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“What were the three?” Shallah asked.

“Prophecies,” the woman said, abandoning her pretence. “Three prophecies. It was unusual, of course, for one to receive all three, but her nature made it possible.”

“Her nature?” Again Shallah felt a stab of irritation. Couldn’t she be clearer?

“Her mother was tree, and her father part wolf. Somewhere on his own father’s side, I believe, though we were never quite sure. Wolves can be so secretive.” She dismissed all wolves with a flick of her hand.

“I’m sorry,” Shallah said slowly. “Have I misunderstood you?”

“It isn’t for you to understand.”

“Your father was half –”

“Please don’t let it trouble you.”

Shallah closed her eyes and felt her questions flow away like so many leaves on the air. She felt that if she kept her eyes shut she might never fret again. It was a calming thought.

“What were the three?” she asked again, though she wasn’t sure she would listen to the answer. Answers seemed so tedious.

“The first I have already told you. There would be a dark skinned boy led by a sightless woman. The boy would lead us to safety.” Shallah nodded wobbly.

“The second prophecy was to be conveyed to the dark trees of the north, and the third to the wolf chief in the western valley. They concerned the fates of those two races.”

Shallah waited expectantly.

“I can’t tell you what these prophecies foretold. It is not my right to do so,” the old woman said. “Only a knowing member of these races can pass the knowledge on, and then only if it so desires. It must be a willing conveyance.”

“But you are part tree –”

“I am much more than that,” the old woman said. “I can tell you this. All of the prophecies involve the boy. In one he is a protector, in another, a weapon. And of course, in our own, a saviour.”

“Why do we need to be saved?” Shallah asked. “Aren’t we safe here?”

“You came through the dead wood; you must have felt its pain. Soon it will all be that way. Even here in the lushest part of the wood … It pains me so to speak of it. Trees wither away. The animals are all going. There will be a great exodus. The wood doesn’t want us anymore.”

A question occurred to Shallah but she hesitated to pronounce it, for the answer would affect all their lives. “Is the forest dying?” she asked.

“We’ve sickened it with our presence. We’ve weakened it. But what will become of the people? They’ve nowhere to go.”

“How can you know all this? You’re all alone here.”

“I see much. I’ve been here so long I’ve become a part of it. When the leaves wither, I sicken, when the branches crack, so do I. I know the spirit of this place. I know its will.”

“Come away with us,” Shallah said on impulse. “This forest has some strange power. You mustn’t stay here.”

“I will stay,” the old woman said. “When all go, I will remain. Perhaps we will heal.”

“We must be off,” Shallah said suddenly. A wave of dizziness hit her as she got to her feet and she had to steady herself. Liam handed her the satchel. He was just as eager to be away from this place as she.

“Go,” the old woman said. “Don’t let the forest keep you. Go north and soon you will see your path. Remember what I have told you.” She pressed Shallah’s walking stick into her hand. “Seek the prophecies from those who would share them. You will survive.”

Shallah bent low to pass through the door, pulling Liam behind her. As he passed out of the house, the little boy caught another glimpse of the carved cup clutched in the old woman’s hand. Carved into its side, in delicate curving lines, was his own face.

Out in the open air, Shallah took a deep breath. The wind began to blow with more force. She took Liam in her arms and they began to pick their way back to the path. They didn’t make any farewells. The old woman had gone, Shallah could feel it. She’d vanished just as soon as they’d stepped over the threshold.

Liam looked over Shallah’s shoulder as they walked away. The house could no longer be seen. The dark green hemlocks blended together, masking it from view.

It was as though it had never been.

Shallah walked speedily through the brush like she’d been this way a hundred times before. When at last they came to the path, she halted in her steps.

“You will find him,” she heard the old woman say. Her voice was so clear, it was as though she was standing right behind them, but Shallah knew she wasn’t there. Her voice was everywhere. It came from close by and very far away. It came from all around. “You will find him,” it said again.

Shallah hugged Liam to her. “Let us be gone,” she said.

And soon they were.

Chapter Eight

Liam wasn’t afraid.

Shallah was no longer herself. She swayed on her feet when she walked, and wouldn’t hold Liam’s hand. She seemed to have lost all sense of time. Sometimes she wanted to rest when they’d just made a stop, and other times she walked on for hours without taking a break. More than once she’d failed to take a turn in the path and wandered into the underbrush. But what bothered him most was her absolute silence.

Shallah hadn’t spoken a word in days.

But Liam wasn’t afraid.

He led her down the path as she’d led him. He pressed fruit and bread into her hands at mealtime and tucked the blanket about her when it was time for sleep. He knew they had to keep moving, for only when they got around the hills would she go back to normal. That’s what the old woman had said. Liam wanted Shallah to go back to normal, but he also liked being in charge. He liked taking care of her. He liked her better than he’d ever liked anyone, except maybe one or two from
before
. But he didn’t like to think about
before
.

He didn’t like to think about the old woman either, or the cup with his face. At moments, when he’d looked at her, he’d thought he could see right through her. He was sure this had been some trick the old woman had pulled. She was a crafty one. She was the first person he’d ever met who also knew what would come
after
. He’d felt her trying to tell him things when she’d beckoned him, but he’d closed his mind and refused to let her. Then he’d felt her stroking his cheek, although she hadn’t moved an inch. It had shocked him so much that he’d nearly opened his mind to her by accident.

Liam didn’t think the old woman had any business touching him without her hands. That was nonsense. He had very little patience for nonsense.

He watched over Shallah as she slept. She was even prettier when she was asleep. She didn’t have bad dreams the way he did, dreams about
before
and sometimes about
after
. Sometimes
before
and
after
got mixed up in the dream, and he didn’t know where he was. He knew he had to be careful of dreams because dreams could be confusing. Once he’d thought a dream had been telling him something about
after
but he’d been very, very wrong. It was upsetting to be so wrong. Dreams were sneaky things and you had to be careful of them. He’d learned that lesson.

It was
after
that worried him. He was getting the feeling that terrible things were going to happen, but he couldn’t make out what they were. He didn’t know when they would start, or when they would end. They might start any minute. They might start this very night. But Liam wasn’t afraid. He couldn’t be afraid. He had to look after Shallah and make sure nothing bad happened to her, because he was in charge. It was hard work, being in charge.

He awoke to the fog. It was thick and lay low on the land so when he got to his feet, as Shallah slept on, he couldn’t see more than a few paces in front of him. When he reached out his hand it was like reaching into a void. He thought it was like reaching into time, reaching into
after
. It was an odd feeling.

They’d slept in the bed of a dry ravine at the foot of a steep cliff. Liam had chosen to stop there the night before because the way ahead was very steep – a climb for morningtime. He didn’t really understand what it meant to go around the hills, but he thought they must be nearly there. They must be approaching the eastern path. He hoped so. He’d never known how lonely it was to be in charge.

As hunger began to curl and snarl in his belly, Liam left Shallah’s side and climbed a little way up the path. He wanted to rise above the fog and look over the way they’d come. There wasn’t much movement in the forest below. He heard a crow calling and the wind licked at his ears. The fog blotted out most of the view, making the trees seem half as tall. He was disappointed, but he didn’t budge from his perch on the boulder. He didn’t know why, but he felt it was very important that he stay there, looking out. The mist swirled around the tree trunks. The branches creaked. He began to feel a little silly. Then he caught sight of something.

It was only a movement at the base of the trees, a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. Liam leaned forward, his hands holding tight to the rock. He could see them.

Wolves. They came steadily on, spread out in a jagged line, each two trees apart. They kept their heads low and wove through the trunks, their eyes glittering. Not once did they pause in their steps. They were following the path Shallah and Liam had followed the day before. They’d caught their scent.

Then, just as suddenly as they’d appeared, they were gone. The mist fell upon them again and Liam could see nothing but the upper branches of the trees they were passing beneath. He searched for them, straining to see through the shifting milky air, but it was no use.

He felt very strange. He was breathless to share what he’d seen with Shallah, but at the same time he couldn’t make himself move. He could only stare at the place where he’d seen the wolves, every muscle in his body tense. Finally he came back to himself and slipped off the boulder. He had to show Shallah what he’d seen. If the wolves came upon her without warning, she’d be afraid. Liam didn’t want Shallah to be afraid.

But when his feet hit the ground, he found his way blocked. The fog had thickened while he’d been on the boulder. He couldn’t see his way back.

He tried very hard not to panic. Panicking only made things worse. He felt along the ground with his feet, searching for the place where the path turned downwards. But instead of finding the path, he found a patch of devil’s club so large it almost engulfed him. The thorns scratched through his hose as he fought his way out of it, the murky air filling his nose and mouth. Once he’d freed himself, he didn’t know which way to turn. The path seemed to fall downward in every direction. The swirling white surrounded him on all sides.

For the first time, Liam was truly afraid.

He thought of Shallah. She’d wake up to find him gone, the smell of damp fur on the air. She’d wake up afraid. He couldn’t bear the thought. He was in charge. He was supposed to be protecting her. Now he could do nothing for her. He’d left her alone.

Liam sat down on the red earth and held his knees to his chest. He closed his eyes against the fog. He wished he was a braver boy.

There was nothing worse than being afraid.

When Shallah found Liam he was rocking back and forth, his forehead pressed into his knees. She said his name and touched him on the arm. The little boy started.

“What’s the matter, Liam?” she asked, her alarm rising.

Something wasn’t right. Though the fog was thick on the ground, the mist had finally lifted from her mind, just as the old woman had predicted. She remembered once again the terrible danger they were in and panicked at her carelessness. How many miles had the creatures gained? How much closer had they come as she’d dawdled in her dreams?

Shallah sucked in a quick breath and the cold stung in her throat.

“Come,” she said to Liam as she pulled him towards her. “Come,” she said again, getting to her feet and taking him on her hip, her frantic steps slapping on the packed earth, scattering the mist before her.

They took rest only once night was falling and even then Shallah felt uneasy. In her haste that morning she’d left her walking stick behind and without it she felt less and less certain they hadn’t strayed from the eastern path. In the past few days they’d finally left those trails she knew so well and entered a part of the forest that was less familiar. Startled out of her waking sleep, Shallah found herself faced with a confusing landscape. The paths before her didn’t match those in her memory. Trees seemed to have moved and turns weren’t where they should have been. Streams seemed to have changed course or disappeared altogether. They stopped now at the side of the trail, not only from exhaustion, but for the simple reason that she didn’t know which way to go.

Her mind occupied with worry, Shallah had had little chance to question Liam about the days she’d missed, which was just as well since he’d no words to give her. She could remember leaving the enchanted wood and rounding the hills, but it all seemed a dream. What had come over her during all that time? How could she have abandoned Liam so? She only felt worse as day turned to night. She’d deserted her post, and now look at the mess they were in.

Liam sat in Shallah’s lap amongst the ferns and salmonberry bushes as she pressed her forehead into his hair, deep in thought. He picked at a handful of crumbs in the lap of his grey tunic, the vestiges of his dinner, and peered through the leaves. By all rights, the child should have been lost in sleep, as they’d been on the move since early morning. Instead, he chewed idly at his food, his eyes roaming over the foliage.

Something had caught his attention.

There was a great restlessness in the wood. A constant rustling sound filled the air. The dark was full of shifting shadows, snapping twigs and the smell of newly trampled earth.

Shallah and Liam weren’t the only beings taking flight that night.

A band of porcupines, travelling one behind the other, was making its way over the impressive root structure of a spruce tree on the other side of the path. A mink and her litter bounded past, nearly invisible in the dark save for the dash of white fur at their chins. As Liam watched fixedly, three elk, two cows and a calf, crossed over the path just ahead of where he sat, and continued through the trees.