Elementary

by Mercedes Lackey

  Soon the sisters were in the woods. The high winds and autumn rain had cleared much of the foliage, letting the snow descend unhindered to blanket the forest floor. Once well inside the trees, Garnet stopped playing around and began collecting plants and herbs that wouldn’t survive long past the first snow. Pearl stayed close by, whistling different bird songs and listening for replies.

  Suddenly, there was a loud snap nearby. Garnet stood up quickly and took her sister’s hand, standing motionless while they both looked toward where the sound had come from, ready to run back home at a moment’s notice.

  For a minute, there was only the slight rustling of branches overhead and the occasional bird call. Then, as Pearl and Garnet were about to dismiss it as a branch breaking under the weight of the snow, there was another snap ahead of them. A large mound of snow shifted to one side, sending an avalanche of flakes tumbling to the ground.

  What the girls had dismissed as a large, snow-covered rock was actually a black bear. It lifted its head and looked straight at them, sniffing the air. Garnet went even more rigid, gripping her sister’s hand tightly. They’d both heard stories of prospectors being mauled and killed by bears, and knew better than to startle one with any sudden movements.

  After what seemed like an eternity passing, during which the girls and the bear just watched each other, the bear slowly got to its feet and shuffled toward them. The snow was thick on its hide and clung fast, so it must have lain there for some time. Pearl blinked and tilted her head to one side, then took a cautious step forward.

  “What are you doing?” Garnet whispered through clenched teeth, keeping tight hold of her sister’s hand.

  Pearl kept her eyes on the bear as she took another step forward. “I think it’s sick, Garnet,” she whispered. “It would have found shelter from the snow otherwise.”

  Garnet squeezed Pearl’s hand even tighter and said, “You can’t know that! Leave it be, and maybe it’ll leave us alone.”

  Pearl shook her head. “It would have attacked us by now,” she said confidently. “I have to try.”

  Garnet started to ask, “Try what?” when Pearl began tracing a pattern in the air and muttering under her breath. Garnet let her go, and Pearl inched her way forward as she cast her spell, never taking her eyes off the bear.

  Pearl stopped and released the rapport spell. There was no way of telling if it had worked. She’d never done it on such a large or aggressive animal before. Leaving her hand outstretched and palm open, she very carefully took another step forward.

  The bear sniffed Pearl’s hand, now mere inches from its nose, and huffed, then looked up at her. Reaching forward just a little bit more, she slowly put her hand on top of the bear’s head. The bear huffed again, but made no move to free itself from the girl’s touch.

  Garnet sighed with relief. “I wasn’t sure that was going to work,” she said.

  “Neither was I,” Pearl agreed, rubbing the bear’s head like she would a large dog. “But I can feel it now—he likes us.”

  Garnet’s eyes widened in realization. “Maybe it was the focus!”

  Pearl looked down and raised her hand to her chest, where the focus hung on a cord around her neck. “I’d forgotten all about it! You might be right.”

  Garnet put aside the rest of her caution and approached the bear, likewise rubbing its head. “Do you really think he’s sick?” she asked.

  “I don’t know for sure,” Pearl answered. “But for any creature to not take shelter in this kind of weather is very strange.” She looked at her sister. “What do you think we should do?”

  Garnet thought for a moment and brightened with an idea. “We could use the stable master’s house. He’s gone for the winter, so maybe we could keep the bear inside for the night. Just until the snow stops; then we can help him find some more suitable shelter.”

  “I don’t know . . .,” Pearl said. “Mama and Papa would have a fit. Nursing rabbits and birds is one thing. But a bear?”

  Garnet smiled at her sister. “They trust in your magic, Pearl, and so do I. And it’s not like we’re asking to keep him. It’ll be overnight at the most.”

  Pearl nodded, and the girls led the bear back to the estate, clearing off what snow they could from its fur. The sisters laughed and chatted merrily as they arrived home, and that was what kept Clara from panicking at the sight of the bear.

  Pearl, calm and rational as usual, explained their plan. Clara hesitated at first, but finally agreed. “Be extra sure you keep the spell from fading,” she admonished. “If he so much as growls at you, go fetch your father straightaway to take care of it.”

  The girls agreed and took the bear to the stable master’s house. It was at the far end of the stables, which were now empty of all but horses for the four of them. Pearl was ready with another spell to calm them, which proved unnecessary.

  The door was a tight squeeze for the bear, but Pearl coaxed it through. Once inside, Garnet started a fire in the hearth while Pearl strengthened her spell and explained to the bear that this wasn’t permanent, and he would need to find his own place for winter once the snow stopped.

  Garnet found a pair of brooms, and the girls brushed the rest of the snow from the bear’s fur. He took great delight in this, playfully rolling on his sides and batting at the brooms. Pearl and Garnet were soon laughing and playing with their newfound friend, staying with him until called to supper.

  The snow was still gently falling when they returned to the stable master’s house, and with night upon them, Pearl convinced their parents to let the bear stay in the empty stables overnight. She fed it some hard nuts from the larder and fresh buffalo berries, while Garnet stoked the hearth.

  The girls played some more with the bear, and in their growing attachment talked about how they might be able to keep it around, if not as a resident of the stable, then perhaps somewhere close by where they could visit when the bear wasn’t hibernating. Pearl spoke of how she could maintain the rapport spell, maybe even give it some permanence.

  It was while Pearl was working out how she might go about such a task that the bear got up and headed toward the door, huffing at the door handle and looking back at the girls. Pearl got up and opened the door to let it do its business.

  Once through the door, the bear turn around and gently nuzzled Pearl, looking up into her eyes and huffing again. Pearl understood immediately why.

  “You don’t have to leave,” she said. “You can stay the night here.”

  The bear looked up at Pearl, then out toward the dark trees, and nuzzled her hand again. Pearl fell to her knees and wrapped her arms tightly around its neck. Garnet walked over and joined her sister in the hug.

  The girls stood up and watched the bear as he trundled off into the trees. The cloudy night sky made the bear almost impossible to see after only a few yards. Pearl lay a hand over the focus hanging around her neck and gazed off along the bear’s path with longing. With no warning, she started to dash toward the woods, only to be stopped by Garnet grabbing her hand.

  “Now who’s being the foolish one?” Garnet asked. “The sun is long gone, and you’d just get us lost out there.”

  Pearl tugged against her sister’s grip. “Let go, please!” she pleaded. “He clearly wants us to follow him. This is just like Papa’s story, I just know it.”

  “This is nothing like his story,” replied Garnet, holding fast to her sister. “He was carried by the stag, not led. And the stag was what Mama’s brother was cursed into being. Why would he come to us as both a stag and a bear?”

  She put her other hand on Pearl’s shoulder. “Besides, there’s no light to guide us this time. All I’m saying is that perhaps we shouldn’t be so eager to make Papa’s prophecy this morning into a reality.”

  Pearl looked back at her sister with sadness. “But I can’t just let him go, Garnet. I . . . felt something. Something different t
han the spirit last night. Something stronger than just my usual spell of kinship. What if something happens to him? What if . . .” Pearl’s lip quivered. “What if we never see him again?”

  Garnet lightly rapped Pearl’s forehead with her knuckles. “Don’t be silly. He’ll be fine; he’s a bear. Besides, he’s much too clever to fall prey to any hunter.”

  Garnet could tell that her words were of little comfort. “Tell you what,” she said, “let’s sleep upon it. If you still feel the same way tomorrow, we’ll go out and see if we can find any sign of our friend.”

  Pearl smiled wistfully at the word “friend” and looked back out into the woods. After a few moments with no sound but the wind rustling from the trees, she sighed softly and nodded. Garnet smiled back and released her wrist. This time, she led them back.

  • • •

  The next day dawned bright and clear. The first thing Pearl did was run out onto their balcony and search as far as she could see for any sign of the black bear. The tracks leading from the stable master’s house to the woods had all but vanished in the late night snowfall, and there were no fresh disturbances anywhere to be seen.

  “I still want to go look for him,” Pearl said to Garnet when she stepped out onto the balcony.

  Garnet nodded and said, “Yes, I feel the same way. Come on, let’s get a good hot meal in us. I know what we can tell Mama and Papa.”

  After they finished breakfast, Garnet explained that Pearl and she wished to go out into the woods to find more herbs and roots to see them through the winter, and also to check on the animals and make sure they had found adequate shelter. It wasn’t an outright lie, but it was a stretching of the truth that Pearl wasn’t very comfortable with.

  Eager to encourage responsible use of their Earth Magic, and satisfied with how the girls had handled themselves the day before, both Thaddeus and Clara gave their blessing. Pearl and Garnet hugged their parents, dressed for the cold, and headed out with a promise to be back before dark.

  The bear’s tracks were just as obscured in the woods. Soon they disappeared altogether, leaving the girls to ponder their next move. Garnet suggested they head toward where they’d first found the bear. Pearl agreed, and after casting a spell to alert her of any nearby animals, they set off.

  Most of the morning had passed when the girls realized they had gone much farther than where they had originally found the bear. There was no signs that any large animal had been this way, nor did Pearl’s spell tell her of any nearby. There were no familiar landmarks around them, either. If not for the footprints they had left behind, Pearl and Garnet would have been lost.

  “What should we do now?” asked Pearl, looking all around her.

  Garnet reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a bundled kerchief. “I say we have some lunch, then keep going in the same direction. We still have a couple hours before we need to head back.”

  Pearl nodded, and the girls ate the crackers and dried fruit, washing them down with mouthfuls of snow and chatting about what they might do with a bear as a companion.

  “I’d want to take him out into the woods with me,” Garnet said, “and together we’d keep the woods safe from poachers and prospectors that would want to tear all the trees down.”

  “I would be happy just to have him by the fire on cold nights,” said Pearl.

  With lunch in their bellies, the girls brushed the snow off their coats and continued on. After walking for a good while, the trees thinned out, and they found themselves in a small clearing. Much to their surprise, they discovered they weren’t alone.

  In the middle of the clearing was a small camp. The snow was freshly trampled around a fire ring and in front of a tiny tent. They could hear someone on the far side of the clearing, lying on the ground and cursing loudly.

  Together the girls slowly walked close enough to get a look. It was a scruffy old man with a few wispy hairs on his head and the longest beard they’d ever seen, both as white as the snow around him. His leg was trapped under a fallen tree trunk.

  “Are you all right?” Garnet asked when the old man stopped to catch his breath.

  The man twisted around, grabbing the rifle that lay next to him and pointing it at them. Pearl and Garnet both shrieked and leaped back, but the old man held his fire. “Do I look all right to you, you silly goose?” he snapped.

  Garnet cautiously took a step forward. “What happened?”

  The old man groaned in exasperation. “What does it look like happened, girl? I was hunting a bite to eat, and this dead tree decides to fall on me and pin me here. Now I’m stuck, and I ain’t got no food. So unless you plan on helping with the former, get lost!”

  Despite the man’s crass demeanor, Pearl and Garnet took pity on him and came over to see if they could help. The fallen tree trunk looked very heavy, and the girls weren’t sure if they could even manage moving it. They both knew spells that might be able to help in the task, but it was out of the question. The first thing that everyone in their family had ingrained into them was to never use or even talk about magic in front of strangers. Neither of the sisters wanted to find out what would happen if they disobeyed that rule.

  Putting their backs into it, the girls managed to roll the trunk over enough for the old man to wriggle free. He got to his feet, grumbling and brushing himself off. The girls held back their amusement at finding that even if he wasn’t hunched over, he was still shorter than either of them.

  “I got no reward for you,” the old man growled. “So you two run off back to wherever you came from and leave me to—”

  The old man stopped and glared. Before either sister could ask what was wrong, he raised his rifle straight at Pearl.

  “Where did you get that?” he growled at the terrified girl. When all he got in reply was a whimper, he added, “The focus! That belongs to my Master. Where is he? Where is Master Marco?”

  Garnet stepped in front of Pearl, shaking slightly. “You leave her alone!”

  The old man fired a shot at the ground near their feet, worked the lever of the rifle, and aimed at the girls again, “Doesn’t matter,” he said. “I’ll take it back, and once I have my prize, Master Marco will be doubly pleased.”

  Garnet snarled at the old man but didn’t move for fear of being shot. Quivering with fear, Pearl clutched the crystal focus and muttered quickly under her breath. When the old man grabbed her wrist, she screamed.

  “There’s no one out here to help you, girl,” said the old man. “So quit that racket!”

  Pearl did as she was told, but couldn’t help whimpering with the rifle in her face. Garnet clung to her sister, as much out of fear as support. “Please, just let us go,” she begged. “You can have the amulet.”

  The old man shook his head. “No, I’m not worthy to hold Master Marco’s focus. I can only work in his name. But you two . . .” He gave them a toothy grin that had more than a few gaps in it. “You would make a fine addition to his empire. I’ve got prey to hunt, and you’re coming with me to find it, even if it takes us to California.”

  The sisters dared a glance at each other. If everything the man said was true, then his master had been dead for fifteen years. He must have been crazy if he thought there was still an “empire” after all this time.

  Keeping the rifle trained on the girls, the old man bent down to pick up his rucksack. While his gaze was averted, Pearl clutched the focus and quickly whispered the words to the calling spell.

  The old man snapped his head up. “What was that you just did? Answer me!”

  “N-nothing,” Pearl stammered, dropping her hands. “Just a prayer.”

  The old man snarled. “You lie, girl. I’m old, but I’m not stupid. I’ve served Master Marco for many years, longer than there’s been a state of Colorado. I may not know any magic for myself, but I know the ways of it. So I’ll tell you one last time, tell me what spell you�
�ve made, or I’ll break it by ending you right where you stand!”

  Garnet spoke up quickly for her sister. “It was for protection! It would make our skin hard as stone if you tried to shoot us.”

  The old man squinted at Garnet and scowled. “I’m not going to shoot you, girl. Not yet, anyhow. You’re much too valuable. But that doesn’t mean I won’t reappraise that value if I have to. Now help me break this camp. We’ve got a lot of walking to do before sundown.”

  The girls did as they were told without another word. When they had packed up the tent and cooking gear, they were a bit relieved that their captor didn’t make them carry any of it. The old man simply told them to start heading west and kept behind them with the rifle ready.

  By the time the sun hit the horizon, Pearl and Garnet were numb from the cold and exhausted. They hadn’t spoken a word the entire time for fear of angering the old man, making do with holding each other’s hand for support. The old man hadn’t spoken to them, either, just mumbled to himself.

  The old man finally stopped and spoke. “We camp here for tonight. Now how about you work a little magic to get us some meat for dinner?”

  Pearl paled and shuddered in revulsion. To ask her to do such a thing was cruel. “I don’t know any spells like that, sir,” she lied. “But my sister can find us some edible plants.”

  The old man made a face. “Fine. But don’t go where I can’t see you. You run, I shoot.”

  The girls were more than happy to get some distance between them, even for a little bit. Garnet made herself busy scrounging around for whatever she could find, while Pearl kept an eye on the old man making camp and peered off into the gathering darkness.

  “No sign of any help?” whispered Garnet.

  Pearl shook her head. “Not that I can see,” she whispered back. “My bear can’t have gotten that far. I called for him specifically.”