Elsbeth and Sim (Tales from the Emerald Mountains)

by Rhett DeVane

  “Yet another environmental feather for their caps,” Brian said.

  “Wait! You’re not talking about destroying our dump!” Elsbeth dropped her honeyed cake.

  Taproot shook crumbs from his beard. “Princess, life is chock full of trade-offs.”

  Sim scowled.

  “I know you don’t like the idea of soldiers close by, Sim. Can’t say I blame you.” Taproot grabbed another cake and bit down. “The army throws things away, all kinds of stuff, much more than any other group. It could be quite the adventure.”

  “Army jackets, knifes . . .” Sim’s face lit up. “When can they move in?”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Elsbeth, Sim, and Taproot watched the research team pack and carry equipment to their van. In the few days since first meeting Cynthia and Brian, even Taproot had grown to admire the two lowlanders. At the campsite, they left no sign of their visit—no trash, no altered plants, no hot coals.

  “If only they all were like these two,” Taproot commented.

  “Maybe more will come, just like them,” Elsbeth said.

  “Too many years have taught me otherwise, princess. The same lessons appear before the lowlanders time after time, and some might change for the better. Ultimately, they forget the earth’s important teachings. It becomes all too easy to forge blindly ahead instead of stopping to hear the still voice of nature.”

  Elsbeth and Sim nodded to each other, then turned their attention back to the camp.

  “That salamander pair might buy us a few years without fear of intrusion, but who knows for how long.” The old magician’s shoulders slumped. “As long as I draw breath, I’ll watch over them.” Elsbeth had to strain to hear the mountain man’s next words: “As long as the light allows me to remain.”

  In front of them, Grant and Jen circled the scientists as they trekked back and forth from the campsite to the van, asking question after question, until the chatter blended into one long string. Since Jen had spoken her first words, the two young ones fell silent only during sleep. Even then, Grant often talked in tune with his dreams.

  “What’s this thing do?” “Is it a camera?” “Can I take a picture with it?” “Is it like my eyes?” “Does it see in color?” “What’s in this pack?” “Is this where you put your digging tools?” “Why is your van white instead of green like the army trucks?”

  The questions flew out so fast, who knew which young one had asked?

  Elsbeth threw her arm across Sim’s shoulders and laughed. “Taproot could be right. Sometimes, lack of speech is a good thing.”

  Sim took a tiny, carved bone-handled folding knife from his pocket—a fair exchange with Brian for one of Sim’s hand-knapped blades. He picked up a nearby branch and whittled.

  “Right on, Lizard. I liked it better before they learned to talk. For sure.”

  THE END

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  Book two in the Tales from the Emerald Mountains is coming soon!

  About the author

  Rhett DeVane is a true Southerner, born and raised in the Florida panhandle. For the past thirty-plus years, Rhett has made her home in Tallahassee, located in Florida’s Big Bend area, where she splits her workdays between her two professions: dental hygienist and novelist.

  Rhett is the author of four published mainstream humorous adult fiction novels set in her hometown of Chattahoochee, Florida, a place with “two stoplights and a mental institution on the main drag”: The Madhatter’s Guide to Chocolate, Up the Devil’s Belly, Mama’s Comfort Food, and Cathead Crazy. She is coauthor of two novels: Evenings on Dark Island with Larry Rock and Accidental Ambition with Robert W. McKnight.

  The Tales from the Emerald Mountains series is her first middle grade fiction.

  To learn more about Rhett DeVane and her writing, visit her website and blog:

  Rhett’s website: www.rhettdevane.com

  Rhett’s crazy Southern blog: www.southernhat-titude.blogspot.com

  Acknowledgements

  Rhett wants to thank:

  The Wild Women Writers critique group for their expertise and friendship.

  All of her readers. Without you, her words go to waste.

  Special hugs to beta readers Sean Yates and Kylee Barnes.

  Her family, both the blood ties and otherwise ties.

  And to the universe, for sending muses to light her way.