The Huldra Hostility

by Michael Almich

  “I think we need to wait until after dark… if it ever comes in this place…” He added. “It will be easier to sneak down to rescue Gust after dark, plus I think Ralph is right… I think they are all waiting for something to happen.”

  “Yeah, but if we wait, that something could mean the box gets away from us again.” Shy said. “Let’s go get him now, and he can help us plan how to get the box back.”

  “Hmmm…” Daniel went back to thinking. “Maybe Finn could scale that rock wall by where Gust is tied up. He has been practicing his rock climbing lately. None of them are looking over there. He could slip down quietly, cut Gust free, and then climb back up. I like it... as long as Gust can make the climb.” He finished and looked up at Shy.

  “We should have some of us stay over on this side of the hollow,” Shy said. “That way if something goes wrong, we can cause a diversion or something…”

  “I’ll go with Finn,” Daniel said. “Claire, and some of the others, can come with me. We’ll split up half and half.”

  “I want to go.” Shy demanded. He felt like he should be the one to rescue Gust.

  “It makes more sense for you to stay here,” Daniel said. “I think you will be able to provide the perfect distraction, if we need it.”

  “No, I need to help save Gust…. Wait, what kind of distraction?”

  Suddenly Ralph piped up. Shy always forgot the quiet boy was there.

  “Wolf howl…” Ralph said quietly at first. Then looking at Daniel, he said in a louder more confident voice, “You mentioned the camp games…. Wolf howl. Shy makes the best wolf howl. It is something that would distract them. Plus, it sounds like something that would be out here in the woods, so they won’t necessarily suspect it is us. Or, wait a minute, do they even have wolves here?”

  Daniel high-fived Ralph.

  “It doesn’t matter if they actually have wolves here or not. It would be enough to distract them either way.” Daniel said.

  Shy still didn’t like it; he really felt the need to be part of the rescue. In the end, though, he couldn’t come up with any better way to cause a distraction without putting someone at risk. They needed to rescue Gust first and then have him use his special forces training to help them come up with a plan to get the box back. The old, white mustachioed man was tied up at the periphery of the camp, while the box was in the middle surrounded by agitated and alert unseelie.

  Daniel and Ralph were discussing who would come with, and who would stay with Shy’s group. In the end, they decided that Finn, Daniel, Claire, Kennedi and Sam would go on the rescue attempt. Daniel argued that any more in his group would risk notice. He had the biggest, strongest boys with him in case they ran into a guard, and Finn was now their best climber. They left the louder and more boisterous kids, Henry, Sawyer, and Penelope, with Shy.

  Before the two groups split up, Shy motioned Sam to bring over the pillow case of supplies. Sam set it down at his feet, and Shy rooted around the bottom of the bag.

  “What are you looking for?” Daniel asked impatiently.

  “It’s here somewhere… I know I put it in here… Ahhh, yup. Here it is.”

  Shy had pulled out the red squirt gun that he had purchased that spring at the Mall of America. He shook it to make sure it was still full, and tucked it into the back of his pants like he had seen the action heroes do in the movies.

  “OK, I am ready. Hey, you guys might need these…”

  He dug back in the sack and pulled out a water balloon, and handed it to Daniel.

  The tall boy looked confused at first, so Shy said, “The reds hate the water. If you are at the top of that cliff and they start firing those arrows, launch one of these babies at them.”

  Finally, he took out a partial loaf of bread, and passed a piece out to each member of the group.

  Sawyer started to eat his, when Ralph grabbed his arm.

  “What? I’m starving…” Sawyer complained.

  “These go in your pocket.” Claire scolded Sawyer.

  Shy smiled at Claire. She had read the entire book, The Faerie. She knew that it claimed that keeping bread in your pocket would keep you safe from fairy mischief.

  Shy handed a piece to Daniel last.

  Daniel got a smile on his face, gave Shy a fist bump, and called his group together. Quickly they moved off, toward Gust’s cliff. There was no goodbye, just quick eye contact that said take care of yourself.

  Shy watched them go, still a bit jealous. Then, he led his group down towards the bottom of the ridge that encircled the hollow. Reminding them to be as stealthy as possible, he then began to circle towards the side opposite where Gust was tied. He felt nervous. They were heading much closer to the portion of the hollow where the box and the majority of the unseelie fey were gathered. He tried to think positive, as he reached back to help Portia up a steep incline.

  Shy kept estimating their circumnavigation, and finally he pulled the group to a stop, and addressed everyone.

  “I want two of you to scout down the hillside, back towards the tangled forest... Just in case we have to make a quick escape. Ralph, you are coming with me to spy on what is happening. The rest of you spread out, stay hidden, and keep watch. I would be surprised if they did not have some guards posted around this area, right? I mean, that's what I would do..." Shy trailed off, his confidence faltering as he realized he was telling everyone what to do. To his surprise they all began to move off as he instructed, except Henry and Portia.

  Henry whined, "Why can't we come up there and watch?"

  "Because you don't know how to be quiet," Portia said with a laugh as she pushed him down towards Sawyer.

  Then, turning to Shy, she said, "I AM coming with you." she locked her arm in his and motioned Ralph towards the top of the ridge with a nod of her head.

  Shy figured it wasn't worth arguing about and moved uphill with her.

  Ralph, Portia, and Shy lay on their belly and slowly, silently raised their eyes above the rocky edge of the ridge. Since they had last peeked upon the scene below, the goblins had become even more agitated. Trolls now, too, had begun to gather around the giant stone that held the box. There were other creatures big and small that Shy could not identify. The reds stoically stood guard around the boulder, and thus the box.

  As Shy looked closer, he saw one small figure scanning the ridgeline. He pulled Portia and Ralph down from view and said, “Did you see that?”

  “See what? There is a ton of activity down there.” Portia answered.

  Ralph just looked inquisitively at Shy.

  “Off to the right of the main group, just past the two really large trolls… Looks like a tree stump, but look close. I think it is the bysen… AND he is watching the ridgeline! He is going to see us if we are not careful. He is gonna see Finn for sure!”

  “Did either of you look at where our other group should be? Were they there yet?” Ralph asked worriedly.

  “I didn’t. Let’s peek again, but one of us needs to watch that bysen… if he starts to look in our direction, we need a warning.”

  Shy and Ralph looked at each other and then at Portia.

  “Oh, fine…. I’ll do it.” She said with a half smile.

  She squeezed Shy’s hand and ever so slowly moved her eyes above the top of the ridge. While she was trying to locate the bysen, Shy looked downhill and saw Henry and Sawyer walking back up. Henry saw Shy and gave him a brief thumbs up to show they had an escape route planned. Then they moved off into the woods to stand watch. Shy scanned the rest of the area. He picked out Eddie, standing confidently against a tree with his axe slung over his shoulder. Shy also thought he could see one of the two other girls ducking behind a rocky outcropping. He turned back towards Portia and Ralph.

  Finally Portia whispered, “OK.” She motioned them up without taking her eyes off the bysen. “He isn’t looking all the time, but you’re right Shy… He does keep coming back to scanning the entire ridgeline every couple minutes it seems.”

  Sh
y barely heard her. He was looking across the entire hollow, to the far side, where Gust was tied. He thought he had seen some movement at the top of the rock wall. It had to be Daniel, Finn, and the others. He stared hard. It was getting more difficult to see.

  Suddenly Shy realized that it was indeed getting harder to see. For the first time in his two trips to this magical place, the sun was starting to set. Night was falling and the gloom of dusk gave him a very ominous feeling. The creatures in the hollow below had lit some random fires around the hollow, which made the scene below look even more surreal.

  He turned to Ralph to say something about the onset of dusk, and how it would affect their plans, but Ralph stopped him.

  “There!” Ralph whispered harshly as he pointed to the far cliff with one hand and pushed his glasses further up onto his squinting nose with his other. “That crack in the cliff, a little ways down from the top. I think I see Finn sneaking out of there. Yes! It’s him! He’s starting to climb down from that crack!”

  Shy turned back and squinted too. He was really having trouble seeing.

  “Get down!” came Portia’s urgent whisper from their right.

  All three ducked. Portia squirmed over closer to the boys and said, “He was just starting his sweep of the ridgeline. I think he will have a hard time seeing Finn. I’ll look again in a sec.”

  Before she could pop her head back up, all three heard a muted moaning wail arise from the hollow below. They raised their heads at once, fearful that Finn had been discovered. What they saw below instantly changed their fears.

  The goblins were still, the trolls were in an unnatural three pointed kneeling position, even the reds had now turned their backs on the masses of fey and were facing the boulder in their center. A low, keening moan came from goblin throats and made the scene even more bizarre. There, next to a fire that had been lit on the broad boulder, with the box raised in her hoof-like claws, stood the huldra!

  The bovine creature was exalting the success of their capture of the box. Now, with it in her hands, the unseelie would be unstoppable.

  Shy looked to Ralph and Portia. Ralph’s eyes were as wide as they could go. Shy remembered then that this would have been the first time that he had ever seen the huldra. Her power was exhibited by how difficult it was to push through the huldra’s Glamour. Doing so had really become second nature to Shy, but he could tell that Ralph and Portia had now done so for the first time, and thus they now could feel and understand how powerful the huldra was.

  He turned back to see Finn almost to the bottom of the cliff where Gust was tied. He looked like a black dot on the rock face. He tried to see if Gust knew he was there, if he knew he was about to be rescued, but it was too dark now to tell.

  Portia grabbed Shy’s arm again. He looked back and saw a disturbance arising below them. The short bysen was pushing his way forward! He was having trouble getting past the trolls. The huldra turned her head towards the bysen, and the other creatures melted away from her gaze. Shy could see the bysen was pointing to where Gust was captive. He was trying to warn them of the rescue attempt!

  The huldra did not yet have a clear view of the creature because several trolls had begun to bicker and push each other out of the way, and the bysen could not get past them initially.

  Time seemed to slow down for Shy, and the world around him quieted. It was like he was watching the scene below as a silent film, in slow motion. He could feel Portia squeezing his arm, but could not hear the words she was urgently whispering in his ear. He knew what had to be done, and it went much farther than what they had planned.

  Time and sound snapped back to him as he quickly dropped below the ridgeline.

  To Ralph and Portia, he said, “Go gather up the rest of the kids and hide as a group. Wait for me to come running down the hill and then we need to go… fast.”

  In answer to their questioning looks and the question that was beginning to form on Portia’s lips, Shy said, with a touch of exasperation, “I am going to wolf howl! Now GO!”

  He didn’t wait to watch them go; instead, he raised his head back up above the ridgeline. The bysen was now in front of the reds, next to the huldra. The evil creature was bent down listening intently and beginning to turn to where the bysen was urgently pointing.

  It had to be now. Shy, dropped just below the ridgeline, regardless of the fact it was so dark now that there was no chance they could see him. He briefly glanced to the opposite side of the hollow, and imagined that he could see two black dots now on their way back up to the top of the cliff, but it was simply too dark. He tilted his head back, cupped his hands, and howled like he had never done before.

  Then quickly, he stealthily raised his eyes up to peer into the gloom that was even eerier now due to the flickering fires that lit the hollow. All of the creatures had obviously begun to move in the direction of where Gust was tied, and the huldra also seemed to have set the box down and moved to the opposite side of the long boulder, her arm outstretched, pointing, demanding her minions stop the rescue. Now, however, because of his howl, they had all stopped and turned their heads toward where Shy was peeking from. Shy felt like they were all on pause, like a video he had stopped.

  It only lasted for a second though. Shy could see the huldra refocus, and begin gesturing wildly. Quickly all the fey began moving again. The reds quickly outpaced the trolls, moving to the front, running quickly, with their bows unstrapped and in their arms. The goblins next, scampering with their jerky strides, and the trolls lumbering behind with several other creatures mixed in. His attempt at distraction had only saved a few seconds! Disappointed, Shy hoped those few seconds were enough to get Finn and Gust out of bow range of the reds.

  He didn’t have time to dwell on the fate of his friends because he knew he had to enact the second part of his plan. The part he didn’t tell Portia and Ralph about. The part he was deathly afraid of.

  Chapter Fourteen

  He knew in his heart that he was right.

  Shy slipped over the ridgeline, fear gripping his heart and threatening to make him turn back at any second. He forced himself to go on. He scrambled down the hillside into the hollow, alternating between dodging boulders and trees and hiding behind them. He kept working his way closer to the fires of the enemy. He wondered if Portia and the group of boys would be patient enough. He didn’t want them to follow him. This was a one-person-be-as-sneaky-as-you-can job. If he ran into any of the fairy creatures, he was sunk. Having back-up wouldn’t help. He had to get to that boulder, grab the box and go!

  He risked a look around the trunk of a large tree. The masses of creatures were at the far end of the hollow. It was too dark to see what was happening, but he was sure that he didn’t have much time. The huldra was standing at the far end of the boulder facing away from Shy. From this angle, she looked like a hollowed out log, standing on end. Shy had read that a huldra looked like that from behind, but it was still fascinating to him. He forced himself to focus. It wasn’t too far to the boulder. He crept out from behind the last tree and crawled across the open land toward the boulder.

  He was scared to look up. Afraid that, if he did, he would see creatures standing there, pointing at him. So, he just kept his head down and moved forward toward the boulder. He finally reached it and scooted up to sit with his back against it. The box should be just above his head, but he was scared to reach for it. He could hear the huldra shifting impatiently, with the occasional click of its hooves on the stone. Shy also heard a strange grunting, huffing noise, that he assumed was also coming from the creature. He knew he had to hurry, but he was just so scared.

  Finally, thinking of his friends waiting for him, he reached his hand tentatively over his head. With his fingers splayed flat, he blindly explored, trying to find the box. Nothing! He panicked as he realized it wasn’t there.

  Turning onto his knees, he raised his eyes above the edge of the rock. Squinting from the light of the fire, he spied the box. It was now glowing with a faint bl
ue light, and sitting right next to the huldra! The creature must have moved it while he was making his way down into the hollow.

  He looked past the box, into the distance, and could see some hulking shapes moving in the faint flickering firelight. The trolls were coming back! Now Shy was completely panicked. He could feel the adrenaline taking over as he hopped onto the boulder as silently as he could. He quickly crawled forward until he was directly behind the huldra. He could smell the rough, black hooves directly in front of his face. The smell almost made him gag. He breathed through his mouth, and ever so gently, he lifted the box and pulled it tight. His heart was literally pounding from the adrenaline now coursing through his body. He forced himself to breath silently.

  He inched backward and off the boulder. He wasn’t about to crawl now. Instead, he began to run, hunched over his prize, trying to smother the faint blue glow with his body.

  From behind, he heard a yell. He snuck a look back over his shoulder and saw that along with the trolls, the bysen had also returned. He had spotted Shy’s escape!

  The huldra looked at Shy, and looked at where the box had been, and roared into the air. The sound was awful. Shy began to run again. This time openly. He gripped the box and ran as fast as he could, leaping boulders he could see, and crashing into those he couldn’t. He had to pick himself up off the ground several times.

  From behind a boulder a red stepped directly in front of Shy. It must have been a guard that Shy had sneaked past. Both stopped in surprise, a moment frozen in time. The red slowly raised and nocked its bow. His left hand clutched the box, but Shy was already bringing his right hand forward from behind his back. He fired the little red squirt gun, directly into the eyes of the red and dove to the right. The red screamed, let his arrow fly toward where Shy had been standing, dropped his bow, and clutched at his eyes.

  Shy knew he had little time; the others were coming. Without looking back, he scrambled to his feet and ran. Soon he had reached the hillside, and was climbing as fast as he could. He could only hope to get far enough up before the reds returned to this section of the hollow. Just after he had the thought, he heard, rather than saw, an arrow strike the tree next to him. He immediately changed course, zig-zagging his way up the rest of the hill. He heard several more arrows come close, but he was now almost home free. The top of the ridgeline was only feet in front of him.