At night, he had tested the locks on the cage, but they were built well. He couldn’t break free and now depression was setting in. He wondered how long it would be before his spirits were completely broken. He looked across the way to two other cages; one that was inhabited by what he thought was a tiger. It was hard to be sure in the zoo. Every animal was broken and different than they had been in the wild. That is why the customers of the zoo were all disappointed, all they were really seeing were shadows; shells. The other cage that Eveneye could see housed a young fox. Eveneye knew it was young because it still cried for its mother in the night. The crying broke Eveneye’s heart, but there was little he could do. He tried to talk to the fox.
“What’s your name, little one?”
“I’m Brya. Have you seen my family?”
“No. I’m afraid I haven’t.”
“They’re gonna be mad at me when they find out I got lost again.”
“Don’t worry, Brya. We’ll get you back to them. I promise they won’t be mad at you.”
Lies, thought Eveneye, but he needs to keep his spirits up.
Eveneye had one dish of water and one dish of food that were on the floor of his cage. A young, awkward man replenished the food and water once per night. He was the only caregiver Eveneye ever saw, if he could be called that. The young, spindly man was very nervous. Eveneye wondered what had brought him to this place. He did not seem happy to be tending to the animals. Maybe he was trapped like they were.
Days were blurring together for Eveneye. He slept at odd times, his body finding no more interesting thing to do. The days were hot and caused him to be more awake during the night.
A boy threw a rock at his cage, and he startled awake. The boy’s mother grabbed him by the ear and began yelling at him viciously. She called him names and embarrassed him. No wonder the boy threw rocks when he gets the chance. Eveneye closed his eyes and drifted away.
•••
It was night again when Eveneye woke. All the people had gone and it was silent. Eveneye’s stomach grumbled. It must be close to feeding time. Soon, Eveneye heard the young man who fed him walking toward the cage with his pail of water in one hand and his pail of half rotten fish in the other. Food was always half rotten fish; variety was obviously a luxury of the free.
At first, Eveneye hadn’t been able to stomach the fish. He had turned it down, knocking it outside of his cage. However, after not eating for days, he eventually learned to appreciate anything as a welcome alternative to starvation. The young man had a hook in which he used to grab Eveneye’s dishes and pull them through a slot in the steel bars. He would fill the dishes with water and fish and nervously slide them back through the slot.
This boy must be the same age as Evercloud, thought Eveneye. How different they look. Eveneye tried to imagine what Evercloud might look like as such a nervous and frightened young man. The thought bothered him. A young creature should not be so terrified.
“Why are you frightened of me, boy?”
The young man dropped his pails, wide-eyed, and took two steps back from Eveneye’s cage. He paused for a moment, as if he was going to respond, but then he ran.
“That was stupid,” said the tiger from across the way.
Eveneye grumbled and turned to the back of his cage. What does it matter? I’m going to rot in this cage one way or another, thought Eveneye. Might as well talk to somebody.
•••
The day went by very much the same as every day had since Eveneye’s arrival in the zoo. The minutes and hours were filled with unfamiliar faces, cruel voices, complaining children and the utter feeling of hopelessness. Time passed as slowly as it possibly could. Eveneye wondered if it wouldn’t be worth it to cause a scene. Then he remembered the darts. The men had shot the tiger with some sort of poisoned darts on one particular night when the tiger had caused a scene. The darts put the tiger to sleep and he woke up hours later. That must be how they caught me, Eveneye had thought.
Night came again and so did the young man with his pails. Apparently, the boy was far more afraid of not doing his job than he was of Eveneye. This time, Eveneye decided to wait for the young man to finish filling his dishes before he decided to speak. Another day without food and water wasn’t something he wanted to experience. Eveneye waited patiently, and as soon as his dishes were full and pushed back through the slot in his cage, he decided to test his luck.
“Could I have fresher fish tomorrow night, please. These fish are getting harder to swallow.”
Again, the young man dropped his pails, but this time, he did not run. Instead, he looked directly at Eveneye.
“So what are you, some sort of wizard or something?”
“Wizard?” replied Eveneye. “I’m a bear, can’t you see?”
“Fine, don’t tell me,” said the young man. “But if you are a wizard, would you do me a favor and make me disappear?”
Eveneye looked the young man over. He had lost his nervousness and he didn’t seem to be joking.
“Is that why you came back out here tonight? So the wizard would make you disappear?”
“No,” said the young man. “I came back out here because Lazarus will kill me if he knew I wasn’t feeding the animals.”
“Who’s Lazarus?” asked Eveneye.
“Lazarus runs this place. He’s the reason that you’re in there.” The young man shuffled his feet and put his hands into his pockets. “He’s not the kind of guy you disobey and get away with it.”
“So why don’t you resign from your job and leave?”
The boy laughed. “I can’t resign. I didn’t choose this life.” The boy shook his head. “You’re not the only one living in a cage.”
“What’s your name?”
“Catch.”
“What kind of name is Catch?”
“Catch is the name Lazarus and his men gave me when they grew tired of calling me boy. When it was mealtime they would throw an old hunk of bread or an apple at me and say ‘catch.’ I guess it kind of stuck after a while.”
“What were you called before Lazarus?”
“I don’t remember back that far. I’ve been the property of Lazarus for as long as I can remember.”
Eveneye realized that the young man in front of him was more of a slave than any animal in the cages around him. The human didn’t even have a memory of a free life. How could Eveneye forsake hope when this young man was still going? It was time for action. Eveneye was far too proud to allow this to be his end.
“Well, Catch, it is truly a pleasure to meet you. My name is Eveneye and I’m just a bear. Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Eveneye? And you thought Catch was a strange name?” the young man laughed. “Seriously though, you really expect me to believe that you’re a talking bear?”
“All animals can talk, Catch. They just choose not to speak to humans because humans tend to think that we are wizards.”
Catch was still not buying the fact that Eveneye was a real bear.
“Fine,” he said. “Prove you’re a bear.”
“Let me out of this cage and I will.”
“Lazarus would have his men kill me, and you too.”
“I’ll make a deal with you, Catch. You let me out of this cage and I’ll let you out of yours.”
“Did you hear what I said? They’ll kill you.”
“Listen to me, Catch,” began Eveneye. “I’m not staying in this cage. I will find a way out. We can help each other out or you can continue to be Lazarus’ slave. It’s your choice.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“It’s simple. Who holds the key to my cage?”
“Lazarus.”
“When he goes to sleep, you steal the keys. Unlock my cage and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“What makes you think you can just take care of everything? Do you think that I haven’t tried to get away before? Lazarus will find me. He knows Ephanlarea like the back of his hand.”
“He doesn’t kn
ow where I’m from. Catch, I’m not just a bear. I’m the King of the bears that reside upon Gray Mountain. You will be as safe there as any other place on earth.”
“Do you know how ridiculous all of this sounds?”
“What do you have to lose? Either I am what I say I am, or I’m a wizard, trying to get you to let me out of my cage. Either way, don’t you think I’d like to give this Lazarus some trouble before I escape?”
Catch shuffled his feet and stared off into the distance.
“You’re right. It doesn’t matter.” Catch looked back at Eveneye. “You promise you’ll take me with you?”
“You have my word.”
Catch stood silently for a moment, considering the bear’s proposal. After a long time, he began to walk away.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Catch said to Eveneye, and then he was gone.
“Are you really the King of Bears?” asked the tiger from his cage.
“I am,” responded Eveneye.
“And you are not worried that boy will go to Lazarus, and he and his men will return and burn you alive for fear of you?”
“No. I saw the young man’s eyes. He will not betray me.”
“You’re an idiot,” replied the tiger.
“We shall see.” Eveneye lied down in his cage and closed his eyes. Whether the young man came back or not, he wasn’t going to live in a cage any longer. When the sun came up, he’d find a way out.
•••
Eveneye awoke in the darkness to a faint jingle coming from outside of his cage. Before he could shake the sleep away, he heard a click and the door to his cage swung open. Catch stood wide-eyed.
“All right, let’s go. Let’s get out of here.”
“I can’t leave until all the animals are freed,” said Eveneye.
“Stop fooling around,” said Catch. “We need to get out of here before Lazarus and his men wake up.”
Eveneye walked out of his cage and stretched his limbs.
“Start unlocking all of the cages. I’ll take care of Lazarus and his men. Just point me in the right direction.”
“Can’t you just magic them open, so we can leave?”
“You still think I’m a wizard, don’t you? Look, I don’t know any more magic than you do. Now point me to Lazarus and start unlocking cages, all right?”
Catch was shocked. He had been sure that Eveneye was a wizard. The possibility of a talking bear was beyond him. Nothing in life had prepared him for this. He shook his head, trying to come to terms with the situation before him, and then he heard them.
“Hey, kid. Unlock me first.”
“No, no. You’re closer to me. Unlock me first.”
Catch spun around. All of the caged animals were beckoning him to unlock their cages.
“All of the animals talk,” said Catch in amazement.
“I thought I explained this to you already,” said Eveneye. He nudged Catch with his head. “Snap out of it.” Catch jumped and turned to Eveneye. “Well?”
“Lazarus and his men sleep in the big tent. The tallest one down that aisle.” Catch pointed to his right and Eveneye was off.
When Eveneye got to the tent, he poked his head inside slowly to see that all the men were sleeping. Each one of them had some weapon, lying on the ground next to them. I need to get them away from those weapons, thought Eveneye. He backed his head out of the tent and looked around. He noticed a fire pit the men had obviously been using for dinner that had not been completely extinguished. He picked up a long branch and dipped one end into the charred embers. The end of the branch ignited and Eveneye took it to the back of the tent. He placed the branch upon one of the stakes that held the tent up and watched as it quickly caught fire. Eveneye watched the fire grow and climb to the top of the tent and then he ran to the front of the tent. He waited until he began to see smoke, and then, dipped his head back into the tent.
“FIRE!” he roared out among the sleeping men.
The men jolted awake to a tent filled with smoke, and the chaos began. Lazarus and his men ran from the tent, clothed only in their undergarments, as flames consumed the tent. They stood, watching the fire in a daze, never noticing Eveneye. They were in shock and never once thought about anything other than the fire. That’s why the charging animals that had been freed from their cages hit them like a rouge wave. Five men were knocked off their feet before anyone reacted at all.
The animals were running for the cover of the forest and the men attempted to scatter. Men cried in alarm as lions, tigers and one particularly jovial bear tore their way through them. Eveneye looked to the edge of the foray and saw the young fox, Brya, growling at a man and doing his best to be ferocious. The man was large, and Eveneye saw that he was about to teach the young cub a lesson. Just before the man decided to take his angers out on the fox, he noticed a large bear, glowering at him from several feet behind young Brya. The man immediately went white in the face, turned and ran away.
“You showed him, didn’t you, little one?”
Brya turned to Eveneye with a wily smile and laughed. “I’m free, King Eveneye. I can find my parents now.”
“Climb aboard, little one. We’ll find them together.”
Brya climbed up Eveneye’s massive back and the bear made his way back into the fray to find Catch.
As Eveneye made his way to the center of camp, he saw that many other tents had caught fire as well. Eveneye scanned his surroundings, trying to locate Catch, and then he found him.
“You did this to me, you little worm. You set them all free. I’ll kill you.”
A man that Eveneye assumed was Lazarus had Catch by the neck with both his hands, trying to choke the life from him. The man was large enough that Catch had no possibility of stopping him. Bald and covered in tattoos, the veins in Lazarus’ forehead bulged as much as his eyes, as he strangled the life from Catch. Eveneye wasted no time.
“Hold on, Brya, and close your eyes.” Brya dug his head into Eveneye’s back as the great bear bounded toward Lazarus. In what seemed like a flash, Eveneye had reached Lazarus, and with one massive paw, knocked the man to the ground. He then took his paw and pressed the man against the ground. “Tell me how it feels to be trapped,” said Eveneye as the man gasped for breath. Eveneye was putting more of his weight against Lazarus’ chest with each passing second. “I should crack your ribs to splinters.” Lazarus squirmed and gasped like a fish pulled from the water. Eveneye lowered his head to Lazarus. “I will follow you, human. I will be staring at you from the shadows for the rest of your days. If I ever see you harm another thing on this earth, I will dash you into a million tiny pieces. Do you understand?” Lazarus nodded his head, still gasping and now turning blue. Eveneye turned to Catch. “Climb aboard. I’ll have us out of here in no time.”
“You really are a bear, aren’t you?” said Catch with the biggest smile he had ever smiled in his young life.
“Would you just get on?”
Catch climbed atop Eveneye’s back and held on. Eveneye immediately took his paw off of Lazarus and bounded off into the forest, to find Brya’s family, to find Catch’s freedom and to find Eveneye’s son.
Chapter 26: Abandonment
Following Edgar had been much more difficult than Rachael had thought. His senses were keen, too keen. Rachael’s concentration had barely faltered since Rooks Cove. No person outside of Edgar would have ever noticed her presence, but there had been at least ten times that she had been sure that Edgar had noticed her. It was, in fact, Iolana that had been Rachael’s saving grace. If it hadn’t been for Iolana, constantly telling Edgar that he was paranoid and that he was just ‘hearing things,’ he would have surely followed the signs that would have alerted him to Rachael’s presence.
I don’t know if I can keep this going all the way to Hammlin, thought Rachael. But I just can’t fall behind. I refuse to lose him again.
Fortunately for Rachael, an answer to her problem came to her almost immediately. The fact that she had caught up to E
dgar, and knew his next destination, meant that it wasn’t necessary for Rachael to follow him any longer. All that she had to do was wait for Edgar and Iolana to deviate from their direct path to Hammlin, and she would be able to move in front of them. She could then increase her speed and simply wait for them to arrive in Hammlin. It was a simple plan she knew would work, and then, she would no longer have to worry about being discovered.
As she continued to ponder her new plan, it also occurred to her that Edgar and Iolana would not even have to make a change in direction. They were all traveling on foot, and though Iolana and Edgar were intent on reaching Hammlin soon, it was not as though they were pushing themselves to extremes. They would need to rest again. As soon as Edgar and Iolana fell asleep that night, Rachael would simply continue on. She had pressed on without sleep before, and she knew she could easily do it again. It was certainly a better plan than following a man who might have the keenest senses in Ephanlarea, hoping not to be noticed. Rachael smiled. Things were going to work out perfectly.
•••
Rachael’s initial reaction when Edgar and Iolana began walking toward the burned village was that of elation, mixed with overwhelming relief.
Finally, my chance, she thought. But as she began to deviate from the direction in which Edgar and Iolana headed, the sight of the blackened village began to play upon her mind. What could’ve destroyed that village? Rachael stood still and considered her decision to break away from Edgar and Iolana further. What if something happens to them in that village? What if they never make it to Hammlin? The doubts were starting to creep into her mind. I can always leave when they go to sleep, just as I had planned before. Rachael settled on that plan and turned back to continue following Edgar and Iolana.
Rachael caught up quickly and stealthily. She kept her distance and watched as Edgar and Iolana studied their surroundings. Rachael’s mind was searching within itself for the possibilities to whom might have been the arsonist. It was not uncommon for fire to break out in a village, and there certainly had been fires that had consumed an entire village before, she knew that all too well, but this fire was different. This destruction was total. Not a thing had been spared. It could often be seen, quite easily, where the origin of a fire had come from. One building would look far worse than the others. The destruction would lessen as you moved away from that point of origin. But in this particular instance, it was the village itself that looked like the point of origin. Rachael could not come up with a single thing that could have burned a village like that, and there was only one other time she could recall seeing a fire that was so puzzling.
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