When the fire-worked message fully vanished, it was as though a huge burden had been lifted. There was an almost audible sigh of relief. More and more of Miranda's former slaves were coming to their senses. Santa's forces were laughing and applauding, and they were being joined by those who used to serve Miranda.
They all took the rest of the night to recover, and get any injuries treated.
In the morning, Cosima went to the workshops to find out if any more toys needed to be made. She couldn't help laughing when she heard "When Will You Die" being played. Apparently the elves were just as relieved as anyone at the end of Miranda's reign of terror.
"So, what was it like, being dead for a couple of days?" the foreman greeted her with a grin.
Cosima grinned back with a chuckle.
"Welcome back, and congrats and loads of thanks to all of you for what you did." he said.
"And you as well, you're no slouch out on that battle field."
He smiled broadly. Well, now that the easy part is over and done with,"
Cosima flashed him a bemused grin.
"It's back to work. We've fallen a little behind and now it is serious crunch time."
"Well, that's what I'm here about." said Cosima. "Do you know which and how many of which items still need to be made before the big night?"
"Not off hand, but that all gets entered into the stats file as it happens. Each time an item is finished and given the okay, the ones in charge of checking them out, log them in as done, and then we subtract it from the total of items still needing to be finished.
"I suppose you do this for each type of item?"
the foreman nodded.
"Can you show me the stats?"
"Certainly," he said, giving Cosima a puzzled look, "though I can't imagine why anyone would want to look at a file that's nothing but stats."
He and Cosima made their way to the main computer that had a large screen on it.
Various items were listed along with their corresponding numbers.
"Hmmm," Cosima looked at it, then at an elf who was working on a video game assembly near by. "What's that?" she asked.
"It's Venus Raiders, all the rage this year," the foreman explained, "You have to get your character on some mission on the planet Venus, without him getting killed by its volcanos, and other hazards along the way.
"Hmmm. Could I try one out?" Cosima asked as she glanced at the stats file again.
"Sure."
The foreman went and found one that had been finished, and gave it to Cosima.
"Thank you. Now, stand back."
"Stand back?" Why?"
He was answered soon enough.
Cosima held the video game and looked at it with a concentrated frown.
And then, it reproduced in the same way the battle orbs had. It did so until the right number of games had been reached.
"There's that stack done, I'm afraid you'll still have to wrap 'em all since they're all gonna be personalized, and that's something I can't do."
"Holy mackerel!" the foreman exclaimed. He wasn't the only one astonished. Other elves had similar wide-eyed reactions.
"Next, how about that?" Cosima gestured toward a doll that talked and giggled. She was allowed to check that out, and did the same thing with it as she had with the video game.
"Hang on just a moment, I'm going to get us some more help." said Cosima. She took out her cell.
Ameh started awake and fumbled for her phone. "Hello?"
"Hey - did I get you up?"
"Ah, don't worry about it, I had to get up and get the phone anyway." Ameh said groggily, with a grin that couldn't be seen over the phone.
"Sorry about that. It's just that - how are you at mass-production of objects via magic?"
"Haven't tried it, but if it can be done with one or a few, I don't see a problem. Why?"
"Santa's workshop has been put behind schedule because of everything that's gone on here and - "
"Say no more, I'm on my way."
"Thanks, Ameh. I'll give Iris and Bethan a buz as well."
When Cosima hung up, she turned to the foreman. "It'll go a bit quicker with some friends helping.
Ameh got herself dressed and ready to go. On the way, she decided to check to see if Diane or Carma could help as well.
Going through every kind of item the elves were trying to make, took some time, as did the reproduction, but it was much much faster than if the elves had been stuck with the task at this late stage.Cosima, Ameh, Diane and Carma took over the task of mass-production in groupings, etc. Ameh taking care of the electronics, Carma, the dolls, action figures and plush toys, Cosima, Iris, Bethan and Diane, the rest of the toys. They split the task similarly for the items which were not toys, including gifts that were going out to adults.
NT had managed to slip out of the house during the early bustle, and set out on her own.
She eventually made her way back to the battle scene, where it had all gone down.
Meaning to look for the place where Miranda had shouted her last words, NT became distracted by something else, something she had been expecting with some dread.
The dead were there, many of them.
Struck by this terrible scene, NT drew timidly closer, then hung her head to gaze at them with pity.
"All those lives, used up, wasted, thrown away - All because of Miranda! Was it worth it? Was she worth dying for? Who's going to miss you?" she whispered, scanning the battle field. "Who's going to remember you? Miranda never cared about any of you, but you chose to leave behind so many who must have. Miranda isn't sorry for all the lives she threw away. But I am."
NT continued slowly along toward the place where Miranda had gone up in a blaze. She continued gazing tearfully at the casualties and speaking utterances of regret to them as she went.
Just before she reached where Miranda's demise had been, she stopped, and looked over the battle field, and sang, first what she could of Robbie Robertson's "Words Of Fire, Deeds Of Blood" and then "Rock Of Ages"
Then she stood solemnly for a long moment before turning and proceeding to the place Miranda had been destroyed.
In a frightful display, her demeanour changed suddenly and completely. Her expression turned from sad to impassioned. "Was it worth it, Miranda!?" she shouted coldly at the pile of ashes that used to be Miranda. "Are you satisfied now that you snuffed out so many lives!?"
She found some discarded weapons and other debris from the battle, and began hurling them on Miranda's pile of ashes. "You cruel, greedy, spoiled, selfish wench!" she screamed. More debris was picked up and thrown violently. NT hurled more and more debris at what was left of Miranda. Faster and faster, the objects went flying, and sometimes NT screamed out all the hate toward Miranda she had kept in and managed to bury up until now. "You wanted ME dead, Miranda, I've always known that. It was one of the reasons I didn't die! Maybe I shouldn't've been born but NEITHER SHOULD YOU! But then you went from bullying me to becoming an all out vampire and terrorist. You have joined the likes of Saddam Hussein, Nero, Hitler, Bin Laden, and your own father. Because of that, I spit on your grave! If you'd just died in some accident or illness, I wouldn't have shed a tear for you. But neither would I've done THIS!" she hissed coldly.
What followed was a bit more disturbing.
NT suddenly jumped in among the ashes and debris, kicking and stamping it all wildly about. She picked up a long-bladed weapon of some sort that was lying about and made repeated slashing motions on where Miranda had once been, groaning with the effort,, screaming, using the weapon and her feet to throw what had been Miranda everywhere.
Her last words when the rage was finally spent, "Good riddance!"
Feeling the poison finally purged from her system, NT dropped the weapon, turned her back on Miranda's scattered ashes and looked up. "God, please forgive me and help me to move on without hate." Tears began to flow as she started wandering away.
But a moment later, she stopped short at a faint sound.
"Help." someone called, from somewhere, she couldn't quite tell.
She startled. "Wha!? Is'someone there?"
"Help me!" the voice came again. "Over here!"
--