by Maureen Bush
Greyfur, Eneirda and Aleena all looked horrified. Each one of them wanted to argue, clearly hating Keeper’s decision, but they didn’t say a thing. They looked to me, hoping I would offer a different Will of the Gathering, but I shook my head. I had to trust Keeper.
Keeper led Maddy, Aleena and me up beyond the head of the lake. “We will walk to Gronvald’s nearest cave,” said Keeper.
“His nearest cave?” Maddy asked, skipping to keep up with Keeper. He slowed and held out a hand. She grabbed one finger and they walked together.
I followed, the crows circling me, Aleena trailing behind.
“Gronvald does not like to carry treasure too far, after he has stolen it. So he has many caves.”
“Don’t other people – um, magic folk, like trolls – steal from his caves when he’s not there?” Maddy asked.
“Gronvald is very good with guarding magic. None can pass if he does not wish it.”
“Why does the Will of the Gathering affect Gronvald? He wasn’t there.”
“That does not matter. It is binding on all magic folk.”
“Like a law?”
“Do humans sometimes choose to disobey a law?” Keeper asked.
“Well, sure. Some do.”
“We cannot choose to disregard the Will of the Gathering. We may not like it, and we may not be generous about it, but we must cooperate. This is very old magic.”
“What if the Will of the Gathering was to do something really wrong, really harmful?” Maddy asked.
“Why would we agree to that?” asked Keeper. Then he said in a gentle voice, “We are not humans, Maddy.”
We hiked up the valley along the creek that fed the lake below us. As we turned to follow a smaller creek, Corvus joined us. He cawed and Keeper nodded. “He will be waiting for us?”
Corvus squawked once, and then we all headed up the mountain. When I grew too nervous about meeting Gronvald, I distracted myself by sketching in the air with one finger, just quick sketches of the mountain ridges.
We left the creek where it cut deep into the rocks in a narrow gorge, and hiked across the face of the mountain, quickly moving above the treeline.
Keeper lifted Maddy onto his shoulder and took my hand to help me climb the slope. The crows flew high above, and Aleena panted quietly behind us. We followed the curve of the mountain to the north side, cold and bright with snow.
Finally, we reached an opening in the cliff face. Keeper held out the bag of coins and shook it. Clinking echoed in the cave.
Maybe he won’t be here, I thought, feeling desperate. Maybe that noise from the back of the cave is a bear that Keeper can scare off. Maybe...
And then Gronvald stood in the entrance to his cave, glowering.
He had the perfect face for glowering. His eyes were small and dark, his eyebrows darker. He was short and thick and lumpy, with ears that stuck out and a nose that reminded me of the stem of our pumpkin.
“Welcome,” he said, sneering at us. Only Keeper wasn’t afraid.
“We need to speak with you,” said Keeper. He held out the bag of gold and shook it again.
Gronvald nodded and bowed his head a little, to welcome us into his cave. Keeper ducked his head and walked in.
Looking pale, Aleena said, “I’ll wait out here,” and slipped away.
The crows surrounded Maddy and me as we entered the cave. Gronvald roared at them, flapping his arms and bellowing. They scattered, scrambling out of the cave, except for Corvus. He stood his ground, wings spread wide, cawing. Muttering curses, Gronvald let him stay.
The cave was dark, with torchlight shining off piles of rocks glinting with gold. Wooden boxes of ore were stacked along the walls. More piles gleamed beyond us, deep in the cave. Coins in piles and small sacks like Keeper’s filled the gaps. It smelled musty and rank. Small bones littered the ground.
Maddy was quivering, scared of the dark and the bones and Gronvald. I turned to her, and put my face right into a spider’s web. I yelped, clawing at my face, desperate to pull it off. Gronvald smirked. Maddy stifled a laugh and helped me. Pulling the threads out of my hair, I could see a fly wrapped in a cocoon, waiting to be eaten.
As I shook off the last strands, the spider was flung across the room, straight at Gronvald. With a shriek he threw up his hands and leapt back. For a moment he looked embarrassed, and then just mad.
Keeper hid a smile and settled himself on the floor of the cave, leaning against the wall. Corvus landed on a box of gold ore and began to peck at the rocks. Maddy and I sat beside him. I picked up a chunk of rock – I could see pockets of gold, bright in the darker rock. I ran my finger over a vein of gold and thought about the ways gold was used in art.
“Do Not Touch My GOLD!” roared Gronvald.
I looked up to see him charging at me, furious. I stood and staggered sideways. “You can’t hurt me. I’m here at the Will of the Gathering,” I choked out.
He didn’t stop, didn’t slow, just shifted the direction of his lunge and grabbed Maddy, his hands closing around her neck. I flung myself at his back, but I couldn’t budge him.
Corvus flew into Gronvald’s face, flapping and pecking. Gronvald took one hand off Maddy to fling him away, smacking him into the cave wall. Maddy sucked in a huge breath, and then both of Gronvald’s hands were around her neck again. I pounded on his back and twisted his ears, but he shook me off.
Keeper lunged, grabbed Gronvald’s shirt at the back of his neck and simply lifted him. Gronvald’s hands dropped from Maddy as he tried to beat off Keeper, but Keeper ignored him, lifting him until they were nose to nose.
“STOP!” he bellowed.
Gronvald shuddered and stopped, even though his face was twisted in rage.
I stood, holding Maddy while she panted, still fighting to breathe. “Thanks,” I said to Corvus. When he nodded and cawed I knew exactly what he meant. You are our magic boy.
Keeper gave Gronvald a shake, and then set him down.
“Get out. GET OUT!” Gronvald growled, furious.
Keeper simply pulled out the bag and poured gold coins into his huge, cupped hand. When Gronvald reached for them, Keeper closed his hand over the pile. I could see Gronvald’s longing, almost as if it had its own magic, driving him to hoard gold.
Gronvald hissed in frustration. “Get on with it, then. That won’t buy you much time. And don’t touch my gold,” he snapped at Corvus, who’d straightened his ruffled feathers and was pecking at the gold again.
Keeper nodded to me.
I cleared my throat. “What can you tell us about the Ancient Ones?”
Gronvald didn’t even look at me. He stared at Keeper, and said, “You have purchased my time. Only you.”
Keeper growled, low in his throat, and said, “Fine. What can you tell me about the Ancient Ones?”
Gronvald glanced at Maddy, Corvus and me, and frowned.
“They are here as my assistants,” Keeper said. “They will only listen.”
Gronvald nodded. “I never met the Ancient Ones.”
“Of course you did not. What do you know about them?”
“Only what the stories tell.”
“Which is?” When Gronvald paused, Keeper poured the coins back into the bag.
Gronvald snarled. “They made the veil. They are no more.” He smiled at me, but I knew he wasn’t really smiling. His eyes were threatening, saying very clearly, I like the tears in the veil. Leave them alone if you want me to leave you alone.
Shivering, I thought, Fine with me. But I couldn’t leave. Even though the Will of the Gathering didn’t bind me, I felt driven to help.
“We have to fix the tears!” Maddy burst out. “Magic is leaking out of your world. It’s harming your world!”
Gronvald grimaced, turned away from Maddy, and spoke to Keeper. “I do not believe humans. I do not listen to humans. I do not speak to humans.”
“We’re trying to help,” I snapped.
Gronvald spat at me. “You expect me to believe that
anything a human could do would be good for the magic world?” His voice shook with anger.
When Maddy opened her mouth to argue, Keeper held up a hand to stop her. “What else do you know about the Ancient Ones?”
“Nothing. The Ancient Ones are gone, long gone. They put so much of themselves into the veil, they lost all their power. They only had a little weaving magic left.” Then he snapped his mouth shut, looking uncomfortable.
“Weaving magic?” I asked. “What’s that?”
He ignored me.
Keeper studied him, thinking. Finally he said, “Tell me about weaving magic.”
Gronvald stared back, pondering. We waited, and waited a little more, and then Gronvald spoke. “Your time is up.” He grinned and held out his hand. As soon as Keeper tossed him the bag, he opened it and poured the gold into his lap, counting and caressing the coins.
As we left, I glanced back. Gronvald was watching with narrowed eyes, tightly focused on me.
Chapter Five
Brox and Vivienne
We were all relieved to be away from Gronvald. Even the deep shade on the north face of the mountain was better than the oppressive darkness of the cave. But it was still cold. Maddy and I shoved our hands into our pockets and walked faster, trying to get warm. Keeper walked with us. Aleena trailed behind again. The crows rose in a flock, squawking and scolding, making their dislike of Gronvald clear.
I thought about weaving as we hiked. I’d seen a demonstration once – the weaver working at a loom, throwing a shuttle loaded with thread back and forth over lines of thread held tight on the frame. Then I thought about spiders’ webs, trying to focus on how the web was woven, not how it felt sticking to my face.
Maddy picked up some fluff from a seed head and started teasing it apart with her fingers. “Josh, could the veil really be woven?” she asked.
“It looks woven,” I said, “of the finest threads imaginable. Like spider’s silk,” I added, “but not so sticky.”
She grinned. “If we found someone who could weave, could they fix it?”
“I don’t know how, unless they have some connection to the Ancient Ones. Do any magic folk weave?” I asked Keeper.
“A little simple weaving,” he said.
“Fine weaving?”
Corvus cawed.
“Yes,” said Aleena to Corvus, reluctantly. “There are the weavers.”
“Who are they?” I asked.
“I don’t really know,” she said. “They stay to themselves – they don’t like visitors.”
“But can they weave?” I could feel the Will of the Gathering insisting on answers.
“Oh, yes. They can weave anything. But...”
“But what?” asked Maddy.
“They don’t like visitors. They really don’t like visitors. They have a guardian...” She swallowed.
“Then we’ll get past him,” I said.
“But –”
“We have to talk to them. Can you take us there?”
“I’m not sure exactly where they are.”
Corvus spoke again, in a long string of caws and squawks and muttering. Keeper and Aleena listened intently. I couldn’t understand anything he said.
When he was finished, Keeper nodded. “Up the Rockwall,” he said, without explaining. “It is too far for you to walk.”
Aleena sighed. “I could take them.”
“Water travel? You could keep them warm while you’re travelling, but how would you dry them, up there in November?” Keeper asked.
Aleena looked us over and frowned, as if she’d forgotten we were humans.
“We could go by boat with otter-people,” Maddy said. “Not Greyfur and Eneirda – they’re too tired. But someone else?”
Keeper shook his head. “The Bow River was risk enough in winter.”
I shivered, remembering.
“This route is higher and colder, in a smaller river, with a storm coming. It would not be safe for you.” Keeper paused to think, and then said, “You can travel with Brox and Vivienne.”
“Brox and Vivienne,” Aleena scoffed. “Stupid, smelly and clumsy!”
Keeper growled his disapproval.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“They are the buffalo who were at the Gathering.”
“We’re going to travel by buffalo?” said Maddy, sounding nervous and excited at the same time.
I didn’t care how I got there, as long as I could learn more about the veil.
Keeper said, “Corvus, could you ask them to return to the lake?”
Corvus cawed and flew off, towards the lake far below us. We followed more slowly, enjoying the warmth of the sun on our faces.
When we reached the lake, Aleena said goodbye and walked to the shore.
Keeper stopped her with a hand held high. “Aleena, I have a task for you.”
She waited, one foot in the water. “I need to leave now,” she said, her face tight.
I knew how much she hated Gronvald and feared Keeper, and how much she wanted to be far from them.
“It is the Will of the Gathering,” said Keeper.
“You are not the Will of the Gathering,” she said. “Only Josh.”
Keeper turned to me. “I do not trust Gronvald. He will do whatever he can to stop you, to work around the Will of the Gathering. I would like Aleena to follow him.”
Aleena gasped and stepped backwards into the lake. “No! The crows can do it.”
The crows cawed agreement, but Keeper shook his head. “The crows cannot follow Gronvald through his caves.”
“Neither can I,” said Aleena, panic in her voice.
“But you can follow his scent in water. You can alert the crows when he comes above ground.”
“I won’t do it,” she said.
She looked afraid, but fierce too, and powerful. I felt totally intimidated. I closed my eyes for a moment, and then I spoke. “Aleena, you and Maddy and I caused many of the tears in the veil. I helped you escape from deep in the earth. Now you must do this.”
I could see when the magic of the Will of the Gathering reached her. I could see her battle it, her eyes darkening, her face tight and pale. Then she accepted it. With a slightly bowed head and a flat voice, she said, “I will follow him.”
“Thank you.” I knew what this was costing her, the fear she was fighting.
She nodded stiffly. “I will contact the crows when I have news.” Then she dove into the lake and vanished.
Maddy and I hiked up Castle Mountain with Keeper. His cave was cozy and welcoming. A huge bed filled one corner, piled high with striped wool blankets. A collection of odd-sized chairs gathered around a wooden slab table, and shelves lined the walls.
Keeper walked straight to the massive stone fireplace on one wall of the cave, added firewood, and knelt to blow on the coals. Flames leapt up, warming and lighting the cave.
A large iron pot sat near the fire; he lifted it and hung it above the flames. Then he lined up enormous buns on the hearth. “They will warm here,” he said.
Soon the smell of stew and buns filled the cave. I could hear Maddy’s stomach growling.
Slowly we peeled off layers of hats and mitts and jackets as we roasted ourselves by the fire. By the time we were thoroughly warm, the stew was bubbling. Keeper ladled some into a huge wooden bowl for himself, and into his two smallest bowls for Maddy and me.
“Half full is plenty,” I said, eyeing what to us would be serving dishes.
“You are not hungry?” he asked, ladle hovering over a bowl.
“Starving,” said Maddy. “And half full is lots.”
We ate our stew with large wooden spoons, sipping off the sides. We each ate a bun, even though they were the size of small loaves of bread. Then we went back for more stew. When we were finished, Keeper filled buns with thick slices of meat, and wrapped them in an almost clean cloth for our next meal.
While we roasted and rested and felt too full by the fire, Keeper headed into his back caves
. We could hear him rummaging around, cursing occasionally when he thought we couldn’t hear him. He returned with his arms overflowing. He dumped everything on the table and started sorting.
“Josh, Maddy, help me here,” he said. He pulled out two sets of leather bags. The first he hung on me, one pouch in front and one in back. “Brox and Vivienne will carry your bags while you are with them. But you will need to carry them sometimes, too.” He pulled on the leather straps, tugging them shorter and shorter, until the pouches hung against my chest and back, instead of banging my knees. When he was satisfied, he started on Maddy’s. He had to punch new holes in the straps to make them short enough, but eventually, he was satisfied with hers, too.
He gave us each a leather sack of water, although he told us we would be near water for most of our journey. Then he packed the bags with food, including the buns he’d wrapped for us earlier.
“Do you have a firestone?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, slipping it out of my pocket to show him.
“And you have your ring?” he asked Maddy.
She held it up.
“Brox and Vivienne will take care of you. Corvus will travel with you. You will spend the night with otter-people. The Will of the Gathering requires all must help you with whatever you ask.” Then he paused.
“Josh, Maddy.” He shook his head, and cleared his throat. “We ask a great deal of you. I wish...” He paused again. “I created the nexus ring. I did not keep it safe, and I cannot fix the veil. That falls to you, and it should not. I am sorry.” He sighed.
“I would come if I could, but it is too far for you to walk. I am too large to ride a buffalo, and too slow to keep up with them. I am confident you will find a way. You have a deep magic, Josh. And Maddy will help you.”
She nodded, looking determined.
We wrapped ourselves in all our layers. Maddy wasn’t sure about putting her fur hat back on.
I grinned and pulled out her red hat. Her eyes lit up when she saw it. As she tugged it down over her ears, she said, “Thanks. It feels terrible wearing fur around furry friends.”
With her purple jacket and the red hat, flaps over her ears and strings dangling, she looked ready for a party. I was more sombre, in black and grey. It suited how I felt, needing to protect the magic world without knowing how to do it. We slipped on the leather bags, even though Keeper offered to carry them, and headed down the mountain. Keeper’s arms were full again, wrapped around bundles of fur.
