A Lament of Moonlight (6 page)

“That doesn’t mean she won’t answer,” Abigail s
aid, always thinking abstractly. H
e imagined that came with all the books she read, her mind was a bit sharper than all the others and she often thought of things their minds would never have entertained. She was good to have along even if sometimes the knowledge she gave was a bit useless.

“I don’t understand,” Melvin admitted.

“She may not answer vocally, but that doesn’t mean she will not answer us.” Abigail stood and walked to the door. She opened it slightly and outside they could hear hissing and trilling, slithering and rustling leaves from fluttered wings. The beings outside would not come any closer for the light the sugar shanty emitted. “Where to Luna?” Abigail asked, and the butterfly didn’t do anything for a while, but eventually she lifted off the table, fluttered around their heads a few times and then landed back on the table.

“Maybe she is dying,” Melvin said. “Butterfly’s don’t live that long anyway right?”

“At least not when they are in Abigail’s care,” Ruby commented.

“She is not dying, she is trying to tell us something,” Ab
igail said, giving them a withering look
. “Where are we going Luna?” She asked again, and again the purple butterfly responded by fluttering around the room and landing back on the table.

“I think she is telling us to wait,” Ruby sugges
ted as Abigail closed the door. S
he couldn’t deal with the noise coming from outside for the baneful creatures were beginning to mak
e her anxious. At least with the door closed the noise was muffled
.

“That is pretty obvious,” Melvin said. “Unless she is trying to tell us to stand on the table.”

“It is only obvious because someone has mentioned it,” Abigail said rather short tempered for she would much rather be at home in bed and not out here facing probable death at the hands of shadk
in. Abigail was loathe to admit
she was the blame for wanting to come. “Must I remind you that moments before you thought the butterfly was dying?”

“Well I am not the one that wanted to follow the stupid bug in the first place!” Melvin shouted raising to his feet and with the noise the dark animals outside seemed to stir louder, as if they fed on their anger.

“Actually I believe you did or you wouldn’t have come!” Abigail shouted back as she stood and faced him over the table, her arms cro
ssed
. “To tell you the truth I think it was you that continued on when I told you that I wanted to go home. If we had just gone home when
I
suggested it we would not be stuck here with shadkin outside trying to find a way in, you wouldn’t have died, and we would be safe at home!”

Melvin glared at her, but it was obvious that she had won this fight so he did the one thing that he could, he sat down and glared at her, and she stood there still glaring at him. Ruby fidgeted with her hands in her lap and refused to make eye contact.

After a few minutes they were all startled by a rustling at the
back of the shack. They
jumped up, goose bumps tingling their flesh and backed against the wall. Had one of the shadkin found a way in? They didn’t stop to think that there was no way the creatures could have gotten in because the light within the room wouldn’t permit it.

Boxes of jars teetered as the rustling became more pronounced, and Melvin stomped his foot, wondering what it was. If it truly were a creature from outside than it wouldn’t have wasted all its time scurrying about behind the boxes and would have instead came for them as soon as possible, unless it were trying to find a way to leak more shadkin in, and in that case they doubted that it would be creating such a ruckus.

“What do you think that is?” Abigail asked as Melvin stomped again, and a sneezing hiss came to them. It was not the hiss of a snake, but instead the hiss one would expect to hear from a cat.

“I am not sure,” Melvin said and
hushed them
as he stomped his foot and listened to the repeated hiss. “I have heard it before,” he said as the noise of claws on wood greeted his ears. “At least we know that it is not a snake,” he said.

“How do you know?” Ruby asked.

“Because, stupid, snakes do not have claws do they?” Melvin shot back and it was obvious from the look on her face that Melvin had truly hurt her feelings. He ignored her and turned back to his investigations.

“Maybe you should lay some food out?” Ruby suggested.

“Why would we do that?” Melvin asked offhandedly, stomping more and listening to the hissing. “That sounds awful familiar,” he mused again.

“Well if you lay out food then maybe the thing will come out,” Ruby told
him
.

“Has anyone been thinking of how we are going to get out and what we are going to do?” Melvin asked. “And I don’t want to lay out food because if it is a creature we don’t want in here food will make it want to stay.”

“I think it is looking for food anyway,” Ruby said. “And no we decided to stay here didn’t we? That is what Luna suggested anyway.”

“But how long?” Melvin asked turning back to them and for a moment ignoring his prey. “I don’t want to stay here all night waiting because a bug doesn’t want to go outside.” He was still having a hard time believing that Luna was anything more than a regular butterfly. The others just sighed at him. “Look, I will agree with staying for a short amount of time, but I am not waiting around here on fancy.”

“If it comes to that, the light from the open door will allow us to make a safe retreat to the trail. But that doesn’t matter because we are waiting,” Abigail told him with a note of finality in her voice that made him harrumph and turn back to what he was doing. “Besides, if we wait here until daylight there is a good chance we can make it out without
those beasts wanting to kill us.
Something tells me they won’t like daylight
.”

“HEY!” he exclaimed cutting off Abigail, and the volume of his voice scared them all witless. “I think I know what it is.”

“What?” Ruby asked recovering the fastest.

“It is Mama Coon!”

Chapter Six

They used Ruby’s advice after all and in a few minutes they had coxed Mama Coon out from behind a crate of canned berries. They fed her some peaches they had left over and the moldy cheese and bread that they had picked off their supplies. They figured that if raccoons ate garbage than Mama Coon would not be harmed by some moldy cheese and bread.

“What do you think she is doing down here?” Abigail asked.

“I am not sure,” Melvin said.

“Do you think she followed us?” Abigail asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t hear her behind us, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t there.”

“It is almost like she is here because of us,” Ruby said.

“Or that she was waiting for us,” Abigail entertained the fancy of an intelligent Mama Coon that planned and plotted, but after having spent some time with the loving raccoon they had come to learn that she
was
highly int
elligent.

For some reason Melvin thought that was the most likely explanation of what had happened. He didn’t say anything though because he didn’t like putting human traits on animals, so instead he contented himself with sitting and watching Mama Coon eat like a human would, holding the peaches in her paws and chomping down on them oddly because of her broken teeth.

A few minutes passed in which they watched the rodent eating and looking around as if surveying the inside before she stopped eati
ng (for all the food was gone). S
he sniffed a
round
looking for more food. Eventually she came over to Melvin, raised herself up, her front paws resting on his legs and sniffed a few times in his direction, though he wasn’t sure how good her eyesight was in the queer light of the sugar shanty.

“You aren’t getting anymore,” he told her, and no sooner had he said it than there was a knock on the door that made all of them, including Mama Coon, jump.

“What is that?” Abigail asked in fright.

“I don’t know,” Ruby said, a
nd Melvin shook his head
.

The knock sounded again.

“How could they get through the sn
akes and birds?” Ruby asked
. Luna lifted off the table then and flew to the door, battering herself against it a few times like she had when they crossed the barrier surrounding Singers Trail.

“Maybe that is what she was having us wait for?” Ruby said.

“You think we should open the door?” Melvin pondered.

“I wish someone would,” a voice from beyond the door said with a slight chuckle. They stared at each other in shock, their mouths hanging open in awe. Mama Coon ran to the door then and began scratching at it, her tail twitching in apparent joy at the sound of the pleasant voice. The voice was indeed beautiful and put them all at ease nearly immediately.

Abigail motioned Melvin forward, and he crossed the creaking floor to the door, and for some reason he thought it suddenly seemed like such a short distance, and though the voice didn’t seem to be malicious Melvin was not so eager to jump into a situation like that again, after all the harp music had been beautiful as well. Luna, however, was battering against the door like she was looking for a crack to get through to the woman that waited outside.

“I can come in by myself you know,” the stranger said, and by the sound of her voice she was smiling. “I only knock because I have been told that is polite.”

That seemed like a very strange declaration indeed. Melvin suddenly became aware that he could no longer hear the presence of the snakes and birds outside, and he wondered if they were still there.

Maybe they have given up?
He mused.

With a trembling hand he opened the door and gazed at the beautiful woman beyond.

She was like nothing he had ever seen before; a being made of honey and moonlight. Her dress, though gauzy and seemingly insubstantial was the color of the moon, and even appeared to radiate a dim light. Her hair, braided sporadically here and there was woven about with silvery strands of light. The tresses were the color of fresh honey and hung in waves down to the back of her knees.

Melvin looked up at her, and though he noticed she had rather odd, elongated features she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was also the tallest woman he had ever seen, and if she were not so willowy he would have proclaimed that she were a giant. As it was she had to duck into the shack when he motioned for her to come in.

In all actuality she was not as tall as he thought; though she stood a good eight feet it was more the presence of her that loomed over them all, making them feel dwarfed. The sugar shanty, something that had always seemed so large and full of life was suddenly diminutive in her presence. The inside looked shabby and in ill repair next to her. Because she was so lovely the youths suddenly felt as though their family’s humble sugaring shack was not good enough for her even though she gazed around and smiled at the quaint inside.

She cast around for a place to sit and not finding any accommodations she raised her hands and a chair of pure light formed at her feet.

“Ah,” she said as if finally now spotting a seat that she found suitable. She hiked up her skirts and sat down in the chair, wiggling her bottom here and there as if testing the seat, and then she frowned slightly. Standing she pulled this way and that on the seat, smacked it once and seemed to fluff it, particles of light flying into the air like dust would from a normal chair. Finally she sat down again and said: “ah, that is better. Now I am ready for your questions.”

Questions? The Bordeaux’s could not even think to close their mouths let alone of questions. Melvin did remember to shut th
e door noting the shadkin were nowhere in sight
. Had they been a figment of his imagination? But then what did that make this woman? He had to be dreaming, that was all there was to it.

“Ok then,” she said. “Let me begin. My name is Samarra, how are you?”

“Good,” they all agreed once they had found their voices.

“No, you obviously don’t get what I am doing here,” she shook her head as if in dismay and her hair cascaded about her form like water, though the smile that seemed perpetually plastered on her face belied her mock sadness.

“What
are
you doing here?” Abigail asked.

“There will be time for that in a moment, but what I was trying to accomplish is what I believe you humans call an introduction,” she said.

“Us humans?” Melvin asked perplexed.

“Well yes! My Lord, you are humans aren’t you? I hope so for it was three humans I was sent to find, and I am pretty sure it was the three of you,” she looked downcast for a moment as if she were truly trying to remember something, maybe instructions or descriptions?

“Yes we are humans, but you are talking as if you are not!” Melvin blurted out.

“Well do you believe that I am?” She asked.

“Well yes,” he spluttered, though Ruby looked on the verge of declaring that she was an angel for that was her general respons
e to everything she couldn’t explain
. However, Melvin thought that summation of their peculiar guest hit closer than any mark he could guess at.

“Well then you would be wrong, but I think it is incredibly rude that I know nothing about you and you seemingly have drawn all these conclusions abo
ut me,” she did indeed sound offended
.

“I am Melvin Bordeaux,” Melvin told her, and her sky blue eyes fell on his sisters in turn.

“Abigail.”

“Ruby.”

“And this would be Luna I take it?” Samarra said holding out her hand for Luna who fluttered down into her palm and settled there. Samarra held her palm up lovingly in her lap, and stroked the body of Luna as if petting a very small dog.

“You are not supposed to pet a butterfly, the salt and oil on your fingers will harm their wings,” Abigail declared, but immediately looked down into her lap as if she had not meant to say that out loud. “Forgive me,” she said meekly.

“There is nothing to forgive,” Samarra told her as her gaze settled on the oldest daughter. “You are supposing that Luna is a mere butterfly, and there is where you would be wrong, though I am sure that you already knew that she is much more than a butterfly.”

“If she is not a butterfly than what is she?” Ruby asked.

“You would call her a butterfly, but she is so much mor
e than that. She is a creature of
the moon, a Lunarian like myself, and being such she is not bound by laws like her cousin butterflies.”

“There are butterflies on the moon?” Ruby asked.

“Certainly!” Samarra laughed. “There are many, many things on the moon that you could not even guess at. For instance you may assume that the moon is a desolate, cold place but on the moon we have oceans of pure silver, so warm and gentle and beaches of silver sand that glitter in the sun. We have rivers and streams, flowers and grand cities that you couldn’t even imagine the likes of here. There is no need for horses and carriages either, for we have developed the ability to travel at will within our very own bodies. Occasionally we like to see the atmosphere though, so we have a type of flying carriage that we call aircraft.” This
all seemed so incredible that they
had a hard time believing it, and Melvin would not believe it at all. In fact he was so reluctant to believe her, despite the magic she just flaunted and the unrecognizable words she used that he crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at her.

“I would love to hear more about the moon,” Ruby said.

“What would you like to hear?” Samarra asked. “I could tell you of the grand waterfalls we have, that do not fall into any lake or ocean, but instead is a place on the moon where gravity is reversed, and the water flows up into the clouds, producing the rain that we receive. Or how about the horses of light we have? They are amazing, hard to ride sometimes as they can shift in and out of being as fast as any light, but beautiful to behold. We have cities made of glass, cities made of stone, and even cities made from thoughts.”

“Cities made of thoughts?” Abigail asked.

“Yes, there are only two of them, but they are huge. A city of thought is a place where one goes and is truly in a world of their own, for whatever their mind can conceive they will see. For instant if you walked into a city of thought and wished for a fifteen floor candy shop that is what you would see, but a person walking in beside you that wanted a cozy library would be offered their choice of several libraries.”

“That is strange,” Ruby said.

“It isn’t really, it just shows what a powerful creative engine the mind is,” Samarra contradicted.

“But if that is the case why can’t we see all this stuff?” Abigail asked.

“Do you know precisely how far away the moon is?” Samarra asked but none of them could tell her. “Well then, if you don’t know how far away the moon is how can you suppose there are no civilizations on it? Is it because you cannot see millions of miles away?”

The girls looked reluctant to believe her and Samarra picked up on that.

“I see you all suffer a bit of what dear Melvin here is going through,” at the mention of his name Melvin bristled.

“And what is that?” he asked defensively.

“I fear that as people grow they close their minds to new potentials and possibilities. See, most people are under the impression that you are under. They do not think there is anything on the moon. They do not
believe
.”

“I am not close minded!” he grumped.

“No, not completely yet, but you refuse to believe that I am from the moon, or that Luna is also from the moon, or that Mama Coon is one of my earthly helpers,” she said reachi
ng a hand down to pet the furry creature
. “You cannot believe, or even grasp, how lovely the moon is for me, or that all these fantastical things I have told you of actually exist.”

“Your right, I don’t believe it,” he fired back crossing his arms as if to tell her precisely how much he refused to believe her.

“That is sad, for you will need an open mind.”

“For what?” He asked.

“To face
Cailleach Bheur
, what else?”

“Who?” he asked confused.

“Don’t you learn anything here?” sh
e looked at each of them in turn
, but all of them looked just as perplexed as Melvin, and with a sigh and a flick of her hand Samarra conjured five mugs of hot chocolate that settled before all of them. “She is a shadkin of great power,” she told them simply as she sipped at her cocoa and placed Luna on her shoulder.

“And what does she have to do with us?” Melvin
asked
.

“More of that in time, for now let me tell
you a tale about
Cailleach Bheur
and about the darkness you have witnessed tonight.” Samarra seemed to settle in to tell them the tale, and they all settled around her. “First I must do something. What needs to be done has to happen tonight, and presently it appears as though this might take some time, I wasn’t expecting such ignorant youths, so it will take more time than was allotted. Here,” she said cutting off their protests and pulled what seemed to be a silver pocket watch out of thin air. When she opened it there was nothing on the inside dials and wheels that looked remotely like a clock. She moved three of the hundred odd hands and sighed. “There, that will stop the time for O now,” she closed the pocket watch and with a flash it vanished as if stretched so thin that it couldn’t exist any longer.