by Liara Woo
"Keep to the shadows," she whispered after bending down and slipping her feet into her hiking boots, trying to distract herself from her doubts. Cami nodded and followed her as they sidled along the edge of the cabin as slowly as possible until they were out of sight from Mrs. Sorenson's quarters. Then they left the wall and stealthily headed away from the camp.
They remained tense until the cabins were all out of sight, blocked by a mixture of aspen families and a thicket of pines. Katie let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and struck a bolder path, following her instincts towards an equine presence.
The moon was straight above them, casting a magical, silvery light on the tall grass; the round leaves and pale bark of the aspens; the thin needles and rough skin of the pines.
After a while they reached a huge clearing, so vast that in all directions the trees were a thin line in the distance. "Wait here," Katie whispered, walking out from the cover of the trees. Exposed without their shadows, she felt slightly nervous and intimidated…and alone. Uneasiness settled in her stomach, making the hairs on her arms rise. It's okay. I'm not really alone. Cami's right behind me. A small breeze blew, lifting the hair from her shoulders and coating her arms in goose bumps. She closed her eyes and exhaled, letting the wind wash over her. Then she opened her mouth and yelled, "If there are any wild horses, spirits of the wind, let them come!"
At first there was no reaction. But after a few seconds, an answering call could be heard, carried across the wind. "I come to you!"
Katie listened closely and noted that the speaker was a male—adult, by the sound of it. She waited, and in time she felt slight vibrations shake the ground. Then it was only a few moments before she heard the hoof-beats, the sounds of a thundering gallop. Soon she saw him: a medium-sized dark bay. His long, tangled forelock hung over his eyes. He had a ragged brown coat with a matted mane and tail so black that they were almost blue. He slowed to a trot as he neared her and circled her once before slowing and stopping. She felt his warm breath on her face as his wise brown eyes met hers.
"I have heard of your coming from the owls," he said solemnly. "I see that their words were true. You are indeed a queen of the wilderness. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"Thanks for answering me," Katie responded, her words accompanied by a now-familiar sense of awe and wonder sending shivers up her spine. "Are you the only wild horse around here?"
The beast tossed his head, shaking his mane. "There are others. We prefer how to stay hidden." Suddenly he reared back on his hind legs; Katie yelped and backed away. "Run to me, Herd of the White Mountains!"
Again she felt the thundering of hooves shaking the ground, and moments later a stream of horses cantered from the same direction as the bay. Palominos, roans, and buckskins, shaking their manes and tossing their tails, pummeling the ground with powerful hooves. They, too, circled her and then moved in an undulating motion to gather around their leader.
"Darktail, come forward," the bay called out. Several horses parted, and Katie saw a beautiful buckskin stallion walk forward. He had dark spots around his eyes and nose, and black stockings on all four of his legs. The bay continued, "This is my son. Since he has reached adulthood, he is now a challenger and cannot be allowed to stay with my herd. Rather than fight for herd leadership, we decided that if another solution presented itself, we would take it."
"I would like to be your companion," Darktail said. "It would be an honor to carry you on my back."
Katie stroked his silky nose, smiling at the touch of his long whiskers. "Thank you," she replied. Then she remembered Cami. She looked back and saw her friend still standing at the edge of the clearing. "Hey, Cami, come here!" she exclaimed. Turning back to the horses, she said, "This is my friend. She admires and respects horses and would like to meet you."
"Very well," the bay responded. "A friend of yours is our friend as well. Pardon my manners; I forgot to introduce myself. I am Blackmane."
"I'm Katie, and this is Cami," she replied. As Cami neared the herd her mouth was hanging open, and she had an amazed expression on her face. She reached out hesitantly to touch Blackmane's muzzle. The bay nudged her hand and rubbed her shoulder with his nose, and Cami grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck. Darktail laughed as his father lowered his head over her shoulder, appearing to hug her back. Katie smiled. Then she looked up at the moon. It wasn't as high as it had been.
"Time to go, Cami," she whispered gently. To Blackmane, she said, "We must leave now."
"My son and I will carry you until your campsite is in view," the bay volunteered.
Katie blinked, slightly stunned by his generosity. "Do you know where it is?"
Blackmane seemed to smile. "I know everything that goes on in this forest, my lady. Please, give us the honor of carrying you back."
"We will. Thanks," Katie replied as she turned to Cami. "We get to ride them back. Ready?"
Cami's face lit up with joy, and Katie suspected she might jump and clap her hands. She helped Cami climb up onto Blackmane. Then she swung easily onto Darktail's back, even without a mounting block or stirrups. The two horses burst into a jarring, yet swift, canter. They reentered the woods, racing past the pines, dodging bushes and stumps and fallen, rotting logs. Darktail's muscles tensed as he leaped over a log that Blackmane dodged, and Katie tightened her grip on the buckskin horse's mane, her red hair streaming out behind her. As magical as the night was when she'd been walking with Cami, riding on the back of a stallion and feeling as light as a feather as he sprinted through the semi-darkness was another thing entirely. Darktail seemed as fast as the wind; Katie felt as if she were flying as she clung to his back. She never wanted the ride to end; too soon the two horses came to a gradual stop, and Katie could see the cabins in the distance if she squinted.
"This is as far as I will take you," Blackmane said quietly.
"Wait," Cami asked breathlessly. "Why have we stopped?"
"We've reached the camp. Trust me; it's there, even if you can't see it," Katie assured her friend. Her heart was pounding from the wild ride.
"This is where I leave you," Blackmane nickered. "My son will wait for further instruction."
The girls dismounted. The ground felt wobbly and unsteady under Katie's feet. Blackmane galloped away with his head held high. Darktail looked down at Katie with somber eyes.
"What would you have me do, my lady?" His deep voice was kind and gentle.
"I'm your friend, not your master," Katie insisted. "But for now, I'd be grateful if you'd just stay here in the woods."
"Yes—er—Katie. And when you call, I shall come."
"Thanks, Darktail. See you later," she responded.
"Farewell," he neighed softly. Katie took Cami by the hand, and they crept back to the camp. They stole through the forest without a sound, and no one ever knew that they had left camp.
Outcast
Outcast
Halthren continued to delve into his memories, his thoughts turning to less hopeful instances as the Darkness surrounding him sapped his resolve.
His first day of schooling, barely a month after he'd been cursed…
"Hi," he managed, smiling shyly at the young male elf sitting beside him. "I—I'm Halthren. Who're you?"
"Delinar," the boy answered, grinning. "Are you new to these woods?"
Halthren nodded, biting his lip. "I—I got here a month or so ago," he answered.
He remembered with dread the question that had followed: "What do you like to do?"
And his weak response: "I like to read legends and prophecies."
Then Delinar had laughed, and Halthren had felt warmth creep into his cheeks in shame. He looked at his toes, biting his lip.
No one had taken him seriously. Most laughed, like Delinar, assuming that he was only joking. Others accused him of immaturity to believe in such childish fantasies.
"The Great Elves are just a myth," Myrella informed him, her voice pitying and condescending.
"No,
they're not!" Halthren exclaimed desperately. "How else do you explain—"
But she was already gone.
A month later, after a brief attempt to befriend someone else, he was again shunned. "You actually believe in the Dream Kingdom?" Shieldon asked, an eyebrow raised uncertainly.
"Of course! Nashgor created it, and we could get sent there if—"
Shieldon shook his head. "It's just a story meant to frighten children," he denied, walking away.
His next attempt was also met with failure. "The Great Elves were real, Dune! I promise! They were killed by unicorns!"
Dune snorted. "That's funny, Halthren!" He paused, taking in the boy's desperate face. "Wait—you weren't joking? You actually believe in unicorns?"
"Y-yes," Halthren answered haltingly, his cheeks burning again. Dune shook his head and walked away.
It wasn't long before everyone knew of his obsession, and soon they'd even coined a nickname for him: Legendheart. The title followed him wherever he went, along with shame and loneliness. Joran and Nelaara were his only comforts.
"Tell me another story," Joran always begged, his blue-green eyes wide with eagerness. With the squeaky voice and chubby, pouting face typical of most twenty-five year olds, Halthren could never refuse. Joran always fell asleep to tales of magic, unicorns, and Great Elves.
Nelaara encouraged his belief in the legends. "Many are losing faith in the old stories," she admitted sadly at his bedside, spooning warm soup into his mouth after he'd contracted a nasty cold. "But this is not as it should be. The Darkness wants us to give up on the prophecies and legends, because if we do, the stars will withdraw their help from us. And we need it now more than ever. So never stop believing, whatever you do."
Halthren took those words to heart, clinging to them whenever he felt the empty, hollow ache of loneliness settle into his stomach as he watched yet another classmate turn away from him.
As he grew older, he learned to hide his belief from others, keeping it buried deep down in his heart where others would never find it. In doing so, he finally managed to befriend his peers, and as the years passed, most of them forgot about the obsession he'd had when he was younger. But Joran and Nelaara knew that, though he no longer wore it for all to see, he had never lost faith in the Great Elves and their prophecies.
The Elf
The Elf
Katie was sore and exhausted when she woke up. The hike she'd taken last night had gone farther than she'd realized. But looking outside through her window, she could see her new horse if she looked really closely.
Where will I keep him? she wondered. I don't think Mom and Dad would want me to take a horse home… but I don't want to just leave him here…
She shrugged to herself. There was nothing she could do about it now; she might as well not worry. So instead she lay in the silence for a while, yawning, until suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Wake up, girls! We're going canoeing today," Mrs. Sorenson called, her cheery voice slightly muffled by the wood. A moment later she entered the cabin, her blue eyes sparkling. Her brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she wore a hat, t-shirt, and jeans. "Put on your swimsuits, and make sure you use sunscreen."
She walked around the cabin, making sure that all eight girls were awake before she left. Katie sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She changed into her one-piece bathing suit and pulled on a pair of shorts over it. Then she squirted sunscreen into her palm and rubbed it over every inch of exposed skin. SPF 100, she read on the label of the sunscreen bottle. Good. I burn easily. She tied her hair up in a ponytail and stuck a hat on her head. Convinced she hadn't forgotten anything, she left the cabin and waited outside for Cami.
"Good morning," she said as the little blond girl walked out, smiling.
"Hi, Katie! Canoeing today… I can't wait!"
Katie nodded. "I went canoeing once with my dad. It was pretty fun. We met a few birds who alighted on my oar. I didn't even call them. They just came."
"So does your dad know, then? About your talent?"
"No. The birds were talking to me, so I just nodded as subtly as I could until they all left. I hope I wasn't being too rude."
Cami laughed. "If you were, they probably didn't realize it. Birds aren't that smart."
"Most of them aren't," Katie grinned. "But ravens, hawks, and eagles are more intelligent. And vultures… I can't stand them; they're such know-it-alls. And they're so ugly!" She shuddered as Cami nodded in agreement. Then she noticed a familiar red-tailed hawk perched in a conifer tree. "Drorin!" she exclaimed.
"What?" Cami asked.
"The friend of mine I told you about—he's a red-tailed hawk," she explained. Drorin met her gaze, and she raised her arm invitingly as a perch. He shook his head, and then his shoulders slumped and he soared over to her, landing on the roof of the cabin. Once settled, he jerked his head towards the back of the cabin.
"What's he doing?" Cami asked excitedly.
"I think he wants to talk to me. We need to go to the back of the cabin. That way no one will see us," Katie explained as she started to walk around the cabin.
When they reached the patch of shadow cast by the log cabin, Drorin fluttered down and landed on Katie's shoulder. "The source! The source! I've pinpointed the source! The source of the magic, the source of the feeling!" he sang excitedly. "The lake! The lake! Near the shore, in the shallows. He comes tonight! He comes tonight!"
"Tonight is the night of the full moon and the solstice, remember? That's all it is," Katie reasoned, refusing to believe his crazy story. Drorin hissed in annoyance and flew off.
Yet…despite not wanting to believe him…Katie felt different today. The tingling was growing more pronounced, and she was also more excited than she'd ever been before. Perhaps something was arriving in the lake tonight…
No. Am I crazy? This kind of thing doesn't happen in real life.
Neither does talking to animals.
"Are you okay?" Cami asked in a concerned voice.
"Yeah…yeah…I'm fine," she said in what she hoped was a carefree voice. "Crazy bird." She shrugged off her worries and went around to the sunny side of the cabin.
Breakfast was held in the center of the horseshoe, where picnic tables and a campfire had been set up. The food had been placed on the longest table, and there was already a line of girls walking along it, filling their plates. Katie and Cami raced to the end of the line, eager to get their breakfast before all of the good stuff was gone. They ended up getting scrambled eggs, bacon, a doughnut and glass of orange juice each before sitting down at the nearest table to eat.
When everyone was seated, Mrs. Sorenson blew shrilly on a whistle. Everyone fell silent and turned to look at her.
"Good morning, girls! Today we have two main activities: canoeing and archery. Cabins one through four have archery first, and five through eight will be canoeing. Stations last until noon, when we will all gather to eat lunch here. Then we switch, and we will go to three o'clock. When we're all finished with breakfast, canoers meet me at the lakeshore and archers stay here."
Katie checked her watch. It was ten minutes until eight o'clock. "Sweet! We get four hours of canoeing!"
Cami grinned. Quickly they wolfed down the remainder of their breakfast. Then they threw their plates, forks, and cups in a garbage bag hanging on a tree. Together they walked along a narrow trail that crossed a road before it reached the shore. The girls sat on rocks beside the lake, waiting for Mrs. Sorenson to arrive. The canoes were all drawn up to the shore and there was a pile of paddles and life jackets nearby. Several girls were already putting them on, tightening the straps.
"Think we should put them on?" Cami asked, nodding in their direction.
"Sure," Katie responded with a shrug. They walked over to the pile of lifejackets, selecting a pair and trying them on, tightening the straps until they fit and giggling about how they looked. Mrs. Sorenson joined them and beamed.
"Well done, girls. Let me tell you how to canoe. First
ly, getting in. The person who will be in the front sits on the prow and holds the canoe steady while the other two get in by crouching in the boat and going to their seat. When everyone is settled, you stick your paddle in the lake bottom and push away. When you're clear of the shore, paddle right to go left, and left to go right. Everyone clear?"
There was a general murmur of assent and the girls began climbing into canoes. Katie held the canoe in place with her thighs as Cami and another girl named Emma clambered inside. Then Katie took her place, and they pushed the canoe away from the shore with the paddles. She could hear the bottom of it scrape against the rocks, and then they were clear.