by Suzy Turner
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
After we had eaten a good, hearty breakfast and set off on foot, we spent the majority of that day hiking through forests until eventually the terrain began to change and the trees became a little scarcer. It was the beginning of the ascent up the mountains. Although I loved being among the forested areas, I enjoyed the change of scenery and the mountainous region was absolutely breathtaking.
Gabriel and I spoke about all kinds of things as we walked together, him always in front, leading the way. He wanted to know more about my life in London, not that there was an awful lot to tell. He already knew what living there had been like for me, mostly lonely and uneventful.
But still, he wanted to know what my school had been like, whether or not I had ever had any friends, if the teachers had been fond of me – everything.
“December Moon was my one and only friend,” I had told him. “My life was incredibly dull until she arrived.” I smiled as I thought about the quirky girl with the red hair that had brought some sunshine into my otherwise dark life.
I told Gabriel all about her and her own strange, unhappy life.
“Perhaps we could arrange for her to come and visit some time,” he had suggested.
“Oh that would be wonderful. I'd love for you to meet her. I just know that everyone would love her. She would just fit in with us here, if you know what I mean?” I laughed.
Gabriel nodded and smiled at me and I was suddenly reminded of my father. I don't know what it was, perhaps an expression that Gabriel shared with him. I felt a sudden pang in the pit of my stomach and I had to stop walking for a moment.
“Are you all right, my dear,” he asked as he pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to me.
Taking a deep drink, I nodded. “Yes, I'm fine. You just reminded me of father.” He nodded too and smiled sadly, “We will find him, Lilly. If the search takes me to the grave, we will find him,” he said sombrely.
I gulped another swig of water and attempted a smile. That was not a thought I would cherish. The search sending Gabriel to his grave, or the search taking that long.
My heart began to feel like it was breaking just a little bit more and Gabriel obviously sensed it so he changed the subject again.
He began to tell me about his long and eventful life in Powell River and I learned even more about my family. The heaviness in my heart was lifted and I became intrigued, as we continued our long walk.
Perhaps this was another reason for our journey. We could finally talk honestly together, just the two of us.
He talked more about his wife, Elsebeth, who had died of breast cancer when she was just 31. It had been a very aggressive form of cancer and she'd had little time between her diagnosis and her death, “but she was happy that she had the chance to say goodbye to everyone that she loved,” he said.
“I'm sorry Gabriel. It must have been heartbreaking to see her like that. How long ago did she die?” I asked.
“She's been gone about 30 years, but never forgotten,” he added, smiling. “She was a remarkable woman. Not unlike Rose, actually. They were good friends.”
“You and Rose are very close,” I replied and he laughed, nodding,
“Elsebeth made us promise that we would be there for each other. She wanted Rose to take her place. She felt that I needed a wife and Rose was the person she nominated,” he chuckled, “but Rose and I are, and have always been, just very good friends. I have managed on my own but Rose is always there when I need her, and vice versa.”
I agreed that he and Rose would make a great couple, but understood perfectly that some people are better off living alone – well, kind of alone.
“Gabriel?” I said.
“Mm?”
“I'm sorry about Oliver. I'm sorry that I made him go away. I know that he is like a son to you.”
Gabriel stopped walking and turned to me, “Don't apologise for being who you are Lilly. It is not your fault that it happened the way it did. Oliver is a fine young man, he can look after himself and I know he'll be okay. Like I said to you before, I am a strong believer in fate. What is meant to be, will be, so don't blame yourself” he said, “he'll be fine. And so will we.”
We continued walking uphill in silence, until the terrain started to become a little more rugged. Gabriel pointed to an area where there were a few more trees and told me that was where we would stop for the night. As we approached, myself a little breathless, I noticed a small cave, the entrance of which was well hidden by foliage.
“This is where I usually stop and sleep,” he said as we exhaustedly let our backpacks drop to the ground. I slumped down on a nearby rock until my breathing became slower and steadier, watching as Gabriel began collecting sticks and twigs and larger pieces of wood to create a fire.
He had barely even caught his breath. Feeling guilty for just sitting and watching, I stood up and began to help but I soon stopped when I had the feeling we were being watched.
I moved closer to Gabriel's side and whispered, “Gabriel, I think there's someone here. I think someone's watching us.”
“Stay close Lilly, and act naturally,” he replied without looking up as he continued to collect kindling for the fire.
I saw from the corner of my eye that he was discreetly looking around to see who it could be. Suddenly he stood upright and chuckled. I turned to see the source of his amusement and noticed a rather large white wild mountain goat perched slightly above us, watching us with beady eyes.
“Hello, old chap,” shouted Gabriel, “I thought I might bump into you again.”
The goat carefully and cleverly climbed down from the narrow shelf above us and as he did so, the top half of his body changed dramatically. Like Sammy, he was half animal, half human in every sense of the words.
His head and arms were that of a human and the rest of him was most certainly that of a goat. His hair was completely white, as was his long goatee. Age wise, I would have said he was in his sixties.
“Gabriel. Good to see you, old man. Frightfully sorry if I gave the young girl cause for concern,” he said in a posh British accent, which completely puzzled me.
“Hello my dear,” he said as he walked over to me, with his hand outstretched. I shook it, my mouth open in surprise.
“Close your mouth, Lilly,” laughed Gabriel, “this is an acquaintance of mine, Charlie.”
“Acquaintance? I would say friend... would you not?” he chuckled, before adding, “absolutely charmed to meet you, my dear Lilly. You must be the old man's grand-daughter from London, I presume,” he said, still holding my hand in his.
I nodded, not quite sure what to say. I'd never seen a half man, half goat before. Especially not one with such a strong English accent.
“Nice to meet you Charlie,” I eventually managed to spit out.
He finally let go of my hand and turned his attention to Gabriel, just as Gabriel was explaining that he had met Charlie when he'd visited the Elders the previous winter, at about the same time I'd arrived – the reason Gabriel had been unable to collect me from the airport.
“I presume you are on your way to visit the Elders?” Charlie asked while he began to assist making the fire.
“Yes, I'm taking Lilly up to meet them. What have you been up to lately, Charlie?” asked Gabriel.
Charlie stuttered momentarily before explaining that he had actually been recovering from an injury and so he'd had little choice but to stay on the mountain for the last few months.
“What kind of injury?” asked Gabriel as he lit the fire.
“Oh, nothing to worry about really,” answered Charlie in a way that suggested he didn't want to talk about it. Gabriel promptly changed the subject, asking if he'd met anyone of interest there lately.
Charlie moved over to the now roaring fire and sat down, making himself comfortable as he told us about a small group of travellers he'd seen just a few weeks before. Having not recognised any of the group, Charlie had kept his distance, watching from above. They were a gr
oup of young hikers. “Kids,” said Charlie, “the human variety... not fellow goats!” he added, chuckling.
“I just stood grazing while I watched them attempt to make a fire. They drank lots of beer and acted like idiots,” he added, “other than them, there hasn't been much going on around here for quite a while... unless you count the time when a strange young woman stayed the night. It was around Christmastime, I believe.”
“A strange young woman?” questioned Gabriel, “I wonder who that was.”
“Her name was Tabitha, I think. That's it. Do you know her Gabriel?”
He shook his head.
I was intrigued. Who was this Tabitha? Where had she come from? Where was she going? What was she doing up here alone? And why was she strange?
Going by Gabriel's friendliness to the goat man, I finally accepted that Charlie must be somebody (or something) that could be trusted, so I pulled out my sleeping bag and laid it down next to Gabriel's where I curled up and listened to their conversation to find out more about the folk that often gathered around the mountain.
Charlie had obviously spent some time watching Tabitha, and he revealed that she appeared to be a witch.
“So what was she up to at Christmas, Charlie?” asked Gabriel as he warmed his cold hands over the flames.
“I don't know where she was coming from but she stopped at this very cave for a night. I was near enough to watch her without being seen,” said Charlie as I began to get the feeling that he was something of a voyeur.
“She was alone to begin with but was later joined by a young man who wasn't exactly the kind of boy you'd like your daughter to bring home, if you know what I mean. He was covered in those awful tattoos, all up his arms and legs. Dreadful things. I thought they were perhaps lovers but before I knew it, they were having a huge argument. I couldn't quite hear what they were fighting about but it was clearly serious. And then just when I thought they were over it, he turned into a wolf, of all things. I knew then that I needed to make a quick exit, so I went and hid away in my cave until they left. They were gone by the next morning. I was intrigued, to say the least. I'd have loved to know what that was all about,” he said.
“Interesting,” said Gabriel, “but I don't know either of them. Did you hear what the boy was called?”
Charlie sat motionless for a moment, deep in thought. “Aah yes. It was Zoltan.”
Zoltan and Tabitha. A werewolf and a witch. I asked how Charlie had come to the conclusion that she was a witch.
“I just knew... it was written all over her,” he chuckled, before adding, “that and the fact that she appeared to be attempting to cast spells before wolfie arrived.”
I was so fascinated that I decided I wanted to meet them. I wasn't sure why, there was just something about the way they had been described that intrigued me.
Gabriel and Charlie began chatting about things that were of little interest to me, so I decided to have a wander around on my own for a while.
“Be careful Lilly and don't go too far,” said Gabriel as I walked away from them as they continued chatting.
Dusk was approaching and I knew it wouldn't be too long until it was dark so I kept fairly close to our camp. Since becoming a mountain lion, my eyesight had improved dramatically, even in human form, but because I wasn't familiar with the area, I certainly didn't want to tempt fate. And I never forgot that I had promised Gabriel that I would remain in human form.
As I walked out of sight of them both, I heard the gentle cooing of an owl. Following the sound, I saw the majestic creature sitting on the branch of a lone tree. As he cooed, he just sat staring off into the distance. I didn't want to disturb him, so I just stood for a few moments, watching. Looking around for somewhere to sit, I noticed a large smooth rock a few metres away but to get there, I'd probably make some noise. I tiptoed as silently as possible and, sure enough, he turned his head to look at me. He probably knew I was there all along.
Sitting down so he wouldn't feel threatened, I watched as he did nothing. He just sat and stared at me while I admired his unusual dark eyes. After a few minutes, he must have got bored of my face and so he turned to look in the opposite direction before he took to flight and disappeared.
I stayed where I was and, looking around me, I saw what a spectacular place it was. It was amazing how far we had actually climbed, the tops of the dense woods below were quite a distance away. Other than me, Gabriel, Charlie and the lone owl, we appeared to be very much alone. It was an excellent spot to get away from it all and I could certainly understand Gabriel's penchant for doing that occasionally. Whenever life had a strange twist to it, I supposed. Over the course of Gabriel's life there had certainly been rather a lot of twists and turns, and the majority of them weren't particularly pleasant.
I wondered about Charlie. Who was he? And how did he have such a posh British accent? It was bizarre. As far as I knew, wild mountain goats didn't exist in the UK and for creatures that were capable of changing from animal to human, they must have been born into it. Like I was, it was in my genes. There was something about Charlie that was a little strange. Why had he changed the subject about his injury? And why had he been watching us for a while before coming down to greet us? After giving it a bit more thought, I wasn't so sure that I trusted him, so I walked back round to make sure everything was okay. Darkness had fallen and I didn't want Gabriel to worry unnecessarily about my whereabouts. I also knew that he would be preparing some food before we called it a night.
Sure enough, as I wandered carefully over the rough terrain back to the camp, I could smell the food. I just hoped that the bears couldn't smell it too. But Gabriel knew what he was doing.
Although I watched Charlie carefully while we ate, I concluded that there didn't appear to be anything to worry about and so, exhaustion taking me by surprise, I curled up in my sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep. The sound of Charlie's and Gabriel's words did nothing to keep me awake.