Earth,Wind,Fire

Kalynn tucked her knees under her long skirt. She was safe. No one had followed her. Here in the hollowed out base of a giant tree, below the earth outside, she'd made her home. Here she had an escape route invisible to the human eye, should anyone accidently find her home and try to enter it.

The animals didn't come here. They knew her and respected her space. Right now she had run from a gang of men she'd had dealings with. In fact she had ruined their game.

The local drug lord had sent his men to kidnap men and boys from the villages to work in his fields and plants. They had to process the poppy and make it into bricks to ship to the USA.

She'd been in the village a few miles away when boys ran into the village shouting the men in trucks were on their way up the hill. The villagers had little time to run into the woods before they arrived. Hiding where she could watch everything and not be seen she'd climbed a tree and disguised herself with the leaves.

The jeeps roared into the village. A few of the older men could not run fast enough and were caught. Their hands were secured behind them with riot straps. She'd seen these before she'd left the city and all it trappings behind, a few years ago.

A jeep followed the others and a shorter man dressed in a khaki uniform stepped from the vehicle. She almost laughed out loud. He was so stereo type that he even patted the gunbelt at his waist to make sure it was still there.

"I know you're out there. I want the men of the village to come to me before I start killing the old men." He walked around the kneeling men and from under his arm he pulled a short whip. This he smacked on the palm of one leather gloved hand.

If he had a monocle, Kalynn thought he was a perfect immitation of Col. Klink from the old TV show; Hogan's Heros. It wasn't so funny when he began to use the whip on the kneeling men. She had to restrain her instinct to punish him for what he was doing. All in good time. she could wait just a little longer.

When none of the village men stepped forward, he ordered his men to set fire to the huts. As the fire caught the huts Kalynn called for a wind to blow. It fanned the flames surrounding the men and the vehicles. The man yelled for his driver to get him out of here. The poor driver tried to steer the jeep away from the fire but it engulfed the jeep and began to burn along with the other vehicles while the small khaki army of men stood horrified.
The air became still, not a bird or animal made any noise. There was a rumble as clouds formed above the village.

"Find me shelter!" the man demanded. His men looked at each other in dismay. "Where can we find shelter out here? The village is almost completely destroyed."

Before they could do anything rain began to fall. The water soaked the burned jeeps, and the men as they huddled under any available leafy overhang they could find. The rain passed and the men shook themselves.
"This is the oddest thing ever. Rain suddenly falling then stopping. We have these sun showers, but not like this." One man spoke out loud.
"It's almost as if someone was orchestrating it." Another answered.

The sun came out from behind the clouds and steam rose from the wet earth. The men began walking back down the trail they climbed .
Kalynn came down the tree and the villagers come into the clearing. They looked at what was left of their homes and began to laugh. The laughter spread among the whole group.

What the little man didn't know was, this tribe lived in the forest in the trees. The village they had burned down was a set up Kalynn had told them to build to fool the Drug Lord's army.

It worked.