by Karen Frost
~*~
"One more day of travel north and then we may begin to move west," Aldair said, watching the sun.
His amber eyes blinked in the sunlight, which glistened so strongly off of his golden pelt that it was difficult for the children to look at him. The travelers had stopped to rest after hours of walking through the endless forest. Archipel lay collapsed and panting beside Maude, who sat with her feet out in front of her and her hands behind her back. Jack and Mary Jane sat cross-legged under a large tree while Aldair stood watch over them and Alcide patrolled the forest for danger. Mary Jane squealed, "Another day! We'll never get home."
Jack groaned. He complained, "All these trees look alike. We might as well be walking in circles. Is Devorian nothing but forests? If I never see another forest in my life, I'll still have seen too many."
"It is merely a few days in a lifetime measured in dozens of years," Aldair replied, "and I know our path. We have walked true north."
"There's more than just forests," Maude said. "There are the plains to the far west, and a big desert in the south."
She drew from the satchel that she carried with her a small, yellowing piece of paper. It had obviously been folded and unfolded many times. Maude unfolded it now, spreading it before her upon the grass. Though crisscrossed by many creases, the map was still readable. Maude ran her finger over it, tracing what she guessed was their path northward from Tarah. Though there had not been many landmarks with which to keep track of their progress, nevertheless she thought that she could roughly guess their position.
"Where did you get that, Maude?" Jack asked curiously, crawling on his knees to her in order to get a closer look at the map.
"From the library," Maude replied, without further explanation.
She continued, "Aldair, are we in the forest of Valdale?"
"Yes," the stag confirmed.
"Then we must keep going north!" Maude announced.
"Yes, Maude, Aldair just said we'll go north another day before turning west," Mary Jane said.
"No, no, not that," Maude said, shaking her head.
Mary Jane and Jack both frowned.
"What do you mean?" Mary Jane asked.
"North…east. We have to head northeast. Just a little."
Maude traced a different line on the map, her face screwed up in a frown. The path that she had marked for them would take them to a river some distance to the northeast. Her brother and sister looked at her flabbergasted.
"I don't understand. Why, Maude?" Mary Jane asked.
"We just have to!" Maude exclaimed, shaking her head.
"Maude," Archipel explained patiently, "there is no use traveling east. It would take us farther away from the Green Forest and your home. Our path lies to the west."
"You don't understand," Maude protested, frustration in her voice.
"Then help us to understand," Archipel said. "Tell us, Maude, why do you wish to go east?"
"We have to go to the Hall of Heroes!" Maude cried.
"The hall of heroes?" Jack repeated, confused.
"Yes!" Maude insisted.
"What possible reason…" Aldair began.
"You have to trust me! It's important."
"More important than your safety? It will take time, time we do not have. Even now, the witch's followers are nipping at our heels. We must make all haste to the Green Forest," Aldair said sternly.
"Maude, this is not the time to go sightseeing," Jack said reproachfully. "Aldair is right. Nothing is as important as getting back home."
"Besides," Aldair said, "even if we had all the time in the world, there is one problem."
"What?"
"Only the dead can go. In order for us to go there, one of us would have to die."
"No," Maude protested. "That can't be right. There must be a way!"
Aldair explained, "The Hall of Heroes sits upon an island in the middle of a swiftly moving river. When the human dead were sent to be entombed there, their bodies were placed upon boats ferried to the island by water horses. The horses will not pull living humans, and there is no way to cross without them. Thus the sanctity of the Hall is preserved against intruders."
Mary Jane, who had risen to stand beside Maude, placed her hand upon her sister's arm. She said gently, "We have to go home, Maude."
"As long as you remain in Devorian, you are in danger," Aldair reminded them again.
"I don't care," Maude said stubbornly, crossing her small arms. "I'll go alone if I have to."
"How will you cross the river? How will you enter the Hall of the dead as one who is still living? It is too difficult, and to what end?" the stag protested.
"Dear Maude, what is so important that you are determined to go there?" Mary Jane asked.
Maude bit her lip. Without looking at her sister, she mumbled, "I won't tell you."
Mary Jane and Jack looked at each other with concern.
"We can't, Maude," Jack said. "I'm sorry, but we simply can't. Please, let it go."
"I won't. Let's go, Archipel. If they won't come with me, you will."
Maude stood and brushed the dirt and grass from her yellow dress. She looked expectantly to the wolf, whose gray head swung anxiously between the girl and her siblings. He whined softly, his tail tucked between his legs. At last he said, "We had better not."
Maude glared at her brother and sister, then at the magical beast. Her hands balled into fists and dug into her hips. She was a tiny ball of red hot anger. She spat, "Fine," and that was the end of it. She spoke no more of the Hall of Heroes after that, and Jack was glad that they could continue home in peace. When Alcide returned, they began to walk again, and they walked until late in the evening. They saw no more of Mirrin's agents, and they eventually were able to relax and almost forget that they were hunted.
When the sun passed below the horizon, they bedded down for the night and Jack started a fire by rubbing two sticks together. The children and animals sat huddled around it for warmth and comfort. Aldair told tales from the age of men and before, and slowly the children fell asleep under the strange stars. Jack's last thought was of home, and of his bed at Baker's Row. He dreamed of water horses and centaurs, and when he woke, Maude was gone.