entry in cars. This is the most common smuggling technique. Their vehicle pulls up to the entry and they are scanned by the guards and sniffed out by drug smelling dogs.

Border Agents are allowed to search without a warrant of probable cause. The attitudes of the vehicle occupants are observed. Are they nervous, offensive, give strange answers or maybe no answers? The border guards have about forty five seconds to determine whether or not the passengers should be detained. If drugs are found then the passengers of the vehicle are detained and the car is taken to an area where it can be thoroughly searched. Sometimes it can be dismantled in a deep search when hidden compartments carrying illegal materials are located.

There’s got to be an easier way to make a living.

My name’s Wally Runnels and I write Border Pulp.

The native Indians in Southern California warned the newly arriving Spaniards of a hairy devil they called Takwis. They had battled with these creatures and eventually ran them into the mountains and the desert.

So now we have the Sasquatch in the mountains and then the Sand Man and the Yucca Man in the desert. Recently there have been sightings in the desert along with run-ins in the mountains.

Edwards Air Force Base in Lancaster, California, has many encounters on the grounds and under the ground in their secret storage chambers. According to a 2009 report a creature with bright blue eyes has been at night on important landing sites. Videos have been made, but are classified and are not approved for public viewing.

The Mexican/American border cuts through vast desert regions. And this is where things start to get strange. This area is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s sandy and in general isolated and home to many strange creatures.

So you’re a Mexican Coyote leading ten to fifteen people to sneak across the border into the United States. It’s night the moon is weak, and there is a slight chill in the air. Out of the black you hear heavy breaths and growling grunts and can faintly see a great hairy creature. You flash your light and you see a massive figure with glowing eyes that are looking at you. 

What do you do? 

These cartel guys are thinking out of the box. Like how do you improve the delivery system? You know, surprise DEA and get your goods in the right hands so you’ll be paid.

Here’s an interesting idea. It’s an air cannon. But how big a load does it shoot? What’s the range, probably just a few feet? Maybe just shoots something over the border wall? How much noise does it make? It’s not very discrete.

How about a catapult? It’s fairly quiet and it can be moved. The English King Edward the First had one. He called his War Wolf, Loupe de Guerre. Disassembled, it took thirty wagons to move. Edward used it one time to destroy a castle. 

Maybe a tunnel is better? Some are almost a mile long. All you got to do is hang some lights, you may need an elevator for the heavy stuff, hook up the air conditioning, and maybe put in a rail track for the carts. Make sure it goes under the border and opens up in some nondescript place. Some tunnels end under some ones bathroom sink.

     The guys can come out of the tunnel and then wash their hands. Those plastic wrapped packages can get pretty dirty. Maybe wear gloves so you don’t leave fingerprints.

Here come these guys pushing carts full of meth, weed, cocaine and some fentanyl. Oh be careful with that stuff there was almost thirty two thousand deaths due to overdosing in 2018.

     These are just some thoughts. Instead of working for a drug cartel, go back to school, get your degree and get a nine to five. That seems to work for a lot of people. 

     Hiding tons of dirt from a tunnel and dragging around a catapult can be a real pain.