by Karen Frost
~*~
The children had to hurry to keep up with the quick moving badger, which was surprising since his legs were so much shorter than their own. Maude would have had to run to keep up, so Jack lifted her and carried her piggyback with her thin legs wrapped around his stomach and her tiny feet locked together. The children and the badger walked for several minutes through parts of the forest that all looked the same until the badger at last stopped in front of a little green hill in a clearing in the forest. There was a small, rounded door set into the side of the hill, while a red brick chimney sat smack dab on the top and puffed plumes of white smoke. Inside the two perfectly round windows on the side of the hill, which was not so much a hill as much as a house made to look like one, the children could see blue curtains and a small sitting room with chairs. The door was painted a serene yellow and had a little metal bell set outside with a thin rope hanging down from it. The entire thing was quaint and homey.
Mr. Bushy said, “This here's the home o' Mr. Brumby. He’s a good feller and knows his stuff about the history o' Devorian. If ye have any questions about humans, he's the one to ask. Well now, I’m off. It was a pleasure to meet you, humans.”
Mr. Bushy made a grunting, snorting sound as he turned around back in the direction from which they had come, and then was gone, leaving the children standing alone in front of the hill that was not a hill. Mary Jane saw next to the door a small brass bell from which hung a long white rope. She walked it and pulled the rope, causing the bell to sound softly.
A moment later, a muffled voice called from inside, “Just a moment, please.”
The children heard crashing and thumping coming from the house. When the door opened, it revealed a red fox standing on its back feet. The fox's hair stood up in random patches upon its head.
The fox exclaimed, “Oh my, you’re not Mrs. Craken.”
It fell back down to all four black paws, then said with the same amount of surprise, “Humans! I can hardly believe it. You are humans, yes? I’ve only seen pictures in books, but well, I must say the pictures were remarkably accurate. Quite extraordinary. It’s like seeing a drawing come to life right before one’s eyes. Oh, if I’d known I was going to have this sort of company I would have baked a cake. I do so love a good cake, don't you? As it is you’ll have to settle for some cookies that Mrs. Cracken brought over this morning. Do come in.”
He ushered them in and, in an effort to be a good host to his unexpected guests, bade them sit upon the tiny chairs in front of the little fireplace. The chairs were far too small for Jack or Mary Jane to sit in, and so they sat on the floor while Maude folded herself into the largest of the chairs. All of the chairs were wooden, and roughly hewn, probably by paws rather than hands. Mr. Brumby disappeared into the kitchen, which was right next to the sitting room.
"Won't you have some tea?" He called out.
"That would be lovely," Mary Jane replied.
The children waited for a few minutes, listening to the sound of the fox clattering around in the kitchen. Finally they heard the whistle of the teakettle, and the sound of the fox stacking saucers and cups together. A moment later, he emerged with pushing a small teacart. On it was stacked a pile of saucers, a teakettle, and a worn metal tray of dry white cookies. He pushed the cart between the children, pouring them steaming cups of tea and offering them cookies. Mary Jane took a cup and held it between her hands, feeling it warm them. When all of his guests had been taken care of, the fox wheeled the cart back into the kitchen before returning and sitting down.
Bowing his head to the children, he said in a grave and formal tone, “I am Phinneas Brumby.”
“How do you do, Mr. Brumby? My name is Mary Jane, and this is Jack and this is Maude,” Mary Jane said on behalf of her siblings, pointing to each one respectively as they were named.
Mr. Brumby was particularly fascinated by Maude. His eyes glowed an intense brown-red as he considered her.
“Such a small specimen!” He breathed, reaching out as if to touch her but not daring to. “Almost like a human in miniature. To think, she'll grow much larger. Extraordinary!”
“Mr. Brumby, I suppose we're here because we would like to know about Devorian. You see, we found a mirror in our attic and…well, somehow it led us to Devorian. But we don't know anything about Devorian; we've never heard of it before,” Mary Jane explained.
Mr. Brumby sipped his tea thoughtfully, nodding as he listened. His black paws looked thin holding the small white teacup. He took a bite of a cookie, and when he looked up again the white crumbs stood out starkly against his black nose.
He said, “Oh my, you’re not from Devorian? How marvelous! How strange! Well, I hardly know what to make of your tale, but as to trying to describe Devorian, I shall try my best. It is a long story, for it encompasses several ages. But is there something in particular that I can tell you about?"
"Tell us about the humans," Maude requested.
"Yes, very well. You see, things in Devorian were not always as they are now. In fact, they were once very different. Our history lessons teach us that for many centuries--perhaps thousands of years even--humans ruled Devorian. They built great cities. They built houses and roads and sailed huge ships on the seas and in the rivers. They mined metals from the ground and grew forests of trees. They prospered, and their numbers grew until they were common as leaves on a tree.
‘The humans were ruled by kings. These kings lived in the great stone palace that they built at Tarah, by the sea. Several times there was war in Devorian over who should be king, but more often there was peace. This all might have continued forever, but then almost a hundred years ago a new magic appeared in Devorian. It was the wild magic, but no one knew it. Its coming went unnoticed at first. It was like the trickle of raindrops, felt here and there but easily ignored. But water pools and rises, and soon the trickle has caused a flood that cannot be stopped, even if one knew where or how to dam it.
‘So it was that this wild magic began to touch every living thing in Devorian. Who knows what wild magic will do? In Devorian at that time, its effect was to give the animals the power of speech and reasoning while turning the humans into mindless beasts. A reversal of roles, if you will. Within a year, no more, the men had left their houses and castles and roamed the land without so much as a burrow to call their own or a blanket to cover them at night. Tarah was abandoned and left to rot. Grass grew over the dwellings of men or animals came to live in them and within five years there were few traces that humans had ever lived in Tarah. As to the humans themselves, they seemed to be pulled by some unknown force south and were never heard of again.”
He paused thoughtfully, then corrected himself.
“No, that's not quite right. We do hear rumors now and then of a few straying into Devorian from the lands far to the south, but they’re not what you would call human anymore. And…I suppose there is one human still living in Devorian. That is, if you can call it living. But she’s locked in a place from which she’ll never get free and you needn't worry yourselves about her.”
The children were startled by the fox's strange admission.
Maude asked, “Why is she locked away? Is she dangerous?”
“Yes,” Mr. Brumby said unwillingly, his voice clipped.
He added hastily, “But you needn’t trouble yourselves about her. More cookies?”
The white brush of his tail twitched nervously beneath him.