As he sat staring at the pages of the fantasy tale he was in the midst of writing, his thoughts turned to the latest session of Swords and Sorcerers that he had scheduled for Jake and Katelynn later that night. It had been a week since his friends had ventured into that underground maze beneath Zolthane Mountain that Sam, the adventure’s writer, had created and named the Crystal Caverns. Katelynn and Jake often acted as an unofficial test group, working through his latest creations for their strengths and weaknesses before Sam sent them off to his editor for production. As usual, Sam was anxious to return to that fantasy world of imagination. Last week had seen Chelmar the Wizard and Alganea the Warrior-Maiden trapped in a dead-end cavern by a pack of flesh-hungry ghouls. Despite the week they’d had to ponder the problem, Sam still couldn’t see how Jake and Katelynn were going to get their characters out of their deadly predicament.
Looks like you might’ve made this one just a hair too difficult, he thought to himself. If they can’t find their way out of the maze, you’re going to have a lot of rewriting to do.
A quick glance at his watch told him it was just after two. He had agreed to take a day shift in order to free up one of his evenings later in the week. Doing so also allowed the perfect opportunity to take Katelynn to work with him that afternoon so that she could interview Gabriel Armadorian, one of the nursing homes’ patients and Sam’s friend, for her thesis. Knowing he had to be there by three-thirty, Sam decided he had just enough time to grab a quick shower and a bite to eat before going to pick up Katelynn. He saved the fresh text he’d written on his computer, and then wandered into the kitchen, trying to hunt up the fixings for a sandwich or two, his thoughts wandering through the details of that night’s adventure.
He didn’t know it then, but before the night was through, Sam would find himself wrapped up a situation beyond his control, one that would make those he faced in the twilight realm of his imagination seem positively dull in comparison.
*** ***
Across town, Katelynn Riley was anxiously awaiting her friend’s arrival. As was her habit when nervous, she checked through her book bag once more, assuring herself that she had everything she needed.
Notebook? Check.
Pencils and pens? Check.
Tape recorder? Check.
Tapes and extra batteries, just in case? Check.
That’s everything, she thought with satisfaction, and relaxed back into the chair by the front window where she sat watching for Sam’s car. He had promised to take her to St. Boniface’s today when he went in for his shift, to introduce her to Gabriel Armadorian, the nursing home’s oldest patient. He had assured her that the old man was still lucid and in complete possession of his mental faculties.
From the comments that Sam had made, Katelynn was fairly certain that Gabriel was privy to a good deal of information that she was unable to find elsewhere on Sebastian Blake, the man who was the subject of her thesis. She was eager to sit down with Gabriel to discuss the issue at length. What a coup it would be for her to uncover and support information that not even Dr. Hemington, her mentor, had previously seen.
A horn sounded from outside, snatching her from her musings. Seeing Sam’s car in the drive, she quickly slipped into her coat, snatched up her pack and hustled out the door.
"All set?" Sam asked as she settled into the passenger seat.
"Sure am. Thanks a lot for this, Sam." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
He smiled at her in return. The two had known each other for several years, having enrolled at Benton University at the same time. A chance introduction had blossomed into a deep friendship that had lasted well past college. At times Sam found himself wondering just why it was that they’d never been more than just friends. Wasn’t friendship one of the most important pillars in the foundation of a relationship? It wasn’t that he didn’t find her attractive; he certainly did. She kept herself in shape with daily workouts of swimming and aerobics, toning her body without losing its soft feminine curves. Her hair was the color of chestnuts and curled at the shoulders. Katelynn had a wonderful laugh, a beautiful smile, and a pert little nose that reminded him of an elf. Sam knew from past experience that she was kind, caring, and generous. So why hadn’t they fallen in love? Sam figured it was just one of the great mysteries in life and left it at that. Sometimes it didn’t pay to look too closely at such things. They were friends, and that was what was important. At least that was what he told himself.
Suddenly, Katelynn interrupted his thoughts. "Tell me about Gabriel, Sam."
He thought about it for a moment, and then said with a laugh, "I’m not sure I can."
Despite all the time they’d spent together, Gabriel was still pretty much an enigma to him. He had the feeling that the old man would remain that way no matter how well they got to know each other.
Sam remembered the day they had admitted Gabriel to the nursing home. The stretcher attendants were wheeling him in, his stroke too recent for him to be mobile, and as they’d passed the nursing desk were Sam was stationed for the night, the old man had opened his eyes, looked at him, and said, "Come pay me a visit sometime, Sammy. I think we’ve got a lot to talk about." It had taken Sam a minute or two to get over his shock, and by then the group had passed through the double doors and down the hall to the guest rooms. He’d wondered how the old man had known his name, and then decided he’d simply read it off his nametag. But when he’d been changing in the locker room after his shift, he’d discovered he’d forgotten to put his tag on that night. There it was, sitting right where he’d left it the night before, on the top shelf of his locker, the white letters of his name staring him in the face. Once the shivers had gone away, he’d convinced himself that one of the attendants must have been playing a joke on him. Knowing his interest in the supernatural, they’d convinced the patient to go along and try to give Sam a scare. He’d had to admit it had worked beautifully, and he’d left it at that. But the incident hadn’t left his mind all weekend, and when he’d gone back to work the following week he’d done just what the man had asked, went and paid him a visit.
From that night on, the two of them had been friends.
Knowing Katelynn was patiently waiting for some kind of answer, he struggled to describe how he felt whenever he was in Gabriel’s presence.
"You ever notice how they portray grandfathers on television? Nice old guys who always have the right answer, who can always give the kid who’s the star of the show the right piece of advice?"
Katelynn nodded. She knew exactly what Sam was talking about; her own grandfather had been just like that. He’d always known when something was bothering her and had always managed to cheer her up with just a few words. When he died a few years ago, she thought she’d never be able to stop crying.
"Well, that’s Gabriel. He makes me feel like a kid all over again, awed and amazed at everything he says. He can take an everyday object and turn it into something miraculous, just by having you look at it in a different way." He grinned sheepishly. "Sounds pretty corny, doesn’t it?"
"Not at all. Keep going."
"He seems ancient to me. Totally at one with nature and the world around him, peaceful, serene, as if nothing could ever faze him. And he’s an incredible storyteller. Sometimes, when I’m working the late shift and he can’t sleep, I’ll sit in his room and he’ll tell me old legends, tales filled with wonder and magic, good and evil, tragedy and happiness."
They left the town limits and headed west on Route 3, heading down the side of a mountain to where Glendale lay at the base, fifteen minutes away. They crossed the covered bridge that spanned the Quinnepeg River, and a few moments later drove into the town of Glendale. It was bigger and more industrial than Harrington Falls, less quaint and more seedy. St. Boniface’s, the nursing home where Sam was employed, was on the far side of town and it took them another fifteen minutes of fighting the afternoon traffic before they arrived.
Once inside, Sam had Katelynn wait in t
he lobby while he ran downstairs to the locker room, changed into his uniform, and clocked in his time card. When he returned he led her upstairs to the third floor. Mr. Armadorian was in room 310, at the end of a long L-shaped corridor.
Outside the door Sam said, "I told him you were coming, but just in case he’s asleep why don’t you wait here a sec and let me go in alone."
Katelynn nodded and stepped back to comply, but a voice called out to them from inside the room. "Are you two going to stand out there all day, or are you coming in to keep an old man company?"
Sam grinned, shrugged his shoulders, and led Katelynn inside.
The first thing Katelynn noticed were his eyes. A clear robin’s egg shade of blue, they seemed to gaze out at her with the open wonder of a child. They were eyes she’d often read about but never actually encountered; mesmerizing eyes, eyes that seemed to see right through a person. If it wasn’t for the obvious kindness that poured out of them in waves, their impact would have been quite frightening. As they were, they made her feel warm and welcome.
Once she could tear her gaze away from Gabriel’s, she noticed his skin was a burnished shade of copper, his face so lined with cracks and creases that it reminded her of a well-worn piece of leather. His hair was long and white, flowing over his shoulders in a long snowy mane, receding only a little despite his obvious age. He smiled at her scrutiny. "Sammy," he said, reaching out and clasping his friend’s hand in greeting with both of his own. "I’ve been waiting for you, just like we agreed." Gabriel let go and turned to face Katelynn. "And this must be the young lady my friend has been telling me about lately."
"Katelynn Riley," she told him, turning to shake hands. His hand was thin and seemed fragile, but his skin was rough with years of hard work and his grip was still surprisingly strong. She noticed that he was dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a blue chambray shirt that hung loosely on his thin frame. His feet, propped up on the end of the bed, were clad in a pair of soft suede moccasins.
"Please, sit with me, here by the window," he said, indicating several chairs that had been set up by the large window that formed most of the wall in front of the bed. "I was just enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun."
Having been there countless times, Sam had already taken a seat, but Katelynn paused a moment to look around, taking in the austerity of the man’s living space. She had glanced into several other rooms on the way up, and she knew that this was not the normal decor. The only furniture in the room besides the bed and chairs was a nightstand that appeared to have been hewed by hand from one solid piece of wood. It was rough and unfinished, but its very simplicity seemed to give it a wholesomeness that a perfectly stained piece would never have possessed. The walls were plain white plaster, unpainted, unadorned except for an intricate macram� design that looked to her like some kind of bird rising out of a fire.
When she turned away from the wall hanging, Katelynn found Gabriel watching her. She smiled shyly, and he gestured with one hand, indicating with a smile of his own that she should join Sam and him at the window. The three of them sat together in silence for a time, letting the heat of the sun warm the chill from their bones. Eventually Gabriel turned to her and said, "Sammy thinks that I may be of some help to you?"
"Yes," she replied eagerly, leaning forward in her chair, anxious now to get down to business. "I’m employed as a teaching assistant while I work toward my doctorate in sociology at Benton University. I’ve been doing a thesis on the dynamics of communities that arise from one central, familial influence. The impact of the Blake’s family fortune on the rise of Harrington Falls has been a perfect model. Sam tells me that your family had some association with the Blakes in the past and I thought you might have some information that might add some local color to my work."
He nodded, a curious expression on his face. "I’d be delighted to help if I can, but most of what I know would be second or third hand information."
"That won’t be a problem. I’ve been focusing lately on the figure of Sebastian Blake, including the circumstances that surrounded his final disappearance from this area. Anything you can tell me about him would be a great help, since I’ve managed to uncover next to nothing." As she spoke, Katelynn delved into her bag for her notebook and pen, while at the same time surreptitiously turning on her tape recorder. She left the recorder inside the bag so as not to make Gabriel uncomfortable. When she straightened, she found the atmosphere in the room had changed, the air suddenly charged with tension. The old man was staring at her intently, a strange look on his face. This time she could feel that his expression was one of fear.
"Why would a pretty young woman like you want to know about a man like him?" Gabriel asked in a soft, quiet voice that somehow carried far more force than his earlier exuberance.
A sudden thrill went through Katelynn, the one that told her she was on to something. Easy girl, she told herself, not wanting to ruin things by being hasty. Mindful of the old man’s reaction, she answered carefully, "Well, the Blake family has had a tremendous affect on the development of this region. Since so much has been done on the other, more notable members of the family, particularly Elijah and Nathaniel, I wanted to stay away from them and choose a lesser-known figure. My early research uncovered very little information on Sebastian, Elijah’s younger brother, and so I decided to find out why. The more I looked, the less I found and the more curious I became."
"And now, like a child with a lost treasure map, you just can’t seem to put it down," Gabriel said gently, almost remorsefully, in reply.
She nodded in agreement.
He turned away, staring off into space, as if considering whether or not he was going to help her. His hands, idle until now, were suddenly in motion as he began wringing them together in an outward expression of some internal conflict. This went on for several long moments as Katelynn and Sam each sat holding their breath wondering what had so upset the man. Finally, he seemed to return to himself and looked over at them. Turning to Sam he said, "Shut the door, Sammy."
Katelynn watched as Sam complied, and on his face she could see an expression of bewilderment that probably matched her own. Her feeling of excitement was growing. The old man was acting as if he was about to impart national security secrets, and that could only mean that he knew something good.
Gabriel waited until Sam had resumed his seat and then addressed Katelynn. "There is no way I can turn you from this course and suggest you choose another?"
Katelynn shook her head. I’ve done too much work now as it is, spent too many hours combing dusty works in the back shelves of the library, all to no avail. Now, when I finally stumble onto something, he wants me to give it up? Not a chance!
He nodded again, as if her answer was what he had expected. "Tell me what you know," he said.
Katelynn took a deep breath to hide her excitement and began. "Besides the general facts like his parentage and where he was educated, not much. I do know that he was a loner, almost the exact opposite of his brother Elijah, and he got into trouble with the authorities on more than one occasion while he was growing up. He left Harrington Falls to attend school in Boston and then spent many years overseas."
"Sounds fairly normal to me," Sam said.
"To an extent," Katelynn agreed. "He returned some years later a changed man, however. The wild attitude of his childhood had been replaced by an intense studiousness that seemed to please everyone. He’s mentioned several times in historical documents of various types after his return, attending a town meeting here, appearing at a dinner engagement there, just as you would expect from a wealthy member of one of the town’s founding families. But soon after that, the world seems to have lost track of him. Right up until the spring of 1760 he’s a fairly prominent figure, but then there’s nothing. After 1760, there isn’t a single mention of him anywhere I looked." She sighed in exasperation.
"The various family histories seem to ignore the question of what happened to him as well. I couldn’t even find a r
ecord of his death.
Unconsciously, she shivered. "It’s as if he fell off the face of the earth and no one noticed that he was gone."
Next to them, Sam listened to her litany, fascinated. It was all news to him. He’d heard the man’s name mentioned once or twice in the past and seemed to remember something about there once having been a statue of him in the town square that had been torn down for some reason. He was beginning to feel the same sense of mystery that had infected Katelynn.
It was obvious that Gabriel was troubled by what she was saying. Sam had known the man too long not to recognize the subtle clues; the changed look down in the depths of his eyes, the nervous tick of his little finger. He was upset, and for a moment Sam was certain he wouldn’t tell them anything. Then Gabriel turned and looked out the window, gathering his thoughts. Sam had seen the same expression whenever the old man was getting ready to tell one of his tales of the mystical past.
"Sebastian Blake," Gabriel said softly, as if tasting the words on the tip of his tongue and finding them bitter. "I haven’t thought of him in many years. And with good reason; he was not the type of man one allows into his thoughts lightly." He turned to face them, and they both saw that a sadness had descended over him, a blanket of weighted sorrow that for the first time made him seem old in spirit as well as body.
He went on, "The natives of this country believe that when the Great Spirit made this world, he populated it with many strange and wondrous creatures, some good, some bad. One of these was Coyote."
Riverwatch Page 2