The Huldra Hostility

by Michael Almich

  “Shy look,” Tad interrupted, “we are all very concerned about your safety. We all share this burden of the box and its magic now. We are in this together. Stay in touch over the school year. I want to hear from you weekly, if not daily… OK?” He placed his hand on Shy’s shoulder.

  Shy nodded, annoyed at being interrupted. Shy could now see Clancy leading a group of parents up towards the Lodge. The rest of the guys had worked their way over to Shy. They all fist bumped and shook hands, promising to do a better job of staying in touch. Eddie caught Shy’s eye and mouthed the word ‘thanks.’ Shy nodded to him with a smile.

  The next thing he knew, they were all going their separate ways. Shy felt that sadness or emptiness begin to fill him from the inside. He saw his Dad walking over toward him, and started to pick up his stuff.

  Then, Portia was there. Appearing seemingly from nowhere, the tall blond-haired girl lifted his drooping spirits. She gave him a hug, and a quick kiss. Her smile made him feel warm; it wrestled away the feeling of emptiness that had taken hold.

  “Let’s try and talk, type, or message somehow at least once a day ok?”

  Shy could see her eyes were getting glassy, and now the emptiness in the pit of his stomach began to win the battle.

  All he could do was nod.

  Quickly, she gave him another hug, turned and said hello to his dad, and then she ran off to her own parents.

  Shy’s dad gave him a playful punch in the arm. Then they hugged. It felt good. Shy hadn’t seen his dad for the whole summer. With the hug came pangs of homesickness, and suddenly Shy couldn’t wait to get back to his mom too.

  They walked to the car with his dad’s arm over his shoulder. Shy breathed in the pine scented, northern forest air deeply. He looked around as they walked. He desperately hoped this wasn’t his last time walking this path.

  Epilogue

  That moment of dreams where lucent thought overcomes sleep

  As they loaded his gear in the trunk, Shy had a thought.

  “Dad, can I keep the pillow in the car with me? We were kinda up late last night… I might try to sleep on the way home.”

  “Sure buddy, grab it.”

  Shy situated himself in the front seat. Pillow up against the window, right arm under the pillow, his hand on the box through the pillow case. His dad smiled over at him.

  “All set?”

  “Yep.” Shy answered.

  They set off on the winding gravel road that would bring them to Highway 61, which in turn would take them through the two dramatic North Shore tunnels and south to Duluth. As it usually did, Shy’s mind drifted. He felt relaxed and safe with his dad. It wouldn’t be long before he was sleeping, he thought.

  They proceeded in the line-up of parents cars, slowly winding through the deep forest. It was just happenstance that Henry’s car was in front of them. Henry was looking out the back and waving crazily. Shy chuckled and waved back, but stopped suddenly, as his vision popped. Beyond Henry’s car there was movement on the forested hillside! Shy sat up and squinted. Henry was still waving, and Shy tried to point, but Henry wasn’t catching on.

  “What’s up?” Shy’s dad asked.

  “Ahhh… nothing. I just thought I saw an animal in the woods there…”

  He continued to stare at the spot as they slowly passed it by. He wasn’t sure what it was that had caught his vision, but he definitely had felt it happen. Something was out there in the woods.

  He lay back down on his pillow, mind racing and eyes darting to both sides of the road.

  They began to pick up some speed and soon reached the intersection with Highway 61. His dad pulled out into the southbound lane.

  Shy began to relax again. They were back out into relative civilization. There were some other cars on the road, and random businesses and houses along the highway. Shy’s thinking slowed, and his eyes began to droop to the hum of the highway.

  He began to daydream, and imagined seeing trolls on the highway ahead. He knew it couldn’t be real, though, and his eyes closed briefly.

  Then he experienced that moment of dreams where lucent thought overcomes sleep. His eyes popped back open in time to see the hábrók swoop low, from above their car, into the very real line of trolls blocking the highway! The greatest of all hawks cleared a path for their car through the trolls!

  As their car flew through the beasts unhindered, Shy looked at his dad. He could obviously see none of this and was calm as could be.

  Shy felt, rather than saw, the next wave of fey and turned back to the highway just as their car crashed into tons of troll flesh!

  Now, there is always a danger, in Northern Minnesota, of running into a deer with your automobile. Anyone who has done so can attest to the amount of damage one deer can inflict on a car, and vice-versa. A single troll has many times the mass of one deer, and Shy’s father’s car didn’t stand a chance. The impact set off the airbags.

  The last thing Shy felt was the car sliding, and then the stomach wrenching moment of weightlessness…

  Guide to pronunciations

  Lesidhe : Lay - shee

  Bysen: bī - sen

  Hábrók : how - broke

  Fossegrimen : fah see grim en

  Lac Igam : Laak ee gaam

  Nisse : niss see

  Huldra : hull drah

  Sylphon : sill fawn

  About the author:

  Mike Almich has lived his entire life in Minnesota, and loves to spend time on the North Shore of Lake Superior, the setting for his Camp Lac Igam series. He is a happily married fortysomething father of three loving, exuberant, rambunctious, and often tiring, children. Their household is further complicated by two dogs, and a cat that thinks it is a dog. Mike enjoys reading in general, especially the fantasy genre. He is also passionate about football, and has found coaching his young sons to be immensely rewarding. He is currently an advocate of tackling low, an apprentice of writing on trains, a pontificator on the wonders of teenage daughters, and a Manager of the Institution of Marriage.

  Look for other titles by Michael J Almich coming soon at Smashwords.com

  Connect with Mike Online:

  Facebook: http://facebook.com/CampLacIgam

  Notes from Camp Lac Igam blog: http://michaelalmich.blogspot.com/.

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/Michael_Almich

  Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MichaelAlmich