Mission: rescue and return
After breakfast, they took the rocky path back up the hillside to the forest cabins. Tad split them into pairs to practice their events. The young counselor seemed intent on splitting up their natural pairings from last year. Shy and Daniel had become fast friends last summer as they practiced their events, so they looked at each other unhappily as they split apart to be with their new partners. Shy was paired with Sawyer, and Daniel ended up with Eddie. Daniel looked particularly miserable Shy thought.
Tad was planning on rotating from group to group to make sure they understood the basics of their events. He warned them to stay together, and if they noticed anything strange to head straight back to the Hive. Tad looked around and his eyes came to rest on Shy.
“I will start out with Shy and Sawyer.”
The group broke up and Shy, Sawyer, and Tad took the path west from the Elevator to the river gorge trail, and then headed north to the path that meandered down through the cliffs to the waterfall.
The waterfall. Shy had avoided thinking about it. He needed to return to the other side of the waterfall, like he did last summer. First, if he could believe Tom T, Gust was probably still alive there… imprisoned. Imprisoned because of Shy, or so he felt. He owed it to his friend to rescue him. Gust had no other hope. It was because he had been guarding Shy that Gust had been captured to begin with.
Secondly, Shy needed to return the box. He had to. To set things right. If he did it though, he would be stuck there. That ominous thought haunted him.
His deep thoughts were interrupted when Tad pointed out the spot he had been held captive by a troll back when he was a camper there. He had told the boys the story of the entire adventure last summer. Gust had rescued him. Shy shivered as Tad then pointed to where the Troll’s giant cooking pot had sat. Shy stared in an attempt to identify if anything was hidden by the Glamour, but there was nothing there. Tad was watching him knowingly, and Shy simply shook his head. Tad nodded and they moved on.
Sawyer was surprisingly reserved. Shy thought it might be because he was separated from his best buddy Finn. Or, maybe Sawyer was reliving the night they had snuck down to the lake and encountered the fossegrimen. That wily, sneaky-tongued creature had started them on the path to treasure. In the end, however, the treasure was a box that held a recipe and, according to Tom T, a power that could control all of the seelie fairy creatures. The Forest cabin nisse claimed that Shy taking the box had launched them down the inevitable path to war. War between the fey. War that, if the unseelie acquired the box, would result in tragedy and enslavement for all of the good fairy creatures.
Shy thought about poor Tom T enslaved. He thought about Shep, his ever faithful friend. He thought about the beautiful sylphon that had rescued Shy and Portia from the horrible clutches of the huldra. He thought again about Gust. Who knew what tortures he was having to endure as a prisoner in the twisted dark forest on the fairy side of the waterfall. There was no doubt. Shy had to find a way. Mission: rescue and return.
His mind came back to the task at hand as they reached the shores of the giant pool at the bottom of the waterfall. They moved onto some large boulders at the edge of the water as Tad was explaining the concept of trout tickling to Sawyer.
“So you can climb in the water, or you can lay flat on the bank and hang your hands in. The key is you need to find a spot where a trout would likely be.” Tad said.
Sawyer was nodding and looking dubiously at the dark pool of water. The waterfall roared downward a bit north of where they were, into what Shy assumed was a deep, dark pool. It then flowed into, and formed, the river that swept down the river gorge and ended up pouring in to Lake Superior.
“It’s not that bad,” Tad tried to convince Sawyer. “It is really difficult, however. If you catch one trout, you’ll probably win the competition. I have never been able to do it, but I know Gust always could.
At the mention of his name, Shy felt the heavy watch on his wrist pull him down with guilt. If he would have just not taken the box last year, Gust would still be there with them. He had to set him free. That line of thinking only brought him back to the same circular problem: how was he going to free Gust AND return the box. He needed the box to get back to this world… to pass back through the waterfall. But, if he didn’t return it, they would just try to take someone else close to Shy for ransom. After seeing the lindworm at his school this last year, and being attacked by goblins on the way to the bus stop, Shy knew it could be done. One day he would come home from school and his mom would just not come home from work. Or, he would see a report on the news that his dad was now a missing person. He had to end it, but how?
“That’s right!” Tad encouraged Sawyer. The boy was waist deep in the pool, and moving towards a small rock ledge that was hanging low over the water. “Now, hold up. They call it noodling in the south because they put their hands in catfish holes as bait. They wiggle their fingers like noodles and try to get the fish to bite their hands…”
Shy saw an expression of alarm on Sawyer’s face. He began to back up.
“Now, just hold on,” Tad kept encouraging. “What I was getting at is, that is not how we do it for trout. They actually call it tickling for trout. Once you locate a fish, you kind of sneak up behind it. They will face into the current, so work up from downstream, slowly and gently slide your hands under the fish. With one finger gently stroke or tickle its underside. Continue doing that, and the fish should go into a kind of trance. It should allow you to gently but firmly grab it.” Tad was now breathless.
Sawyer looked over at Shy, gave him a grin and moved back up to the rock ledge. Tad squatted near him. Shy watched nothing happen. Presumably Sawyer was searching under the ledge with his hands for a fish. Shy still saw no movement since he had bent down and was underwater from the neck down. Sawyers eyebrows popped up suddenly and his facial expression twisted into one of disgust. Shy heard Tad whisper guidance to Sawyer. His face screwed tight and focused.
A minute went by. Two. Then out of the quiet a whoop erupted from the water. Sawyer held up a fine looking fish in front of his face, proudly displaying it to Shy. Shy began to clap, but the pride of success was quickly wiped from his face as the fish squirmed, slapping Sawyer in the face with its tail!
PLOP!
Sawyer stood in shock for a minute, minus one fish, while Shy and Tad practically rolled on the rocky beach with laughter.
Shortly thereafter Tad left to go find Daniel to see how his animal tracking and Eddie’s log chopping were going. Shy sat on a boulder and watched Sawyer try for another fish. He was not having any luck, and called over to Shy.
“Hey, you wanna try?”
Shy shook his head vigorously. He had no desire to be reaching into dark areas that he couldn’t see into. What he wanted to do was think. Think and plan. There had to be a way. It would be dangerous regardless of what plans he made. He remembered the flaming red horse creatures that had almost run him down last summer, when he first took the book.
“Why are you shivering?” Sawyer asked as he walked up to Shy dripping wet. “I am the one who should be cold. It might be summer, but that water isn’t warm.”
Shy watched the boy who last year had been thick and sturdy, and saw that with his wet shirt clinging to him, he had put on some pounds. He was definitely chubbier than Shy remembered. They were all twelve now, Shy thought. He remembered his mom telling him before school ended this spring that he was at the age where kids really began to grow at different rates.
“What are you thinking about?”
Sawyer wasn’t one to let someone just not talk. He was like Henry in that. He felt like silence needed to be filled up with talking. At that thought Shy smiled.
“I was just thinking about Gust.”
“You miss him? You two were kind of close”
“Yeah, well Tom T says he is still alive.”
“Yeaaaahhhh…” Sawyer drew out the last syllable, trying to get Shy to say more.
“Well… yeah nothing. I just worry about it. You know? If he is alive, what are they doing to him?”
Sawyer just looked at Shy suspiciously.
“What are you planning?”
“Nothing.” Shy answered flatly.
“C’mon Shy. We spent all last summer together. We know you better than that. We know how you rescued Daniel. What are you planning?” He repeated.
“Maybe I should try to practice my wolf howling?”
“Yeah, OK. Go ahead.” Sawyer said after a pause.
Shy turned away but could feel Sawyer’s eyes digging into his back. He knew that the chubby troublemaker was not buying into his change of topic. Still, Shy didn’t want to involve the other boys, as the plan that was starting to form in his mind would be way too dangerous. He took a deep breath, cupped his hands, and howled downriver, towards the perpetual mist that shrouded the river gorge.
“AAAAaaaa…OOOOOoooooo…ooooooo” Shy howled again, trying to change inflection and tone as he went. He carried the howl as long as he could. It faded off into nothing down the gorge.
Shy turned back to Sawyer, hoping that he had forgotten their conversation, when they both heard it. A deep wailing cry off in the distance. Shy knew that cry. After their experience in the woods, he saw recognition bloom on Sawyers face also. It was the lindworm!
Shy grabbed Sawyer’s wet shirt and shoved him towards the cleft in the cliffs where the path opened to the falls.
“Go, go, go! We need to get out of here.” Shy yelled.
***
They ran practically the entire way back to the Elevator. They breathed hard as they pulled themselves upward into what was called the Sentinel tree. The mechanical system of pulleys groaned as they moved up into the catwalks of the Forest cabins. After they stepped off the Elevator, Sawyer lowered it back down and ensured it was again hidden. Then they moved off to the Hive.
When they arrived they saw several of the other boys. Tad had moved, after checking with Daniel and Eddie, to see how Henry and Sam were doing. They were the three that had not yet returned. Since there was no Henry, the Hive was quiet as they entered.
Daniel immediately motioned Shy over. As he crossed the smooth pines floors, Shy noticed Eddie, sitting off on his own. He actually looked as though he was sleeping on a hammock. As Shy watched, however, he saw one eye open for just a second. He wasn’t sleeping, Shy thought to himself.
He grabbed an icy lemonade off the pine table as he walked across to where Daniel sat. As he balanced the extremely full glass, he wondered how Tom T was able to keep up with taking care of them and protecting the box. The nisse had looked worn out. It was just another reason to find a solution.
As he lowered himself and his drink into the bean bag next to Daniel it hit him like it had been staring him in the face all day. The Lesidhe. The ultra powerful Fey creatures that Tom T had told him about. The only ones to have ever defeated the reds. If Shy could find a way to enlist their help… but Tom T had warned him. They probably wouldn’t get involved. It was so tantalizing though. Maybe he could slip past the waterfall, rescue Gust, get back and get the Lesidhe to stop the huldra.
“Shy, are you listening?” Daniel poked him in the side.
“Sorry, I was just thinking,” Shy responded and took a drink of the lemonade. It wasn’t mixed right, he thought. Too sweet.
“I said… that turd purposely walked across a track I found!”
Shy could tell Daniel was irate. He didn’t usually get so upset so quickly. He has a long fuse, Shy’s mom would say. The tall boy had gotten taller over the last year. Shy felt like they had all grown except him. He had changed in other ways though too. It seemed to Shy like the bond they had all formed the previous summer was making them less accepting of Eddie. They didn’t want him to be a part of their group, and they just weren’t giving him a chance. Of course, Shy thought as he looked over at the fake sleeper, Eddie certainly wasn’t helping things.
All of these thoughts raced through Shy’s brain in a matter of a second or two.
“Why would he do that?” Shy replied to Daniel.
“’Cause he’s a turd.”
Daniel’s face was red. He was angry. Shy tried to lighten the mood by telling Daniel about Sawyer getting slapped in the face by a fish. By the end of the story, the two of them had the giggles and Sawyer was glaring.
Shy continued to talk with Daniel. They talked about the past school year and brought their friendship back to where it had been when they left camp the end of the last summer.
While they talked, Tad returned with Henry and Sam. The big, red-headed Sampson landed with a thud into the Hive, and a raspy laugh. Henry, on the other hand, landed lightly and rolled. He came to a stop lying on his side, resting his head on a bent arm.
“I’m baaaaack.” He announced.
Tad jumped into the Hive also and immediately went for the lemonade. Sam and Henry, however, were drawn over to where Sawyer, Ralph, and Finn, were discussing something in low tones. After a second or two of conversation, Henry looked over at Shy. The glance went unnoticed by Shy and Daniel, as they continued their conversation. It didn’t go unnoticed by all, though. Eddie saw it through slitted eyes from his reclined position on the hammock across the room. He swiped his brown hair out of his eyes and rolled onto his side. He could tell something was up, and wondered what that glance had meant.
***
Over the next few days Shy found ways to sneak off from the others. Usually they would have time to themselves after lunch. Shy would come up with some excuse to separate from the others. That is how he began his planning.
He reread his book, The Faerie, searching for any further mention of how to reach the Lesidhe. He found nothing more than what he had read previously. That didn’t stop his rescue plans. There would be time to call on the Lesidhe when he got back with Gust, he thought.
One morning after breakfast, he lingered at the Lodge. He played on the fact that the other boys had begun to notice his affection for Portia. They teased him about the tall, blond girl… about how she was taller than him, and asked if they had made out yet. Shy tried not to think about the teasing too much. They only did it back at the Hive, or when she wasn’t around. So when they saw him waiting by the Lodge door after breakfast, they poked his ribs and gave him knowing smiles, but didn’t stop. They went off to their different activities. All except Ralph.
The quiet boy waited for a minute.
“What’s up?” Shy said impatiently, as he glanced back into the Lodge at Portia. He was trying to hint to Ralph to move along.
The small boy didn’t. He took off his glasses and began to clean them on his t-shirt.
“Ralph, what do you want?” Shy became more forceful. He was going to make Shy miss his chance to sneak away. If the girls got up from the table and began to file out, he would get caught up by Claire, Portia, and the other Lake cabin girls. He really liked them all, but he had another task now that he needed to complete.
The small boy watched Shy get agitated. He kept cleaning his glasses but finally spoke.
“What are you doing Shy?”
“Wad-a-ya mean?”
“You haven’t been yourself. Something is going on. I know it. I can tell. I have been watching you, and you have been sneaking off. I remember last year. Something is up…”
“Ralph, nothing is up,” Shy began patiently. “I’m just waiting for Portia.”
“Maybe…” Ralph said as he put his glasses back on. “But I think you are planning something. I think it has something to do with the creatures… with Gust.”
Shy was shocked that Ralph was that observant. He tried his best to hide his surprise. He couldn’t change his plans now. He needed to push forward.
“Ralph, look, I am simply waiting to talk with Portia. If I plan anything else, you’ll be the first to know.”
Shy could see that the thin boy didn’t believe him. He could see a touch of hurt in the magnification of his eyes through his glasses.
To Shy’s relief, Ralph shrugged his shoulders, turned and moved off vaguely towards the north and the Forest cabins. Shy watched him go and felt some guilt at tricking his friends, but relief at finally being able to get to his task. He checked to make sure the girls were still at their table. He knew they would be. They had taken to drinking coffee after breakfast, like their counselor Mad Meg. They would sit and babble there for an hour before they went off into the day. He could see Meg’s hair bouncing up and down as she led the discussion. It was bright blue today. Shy wondered about how much hair dye she must carry around with her. She probably had a whole room of the stuff at home.
He turned and slunk off around to the east side of the Lodge. There was a lean-to built into the side of the structure of the Lodge. It was small, almost like a walk in closet. It housed much of the outdoor gear of the camp. Kayaks rested outside, and paddles, lifejackets, volleyballs, and an assortment of other outdoor gear was in there. No need to check anything out. It always got returned. Shy suspected that there must be a nisse that kept up the lodge also. Tad had once told them that there was a nisse for each of the four sets of cabins, so there must be for the Lodge too. It stood to reason.
Shy found what he was looking for on the shelf, and hanging below it. He took a flashlight, some extra batteries from the shelf, and grabbed a large section of rope that was hanging from the wall. He wasn’t sure what he would need either for, but he had seen adventurers and action heroes in the movies, as they headed off to meet their destiny. They always had a length of rope slung around their shoulder.
He peered out of the lean-to. The coast was clear. There was no one around. Then he paused. Fairy activity had seemed really quiet of late, but he should still be cautious. He glanced around again, testing to see if his sight hung up on any Glamour. If he sensed any, his glance would almost stick, like he was trying to push through clear jelly. If he held the glance he would eventually feel a pop, depending on how strong the Glamour was. Only once had he not been able to push through and feel that pop. That was with the Huldra. Her power in the Glamour was too strong.
Nothing stood out. There was no Fairy magic at work in the courtyard just then. So, he cautiously stepped out, and moved off to the north. He had one particular, seldom-used path picked out, that would lead him to where he was storing his supplies. As he moved away from the Lodge he heard a cold voice that froze him in his tracks.
“And where do you think you are going?”
Shy knew the voice, and felt caught. He turned slowly to face Morrie. The tall, pony tailed professor was standing quietly on the edge of the front porch of the Lodge. Shy had trouble looking him in the eyes. His eyes were so deep and cold, that they just felt like black pools. Shy always felt that he recognized them from somewhere. They felt evil. He felt evil. None of the boys liked him. He favored the Cave cabin boys over Shy and his friends. Even though Crutch McFarlane had never materialized at camp this year, a couple of his cronies had. That group still felt like the enemy, and Shy had little to do with them.
Professor Moriarty glared at Shy, but didn’t speak. He simply waited for an answer.
“I was just going to make a rope swing for our cabins,” Shy lied.
Morrie continued to glare. Shy squirmed.
Just then Clancy walked up next to Morrie.
“Have fun Shy!” She said warmly.
Morrie slowly turned his head to look at her. She blinked, and seemingly stood up slightly straighter. It almost seemed to Shy like she went into a trance. Gone was the comfortable camp leader. In her place was an automaton, a robot that was cold and unfeeling. Shy couldn’t take his eyes off the transformation that had happened so quickly.
“Make sure you bring the equipment back before dinner.” She blurted out uncomfortably. “You should not be out past dark!”
The last word hung in the air as she jerkily turned and walked away. The abruptness of it all had left Shy in shock. Morrie coughed. Shy looked up and made eye contact with the cold, dark eyes. He quickly backed away, and stumbled as he turned.
“Beware of the dangers of the forest!” Morrie’s tinny voice rang out.
Shy began to run.
***
As he climbed north, towards the east side of the Forest cabin territory, to where he had hidden the rest of his stash, Shy was still trying to puzzle through what he had seen. It almost seemed like when his Dad had brought him to see a hypnotist a couple of years ago. Clancy had been nice. Friendly. She had always been strict, but she did it in a warm way. Like a mom does, Shy thought. Then, with one slight glance from Morrie, she had lost all warmth. He felt like it was important, but maybe he had just imagined it, Shy thought.
He looked uphill, and tried to put it out of his mind again.
He was heading to the magic rope that they had found last year. It was hidden by Glamour, but when one pulled on it, it would lift you up into the Forest cabin skyways. It was one of the hidden entrances. He hadn’t seen any of the other boys near there yet this summer, so when he had begun looking for a hiding place a week ago, he had started here, on the far eastern side of the Forest cabins. Eventually, he had found a ladder to a high perch. It was a platform similar to the Crow’s Nest at the top of the Sentinel. The difference was, this ladder and platform were hidden by the Glamour. He suspected it was one of the places Tom T would hide out, to watch for enemies, and guard their Forest cabins. Regardless, it was a perfect location for him to store his supplies. The others would never find it.
He approached the clearing that held the magic rope on its north end. He was tired from the climb up the mountainside from the Lodge, so he stopped just prior to exiting the forest into the clearing, and leaned against a giant pine to catch his breath.
A mosquito had gotten his ankle the previous night in his sleep. He bent, while he rested, to review the damage he had caused by scratching it the entire hike up the mountainside.
Whhhuummmph!
He heard and felt the air disturbance. He craned his neck while he remained bent over. His peripheral vision popped, and he saw the arrow quivering where his head had been. Red and sleek.
He dropped to the ground. REDS! They were here. He had seen those arrows at the Mall of America this spring.
Frantically he peered through the ferns on the north edge of the forest, into the field. The arrow had come from that direction. He saw nothing, but they would already be moving. He knew that. He had to make it to the rope, and the Forest cabins. It was his only hope. Tom T could protect him there… he hoped.
He forced himself to think. They would circle him, he thought, approaching from the sides, through the forest. His best hope was straight ahead, through the meadow. They wouldn’t expect that because there was no cover. His mind stuck on that fact… there was no cover!
Precious seconds ticked off. He wished he was near water. He wished he had his water gun. It was in his stash. More precious time slipped away. He had to make a run for it. In the middle of the meadow was a boulder pile. He decided he would make for that. Just as he was going to jump up and run he saw movement on the far side of the meadow. It was Daniel. He was waving and walking towards the boulders. Then, Sawyer and Finn appeared from the east side, also walking into the middle of the field.
Had they seen? What were they doing? Shy was confused, and chose to wait.
Suddenly his tense attention was broken by the crack of a twig behind him. He rolled quickly to one side to avoid the attack he was sure was coming. He saw a flash of red, and then it was on him… reaching, grabbing for his face!
A hand covered his mouth, and he could feel warm breath on his ear. They were going to eat him! Shy fought to get away.
“Shy! It’s me! Sam!” Came the urgent whisper in his ear.
The words did not fit. They did not make sense, and couldn’t penetrate Shy’s desire to survive.
“Shy stop!”
Suddenly the raspy voice clicked into Shy’s memory. He stopped fighting.
The hand released from his mouth and he breathed deeply.
“You fight like a madman.” Sam was also breathing heavily.
“What are you doing here?”
“Ralph came to get us. Said you were acting weird. We followed you. We saw those red-hatted things with the arrows. We are gonna get you outta here… Daniel’s got a plan.”
“Wait… how did you…”
He held up his hand to Shy’s questions. Shy noticed he was wearing a bright red shirt.
“We’ll talk after. No time now. Daniel said we need to get you to the magic rope and into the cabins.”
“How did you know? Can you see the arrow?” Shy couldn’t help but ask the question. He pointed up at the arrow.
Sam looked up, smiled, and nodded. It was one of the few times Shy had seen the fierce red-headed boy smile openly.
“We’ll explain later,” was all he would say. He squirmed past Shy in the ferns and watched the three boys who had now met at the boulders.
Ralph and Henry were now out in the open, moving towards the others. The only boy who was conspicuously absent was Eddie.
When the last two arrived, they gathered in a tight group. They lifted their heads to the sky and, to Shy’s amazement, began to howl like a pack of wolves.
Shy raised his eyebrows and looked at Sam. The boy just held a finger to his lips.
As they watched, the boys by the boulders moved into a circle, facing outward, and continued to howl. They were searching with their eyes, heads on a swivel. Searching the edge of the forest… scanning.
Suddenly Daniel whooped loudly. He hopped right back into the howling chorus, but was now pointing to the west side of the forest edge.
Finn followed suit but ended pointing east.
Then it was Henry’s turn. Shy swore he heard Henry yell, “GOTCHA!” before he too returned to his howling. Henry was pointing very close to Shy and Sam’s position.
Sam’s eyes were open wide and looking to the side that Henry was pointing at.
“They are pointing at where the Reds are! They have spotted all three. Watch out for arrows from those directions. We gotta go… NOW!” He yelled.
He pulled Shy up and shoved him in front. The big red-headed boy stayed between Shy and the location that Henry continued to point. Shy looked to where Finn was pointing, and saw a dark red hat slide out from behind a tree, followed by its bow. The arrow was already nocked. Shy saw him release. He dropped to the ground and pulled Sam with him. They felt the arrow whizz overhead. Shy popped up and began running again. He could hear Sam’s heavy breathing behind him.
Shy glanced right. The red had dropped from sight. He leapt a small boulder. They were getting close to the still howling group. He glanced left, to the west, where Daniel continued to point. At first he saw nothing, then he caught movement in the low branches of a pine. The red of its cap was clearly visible, but the remainder of its drab clothes and skin blended well with dark grays of the tree trunk and branches. It was drawing back the strings of its bow, when it paused and tilted its ear upward.
Shy caught the hint of a sound in the summer air. A long mournful wail, faintly coming from the east. The lindworm! They were calling the lindworm, Shy realized.
The delay had been just enough. Sam and Shy reached the group and they all ducked in amongst the giant boulders. They were halfway there. An expanse still remained between the group of boys and the magic rope.
“As soon as that thing appears, we run for it!” Daniel yelled. The others continued to howl. Shy nodded.
Over the treetop horizon, to the west, Shy saw the lindworm. It’s scissor-like maw stretched open wide in a vicious scream. Shy shivered, inadvertently remembering being caught in the long talons last summer. He looked at Daniel. The tall, dark-haired boy had assumed his familiar leadership role. He winked and smiled at Shy as if to say, hey, no worries.
He turned to the others and said, “OK, like we talked about. Stay around Shy, and stay low. If it swoops at you drop flat to the ground. Hopefully it will interfere with any possible arrow shots. Hands in.”
Six fists touched together, and Shy felt extremely humbled. They were doing this for him. To save him. He shoved his fist in.
Daniel jumped out first and pulled Shy behind him. The others closed around Shy as they ran. The howling stopped as they ran, but the lindworm had heard them and could sense their movement. It closed swiftly. Shy thought no more of the Reds. It was the dragon-like creature swooping at them that now occupied all his thoughts.
They had to split up. Several of the boys would end up dropping into the cover of wildflowers every dive that the beast made. The others would continue to run.
At one point Shy stole a glance upward as he landed on the meadow floor. He saw arrows. They bounced off the scaly surface of the lindworm’s body as it swooped! It was inadvertently blocking the arrows! A split second after he felt the rush of air from the beast when it passed, he popped up and ran again. He did so mechanically, powered by the rush of adrenaline. Somewhere in the back of his mind, though, he wondered if Daniel had known that the flying beast would prevent the arrows from getting through.
The result of their diving away from the dragon-like talons, while others ran ahead, was that the boys reached the magic rope two at a time. Daniel and Shy were first. They both grasped the rope and pulled. The rope handily zipped them two at a time, up into the pines.
They found a stern and agitated Tom T waiting for them at the top. He jumped with his gnarled staff onto the rope and was transported down to the scene below. As the rest of the boys reached the rope, the diminutive Tom T stood guard, spinning his staff. Shy thought it was some sort of weird show, until Daniel pointed out that the nisse was knocking red arrows out of the air.
Shy raised his eyebrows yet again in amazement over the drab little nisse. When he looked close, he could see a pile of arrows at Tom T’s feet! Then he saw a shadow block out the sun, followed by a keening wail that pierced their hearing. They looked up in time to see the lindworm dive at the nisse.
“Tom… LOOK OUT!” Shy yelled.
The nisse was fast. He tossed his staff and flipped backwards out of the way of the diving lindworm. The staff continued to spin, and he caught it on its way down, as he rode the magic rope upwards.
When the nisse reached the platform, he sat down and looked at the boys. They looked around at each other. They could still hear the lindworm as it screeched into the west. Evidently the appearance of Tom T had been enough for it to give up on its targets.
No one said anything until Henry pointed and exclaimed, “Ralph!”
They looked at the thin boy. He had a red arrow sticking out from the back of his arm. His white t-shirt was stained red, and it was spreading.
The nisse hissed loudly and hopped up.
The sight of the bloody arrow reminded the boys of the danger from the reds. They gathered around Ralph, but their eyes continued to search the trees and ground for any sign of red.
The nisse worked fast but efficiently. He drew out some small purple leaves from some hidden crevice of his rag-like clothes. He crushed them quickly and mixed them with what Shy though might have been tree sap. Smoothly the nisse brushed the concoction around where the arrow had pierced flesh. Ralph did not say much, but gamely clenched his teeth and grimaced as Tom T worked the arrow out. Shy reflected on how the small, quiet boy reacted. He was tougher than everyone suspected, Shy thought to himself.
Tom threw the arrow down to the forest floor from their perch, and now mixed up some other herbs from his pouch. He swabbed the back of Ralph’s arm with the new concoction. His patient let out an audible sigh of relief.
The boys sat and looked at each other and their surroundings without talking. No more arrows had appeared and they began to relax.
Suddenly a thought came back to Shy.
“How were you able to see the arrows?” Shy asked the group. Then, before they could answer, he continued, “And the lindworm? You were able to see that too! How?”
The boys started smiling and looked at each other proudly. After a few seconds of the smiling, Shy was unable to keep the dumbfounded look on his face. He began to share their smiles.
“Come on guys! Tell me!” He said as Henry started to giggle.
Soon, as their adrenaline washed away, all the boys began to break into fits of giggling, and Shy found himself joining in.
“What is so funny?” He demanded as he laughed.
He felt, rather than heard, Tom T stir behind him. Shy turned and the Nisse began to back away.
“Shylock, they have used the recipe. Now, you are all in danger.”
“What recipe?” Shy was confused by the serious tone of the nisse.
Then, the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He drifted quickly back to a year ago. He had returned triumphant from the other side of the waterfall. He had gotten the treasure… but, it was just a box, with a mysterious recipe inside. Tom T had said that the box held some kind of power, besides the recipe. Power to enslave all the seelie fairy folk if it fell into unseelie hands. Shy had not given the recipe much thought from that point on. What was it again, he thought.
Henry could hold it in no longer… he began reciting from memory,
“Beneath the seen lies many a danger
Beauty uncovered holds hidden device
To play in the garden safely
The wise will always look twice.
Take the beauty of the petals of the butterwort plant
Steep with water not yet soiled.
Mix in sap from an elder pine
Wipe the lids of unseeing eyes
To uncover that which is hidden.”
Shy stared. They had used the recipe. He thought through the words… beneath the seen… uncover that which is hidden. He should have guessed it was a recipe for seeing through the magic of the Glamour.
Tom T stirred behind Shy and began shooing them onto the pathways that led back to the heart of the forest cabins and the Hive.
“Go, young ones,” the brown hairy little creature said as he herded them. “A red arrow can still pierce my protections. You are not completely safe here. Go find Thaddeus and tell him what you have all done.” His voice was heavy with resignation. “Tell him and master Shylock how you have all moved us toward war.”
Shy glanced at the nisse. He was brought back to his purpose with that one word… war. He needed to rescue Gust, and then find a way to return the box. He remembered one other thing. He had left the rope and batteries at the edge of the clearing, where the first arrow had almost hit him. He made a mental note to go back and get those supplies. They could come in handy when he finally set out.
***
They traveled over rope bridges, pathways made from planks, and even swung across empty air between the pines. Daniel had the lead.
Once they had moved out of sight of Tom T, Daniel stopped them and like a quarterback calling a huddle, he pulled them together.
“Shy, Eddie is a spy! We have watched him spying on you, and then going right to Morrie!”
Shy looked at them all. He felt like they wanted him to condemn the new boy, and maybe he deserved it, because there sure seemed to be something evil about Morrie. Instead, Shy said, “So, you were all spying on him, spying on me?”
It obviously wasn’t the reaction the boys had been looking for. They all looked at each other. Daniel had a look on his face like he had just bitten into something sour.
Henry, of course, was the first to speak up. He said, “Shy that little rat is in with Morrie. There is something wrong there… he is just not right… aaaannnd he hates us!”
There was a chorus of agreement in the murmurs from the other boys.
“Look Shy,” Daniel began again, “he was there, watching those nasty little red-hatted gnomes attack you. He didn’t help.”
“Did you let him use the recipe? Could he even see the reds?” Shy fired back. He wasn’t sure why he was defending the boy, but it just seemed unfair.
Again, the boys all looked at each other. No one answered.
“How could he have helped me if he couldn’t see like you guys? The Glamour would have hidden it all from him. He probably thought we were all nuts.” Shy added.
Daniel straightened up from the huddle. “Shy, all I am saying is I don’t want us to go back to the Hive and tell you our story because I don’t want him to overhear. I don’t trust him, and there is something wrong with how he runs to Morrie constantly. He is ratting us out somehow. Let’s go up to my cabin. The Eagle. He won’t be able to overhear us there.”
“What about Tad? Should we let him in on this?” Shy asked.
“Not just yet. After we talk… OK?”
Shy nodded his assent. Daniel smiled, and changed their course, heading more toward the north edge of the Forest cabins.
***
One thing Eddie had done well in his time at camp was get to know every inch of the pathways in the forest canopy. He was confident he knew them better than any of the other boys, with the exception of those creepy hidden entrances that Shy seemed to keep coming up with. The one they used today shot them up into the air like a rocket. It had almost looked like they were hanging onto an invisible tow rope, like he had seen at the bunny hill when he had been skiing.
When the other boys ran into the meadow and started howling, Eddie had run. He remembered the fear when that invisible flying thing - what had Shy called it? Lindworm, that was it – had attacked them in the woods after Shy had howled. He wasn’t sticking around for that again!
Still, they had been acting weird, even beyond the howling. He had gotten back into the Forest cabins and headed back in the direction of the howling, finally climbing a tall pine that had precariously placed small climbing rungs on the outside of the tree. He was pretty sure this was one spot the other boys had never discovered. It carried him high above the other pathways. He had a clear view of the surrounding area from there. He watched the boys tear across the meadow, alternating between diving on the ground and popping up and running. He watched them fly into the trees two by two. He knew something was going on that he could not see.
He lay flat on his high perch and hung his head over the edge of the platform and waited. It was not too long before the boys came into his view. Eddie smiled as they stopped just under his perch and began to huddle and talk. Many things began to make sense. Evidently, there was some potion, recipe they called it, that could make him able to see what they claimed to see. All the monsters, the magic entrances, everything. Eddie was skeptical, but he knew one way to resolve his skepticism. He needed to get that potion.
He was surprised about two other things he overheard. First, Shy defended him in the face of all those boys. Shy pointed out how they were not seeing the whole Eddie. He was beginning to like Shy more and more. Secondly, he was surprised by the boys’ obvious hatred of Morrie. Even Shy seemed to agree. Maybe he needed to re-evaluate his friendship with Moriarty. He was always nice to Eddie, and welcoming. Especially when Eddie brought him tales of what the boys had been doing. Morrie would always ask about the box that Shy had hidden. In fact, the camp leader was always especially interested in what Shy was doing. Now, Eddie felt bad for telling him so much about Shy. Shy was his one defender amongst the boys.
As he watched the seven boys troop out of sight, towards the north, he began to lay his plans to get some of that recipe.