The Huldra Hostility

by Michael Almich

  ***

  They had agreed to set out on the rescue attempt in three days. During that time, the boys would gather the supplies that Shy had been saving. Shy was to get the axe from Eddie the night of their departure. They had decided to leave at night because there was less chance of Tad or Meg realizing they were gone and sounding the alarm before they even made it past the waterfall. Shy felt that was really important because he didn’t want Morrie to find out. Plus, when Shy had gone through the previous year it had been daylight on the other side. They were hoping that would be the case again.

  The girls were tasked with getting some food supplies. They hoped that wouldn’t be needed, but one never knew, and it was good to have snacks to bribe the fairy creatures with… just in case.

  Shy’s feelings had been buoyed by the return of Portia’s affections and attentions. However, as the three days passed he became increasingly anxious. It was obvious that Tom T was avoiding him. He tried to seek out the nisse to ask for more information. The creature had said that Gust was held in the tangled, spooky forest, but Shy would have liked to know how far in, what dangers the forest held, and what creatures he might run into besides the fire horses he saw the previous summer. Perhaps the creature was too busy defending them from the sporadic unseelie attacks that Shy knew must be taking place. Shy had seen Tom T rushing off several times, and he was looking increasingly worn, thin, and battered.

  So, Shy was nervous. He mentioned it to Daniel the day before they were to set out. The tall, confident boy tried to infuse some of his brash confidence into Shy, and Shy played along. Deep down inside, however, he felt a dark dread creeping in.

  ***

  Eddie had made himself sparse. The potion had opened him to a whole new world. He believed now. It wasn’t just seeing the nisse, and hearing its warning. He had seen the sylphon. Wondrously fair and unimaginably beautiful, the slight pixies ignored him when he had stopped and stared after riding the zip line. He had seen hidden doorways and other secret places.

  Since coming to accept the magic of the place he was in, he had watched the others. He wanted to be with them now. He wanted to share in the excitement, the magic. He just didn’t know how. So he watched… they would have said spied.

  He realized quickly something was up. Watching Shy was the key. He realized that Daniel was the defacto leader of the group, Henry was the talker, Sawyer the prankster, and Sam was the beef. The others were followers… except Shy. Shy was the unassuming one who everything centered around. They all seemed very protective of him, yet the fair-haired boy was, himself, very modest… he acted unimportant. He was also the friendliest of the tight knit group. Eddie felt bad now that he had rebuffed Shy’s advances of friendship.

  He noted how Shy and Daniel hadn’t returned to the Fourth of July skits on the beach. So, he began to spy on the group in earnest. He even watched their friends from the Lake cabins. He had seen the small boy, Ralph, take out his little pouch and swipe the potion on the girls’ eyes. For the remainder of the day he had watched… the girls would randomly point at something and exclaim out loud. He knew they didn’t know he was watching, so he knew they weren’t just acting. They were able to see things now too.

  So, the Glamour protected hiding spots he had found would no longer work. From that point on, he hadn’t been able to overhear much because he could never get close enough to their gatherings without risking discovery.

  Nonetheless, he knew something was happening. They were all meeting regularly, and not with the counselors. He saw them gathering things. Adventure kind of things. Rope, flashlights, food supplies. He saw them all when he climbed up into their hidden storage area.

  Eddie felt torn. He really wanted to be part of this adventure they were obviously planning. He wanted to make friends. Somewhere, deep inside, he felt the pull from Morrie. The need to tell the professor what the boys were up to. From even deeper inside, he felt an opposing force. That one told him to fight the urge. Fight the urge to rat out Shy and his group. Recently, he had done so. After breakfast the previous day, the devious professor with the long grey pony-tail and wire rimmed glasses had pulled him aside again. It was the first time Eddie had spoken with Moriarty since using the potion.

  Something had been different. As he looked into the eyes of the only one who had been nice to him, he saw something different. Something he had not seen before. The eyes looked really old and, well, Eddie thought he saw something bad in them… something evil. Something in those eyes made him keep quiet about the potion and about the groups’ activities. When he told Morrie that he had no info, he saw a slight tightening of those eyes. He had made some quick excuse and ran. He ran all the way back to the Forest cabins. Fear had now blossomed and he worried about all the things he had already told Morrie….

  ***

  The boys shuffled nervously in the dark. The moon was waxing and shone faintly on them as they fidgeted near the Sentinel. They were waiting for Shy. Sam stood with his eyebrows furrowed. Daniel kept watch on the path that he expected Shy to come down.

  But Shy didn’t come.

  Henry was trying hard not to break the silence, and Sawyer and Finn tossed a pine cone back and forth.

  The girls arrived. Led by Claire, Portia, Kennedi, Arya, and even Penelope quietly found a place to stand. They seemed to understand that everyone was waiting.

  Still, Shy didn’t arrive.

  It got to the point that Daniel said, “Where IS he?”

  The only answer was worried looks all around.

  “I guess I had better go look for the kid,” Daniel said and started up the path he had been staring down.

  Suddenly they heard whistling coming from the other direction. Daniel stopped. They all tensed and began to move toward the safety of the large pines.

  “Hey where are you guys?” Shy’s voice echoed through the clearing.

  “Where were YOU?” Daniel came storming back towards Shy.

  Shy had been growing quite a bit for the last year or so. Daniel was not as imposing as he would have been a year or so ago. Although not quite eye to eye, it was now very close. That kind of surprised Shy.

  “Well?” Daniel asked again.

  Shy smiled, slapped Daniel on the shoulder and said, “I couldn’t get the axe. It was really weird. After we pretended to go to bed, I waited. Eddie never showed. I was worried I would run into him on the way out, but I knew it was getting late, so I finally decided I needed to chance it. I went to grab his axe, and it was gone! I looked everywhere. So, he is out somewhere, after bedtime, with his axe!”

  Daniel was thinking. “Yeah, that’s kinda scary. What could he be doing?”

  The others looked around into the darkness, testing their senses, trying to determine if a spy was lurking.

  Daniel saw their reactions and said, “Yeah, he could be spying on us again. Seems to be what he does.”

  Shy didn’t respond because he just wasn’t sure. “I got the box though!”

  He tapped his back pocket where he had slid the smooth book shaped box. In the darkness, the portion of the box that protruded from his pants glowed faintly. Then, he remembered the rest of his news.

  “So, after giving up on the axe, I knew I was really late, so I rushed and cut across by the Hive. I slowed down just in time. I almost ran into Tad and Meg. Did you know she was here?” He asked the Lake cabin girls.

  They all shook their heads.

  Shy’s smile broadened.

  “Well, the two of them were sitting side by side, legs hanging over the edge of a platform. They were making out. I saw tongue and everything!”

  Henry whistled, and Sawyer whispered, “Way to go Tad!” to Finn. Arya and Portia simultaneously said, “Awwwww…”

  Shy’s smile was even bigger as he continued, “I was almost right behind them and had to backtrack a bit and take a different path. They didn’t even hear me… I think they were too… um… engaged in what they were doing.”

  It was a good thing it was
dark because as he finished the story he looked over to Portia and she was staring at him. He could see her face shining radiantly in the faint moonlight, and he felt the red blossom on his face. He couldn’t meet that glance for long, and quickly turned back to Daniel.

  “Do we have everything else besides the axe?”

  “Yep, we are ready to move out,” Daniel said as he raised the loaded squirt gun, “we will be OK without the axe.”

  Chapter Ten

  A fire was lit in his belly that wouldn’t go out anytime soon

  They set off into the forest, Daniel in the lead as usual. The excitement of adventure seemed to hang in the air. Shy felt the tingle in the pit of his stomach, or perhaps that was the feeling he got from knowing that Portia had moved into the position directly behind him. Regardless, the air was sharp with a kind of magic. Not fairy magic, but rather the kind of magic that infuses a child with the sense that something special is just around the corner.

  Shy’s head was on a swivel, and at one point he glanced upward into the Northern Minnesota sky through a gap in the trees. He saw the constellation Orion, the hunter. It felt appropriate.

  Soon they reached the north-south path that meandered along the top of the river gorge. Daniel and several others held flashlights. Sawyer was randomly flashing his into the girls’ eyes, until he got swatted from behind by Claire. She promptly took the flashlight away from him. Finn chuckled softly at the exchange.

  Shy’s mind began to drift as they walked. He was staring off into the trees when he saw a flash of light ahead. He stopped and grabbed the back of Daniel’s shirt. Portia stopped extremely close behind Shy. He could feel her there. He seemed to be ever-conscious of her whereabouts.

  Daniel was looking at him expectantly, but stayed silent.

  “Did you see that flash of light just ahead?” Shy asked.

  “No. Just now?” Daniel said as he turned to look back up the path. “Guys, shut up!” He turned back and added as the rest of the pack reached them.

  In silence the twelve campers stood and strained their eyes.

  Finally, Shy broke the silence and said, “I swear… I thought… Well it reminded me of last summer, when we were being chased. I was sure I was going to be caught, and this light flashed and led me off the path…” Shy didn’t know what else to say. The light was gone. “Forget it, let’s just keep moving…”

  Daniel set out again, but his head was on a swivel. It wasn’t long before the hair stood up on Shy’s arm, and he saw a flash again, not too far ahead! He grabbed Daniel, but before Shy could get any words out, Daniel whisper yelled, “I saw it!” The light flashed again, but off to the side. Again, further off the path.

  “What do we do?” Daniel asked with obvious strain in his voice.

  “Follow it!” Shy didn’t hesitate. He was sure now the light had helped him before, and his gut told him to trust it again.

  “Hurry!” He called out to the others, and grabbed Portia’s arm and they ran after the quickly disappearing light.

  Shy could hear everyone crashing along behind him and Portia. They were now off the path, and heading deeper into the forest. He could see a flashlight beam, from behind him, bouncing off trees in front. Shy was beginning to pant, and he heard a little squeak from Portia, every change of direction or lurch in his step. He had an iron grip on her arm and didn’t let go.

  Then… it was simply gone. No more flashes.

  Shy skidded to a halt, and was looking around wildly as the others caught up.

  “What?” Daniel began, but Shy shushed him immediately.

  Something was wrong, but Shy couldn’t place what. Then a look of fear crossed his face as he placed what he had been missing. The smell! He caught a strong whiff of sour milk!

  “Everyone, get DOWN!” Shy whispered fiercely and dropped to his knees. He scooted over to Daniel and got right in his face. “The smell… Do you smell that? Do you remember?”

  Shy saw realization dawn on Daniel’s face.

  He turned to the others and said, “We have to be silent and still… There are trolls close by!”

  Shy had moved back to Portia and was holding her hand. She raised his arm, snuggled into his side and wrapped the arm around her other side. She shivered slightly. He squeezed her and held her tight. He could feel her breath.

  Movement far off in the forest stole him from the reverie of holding her tight. He strained his ears and could tell by their faint silhouettes that the others were doing the same. As the seconds ticked by the sound became clearer. Grunts intermixed with a cadence of thumps. It was group of trolls. A large group of trolls. The smell became overwhelming. Shy could feel Portia gag. He squeezed her tight and she regained control.

  Based on sound, the trolls were passing the portion of the pathway that the group of campers had just been on. The trolls weren’t following the pathway exactly though. They seemed to intersect the path, and continue to push more northeasterly. Shy caught occasional glimpses of faint light bobbing with the rhythm of their strange three pointed walk. Shy wondered how creatures as broad, bulky, and brutish as the trolls could capture fireflies to actually make a lantern.

  Another nagging thought pulled at Shy. He had seen what he thought were troll lights moving in the same direction previously. He had seen Reds…. What was it that Tom T had told him? She gathers them? The nisse had said the huldra was gathering all kinds of Unseelie. He said she was preparing for war. These must be the soldiers she is enlisting. Where were they coming from? So many… how could Tom T and the few other Seelie ever hope to withstand a force like what Shy now realized must be building up north of the camp? And it was Shy’s fault. He had taken the box, last summer, from where it had been safeguarded for who knows how long. That is what started her plan. Now if the huldra was able to get the box from him, she would use her army to overrun and enslave the Seelie, and who knows what effects she could have on humankind. Just the thought of Tom T, the dingy, drab, nisse with a brave, shining heart of gold having to serve the huldra made Shy throw up in his throat a little. He swallowed the bile and acid back down. One thing at a time, he thought. I am going to get Gust out and then call the Lesidhe and win them to our side. I may have to learn how to fight, before this is all over Shy thought.

  Portia was now pulling him to his feet in Daniel’s direction. They needed to get moving. Shy was now very aware that there could be other Unseelie troops moving in the woods. The thought of the bloodthirsty Reds following them in the woods made Shy shiver. Portia looked at him.

  She leaned in and warmly breathed in his ear, “Are you cold?”

  “No, I was just thinking. This whole deal with the box could be a lot bigger than I was letting on.”

  She kept her face close to his ear, and didn’t let him move. He tried to move towards the rest of the disappearing group, but she held firm. He turned his head towards her questioningly.

  She let her hold go on him and cupped his cheeks in her hands and kissed him full on the lips! Shy didn’t know what to do. His instinct was to pull away, but something else overrode that instinct. The kiss seemed to last forever. It seemed far off in the distance that he heard Daniel say, “Where is Shy? And Portia?!”

  Shy realized that he had his eyes closed. He opened them as they naturally pulled away from each other. There in the faint moonlight, Shy saw her mouth curve into a smile, and a fire was lit in his belly that wouldn’t go out anytime soon.

  Shy grabbed her hand and pulled her toward Daniel’s now grumbling voice.

  “What’re you doing?” Daniel asked as he rounded a tree coming back toward Shy.

  “I had to tie my shoe,” Shy said. “Sorry if we aren’t as fast as you.”

  Daniel looked at them suspiciously, and even glanced at their clasped hands, but let it go. “Do you have the box still, I hope?”

  Shy turned to Daniel and stuck out his butt. The luminescence of the box shown faintly from his pocket.

  They edged slowly and carefully from the for
est, back onto the path. The incident had reminded them that they were not alone moving around in the camp at night. There was no more joking or flashing the light randomly in the group. They all realized now that this wasn’t a game.

  They proceeded North on the river gorge path. It wasn’t far before they came to the branch of the path that shot off eastward and down towards the river, through the cliffs. They made their way down quietly, single file. As the group began to file past the place where Sam, Daniel, and Shy had most recently encountered the fossegrimen and his horribly priced riddle, Shy thought he could see the other two boys glance over in the darkness. They moved quickly past the spot, not wanting to remember too fully the inevitable, irresistible pull of the fairy magic that had dragged them across the rocky ground when they had begun to falter in solving the riddle.

  When Shy passed, he paused and stared at the spot on the cliff wall. He half expected to feel the pop of the Glamour and see the behemoth sitting there on its tiny stool, with an eerie half smile on its face. Nothing happened, but he strained his ears as Portia, now in front of him, tugged on his hand. Shy thought he had heard a faint melancholy strain of fiddle music float off into the darkness. It had been only a few notes, and then it was gone.

  The path now leveled out completely. Up ahead, around the jutting end of the cliff, lay the beach next to the waterfall fed pool. Next to where they now stood, the river began its trek that took it through the gorge, alongside the campground, under the Cave cabins, and out into the mighty Lake Superior.

  Daniel still led the group up and around the cliff. Shy remembered the dancing fairies on the beach the last time they had made this journey. It was a magical sight that he could see again in his mind’s eye. He almost hoped that they might be celebrating again when he rounded the bend. He saw nothing, however. The beach was calm and still, with no pull of Glamour anywhere.

  Once one rounded the cliff onto the beach, the roar of the waterfall was overpowering. The only way to talk was to get right into each person’s ear. Daniel was doing that now. From camper to camper he went and whispered directions in each ear. Shy watched jealously as Daniel spoke into Portia’s ear. She simply nodded, let go of Shy’s hand, and pulled a plastic bag from her pocket. Then she began to strip off her shorts!