A Lament of Moonlight (9 page)

He could see Ruby not far away, in fact he wondered if he wouldn’t be able to reach out and touch her, but just then something wrapped around his ankles and he fought to try to break free. It was some kind of plant that had him bound, though he realized after a couple kicks of his feet that the plant was only a plant and the currents were what stalled his movements.

The nix’s floated in the water all about him, and for a time they looked so much like dead bodies that he wondered if they were even alive. Their dead white eyes stared at him unseeing, but oddly as if their cataract surface could see him all too well. Their arms were limp, and seemed bloated as if inflated with too much water, and though they appeared to not see him, appeared to be dead, he had the uncanny feeling that they were waiting for something. Ruby’s words came to him again, and he couldn’t help but wonder if they were waiting to feast on their flesh.

If they did that Abigail would be alone to face the terror of the forest with nothing but Luna and Mama Coon for company and protection.

He had to do something fast. That was his only thought. He was quickly running out of air, and he was sure that his sister was to that critical point already. Slowly he made his way to where she was, nix’s floating all about him in various forms of semi-human and semi-horse both being comprised of half-fish. They floated around the scene watching, observing. Finally Melvin reached for Ruby, and pulled her away from the nix which held them. But it was not to be that easy.

The nix reached out and scratched at him, snarling out bubbles as murky and dark as the
creatures’
intent on their ruination. He did the one thing his fear and agitation would allow him, and he struck out at the nix with all his might. Surprisingly the hammer did not face much resistance in the water, not as much as he had expected and compensated for.

A cloud of blood bloomed in the water thick and black when the hammer contacted with the nix’s head. The hammer was now vibrating from either the contact or the mysterious power which coursed through it from time to time. Whatever was happening with the hammer now was nothing compared to what the hammer had done. It had, apparently, crushed the head of the nix entirely.

The minute he had Ruby in tow he knew the going was not going to be easy. The others which were watching suddenly converged on him and when they did the hammer began to shudder harder. It was the first time that the hammer had glowed, though he wondered if it were to be the last. The light from the hammer was steely silver in color, and with the glowing and the pulsing the water around them began to shift, sending out ripples toward the threat of the nix. It seemed to do the job and the nix’s suddenly swam back in fright.

Occasionally one of the beasts would swim forward, as far forward as it seemed willing to go and scratched out at them as if testing the boundaries of the pulsing light. Sometimes
a nix was
able to get uncomfortably close, but other times the nix couldn’t even brave the swim to them.

Ruby, short of oxygen as she was tried feebly to strike out with her knife, though the few times she made contact with one of the shadkin it was not much to comment on, though the beasts seemed to give them a wider berth when they realized they would not be an easy meal.

Each time a nix threatened to get too close the hammer would let out a violent pulse which made all the shadkin swim further back in fear of the weapon Melvin held in his hand.

It was difficult going and each time he looked to the side there was the nix waiting for the power of the hammer to fade so that they could get to him.
             

He tried to move as fast as he could but the going was still slow for the weight of his burdens were tiring him, and though he tried with all his might to get to the shore it seemed the more he struggled the longer it took and the more tired he became.

Eventually Ruby began
losing
consciousness and the nix gre
w to a fevered pitch
swarming around him, watching him, waiting for him also to lose consciousness and the hammer to fade. Their arms were held out as if they were reaching for him, but with the radiant ripples from the hammer none of them could get close enough to touch him. They snarled at him, their matted green hair drifting in the currents of water around their faces. Their green tongues licked at their stained teeth as they watched him struggle, hoping that he would meet his demise for lack of air. They could easily wait him out, being creatures of water they were able to survive without oxygen. Melvin, however, needed air, and the ripples from the hammer began to weaken for his lack thereof.

It seemed that if he died, or lost consciousness the power of the hammer would stop. He had to get to the lake shore. It was just within reach, but the nix were get
ting closer and closer. T
he power o
f the hammer was dwindling as Melvin weakened
.

Finally he was at the embankment, and he shoved Ruby
up. Hands above the water reached do
wn and grabbed her, tugging
Ruby (who surprisingly didn’t lose hold of her weapon) out of the water. Moments later the dainty hands reached back in for him and before he realized it he was being hefted out of the water gasping and shuddering for lack of air.

The moment the hammer was out of the water, however, green hands shot up and grabbed hold of him again, tugging harder than Abigail was able to hold him. She was losing, and he was rapidly being relinquished to the waters embrace. He held his hammer down into the water, but
it didn’t work as it had before. I
t had fallen still and the light had dwindled. What was wrong with it? Why wasn’t it working when it had just worked moments before?

He swung the hammer at them trying to injure the nix but he was far too weak. They were going to win, that was the fear coursing through his mind when the tiny arrows from seemingly out of
nowhere
began to shoot into the water, and the hands let him go.

The nix slid back below the surface of the water, their dead, greedy faces sneering like demons going back
to the depths of the Otherworld
where they belonged. Green fins slapped at the water as the beasts slid back into the water, vanishing completely under the murky surface. Once they were gone the water fell deadly still once more.

Abigail won out and pulled him to safety where he surely would have collapsed if curiosity
was
not driving him on.

“You think it is the elle folk?” Abigail asked obviously inquiring about the arrows, but Melvin didn’t answer. Slowly he got to his feet and looked around but could not find the source of the arrows. He was afraid that Abigail was right, but then why would they be tryin
g to help them and not the nix
? Wouldn’t they want to help the other shadkin?

“Why do you think they were helping us?” Abigail gave voice to his thoughts.

“I am not sure it was them, and if it was I am not sure I want to know why right now.” Melvin looked down at Ruby who was not as bad off as he thought, even now she was starting to regain consciousness.

“What are we doing?” Abigail asked. It
was obvious
she was hav
ing some of the same doubts
Melvin was entertaining himself.

“What do you mean?” He asked keeping his own doubts concealed.

“Do we have a plan?” She asked, sighing in resignation. She knew as well as he did that there was no going back at this point, for
one thing there was no way
they could get back across the clearing that held the sugar shanty.

“I have been thinking about that,” Melvin told her honestly as Ruby regained her stren
gth and sat up to listen. “Obviously the necrotic staff will be with her. What about Gretchen though, or the grove of lime trees
?
Those aren’t really things we have control over finding. Samarra said the grove appeared because the darkness deemed it so.
”

“Then how do we make it appear
?”
Ruby asked
.

“Do you think
they can hear us?” He whispered looking up to the trees where the birds clung.

“I am not sure, but we had better talk quietly in case,” Abigail suggested.

“So what are you thinking?” Ruby asked.

“
The only thing I can think of is to keep going and hope we have a chance to find these things,” Abigail said “Then we can destroy them and relinquish her grip.”

“Do we really have to kill
Cailleach Bheur
?” Ruby asked.

“We better so she doesn’t
get her power back somehow.
” Melvin said in a harsh whisper. “She is a shadkin, who cares if she dies?”

“
She seems very powerful,” Ruby commented.

“That doesn’t mean it is not possible,” Melvin said. “Just hard, and it doesn’t mean that her unnatural winter will not draw to a close at some point.”

“But we still have to find the grove and the changeling,” Abigail said.

“We have two helpers don’t we?”
Ruby said.
All of them looked to Luna where she was perched on the hammer casting the cold wet steel in violet relief. “Samarra said that Luna and Mama Coon were guides, why can’t we ask them to take us?”

“I doubt
we will find these
objects on Singers Trail,” Abigail
pointed out.

“No I am almost positive we won’t. I mean if shadkin cannot enter the trail why would
we find one here
?” Melvin looked around them. “I think we will find
them in Eget Row anyway
. A
fter all if she is to control them wouldn’t they have to be close at hand
?”

“I think you are right,” Abigail agreed
.

They were up and walking before they knew it, all of them holding their weapons and scanning the area around them. Melvin
hadn’t found the things that
fired the arrows and that did not make him rest easy. He comforted himself with the fact that they had not been targeting the humans but instead the nix. Of course with everything that was happening tonight could it not be that the arrows had been aimed at the nix because whatever was firing the arrows had wanted the humans for themselves? Melvin got the distinct feeling that it was highly possible the elle folk could be that conniving. They had been intent on killing the humans so was it not possible they could have warded off other prey so they could destroy the humans themselves?

Melvin came to the conclusion that maybe the elle folk had been the same ones who switched out his real cousin with the changeling. Of course it would be a little easier to know for certain if he knew when the changeling had replaced Gretchen. Samarra made indication that the elle folk were new to the woods because of the growing darkness, but what was new to a being from the moon? Was new as little as the years between the birth of his cousin and now, or was “new” meaning recently, like within the last few weeks.

It appeared Melvin believed everything he had been told but hadn’t realized it. Some part of him had always wanted to believe, but the questioning part of him always held him back. After all fantasy was something for children! But after e
verything that had happened that
night, Melvin no longer knew what to think. Some part of him hoped that he would wake up from this and realize it had all been a dream, that way he wouldn’t have to question everything he knew.

Chapter Eight

“When should we ask them?” Ruby wondered. They had been walking for about fifteen minutes and the scenery was changing to a point Melvin thought they were nearing the end of their property and the beginning of the Dickens lands. That
must be where the tear was that would take them to
Cailleach Bheur
and the tree
.

“I am not sure, most any time I would imagine. I am sure that Luna already knows where we want to go,” he told them, after all she was not a normal butterfly.

“Well to be safe we should express our wishes to her,” Abigail said and everyone agreed.

“Luna,” Ruby called, and Mama Coon drew up short, her whiskers dancing curiously on her face, she stood on her back feet and turned to look at them. Luna fluttered in a ring around the r
accoons head casting its
features in purple relief and meandered through the air to where the Bordeaux’s stood some distance back. She alighted on the end of Ruby’s nose and the younger sister laughed, an act that made Luna flutter back and hover in the air before them.

“We are looki
ng for the lime tree grove and the changeling
,” Melvin whispered watching the shadkin around the trail lean in as if they were curious as to what was being
said
.

Luna bobbed up and down in the air as if she understood what he meant.

“Will you take us to them?” She bobbed again and fluttered off, rejoining Mama Coon and headed back off along Singers Trail.

“I guess that is that,” Abigail said and they continued on.

They passed the time with
idle conversation but b
efore long they reached another obstacle and if they hadn’t been through so much already they would have truly gone home now. They stood staring wickedly at a pile of fallen trees too high to climb lying in the middle of the path. It appeared the trees had just recently fallen, and they wondered if it wasn’t something to do with the shadkin trying to get at them.

“I see no other choice but to go around,” Melvin said, and Luna fluttered around their heads frantically. “Well what would you suggest?” He asked her, and she flew over the fallen trees.

“That is easy for you
,” Abigail called after the Lunarian insect and her voice echoed loudly through the woods. “We don’t have wings remember?”

Luna dipped crestfallenly and Mama Coon scurried up the trees without hesitation and looked back down at them from the apex.

“How do you suppose we go around?” Ruby asked Melvin. “There are numerous shadkin out there, how are we supposed to get around without them trying to kill us?”

“I don’t know!” Melvin said harshly flinging himself down onto Singers Trail. “Just let me think ok?”

He thought for a long time and wasn’t able to come up with anything. In time, he wasn’t able to think of an alternative so Melvin tried to climb over the fallen trees. Abigail and Ruby watched from behind, their hands to their faces as he slipped and slid trying to find purchase on the slick trees. It was all in vain, however, for the only thing he accomplished was skinning his hands and knees.

In anger he kicked the trees and slammed himself back to the ground a look of pure rage on his face, a look that made him appear so foolish that Abigail would have laughed if
their situation wasn’t so dire
.

Just as Ruby was going to
speak, however, they heard
the sound of bells, indistinct and carried on the wind. It was another moment longer before anything appeared, and when it did Ruby was the first to see it, pointing and exclaiming:

“LOOK!” and they looked to see a small flame. They couldn’t decide how far away it was for they didn’t know how large the flame was. They heard the birds flocking away as the flame approached, and the snakes also seemed agitated, and fled the area, slithering to find purchase below the ground where dead things lived.

The flame continued to come
closer, and they
huddled together wondering if they should hide as well. They huddled closer to the fallen trees wondering if they should not try once more to get over them. Melvin concluded that if the shadk
in were afraid of this flame the
n it had to be something they could rely on.

The flame came closer, and before long it had joined Singers Trail, slipping through the thicket of ferns and evergreens to meander along the stone and dirt path with its scattering of new growth poking th
rough. The flame must not be bad if it could come on to the trail, they reasoned
.

It was just a flame, they decided, as it drew level with them. A flame with nothing around it, so it seemed, though at times they could see black vertical lines bisecting the flame as if it
were held within something
they could not see, perhaps a lantern? The flame flared once, and as the light ebbed out it revealed a person. The flame was indeed within a lantern they now noticed as the light flowed out. It was not as though the light was just now revealing a person, but instead as if the person was coming into being from the fire
in a swirl of sparks and flame
.

The old lady that came to them from the flame was stooped and wrapped in a long thick robe that didn’t fit the summer night. It appeared as though she could not get warm enough, like even the balmy night was too chilly for her. The heavy robe she wore was of varying colors, orange and red flecked occasionally with blue. Her robes shimmered and flashed as she moved as if they were made of the fire she had come from.

Her hair fell long and fiery yellow down her back, and her wrinkled face split into a wide smile. They could not get an exact age from her face, only that she was very old, but one look at her orange eyes told them that they were indeed wrong; this lady was ancient, appearing almost as old as O itself.

“Not as old as O,” she said,
read
ing their minds.
Mel
vin
could almost feel something flickering across his mind reminiscent of fog expanding and contracting on cold glass. “Just as old as the discovery of fire.”

“That is still old!” Ruby declared.

“Yes, but not as old as dirt,” the elderly lady smiled at them, her ancient hand contracting on the black iron of the lantern she held in her shaky grip. “I am Grandmother Fire.”

The name didn’
t sound familiar to any of them
.

“
We really don’t have a lot of time for long conversations. What I want to know is why you are here when the darkness you must face is yet far ahead of you.”

“Is she really that far ahead of us?” Ruby asked.

“Only if you keep stalling like you are now,” was the old woman’s reply.

“We are not stalling,” Melvin said.

“Well I call this pretty much stopped, what would you call it if this is not stalling?”

“I would call it a
setback
, stalling indicates that we are dragging our feet,” Melvin corrected her.

“Ah, well then let’s get around these trees,” she said and started walking toward the woods. But when none of them moved she turned and looked at all of them questioningly.

“We can’t leave the wood road,” Abigail told her.

“Well, you can when you are with me.” Grandmother Fire told her. “You will find there are beings the shadkin cannot bear to be
around
. We are creatures o
f the light
.”

“Well than how does a powerful shadkin affect you?” Melvin asked.

“I am not sure; I make it a habit to stay away from them. Just follow me,” Grandmother Fire said and held the lantern higher. There was something about the lantern that did more than chase away the dark within the woods, it chased away their fear and apprehension, and while it didn’t put them at perfect ease like being with Samarra, it still allowed them to near the woods without anxiety.

Soon they were stepping through the thicket, and while the snakes came back to hiss at them and the birds circled overhead they kept their distance just as Grandmother Fire said they would. They had to walk further into the woods than what they thought for it seemed the trees that fell across the road were larger than previously surmised. Eventually they came to a spot where the trees had fallen at a slight angle against another tree and they were able to walk under the fallen trees. They gazed up at the creeping vines that hung off the fallen trees like a curtain of green velvet swaying softly in the night breeze. The birds clung to the trees, looking down at them, hissing though not like the snakes, and clacking their beaks at them.

They tried not to think of the shadkin creeping closer to them, just barely kept out of reach by Grandmother Fire’s radiance. They were surrounded in an orb of flapping wings, cawing birds and hissing snakes.

Before they knew it Grandmother Fire was leading them back toward the Singers Trail, the miasma of shadkin parting for them as the space they could occupy between the power of the trail and the power of the old lady depleted. The going was a lot smoother than it had been when they first left the wood road for there wasn’t as much debris and rocks to climb over, and soon they were all stepping through the thicket while Grandmother Fire waited for them to climb into the protection
of Singers Trail before she also
entered.

Abigail could now feel the protections around Singers Trail like a thin veil of cold mist which clung to her imploringly before passing on. She knew that if the mist didn’t like what it found it would have rejected her, but for some reason she thought it recognized her blood, but that was a strange thought and with a queer turn of her features she tossed out the idea. Instead of thinking more about it she turned and watched Grandmother Fire climb through the barrier and sigh.

“I want to help you,” Grandmother Fire told them. “I want to help you because
Cailleach Bheur
threatens to plunge the lands into winter, and as a being of fire that lives in warmth and happiness I cannot abide that. I support your efforts, but there is only so much that I am able to do.” She explained. “Here, take this with you, it will help,” from within the orange and red flame she pulled out a length of willow that looked as though she had plucked it right from a tree instead of the lantern. “That fell off one of my willows the other afternoon when the sun was high in the sky. It will work up to three times.” She explained.

“What will it do for us?” Abigail wondered taking the proffered wand. It was smooth and without leaves, Abigail figured that it may have fallen off the tree but Grandmother Fire had done a lot to get it looking the way it did. From the crackling sounds coming from it she had also imbued it with some of her fire power.

“It is a fire wand, use it wisely as it will only work three times,” she cautioned again. “I am not sure if I was supposed to help you, but there it is for I fear this is a daunting task, even for ones such as yourselves.”

“But we have questions,” Melvin said.

“I am sure you do,
” and with nothing more than that she was gone in a flash of the flame. The fire fizzled and snapped and then went dark. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust and when they did they saw the figures of Luna and Mama Coon before them, and the end of the trail.

Singers Trail ended in great pines framing the exit like a gateway into the dark fields of the Dickens lands beyond. There was no telling from the tossing fields that winter was threatening one part of their land, except the wheat did look a little yellower than was normal for this time of year.

“Well what now?” Abigail asked tucking the wand away.

“You always ask me that, when are you going to realize that I don’t know?” Melvin barked for there was something else at the end of the trail that was worrying him more than the
dead fields and the tear
they wer
e traveling too.
Cailleach Bheur
wasn’t far off
now, but there was something else facing them that caused alarm. With the end of Singers Trail came the end of their protection, and like a black cloud of malcontent the shadkin were waiting for them just beyond their safe harbor.