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The strange coach bounced along the rough dirt road and into the thick strand of trees. The electric lamp at the front of the wagon brightened only a few yards of uneven road ahead. Irregular lines of shadow crowded out the stars and built a canopy of airy blackness. In the forest, the chirruping of bugs and trilling of frogs sounded loud and close to the ear. It was an atmosphere that lent itself to a stirring sense of adventure, if tempered by trepidation.
Lemuel and I sat at the back of the wagon, facing forward. Flutterbold and Clive sat opposite us, with their backs to the driver and Drillmast. To each other, we were now faceless shadows. Even without benefit of seeing his expression, I didn’t have to guess how Clive felt about my presence.
“It’s just like you to show up and spoil my fun,” he said.
“Fun is not our aim, young man,” Flutterbold pointed out. “This may seem a lark to you, but it’s deadly serious to us.”
“What’s serious to you is damned silly to me,” Clive said.
Lemuel nudged me with his arm. “Is there no way to silence this overgrown turnip?”
“Clive!” I said, as forcefully as my thirteen-year-old voice could manage, “You’re not making any friends here. Button it!”
“Thank you,” Lemuel said.
“So, if we’re under arrest, just who is it that’s arrested us?” I asked.
“Agents of Mother Solstice,” answered Flutterbold. “We will be subject to her judgment.”
“Unless we find Trimble first,” added Lem.
“Will you be put in prison?” I asked.
“We will be banished from our homes for at least a year,” said Flutterbold. “We will most likely be confined, and placed in her service.”
I heard a low growl from the driver’s bench. It was the cloaked man.
“Perhaps our driver is currently under such a contract,” Flutterbold said.
“I don’t like him much,” said Clive. “Why can’t he show his face? I don’t trust him.”
The driver made another noise, an animal roar, inhuman and frightening.
“Clive’s got a point,” I said. “We’re in the company of strangers here, and we don’t know where you’re taking us.”
“I can assure you that Silbersee is trustworthy,” Drillmast interjected from the front bench.
“I hope that’s true,” I said. “But he’s a bit unnerving.”
“Don’t put so much polish on it,” shouted Clive. “He’s horrible!”
Silbersee pulled back on the reins and brought the wagon to a halt. The cloaked man turned around, stood and set his gaze on Clive. From behind the black deer mask came a series of snorts.
“Calm down, Silbersee! They can’t be expected to understand!” Drillmast made placating gestures, and Silbersee sat back down. He made no move to start the reindeer on resuming our journey. We sat in silence for a beat or two.
“Splendid!” Flutterbold interjected. “This will be a perfect place to stop and give a listen.” His upbeat tone heightened rather than quelled the tense atmosphere. “Everyone keep silent. The Crossway Passage has to be nearby.”
“We must touch the earth,” Lemuel said. He jumped out of the back of the wagon. “Come on, everyone. Feet on the ground. It’s the only way we can feel the vibrations.”
Drillmast turned off the electric lantern, and I lowered the gas light of my own. The three little men stood well apart from each other, closed their eyes and raised their faces skyward. Clive wandered over to me, and sat on the ground, then got out his notebook and tried to write something by the dim light from my lantern.
Flutterbold began to whistle, a sound like a birdcall. Lemuel joined him, and then Drillmast. They then stood very still and listened. I heard the call of an owl, myself. Clive tore a page out of his book and handed it to me.
This is bonkers!
I made no reply, but folded the page and put it in my pocket, next to the key. I patted my pocket and remembered something. When I had first put the key in my pocket, it had been long enough that the end stuck up just beyond the edge. Now the entire key fit snugly within. Had the key shrunk? As soon as I began to wonder about it, Flutterbold shouted.
“Counter spells! Does anybody else feel it?”
“No. I don’t feel a thing,” said Lemuel.
“Oh, I don’t like it at all!” Flutterbold’s whiskers twitched. “I’ve only sensed this once before. When I came up against the Grim Frost.”
“Oh! I do wish you wouldn’t say that!” Lemuel put a few steps between himself and Flutterbold.
“There’s no need to fear him in this place. He couldn’t possibly survive this climate.”
The others began to talk amongst themselves.
Drillmast approached Clive and whispered something to him. He pointed to Silbersee, who was still seated on the wagon. The cloaked figure made a beckoning gesture to Clive, who said something back to Drillmast. Then the two of them went to the front of the car. Every one of these actions made me uneasy.
What happened next went quickly. Flutterbold shouted again. “Wait! Stop! Something’s wrong! Someone here is a traitor! I can feel it!” He hopped into the back of the wagon just as Clive hoisted himself up onto the driver’s bench. “One among us has made a deal with the Grim Frost! I hear it in the earth. I see it clear as Polaris.” From the back of the wagon, Flutterbold stared at Lemuel. Lem looked a little cowed.
“It isn’t me,” Lemuel muttered quietly.
Silbersee leaned over to Clive, right next to his ear. I couldn’t hear if the masked fellow actually said anything or not. Then he reached up and flipped on the electric lantern. Drillmast hopped quickly onto the wagon.
Lem and I remained on the ground, a couple of yards away from the wagon. Clive stood on the driver’s bench, turned and faced us. He grinned. “Hey! Candle Wax! Look what I’ve got!” He put his hand into the beam of electric light. It held a key. My key, the unbent key.
Then Drillmast hollered to us, “We’re off to the Crossway Passage! Long Live the F.A.B.”
Silbersee shouted a deep, raspy “Hoooah!” prompting the two reindeer to take off. Soon, the wagon was rolling away, with Clive laughing happily, pleased to have joined the opposition. Flutterbold, meanwhile, hollered as the vehicle sped him away with the others.
“Drillmast, you traitor! Stop at once and let me off!” The wagon rolled along, and just as it disappeared into the dark mass of trees, Flutterbold shouted at Lemuel. “I’m sorry, Lem! I thought it was you!”
The cart was gone, carrying Flutterbold away with along with its nefarious party. Lemuel kicked up a small cloud of dirt in the direction of the departed wagon. “Bolts of Bilious Brimstone!” He jumped up and down a few times for good measure. “May a north wind blow down their backsides!”
I put my hand to my pocket and drew out the bent key. No wonder it had felt strange. It hadn’t shrunk. It had been stolen and replaced. I showed the key to Lemuel.
“We’ve been tricked,” I said. “I don’t suppose this is worth anything.”
“Hang on to it anyway,” said Lemuel.
“Lem, I need to get back to Sally’s house. I need to call Clive’s parents and tell them what’s happened. Or try to, anyway.”
“Yes. I can walk you back.” Lem looked around him. “I know exactly where we are. You light the way, eh?”
I turned up the flame of the lantern. The thing was beginning to feel heavy in my hand, so I switched to the other. “Which way?” I asked Lem, and he pointed back in the direction from which we had come.
“There’s a foot path near here that will be easiest for us. Look, I know you’re worried about the boy. But, these gnomes, traitors though they may be, they won’t harm him.”
“All the same,” I said, “I need to do whatever I can.”
“Of course,” said Lem. “In the meantime, be of good cheer. And keep that light closer to the ground. I need to find that path.”
The footpath lay parallel to the dirt road, and closer to the ridge, where the trees met the valley beyond. There was more starlight, and a sliver of white from the quarter moon.
“You must be reeling from all of this,” Lemuel said. “Before tonight, did you even know our kind lived here?”
“I didn’t know anything,” I said. “It doesn’t seem real.”
“Well, you’re young, and human. Can’t expect you to have experienced much. The world is stranger than you might have imagined. It’s rich and grand. Still, you can’t trust everyone.”
“I suppose it’s the same in my world.”
Lemuel stopped and raised his face again, eyes closed. “Did you hear anything?”
“Like what?”
“Like her. The sorceress.” He lowered his head again, and quickened his step. He was now moving so quickly, I had some trouble keeping up.
I shouted, “Do you mean Mother Sol-”
“Don’t say it!” he said, stopping suddenly. “You could summon her!”
“Just by saying her name?”
“She’s had all year to amass her powers. She can move through oceans, through ice and snow. She can disappear into the mist and frost, then reappear solid as you please, in no time.”
“Is she dangerous?”
“She’s powerful. And temperamental. And when she finds out I had Trimble but then lost him ... she’ll ask, and I’ll have to answer.”
“Are you sure she’ll ask you about Trimble?”
“Of course she’ll ask me about Trimble!” Lem burst with a shout. “Trimble is her pet, don’t you know anything!?”
“Sorry, no, I don’t.”
He stopped himself and lowered his voice. “Oh, of course you wouldn’t. Sorry.” He spun on one heel and began walking off the path. “Let’s just say, it’s best if she doesn’t find us.”
“Is Trimble in any danger?”
He didn’t answer that one. He just kept walking.
“Where are you going?” I asked. “Is this the way?”
He didn’t say a word. I couldn’t find my way back without him, so I followed.
Not a quarter of a mile further on, he finally spoke. “I believe I can trust you, Munnie.”
“It’s Mannie.”
“Mannie, of course. And you can trust me, right?”
“I hope you won’t mind if I say I’m not so sure.”
“Look, if it’s about the soup...”
“It’s not that. I just can’t work out who’s on what side. That officer fellow, he arrests everyone, and now he’s the enemy.”
“A two-faced cheat, yes! No doubt he was trying to rein in his opposition by capturing them.”
“But why?”
“I can only guess. He must have been corrupted by...” He went silent. He frowned as he kept walking.
“By who?” I kept following, but it became clear he wasn’t going to answer me.
“Mannie, there’s someone I’d like you to meet,” he finally said, and he stepped off of the path and into a small clearing, circled by trees.
“Who?”
“As it happens, we’re just a couple of steps from my own front door. Would you say hello to my wife and child? I’d like to let them know what’s happening.”
We stood by the trunk of an evergreen tree, formed of a mass of twisted roots, braided around each other. “Do you see the door?” Lem asked.
“No,” I answered.
“Try knocking on it,” he said, with a proud smile.
I tapped my knuckles gently against the rough bark. It hurt my hand, but I did hear a hollow clack from within. This section of the trunk was not as solid as it looked. Along the ridge of one long strand, I saw a trace of light, very faint. Soon, an oblong section of striated roots opened out, as if on a hinge, and there stood a little woman in a green and white apron. She was lovely, with soft coils of red hair framing her round face.
“Lemuel! How pleased I am to see you home already!”
“Not home to stay, not yet.” Lemuel’s stepped in, and waved a beckoning hand back at me. I followed him into the trunk of the tree. “Shut the door behind you,” he said, and he hurried into a tunnel-like opening that sloped down from the tiny entryway.
“Please, come in,” said the lady forest gnome. I followed her down into a cozy, cave-like room. The floors were of rough unfinished wood, and the roof was dirt and wooden beams. Along one side, wood trim and wallpaper were hung to provide a semblance of hominess. A lantern dangled from a tree root overhead. Opposite was a door covered with a curtain. Another narrow corridor branched off from near the fireplace, currently hosting a modest blaze.
“Sara, this is Mannie,” Lem said, presenting me with an open-armed gesture.
Sara gasped at the sight of me, then beamed. “What an honor to meet you, Mannie.”
I didn’t know if I should extend a hand, so I bowed instead.
“And what a gentleman,” Sara said. I could hear a subtle accent in her speech.
“He’s been very helpful,” Lemuel said. “And discreet.”
I looked at the fireplace for a few moments, and as though she had read my thoughts, Sara spoke. “There is a chimney, of course. It carries the smoke to the very top of the tree. You wouldn’t see it from the ground. At this time of year, we only burn a few small logs for cooking. We have to stay as well hidden as we can.”
“Has no one ever found your front door?” I asked.
“It’s almost impossible to see,” Lemuel answered. “By daylight, you’d swear it was just wood and moss.”
“Lemuel is very clever making such things,” Sara said. “Please excuse me for a moment. I’m going to look in on Elvira.” She disappeared through a curtain into another chamber.
“Elvira’s our little girl. She’s not seven months old, and already she’s almost too large for Sara to carry.”
Sara reappeared, holding a baby girl in her arms. Indeed, the baby looked to be nearly a third her own size.
“She’s growing far too fast! Why, she may one day be as tall as you, Mannie.”
“Mannie here is just a boy himself,” said Lemuel. “He’ll get a lot taller than this.”
“You must be at least fifteen years old, Mannie,” Sara said.
“Only thirteen,” I answered.
“Just a baby, then. Why, I’m more than five times that old.”
I tried to do the math in my head, but Lemuel saved me the trouble.
“She’s sixty-four.”
“Lemuel!” Sara cried, but then she smiled at me. “That’s still very young for us forest folk.”
“You don’t look anything like that old,” I said.
Lemuel is seventy-three.”
“And I’ll probably live to be at least one hundred and fifty.”
“Really ...” I said, astounded to have learned this about both of them. “So, you live a lot longer than ...”
“Than you humans, yes,” said Lem. “But the time goes too quickly, no matter how much of it you get.”
Sara cleared her throat, in a way that reminded me very much of my own mother when she intended to squelch a topic. “May I get you something to eat or drink?”
“Oh, I ... I am a bit thirsty.” In truth, I was feeling ravenous, but I didn’t want to say so.
“You’re in luck!” Lemuel said with a broad smile. “We’ve got some freshly brewed holly punch!”
“Lemuel!” Sara gave him a reproachful look. “We can’t give him that!”
“Why not?”
“Forgive my husband, dear. He’s forgotten that holly is poisonous to humans.”
“Oh! Of course. Sorry, my friend. You’re not in luck, then.”
“Not even in lucky luck,” I said, much as Anaru might have. “Thank you anyway.”
“I’ve got a nice herbal tea that you will find refreshing,” Sara said.
“I’ll fetch it for him,” Lemuel offered. He walked briskly to the curtained doorway. As he passed through, I could glimpse a small iron stove and two wooden cupboards.
Sara brought Elvira to my side. “Here, you can hold her,” she said, and she handed the infant over to me before I could reply. She quickly followed Lemuel. I heard their exchange from the other side of the curtain.
“What have you got there?” Sara asked.
“Nothing, my dear,” Lem replied.
“It’s very pretty. So, you must have stolen it.”
“Not quite. It was given to me.”
“Oh! You don’t expect me to believe that!”
It was uncomfortable listening in on such a discussion, but I had no choice. They were standing only feet away, on the other side of a thin cloth.
“Lemuel, this has magic in it!”
“Yes, Sara ...”
“Powerful magic! Who gave it to you?”
“I’d rather not say...”
Then I heard a sound of tin cans rattling around.
“Oh no!’ Sara’s voice shook with anger. “Stolen gems are one thing, but not this!”
“But Sara!”
“Not in this house! Take it out of here! Now!”
All the while, as they had their spat, I tried to find somewhere to set Elvira down. As yet, I had no experience holding infants, and the baby looked puzzled and unhappy to find my uneasy face looking down at her.
Lemuel reappeared, smiling sheepishly. “I’ve got a little something for you, Mannie.”
“Don’t give it to the boy!” Sara shouted as she reentered the room. “Throw it out!”
“But he might like it!”
“It’s against our law, Lemuel. Not in this house!”
“What is it?” I asked as I handed Elvira back to Sara. Lemuel presented two tins of soup. I knew the label at once.
“Kramer’s Kream of Asparagus Soup?”
“We are not ever to bring human manufactured food into our forests,” Sara explained.
“It’s a weakness,” Lemuel confessed. “I first had it at a tavern in the Lapland forests, and, well ...” He offered the cans to me. “Perhaps you’d take ‘em?”
“No, thank you. I don’t much care for it.” It was true. I didn’t know anyone else who liked it either.
“Where did you get them, Lemuel?” demanded Sara.
“I found ‘em,” Lem answered with a nervous glance my direction.
“You stole them, more likely,” Sara said.
“Wait a minute.” I narrowed my eyes at Lem. “These are from Sissy’s kitchen!”
“That shelf fell by accident. These two cans must have landed quite by chance in my harvest bag. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing that happened tonight, don’t you agree?”
“You may not be F.A.B.” I said, “But you do seem to be a thief.”
Lemuel’s face fell, and his voice trembled a bit as he spoke. “That I am. It’s true. I am deeply sorry, Mannie.” Lem backed away from me a step or two. “I’ve taken something that wasn’t mine to take. But, please understand what a severe temptation I faced ... I mean, soup!”
“You never eat my soup,” Sara added. “Young man, you must take these cans back to their rightful owner, with our apologies.”
“Except you really can’t say anything about us.”
“Yes, it’s best if you don’t. So, make the apology anonymous.”
Elvira began to fuss, and Sara excused herself, taking the baby into another room by way of the smaller corridor.
“We should be on our way,” I said to Lemuel. “My mother and Sissy must be home by now. I wouldn’t be surprised if they already alerted the police.”
“I have caused you trouble. Let me just go say a word or two to Sara, and we’ll be off.”
Lemuel went into the baby’s room, and I heard him briefing Sara on the events of the evening, how Trimble was lost, and Lemuel arrested, and then how Drillmast had turned traitor.
“So, you’re not really under arrest, then ...” I heard Sara say.
“Not if Drillmast is a traitor.” And they conferred like this for a minute or two, then reentered the room.
“Are you ready to go?” I said to Lemuel.
“Oh, but you haven’t had any tea,” Sara said.
“I’m really very worried about getting home.”
“Of course you are. Lemuel, get this young man safely home and hurry back.”
And then came a pounding knock at the door, followed by a muffled shout. “Lemuel! Lemuel, Sara! Please open the door!”
It was the voice of Flutterbold. Lemuel went up the corridor to the entryway and shouted back. “Winds of the North!”
“Spells of the South!” the voice at the other side called back.
“If you can’t keep a secret...” said Lemuel.
“Don’t open your mouth!” came Flutterbold’s voice. Lemuel opened the door. Flutterbold hurried in, and all but collapsed against the earthen wall.
“Sit down, Mr. Flutterbold,” said Sara. “Sit down and relax.”
“I got away. I jumped out of the wagon and ran,” Flutterbold said, between gasping breaths.
“Can you believe that traitor Drillmast!” said Lemuel.
“I am sorry, Lemuel. As I was listening to the strange magics, for a moment, I thought the traitor was you. How wrong I was.”
“Ah, yes, well...” Lemuel looked uncomfortable.
“You’re not, are you?” I said. “I mean, it seems to me you’re hiding some kind of secret.”
“Isn’t everyone?” asked Lem.
Flutterbold looked at Lemuel closely. “You can’t possibly be on the side of the F.A.B.”
“Indeed I’m not!”
“But the lad is right. Something is out of sorts with you. You’re afraid of something.”
Sara took Lemuel’s hand. “Tell them, Lemuel. Please.”
“I can’t,” he said.
“Lemuel made a bargain. It’s something he should never have done. But he’s saved poor Trimble’s life.”
“Sara!” Lemuel covered his face with his hands.
“Well, you have!”
“How can this be?” Flutterbold took Lemuel and guided him to a chair. “Come now, you’re among friends.”
Lemuel looked miserable, slouching on the chair and pulling at his beard with his hands. “I’ve got to find the passage, old friend. I made a deal with the Grim Frost.”
Flutterbold’s eyes seemed to grow twice their size in astonishment. “Lemuel, that’s worse than joining the F.A.B. That’s high treason!”
“I got a promise from him. If I were to get my hands on a certain treasure, I was told the Grim Frost would spare Trimble’s life. But, I must give it to him before the F.A.B. gets there.”
“What treasure would this be?” I said. Before I could get an answer, a great sound came from outside. It was something like a trumpet blast, but much louder; a minor chord that swelled in volume, and left the ears ringing. Then came a woman’s voice, loud and strong. It shouted “Lemuel Greenleaf!”
“Oh, I meant to tell you.” Flutterbold smiled weakly. “Mother Solstice has materialized on our island. I believe she is at your door.”
Immediately, there was another knock, loud and insistent. Lemuel pushed me into the next chamber. Sara and Flutterbold followed.
“Lemuel, what’s wrong with you?” said Sara. “This is an honor.”
“It’s a life sentence in confinement, is what it is!”
The swell of noise came again, this time accompanied by three more forceful knocks at the door. “Lemuel Greenleaf. You cannot hide from me!” The voice seemed to penetrate the wood and earth. It seemed to swirl around the room.
Little Elvira began to cry and Sara knelt and moved aside a wood panel on the floor. It exposed a ladder that extended down into a tiny cellar.
“Downstairs, Lemuel. I will talk to Mother Solstice.”
“She’ll know,” said Lem.
“I can handle her.”
Lemuel lowered himself down the ladder. He motioned for me to follow. Sara took a candle lantern from the nearby wall and handed it down.
“Be careful,” she said. We heard another hammering strike at the door. “I’d better go!” Sara nervously motioned to Flutterbold, and he began his descent into the cellar as well.
Then I heard Lemuel gasp. “Sara! What is this!?” The faint light of his candle lamp had revealed a secret. Three chocolate bars lay on a small wooden bench, still in their wrappers, bearing the very human trademark of Chidley Chocolates.
Sara gave a little shrug and a guilty laugh. “All right, so I’ve got my weaknesses too.” She quickly lowered the wooden panel, leaving Lem, Flutterbold and myself trapped in near darkness in a damp, earthy pit.