The Orchard of Hope

by Amy Neftzger

  “Better,” Moss replied thoughtfully. “But look again.”

  “He’s trying too hard,” said a very deep resonating voice from somewhere near the floor.

  “No, he’s not. He’s doing fine,” Moss replied to the voice without looking away from the clock. The voice, however, had already distracted Nicholas, who looked down near his feet to see a small stone gargoyle staring up at him. The creature was about two feet tall and made of granite, but his movements weren’t rigid as he turned his neck to look up at Nicholas.

  “Newton!” Moss said with annoyance in his voice, “You’re distracting him!”

  “He needs distracting,” the gargoyle replied as he gracefully leapt up onto the table, using his wings to lift himself through the air. He landed on his feet and sat next to the clock. He flapped his reptilian-like stone wings a few more times and then pulled them in close to his body.

  “He does not need distracting,” Moss insisted with emphasis. “We’re in the middle of a lesson here.”

  “My name is Nicholas,” Nicholas said politely.

  “I’m Newton, the castle’s finest gargoyle,” the creature replied as he extended a claw with long sharp talons. Nicholas grasped it and did his best to provide a firm handshake without cutting himself. Newton then turned to greet Megan with a high five. He was small, but he was also formidable enough to meet Megan’s powerful greeting without being shaken in the least.

  “You’re the castle’s only gargoyle,” Moss replied flatly.

  “Only and finest. They’re not mutually exclusive categories,” Newton explained with confidence.

  “Why haven’t I seen you before?” Nicholas asked.

  “I belong to Moss, so I’m really more of a gargoyle in residence when Moss is in the castle.”

  “You belong to Moss? Like a pet?”

  “Sort of. He brought me to life,” Newton explained. “Technically, I could leave him — but I have a strong sense of loyalty ... although I sometimes feel that it may be misguided.”

  “Newton, we’re not here to give Nicholas your life history. Some other time, please,” Moss said. “Now, can we get on with our lesson?”

  “Sure,” Newton replied, then he turned to Nicholas. “We’ll do lunch.” He leaned closer and whispered, “If you’re going to work with Moss there are a few things you need to know about him. Luckily, he almost always has underwear on.” Nicholas nodded briefly and then looked at Moss uncertainly.

  “Yes, yes. Do lunch some other time. But right now there are more important things,” Moss said, rushing the words as he spoke them. “We have a lot to accomplish.”

  “Nothing is more important than food,” Newton said quietly as he stepped back from the clock to observe the lesson. “It’s essential to life, not to mention that a well-prepared meal is one of life’s finer things.”

  “Are you leaving?” Moss raised his pale green eyebrows as he asked the question.

  “No,” Newton responded. “I’m going to watch.”

  “Sometimes I don’t know why I brought you to life.” Moss sighed.

  “Sure you do. You need me,” Newton replied as he puffed out his chest a bit.

  “At the moment I need to you be quiet.”

  Newton closed his mouth and sat so still that he appeared to return to a lifeless stone statue, but then Nicholas saw him blink. Nicholas glanced back and forth between the gargoyle and Moss a few times before finally settling his gaze upon Moss.

  “Are we going to continue?” Nicholas asked. Moss glared at the gargoyle for a brief moment and then turned back to Nicholas.

  “Focus on the face of the clock,” he said. “Think about the current time and reflect on where you are.”

  “And what else?” Nicholas asked.

  “Nothing. Just focus.”

  Nicholas wasn’t sure what Moss meant about the current time because there was no other clock in the room and the one he was currently looking at had no hands, so he had no idea what time it was. He spent a brief period wondering how he could figure out the time, but then he gave up on it. There was no way to tell what time it was other than to recognize that it was the current moment, whatever one decided to call it. After a few more minutes, he started wondering what Moss meant about reflecting on where he was. He knew he was in the castle, but he wondered if Moss was trying to get him to think about where in the kingdom he was, where in the room he was, or where he was in terms of his lessons. The more he thought about it, the more bizarre the concept of location seemed to him, because there were so many locations to which Moss could be referring. Just as he was about to ask for clarification, he saw the hands on the clock appear again and there were so many in every position and the layers were so deep that they appeared infinite. They were everywhere. They even seemed to be multiplying.

  “How many hands are there?” Moss asked as he watched Nicholas' eyes suddenly widen.

  “Too many to count!” Nicholas shouted with alarm. “I don’t know how the clock can hold them all!” The volume of hands on the face of the clock appeared to be growing with each moment.

  “Exactly!” Moss exclaimed with satisfaction. He folded his arms and smiled. “You’re a natural. Megan was right.”

  “Told you so,” Megan said as she smiled, displaying her long fangs.

  “A natural at what?” Nicholas asked. He looked again at the clock and there were only two hands upon it, just as when he started. “It looks normal again!’ he exclaimed in alarm.

  “Of course it does,” Moss replied dismissively. “Time always settles when you’re not paying attention to it.”

  “I don’t understand. What does it mean?” Nicholas asked again.

  “It means that you have an aptitude for learning the art of sorcery,” Moss replied. Nicholas felt the bottom of his stomach drop.

  “I don’t want that,” Nicholas said quickly. “I don’t want to be like ... him.”

  “Like who?”

  “The sorcerer. The one who’s trying to take over the kingdom.”

  “Sorcery isn’t a bad thing. It’s a rare thing that few understand, but just like anything else, it depends upon what you do with it. Almost nothing is good or bad in itself,” Moss replied. “It’s the intention that makes it so. The sorcerer we’re fighting uses his talent for his own means and to gratify his desire for power, but that doesn’t make all of it bad.”

  “Do you know him?”

  “Yes, but not well. You could say that I know more of him, than actually knowing him. But I probably know more about him than most.”

  “Did you train him?” Nicholas asked as soon as the idea came to him. “Do you know about him because you taught him?”

  “No,” Moss replied. “I didn’t teach him, but I’ve studied him. My job is to teach others about him.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “We don’t know,” Moss replied. “He’s hidden it from us. It’s one of the ways he protects himself.”

  “Why is he hiding it? Is he a coward?”

  “No,” Megan jumped in. “He’s not a coward. He’s smart. If we don’t know who he is, then we don’t know his true nature or how to defeat him. He’s hidden his name and identity extremely well, and his spell is so strong that it would take a miracle to figure out how to defeat him.”

  “Or another very strong sorcerer,” Moss replied.

  “Aren’t you a sorcerer?” Nicholas asked. “You brought Newton to life, so you must have some powers.”

  “My powers are limited.”

  “How?”

  “Some other time. Right now we’re trying to help you develop your talents. This is a lesson.”

  Nicholas looked from Moss to Newton and then to Megan. He didn’t know that any other sorcerers existed, and now he was standing in front of one and learning that he may become one himself.

  “I’m not sure I understand,” Nicholas confessed. “I’m just a kid.”

  “No one is just a kid,” Moss replied with emphasis.

&
nbsp; “Especially not a kid with a gift,” Newton added.

  “I don’t see how I can help.”

  “You’ll learn. And you’ll have help. No one expects you to fight the sorcerer alone,” said Moss.

  “We already know that things respond to you. Living things are drawn to your life force because they can feel your ability to do magic,” Megan explained. “That spark of life within you is also the reason you can heal yourself. I could smell it on you, but the scent was faint because you’re untrained and your skills aren’t developed.”

  “I’m not sure that I really have any abilities,” Nicholas said. “Just because I can see hands on the clock ... ”

  “Not everyone can do that,” Megan replied. “The king suspected you had the gift, but he’s asked us to train you so that you can fully develop it. What you have right now is more or less potential.”

  Nicholas looked around at the group. He wasn’t sure what to believe, and he wasn’t convinced that he was a sorcerer. It sounded preposterous to him. After all, if he had that kind of ability, wouldn’t he already know it? The thought was overwhelming, so he decided to focus on the lesson and worry about what it all meant later.

  “What did I just do with the clock?” Nicholas asked after some time had passed in silence.

  “You learned something,” Moss answered.

  “What?”

  “You learned to be physically present.”

  “I was here all along.”

  “Yes, but you could be somewhere else also. The fact that you saw all those hands on the clock shows that you have the ability to be present in a number of situations at the same time. Moments aren’t mutually exclusive for you.”

  “Is it like daydreaming?”

  “It’s more. You have the potential to be present somewhere else when you’re not physically there. This means that you may be able to learn to scry and that’s a very valuable skill.”

  “Scry?”

  “Foretell the future or see things happening in other places in space or time,” Newton replied. “Gargoyles are very good at it, but most of them can’t do anything with it because they haven’t been brought to life and can’t talk. Although … I did have a distant uncle who used the ability to pick the winning lottery numbers. He bought a really cool Gothic church with the money and the parties he threw on the roof were the best.”

  “Enough, Newton!” Moss scolded.

  “I can’t tell the future,” Nicholas said with conviction.

  “You can’t tell the future yet,” Moss said with assurance. “Since you appear to be a natural at being present when you’re not physically there, let’s give this a try. We’ll begin by having you pick up objects in the next room while you’re still here.”

  Nicholas thought about the task, which seemed ridiculous, so he glanced at Megan to see if this was one of Moss' moments of insanity. However, when Megan agreed to head into the next room and report on Nicholas' progress, he knew that he was expected to do the impossible.

  Chapter

  seven

  The Sea of Laughter

  They spent the night on the prairie as the group of reapers continued to follow behind at a short distance. Although Roland had said they were harmless, Kelsey woke up several times when she heard them whispering excitedly to one another. Even across the field, fragments of the whispers bounced over the tall grass and reached Kelsey’s vigilant ears. Perhaps it was her military training with the king’s soldiers or her naturally alert disposition, but she repeatedly woke up from the noise and tried to discern what they were saying. Neither Roland nor Maggie was affected by the sound. Because she hadn’t slept well, Kelsey felt unsettled as she walked through the remainder of the prairie and headed toward the sea. Even the cool air from it didn’t help her feel refreshed.

  As the tall grass dissipated into a mixture of mud and sand, they encountered a woman dressed in a pale aquamarine satin dress that reminded Kelsey of ice. The woman was holding a parasol to shield herself from the sun. The parasol matched the color of her dress and shoes. A deep purple velvet bag with a few coins inside of it sat open at her feet.

  “Oh, no,” Kelsey moaned.

  “What?” Maggie asked with concern.

  “One of the sisters,” said Kelsey as she nodded her head toward the woman.

  “They’re not so bad,” Roland said.

  “They’re no trouble for you,” Kelsey replied.

  “Your experience with them depends upon how you treat them. Always show respect. It helps.”

  “I did show them respect and they treated me poorly.”

  “Not what you think of as respect. They need to feel respected. It’s all in their perception.”

  “Easy for you to say. They won’t argue with Death.”

  Kelsey’s previous experiences with the sisters had been unpleasant, but she made up her mind to treat this sister with as much respect as she could muster. They seemed to be everywhere and had the potential to give advice that could help on the quest. Even if the women were difficult, it was worth having the sisters on your side.

  “She’s beautiful,” Maggie exclaimed loudly in admiration as they approached the woman. The woman took the string of pearls around her neck and played with them as she smiled with appreciation.

  “Good morning,” the woman said, nodding at each of them in turn.

  “It’s always a radiant day when I see you,” Roland replied with a slight bow. Kelsey felt inadequate in the situation. Roland always knew what to say to the sisters, and Maggie had been so charmed by this woman’s beauty, she had gotten on her good side without trying. Kelsey didn’t know what to say in order to be respectful and carry on a conversation naturally.

  “I love your dress,” Maggie said with awe in her voice.

  “Aren’t you just the most precious thing,” the woman said, beaming at Maggie. She dropped her pearls and grabbed the handle of the parasol with both hands as she leaned forward. “You have quite an eye for fine things, don’t you?”

  “I know what I like,” said Maggie. “And I think I would like to have a dress like yours someday.” Maggie abruptly turned to Kelsey. “Wouldn’t you just love a dress like that one?” she asked.

  It was an awkward moment. Kelsey didn’t like dresses on general principle because they were very impractical during battles. Kelsey took a step to the side and studied the dress for the first time. She knew she could lie, but she also knew that the sister would know if she was lying. She felt caught and didn’t know how to respond.

  “The fabric doesn’t look terribly durable,” Kelsey said aloud.

  “Appearances are deceiving – especially in this kingdom,” the sister replied flatly. Kelsey immediately knew she had said the wrong thing. She struggled for a way to save the situation.

  “But the dress fits you perfectly,” Kelsey said. The statement was true, and it also didn’t require Kelsey to state that she hated the dress.

  “Thank you. But you haven’t answered the question.”

  Kelsey struggled for something to say. She searched her memory of other conversations she’d had, but her training didn’t include any lessons in flattery. Then she remembered that the sisters were the Sisters of Wisdom. So Kelsey decided to try a different approach.

  “Would this dress be appropriate for me?” Kelsey asked the sister.

  The woman removed one hand from the parasol handle and stroked her slightly wavy blond hair. Kelsey thought she saw the woman smiling discretely to herself.

  “No,” the woman replied firmly.

  “Since you do not recommend the dress for me, I would do well to follow your advice and not desire the dress for myself,” said Kelsey. She felt proud at her response and tried to suppress a smile.

  “The dress is not appropriate for you because it’s woven from the fibers of knowledge and sewn together with the threads of learning. The parasol provides a shade of logic because it has a handle made from sound judgment.”

  Kelsey’s spirit sa
nk, and she immediately felt that she had been outsmarted. She struggled with a way to respond that wouldn’t be offensive. Then it occurred to her that if the woman was dressed in these things that perhaps the outfit was something like armor: it provided the protection and appearance of what the person wearing it was lacking.

  “And do you have all these things without your clothing and accessories?” Kelsey asked. “Or does your clothing provide these things for you?”

  “My clothing is like your facial expression: It reflects what is inside of me. It is not a mask,” she answered.

  Kelsey felt deflated. Every time she encountered one of the sisters, she left the conversation feeling small. She glanced around helplessly and wished that someone else would change the topic of discussion.

  “Where are you headed?” the sister asked Roland.

  “We’re crossing the sea. Do you have any advice for us?” he asked.

  “Laugh only when necessary,” she replied. “But you usually do, anyway.”

  “Nevertheless, your advice is always welcome,” he replied with a parting bow as he said goodbye.

  “You’re the greatest!” Maggie exclaimed as she curtsied to the woman. “I hope I’m just like you when I grow up.”

  “With that attitude you will be.” The woman smiled with assurance as she handed Maggie a few coins from the bag at her feet. Then she turned to Kelsey. “Nothing for you. Wisdom pays dividends only to those who admire it.”

  Kelsey wanted to spit on the woman for treating her shabbily, but she held herself together and simply nodded. She couldn’t understand why she was always unable to converse with these women. She also knew that she shouldn’t be jealous of Maggie, and yet she was. Kelsey had never known how to appease these elegantly dressed women, and she hated that some others did it so easily while she struggled.

  “I’m sorry to disappoint you. Goodbye,” Kelsey said before turning away.