The Tree Shepherd's Daughter (35 page)

Ariel cried out and tried to flap her wings, then fell
to one side. Keelie grabbed her and pulled her close. The
hawk hung limply in her arms.

"What did you do to her?" Keelie asked, frightened.

"She's not dead. I cursed her, that's all."

"Cursed her how? Take it off."

"Make me." Elia backed away, smiling. "That's right,
you can't-human. Now this will prove to everyone that
you're not so special. You're a half-breed mongrel."

Suddenly, Ariel was awake, her head whipping back
and forth. Her beak scratched Keelie, drawing blood.

Keelie cried out, but not because of the pain. As the
hawk turned her head, she'd noticed the reason for her distress. Both of the hawk's eyes were now milky white. She
was completely blind.

Elia shrieked when a fuzzy orange ball yowled and
leapt from the gabled roof of the stained-glass shop onto
her golden curls; it seemed as if Knot had fused himself to
her head. She ran down King's Way screaming and swatting at Knot, who clung to her head as if he were a rodeo
bronco buster.

Keelie watched as Janice removed the poultice from Ariel's
eye. After twenty-four hours of Janice's, Cameron's, and
Sir Davey's careful nursing, the hawk was still blind.

Raven had hovered near Keelie off and on, encouraging Keelie to go to the pirate party. But she'd stayed with
Ariel. Elia was so going to pay for what she did.

"Honey, we've tried everything," Janice said. "I've made
every recipe for eye injuries that I know."

Sir Davey said in a very solemn voice. "I've used every
healing spell I know, lass, but I can't break an Elven curse."

She lifted the hawk onto her leather-covered forearm.
Keelie leaned against the mew's wooden partition fence.
She brought Ariel close to her face, and the hawk rubbed
her head against Keelie's cheek. The downy softness reminded her of Mom's goodnight kisses. Being near Keelie
was the only thing that calmed Ariel, and she'd stopped
eating.

Janice seemed about to say something else, but she was
suddenly quiet. Keelie looked up. Cameron was walking
toward them, and her dad was with her. Keelie's throat
tightened.

Cameron looked at her, and Ariel. "Keelie, we need to
talk."

Keelie couldn't answer. Her heart beat faster. She knew
where this was going.

Ariel opened her wings, and Keelie forced herself to
relax her clenched fists.

Zeke reached out to take Keelie's free hand.

"Dad, Elia did this."

Dad lowered his voice. "I know, and she'll have to face the Elven council for her actions. Elianard has reassured
them that he will see to Elia's punishment."

Keelie wanted to barf. "Elianard isn't going to punish
her. I think I saw him racing the Red Cap for that book,
and when Elia zapped me, I felt a tinge of dark magic."

Dad said, "All the more reason to wait it out. I think this
goes deeper than Elianard, and for whatever reason, your
destiny is tied up with it. We have to be careful. You have
to promise me you will not go near Elia and confront her
about Ariel. It's not the Elven way. The council will resume
discussions in New York. Elianard and Elia will be there,
too. When we go to New York, we'll take Ariel with us and
take care of her. I promise you I'll do what I can to find
a cure to restore the hawk's sight. There are ancient Elven
texts in the Dread Forest that could hold the answer."

Keelie sighed. "Dad, I won't go near Elia, but if she
comes near Ariel in New York, then I will use whatever
magic I can wield to protect her. That's the human way. "

Where was her luggage? Keelie stood in front of the Swiss
Miss Chalet. She'd accepted the fact that Dad was an Elf
with magical powers, and that she herself was half-Elven,
but the stylish California girl in Keelie balked at the curlicue-decorated wooden house on the back of the rusted
pickup truck.

Stuff was bulging out of every window, and her father
was using what must have been some pretty awful Elven
words as he worked to store it all.

"You're going to have to get a bigger camper," she
yelled to him.

He leaned out a window and looked down at her. "This
will expand. I've just got to add more space over the cab."

"Dad. No. It's going to look like something from a
Mother Goose book. You know, the crooked house down
the crooked lane? Except this one will be the crooked
house on wheels."

"I think you're going to have to share Knot's bunk."

She thought of his reindeer-embellished, fleece-lined
kitty bed. Where was he?

A horn honked, and driving up in a plume of dirt was
a small pickup truck loaded down with pirates in full costume. The truck stopped in front of Keelie. All of the pirates in the bed of the truck raised up their mugs of ale
and argghed in unison.

Captain Dandy Randy was driving. He stared straight
at her with a lusty glint in his eyes, then he made smoochie
kisses at her. Keelie placed her hands on her hips and made
smoochie lips back at him. She could play the part of a
pirate wench. He placed his pirate hat on top of his head
and opened the truck door. His booted feet crunched on
the parking lot gravel.

He swaggered up to Keelie. The other pirates whooped
and hollered in the back of the pickup and held up their
mugs of ale. Several hearty "hail, maties" were issued.

Captain Dandy Randy winked at Keelie. "I've returned
a fellow pirate to ye, seeing as you're about to set sail."

He opened the passenger door. A furry orange lump on
four legs stepped out. He had a red bandana tied around
his ears, and he purred as he walked past Keelie. His tail
was at full mast. "Knot?" Keelie asked.

Captain Dandy Randy nodded. "True pirate at heart.
Drank several tankards of mead with me and the crew.
We'll miss him. We're here to send him off."

Knot hopped into the cab of Dad's pickup. She spun
around. "Hey, I'm riding shotgun, furball."

She turned and smiled at Captain Randy. "Congratulations on your program."

"Thank you." She saw a shy young man under the pirate personae. He lifted his head and smiled at her.

"Are you going to New York?"

He shook his head. "Maybe. Lady Raven will be working on the marketing for me new program."

Keelie smiled. "Cool. Well, if I don't see you in New
York, I guess I'll see you next year." He saluted and turned
around, then stopped and gazed at Keelie with those lusty
pirate eyes. He said, "What the hell?"

He walked over to Keelie, wrapped his arms around
her, lowered her back, and planted a kiss on the lips-a
deep kiss, with swirly tongue and all. There were more
whoops and whistles coming from his fellow pirates.

He hoisted her back up. She stood, stunned. "Remember me, lass," and he swaggered back. All the pirates
cheered him. Captain Randy cranked his truck and drove
away in a plume of dust.

Keelie said, "Wild."

Dad was beside her. "What was that all about?"

She shrugged. "Pirates. You never know with them."

She strolled away, humming "Yo, ho, ho."

Dad yelled out, "Well, stay away from them."

In the truck cab, Knot sat on the passenger-side seat next to the window, as if he was ready to travel to New
York. The kitty kerchief was gone.

Keelie walked over to him. "Take your spot in the new
food chain, kitty. I'm going to ride next to the window. If I
don't, I'll get carsick, and I might throw up all over your fur."

The cat lowered his body onto the seat, tucked his
front legs beneath him, and began purring. It sounded like
a challenge.

A California Airlines truck drove up and came to an
abrupt halt. Keelie felt a shiver of anticipation trill up her
spine. Her luggage. It had to be. She wanted to jump up
and down, but instead leaned against the truck's cab. No
telling if Sean might walk up.

The delivery man sprang out, and Keelie knew from
his open-mouthed reaction that he'd never seen anything
like the camper.

He looked at her, then back at the wooden house on
the back of Dad's truck. "That looks like a ski lodge on
wheels."

"I know," said Keelie. "Go ahead and yodel if you want
to.

If Raven was here, they could break into a song from
The Sound of Music, the musical she and Laurie had performed with the drama club last year.

"I've got a delivery for Keelie Heartwood."

"That's me," Keelie said. She wanted to scream "Yes!"
and pump her fist in victory. Her luggage was here.

Her dad stuck his head out of the camper window. "Is
that what I think it is?"

The delivery man unloaded several large boxes with stickers of different ports of call, then asked her to sign his
electronic clipboard.

Keelie signed, but her eyes were on her father, who surveyed the number and size of the boxes. His face turned
pasty pale. Ha! He might have to trade in his house on
wheels for a Winnebago. She envisioned one like the rock
stars traveled in, with a shower and a television. She wondered if they were hard to drive.

The delivery man pointed toward the camper. "Man,
that's a work of art. I've never seen such detail in wood."

Dad's color returned to normal. He stood up straighter.
"Thank you, good sir," he said, bowing courteously. The
delivery man gave him a weird look.

Visions of satellite television and rock-star tour bus
luxuries faded away as her dad commandeered space in
other campers for the boxes.

After the delivery man left, Janice, Sir Davey, and Scott
all arrived with their campers and trailers to pick up boxes
before hitting the road. Sir Davey did drive a Winnebago,
a nice new one. She pointed it out to her dad.

"That's what I'm talking about. Modern comforts."

His answer was a disdainful eyebrow lift.

Janice drove up in a Jeep Wagoneer. Raven had a
pissed-off expression. Plus, it was early in the morning.
She exited the Wagoneer.

"What's wrong with you?" Keelie asked.

"Mom. We're going to some forest to pick some wild
herb. Oh boy, a week in the woods stooped over, digging
up some pungent green plant to make some stinky tincture."

Keelie tried not to laugh. It was hard to envision Raven
out in the woods.

"Look," Keelie said. "There's Cameron. She has Ariel
and Louie. She's got all the permits and stuff to carry them
across the states."

Cameron was driving a huge RV a lot like Sir Davey's,
except hers had flying raptors airbrushed on the sides. She
stopped. Keelie stood on tiptoes, peeking, hoping to get a
glimpse of the hawk. "How's Ariel?"

"Missing you, but she'll be fine. Okay, kiddo, we'll see
you in New York," Cameron said.

Dad stepped up. "Cameron, we'll rendezvous with you
at the Wildewood Festival."

"I'll see you two there," Cameron said.

Keelie and Dad backed up. "Bye, Cameron. Bye, Ariel.
Bye, Louie," shouted Keelie as the raptor bus disappeared
in a cloud of dust. Keelie tried not to be sad; she would see
Ariel in a couple of days.

Dad had quickly loaded most of the boxes, except
for the smallest, which he put in the Swiss Miss Chalet.
Keelie couldn't wait to dig out Mom's pictures and Boo
Boo Bunny.

Sir Davey contemplated the back of the overflowing
Swiss Miss Chalet. He rubbed his goatee with his index
finger and thumb.

"You know, Zeke, you may need to talk to that friend
that I bought my Winnebago from when you arrive in
New York. You've got to remember that Keelie is going to
need lots of room."

Keelie bent down and hugged Sir Davey. "Oh, thank you. I sure don't want to share a bunk with Knot. He
sheds. Worse, he drools."

"Sure. And nobody wants to share anything with
Knot." Sir Davey wiggled his gray eyebrows up and down.
"And Knot's not big on sharing."

Dad rolled his eyes heavenward. "I can expand the
camper to increase the room inside."

Janice placed her arm around Keelie. "Zeke. At least
consider talking to Dave's friend in New York." She
squeezed her, then whispered, "We'll see you soon."