Oak & Mistletoe

by McCauley, J. Z. N.

  Danny shook his head, too unnerved to speak.

  The top of Catherine’s arms tingled, and that familiar bad feeling swelled within her. Bowen swung her arm gently to bring her out of thought. She could see his smile in the light reflecting off his face. He turned back around and began to walk again with Catherine in tow. She took a deep breath and followed, though the tingle remained, nudging her along the way.

  They passed many generations of men. Catherine had to remember that people did not live very long centuries ago. Bowen could feel her fidget, and squeezed her hand as he said quietly, “Soon.” Finally, the passage stopped short. Bowen looked around and found several staffs, each resting within their own space carved into the wall. One staff, in particular, captured his gaze, and he reached for it in awe. Catherine couldn’t see it clearly in the light, but he handed it to her before taking her free hand in his as they turned to face the way they came. She could feel how cool and smooth it felt between the bony ridges. From its weight, she could tell that the priest who owned this was very tall, just like Bowen. It reached high above her head and stabbed at her sides and arms until she learned to hold it better.

  “It didn’t go too much further after your priest. Do you think they moved on to another part of the mountain?” Catherine asked Bowen, her voice slightly above a whisper.

  “No, I think it ended there. Sometime between after I was gone and a century or two later when my people faded away. Any surviving descendants forgot our culture, and melded with others. That’s why so little is known now.” Bowen’s quiet voice trembled slightly.

  Catherine looked back briefly, wondering how deep the mountain’s passages went. Imagining all the secret tunnels made her more curious than alarmed. She suddenly understood the sport of caving, though Catherine was thankful she didn’t have to wriggle through any more low passages, or if they were deeper, run into potential floods.

  Danny waited for Bowen and the others to pass him so the group could go back out in the order they came. Bowen went with the torch, and Catherine passed Danny with Síne after. Reaching the cave entrance again, they found their eyes painfully blinded by the overcast sky. Bowen and Síne recovered quickly, but the siblings were in pain for quite some time. Until then, they had no idea just how sunny it actually was on a cloudy day.

  Disposing of the torch, and letting go of Catherine’s hand, Bowen stepped away from the group. Catherine sat down on a stone to relieve her blistered feet. She examined the ancient staff in her hands. In the light she could see it clearly. It appeared to be made of ceramic pieces fastened together, which explained the rough sharp points that stabbed her and the smoothness in between. The bottom looked worn with use, but the areas where hands had grasped it looked smoother still, leading up to the top, where a small knob seemed notched to hold many a jewel or stone. Catherine tried to imagine a white robed priest holding the staff, standing tall and noble. She enjoyed running the tips of her fingers on the smooth surface as she followed along with her eyes. The blackness of it overwhelmed the entire object. It was truly a work of art.

  As Catherine examined the relic, she suddenly heard an airy whistle followed by a cracking noise. She looked up at Danny and felt herself sinking back, then falling. The stone she sat on was giving way. She heard Danny yell for her as she fell, and in a quick second managed to reflexively grab hold of several small trees and sharp bushes which cut her mercilessly but slowed her fall. The staff had caught at an angle against a tree and she grabbed at either side until she was hanging against the cliff. Dirt fell on her from the small landslide she created on her way down. She had tumbled a very short distance, but her blood pumped hard in her ears.

  “Catherine?!” Danny screamed from above.

  Catherine couldn’t move, other than dangle. Every time her body swung she felt a horrible pang, and thought that moment would be her last. She couldn’t say a word, she could barely breathe, so she hung helplessly. Focusing her weight and hands on the staff, she struggled to keep hold. Her upper body was not her strong point, her arms were already exhausted, and she wondered how much longer she could last. Unable to look up or down she stared stupidly at the ground.

  “I’m coming down to get you!” Danny shouted. He had never been afraid of heights. As a boy, he would throw himself from trees, and cause great stress to all who had been forced to watch. Since boyhood, he had matured to skydiving and other thrill-seeking skills. Rock climbing was nothing to him.

  Though Catherine was terrified for him since it was clearly a very unstable area, she knew he was her only hope. She was no acrobat, and she was paralyzed by fear. She considered her imminent death, and wished Danny would leave her to it and not risk himself. A light in the back of her mind reminded her she would see Kathleen again, and that this torture would end. But then she remembered she had to live to help Bowen. She couldn’t leave him to fix her mistake. The mistake he had tried to prevent. Catherine slowly came back to the here and now, trying to keep her grip on the staff whose smoothness she had quickly grown to resent. She tried to hold still, and keep her hands inward so as not to accidentally slip off. Held tightly to the sharp protruding edges, her hands began to feel like they were being cut in slow motion.

  Unable to see her brother from her dangling position, she listened desperately for anything and finally heard movement along with gravel and dirt tumbling down around her. Squinting her eyes, she held her breath and waited. Within less than five minutes, Danny slid to a stopping point by hitting the tree she relied on for survival. Catherine’s breath escaped loudly as her eyes flew open. “I’m here!” he said, as he made grunting noises trying to steady himself.

  Still unable to look up, Catherine wondered what he planned on next.

  “Listen to me, Catherine, when I say so you need to let go.”

  Catherine slowly shook her head. He was talking crazy. There was no way she was just going to let go.

  “Only one hand. I’ll be there to grab it,” he said firmly.

  That was certainly less crazy, though she had doubts as to her ability to do as he asked. Catherine quickly wondered how Danny was going to pull this off. She knew they didn’t have any rope with them. She worried once again for his safety.

  “I’m going to say ‘now’ in a sec, and that’s when I need you to let go of the staff with one hand, okay?” He sounded unsettled by her silence. Though he clearly understood she was in some state of shock, he worried that she might completely freeze up.

  Catherine waited for Danny to give the word, and she tried to prepare herself for the sudden death that might follow. Wait! she thought in a panic. He didn’t say which! Which hand! she mentally screamed, and cursed herself inwardly that she couldn’t break her silence. She thought madly. Which would he reach for? He knew she was right handed, but maybe he wasn’t able to get to her right hand? She couldn’t possibly be sure either way from where his voice came above her, for the tree was thin where it didn’t block sound, and the gravel came from both sides when it fell. She would have to take the chance and hope he would know. Catherine waited.

  “Now!” Danny shouted. In two seconds Catherine let her right hand fall off the staff, causing her to swing so her head could look up. No longer frozen, she stretched to reach as far as she could.

  Catherine gasped in horror, seeing now that he wasn’t reaching for her right hand! This was the end of her life, and she only hoped it would end quick. She had already doubted it would be painless in her situation. Her body didn’t have a chance to fall though, for Danny grabbed the staff as it swung upward, and Catherine held to it with steadfast strength. As her body limply hung, relying entirely on the staff, she used her free hand to grab above her other hand for a more stable chance.

  “Climb up! You’ve got to move!” Danny was clearly struggling with the weight.

  Somehow, with much effort, Catherine now managed to move up the staff until she reached Danny’s hand, and he grabbed on with a slap. Danny was steadying himself on a groove in the s
tone and leveraging with the tree, so his whole upper body could be used to save his sister. Catherine was pulled up to him, and he moved her arms to hold his middle from behind. She still held the staff uncomfortably between her arm as it rubbed painfully through her clothes. Like a skilled animal, Danny climbed carefully up the rock, with Catherine perched on his strong back. Within a short time, they found themselves scrambling over the edge, to lay breathlessly on the ground.

  When they had both caught their breath, Danny looked over with mixed anger and gratitude. “What the hell happened?”

  Catherine finally found her voice, though it came out small and weak. “I’m surprised that didn’t break . . .” she mumbled, referring to the ancient staff. Then turning her head, “I don’t know, I heard something crack from above me, like a twig,” she gulped some air as she stared back at the sky above, “and then I felt the rock give way . . . it happened so fast, I couldn’t do anything.”

  Danny’s anger faded after a moment, but he furrowed his brow. Catherine watched him stand and walk towards the tree and stone where she had fallen. She felt her hands sting and brought them up to examine the damage. They were incredibly sore, and appeared cracked and bleeding in places. She pulled herself up to a seated position and winced in pain when she attempted to push off the ground. Both her wrists were apparently also very strained. When she finally did find the strength to stand, though her legs were wobbly, she managed to look around for Bowen, and grew concerned with each passing moment she didn’t find him. She was surprised he hadn’t heard the screaming, and also upset he hadn’t come to their aid. He shouldn’t be far enough away to not have heard some of the commotion.

  “The noise,” Danny said from over by the tree, looking up closely.

  “Yeah?” she asked, returning from her brief search.

  “Was there a shooting noise before it?”

  “You mean like a gun? No,” she said confused.

  “No, like an arrow,” and Danny pulled a sharp crossbow bolt out of the now damaged bark of the tree.

  Catherine came nearer and they looked at each other before pulling a small piece of paper wrapped around and fastened to the bolt. There was a handwritten message, which at first was difficult to read since its thick black ink had bled into the paper in several spots.

  “I have your friend. If you want him alive, I want the relic. You have until tomorrow afternoon,” the note said. As they rolled the paper to its end, they saw a strange set of directions where the kidnapper apparently wanted them to go.

  The siblings looked up at each other in alarm. “Bowen!” Catherine said.

  “Who could it be?” Danny asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Someone was following us! I knew I heard something strange before . . .” she remarked, infuriated with herself for ignoring her instincts.

  “What are we going to do?” Danny asked, rereading the message.

  “We have to go. What choice do we have?”

  Danny looked worried but nodded.

  Taking the message and bolt from Danny, Catherine turned towards the way out as she placed them in her jacket pocket. “Let’s get moving back down the mountain.” She was determined to save Bowen, whatever it took.

  “Wait! Oh no!” Danny shouted.

  Catherine jumped, “What is it?”

  “Where is Síne?”

  The two siblings looked around in sudden realization. Síne had used her chance to escape. Catherine sighed as frustration gathered on Danny’s face. With the Gardai thinking the two siblings had died in the fire, they would have assumed the same for Síne since Danny was her surety. Therefore, Danny wasn’t going to be in trouble with them unless he went back home. Catherine couldn’t worry about that right now. She had to focus on Bowen and their current predicament.

  “Well, what am I gonna do now?” he said.

  “We can’t do anything until we save Bowen! We have no idea which direction Síne went anyway . . .”

  Danny marched off ahead of her without saying anything. Before following, Catherine picked up the ancient staff from the ground where she had left it. Her cracked and partially cut palms would ache but she accepted it without complaint, and they left together to trace their way back down the mountain.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  DANNY CONTINUED TO fume as the hours passed. By the time they reached the bottom of the mountain, night had fallen. It was evidently faster for them to travel down than up. Catherine couldn’t tell if that was because both of them were deep in thought, or if it truly was less strenuous. The rocks still hurt under her blistered feet, but she was getting used to it. Holding onto the staff helped her too. She felt like a regular relic hunter strolling along with it in her hands.

  Catherine smiled to herself as Uncle Mickey suddenly came to mind. She wondered how he would react to recent events. “You’re having adventures now!” she could hear him excitedly say. Though she was not so enthused about her situation, Catherine knew he would have relished the chance to see the ancient druid relics and remains that were now hidden again in the caves. The thought of her uncle saddened her. She hadn’t thought of him for a while. She hoped she had inherited his sense of direction, since she had no idea whether she was reading Bowen’s kidnapper’s directions correctly. How they were going to pull this off, she couldn’t say. But she kept walking forward, confident she would know what to do when the time came.

  The two decided to press on through the night, stopping only to look at the directions by the small flame of Danny’s handy lighter. They were led to circle the mountain’s side far into the much larger and thicker woods hidden there. Before they entered though, Catherine looked back at the steep slope of the mountain and trembled at the memory of falling. She could see its looming silhouette against the dark blue sky. Now, they trudged in the darkness trying to avoid trees, and kept in a straight line together as best they could.

  “We’re going to get lost in here . . .” she mumbled.

  “Let’s stop until the sun comes up,” Danny suggested.

  Though Catherine couldn’t imagine such thick woods ever being touched by sunbeams, she quickly agreed. Resting their backs against the same tree, they watched and waited. An hour, maybe two, passed. Catherine found herself nodding off, and eventually fell asleep altogether. She saw a blanket of quiet softness behind her eyes, the pleasant sleep she was seeking even in her crouched position. It didn’t last long though, and she awoke with stiff legs, her head leaning on Danny’s broad shoulder. He nudged her a few times to confirm she was awake. Tiny streams of light were shining through the forest, providing enough light that they could see for a distance further than an inch from their faces. Dawn danced across the plants in front of her, and she watched its performance for a few moments, allowing the remaining calm and silence to drift away from her as she slowly awoke to life again.

  “We should go,” Danny said, standing up as Catherine raised her head.

  “Hold on,” she said, trying to slowly stretch up, her legs aching from the crouch.

  Danny walked off to relieve himself, while Catherine finished her stretch and took out the ransom note for reexamination. From what she could tell, they shouldn’t be too far now. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere was apparently where this madman had marked the spot. Catherine didn’t like that the location seemed very plainly to give the kidnapper an advantage. He could easily kill them both without getting close, once they walked into his very likely trap.

  Danny returned, and they continued walking for a time while Catherine thought of what to do when they arrived. Just before she was going to share her concerns with her brother, she thought she smelled something that made her nose twitch. “What’s that smell?” she asked, stopping to take in a good whiff.

  “There’s no reason to be rude, I’d shower if I could,” Danny replied irritably.

  Catherine waved her hand in the air with a serious expression, “No, not that . . .” her brows furrowed while her tired mind tried to place the
smell. Danny took some steps away, sniffing carefully and looking around as he went. But Catherine stood perfectly still. Whatever the smell was, it was on the tip of her nose, prancing in front of her eyes. Then it clicked.

  “It’s smoke,” she said suddenly. She could recognize that smell anywhere. It was a nostalgic smell from childhood, and reminded her of the last night she saw Uncle Mickey. His little home was filled with the smell of his cozy wood burning stove.

  Danny looked back at his sister, “I don’t see any smoke, I’m sure it isn’t a forest fire. It’s too damp . . .”

  “No, no, it’s chimney smoke. It can’t be too far. Come on, let’s find it!” Catherine said grabbing her brother’s arm with an excited squeeze before rushing off ahead, following her nose.

  The day was steadily getting brighter as they hurried on, following the crisp scent of firewood. The smell was almost lost to them a few times, noticeably fading away as they went the wrong way, but each time they found it again and managed to follow its reaching grasp. The invisible guide finally led them to its place of origin. Catherine and Danny could now see the smoke ascending from what would have passed as one of the many trees from far off, but instead was clearly a man-made structure carved into a peaceful tree. It was surrounded by the camouflage of natural plant growth.

  The two hid themselves when they realized they had found what they were looking for. The last thing they wanted was to be spotted. Catherine was sure this was where their enemy was lurking, or at least where he made preparations. Her heart raced at the thought that Bowen may actually be waiting for his rescue inside.

  “Do you see a door?” asked Danny quietly.

  Looking at the tree structure, Catherine couldn’t see any visible entrance. Craning her neck, she could see a few holes, mostly at the top of the trunk. She wondered if any were made into windows, from which Bowen could be looking out right now.

  “No, but there’s got to be one somewhere . . .”